Intermittent

mpxyoongi​:

(...) Yoongi finished setting up his sniper rig on the edge of the roof, peering into the scope to ensure he was in the right position. If Osiris’ intell was correct, Jordan would most likely be coming out of the shop within the hour. He sent off a quick text to let the god know that he was in position before getting comfortable, watching the door intently through his scope for any signs of movement. It had been a while, but this still felt like a familiar position for him- an easy roll for him to step back into. Which maybe should have been concerning, but he did not have time to think of such moral dilemmas right then.

It did not take long. The door swung open, and he trained his cross hairs on Jordan’s head as he locked up. Then, holding his breath, he squeezed the trigger.

it’s been a long day. he’s been trying to get his things sorted at the stop & paws in order to be able to leave the island again as he’d been thinking things were heating up a bit too much around here for him to stick around much longer. his close connection to felix might also get him in trouble considering how off the young man has been acting lately, and no matter what he does the boy keeps flinching whenever he reaches out. it’s been a while now since he last actually touched the younger man, which has made being acquainted with him a lot more annoying a thing to undergo as well, so all in all it’d be better for him to just leave.

to excuse himself with his supposed friends, he’ll mention some problems at home or something of the sort. let them keep his phone number, he’ll just change it when he’s long gone and they’ll be none the wiser. it’s all for the best, will cover his tracks nicely, and no one will be any the wiser. perhaps he can continue his search for these people hunting down demigods out there in the regular world.

as he gently pushes the door closed, he takes out his keys and moves to lock it. yet the second before the key turns, he suddenly gets a very off feeling, all the hairs on his body raising at once. he can feel all of a sudden the strain on his mind as if his power is widening in the blink of a second, and then he catches it suddenly; the very specific and very distinct thought of someone pulling a trigger. it’s too late to get out of the way; this much he knows almost instinctively. and so the only thing there is left to do, his mind thinks, is to cast out as wide as it can, feeding every memory he’s ever taken from them back to his victims. he has no way of knowing if it works, doesn’t even know why that is the thing his brain decides to do, but there it is.

the next second, it seems, he can hear the sound of the shot from where his mind is still connected to that of the shooter, but even that happens almost as in slow motion. still, he doesn’t have the time to avoid it, can’t move out of the way for bullets travel faster than even his mind can react. like an outside-of-body experience he catches a sudden glimpse of the back of his own head through the lens of a sniper rifle and then the impact happens, snapping his head forward, smashing it into the glass of the door he just closed.

within that same heartbeat, his life comes to an end.

mpxfelix​:

(...) “Jordan, have you noticed anything weird about me lately?” It was almost a trick question, considering he knew that pretty much everyone had noticed something weird about him. But he wanted to know what the other male would say. Somehow, it felt important.

even with the grand displays of care and worry, felix’s gaze on him is wary and suspicious, and he takes a moment or two to figure out how to deal with that. he’s still mid-fussing, of course, putting the back of his hand gently against felix’s forehead to feel for a fever while his other hand rests on felix’s knee, thumb brushing over his leg as if attempting to reassure him and comfort him both.

the question doesn’t come as a surprise, per se, because he can hear it build up in felix’s mind first, wrapped in suspicion and thoughts of all his friends noticing. that part, definitely, is a little worrisome and so the little worried frown he displays next isn’t even entirely fake. he makes sure to hesitate in his reply a little, eyes taking in felix worriedly before eventually he bites his lip lightly and then sighs.

“of course i have, lix,” he says softly. “you’ve been acting off for a while now. you keep forgetting things, you’re not feeling well more often, you pull away when i reach for you.” he makes sure to inflict his voice with just enough worry and confusion both. “i’m worried about you, i keep asking you but you keep saying it’s ntohing. i think maybe you should visit a doctor to get this checked out, though. this isn’t usual for you, is it?”

mpxauralie​:

(...) Before she had realised it, she was already heading out of the store. She didn’t want to see Biscuit, or what was left of him, and didn’t want to stay around in case she hurt anyone else.

the girl hides in his arms like he is all that keeps her from completely collapsing and he can’t help the irony in her thoughts; of how she trusts him more than anyone else in the stop & paws, of how he is perhaps the only one she would’ve let hold her like this. and then it becomes too much and she pulls away from him, even as he’s mid gentle words of comfort. he watches her head towards the door, responding just a count too late.

“auralie, wait...” he starts, but she’s already opening the glass door and then their colleagues indeed come looking and he makes a helpless face as he motions at her shape disappearing through the door. it’s one of the others he lets chase after her to bring her comfort, deciding to let his grip on her thoughts go for now. he wants her to feel miserable, after all, but not to do anything worse than that. he doesn’t want to have to explain any of that to authorities or whatever.

mp-yuqi​:

(...) “Jordan, I am done.” She speaks, taking a moment formulate her thoughts and construct them in English without sounding as broken as it normally did. “Too much studying in one session. I cannot do anymore.” She shakes her head, turning toward him. Her hand gently reaches to squeeze his hand as she smiles at him. “Thank you. I appreciate.” She speaks fondly, looking over at the male as she waits his response. 

he listens to her repeat the word several times until she got it as well as he presumed she could get it at this point of her learning stage, and he nods his head when she seems to decide it’s good enough, giving her some reassurance that it does indeed sound alright. when she goes back to studying, he goes back to leafing through the other books, though most of his focus remains on helping her figure out her own things.

he hears her thoughts go a little unfocused before she even moves, and so he already prepares himself to look up when she decides she’s fully done. it doesn’t take long and so he looks up as if surprised by her sudden words, though he instantly smiles and nods, accepting her limitations without worry. it’d been an interesting exercise for sure, and it might help to do it a few more times with her. perhaps if ever he got in trouble, he could say this was the only thing he really did with his ability. this and making sure he could treat animals better at the clinic, of course.

mp-yuqi​:

(...) “Got it, boss!” She exclaims, and she grabs the book against. Yuqi dutifully studies the English book. She feels that she is grasping much of it which excited her completely. She flips through several pages in practice when she stop on a page, stumped by a pronunciation. “Help? How do I say it?” She asked, pointing at the word ‘intentionally.’

though she doesn’t seem entirely enthusiastic about it, yuqi does go back to studying eventually and it goes a lot more smoothly, which seems to make her excited to keep going. it also makes her go quiet and focus, which is a nice change to her usually chatty demeanour so he just keeps the quick study up alongside her. it costs some effort to keep linking the thoughts to her memory, but it’s good practice too and he wonders if he might experiment later with plucking things from someone’s memory instead. that’s definitely something he hasn’t been able to master so far.

she only stops when she comes across a word she has no idea how to pronounce and so he leans in to read it, even though he’s already read it in her mind, along with the absolutely hilarious ways of pronouncing it she has used so far. “that’s intentionally,” he says easily, before repeating the word again but more slowly so she can get every syllable of it right should she want to.

mpxfelix​:

(...) “No, no, it’s okay, I’m sure I can manage,” he protested weakly, although he did not sound like he really minded the idea. Jordan was probably right, after all, he wasn’t really in any condition to walk across the city. He was a little worried he might throw up if he got into a car, though. “No, I didn’t eat anything bad… I really don’t know what’s going on. I felt fine earlier.”

felix doesn’t take his reassurance the way he usually would, without question and with a bright smile, but rather seems to think he is lying. he is, of course, but felix doesn’t recall anything of what happened, he made sure of that, so what exactly is it that makes him suspect it? just natural instincts, it seems, because he can’t imagine anything else. perhaps it’s because this young man is a demigod and they’ve got better survival instincts. or perhaps it’s because he’s been doing it for too long, has been hanging around him too closely. perhaps this easy target had been too easy and he’s living the consequences now.

regardless of that, though, he is more than capable of dealing with them so far, and so when felix vaguely refuses a cab, he decides to insist. “don’t worry about it, i’d rather have you home safe,” he says, keeping an arm around his friend as he lifts another hand to call for a cab. the first one passes them by entirely, but when he catches a glimpse of the man’s face he’s rather glad he did, because that’s an egyptian god right there that he’d rather avoid than have to sit in a car with for fifteen minutes. the second one luckily stops, however, the man’s thoughts full of surprsie that the earlier cab didn’t stop for them but delight that it’s going to be his pay now.

mp-yuqi​:

(...) Ah, this is so hard. She thinks, as her eyes reads over the words. She was so unconfident in her abilities to do this, just as she was when she learned Korean for the first time. She felt like an idiot despite knowing two languages already. “This take long long time.” She softly mumbles, and she looks up to him. “If was computer, be done fast.” She states, trying to say that if she was a computer than the language would be learned fast. A mere simple download. 

he can’t help but be amused by the big frown that seems to crease the girl’s forehead as she goes about studiously taking in the different words. it’s not long before she makes a new comment about it, and so he looks up from where he’s been leafing through the other books to find more things for her to learn.

“if you were a computer you wouldn’t need my help,” he says with great amusement. “i’d be learning languages from you instead.” he breathes out a chuckle and then shakes his head lightly before looking down at her book.

“learning a language is hard work. you have to keep repeating the words you learn over and over in order to remember them, and it’s always better to use the language a lot too.” he wonders how much of his words she even understands, though usually people understand more than they can speak, he’s learned in the past.

phobetorxmp​:

(...) “What would you do, if you fell for your friend? Or your friend fell for you?” The god asks, lifting a hand to cradle his chin, elbow on his knee as he awaits their drinks. More alcohol was definitely needed. 

the god says he’s got a fair amount of broken hearts littered in his past and he smiles softly in amusement, as if he’s thinking of the many girls (or guys) he’s supposedly been caught up with. the reality is more that the only broken hearts in his past are those of people whose friends he destroyed mentally, physically or both, but that is not a proper answer to give the man of course.

when the next question is about what he’d do if he caught feelings for any of his friends or a friend caught feelings for him, he lets his expression turn more serious again, and proceeds to consider it. he has no idea what he would do if such a thing happened, has never had it happen before except for other people getting an interest in him, and those he had always caused to fall apart from within.

mpxauralie​:

(...) “I-I can’t–” she started, but couldn’t help herself as she burst into tears, squatting down on the floor, “It’s my fault! I had to be my fault!” Her shoulders trembled as she cried, desolate and completely inconsolable. She shouldn’t even be trusted with Bao Bao. She didn’t even deserve him. “I’m–I’m so sorry..”

he tracks the tears on her face with his eyes, his expression the best picture of sympathy anyone could ever create. his gaze is gentle as well, and there’s a slight twist to his lips that speaks of great understanding and sympathy, that it must be hard for her and that he wishes he could do something to soothe her. inside of his chest, though, the triumph roars with great delight and his mind is filled with satisfaction due to the thoughts that roar through her head.

“auralie,” he says softly but rather firmly, and he once again reaches out, this time to pull her into a hug. their colleagues will come out soon, probably, to come looking for the origin of the noise, to try and figure out what’s going on, and so he hides her against his chest, runs his hand over her hair. “don’t say that,” he says, softly, sounding almost hurt that she could speak of herself in such a way. “it’s sad news, but things like this happen sometimes.”

phobetorxmp​:

(...) “I am sorry, I do not believe I have asked you anything about your evening, Jordan, was it?” He asks before turning a little to him, to properly hold a conversation with the demigod, now his own wallowing was passing. 

the god muses over his own situation in quiet, a single question having prompted some more introspection and jordan is more than happy to sit there and follow the inner dialogue like some kind of second rate movie drama. he’s just lacking popcorn, but the small collection of nuts handed to him in a bowl alongside his scotch will have to make do.

when the god eventually apologises, he shakes his head to wave it off instantly, but he does smile at the offer to buy his drink. he’s not going to say no to that, after all. if this probably horribly rich man wants to pay for his drink, who is he to deny himself the pleasure? “that’s very kind of you,” he says easily, warmth and gratitude in both his voice and features.

the subject is soon turned on him then, and he shakes his head once more to wave off the apology. “don’t worry about it. you seem like you could use the talk more than me,” he says easily. “jordan is right, yes. my evening is quite alright, i’m just unwinding after a long day at work.” he smiles lightly, unable to hide some amusement because his unwinding had been interrupted by the jarring sounds of the piano, after all.

mpmateo​:

(...) “I did everything I usually do for a foster kitten but Bon-Bon just won’t respond. He just cries for a mamma I can’t find, wont bond with my other foster kittens and well… you see him.” Mattty carefully peeled back the well loved soft blanket to reveal a dull coat and even duller woeful little kitten eyes to the man in crisp white lab coat.  

it is safe to say that it’s not every day jordan gets people coming into his clinic with animals he’s seen before. he knows many people would think it’d be impossible to recognise one kitten from the other, but he’s been a vet for long enough to see the subtle differences, and he’s stared at this particular little stray thing long enough to know its ever hair by heart.

so the little one had survived, had it?

not a single hint of his thoughts is visible on his face, which he keeps carefully schooled into something business appropriate. oh, he knows what’s wrong with this little creature alright. it should be dead is what’s wrong. but apparently this one had a lot more fighting spirit than its siblings. probably inherited from its bitch of a mother who is the reason there’s a scratch on jordan’s lower arm.

luckily his job provides ample excuse for any sort of animal bites and scratches he gains, even if most animals are usually so well behaved around him that it still surprises every single one of his coworkers when he does get hurt.

the kitten is not an issue, though, the kitten is barely holding on to life, but fighting to try and get through it. perhaps he admires it, though he will always blame it on the fact that he can’t drop his charade of being a good vet for any reason whatsoever. so when the young man reveals the struggling kitten to him, he gives a single nod of his head.

“i’ll give it a look,” he says, reaching his hands out to take over the bundle from the young man so he can check all the vitals and do the usual with the cat, so that he can eventually come to the conclusion that it has been poisoned, like he’s known from the very start, and then prescribe the medication he knows will fix this particular poison best.