oorah | 💚💀 ( sixthiteration contact ) 🎉♖

[ she chews the inside of her lip, staring a hole into the floor. Jess was a ghost throughout October and, starting around the second week, afflicted by dust moths to boot. he might have told her and the memory was neglected in the tidal return of many others more dire. somehow she doesn't think it's that. ]

Nobody since then? Nothing like that?

No one... from there. [ he admits. ] No one we know.

[ this one he genuinely feels bad about not telling her until now. he squeezes his eyes shut against an onslaught of guilt and mindfog caused by the weed, most likely. ]

There's a man here. He's hurt people. Ravi told me to kill him before he left. [ obviously, frank hasn't done that. ] Before he... disappeared.

[ she expels a shuddering breath as the same two or three curse words repeat vigorously in her mind. Ravi was frightened by one of the names on the list she uncovered with him. she didn't ask which one and he didn't say but she doesn't believe in coincidence as a specimen in a human zoo. ]

Whatever you get involved in, so does Kamala. We can't keep her out or keep her safe. [ she has to know before he does anything. deliberately not to mention, Jess won't be able to sit by and watch him do it all on his own, either, when the mystery monster inevitably comes back. just implying it feels like a stretch. ]

[ he turns over on his back carefully, inflicting the full brunt of his wet stare up at her. ]

Why do you think he's not dead yet?

[ she wants to ask why it has to be him, why it has to be them again, despite having the answer: because no one else will. instead, she bites her lips into a despondent line. the tendons in her throat strain when she speaks. ]

Frank. [ it's not his fault, and she doesn't blame him. Jess is just at a loss for what to say that can communicate the depth of her hopelessness. he knows it through silence, anyway. ]

Edited (ugh this thing) 2019-02-14 03:11 (UTC)

[ his gaze softens a little, his fingers drifting upward to hook in her jacket. ]

Sorry. [ that he didn't tell her, that he's telling her now. either way. ]

[ well, she gets the beard now. soothing her detective nerves is a shitty tradeoff for the H-bomb of responsibility dropped onto her plate by a near total stranger. ]

Fuck. [ she mutters into the rim of her vodka jar, then sips liberally. ]

Yeah. [ he agrees, resting the top of his head against her stomach and letting his hand drop from her coat as he laces his fingers over his own tummy instead. ] Maybe he won't come back.

[ it could be simple. it isn't, though. killing used to be really easy for him, but now? he doesn't even know the full extent of what blaine did back home. is he a total hypocrite? they can't just wait for him to fuck up here like people did with kilgrave. ]

I shouldn't have told you. You have enough- [ on her plate? ]

[ neither of them believe that. She finishes gulping as he airs out the platitude, the hot prickling in her ears subsiding as his weak backpedalling trails off for a second. ]

I don't have anything. [ she croaks from the raw booze. aside from what room Kamala and Frank have made in their lives for her, for no good goddamn reason, Jess's world is the jacket she's wearing and the drink in her hand. She has nothing else to show for her seven months spent here or the four spent fighting her way out of hell. nobody in the village is any closer to geting them home, whether their existence would be redundannt there or not. Maybe hardship keeps falling to her because it's what she's good for. ]

[ he hates that. he hates this. frank curls back in against her, arms circling her middle as he buries his face in her stomach. ]

You have me. [ it's probably worth next to nothing, but he can't not say it anymore. ]

Yeah. [ Jess surrenders the word, full and welling despite its brevity. she has a dry swallow and does her best to mimick a sturdier tone like she used when they were barely acquaintances. ] And you have more.

[ as far as she's concerned, that's fact, not self-pity. she simply doesn't mean what he does to Kamala and his past proves a capacity for love and guidance that hers lacks. ] If there's a bullet this time, you have to let me take it.

[ that gets frank to sit up, feet dangling sideways off his chair, feeling his sudden sobriety like it was shot into his veins. he studies her eyes and finds... he can't dispute it. he's gotten to the point again where he has ties here, embedded well enough that they'd be difficult to uproot. jessica is nebulously attached to himself and kamala, but no one and nothing else except perhaps her lonely house on the edge of the village. ]

Jess... [ he shakes his head, but he's not disputing her directly, his hand coming up to push some hair idly off her face. ] There's not gonna be.

[ a bullet for her to take. and if he kills blaine? there will probably be pitchforks at his door, definitely not hers. they don't even know who she is and in moments like this he realizes she really is safer that way. ]

[ She knows too little about the threat to trust that but welcomes the touch as if she does, canting her head against his fingertips almost imperceptibly. she isn't necessarily afraid of taking the hit, if she has to. she's not afraid to die. but she is tired of coming back, of so reluctantly cobbling together the bare minimum of a life only to have to throw it all away again. ]

If there is, don't be noble. [ she wants to sound acerbic but the urging edge ruins that from the first syllable. he won't be able to keep any promise he makes her, regardless. she's going to have to make herself a target without his help. well, with his help, without him knowing it. she's going to hate how easy it will be. ]

[ frank lets out a shallow breath, resting his temple against hers briefly. this is what she needs, he thinks. he digs deep and tries to imagine a situation he'd let her go it alone and just... can't. ]

I'm not worried about anyone else here. Just you and Kam, that's my priority. [ she knows he won't let this place spiral into chaos either, but... he's been as hands-off as he could be. he's proven he can step back. ] It's never gonna be like it was again.

[ that at least he can promise. ]

[ she blinks long and restfully for the span of their quiet connection. it's brief; the relief is instantly gone. but she has it to remember for the next few nights. Jess nods solmenly to accept his promise for as much as she can. whoever this man is, he has no special ability without an equal or complement within the village. if those don't outnumber him at present, they can load up from the machine nearby. ]

You'll tell me about him when you get back. [ from dog housing it at Elektra's. ]

[ he opens his mouth to protest... he doesn't want to leave her, but bruno is sitting in front of him, wagging his stubby little tail. apparently, it's his time to go. ]

Okay. You'll call me? [ if she needs anything. he presses his lips to her forehead, leaning against her another second before forcing himself to get up with one hand on her shoulder. ]

Yeah. [ she grunts more than says, then rubs at her lips with the back of her hand. ] I'll be here. [ on watch for as long as she can stand to be. then, she doesn't know. her house, maybe. it'll do until she can find a better place to truly isolate herself for a few minutes at a time. ]

I'll be back. [ bruno leaps into frank's arms the second he's got his feet under him and he just barely holds back the eyeroll as he catches him smoothly. ] You know where to find me, too.

[ obviously. he hesitates, he really doesn't want to leave her alone down here. ]

[ If he isn't going to roll his eyes, someone has to. she picks up the torch, then nudges her chin in the exit's direction. He's needed more elsewhere. ] Go.

[ he tips his head like he's going to say something else, but then just turns and walks out. ]

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