"I'll take care of the patrols near housing, don't worry," he said with a chuckle. "I was just wondering if you had a set plan—since it's clear you don't, I'll look into it. I must be used to everyone else just asking my permission, which usually includes a procedure if it wasn't obvious. For what it's worth, two or three would probably do the job fine."
James smiled, the phone call was going well. "Thank you very much, I usually prefer to research and know what I am asking for but without your working knowledge I knew I'd be out of my league. So, I hope you don't mind my asking without attempting to look on my own. Now," He said, rolling his eyes as he remembered the favor that his little sister, Susan, had asked of him the day before. "Do you mind if I ask you of something? Completely unprofessional that is, you're more than welcome to tell me know."
His wife sat patiently, grabbing a copy of the days news from off of his desk and skimming through. It was the day that their children spent with their grandparents, so she and him usually spent the day together. However, James being the obsessed workaholic he was, they usually only got about half the day. She was okay with that though, his passion and work ethic were part of why she loved the moose-like man. Besides, she spent the morning at church and cleaning up around the house and felt better, organized. She had always been a workaholic herself, and she no longer worked as a seamstress and she liked working with the church on 'her days off'.
She enjoyed as she watched James work, almost as much as she enjoyed watching him with their children. He was simply so naturally good, and gave all of himself into whatever he did. Parent, protect, organize, her.... He was simply an amazing man.
I will be adding Susan and Mary in another post later.
Jamie paused, a wash of curiosity and almost anxiety bushing his skin like a saltwater wave. He didn't mind the unprofessionalism, in fact he rather thought it might mean something good. The adult, however, was not a charismatic person. The entirety of his life since he turned 14 was a mess of ungraceful words and sentences among people who wanted his help. He knew how to talk to get a job, but that was by every definition professional. Jamie didn't exactly know (or care for that matter) how, but he always—always—seemed to say the wrong thing. He didn't know how to do that "casual friendliness"; there was a science there, a knowledge he didn't possess and might never learn.
Sure, James offered, but could he really say no? Jamie didn't want to, or if he did, it was only to save him from suggesting an anniversary gift, attempting to match colors that would look stylish, and anything else that reeked of "things I need a second opinion on but can't ask a stranger".
"Of course," he hoped his voice sounded light and not strained. He swallowed and cleared his throat, wearing an expression of mild interest, as if in front of the Citizen Rep himself. It made him feel a little more in control, somehow.
I just wanted to say, despite using a picture of Jared Padalecki, I did not see the "moose-like man" comment coming and it completely caught me off guard.
James smiled again at Jame's response, he could tell asking him about something more personal had thrown him off and was happy he had agreed. He looked at his wife briefly, she read the news as she waited and looked gorgeous doing it.
"Thank you," He said, "it's actually a favor for my little sister, Susan. She was asking if I could try and 'set you up' with her friend Mary. The girl who works in dragon research?" He knew that he sounded slightly awkward as he continued, but his voice was overall light hearted. "I know, I know it is an awkward question, and I know you probably don't know her, so no need to say yes." He chuckled lightly, "My little sisters just have me wrapped around their fingers and they don't even know it."
"Let's get lunch," Mary said when her stomach growled. They were walking out of the marketplace and she was now leading them to the food market. "That bakery is pretty good."
Suze nodded, looking at a clock someone was keeping in a window with a smile, hopefully her brother was making good on the favor. Mary was a lot like James, and she needed Jennifer to keep her sane. "Sounds good," She said with a smile, she liked the bakery.
Mary wasn't thinking about boys or her best friend as she walked, she was thinking about dragons. Her obsession with research and whatever she was currently working on was why she was so good at what she did. She loved her job, and had little qualms with it. Well, little. She wasn't allowed to share all of what she researched, like the connections between dragons and magic, or how no one really knew what dragons looked like. Sure, at one point when they matured they were large, scaled, and 'evil' but before that? She had a few theories, lizards, gasses, or humanoid forms were all a possibility. Before magic was a part of the world, they had to have existed, correct? As her research had progressed she had noted that humans were simply using the magic around them, not possessing it. This fit in the blast theory, a theory that magic had randomly blasted and that had been the cause of the death and turmoil. Really though, it was so long ago, and most records were erased, so they had no way of knowing.
What frustrated her the most was how little they actually knew. Dragons were a thing of myth, and had minimal interaction with humans, much less interaction that allowed for notes to be taken. No one had gone to the dead dragon when it was still there to learn anything and there were no returning expeditions to the 'dragon island', that she wasn't even all that sure existed as a physical place. With her researching and education reaching it's peak, that was why she considered the promotion to Head of Research. It was a little more political, but she could do so much more.
They walked into the bakery then, a young boy, the same from before, @SereneDeity, and an older man.
In one moment, Jamie was scrambling to remember what colors didn't go well together besides black and brown, and the next, he was doing a mental free-fall. Mind-blank, wiped like a slate from sheer surprise, he blinked and stopped himself from echoing James at the last possible second. He reprocessed the question, mind now free from swathes of colors and fashions, and blushed like a virgin. He briefly fishmouthed, then regain control, only to duck his head and face the phone, which he corrected again, post-which he covered his face with his hand. He took the quietest deep breath he could and sighed it out even quieter, but it came out slowly and he felt a little starved for air. Still, in this time, he found strength in his position—I am the Military Representative; I have gone on dates before, and I can handle another. There was probably a time when Jamie was an invincible teenager and he would not have reacted like this, but it was not that time.
His regained confidence in his "manhood" had a very strong link to his military roots, especially as a private. So he straightened and made another mask of his face, and said, but as casually as he could, "It's no problem, I think I remember meeting both of them." Anxious thoughts peppered his head, but he continuously shoved them aside to keep up the facade. "I would be honored to try, at least." Jamie realized he didn't know much about the dragon research, it was something he kept thorough tabs on in case of another attack, but sometimes rarely checked up on with the day-to-day things and more recent matters to focus on. Well, they had something to talk about at least.
Rist and Alex made their way back to their previous area in the government plaza. Thankfully, the nearest people where towards the center of the plaza, quite a bit away from where Rist and Alex were.
"Okay," Rist cleared her throat, still embarrassed at the small outburst she had back in the library before they checked out. "I have to get back to guarding the plaza soon and you need to read that book, so let's try to do this one more time." Rist set up the empty beer bottle that was still there from before. "Do you feel like you have a better grip on how to control your magic?"
'No...' Alex thought in his head, but instead said, "Yeah," with a blank face as he clutched onto his book nervously. 'Agh, I should've said no! She's going to hate me even more now when I fail again. I don't know what to do when I feel my magic building up! I should've never agreed to giving it another try before reading the book-"
His thoughts were interrupted by Rist, "You sure?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Uh, yeah. Definetly. Let me at it!" Alex faked confidence, throwing his book on the ground and getting in a fighting position towards the bottle. "I got this!" He gritted his teeth, clapping once to act like he was pumped up, hopping lightly on his feet back and forth.
Rist sighed, "You're trying to shatter the bottle with magic, you're not trying to beat it up and take it's lunch money." Rist could tell that he was nervous, like he always was. He was born with worrying too much and caring about the smallest things.
"Oh, um," Alex calmed down and stared embarrassingly towards the ground. "I knew that..." He lied.
Rist said nothing and backed away from the bottle, allowing Alex to have enough room to try his magic without a chance of decapitating her head off.
Alex took a deep breath, instantly regretting his decision to carry on trying without reading the book first. He focused his sight on the bottle, not allowing his mind to wander anywhere else. He steadied his breathing, began raising his hand up, and gulped.
"Alright, careful, careful..." Rist softly said, still backing away.
Alex had immense concentration, he could only see the bottle, nothing in his peripheral view could disturb him. He slowly felt the magic running through his arm and towards his fingers ever so slightly, as he tried to control the pace in which the magic flowed through his veins. Taking another deep breath, he lined his hand up towards the bottle, until his fingers to were pointed about a yard away. He closed his eyes, sensing nothing except for him and the bottle. He kept his position until he finally felt the magic at his fingertips, feeling a soft vibration, and carefully... ever so carefully... he let the magic slip out.
"Watch out-!" Alex started to shout, until he ducked for cover under the small table after he saw another intense beam of yellow light fly up towards the sky.
Rist jumped in a nearby bush, using the claustrophobic leaves as cover.
In one second, the yellow beam shot back towards the ground like lighting, leaving a charred mark on the stone pavement, and bounced towards a nearby wall of the plaza. It was sent straight back - sounding like a jet, even when it was losing power - up towards the sky again, sizzling down right next to table where Alex was huddled under. Alex yelped as the ground next to the table absorbed the lighting strike, and the remaining energy traveled up through the table legs and through the bottle, ultimately shattering the bottle.
Alex opened his firmly shut eyes when he heard the sound of glass shattering. He gasped, quickly moving out from under the table, staring in disbelief at the many glass pieces that remained.
Rist jumped out of the bush embarrassingly, trying to wipe off any leaves from her hair and outfit. She waddled her way over to where the broken pieces lay, "Well, it broke. Not how I expected it to go, but it still broke." Rist was still flattening out her wrinkled outfit; An unprofessional outfit was no way to show responsibility in the military, obviously.
Alex still had his mouth hanging open in disbelief, "Did I really do that? Or did you?"
"You did that all by yourself, bud." Rist put her hands on her hips. "But still, the point of the task was to actually hit the bottle, not let the leftover energy vibrations do the work for you.
Alex pouted, "I know..."
"But if it makes you feel any better, you have enough power to kill someone and break a bottle with only the leftover energy."
"That still doesn't really help..." Alex tried to mumble again, just like an hour ago when he first tried.
"I'll clean this up. Part of guarding the plaza also means that I have to clean any 'threats' when necessary, and this broken glass can be quite a danger for the young ones. Pick up the book and go back to your home, start reading as soon as possible." Rist patted his back approvingly, thinking for a moment, "I don't know if I'll be back out here on the plaza tomorrow, but if I am... Then come talk to me again. We can start another day of training."
Alex immediately lit up, "R-really? You'll still help me even though I almost accidentally killed you on my first and nearly second try?"
"As long as you don't continuously remind me of that, then yes, I'll still help you." Rist started walking towards one of the lonely buildings in the plaza where a broom usually was.
"Thank you! I'll read this whole book tonight!" Alex shouted after her excitedly, clutching the book and running towards his shop in Hamilton Mill, as Rist was already walking towards the glass mess with a broom again.
Alex ran home, still excited that he could learn again tomorrow if she was in the plaza.
Alex bursted through the door of his shop, turning the 'open' sign to 'closed.' Even though they were normally open at this time, he barely got anyone coming by the shop, meaning he could quietly read his new book without worry.
"Alex?" His grandmother called from the other room. "Why are you in such a rush?"
Alex walked over to his grandmother's room, "I got a new book that I'm excited to read." He grinned, "Do you need anything?"
"No, darling. Have fun with whatever that book is." His grandmother nicely shooed him away. "I'm in an intense part of my own book right now. One of the loving maids is finding out that the dashing house owner is cheating on her poor soul. I need to know how she takes it..." She trailed off, starting to read her own elderly romance book again as she laid in bed, coughing a couple times.
Alex chuckled, then walking over to his own room, excitedly grabbing a pen, paper, and a highlighter before he started reading the book.
This was longer than I meant for it to be. xD Now that Alex and Rist aren't doing the same thing together anymore (until tomorrow or a couple days in the RP), my posts will be shorter so you don't have to read a novel anymore...
Lilica had checked all her traps with reasonably profitable results. Of course, she would never actually have a fully profitable day, even if she caught twice the amount she usually did she'd never make enough to live luxuriously, but that was fine with her. She had grown up knowing self-imposed frugality, particularly enforced on her because her parents had believed she should be "punished" for her powers, and as she herself agreed, she had resigned herself to living this way. As usual, she had picked up all her hauls from the traps, reset them, and returned to her cabin to clean them out and hide them in the storage area of her cabin until it was time to sell. The day seemed to be going without a hitch, every day the same as the last, but as she returned to the cabin, she saw to her horror that a something was crashing through her storage cabin, twice as large as any animal she'd ever seen before. It was pilfering her store of dried meats she reserved for herself. It was for when times got hard, and while it might have been a trivial thing to someone living in better circumstances, to her it was devastating. She gave a shout of rage and a large burst of red light shot from her free hand, striking the beast dead.
Stumbling backwards in shock at using her power to kill an animal simply out of anger, she dropped her string of small animals and dimly felt her backside collide with the ground. Lilica didn't cry; all she knew was that some part of her really wanted to, but the rest of her was too numb. For a long time, she didn't move, just sitting there staring at her ruined cabin. Finally, she picked herself up, feeling herself move as if her actions weren't quite her own, the rest of the world muffled by the numbness which was holding her together. Not wanting to risk her main cabin's destruction, she buried her entire morning's catch far from it and began descending the hill, heading down to Hamilton Mill to buy some supplies and sell what she could to rebuild her old cabin. This year was going to be a hard one. Maybe she'd finally get to die. Maybe not.
It had been a while since she'd been anywhere near the rest of civilization, and Hamilton Mill felt horribly unfamiliar, her only memory of it being muddled by the fear that had driven her there in the first place. Everything looked different, she recognized nothing and couldn't read some of the more complex words. Shoving away the sickening memories, she slipped into a store that was clearly a bookstore, hoping they could give her directions, and neglecting to notice the "closed" sign. (@MissChoco) "Hello?" She called, her voice rough from lack of use. She knocked politely on the door frame, a rough brown sack slung across her back, her leggings still dirty from where she'd fallen, her brilliant red hair tangled and matted, her katana was still slung across her back. She probably looked like a ruffian, but the quiet girl had no clue about that.
Alex was snapped out of his heavy focus on reading his book when he heard a faint and rough "Hello?" from the front of the store. (@firejay1) He grumbled out of annoyance, 'Could they not see the 'closed' sign?' He thought.
He hoped the person would go away so he could focus on reading and taking notes, until a couple seconds later, his grandmother called out from her room, "Alex? Go help the costumer! You're supposed to be working!"
Alex impatiently did as he was told, "Okay, grandma..." He didn't try to argue back because 1: He had much respect for his grandmother after taking him in once his real parents died, but mainly because 2: he knew the store wasn't supposed to of been closed at this hour, and he only did that because he selfishly wanted to read his book withour interruptions from costumers.
He stuffed his paper of notes into his book to save his spot and made his way down the short flight of stairs to the costumer. He put on a welcoming face and went behind the counter, acting like he was there the whole time. There was a red-haired girl who honestly didn't look that bad, even though she had a few dirt marks and unkept clothes. Despite her rough appearance, it didn't faze Alex because of how much his grandmother yelled at him to not judge people by their looks. "Hello! May I help you?" He smiled.
For a long time, it seemed like no one was in, and she was about to slip away again, when someone called out. Turning, she saw someone standing behind the counter. Lilica shrunk backwards at the sight of a blonde boy coming forwards, but then remembered that she wasn't trying to avoid anyone right now and jerked forward again a little awkwardly. She felt herself getting nervous and gripped the strap of her bag more tightly, rather as if she wanted to strangle it. Her palms became warm and she immediately began filling her mind with calming thoughts to stop herself from letting bursts of magic slip through her fingers. She knew they were probably glowing red, but she hoped the boy didn't notice. Summoning up the last of her courage she stepped slowly but steadily in front of him, and quietly said, "I'm sorry, but I'm a little bit lost. Do you know where I could find somewhere that sells meat, wood, or building tools?" At that precise moment, her bag strap suddenly snapped, a fact she knew had nothing to do with the strength of her bag, and everything to do with how hot her palm had turned. The few dried meats she had left to sell, along with her abysmally small pouch of money tumbled out and she dropped to the floor, flushing and hastily trying to throw things back in her bag. At least her hands had turned back to normal, apparently thrown off by her surprise.
Alex kept a polite smile on his face, even though he could notice that the girl seemed to be a little nervous and awkward. Even Alex, who had a bad habit of not paying attention to his surroundings, could see that her hands were starting to glow red uncontrollably. He tried to not pay attention to her strange behavior, but couldn't help but question himself about why she was using her magic in a shop. Could she not control it?
He came back to focus when the girl asked for a shop with meat, wood, and building tools. He brightened up, realizing that he had all those items that nobody was buying, they were just taking up space. "Well," He leaned against the counter, hoping that he could finally sell those items, "We have all of those in the back! We sell more than just what you see here in the front! I could tell you the price, if you-" He paused, worried that he might've come off too strong. 'Crap, what if she doesn't want to to buy here? I must look like a money-grubbing scammer!' He mentally scolded himself, like he always ends up doing.
He cleared his throat, trying to not show his useless worrying. "I-I mean, if you don't wanna buy here, that's fine, I can give you directions to a different shop-"
He was cut off, yet again, but this time it wasn't his brain that interrupted him. The girl had uncontrollably seared through her bag strap, making it break in two, and the bag fell to the floor with a loud thump. She instantly started hurriedly cramming her items into her bag. Alex could feel her embarrassment.
'I-I should help her, right? Maybe? Would that make it more awkward...? It would be the nice thing to do, right?!' He stood there for a couple of seconds doing nothing as he tried to quickly think of the right thing to do. He panicked and quickly moved his feet before his mind had a chance to take all of it in, as he hurriedly ran around the counter. He bent down to help her shove her items back into her bag, but since he had taken so long pondering about what he should've done, his help was basically useless since she already had most of the items stuffed back in. He tried to make it less awkward by trying to continue the conversation casually, 'S-so, uh, about those items...." In the end, his and her awkwardness both just made the aura in the shop incredibly worrisome.
"It's no problem, I think I remember meeting both of them." Anxious thoughts peppered his head, but he continuously shoved them aside to keep up the facade. "I would be honored to try, at least." Jamie realized he didn't know much about the dragon research, it was something he kept thorough tabs on in case of another attack, but sometimes rarely checked up on with the day-to-day things and more recent matters to focus on. Well, they had something to talk about at least.
"Oh, really?" James said, surprised. "I mean, Mary's just a kid!" Seeing his wife glare at him he realized he was doing the exact opposite of what he had promised Susan he'd do. He coughed, "Though, I guess you're not very much older than her. I forget sometimes how young you are." He ran his hand through his hair, lucky that he was such a good politician. He could only hope he had smoothed it over, or Jennifer and Susan would tear him a new one for ruining it.
Jennifer raised her eyebrows at her husband, she got along quite well with the girls (Susan and Mary) and was quite aware of how old they were. Heck, she'd been married to James a lot younger. He was protective though, and she couldn't blame him for that. They were his little sisters, she didn't envy her daughter for when she reached dating age. He looked sheepish as he attempted to clear it up.
Jamie briefly panicked, conjuring images of Mary being hardly over eighteen or nineteen. Surely James wouldn't encourage the crush with an age difference of nearly ten years? Or was the second comment a correction to a false statement? It was not far off the mark to assume Jamie was a mental mess.
He didn't know at all how to respond, so he didn't, and rather asked, "Is there anything—I mean," He scratched his jaw as his blush faded and his confidence stabilized from spilled mess to mess in a cup. "Did Susan have anything in mind when she asked you? Like a time or a place...?" He caught the eye of a pedestrian in the church and began to get the idea he was creating something like a waiting line. He began to churn the gears in his head to bring the conversation to a close, but not before waiting for a response.
"Is there anything—I mean," He scratched his jaw as his blush faded and his confidence stabilized from spilled mess to mess in a cup. "Did Susan have anything in mind when she asked you? Like a time or a place...?"
James let out a breath when Jamie didn't change his mind, not sure what his wife would have said if he'd messed it up. He looked around his room, looking out of the window at the courtyard. He had watched a boy(@MissChoco) blow up bottles before and hoped to see something equally entertaining.
"Oh, well Susan wasn't really particular, honestly just ask her out." James said, "If you want to- I mean if you're not interested in her it's fine. She is only 23, though I guess you're only what, 28? She'll be at the Wicciah church in the morning, you could ask her then."
"27," Jennifer whispered, "he's 27."
@SereneDeity Just tagging to make sure you're getting alerted, :)
Lilica kept her head down and shuffled very slightly away from him, continuing to shove things haphazardly back into her bag and accepting his help but making sure not to get too close. She felt rather proud of herself for not flinching when she realized he was next to her. In her quiet, scratchy voice, she answered, "Yes. If I could find these things here, that would, of course, be best. Though..." the smallest flush rose to her cheeks as she said the words, "I may not have enough money for it all, so we'll have to discuss price." Worst come to worst, she wouldn't get the meat, and would live on whatever vegetables she managed to scrounge, and the dried meats if they didn't sell, but she was really desperate to get some of those tools. She made most of the rudimentary ropes she used for her traps by herself, but rebuilding an entire smell-proof hut would require things like sandpaper, working gloves, little pieces of metal that could be shaped into hooks, nails, the list was just too long. Just thinking about it worried her. She would also have to buy extra of everything, in case she burned through or destroyed anything on accident. Making it accident-proof would require even more work. Without realizing it, she let out a little puff of breath in a sigh, her katana clanking against the floor as she moved.
Sorry, haven't been on lately for various reasons, I'll try to be more active now, sorry!
As Ethan was about to run out of the shop, a girl walked in front of his path, looking like she was going in the bakery. "Ah, welcome to Ralston Bak-" Ethan started to say, then realized who it was in front of him. It was the girl from before, with the same stunning figure as before.
"Ah, why don't you try our new blueberry pastries!" Ethan frantically stumbled to the display cabinet where they kept their new stock. Ethan could hear his dad stifling a laugh behind him. Ethan turned away from the girl, and gave a deep breath. This wasn't going anywhere. Ethan turned around, now collected, and apologized. "Err, sorry, you probably just want to look around. My apologies." Ethan started to retreat behind the counter, thinking to himself about that embarrassing display he just made. So much for becoming friends, Ethan thought dejectedly, Now you've just gone and creeped her out.
No problem, pardon my french, but shit happens. Plus, we're just now getting into the new year. Also, I love Ethan right now. I don't know if you intended him to have a crush on Mary, but either way it's hilarious and adorable. Also, do you do sandwiches here? It just occured to me how odd it would be to get pie for lunch, for my character that is.
SereneDeity said:
Ah, why don't you try our new blueberry pastries!"
Susan had a laugh on her face as she nearly let it out as the little boy, okay he was about 16 but still, nearly tripped over himself at the sight of Mary. Mary gave her a 'oh c'mon' look, clearly finding the boy adorable.
"No problem," Mary said with a kind smile. "I'm actually allergic to blue berries, but do you do sandwiches?"
Susan seemed on par with the boy's father, but was also hungry and hopeful he'd get it together enough to answer her question without wetting his pants. What? Susan never claimed to like kids. It was a good bakery though, and since so many shops had their kids working in them, she dealt with him. Besides, Mary had always mothered everyone, and loved kids.
He smiled, his eyes shut as he spied on his creations.
Mary Adams and her best friend Susan (@HelloBeautifulChild), Mary so unknowing of her potential. Somehow able to prevent any random explosions despite her lack of usage, she was obviously the most controlled of the group. Mary was the one that he had given that to, the ability to use her magic was something she had inherently and no matter how much the others tried, she would always have the most control.
Rist Shiromori, training his other creation Alex Arc (@MissChoco). He wondered if they noticed that they were drawn to each other. He wondered if Rist knew that he had dulling effects. That Rist was the one who was not affected by magic unless she wished to be. He watched as she dulled the effects of those she battled against or simply didn't like without realizing it. He chuckled lightly, Alex would surpass her training soon enough, even with Rist dulling his powers which enabled him to learn. Being the one with the most weaponized and uncontrollable magic, he was going to do well in the calling he had choses.
Ethan Raiston(@SereneDeity) , currently bumbling over Mary, had yet to develop any sort of special skill. He had planned a skill, but what he had done was so uncontrollable he didn't know how it'd work out.
He laughed sadistically at Lilica Mason (@firejay1), ruining her life and mind with her magic. Honestly, with the damage he saw her do every day, and her deep hatred of her innate power, he wondered every day if she would self destruct. He hoped not, having given her the control over matter, if she ever calmed down and stopped hating her power it would be a beautiful creationist power. He chuckled again, everyone that she ever knew or loved would hate her if she did ever control it. She was one of his favorites, as she provided the most amusement.
James Touche (@HelloBeautifulChild) had an air around him, literally, of magical persuasion. He had watched the 32 year old man learn to use it without realizing it throughout the years. Maybe Mary had rubbed off on him, but having given him the power he knew better. James was a born leader, learner, and au natural at being what many called an 'empath'.
He grinned wildly as Jamie Williamson (@Ace) considered dating Mary. He would be doing everything he could to push them together. Jamie was one of his creations, and he wondered what a second generation would be. Jamie had a basic advantage, his power being connected to the power that he did not posses. At the moment he was simply drawn to the others, but once he learned to take advantage of his connection he would grow to use it. He wasn't sure how the man would use it, but he was interested to see how it would work.
Ethan turned around slowly. "Eh?" Suddenly it actually clicked in Ethan's brain that she wanted something. Sandwiches. "Oh, yes, we do have sandwiches..." Ethan walked back behind the counter as his dad retreated into the back, whistling in a happy tone. "We don't exactly have a large selection of sandwiches, but you can feel free to look at what we have in this cabinet." Ethan was probably blushing uncontrollably at this point, but at least he was speaking in a more collected manner. He opened up the cabinet on his side, and pulled out a sample plate of one of their popular "grilled-cheese" sandwiches, a new and exciting idea on their boring side of Hamilton Mill. "Why don't you try this? It's my favorite," Ethan said with a small laugh.
James let out a breath when Jamie didn't change his mind, not sure what his wife would have said if he'd messed it up. He looked around his room, looking out of the window at the courtyard. He had watched a boy(@MissChoco) blow up bottles before and hoped to see something equally entertaining.
"Oh, well Susan wasn't really particular, honestly just ask her out." James said, "If you want to- I mean if you're not interested in her it's fine. She is only 23, though I guess you're only what, 28? She'll be at the Wicciah church in the morning, you could ask her then."
Beginning to feel a sense of purpose—ending the phone call—the oxygen seemed to find its way to his head easier. Jamie even managed a laugh that didn't sound too choked, the closed-throat feeling starting to fade. There was also something very reassuring about knowing he wasn't a fish on a hook anymore, but rather the fisherman.
"I'm twenty-seven, but I appreciate how close you were." He joked lightly, then cleared his throat. "I'm at the church now, but I doubt I'll be here for much longer. I intend to go in and put out requests for the peacekeepers you asked for." He smiled reassuringly at the people who approached the phone, hoping they would get the message. "But I'll try to call her or catch her at a good time."
Jamie wondered if that feeling, just this morning, of suddenly deciding to visit the church first-thing had anything to do with Mary being here as well, around the same time of day... The thought made him clammy, or maybe it was sweat breaking out on his skin from nerves.
"I have a line forming, so I should hang up and get back to work. On Monday I'll find a time to call and update you on the search."
Ethan turned around slowly. "Eh?" Suddenly it actually clicked in Ethan's brain that she wanted something. Sandwiches. "Oh, yes, we do have sandwiches..." Ethan walked back behind the counter as his dad retreated into the back, whistling in a happy tone. "We don't exactly have a large selection of sandwiches, but you can feel free to look at what we have in this cabinet." Ethan was probably blushing uncontrollably at this point, but at least he was speaking in a more collected manner. He opened up the cabinet on his side, and pulled out a sample plate of one of their popular "grilled-cheese" sandwiches, a new and exciting idea on their boring side of Hamilton Mill. "Why don't you try this? It's my favorite," Ethan said with a small laugh.
Susan groaned, wishing the kid would stop crushing and just serve them.
"That sounds great!" Mary said with a wide smile, "We'll take two of those and water each." She didn't really notice the boy's antics, and if she had she wouldn't have cared. He was sweet and kind, the type of boy she'd want Jenny, her 'niece' and James' daughter, to date when she got to be that age. She saw a tip jar out of the corner of her eye, and planned on using it when they were done. A grilled cheese did sound good too, the type of thing that her mother made her when she was younger. She wondered lightly if Mike, her little brother, knew this guy.
"I'm twenty-seven, but I appreciate how close you were." He joked lightly, then cleared his throat. "I'm at the church now, but I doubt I'll be here for much longer. I intend to go in and put out requests for the peacekeepers you asked for." He smiled reassuringly at the people who approached the phone, hoping they would get the message. "But I'll try to call her or catch her at a good time."
James smiled widely, happy it was working out. Jamie was a good guy, good at his job and and overall kind. He also honestly believed that they would be good for each other. Both were obsessed with work, and could use a break. Takes one to know one, he thought to himself. He continued watching outside, wondering where his little sisters were at the moment.
"Sounds good, and if you go to church, you'll see her there," He said. "And thanks again for the help with the ball, I couldn't do it safely without you." He hung up then, looking at his wife. "Hey Jenn," He said, moving to her and kissing her. The world seemed to pause for a second, as always, when they kissed. He slipped his hands under the back of her shirt, his hands on the tips of her hip bones in the back. Nothing too scandalous but enough. "So what are the plans?" He asked with a smirk, she looked up at him, opening her eyes then.
"Nothing much," She said. "Just a lot of sex."
He laughed and they headed home, "You're gonna be the death of me."
Late Afternoon/Early Dinner Time Saturday, August 12, 5082
