Re: The Mountain and Mohammed

[Existentially Odd]

(Continued from \'The Mountain and Mohammed\')

During the ride back to their apartment in the Capital Building, Kerr was so preoccupied with what he\'d learned from Digital that he didn\'t say anything throughout the whole drive. The next words to break the silence were uttered by him though, as he pulled into his usual car park and sat with the engine idling. He looked solemnly at his fledgling and quietly asked, "Do you mind if I come up and get something?"

[Trillian]

Jack had nothing to say to Kerr after their visit was over, looking out the window at the whizzing scenery while Kerr drove them back to the apartment.  He was waiting for Kerr to reassure him that he would wait once the ritual was over, in conflict.  The mad prophet had told him to save Ben, so what did that mean to Jack now?  Would the ritual be complete if Kerr didn\'t let Ben go?  Didn\'t he need Ben\'s body to be able to have one of his own?

Such thoughts circled him, eating at him until the car was brought to a stop in the underground carpark in its usual slot.  He didn\'t even remember most of the drive and thought it unusual that Kerr would park in here instead of parking temporarily on the street in order to drop him off at the front door of Capital Building.  When he turned his head toward Kerr, he was taken aback by the expression on the other\'s face and could only stare at him when the question came.  There was a moment when Jack wanted to plead with Kerr to not only come up and get something, but to stay - but the moment passed.

"Certainly," he said, and before Kerr could say anything more, he unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car, finding himself between the car he\'d given Hannah to use, and the car Kerr had driven here.  She\'d said something about not being late from work tonight but he hadn\'t really considered it until now.  Kerr would meet her, and he was oddly conflicted by this as well.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr responded with a silent nod and turned the car off, getting out and taking the time to remove his suit jacket, laying it on the back seat before finally locking the car.  He wasn\'t sure why he was nervous and decided to employ such delaying tactics; he told himself that he actually was more comfortable in the jeans and the white shirt, no longer needing the jacket to impress Sabrina, but there was more to it.

He thought it was because he thought there was a strong possibility he was going to run into the woman upstairs.  It was late by mortal standards - midnight - so she might be in bed already, but that wasn\'t much of a relief, considering that what he wanted to retrieve from upstairs was the container of lubricant in his bedside drawer.  If the girl was asleep, he resolved that he\'d simply use telekinesis to extract the container... but he\'d still see her.  In their bed.  He wasn\'t sure he was readier for that than actually speaking to her.

Gnawing intently on his tongue stud, he followed Jack into the elevator, trying not to scowl or to fidget.  He tucked his hands into his back pockets in an attempt to forestall that, then leaned his denim-clad ass back against the rear wall, as was his usual (nervous) pose.  "Do you... uh... is your... uh... girlfriend... awake, do you think?" he asked as the lift got underway, glancing surreptitiously over at Jack in a manner that showed him scowling, rather than trying to look neutral (which he was... to no effect).

[Trillian]

Jack, standing in the elevator and knowing not a moment\'s peace due to his constant thoughts and assumptions about what Kerr might or might not be thinking now or later, had been very quiet until Kerr\'s unsteady question came his way.  His gaze shifted, then his head followed so he could look directly at Kerr before nodding slightly - one tiny nod of the head - and then staring at the doors before them.

"She\'ll be waiting for me to get home," he said quietly, feeling rather absurd about such a thing.  He was playing families with her until his real plan came to effect, but Kerr was the one who was closer to him - he should be the one at the apartment waiting for him, not Hannah.  It was mixed up.

[Existentially Odd]

"Oh," was all Kerr could say to that and then he, too, was staring at the doors.  When they slid open, he allowed his companion to exit first, feeling that it would be appropriate for Jack to open the door to the apartment.  He still lived there and he had someone inside waiting for him to return to her, to bed her and drink from her- he shut the thoughts down hastily.

Inside the apartment, Hannah was sitting on the couch that faced the door, cross-legged and concentrating on the Nintendo DS in her hands.  The television to her left was on, showing the music station even though she wasn\'t watching it - she didn\'t have to see it to enjoy singing along while she played.  She was wearing a pair of black hot pants that clung lovingly to her sculpted body and a matching exercise top (it was really little more than a black boob tube with straps that crossed over at her shoulder blades).

Her clothing was minimal because she\'d showered when she\'d got home after her show and fully expected Jack to walk in and instantly remove whatever she wore anyway.  When the lock clicked, her head snapped upwards, face lifting into an automatic grin.  She dropped the DS on the couch negligently and shot up in her seat as the door began opening, springing off the couch and sprinting for the door.

"You\'re home!" she crowed, pacing herself so that she would arrive just as her Matt Damon look-alike was framed in the doorway and she could leap into his arms.  She launched herself expertly in anticipation of this instant, knowing he would catch her, that she would be able to wrap her arms and legs about him and he would kick the door closed and walk her to the nearest surface he felt like fucking her against while they kissed like lovers separated for years, not hours.  Her mouth - and other parts of her body - were already becoming wetter at the mere thought of it even as she sailed through the air.

[Trillian]

He sensed it coming more than saw it, though it was a routine she\'d begun to establish if she was in the apartment first.  Indeed Jack\'s arms did open up to meet her, not making a sound when she landed hard into his chest.  He was both enjoying and appalled at this moment, what with Kerr just behind him and waiting to come.

"Hannah, we have company," he said, almost instantly attempting to set her down, but it was difficult with her limbs entwined about him and trying to kiss him at every turn of his head.  He moved further into the apartment so Kerr at least could walk in, and it was when she was able to see their visitor that she allowed herself to be extracted from Jack\'s body.

[Existentially Odd]

The fact that the door had swung open to reveal a flying girl - well, a woman, he supposed - had shocked Kerr speechless and even halted his worrying of his tongue stud.  He stared with wide eyes from behind Jack as his fledgling caught her easily and attempted to resist the kisses she was intent upon capturing from him, in order to inform her that they weren\'t alone.

Surprised eyes then lifted in his direction and caught his stunned expression, causing the girl to blush and mumble apologies as she was lowered to the floor.  "It\'s fine," he heard himself say, calm and reassuring as he usually was, but was surprised by the words nevertheless.  He actually didn\'t find it too fine at all that there was a woman clinging to the body he loved and although the rational part of him was able to speak confidently and even close the door with a quiet snick once he\'d walked in, the irrational, possessive part of him was appalled, wanting to forcibly peel the girl off his lover (with a dramatic suctioning sound like when one pulled a plug out of the bath, in his mind) and fling her across the room.

Looking away - because maintaining eye contact with Hannah was disconcerting, to say the least - Kerr\'s gaze fell upon something he couldn\'t immediately understand.  He vaguely heard the girl say, "Oh!  Um, hi, I\'m Hannah," and so he responded very simply with his own name before his horrified gaze sought Jack.  "What the hell happened to my kitchen counter?" he demanded incredulously, stunned to see the top of one side wrenched off.  His mouth fell open as he saw the shattered window across the room as well.  He wondered if the two were connected and somehow believed they were.

"Your kitchen counter?" Hannah queried softly, frowning from the talk dark guy (Care, she thought he\'d said) with the funny accent to her lover, expecting she hadn\'t heard properly and that Jack would correct him any second.  What a weirdo.  She stood humbly by his side waiting for that to happen, not knowing what to do with her hands now that she\'d more or less been told she wasn\'t supposed to touch, so they fiddled with one another before her exposed, muscular stomach.

Kerr spared Hannah a scathing glare on his way back to staring expectantly at Jack.  "And to the window?" he added imperiously.

[Trillian]

Jack followed the stare first to the counter and then to the window, remembering how angry and hurt he\'d felt when he\'d done the damage.  An eyebrow rose as he considered what he would tell Kerr, and figured that truth in its most brutal form would be best.

"You upset me a while back," he explained, letting his gaze fall to Kerr and ignoring Hannah\'s questions, though he didn\'t ignore her completely for a possessive arm moved around her waist to keep her close.  "That was my response, once you left."

He dared Kerr to chastise him for damage made while he was angry.  If Kerr wanted to seek out more information, Jack would tell him, but there was a heat in his gaze that he considered Kerr might take as a warning.  Perhaps the other vampire would even seek clarification despite it.  Or in spite of it.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s expression was bewildered and angry; he frowned and shook his head, struggling to pick words out of the tumble that had suddenly fallen into his mouth.  "Wh... but... why didn\'t you tell me so it could be fixed, then?" he demanded, his voice high in exasperation and confusion.  "Where the fuck is the counter, anyway?  God!" he exclaimed, striding over to examine the damage Jack had done when he was \'upset\'.  Upset!  Kerr would fucking show him upset, Christ!

Hannah took the opportunity offered by the other man walking past them to look up at Jack, her hands now upon his body in a very familiar way since he\'d pulled her closer.  "What\'s he mean by his counter?" she whispered, knowing Jack would be able to hear her with his superior hearing and believing Kerr wouldn\'t.

It snapped Kerr\'s last, frayed nerve (where she was concerned) and he rounded before Jack had given more than a preliminary answer, snarling a response to the unsuspecting girl over whatever he said.  "I mean it\'s my fucking counter because this is my fucking apartment!" he told her nastily.

Hannah had the grace to look taken aback, her innocent expression doing nothing for him as she took a minute step back in the face of such fury.  "Wh-what?  B-but I th-though this was Jack\'s apartment?" she asked querulously, looking away from the looming giant up to her much more appealing boyfriend for her answer.

"Oh did you, just?" Kerr spat, joining the trend and looking at Jack for an answer as well.  He was furious and he knew it wasn\'t practical or logical but he also didn\'t care just then.  The closer the girl got to Ben

Jack!

the more he hated and wanted to hurt her.  He would settle for letting all his venom out in the form of verbal abuse until then, for he\'d already decided he would wipe her mind

simple mind like hers, she won\'t even miss it.
Fucking slut

of this entire incident before he left.  "And why would she think it\'s just your apartment, Jack?" he sneered.

[Trillian]

He sneered at Kerr when the other vampire rounded on his woman, ready to fend him off if he did anything violent to Hannah.  He\'d been surprised by this sudden display of anger.  What did it matter if something in the apartment was broken?  Things broke all the time.  He\'d only just finished telling Kerr that it had been something he\'d done, so why yell at Hannah like that?  He was confused and angry because of it.

Jack\'s eyes narrowed as he regarded Kerr\'s irate face, not liking the way he was being spoken to.  When he answered, his tone was monotonous and sibilent, his voice low and steady but far from calm, his expression grim.  He lifted a finger and pointed it at Kerr, gesturing with his pointing finger every time he stressed his words.

"Because you moved out.  You left me to go to your beach house. You didn\'t want to live with me.  You said I would live here, that this would be where I would live.  If I live here, on my own, it is my apartment.  I asked you to stay.  You refused."

This time, Hannah truly was forgotten at his side, even though he had his free hand around her wrist, pulling her back and partially behind him while still keeping her with him.  She belonged to him and Kerr would not yell at her, touch her or remove her without his approval.  All he need do to be rid of her was to offer to be her replacement.  Nothing else would work.

[Existentially Odd]

Hannah didn\'t understand the power play that was going on and even though she was glad that Jack was standing between her and... whoever the hell the other guy was, he was hurting her wrist, despite her willingly moving behind him.  She whimpered and tried to twist out of his hold, using her other hand to tap and tug at his strong fingers in an effort to quietly alert him to the fact that his hand was closed around her like a vice.  She could practically feel her bones bowing, ready to break.

"Touché," Kerr eventually growled, looking away first because a glaring contest was going to get them nowhere; especially when Jack was right and he knew he was being completely unreasonable.  It was only because Hannah was living there and enjoying the body he wanted that he resented the situation enough to stir up shit he had no right to.  He was insanely jealous... and the girl wasn\'t pretty or witty enough to deserve the privileges she was being afforded.

"You\'re gonna\' break your toy," he then told Jack with a sneer, his gaze falling to the mewling mortal, able to see that his fledgling\'s grip was tight even across the room.  Deciding he didn\'t want to see what would happen next (and that he needed to calm the fuck down, because seeing the way her skin was going white from Jack\'s extreme grip was causing a sick enjoyment to writhe within him), Kerr spun on his heel and headed for the bedroom.  "I\'ll be right back," he announced casually, striding down the hall without looking back and thinking only of getting away, rather than efficiently retrieving what he\'d come for.  A few minutes alone in the bedroom might be what he needed to gather himself.

"Jack?" Hannah queried worriedly, her doe-eyed gaze directed up at her boyfriend in as trusting manner as possible - given that she was now at the point where she was angling her body away from Jack in an effort to give strength to getting out of his grasp.  It wasn\'t working and that caused more than a little panic to flutter her heart harder and faster in her chest.

[Trillian]

He didn\'t know what Kerr meant by breaking his toy, but got the idea as soon as Kerr left the room.  His eyes followed the other vampire\'s progress before they settled coldly on Hannah.  Seeing her attempts to pull away from him like that had him initially bewildered before he opened up his hand, effectively causing her to tumble backwards onto her ass because of how she\'d been using her weight.

He opened his mouth to say something to her, an apology perhaps, but his heart wasn\'t in it.  He knew events would spiral out of control if Kerr met Hannah, he\'d been conflicted about it for good reason.  He didn\'t properly understand why Kerr had turned into the beast that he was but there was a hint of recognition at the jealousy - for hadn\'t he been jealous himself not long ago, of a certain mad prophet who Kerr had quite obviously cared about?  And wasn\'t this the same jealousy that had caused him to rip a certain kitchen counter up and throw it at the window?  Jealousy he recognised, yes.  Anger, too.

"Stay here," he ordered, figuring Hannah would likely not follow him if he was going after Kerr anyway, but the order couldn\'t remain unspoken.  He stormed after Kerr, intending on prolonging the discussion to a point where Kerr would admit that he was jealous, that he would admit he wanted to stay, and would admit it was Jack he wanted to live with.  Not Ben.

[Existentially Odd]

Hannah found herself fighting off tears without really understanding why - and she had no intention of following Jack.  Obediently, she resumed her position on the couch, picking up her dropped game but staring instead at the doorway Jack had disappeared into, thinking.

Jack would enter the bedroom to find Kerr staring unseeingly down at the bottle he\'d pulled from his bedside drawer, as planned.  What he\'d not planned was the pensive silence and forced calming process he was going through, that had him standing stoically beside the bed and looking at the bottle of clear fluid like it was talking to him.

When he sensed his fledgling walking in behind him he turned, not saying anything, just cradling the bottle worshipfully in both hands and gnawing on his tongue stud while he frowned from beneath his lowered brows.  Stupidly, he felt embarrassed, but knew the bottle was too big and round to fit comfortably in one of his pockets, to hide it.  Inane thoughts - about Ben possibly having a smaller one on his side (he thought) instead - drifted through his head but didn\'t draw a comment from him.

[Trillian]

Jack was anxious and itching for an argument after the display he\'d just received.  Having Kerr make a comment and withdraw wasn\'t good enough to remove the desire for discussion.  He needed to get some of his feelings out - and none of those feelings were good at all.

"What are you doing?  What are you taking?" he demanded as soon as he saw Kerr holding something close to him.  It was probably a bottle of Ben\'s cologne, or something that would remind Kerr of the person Jack was not.  Another flare of jealousy kicked up, and Jack had no desire to suppress it.  He wanted to be angry at Kerr, for making him feel foolish in front of Hannah.  How dare he belittle him in front of his woman.  She belonged to him, it wouldn\'t do him any good for her to think he belonged to another.

He stormed up to where Kerr stood and intended on removing the thing out of his hands, so he could see it.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s jaw set and he spun the bottle, holding it up for Jack to see.  "Just this," he sneered.  "I thought I\'d take it for when you came over in a few nights," he explained, his tone lofty and superior, despite (or probably due to) his embarrassment at being questioned.  It spurred him to add something he would immediately regret - but not so much that he went to the trouble of retracting it.

"I can leave it for you, if you have trouble getting her wet."