‘ i don’t need to tell anyone about that. practically the whole
ark knew. you had googly eyes even with your goggles on.
i’m sure she knew about it too. do you still like her? man,
you have to tell me these things. ‘
and just like that, already squinted eyes seemed to squint harder.
monty’s hands released the canteen of nearly deadly moonshine
before he was wiping at the corners of his mouth with the back
of his hands, gagging at the after taste, groaning about the
smack against his back. at least jasper knew what to do when a
person was choking. score one for goggles.
tingly ? his mind focused on how he was feeling. was anything
out of place? not feeling normal? he couldn’t tell just yet, but the
thought that something in that drink SHOULD be making him all
dizzy and tingly was alarm enough.
‘ what did you put in this stuff, jasper? why in the hell am
i supposed to be tingly? if this makes my body do weird
things, i swear —- i’m —- ‘
and just like that, he relaxed into it.
‘ oh. hmm, well – i am feeling something now. ‘
“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I don’t like her!” the gangly dealer said when his friend caught his breath again. An image of the younger Blake popped into his mind and his lips quirked up into a little half smile; the thought made him miss about half of what his partner in crime--and newest guinea pig--was saying. He caught the important parts, though, and couldn’t help but snarkily giggle at the thought that his new concentration of hooch would make someone’s body do weird things. Yep, Jasper Jordan, Super Hero Juice supplier. Nice ring to it.
He watched Monty’s shoulders loosen and the rest of his tensed muscles slowly release. Perfect!
“Remember those phosphorescent butterflies Octavia and Finn found one of our first nights here? Well, I followed a few of them during the day to study them and see if they had any properties we could use here at camp--medicinal, edible, whatever. Turns out, they aren’t always phosphorescent--like, sometimes, they fade and go out. Now, I thought this was just one of them dying, so I went over to pick it up to bring it back to camp to look at. But up she got and flew out of my hands, looking just as alive as ever--just brown, not blue and glowy. I followed her to see what she’d do, where she’d go. Wouldn’t ya know it, she went to the berries that caused the fear hallucinations! She ate the nectar, or so I’d assume, and started glowing again. Some chemical in their body transforms the hallucinogen in the berries into something that can actualy be used. Long story short, I brought a few back and figured out how to get that chemical out without killin them, and put it into moonshine. Now we can hallucinate without fear of... well, fear!”
His voice was animated with excitement, but he could see Monty’s eyes slowly glazing over. He probably hadn’t heard more than two sentences of what Jasper had said--or, if he did, he just wasn’t responding. Jasper was silent for a good two minutes, staring at Monty, before putting his hand in front of his friend’s eyes and snapping. “Mont? Y’in there?”