Anything

[Lovely]

June 28, 2009
8:30 p.m.


The breeze was against him as much as time right now. He'd found the page he needed but not a steady and sturdy anything to hold it still and keep the paint from covering it while he filled in the gaps on the side of the rusted boxcar. He'd hoped to complete the image before he ran out of daylight altogether. There would be no moon tonight and whatever was making him anxious was making him careless. He'd had to wipe off part of the image several times to get the curve of the symbol right. One wrong line and who knew what the hell... literally... he might summon by mistake! The wind was kicking up as the sun was going down and he fought to finish it, the hiss getting thinner and thinner, the paint lighter and more stubborn as he fiercely rattled the can to continue. The hiss stopped short with the remainder of the fuse on his temper. The can rattled completely empty, the warding symbol glaring, unfinished. The last of the sliver of the sun slipped behind the warehouses behind him. Another ten minutes was maybe all he had as dusk blanketed the railyard with the sudden silence followed by the sudden ring of the can bouncing off the neighboring box car as he threw it in his frustration. More than that, he breathed hard, looking around dartingly, up at the tops of the cars as if expecting something to come launching off of them. He knelt down by the car, looking up at his artwork then at the other materials around him, scrounging for the shirt he'd used to mop off the misdirected paint earlier. A splash of water, then a splash of gasoline, he tried to rub the old dry paint into a paste and smear it back on to finish. He -had- to finish it!

The temper tantrum over the empty can was witnessed by a young blonde woman who was coming around to get to the other car that his paint can bounced off. "Hey! I don't throw things at.. your place, do I?" Of course she'd only been there since this afternoon and wasn't aware she had any neighbors out here. She set her groccery bags down and sighed, looking at the symbol he was trying to finish in the fading light. A small knife was pulled from her boot and she slid the blade across her palm, then stepped beside him, using the blood that pooled to finish the symbol for him. "Works better than paint anyway." She commented as if it was merely an off hand remark and what she'd done was perfectly normal.

The yelp startled him well enough that he was ready to simply run. When he realized it was a girl carrying bags, not a security guard with a gun, he wasn't sure what he needed to do. Her place? He looked around at the other dilapidated cars that had been pulled off the tracks years ago and left here. As he tried to come up with some meaningful answer, his words were silenced into shock as she sliced her own hand without a second thought, and started filling in the holes of the image. His knees wobbled and he slid down to the ground watching her a moment, afraid what she might do with the knife next. Maybe he was too late - maybe she was one of them. "What the hell am I doing? What the hell are you doing? Lady, are you freakin' nuts? C'mon you'll get tetanus or who knows what the hell from that," he said in a moment of sensible realization that normal people didn't paint magick graffiti on the side of their house, let alone in their own blood. He knew he wasn't normal, but what did that make her? He didn't have much left that was clean except part of the shirt he had on. He tore into it, ripping off a strip of it to use to wrap her hand up. "C'mon, I'm serious, you can't do...," he paused, looking at the image and the picture she wasn't even looking at. She knew what it was supposed to be? "Okay, so maybe -you- can, but you've got to get to a doctor or something to stitch that up."

[Lovely]

"I'll be fine.. and I'm not crazy." She glanced over her shoulder at him but ignored his attempt to wrap up her hand, she curled it to let the blood pool and stepped to the other side of the entrance to his car. "It works better if you put this on the other side of the entryway." She began another symbol as she explained. "You sure pissed someone off.. didn't ya?" She chuckled a little and shook head slightly. "I knew I should have checked into the neighborhood more carefully before moving in. .. oh.. and don't call me lady.. it makes me feel like I should have wrinkles or something."

He wasn't sure she wasn't crazy, watching her paint more of her blood onto his make-shift home. He used the rag in his hand to mop off his own hands and get some of the gasoline off, or maybe just try to brush off the comment about who he'd pissed off, though she was right. "Not me, exactly. Some shit my brother was dumb enough to get into. I'm doing what I should have done to start with and saving my own scrawny ass. Shit's on his own to cover his, he started it. I'm just trying to finish it. You smoke?"

"Ahhh guilt by association.. then I guess your brother pissed off someone serious.." She glanced at him again as she finished the other mark and shook her head again. "Not cigarrettes, no." She replied to his question, reaching into her 'purse' with her unsliced hand to pull out a small vile which she poured over the cut on her other hand. "You want a beer?" She asked him in return as she knelt beside the groccery bags.

He laughed, the nervous vibration betraying him as he looked at the new, wet, red symbols next to his own. "Yeah. Three or four... as long as you're sharing," he said quietly, watching her now with the item in her purse. What did she mean by 'not cigarettes', and what was in that vial? "Look, la-... um... what should I call you? It's nice to offer and all, but I really don't want to be out here very long. I'm going in there and closing this door. You want to join me? Great. If not, um, thanks for the offer and all, but...," he was so balled up with nerves he nearly lost all his manners completely and any sense of realization that they were probably miles from any living soul - a thought he didn't want to keep recycling in his head the way it just went, either. She was pretty, she was wild and she had beer... and knew about whatever this shit was he was afraid of which made her a drenching oasis to a man dying of thirst on every level he could imagine. "I mean thank you, for the help, but we need to get inside. Please - come on in."

She glanced at the car she'd picked out earlier, realizing she hadn't even looked in his.. odd. Her eyes shifted to him, rolling slowly over him from head to toe and back up to his face. Her lips curved into a slight grin, that looked somewhat like a smirk, she seemed to effortlessly lift the two groccery bags and headed into his place with them. "Jaime." She spoke her name softly as she moved by him and into the shadows of the rail car.

That was easy, he acknowledged with a confused frown and shrug. He looked back around at the area and the debris in the darkening lot. He grabbed up the gasoline can and his water jug and followed her in. "Essex," he said, though the glide and lock of the recently oiled door partly drowned him out.

[Lovely]

Jaime had better hearing than most people did and though the door rolling shut was louder than his voice, she heard his name clearly. "Almost like easy and sex put together.. I like it." She turned to face him with the bags still in her hands. "Where would you like me to put these?"

"Down so I can look at your hand? Anywhere's fine. A whole lot of nothing special, so make yourself at home," he said, motioning around the car. It had been piled in one corner with papers, towels and blanketing of a variety of pieces to comprise what looked like a bed. A couple of styrofoam coolers were stacked into a make-shift kitchen, the corners of a chip bag or two peeking out the 'pantry' he opened, pulling one of the bags out that held pretzels. "You have beer, now we have a party," he said, tossing the bag on the floor between them and sitting down. Behind him were crates in varying stages of emptiness housing what seemed to be the entirety of his recently ecclectic life. He reached behind himself to one open crate, pulling out a lidless coffee can. He fished out a lighter from his pocket and dipped it into the can, lighting the candle in the bottom of it and warming the space with a yellow glow. "Lights, camera, action. Your turn. What else you got?"

"My hand will be fine." She smiled at his concern and folded herself down to sit across from him, the groccery bags set to either side of her as she pulled a back pack off her shoulders and placed it beside the paper bags. The purse shifted into her lap and looked to be somewhat like a messenger bag, only smaller, less bulky and customn made to suit her needs. She bent her knee up toward her chest and curled the other foot behind that ankle. She reached into the bags and pulled out a bag of chips - cheddar & sour cream, two six packs of beer - in bottles of course, a small pack of toilet paper, a box of plain pillar candles, a few assorted pop top cans of pasta stuff, fruit cups, and pudding that didn't need to be refrigerated. There was also a roll of paper towels and a box with plastic forks and spoons. The last things she revealed were a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and strawberry jelly. "You shouldn't go to the groccery store when you're hungry." She explained with a slight shrug.

"Daaamn, woman. You planning for a flood or something? What do I have to give you for some of that peanut butter?" He nodded at the jar, feeling his mouth water for the savory treat.

She laughed at his comment about expecting a flood and shook her head. "I didn't want to have to walk back to the store in the middle of the night if I woke up hungry." It seemed logical to her, plus she'd kind of planned to hide out here for a few days at least. Jaime eyed him and rubbed her chin as if plotting what she might ask for in exchange for the peanut butter. "I'll let you choose.. your pants or your first born." She waited to hand over the jar, just to see his reaction to that.

"Unless you got some little friends in that bag for me, one might mean the other, but I'd do it," he said, reaching out for the jar and grabbing at her wrist beyond it instead. "...whether you had the jar or not, I would. What are you really doing out here and what do you know about this thing, huh?"

[Lovely]

"Little frie.. oh.. hmm no, I wasn't expecting or planning on that kind of company." She admitted, though she looked over him for a moment, considering what he said about doing it anyway. She didn't seem upset at how he grabbed her wrist, though her eyebrow arched up a bit. "I was really moving in next door. Cheaper than a hotel and I don't know how long I'll be in town. Could you narrow it down a little as to which thing you're referring to? I know alot about many different things. Are you going to let go now? If it makes you feel more secure to hold me like that, you can continue to do so."

He slipped the peanut butter from her hand and slipped his hand from her wrist into her palm. She'd feel him shaking a little though he tried his best to ignore it. "Okay, I'm convinced. You may or may not be on my side, but I don't think you're on theirs. Thanks. Really, I mean for the help on the... whatever that thing's called on the door. I just hope it works. I kinda get the feeling that from what you put with it and all that it should... keep them out and all, right?"

"It should... " She pulled a beer out and twisted off the cap, reaching across to set it in front of him. "..it depends on how strong they are.. whatever it is you're trying to keep out." She ran her finger over the toe of her boot and shrugged. "You're welcome. It would be a pity if your first born never came to be.. because of something your brother did.. you'll have handsome sons." She glanced over at him and smiled a little, her eyes casting behind him and around the room to see what symbols he'd used inside.

He snorted out a scoffing laugh. "Not me. Though I could see myself spoiling a little girl like crazy, but that's a long way off," he said, looking around where she did. The last bit of light from outside faded around the cracks and pinholes where the rust had eaten through the metal, leaving just the candle glow for them to see by now. He looked back at Jaime, confused again. It was a strange thing for her to say and he wondered, considering her knowledge of the symbols if maybe she knew more about the universe than he'd ever hope to, like his real future. He slipped his hand back to himself and took the torn shirt off his shoulders. The paint in it was getting stiff and scratchy. "At least I had planned to be someplace stable in my life if that ever happened, but I guess you never know what curves life's gonna throw," he said, tossing the shirt to the cloth pile in the corner and running his hand through his softly spiked and sun-streaked hair.

"No.. you never know..." She seemed sad and looked distant, seeming to see nothing or maybe everything at once. Without another word she pulled her knife from her boot again and held her palm out looking at the sealed wound there for a moment before reopening it with a swift swipe of the sharp blade. The knife went back in her boot and she rose to step to the walls, drawing more symbols on them. She didn't seem to need the light to do so and she didn't complain that she couldn't see what she was doing.

[Lovely]

"Geez! What're you d-... Jaime, you're going to bleed to death," he said, truly concerned that she was hurting herself. He stood and grabbed the candle can, juggling it a little to find a cool part to hold it by and illuminate what she was doing. "What? What is it? Did I do it wrong?" He watched, intrigued with the light licking over them and her drawings.

She didn't seem to hear him at first but after a couple of minutes she glanced at him and shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong." She spoke quietly as her gaze returned to what she was drawing on the walls. "I just know some things... most mo.. people don't... and I want you to be around to spoil a little girl someday. I've never known my father.. I want her to have the chance to know hers." She sort of shrugged and finished an intricate series of marks. He might notice how they almost seemed to shimmer rather than look thick and wet or rusty as they dried.

Essex reached out to the 'paint' and the odd glow, not quite touching it. She was starting to scare him a little with the way she spoke, but at the same time he wanted to hear more. "Hey, I don't plan on checking out for a while. That's why I'm in here, remember? I... I'm sorry about your dad. I could trade you, easy. I sometimes wish I never knew mine, but we get what we get." He gave her a shrug and a soft grin. "Like peanut butter in trade for anything you want. I wasn't kidding."

"A little extra insurance, never hurts.." She stopped her painting and turned to kiss his cheek. "Better go eat your peanut butter before I come to collect on that offer." She smiled more warmly, snapping out of whatever had gripped her and drawn her to place the marks on the walls. "What's your father like?"

"Insurance... interesting way to put it," he said, turning as she stalked off. He reached out for her. The kiss was small, maybe meaningless, but the cool shiver it left made him wonder more about her. "Jaime, if you know about all this... you can do this, why are you out here? You're not... you're not hiding at all, are you?"

She hadn't moved away from him, so when he reached for her, she was there for him to grab ahold of. His question and near accusation that she was lying about why she was there nearly made her jerk away from him, but instead he got the brunt of her glare. "Just because I know things and can do things, doesn't mean I have nothing to fear. Maybe I'm hiding for much the same reason you are..?"

He held on, perhaps more afraid that she'd leave even though the expression burned through him. He searched her eyes for something he could understand. Lately there'd been too much that he just couldn't grasp. "I'm sorry. I guess it was a jerk of a thing to say, but you don't look scared. You understand this stuff is all. We just thought it was a game. Some f*cking lame game it turned out to be, trying to kill us now," he sighed, letting go slowly. He needed an anchor, but didn't need to act desparate to get it. "I know... I know... it's not a game. I get that probably better than anybody right now, believe me. I guess... I need your help."

[Lovely]

"I learned very young how not to show fear." Her tone was softer and she looked down at her hand, moving away from him to tend to the wound now that he'd let her go. "I understand because I've been taught about it all my life.. people shouldn't mess with things they don't understand. You obviously have some natural talent or you are of use to whatever is after you, otherwise you'd be dead already." She pointed out, perhaps trying to give him some hope that his demise wasn't on the agenda. Jaime knelt beside her bags again and pulled the vial out to splash over her palm.

He chuckled nerviously again. "That's a pleasant thought. 'Of use' to them?" He ran his fingers through his hair again, feeling like it wanted to crawl off his head. His nerves were just flying right now. "I wish I knew, but that's a part I don't want to know, not after what we heard that night. Talent or not, I wish I could undo whatever it was we did. My mom's family were gypsies, like before WWI or something. Does that count? Did they even have gypsies then? Hell, I don't know, but her grandparents were always kinda weird into superstitious stuff. I never thought any of this crap was real. Sorry... it's not crap. At least what you do isn't. What do those things mean, what you drew?"

She chuckled at his comments and put her vial away with a slight shake of her head. "There were gypsies long before that and their magic is not something to scoff at." She looked up at him, her head tilting to the side slightly. "Untrained gypsy blood.. hmmm.. Are you and your brother the last of your clan?"

"Clan? Um... you mean are we the only kids? Maybe, I guess. Mom died years ago and dad went off with his girlfriend to Uruguay or some shit South American place. Probably got his ass swallowed by a python... serve him right. Uncle Rich got his ass shot in Iraq and mom's sisters died before she did... kinda way young. Everybody on her side of the family is gone, far as I know," he said, distantly running through the family tree that he knew about, seeming to shrug it off. He didn't miss any of them. "Far as I'm concerned, I could almost hand Carrick to them and call us even... freakin' stupid..."

"That's probably exactly what it wants.. you two are the last of your bloodline, you're young, strong, natural ability, untrained, uninformed, without the bonds of loyalty to any others.. divided you are more easily conquered, twisted, and shaped to suit it's needs. It's probably feeding off the anger you feel.. Where is your brother?"

His smile curled darkly with that anger she pointed out. "Out of range of my steel-toed boot up his stupid ass? I don't know... in town somewhere. Nailed to a tree for all I care. Divided makes me really damned happy right now in case you missed that part. I'm informed enough to know that they want him, not me. They can have him, but I'm trying not to take my chances. The symbols or whatever you call them? Yeah, whatever was in that smoke didn't seem to play favorites."

She stared at him and then slowly shook her head, almost looking disgusted with him as she got to her feet and stalked toward him. "You don't care what happens to him? Yet you seemed concerned over a cut on my hand? I'm a stranger to you.. nothing.. he is your flesh and blood and from you tell me, there isn't much of that."

[Lovely]

"You... didn't try to kill me. He did. They did. Okay, so maybe they made him do it, but how can I trust him, huh? How do I know he's 'him' and won't try killing me again? If he knows where I am, they know where I am - so whichever of them really wants me dead.. it's not a good idea for me to be near him right now. Sure, he's my brother, but I don't know how to fight this thing and until I do... I can't help him and be all Brady Bunch again with him."

"Does that mean you care whether or not they nail him to a tree or disembowel him.. or does it mean you only care if they find you?" She folded her arms, keeping herself about an arm's length away from him as he stewed in his anger and frustration.

"It means I don't know where he is," he said sheepishly as she put it so bluntly that his brother could be as easily killed as he could and might need his help to combat whatever they'd summoned. Essex slid down to the floor where he was, leaning on the edge of a crate that propped his arm. He settled his forehead in his palm. "Yeah I care. I'm just too freaked out to know what to do."

"It's quite understandable for you to be.. freaked out." She took another step toward him and crounched down in front of him, setting her arms over her thighs. "You were right.. you do need help. For tonight all you can do is hope and try to rest."

He lifted his head and chewed on his thumb a little, snipping through the hangnail and the bit of paint he still wore and spit off. "Still offering the peanut butter? I've got pretzels, maybe some hard rolls even. I can't rest if I'm hungry. It makes me crazy."

"Still willing to give up your pants for it?" She grinned and reached out a hand to help him up as she rose to stand herself. Jaime could understand the way he was feeling about things, though she wasn't planning on coddling him. That just wasn't her style, she was more tough and straight forward, sassy.. fiesty.. though she did have a softer, sweeter side - the one that was touched by his thoughts of spoiling a little girl someday. Somehow he'd reached a place within her that was normally well guarded and now she felt a protectiveness toward him.

"For your peanut butter, your help ... heh, anything you want, hell yeah. Long as I get 'em back to go get us another jar when this one's gone," he said, giving her a look that was utterly playful in anticipation. He pulled himself up partly to kneel and reach out for her outstretched hand. His nerves were definitely on fire already and suggestions of any kind were working him over easily.

Her eyebrow arched up and her lips curled into a slight smirking smile again as she considered a few possibilities. "Well then instead of just your pants, I shall have all of you.. Yes, I do believe that is what I want." Her fingers wrapped around his hand and she felt a pleasant surge run through her, she wondered for a moment if this was what her mother had felt when she met her father. It would explain why she'd defied everything to be with him.. and Jaime could almost understand why it was worth it despite all that had happened because of it.

[Lovely]

Wow, what the hell was that? He looked up at her, stunned for a moment and feeling like he was surfing, suspended in some rolling, hugging wave that was swelling up to throw him on shore with the curl of a lifetime. It was suspense and thrill and bliss.. and he was going out of his mind! He pulled himself to his feet slowly, pulling her closer to him. "Then that's what you've got," he suggested, agreeing to be had if she could make him feel like this just from the clasp of her hand!

Her eyes seemed to sparkle even though there wasn't much light in the rail car, the single candle made deep shadows around them, her eyes seemed lit from within and danced with her delight. "Then you should eat... you'll need your strength." She promised him quietly, taking advantage of how he'd pulled her closer, to brush her mouth softly over his, taking her own taste of what she wanted. She felt another surge, this one more gentle, but just as delightful as the other had been.

"It can wait. Right now, crazy's not so bad," he hushed back, diving for another kiss. Her eyes were as amazing as the touch. If she was trying to kill him, he didn't mind going like this. Somehow, that seemed to be furthest from the truth. He'd usually had a good sense about people, something Gramma Tela had taught him when he was a kid. It wasn't the people with candy, like everybody else taught their kids. It was the kind of person with the candy, and the kind of candy they offered. The air around them would tell him how sweet it was and whether the person was genuine. He didn't always get it right, but right now, he hoped to hell he wasn't wrong. She was sweet and genuine and everything he tasted in the kiss was like the best ice cream he'd ever had.

She didn't try to speak for a few moments, letting him kiss her and returning it eagerly, it was like tiny bubbles on her lips and tongue, like the pleasant fizz of soda. She liked it and she wanted more, she'd never wanted anything the way she suddenly wanted him.. not just his kiss, but as she'd playfully told him before - she just wanted him, all of him. Jaime had no intention now of letting him go or allowing anything to harm him, even his own brother. Her hands ran over him and one slipped up to the back of his neck, holding him to her kisses which slowly built and deepened, becoming more demanding. He was right.. crazy wasn't so bad, this felt crazy on the one hand but so very right on the other and she didn't want it to stop.

A gust of evening wind spat dust over the door and made the metal walls creak, startling him from the pleasant reverie. She'd made him forget everything for a moment at least. "Pull up a ... whatever," he suggested, nodding back to the pile of cushioning clothes and bedding. "I'll get the jar and spoon." And his beer he'd ignored so far but could probably use to calm him down a little.

"Alright." She agreed quietly, her scowl hidden as she turned away, it wasn't meant for him anyway.. damn the wind for breaking up the pleasant exchange between them. The displeased expression would be gone by the time he joined her, she folded down to sit on the pile and watch him as he moved to gather the things he wanted to bring over with him.

[Lovely]

He set her beer in reach as well as the jar and the bag of pretzels. The topmost cooler was popped open to hold the rest of the beer to keep it cool. Once his arms were empty again he took a sip of his beer and slipped his shoes off. The candle was left across the space, glowing like a tiny hearth fire. It would drown itself out in the dirt at the botton of the can. He settled down next to her and took a sip of the beer then held up the spoon. "Ladies first," he offered, grabbing the jar to scoop out a generous lump he held for her to lick.

She looked at the spoon and at him, thinking it was a sweet gesture but she didn't like plain peanut butter. With a small chuckle she whispered. "You're doing it wrong." She got up and quickly went to her back pack, getting something out but keeping it hidden until she sat back down at which time she revealed two plain Hershey's chocolate bars. "My secret stash.. shhh." She teased him playfully as she opened one and broke off a square, which she then used to dip into the peanut butter. She offered it to him much like he'd offered her the spoon, giving him a small sweet smile as she did.

He wasn't turning down an offer like that. He smiled and reached out for the sweets, capturing her fingertip gently as he did. He licked the smear of chocalate away and curled his tongue around the paste he savored for a quiet moment before he had to laugh. He couldn't do that and still talk, damnit! He took a swig of his beer to wash it down. "Soo damned good. Thank you. Now.. you," he insisted, snatching the chocolate bar to break a piece off for her with a scoop of the paste.

Her eyes cast over his face and she giggled softly before leaning toward his hand, she stopped short and reached with her tongue to lick the chocolate, the tip brushing over his finger then curling around it as she came the rest of the way and took the treat from him. "Mmmm.." She hummed softly as she shifted back, it was very, very good.

He tipped his head and broke another square in tinier pieces, peppering another lump of peanut butter on his finger tip. "I like how you say 'mmm'," he pointed out, feeling giddy already from the bit of sugar rush. He not-so-delicately scooped another square for himself and held his finger out for her, following her where she'd shifted back away from him. "This is giving me all kinds of ideas I really shouldn't be having," he murmured around the bit he was working on.

"And why shouldn't you be having those thoughts?" She asked, her tone both innocent and teasing at once as she leaned to meet him for the smaller piece of chocolate he brought to her. This time she nibbled at his fingers as she took the candy and lapped the peanut butter away.

"Because.. um... hell if I even f*cking know," he sighed as her tongue slid around his fingertip, suggestive of so many things he was thinking. He took his hand away and leaned down to her. "Cuz what I'm thinking has nothing to do with the chocolate or you licking my fingers though I really kinda don't want you to stop."

Her hands slid over his arms and she leaned to kiss his shoulder and whisper to his ear. "Would you like me to lick something else?" Her giggle was barely there as she demonstrated over the shoulder she'd kissed a moment before. She wasn't going to discourage him from any of his thoughts that would ensure he truly was hers.

[Lovely]

His breath shuddered as her tongue slipped over his skin. If he doubted magic was real before, he really believed in it now. She'd asked him so bluntly he almost responded just as quick.. yes, hell yes, but words weren't anywhere near his capability at that moment. A nod, partly a nuzzle against her cheek was his response as he curled beside her into the piles of cloth.

As he shifted down beside her, she evened things out a little by slipping free of her boots and unbuttoning her shirt which she slid down off her shoulders to join the rest of the pile they lounged on. Her torso wasn't quite as bare as his but he might notice the faint glow of her markings, some of them were the same as those she'd painted on his walls to protect him. Jaime curled toward him again kissing her way along one arm to his shoulder, where she licked him as she had before.

Essex watched how she moved. His mind couldn't quite wrap around how the light seemed to come off her in the shadows here, though and he turned his own hand in the depth of the shadow between them with no shine like her skin. He brushed a finger down her collar not meaning to be rude and gawk at her beneath it but at the markings on her skin that shone like her paintings, some in the same patterns which he glanced back to. His fingers dropped away beneath the cloth and curled behind her back as she continued her kisses up his arm and he began to return them, stretching out beneath her and tangling more. He felt his beer tap against him and he reached out to throw it out of the way. He didn't care if it spilled in here.

She sighed out so sweetly as he began to return the kisses, her skin singing softly as she stretched to feel more. It was like her very skin came to life beneath his fingers and lips. "Essy..." She sighed out again, ending up with a nickname of sorts as her voice faltered and faded in desire for him. She found her way back to his mouth as she partially blanketed him, skin against skin as her lips brought hungry kisses to his.

Careful not to rip anything, he worked around her blouse to free her and uncover more of the markings that seemed to move on their own and shine like fireflies as they tangled around each other. He chuckled a little, finding delight in the way he felt as much as in the way she sounded to him, like a mermaid calling him out to the depths to explore and he did. She was a thin girl, but no rail, her curves resting in his palms as if he'd made her from clay himself, perfectly matched. She wanted his jeans right off his ass, damn straight she was returning that favor!

[Lovely]

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It was still dark out according to the pinhole stars in the ceiling. The candle had burnt itself out so more than two hours had passed, maybe three but he didn't care. Essex drew lightly over the mark on her arm that seemed to glitter and smile at his touch. He'd never seen such a thing as it or her. Her tattoos were everywhere and she seemed so exotic, yet so sweetly angelic he couldn't take his eyes off her. He yawned a little and stretched, reaching beneath himself to move a wadded whatever that wasn't comfortable anymore. He smoothed it out back into the stack behind his head and kissed her cheek. "Jaime... I've never seen anything like this in my life. Where did you get these tats? They're ... I dunno," he said, trying to find a word to match his fascination with them.

"Would you believe me if I told you many of them put themselves on me?" She asked him in a soft voice, reflective of how relaxed she was beside him, as if her sweet expression didn't show it enough. She stretched a little and the marks moved with her in ways other tats would not, they were not merely 'painted' on but were a part of her.

"You could tell me the moon's made of cheese and I'd believe you," he chuckled, reaching down to kiss her as she stretched out and offered a bare spot within reach. He watched the markings move over her like small pools of water, or even pets, making it more believable still. "Can't say I blame them. I'd paint myself on you too," he chuckled.

"You did." She whispered and reached to pull one of his hands up to bestow soft kisses to his fingers before placing them lightly on the front of her hip. "Right there.. do you feel that?" If he did it would be a faint tingle like what they felt when they first kissed. "That's you.. and me.. it's us." The way she smiled at him should have shown him clearly that she already adored him. "My parents started it, when my sister and I were first born.. but somewhat like what happened with your brother.. they unknowingly unleashed something more powerful than they intended. It wasn't evil.. what they'd done was to protect us from those things.. neither of them knew this would happen."

"That you'd find some strange loser in the railyard?" He chuckled and drew over the mark on her hip, then curled around her to kiss it too. "I'd say you're pretty powerful, however it is, whatever it is you did to me. Just keep on doing it. It's pretty wicked, but it sure isn't evil."

[Lovely]

She laughed and shook her head. "Not that part silly.. and you're not a loser.. though you are kind of strange, but I like it." Her grin was playful as she squirmed slightly beneath his attention. "Not to worry.. I intend to keep doing it.. for a long time. We made a deal after all.. you in exchange for the peanut butter and I'm not giving you back. Mine." Her giggle was as sweet as her smile had been a few moments before.

"I think you're right about that. Yours. I can't imagine giving this up for anything. You're like crack," he teased, chuckling as she giggled. It tickled against him. "Got a few more hours before I'm even trying to open that door. Still got some of that peanut butter... and I guess a whole lot of things to talk about to figure out what I'm doing when I do go out there."

Jaime slid her hands over his and laced their fingers, holding tightly to his hand as she shifted so her gaze met his. "The first and most important is that you're not going out there alone." She said it in such a way that it was clear if he tried, she'd come after him. "Maybe I should mark you.. for protection?"

"Mark me how? Like these? You know how to do that? Is it safe with that... what did you call it, untrained whatever? More importantly.. . is it gonna hurt, cuz we've still got beer," he suggested, thinking that one was sounding good now while his nerves started to ramp back up again.

"Yes, like these." She kept her voice soft and calm, even smiling a little as she reached to smooth her hand over his arm. "They did it to us when we were just babies, do you think they would have if it would hurt us? I won't ever hurt you, you're my Essy now.. I want you to be safe. Wearing a mark of protection will help keep you safe. Like when you wear a charm, only no one can snatch it off."

"That sounds kinda cool," he snickered, closing his eyes a moment as she petted him, soaking up the tingling sensations like a drug he'd never get enough of. "I mean you calling me that. I never had a girl like me enough to keep me more than an hour. Guess I'm kinda intense on some people," he grinned, turning a kiss to her shoulder. "What do you need me to do for the mark thing?"

"It's because you're mine.. so no other girl could really have you till I found you. If one of those other girls had tried to keep you, I would have had to hurt them and that wouldn't be very nice." She walked her fingers over his shoulder, smiling as if the thought of how she might have fought off those other girls amused her. "First tell me where you want me to put it.. and then hold still."

[Lovely]

He chuckled, almost saying something he quickly realized he might regret. "Some things just shouldn't glow," he mused under his breath and thought a moment. He reached up and made an 'x' mark on his chest. "Here. Over my heart."

"Alright, hold still.." She rolled herself on top of him, slipping the knife from her boot and gently pushing him down on his back beneath her. She might have scared him for a moment but the knife wasn't for him, she only made a small puncture in her fingertip, taking the drop and drawing the mark over his heart. She had that soft sweet smile on her face as she paused with her finger at the end of the mark, she leaned down to kiss him. Her finger remained poised and her own markings glowed brighter a moment, the light spreading from her fingertip out over the mark she'd drawn. It sparkled and then settled into a light shimmer like the ones that covered her. She didn't know if he felt it like she had, like when they kissed, she'd given him a sliver of herself.

The knife came out of her boot as she pushed him back and his mouth went dry, his eyes wide with the sinking, sudden feeling he'd made his final, deadly mistake. The way she held him didn't foster his fear long, though, still feeling the warm and tickling drug-like pulse flowing along his skin where she touched him. He swallowed dryly, still trusting, but cautious. She snipped through her own skin again, this time only a fingertip and he rested back, watching her lower the fingertip and feeling her paint him now as carefully as she had the walls around them. Sealing it with a kiss, the room seemed to glow though his eyes were closed. His chest felt burningly hot, but not painful, more like the sun's heat through a car window, only for a moment before that tickling pulse coursed through him everywhere. He reached up to her shoulders to bring her kiss back to him. "Definitely yours," he muttered.

She held the hand with the knife away from him, reaching to drop it into her boot, not as concerned with it being neat as simply knowing where to find it quickly if she needed to. Her lips stayed on his and once her hand was free of sharp objects she brought it in to tangle herself around him once again. Because she had never felt it herself and had not witnessed it, she had never fully understood the depth of what her parents had felt. The passion, love, and bond that had formed so quickly and solidly.. unbreakable, even after all their years apart. She knew her mother was absolutely in love with her father. Now, Jaime was feeling the power of such a bond for herself, it was crazy and it was wonderful.. it was undeniable. She was as much Essy's as he was hers and she nodded slightly in the kiss, whispering it to him. "As I am yours."

Scene fade to black...