Jasper Lucas (sinsoftheson) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-01-26 13:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017, jasper |
Who: Jasper and Olivia (NPC)
When: Wednesday Sept 27, early afternoon
Where: Olivia’s house
Status: Complete
The day before had passed in a strange blur to Jasper. He’d been sticking close to home -- or his dad’s house, anyway -- in general, but everything had felt kind of odd and dreamy. Bad-dreamy. Gavin had gone in to open up the bar, so it had just been Jasper at the house pretty much all day. He’d woken up to barking and growling, and had gone out the back to see Max and Rude snarling at one another like they were about to fight, which was something that never happened.
Jasper had tried to soothe them, only to find himself getting more and more irritated, like their shitty moods were contagious. He’d managed to herd the dogs back inside, but not before he’d yelled at them and punched the door frame leading back into the house. It had busted his knuckles and hurt like a bitch, and Jasper just felt ... confused and kind of tired once he’d gotten back inside. His temper was touchy in general, but that burst of anger had felt strange and over the top.
Max and Rude had stuck close to him after that, whining softly sometimes and wanting to put their paws or heads on him and each other. Jasper had spent the rest of the day and most of the evening on the couch, watching TV and trying not to think about how weird shit was. Having the dogs there helped, but every time they lifted their heads, ears perked toward outside, his heart gave a sick lurch. He realized he was half-expecting someone to knock -- no, pound -- on the door. Someone kid-shaped and soulless.
The next day he got a text alert on his phone that school was back in session, but Jasper didn’t want to go, so he didn’t. The fog had finally fucking gone away, and the restless, antsy feeling inside his guts wouldn’t have done well with sitting in a classroom. Besides, he had shit to do. Once Gavin was gone, Jasper took a shower and changed clothes, then went to his car. Gavin had arranged for him to take it to a place that day to get the windows fixed, but before he had to do without it, Jasper wanted to take care of an errand or two.
First stop was his mom’s house. He sat in the driveway for a few long minutes, dreading what was surely coming. But it was like a band-aid ... the quicker he ripped it off, the better. So Jasper got out and walked to the front door to let himself in. Olivia’s car was in the drive, so he knew she was home. Still, he bellowed “mom” as he walked inside the house, just to alert her to his presence for sure.
"What?" Was his mother's snappy yell back from the kitchen where Jasper found her climbing the kitchen counter, pulling jars from the back of various cabinets and setting them down by her feet. She had already accumulated a few of them, old jars that would have gathered dust if they hadn't been safely stacked far inside cabinets behind other junk but Ollie had clearly decided to actually use them now. She stopped what she was doing when Jasper walked in, giving him a weird look before continuing her hunt. "Oh look, the lost son returns," she said, her eyeroll near visible in her tone of voice. "Don't you have school?" Despite the tone she did sound a little chipper and actually shot him a smirk over her shoulder. It wasn't surprising that he wasn't at school, in fact it would probably be more surprising if he actually attended.
Jasper stopped in the kitchen doorway, staring at her with a vague frown on his face. It looked like she’d gotten it in her head to do some kind of project or something. He hadn’t even known all those jars were up there. He was tempted to steal one as a good stash-jar for his weed, but there were other things to accomplish before he tempted the fate of pissing his mother off right away. With that in mind, Jasper swallowed down the resentment that surged at her words -- he could’ve died because of demon kids and she wouldn’t have had any idea. She hadn’t checked on him at all.
“I’ve got other shit to do,” he said, though he knew Olivia honestly didn’t give a shit if he was in school or not. He walked further into the kitchen, to the window over the sink, and plucked up the little herb bag that was sitting on the windowsill. Funny how weird it looked now that he was finally paying attention to it. Jasper held it up to show his mother. “I need some of these,” he declared flatly.
Ollie looked around again and when she saw what he was holding she actually stopped what she was doing for a few seconds and looked at him with narrowed, speculative eyes. "Do you even know what that is?" she said as she slowly balanced her way over to the next cupboard. "There are better way to stash your weed," she added somewhat mockingly as she pulled a jar from the top shelf and then tossed it at Jasper with only the warning of "Catch!"
Jasper flinched, but he had pretty good reflexes, so he managed to catch the jar. He had to drop the bag to do it though, and he shot his mother a look of annoyance. God, she was so impossible to talk to about anything. Maybe he should’ve been trying to figure out where to get the bags on his own. “I know what it is now,” he said, his tone short as he set the jar down with a clunk. “Dad told me. Where do you get them from? I need some.” He knew he probably wouldn’t get fully away without telling her what had happened to him, but Jasper was going to try anyway.
He might not have said much but there was still a lot there to unpack and Ollie bristled a little as she fought the surge of annoyance to sort out which parts of it mattered most. "You had an actual conversation with your dad where he told you about these little things," she said skeptically, her jar hunt on hold for now as she sized Jasper up with narrowed eyes. "And now you need them..." As she spoke she gingerly moved to sit down on the counter instead of standing on it, then loosened her hair from its messy ponytail to fix it up into a new one. "I should have known you only came home 'cause you need something, are you gonna tell me why?"
Of course she had to throw a criticism in there against him; Jasper wasn’t sure she was capable of having a damn conversation with him without that. He sighed, leaning one hip against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest. “Because I saw something, okay? And it was fucked up. Thank you for lying to me my whole life about what’s true, by the way, that really helped me out a lot when some fucking crazy shit came knocking.” Jasper knew he was being overly aggressive, especially when he was sort of asking for a favor, but the whole situation was pretty fucked up. If he’d had some warning about what was possible, maybe he would’ve handled it better.
"Oh fuck you," Ollie blurted out with some exasperation. "I never lied to you, I did everything I could to protect you and you just threw it back in my face." She shook her head. "Jesus fuck, Jasper... What did you see?" She was still annoyed but there was a touch of concern there fighting to be heard. It wasn't uncommon for her, displaying two to three emotions at once all in one jumble and it could be confusing for everyone involved, probably mostly herself.
That was bullshit and Jasper knew they both knew it. Keeping him in the dark wasn’t protecting him, no matter how many dumb little herb bags she put around the house. But God, he was tired and he didn’t really want to argue with her right then. So he set his jaw and took a deeper breath, turning his glare toward the kitchen window. It was good that the fog was gone, but that didn’t make him feel like everything was better. Not after what Gavin had confirmed for him. “Some ... kids. Only they weren’t kids. They had these black eyes and they were ... evil. I could tell. They wanted in my car.” His tone sounded like he expected her to laugh or say something snarky and he was already irritated about it.
"Jesus fucking Christ," Ollie grumbled and looked around restlessly for her cigarettes before remembering she was trying to quit. Of all the shitty timing... "That fucking thing is breeding now?" she muttered to herself as she slipped down from the counter and marched barefoot over to Jasper, patting his arm since he was still holding the bag he'd taken but had it tucked away. "Give me that, that's not gonna do shit for you, it's for other stuff. There's a bag sewn into your old school bag but you never use that anymore do you? You can get that one out of there for now, keep it on you at all times." As usual she was talking rapid fire, trying to keep up with her brain and failing. "You'll need something stronger now though, if they're actually coming after you." She snorted softly. "Say I don't ever do shit for you..."
Jasper wasn’t sure what ‘that fucking thing’ was, but it was easy enough to guess that Olivia meant the thing that Gavin had seen. If that’s not what she meant and she’d seen other monsters strolling around town, Jasper honestly didn’t want to know about it. Not yet, anyway. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that shit like that existed in the first place and it had touched his family in ways he’d never known about. He uncrossed that one arm enough for Olivia to take the little bag from him, listening to what she was saying and feeling a little weird about how fired up she suddenly was about it. “Where do I get stronger ones?” he asked, doing his very best to ignore the little jab. He needed information, not a screaming match.
Ollie pursed her lips as she thought about it. "My friend is out of town," she mused. "She's cheaper, family discount and all, but you'd have to wait for her to come back. I guess you could talk to Kelly. Yeah... talk to Kelly. Go to Belladonna Botanicals and ask for Reagan and for the love of God, Jasper... Don't be rude to her. She'll curse the shit out of you and I mean that literally. She's a prissy bitch but she's good at what she does."
Jasper wasn’t sure he believed that his mother’s ‘friend’ was out of town. It wasn’t like she didn’t lie all the fucking time. Standing there and looking her in the eye just reminded him all over again of the putz from K Mart she was apparently banging. If she hadn’t been keeping Gavin on the hook of his shitty marriage and still taking money from him, Jasper wouldn’t have cared, but right then it made him feel a little sick. Not that he thought of his dad as some kind of all around victim, they were both shitty to each other, but still. It sucked needing someone you couldn’t exactly trust.
“Reagan at Belladonna, be nice, got it,” he said shortly, giving a curt nod before he straightened up. Jasper knew right where that shop was, of course, and he knew of the Kelly family like everyone did. Those sorts of people just didn’t interact much with his sort of people. Jasper started to move past Olivia, heading for the hall and the room he formerly occupied to hunt down his old backpack.
"Thanks mom," Ollie said to his retreating back, her tone mocking. "Oh you're welcome! So glad we had this talk." She hadn't expected him to linger around the house once he got what he needed but she still rolled her eyes when he left as soon as she'd told him what to do. "Always a joy, Jasper."
Jasper felt his back bristle, but he didn’t stop walking. She just had to be a sarcastic bitch every waking second, didn’t she? “Am I gone yet?” he snapped over his shoulder before he ducked into ‘his’ room. Jasper shut the door behind him and went to the closet to start digging around. He found his old backpack under some layers of stuff and felt around until he found where the little bag was sewn in. It gave him a weird feeling, knowing now that he’d carried magic around with him for years and had no idea. While he was in there, Jasper started piling more stuff together to take with him, stuffing clothes into the backpack and grabbing anything else he thought he might need, since he was technically moving out for real.
By the time he got back Ollie was busy loading the dishwasher with jars. She glanced up and sighed when she noticed the backpack he was carrying. "Wow... Guess I won't be seeing you for a while," she muttered, leaning against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest. So it didn't really bother her that he was never home but at the same time... It was such a damn waste of space, wasn't it? This room just sitting there unoccupied all the time. Not to mention that he was never around to help with a god damned thing. Her curious annoyance showed in her expression as she shook her head a little. "You need another bag or something?"
Jasper had debated how to tell his mother that he was moving out. He’d considered not telling her at all, but he did sort of need his mail to go to the right place and everything. And he would be back to see Amelia, and he didn’t really want Olivia questioning him when that happened. He walked into the kitchen, thumbs tucked into his backpack straps, and gave her his best stoic expression. “Nope, this is it,” he said. “I’ll be back to box up the rest of my shit, but I’m gonna live with Dad now.” There. Flat and to the point. He was a grown man now, he could do what he wanted.
That actually made Ollie laugh. It was brief and disbelieving but a genuine laughter. "Wow," she said slowly then. "So you guys are like... best buds now?" It was ridiculous, Jasper hated his dad, he hated both of them and had for years so that was nothing new but she still couldn't help but feel betrayed in a way. What did Gavin have that she didn't? Not much, except for some stupid dogs. "Your sister's gonna love this."
It didn’t really shock him that his mother had an issue with him living with Gavin. Of course she would turn it into some kind of competition, when she couldn’t give a shit less where he was most of the time. Jasper rolled his eyes at the question, and her bringing up Amelia. Also not a shock that she would try to use his sister against him. He wasn’t even going to touch that one. “Maybe it’s ‘cause he doesn’t constantly give me shit about every little thing,” he said, the ‘maybe’ dripping with sarcasm. “And he actually gave a shit about what happened to me.” There were plenty of other reasons to make the change, but none that he wanted to discuss with her.
"You think I don't give a shit?" Ollie said, her incredulous smile fading to make place for annoyance. "Wow, Jasper. That is really rich coming from you. Everything I've ever done was for you and Amelia and you just take and take and take. You think your dad gives a shit about you? About any of us? He's probably just happy he's not the only cursed motherfucker in this family, now he can whine about it to someone who's been there, like his own little support group." As she spoke she turned around and started shoving more jars into the dishwasher, not too gently, not really giving him a chance to get a word in edgewise. "You'll be great together," she said and turned around again, squeezing the jar she was still holding. "Not giving you shit about anything? Means he doesn't have shit to give. Are you not seeing it?"
Everything she’d ever done was for him and Amelia? That was what was fucking rich. It almost made Jasper want to laugh, if it didn’t piss him off so very much. And the contempt in her tone really contrasted with the way Gavin had said she’d been supportive back when the monster-man had touched him. Maybe years of bitterness and fighting would do that, but it made him fiercely glad on his dad’s behalf that they were separated. Maybe Gavin needed a little support group, and now maybe Jasper did too. He knew he definitely wasn’t going to get support here. “If Dad didn’t give a shit about any of us, you would’ve been out on the street ages ago,” he snapped, his face tight. “Talk about take and take and take, you fucking hypocrite. Meanwhile you’re out fucking around with some douchebag, but you won’t even divorce him? Fine, yeah, we’ll be great together. It’s either get constantly screamed at here or get silently neglected over there, and I’m so goddamn tired of your noise, Mom.”
"Get the fuck out then," Ollie all but yelled at him. "I'm so done with worrying about you and fighting for you when you don't do shit to help me or yourself, so go, fucking go live with your drunk-ass dad and don't be coming back here when he hurts your precious fucking feelings." There was so much there to unpack but she didn't have time to sort any of it in her head so it just became noise and she ended up throwing the empty jar hard enough at the floor that it shattered. "Get out! Get out! Get out!"
In truth, Jasper couldn’t claim that Olivia did absolutely nothing for him, but it wasn’t much. Definitely not as much as she seemed to want to think. But of course, she was always the victim, wasn’t she? No matter how bad she treated the rest of them, poor Olivia. She didn’t have to ‘worry’ about him anymore, she ought to be fucking thanking him. Her tantrum wasn’t anything new to him, but Jasper still felt a fresh spark of rage that made him want to slam her head into the counter, so it was definitely time to leave. His jaw tense, color high in his cheeks, he turned and stalked away from the kitchen, through the living room toward the front door. It might be awkward, the next time he came to see Amelia, or pick her up to take to Gavin’s or whatever, but he was done even trying to have a conversation with his mother.
Of course he left then, he never even tried to talk her down or apologize, not ever, and Ollie just got angrier and angrier when he did exactly what she'd told him to and got out. She refrained from breaking more things though, letting out an wordless scream in frustration instead as soon as she heard the door slam behind him.