Who: Jude and Alena
What: Breaking the news and...talk of Jesi.
Where: Phone
When: Wednesday afternoon
Rating: PG-13?



[Ring]....[Ring]....[Ring]....

"Oscurcimiento Tattoo and Pier--" -laughs- "Sorry, I've been answering the damned shop phone all damned day. Hello?"

"I was starting to think I dialed the wrong number."

-pause- "Jude?"

"[Pause] ...yeah."

-soft incredulous laugh- "Hi."

"Hey. Uh...did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No! I mean, no. No, I'm just sitting at the front desk staring at Suiwi trying to intimidate Thomas into letting her pierce his septum."

"Sounds very productive."

"You know me. Gimme a sec." -muffled- "Guys, I'm gonna step outside. Thomas, stop being such a pussy and just let her pierce your damned septum." -into reciever- "Sorry about that."

"Yeah. [Waits] No problem."

"Fuck it's cold." -hesitant- "How're you doing?"

"That's the word on the street. [Pauses] I'm fine. I was actually calling to check up on you. I haven't...really seen you since...[pauses] I would have called earlier, but I just...didn't really know what to say. Besides, you were probably...busy."

"I'm good. I mean... yeah. Good as one can be? I guess. I-I really haven't been that busy, honestly, I mean... like other than exorcising my couch and stuff. I moved back into my apartment... uhhh... got robbed? I dunno."

"...I would really love to know your definition of the word busy. I'm not even going to touch on the couch thing right now, but...you were robbed?"

"I try to not live my life by the true definitions of words?" -lame attempt at a joke- "Yeah. I mean... well they took my sketches and my hard drives that have a bunch of information... on well everything."

"Apparently. Well, I uh...I hope you get them back. And I'm glad you're doing alright."

"Yeah, me too. I mean who knows who has 'em? And like there is enough information within all of that to link like quite a few people in this town to super powers and little groupings of people working together and against each other." -sigh- "I'm glad you're doing alright too."

"Well, that's...calming. But, yeah, uh...I'll let you get back to work. I'm sure things will work out with the sketches. Why don't you just as Marlie to see if she can track them? It's...worth a shot at least."

"I'm really not busy. Really."

"...alright."

-long pause- "Yep."

"Yeah. [Another long pause] Well, this is going well."

"...Don't tell me you don't miss these awkward pauses of ours." -unsure laughs-

"Yeah, I uh...I actually did. [quietly clears throat]"

-might be the longest pause known to man- "I needa talk to you about something, J."

"[sighs] Hm?"

"I uhm... I uh... heh... I uhm... I'm uh... You see... I'm... uhm..."

"[Silence]"

"Heh. I... my brain hates me..." -sigh- "I'm... with Gabe... again."

"...hm."

"...You know this would be the perfect time to tell me you hate me... or never wanna talk to me ever again... or I told you so, yanno?"

"...I don't hate you."

"...I'd hate me."

"I just don't know what you want me to say."

-weakly- "I don't know what I want you to say either." -deep breath- "But... I feel like a fucking asshole. I know it's not your duty to say anything to not make me feel like an asshole, but as it stands.... I can't help but feel like an asshole. So yeah I really dunno, I'm walking around in circles out near the shop dumpsters and I keep mentioning assholes and I think the dishwasher at the restuarant next to the tattoo shop thinks I'm fucking crazy because he's staring at me like I'm fucking crazy."."

"Alena-... First of all...stop walking in circles. Secondly, stop saying the word asshole, because I'm pretty sure you've made your point perfectly clear. And just...[sighs] stop."

-obnoxiously loud deep breath- "Sorry, sorry. I... didn't mean to freak out like that but I am and I don't know why. I mean I know I know why, but I don't know why I'm freaking out this much and in public and I stopped walking in circles but now I can't stop kicking rocks... holy shit... I started doing it again..."

"Can't you sit down or something? I can't even see you but yet I feel the need to keep moving all of a sudden."

"I could sit down on the rocks?"

"...isn't there a crate or something? You know, something flat. Like...the ground, if you moved the rocks. Or...yourself."

"I stopped moving. I swear."

"That...must have been very difficult for you."

"...Was that supposed to be a joke?"

"Somewhat."

"Oh" -weakly- "Haha."

"...yeah."

"I'm really tempted to start walking in circles... while gnawing my thumbs off. Not gonna do it, but I'm just saying."

"Thank you for the update."

-completely serious- "Would you get pissed if I started walking in circles again?"

"...once again, I can't see you, so as long as you don't tell me what you're doing I won't really care."

"Why do you care if I'm walking in circles if you can't see me?"

"...because you told me that you were walking in circles, and kicking rocks, and I'm pretty good at visualizing things."

"Would your mind like explode if I told you I was walking in circles, kicking rocks, rubbing my stomach and patting my head at the same time?"

"[manages a smirk] You don't have the coordination to do even two of those things at the same time."

"Oh. Look... who's got jokes."

"Yeah, I'm a regular comedian."

"So is that what they were teaching all of those times I skipped out of CCD?"

"That, and how to make a cross, with Jesus included, out of clothespins."

-pause- "Are you fucking serious!? Clothespins!? Dude, nobody told me about that! I so would have gone to CCD if I knew they were making clothespins Jesuses... Jesi... what's the plural of Jesus?" -another pause- "Oh wait. Nevermind."

"Really? I could have sworn there was a flyer that went around during clothespin Jesus day."

"That is bullshit. I'm gonna go bitch out my old youth pastor, he probably conveniently forgot to give me one. Fuckdamnit, I so would have gone!"

"Alena, we made them. They weren't...something that was handed out amongst the church. We were like...9, and we had glue and clothespins. Believe me, it's not too late. There's still glue and clothespins in the world. Maybe even in Bristol."

"I know, the flyers. He probably purposely didn't give me one of the flyers. He always was an asshat, I do remember that. ...Do you remember how to make them?"

"...okay, I don't know if you caught the sarcasm about the flyers, but they never existed. I thought I'd clear that up before you got hostile. And...yeah, you...take apart the clothespins, remove the metal piece by twisting it, and...glue them together. Complicated, I know, but somehow we managed."

"Oh. Well, he was still an asshat. ...And I think I needa get some clothespins and glue. Do you think I could google instructions? Yes, I caught that sarcasm for future reference." -nearly a smirk, but not quite-

*"That sarcasm?"

"That little--" -horrible impression of Jude- "Complicated, I know, but somehow we managed line. That."

"[smirks] It was plenty complicated. Some of the clothespins were very difficult to twist."

"Ohhh yeeeah. I forgot how much of a pansy you are. -pause- "Excuse me, were. How much of a pansy you were." -snerk-

"Wow, you're really doing a bang up job with my ego today, aren't you? [attempt at making light of things]"

"Hahaha ahhh yeah. I could just tell you that I've been walking in circles this entire time we've been talking if it'll make you feel better?" -haha joke fail-

"...yeah, that'd do the trick."

"Yeah, so... Eye dee kay my bee eff eff Jill? ...I got nothing."

"....the fact that you just recited a Cingular commercial to me gave me that impression."

"What that old gem? Pffft." -another failed joke-

"Hm. [Pause] Yeah, so...you...exorcised your couch? [desperately changing subjects]"

"...That I did. Well not just me, but yeah."

"...and...how...did that go? [awkward]"

"In... ter... esting?"

"...ah. Yeah, that...sounds like a suitable fragmented adjective for an exorcism."

"Well like... what do you expect when you get together five people with different super powers and try to cast a the spirit of a dead British pervert that has an affinity for eating my lip gloss and supposedly my cat?”

"Ah. Yeah, the British are strange people."

-snorts- "That they are. That they are."

"Maybe this whole lip gloss eating phenomenon explains why they have such bad dental hygiene."

"I think you may have just proved a theory, Jude."

"I can only hope."

"Should we like call... Guinness... World Record... or something... and tell them?"

"...I don't think that's who you call for theories."

"I don't think so either, honestly."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you call Guinness World Records when you break a world record. But that's just another theory of mine."

"Well, I know that. ...But out of all of the options running through my head that was the one that sounded the least stupid. The United States Postal Services and Ben & Jerry's were some other options."

"You-...Ben & Jerry's?"

"Huhwhat?" -pause- "You know the ice cream?"

"I know what it is."

"Oh. What were you gonna say?"

"I was going to say 'you had the options of The United States Postal Services and Ben & Jerry's to choose from, as well as Guinness?', sounding very perplexed and stunned, but then I realized that you had actually said Ben & Jerry's, which...is in fact an ice cream company, and got caught up."

"I... gotta lotta things on my mind?” -pause- "There were other choices too..."

"...see, why did you have to add that? [smirk]"

-chuckles- "I... just can't help myself?"

"Good enough reason for me."

"Well I'm glad that's fine with yo--" -muffled- "Yeah!? I'm over by the dumpster! Medusa piercing!? Yeah, I can do that!" -to Jude- "I... gotta go we just got a piercing."

"Yeah, I heard."

"Yeah, so I guess I should get going... Hey."

"Yeah, probably. Hm?"

"Do... you wanna go get coffee or something sometime? Ice cream, even?" -smirk-

"I'm having deja vu all of a sudden."

"What?" -long pause- "Oh. Hah?"

"Maybe we should get tea this time."

-small laugh- "Tea... totally works for me."

"...tea sounds good, yeah."

"Well... I'll give you a call... for tea time?"

"Tea time? [smirks] Shall I bring the crumpets?"

"Sounds good. And I'll catch up on my British accent?"

"Please do, especially if you're as good at intimidating a British accent as you are at intimidating me."

"Oh Oriel, you slay me."

"Go pierce something."

-laughs- "Okay, okay. I'll talk to you later. Bye, Jude."

"Mhmm. Bye, Alena."

-click-