The Deck - Sunday Late Morning

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jake had been up early. Freakishly early and he'd taken the time to just run around the preserve, letting his wolf instinct take over to clear his mind. Whether it'd helped was another question as he was now lounging (shirtless) in one of the chairs on the deck with his bare feet propped up on the railing. He was toying with his mobile and finally started typing up a text.

Why did you let the leech come here?

It didn't take long and Jake guessed that Bella must have fallen out of bed.

Bella: Don't call them that. Who are you talking about?
Jake: The tiny one. Alice. Why's she here?
Bella: She isn't there. What are you talking about?

Huh. He stared at the lit up screen, trying to wrap his brain around it. His mobile beeped once more and he automatically pressed to read the next text.

Bella: Can we talk? I miss you.

He wished she wouldn't and he sent her a two letter reply before flipping his mobile off, aware that he was being a jerk. That he was breaking promises, but there was no point in talking. She'd made her choices.

... Now what the hell was that freakish scent that was hanging all around the grounds?

[Sorry, Toothless. Open deck is open. He'll welcome the distraction.]

Comments

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

A rather baffled looking Peter Bishop wandered out onto the deck. He had just watched the morning news and was very confused.

He glanced over at Jacob, and then waved a little greeting.

"Hi. Can I ask a question?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

The mobile disappeared in his jeans pants and Jacob glanced up.

"New kid, huh?" he grinned and nodded. "Sure, go ahead. Can't promise you'll like the answer."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter shrugged. "Yesterday I ran into my father who has been in a mental hospital for the past four years. I doubt you could tell me anything worse."

He raised a hand, gesturing as he asked his most improbable of questions. "They don't, say, make a series of fake news broadcasts to air on the common room TVs to mess with the new kids, do they? Because I'm pretty sure it's not 2010."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like you have a fun first day," Jacob remarked dryly, but the question was one Jake was all too familiar with.

"It's 2010," he replied, not entirely unsympathetic. "You got time displaced too? There's lot of people like you. I'm from 2006 myself, but there's a couple of people around who're a couple of centuries in the future. Or the past."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter leaned against the railing, exhaling a long breath through his nose while rubbing his forehead out of a bit of frustration.

"You do realize that sounds completely insane," he said, though his usual sarcasm was tempered by the fact that almost everything around here seemed completely insane. "Time travel is only theoretical, and even then the theories don't extend to practical applications."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Oh look, another rational person.

"Of course it's insane," Jacob couldn't help the grin. "The island's insane. You just ran into your dad who's been in a mental hospital for four years. How's time travel weirder? Theories don't exactly apply here."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"So either I've wandered into a magical fantasy land," he scoffed, but only just. "Or I'm at a school for the incurably insane where they don't actually want the patients to get better."

Pause.

"No offense."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"No worries, you just called yourself insane," Jacob reasoned and he shrugged a shoulder. "I thought I was going crazy at first too, but it's just easier to accept it. Or you can talk to Claudia, I'm sure she's got several theories on what's going on."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Right," Peter said, filing that name away. Anyone who might have theories was worth checking out.

Then he shook his head, deciding to deal with the crazy at a later point as well. "Thanks for the help. I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Bishop."

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Dru was on her way back in from her own morning run. But since she had nothing special to get done today, it was easy enough forgo the entrance to the dorms and head over to the deck instead.

"Hey Jake."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Hey," he glanced up and gave her a tiny wave. "Long time no see. How are you doing?"

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"Still alive is the short answer," she replied. "The long one requires booze." And the long answer meant he might not ever speak to her again.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

He tilted his head, watching her. "I don't drink," he said, "but I'm not going to stop you."

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"At this time of the morning?" Dru asked, quirking an eyebrow. "My Gran's ghost would come back and kick my ass. Won't find an answer in a bottle, girl. You gotta use your head. Which is a hell of a lot easier to do when you actually know all the facts and can process them. Unfortunately I don't have facts. Just a hell of a lot of questions."

Yes, she was rambling. Yes, it was cryptic. Welcome to what Dru's life has been like since her father died.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I'd say I've been up for a while now, but that made absolutely no sense so I'm probably not awake enough yet," he replied, giving her a weird (and worried) look.

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"Either that or you haven't had enough coffee to kick the brain cells into gear."

She took a seat on one of the chairs and put her feet up against the deck rail. "Sorry. I found out some stuff a few weeks ago." Although thinking about it made her realize it'd been just over two months since that disastrous trip to the Dakotas. It just still felt a hell a lot more immediate. "It pretty much changed everything I'd thought I'd ever know about myself and my family."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jacob expelled a breath that almost sounded like a laugh, but it was much too wry and bitter for to be an actual laugh.

"Sorry," he said, staring ahead at the trees. "That must suck."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Seeing Jake lounging on the deck made Rose realise she had a question or three for him. She detoured over to him. "Hey, Jake. What'd you do with my roommate?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Well, there went the question he'd been avoiding to ask her. He made a face and it was funny how her scent was so much more pleasant after running into the leech.

"She hasn't been around?" he asked. Sort of asked.

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Don't make a face at me. I didn't do anything," she said, pushing up to sit on the railing facing him. "Yeah, I dunno. All her stuff's still in the room, but I haven't seen her for days. Figured you guys were making up for lost time."

...well, that's what Rose would do.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jake was more interested tracing the seam of his jeans with a nail than looking up at her. "I haven't seen her since Wednesday," he said. "They couldn't get home on Monday and they were going to keep trying. So... I guess it worked."

Pause.

"Unless she's avoiding us both."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Maybe, yeah," she said, watching him. "Feel bad I never got to say goodbye or anything."

Rose grinned at his addendum. "Why d' you say that? Did you do something stupid?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"No!" he made a face at her. "I haven't done anything stupid since..." He wondered if talking to Alice had been stupid. Maybe the text messages had been too.

"No. I'm sorry you didn't get to say goodbye."

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"Probably my fault," Rose admitted, shrugging a little. "I wasn't really around the dorms much this weekend with Lissa here." She tilted her head at the trailing off. "Since when?"

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"None of your business," he said instantly, bristling a little. "Her stuff's still just there? She didn't take anything?"