Bitterness (Open)

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn had found her way up to the same old place on the mountain. It was an overlook not too far from the shrine. One she had found by wandering off the path and looking for the nearest place that she could stand on mostly level ground and easily see the city down below. Now, she had found the place again from memory, and was currently sitting on exposed stone and staring down at the city.

This was the place where she'd first met Sakuya. A single, accidental event that had thrown her life in completely different directions. All in all, it was for the better. She had a girlfriend who genuinely loved and cared for her, and had made her feel better about herself than she ever had. But...she was also a Shadow. And while Jaelyn had managed to accept that, nobody else would.

"Was I wrong, then?" Jaelyn muttered. "Thinking I could still fight shadows alongside everyone else? Is that so hard now?" She sighed. "Tch...for the good of the city, was it? I guess I never cared much about that even before meeting Sakuya. Everything was for myself. Why the hell did anyone expect anything different?" Why the hell did she have to be 'for' or 'against' the city, anyway?! Her thoughts drifted back to Luka. That little incident was the source of her current bitterness. It was Jaelyn's own fault. She knew it. She didn't know what to say to defend Sakuya, and had just ended up pissing Luka off more. That was to be expected. Up until that point, she'd responded to everything that caused her trouble with fear and violence. It got people to leave her alone and not bother her. But when she actually needed something else, from someone who wouldn't be intimidated...she was completely helpless.

She clenched one hand into a fist, brought it up, then slammed it down onto the hard stone. "Fuck!" she hissed. Although, whether it was out of frustration or the pain quickly spreading through her hand and arm for hammer-fisting a rock, who could say. "The hell are you talking about?! People aren't good! They're all assholes when you get down to it, just like me!" She shouted at the open air, as though Luka would somehow hear her.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan had been going for a leisurely stroll when he heard yelling. It was loud, but it didn't seem to be a cry for help. So Tristan took his time in finding the source. When he finally found it, he was slightly concerned. It was the girl he had went looking for that vase with. He believed her name was Jaelyn, if he could remember correctly.

He approached her carefully, yet nonchalantly. When he was close enough to question her, he did so. "Jaelyn, right?" he asked, wanting to be sure. "What's up with the yelling? You alright?" He was curious as to why she was declaring people as a whole to be assholes, even if he did agree. He knew he was an ass, as well as other people. That didn't mean he would go yelling such knowledge on a cliff. 

He sighed, looking at her with a wry smirk. "You're right, though. People are assholes. Myself included."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

"Huh?" Jaelyn looked back as someone approached her. Someone who knew her by name, at that. And...oh, it was that guy. The one from the museum mission. Seemed to have his priorities straight, at least as far as lighting shadows on fire went, but otherwise her impression of him from that time left a lot to be desired. A complete lack of initiative stood out in Jaelyn's memory of him. And a less than pleasant attitude, but that was pretty much pot meet kettle. Although what he was saying wasn't exactly helping.

"The fuck do you care for?" she asked. "It wasn't at you, it wasn't about you. And just because you happen to agree doesn't mean it has any relevance to you." She shot the boy an unpleasant look, then turned back to stare out over the city some more. Hopefully, this kid would take the hint and leave.

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan watched as the girl first realized he was there and then recognized him. She didn't have an overly happy look on her face when she realized who he was, but the boy took note that he wasn't corrected on her name. At least he had that right, because as soon as the girl started to talk he realized that the conversation would not be going well.

However, he wasn't one to just cut losses and jump. He walked around a little bit before starting to respond. "Okay, fine," he said, unsure of how else to go about saying what he wanted to say. "It has no real relevance to me. However, I'm going on a walk and I hear someone yelling. I'm going to find out what's going on, if only to satisfy my own curiosity. Besides, we may not exactly be friends, but we do know each other. If you're yelling on top of a mountain, something isn't right. I just want to know what it is."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

What a stupid answer. 'But we do know each other'? Jaelyn knew plenty of people. She knew that bitch at school who she'd thrown against a wall. She knew that idiot substitute teacher who wanted to 'help'. And she knew this kid, who was being way too nosy for his own good. His false concern and curiosity wasn't helping. Nosy was still nosy.

But, whatever. If he wanted to know, he could know, for all the good it would do. At least it would get him to shut up, unless he wanted to 'help' as well. "Fine, you really want to know? I had an argument with someone I hoped I could call a friend and now I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm an enemy of the city. Satisfied?"

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan listened as Jaelyn decided to tell him what was wrong. He expected something more grandiose, but who was he to judge? He attacked his friend for reasons he didn't even comprehend.

He looked at the girl. He was still wondering what would make her a threat to the city, and he was determined to find out. However, he could tell that it was still too early in the conversation for that information. That in mind, Tristan decided to figure out something else to continue the conversation.

He set on finding out who the "friend" was. He looked over to Jaelyn after walking to the edge of the cliff."So, your friend. Who was he? Err... Or she?"

[Jaelyn Callahan]

"Does it matter?" Jaelyn asked, snapping at the boy. No initiative except when it came to being nosy as hell, it seemed. What was he going to do, try and make it seem like he'd help her by talking to Luka? Or was he just looking for dirt? He had tried to hide behind the excuse of curiosity, but even that usually had some ulterior motive. Whether it was anything serious or just something annoying like having to know everything about everyone was anyone's guess, though. "If you're trying to 'help', don't bother. That's between me and her. If you're just digging for dirt, then it's still none of your concern. Just because we 'know each other' doesn't mean I have to tell you everything about all of my problems."

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan was taken aback by how violently Jaelyn exploded. He had no ulterior motives in mind. The reason he was talking to her was because he was curious. Why was he curious? Simply because he had heard a girl yelling on top of a mountain, and now he was being yelled at? He considered snapping back, but decided against it. Jaelyn was still venting, it seemed.

He walked around a bit, trying to decide on what to do now. It was obvious that the topic would not end well, so he tried changing the conversation."Jeez, I guess it doesn't really matter. I just wanted to know. Wouldn't you be curious in my position?" He realized that he may be digging his own grave, so he moved on to the other topic. "Let's see..." He blanked, then blurted out what could have been the worst thing to say.

"So, has the old man left the snake lady alone?"

[Jaelyn Callahan]

And just when Jaelyn thought the damned nosy boy was finally going to step off, he jumped onto something else. And, in Jaelyn's current state, it may well have been the worst possible thing to jump on. She visibly twitched as he mentioned 'the snake lady', but tried to contain herself before she completely flipped out and stabbed him or anything of the sort. Although...it would have been so easy...she had her usual six knives on her and nobody else was around at the moment.

No, that wouldn't help anything but herself. Briefly, at that. Instead, she responded with words, although no less harsh in tone than what she had just said. "So that's what you're really after, is it?" she asked. Then, she decided to answer anyway, in hopes that he would finally leave. The old man meant nothing to her, after all. "I don't know. I haven't heard anything. I don't expect I will unless he does something profoundly stupid and ends up dead. I doubt she'd tell me about anything that insignificant."

[Tristan Carter]

Tristan looked at Jaelyn and realized he was doing nothing but pissing her off more. He wasn't doing it intentionally, as he was only trying to hold a conversation. It wasn't as if he was enjoying her anger being directed at him.

Still, he knew that he should start apologizing when he saw Jaelyn twitch. Obviously calling the shadow a "snake lady" wasn't something he should have done, and he needed to apologize quickly. "Is that so? Well, that's good." 

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Sorry about calling her a snake lady, though. I would have called her by name if I knew it."

[Jaelyn Callahan]

Jaelyn could already see where this conversation was going to go. She seemed to recall the kid saying some less than pleasant things during the fight at the shopping center, with regards to Annoying Substitute Teacher and Idiot Tiger Shadow. He was probably about to head in that direction with the conversation. He still hadn't left after all, despite her finally giving him a proper answer. So she couldn't quite hide her surprise when he just made some vague comment, then indirectly asked for Sakuya's name.

"Sakuya," Jaelyn answered. "I don't think she'd be too happy that you know it, but if you get in trouble with her that's your own problem." Knowing Sakuya, she'd probably start looking for a reason to kill this kid the moment she met him. Or at least, she'd be even more hostile than Jaelyn was being. And Jaelyn couldn't entirely blame her for that.

[Tristan Carter]

When the surprise showed on Jaelyn's face, Tristan felt bad. He hadn't meant anything by it. He surely wasn't expecting her to actually tell him the shadow's name. Sakuya, huh? he thought. I'll keep that in mind, just in case.

Still, he wasn't overly worried about the shadow woman. He may not like shadows, but he wasn't going to turn down potential allies. It didn't matter how much the allies might repulse him, as long as they didn't cause him any problems.He smiled slightly at Jae, then said "thanks. I wasn't really trying to get her name, but I won't start anything. I wouldn't do anything like that to an ally. So as long as she doesn't do anything stupid like the tiger, I'll still continue to view her as a possible ally. Okay?"

[Jaelyn Callahan]

What.

Sakuya? An ally? Of this kid? Hah. That was funny. That was funny enough to make Jaelyn actually laugh in his face. And she did just that. "Speaking of doing anything stupid, you make this great assumption like she'd call someone like you an ally," Jaelyn said. "Hah. Yeah, sure, keep thinking that. Just don't come crying to me when it comes back to bite you." She wasn't going to say anymore, but with this kid's attitude (not to mention being a guy), he would probably end up with certain parts ripped off for making stupid assumptions like that.

No, Sakuya had said multiple times that she wasn't taking sides. Jaelyn was her only ally, and Jaelyn didn't see that changing anytime soon. And unless she did end up taking sides, Jaelyn could only see a meeting between Sakuya and this kid ending in disaster for the kid. And if it did come to that, she wasn't going to do a damn thing about it.