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 Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:15 am
"We have until we're 80," he assured her in a rare moment of optimism.
As he detangled his hand from her hair, he considered her question. "Not before," Jack answered, gaze listing towards the light curtain of rain. "I had no reason to leave." If anything, he had a purpose on the island, beyond just work: letting himself slowly spiral into something self-destructive just to feel alive.
"Now?" Now was very different, but the answer still gave him pause. As per usual, he was thinking of all the details, the logic and the consequences, the many scenarios. "Everything that I've done, everything that's happened to me, to us...Running away would negate some of it, but that'd be our life. Always running, always in danger." The life at Deus without the comfort of a stable(ish) home.
"But if we could run without any consequences? ...I'd go, if that's what you wanted."
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 11:20 am
"Well yeah," she agreed quietly, "If we ran we'd just get hunted down. S'not an option. I just mean like ... what if."
She took a moment to really think about what he meant. Throwing away all of his progress at Deus for her was enormous, and it hurt her chest a little bit to think he'd sacrifice potential. She remembered a conversation with Evan so long ago; this was what begot love. But that was wrong, wasn't it? It just hurt in different ways.
"What would you do? F'we were outta the cage."
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 6:11 pm
"Hmm..." He tried to put aside the logistics that had plagued him earlier. "Well, I'll pretend we still have the money from Deus. We could go wherever we wanted. I'd guess we can't go anywhere it snows," Jack said with a small sidelong grin. "I'd...s**t, dunno. College seems pointless. Guess we'd worry about a place to stay first and then just go from there."
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 6:15 pm
"Naw I want a lot of sun. But not too much 'cause I sunburn like a ********' tomato." Which he knew from one of their past excursions to the beach. Chel was surprisingly fragile when it came to the elements.
Jack's answer meant a lot more to her than she let on. "Me and Chris used t'argue 'bout that," she said quietly. "I just wanted out. Shitty apartment, sleezetown f'we had to. He always talked 'bout makin' more of himself though. Army an' all that." Honestly at this point she couldn't remember what the arguing had been about. It was all a blur of yelling at this point.
"Why not college?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2016 6:51 pm
"It'd feel too mundane, I guess, is the best way to describe it. My head's crammed with runic s**t and the stuff I'm studying now, and just pushing that all back to go back to..." It was hard to explain: not that he would have disliked studying his old majors, but with the context hunters had of the world, it seemed so minute in comparison.
"What would you do?" Jack asked.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:20 am
"You could start a band f'you could stand anyone fer more than two seconds," she suggested with a sideways smile, always one to poke fun at his inability to befriend others.
As for what she would do- "Probably follow you around." But not meant lovingly. Seriously. Chel had an inability to see herself doing anything that wasn't chasing at another person's heels; it was probably why Chris' abandonment had hurt so much. Without Chris to kick around, there was no future. Deus had just been another set of feet.
"Marry you legally too." The important things.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:29 am
Both were good suggestions, though he made a face at the first just to be contrary. "Maybe I could stand people if they weren't morons half the time," Jack countered. Deus or the "real world", some things never really changed.
"You've got a good eye for makeup. There's got to be a job you could use with that. Hair stylist too."
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:39 am
Chel made a soft noise of disapproval. "Mall Hair Stylist" wasn't exactly a prestigious title next to what would surely be a long list of awards and names for Jack. She almost felt bad for this supposed Chel.
"It'd be nice," she said, burying her face in his shoulder. "No borrowed time."
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 12:53 am
A kiss was planted in her hair before he leaned his head against hers. "We'll even have stupid amounts of paperwork still," Jack assured her with a smirk in his voice. "Bills, taxes, rent or mortgage...Get a kid, try not to ******** it up, ******** it up at least a little anyway because that's requisite for parenthood." At least, as far as he was concerned. "You'll have a s**t ton of connections in no time, that's just how you operate. Some job will pop up from there. Deus money is more than enough to hire a babysitter until we're on our feet..."
Even in the hypothetical, he had to think of plans.
"Get a tv and computer and ******** wi-fi, not some god damn intranet s**t. And cable, Jesus Christ." He paused. "Our weapons?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:54 am
The more Jack talked the more Chel found herself tearing up. It was the first time she'd cried during this whole ordeal; she couldn't cry in front of people at a wedding from happiness, no tears in the cafe as they'd talked with overwhelming affection, but now that they were alone and Jack was describing their fantasy life (which was ironically a complete mundane life) she found herself overwhelmed by the idea that she and he could have been something more.
And goddammit it was upsetting.
She wanted it so badly. She wanted it more than anything and now she knew a bit why Arwen had sacrificed her immortality for Aragorn. Except Chel couldn't throw hunterdom away and somehow she had landed back in square one: no choice and the threat of death constant.
At least she had a shoulder to cry into this time. "M'not leavin' Owain," she said, still at a point where she could talk. "Paperwork's all yours." Chel was very much the person who tried to play it cool even right before she was going to sob.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:40 am
Jack squeezed her to his side and wondered: Should he keep going? He wasn't sure if those were tears of happiness, sadness, or just the accumulation of everything that had happened in the last two days.
"Kid's name is Owen since that's close enough," he hedged. "Owen Hawthorn." And for once, the golden prospect of this life started to creep in like a snake, slow and cold. It had never bothered him before how much they were missing out on—most of the things he had described would have been forced on him anyway, and he had resented his parents for it; nor had he considered a child as a gift rather than one more burden to add to it. But seeing the way it affected Chel, knowing that this was what she wanted to badly and would never have...Maybe he should stop talking about it after all.
"Sorry," he muttered into her hair before kissing it.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 10:51 am
They were perhaps tears of all three kinds at once. It was cruel, but it was the kind of cruelty that only someone very in love could inflict. She shook her head; he had no reason to be sorry. He had never once been at the source of her frustrations. She hoped the motion was enough to communicate: not you, never you.
She squeezed him back and with the squeeze let out some of her remaining tears. For a few moments she simply allowed it to happen and let Jack absorb it the way he always did after nightmares and missions and happenings.
Owen.
"S'not fair," she told him, "Not fair that I find you halfway through hell 'nstead of either end."
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 1:54 pm
"I know. But." He continued to cradle her, lips partially touching her forehead as he spoke. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we're destined to see each other in whatever other worlds there are. And maybe it's just our s**t luck it has to be in places like this. But maybe that's exactly where we have to see each other--when we need the help."
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 4:21 pm
"S'not fair," she repeated quietly. "You don't even believe in fate y'big liar." She knew he was saying the words to satiate her though and it at least got her lips to twitch into a smile.
"Least I got you in this one." She tried to relent her grip only now realizing how tight it was. Her mind drifted to Mimsy and how she had been given a kid ... But this wasn't the kind of world Chel wanted to bring a kid into. They'd already missed their shot. Chel just hadn't realized she'd needed some time to mourn.
"Sorry," she muttered in return for the wet shoulder.
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Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2016 9:25 pm
Least I got you in this one. A positive sentiment, but a haunting one. Worse: You almost make me want to believe.
"S'fine." It was barely audible even over the light rain. "C'mere." Jack offered her a place in his lap again if she wanted to bury her face in his shirt. "Doesn't matter t'me if you make a mess, we both know your'e the one who's gonna be wearing it in the end."
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