Jimmy Boudreaux (c6h12o6) wrote in invol_rpg, @ 2012-11-19 16:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! log, jimmy boudreaux, leigh tharp |
WHO: Jimmy Boudreaux, Leigh Tharp
WHAT: Movie night
WHEN: Saturday, November 17 (BACKDATED)
WHERE: 7b, Boys Dorm
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Complete
Jimmy’s iPod was blaring Jake Owens as he finished picking up. His room usually weren’t all that messy, but he hadn’t quite put all of his laundry away. And while Leigh had already seen his underpants months ago before they’d even gone out on one date, he figured she could do without seeing them again half-hanging out of the basket. Once that was finished, he glanced around the room. Looked decent enough to have a guest, he reckoned. He had popcorn, Ho Hos, and candy on his desk. Completely hidden by a pile of them squid snacks. They weren’t that bad, kinda like an extra salty tater chip. He’d eat them all eventually. Propped in front of the squid snacks was a copy of Raiders of the Lost Ark that he’d borrowed from the library. Leigh could hear the strains of country music through Jimmy’s door as she walked down the seventh floor hallway. Although she wasn’t as humongous a fan of country music as Jimmy, it made her smile faintly -- another shred of normalcy in the aftermath of George Cooper. It was something you could expect to encounter at any university or college, not just ones meant for evolved humans who were exposed to dangerous situations more often than not. Jimmy’s door was slightly ajar, so after reaching out and giving a quick knock, she pushed it open further and stuck her head through. “Hey,” she greeted brightly. “I’m early. Don’t be too surprised!” Jimmy turned around, shaking his head. “Dang, thought I had least ‘nother half hour ‘fore you akshally got here,” he said, looking at his watch. “Glad I sent that other girl back to her room early.” Shooting her a teasing smile, he moved toward the door even as he motioned her to come in. “How’re ya?” he said, opening the door wider and then shutting it behind her. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before heading back to his iPod to lower the volume. It also gave him the opportunity to point at his desk. “Got all yer favorites,” he said, managing to keep a straight face. “I didn’t want to sit around my room for much longer,” Leigh admitted. She had spent enough time in there lately, making lists of survival items, maps of secured areas, and sorting through the small arsenal of supplies she was storing beneath her bed. Her counselor seemed slightly concerned about her paranoia, but Leigh had maintained - and somewhat irritably in comparison to her normal temperament - that preparation was smart, not some kind of obsessive complex. And after her experience in the dream world, she was even less sure she would be utilizing those supplies. That was an entirely different train of thought, though, and one she didn’t want to dwell on presently. She kissed Jimmy back and then reached for his hand. Meena had been a bundle of hugs since the weekend, but it was nice to be close to Jimmy, too. Her thoughts had went to him often as they’d blundered through the Egyptian Tomb, and even moreso afterwards, when she’d found out he’d been injured. Her own injuries were healing swiftly, and they hadn’t been that bad to begin with. Her body had seen to that. “I’m okay,” she said, fairly confident that she was, at least in the physical sense. When he directed her attention to his desk, she caught sight of the squid snacks and copy of Indiana Jones. Wrinkling her nose, she turned a dry look on him, butting into his side with her shoulder. “You know me so well. Chewy tentacles and pyramids are like my favorite things right now.” She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, then added, “I guess this means you’re feeling better, since you’re willing to risk bodily injury by teasing me.” Jimmy understood that. Sitting around anywhere too long didn’t suit him. But there weren’t much he could do since last weekend. Swimming was out until his stitches healed and the lake had been taken over by a bunch of noisy people the other day, which made fishing nearly impossible. “Ya ain’t gonna hurt an injured fella, is ya?” he protested, squeezing her hand back. “”Cause then yer gonna hafta ‘splain to the doc why my stiches cain’t come out.” They’d promised him they’d be out by Tuesday. Course he still couldn’t swim for a while. Narrowing his eyes, he pretended to think for a moment. “Mebbe there’s somethin’ else in the pile,” he said with a shrug. “And might be some more pitchers in the top desk drawer.” He’d brought Tommy Boy, Talledega Nights, and The Hangover from home. Rather than Finding Nemo, he’d borrowed Monsters Inc from the library. It had been his favorite when he was a kid. “I’ll say you deserved it,” she said. “And then you’ll have at least one injury that is deserved.” The rest of them weren’t, that was for sure. And they had been lucky. “Oh, so you do have some more pictures, huh?” She smiled lopsidedly as she used his turn of phrase. Sometimes she wondered if they really talked like that down in the bayou, or if they affected the old-fashioned vocabulary to distinguish themselves from everyone else. It didn’t really matter; she liked that about Jimmy. “It’s a good thing you have popcorn,” she said, letting go of his hand to walk over to the desk. “Otherwise I might have had to turn back for Cheetos.” She glanced over her shoulder at him before sliding open his desk drawer. “Oooh, good,” she murmured. “This is a better selection. Hang on--” Reaching in, she pulled out Monsters, Inc. and held it up to him, brows contracting in amusement and surprise. “Did you know Cosmo voted Monsters, Inc. as one of the best date movies ever?” “What’s Cosmo?” He waited a second and then laughed. “‘m jus’ joshin. Know what Cosmo is.” Before she could ask, he added, “Got 10 first cousins. All girls.” He knew about all sorts of girly things like tea parties and dress up and dancing and, unfortunately, Cosmo. “And they’s right. Only save it for my best girl,” he teased with a nod. Then he shrugged. “Don’ hafta watch it if you ain’t wanna. ‘s one of my favorites though.” He ducked his head a bit and focused on moving all the bags of squid snacks into a separate pile. The slate of Leigh’s brow wrinkled after Jimmy’s revelation about his very extended family. “Really?” she asked. “So is your family the only one with boys, then? Or do you have more than ten cousins?” First cousins?” She couldn’t even imagine. Her family was miniscule in comparison, which was probably a good thing, since they wouldn’t all be able to fit in their shelter. “No, I haven’t seen it in ages. We should watch it,” she told him. “And then we can do the Hangover or Talledega Nights.” She met his eyes then, not quite making a face, but looking slightly hesitant. “I mean, if we’re going to make a night of watching movies, we might as well do it right. Right?” “All my aunts and uncles got girls. And prolly lose count if I hafta count second and third cousins. Lotsa Boudreauxs and Lejeunes and Thibidaults ‘round our parts. Reckon you ain’t got quite so many cousins and such?” He paused in his sorting and looked up at her. When she mentioned a night of watching movies, he smiled. “If yer expectin’ me to argue ‘bout spendin’ more time with ya, gonna be waitin’ long time, Leigh.” Soon they were both squeezed on his single bed, leaning against pillows propped against the wall. Jimmy’s laptop was balanced on his outstretched legs, Monsters Inc playing on the screen. “No,” said Leigh. “I have a two cousins on my mom’s side. That’s it.” She had known people to have huge families and large family reunions, but her entire family could fit in a large back room at one of the restaurants in Montana. “I didn’t think you’d argue,” she said. “I just wanted to make sure it was okay.” Once they were well into the middle of the movie, Leigh settled in more. Her head rested on Jimmy’s shoulder and she was half paying attention to the movie, half lost in her own thoughts. “You know,” she said after a bit, “after everything, I can even find parallels to George Cooper in Monsters, Inc. Not that it’s scary or anything, but the fact that he kind of thrived on scaring people.” “Yeah,” he said quietly. He was having a hard time enjoying the movie, considering everything that had happened. “More’n thrived on it. I, I, ah, asked the counselor if somethin’ happened to him, somethin’ bad, ya know, to make him the way he were.” He paused and frowned. “Course he didn’t answer. Just said - “ Jimmy stopped again, concentrating very hard on not speaking with his usual Louisiana accent. “‘Does it matter, James? Would it make you feel differently about everything that happened to you?’” He switched back to his regular voice. “Hate when he does that, answerin’ a question wit’ a question.” Tapping a button on the keyboard to pause the movie, he moved the laptop off his legs and onto the bed. Gingerly, he turned - the stitches still pulled sometimes - to face Leigh. “Part a’ me were wishin’, hopin’ really, that ya wasn’t there, that ya were back here.” He shrugged. “I know you cain take care a’ yerself, but that don’ mean I don’ worry ‘bout ya.” “Something must have happened,” Leigh agreed. “People just don’t turn out like that for no reason at all.” She shifted slightly, turning her head so that she could see his face. “Does he really call you James?” That was funny. She decided that her therapist must be better than most, pushing aside formalities in order to make Leigh comfortable with talking to her. And she was, really. She didn’t usually feel like she was being examined, it was more like guided conversation -- nothing too pushy, or maddeningly evasive, but helpful concern Leigh could appreciate. Most of the time, anyway. She frowned thoughtfully at him after he told her he’d worried about her. She had worried about him, too, of course, though she hadn’t said so. “I know,” she replied. “Until Marine found us, I didn’t get what was happening. I mean, I’d had a nightmare before that. And then, in the end, when I didn’t see you, I hoped that it meant you weren’t there, too. It was awful. And being able to take care of myself accomplished very little. Everything I accomplished was due to my power.” And if not for her power, she would have been dead. Kharis would have sucked the life out of her. She pressed her lips together and grew quiet, thinking of those who had passed away - the non-vols who didn’t have powers to save them. “Yeah, calls me James. Did it the first time and I ain’t correct him. Reckon I been called worse things.” He paused and then decided to go ahead and tell her. “Amos calls me Tater. Like Mr. Potater Head. Cause a’ my power.” Least that was said out of affection. The ‘James,’ he reckoned, was just because his counselor really didn’t know him. Course Jimmy didn’t really open up either. When she admitted to having a nightmare, his eyes widened a bit. “Me, too,” he admitted. “Got locked up in prison. Fo’ever, I think. Ev’rybody I know were there, saying they knew I did it. Not sure what it was.” She was really quiet and he reached out to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Hey, now, yer power is who you is. And it he’ped ya.” They hadn’t really talked about all that had happened. He knew from Jodi that there had been an Egyptian tomb and mummies. He was quiet for a long moment, trying to decide whether he ought to say something. “Jodi tol’ me lil bit ‘bout what happened. Least that there was a mummy. We was hidin’ out in a carnival booth after - “ He hadn’t told anyone except for the counselor exactly how he’d gotten cut. But he didn’t want to keep secrets from Leigh. “After Jesper...” Rather than finish his sentence, he gestured to his side. Leigh giggled quietly. “Tater,” she repeated, trying out the nickname. “You seem more like a Tater than a James to me, too. Less like an actual Potato Head, though you have the hat thing in common.” She didn’t go into her dream, but she wasn’t surprised to hear that Jimmy had had one, too. So many people had started talking about them over the networks that she’d known it was no coincidence. She simply hadn’t realized just how far it would go. “It saved me,” she replied bluntly. “More than once. This mummy king tried to suck the life out of me so that he could become more powerful, only I kept producing more...I don’t know. Energy? Life?” She shrugged, not knowing exactly how to describe it. “He fed off my energy until he was full-up. He almost drained Jodi. We were lucky.” She knew what had happened hadn’t been real - not really - but part of her wondered if it was actually possible - that her body could keep going, and going, delaying certain death. She would have been content to let the conversation fade out there hadn’t Jimmy mentioned Jesper. That made her shoot up, spinning around so that she face Jimmy. “Jesper did that?” she asked, pointing to his side. “That-- He--” She shook her head quickly, dismissing several uncharitable thoughts. “Well, it looks like we have something else in common. Only my adaptation kept me from needing stitches, and he was too slow to cut off my head like he wanted to.” There was a long pause. “If that was really him.” He had no idea what to say to any of that so he just listened quietly as she described what she’d gone through. “Reckon we was all lucky. Least those a’ us in the dreams.” Thinking back to what had happened in the woods, all he could do was shake his head. “Cooper’s one fucked up fella.” And he wasn’t even going to apologize for cussing. Even if his face did flush a little. “HE WHAT?” He sat up quickly too, ignoring the pain in his side. “Shoulda shot him when I had the chance.” Hell, he’d even dragged him out from the open so that the other things at the fair wouldn’t get him. “And it were him.” Of that, Jimmy was convinced. Glancing down at the foot of the bed, he noticed that his laptop had gone into sleep mode, the IVI screensaver bouncing from one side to the other. “Ain’t zackly what I had in mind when I asked ya over to watch a movie,” he said with a half-smile. “Wanna bag Monsters Inc and try somethin’ else? Don’ believe Ricky Bobby has any talk a’ nightmares.” “He really was,” agreed Leigh. The fact that he’d managed to hide his powers for a long time continued to be a concern. She thought of her conversation with Jace and frowned, though she didn’t get any more into it than that. “Jimmy, you shouldn’t even say things like that,” said Leigh. “Especially since you’ve been hunting for like...how long?” She hoped he wasn’t being entirely serious - she didn’t think he was - and considering the repercussions of what happened in dreams, the outcome of getting shot was especially dire. “I don’t think he was right in the head,” she added quietly. “I mean, he was super unhinged. More than anyone else, I think, aside from, you know. George Cooper. In terms of violence, anyway.” She didn’t know why that was, or what had happened to him that caused him to snap that way - but the fact that he hadn’t woken up and snapped out of that violent streak was disconcerting. She cleared her throat. “I’m not condoning what he did, but I do want to know why he did it.” She snorted quietly when he mentioned Monsters, Inc. again. “Well, it probably wasn’t going to scar me for life, but yeah. Let’s watch that and thank Lord baby Jesus for the squid snacks and ho-hos.” “I know,” Jimmy sighed, easing back down against the pillows. “Don’ wanna shoot nobody. Even Jesper.” He made a face. “Even drug him out the way after I knocked him out with the rifle. Jus’ to make sure nothin’ got ‘im.” He was seriously rethinking that now that he knew the other fella had attacked Leigh. “And yeah, I know he don’ like me and all. Think I ain’t good ‘nuff fer ya, but don’ think that’s why he come after me. He were talkin’ crazy. Stuff ‘bout blood purifyin’ stuff and makin’ sacrifices to I don’ know who.” He shook his head. And he didn’t blame Leigh for wanting to know what had happened to Jesper; they were friendly like. “In yer ghost manger, lyin’ there lookin’ at yer Baby Einstein videos,” he replied with a laugh. “And I knew ya was only here for the squid snacks, Leigh Tharp.” Half-way through Talladega Nights (which may have had to be rewound a time or two), they were both laughing out loud, an empty bag of popcorn and several HoHo wrappers on the bed beside Jimmy. He was still trying to convince Leigh to eat some squid snacks. Arm around her, he glanced down where she was resting against his shoulder. “Ya know we could watch Hangover too.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Could stay here tonight. If ya wanted.” “That was good of you,” Leigh told him. She gave him a slight squeeze, too. “I kicked his knife away, but I didn’t take it because I was worried about him being attacked by something else. Who knows what he did with it after that.” She shook her head slightly. “Anyway, he told me he provoked you, he just didn’t say exactly how. You know that’s not true, right? I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like spending time with you.” Later, when he mentioned watching the Hangover, she glanced up at him and was quiet for a moment. She’d never spent the night with a guy before, and although she didn’t think Jimmy had firm intentions, she rather thought she wouldn’t mind it if he did. It was nice to be with him, whether they were watching movies or otherwise occupied. “Okay,” she said. Her mouth curled up slowly at the edges, shy and impish all at once. “Just let me text Mira to let her know I won’t be back.” |