jane randolph (agonium) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-07-04 14:37:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, jane, jane x neil, neil |
Who: Jane and Neil
When: Afternoon, Thursday, June 14, after this.
Where: Neil’s apartment
Status Complete
Smoking was supposed to calm him down, but Neil didn't feel calm even after a joint and some tea. He had texted Jane and asked her to come over, not wanting to talk about sensitive things like this on the phone. Under different circumstances he might have just headed to her place, but he really didn't want to step outside at the moment. His usual paranoia had been fed by Jules's words and he fully expected someone to come banging on his door, demanding answers or restorations. Jane had replied that she was on her way so that was a relief - and what exactly had his life become when knowing Jane was coming was a good thing? It was ridiculous, but her 'best friends forever' jokes weren't too far from being based in reality anymore. She was the person he called when things got scary, she was the closest thing he had to a friend, even if he was loathe to admit it.
When he heard the knock on the door he was startled by it, even if he was expecting her. He hurried out to the hall, careful to check outside before he opened the door. Again, his life had become pretty weird that he was relieved to see Jane. "Come in," he mumbled sullenly. "Do you want tea? Weed? Water?"
Jane had no idea what on earth Neil could want from her when he texted, but the fact that he had texted at all told her it was probably important. Honestly, it was a little worrisome, but Jane had decided not to assume anything until she knew what it was he wanted. She doubted he was asking her to come over so he could admonish her for the "party" at Shane's. His method of punishment when he was upset with her was to just ignore her until she wouldn't let him anymore.
So Jane walked to his apartment, beyond curious to know what had happened. When he opened the door for her, she arched a brow, taking in his pallid expression. "I want a gin and coke, but if you don't have that, tea is fine." Stepping inside, she shut the door behind her. "So what's wrong? Who do I have to beat up for you?"
It wasn't the first time the thought of getting rid of Jules crossed Neil's mind, but just like earlier, it made his stomach twist uncomfortably and he pushed that awful idea aside. "If only it was that simple," he said instead and headed for the small kitchen to start preparing some tea. It wasn't much of a hassle, he already had hot water ready so Jane didn't have to wait. Needless to say he did not have gin or coke in the house. "Jules Cooper stopped by," he said while he busied himself with filling a cup for her and it felt a little strange to know how she liked it. Like they were friends. The concept of having friends was still so alien to him and Jane had forced this connection but he found himself reluctantly getting used to it. "I think she might cause us trouble. She threatened me, she insists we killed her dad and she's determined to find out how."
Jane followed Neil, not at all surprised that Neil had already been preparing tea. She really needed to start carrying around a flask of whiskey so she could at least make her drink Irish. Hearing that Jules Cooper had come by wasn't too much of a surprise and it made her wish she had cornered the girl earlier. Befriending Wilkes's nephew had obviously poisoned the girl's mind. "Well, we did kill her dad," Jane said with a shrug. "And a bunch of other people who probably had kids. Parents, siblings and all that. But, I mean, it's pretty obvious how, right? He died in the fire. That's public record." Sighing, Jane leaned against the kitchen counter. "Do you really think she's a threat? Or is this like, just a teenage girl having a tantrum."
"I don't know Jane," Neil said snarkily. "Is the girl who can open portals to hell dimensions a threat?" His expression softened as soon as the words were out. He wasn't here to antagonize Jane, she was here to help him. Or something like that. "She might just be having a tantrum," he added sheepishly. "But she wants to know exactly what happened, how the fire started, who started the fire. I told her I don't know anything about it, that there was too much chaos that night. I wouldn't be surprised if she came to see you next." Now he wished he could have come up with a convincing lie, but he had never been good at those, especially when caught by a surprise. He hadn't been expecting Jules and he hadn't had time to think, it was frustrating!
Jane merely arched a brow at his tone, but was thankful when he seemed to realize he asked her to come over. "As far as we're concerned, we don't know how the fire started. It's completely feasible that when the fire started someone ushered us outside and we managed to escape from there, right? She doesn't need to know there was any plan, Neil. If she comes to me, I'll say exactly that." That was assuming, of course, that Neil just stuck to ignorance and hadn't given her any hint that he knew more than he was letting on. Jane paused and then eyed Neil closely. "Who told her that we killed her dad? Wilkes's nephew?"
Neil walked a bit stiffly to his favorite chair where he'd left his own tea, cold by now that was okay, it would still taste nice if it wasn't for the sour taste in his mouth. "I may have said something about an escape plan," he mumbled sheepishly. "But I was vague about it, it could have been a throwaway line, I didn't really know anything." He sat down and sighed, shaking his head. "I don't know who she's been talking to. I think she's got some other issues going on so she's latching onto something from the past, some sort of dumb thing to seek justice for because she can't fix what we did in that forest." Which was probably normal human behavior that Neil should understand. It just didn't make much tactical sense to him and perhaps that meant Jules was right and he was a sociopath. There were worse things to be.
Jane carried her own tea to sit down on the couch. "An escape plan isn't exactly a throwaway line. Well, I guess it could be, depending on the way you said it." Sighing, she set the tea down and ran her hands over her face. "If she's friends with Wilkes's nephew, that's a pretty good sign that she's talking to Wilkes himself. He probably told her that we started the fire and killed her dad. Which, again, is the truth." Jane shot Neil and look and flopped back against the sofa. "I don't care what issues she's got right now. If she's directing her ire towards us, that's bad. We need to do something about it before, one, she tells Wilkes that she knows us, assuming she hasn't already, or two, she decides to send us on vacation to some hell dimension." Jane eyed him closely. "You weren't a dick to her, were you?"
Neil pursed his lips guiltily because while he didn't like the way she put it, he hadn't exactly been nice to Jules. "I wasn't perfectly polite as she threatened me and called me a sociopath, if that's what you're asking," he mumbled but he knew at his core that anyone else - literally any of them - could have handled this better than he had. "I tried to stay calm and I repeatedly told her I didn't know how the fire started but she kept pushing and-" he trailed off, shaking his head before sipping his cold tea in an effort to ground himself. Jules was terrifying, not only for her abilities but because she was a popular, bitchy little cheerleader and those girls were so mean.
Jane sighed again, closing her eyes as she tried to think through the best way to handle all of this. "So now she thinks we killed her dad and she's pissed at you. We might be okay. I mean, she only knows about me and you, right? She doesn't know about Shane and the others. If she comes to me, I'll tell her we don't know how the fire started, only that we were able to escape and when we did, we ran. We just need to make sure she doesn't tell Wilkes that she knows where we are... assuming, again, that he doesn't already know." It was frustrating not knowing. Jane squinted one eye open to look over at Neil. "And I say this with love, of course, but you're totally a sociopath."
Neil bristled a bit at that. "I am not a sociopath," he insisted. "I just don't like people much, that's not the same." He was tempted to look up the definition of a sociopath to let her know just how wrong she was but some part of him worried he'd just be proving her and Jules right. What if everything on that particular checklist fit? It wasn't like he knew a whole lot about sociopaths. No, it was better to focus on the other part of their conversation and he was quick to change the subject. "I didn't tell her about any of the others, if that's what you're worried about. But the fact she knows about you and me is bad enough." Was Jane never afraid, he wondered. Didn't that make her the sociopath? Now he definitely had to look it up - when she had left.
"I didn't think you would tell her about the others," Jane said. Finally, she sat up to pick up her tea and take a sip. He had made it for her so it was only polite to drink some of it. "Maybe I should try and talk to her and see if that helps. I guess it depends on how much poison they've already told her. But we can't risk having her fuck everything up for us. Do you think we should tell the others?" Jane felt like the less who knew about Jules the better. They didn't need someone going rogue and trying to deal with the problem on their own.
"I don't know," Neil admitted with a pained expression and he hated these problems that he was so ill equipped to deal with. Maybe he was a sociopath, but he wasn't a psychopath and he didn't want Jules dead, no matter how often the thought occurred to him that maybe that would be the easiest way out of this. If he had any idea on how to talk to her he could have fixed this problem as soon as Jules came over but he was utterly lost as to how to do that. "I don't see how it would help us for everyone to know," he added hesitantly because really, what the hell did he know? "Maybe you can talk to her... Or Toby? She doesn't like me, so no matter what I say to her will fall on deaf ears."
"I don't want Toby talking to her if she doesn't know who Toby is," Jane said. "If she only knows about you and me, let's keep it that way. I think we need to try and make her understand what happened to us. We don't have to imply her dad was some evil scientist, but sympathy can go a long way." Huffing out a small breath again, Jane wrapped her hands around her cup. "We should have involved her in this AIR shit from the beginning. Then she'd probably be on our side and that would be really fucking helpful. If she comes see you again, don't be an asshole, no matter how big of a bitch she is, okay? Vinegar, honey and flies and all that crap. If she doesn't listen to us, then... we'll have to figure something else out, but lets hope it doesn't come to that. But we should probably tell the others, just so they stay alert."
"Despite my apparent sociopathic nature," Neil started, quite obviously still salty about the accusation. "I don't want her dead. What if the others take matters into their own hands? Shane killed a lot of people back then, how do we know he won't decide she's just another acceptable loss?" And why did he care? It would be simpler if Jules's house just oops, caught on fire and burned with her inside it, wouldn't it? No more portals, no more accusations. But he did care, in some weird and cold way he didn't want Jules Cooper dead. He had a feeling he would regret that later. "She doesn't know who they are, you said so yourself."
"Nobody wants her dead," Jane said before sipping her tea thoughtfully. "The issue isn't desire. It's necessity. And I'm not saying we kill her. We just need to keep all options open because if its her or me, it's sure as shit not going to be me. And as far as we know, she only knows about us. But if she's working with AIR, or close to Wilkes now, maybe she does know there are others, Neil. That's the problem. We don't know what she knows. So we need to make sure everyone involved right now is safe. We can talk to them, make sure they know she's not to be touched unless she comes after us first."
"Have you not read a history book in your life?" Neil asked with just a touch of disdain. "Or read the news? The unlikeliest people will take matters into their own hands and ruin everything for everyone else. The fewer people who know about a problem, the better. You really can't trust any of the others, you know this, right? We can all get together for drinks and a swim - " although he'd obviously abstained from both "- but that doesn't make them our friends. Any one of them could decide it'd be easier if Jules had an unfortunate accident and they have no obligations to do as we ask them to do."
"Shane is my friend and I trust him," Jane said sharply, sitting up a bit on the couch now and facing Neil directly. Her eyes were dark with simmering temper. "And you know what, you called me to come over here so stop giving me attitude, Neil. If you want to keep this problem between us, then fine, but that means you are going to help with this. Unless the whole point of calling me was to put the issue on my shoulders and expect me to deal with it alone. I'll try to talk to Jules, but if that doesn't go over well, what is it you suggest we do?"
Neil couldn't put much stock in Jane's friendship with Shane. She claimed to be best friends with Neil of all people and as much as he reluctantly went along with it, he was pretty sure she couldn't trust him either. He was a little taken back by her tone and that look on her face though, curling a bit in on himself with a sulking expression. "You're just so much better at handling people than I am," he mewled and perhaps that compliment mixed in would appease her. Perhaps that meant he was getting better at dealing with people. Hardly. "Can we at least try that to start with? Before we panic? Just talk to her?"
Jane continued to glare at Neil for another moment or two before she finally relaxed and settled back against the sofa. Honestly, the shit she had to put up with sometimes. "It's not hard to handle people. You just have to suppress all of the asshole tendencies you have. I'll talk to her. But you're not off the hook. If she doesn't listen to me, then you're going to be involved in the solution, even if you don't want to be. Since you don't want me telling anyone else about this. But I'm going to tell you one thing... you need to learn to trust people. Your life might be in danger and you might have to depend on them to save your ass. Eventually you've got to let people in, Neil."
All Neil could do was hope Jules would listen to Jane because he had no idea what other solution they had or how he could possibly be part of it. Jules hated him, which was par for the course when it came to a snobby teenage girl, and there wasn't anything he could do to change that, in his opinion at least. He scoffed at the idea of letting people in. He'd already let one in, that was more than enough! Technically she had let herself in but either way, she was in. He didn't love it but he was growing used to it. More people though? Not if he had a say in it. "People are awful, Jane," he mumbled. "Just in general, awful. All of them."
"Not all of them," Jane argued. "I mean, sure, the people we had to deal with? Awful. But some people are actually worth spending time with." She paused and arched a brow. "Am I awful?" She had to imagine he thought she was on some level, but he had still called her over today, even if it was because he was nervous or scared about Jules. Jane doubted he had many other friends to reach out to. So she wasn't awful enough to deter him from socializing with her.
"You know you're awful," Neil told her and it could have been a joke coming from anyone else but he told her this humorlessly. "Everyone is awful. Even Carson turns into a monster once a month." And Carson didn't annoy him as much as most people. "Okay," he relented then as he thought of Makayla from work who had always been sweet to him, even if she too probably had some awful skeletons in her closet. "Most people are awful, some are just easier to spend time with than others." Though he didn't really want to spend too much time with anyone at all.
"That's fair," Jane said. She shifted a little on the couch to look more directly at him. And not for the first time, she wondered if his face would literally crack and shatter if he ever attempted a smile. "But look, there are more than a few people we know now who are easy to talk to. You don't have to be friends with them but you need to at least give them a chance. They're going to risk their lives for you so you might as well understand they deserve the same. We're all in this together, whether you like it or not."
Neil did not like it at all and he felt like Jane was gravely overestimating just how many people he found easy to talk to. The number for that was zero, Neil was not comfortable with anyone. There were just a handful of people now that he could talk to without feeling like he was crawling out of his skin but that didn't make it easy. He bit his tongue on all of this and most of all the grand sacrifice everyone was making. In his mind, they weren't doing this for him, he didn't even want to do any of this, it was just a shitty necessity he really had no choice in. Would he sacrifice himself for someone else? Absolutely not. He knew better than to angry rant about that to Jane and just sighed instead. He looked back at her before he blanched at how intensely she was staring at him. "I can't say I trust them, but I will work with them simply because I have no other choice," he muttered. "That means I won't be taking any chances with them."
"Okay, fine. If you aren't going to trust them, at least trust me," Jane said. "I'd like the majority of us to be alive at the end of all of this." She took another sip of her tea, just because it was in her hand. "I'll try to take care of Jules without telling anyone else. That's plan A. Plan B... we'll figure that out if Plan A doesn't work." And she doubted it would, unfortunately. But Neil didn't have the stomach for things that Jane did, so whatever had to be done, she would do it. He didn't need to know everything that was going on. Inhaling through her nose, Jane then smiled at him. "Anything else you're worried about?"
Neil had to resist telling her that he was worried about everything, all the time, what a stupid question and for all the 'BFF' nonsense Jane spouted about them, he wasn't so sure it was necessarily a priority for her to keep him alive through this. Did he trust her? Yes and no. He trusted her to help him at times, because so far she had, but he didn't think she'd ever go out of her way to save his life. Mostly he didn't trust the group they were working with in general, most of them seemed hellbent on revenge while Neil just wanted to put an end to all of this and maybe live a life that was a little less steeped in fear. "One problem at a time," he said rather than start listing all the things he fretted over. "There's nothing more pressing than the threat Jules Cooper might pose to us."
Jane wasn't stupid. Even if she pushed her friendship onto Neil, and even if he reluctantly accepted it, she knew he wouldn't be risking his life to save hers. Or anyones. Neil's priority was Neil and Jane was well aware of that. But she rarely depended on anyone to protect her in the first place, so it didn't bother her too much. All she could do was hope they destroyed AIR and walked away from it with very few to no casualties. "A fucking teenage girl," Jane sighed. "But yeah, I'll take care of it." She leaned over to set her tea down before standing. "If anything else comes up, just call. Once I know what to do about Jules, I'll let you know so you can scratch one thing off your worry list."
Neil almost protested that Jules wasn't just a teenage girl but Jane knew this, they were both all too aware of how much not just a teenage girl she was. No, Jules Cooper was a damn weapon of mass destruction and maybe it would be prudent to get rid of her for good to prevent another portal opening. If Point Pleasant didn't have a long and rich history of messed up events it might even be tempting to blame all the strange events there on Jules but Neil with his fascination for history - though he vastly preferred European history - was well aware that the Point Pleasant oddities started well before Jules was born. She certainly wasn't helping though, so Neil decided he would trust Jane to take care of it and if she chose a drastic measure... Well, he had asked her not to, it was out of his hands now.
Since Neil didn’t protest, Jane considered the matter closed. She would take care of the problem. And maybe involve Shane or Mal, even though she promised Neil not to tell them. Whatever the circumstances called for, that’s what she would do. “I’m going home,” she announced. “Thanks for the tea though. I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on and if you hear or see anything, call me. Or if you just want to hang out, see a movie, grab a drink.” Jane smiled. “You know I’ll always make time for you.”
"Thank you," Neil sighed because he knew she meant it well in her own way even if it was likely a jab at how antisocial he was. Would he ever want to go see a movie with her? It wasn't likely. Not completely impossible because he might not love the movie theater but at least the local one wasn't all loud blockbusters and obnoxious teens all the time. Grabbing a drink was unappealing, even if it was just something mild at Books & Beer and hanging out with anyone had never been his forte although Jane seemed to not mind that. He got up, since she was leaving, somewhat glad he didn't have to start hinting at her that he wanted to be alone. The best guests always knew when to leave.
His response made her laugh, because it was so expected. And so Neil. Thanking her with a sigh. Walking to the door, Jane opened it and then turned to quickly give Neil a hug, not caring that it wasn't invited, or that he probably didn't want it. She did, and honestly, that's all that mattered to Jane. "Talk to you soon," she said, patting his cheek as she pulled back to step outside and head home.
Jane was the only person who ever tried to hug him anymore, at least outside of his family. His mother and brother still stubbornly attempted it every now and then and Neil hated it each time and made it perfectly clear - through stiff body language - that he was not endeared to it. He reacted similarly to Jane, though he was a little more defeated when it came to her, a little more willing to endure it because it was Jane. At least it was brief, thank goodness, and he walked her out once she let go, slightly bemused at how chipper she was. As if he hadn't just told her awful news and as if she didn't potentially need to do something horrible to fix it. Maybe he was a sociopath, but then Jane definitely was one as well.