| Jay - Sweeping first floor. |
[Feb. 4th, 2005|06:31 pm] |
| [ | Feeling |
| |  stressed | ] |
Hurrying along despite his hangover, Jay felt pressed for time. It was his day to do the sweeping, and the floor of the foyer was covered with bits of tree and evergreen needles from the decorations that had been hung. Since he had been named Chief of Mall Security he also had a long list of security details to go over before the wedding. He'd already met with his men and had given them their assignments for the day. They had all been instructed to be on a high level of alert today. Once he'd finished sweeping the floor, he would make a complete sweep of the mall and office complex with a group of his men. Every entrance had to be secure, he didn't want anything to go wrong during the wedding. The responsibility weighed heavily on his mind, but at the same time it felt good to have been trusted enough to be given the job.
It wasn't that Jay got a power trip from being in charge, not really, but he had always been a person who was confident in their decisions. There was a natural ability to take the role of leadership that he had just always seemed to have. People trusted him to direct them, and for the most part they were willing to do as he asked. It made him feel lost and useless when he wasn't in charge of a group of other people. Sometimes he surprised himself when he automatically started giving orders when urgent action was needed. He just knew what needed to be done, and that he couldn't do it all himself, so he delegated the tasks out to others that he thought could do the job. If only he could delegate the sweeping out, but being part of the mall meant taking part in keeping it clean.
With a sigh he grabbed the broom from the supply closet, then took a quick glance through the window into the cage area to make sure that the prisoner was still there, and that Grant was still on duty. Everything looked OK, so he headed out into the foyer. Despite all of the water he'd had so far his head was still throbbing, every movement, every noise, just seemed to increase the pounding. But he was tough, he would just have to work and ignore the headache as best he could. Too much had to be done for him to just curl up in bed for the rest of the day. He did wonder briefly if Tai-San would have any herbal cure that she could give him, but he really didn't have the time to check into it. |
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| Cloud Room: Ebony and Jay |
[Sep. 15th, 2004|10:30 am] |
([OOC:Continued from HERE])
Jay's lips twisted into a hint of a smirk, if someone so dignified as the ex techno general could be said to smirk.
"No juicy details? What about if I ask nicely?" He placed a hand under her chin and tilted her head gently, leaning in to kiss those sweetly suggestive lips. A rumbling growl filled the air, halting his progress. He pulled back with a sheepish laugh. "Breakfast," he agreed forcibly, pressing his lips lightly on the crown of her forehead as an apology. Leaning over the side of the bed (ignoring the uncomfortable rush of splitting pain to his still aching head) he began roughly pulling on his boots. His shirt was across the room, he couldn't imagine why but he stood and crossed the room to retrieve it. From his new vantage point he looked back at the bed with Ebony still on it. He loved seeing her this way, her curves warm and glowing against the sheets, her eyes unguarded.
Breakfast, he reminded himself as he tugged his shirt over his head. |
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| In the city |
[Jul. 9th, 2004|12:01 am] |
| [ | Feeling |
| |  drained | ] |
Jay stood slowly, enjoying the slight discomfort of his vertebrae popping back into alignment. How long had he been sitting on that curb? What had begun as a walk to stretch his legs had developed into a lengthy bout of brooding. Now it had grown dark and Jay was feeling numb.
It was time to go back to the mall. |
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| Cloud Room/Showers/To the Meeting Room-- Jay |
[May. 8th, 2004|02:43 pm] |
Jay had excused himself to the Cloud Room after the incident with Ram, trying to keep his anger in check. He hadn't been so humiliated, made to feel like such a child, since he'd left the Technos, and the fact that it had happened in front of Ram only served to fuel his anger. Ram had always delighted in keeping Jay in the dark, playing him for the fool; by the time Jay had quit, it had been obvious to everyone, including himself, that he was obsolete, a superfluous former General with no marketable skills, expendable and naive. He'd thought that he'd achieved some manner of usefulness with the Mallrats, had thought that he'd somehow managed to once again become a useful member of a team, but the scene in the lobby reminded Jay all too clearly of his true position. Jay had thought that he'd done something right in helping with Bray, but it was now painfully obvious that it had only been yet another demonstration of his own foolishness; Ved and Ram had apparently been working together for weeks without Jay's knowledge, when it was his job to know such things, and his naivety had put Bray in serious danger. How could any of the Mallrats take him seriously when he was so obviously incapable of even keeping track of his little brother? Or my girl, he thought bitterly; Ebony had been vanishing more and more frequently during the past week, and Jay knew her well enough to know that that meant something was probably going on of which he was not aware. She didn't seem to want to tell him anything anymore, and Jay was increasingly concerned that he was being slowly phased out yet again, on a much more personal level this time. If even his lover didn't think it important to keep him informed...
( more ) |
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| Morning in Ebony's Room |
[Apr. 26th, 2004|07:08 pm] |
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Jay woke slowly, stretching out and enjoying the few minutes of mindless half-sleep that always came with leisurely mornings. There would be things to worry about later, there always were, but for now, it was nice to just lie beside Ebony and enjoy the morning. He rolled onto his side, slipping an arm beneath his lover and pulling her drowsily against him. "Morning, baby..." |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 7th, 2004|07:10 pm] |
Despite having been up late, Jay was wide awake at the first sound of movement downstairs; he'd spent three years being constantly prepared for a security breach with the Technos, and old habits died hard. He was still for a moment, instinctively listening to the quiet voices outside. It was just the Mall kids, he realized, recognizing little Mouse's voice; there was no threat. Jay closed his eyes again, about to slip back into sleep for a few minutes, when loud music boomed through the Mall. It was shut off fairly quickly, but he was awake now, and Jay stretched, listening to Salene yell at the kids. He needed to talk to her, he remembered; he'd mentioned leaving his T-gun with her, and she'd surely be wondering about it soon. After the whole Bray incident, however, Jay found himself a little reluctant to part with the weapon; perhaps he should hang onto it until Bray had recovered...
Rolling onto his side, Jay blinked a few times as other thoughts from the night before began to push their way back into his mind. The scene with Bray, and everything that still needed to be done to resolve it, his fight with Ebony and the information she'd given him, the lovemaking that had served to at least suspend the tension between them... Today, Jay thought, as he wrapped his arms around a still nude Ebony, was going to be an interesting day. |
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| In Ebony's Room |
[Feb. 19th, 2004|02:19 am] |
[OOC: Continued from the dinner thread.]
Jay led Ebony into the privacy of her room, and pulled her around the corner of the doorway so that they were safely out of sight from any dinner-goers who might glance their way. She was the one for him, he thought, in the moment it took him to pull her close to him, and it had taken him too long to realize it. They had their fair share of problems, yes, but she was still his world, and that would never change. Perhaps the hand on her thigh had been a come-on after all, but his lips were on hers before he could think it through any further; he loved her, he wanted her, and he wanted her to know it. Would she hate him for having defended Amber earlier? For shooting Bray? Perhaps he should have been more cautious, more gentle, she was in a fragile state of mind, after all, but Jay had never been a timid man, and the day's events had stripped him of his reserve. He kissed his lover forcefully, wanting to explain everything, as if he could simply show her how very much he cared for her. His hand moved down to the small of her back, pulling her closer to him before she could pull away. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 11th, 2004|03:57 pm] |
| [ | Feeling |
| |  pensive | ] |
Had he allowed himself to feel, Jay might have been angry, or sick, or guilty as he made his way downstairs, and none of those were conducive to what needed to be done. Ebony needed his help, Amber needed his help, and, if Bray had gone mad, the Mall might need his help as well. Emotions, therefore, were a luxury he simply couldn't afford to indulge, and he began to shut down the part of himself that was human, that had become "virt." Jay had never cared for the Technos' slang, but there was a part of him that had been unable to avoid internalizing it; "virt" meant feeling, caring, behaving illogically, and the fact was that that was a less efficient way of doing business. Jay loved the virt in himself, having spent too much time without it, but his heart was too ill to serve him now, and ignoring it was the only way to do what he knew was right.
He didn't spare so much as a nod to the kids still lingering on the stairs, or even to Dax, who seemed to be finishing up the meal in the kitchen. Jay would need to come help get the furniture ready for supper soon, he knew, but everything and everyone would have to wait until he'd made certain that Ebony was all right. -That- was his top priority, he reminded himself; he had promised himself to her, in acts if not in words, and he owed it to her to take care of her. Once he had seen to her well-being, he could find Ved and begin tackling the Bray issue, which also required his immediate attention. He had expected "Zoot" to be unconscious for a bit longer, but, he reminded himself, he hadn't checked the setting on the gun before shooting him. Amber had likely put it on a low setting to avoid hurting her lover, which was logical enough, but it meant that insane shouting could already be heard from downstairs. Bray would need to be dealt with sooner, rather than later, but even he came second to Ebony.
Jay was pleased to find her in her room; things would have been complicated considerably had she run off again. Something in him twisted guiltily at the thought of Amber in his arms, but he stifled it quickly and knocked on the edge of her doorway. Ebony was his girl, after all, and he loved her, while Amber.. Amber was just a very good friend. He had nothing to feel guilty for. "Ebony?" |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 2nd, 2004|05:27 am] |
When they'd reached the privacy of Ebony's room, Jay set the clothes down on the bed, and, without waiting to take the bag or the tequila from Ebony, leaned down enough to gently kiss her. Despite her attitude towards Amber earlier, she had been an excellent companion at the market; he'd been wrong to want to leave her behind. For all of her idiosyncracies, he deeply loved his girl; she was trying to change for the better, and he loved her for it.
He kissed her a bit longer than he'd meant to, his lips lingering against hers as his fingertips moved timidly to her waist. He rested his forehead against hers for just a moment before pulling away; she was, after all, still holding his bag and the bottle of tequila, and it would be rude to keep her waiting. "I love you," he told her, meeting her eyes as he reached to take the bag from her. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 29th, 2004|01:04 pm] |
| [ | Feeling |
| | thoughtful | ] |
Jay left Ved and Cloe in the girl's room, and headed back downstairs. The food in the cafe smelled good as he walked by, and Jay realized that he hadn't eaten anything since leaving the last Techno base yesterday evening. There was a small group already there, however, and he didn't fancy stopping for a chat or eating another tribe's food without it being offered. He would have to head into the market later, he thought, and see if he could trade something for some virt clothes and a bit of food. Jay frowned thoughtfully as he made his way down the stairs; what did he have worth trading for? He ran through a list of the meager supplies he'd brought back from the base. He had his zapper, of course, but that would not be traded. There was a handful of detailed sector maps; those would be worth something if they weren't too confidential. Jay stopped himself with a faint smirk at that thought. Old habits died hard, he thought; he wasn't responsible for keeping Techno secrets anymore. Yes, the maps would certainly be worth something. Other than that, he had only a small knife, a couple of T-bars, a few hygiene items, and another uniform. The T-bars would feed him for the next day or two, but after that he would need something more substantial; he needed to find a way to acquire food before that happened. He considered. He had several marketable skills, but nothing he would charge for. Furthermore, he was still too recognizable to do much business in the city even if he wanted to; everyone who had played Ram's game knew his face. Hmm.
He needed a shower, he thought. That might help clear his head; Jay had always thought better when he was clean, and the combination of his trip and this afternoon's exercise had left him sweaty and dirty. He got his second uniform, his razor, and a bar of soap from his bag in Ebony's room -- she still wasn't back, he noticed; that couldn't be good -- and headed into the Mall's bathroom. If he was going to this ceremony this afternoon, he should at least look presentable, after all. |
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| In Ebony's Room |
[Jan. 27th, 2004|02:57 pm] |
Jay was grateful to find Ebony's room deserted; she was acting strangely, and he didn't feel like dealing with her. What had happened to her? When they had been together before, she had seemed to be softening; he had watched the ice begin to crack, and had seen a glimpse of the caring woman beneath the tough-girl facade. Now, however, Jay was beginning to wonder if he hadn't simply been tricked. What if this was the real Ebony, and her previous sweetness had been just a lapse in judgement?
He frowned. At least things were better with Ved, he told himself; his little brother might still be different than he'd been before the Technos, but he was at least on decent terms with him again. The Technos.. Jay's gaze fell down to the zapper on his wrist, a farewell gift from an old friend at one of the bases he'd visited in his search for Ved. Jay no longer knew what he was, at least in Tribe terms; he was no Mallrat, but he was certainly no longer a Techno. God, that had been a mess... He glanced about the room. He was safe here, he reasoned; he had no need for the kinds of weapons that become the sole focus of the Technos. The Mallrats were good people, he knew. They had worked for a hospital, for schools, for all of the other things that Jay had joined the Technos for in the first place, and there was no need to alienate them by flashing a zapper in their faces. He had no intention of getting rid of it altogether, as there may come a time in which Ebony or the others would need a more advanced form of protection from an outside threat, but for the time being, he felt safe taking it off. There was no safe place to hide it here, however, he realized. He would have to keep it on for now.
His mind was still a mess, he realized; everything was complicated, and he couldn't seem to focus. Years of training with the Techno army had taught him that the best way to clear the mind was through physical activity; you couldn't be too concerned about your problems when your body required your full attention. He nodded vaguely to himself, and pulled his shirt back off. He did a few stretches to make sure that everything was loose enough to work out with, and then dropped to the floor for a rigorous set of push-ups. He could worry about Ebony later, he thought, trying to focus only on the movement of his muscles and maintaining proper posture. He could worry about all of it later. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 22nd, 2004|10:34 pm] |
He paused at the edge of the city, collecting his thoughts. His search had been largely a failure, he reflected, but it had at least led him back to the city. After finding no sign of his younger brother in the city in the first days after Ram's defeat, Jay had turned to the old Techno bases situated in the wilderness around the city, and had even ventured so far as to investigate the camps in the surrounding towns. He had hoped to find Ved and gather information on what remained of the Techno army, but had met with little success. He had been received cordially enough, for a man who had been hunted so recently, but Jay understood that the Old Order of the Technos had fallen, and he, in the minds of those who had once served under him, had fallen with it. He had been dealt with in a pleasant manner; he'd been fed and re-armed and gently told to go looking for his brother elsewhere, but he'd been given very little useful information. Despite the pleasantries, he knew full well that the Technos no longer respected or feared him, and he had made his visit accordingly brief.
Somehow, all of this did not matter to him anymore. All that mattered now, given the realities of the army, was finding Ved and resolving things with those he had left behind. Then, he could begin helping the city piece itself back together. Looking down at the city, he stifled a sigh. He had overheard some very vague rumors about his brother living in an apartment somewhere, but, in truth, Jay did not believe them. If Ved was still in the city and was still alive, there was only one place to go looking for him, and the thought of it stirred up memories Jay was not entirely ready to deal with. He shifted uneasily as thoughts of Ebony returned to him. He was uncertain as to how he would be welcomed back after such a lengthy absence; Ebony was unlikely to understand his reasons for leaving at a time when he knew he'd been needed in the city. But it had been a necessary trip, though it had pained him to take it, and he could only hope that she and the others would understand. Though he tried to deny it to himself, he knew that he missed her, and those feelings, coupled with his need to find Ved, made a trip to the Mall inevitable.
Squaring his shoulders, he adjusted the weapon on his wrist, and headed into the city. |
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