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Jay had felt it coming. The night before he could feel his throat getting sorer and he could feel the congestion in his nose. He took some vitamins and drank some orange juice, but the moment he woke up he knew he was sick. Well, He thought, At least I could stay home today. He went to the bathroom to relieve himself and as he was washing his hands he sneezed. Normally this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but today Jay felt the floor around his feet vibrate as he sneezed. Jay, in a panic, grabbed a hold of his nose. He had been sick before, but his sneezes had never actually triggered his abilities. The vibration was subtle. Inside the bathroom it was fine because there was nothing that could really wobble there, but walking near a chair or a table was going to be a problem.

“Jay!” His mother called, “Breakfast!”

Jay’s eyes widened with panic. What was he going to do. He couldn’t just skip off on breakfast and he couldn’t stay home sick because his mother might take notice. He stood there with his soaked hand holding his nose shut. The only noise in the bathroom was the water washing down the cream colored sink.

“Jay! Your breakfast is getting cold!”

His mother’s call snapped him back into reality. Jay was still standing in his blue and cream bathroom with the water running. He had to get out of there and go somewhere safe. Clarence was the first to come to mind. Jay knew Clarence would help him. Jay turned off the water, washed up and got dressed as quickly as possible. He grabbed his backpack and was about go up when he let out another sneeze. He could feel the vibrations around his feet once more and sighed. He had to get out of there quick.

He made his way upstairs and was greeted by his mother. She was a thin woman. Her hairs were starting to grey, but she didn’t feel the need to dye her hair to it’s original color. She said she should be proud of her age not ashamed of it. Jays brother and sister were in the kitchen. His sister, Lea, was fiddling with her hair obviously more concerned with how she looked than eating her breakfast. His little brother, Kevin, was trying to do the maze in the back of his cereal box while stuffing apple jacks into his mouth. He wasn’t fully successful in either thing. Jay’s mother smiled at him warmly as he walked into the kitchen, but her smiled quickly turned into a frown.

"Oh, honey!" Deb immediately had Jay back up, supporting him, "It's ok. Come lie down. Oh, you poor baby! Cla--Oh, you're so hot! Why aren't you home?" The rumble under Deb's feet hadn't missed her attention by any stretch, but she had a one-track mind in a lot of ways. He was sick, he should be in bed, not here! "Come on, sweetheart. I don't know, maybe I should find my thermometer."

"What is the boy doing here?" Clarence asked from the door. He was still in his pajamas and hadn't shaved, making him look entirely geeky and lazy next to the rest of his appearance.

"He hasn't said!"

"Well, be quiet and let him speak. What's wrong, Jay?" Clarence was concerned too. He came up and took the crumbled toast out of Jay's hand, replacing it with a napkin Clarence had had in his for some reason. Deb rushed out to do whatever she thought was necessary for the teenager.

Clarence considered Jay with something of bemusement and annoyance mixed together. He turned around, "Deb, a simple glass of orange juice would do."

He turned back to move the coffee table away from the chair. "Well, son, let's think about this. This doesn't seem to be so dangerous. Is there a medium that slows your waves down? Air prevents that," He half-smiled, amusement still clear, and annoyance disappearing into the business-like attitude he could often take, "But I don't think you want to have your feet in the air all day. Hmm, when you sneeze, do you feel a build up in powers, or just normally like you would at your nose? Perhaps you could hold it, like you would hold a sneeze, or maybe you can make it absorb up your legs and away from your skin instead of outwards."

He was spewing out ideas now, trying to help him. Now Deb swooped in.

"Or PERHAPS he could just go to sleep and drink lots of liquids and take this -- it's a vitamin mixture, sweetie -- and get better, then he'll be FINE." She elbowed Clarence and knelt down beside Jeff, handing him the drink with Airborne tablet dissolved in it, "You can rest here today, and I'll take care of you." She soothed.

"You're not a bother to us! Don't you ever think that!" Deb immediately scolded, "You will stay here and rest, and I don't want to hear any of that nonsense of your being a bother." She elbowed Clarence, glaring at him, "You could try to be a little more welcoming."

"He didn't come to be welcomed. He came with a problem, and he wants it fixed. I'm trying to help him." Annoyance did seep out a little to Deb, but wasn't so prominent when he turned back to Jay, "You're not a bother, son. Let's just see what we can do so you don't have to hide away here and worry your parents while you're sick." But he didn't suggest anything more. He didn't think Jay had had a chance to really digest his earlier suggestions, and Clarence almost always softened a bit when Deb was around to remind him to take the rough edges off his general mannerisms.

Clarence didn't get another word in, because Deb ordered Jay up out of bed and began to drag him off to where he could sleep...And ordered him to do just that. She wasn't going to let Clarence speak with him until he didn't look like the grim reaper himself! She gave him a bell to ring if he'd need it then disappeared out the door. Oh, the poor boy!

OOC: =P Skip to where he's not dead on his feet. You do that... a few hours of rest maybe? Your call.

"In the living room!" Clarence called out, it was where he'd be sitting reading a newspaper, "Feeling better? You're in luck, Deb isn't here to strangle you. She went out to go buy out the pharmacy or some nonsense like that. Stop rumbling my house and start thinking about what you're doing."

It was a usual gruff response from him, though it wouldn't have taken Jay anything to have already figured out that Clarence would be up in a moment to attend to the teenager if he thought something needed attention then and there.

OOC: Actually, if you had read my post closely, Clarence stayed where he was and called Jay to him. wink It's not exactly in C's personality to go hunting when what he wants can be brought/can bring itself to him. I know it's nitpicky, but details are important to pay attention to, especially when we get to fighting.

And. *bows* My apologies if I was not clear enough. I know I can be bad about not spelling out what I mean quite frequently. It's one of my greatest writing errors.

That being said, I'll assume that Jay misunderstood him and Clarence will go looking since he didn't come right out.


"You know," Clarence appeared in the doorway some moments after that, "Deb and I long ago realized not to keep anything that we valued near us. Eventually, we just stopped valuing things. Why not try to get rid of all that seismic energy of yours next sneeze and just let it go completely? We could move outside away from the foundations of the house if that would make you feel better and safer."

He pushed his glasses up on his face. As he stood there, ill-postured and speaking in his most humble-geek of voices, Jay would know that he really didn't care either way what was decided. It was just a suggestion. But, then, it was often hard to know when Clarence would leave the realms of geeky to commanding. He could change in a blink.