Jia Li Adlar (leaves_of_ash) wrote in manchester_rpg, @ 2010-07-30 19:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | jack, jia li |
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Who: Jack Daniels and Jia Li Adlar
What: Being Rescued
When: Friday, July 30th, 2010; 8pm
Where: A Short Way from Campus
Rating: R
Status: Complete
Jia Li felt that it was time to visit her father again, and she had a couple of shifts to work at the dryad tree reserve this weekend. Thankfully, she knew she wouldn’t be bursting into tears and pouring her heart out to her poor father.
This week had just been okay. The party Kay had thrown Monday night had been fun once she had gotten away from Jack and all of his jerk comments. Hell, being drunk for the first time since she’d been fourteen had been a lot of fun.
Guys had actually flirted with her, and instead of being put off by it, she had liked it, and she’d flirted right back. Of course, those guys had quite obviously only been after an easy lay, and while Jia Li told herself that she never would have given up her virginity while she’d been drunk, Kay had been there the entire time to make sure no one had taken advantage of her.
Part of her felt strongly that, while it had been a very good show of friendship on the siren’s part, it hadn’t been necessary. Even though her thoughts had been muddled and her dancing skills had declined that night, she remembered all of it. Sure, she’d done a lot of flirting, but the whole time, she had still been aware of whom she was at her core. She still didn’t want to give up her virginity, and while the flirting had been fun, she’d known she didn’t love any of those guys. They had just been people whose faces she would probably forget after that night.
Well, there had been one face she hadn’t quite forgotten. He’d been really nice to her, even as she’d acted kind of stupid in her drunken stupor. He hadn’t touched her in any vulgar sense of the word, but he’d danced with her and had kept her steady while they moved.
Kay had sort of broken them away from each other after a little while, but that had been okay at the time. Jia Li hadn’t known his name, but she felt confident that if she was meant to see him again, she would. After all, if chance would place her again and again in uncomfortable situations with a certain Jackass, she’d earned meeting a nice guy with good intentions, right?
After that night, Jia Li had apologized at forcing Kaydence to practically babysit the dryad, but the siren didn’t seem put out by it. They’d danced together a lot that night, and she hadn’t vomited or anything, so at least she had been able to have fun while watching her back. Of course, she had a feeling that had Kay not made the friendly suggestion that she stop drinking alcohol and start consuming water, things could have been a lot worse for both of them. Her hangover could have been a lot worse, too. Kay had heard a lot of “thank yous” for her kind deeds.
Jia Li didn’t intend to get drunk again any time soon. She wasn’t stupid, and she knew the whole reason she’d done it was to force herself to have a good time after Jack had killed her mood. She kept thinking about what he’d said to her, about how she could have easily avoided him, but instead she had approached him to mess with him. He’d said something similar to that to her the time she’d seen him before the party, too. The dryad always felt like her reasons defied his logic, but a tiny part of her wondered what was wrong with her. She hated drama, but it seemed to cling to her when she saw him.
She didn’t actually want him, though. There was nothing about them that was mentally compatible. He was a jerk, and just because she’d felt a spark when he’d kissed her – both times – it didn’t mean she wanted to be with him. It wasn’t like his kisses had had a faerie tale quality to them or anything. The memories of how he ruined each moment were all too clear in her mind.
Besides, he was sleeping with her friend. Jia Li would never come between a friend and her lover or friend-with-benefits or whatever they were. Even if he suddenly decided he actually wanted the dryad, the choice between the siren and herself would be pretty obvious. He was already sleeping with Kay after all. She convinced herself that even if he hadn’t already built something with her friend, she wouldn’t be after someone like him anyway.
Sure, he probably had his daemons. He’d admitted to something when she’d seen him almost a week ago though she had no idea what he’d confessed. It had been just enough that she suspected there was something more to him than met the eye, but that didn’t make up for the fact that he was a complete asshole who had specifically told her he could care less if everyone around him dropped dead.
Jia Li expelled the thoughts from her mind and slipped her bag around her shoulders. She had gotten out of class a little while earlier, and she’d packed her backpack with clothing and other essential items because she wouldn’t be back at Alden until Sunday night. She wore jeans and a tank top, and her hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her head.
She left her room, heading for the nearest tree. It was the fastest method of travel for her. She could make it to her house before a car would be able to get there, and she didn’t have to suffer the discomfort of being in a car. They terrified her, and they weren’t exactly environmentally friendly.
Slipping into a tree was an interesting thing, but it was just a regular part of her life. Every time she entered a tree, it was like a silent word of permission from the tree she entered. It was always possible that a tree could block her entry because every tree was different, but it had never happened to her so far. Once Jia Li was in the tree, she felt its life force envelop her, and she could feel the connection to other nearby trees as if every tree was connected by the same roots. The dryad suspected it was something more along the lines of every living being having connections like a giant spider web, but she had only been able to view the ones between the trees.
As she moved from tree to tree, she quickly left Alden University and headed toward her home. The quickest route led her behind a business she had never examined, but the trees were spaced apart a lot more here than in other places. She jogged toward the next tree, and she felt it envelop her, granting her energy when she suddenly felt a hand on her elbow, and she was jerked out and away from the trunk. The force of the jerk caused her to stumble, and the hand on her arm thrust her to the cement near the patch of land where the tree grew. Pain sung through her hands and knees at the impact.
“Look what we have here, guys.” The voice was cold but male, and her green eyes jerked toward him as he spoke. Panic seized her as well as confusion.
“What-” A kick to the back of her left shoulder forced a cry from her lips that halted her words.
“Shut up! Freaks like you shouldn’t be allowed to talk.” The same guy yelled at her, but she still didn’t understand. A freak? Was he kidding? She looked just like any other normal person her age. She wasn’t even wearing make-up. Even so, she didn’t say anything. Her back throbbed from that kick, and instead, she looked around herself.
There were five of them, and four of them had bulky builds. The one who didn’t seem to have as much muscle on him looked like he was probably middle aged. The other four looked like they could have been Jia Li’s age. They were all guys, and one of them aimed a kick at her side, but she was quick. With her dancer’s instincts, she rolled away, and the tip of his boot only nicked her arm. It still hurt, but she didn’t cry out. She was terrified, and her blood pounded through her limbs, but she was trying to think before she acted.
Jia Li managed to roll herself onto her feet, so she would be standing. She felt like her chances would be better in that case. “Ooooh. The little, inhuman freak is fast!” The taunt came from another of the four. It suddenly dawned on her. These guys had to be humanists. They were the only kind of humans that were radical enough to actually physically harm another person if they weren’t human.
“You guys are cowards! Big guys like you feel the need to mess with someone my size. What’s wrong with you?” Okay, so it probably wasn’t her smartest move, but maybe if she could keep them talking, they wouldn’t notice she was slowly edging her way toward the tree from which they’d pulled her.
The oldest of them spoke then, “No. We’re simply purging the planet of evil creatures like yourself. You’re unnatural. God doesn’t look kindly on your kind.” Was it just her, or did that make absolutely no sense? She didn’t have the courage to call him on it, though. They looked really angry, and people could do all sorts of things when they were hopped up on adrenaline the way she was now.
Jia Li bolted. She thought she was close enough, she thought that catching them by surprise would give her an edge, but the nearest guy reached her and wrapped his arms around her before dragging her even further away from her sanctuary than she had been previously. “Guess it’s not so fast after all!” He said with a laugh.
The dryad struggled against him, but he was built like a jock, and she couldn’t break free. He threw her to the ground, and this time, a kick landed right in her rib cage, pulling another cry from her lips. Tears welled in her eyes as pain streaked through her body.
All her life, Jia Li had heard about stories like this on the news. Supernatural beings would be beaten or killed by humanists, and the judicial systems wouldn’t condemn the culprits. They were usually let free because the juries were filled with humans. The way the middle-aged man had spoken, they were going to kill her, but she couldn’t be sure. She did see a few bats, but there wasn't anything sharp that she could immediately detect. Then again, there was the chance of one being concealed or their intention to just beat her to death. Chances were, they were probably looking for trouble when they saw her appear from one tree, and they’d decided to jump her.
The dryad clutched her side that was sure to bruise. It throbbed in agony. She’d never even been involved in a fight in the past because she was a pacifist. Self-defense courses had never even occurred to her, not with her studies and dancing and her job on her plate. She wished she had, she wished she had even if it meant using violence to protect herself. Running obviously wasn’t an option in this case.
Idly, she thought they were toying with her right now. If they really wanted to go all out, they would, right? Two blows were all she’d gotten. These guys were sadists. They were probably drinking in her fear, and though she desperately tried to put a clamp on it, she knew it was plain to see.
She felt one of them grip her pony tail and jerk her head back. “Do you think it’s scared yet, Greg?” One of them asked. Jia Li didn’t know to which one he was referring.
“Nah.” Said one of the guys behind her. “But it will be.” Another kick landed hard against her right leg, and she thought for sure his boots must have steal toes. She screamed, the pain was intense, and he had kicked her hard.
“Please, you don’t have to do this. I haven’t done anything wrong.” Obviously, nothing else was going to work, so maybe begging would. She was in serious trouble, and she understood that no one was going to help her. She had to find a way to help herself. If she could make them hesitate, maybe if his grip on her hair would loosen, she could find a way out of this.
Her hopes shattered when a fist connected with her cheek, his ring making a shallow cut in the flesh. “We told you to shut up! You have no right to say anything!” Her tears streaked down her throbbing face. She’d been hoping that if she got out of this, she’d only have a few bruises, but she’d hoped that she’d be able to hide all of them. No court would rule in favor of her if she pressed charges, but that probably didn’t matter because she probably wouldn’t get out of this alive.