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 Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:58 pm
She turned to Jack. "Head's up, she's going to call."
"No." He looked remarkably childish, like he was being told to drink something other than coffee. "I'm not in the mood."
"When's the last time you talked with her?"
He started to try and roll on his side in the cot, but Stormy put a gentle but firm hand on his arm and stopped him.
"It's been a while. Your friends are worried, and I think you can handle at least this for today. Part of your recovery process," she added with a smile. "Please?"
Jack gave her a grouchy look. "...Short call," he grumbled after a moment. "I'm serious about the headache, though."
"I'll see what I can find. Miss Alicia kinda wants you to suffer as much as possible," Stormy said with a wincing added to her smile.
When the phone began to ring, Stormy answered, "Hello! Here he is," and passed it on to Jack, who looked warily at the device before putting it to his ear.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:59 pm
"WHAT THE ******** IS WRONG WITH YOU."
Though it was a full blown yell, it came across the phone as tinny and smaller, undoubtedly. It still held the full force of her anger though.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:02 pm
"Jesus--" He nearly dropped the phone and only by dumb luck managed to catch it again before it fell to the floor. Stormy laughed a little, got up, and went in search of some pain pills.
"What're you ********' yelling at me for?" Jack grumbled, the phone now a few inches from his ear in case Chel started yelling again. It was clear from his voice that he was tired, raspy even.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:05 pm
There were so many things she wanted to say. So many things.
But it came down to, "Are you okay? Are you coming back soon?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:18 pm
He wondered if she had peppered his old phone with texts...That'd explain why she sounded angry at first. Jack rubbed his head with a sigh and impatiently said, "Fine. I friggen' told you I don't know. Probably another month now since the leader hates me."
(( You will be up in another day, )) Owain promised cheerfully.
"Maybe another week seriously, I dunno." His skin burned and itched at the idea of more time in the sun. It was bad enough he kept his eyes closed or behind sunglasses and goggles all the time now. "Why?" he asked with a forced sort of gloat. "Miss me that much?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:30 pm
Since Jack had been, well, dead, Chel had had a lot of time to think.
"Yeah." A beat. "Yeah, I did."
It all began to rattle off, she wasn't quite sure why. "Like-" there was a pause as she sat up in her bed. "Like I never have anyone to bug now. Plus I gave up on writing all my reports- I think on my desk somewhere-" She immediately stood up and there was a loud gasp, the sound of someone who hadn't moved in quite some time. A few clumsy steps and she began pushing trash off her desk (which she never used), and the reports revealed themselves, all dated for sometime in mid-August. "Ah! I found them. Oh! And I miss gossiping about stuff for your dumb files! And it's kind of nice when you do smile! It's fun making you smile it's like a challenge." She felt her own smile growing, somewhat childishly. "So yeah! Come home soon!"
She knew an insult was coming next, making fun of her for that strange enigma (to Jack) called emotions.
But it was nice knowing an insult was coming next.
Chel was also hungry.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:43 pm
It was soothing to hear someone admit it for once. Ian's texts had come while he was still jaded against the idea, but now they came back to him in the bits and pieces he remembered. He was missed. Maybe not just for the hole he left in his absence either.
It was still difficult to process. One phone call wasn't nearly enough, but Jack was glad she took some time up, fumbling on her end with papers and god only knew what else over there. It almost sounded like she had fallen at one point, and he couldn't help but snicker.
"Really, Craft? You're avoiding reports again?" he asked with the same old exasperation, but in truth Jack was smiling just a little bit. She'd called him a challenge, and that was perhaps the highest compliment he could be paid. "You're just turning into a lazy a** while I'm out, aren't you. I'm disappointed: you'd been making a little progress."
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:08 pm
His voice sounded so beat up. But it was still Jack's voice. It was alive.
"Heh ... I guess I did," she said, actually taking a good look at how much of a trashbin her room had become. "I'll fix it before you get back," she promised.
She already felt better having been granted a task. It was a direction. "What happened to you?" she asked in a softer voice. "I mean ... you didn't break your phone. You never do clumsy stuff like that. That's my job."
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:26 pm
"You better," he said seriously, reaching for his water bottle in his lap, "or it'll go in your file forever. Chelsea Craft is an incorrigible slob." Right next to Has horrible handwriting.
What happened, however, was more complicated. Jack took his time draining the bottle for the fifth time in two hours, spreading the water across his lips with his tongue, not minding for once as it dribbled down his neck; his skin protested the intrusion, but at least it helped keep him just that much cooler.
"Horseman," he said after a moment, carefully casual. "What else?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:29 pm
"You mean that isn't already in there? I'm not doing so badly then!" she laughed, utterly fascinated by the kindness (?) Jack was showing. She didn't mind it though. He could've yelled at her up and down the mountainside and she still would've been happy.
His description of what happened was very short. "Mm. 'I'm sorry' doesn't really cover it, but well ... yeah ..." She'd ask him for more detail when he was ready. She didn't want to press anything that had to do with the horsemen. "Would it be easier to text?" she asked, worried about the strain on his throat from talking. She wasn't sure how long he had.
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:39 pm
He sighed. "I wish, but my eyes are killing me right now. I'd be sending gibberish and we both can't be doing that. Just say what you need to say and expect more mmhmms or somethin'."
Beat.
"So Evan didn't murder you."
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:42 pm
"Ah ... I'll do most of the talking then! I'm good at that, remember?" she said. A tiny part of her wanted to see the gibberish though. Anything for blackmail later.
He brought up Evan and she froze. "Ah ... no." A pause. "We're not ... it didn't work out." She smiled and jokingly said, "Bet you're disappointed he didn't, huh?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:55 pm
He had been on what basically constituted a murder slab for god knew how long; the joke touched a nerve. "Why's everyone think I ********' want them dead?" Jack growled suddenly. Immediately he wished he hadn't as his throat began to burn, wincing as he swallowed.
He tossed the empty bottle away, opened his eyes, and scrounged for another one by his cot, every other movement making him twitch. "What happened?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:59 pm
Chel chuckled, happy to see Jack worked up a bit. "I guess I do have less use dead, right?" she answered, as though it was some kind of test. "Wait, that means you want me around!" she chirped in a dumb sort of way. "No take backs."
But then Jack shot back his own sting. "I sort of skipped duties that day I was texting you, and I guess he covered my shift for the pods and was pissed. So he came and took my phone and we just started arguing over-" She sighed somewhat heavily. "Over Shun. We made this deal-" She paused again. "You sure you're up for the whole story?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:02 pm
If his eyes hadn't gone through so much he would have rolled them. God damn it, Chel.
"Just talk," Jack ordered as he struggled to twist the cap of his bottle off. He was stuck in the room anyway, might as well find out what she'd done this time.
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