003 ♠︎ i was born a ramblin' man

[beallmysins]

WHO: Jax Teller
WHERE: House #10, Inn, river
WHEN: 1 July - 9 July
OPEN TO: all
WARNINGS: Jax is his own warning. Language, for sure. Probably going to be sex eventually, knowing him.

---

i. doin' the best i can (house 10, 1 july)

Jax is on the roof when the ground starts shaking. Being from California, he's no stranger to earthquakes, though they're a lot worse down south than in the valley where he's from. Still, he's familiar enough with them to know he doesn't want to be on a fucking roof repairing shingles when one hits and as soon as he feels the first waves, he scrambles down as fast as he can. He's quick but he's not quick enough to escape harm - he scrapes his shin and bangs the ribs on the same side he'd injured several weeks ago.

Fuck, he hisses, hitting the ground and heading to clear ground as fast as he can. The earthquake isn't anything they can control but he knows the best place to be is as far away from structures as he can get and just wait it out. There'll be aftershocks but those won't be as bad as the initial - this is always the worst part.

It's just a few minutes, all told, but it feels like hours. The world seems to stop when the earth starts to move and when it ceases, the sky opens up and rain begins to fall. It's been dry for weeks and the sun's been all fucked up so the rain is a welcome sight, steam rising up from the ground from just how goddamn hot it'd been before the quake.

Jax limps his way back toward the town, favoring his right leg and trying to keep from slipping on dirt paths that are rapidly becoming mud because he's got to have a drink and a doctor and he thinks the drink could replace the doctor if it's a good enough drink.

ii. and when it's time for leavin' (inn, 2 July - 9 July)

One of the things that Jax has in abundance is the ability to do labor and now that there's houses damaged from the earthquake, he's got something worth trading. He's not a jack of all trades like Moana but he makes do with what he has and if they've got the tools, he's got the strong back and the know how to do most things that a house needs.

The Inn is the best place to go and see if someone needs work so he hauls his ass up there every morning for breakfast and to offer his services. Now that the days and nights are actually separate and not one long stretch of sunlight that only changes in hue from yellow to red he's feeling a lot better than he has in a month or so; that never-setting sun shit had been getting old and he's happy to see the rain and the sun and the twinkling of the stars and moon at night. It's simple shit, yes, but it's a sign that this place is returning to some sort of normal.

The first two days he parks at the Inn, he doesn't have much to do. It's pouring rain and there's no way he can get anything done when he can't see his hand in front of his face. By the third day, though, not only has the sun come back but it's not so goddamn hot and he thinks he can get a real start on helping get some of the houses back into working order. There's plenty of things he can do that others might not be able to and he knows there's shit that other people are able to do that he can't; Moana's living proof of that.

He's taken to sitting out on the front porch of the Inn when the weather's good, making his offer for labor as people walk in and out.

iii. a good time down on the bayou (river, 4 July - 9 July)

After a long day of fixing roofs and figuring out how best to repair collapsed porches, Jax likes to bathe off down in the river. The days of rain have brought it up a little and it looks a lot better than it had a few weeks ago even though it still needs some more rain to get back up to the levels it'd been before the drought. The water's cool here and flows in a way the water up at the waterfall doesn't so he prefers taking a dunk down here before heading back home.

Sure, he's got a bathtub like everyone else but the dirt and the grime he's been accumulating while working on houses means he'll end up having to clean his tub out four times a week and he doesn't have time for that shit. He'd rather wash off in the river and save the bath for in the morning when he washes his hair and gets his shave.

He's not shy about using the river, either. Plenty of people come down here to bathe and he's hardly the first to strip down and take advantage of the water to cool off after a long day. He ducks under the water and holds his breath for a few long minutes, just letting his mind focus on the sound of his own heartbeat before popping back up, water sluicing down his bare back and arms.

Comments

iii

[guessihavelostcount]

Claire is feeling a bit dirty and sweaty herself when she reaches the edge of the river with a weary sigh. She had spent most of her day cleaning the house and trying to help out wherever she was needed. Yes, she is a tiny thing but she is stronger than she looks and has more skills than most people would guess.

She doesn't hesitate to wander into the water up to her knees, tugging up on her shorts to make sure they don't get wet. Then she bends down, scooping up some water in her hands to splash over the back of her neck and then her arms.

At least, that's what she starts to do before someone suddenly pops up out of the water not five feet from her. It startles her good enough that she yelps, stumbles back and promptly goes under when she loses her footing.

[beallmysins]

Jax knows he should have expected someone else to eventually wander down to the river, especially when most of the village is busy with clean up, but it still startles him a little when he pops up next to the woman with little to no space between them. There's a splash that rises up and crashes against her and he steps back as she stumbles under.

"Shit!" he cries out, diving back under to reach for her. He assumes she knows how to swim since she'd waded out this deep but still, it's his fault she's gone under and he owes it to her to help her out.

"You okay?"

[guessihavelostcount]

Claire does, in fact, know how to swim but it still takes a bit of effort to get her feet back under her once she loses it. Thankfully, the man grabbing onto her makes it easier and so her head breaks the surface a few seconds later.

Sputtering a little, she tries blinking the water out of her eyes while pushing wet blonde hair back from her face. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. You just scared me."

Finally able to focus on him, she looks a bit sheepish...and then glances down at the rest of him.

[beallmysins]

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you enough that you decided to drown on me. I did always want to be a lifeguard, though." He remembers watching some show when he was a kid where lifeguards ran down the beach and staged daring rescues and for someone living in the middle of the fucking valley, it'd been a pipe dream. He's a good three hour drive from the ocean in spite of living in California so while it's a day trip, it's not an every day trip.

"Meant I could pull hot chicks out of the water and give them mouth to mouth. That's every twelve year old's dream, isn't it?"

[guessihavelostcount]

Oh, she could just about imagine the television show about lifeguards that he used to watch but she couldn't say anything about it because she didn't know the thoughts running through his head right now. Managing to stand steady in the water now, she runs her fingers through her hair to slick it back again before tugging at her tank top, thankful for the fact that it isn't a white one.

Then she tries not to smirk at him and fails. "I don't know but you don't look like you're twelve years old to me."

ii; after july 4

[theintercessor]

Much as he's tried not to frequent the inn, there's really nowhere else to go after the quake. The light of day had returned after the rain, and in it he'd taken stock of a few things. He's almost as much a mess as his house, cut up from climbing the cave-in in the pitch dark, hands scraped to hell from moving rocks, hungry all the time from the days without food. His side needs to be cleaned out and slathered with ointment if he's going to avoid something worse than the sting, and there's a beam sitting between the cracked halves of his tub.

He could pick another house, but he likes the one he's in. Even shaken apart, the houses here are fancier than he's used to, the kind of thing he'd have to save half his life to own, and the red siding just seems like another part of the dream.

For now, he walks to the inn for a bath while most people are eating, and continues to come to meals a little late. It's late enough after that to find the man out on the porch, making his offers, suffering his idle hands. Between the state of the bathroom and the state of his side, Jude isn't solving the issue alone, and he can't imagine asking Credence, or even Isabelle.

"I've got some heavy debris to shift," he offers, looking like he just washed off crawling out from under it.

Re: ii; after july 4

[beallmysins]

The guy looks younger than Jax by a good bit and thinner too. If it's heavy debris for him it might not be heavy debris for Jax, at least, and that seems promising. He doesn't know what the kid has to trade but if there's nothing to trade now there might be something to trade later and Jax is willing to work on IOU; it's not like he doesn't know where everyone lives when he wants to collect debts.

"Yeah? How bad off is your house? I can clean out some debris for you, if that's all you want, but if you need some repairs I can do those too as long as it's not too much. I'm a handyman, not a professional contractor."

[theintercessor]

"It's the bathroom, mostly." Far as he can tell, the hole in the roof was older, leaking on the beam until the wood started to rot. He'll have to climb up and address that at some point, probably the same day he climbs up and decides how bad he needs to replace the beam itself, but for now he just wants a clear area to think in.

That he'll owe the guy some kind of favor or goods is a given, in his mind, but he doesn't have anything immediate to barter, and he hasn't yet been asked a price. "Weak beam fell on the tub, I need the beam and the broken tub out, and I'm not in any shape to move it alone."

As for repairs, he'll have to scout a new tub out of an empty house for the transplant, and the inn bathroom suits him just fine. "Just tired of climbing over it every time I need a piss."

[beallmysins]

"Pain in the ass," Jax agrees. "Next question's going to be what do you have to trade, though. I can go a little ways on charity since everyone is in the same boat but eventually I'm going to need an IOU to cash in. Is there any of this survival shit that you're good at? Because I'm not good at any of it."

Moana, a girl barely out of high school as far as he can tell, is better at surviving out in the woods than he is. That's some shit but Jax guesses his skill set runs to surviving in a different sort of jungle.

[theintercessor]

Shrugging takes less energy than rolling his eyes, expected as the price was. Trade this, trade that--the supplies went in the store room for people to take, meals were served either way. "I can make paper," he says, though he doubts anyone considers that enough.

"What are you after," he asks--there are people who will help him just to help him, but if the man needs something, he doesn't mind making it a mutual thing. "Firewood? Fish? I know enough to keep myself to myself, broken bathtubs aside."

ii; july 2nd

[fightsinheels]

Things have settled considerably since the quake. There's still a lot of repairs to be done, of course, but bodies have been located and accounted for, and thankfully, all still alive. A lot of places are in rough shape, some unlivable, but many just needing repairs. Isabelle doesn't have the knowledge of a handyman, but she has the strength of one, so she's been doing her best to help with the cleanup process.

Not that a lot could be done with the rain. Nobody's complaining about it, of course — the river's slowly gaining its levels back, and the crops are getting the watering they so desperately needed. Between the constant showers and the sun finally setting again, most of them are just relieved to find things going back to normal.

The rain and recovery efforts aren't goint to stop Isabelle from going on her usual morning runs, though. She's dressed for it, wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, feet laced into a pair of running shoes. Running in the rain just means stay cool and rinsing off afterwards without having to run herself a bath. She makes her way downstairs, a slight skip in her step as she reaches the landing. She only makes it halfway to the door before she sees Jax, and becomes officially distracted.

"Hey handsome," she greets, giving him a smile. "Glad to see you aren't too worse for wear."

Re: ii; july 2nd

[beallmysins]

Jax is never going to be upset to see Isabelle. She's fucking gorgeous, for one, and she's smart as hell on top of it. He's been with women who are beautiful but have no substance but the ones who stick with him and make an impression are the ones with grit and tenacity beneath the surface and Isabelle seems to have both of those. Case in point - she's getting ready to go out in the pissing rain to run.

"Managed to make it through. I'm from California, though. We're used to the ground shaking and breaking shit. What about you? Did your house come through okay?"

If he's got to do some repairs at her house, he doesn't mind. He thinks he can figure out some reason to hang around Isabelle for a couple of days even without the excuse of repairs.

[fightsinheels]

"You're standing in it." She points upwards, towards the second floor of the inn where her bedroom is. She'd thought about picking one of the bungalows to make her own, but the idea of living alone didn't sit right with her. Not when she grew up in the Institute, with her parents and her brothers and dozens of other Shadowhunters. The quiet that came with living alone would be deafening to her.

The quake had left her room in minor disarray, with furniture skewed and belongings scattered. And it had stayed that way well through the first day while she helped with recovery efforts. She's straightened it up some since, however--

"I've still got a few shelves to hang back up, but other than that it's in good shape."

[beallmysins]

"Lucky girl. I've got a little damage on mine but it's nothing an afternoon of hard labor won't fix. You want to come and watch the show? It's free of charge."

Jax is teasing, naturally, but it's easy to tease when Isabelle's around. She's young but she's confident and seems comfortable with herself and that sort of thing is really fucking attractive to him.

"Might even let you meet the artist after."

[fightsinheels]

"Ooh." Isabelle smiles, easy and natural and flirty. When she steps forward, it's with an extended hand, her fingers reaching to rest against the hard muscle of his stomach through his shirt. Casual as casual can be, she looks up at him, hating not for the first time that she doesn't have any heeled boots to give her a little extra height.

Honestly, it might be what she misses the most from back home.

"A show and a VIP pass. How can I possibly pass that up?"

iii. July 5th

[scepterschild]

Wanda wasn't very skilled when it came to manual labor but she was trying and she lent a hand where she could. Per Beverly's instructions she had to keep as much weight off her sprained ankle as possible which meant that her version of helping involved sitting in one place, doing as much as she could, without putting to much weight on her ankle, and then moving to another position. It worked decently well and curbed Wanda's ever growing desire to be useful.

By now her ankle was doing better and no longer swollen. It hurt some but not enough to affect Wanda's day to day activities. She had managed to get the dog and chickens inside and feed but was a little worse for wear. Wanda wasn't good at taking care of animals, let alone without Clint or Sam's help. Heading to the waterfall to bath was a way for her to take a break from the noise and mess of animal care.

She wasn't to surprised to see Jax already there. Her eyes wandered over his chest briefly before she began to strip away her shirt and jeans, folding them and hiding them beneath a rock. Wanda had no interest in her clothes walking away without her.

When Jax broke the surface of the water she spoke, her accent making who she was unmistakable. "Mind if I join you?" Wanda was happy to see that the water levels had rose some and she hoped that the stayed that way.

Re: iii. July 5th

[beallmysins]

Wanda is someone he's pretty fond of, all told, and not just because she's someone he can count on for a good lay and no strings attached. Jax likes how quiet she is, how she has so much strength wrapped up in a tiny frame and he likes spending time with her even if it's not in and out of bed.

(Of course, it's better when it is in bed - he's still human, after all.)

He grins at her and shakes his head, letting her know that he doesn't mind one bit if she wants to join him. "Nah, water's fine. Might as well enjoy it."

iii. July 5th

[scepterschild]

Wanda dipped her feet into her water, slowly sinking into the currents as it lapped against her frame. It felt refreshing and while the heat over the village broke, the work over the last few days made her muscles warm and her body temperature rise. The water was the perfect way to counter act the heat and lower her body temperature. She ducked her head beneath the water, pushing her hair back as she rose.

Light green eyes settled on Jax, exhaling softly as she enjoyed the feeling of water rolling down her shoulders and back.

"I agree. You've been working hard." It was a statement, not a question. "How does your home look?" She didn’t know if it needed repairs and given the amount of work around the village she hadn’t paused to look. There was always something more than needed to be done. She hoped that he wasn’t out of house and home.

Re: iii. July 5th

[beallmysins]

"It's not too bad off. I managed to get by with damage that took about an afternoon to straighten out," Jax says. He'd been lucky. Some of the other houses were hit harder and some had less; earthquakes kind of ended up random that way. The thing that had spared them here had been the fact that there weren't power lines and gas lines that could catch fire and explode. Made things simpler.

"What about you? You come out all right, Wanda?"

iii. July 5th

[scepterschild]

"Sprained ankle. Doctor says I'll live."

Wanda's home had been fine. There were a few areas that had become weakened and the ceiling collapsed in one of the bedrooms but the animals were safe and the house was still solid enough to live in. Handling a collection of frightened animals had been more tiring.

Thinking about the earthquake made Wanda tense. She'd been trapped for a few hours before climbing out of the debris. What made it worse was the fact that it wasn't the first time she'd been trapped beneath a building.

Her tongue wet her lips and she pulled her thoughts away from the earthquake. "I could use something relaxing." She replied, letting a small smile pull over her lips. At this point, Jax would be able to tell that she was a little tense, even if he couldn't tell why.

iii.

[thekittenqueen]

She often came to the river during the afternoon, looking for algae or other plants that thrived beside the banks. It was quiet, save for the lapping of the waves against the rocks and trees that lined the river. The heat had become less oppressive, allowing her to walk under the sun without fear of becoming ill again.

There are clothes set aside, clearly discarded by someone seeking the cool waters. She searched for signs of a swimmer, but they had dived beneath the surface. She held her breath, waiting and watching until finally Jax's head emerged. Setting her basket to the side, Margaery crossed her arms across her chest, laughing softly.

"You don't prefer the waterfall or privacy?"

[beallmysins]

"No point. If you haven't seen a man swimming before, I don't have a lot for you," Jax says. He pairs it with a charming smile, though, because he intends to be flirty and not offensive; the girl's pretty and he doesn't want to get on her bad side. This place has more beautiful women per capita than a Victoria's Secret party and he's not upset that one of them wants to talk to him right now.

"Seen you around before but I don't know your name," he admits. "I'm Jax. You're friends with one of the redheads, right?"

[thekittenqueen]

"It's a common sight, but not many choose this particular spot." A man that enjoyed the attention and spectacle. It was enough to make her chuckle beneath her breath. She and Loras had been the same once, in another life and another time. "It's a rather populated area. Is there anyone in particular you're trying to impress?"

She had seen him around as well, but had never spoken to him. After all this time, how had they never crossed paths? "Margaery. There are many redheads in this village, but you could assume I'm friends with all of them."

[beallmysins]

"Not trying to impress anyone. Just don't care if anyone sees me," Jax points out. He gives her a wider grin when she gives her name and decides that if she's friends with all the redheads, maybe she is someone worth knowing; there's a hell of a lot of good looking redheads in this place.

"I only really know Sansa and Amy. Amy wants to deck me half the time and apparently I look like Sansa's boyfriend."

[thekittenqueen]

"Those are one and the same, in my experience." He was at least not outwardly arrogant. Simply a man that thrived from such thrills. There weren't that many she had come across in this world, none like the highborn men of the Reach. Jax would likely be at home there, or as close as he could be to feeling at home.

"A little, perhaps." Raleigh was more handsome though, perhaps because of his honesty. "Should I be flattered to be remembered merely for my friendship with another?" She was teasing him, removing her shoes so she could wade in the water.