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 Posted: Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:57 pm
In all the time that Millie--Jaina--had been here, Jett couldn’t remember her going out to do anything. She went out with the family sometimes, but it was rare that she left the house, and it was getting to the point where it was rare she left her room, too--and Jett didn’t know much about teenage girls except that things like that were usually bad.
So, he thought about what he’d do if his wife were having a bad day--and he bought her something. She was spending so much time on the computer these days, so when he saw the little pig shaped wrist rests he figured it was perfect. They came in a pack of three--a pink pig, a pastel, galaxy pig, and a white, paint splattered pig.
But, he couldn’t stop there. He made a whole thing of it; he had chocolates, he had toe socks, sparkly little earrings, some pastries from the nice bakery he passed on the way home, and a new video game that apparently everyone was raving about.
And, a bouquet of flowers, because what girl didn’t like to be surprised with nice things every now and then?
And smaller ones for his smaller girls, and one for his beautiful wife.
The three were out, so when he came home with his basket of gifts for Jaina, he took a moment to get their bouquets in water. He went to Jaina’s door and knocked, in one hand her gift basket, in the other, the bag of fast food he’d picked up for them.
“Hey, kid. Lunchtime, can I come in?”
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Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2021 6:37 pm
Jaina was trying to have some kind of a life online. Since...she couldn’t go back to her old life offline. Honestly, a lot of what she was doing was checking her mom and Orin’s social media accounts several times a day, and toying around with the idea of sending them friend requests just…
Just because she missed them terribly.
She liked living here. She loved Jett and Raven, and utterly adored the kids...but. She still wasn’t happy.
With a sigh, she got up from the computer and flopped face first into the pillows on her bed and just…existed for a moment, content to just let the void take her...at least. Until she heard the knock on her door and Jett’s voice.
...Jaina wasn’t hungry. She hadn’t really had an appetite in a while but. “Yeah. Come in. I guess.”
The sound was muffled by the pillows, but she was sure Jett would have heard.
Probably.
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Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2021 6:52 am
Jett couldn’t wait to have two teenagers at once, so this was good practice, because he could hear the disinterest in her voice. He missed when she was young and small and swinging around a light saber and her biggest troubles were trying to figure out how to get him out of the mirror.
And yet, here she was, against her will, stuck with them.
He opened the door and arrived with the smell of food. A little bit of everything on the menu because, why not; he was rich and successful and Jaina deserved options.
He took stock of the room, of her position on the bed, and had to bite back a sigh.
“Bored?” he asked as he moved into the room to join her. He placed the basket of presents next to her on the bed and began to go through the fast food so he could lay it out for her to pick from. He borrowed her desk, mindful not to get anything on it; he’d brought paper plates and napkins and made sure not to make a mess as he presented her foodly options.
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:50 pm
Jaina grunted at his question and tilted her head to the side slightly, sniffing the air in spite of herself. “...Maybe bored. A little bored. I guess.”
Lonely. Unhappy. Ready to just nope off into the void but.
He didn’t need to know that.
Nobody did.
With a long suffering sigh, Jaina pulled herself to a sitting position and tilted her head at the food and the presents. “...What’s all this, Jett? Did we miss my birthday or something?”
They hadn’t. It had been last month. But...she hadn’t really been in the mood to celebrate still.
“...If you’re worried about me, I promise that I’m fine...there’s no need to worry. I’m just...in a funk. You know? I miss my mom. And my boyfriend. I miss…”
My life. Home. Everything. “It’s just. I’m just tired.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 5:58 pm
Jett hummed softly, and pushed the food a little closer as if to tempt her; he left the basket on the bed for her to peruse at her leisure. “Do I need a reason?” he asked, but he had a reason, of course.
“I’m going to worry about you even if you say you’re fine. Kind of my job,” he reminded, because he had two little girls, and a wife, and someone had to look after all of them. Taking care of Jaina wasn’t a job, though; he wanted her there instead of anywhere else.
“I’m sorry,” he said, more sympathetic than he usually sounded. Softer. “About them.”
He wouldn’t have taken her from them if he’d been there. This was exactly why he didn’t agree with forcibly throwing someone through the mirror. Jaina was pining away, for a life that was taken from her--a life she wouldn’t ever get back.
He didn’t know if it was worth it to say that he’d checked in on her mother last week, so he kept it to himself.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Anything you want to try? I don’t know what else to get you out of a funk except dragging you around until you find something interesting, but. I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
He wouldn’t have, to begin with, but she’d had her choice taken from her before.
He wasn’t going to do it again.
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:27 am
Jaina watched Jett for a moment before humming softly and reaching to pursue the food. “...I don’t know, Jett. I just. Why am I feeling like this now? It’s been...a while since I’ve been here. We’re coming up on what, two years now? A year and a half. Whatever.” She rubbed at her eyes and pursed her lips, flopping back down on the bed.
“It just. Sucks. I know that if I leave, they won’t know me anymore anyway, nobody will...and I’ll lose you forever. And Raven. And the kids...and I love your kids so much...and this...just.”
She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes.
“I seriously wish I could just kill the b***h who did this. Or like, punch my past self before going out that night. Do you even know how long it had been since I was on a patrol? Ages and ages. I was trying to be responsible with my real life...not the stupid senshi s**t.”
And once she had been so proud to be a senshi. Had been so proud to be something amazing.
“And now look at me. Not doing things as a senshi. No life. No friends. Just. Just you guys.”
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Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:39 pm
Jett listened intently, patiently, and watched her. “I don’t like that she did it to you. I hate it, actually. You didn’t do anything wrong. She and I don’t always see eye to eye.” They could get along when they had to, but Jett had taken this as an incredibly personal slight.
Leto had hurt someone who was close to him, had taken her life from him.
It was all he could do to give her this and hope it worked out.
He didn’t want her to leave the Court. He didn’t want to lose her. She’d been a part of his family forever, the girls loved her.
...But he wanted her to be okay, so he wondered how creative he’d have to get to break her out of this funk.
“I wish I had the answers. You deserve them. You deserve a lot more than you got, and I’m sorry for it. Can I ask,” and he knew he could ask, he just didn’t know if he’d get an answer, “Why it is that you’ve been spending so much time in your room? It sounds like you’re homesick. Like you’re lonely.”
Lost, and without a direction to go in.
“...Is it just intimidating to not know where to start, or is it something else?”
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 3:15 pm
Jaina was quiet for a long while and finally just sighed. “...Chloe asks about Millie sometimes. She was talking about me...ah. her earlier and...I don’t know. It just. It sucks. All of this sucks. And every time I think I’m starting to feel better...it just sucks more. I don’t know what to do, Jett. I hate this. I feel like...I have no future, and no way to find a future again...I just. I don’t know anymore.”
She looked at him for a moment and gave a halfhearted shrug.
“What if you were...force purified when I smacked you on the head? You would have lost Raven and your mom...I bet you would have been lost and unhappy too...despite ten year old me’s best efforts. Not that I’m comparing your best efforts and baby me, because obviously that’s not fair to you. You’ll never live up to that idealistic brat.”
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:10 pm
He flashed a quick smile, but it wasn't completely real. He couldn't be happy when she was so miserable. "Even back then you wanted to see the best in me. I don't think there's anything wrong with being idealistic."
Not if you had the power and will to back it up, at least.
"...I wish I had all the answers, kid. I wish I could undo what she did. I'm sorry for it." Even if it wasn't his mistake, it's not like Leto was here making any effort to clean up her mess, or actually take care of the people she brought in like this.
"...You want me to look for a therapist?" he asked, and didn't seem to be joking about it. "I don't know if there's one that understands this war going on, but I can ask around. Or even just for anyone good enough for me to trust with you. It's something we haven't tried, maybe it could help?"
...Ugh, but that was trusting them with so much information.
"...Or we could go out and try some new things, see if we can't make you some friends at least? People who can support you? ...I know they aren't your boyfriend or your mom, but...there's some great people in the Dark Mirror Court. At the very least, they could try and help out so you didn't feel so alone."
...She probably got tired of him around all the time. Jett liked to think he was good at everything, but emotions? ...He really wasn't the best at them. He tried, but...
If it were him, he'd have been mad. He'd have been hateful. He'd probably have turned against the White Moon and done everything to get back to his Court, to get back to the life he'd lost. He didn't want that for Jaina. He wanted to help her find something she could devote herself to, but desperate enough that he'd have settled for something to just distract herself with for a while.
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:05 pm
“I was dumb, Jett. A stupid kid who thought she could...make a difference in the world. I grew out of it as most kids do...but. Eh. Jaina hesitated and looked up at him again, wrinkling her nose. “A...a therapist? Are there any in the court? Anyone that I could like…really talk to? You could go fling one into a mirror, don’t you think? That would work well.”
It was an interesting idea, at least...and one she hadn't considered. At least not for more than a few minutes or so.
“...You think I could make friends with them? I...I feel bad like. I don’t...I don’t know. I met up with Acubens again...and I’m still so...mad that she corrupted into the court I...what if I’m just a b***h to them all on principle? Who’s nice? Tell me about them…”
Because...it was worth a shot.
Anything was worth a shot now.
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:28 pm
“I don’t know any in the Court,” he admitted, “But I’ll start looking. And if we don’t have one, I’ll just pick the best one I can find and see if I can’t convince them to really put their talents towards a cause. But, don’t tell me you don’t think you can make a difference in the world. Not everything has to be ‘saving the planet’. Sometimes one little act of kindness changes the world, right?”
Jett was in it for the big things, but everyone had to start small. Help an old lady across the street, save a kitten, make someone’s day a little better.
“And you don’t have to be kind all the time. It’s human to be mad at people. I hold a grudge, myself. Pretty good one, too. So if you don’t want to forgive Acubens, you don’t have to. Maybe it would help to meet them before they’re powered up? Get to know them before you have to think about the Court?”
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Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 6:26 pm
Jaina managed a little smile at the thought of Jett bullying some poor therapist to help out the Dark Mirror Court but...it would be kind of nice. With a huff, she scooted over to him and flopped against his side.
“I can do that. Save the world a little. I don’t know, Jett. I just. I want to feel like me again and I’m having such a hard time figuring out how...”
Jaina closed her eyes and gave a yawn that ended up hurting her jaw a little. “...Things have been awful since the new Star Wars movies. Killing the expanded universe ended up breaking our universe. You can’t change my mind. That’s where all the trouble started. None of this would have happened if those movies hadn't happened…”
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Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:24 pm
He wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her back instinctively as he tried to soothe her a bit.
He managed a little smile even, when she started talking about Star Wars again.
“They were horrible, weren’t they?” His knowledge of the extended universe was strictly limited to her passionate recounting of such things, and he had to sit through many lectures about the topic before.
They’d all stuck with him, and he resented the movies because they’d disappointed her, more than anything else.
“You want me to go rent out the local theater for a marathon of all the originals or something? We could see if we couldn’t find you some new friends that way, too.” He reached his hand up to scratch at his chin thoughtfully. “What about those conventions, do you do those things? Could see if there’s any of those in the area. I bet you could find some people who agree with you.”
He just wanted her to be okay, he’d have done anything he could to manage it. “And I’ll poke around and see if there are members of the Court I think you might like. I can give you the run down of a few of them, after you eat a bit more. We’ll make a plan, maybe. Just to see, how’s that?”
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:01 pm
“You’d really rent out the theater for a Star Wars marathon? Are you serious, Jett?” Jaina tried to keep the amusement out of her voice, but couldn’t quite do it and burst into laughter that came as a surprise to her, even. “That...that would kind of be awesome, honestly...Do you think we could? I...When could we? Who would we invite?”
The idea of watching the six good Star Wars films on the big screen was...a very good one.
“Maybe we could wait until I have some friends before we do that? At least a few friends. That would be really nice, and I think it’s an amazing idea, Jett. Even if I do think you’re terribly silly for giving it.”
Silly, but so very sweet. That...ugh. Thank goodness for Jett. Seriously.
“I’ve never done a convention before...I...I’m not sure I’d like it, honestly but...I’ll keep my eyes open? We can nerd out together if I find one!”
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:01 pm
Jett couldn’t help but crack a smile because it was so good to hear her laugh. “We?” he asked, and almost looked scandalized, but he’d have gone with her if she’d wanted a friend to go with.
“Destiny City is a big place, I’m sure they’ve gotta have something going on soon. Or even just smaller events. We’ll look it up, could be fun. And if you don’t like it, we’ll just ditch, who cares. We can make our own, if we want.”
He bumped her side with his elbow, gentle and teasing. He smiled, a little amused, but mostly just happy to see her looking a little better. “You don’t think I’d rent out a theater for you? I’d do it even if it was just me and you. But we’ll find you some good friends, some people who would actually appreciate it. Someone who could use someone to talk about the real extended universe, not that s**t they rolled out for some quick cash, right?”
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