rosalind 'roz' gotti. (hagzissa) wrote in fableless, @ 2016-07-31 22:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log/thread, jasper sampson spencer, roz gotti |
WHO: Jasper Sampson Spencer and Roz Gotti
WHEN: 2006.
WHERE: Jack of all Stalks: A Grocery Store.
SUMMARY: Bingo Prompt: First Job. Once upon a time, Jasper and Roz weren't friends. Then they worked in a grocery store together.
STATUS: Complete!
Day One - January 14th, 2006 The prospect of actually having a job rather than just volunteering his life away kind of made Jasper nervous but still excited. Because he was going to make money and be an actual adult now. And it was kind of relieving to not have to ask his parents if he could go out with his friends and then put his hand out for the money he needed to actually do this. Especially now that he was in college. This was really overdue. He didn’t know that he’d be working with Rosalind Gotti. Technically, he knew Roz. She was only two years younger than Jasper and they’d had some overlapping classes in school. But Jasper couldn’t claim to know much about her other than the fact that she existed and seemed to always know the answer when she was called on (although she never raised her hand). His boss at Jack of All Stalks was rosy cheeked and ensured him that he’d get a hang of the work in no time. Roz, who he was left with to train him, was the complete opposite. Jasper smiled. She did not. She went about training him as if her life was an eternal disappointment and their current task epitomised that, as if a raincloud would follow them down the store aisle if she didn't move quickly enough. Maybe it did, pointed directly at her. It would explain why she looked so miserable all the time. Day Five - January 26th, 2006 There weren’t many people in Jasper’s life that seemed to actively hate him. But between the first day of work and today Jasper had come to the conclusion that Roz hated him and that hatred appeared to be growing. His boss assured him that he hadn’t messed up too much, despite his fear that when he’d broken a carton of eggs he was going to be fired. Each day he decided that today was going to be the day he found something in common with Roz to talk about. He starts with space because everyone has to like space exportation, right? “Did you hear about the Huygens probe that landed on one of Saturn’s moons?” “I'm not into space.” She responded, flat. But Roz didn't particularly appear to be into anything, except perhaps sarcasm and eyeliner. Maybe the occult, or it would at least be suggested by an elderly customer once every few weeks. “Oh,” Jasper said, put out by what he’d thought was a sure fire conversation starter. But that was okay because he’d been prepared with a couple back ups, just in case. “Do you watch Lost?” “No.” Roz stood brandishing a pricing gun like a deadly weapon. Everything seemed an inconvenience to her, and so far she hadn't managed to look at Jasper but when she did, finally, it could probably have turned the milk she’d set out on display earlier. “It’s boring and the plotholes are already falling apart.” She continued, staring him down. Another day, another failure. Jasper stared at his own pricing gun, limp in his hand, trying to come up with something else to ask her. But based on her deadly stare from earlier he figured that it was better to remain silent. Day Eighty-Six - May 10th, 2006 There wasn’t a day he didn’t come in with a topic in the hopes that this would be the day he would bring up something that was cool and that’d she like and then they could be friends. But he was growing exhausted and he was experiencing college finals for the first time. It wasn’t until he was putting on the required apron that he even realized he hadn’t spent any time thinking of topics. He felt a little dejected about it and didn’t even attempt a conversation. The floor was awkward that day. She glanced over to him more than once, waiting for today’s attempt, but it never came. Day One-Hundred and Thirty-Nine - July 6th, 2006 It felt like the only thing Jasper hadn’t attempted was antagonizing her. He had a little brother, it would have been easy to come up with something. The problem was that it wasn’t very Jasper-like. Even if he was successful that would have meant she liked Eddie and people who could easily antagonize people - not him. And that would defeat the whole point of this. He could have asked, Is there one single thing in the world that makes you smile because I’m starting to doubt it but he went with, “I’m so glad that the Fourth of July rush is over.” Roz made a non-committal sound. She was paler than usual. She glanced towards the door, fiddling with her name tag, tapping one foot on the floor. “What time is it?” She said, suddenly, eyes flicking from one end of the store to the other. There wasn’t much surprise on Jasper’s face when Roz ignored his question entirely - he’d grown used to her blatant rudeness by day fifteen. But her impatience (or maybe it was paranoia?) was new to him. Jasper looked down at the watch on his wrist and answered, “Four ten. Why?” Roz nodded too quickly, biting down hard on the inside of her mouth. Do not cry. Do not cry. It's not worth it. Not here. She continued to scold herself as if it would make a difference. “It's-I've just got somewhere I need to be.” She said, in a very small voice. Her manner and tone set an alarm off in his head. Being an older sibling meant he’d seen and catalogued how both of his siblings broke down. What Roz was doing was dislike either of them but it was still clear to him what was happening. He’d have patted her shoulder if she were friendlier, but as it was he was afraid she’d lash out if he did that. “Oh, yea?” He responded. Then, carefully, as if walking around eggshells, asked, “where are you going?” The words caught in her throat as she tried to speak- a sharp inhalation, then nothing. She paused, looking down. “My brother is m-” she said quietly, voice cracking. She caught herself. “-he's gone missing, we don't know where he-” But she stopped again, the words not coming anymore, and she glanced back towards the clock. Jasper’s eyes went wide at her admission. “What? Did your parents report it?” He tried to think if his Dad had mentioned anything. But his Dad was busy with work more often than not. They didn’t get that much time to hang out and talk. “Where was he seen last?” Roz nodded, trying so hard to keep her face emotionless that she was shaking, yet still failing. “Dad called it in. He was- he was just walking home and didn't come back I dunno-” she stopped, her words trailing off. She went back to stacking shelves, more aggressively than before. “I just- I wanna go help look.” Jasper didn’t know how he’d feel if Jemma or Eddie went missing, he’d had the good fortune not to have to experience that. But he couldn’t imagine dealing with it as well as Roz was right now. It was kind of commendable. “We’ll go look,” He promised. “And we won’t stop until we find him.” Roz stopped dead, at a sudden loss for words. “You- don't have to help.” She muttered, slowly. “You don't. It's- look we’ll find him it's fine.” The urge to cry got stronger by the second. If it had been anyone else he might have scoffed in offense. But Roz didn’t really seem to like him so it was easy to assume that she could think he was cold-blooded and uncaring. “I’m going to help. Your brother is missing. No one should go missing, especially not in a town this small. He can be found.” Roz looked up at Jasper, the picture of mistrust. It was sheer stubbornness, more than anything. The feeling that if she let him help her, he won, this boy who seemed determined to talk to her, who smiled at her without any indication of friendship on her part, tis boy who had tried so hard for so long to get her to talk. She'd noticed. But he wasn't a stranger at this point, not just ‘this boy’. Jasper was her co-worker and she treated him like shit. She'd made it clear what she thought of him. And yet, he would still help her. She narrowed her eyes, the snarl building a shield back up, but at the very least a shield with a new crack in it. “Okay.” She said, hugging her arms around herself again. When 4:30 came, the end of their shift, Jasper followed Roz out. “Do you know where they’ve checked so far? Do you have any intuition of where you think he might be?” Jasper was never certain if the fact that she was a witch was meant to be spoken aloud, but he did his best to ask the question without saying the W-word. Roz thought for a second, a different kind of quiet to normal. She had to, she had to calm down after shooting him a very disdainful look for just a second when he used the word ‘intuition’. Although a locator potion wasn't a bad idea… She shook her head. “I don't know anything. My dad won't tell me. All I know is his route home where he went missing.” Jasper nodded his head. “Let’s start there, look for clues and spread outwards. He’s got to be here somewhere.” He faked any confidence he didn’t actually feel because at the end of the day he was only just starting to learn about the criminal justice system and how it actually worked and Roz was probably too emotionally destroyed to be of real use. But he figured it was better to be doing this than for her to be sitting in her room thinking about what could have happened to her brother by now. The conclusions she’d come to couldn’t be useful. The confidence Jasper faked was useful. Not because it made Roz feel any more confident, but because she could at least draw a little more hope, a little more energy from him. “Mmhmm.” Unfortunately, it didn't come out sounding as energetic as she'd planned. On making a sound that didn't sound very supportive of this idea at all, she winced, looking at Jasper as if he would just walk off again. She was wary. She was conscious that she couldn't interact right. It was more difficult than she remembered to be polite sometimes. “Sorry. Um. Thank you.” At this point in their non-relationship Jasper didn’t bat an eye from the less than enthusiastic sound she made. But the apology and gratitude did take him by surprise. And that was clear on his face for a few moments before he blinked, then slowly smiled. “Let’s get to work.” |