Ruby Fox (love_ruby) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-02-23 13:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | #october 2017, jasper, jasper x ruby, ruby |
Who: Ruby and Jasper
Where: The high school
When: After school, Wednesday October 4
Status: Complete
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as she stepped outside, the cool fall air hitting her face and filling her lungs. Another school day behind her, an evening at the diner ahead of her. It wasn’t an exciting way to spend her Wednesday night, but she’d rather work weekdays than weekends and it was easy to get her homework done when things were slow. She was in no rush to get there though, slowly strolling across the parking lot towards her bike. It was the kind of day that made her want to go for a ride. Blast some music in her ears, feel the wind in her hair, and fly down the road at sixty miles per hour. Maybe even get out of Point Pleasant and never come back.
It wasn’t the first time she’d thought it, but she knew it wouldn’t work. She couldn’t just leave. She would never walk out on her father and brother, not like her mother did, no matter how much she wanted to. Someday she’d get out though. Not today, not tomorrow, but someday. Until then, she could only dream and go for a ride to pass the time. Her glittery pink helmet swung from her fingers as she walked, stopping as a car cut in front of her as it sped out of the parking lot. “Watch it, asshole!” She yelled as they continued on, shaking her head in annoyance. People thought her bike was dangerous, but it was the parking lot that was going to kill her.
It was a nice day out, and Jasper had a little while before he had to be at work, so he hadn’t left school right away. He’d bullshitted around with some of his friends before they’d left, then decided to smoke a cigarette in the parking lot. He was sitting on the hood of his car, his knees drawn up with one arm draped casually over them, people-watching. This kind of weather wouldn’t last long, so he wanted to enjoy it. And since he hadn’t been spending as much time in his car at night, he kind of missed all the fresh air.
He spotted Ruby walking toward the lot -- her hair and that glittery pink helmet were hard to miss -- and have her close call. Jasper’s eyes narrowed a bit as he took another drag off of his smoke. He knew the guy who drove that car, and he was an asshole. Jasper might make sure he tripped over something in the hallway pretty soon, just for that. “Hey Fox!” he called out to Ruby in the meantime. “Don’t get flattened!”
Ruby turned towards Jasper, a laugh breaking through her anger. “I mean, I know I’m small, but seriously!” She grinned, strolling over to him. “How’re you doing, J? Feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” She’d made a real effort to keep up with school lately and that plus work tended to zap all her free time up. She hadn’t even made it down to her father’s garage since… The start of school maybe? Shit. She hadn’t been planning on going to the dance, but she could sure use an excuse to party.
Jasper grinned back a little as Ruby approached, scooting his ass over a bit so she could climb up and join him if she wanted to. “Yeah, where ya been?” he asked, though he knew it was him that was usually not present at school. He’d been trying to do better lately, but it was hard to muster up enough fucks to give about it, especially with everything else that was going on now. “I’m aight, how’s it going with you?” ‘Aight’ was kind of a lie, but who launched into all their problems in casual conversations? He and Ruby were friends, but Jasper did his best not to unload on anybody at all. He took after his dad that way.
“Mostly here, which you’d know if you ever came,” Ruby teased him, climbing up on his hood to join him. “But I got a part time job at Moxie’s to help pay for my insurance. I’m not sure how much I like the idea of work. Kinda cuts into my time set aside for goofing off.” The whole adulting thing sucked as far as she was concerned and it was something she’d put off as long as she could… Which, sadly, wasn’t long at all. “Can I bum one?” She asked, nodding towards his cigarette. She didn’t smoke on her own, but the craving hit when she was around it.
Jasper tucked his smoke into the corner of his mouth and squinted one eye as he leaned to fish his pack out of his pocket again. He shook one loose and offered it over to her. “You’re at Moxie’s now, huh? That means I get a discount, right?” he said with a lopsided grin. “But yeah, I feel you. I’m at the Lobster Shack right now, bussing tables and shit. It does suck, but I’d rather have my own money, y’know?” He didn’t mind it too much, it kept him busy and he could listen to music all day and largely ignore the world. “Why don’t you just work for your dad?” he asked then, curious. “Doin’ oil changes and shit? He’d pay you, right?”
“Thanks,” Ruby said, fishing into her backpack for a lighter. “Depends on how well you tip,” she said with a little laugh, even though she didn’t have the authority to give discounts. Freebies either, but those she could sneak in from time to time. “I do like the freedom it gives me. I hate asking my dad for money.” He might give it to her, but she knew the strain they could be under financially if they weren’t careful. It felt better to pay for things when she could, especially when it came to her bike. “I probably could, but I don’t know that he needs another part timer and if the money’s just coming from him it’s not really the same. Plus, I’d have to deal with those guys everyday and I’m not sure I can put up with their bullshit that often.” She loved them, but they could be condescending assholes as well.
Jasper could understand that. He couldn’t technically work at the bar since he wasn’t twenty-one yet, but even when he got there in age, he didn’t think he would want to. That was Gavin’s territory, and Jasper hated to rely on him already. Working for him would be even worse. From what he knew, Ruby didn’t have that same kind of contentious relationship with her dad, but still. Independence was a thing. He grunted his acknowledgement of what she said and tucked his cigarettes away again, exhaling a cloud of smoke upward. “So what else has been up?” he asked, looking over at his pink-haired friend while they smoked. “You going to any of this Homecoming bullshit?”
Ruby leaned back on the hood, blowing smoke up into the air. “I don’t know,” she laughed. “I’ve thought about it. Get all dressed up, put on some heels, and see if I can’t break an ankle or something. If I go, it’s just for whatever party’s going on afterwards. That’d be more fun than the dance itself.” She knew there were a few in the works, plus there was always a guarantee that people would be out in the field doing whatever. So long as she ended up with friends, she didn’t care if she made it to the dance or not. “Definitely not going to the game. What about you? Any chance we’ll get to see you in a suit?”
Trying to picture Ruby in some fancy dress with heels made Jasper grin a little, which was probably hypocritical of him, since he pulled an awful face at the idea of himself in a suit. “Fuck no,” he said with a derisive laugh. “I don’t even got a suit. Since I was like twelve for some great aunt’s funeral.” He flicked his cigarette ash off to the side and looked over at her. “An afterparty sounds way better.” There was no dress code at an afterparty, and there would be good drugs floating around. And maybe Jules would be there. Jasper wondered if she was going solo to Homecoming or had found some dude to take her -- he’d been wondering that for days, in fact. In a fixated sort of way he almost didn’t like. “I heard a bunch of people would be parking out at The Fallows to get drunk and shit.”
“Not even a tie?” Ruby asked, giving him a little nudge. It was hard to imagine, but she suspected he’d be hot. He was already hot. “See, that’s what I was thinking. Join whatever party was going on, have some fun, no reason to worry about a dance and who’s going and getting crowned and all that. It could be fun, but…” She gave a shrug of her shoulder. If she had someone to go with, it might be fun, but otherwise it sounded like a lot of work. “If I’m going to force myself to go to a dance this year, I’ll save the work for prom. You going to The Fallows?” Maybe she could bum a ride. If she was drinking, there was no way she was taking her bike.
Did he have a tie? Maybe. Jasper didn’t remember shoving one into his backpack when he’d left his mom’s place, so maybe it was still over there. If she hadn’t burned all his shit already. Jasper knew he could borrow that kind of stuff; hell, his dad probably had a few ties and good shirts for church. But did he really want to? He didn’t know yet. “Yeah, I’ll probably do prom,” he agreed in a mutter. Who the fuck knew if he’d even still be in school by that point, but he wanted to sound normal. “I uh ... yeah, maybe,” Jasper added about the Fallows, taking another drag off of his smoke. “I might see what a couple other people are doin’ and then decide.” There was really only one, Jules Cooper, but he couldn’t exactly say that out loud.
Ruby looked over at him as she took a drag off her cigarette, trying to get a read on him and failing. She wasn’t sure what he’d been up to lately, which made her wonder about his hesitation, but she didn’t know if she should push either. Then again, she’d never seen a reason to hold back before… “Something bothering you?” she asked. “Everything okay at home?” She knew it was a loaded question, but she had to ask, even if he didn’t want to talk about it. If things were bad at home, it colored everything else.
Jasper looked a little surprised as he glanced over again, one eyebrow quirked. Was he that transparent? Ruby knew him pretty well though, they’d both grown up in Point Pleasant, and his uncle Aaron used to work for her father, so there had been opportunities to hang out together. She knew plenty about his shitty home life, but it had taken a turn for the worst lately. He shrugged and took the last pull from his cigarette before he answered. “Things are ... I dunno, weird,” he said. “I just moved in with my dad, mom freaked out about it. And there’s been some ... other stuff.” Jasper flicked his butt away and brushed his fingers off on his jeans, squinting at her. “Hey, can I ask you somethin’?”
She nodded, suspecting that would be weird, but not really having anything to compare it to. Ruby often wondered what life would have been like if her mother was there, but that also took her down a dark path that she didn’t need to wander down now. It tended to put her in a mood that nobody really enjoyed. “‘Course,” she said, taking a drag off her cigarette, then tapping it on her knee. “What’s up?”
He took another moment to answer, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth to nibble on as he studied her. Jasper knew that Ruby’s mom had left their family. He hadn’t known her back then, not really, but he remembered the elementary school rumors that followed her around, that she’d seen something. She was weird. Haunted. Talked about scary things. At the time he’d just chalked it all up to the general air of weirdness that hung over the people in this town, and then it had all faded away as they grew up more. But with recent events, it had come back to him. “Was all that ... real? Back when we were kids? And you saw something?” His tone was soft; he didn’t know how else to ask.
Ruby looked away, her body tensing at the question, fingers pressing hard back into the hood of the car. There had been a time in her life that she couldn’t shut up about it, that she’d fought tooth and nail to tell people what had happened, about what she saw before her mother disappeared. It had caused a rift between her and her father that had only began to heal when she’d learned to keep to herself. And her peers… some never forgot. To some, she’d always be weird, even if they couldn’t remember why these days. “Yeah,” she finally sighed, looking back at him, a hint of defiance in her eyes, daring him to call her a liar. “Yeah, it was. But no one ever believed me. And what could they even do if they did?” She knew that now. Her mother was gone, regardless of what took her.
It had been so long, and Jasper’s memory had been filled with so much other bullshit, he couldn’t even remember now what Ruby had claimed to have seen. Just that it was creepy and she was creepy, until he got to know her better and she wasn’t anymore. He saw the hardness in her eyes and he didn’t blame her for it. He kind of knew the feeling, in a much more mild way. He would’ve been mad if nobody had believed him. Granted, he was eighteen and not six, but still. Jasper believed her now. “I saw something too,” he murmured. “The night the fog settled in. And like ... I never believed any of it. This whole town ...” he trailed off and shook his head. “But I do now.”
Ruby took a slow, deep breath as she nodded, then pressed her lips together in thought. There wasn’t much use in dredging up the past, unless it helped someone else in the here and now. Her story wasn’t new, which she was usually thankful for. People forgot, even if their feelings about her hadn’t changed. They couldn’t remember why she was weird, just that she was. “The day my mom disappeared, this child came to the door. I know ‘cause I answered it. He was younger than me. Blonde hair. Pale skin. Clean clothes. And his eyes were solid black. Not just the pupils, but the whole eye. He wanted to use the phone. I stood there, staring at him. Frozen. My mom came and sent me to my room.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. “She was gone by morning. And I’ve always felt like that kid had something to do with it. I know how crazy it sounds, but…” She just knew.
A very unpleasant chill ran down Jasper’s spine the instant Ruby said the word ‘eyes,’ like his body knew the rest of what was coming. His vision sparkled a little and his expression felt weirdly blank. She’d seen what he’d seen, and he hadn’t told her what he’d seen yet, so there was no way she was bullshitting him about it. Ruby looked utterly serious anyway, and having looked into those alien and evil fucking eyes? Jasper had no doubt that she was completely right about her mother. He wet his suddenly-dry lips and swallowed. “It doesn’t sound crazy,” he murmured, looking at her steadily. “I saw it too. Them. There were two of them, kids with black eyes, banging on my car window wanting a ride in the middle of the fog in the middle of the night. They just ...” Jasper squinted off into the distance, hesitating to say it, but if anybody would understand, it was Ruby, apparently. “... felt evil.”
The number of people who believed Ruby’s story had been few and far between over the years. Weird things happened in Point Pleasant, but people tended to come up with an explanation for it. Just like with the fog. What was they saying? That it was some kind of pollution? Bullshit. People didn’t breathe in air and lose their minds, not unless the air was laced with something like PCP. But the people seemed to buy it. It was easier to accept than the idea that the fog was manipulating them. Ruby could see the difference in Jasper though. She could tell he believed her, that he was dead serious when he spoke. “Jasper,” she said, eyes wide in alarm. “Tell me you didn’t help them. You didn’t let them in the car.”
That fear that came into Ruby’s eyes only served to confirm again to Jasper that what he’d seen was real and his reaction to it had been valid. He’d been lucky in a sense that his father had gotten fucked up by something too a long time ago, because he really wasn’t sure how he would’ve handled not being believed. The more people who heard him and didn’t call him crazy or try to wave it off, the more sure he felt. He started shaking his head before she was even done talking, his expression grim. “Fuck no,” he said. “I mean, I almost did, I was reaching for the door, but then I really saw their eyes, and I got the fuck out of there.” And he’d gone home and crawled into bed with his father to cry like a terrified baby, but she didn’t need to know that part.
There wasn’t a lot that scared Ruby. She liked to think of herself as fearless. But some things, she believed, deserved the fear that came upon her. It was healthy. It was life preserving. And this was one of those times. “Thank God,” she sighed in relief, then forced herself to take a drag off her cigarette, hoping it would calm her a little. “People… they don’t believe. And you really can’t make them. They’ll just think you’re nuts. But there are things here that I don’t think exist everywhere else. If they did, more people would believe.” It was why she told herself that leaving was the solution. This couldn’t possibly be happening everywhere in the world. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Has anything happened since?”
As cynical as he had felt lately, Jasper wasn’t sure how much faith he had in the rest of the world. He’d had faith that his hometown was firmly planted in reality and sanity, and look how that had turned out. People seemed kind of blind to the weirdness, like Ruby was saying, so why wouldn’t they be like that everywhere else in the world? Scary stories were pretty universal, right? Maybe all the paranormal crackpots were actually right. Shit, were they crackpots now? Jasper nodded a little to Ruby’s first question. “Nah, just like ... nightmares,” he admitted with a sheepish half-smile. “I got some protection though ... do you have any hex bags?”
Ruby nodded, understanding even if her own nightmares had faded. Some things stuck in your head. Demon-like children were one of them. “What’s a hex bag? And where does one get one?” she asked with a little smile. It was a weird conversation to have. Weird, but comforting. It had been a long time since someone had believed her. Long enough that she’d stopped talking about it entirely. She’d always been outspoken, but a sense of self preservation kept her from repeating stories that made her seem crazy.
Ruby didn’t know about hex bags either? That was a little distressing, considering she’d been aware of scary shit since she’d been a kid. Jasper suddenly felt lucky all over again, that his dad had known something useful to tell him, something proactive he could do. “Hang on,” he said, holding up a finger to Ruby. He half-rolled off of the car hood and went around to lean in the open driver’s side window. He plucked the hex bag he’d assigned to his car out of the center console and brought it around to show it to Ruby. Not that it looked like much, it was just a little cloth bag tied with a small strip of leather and stuffed with herbs and a rock. And some of Jasper’s hair, of course. “Okay, so ... witches are real too, I guess,” he said, giving Ruby an amused smirk. “And I got referred to one, and she made me some of these. They’re supposed to be protective and keep evil away. Could be bullshit, but I’m willing to take the risk, y’know?”
“Look at you all knowledgeable and shit,” Ruby grinned, taking the bag and turning it in her hand. It was hard to believe that little trinket could do anything in the way of protection, but she agreed with Jasper. “Better to be safe than sorry,” she said, giving the bag a little toss. It was light. So light it couldn’t even be used as a weapon. “So if witches are real, I wonder what that means for us. Like, I’ve always heard the stories about Lyttle Hill, but it takes a whole different meaning if they really were witches.” She handed the bag back to him. “Was it like a legit business? How do you get a referral to a witch? I can’t imagine it’s something people publicize, not if they’re really real. I think people would freak out.” At least, they had in the past. Burning and hangings and drownings. What would happen if someone was declared a witch today? People would laugh, she thought. They don’t believe, so they can get away with anything.
It was only after the bag was in Ruby’s hand that Jasper wondered if he should let her touch it. Reagan had just told him not to move it around too much though, not that nobody else should handle it at all. He took it back when she offered it and backed up the couple of steps to lean back in through the car window and tuck the hex bag safely away again. No more moving it. “Something happened to my dad a long time ago,” he said as he came back to Ruby. Jasper pulled his cigarettes out again to fish out another one. “He said my mom had those things all over the house because of it, and then she told me where to go. But yeah, it was ... like a back room in a legit business.” He tucked a smoke to his lips and moved to light it, then gave Ruby a wan smile as he exhaled the first drag to one side. “Don’t think I should say specifics, ‘cause it did seem like a secret, but I can probably get you one, if you want.”
When Ruby told her dad about the black eyed kid, he’d done the exact opposite. He stuck his head in the sand. He argued that she was seeing things, that she was making them up. That she wanted attention. That was what most people thought. At no point had it even crossed his mind to believe her. It got to the point where Ruby finally accepted the fact that he couldn’t, that believing something supernatural had happened to his wife was just too much. It hadn’t changed her mind, even if she’d learned to be quiet about it. “If you don’t mind, yeah, that would be great,” she said with a little smile. “I don’t know that I necessarily need one right now, but you never know around here. Things could change any second and I’d rather be prepared.”
“You can say that again,” Jasper muttered. He turned his head to spit onto the pavement. He was going to owe Reagan Kelly so much money. Maybe his dad would loan him some. Jasper wasn’t sure if that dynamic was going to change now that he was living with Gavin, if the steady flow of guilt-money from his father would dry up since he was providing a roof and all. He guessed he would find out. Until then, he would save his paychecks until he could get a couple more bags for Jules so she was all covered, and then he could snag one for Ruby. “I got you, though,” he told her, quirking another little smile at her. “Can’t promise when, but I’ll try to make it soon.”
“Thanks, J,” Ruby smiled, giving him a little nudge with her shoulder. “No rush. Things are good right now. Just… think of me when you have the chance. I’ll pay you back.” She had no idea what those things cost, but they couldn’t be that much, could they? What all did a witch have to do to make them work? She knew she bought into the idea that magic was real perhaps a bit too easily, but it wasn’t that far a stretch considering what she already believed in. So long as someone didn’t start arguing about vampires and zombies, she was good. “I gotta head to work, but let me know if you wanna hang out Saturday,” she said as she slid off the hood of his car. “I’m still trying to figure out where people might be.” There would be a party for sure. The question was where.
Jasper already knew he wouldn’t ask to be reimbursed for the bags. If Ruby wanted to insist on throwing money at him, so be it, but he wasn’t going to bug her about it or anything. Times were right for everybody, and he’d volunteered. He wouldn’t even be sure what to ask for, since Reagan seemed to price them on a whim. “Yeah, for sure, I’ll text you,” he promised, making room for her to get down. Ruby was so damn short, it was always tempting to just pat her head or something he would probably get slapped for. There would be parties, there always were, he just wasn’t sure which one he would be at yet. If he was hanging out with Jules though, he wasn’t sure if he’d be available -- he didn’t even know how they got along. “Hey uh ... thanks. For talking to me about this shit and everything,” he murmured, reaching out to give her a friendly nudge.
Ruby shuffled off the car, careful not to scratch the hood, then jumped down, boots stomping on the pavement. Looking back at Jasper, she flashed him a little smile as she pulled on her helmet. “No problem. It’s kinda nice to have someone believe me for once. Just sorry you had to experience it for yourself.” But seeing was believing, wasn’t it? Ruby wasn’t sure she’d be near as open minded if it weren’t for the things she’d seen with her own eyes. Once she’d crossed that line though, it was hard to go back. “Catch you later. Try not to get into too much trouble,” she teased.
It was a weird sensation to feel kind of grateful for his dad, but there it was anyway. For all the man’s other faults, at least he’d believed Jasper. He might not have if he hadn’t been touched by the thin man back in the day, but Jasper was definitely glad he hadn’t had the same struggles that Ruby had. He shot her a little grin and thumped lightly on her pink helmet. At least she was hard to miss on the road with that thing. “Never in trouble, ‘cause they never catch my ass,” he assured her. “Drive safe, Fox. Later.”