Welcome to Gaia! ::

^_^

Jim realized that he'd read the same line three times and closed the book with a sigh. "Dad... can I do something for you?" The teen was fairly surprised that his father hadn't left trenches in the carpet where he'd been pacing restlessly for the last ten minutes. Before that Jen had been sitting at the desk riffling through paperwork, and before that he'd rearranged the books on the bookshelf several times.

"Hrm?" Jen turned to his son absently and thought for a second, before collapsing onto the sofa with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to interupt you. Whatcha reading?"

"Sci fi novel. What's wrong? You've been pacing and restless for days now." Jim set the book aside, deftly using the motion to also put aside any attempts his father might make at avoiding conversation. "Is it the island?"

Jen frowned and regarded the teenager before him with a stony eye. "Partially. And it's partially your sisters getting into all kinds of things as little kids do, and the fact that Gran is worried about Gus and Satou, and now there's Rusty and Booker living here too... It's just a lot." He stood and ruffled Jim's hair like only a father could, something that he knew only iritated Jim on a social level, and he walked to the door. "I'll leave you be and go find something else to keep me occupied."

Jim sighed to himself as his father left the room, but it wasn't long before he realized that he wasn't going to be able to concentrate... so he took himself off to the library of the house too look at other books.

~~~~~~

Several hours later, Jen was up on the roof of the building sitting with his back against the wall while watching the trees sway in the breeze. Beside him on the moderately flat stretch of roof lay a hammer, nails, and several asphalt shingles which were meant for fixing the gap around the chimney on the back of the house. Once Jen had gotten to the roof, however, he realized that this was just another pointless activity to help take his mind off all his worries. He wasn't a roofer, hell he wasn't even a handyman, and he had no idea what he was doing. Rather than wreck good shingles and make a somewhat simple job even harder for someone else later, he'd put the tools down and taken a seat... letting the breeze try and blow away his tension.

But try as the breeze might, every noise sounded suspiscious to him... the flapping thwacks of a flag on a nearby house sounded like car tires on the gravel drive... the whipping of screen doors sounded like gunshots in the wind... the giddy laughing screams of his own children in the backyard reminded him of threats made on his family and loved ones. He rubbed his hands against his face and eyes in frusteration and turned his attentions to the four in the backyard. Two little girls with ungainly balance on stiff legs who were unbearbly adorable, and two jivvins sprites, one of which had recently witnessed something that no one should even have to see...

Keppit had brought Booker and Rusty to the Skull Monkey HQ two days ago, accompanied by an account about finding the torn and defeated body of shade (another sprite) with Rusty standing over it shouting something about how Gus had done it. Now Gus was nowhere to be found, and Keppit thought that he was dead because of all the blood, and all of this on top of Nivvan's threats and the fact that Satou never showed up here in the future again as far as anyone could tell... Jen feared that he may have truely lost both his brother and sister... he'd never felt so close to all the tragedy and yet so far away and not a part of it at the same time.

He watched as the girls tumbled and played with Booker. The little sprite seemed to be having a great time, as did the girls... but Rusty was holding back. Sure he played a little and leapt out of the way if a metal leg came crashing down in his direction... but he still had a reservedness about him, and it made Jen sad.

It all made Jen sad.