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 Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:38 pm
The longer they were in space, the more drained Jett felt. It wasn’t just the lack of things he’d grown to take for granted, like his bed, his mother’s cooking, or the privacy of his bedroom, but instead was the sheer disregard of his personal schedule.
Jett liked to keep things organized; he was a planner, meticulous and calculated, and here, in space, away from everything he’d built his life around, he had no stability. He had no way to check his stocks and it was a wrenching feeling in his gut to know that he could have missed the opportunity of a lifetime due to some once in a lifetime mishap. Not being at work made him feel unproductive, so even when he was volunteering his services to straightening up and trying to clean up the outpost, he felt like he was inching nearer to insanity.
The sensation of spiders crawling on his skin had become a common occurrence—and it was driving him mad.
After the salamanders, he’d been spending more time at Virgo and Leo—and hadn’t even been back to Aquarius. Which grated at his nerves; he wasn’t some sort of coward, and while all the artifacts of Leo had been interesting, Jett hadn’t been frequenting that outpost only because of his interest in such antiques. He had been avoiding Aquarius because it had left him jostled; the attack hadn’t been particularly traumatic, in that sans a little bruising and the coma, he’d made it out fine. Jett had a hard time even considering it a near death experience; to him, it was just something that had happened. It had a big enough effect on him to make him avoid Aquarius like the plague, though, and to resolve his inner conflict, he decided it would be most logical to meet his fears.
He hadn’t heard any mention of salamanders returning, and as he walked through the Surrounding to the Aquarius outpost, everything seemed fine enough. When he got back to the outpost he’d staked as his temporary home when he’d first arrived, he ran down his checklist— searched for any salamanders that might have been hiding, went to see if his bed was still there (and was surprised to find everything where he’d left it), and then began to reacquaint himself with the outpost.
It looked different; people must have been busy straightening it up, and Jett might have felt guilty if he’d felt it had been any of his responsibility to help out around here. Besides, he’d applied his assistance at other outposts—that had to count for something.
The books were somewhat calming, but Jett assumed it had to be some sort of psychological things; libraries were places of solitude and peace. The salamanders had forced Jett to reassess his opinion of libraries, though things were different now than the night he’d been attacked; there were more people around. Again, the sensation of spiders.
Jett clenched his hand at his side and released an irritated sigh. He rolled his shoulders in their socket to try and loosen up; he needed to take his mind off of the frustration of being able to do nothing he wanted. But what was there to do in a library? With all these books?
Well. All right, that was sort of an answer. Jett moved to a bookshelf and nonchalantly pulled one of the tomes from its position. He couldn’t read it, but it had a number of interesting pictures. He had no idea of the true content of the text, but found himself quickly becoming engrossed in the artistic scenes of the book. For a moment, he forgot of his agitation and frustrations and became quite encompassed with the craftsmanship of the book—the texture of the pages, the ink, the skill of the artist and the slant of the handwritten words. He stopped paying attention to the world around him—didn’t see people moving in the room, or worry about salamanders. In this moment, Jett had found his escape.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:31 pm
Raven walked into the library, seeming slightly hesitant. She had some pretty bad memories, and seeing Jett, eh. Well. She just hoped it wouldn't be a repeat of the last time the two were in here together.
The blonde hesitated, then quietly crept behind the male, wrapping her arms around him. "Boo. Good to see you again, Stranger."
She still didn't really know how she felt about Jett, but, she didn't care. She was always happy to see him.
"What's got your attention? You look so focused on that...I thought all of the books were in some other language?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 9:39 pm
Almost immediately, Jett stiffened with the arms around him; he hadn’t exactly been expecting the sensation. Caught off guard, he nearly dropped the book from his hands, though reacted quickly to snap the novel shut. He didn’t pull away from the warmth behind him, if only because he recognized the voice as Raven, but that certainly didn’t mean he didn’t shoot her a glare as he looked over his shoulder. “Do you always just grab people and start chatting them up? Jesus, Raven, I could have knocked your lights out.”
He was already on edge enough being in the library—and what would have happened if he’d actually relied on his instinct and slugged her? No doubt he’d make a few enemies—at the very least, Darwin and Mary would come chew him out for bruising their darling Raven.
Jett was careful not to hit her with his elbow and just scoffed as he jammed the book back into the bookshelf, not caring if it was in it’s proper spot. He didn’t want to pry Raven from him—the truth was, it kind of felt nice—but it was quite difficult to talk to her when all he could see was the top of her head. “…Be more careful or something, don’t sneak up on me like that,” he grumbled.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:49 pm
Raven just laughed lightly, resting her head against his back. "You wouldn't have knocked my lights out. I trust you more than that, Jett."
She finally pulled away, then just smiled. "I'll try not to sneak up on you, don't worry. What are you doing in here anyway? I would have thought you'd be avoiding this place like it was nobody's business."
The blonde chuckled again. "Though, I guess the same could be said of me, yet here I am."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:09 pm
Jett raised a brow while listening to Raven. The girl seemed to enjoy hearing herself speak, so he didn’t bother replying to her until she had sealed her lips. “You think I’m the type of guy to run and hide because of some fluke? …It’s not like this place is scary or anything. I just wasn’t anticipating being attacked, so it caught me off guard. You, now. You I could see avoiding this place. You almost got eaten.”
Jett had been all over the place since the attack; sure, he’d been unnerved a bit, but he gradually just got accustomed to the place. He hadn’t seen any trace of a giant salamander and there hadn’t been any sort of threat to his health sans that. Perhaps he’d gotten a bit cocky and a bit too comfortable with the area. The Surrounding didn’t frighten him and he had often walked from outpost to outpost—even on his own.
He continued, “So maybe you should be more careful, hmm? –Because, I could have slugged you in your pretty little face, and then where would you be? Black and blue don’t match you in the least. So, with your history in the area, why are you here?” he challenged.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:12 pm
She shrugged, stretching, wincing as her elbows made a popping sound.
"I've been hanging around here a lot. I like organizing the books, it keeps my mind off of things. And I wasn't that close to getting eaten...was I, Jett?"
Raven tucked some hair behind her ear then glanced around. "Anyway, even if I did almost get eaten, you're the one who went into that damn coma. Do you know how worried you had me? I thought..."
She hesitated, then sighed.
"I didn't think you were ever going to wake up..."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:20 pm
Jett gave her a sidelong glance, amused. “You, worried about me? Dear Raven, I’d never have guessed. You always seem interested in picking fights with me. I’d half expected you to be disappointed I’d even woken up. I thought I was doing a fine job of giving you and your precious little Darwin all the space you wanted. Boyfriend and girlfriend and all. Oh, by the way? How is that working out? Haven’t seen him around much.”
He shrugged; he really didn’t care. Darwin had been fair traveling company, and while he felt a bit indebted to the male, at this point in time he wasn’t avidly looking to repay him in anyway.
“I do hope things are fine between you two lovebirds. Not that I have any intention of intervening.” A soft laugh fell from his lips; it wasn’t entirely humorless. “…God, I would have loved to see you worrying over something other than your pretty little face, though. I just can’t see it. You were really worried about me not waking up?”
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:45 pm
Raven just shrugged, then sighed. "Stop being such an a**, Jett. You know as well as I that Darwin and I aren't dating. I just wanted to make you jealous. If you're dwelling so much on it, I guess it worked."
She looked at him then smirked. "Yeah. I was worried about you not waking up...I stayed beside you for a lot of it, when you were unconscious. If you're gone, who else would I pick fights with, hm? My whole purpose as a human being would be gone."
Well, maybe that was a lie, but, she would be upset it Jett wasn't there.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:50 pm
“Your whole purpose? My, my, Raven,” Jett snickered. “I’d have thought you’d have aspired for more than being just a pain in my side. Why did you want to make me jealous?” he asked. He’d known from the beginning, sure, but Raven and Darwin both had been playing along for so long, he wondered why they hadn’t fessed up sooner. It wasn’t like they were fooling anyone, but he supposed that there was nothing better to do in space than pretend like you were dating a complete stranger. This was such an uneventful end to the attempted ploy that he was a bit disappointed. “Maybe if you’d picked some charming, successful, rich guy—sure. Maybe I could have been jealous. But Darwin?”
Jett shrugged. “…I’ve been pushing guys like that around for years, Raven. You should know it takes a lot more than that to get me riled up.”
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 1:55 pm
"I just thought that you wouldn't like losing to someone like that, Jett. Nerdy, whimpy, weakling like he is. I thought you'd be bitter than someone like me would choose him over a beefy stud like yourself."
She laughed, then shrugged. "But, I guess I was wrong. Either you didn't care, or...you..." After a pause she nodded. "You didn't care. So, I guess there's really no point in continuing this conversation. I made a fool out of myself, and now you can laugh your a** off at the thought of it."
My god she hated him.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:03 pm
Watching her for a moment, Jett just shrugged. “Maybe if you’d tried harder, it would have been convincing. But the truth of the matter is, I know you have higher standards than him, and I’m not an idiot so I don’t know why you thought I’d fall for it. Don’t take it personally. You tried,” he said, as if to reassure her. He reached over and ruffled her hair. “Stop internalizing, by the way. It’ll make you sick. Bad for your complexion, too. You oughta know that,” he said with a little nod in her direction. “If you’re frustrated or pissed, go do something, don’t brood. If you’re standing here, fantasizing about me having some party because you made a fool of yourself, that tells me that maybe you need to do something to work out some frustrations.”
Jett paused for a moment and then moved his hand to rest over his hip as he looked Raven over. “You ever work out?”
She was a cheerleader—of course she had some regiment. “Practice martial arts or anything. Boxing?” he suggested with a discrete—albeit undeniable—tone of interest.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:12 pm
She blinked looking to him once more. "Boxing? No, I've never thought of hitting things as a good way to work out."
Raven shrugged, then sighed. "...Is it? You were on the boxing team, weren't you? I guess you're into the whole hitting things, kind of lifestyle, right?"
She had to admit, the thought of punching something--some one--right now sounded quite appealing...Just...curl her hand and hit him right in the nose. Yeah. Now that was a good thought.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:21 pm
“You’d be surprised how half an hour of punching the s**t out of something can make you feel. Clears your mind, strengthens your body, and gives you a nice little burst of endorphins. Which, in case you weren’t paying attention in biology, is just a nice little feel-good, guaranteed to lift your spirits.”
He seemed thoughtful; Jett wanted to spar, but doubted Raven would know the difference between an uppercut and a jab. He’d been doing this for years and had no delusion that she’d make for a fine opponent—but at least he wouldn’t look ridiculous on his own.
“You should try it,” he suggested. “I mean, it can’t hurt, right? Might be useful to know a few moves if another salamander shows up, don’t you think? I can teach you a few things if you’ve got time.”
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:25 pm
She considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good to me. I'm up for learning."
The girl stretched then sighed. "Sounds really good. You better be a good teacher though. And if your bruise my face, I'll bruise something of yours."
Raven grinned, seeming almost excited. "What should we start with, Jett?"
Maybe this would be good for her, it would be a good way to let out her frustrations, let out her anger.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:48 pm
Amused by Raven’s threat, Jett just smirked. “Well, do some stretches. You don’t want to go and pull a muscle because you were overambitious and hurt yourself. Just the basics—whatever stretches you do before your cheerleading thing.”
He didn’t bother to explain this much to her; he figured that she was as athletic as he was in at least some aspects, so she could understand the importance. He leaned backwards, cracked his back, and started doing some basic stretches and warm ups. As he did so, he explained, “It would be stupid to actually try and hit things right now. We don’t have gloves and I don’t want you to break any fingers or anything. And I don’t think these senshi would appreciate us beating on any of their furniture, either. But I’ll teach you the moves and we’ll work from there. You ever been in a fight before, Raven? Not the, ‘You whore, you slept with my boyfriend, you b***h,’ sort of fights I always hear girls talking about, but the—you know—slapping, scratching, hair pulling, physical type of fight?”
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