Good Eatin' with Jay

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[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

gurutamhas:

“Haha, well that sounds like a summer never to forget. I’‘m hoping my shapeshifter never turns into an elephant, I would be shaking.” he admitted. “I’ll probably end feeling sad at the end of camp having to leave them kids, so I’ll take my time nagging about their presence right now. Any more good mutant-kid-stories to share?”

Eats rubbed his chin trying to think of an animal that would frighten him...but honestly traditionally scary and spooky animals didn't bother him much after that summer with the spiders. "I suppose if they turned into a cow that would be pretty upsetting...I do eat a lot of beef. I'd at least feel the need to apologize." He laughed.

"I think so too...and I don't think you're 'nagging'...just blowing off steam...totally natural." He smiled and patted Guru on the back. "Feel free to come nag at me anytime." 

"And stories? Oh too... too many...way outweighing the bad stories...uhh" Eats tried to think of a specific story but it all just seems like a blur of good times. He snapped his fingers, "Oh when I was a camper here I did know a kid who could fly... and he actually took me up there" Eats pointed at they sky, "Of course it was cloudy so the normies couldn't see..." Eats blushed a bit at the memory which also was the prompt for his first real kiss. “Or there was the time there was this kid with this like natural...slime? He was getting picked on cause of his mutation.... so we got this amazingly long slip and slide...thing... stretched it from the staff house to the lake...and that kid flew! None of the other kids could go that fast. The other kids loved him after that...they started begging to go on the slide after him so they could use his...well his juice.”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

declancaster:

Declan had been doing very well, lately, as far as his rap sheet had been concerned. The joyride he’d taken in a stolen truck with a fellow Camp Somewhere employee was the most recent by several years, and Declan was honestly mostly just unimpressed with the fact that he hadn’t been privy to that information in the first place. Honestly, who had to ask if someone’s car was stolen before they got in it? This wasn’t the Bronx. She couldn’t drive, though. Damning. On top of being confronted for stealing said truck, it was revealed upon their return that her psychic brother was his former counselor, who went by Eats now and operated in the camp’s kitchen. That was a weird twist. Declan himself wasn’t too fond of it, and had taken to avoiding eating in the mess hall as much as possible. Most of his campers were amenable to it– Three and Five seemed especially fond of sneaking him food– so Declan really was prepared to avoid the kitchens as much as he could. His plan really seemed functional… for half a week. Upon reports that Six was intentionally drowning himself for monetary gain, Declan found himself at the docks, wondering how much he’d be able to threaten the little shit so that Bubbles wouldn’t have to put forth effort to save the kid who wasn’t going to die even if they left him at the bottom of the lake for, presumably, the rest of time. The arrival of camp cook and truck driver was unwelcome, and Declan felt a little like he used to before he’d cut and run from the police. One of his less-inventive friends had described it as a ‘trapped animal’ feeling. “Yeah, sure.” he answered, figuring Six could handle a couple minutes of awkward conversation, and possibly even come out of the lake just to watch. He had to figure nonchalance couldn’t hurt, as he hadn’t really done anything wrong when they last met. “What’s up?”

Eats saw Maverick squirm. It made Eats even more uncomfortable. He tried to take a very nonthreatening seat on the dock and motioned Maverick to sit next to him. He lightly punched his fist into his hand to avoid the job at hand. It wasn’t like he hadn’t dealt with this exact situation before – teens (and sometimes counselors) getting up to no good and running around flirting was pretty common at Camp Somewhere. He was usually better at this – ok maybe not better than say, Momma – but one of the parties involved wasn’t usually his sister. If he was being honest with himself, Eats didn’t really think about his sister much – at least not as an adult that dated men and stole cars.  When he really thought about Carol, it was her as a spunky ten year old in a cute pink bathing suit and bunny floaties doing choreographed swimming routines at the local pool or drawing princess pictures all over her bedroom in permanent marker. Thinking about Cat as a teenager in this situation and a way to resolve it...it was a lot to take in. Finally, he took a big breath, “Ok, look. So I know I haven’t seen you in a long time, but I know my sister and I know didn’t tell you she ‘borrowed’ my car keys – so anyways… I just wanted you to know I’m not mad if you thought I was mad…” He coughed then rubbed the back of his neck. “And uhh… if you wanna spend time with Cat, it’s none of my business.” He laughed awkwardly. “Wow. This is weird huh?” “Anyways, uhh… you probably want me to get going… I just don’t want things to be weird for no good reason cause I really would like to get to know you as you are now if I get the chance. Or at least see you around the cafeteria… Uhh… yea.” Eats nodded his head and got up to leave.

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

luc-severin:

He knew Eats. Or Luc knew he was the telepath in the kitchen. That seemed enough. An amicable distance had always been between them, but then again the same could be said for anyone at camp and Luc. Nothing personal. Luc still had a lot to prove– to himself mostly. One did not simply decide to turn over a new leaf overnight. No, a rot had been born in Luc that even a death didn’t initially shake loose. His form of cruelty had been more of an art than a personal defect. 

And it felt so good at the time. To return on the innocent horrors that lived under his own skin. To syphon from the guiltless (and honestly, sometimes those culpable too) a happiness he’d never truly been able to hang on to. It had also been fun, plain and simple. Sinfully so, energizing every nerve inside him to know he could make someone shiver with only a thought. 

He hadn’t counted on actually enjoying camp, or the previous unknown satisfaction of helping confused kids like himself curb the sense of isolation that underlined everything for Luc. Working at camp provided a freedom he’d never known. To try for something new, with everyone cheering you on. The camp was unique in that way. 

Even so– he doesn’t want his every fucking thought known. To anyone. No matter how mean of a mac and cheese they make. 

But Eats had a disarming smile, and he tried to remember that as goofy as Silver was (the hats, he uses hats as a celebratory prop) he also made a fair judge of character. Luc returned a grin, cupping his hands around a cup of coffee. 

‘’Eats. Good to see you. I do, I have an interesting group. No hygiene issues like last year, which is always a plus.’’ Half of Luc’s group last year had no idea of the importance of daily showers. ‘’One of the kids, Toli, can escape out of anything. Amazing. I asked if his parents gave up on grounding him when he gets into trouble and he just smiled.’’ It wasn’t fair to play favorites in terms of mutations, but come on. 

Eats smiled happily – glad to see Bale was giving a conversation a genuine effort, “Oh god, I remember that! I swear one of your kids was part onion! What was his name again?” “I don’t know if you know this, but when that kid got to the Institute – our head nurse Paul was having none of it. He threatened to chase the kid around the halls with a hose if he didn’t smarten up... We got him showering near the end...shame he couldn’t make it to camp this year.” Eats blushed a little after he said that. The chase Paul offered to give the kid was public knowledge, but it still felt a bit personal for him to share – Still Eats knew Bale cared about his kids and would enjoy knowing that this one eventually had a good outcome. Eats brightened as Bale spoke more about his kids. In a way, Eats would always regret choosing to be a cook over interacting with the kids directly as a counsellor – but the position was such a great way to keep younger mutants involved with the Institute after they graduated and had to decide what to do next. Plus it meant he get to hang out with his grown up campers which was another kind of fun. “Now that sounds like a fun mutation... So have you seen him in action? Oh! Oh!” Eats snapped his fingers as he thought of the possibilities, “An obstacle course! That would be great fun for a kid like that! Or the kids in general... And I could get Nancy to send some wood from the construction on the gym and...” Eats laughed again and ran his hands through his hair, “Sorry. My imagination’s running away from me. So tell me more about your group! They really do seem like a lot of fun.”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

alvasonn:

“Orange is reserved only for those who are in true need, anyhow,” Alva laughed. “You might look good with a nice green one or the like.” With that Alva waved Eats and little Lila off, making a mental note to buy a wider, preferably rainbow-colored, variety of bandaids for the next time. Eats would like them, she figured, as would the kids – and if she knew anything about how camps like this worked from the kids’ side of things, there’d soon be a trading market for the different colors.

She busied herself cleaning up after herself while she waited for Eats – there was that coffee cup (and yup, let’s change the probability of there being nice hot coffee in there to something more believeable), some loose bandages, a window that would look way better if it were open. Busywork. Nothing like her usual duties, and Alva was glad for it.

When Eats returned, Alva noted the bag in his hand with a raised eyebrow. “For me? Really?” She took the bag and opened it cautiously, gently pulling the prayer wheel up so she could examine it “I … Well. Thank you, Eats. I’ll have to read up on how to use it, but it will be a welcome addition to the clinic, and I’m sure the kids will love it.” Carefully Alva turned it over in her hands, admiring the beautiful workmanship – then, with a small grin, she teased, “Should I feel special that you’ve brought me a gift, huh? I kid, I kid, but you can’t complain when I get you something cool in return next time I’m abroad, yeah?”

Eats grinned broadly at Maybe’s welcome reaction. If he was being honest, he was a total addict for that kind of feedback – he supposed that was because gift giving was a lot like watching someone enjoying a good meal you cooked. Even if Eats wasn’t reading the gift receivers’ thoughts to feel their reaction, the body language people gave off was positive reinforcement enough – it was that feeling that had determined his career path after all.

Maybe then teased him about the gift giving being a special favour for her. He slapped his forehead and laughed, “Of course… I keep forgetting you haven’t been around many summers…I mean not that you’re not a very special to me…obviously… but you’ll find out if you stick around that I am sort of a habitual gift giver… I mean, clearly I don’t spend much money on my wardrobe.” Eats laughed again and pointed around the room. “I think you’ll find a lot of the weird things around the clinic were gifts for Boo over the years. I just didn’t get a chance to go anywhere interesting last year – way too busy – I was actually pretty lucky I could get away to camp.”

Eats then clapped his hands together, “And you better believe I will complain… kick and scream… the whole deal… especially if you bring me some kind of… new cooking utensil or spice for example…” Eats leaned on the counter, “So how has the first few days back been? Got your sweets all stocked up?”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

silver-the-somewhere-boy:

“Yeah,” Silver admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. “Thanks! I learned a bit about smelting and metalwork, and thought I’d try it out— those are actual twigs, underneath it all.” He was sort of ridiculously proud of that— finding a new, harmless use for his abilities had meant a lot. To make something that was purely decorative, just for the hell of it— he felt like he’d contributed to the world, instead of just changing what was already here.

Eats opened his bag, and began producing the gifts. With each one, Silver’s face lit up. He immediately was absorbed with the juggling sticks, and excited to see how it worked, but when Jay pulled out the bowl, he was entranced. “That’s amazing!” He tried it out immediately, forgetting he was going to leave a second earlier and sitting on the bed with the bowl in his lap. It produced a rich echoing sound, and he grinned. “It really does sing— thank you, it’s so great. Truly”

And then there was the hat— nearly identical to Silver’s. He stared at Eats with wide eyes. “Where… did you get… THAT!! Did you steal mine?”

“No way! You’ll have to show me how it works! I mean... um... If you feel comfortable of course.” Eats really was curious to see Silver trying out new limits on his powers. After all, he had spent years figuring out the variety that exists in telepathy -- But at the same time he would never as anyone to ‘perform’ with their powers if they weren’t comfortable - especially Silver.

Eats felt like his face was going to fall off from smiling as he watched Silver run the stick around the bowl to make that peaceful ringing sound. Eats tried his best to keep his emotions in check, though, just in case they ‘leaked’ out. That was the trouble with being a receiver and a sender... you could never be sure what people caught off of you when you felt a strong emotion.

When Silver made the comment about the hat, Eats hesitated with confusion. He really was tired and it made his thoughts feel glacial. Did he steal a hat and forget about it? He spoke slowly, working through his memories of the past couple of weeks, “I...uhh... picked it up at the airport...” Then the realization dawned on him, “Wait. Are you saying you have the same hat?”

Eats started to laugh, hard, but it was interrupted by a yawn and he suddenly felt off balance. It was if all that had kept him upright the past few hours was waiting to give Silver his gifts. Now it was done, Eats felt like the sleep of ages -- at the same time, it was hard to ask Silver to leave especially when what he’d really like right now is to curl up into bed with him. He shook those thoughts out of his head. His trip and dealing with Cat had made Eats feel very weak -- and when he felt weak, all he wanted to do was hold Silver -- but then tomorrow would come, and the next day -- and before he’d know it they’d end up in the same traps and Eat’s risk losing his closest and dearest friend again. And that was something he just couldn’t handle...

He smiled weakly, “I...uhh...should get to bed.” He shook his head happily, “I’m really glad I could see you tonight though... and get you your presents... I’ll see you tomorrow at the... uhh bonfire.”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

gurutamhas:

“Ha! Cursed then, one way or an other. There’s so much I still have to learn, but these kids are not taking it slowly, they’re like little doomsday devices ready to set off, little ticking time bombs.” 

“Hey... You wanna talk cursed and ticking time bombs? You weren’t here the year I was a Councillor for a girl who released psychokinetic spiders in her sleep and a trigger happy pyrokinetic. Spent a lot of the summer running between the clinic for burns or running through the forest with a giant ax at spiders made of energy... ”

“I think that was my toughest year here...but we figured it out in the end. And I still keep in touch with the kids from that summer... They turned out real great. Just really good kids.” He smiled broadly.

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

Eats ran through the ran to the lodge. By the time he got in he was soaked through. No one was around so he took off his shirt and squeezed what water he could out of his shirt into the sink then put it on the radiator. He then got out some of the beef he had forgot to defrost for tomorrow’s staff lunch. Not really in a rush to get back out into the torrent, he decided to make a cup of tea when he heard someone come into the room.  “Oh hey!”

Looking down at his bare torso, he blushed but then decided to roll with it, “Umm, I didn’t think anyone would be here this time of night...”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

It was a couple days after the incident with the car. Cat hadn’t pulled any major stunts yet since then  (that Eats was aware of) and had occasionally had started doing some of her work (even if it was clear that was mostly out of boredom). Cat had not talked to Eats about what had happened in the car with his former camper, but Eats wasn't sure he wanted to know – all he cared about was that she had at least understood ‘a’ The seriousness of a breach if she and Declan (now Maverick) had gotten into any trouble with the normals ‘b’ how to not take his truck without permission because he needed it to feed everyone. Eats’s had also tried a little bit to lecture her on the importance of respecting other people’s property – but it was pretty obvious that particular lecture was a decade too late. The kitchen work was starting to level out now Eats had caught up, though, so taking the time to keep a better eye on Cat was beginning to present itself. Eats didn’t even mind that he usually had to re-do her work – it was better than letting her run wild around the camp. Now all he had to deal with was Maverick.

Between his work and Maverick very clearly avoiding him, Eats hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to the poor kid at all. Eats’s didn’t even need to ask Maverick whose idea stealing the car had been – he knew his sister. It was always possible that the skinny rich kid he knew over a decade ago had grown up into a real heel, but voluntarily choosing to join the camp and council kids was more than Eats could ever see his sister doing. Not to mention, so far he had heard Maverick had been doing a decent job with his charges – maybe not a superstar, but no major incidents. Maverick had also apparently won over Books – which was practically a miracle in Eats’s eyes and spoke a lot to his character.

So today, now that he had some free time, Eats’s decided to find Maverick and hopefully clear the air. So Maverick was interested in his sister – that was fine (probably). It wasn’t something Eats was used to thinking about but – fine. Eats didn’t want something stupid like this cause the two of them to not talk this whole summer.  And who knew – maybe this new grown up Maverick was just the thing to straighten out his wild sister. Eats did his best to not think too hard about that... Eats finally found Maverick hanging around the docks. He could see Maverick starting to leave and so he tried to say quickly as he could, “Hey Maverick! Can we talk for a second? I swear I’m not as scary as I look.” @declancaster

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

cat-byrne-hashtag:

Cat laughed, “Oh dude. You have no idea… We should totally swap battle scars… like this isn’t even my best one… ” 

Cat would have kept talking, but then they pulled into the Lodge parking lot where Jay was standing - arms folded. He had that same look her parents would get - that “I’m not mad, just ‘disappointed’” look - even though they were actually just mad.

“Shit.” she said definitively, “You should probably peace out.”

As the car pulled into the parking lot, Eats went to the passenger side window and spoke across his sister’s open window to Declan. He tried to speak as sympathetically as he could through his annoyance with his sister. There was no way this was Declan’s fault. “Hi Declan. Nice to see you again... Do you mind if I speak to my sister real quick?”

He motioned to Cat to get out of the car, which she did reluctantly and they went off to talk in the lodge. He could see his sister give Declan a wink as they went.

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

gurutamhas:

Tamhas had a hard time listening to anyone when hungry, but he tried his best with Eats, who spun words like wool and allowed nothing to discourage his many words. He also imagined Eats in a tuxedo, kept a grin from his face, and took some cheese. 

‘Okay, okay, sounds helpful. Say, what do I do with… a kid that keeps on creating illusions, like of his fellow students… and scary animals? Or the girl that keeps on taking down trees? Because I think Leaf will hate me if I don’t come up with a way to avoid that fast. Or the girl that can walk through anything, because she keeps on disappearing on me, like standing in trees.’ Oh, how desperate he was. ‘There’s technically only… no wait, I also have the biting kid, who the others throw big fruits at just to see if he can bite them apart. So there’s so far the only kid I can handle is the one that keeps on flirting with me.’ He paused. ‘Am I doomed?’ he asked melodramatically. 

Eat laughed “Oh wow it sure sounds like you’ve got some live ones...”

“Like I said, you can’t know everything with mutant kids... but no...not doomed” He laughed again. “The best thing to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed like that is - well crowd source. You’re not alone here ya’know? We’re here...I’m here... and we all want to help.” He patted Guru on the back.

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

alvasonn:

Alva listened to Eats’ explanation, nodding at him and the girl in turn as he recounted the accident. “Oof, that sounds like a real adventure! Good on you for bringing her to me; I’ll get her all patched up and I can stock up your first aid kit as well.” Maybe she could pawn the spider off into Eats’ kit as well.

Now smiling, Alva turned to the little girl – Lila? – and produced a bright blue bandaid from one of her many coatpockets. “Lila, I’m Maybe. I can do this,” and Alva changed the probability of having pulled out an orange bandaid instead of a blue one in her favor, “but mainly I’m a doctor. So if anything else ever happens that hurts you come to me, yeah? And I’ll fix you right back up.”

With a snort Alva leaned i close to inspect Eats’ hair. “Don’t complain, they make you look distinguished and, ah,” she searched for words, then just gave up with a shrug. “I can put a bandaid on your hair if you want, but I don’t think it’s going to do you much good.”

Eats watched with admiration as Maybe displayed her powers  to the little Lila. There was a very slim chance that the little girl understood what Maybe’s powers actually were –  i.e. it was not the ability to make blue band aids into orange ones – but it was an entertaining display either way and that’s what was really important. Eats felt a lot more confident this repeat patient wouldn’t be fussy about seeing the doctor.

Eats laughed as Maybe offered to put a band aid into his hair, “I might be willing... but only a blue one. I don’t think orange matches my complexion.” Eats then turned to Lila, “So now we’re all patched up, shall I take you back to Momma?” The little girl nodded so Eats turned his back to her to offer her a ride. Lila jumped on obligingly. “I’ll go drop off our patient and then I’ll run back to get those supplies...” Before he went to leave, Eats stopped at the door, “Oh! And before I forget I got you a present too from Thailand... I’ll grab it on the way back.” 

Eats turned to his charge gripping onto his back and said, “Ok Lila, you ready to get back to Momma at SUPER SPEED?” Lila giggled in agreement. Eats ran quickly back to the lodge with Lila gripping hard to his back, still laughing. Eats adopted a bit of a gallop at one point and a sort of whinnying horse sound which made Lila giggle even harder – God he loved kids. It was totally acceptable to be a complete weirdo with them – encouraged even. Finally reaching the lodge, Eats discharged his ward to her flock with a hair tussle for a goodbye. She moaned a little, but soon got distracted by her friends giving Eats enough time to slip into the kitchen. Eats then grabbed Maybe’s present and headed back to the clinic.

“Sorry if that took too long...” He said as he walked in the door. Eats passed her the paper bag that contained the present. “Ok, so its sort of for you, but it’s also for the clinic... It’s a Tibetan prayer wheel. It’s supposed to ‘accumulate wisdom and good karma and to purify bad karma’... but whether you believe in that or not, I thought it would be kind of a fun thing for the kids to play with when they came to visit. This one is pretty sturdy so it should be able to take some punishment... and who knows... maybe it could at least be good for the placebo effect... And it kinda looks cool right?” He coughed. Again, like with Silver’s gift, the present had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it came to giving it, he felt a little embarrassed (if not for very different reasons)

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

gurutamhas:

Tamhas had been waiting for some quiet time, which was hard to get around these parts, and he knew that tomorrow he would have to sleep in a cabin together with Maverick on night duty for the same annoying kids. He was exhausted, but kept on trying to convince himself that as the weeks went on, he would make the kids so exhausted that they had little trouble making him exhausted as well. 

He looked up surprised when he saw Eats appearing near him. “Hey Jay,” he replied, sounding a little tired. “Fun? Ha!” he replied, as he skipped over the ‘how have you been question’. “Little devils they are!” he concluded with a harsh tone as he pushed Jay along towards the kitchen. He needed a snack of some kind. “I’ve spend the whole afternoon looking for one of them who turned herself into a useless toad. The one kid that’s invisible keeps on disappearing on me, but not because he feels like pranking me, but because he’s afraid of his fellow students. And I swear, next time I have to wash all my clothes because Slimy boy jumps in for a hug, I will stop wearing clothes at all!” 

Eats laughed as Tahmas pushed him towards the kitchen. Once again the kid had palpable waves of hunger hanging off him like a dark cloud – only now the gloom of frustration and exhaustion also hung about him as well – in short it was hard to not read Tahmas’s mood (especially since Tahmas was physically pushing him).  Before responding to any of  Tahmas’s complaints, Eats went to the fridge and pulled out some cut up cheese and some crackers from the cupboard – this was  an emergency after all. When Tahmas was finished his complaints, Eats put his hand to his chin and looked at the floor for a while, trying to figure out the best way to respond – the kid had a lot to learn about mutants, but Eats didn’t want to come off as preachy as after all – no one was really an expert at this kind of stuff. Finally he ran his hand through his hair and took a stab at it, “Damn. That does sound like a handful... I can see you’re feeling like your in a pretty big deep ended pool at the moment.” 

He took another breath, “Maybe it would help if I gave you a little background... I don’t know how much you know about all this but the Institute sees all kinds of kids and adults coming through... I mean, mutants are still a pretty invisible minority... which means a lot of us are at risk... a lot of the kids are runaways or from broken homes... even the lucky ones who have good parents – maybe even a supportive community – well the world at large isn’t kind to us. We’re all always at risk of exploitation or being targeted for unfounded fears and... And the Institute... well the Institute is a school. It adjusts every lesson every class to a seemingly infinite amount of mutations so that everyone gets a chance to learn – something a lot of us couldn’t get on the outside.” Eats broke into a big smile, “But that’s what makes this camp so special. This is one of the few times of year that those kids get to really open up and have fun – not just with other kids, but with their powers too. It’s a great place to learn what’s special about a very basic part of your identity as a mutant... even if your power isn’t something glamorous like flight or x-ray vision or whatever...” “So if a little girl likes to be a toad, get her some nice wet rocks to rest on... a kid feels self conscious so he goes invisible, leave an empty spot for him to join when he feels the space is welcoming... a slimy boy likes hugs... well... get some clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.” Eats pulled on his old t-shirt meaningfully, “You think I dress like this for fun? Heck no. If I could...it would be tuxedo’s everyday.” He coughed nervously, “God, I don’t want to sound like I know everything cause you just can’t with mutant kids, but I have been around for a while and... if I can help in any way I will... and if I sound like a total know it all... well... you can punch me in the arm real hard... but trust me when I say these kids will show you things you’d never see anywhere else on Earth if you let them... and ya know, I really think its worth it!”

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

It was Wednesday late after dinner and the kids had finally been put to bed (more or less). Eats took a big stretch in the evening air before. Another good day (Cat not withstanding). On his way back to the Staff House, he ran into Guru. Eats still felt a little embarrassed about how he had to literally walk out on their conversation the last time they met and hadn’t had a chance to catch up with him much since then. “Hey Tamhas! How have you been?” 

“How’s working with the kids? Not quite the same as working with normal’s huh.. for starters, much more fun” He laughed. @gurutamhas

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

It was a Thursday after lunch so Eats helped the Diamonds with their cleanup. As with all mutant kids, it was a little hard going seeing as every child at Camp Somewhere had quirks that could slow things down. Understanding whether the child with no face, for example, understood what instructions he was given was a bit of a crap shoot – but the cleanup was eventually achieved – a little early too. While the kids chatted and did kid things, Eats decided to use the slack to chat to Bale. 

Like most of the Councillors, Eats wouldn’t say he knew any of them well – and that was partially intentional. Eats never asked personal questions of anyone he met unless they volunteered the information, and he never offered details about himself. About the only person who knew everything about him – and who he felt he knew everything about – was Silver (and he had almost completely messed that up) and maybe Nancy back at the Institute. It was hard going to balance being a private telepath, but Eats always wanted to project at least the intention that he wasn’t interested in reading anyone with out their permission – whether they believed him or not. 

Eats had gotten over reading people when he was young very quickly. It almost always resulted in knowing more than you needed to know and made conversation utterly boring – not to mention lonely. The flip side was of course, that people tended to keep things very superficially friendly with Eats (especially as a known telepath), but to him it was still the far superior choice. Bale, however, was similar to Books in that Eats knew he suspected Eats was reading him anyways – no mater what Eats said. It was frustrating, but at least Bale would at least attempt friendly conversation with Eats and hadn’t rejected him outright the first day they met – at least Eats felt like there was a chance some semblance of friendship could occur between them – and that was something. Not to mention that even a non-telepath could tell that Bale loved working with kids – which is something they had in common in spades. “Hey Bale. So how’s the first week going. Looks like you’ve got a great group this year!” Eats said with a smile. @luc-severin

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

gurutamhas:

“I’m an art teacher, and I work at the supermarket,” Tamhas explained. “It’s one of those little beasts with fluffy hair, I have no clue what it’s called, but it’s cute.” He had to admit to that. He stopped noticing he was mostly talking about himself, but the way Eats asked questions drove him to forget what his sisters was always trying to make him remember. 

“I’ll keep you posted,” he promised with the slightest smile. First week of camp and he had already made an appointment for after the summer. Was he getting better at this whole social thing? He smiled further. “yes, I draw, And I guess you’re right, the company is much more important than where you end up.” 

He was surprised when Eats suddenly had other things to do, and he didn’t know what the reason was, what drove him to give up on tea. How could anyone? “Oh, no, sure, not a problem. I’ll see you later then. Might be I’ve already left with the tea,” he said with a small grin, and watched Eats leave as he started the hot water. 

The end. 

[bibi-jane-sizzler]

Having a Mallow Time

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

bibi-jane-sizzler:

Eats seemed grateful for the change of subject, he didn’t waste too many words on her from then on, and she would have to find out about Eats’ sister by herself. Couldn’t be hard, if she looked anything like Eats, or she would just have to go to the kitchen. 

“They’re going to have lots of arts and crafts, which is amazing!” She said filled with enthousiasme. “I got some scraps thanks to Books from the nearest dump, and I brought some stuff of my own, so what I’m planning is having all of them creating their own little robots, or more than one of course, and then I’ll hide them all over the forest, and we’ll have a big search finding them, but they can only find their own.” She was still thinking about the final part of the plan, but luckily, she could change it all if she wanted too. “And you, have any awesome recipes lying around?” 

“That sounds just great. I might pop in and have to make a little robot myself - just a little one - only to help around the kitchen of course.”

“Now, Miss Jane. Why ask a question to which you already know the answer...” He laughed. “I’m gonna go grab another drink... I’ll get you one as well... I need to hear more about these robots.” 

Eats got up and headed towards the drinks, eager to get back to her. Talking to Sizzler had been a great distraction on possibly the most depressing night of the year. He grabbed the drinks and Sizzler and he talked long into the night about many things - but nothing of importance... which may have been the best gift he had received all week.

The End.

[jay-byrne-eats-blog]

silver-the-somewhere-boy:

He shared Eat’s laugh with a softer hint of reluctance— ‘cause it wasn’t like he’d ever been much good at being the disciplinarian. Both he and Eats probably fell on the ‘soft touch’ side of the spectrum. Which was normally okay, because they had Books more than handling the other side. But Silver knew she wished he sometimes had more backbone, and so maybe he’d try a little harder, with Cat and anything else that might crop up this year… He was thinking about that, and trying not to shift his feet awkwardly when talk of the bonfire stirred up memories— cedar smoke and starlight and warm lips curved in smiles between kisses— and then he snapped out of it, grew quickly embarrassed, guessing that Jay probably picked up on some of that. 

And then he realized what had been said, and rushed into the new topic to cover up his mental slip-up. “Oh, right! You brought, um… a lot of things back, this time? You—you didn’t have to, I kind of cheaped out on the welcome-home ones this year, yours is already in the kitchen—” he said quickly, trying to cover that he’d basically done the same thing for most of his close friends—metalwork on pre-existing things had fascinated him. Though in Eats’ case, it was always food-themed, anyway

“Were they those spoons I found in the cutlery drawer? I thought they looked new... they’re great! Just perfect!” He said smiling - and he meant it. It always made him happy to see Silver using his powers for fun and for the people he cared about. 

“And uh... don’t get too worried.. I didn’t spend to much money...” He lied. “And by present(s)... well they’re not all for you, but I got some stuff for the camp too I thought it would be cool to show you...” Which was only a partial lie. He had bought these things for Silver - but when he realized he had bought too much, he decided to re-purpose it. He couldn’t help it. So much of Thailand was so ‘Silvery.’

He knelt down and opened his duffel bag “Ok so these are for the kids...they’re for juggling! But uhh I’ll have to show you later how to do it... but its really cool!” He pulled out another object, “And this is for you. It’s called a ‘singing’ bowl. It’s a bowl... and it um... sings.. when you roll this stick around it goes ‘mmmmm’... but its also a bowl, so if you don’t like that you can just put cereal or soup in it..." Eats was suddenly not sure Silver would like it - even though it had seemed like the perfect thing at the time, now standing in front of Silver he had no idea. He coughed “And finally, ok this is for me but I gotta get your opinion on it.” He put it on “What do you think? Isn’t it the perfect summer hat ?”