Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Gabba gabba hey!"

paxnarrator (paxnarrator) wrote in paxletalelogs,
@ 2010-10-31 00:00:00

Entry tags:

amun, aphrodite, ares, changing woman, coyote, eris, harmonia, jormungandr, mania, min, morrigan, mut, osiris, raijin, raven, sigyn, tlazolteotl, urdr, veles

Who: OPEN
What: Pax Letale Halloween Bash 2010!
Where: The Empty Grave
When: 6:30-9 p.m.
Warnings: Likely any and all. Enter at your own risk.
Notes: This is the party post for all Pax residents and guests in attendance, right up to the moment of transformation. Use your subject line to denote your character's location (i.e. 'By the door,' 'at the bar,' 'on the dance floor,' 'in a coat closet.')

The air in Pax Letale crackled with possibility all day Sunday. All week, excited chatter had filled the hallway and the forums; costumes had been carried in and out; speculation on what the party would entail were whispered. By Sunday, the energy surrounding the event held so much promise that it hardly seemed like just a Halloween party anymore; it was something more, and that sense was nearly kinetic.

The main ballroom in the haunted mansion that was The Empty Grave was expansive, but guests had already begun to arrive. When they entered, they found lush opulence withered and faded; grandeur, but with an eerie pall over it. It was perfect for Halloween - dark, ghostly, with a twisted Victorian edge to it. The bar was fully stocked, trays of h'ors d'oeuvres passed around and more substantial fare offered on ornate platters along one wall. A DJ was already spinning a mix of music that somehow managed to fit the theme and appeal to the eclectic demographic he was serving, and attractive (if ghastly) characters added flavor to the already colorful room.

The night had begun.

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

whiskey_jack
2010-12-10 07:08 am UTC (link)

"So it is." Jack's response was equally flat as he looked down at her. He'd won... but for a victory, it sure felt hollow. Her stiff posture and quiet fury made the distance between them seem more a gulf than an arm's length. But then he shouldn't have expected anything else.

Still, he'd gotten what he wanted: a dance with Kami, a chance to actually talk to her in a situation where she'd have to listen.

Never taking his eyes off of her, Jack removed his hat and tossed it aside. He slid his hand around her waist, positioning himself close enough to her to talk but not forcing his body against hers; she obediently placed her hand on his shoulder, her fingers barely touching him, making them look like they were at a church social. He then led her into the dance, moving slowly around their corner of the floor.

"I hope you're enjoying your birthday," he said after a few moments. "You've been the belle of the ball, it seems."

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

sugar_cycle
2010-12-10 08:22 am UTC (link)

"Everyone keeps saying that," she answered with barely a pause. Her eyes were focused somewhere around his breastbone, unseeing and distant as if she were trying to will herself away. Strangely, though, her fingers wound more firmly with his even as her body seemed ready to squirm away from the hold of his other hand. "I don't know why. It doesn't really count when you do the asking."

Kami swallowed and he watched her worry her bottom lip with white teeth. If she had been wearing lipstick at any point, it appeared to be all gone by this point. She drew a sudden, slow breath and her eyes flicked up to his. Catching him staring, she scowled slightly before she could control herself. "So... Are you having fun?" she asked after a moment and her voice ached with politeness.

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

whiskey_jack
2010-12-10 06:11 pm UTC (link)

"If you call chasing you all over the venue begging for a dance, making an ass of myself with another man, and drinking the open bar dry of whiskey fun, then yeah, I've been having a regular party of one." Unlike the first time he'd wisecracked back at her in the stairwell, though, there was no hint of humor or remorse in his voice.

"Kami," he continued, "I don't know what more I can do. I've apologized for screwing up, I've apologized for letting my own personal problems prevent me from being there for you, I've apologized for daring to live in the same building as you." He gave a short, frustrated sigh. "Do you want me to fall at your feet and beg forgiveness? I know what you really want is for me to drop dead."

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

sugar_cycle
2010-12-10 07:00 pm UTC (link)

"No, I don't want..." The words had escaped before she could think better of it and Kami bit down on her lower lip again. Of course, she didn't want him to literally drop dead; that had never even crossed her mind. Dancing with him, trying to avoid the intensity of his too-blue eyes, gave her a feeling of horror deep inside that he seemed to think her anger ran that deep. Now he was making her not like who she was when she was around him. Damn him all over again.

Her mobile mouth worked into a scowl and then her lips pressed together to erase all other expression. "Don't be an ass," she muttered. "I don't want that. None of it. I just want to forget the whole thing." Kami suddenly lifted her chin to meet his eyes and a jolt of electricity sparked. She had to fight off the shiver but she held his gaze. "All of it," she continued in a voice so quiet that he had to strain to hear it but, even then, he could hear the ache and coded meaning beneath her words. "The candles, the blankets, the... The way you laughed and felt and all that."

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

whiskey_jack
2010-12-10 11:28 pm UTC (link)

That caught Jack completely off-guard. He froze momentarily, his gaze locked with hers, then remembered they were supposed to be dancing. "Kami..." The memories of their tryst flashed through his mind -- the good parts, before they got caught. "Kami," he said again, softly. "I wish I could forget too. It'd make everything so much easier, wouldn't it." His hand worked gently at her waist; he wanted nothing more in that moment than to draw her into his arms and hold her.

He squeezed her hand instead, and ran his thumb over her fingers. "But I can't forget. How could I? You were... The way you felt in my arms, the way you smelled, your warmth, your skin... Don't think I'll ever forget."

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

sugar_cycle
2010-12-11 06:49 am UTC (link)

A flush appeared over her cheeks and Kami dropped her gaze back to stare hard at his tie. "Why not?" she asked. "If you forget and I forget, it'll go away. We'll never talk to each other again and..." She paused and sighed. Her skin tingled where his thumb had traced, proving distracting and derailing her thoughts. She still felt the familiar anger towards him and the heated sting of her pride but there was something else now and she realized with some shock that it had been building since their encounter on the eighth floor.

There was something almost like forgiveness, warmth, benevolence... And it scared her almost as much as her anger did.

She chewed at her bottom lip again. "You should try," she finally whispered. "So should I. If I say I forgive you... Could you just go away again?"

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

whiskey_jack
2010-12-12 05:26 am UTC (link)

"It's not that easy, baby doll." Jack shook his head. "Pax is a big building, but it's not that big. We'll run into each other sooner or later and it'll all come back again." He looked down at her as she continued to stare ahead. "Besides... I don't want to forget," he murmured, then frowned and all but bit his tongue. Why had he said that? He was starting to sound like some kind of lovesick idiot pining after The One That Got Away -- him, Jack Mallory, King Playboy!

And then he realized with a start what it was about her, of all the girls knew, that kept him wanting her so badly. It was more than just how incredibly hot she was. She touched something he'd felt stirring since the ayahuasca experience all those years ago in San Francisco -- something he'd felt stir again during the recent weirdness in the building. He positively hungered for her, like a junkie hungers for a fix.

He still didn't understand why, though.

"Kami..." he started, then swallowed hard at the cold fear deep in his gut. "Kami, is it me, or is there something else going on?"

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

sugar_cycle
2010-12-12 06:47 am UTC (link)

"Between us?" Even as she said the words, though, he knew Kami was playing dumb and the immediate lift of her eyes to his reinforced the gut feeling. Her dark eyes held an expression that he had not seen before; all anger had drained away to leave a mixture of confusion and sadness. "The only thing that's going on is this... This weirdness," she began but she trailed off again.

She was a really, really horrible liar and she knew it. Turning her head, slightly, Kami studied their raised, tangled hands and made a hesitant move with her thumb in mirror image of his earlier stroke over her knuckles. The gesture sent a shiver through her and she bit down on her lower lip once more as if biting back a word that she might regret.

He was right and she hated to admit it but something else had been lingering around them, the situation, the building. Kami could not put her finger on it and it raised flags all over her intuition. Just as she knew her hopeful suggestion was built on bullshit wishful thinking, she knew that, for whatever reason, she was doomed to have Jack in her head. It made her uncomfortable and uncertain, frustrated and testy.

With a sudden shock, she realized and translated the feelings to the other side of the spectrum and found a mirror in the impact a certain drawling ninth floor resident had on her.

She unconsciously took a step closer to Jack and the scent of cigarettes and whiskey and cologne tickled her hind-brain. Before she could say what she really wanted, Kami whispered, "There's something going around. Some bug or something. I don't feel... right."

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Re: 8:55pm, on the dance floor (Kami, Jack)

whiskey_jack
2010-12-14 09:06 pm UTC (link)

Jack moved closer to her at the same time she stepped toward him, their bodies now barely a hand's-breadth apart. "No... I don't think it's a bug," he replied distractedly, voice low. His hand slid around to her back, not possessively but protectively. Kami's warm scent filled his senses, and he felt his heart race as she stroked his hand with her thumb. He lowered his head to hers, immersing himself in her presence, as if together they could make the weirdness go away.

Which was crazy, right? Hell, he didn't even know what the weirdness was. Though he did know, somehow, that it wasn't how apparently smitten-kittens he was over Kami. Even though that was pretty crazy itself.

"Don't worry, baby doll," he murmured into her hair. "Ol' Jack won't let anything happen to you." Which wasn't what he really wanted to say, either.

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