002 - JACOB SPET. CATCH-ALL

[brotherofagod]

Who; Jacob Miller & YOU! [ota]
What; September Catch-All
Where; Carpentry Shop, Gray Building, Harbor & Market District
When; September 6th THRU September 20th
Warnings; None Yet.


CARPENTRY [OTA] MON THRU FRI; 8AM THRU 6PM

Just south of the Market District is the open air carpentry shop where Jacob has managed to find himself a job. It is a simple ship with the tools required to build anything out of wood and the materials to complete any smaller jobs with ease. The types of wood vary between pine, maple, redwood, cedar and cherry though only a discerning eye can identify the difference between them. There are some unfamiliar types of wood as well, darker and richer, perhaps a variation of mahogany though it is unclear what type of wood it might be.

Jacob is wearing a loose white cotton shirt he had purchased specifically for work and a pair of jeans. His only pair of jeans. He has some other pairs of pants but finds the city styles too uncomfortable for work.

Part way through the day, his shirt is discarded, revealing a simple silver cross that loops around his neck. He is never without the necklace though it's difficult to see without the sunlight refracting off the clean metal.

Sweat dots his skin and cools as the day progresses. Jacob can be caught in between orders, taking breaks to drink some water, sitting on a crate that has been pushed to the left side of the carpentry shop, in view of anyone walking by. Jacob is still proving himself to his new employer but he greets anyone walking up with a charming grin and clear light hazel eyes. He is excited to work and finds himself eager to fill the hours of his job with the more complicated tasks.

LATE NIGHT WANDERINGS

GRAY BUILDING/AROUND [OTA]

Jacob doesn't sleep at night.

He tries but his nights are cursed with nightmares that his medication used to silence. He'll fall asleep in the early afternoon after work, exhausted, and then wake in a cool sweat in the late evening. He starts pacing around his apartment or sitting at his window to watch the empty unmoving streets below. When this isn't enough, Jacob begins to wander around the floors of the Gray Building and then finally expands his area to the outside world.

He enjoys sitting in the courtyard between the buildings, staring up at the sky to find the familiar stars that tell him he's back home. It's a fruitless search but the act of looking is comforting in a strange way.

Jacob isn't focused on the area around him or anyone who might be passing by. If someone gets close enough, no matter how silent, his attention will shift to the company but otherwise, Jacob leaves those wondering the night alone. His thoughts are complicated and the cool night air helps.

A shiver trembles through him as the fall nights grow colder. "Damn it..." He rarely swears but sometimes it's called for. "I'm back to being kidnapped and I don't know what I am doing anymore." Saying it outloud doesn't seem to help but the tension eases from his shoulders as he closes his eyes and tries to sort out his thoughts.

HARBOR/NIGHT [OTA]

The cold air nips at his skin as his wanderings bring him back to the harbor. This is a strange place, one that he finds himself coming back to whenever he lets his feet walk without any input from his head. Jacob doesn't understand why. There have always been lakes or oceans in his life but the large expanses of water haven't held any further meaning to him. Why does he find such comfort from them now?

He glances up at the roofs of the buildings, making sure he's alone or checking to see if he has company? Jacob is unsure but after meeting someone on a roof of a building, Jacob has made a point to look up as well as out and around him. His perception isn't inhuman but he feels comfortable that he's on his own as he walks down to the end of the dock to sit at the cusp of the water.

It's getting colder but a little part of him, a child like desire, wants to jump in.

He waves there, in the middle of the night, looking as if he's ready to jump forward or run back to the safety of his apartment; uncertain but locked in place.

MUGGING [OTA]

It's his own fault. Jacob isn't a fighter and he knows that he shouldn't be wandering alone through a questionable district in the middle of the night but he can't help himself. Walking helps him think and he doesn't always pay attention to where he's going.

At first he's only vaguely aware of the small group of men moving around him. It's only when one of them moves closer that Jacob realizes that he's fucked. The men themselves are nondescript in many ways. They have thick beards and dark eyes, with crows feet around the eyes and withered tanned skin. Jacob assumes that they work at the docks or spend a great deal of time here though that information does little to help him. He stops when one of the trio blocks his path and notes that there are two men standing behind him.

Jacob is deceptively lean but three against one isn't fair odds. He offers what money he has on him but it isn't a lot and the group looks disappointed or perhaps they don't believe him. There is a loud shout as the first man rushes Jacob, grabbing his shirt by the neck and attempting to lift him off the ground but the mugger is too slow. Jacob moves, using his palm to shift the man's weight into his friends. For a second, it looks like Jacob has the upper hand but it doesn't last.

Both arms are quickly restrained, while the third man begins to punch Jacob in the stomach, venting whatever anger his life has left him with.

The strength leaves his limbs as his final thoughts exhale softly from his lips. "This sucks..".

BUYING CLOTHES [OTA]

Jacob doesn't know anything about clothes and his inexperience shows.

He looks like a lost puppy.

He walks from store to store and tries to figure out what he wants to buy. There aren't too many options but he gets the sense that there is clothing for working and then clothing for… not working. He isn't sure why there are such stark differences but he assumes that there might be fancy parties here or something?

Jacob exhales a tired sigh and looks absolutely dismayed. He needs to purchase a jacket for when it gets colder and at least another pair of pants. He isn't interested in fancy clothing but he toys with the idea of purchasing a vest or something to give off the appearance of nice clothing should he need it. It isn't common for him but he can hear his sisters voices in the back of his head urging him to do vear away from the practical path.

It's hard enough with his own thoughts, adding those of his sisters just gives him a headache. He tries to think of what Toby might do but his oldest brother is about as useless when it comes to clothing choices as he is.

Why is shopping so hard?

WILD CARD

[ooc; anything that you want to do through the month can be tossed under wildcard. I want to do all the things with Jacob and I am game with having a few threads going at once since I am sometimes slow. :3 Also anyone is welcome to notice bruising or any injuries from his mugging.]

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

“We can live without my eccentricities today,” he counters as he helps Jacob up up up and then down the hall to a door he opens.

“Sounds like the man I counted as my brother.”

[brotherofagod]

Jacob nodded and then followed at Nida's side. When he stepped into the apartment, he went directly to the couch and plopped down as if all of the energy had escaped him. His head bowed forward with his fingers interlaced behind his neck.

"So you know what it's like?"

[skyward_eyes]

“I know what a lot of things are like,” Nida agrees, moving into the kitchen area to start water for tea.

[brotherofagod]

"Vague." It felt like an empty remark but Jake needed to fill the silence.

He sighed before leaning back against the couch. He wasn't sure how this conversation was going to go or if he was even ready to have it. He heard his sisters voice in his head, both Airy and Lyla. Then it was Gus and after that, his therapist.

All well meaning words of advice but no one really understood. It wasn't their fault. Jake had never explained the full extent of what had happened.

[skyward_eyes]

Vague indeed. Nida pulls a chair from the table and drags it toward the couch to sit on.

“You really want more details? Ask questions. Receive answers.”

[brotherofagod]

"I don't know what I want Nida." He turned and met his friends gaze before looking away again. It was easier to talk when he was talking at a wall. Walls didn't judge.

"I don't even know what to say. Should I ask you about your past or just ramble? I'm not good at talking about... anything real. And this, this is real."

[skyward_eyes]

“Do you... want to hear about Elijah?”

Elijah. The man he had killed.

[brotherofagod]

Jacob glanced up at Nida and nodded. "Um... yeah. I'd like that." It was at least a place to start and all Jake had to do was listen.

"If you're cool with that."

[skyward_eyes]

“I... knew him since I was eight. He was my first roommate at Garden. They assigned a slightly more experienced student to help us adjust. He was mine. Red hair, crystal clear blue eyes, a smile like life didn’t suck. I wanted to be his friend.”

[brotherofagod]

Jacob watched Nida's expression with a mixture of hope, dread and curiosity. He had never met anyone who might understand him or know what it was like and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Nida seemed like such a nice guy.

"He sounds-" He almost said 'cute' before changing verbs. "-cool. What um... happened?"

[skyward_eyes]

“He was handsome and charming and an asshole. He was my everything when I didn’t have much of anything. And he was one of the best swordsmen we had. He tried to teach me, but I was never any good with a sword.”

He sighs, looking wistful.

“I worked for a mercenary organization that, after the war, spent a lot of time trying to help stabilize some politically tense areas. Not that we wanted in politics or anything like that. We were paid. He... had other things he wanted.”

[brotherofagod]

Jacob gripped his hands in front of him until his knuckles turned white. He didn't know why he was so nervous, they weren't even talking about him, but the story felt familiar in some ways.

"What did he want?" His throat was dry and he wished that they had waited for the tea before they had begun talking but the silence was almost just as bad.

[skyward_eyes]

"To lead a nation. To take over. To overthrow power," Nida sighs, fingers coming up to tug at his own hair.

It had been bad, and he hadn't known how to cope.

"I was assigned to a mission to figure out why things were getting so close to war in another nation. He was sent with me because our parents were from there, we looked like locals. People with or organization had been killed over this. Turned out it was all him doing it."

[brotherofagod]

"Oh. That... sucks." There was probably a better way to say that but Jacob wasn't sure what else to say. It really sucked. "So you guys fought but-" He felt himself frown at the question that popped into his head. "Look, this is a messed up question. And I'm sorry but, I need to ask. Did he fight back?"

[skyward_eyes]

"Not at first. He tried to seduce me to join him," Nida admits. "Wanted me to be at his side."

[brotherofagod]

"I guess that didn't work..." His voice trailed off while his eyes dropped to the floor.

He was finally ready to talk about it. "She didn't fight back. She didn't try and convince me to join her. She had thought I was dead and she was so happy to see me alive that she started to cry. I don't... remember what happened next. I was told to stay back from the fight. I was a prize. I guess." He swallowed before continuing in a low voice. "But I rushed forward and I picked up a pipe. I don't know where I found it. It was just in my hand and then I felt it going through her but she wasn't mad at me. She was happy. And all I could hear was her shouting at others to save me. To get me away from the fight and somewhere safe. But she was hurt, so the guys who had kidnapped me... took her."

[skyward_eyes]

It didn’t. But with the other man talking, Nida doesn’t intend to say a single thing to interrupt him. No, this was more important. To let Jacob get the pain out.

“She loved you it sounds like.”

[brotherofagod]

"She does, still does and I don't know why. I don't deserve it. She's... she's so much more than I could ever be. We share blood and for some reason that's enough for her." He thought about his time in Amadeus's care and noticeably shivered.

Tainted blood.

"I was so stupid then. I probably still am. She's a god and she forgave me but... I don't forgive me." His head bowed forward. "Maybe that's why I cling so much to my God because my sister is a god and I don't think I deserve to be forgiven or loved for what I did. Not just the action, I truly wanted to kill my sister. What kind of brother does that make me?"

[skyward_eyes]

That's a good question, and one that Nida doesn't want to answer just yet. He reaches out and touches the man's shoulder.

"Why did you want to hurt her?"

[brotherofagod]

"I was convinced that she had abandoned me. After-" Jacob swallowed. "I watched my parents die. They were... torn apart. And not just my parents-" He leaned against Nida's touch before gently pulling his friend on the couch with him. It wasn't a sexual motion but it showed how vulnerable he felt and how much he wanted someone to stay with him, to assure him that he wasn't alone. "It was a staged break in. I was taken. Before that, Airy had made all of us forget that she existed. For a few months... I didn't know I had a sister at all."

He paused for a second before continuing in a softer voice, his eyes locked on his feet. "Amadeus was his name. He was a vampire of sorts, just a different race, not dead or anything. He took me in like he was saving me and I believed that Air had left me. That she hadn't loved me or our parents. I was a kid. I was stupid. It was almost two years before I hurt her, before she got me out. She had thought I was dead... so no one had been looking for me. I don't think she was ever supposed to find out that I was alive. I don't know."

[skyward_eyes]

Being pulled down doesn't earn an argument from him. Nida sits and pulls his friend into his arms.

"Then it wasn't your fault, Jacob. You were used. YOu were as much of a victim as she was."

[brotherofagod]

He shook his head. "You don't know that. I was the one who wanted to hurt her. I was told to stay back." Airy had told him something similar but Jake didn't feel like a victim. It was his choice to hurt her.

"And because of me... he caught her and tortured her. She never told me what happened but I saw the scars and I know what he does to people." He'd even helped Amadeus a few times.

"Somethings are worse than death."

[skyward_eyes]

"There is nothing worse than death," Nida answers with something not unlike certainty, one hand rubbing at the opposite wrist. "Everything else you can come back from."

[brotherofagod]

Jacob wanted to argue but he fell silent. Death was only bad for the people left behind, for those dying... it was the perfect escape but he tried not to think about that. His therapist told him that it wasn't a healthy train of thought.

"Maybe." He said finally.

"It's awkward but she tries really hard to be my sister. It doesn't really matter if she forgives me because... honestly, I don't forgive myself."

[skyward_eyes]

"Trust me, as someone who almost did a few times," Nida says. "I wanted to live. I want to live."

Still, he gets not forgiving yourself. It hurts.

"All we can try and be is better."