⋆｡˚⋆˚✧-=Chapter Five=-✧˚⋆｡˚⋆
"Here you go." A cafe employee slides their order onto the table, making them part awkwardly.
Ashton quickly wipes her tears away, sniffling and blinking wetness away. Jack nods softly and smiles at the young man. "Thank you, sir." The employee clearly gets surprised by the formality and walks away in slight confusion. Jack sits back and sighs, grabbing his coffee. "Apologies, Ashton. I didn't intend to make you cry."
Ashton shakes her head. "No worries. I just don't hear praise much. Not since before I moved in with my unlce here." She looks at her coffee and her eyebrows furrow. "Don't get me wrong, my uncle does tell me good job and he's proud of me here and there about certain things. But ever since I moved, I haven't really heard much sincere praise or anything...not lewd..." she almost shudders at the thought as her voice wavers.
Jack looks into her eyes, concern deep in his face. "Ashton, darling...I will not pry, but is there something you'd like to talk about that is more than just 'an incident in school'?"
Ashton startles and shoves her food in her mouth in panic. "N-no! No. I'm alright." She muffles out through the pastry. "I should get home. I have some work to do on new projects." She scrambles onto her feet, grabbing her things clumsily.
"Thank you for this lovely afternoon, Jack." She quickly scribbles down a phone number on a piece of paper. "This is my number; let me know if you wanna hang out again." She pushes it to him and hurries out. "Bye, thank you!!"
"Ashton, hold on-!" Jack sighs and stands, swiftly putting his book away and slipping the number into his pocket.
He grabs his food and drink and walks over to the register. He leans over the counter and whispers to the cashier. His hot breath and silky voice makes her tense up and shudder, trying not to get distracted from what he's saying. His whispering is gentle enough that no one else can pick up on any words- just barely catching his voice in general. Jack backs away and bows with a thank you, receiving a shy nod. He turns on his heels and leaves the building.
She never likes to talk about her real self, huh? Jack walks in frustration and concern, lost in intense thought. Why can't she just be honest? It's not like she would get in trouble. He grips the strap of his bag tight, clenching his teeth. He looks around as he reaches the tree line of the edge of town. He slips between the trees swiftly. I cannot believe I ran into her today. I thought she would never come back to us.
Jack stops at what looks like two giant trees arching unnaturally towards each other. It looks like the roots of the other foliage are twisting up and around the trunks and reinforcing them. There are cutes and carvings and holes scattered all over them. The leaves overhead are dark and ominous, torn and ruined. There's barely noticeable stains all over the trees- browns and blacks.
Jack reaches into his bag and pulls out a folded sheet of paper. He opens and looks it over, almost hesitating. The page has a dark midnight substance on it, brushed into the letters EJ with a finger. There are gentle scratches in the material from something sharp and thin- pinpoint. He takes a breath and holds it up in front of one of the trees. He places it against the trunk and closes his eyes. After a moment of eerie silence, a midnight-blue glow radiates from the paper.
It engulfs Jack, making his form shine and flicker in the beautiful color. As the light dims and fades, what was dark brown skin is now grey and hide-like. Jack stretches with a big groan, like a cat, a hefty tail of hide swooshing behind him in the air- its tip of fluffy hair brushing the ground. Small reptilian wings stretch open on the sides of his head, just above his long, pointed ears. As he eases out of his stretch, his tail lands on the ground with a heavy thud and slightly shaking the ground under him.
He yawns, his jagged-shaped mouth glowing red. Two long, blue- almost black- tongue roll out of his mouth as he yawns. He slouches a little and sighs, looking tired. One of his ears twitch idly. He pulls the paper off the tree and folds it back up, putting it back in the bag. He swaps out the paper for a mask, putting it on- midnight blue and the bottom half being shaped like two sharp fangs on the sides of his face and connecting just on his nose, leaving his lower face visible. Despite having changed, his clothes are the same and so is his hair, the only things not having been altered.
He adjusts his clothes and bag. I guess I should tell the others. He steps through the archway of the trees. The forest shifts from a calm, beautiful forest, to a dark and gloomy maze of trees. There's barely any light and all the colors turn grim. Maybe I should put in a formal report. Have her tailed..? No, that would immediately be suspicious if she noticed. Jack walks for what seems like years until he can feel a change in the atmosphere.
"I'm home." He calls out to seemingly no one, nothing. He waits for a while, then smiles as his ears twitch to the souls of thunderous running approaching. He suddenly gets tackled by a dog- a dog almost bigger than him. He chuckles and vigorously pets the dog. "Hi boy. Hope you didn't miss me too much."
The husky licks his face excitedly, thick tail wagging fast. "I always miss you a lot when you leave!" The canine says between licks. "Did you bring me any food?"
Jack gently moves the dog and sits up. He holds out his hand and the same glow from his transformation shines in his palm and bag. As it fades, the breakfast sandwich he ordered at the cafe is in his hand. "Of course I did, Smile. I would never forget to buy you a treat."
Smile grins and pants happily. "This is why you're my favorite owner." Jack tosses the sandwich in the air, Smile catching it gently between his teeth. He lays down and eats it caredully- savoring it.
"Hey, hey," a more gravely, disappointed voice calls out, "that's so not fair. You've always been my dog." Jack looks up ahead and grins. The other man reaches out to Jack, offering a hand up. "Welcome back, Jack."
He hefts Jack up to his feet, tugging him into a deep kiss. "Hey, Darling. Thanks for the warm welcome home." They both snicker and keep aggressively kissing.
Smile whimpers and snarls. "Do that somewhere else. I'm trying to enjoy my sandwich."
"Hey, you're lucky you have that." Jack's boyfriend scolds. "He's always spoiling you. Plus, I like those too."
Jack chuckles and grabs his hands. "Come on, Jeff. Let's leave him be." He pulls Jeff with him. "I have something important to report back to the others." Jeff follows and tilts his head curiously.
"Did something happen? Are you hurt? Did someone find out who you are?"
"No. I ran into someone." Jack looks Jeff in the eyes, serious and a little worried. "An important woman a certain someone knows really well." Jeff furrows his brows.
After some silent walking, they make it to a modest manor- not overly huge, but not tiny either. They make their way to front door and open it, revealing a house bigger than the outside suggests.
"I'm back!" Jack calls out, gathering a few people into the kitchen from around the first floor. He gets greeted by hellos and smiles. "Where is Operator? I have something to report."
As he looks around, a tall, fit-figured woman answers his question first. "He is in his office, reading over mission reports. What happened?" Her deep, sapphire eyes meet Jack's voids.
Jack lets go of Jeff's hand and walks through the house, making his way to the office. He knocks gently, but firmly. "Sir? May I enter?"
"Yes, of course, Jack." A moderate, straight voice confirms, crackling with static. Jack opens the door and steps inside. "What is it?" A tall man looks up at him from a stack of papers on a desk- being met with featureless, white face.
There are two adult men sitting in chairs in the room as well, one in a white mask and one in a black mask. They look over at Jack in dead pan silence. The woman joins Jack in the room as well, closing the door behind them.
Jack takes his mask off and gives the tall man a very serious look. "I just ran into Ashton Wilde, Sir. She's living in Hurricane."
The three men sit up straight. The one on the left in the white female mask pulls his off slowly. "What?" A heavy southern drawl rolling off his tongue. "Whad'ya mean she lives in Hurricane?"
"More importantly," the man in the black frowning ski mask cuts in- pulling it off as well- "ya ran inta her?" He has an almost matching accent to his counterpart.
Operator gestures for the two to hold back their comments and questions. "Are you certain? You know I trust you dearly, Jack; however, we must be certain. If Toby hears about this, he will likely try to find her."
Jack nods. "I am aware. That is why I came to you first about it." He looks down at his hands. "I may not have known her well when they first met, but I know how important she was to him." He clutches his fists. "He cried everyday for months. He was inconsolable, Sir. I would not report this if I was not certain."
Operator sighs and nods. "Alright. Well, what would you like to do? Follow her?"
Jack shakes his head. "No. She doesn't seem to be ditzy. She is observant." They all think for a silent moment.
The woman speaks up. "I can keep an eye on her." The men look at her curiously. "We've never met. I wasn't here when the whole thing occured- I was still in Japan." She thinks. "The town isn't impossibly huge, so it wouldn't be suspicious if I kept ending up in the same places as her- just a random woman."
Operator nods again. "Yes...possibly. hm..." he looks at the others. "Alright, Scarlett, you keep an eye on her. Don't be too intense. Make it seem like you really are 'coincidentally' in the same locations." He thinks a little more. "Tim, Brian," the older men nod, "keep Toby off her trail. We need to gather as much information about Ashton as possible before ever letting Toby know. If she has no interest in seeing him again, I'd like to avoid any breakdowns and putting her in danger."
"Right." Tim says firmly. "I'll keep him busy." He sighs. "Can't believe we're gettin involved with her again..."
Brian shakes his head. "That lil missy left Toby heartbroken."
Operator stands. "Alright, get to it. Keep it quiet. For Toby's sake." They all nod and head for the door. "Hey," he calls firmly, "do not tell anyone about this. Understood?"
"Understood, Sir." They say in sync before leaving.
Operator lets out a long sigh, sitting back down and shaking his head. This will be rough...but they're strong and smart. I only hope this ends well.
Fair warning- I have never watched Marble Hornets, so I am basing Tim and Brian off SMAUs and fandom portrayal. Mostly @cryingintheclubdhmu :)
The chapters will likely end up getting longer now that we've gotten into the actual meat of the story >:))
