Bobbie’s Comments (group member since Dec 20, 2010)

Bobbie’s comments from the Edgeview RP group.

"I suppose I might as well go to class," Joey muttered as he picked up his bag and opened the door. Students in the dorm halls stared at the mixed-gender group emerging from the room. Joey flushed deeply. "Let's get out of here," he muttered to Electro.

Electro didn't hear him, because as soon as Joey started feeling embarrassed he had disappeared. Electro wasn't so lucky, though, and felt his face heat up. I had hoped no one would be here... His hair crackled and stared standing, and sparks started forming in his eyes.

((Ok, Frankie))

"That's cool," Joey said, noticing the light from Saffy's fingers. Actually, it held him very much in awe, but he was trying to act nonchalant. Suddenly, the bell rang.

"Is it working?" Joey asked, opening his eyes.

"No," Electro replied. Joey sighed in frustration.

((Ok, so I Joey vanishes when he's bored or otherwise feeling calm, and Electro generates electricity according to how he's feeling. So if Electro is scared or angry or otherwise feeling a strong emotion, he generates a very powerful electric shock, but if he's calm or asleep it's much more mild.))

Joey sighed, his anger dissipating. Saffy and Electro were just trying to help him; he shouldn't get angry at them. They had good ideas, after all. He closed his eyes and tired to recapture the feeling he had when he vanished. He felt sort of... empty when it happened, so he tried to summon that emptiness now.

((Oh... like when Torchie gets excited he starts fires, and Martin can see people's secrets when he's physically close to them?))

((Dove... in the books, the kids never needed to understand their talents and never did, but they could still control them quite well.))

"Well," Electro said, intervening again. "Joey can start trying to control it and we can try to understand it while he does. Joey, you should probably start by making yourself invisible on purpose."

"I can't do that," Joey protested. "It just happens."

"Whatever. Will yourself to vanish; it just might work." Electro said the last part with a touch of sarcasm.

"That's the exact reason why we don't want anyone to find out Joey can vanish," Electro intervened. "So scientists don't try to dissect his brain or anything to find out."

"Besides, not like that matters," Joey said. "I just need to control it, not understand it."

"How should I know what makes it happen?" Joey said, somewhat crossly, which was unusual for him. "Do you know what makes you paint so good, or what makes you glow? It's just an aspect of me like anything else. There's no 'what makes me' good at drawing or anything, so why should there be one for vanishing?"

"Can't you guys help me at all?" Joey begged. "I mean, covering for me is nice, but I want to be able to not vanish randomly, and be there when I want to be there, 'cause now that I know what causes everyone to think I'm skipping, I don't want them to keep thinking badly of me."

Electro paused to unravel what Joey had just said. "So, you want to control your - vanishing?"

"Yeah. Of course I do!"

"They'd take you away, too, if they knew about your - you know - glowing," Electro said lamely. "So lets just keep everything about - um - this secret, just between us. Okay?"

"Not like they'd believe us anyway," Joey muttered, but he nodded assent.

Joey sniffed. "How should I know? It would be nice if you guys could cover for me when I disappear, though, and when the teachers think I'm cheating."

"Hold on," Electro said. "We can't tell anybody about this. If people found out Joey could turn invisible, they'd probably take him away to a lab or something. You too, Saffy," he added.

"I guess," Joey said quietly. He had stopped crying except for the occasional tear that dripped of his face onto his folded hands.

"I know. I've seen them beating up other kids..." Joey said.

"Beating up other kids? Didn't they beat you up?" Electro asked with a frown. Come to think of it, I've never seen Joey being bullied... or even injured from a fight. Electro himself had been bullied until an incident one particularly unfortunate boy. After that, everyone called the bully "Scorchy" and no one ever bothered Electro.

"Well... they'd act like they were going to... then they'd think I'd gotten away, so they wouldn't hurt me 'cause they couldn't find me. I would get away before people started noticing me again."

"Never!" Joey said fervently. "I like going to school and going to class. Except, now I don't 'cause of all the... uh..." he looked at Electro and Saffy embarrassedly. "...Bad kids."

"Of course I could see myself," Joey said. "I don't disappear, or vanish, or whatever. People just think I do."

Joey shook his head. "I don't know quite what you're talking about... all I know is that sometimes people will seem not to see me, hear me, or notice me at all. It's been happening a lot more than it usually does lately..."

"Depends on what you mean by 'this,' " Joey said tearily.

((Good god, how many ways can I and how many times am I going to say Joey's crying??))

"Joey! You're here again~" Electro stopped mid-sentence at the anguished look in Joey's tear-swollen eyes. He looked at Joey, then at Saffy, then at Noel. He sighed. Then he walked across the room and shut the door. "Totally breaking dorm rules here, but who cares."

"Why are you shutting the door...?" Joey asked warily, sniffing.

"So we can talk in private," Electro replied shortly.

"Saffy... are you okay?" Electro got up and tentatively put a hand on Saffy's shoulder, then pulled it back as her hair crackled and rose. Silently he cursed. Now I have to go generating static electricity, too?? As if normal electricity wasn't bad enough!

Joey was startled and a little scared to see Saffy's eyes shining. "S-Saffy," he stammered, forgetting for a second his unnoticeability. "What's happening?"

((You can have Joey reappear any time you want...))

"You're being awfully calm about this," Joey said, still through tears but sounding more surprised than upset. He watched Electro's eyes carefully for a sign when he returned to visibility. "The first time anyone's ever noticed that I don't skip class, that there's not a logical explanation for my disappearance. Everyone's always said that I must have gone somewhere, or hidden, never that I disappeared. And now you're saying I just vanished, like magic! I don't know what to believe." Joey didn't mind rambling out loud like this; he knew no one would hear him anyway.

"Oh," Electro said. He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to briefly crackle with electricity. Then he sat awkwardly down on a chair. "Well, I guess we'll just wait for him to show up..."