mellowyellow | IC ♪ ADSTRING VOICEMAIL

[Holy crap, what did he do this time? Jinx is seriously upset, and he can feel the pressure of her threat from all sides. He needs to answer, and he needs to answer now.

So why is it that now he blanks?]

Jinx! Calm down. What are you talking about?

That--that hussy! That stupid, entitled whore!

[Whoa. That's the sound of an explosion in the background.]

[Is she... really serious? Like with Izaya? But Azula is no Izaya. What happened?]

She helped me out, okay! That's reason one, two, and three!

Just calm down and tell me what's going on. Are you home?

[If she can even hear over her anger management, several rushed footsteps are followed by a door slam.]

[Well, she's pretty easy to spot seeing how she's tearing down the house across the street from hers with one hell of a light show.]

That's not good enough! [Actually, that makes it worse. She "helped him out." Another explosion.]

She needs to die before she ruins everything!

[This is so far over his head it isn't funny. He can be the boyfriend, he can be the buddy, he can be the rock. That's what he strives for, what he wants to be. But damming ridiculous super powers like Jinx's? It was enough keeping track of a bunch of street kids. Jinx is more destructive than all of them put together, and it's frightening whenever he sees it on this scale. He was finally starting to get used to it, to feel comfortable with it, but right now she's mad, she's threatening to kill someone, and Masaomi doesn't know what the hell to do.

For a moment, he halts his sprint, watching that light show in awe. A shaky breath releases itself from his lips, and he can't reply. One of her explosions snaps him out of it. He jolts, taking off again.]

No! Tell me what happened right now!

[She's more than just angry. The girl is upset, worried, and scared. All of that culminates in her powers going haywire, and she's trying her best to aim all of that at demolition and not Azula's face. Not until Kida understands why. Which she just can't seem to vocalize properly. She can't even think. The sorceress feels like her head is going to explode worse than this building.]

She's gonna take you away from me!

[Jinx is still screaming, but that one sounds a lot more upset than angry. And that's an earthquake.]

[-What?

He nearly trips at the sudden rumbling, but he keeps running, leaping over a wooden fence that couldn't take that last jolt to its weakened foundation.

Then this really is about him. Shit.]

Jinx, nobody's taking me anywhere!

[That's about the point she throws her PCD...

...and puts her glowing fist through one of the last standing concrete walls.]

[He looks down at the PCD before biting his lip and dropping it. He can find it again later. Jinx's destruction is looming straight ahead. He just hopes she's still there by the time he makes it, frantically searching for the source of her magic demolition spree.]

[The earthquake stopped, but she's not calm. It's not hard to find her, either. She's where a small building used to be. Now it's a literal pile of rubble with one standing wall. Which she happens to be circling, eyes and hands ablaze. Just contemplating how to wreck it.]

[He slows to a stop when he manages to catch sight of her. The last thing he wants is to barge in and have her attack him instead. But she's still here, which means Azula should be okay. She's still here. He can breathe again.

...But what he can do?

The boy forces a step forward, and another, and another. Not quietly or sneakily, just slowly, haltingly. He's still seven or eight yards away when he opens his mouth, his voice not nearly as steady as he'd been aiming for.]

Jinx.

[Jinx is about to take a step back, to lash out at the wall and blow it to smithereens, but she hears footsteps. They're Kida's. She can feel him. She knows he's there long before he says her name. As she tries to think of a correct response, or at least something coherent, she balls her glowing hands into fists.

Finally, she turns her head to look at him. The rest of her body doesn't move, which must make it even creepier. Those lit up eyes of hers stare blankly at him. The only emotion seems to be in her wrinkled forehead and her pursed lips.

She manages a question. Not screaming, but still so emotional.]

Would you cheat on me?

[Creepy is a good word for it. Haunting is a better word for it.]

Of course not.

[The clipped answer, the lack of humor, is very prominent, showcasing his anxiety. But he's not about to point that out himself. Instead, he takes another step forward.]

I have you.

[The first rational thing she's done for the past hour is take a step back when Kida comes forward. If the boy could see auras, he would not be anywhere near her right now. Her boots slip on the rubble a little and her hand reaches out to brace herself against the wall. The concrete cracks, but stays in one piece.]

But you wanna see Azula's boobs because they're better than mine. And she's prettier than me. She says she's gonna steal you and you're always hitting on other girls and Lucifer cheated on me with a man and Cyborg cheated on me with that blond hussy and I'm sure Leo was only with me because I can blow up banks with my brain and--

[She finally has to stop. Because she runs out of air completely. Things shake the more worked up she gets and the glowing gets brighter.]

[He moves to get closer but stops when she catches herself on the wall. He can't bring himself to try again when she starts running her mouth. Whether that's because of what she says or because of the shaking is difficult to tell.]

Jinx!

[Shut up. Focus.]

Just how many lists will I have to make before you start to believe them?

I don't know!

[Now that was yelling. Her back hits the wall and she puts her hands on the sides of her head, like she does when she's trying to keep it together. She digs her claws into her scalp and shuts her eyes tight. The dimmer her glowing hands get, the more visible how much she's torn them up on the building is.]

You always throw yourself at every girl you meet! Like you've got some sort of lineup just in case I don't make you happy and I don't know how to make you happy enough to not need that.

[For once, she's actually able to put what she's feeling into words.]

[Still, he can't bring himself to reach her. He's frozen in place by those words because it's always the truth that hurts the worst. At first, that was all any girl he talked to had been. Even Jinx. Another tally on the chalk board, kept in reserve. Because nothing here in Adstring is enough to replace his life back home.

He'd finally given up trying to replace anything. Built something new. But old habits die hard.

Can even his simplest actions cause reactions like this now?

Another small step forward.]

No one could replace you, Jinx. Not for me.

What do you want me to do?

Edited 2012-06-18 09:45 (UTC)

[The sorceress sinks to the ground, back sliding against the remaining wall. Her stick thin limbs curl around her body and she puts her face in her knees. Messy pink tresses mask her expression while her claws still cling to her scalp. Her voice is quiet now. Everything's still.

What does she want him to do?]

Not hit on other girls when you have me. Not cheat on me.

...never leave me. [A quiver runs through her small body.] If we ever start aging--grow up with me. [Her hands fall from her head and she wraps her arms around her legs.]

Fall more in love with me. Make love to me. [A shaky breath.] Make me see what you see in me. Just--stay.

[While she curls into herself, he finally steps up. Finally, perhaps in the coward's way out, he pushes forward to her vulnerable form and curls up next to her, his back against the same wall.]

Is that all?

[His cheek rests on his knees as he watches her; his lips curl into into a small reassuring smile. If he looks relaxed enough, maybe he'll feel relaxed enough.]

Didn't I already say I'm not going anywhere? If that means making it clear that I'm not for sale, then that's what I'll have to do.

[The sorceress lifts her head from her knees slowly, then she looks at the boy with her eyes still glowing that bright neon. At least, now that he's closer and she's calmer, there's a pupil and iris just barely visible behind that display of her powers. It's something that's only visible if someone is dumb enough to get this close to her when she's throwing one of her fits. She just looks so...stressed.

The blood from her torn up knuckles is dripping slowly down her shins.]

If she tries to get you to cheat on me, I will publicly execute her. [The venom has drained from her voice, but the conviction is still there.] You're mine, okay?

[Once again, she buries her face.] Why is this so hard!?

[He laughs at that. It's not happy. If anything, it's rather hopeless.]

You're asking me?

[But after a moment, he sighs, smile gone.]

She won't do anything like that. I promise. I'm all yours.

[He's all yours, Jinx. Stop worrying. Stop panicking. It's not working. Her eyes are still glowing, fingertips still sparking, and every so often bits of the rubble shift. But now she has to keep it under control, otherwise her powers would rip through Kida. He has no defenses against her. If she had this kind of anger directed toward him...

The sorceress moves close to him. Very gently, she grabs his arm and puts it around her shoulders. She curls up as much as she can with him, without putting herself in his lap again. A tremor runs through her body.]

You're all I have and she threatened that. I'd rather burn this whole city to the ground than let anyone-- [She bites her tongue. Keep calm.]

I hate her.

[When she guides his arm, he's quick to catch on, squeezing her opposite shoulder. His other hand rises around her front to rest on his wrist. Glowing eyes, bloody hands, jealousy, he tries to encase them all and remind himself of the girl who owns them.]

She's not going to change my mind, no matter what she says.

[What did she say, seems to be the question of the hour.]

So we can avoid burning things until later.

[Jinx seethes quietly as he holds onto her. Eventually, her eyes stop glowing. She begins to pick at the tiny bits of concrete stuck in her knuckles. At one point, she opens her mouth like she's going to say something, but decides against it. A few more seconds pass and she says it anyway.]

I want you to know that, after I met you, Lucifer and I didn't... [Expecting him to know what that means, she continues.] And I'd never now that you and I are...

I told him to stop talking to me. [She practically blurts it out.]

[Gently, he lets the side of his forehead rest against hers, though not until the glow fades. When she removes anything from her cuts, he takes it and sets it down on his other side. He's not about to push anything now that she's calmed down, so he's glad when she gets up the nerve to talk on her own. Her choice of confession earns her a small if slightly embarrassed smile.

He's not the type of guy who deserves to hear that.]

...Were his boobs better too?

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;

call;