Started Log and Threading from here Who: Bast, Penny, and Johnny What: Insanity breaks out. Where: High School News Room When: Before the first bell for classes Rating: PG at least for possible language
Though not exactly the sort of text message she was hoping for, Penny sighed as she stuffed her phone in her pocket and rounded the gated entrance of the high school. Normally, nothing would please her more than to see Sully so early in the morning like this. Though, there was nothing normal about this situation. Ever since her rather awkward yet very forward declaration of love for him, things had been anything but normal. She'd avoided the press like the plague, peeking even the attention of her aunt, who had asked her if there was anything wrong just a few days ago. And well, knowing Johnny, she was sure he had spilled his guts to her about the whole thing. After all, Cordelia knew very well of Penny's crush on Bast.
The good thing about going to a school for three years (despite the long term absences that only Penny could pull off) was knowing your way around the place without even really having to look up. And figuring she had a bit of time before class, Penny even went down the hallway where her locker was to pull out her books for her morning classes. It was on the way to the news room anyway. By the time she finished though, she felt the presence of someone hovering over her. It didn't take much for her realize that someone was none other than the infamous Johnny Jones. She turned and smiled to him. "Morning, John."
"Good morning, Pen," Johnny replied, cool as rain. He ran a hand through his hair. It didn't do much good considering it was a bit on the greasy side. No doubt he had to wash it, though it had been so cold lately that even the thought of water on his skin put him off. "And how are you today?" He noticed she was pulling things out of her locker with quite a bit of time still left before the bell was to ring. Somehow, that struck him as strange, though for the most part, he shrugged it off. Penny wasn't usually in school, so perhaps she wasn't used to a strict schedule like the rest of the mortals that walked the halls.
"So, I need you to go with me after school to the DJ store. After the dance, my amp sort of blew up. You know how that is." It had upset him really. That was going to set him back a pretty penny (no pun intended). Even though his life's savings were only to be used on DJ equipment, he still hated it when things exploded on him just like that without so much as a warning at least.
Penny closed her locker and began walking toward the news room. "I'm okay," she answered. It wasn't very truthful, considering the strange text she had just gotten from Bast, but she knew he meant health wise, so she was going to go with that. She frowned though when he began talking about his amp exploding. "The sub woofer?" she asked, remembering the device well. "I thought that thing was impenetrable or something." It sounded upsetting anyway. "Do you really need me to go? Don't you know which amp you need to buy?"
Honestly, Penny didn't think that there was anything really all that wrong with Bast. So, that was why she wasn't in a hurry, nor did she feel the need to tell Johnny to buzz off. Not that she would tell him that anyway. He was her cousin, and he had just as much of a right to be in school as she did. Though, perhaps if Bast had given her more of a clue as to what his condition was, she would have known better than to let Johnny follow her as she pushed through the doors of the news room and walked in.
"Why are we going in here?" asked Johnny, ever the inquisitive one. It didn't matter that he was following her around. He always did that. It was normal. It was part of his job description right under knows more about music than you ever will. He had to take care of her, and sure, there was nothing wrong with her now, but who was to say that in five minutes she would have some sort of fit, and he would need to rescue her? "And yes, I need you to go. You're my co-pilot. I know which one to buy, but I need your blessing. You know that."
He followed her into the news room and flicked on the lights. Not being a fan of journalism like his mother and cousin, Johnny hadn't ever actually seen the inside of this room before. It was like walking into a room in your house that you didn't know was there. He felt cheated though excited at the same time, like he'd just uncovered lost treasure or something. And then, he nodded to the far corner of the room. "Hey, who's the 10-year-old?"
It had been a very long time since Bast had been sitting in this room. Really it was one of the last places he expected to end up after he had graduated and gone on to start writing for the college paper and now the Maine-Lander. He could still remember his first big story on locker security in the school that was now firmly pasted in the front of his scrapbook. He had spent countless hours in here while he was in high school thinking that he was onto some sort of big lead only to find out that he was sadly mistaken. Now he was older, wiser, and had a better grasp of the English language even though it didn’t exactly look like it at the moment. He figured as long as the only lights that were on came from the windows though that it was unlikely anyone would just come wandering in there. If nothing else, maybe he could convince them that he had just transferred into the Journalism class even as a lowly Freshman. One who looked rather awkwardly dressed, but still.
Bast looked up from his spot in the corner, excellent for hiding if needed but the voice was one that he recognized. Of course... Johnny Jones, Penny’s cousin and the one person voted most likely to use his broken amp to throw at his head if he knew what was going on. Didn’t he have other things to do other than tail around Penny? Or had she perhaps gone to get him after getting his text because she didn’t want to be alone in there with him? Either way this was probably going to be awkward considering he didn’t even know if Johnny was aware of the odder things on the island. It seemed likely, but spilling the beans would probably get him sent to the corner... Good lord, he was even thinking like a 12 year old. “I’m not ten, and what is he doing here?” He sounded a little more hurt than anything.
Penny wasn’t sure what she was expecting to happen today when she woke up in the morning, but so far, everything that had happened was really, really weird. The little boy huddled in the corner of the high school news room was no exception. Needless to say, Penny was confused. She thought she was going to the news room to meet Bast, and instead, she was greeted by a snippy little tween. And the way the little boy had spoken, it was almost as if he knew them, though honestly, Penny had never seen him before in her life.
“Excuse me?” It was the only thing she could think of to say. “Are you lost or something?” And even though she didn’t recognize him, there was still something about him that looked awfully familiar. She couldn’t sense whether he had a power or not though, so it really didn’t occur to her that this little fellow was actually Bast! “Maybe we can help you find your way.”
It seemed as though the short walk just to the news room was enough to give Johnny an appetite. He had rushed out of the house with only an apple in his backpack, because he’d woken up later than usual. Now that he was here, it seemed as if he had all the time in the world before class started. He unzipped his bag and pulled out the apple. It crunched deliciously at his first bite, and he used it to wave around as if conducting an orchestra.
“What do you mean what is he doing here? He happens to want to be here. And who are you anyway? Penny, do you know this clown?” He took another bite of his apple and sized up the kid. Penny was just too nice for her own good, helping lowly kids in despair and whatnot. He didn’t even know what they were doing there other than getting Penny her news fix for the morning.
Bast huffed a little bit indignantly. Sure he looked like he should probably be begging for change somewhere and would have to see what he could manage for clothes later. Maybe he would see what he could find up in the attic of his house, but that would involve waiting on his parents to both be out of the house and even Savannah was going to be questionable. Then he probably owed it to her to explain everything. Though possibly not while he wasn’t even five feet tall and not even out of puberty.
Though why she couldn’t just tell that it was him considering her own powers was beyond him. She had mentioned something about malfunctioning at the dance, but it didn’t seem possible that she could actually be completely losing her abilities. He bit his lower lip a little bit just trying to think of what to tell her and avoid just going over with one of the old newspapers, getting on a chair, and hitting Johnny over the head. It was probably what Cordelia would do after all while shooing him out of there. He just needed to think of something that might trigger her without letting Johnny in on this. “I think I got lost and fell off more than the deep end here, Kal-El...”