Starring:
Date: November 20, 2009
Summary:
Jamie and Micah meet, and discuss some unusual ideas.
"Why Keep It Secret?"
Coat Closet, Orphanage, Germany
Sitting in a small coat closet in the orphanage, Micah is working at his laptop despite his warnings from Charlotte about keeping her in the loop. He's holding it, his eyes are closed, and he's reading Bobby's blog— as per Robin's recommendation. With a deep breath he begins to type something rather than just connect with it, "Is it worth exposing a giant secret … would people panic or help us…?" He frowns.
Chores. Something Jamie hasn't had to do since the carnival. Still, she hasn't voiced any complaint, even if she hasn't been quite as cheerful during chore sessions as she usually is before and after them. In any case, she's just coming back from doing outside chores right now, still dirty from working, pulling off her coat as she pulls open the closet door. She stops on seeing someone inside, though, and blinks, "What're you doing in here?"
Startled, Micah jumps a bit at the voice of another. He breathes a little easier when he sees it's not Charlotte. "Uh— " is his very eloquent response. "I… um…" He glances at the laptop and then back at Jamie. "I just …" Frown. "I'm doing something Charlotte doesn't want me to," he finally admits after running a hand through his very matted curls. "Please don't tell… it's like… a secret…"
An odd look flashes across Jamie's face at the mention of it being a secret, a nervous look. But it passes quickly, and she says, "Oh, ok, promise!" She hangs her coat up and then closes the closet door, and moves to sit down by Micah. "What're you doing that she didn't want you to?"
"I'm helping people like us fight the government," Micah grins at her as he slides a bit to give her room to sit down should she choose to do so. "I think we need a new strategy. The problem is people don't know what's going on. I'm pretty sure that everyone wouldn't have been okay with you getting locked up. Or me, for that matter. Or Cam. Or Molly. They just… they don't know about it…" He frowns a bit as he directs her attention to her, "The thing is, if they did, how could we keep ourselves secret? Could we?"
Jamie does, indeed, sit beside Micah, smiling. She considers his words, and says, "Why keep it secret? Lotsa people know about me. Only Joe's gang, they got me to help them break into places to steal stuff, and those guys that captured us, they're the only ones that've been mean about it. Even changed in front of my whole class at school once. Only one boy figured out what happened, but he ended up my best friend until I had to move."
"So… do you think we need to go in the open so everyone knows?" Micah quirks an eyebrow as he tilts his head. "I have an idea… like going public or something. Telling people we exist… but then… would people be afraid of us?" He frowns a bit as he leans against the wall. "And I like hiding. You know?"
Jamie considers that, and then shrugs a little. "Nobody's ever been scared of me. But guess turning into water isn't very scary. Someone like Merrick? Bet people might be scared of him." Hugging her knees to her chest, she says, "I hate hiding. Miss being in front of an audience."
"What kind of audience were you in front of?" Micah quirks as he grins just a bit. "I talk to technology…" Pause. "Do you think people would be scared of me?" He wrinkles his nose. "I bet my hair's too curly to be scary," he offers her a large toothy grin. "Maybe we should think about just being in the open. I mean at least then people can see what's being done to us…" He pauses. "A guy I met on the internet agreed we need to get the word out, and mentioned a blog, but… I don't think it's accessed by enough people to make a real difference. And blogging kind of has this whole conspiracy-theorist appeal already…" He smirks.
Jamie smiles again at the question, brightening at the mere memory, "I was an acrobat! In the Clancy Carnival. My mom was the star acrobat, my dad owned it." Then she considers Micah a moment before she shakes her head quickly again, grinning, "Nope, don't think so." Then she asks, "If you can talk to machines, can you tell them to tell each other to all look at that..um.. blog?"
Micah hmmms as he considers this option. "That might work. Maybe," he bites his bottom lip as he rests his head against the back wall. "I was thinking of making a video, but… I like being me. If I'm in a video then… then people will know what I look like. Right now I'm just Micah Sanders, ordinary kid." He shrugs. "So was being an acrobat fun? I bet it would've been really awesome!" He grins at her.
Jamie smiles then and says, "You can make a video of me, turning into water! I wouldn't mind." The mischievious look on her face also makes it obvious she knows she'll get in trouble for it, but at that moment at least doesn't seem to care. Then to the question she nods emphatically, grinning, "Best fun there is! I can do more now than I could back then too, never stopped practicing, but just don't got an audience."
Micah grins, "Well I was thinking more about letting the American people know what's going on with stuff… like telling them that the government is after people who are different…" He tilts his head at her and offers her that same toothy grin. "Do they need to know that we have abilities or just that we're different, do you think?"
Jamie blinks, "Oh." She looks down at her hands and says, "Well, if you don't say how we're different, will they believe it? It'll just make them ask anyway, won't it? So they'll probably find out anyway even if you don't say why we're different."
Micah hmmms. "I guess you're right." He studies Jamie for several moments before tilting his head, "Would you want that kind of notoriety? I mean for people to know you can turn into water at will?"
Jamie nods emphatically to that and says, "Sure! That'd be amazing. So I can be me, without adults telling me to keep it secret all the time. I can't keep its secret good anyway. Happens by accident sometimes, whenever I hear something that sounds like a gun. I don't like guns. Or when I'm falling from somewhere high. Keeping it secret, I probably couldn't be an acrobat anymore, not in a show. Even if I fell into a net, I'd probably still change, and the whole audience'd see."
"I guess there's something to be said for being able to be use your ability without secrecy!" Micah's lips curl into a smile. "You do know that we'll probably be killed for this, right? Like someone in here will kill us both… but then… the government won't be able to touch you either, will they?" His brown eyes twinkle mischievously.
Jamie nods emphatically and giggles a little, "It's ok. I get in trouble *all* the time. Might as well actually mean to do bad this time! And it's good bad, 'cause it'll be helping people like us." She grins and asks, "When do we do it?"
Micah arches his eyebrows at Jamie, impressed that she's so willing to do this. "Alright… I need to get some things together first. Make sure my equipment works… but… tomorrow? Does that sound good? I need to do some work to get the computers connected together." There's another pause. "I don't even know your name…"
Jamie nods quickly and grins, "Yep! Just make sure you got an area that's waterproof. 'Cause, I kinda spash when I change. Can't stay in control very good when I change, so I sorta just *sploosh* out," waving her hands to demonstrate. Then she grins and answers, "I'm Jamie."
"I'm Micah," he smiles as he introduces himself. "Well I look forward to seeing your gift in action! I'm very excited to see it! My mom she was super strong. And my dad he walked through walls. And my brother… he can freeze things… I just talk to technology. No razzle dazzle there." He smiles.
Jamie shrugs a little and says, "I bet you could! Bet you could make machines do all sorts of cool stuff. Maybe even make a car drive you by itself!" She grins and then climbs back to her feet, "Can't wait for tomorrow!"