Forlornly, Jasper stared at his reflection in a foggy bathroom mirror. His dark braids were neatly aligned, framing his strong features in a rain of red and silver beads. One copper-skinned hand was clutching a dirty magazine found under his guardian’s bed, while the index finger of the other was tucked away in the electrical socket, taking in the strong electrical current that served as breakfast. His eyes glanced to the male anatomy featured prominently in the magazine centerfold, splayed out across three glossy pages like some monolithic masterpiece. They returned momentarily to his own, nonexistent lower half.
He sighed.
The frei put the magazine down and irritably pulled his finger from the socket. Piece by piece, he removed his jewelry from the vanity surface. It was becoming a ritual of sorts, sliding the arm bands into place, settling the heavy metal serpent upon his brow. While he didn’t sleep in the conventional manner, it was still necessary to remove the pieces each night to give himself some “breathing room”. The adornments served more than simply a cosmetic purpose; they grounded the electric current than ran through him like blood, turning what would have been a possibly lethal electrocution into a gently tingling sensation whenever he touched someone.
Not that that had stopped his guardian from wearing rubber gloves whenever he happened to be home.
Perhaps that was why it came as no shock when Jasper emerged into the kitchen, where Stae sat at the table, gloved to the elbow in a pair of bright yellow kitchen gloves. The dark circles that perpetually ringed her eyes were masked by a pair of dark shades, though he could see her blue eyes over the rim as they lifted to greet him.
“Sup, Pikachu,” She called in a hoarse voice, kicking out the chair across from her and scooping another mouthful of Cookie Crisp into her mouth. The relevance of the nickname was lost on Jasper, but he nevertheless floated across the kitchen and settled onto the chair, hovering a foot or so above the flowered cushion on its seat.
“I got you a present.” Stae said around a mouthful of cereal, smiling proudly as Jasper raised one dark brow in curiosity.
“It’s not another pair of pants, is it?” He didn’t bother to hide a hint of loathing from his voice, crossing his arms over the table and setting his chin down upon them. His guardian had been developing a nasty habit lately of buying him gifts which reminded him continuously of his lack of a lower body.
“What, you didn’t like the golashes I bought you?” She sprayed bits of cereal and milk as she snorted out a laugh, “No, no,” she amended quickly, “Nothing like that. Here.”
She slid something small across the surface of the glossy table, and Jasper let it come to an abrupt halt beneath his palm. He turned his gaze downward with curiosity as he lifted his hand from atop the suspicious gift. It looked like a long, while plastic tube, rectangular in shape and topped with the smiling, yellow-painted head of what Jasper could only assume was some type of rodent. He cast a doubtful glance from the rodent’s wide, happy face to his guardian, his expression clearly on of confusion.
“Uh… thanks?”
“It’s a Pikachu Pez dispenser,” Stae said, as though that much should be obvious.
“Uh... thanks?” Jasper repeated, turning the plastic object over in his hands. It seemed strangely heavy.
Stae sighed, reaching across the table to pull back on the rodent’s long, pointed yellow head. From the joint where its neck met the plastic, a small silver circle slid out. Jasper recognized it immediately as a small hearing aid battery, similar to the ones he had once found stashed away in the kitchen junk drawer. It would have been a strange gift, if not for the fact that he had soon discovered that the batteries provided a portable source of electrical energy for consumption.
“I know you’re not always gonna be sitting here at home all day, so I thought this might help.” She looked at him with a hopeful smile as she settled back into her chair, pushing her sunglasses higher up onto the brim of her nose. Her smile widened as Jasper pinched the battery out of the joint, letting the yellow plastic head snap back down into it’s original position. He popped the battery into his mouth like a breath mint. It popped and fizzled, sending a satisfactory jolt of electricity through him.
“Wow..” Jasper mumbled, smiling back, “You actually did something.. motherly. Oh god. You’re dying, aren’t you?” Jasper’s eyes widened, and he just barely ducked as the half-full bowl of cereal came flying through the space where his head had been.
Reply
