Gravity -- why hath thou forsaken me?

[assholic]

Who: Jessica Jones (assholic) & Clark Kent (apricitous) & OPEN
What: New ability rearing its head
When: December 07 - December 14
Where: Closed log @ her and Clark's home, randomly around Wyver.
Warning(s): Language? Will adjust if needed

Whether it was the Orbiters enhancing something she already had or something new creeping into her system, Jessica Jones was now capable of more than just 'falling with style'. Her morning with Clark and how well that had gone (/sarcasm) was making her a little concerned about having to leave the house. As to what that meant to others?

They might come across a scowling woman clutching onto a doorway. Or a tree. Or maybe she's reached out and grabbed someone -- perhaps a little too hard? Anyone noticing this might also notice that during these times, her feet might not always touch the ground, and if she's grabbed onto someone, that someone might feel an odd upward tug.

God help anyone that makes her jump. She'll remember you. She'll owe you.



[Feel free to PM about specifics or pp me @ junglewere. Open prompts for anyone in Wyver, but she can be pinged/messaged by people in Olympia if anyone happens to gossip.]

Comments

[apricitous]

"Or you desperately want to stay on the ground and you've learned enough to keep yourself there," he offers in contrast.

[assholic]

"Why would you do that? Why would you ruin a good thing? Jesus. Now I'm going to be worried I'm going to float off all the time." Scowl.

[apricitous]

He thinks of an answer and decides against it on the grounds of just being unhelpfully terrifying. So he presses his lips together and sighs a little.

"I'm not trying to ruin anything. But I remember what it was like to have new powers pop up at different times. And I don't think you want to be surprised again."

[assholic]

"No, I do not. Can't I just carry a rock with me? Or... fuck." Nope. This was going to ruin everything. She wasn't going to make Clark her lackey, but she knew she was going to be having an issue whenever she'd have to leave the house. And she would be leaving the house. Clark was 'friendly'. Those friends came over. Jessica was not friendly.

[apricitous]

He holds up a hand.

"We've got the emergency situation under control." He breathes in, then out, and offers her what he hopes is a comforting smile.

"How about we both get dressed, I'll make some breakfast, and then we'll try and figure out how it works so you'll have some control?"

[assholic]

The mention of clothes reminded her that they were both half-dressed, and she couldn't quite stop the glance down at him, then back up, one brow arching and her mouth opening.

She shut it with a snap. The least she could do after he'd rescued her floating ass was keep her mouth shut. "Right. Go cover your shame." She'd just pull on jeans and that was dressed enough for her, which meant that unless he super-sped, she'd beat him out into the kitchen and be pouring herself coffee.

The breakfast of champions.

[apricitous]

"I'm not-"

There's just a low huff and an eyeroll before he offers a bow of his head and heads out, and while he won't be zipping out Flash-style, he does use some of his speed to dry off at the very least. He comes out in a t-shirt and jeans and heads for the stove to start on the eggs.

[assholic]

Hey, it wasn't like he had anything to be ashamed of. It was an expression, Kansas boy. And she liked making him squirm.

She sat at the table, cupping her cup in her hands and sipping slowly. "None for me. I'm not hungry." Besides, if she was going to be floating, she didn't want to wind up throwing up all over the place.

[apricitous]

He only cracks one egg, but he holds up the bread to see if she at least wants some toast. He'll put in a couple of slices regardless of what she says; it's not as if he can't eat them anyway if she doesn't want them.

[assholic]

Shaking her head, she held up her mug. "I'm good." Caffeine and anger. That's pretty much all that kept her going. She was fueling up on one and debating on how long the other would stay quiet.

[apricitous]

He shrugs and keeps cooking his own breakfast, eventually plating it and turning to lean against the counter as he smushes his toast into the yellows of the eggs.

[assholic]

Her nose wrinkles and she buries it in her coffee as she takes another sip. Eww. Egg yolks. That's gross.

[apricitous]

That he pointedly ignores, because this is delicious, thank you very much, especially with freshly buttered toast. Om nom nom.

[assholic]

Toast, yes. Runny egg-snot, no. Coffee? Definitely yes. Just woken up or not, she had a strong urge to ask him to grab the bottle in the cupboard to add to her drink. She figured she'd earned non-judgementalism from her morning jaunt. "You know this is bullshit, right? Randomly floating?"

[apricitous]

He looks up from his breakfast and raises an eyebrow. In what sense?

[assholic]

"I don't float. I didn't float before. That wasn't... it wasn't a thing. So why the fuck am I floating now?" Don't look at her like that. It made her feel stupid.

[apricitous]

She's not stupid, but she has to give more details before he can weigh in. She'll learn, as she gets to know him, that he has his less-verbal moods, usually when he's feeling a bit stressed. It's not personal; he just wishes he could help her more.

"Maybe it's a side effect of the Storm. Or recovering from it."

[assholic]

"A side effect of the Storm..." See that look, Clark? Jessica has ways of expressing things nonverbally as well.

[apricitous]

He nods and looks back.

"Our worlds were destroyed," he says, and not without a certain amount of... gentleness. He's still trying to get his own mind around the concept that everything is gone. "Something may have happened in all that which woke up a stronger version of your old 'falling with style' trick. Something you needed to try and survive."

[assholic]

She laughed bitterly into her coffee, shaking her head. "Whatever I have, it's not some... evolutionary enhancement for my survival. It was the result of an accident. It made me a freak."

Sorry, Clark. She wasn't born this way.

[apricitous]

"And where I grew up made me the way I am.

"That doesn't mean I'm wrong."

Unless she has another theory, this is the one he's sticking with. He barely understands what happened with the Storm, fair enough since he was literaly dead at the time. Or so he thinks.

[assholic]

"... It must be really exhausting being you. You're so goddamn optimistic." Like all the answers were just there and he had access to the book. Why didn't she have access to the book? It was her body.

[apricitous]

He puts his breakfast plate down. Something about what she'd said hits him awkward, something harmless that manages to strike the bone just so.

Optimistic. She thinks he's optimistic. He sure as hell hasn't felt optimistic about anything for what feels like forever. From the world to the senator to the capital building to the Bat to Luthor to Doomsday.

To being here, with his world destroyed.

There's an inclination to cover the fact that that'd stung, but he shoves it away. He's lived and worked in all manner of places, met and dealt with and done his best to help all kinds of people. If there's one thing he's learned, it's that there are people who want to be lied to, and people who can't stand it. Jessica, he'd figured out very early, was in the latter category, and to do that would be endangering the entire friendship. She couldn't be who she was with him if she had to worry about whether or not he was hurting inside. If it hurt, he had to show it.

It hurt. He showed it. Closed his eyes and pulled in a breath.

Once he's settled:

"It's just a guess, Jess. I don't know any better than you do. I'm just going by the information we have."

[assholic]

Well... shit. She hadn't meant to do that, and she felt a twinge of guilt and shame settle over her. Familiar sensations, but ones she hadn't been going for. He hadn't deserved that and she knew it. She was lashing out because she was scared and in the dark and she couldn't hurt him.

Except, apparently, she could. She pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a long breath. Sorry didn't come naturally to her. Self degradation, however... "I'm an asshole. You're trying to help and I'm just... I don't like this. It's my body and it's doing something it didn't used to."

[apricitous]

He looks over at her and shakes his head, just a little.

"You're not an asshole. It's... terrifying, when your body starts doing things you don't understand and didn't ask for." His smile widens just a little, goes uneven at the corners. "I remember pretty well."

He picks up his breakfast again, making a small eggy sandwich with two of the bread pieces.

"You don't have to like it. But we do have to deal with it." We, because they're together on this. "We'll get through it." Bite. Chew. Swallow. He has his manners. "And that's not optimism. That's realism."