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Jack's invited Sturm over to the Disaster Darkling house this afternoon to shoot the shit and maybe put some finishing touches on the place. A couple of the bathrooms still need trim, a bunch of ceiling lights still need to be installed and the exterior needs painting, and Jack meets her on the front steps. He's dressed to work, in worn and paint splattered cargo shorts and a faded tour t shirt, his work boots scuffed and broken in.
"Sturm." He upnods. "How're you now?"
"Good, n' you?"
Sturm shows up at the house carrying a rusty red toolbox, and wearing a pair of old, paint-stained cargo pants alongside an Iron Maiden tour tee with shorn off sleeves. Dangling around her neck are a pair of necklaces - one with a sapphire pendant, the other a bloodstained arrowhead on a worn leather cord. She seems to be in pretty good spirits for a change - which isn't actually unusual despite appearances, but it is unusual for it to show so visibly.
"Not so bad."
Jack flashes her a grin as he takes in her good spirits, charcoal lines around his body dancing. "Looks like your little vacation to Allentown was a good one, yeah?" He leads her into the entryway of the house, where a bench sits against one of the walls. A couple hooks, still in their packages, are piled up in one of the corners, and jack runs his fingers through his currently unstyled hair. "Fuck me, feels like there's always something else to do - planned on putting baseboard in the third floor bathrooms, but should really get these up...you got a drill or should I go run and get mine?"
"Yeah, I mean." Sturm shifts awkwardly, tipping her head from side to side with her free hand outstretched like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction. "I could've probably asked for a better romantic backdrop than the looming specter of war, but enh." Her shoulders tip up, and she wordlessly offers the toolbox to Jack in lieu of an actual answer to the question "It ended up being pretty great, anyway. You know how it goes."
"Yeup," is all Jack says , accepting the toolbox and setting it on the bench to dig through. "Gotta find those bits of calm wherever you can - spent the other day up there helping Sigrun repair some of the Freehold, was kinda nice to just...focus on the shit we can do."
Drill found, he squints at the wall. "Marked where I wanted these to go, went to go find a drill, and got distracted..." He shakes his head with a huff of amusement.
"I mostly kept to myself for years before I met Sigrun," there's a pause, and her brow furrows as she tries to do the crunch on their timeline. "Okay, I mostly kept to myself for years after I met her. Until we rekindled," she clarifies with a nod. "So sticking my neck out so far is a bit of a hard thing for me, but I can't argue. It does feel good to focus on shit you can change."
Her hands disappear into her pockets as she surveys the wall. "This is your show, so tell me where you want me."(edited)
"Lemme pre-drill these holes, and you can hold the hooks up while I screw 'em in." Jack is clearly confident with power tools, and makes short work of the pre-drilling before moving to unpackage the hooks. They're simple metal hooks, but bright, shiny purple, that pop against the currently white walls. "We might paint the bench to match someday - see how exhausted we are of painting."
"You got it," Sturm grumbles. By the time Jack finishes drilling, Sturm has most of the hooks prepped for the wall, and he only has to open one or two more. "It'll look much better with matching color," she notes, holding one to place. "... but I get that. We finished just enough of the downstairs that it was serviceable as a room, and I was ready to hibernate for a year."
"Mearcstapa and Lux finished painting the kitchen last week - looks fucking incredible. So a lotta shit's a bit past serviceable now, I just...dunno if we're gonna get all the way there right away. I'm just excited that we can actually shower - and do laundry. Got a plumber for that shit, I don't trust myself with pipes. Electrical is fine, but I'll leave plumbing to the professionals." Jack huffs in amusement and screws the hooks into place.
"Yeah, I know a thing or two about fixing minor shit, but I wouldn't touch a big job with a ten foot pole," Sturm chuckles. She moves on to the next hook to wait for Jack. "I'm glad to hear y'all are settling in alright, though. It was a bit hard for me to give up my personal space at first, but I really like having my people around me, now."
"Place has six bedrooms, we all got our personal space for when we need it. We kicked out one of the walls in the kitchen too, so we're not all on top of ourselves trying to get coffee in the morning...an' if we can deal with spending a month in Mearcstapa's place, I think we can deal with a place like this, y'know?" Jack chuckles. "It's been nice to not feel like I'm all up in Mearcstapa's hair all the time, feel bad we've been crashing with him for so long..."
"Was just a little bit different for me. I went from having no one around to suddenly having six? While still standoffs with one?" Sturm hangs one of the wall hooks on her horn, and scratches the back of her head. "I feel that, though. I'm sure Mearcstapa was happy y'all were there - even if it was cramped and he was going stir crazy. This should be easymode after that."
The next hook goes into place, and Sturm gives Jack a searching look. "How you been doing on the other front?"
"Sigrun offered me a beer when I went to go see her. An' I told her you'd prob'ly kill me 'f I took her up on it." Jack shrugs, like it's not a big deal. "This place's taking up a lotta my time, 's prob'ly a good thing...?"
Sturm offers a wordless grunt, and her brow furrows. "That's on me. I knew you were coming out, and I should've let her know you were sober." The hook comes down from her horn, and goes up into place. "Yeah. Probably a good thing. Having shit to do with my hands really helped me." Beat. "I heard Mearcstapa and Lux aren't drinking anymore either? That's cool as hell of them."
"Yeah." A warm smile grows on his face as he nods. "They've been amazing about the whole thing, honestly. They deserve better'n what I was, so," another shrug as he screws the hook into the wall, "I gotta try to be better, y'know?"
"You know," the Jotunn trails off, looking for the words - or at least a way to make the words softer. "It's great that you've found motivation in them, but you deserve better than that, too." Beat. "Y'know?"
Jack dips his head. "Not somethin' I've ever been able to believe. Is what it is. Working on it. Still...tryin' to find something long term, for when I want a drink."
"Yeah," she offers a sigh. "I really, really get that. I carried around a worry stone in my pocket for years, and I'd wear a groove in that motherfucker some days 'cause I was so pissed off and upset. Having something to do with my hands when I couldn't work on a big project like this really helped me."
"You...said you never went to a program, yeah?" Jack shoots Sturm a glance as he screws in the last of the hooks. "Know they help some people, but like...I dunno, 's hard to explain why I stopped using and kept drinking to...most folx. Can't really talk about Over There."
"Nah, I never did - but I had a lot of good folx I could talk to and lean on back in my old Freehold in east Texas." She quirks an eyebrow, and her hands drop back into her pockets once the hook is in place. "Why you ask?"
"'Cause I was thinkin' about looking into 'em, but like I said. Can't really talk about all my shit to most people in 'em, so I'm not sure it's worth bothering. I just...figure I don't wanna lean on you an' Sigrun too much, and I sure as hell don't wanna have to make Mearcstapa or Lux listen to my shit. Plus, they...you know. Don't get it like you." He takes a few steps back to survey the wall, and nods. "You wanna drink or something? Eh - water or we've got a lotta fancy soda that Mearcstapa's been buying...?"
"You don't have to be 100% truthful at those things. If you think going to a group would help, you should definitely go to a group - but if you're worried about leaning on us too much," Sturm offers a little shrug. "Well, I can't speak for Sigrun, but you're not leaning on me too much. Hell, you could stand to lean quite a bit harder before I started to complain. Don't care what the little bugs in you brain say, you're not an imposition." Beat. "... but I will take one of those fancy sodas. If it ain't too much trouble."(edited)
Jack gives her a mild Look, his mouth twitching upward. "'Course it's not too much trouble, plus I wanna talk up what an amazing job my partners did with the kitchen. C'mon."
The kitchen is just around the corner, all the cabinets painted in a dark, saturated blue. It picks up the colors of the Mexixan Talavera tiles on the backsplach behind the stove, and the corners of the cabinets have little flowers done in the same reds and yellows and whites.
It's a big enough kitchen to have an island even, and Jack navigates around it to open the fridge. "Sasparilla or...cherry lime?"
Sturm responds to that Look with a wink. 'Cause she's definitely in on the joke. When she enters the kitchen, her hands leave her pockets, and she runs a finger along the beautiful tile backsplash. "Damn, y'all really went all out, huh?" She offers a smile, and rests an elbow on the island. "Sasparilla sounds fine. If you've got a good one..."
"We kinda did, yeah..." Jack hands Sturm a soda, taking a cherry lime for himself. "Kinda figured, 'f we're gonna have our own place, might as well go all out. Plus Lux'd go crazy if the whole place was like...neutral colors. This kinda stuff is a nice compromise so mine and Mearcstapa's eyes aren't burning from the neon." He hops up on the island and reaches for his pocket, before shaking his head and twisting the cap off the bottle. Old habits die hard, and all that.
Sturm cracks the cap off her own drink, and takes a swig from the bottle before setting it down atop the counter. It would probably be rude to hop up onto someone else's island, so she's more than content to just hover here. "Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, this seems like a much better alternative to living in a roller rink on disco night. Lots of color, but it's still somewhat muted." A beat, and she tips up the bottle again. "Plus, I'm a big fan of blue."
"Exactly - Lux can paint their room whatever color they want, and the main living spaces are gonna be a little more muted. You like blue, huh?" He smirks at her as he takes a drink. "Thought white was more your color..." It's not breaking a sealing if the only person around when you talk about it is the one who sealed it in the first place, right?(edited)
Sturm lifts the bottle of sasparilla to her lips -- which makes for a very convenient cover for her expression -- and takes a long sip. "Well," she swallows. A thoughtful expression crops up on her features, and her brow furrows in thought. "Blue's my favorite color, but it's a bit much to wear blue when you are blue. The white harness looks really nice with my hair - and Teagan likes when my hair is down." Another sip. Wowee, can you believe Sturm was able to be so casual about that! "So yeah. That's why the white."
She reaches up to fiddle with the pendant around her neck by brushing a thumb across the face of the sapphire gremlin - and a bit of fondness shows through the cracks in her icy mask. "This's blue, though. They brought me blue flowers when we started dating officially, too. I'm... a bit of a sap about it."(edited)
"Ah." Jack nods, his grin shifting to something a little more sincere.
"You got it bad for 'em, don't you?" He nudges her shoulder. "'S a good look for you, head over heels. Y'oughta think about showing it more often."
"Yeah, maybe a little." Her face scrunches up in thought again, and she sets the bottle aside with a little shrug. "What makes you say that?" Beat. "That I oughta show it, I mean."
"Lets people know you're not as icy cold as you look." A beat, and Jack shrugs. He's not looking at her, focused on his soda. "Unless, you know. 'S what you wanna do a hundred percent of the time. Seems like you might not wanna."
She opens her mouth to speak, but is interrupted. As if on cue, Sturm's phone rings - a beautiful little sea glass windchime sound - and she looks down at the screen. "Speak of the fuckin' gremlin," she breaks into a grin as she fires off a text message before putting it down atop the island.
"... I guess that's probably fair." There's a very long pause. Maybe a second~ longer than is normal. "Do you think that's a problem?"
"Do you?" Jack looks at her here, curiosity the only thing on his sketched face.
"Maybe." The phone rings again, but she lets it go. "It does tend to get in the way at times. I think people doubt my sincerity at times. Or think I'm trying to hold them at arm's length when I'm not."
There's a shrug. You asked. "... but you looked down at your drink when you brought it up - and you're normally a pretty social guy, so you've been very good about maintaining regular eye contact and what-not." Beat. "Which makes it seem like you have more to say on the subject."
This, of course, is laid out in her very neutral way. Not angry, not insistent, not frustrated. Just. Setting it down.
"I know how it is, bringing up shit someone might not wanna talk about. Dunno if it's a tough subject, you know?" Jack turns slightly to face her. "I don't wanna accidentally push you away, digging too much."
"Nah," there's a little dismissive wave. "You're good on that front, I promise you that. Most people gotta dig if they want to get anything from me. While I definitely found it annoying at first, it makes me feel pretty welcome - knowing someone gives enough of a shit to pry. If that makes sense."
Of course, Teagan went after her secrets with an ice pick, so. That should track.
"Well." Another shrug. "Showing some of what you're feeling would help with that. More people might wanna pry a little more. But I don't wanna give you advice if you don't want it, you know? You seem to be figuring it out okay. But yeah. 'S nice to see you talkin' about someone who makes you as happy as Teagan does."
"You're more than welcome to pry, or give advice. I may not take some of it, and I may tell you I don't want to answer some questions, but you're not gonna piss me off." Sturm takes a little swig of her drink again - offering a little, fond smile. "You and Sig have a good conversation aside from the initial misunderstanding?"
"Oh yeah. Been meaning to get to know her a little better for a long time, ended up being a really nice couple days. Looking forward to spending more time with her. I eh...she's good people. Glad you an' her got over all your shit, seems like the both of you are better for it."
Sturm fuckin' laughs at that. "Yeah, same. We had a lot of weird shit between us for a while, so I'm breathing pretty easily now that we've worked it out - and I'm hoping things will be good from here on." Beat. "She's ridiculously good people."
"She mentioned youse were dealing with another sort'a tension." Jack smirks at her. "You worked that shit out on vacation, too?"(edited)
"Wait, she said what now?" Sturm's eyebrow goes up, and a smirk tugs at the corner of her lips. Jack may get the feeling that -- while this is definitely a controlled version of her reaction -- it's a genuine reaction.
"...Did I get the wrong idea about what sort of tension she was implying?" Jack raises an eyebrow, his smirk growing.
"Probably not," there's a little snort-laugh, and Sturm averts her eyes to pinch the bridge of her nose between a thumb and forefinger. "Yeah, we did that a couple times, too. I'm just surprised she'd just bring it up out of the blue."
There's a moment's pause, and her brow crinkles as ahe considers their timeline. "Okay maybe I'm not that surprised."
"We were talkin' about you two making up, tracks to me she'd mention making out, too..." Jack winks at her and takes a drink of his soda. "Good for you. I've never been one for turning relationships around like that - just never been good at it, really."
"Well, in my defense it wasn't really a turnaround. Our relationship had always been good-ish. We just didn't remember it without digging around in our heads a bit." Sturm offers a little shrug and a half-smile. "... and I dunno. You seem like a decent dude, so I'm sure you'd do fine at it if you had to."(edited)
"Fucked up enough relationships without having all that bullshit to complicate it, I dunno how I'd even come back from those, let alone..." he gestures to her. "All the shit you had to dig through."
"It's a little easier when it's important." Sturm offers a pensive look for a moment, and then jumps up onto the counter to join Jack. Social convention be damned! "I couldn't remember why I was supposed to, but I'd fucked up so many relationships with people -- not just romantic ones -- that I just had to be like "hell no. Not again" and then do it."
"See, I usually go the other way - fucked up enough relationships that there's no point in even trying anymore." Jack sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "Lux, and Mearcstapa, they...they're helping me change my mind about that. Still hard, sometimes. Can't always see what they see."
"Well," Sturm's not usually a touchy person, so it might be a little odd that she wraps one of those massive arms of her around Jack's shoulder and jostles him a little bit. "It's real easy to feel like being a fuck up is the only thing you'll ever be," she grumbles. Probably from experience. "So I hope you don't mind if I spend a bit of time trying to convince you, too."
Jack twitches in surprise when Sturm puts an arm around him, his mine flickering and shuddering for half a second. But then he leans in with a huff of a laugh. "Nah, don't mind you trying. Long's you don't mind it being a lotta hard work, probably."
"Oh, shit. It's going to be hard? Nah, I'm out." Sturm grabs her drink, and mimes like she's about to jump back down off the counter, but ends up stopping shy of it, and nudging Jack in the side. "Of course I don't mind, Jack. I wouldn't have offered to do half the shit I've offered to do if I minded hard work."
"Figured I'd warn you so you know what you're getting yourself into." Jack shakes his head with a chuckle and drains the rest of his drink. "Thanks for coming over today - you want another soda, 're you ready to tackle the baseboard upstairs?"
"Whenever you like," Sturm's arm is withdrawn from his shoulders, and she slides off the island for real real this time. "Seriously. If you ever need to talk in meatspace, and don't want to dump shit on your partners, I know about forty great coffee spots that are open 24/7." She swirls the liquid in her soda bottle to determine how much is left, and then shrugs. "Nah, let's get the work done first. Can always grab another after while. Shall we?"
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