It Becomes So Clear;; (Jared)

[JARED LIAM ROBINSON]

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"I suppose," was all he could think of, when Maslynn explained her thoughts on Nina. Many people did know her name ... it's just that a lot of them did not bother to learn her story. That was true, but their assumptions of Nina were almost entirely accurate. However, Jared didn't feel the need to interrupt the flow of conversation by contradicting what she said, so he remained quite, a feat that he still yet to master.

Jared rested his hands beside his legs and looked at Massy. Her long, golden hair hid her face as he assumed she blushed. A grin made it's way onto his face, as he nudged her a little bit with his elbow. But as Massy rambled and quickly admitted that she liked him, his eyebrows raised and he was a little surprised. Him? Of all people, how cute! Jared felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach and he understood in an instant what was up with all the uber-casual questions.

"What do you mean, you didn't mean to say that? Am I that embarrassing?" he said in a joking tone. Jared was not embarrassed. He kind of knew how to react to this, if he didn't say so himself. "Awe Massy." he whimpered, as he hugged the girl from the side, smelling her sweet hair.

However, the hug was not long. He withdrew but kept his one arm resting on her shoulders. "I'm sorry I don't like you back." he uttered, squeezing her shoulders gently. Jared wasn't a boy would blush off and runaway. He had feelings, and she had feelings. Leaving her would be rather ... offensive, actually.

Jared felt terrible that he didn't have the same feelings. He dropped his arm and rested back on the bench as the atmosphere once again became rather awkward. This was the part he was most nervous about: her reaction. But he felt as though he did a good job, and had a good recovery... so perhaps she wouldn't be too embarrassed or angry with herself. In fact, that was Jared's worst nightmare. He couldn't handle critical, heart-to-heart conversations. It's one of the reasons why he couldn't commit to one person.

He looked back down on the ground, where Massy was making waves in the soil with her foot. But as his neck strained, he switched to looking up, far in the sky, where the light blue haven peeked out from underneath the treetops. Oh how he yearned to be up there. Up where no one could touch him. Up where there were no worries, or cares, or responsibilities. Yet again, he found himself wanting a power that was different than manipulating light.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Jared's reaction surprised her a great deal. Massy, always assuming the worst, had expected disgust or, at the very least, a very long and awkward silence wherein she would have to run away from the scene before there any bombs could go off and shatter she and Jared into a million pieces of awkward marble statue dust. Their particles would float around forever, neither of them able to glue them back together again. And then all would be lost to them.

But he was so nice about it. Massy was at a loss for words initially. She was so grateful that Jared hadn't done or said anything that would embarrass her further. But she couldn't help feeling like most of the friends she made sort of treated her like a little kid. Jared was in her grade, and he still treated her like a little kid. She supposed that she did it to herself, but it still upset her a little. At the same time, she knew that everyone was really protective of her, which was a huge plus. She pushed the negative thoughts from her mind and tried to focus on the positive.

"Oh, don't be! I knew you didn't before I told you," she said quickly. "Since you were talking about Nina and everything. And, uh, I don't like you all that much anyway. It's a very recent thing, you know." This was all true, she knew. Massy vaguely remembered that the thought had occurred to her, earlier, that it was most likely just a reaction to the chat from earlier and she was just being her usual romantic self. Of course, had she listened to reason, she probably would not have embarrassed herself like this. Ah, well. What use is reason in the world of love, anyway?

She bit her lip and was quiet for a second. "I'm really sorry I said anything," she said, her voice suddenly very small and distant. The air had grown thicker and was pressing against her, pushing the small bit of remorse from early closer to her heart so that she felt it even more than before. She could have gone forever without saying anything.

Massy wished she was a psychic. Or that she could read minds. Then she would have some clue as to what was going to happen between her and Jared. Even though he had been really sweet, Massy couldn't shake the fear that she had somehow messed up being his friend. Of course, it could be put down to social anxiety. Massy was more apt to think that it was intuition, though, and she grew more paranoid by the second.

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[JARED LIAM ROBINSON]

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Jared couldn't help but feel sorry for her. They were the same age and everything, and yet, he still feels like he needs to be like her big brother. He supposed that everyone treated her like that, and it never really occurred to Jared whether or not Massy herself liked that kind of treatment. He knew that if people treated him like a kid (which a lot do) he would retaliate with even more snide comments and self-absorbed replies. But the whole protection and innocence thing was to her benefit, that was for sure.

He listened diligently as she rambled about him. But the guy inside him got the best of him, "I know what you mean." was all he seemed to contribute. His palms became rather sweaty and he panicked a little. He was no longer that cool guy that comforted her earlier. What happened to that guy?

This happened often. There seemed to be two people within Jared. A person who was a total jerk and was selfish in nearly aspect and the other guy who seemed to be just as self-centered, but had a way with words. The second guy, perhaps was a result of all the reading he had done as a child. But the first guy was he really was--although he tried his best to bring out the second guy.

Speaking of the second guy ... Jared wanted to name him. He will have to consult his closest friends for that one. Perhaps something related to Jared. Jerry? Seemed pretty reasonable enough. However, this was not the topic at hand. In the corner of his hearing, Jared heard Massy apologize for saying anything.

It seemed like Jerry was back. "D'awe, don't be sorry Massy." he put his hand on her shoulder for a moment but then realized that it was sweaty. His hand retreated back on his lap. "To be honest, you're a great girl and any guy would be lucky to have you like him..." his voice trailed off as Jared took back the reigns.

And with Jared back in control, he was unsure of what to say. He let a moment of awkward silence pass between the two of them, hoping that she didn't feel the tension either. He waited patiently for her to speak up and say something. But in the mean time, he looked at her knees and fidgeted with his fingers.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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The heaviness of the air was beginning to be too much for Massy, and she started to tune out Jared. She knew she was quiet for too long, but it was hard to talk through molasses. It was hard to think, too. She knew that it was probably her own anxiety that was weighing down the mood, but she, oddly, didn't really feel that terrible about this. Maybe it was Jared. She didn't want to look into his emotions again to find out, however. She felt bad enough for doing it the first time. So instead she managed to pull herself out of a haze in order to try and point the direction elsewhere. It scared her, sometimes, how much other people's emotions could affect her when she was dwelling on them for too long.

She returned just in time to feel him put a hand on her shoulder and hear him say that any guy would be lucky to have her like him. It made her smile, even if she didn't believe it. Massy wasn't exactly cynical, but she was never good with compliments. Especially from boys. Girls, though they tended to give out compliments more freely, tended to do so genuinely. At least in Massy's experience. At least, she'd never known a girl to compliment another girl to make her feel better about embarrassing herself. She tried not think that way, but it was a bit difficult sometimes. She reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Thanks." Massy bit her lip and racked her brains for something more encompassing to talk about. She felt like they had spent too much time on her little confession, and either they should redirect the conversation or one of them should find a reason to leave.

Massy would be glad to go and find someplace with a more pleasant feeling about it, but she didn't want to seem too hurt, because she really wasn't. Of course, her ego was a bit shattered, but she really didn't have much of one to begin with.

"Sooo, step on any leggos lately? Or are you immune to them? Because I'm starting to think that your power is actually the ability to control them, since you threaten people with them all the time." Lame, Massy. You are so lame.

Well, at least the conversation was off of her. Or, really, the lack of conversation. They hadn't really been talking about much. Mostly Massy was felt like she'd been swimming to deep in the ocean and the pressure was beginning to get to her. She would have been crushed by it if not for the heavy duty drain created by her weak joke.

She knew what she would ask for for Christmas, now; a better sense of humor.

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[JARED LIAM ROBINSON]

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He couldn't help but be in a slight daze as he waited for Massy to say something. It wasn't that she was boring, Jared was just a little bit unmotivated to say anything anymore. He probably had screwed things up a lot by now.

Regardless, he was relieved to hear her say something. Legos? Jared laughed out loud. "You remember that?" he inquired, looking up at her for a moment. "And no, I never step on Legos ... I can always see." his smile was playful and wide. He returned his body back to his initial position.

"You know lately, I haven't been in control of my power." he began, "And that's unusual for me. I'm almost always in control of my power, ever since I discovered it. It's like ... I'm slowly losing control of it. Actually, I find that quite curios. Most people gain control over their abilities overtime, and here I am losing my control."

Jared's voice had trailed off lightly as he awaited her reply. It was inevitable. The itch in the back of his head that was initially there when he was a child had slowly disintegrated and now he could barely feel it. Perhaps he needed to take up an extra SAC like Margaret.

However, Jared wasn't the kind of guy to admit that he needed help with something, especially if it was about him. So there was much doubt toward Jared actually taking up another class just to control his power. He'd have to work on it in his own time.

'What about you? Made any progress with your power?" dumb question. Of course she had made progress. It was nearly Christmas break, everyone has made progress with their power. Silly Jared. But the damage had been done, and he had already said it out loud. He made sure it was clear that it didn't phase him. Jared acted cool and acted like that was a question everyone asked all the time.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy smiled a bit as the tension eased. She rolled her shoulders back and straightened herself up. She hadn't even noticed the way she'd been hunched over. "You know, it's funny. I don't think I've ever stepped on a Lego before. I don't think I've ever actually seen a Lego in person, actually." Her mother had never really been one to buy her toys when she was little, and anyway Massy had been much more interested in things like play dough and dolls; things that she could make into whatever she wanted. Legos normally required instructions, and they would have frustrated Massy. She preferred the freedom of sculpting play dough or building an elaborate and ridiculous life story for all of her dolls. Some of her dolls even had six or seven different personas. Though, Massy's favorite activity as a child had nothing to do with toys. She had spent most of her free time dancing, or watching musicals on television.

When she was only seven, Massy watched Dirty Dancing with her mother, and it's always been her absolute favorite film. She has yet to watch anything that can compete, really. Not that she watches that much television at all.

Maslynn was a bit startled by Jared's confession. She frowned and bit down on her bottom lip. "It might be something emotional. I mean, when I'm really stressed out it gets harder to ignore everyone else's emotions. Maybe you need a break from school. Or there's something else bothering you." Massy shrugged and went back to playing in the dirt with her shoe. It wasn't like Massy minded playing therapist if Jared needed someone to crack open his skull and examine the gears and levers and pulleys and tell him what had gone astray, but she didn't want to pry too much. Chances were, if something big was going on, big enough to affect his powers when he had had control over them for so long, he already knew what was wrong. Her eyes shifted back up with another thought. "Or maybe you're homesick. Tony's been waking up invisible more and more often since he decided not to go home for Christmas break." Massy actually hadn't gotten this information from Tony himself, but rather, his roommate. She felt a little bad for Tony, even if he was annoying. "Or I could be totally off base and it's something else entirely. I don't know." Massy hated when there was more than one answer to a problem, and she didn't know which answer to give. It was one of the absolute most frustrating things for Massy not to know the answer to anything.

His next question caught her off guard, and Massy again lowered her gaze. "Not really. But only because I don't want to practice. It freaks me out, I guess. I think it's actually getting a little harder, actually. I mean, the whole time we've been talking, I could feel the weight of our conversation. That doesn't usually happen." She sighed and pulled her feet up to keep from kicking anymore dirt around. "I mean, I've learned my way around people's heads a little bit better, but it's not much. I mostly want to figure out how not to have everyone's moods always clouding up a room when I walk in. I mean, it's one thing at a party. It's exhilarating, really. But it would be nice to be able to go to a funeral or something without passing out. Like, that sounds awful but that's sort of my goal." Massy knew she was only a freshman and all, and she shouldn't expect much, but she was thoroughly disappointed with herself. Though she could be worse off, sometimes it was too much for her. Like right now, she wanted to go down to the beach or the fields or anywhere with a lighter mood.

This was not the sort of thing she had been hoping for when she started talking about Legos.

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[JARED LIAM ROBINSON]

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Jared chuckled out loud as Massy explained how she had never even seen a lego in real life. "Are you serious?" he laughed softly and then added, "Awe Massy, you're really sheltered." The tone was like sobering up from laughter and realizing how sad it actually was. Cautiously, Jared put his hand on her shoulder once more. "Tell you what, stop by my dorm some time and I'll show you real Lego's." he smiled, before retracting back his hand.

He listened patiently as she named off her suggestions to his power, nodding a few times as he thought about the possibility. "Yeah, maybe you're right. We all need a break..." his voice trailed off as he looked around the forest.

As to Massy's explanation about her recent experiences with her power, Jared merely grunted. There wasn't much to say. He felt really bad that she had to feel everyone else's emotions. No doubt that could be overwhelming... and you would never feel your own, genuine emotion without it being influenced by someone else's. Suddenly, he felt that her power was a curse. Who would ever want to feel like they weren't in control of their own emotions? The thought was scary and Jared tried to shrug it off.

"Agh, that really blows. But you should practice. That way you're in more control... and you wouldn't have to pass out in every funeral you attend." he smirked lightly before going back and fidgeting with his hands.

But Jared didn't need that power to tell that Massy didn't really want to talk about it. Rather swiftly, Jared said to her, "Hmm...I should go." before making a motion to stand up. He felt that the conversation had gone on too long anyway. Now it was just getting personal; and Jared didn't want to talk critical. In fact, talking critical wasn't really one of his strengths.

However, he felt bad for leaving Massy by herself...so he didn't stand up quite yet. He waited patiently for either her protest or her agreement that they should leave. Regardless, he would do her bidding.

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[MASLYNN LIA ROY]

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Massy smiled, her eyes dropping to the disturbed earth beneath her feet. "Yeah, I've noticed." She didn't say it bitterly, which sort of surprised her. When she was growing up, Massy didn't really have time for TV or anything like that. She woke up, got ready, went to her Prestigious Private School, behaved like a Super Smart Scholarship Kid, came home, did homework, ate, and went to bed. It was the same thing every day. She couldn't even remember if there was a television in her whole house. She doubted it. A computer or laptop, maybe. But there wouldn't have been a TV. The funny part is, nothing really changed after her dad died, and Mark left, and Massy was sent away. Her routine didn't change. Things got lonelier, of course. But it didn't bother her too much.

Her smile widened and she looked up again. "That'd be cool. We could build a statue in your honor. Or mine, you know. Whoever's more worthy that day." Massy really needed to get the hang of this joking around thing.

Speaking of Mark, Massy hoped she could find a way out of this conversation soon. She wanted to talk to Mark. Maybe she could talk to him about Jared. She could just hear him now. "Aw, Sis, that's too bad. That guy doesn't know what he's missing, man. With your big bro in Greece, he should have taken the opportunity. Stupid. That's what boys are, Mass. They're all stupid." He gave her the same speech about every boy, actually but it was always comforting.

Massy nodded slowly. She didn't say anything to that, because it was so obvious, she thought. It went without speaking that tension ran high at this school. It was a little hard to control her powers in a setting like that. If it was bad for her, she couldn't imagine how it must be for everyone else.

Massy laughed easily at the funeral comment. "I've only been to two in my whole life. Maybe I won't ever need to go to anymore. Everyone can just live forever. Then I won't need to practice." Everyone close to Massy, anyway. The thought of her mother's funeral, or Mark's, was beginning to make her sick, and she was so very glad when Jared said that he needed to go.

She got to her feet with a little bounce, and realized that maybe she looked too excited to leave. Ah, well. It's not like their conversation was very pleasant, anyway. "Alright. I have to go and finish my homework, too. It was nice talking to you." She offered a smile, and would have stuck out her hand to shake, but she wasn't exactly sure what sort of goodbye-ing was acceptable here. She decided just to let Jared determine that. Then she could go off and talk to Mark. Maybe introduce him to Daphne and Lily and Marshall. Most importantly, she could forget about this conversation.

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[JARED LIAM ROBINSON]

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Finally, there were signs that the conversation was lighting up. He stood up after her, only to make sure he wasn't the eager one to leave. This was certainly a special experience, one he did not expect to happen in the forest... or with Massy. It had gotten a bit to critical for Jared's taste.

"Yeah, it was nice talking to you." he smiled, running his hands through his hair, not really sure what to do. So instead of shaking hands or hugging or whatever, Jared gave her a lanky wave and turned around and made his way leisurely back to his dorm.

He was never one to know social queues like that, but to be frank, he didn't really care. Flashes of their conversation ran through his mind as his feet squished the soft Earth beneath his feet. He looked back, behind his back to see if he'd catch Massy--but nope, she wasn't looking. With a unsatisfied sigh, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued his journey.

Jared couldn't help but wonder if this conversation was ever going to be brought up. He doubted, it was incredibly awkward...and teenagers have a tendency to bury things that had made them uncomfortable. Regardless, he was a little bit curious as to what made it so uncomfortable. Topic, for sure. How come she said that she liked him? It was so odd, it wasn't like he ever hit on her or anything, right? Probably just some silly, teenage girl vision.

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