IC CONTACT POST

[uberboned]

[A woman's voice comes over the line.]

You've reached the Trickster's voicemail. Unfortunately, Mr. Trickster isn't available to take your call, nor will he likely ever be. Should you still wish to leave a message, please respond after the tone, and maybe we'll remember to get it to him, mmkay?

[Beep]

[[OOC: This is an IC voicemail post for all verses games. Please put the name of the verse/game you want in the subject heading.]]

Comments

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[There's some shuffling like someone rolling over- just because Gabriel doesn't sleep doesn't mean he doesn't pretend he can.]

I told you they'd come back. Tom's... Well, let's just not think about that one, okay? And aside from the blackouts and the explosions and the general mayhem that's making guys like me look bad, things are... Looking significantly less shitty than they did a week ago.

[Long pause]

None of that's on your mind, is it?

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[A long pause right back at you.]

I was so... happy when I got them both back. I don't usually do happy, but I really was. It was all just [she searches for the word] missing something.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[It seems like Gabriel may have... Just hung up, but he's mostly just resisting the urge to throw the phone across the room. Jealous? Maybe a little. He could be petty too.]

That's family for you. Dumb, prone to dying, and always making you feel like shit when you can't bully 'em when you need to. [More shuffling... And possibly burying his head under his pillow.]

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Getting him to have conversations like this really was akin to pulling teeth. She wanted to ask what the hell he was busy doing over there, but that would change the subject.]

I didn't call you to talk about Invisiboy and the Linkin Park groupie. Gabriel... look, my comm's already half dead and I can't charge it. I know you could be on this couch with me in a heartbeat. So...

SUDDEN ACTION.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[Gabriel's still holding his phone.]

Next time. Start the conversation with that. Unless you like the sarcastic banter. [...Blackberry's don't make satisfying click sounds when you hang them up. Damn them.]

Dun dun... DUUN DUUUUUUN

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Jinx is sitting on the couch wrapped up in a blanket. Without heat, her fashion sense had suffered. A big black sweat shirt with violet sweat pants, striped knee socks, and slippers with small bat wings on them. There's a few candles in the room, enough light to show that she was still sporting a lovely black eye. But hey, she looked like less shit than she had for the past several days.

She sets her communicator down and gives him a tired smile.]

I live for the sarcastic banter. Hey, Gabriel. This... this is better.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

Better than sitting around, wondering what comes next, huh? I gotta lay low for awhile. This crap's so bad for business. [He sprawls on the couch beside her.] So aside from the fact that this past week has been more traumatic than a David Lynch film... How's it going?

[Yes, even sympathetic, Gabriel manages to be sarcastic. Such is his life.]

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

Looks like we'll have a lot of free time, then. You laying low, me never leaving my apartment again until the boys get over the PTSD. [She laughs a little, then sighs.]

I've done and said a lot of things in the past week I normally wouldn't have. I don't ever cry, or scream, or get sappy, and I usually don't crave the blood of those who have wronged me. [Jinx literally facepalmed, which she immediately regretted. Ow.] So I'm... sorry. [That word always left such a bad taste in her mouth.]

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

You're gonna be a hermit for a really long time.

[He just stares at her for a moment.] ...You just basically apologized for having feelings. Contrary to me being the advocate for the surgical removal of all negative emotion... It's not like I minded. [He settled himself into the corner of the couch where the arm rest met the cushion, making himself quite comfortable.] 'Least it was me and not some psychopath who would use it against you. You know how many times I've preached that lesson and then got dumbass looks when it turns out I was right.

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Yes, she did. And she felt like she had to. The next look she gave him was an extremely confused one.]

You didn't mind me being a wreck and clinging to you like a child? Or staying at your warehouse. Or-- [a frustrated groan] That's just not normal. I don't believe you. Hell, I'm amazed you're still even talking to me after everything I-- you seriously didn't mind all that?

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[Gabriel glances around, like... Maybe she's talking to someone else in the room. Nope. She's not.]

Look. I don't hold onto a lot of things. In the course of five minutes, I can go from tearing someone's arm off in a rage to making bad jokes. Not a lot bothers me. And, uh, Jinx? You're a girl. A strong-willed girl who can keep her emotions reigned in as well as I can, but... Y'know, still a girl. If you were a guy, this would be an awkward moment and I would probably have to go Fight Club on you.

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[That got her to laugh, if only just a little. Then she stays quiet for a little.]

It was really sweet that you cleaned up my apartment for me. I never really thanked you for that. You're putting up with way too much shit from me. But I guess you don't have to anymore. If you don't want to. We got the bad guy. Everything's good. You don't have to feel obligated to make me feel better anymore.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

Would you still be thanking me if I told you that I know about the unicorns?

[His... Look of amusement completely fades at that last bit, however.]

...Uh... Wow. This is kinda backwards. I mean, honestly I was shocked you called. I figured I'd have to pop in every now and then, annoy you, occasionally ask you to work a job or two, and terrorize the boys, whatever. I mean... You got them back. Isn't that what mattered?

[Insecure... Met Insecure..er.]

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Fuck everything, he knew about the unicorns. That would have been mortifying if the next words that came out of his mouth didn't warm her heart so much.]

Oh, god. You thought... [She stopped clutching the blanket around her and sat up.] Well, yes. But no. That may have been the catalyst but not the cause. Gabriel, I-- you-- [Okay, she just had to laugh at this irony.]

Do you have any idea how weird it was when everything was back to normal and I felt like it was all...all wrong? Because I didn't have some asshole standing there with an "I told you so" armed and ready? I miss-- [the sound of your voice, those looks you give, that stupid tongue thing you do, you. She's just not going to finish that thought.]

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

...Me? [Gabriel looked more stunned than anything. He should've quipped that everyone misses him eventually- life without him is empty and meaningless. And full of significantly fewer laughs.]

So all that back at the hotel wasn't... [...There's really no delicate way of finishing that sentence. Wasn't her being an overemotional teenage girl looking for escape? Wasn't him being the biggest douchenozzle that ever lived?

He shakes his head. Forget that thought.] You really do like me. [And that was not the least bit teasing.]

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Him saying that aloud made her embarrassed, angry, and and relieved all at the same time. Yes, she liked him. She liked him so much it was driving her insane. Was she going to tell him that one? Probably not. Suddenly, she looked very sad.]

Just leave me a little dignity, okay? You've made it painfully clear that you just want to sleep with me, but everything else is probably so one-sided that it'll just get more complicated and I don't--

[Want to get hurt. Another silence.]

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

Jinx, if I wanted to sleep with you, it would've happened. That's not some 'I'm so hot, every girl wants me' crap, it's the truth. I didn't let it get that far back at that hotel for my health. That's not to say I would't... Believe me, I've never cockblocked myself before. It was a bad time and if a guy like me who never met a bedroom scene he didn't like would shoot you down? That means I give a shit. You want a list? I could sit here and give you all the reasons why a chick like you and a guy like me probably wouldn't work. I could also give you reasons why we would. But that don't matter, because I like you and for the first time in my life? I'm not looking to overcomplicate things.... [He groans melodramatically, the seriousness in his tone abating a little] I know, I know... The shock's unbearable, but I can't.

[More serious.] Not right now, anyway. I've been looking for something for a long time- someone who can look me in the eye and say, I get it. Besides, if we both don't belong anywhere, we might as well belong with each other. [He paused.] ...That came out more Hallmark card than I wanted it to, but you get the idea.

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Jinx looked pretty shocked right now, too. Her mouth hung open a little and she wasn't blinking. This was one of those moments in movies where the audience started screaming "FINALLY" at the actors. This was one of those things that didn't happen to girls like Jinx. Ever. So pardon her it this was a little hard to believe at first.]

...

[Yeah, who was she kidding? Right now, nothing logical would come out of her. But damn it, Jinx was going to try, because that's what she did.]

Okay.

[...that was all she got.]

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[He takes her chin in one hand and gives her one chaste kiss on the lips, like some sort of sappy fairy tale 'break-the-spell' sort of thing, which he immediately covered up by launching into sarcasm again.] You'll be more eloquent when you write about this moment in your diary- which, by the way? I didn't read. Nice closet, by the way. Are you keeping the Twilight Zone in there?

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Her eyes flutter shut and she kisses him back. This was... wow. Okay. She really needed to pinch herself because she was terrified this was another moment of her subconscious being an asshole.]

I don't keep a diary and if I find any candy stuck to my Gucci, you're a dead man. [She wraps her arms around his shoulders and leans in for a not-so-chaste kiss.]

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

[And Gabriel just falls back against the armrest, holding his hands up defensively again before slowly winding them into her air. Yeah. He could... Definitely get used to complicated. He could get used to it a lot. He pulls back a little, probably longer than was necessary and grins at her, caught in that state between perpetually amused and a little turned on.]

Like you even keep candy in this place. The licorice wasn't bad though. Not my first choice, but eh. Beggers can't be choosers, hm?

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

[Complicated was good. Very good right now, actually. Kissing him continued to be...well, wow. Wow was the perfect way to describe it. Really, she was romanced enough right now that, if she weren't a mess and if they weren't on the couch while her roommates were sleeping a very thin wall away, there might have been more going on than just kissing. Exhaling, no intention of getting off of him anytime soon, she softened her gaze at him.]

I want to get something out of the way early on. I know so much about you, and you don't even know my real name.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

I read souls, Jinx. I know more about you than you want me too. Not that I'm prying. [He held up a finger.] It's an angel thing. [He shrugged.] I mean, it still means more when you actually tell me, but... I kinda like you as just Jinx.

[hexyoutotuesday.livejournal.com]

I really wish you'd stay out of my soul. It weirds me out. [She rolled her eyes but kissed him on the cheek soon afterward.] I don't know. I like being Jinx, but it's the only thing I know about myself before I decided to become a supervillain. It's important to me, and I want you to know, because I don't want to regret someday never telling you and not getting a chance to.

Sappy, stupid, I know. Just... humor me? This is supposed to be a big deal.

[painhumbles.livejournal.com]

I know. [To... Everything, really.] I get it. And like I said, it means more if I hear it.