pay attention

calebxhunter:

“Probably not. I feel like I’d remember a name like that. But welcome. I’m Caleb. Nice to meet you,” He said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

“Ria? Three little letters? It’s not that memorable of a name, but I appreciate you saying that, Caleb,” she said as she took his hand. “What do you do around here? For fun. Or just in life, I guess.”

“Probably not. I feel like I’d remember a name like that. But welcome. I’m Caleb. Nice to meet you,” He said, holding out his hand for her to shake.

[text]: You will not believe what I just found for movie night. 

                   “So, I wanna go out and have fun tonight. But not too much fun. Because I have a curfew. But enough fun to forget about it. But not for too long. Y’know?”

“There are too many parameters here,” Ria said, popping a macaron into her mouth. “You’ve confused me. Do you want to have fun or no?”

Her laugh rang through his ears and he couldn’t help but grin at the sound. Giving her time to compose herself, Jake looked down at her. “Bigger? You know, if I wasn’t so obviously chiselled and ripped, that might have hurt a little bit.” He retorted, giving her a knowing look before shaking his head pityingly. “Dishonour on you, Mushu. That’s no way to treat a friend.”

It almost felt too easy to joke, to smile even, and it had Jake second guessing what the universe had in store for him next. It seemed to like waiting until he was trying to stand, in the misguided belief that life could be normal again, before kicking him back down into reality. He wanted to take advantage of situation and decided to, at least try, and maintain the light tone on what otherwise could have been a tense conversation for both parties. Jake spared a thought to how Ria must have felt, not just around him but people in general- and it made him shudder internally.

Maybe she needed a distraction just as much as he did. Jake could do that, he could joke and act the clown as long as they didn’t have to engage in the all too awkward conversation he had spent the last year avoiding with everyone. And he knew that with Ria, he couldn’t refrain or brush it off because she would have known anyway.

Of course one of his closest friends had to be an empath, it was just his luck really.

Pulling from his thoughts when Ria spoke, he focused his gaze back on her and pulled a face. “God, that is terrible. I remember your cooking, Desai. Or murder attempts, depending on what you were cooking. You’re right, it wasn’t fun,” Jake teased, holding a hand to his throat dramatically. “They do pizza here though, right? If you say no I’m packing up and leaving.”

Obviously Ria wasn’t blind; he was chiseled and ripped, no question. She could appreciate a well-built man when the circumstances allowed for it, but the circumstances here really didn’t. Jake was her friend- for the purpose he served in her life, it didn’t really matter what he looked like. What mattered was that he didn’t get upset when she made fun of him. 

The biceps did help, though, she wasn’t going to lie. It was interesting, really, to feel the hurt and the pain and the inherent softness of him while seeing him look the way he did. The dissonance was almost jarring. If one were to judge him simply by his cover, which Ria didn’t have the capacity to do, he could easily come off as a disinterested frat boy-type who didn’t take anything seriously. In reality, he was the exact opposite. To go through so much and to still try and put on a brave face was the height of strength, and it only made Ria want to stand straighter. 

Life wasn’t always good to people, but she was lucky. She hadn’t yet faced anything that she couldn’t handle. 

Jax blinked to make sure he hadn’t dozed off in his car and this was some weird dream. Nope. Someone had called dispatch about a rat and dispatch had sent him to the residence to deal with it. This had to be some sort of prank.

“A rat?” He asked and then sighed softly. “Alright, alright, just show me where,” he said, taking out his reinforced gloves and putting them on.

In her defense, she’d never really had to deal with rats before. They’d had groundskeepers in Delhi. At Exeter, common areas were kept clean by housekeeping, and then in New York- she’d hired a cleaning lady. Not that her place here was messy, at least in her opinion. It was just that there was a rat, or a mouse, or something living in her home. 

“Just be thankful it’s not a murder mystery,” she said, opening the door wider and stepping back. “I am allowed to call the police for assistance, right? So I need assistance finding out, where, specifically, this thing is.” 

“Wait, you’re blaming this on me?” He said, pointing at himself with a facial expression which was a rather… strong mix of confusion and frustration. “Hang on a second, you’re the one that just popped out of nowhere, and I’m the one who did this?! - I am not paying for all of this, you should start thinking of other ideas real quick ‘cause that’s not happening. 

“But… but I don’t want to let it go, Ria,” Charlie mumbled to the girl beside him, scratching his forehead since there was still a small part of hope within him, “… Can’t you do some sort of cool witch spell that repairs it? That happened in Harry Potter, once.”

“That’s not how my magic works,” she said. Though to be fair, she didn’t know for sure. A spell could work, if she worded it properly, but even magic had its limits. If magic couldn’t fix human injuries, Ria was willing to bet that mechanical ones had some limits, too. “If the mechanic says it’s done, who am I to disagree?”

“No one, I left all my friends in New York behind when I had to run again. My sister found me there and I had to go. I haven’t seen anyone, I haven’t talked to anyone since I woke up.” She said shaking her head as she ran her fingers through her hair. “There was this guy in the emergency room though….” He words trailed off and she gasped. “Oh my god I thought he was crazy, he looked at me like he knew me. Was going on and on about how I did I not know him, how did I not remember…. her. Oh my god.” Her hands went up to cover her mouth in horror.

“No. Never seen her in my life,” He said taking some napkins and starting to wipe himself off. “You?” He asked, wondering if she had any more of an idea then he did.

“I just moved here,” Ria said, “It’s kind of a wonder that I know anyone. On that note- Have we met? I’m Ria.”

“Yeah,” He said, giving her another little shrug. “I lost him when I was twelve. But I was able to resurrect him this year.”

Witchcraft wasn’t new to her, nor was the knowledge of Ryder’s power. To see it displayed so clearly in front of her, however, was new. Her initial reaction was to freeze, her hand pausing over the dog, a result of her upbringing and her culture’s general disregard for anything that bordered on morbid. After that, though, Ryder’s emotions registered in her brain, and she felt how much he cared about the dog. How happy he was to have his pet back, after everything. “I’m glad you had the chance to do that,” Ria said quietly, shifting her hand so she could pat his shoulder, instead. “You deserve to have your best friend by your side.”

“I haven’t really thought about this much, but something really smooth by Mariah Carey, maybe. Beautiful, or Touch My Body.”

Holding her to his chest, he let out a silent breath that he hadn’t realised he was keeping in. Softening slightly in the embrace, Jake let his arm rest lightly over her shoulder and looked down at her when she spoke. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he pressed them together, nodding his head.

He was happy to see her, that was something he tried to focus on. It wasn’t hard to show that, what was hard was being unable to control the constant lingering of sadness and despair that riddled his bones. It was worse to see the expression on her face as she inhaled, making him look up for a moment to cover his shame. Jake was thankful, though. That she didn’t comment on it, instead choosing to make a witty remark. He was happy to see that hadn’t changed.

Despite how everything else had.

Falling back into the dynamics they had developed in the past, a teasing smile appeared on his face. Lifting his arm from over her shoulder and pressing a hand to his chest as if he were offended, his head tilted to the side. “Ria, please, you have noodle arms. This,” Jake began, gesturing over his torso, “is a temple. I’m as swift as the coursing river, with all the force of a great typhoon – do you need me to go on?” He asked, raising his eyebrow at her. 

It occurred to him that this was one of the first times in months that he had laughed and joked all in one sentence with barely any effort behind it.  He wasn’t sure how to feel about that but decided to take it one step at a time. 

“Anyway neighbour,” Jake said, gaze leaving her face to glance at the house before falling back on to her. “You busy? I hope not ‘cause I’m hungry as hell and if you leave me unsupervised in this state, I’m not sure what’ll happen.” 

There was some happiness, some light, in the middle of all of that darkness. She could feel it without even trying, which was the only excuse she could give herself. Otherwise it felt like she was prying. Ria had grown up with her powers. She’d never lived in a world where she hadn’t been able to read people, their emotions, practically see through to their souls. She doled out her trust based on how she felt and how other people felt- emotions were practically her life. With some people, however, the lines got blurry. How was she supposed to read Danika’s emotions when Danika could do the same to her? Or her siblings, her parents, her entire extended family? They all knew each other too well, and it was too much power to have over someone you cared about to know their every feeling, sometimes even before they did. 

Truth be told, Ria wouldn’t blame Jake for keeping his distance. It would hurt, especially considering she was just starting to feel comfortable in town, but his need for privacy came above her need for friends. Especially when she could make more. 

Besides, Ria told herself, it wasn’t like she hadn’t moved around enough. The people of Hollow Grove were kind and friendly and welcoming, everyone wanting to create an environment where the supernatural could be free to be themselves. 

Jake, at least, hadn’t lost that innate Jake-ness. She burst out laughing at his joke, pulling away from him so she could cover her face with her hands and hide her laugh. Her shoulders were shaking, and it took a few deep breaths to control herself. “Calm down, Li Shang,” she said, covering up a hiccup. She patted his arm and poked at a bicep. “This could be bigger. Just saying.”

Her stomach growled right on time. “Okay, but I don’t know what there is to eat. They don’t have sushi here. Or good ramen. Or a good Indian place. I’ve had to cook, and let me tell you, that is not fun.” 

Alex shook her head, a look of confusion spread across her features and she felt overwhelmed and downright sick to her stomach. None of this made sense, she remembered waking up, she remembers what she was told had happened to her, she knew she’d lost ten months of her life. This didn’t make sense. “This doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t I remember that?” Her breathing was inconsistent and she felt like she was going to pass out. Was she having a panic attack? 

“Hey, hey- okay, just take a deep breath,” Ria said, continuing to rub Alex’s arms. Up and down, slow movements. “We’ll figure this out, we just need to get you to talk to someone. Who else have you seen in the last year? Has anyone else said anything weird to you since you got to town?”

Ryder smiled over at Ria. “Of course I know that. He’s just technically no longer a dog,” He admitted, trusting her enough not to freak out as he dropped the glamour for a few minutes before raising it back up around Bones.

“Oh,” she said, her hands slowly going up to cover her mouth. “Oh, sweet baby. I didn’t know. How long?”