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[underachievement]

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[oorah]

i have to show you something

[underachievement]

Take a picture

[oorah]

[ he couldn't have asked for a better lead-in, honestly. frank takes a dumb selfie and sends her a picture of his freshly clean-shaven face. ]

well?

[ he's pretty sure she never liked the beard. and yet to her credit she never said a direct word (to his face) about it either way. ]

[underachievement]

[ There is no way she could have anticipated how conflicted this makes her feel!!!! ]

Holy shit

[oorah]

should i tape it back on?

[underachievement]

Hell no [ It was the fucking worst, which Jess wasn't shy about vocalizing to anyone BUT him. That would be paying him attention and then the beard wins. Even now, it might be getting the better of her. Shaving as an end unto itself is fine and great, but what if, god forbid, it's for an occasion? ]

But why now?

[oorah]

idk. maybe i thought it would help me get back to real life or something.

[ and maybe he's texting her because it's not really working ]

[underachievement]

[ Oh thank christ. Severe trauma > dinner parties ]

Not that easy, huh
Don't let that encourage you to grow it back

[oorah]

He pulls up to the curb outside her apartment building with a high-pitched screech, the skull on his bumper announcing that he doesn't care to squabble the finer points of his parking job. I.e. he's blocking the steps to avoid having to feed a meter and he doesn't give a single fuck about it.

"Come on, Rocky," he gruffs, and the pair spill out onto the street as though they were a particularly cheap beer. Frank receives a few glares, though he doesn't stick around to find out if it's because his dog is off-leash, if his van is in the middle of the street, or just because he's himself. It all seems to settle out about the same in the end.

Within moments, Frank and the pit mix are stalking up her hallway, bee-lining to the door he recently fixed again. He wraps on the door in the same pattern as always, the morse code for S-A-F-E though by now he hardly expects Jessica to know it as anything but his secret bullshit knock.

"You packed?" he calls in lieu of a greeting, blowing into her apartment without waiting for any sort of answer. Rocky immediately trots in to sniff her out but gets distracted by the bottles on the floor.

[underachievement]

Predictably, Jess spent the entire day prior debating with herself whether or not to call this trip of theirs off. She can think of more good reasons to go than to bail, and when she brought it up as a possibility to Malcolm, several days earlier, he claimed to be okay with the idea. She plans to slip her key under his door on her way out. If he's smart, he'll open up the office and take an easy case or two while she's away. Pocket the cash for himself. Yeah, she decided before passing out drunk, do it for Malcolm. You fucking saint.

She passes out early in the morning and sleeps until nearly noon, when a surge of noise from the street knocks her awake. Lying to herself about being undecided, and drinking a lot, instead of packing was a bad idea both in hindsight and at the time. Jess only regrets the lying part. While putting together a duffel bag, she realizes not for the first time that she doesn't really know what to bring to a cabin. Despite living in them for over a year.

Whatever. If she needs anything she doesn't have, there isn't time to get it, and her standard wardrobe got her through most seasons in the villages. She grabs sweatpants and extra t-shirts for pajamas, and scatters in every pair of clean underwear. His particular style of parking announces him before his knock (and Rocky's clacking paws) can. In the interim, as he ascends to her floor, she scrambles to grab shampoo and a toothbrush and shit she's not even sure she'll need.

"Almost," she calls back, her voice too dried out for enthusiasm. She's positive she's already overpacked yet plenty of room remains in her bag. Half that space she fills with sweaters and socks and a spare pair of jeans. Slung over her shoulder, she flicks lights off as she trudges down the hall with the duffel. In the office, Jess dumps it on her desk and leans down to give Rocky a brief scrub on the head. Then she crosses to the coffee table, the bottles on top of which still contain some liquor.

He looks like he's been up for hours, of course. She drones to him, "I haven't had coffee."

[oorah]

Frank hears her scramble, but doesn't advance, letting her pretend she was ready or almost when he knows all too well she wasn't. Calling to warn her just seemed like an avenue for her to back out, so he hadn't given either of them the opportunity and he really can't find it in himself to feel sorry about it.

"Hurry," he implores, but they both know he'd never deny another human coffee, let alone her. It's in the Geneva convention or some shit. "I'm parked illegal." Not that he seems particularly worried or remorseful about that either.

[underachievement]

Like she's not hurrying? She won't waste time glaring at him. A bottle of liquor is wedged between lumps of clothing. Jess scoops her jacket off the client chair, as well as her phone on the seat, then returns to her bag to tuck in a second bottle and tug the strap over her shoulder. She stomps towards her boots, which happen to be directly behind him.

"Go ahead, I'm right behind you." Upon shoving her shoes on, she gives her place a quick last look while flicking off the light. Her eyes alight on her fireplace mantle and the camera sitting on top of it. She grabs it and the battery charger stuck into the wall, "packs" them, and hurries out. Her scarf is the last item taken, looped hastily over her head. The key slips into and out of the lock, then under Malcolm's door. In the interest of expediency, she foregoes the elevator and drops to the ground floor through the stairwell.

As she emerges from the building and crosses the street, she pulls hair free from her scarf just to have it whip right into her eyes and mouth. Muttering colorfully, she stows her bag in the truck before clambering in the passenger side.

[oorah]

He was enjoying this entire process honestly so when she tells him to get going, he sighs like she wrecked something for him. Frank considers stealing a kiss, but ends up spinning on his heel and heading back down the hall as requested. Rocky seems torn between the two but after a moment runs to catch up to Frank and nudges in against his ankle. Frank spares a last look down the hall before ducking into the stairwell and taking them two by two. All he can do is grin when Jessica drops to ground floor in front of them, though Rocky barks like she personally offended him and runs at full speed to meet up with her at the bottom. He barks another time and rubs up against her leg like he's a cat, panting and whipping her thigh with his tail. Frank walks right by them though the smile on his face clings as he gets in just in time for the dog and Jess to join him.

[underachievement]

He's had coffee. That or he's been so looking forward to this trip with her, he hasn't needed today. Jess turns in her seat to acknowledge Rocky, straining for her on the edge of his seat. Satisfied after a few pets, he settles down and she tries to, too. There's a thermos in the cupholder between her and Frank. She plucks it out and pops off the lid that serves as a little cup, discarding it in her lap.

Either this will be fresh or it won't. Doubtless it'll be strong as sin and blacker than tar, fit to sear away the stale grime lining her mouth from sleep. She has an awful gulp from the thermos, jumping in with both feet.

[oorah]

Immediately, his eyes go wide when she steals his coffee and he puts a hand out towards her without taking his eyes off the road. "Hey, hey, what do you think you're doin', huh?" If she didn't know better (which of course, she does) she might think he were actually upset at the swipe, but he's doing a good job pretending, for him anyway. "How'd you even know what's in that, could've been anything." No, it couldn't have.

His hand connects with her free wrist over Rocky's head and Frank turns to her quickly just as he rolls to a stop sign. He leans over to take his kiss, finding it earned now as he licks the bitter taste from her lips even as he pulls back and faces forward again. He made it a little weaker today, which might be a coincidence.

"We're really doing this, ain't we?" Running away. It feels more like running towards something if he's honest. His hand goes back to his lap, only ever driving with one of his giant mitts. He already can't wait to leave the city behind.

[underachievement]

Jess grumbles unintelligibly between mouthfuls of coffee, warmer and weaker than anticipated. The smell doesn't interest Rocky in the slightest, unlike the whiffs of hard liquor that waft off of her. She screws the cap back into the top of the thermos and is setting it back into the console when he steals a kiss from her. It's both too long and too short, considering he's at the wheel.

Head to the headrest, she rests her eyes as they accelerate past the stop sign. Maybe if she sleeps the entire time they're gone, she can stop feeling so tired. That ought to last half a day.

"How far are we going?" A yes in other words. She hasn't asked until now. Aside from offering a legitimate name and credit score, if he needed it, she's stayed willfully blind on planning the trip. Okay, and limiting them to one canine companion, but she didn't help in the selection process, which had to be harrowing for him.

[curious_spirit]

ooc: taken from here. I know we didn't discuss so delete at will, no hard feelings. ♥

Wake me up if I fall asleep

[ Shadow had never fully emptied his bag. It was more for Jessica, fully believing that she didn't want him to move in. He was just visiting. Now he wondered as contemplated packing his things in case she took what he was going to disclose the wrong way.

He'd sent her the last text for something to say that he would been waiting and maybe the news wasn't something for her to freak out about. Shadow couldn't fall asleep. He kept glancing at his phone, waiting while laying back on 'his side' of the new bed. ]

[underachievement]

[ At this time of night, the route home was as quick by foot as it was by train. Foregoing the humidity of the underground, Jess chose to walk, finishing what was left her flask along the way. It was less than a full glass of whiskey, which she intended to pour for each of them before he spilled his guts.

In about twenty minutes, she was shutting her front door and locking it behind her. Her living room was as she'd left it, no furniture replaced nor rearranged. She took of her bag and jacket, leaving them on the couch, and grabbed a bottle off her desk as she went to the kitchen. Jess filled two glasses with cheap bourbon and headed down the hall to her bedroom. However she felt about its new look, she'd put aside for the time being.

She focused on him, as hard as everything else was to ignore among the the peculiar cleanliness. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't fallen asleep. ]

Hey.

[curious_spirit]

Hey.

[ There wasn't a change to the room other than the bed and lamps (both lamps because one when there were two didn't seem right but just in case Jessica had some kind of attachment to the bedroom lamps, she would see the remaining unbroken lamp in the living room/waiting room area). ...Actually, there was more than the furniture change. He'd picked up all the trash, dirty dishes and dirty clothes. Shadow also cleaned the bathroom.

Cleaning was something he'd been used to as a globetrotter with his mom and then again as a foster kid, and again after Laura's funeral. Cleaning up every time he had to move on. This had been the first he'd hoped to move onto something more than a house guest but Shadow wasn't so sure as he contemplated everything Jessica was about to learn about him. Just because she had super strength didn't mean she'd believe what he planned to confess.

He swallowed thickly at her greeting, sitting up from his comfortable position on his back. Shadow reached to take the glass from her. He raised it slightly the way he'd often do, like a small silent toast in appreciation for the pour. The bourbon was a far cry from what his recent boss used to imbibe but Shadow welcomed the liquid. His mouth had suddenly felt dryer than the sands in Egypt.

His eyes fell to the contents of the glass for a second before looking back to Jessica. ] How long have you known about me being in prison or being married?

[ Shadow wasn't trying to avoid his confession. The question suddenly came to mind as he looked into her eyes. He wanted to be sure that learning the truth about him hadn't influenced her staying out for work longer like she had been recently. ]

[underachievement]

[ She couldn't anticipate how or with what he would start. If she had, that question wouldn't be it. Jess couldn't be sure. It was between a slow stream of unremarkable cases and she often marked time by her jobs or by her sister's visits, which were more regular these days. ]

I found out a while after I met you, a while before you showed up again. [ It was a curiosity she picked up and put down on a couple separate occasions. When she hit upon his wife's death, she told herself she'd stop, then came back to it to learn a little more about his sentencing.

It was easily accessible information so Jess didn't feel particularly guilty about it, though it was a length someone in a different profession might not go to. Plus she'd had no reason to think she'd see him again. She watched him for anger or insult as she took a seat on the bed. ]

[curious_spirit]

[ There was some relief in learning that her discovery wasn't recent. He worried that just maybe it had been what kept her away, even if he'd never caught Jess in a lie. His marriage had done a number on him. Shadow had trusted Laura implicitly, never once questioning her loyalty.

Not that he questioned Jessica more than once on anything. Shadow observed and hoped for the best, stifling the worst as best as he could. He relaxed a little with the answer she just gave him. He sipped his drink before continuing. ]

This is going to sound crazy. If it's too much, I understand. I was in the thick of it for weeks and didn't believe any of it. But like I said in the text, or meant to, I like being with you. I don't want to take for granted the powers you have that you'll be alright without knowing just what it means to involved with me because it's a lot...

[ He swallowed thickly, feeling his mouth dry even though he'd taken a good long pull of the bourbon she poured. Shadow didn't pause for long but took a breath and kept going. ]

...As good a person as my mom was, my biological father is for all intents and purposes the complete opposite. He's more than likely where I picked up being a con man from. Nature over nurture. My mom refused to ever talk to me about him, forever telling me that there wasn't anything to tell. I'm sure it was to protect me but in the end, it did more harm than good.

When I met him, he never told me who he was. He made it look all by chance. Just happened to cross paths when I got out of prison. Wednesday had his own agenda. He needed me on his side but instead of pleading his case, he made it so I had nothing and nobody. I can't say for sure that he's responsible for me getting caught in the casino but he had Laura killed.

[ That was plenty to start with. Shadow waited to see how she took that much before going any further. So far he hadn't exactly shared anything unworldly. She had to know that there was more, nothing he'd said so far would merit the mention he made about her having powers. ]

[underachievement]

[ Jess's bare for crazy-sounding shit was pretty high. She could safely assume higher than most's. Even so, she bound herself not to dismiss anything he said. She could keenly recall how it had hurt her when Luke didn't believe her claim about Kilgrave, to the point that she hadn't dealt with it, all these months late and despite his apology. It was still painful to revisit so she kept it buried.

She didn't want to do that to Shadow. From what she'd learned of him, in person rather than in the documented accounts of others, he was earnest to a fault. Why would he lie to her in an attempt to drive her away? There were shorter roads to that same end, including leaving without need for a single word.

So Jess listened, sipping intermittently from her glass. She eased her leg up onto the mattress, sitting more comfortably as he went on. His fear of her disbelief was unfounded, sentence by sentence. So far, it wasn't particularly strange. Absentee fathers showed back up and screwed up their kids lives all the time. More than a few thought they could hire her to help them do it. ("Wednesday" threw her off a bit but she expected that to become clear soon.)]

I'm sorry. [ About his wife. And because those words meant nothing, changed nothing, she at least had to qualify them. ] I know what it's like to have people taken away by someone who thinks they can just... make themselves your world. [ Her gaze drifted away from him as she told him, to the unusually clean floor, and the last of her words skipped like stones across the surface of her whiskey. Jess drank slowly but deeply, waiting for him to continue. When her thirst was quenched, she returned to watching him. ]

[curious_spirit]

So much could go into why hadn't he been there when I was a kid or stepped up when my mom fought cancer and lost but...

[ Those eyes of hers, they felt more like a gateway to his soul than hers. He wasn't met with disbelief or criticism. Jessica had clearly said it: she knew what it was like to have people taken away by someone who thought they could make themselves her world. Shadow nearly got carried away by the acceptance, realizing that how she'd done her homework, he hadn't looked into her deeply.

The thought wasn't to protect himself but Shadow questioned if he'd possibly open a wound for her. He needed to finish telling her and give Jessica the opportunity to decide her involvement. ]

...He's just a manipulative selfish bastard. [ Shadow shook his head in disgust and continued. ] Who happens to a be a fucking god.

[ As much as he wanted to think it was the cheap booze getting to his head, Shadow knew better. He grounded himself by fixing his gaze on her eyes. ]

Not God but a god. We met on a Wednesday so I thought he was being funny, having me call him Mr Wednesday. He prefaced it 'today is my day' and I never caught on. It took being a mansion filled with Jesuses to see him suddenly change the perfect weather so he could strike down new gods with lightning before I--

[ That was probably too much. Shadow stopped and just sat with his mouth hanging open. ]

[learned]

(cont,)

[ Daimon arrives at the diner a handful of minutes later than the thirty he promised, because New York is a huge city and Columbia's newest professor hasn't quite finished mapping out where everything is yet. The last month has been a whirlwind of apartment shopping, new classes, and tracking down some items for his sister. Which is how he crossed paths with Jessica. But here he is now, leather jacket tossed over a dark sweater and slacks. He lingers just in front of the 'seat yourself' sign, looking around to see if Jessica has made it yet, or if he needs to find them a table. ]

[underachievement]

[ A born and bred New Yorker, she knows the quickest way to get just about anywhere at any given time of day. On this occasion, it's a short train ride bookended by a cool walk. The bag on her shoulder serves as an overlarge cupholder, since her jacket won't hold her flask. Jess is at Sal's in roughly twenty minutes and grabs the corner booth between the window and back wall, the ideal spot for people watching.

A couple of guys with Daimon's either bleak flair or glowering posture walk past. He's the only one to pull off the combo, recognizable as soon as he's approaching the door. Jess waves him over. She has a mug of coffee in front of her already, generously spiked with the whiskey she brought from home. ]