ArchivedLogs:Words

Words
Dramatis Personae Ash, Jack
In Absentia	2014-12-14 Part of the Future Past TP
Location <NYC> Harbor Commons - Sunroom - Lower East Side
Bright and warm, this room is set up to enjoy a little bit of the outdoors even year-round. Tall glass panes make up most of its wall in between wood supports, providing a wide three-sided view of the garden and yard outside. As well as the inner doors leading back into the kitchens and dining room, an outer door leads out to the outdoor gardens, as well. Inside, the room is airy and green -- a plethora of potted herbs and plants hang from the ceiling, as well as ring the room in a series of narrow wooden raised-beds that provide growing space for a selection of herbs year-round. Outside of the herb beds that ring the room, this place is designed simply to come and relax; quiet and simple, with clean stone floors and neutral-toned wicker furniture adorned with comfortable cushioning. Some of the chairs ring stone-and-glass tables for eating or conversing; a few more solitary seats come in the form of rocking chairs or netted hammock-chairs hanging from the ceiling. It is a gray day in New York City and the colder temperatures lead to less lively vegetation. There is a bastion of greenery in the Harbor Commons in the sun room. Here, Ash is taking in the pleasantness of warmth of the soil and the aroma of fresh herbs in the air. He is sitting on the edge of one of the gardens, his fingers stuck deep into the ground, his eyes closed. He has taken the time to shave this morning and slick his damp hair back after his shower. He has already acquired a layer of grime, partially pulled from his home and mingled with the darker, more mineral rich garden earth here. He pulls his hand free and lets it trail down his face, his head bowed with the contact. He stirs from the quiet, private moment and shifts his weight, concentrating on the ground to actively tend the herbs. Haunted clothes? Naw, that's just Jack out and about in the Harbor Commons. The cold and gray could have chased him inside but he's been doing some jogging and exercise today. He also happens to be sporting a couple floating band-aids and bandages on his arms and atleast one on his cheek. A little leftover signs of his last visit to the Fight Club after his tour at Xavier's. The sunroom's caught his eye though and he's coming in to examine the place. Pulling his hood down as he enters, Jack blinks as he looks around. "Wow, this is pretty cool," he remarks, having not been in the sunroom yet. Spotting Ash by one of the gardens, he lifts an invisible hand to wave a sleeve as he approaches. "Hey." "Hey," Ash replies, sitting up and turning to look at the source of the voice. His brows rise as he studies the clothes, his smile beginning to fade. He studies that set of clothes before he waves Jack over. "The room is amazing. It's warmer when the sun is out, but we do keep some heat in here for days like today. So. Jack. Tell me about yourself?" Jack paused for a step as he got a look at Ash all shaved and grimed. Shaking it off, he tilted his head to the side at the fading smile. He moves to join Ash and considers a moment before sitting down on the edge of the garden with him. He's not bothered by the dirt at all. "It is pretty nice. Do you guys like...grow veggies in here or just whatever'll grow?" he asks curiously. The question makes him blink before flashing an unseen smile. "Okay, what do you wanna know?" "We have learned that gardens of vegetables keep us alive when things go terrible - plus, fresh veggies grown by our own hand taste so much better than those found in the stores." Ash answers, but not directly. He scuffs a dirty hand against his face, smearing yet more dirt there, but this time unintentionally. "What do I want to know? Kid, you're invisible. You give nothing away except that you like football and are considering going back to school. I know two things about you. Are those the only two things you like? Take a chance. Tell me something new." "If that's what got used to cook around here, then I agree about home grown veggies tasting better," Jack replies. He watches the dirt smearing curiously and then looks as sheepish as he's able. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to being...y'know...social again," he replies. "But something new..." Jack trails off with a thoughtful hum. "Well I like to read. Mostly fantasy stuff and mystery novels. I like playing some video games too even if I kinda suck at them," he chuckles. "And I can do a little more than just be invisible," he adds after a moment. To demonstrate, he concentrates and telekinetically lifts a clump of dirt from where it rests and into his hand. Ash gnaws on his lip, listening quietly. He gives a little shrug at the mention of the tastiness of the food, then nods as each new piece of information is revealed. He watches the demonstration with a funny little quirk to his lips, growing amusement at the sight. "For someone who is reluctant to be social, you certainly let the floodgates open when prompted." He reaches out and takes the little clump of dirt and palms it, turning both hands to roll it between them. "How old are you, Jack?" "It's not that I'm reluctant," Jack shrugs, watching Ash play with the dirt. "It's just that I haven't really had anyone to be social with in awhile. And it's dumb but I get a little nervous that the whole invisible thing will freak people out. Even other mutants," he admits. "I'm sixteen for now. Going to be turning seventeen soon," he pauses a beat. "Soonish." "Soonish?" Ash laughs and shakes his head. "Sounds like you'd like to be older all of a sudden." He draws backward, pressing dirty hands to the ground as he looks away, his amusement draining away. "I have been trying to find a way to say something, but I am reluctant. I am terrible at talking, but only about talking about myself. You seem pretty bad at prying. How many hours are you willing to kill with a guy who hasn't even given you his name?" Jack laughs too. "I wouldn't mind it but I mean my birthday's coming up in about two weeks," he explains. He watches Ash as he looks away, frowning a little. "I've got all day," he replies. "Can I ask what your name is?" "You can ask." Ash grins a little, but it is fleeting. "I wonder if you already know." Jack looks down at the dirt for a moment, just poking at it. "I...thought I might. But you said we hadn't met and I guess I'm kinda dumb," he shrugs. "Is your name...Ash?" he asks after a moment. "We hadn't." Ash confides with a shrug, his nose wrinkling. "What kind of value can you put in a dream? That certainly wasn't a first time meeting. It was something in the middle. And it certainly wasn't in the past, if we are to believe what it told us. Also I think I would have noticed large imprisoning robots, if they were in the past. I'm fairly good at noticing things." He swallows and nods. "Yeah. I'm Ash. I saw what you saw. It's hard to understand though." "Uhh," Jack rubs the back of his neck, unintentionally smearing a little dirt there. "It was kind of a meeting. Maybe not first but...I don't know. This dream stuff doesn't make sense to me," he says with a sigh. He bites his lip when he gets confirmation on the name. "Yep, I'm dumb," he murmurs. "So umm...what's hard to understand?" "You say it doesn't make sense and then ask me what is hard to understand." Ash exhales and shakes his head with a laugh. He turns back toward the soil and starts to dig into it again. He reaches over and shakes a few grains from a small packet of seeds into the dark womb before sealing it up. "What is hard to understand are all the gaps of time in between. How did I come to be in prison again, blind and senseless? How did I not die fighting? Part of me cannot accept these things, making everything else utterly unfathomable. I ... apologize if this puts any negativity to the rest of the dream." "I mean I don't know how the whole...shared dream thing works. How us and two other people all had the same dream...at the same time I'm guessing," Jack shrugs. "Sorry," he murmurs. The invisible teen dips his hand into the edge of the dirt again as well, just playing with a tiny clump from the edge. "Blind and senseless...they probably did something to you. I mean I doubt they were properly treating any of the people they were beating. Could have been hurt bad and it messed things up," he says. "I don't know how I was alive either but...if we can stop the giant robot thing and the prison thing, I want to help do it," he adds. An invisible blush crosses his cheeks a moment later. "The other parts of the dream weren't bad..." "Ah. That. There is a person whose power it is to affect dreams. Generally her dreams were uplifting, a sweetness that binds people together. The dreams turned strange and I have seen some of the things within them come true." Ash exhales and shakes his head as Jack attempts to describe the reasons. "I know what they did to me. They have done it before. My skin crawls to think they will do it again." As Jack starts to play in the dirt, a thin layer begins to crawl up his skin, covering it in dust, outlining the knuckles and backs of his hand. "You were probably alive because of your training - whatever training you received. If you haven't any now, you might want to pursue some." He lifts his eyes to where Jack's face should be. "As for the good parts..." his lips twitch but there is no blush to accompany it, not yet. "That is somewhat foreign to me, too. Lo siento." "I think I heard about her. From either Dusk or Micah..." Jack trails off. "Yeah, I heard about the dreams coming true. That's...part of why I'm practicing harder with my powers. So I'll be ready to help fight any giant robots that come after people," he says. "You do? What...what did they do?" he asks quietly, worried now. The dirt and dust crawling up his skin get a curious glance and a little smile. "One way to see me," he murmurs in a faintly amused voice. "Good idea. I know how to be sneaky but more training in...whatever couldn't hurt," he says. "It's okay, it's pretty foreign to me too. But it was still nice. It felt...good." "There are darts - little hypodermic needles that can be fired from guns. They hit pretty hard, but the worst is the drugs within them. I first encountered them months ago, when we raided a facility kept by Prometheus. I was struck with some during the final raid. They make a person sick to start, nearly violently ill as the strength ebbs away. I had to be carried away from that horror. And then, it's like part of my body never woke up again. I could see, but couldn't. My senses were numbed and deadened. I was in my earth, but it didn't speak to me anymore." Ash reaches over to the dirt and scoops up a small handful, bringing it closer to Jack's face. "Do you mind?" Jack stares with a somewhat horrified expresison at that news. "Needles are bad enough but...that..." he shudders. Just something new for the nightmares. "I should...practice stopping things in mid air more," he says, filing that away for later. It takes him a second to process what Ash is asking but when he does, the invisible teen scoots a little closer so Ash doesn't have to reach as far. "No, I don't mind." When the tips of Ash's fingers encounter skin, he transfers the earth in his palm toward the other person's face. The dirt begins to spread across Jack's features, fine and thin, careful to avoid going in the eyes, nostrils, and mouth. He reaches with his hand to start guiding a somewhat imprecise practice, smoothing more dirt across his skin to make out the shape. "I wouldn't count on catching something that fast in mid air. That is expertise I have not actually seen in my experience yet. Work toward it, but don't make it your only defense." He finishes his dusting and pulls his hands away to get a look at the person across from him. Jack makes a tiny, surprised noise at the feeling of the dirt spreading over his skin. Its a strange feeling but not one he finds unpleasant. He smiles a little as more of his face is 'revealed' by the Earthy covering. "Well, my primary defense is not getting found to get shot at," he says, moving his lips as little as possible so as not to disrupt Ash's work. "I'll work on it though," he says. When Ash finishes, Jack smiles. "So...how do I look?" Ash studies him quietly for a while. "I... I don't know what to say. You're an attractive person." The blush starts to creep into Ash's cheeks as he shifts his weight where he is sitting. "It's just... Ah. lo siento, no se, no tengo palabras perfectas. No se palabras para nada." He clears his throat and lifts a hand as if to coax English out, but nothing comes at first. Eventually, he manages, "Feelings... y recuerdos - ah, memories make things muy dificil. Eres... un poquito joven. Lo siento, lo siento." "You're very attractive too," Jack blushes more as he says it. He smiles as Ash jumps between languages. "It's okay, I'm having a little trouble thinking of the right words too," he says, understanding both. He arches a brow slightly as Ash goes on. "I'm a little what?" he asks, chuckling a bit. "You don't have to apologize." "Young," Ash admits, finally, his face red. "It's fine in five years. Five years, that's so long from now." He draws in a deep breath and blinks dumbly at the ground. "Dios, what do we do with that. I - I don't know. I don't know you. I'd like to. It's just different getting to know someone with something like this in the future. Finding out I am in love with someone, and now here you are and it's like a present - a gift, but oh hell, don't screw it up." Jack looks down as well, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know either. I mean...I wanted to meet you and get to know you once I found out you were real and not someone I dreamed up," he admits. "This crazy future stuff does make things weird," he agrees. "Nothing's screwed up yet. We could work on getting to know one another and see what happens," he says. "Okay, there is something I... should point out. While we're talking about words, there are some that you just cannot use. I don't know where you were during the worst of the zombie plague, but now that you're in very populated location, it's really dangerous to use the W word when things have become strange and to say that you're... apologetic with the S word." Ash gets that out there, a little uncomfortable with trying to correct him in this way. "It's uncomfortable - the sick. I got sick like that. Thought I was going to die, turn into one of those soulless creatures." Ash clears his throat. "This is why I don't like to talk about myself. Everything is bad. So many bad things have happened." Jack blinks a few times then sighs. "Man I'm dumb," he mutters. "S-" he cuts himself off quickly. "Lo siento," he says. "I was...for most of it on my own. Skulking around the sewers and stuff under Newark. And this old basement I found in a boarded up building I spent some time in," he explains. "Oh man..." he trails off as Ash reveals he was sick. "I...yeah...bad things...I'm glad you're still you though. And...I wish I knew something better to say," he sighs again, rubbing the back of his neck. "Am I still me? I don't know." Ash takes a deep breath. "I was taken from my home when I was about your age and kept in a cell and experimented on for almost three years. I got out and all I can do is fight against the terrible things that happen to people like us. Sometimes, it's in little ways, just keeping a job, trying to build a home - and other times it's more explosive. I've been shot and stabbed and had people in my skull, physically and otherwise, and have had everything that I think is me taken away. I... feel like someone I barely know. And I'm scared... and scarred and I struggle with ... and I don't know why I am telling you all of this except for a dream in which I felt you knew me so well and loved me anyway." He exhales and rubs his hands together, the movement a vain attempt to stop the shaking. "I apologize for not letting you know who I was... am sooner. I just... thought that I could spare you some of this. We have some time, maybe, you know? Too much, too soon, it could be bad, too." Jack listens silently, a concerned expression on his face. He hesitates for a moment before reaching out and trying to put a hopefully comforting arm around Ash's shoulders. He frowned as he tried to figure out what he wanted to say. "It's okay. I'm not sure I wouldn't be the same if I went through all that but..." he takes a deep breath. "That's how it felt in the dream to me too. That you were someone I loved and wanted to protect no matter what," he says with a small smile. "And...well...the you I know now seems like a pretty cool guy so far. And I really would like to get to know you better." Ash is stiff when an arm goes around his shoulders, like someone unused to physical contact. He does lean against the younger man as he exhales. "Thanks. I just want to make sure you know who I am without the idea that you have to love me. I don't want you to just forgive everything I've ever done because you think that's what the future tells you to do. Okay? I c... gah. Lo siento, Jack. I feel like I'm telling you not to... not to like me. That's stupid. I am just so nervous" "It sounds more like things were done to you than you did things," Jack replies quietly. "I think I understand. Like I should get to know the you now instead of just going on the dream, right?" he asks with a single-shouldered shrug. "Don't worry, I'm pretty nervous too," he chuckles quietly. "I've hurt people and I've killed them. I didn't want to. I can't just sweep that under the rug. Yes, most of it was done against my will, some of it was done in defense of others, but I don't know how many and I have to deal with it." Ash responds dryly, his gaze out of focus. He reaches out a hand to take one of Jack's, the movement almost mechanical. "Yeah, we shouldn't rely too much on the dream. We're trying to change it, remember? Who knows what that will do." Jack is surprised to hear the bit about killing, glancing at Ash in surprise. He didn't get that impression from the other guy but eventually he takes a deep breath. "If there's anything I can do to help you deal with it..." he trails off after a few moments. He squeezes Ash's hand when the older mutant grabs his hand, just looking down at the dirt-covered skin for a moment. "Yeah...it was only a possible future after all. At least that's what I heard about the dreams." "It messes with my emotions. I see a therapist. I don't know what to say you can do to help me. Patience, maybe. Understanding. Be sure to always take care of yourself. It's important to never feel like you're running out of you." He reaches an arm around Jack's lower back and gives him another squeeze. "Oh. Um. I'm always like this. I hope you are okay with dirt." "I'll do my best to give them," Jack replied. "That one'll take a little more work. It looks like I'm fresh out of me," Jack tries to joke, gesturing at his mostly invisible self. Leaning against Ash, Jack smiles again. "I'm okay with it. I used to end up muddy and dirty a lot. And besides...it kind of lets you see me." Ash shakes his head and gives Jack a little squeeze, his words starting to run out. "I'm a really good cook," he offers after a little silence, "My mother was Indian and my my father was Hispanic, so there's a lot of peppers and spices. What do you like to eat?" "You are a good cook," Jack agrees, remembering the food he'd gotten from Ash the other day. "Spicy food is food is good," he replies. "Pizza's always good. And chicken. Course until I came to New York, I just ate whatever I could find so I'm not that picky." Ash nods and considers. "I am mostly asking to learn more about you, but it's good to know you're a grateful consumer at this point. It'll be an ego boost for a bit, you know." He rubs Jack's back before he starts to pull away. "Everything I make will be amazing." "Well, there's a lot of kinds of food I've never tried. When I was growing up, things were pretty...uniform. Mom made pretty much the same thing every week so not much variety. I like to try new foods though so there's that," Jack replies. He pulls away as well and stretches a little. "Looking forward to all the stuff you make then." "Good, good." Ash starts to get up, giving a little smile toward Jack as he stretches. "I'm actually going to go start putting some food together. We kind of have a Sunday dinner around here to share, so there's a bit more prep than normal. I'll see you when we eat, yeah?" Hopping to his feet, Jack nods. "That sounds great to me," he says. "I'll go grab a shower and then come by and see if I can lend a hand." "Okay." Ash gives a couple quick nods, then heads into the main kitchen to start helping with dinner.