open | we always are together

[morphogenia]

WHO: Kamala Khan
WHERE: House 6
WHEN: Dec. 13th; late afternoon aka KAMALA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
OPEN TO: residents of house six, assorted cr of Kamala and the other house six residents - basically everyone who knows Kamala, Frank, and Jessica and is on good terms with them. It's basically everyone.
WARNINGS: Possible mentions of horror settings or past trauma since Kamala does live with Frank Castle and Jessica Jones who are their own warning. Honestly this is a rated G birthday log.

---

She wakes up super stoked to be alive. It's not unusual for her honestly. Kamala is more excited than usual if only because it's not every day you get superheroes coming over for your birthday. Granted she's seeing them more as ordinary people who do incredible things sometimes. That's a positive change as far as she's concerned. It doesn't change the fact that Kamala from like age seven and up would have seen this as a dream come true. Who is she to question the wisdom of tiny Kamala?

She spends a decent portion of the day (following breakfast) getting ready for guests. She styles her new, shorter hair cut as elegantly as she can, dresses in the hunter green dress and pants outfit given to her by the Observers because screw them it's pretty and they can't ruin it with what they pulled after.

By the time she finishes, it's time to greet guests and see what Frank's done with the rest of the house while she's been hiding out in her room to obsess over her appearance. She'll go around greeting whoever shows up, shoving food at them, and generally be grateful they came. It's her seventeenth birthday. She's away from her home, childhood friends, and family. Having anyone here today means a lot more than she lets on. It's about the only thing allowing her to feel happiness instead dwelling on what she's missing.

(ooc; top levels will be posted by Frank in like five minutes for setting info. please hold for those! feel free to tag those or make your own starter once they're posted. I'm flexible.)

Comments

[underachievement]

[ It merits thinking about and while he does that, Jess has a swig from her half-empty bottle. The two of them seat together doesn't remind her of anything, blissfully. She resented being his balm back in Reims because no one could ever be hers. She got what she could from him anyway. Here she doesn't need to use anyone like that yet sometimes she misses him. Still can't tell if it's really him she misses or just how, very occasionally, he could distract her from the pain of living, but the fact that none of her one night stands here have been repeats is sufficiently telling. Maybe she wouldn't obfuscate it this aggressively if he weren't here. If he got out, like Trish and Poe and Luke. All no doubt leading better lives, even that kooky one that thought he was from outer space. ]

Then don't. [ Just for tonight. Or play it by ear. Jess's expectation of a no hasn't gone anywhere and she's able to look him full in the face, his beard scraping her chin with the slight turn of her head. ]

[oorah]

[ he wants to say 'no' for a lot of reasons, but then she's turning towards him and his heart climbs up into his throat. he licks his lips like he can taste the whiskey she's drinking, the scent of it carrying through the crisp air and making his tummy do flips. it should be simple, but it isn't. it never is when it's jess. she makes him feel sad and lonely sometimes even when she's this close, but it doesn't negate the brighter feelings. the swell of his chest when he gets to do something as simple as make her a sandwich or give her a place to sleep that isn't freezing cold. ]

Okay.

[ that same raspy voice as when she'd asked him to run away with her. he can kid himself all he wants, but if he leaned forward even an inch he could kiss her right now. of course he can't think straight. to say nothing of the thc currently teeming through his veins. ]

Once Kam is asleep.

[ he doesn't want her getting any ideas about them being together. it isn't something she should have to worry about, either way. they're a family no matter what happens (or doesn't) as far as frank's concerned. they all survived that place and came here to the land of the eternally dumb. that alone makes them champions. ]

[underachievement]

Mmm... [ Jess hums approvingly. That's the best idea he's had in... yeah, ever. They won't be concealing anything in particular from Kamala. Even an affair is too normal for people like them. They're just two adults with an agreement to share the bed. Jess doesn't think there's a teenage translation for that. ] 'kay.

[ She has a second swig of whiskey, absolving them of the temptation to kiss, if it really exists outside the drug's influence. For her it does, while he can be a deceptive read. Regardless, it's waaay too early in the arrangement for her to go fucking it up that way. And also that beard.

She angles her head to rest against his shoulder, shifting the bottle from her thigh to his. Her grip loosens, inviting him to take a sip if he feels like it. ]

[oorah]

[ he sighs, a tiny contented thing when she rests against him, his scruffed cheek resting against her temple. his hand comes back out of his pocket to accept the olive branch, as it were, the soft yarn of his mittens grazing her hand as he wraps it securely around the bottle and takes a swig, if only because he's cold. he knows he's going to regret mixing liquor, but as kamala would say: that's future frank's problem. ]

[underachievement]

[ mixed liquor has gotten them here so it can't be all bad. Jess watches the snow fall over and over, tiny white glints and shimmers against the dark of the village. it's almost creepy but she's come to appreciate the subtler signs of life in the wilderness, trampled paths on the ground and hearth smoke in the sky. the complex layout of locked doors and broken stasis tubes deep, deep underneath them. ]

Maybe I could get why someone would stay here. [ Actually, that's totally false. Jess corrects herself, ] Why you would stay here.

[ that's what he's been saying, isn't it? it goes without saying that it can't replace New York but it's empirically better than looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life, and isn't that what's waiting for him at home? even disappearing into the mountains or mexico wouldn't be as off the grid as what they've got here. ]

[oorah]

[ he's always loved the snow. he'd been looking forward to this since he got here in the summer because somehow he knew that he'd still be here come winter time. frank takes a shallower swig before handing the bottle back, laying his hand over her wrist for a moment. his breathing stutters, holding back the you do? that wants to spring forward. he doesn't want to go back, but it's less about his quality of life than everyone else's. if he stays here then curtis and david won't have to look over their shoulders either - that is, unless he's already there. and if he is then it's even more futile to reprise a life that was never his to begin with. ]

It's not so bad sometimes.

[ a soft admittance. yes, he loves that dirty gritty city. he thinks they both do. but this place is... simple, in its way. it makes sense to him the way reims had, even if it took considerably longer for him to get there. ]

Like now.

[underachievement]

[ Now's a moment, all right. Odd for them because they don't have to steal it and it will hold indefinitely for the night. From the size of the sigh she heaves, she expects a layer of snow to fall off her like a tree bough. Snow, dirt, something besides her ignorance of the unbearable lightness of being. In a small bid to warm up, Jess swings one of her cold legs back and forth, knocking gently her knee into his. ]

Do you remember one of the first things you said to me? Some dumbass comment about winter.

[oorah]

Yeah? [ he answers before thinking about it, then he snorts as he remembers what the first thing he actually said to her was. his knee presses solidly to her moving one in hopes of insulating her some, hand idly running up and down her arm through the jacket she's wearing. it's a good thing he's high or he would probably be complaining about her lack of winter gear. ] I guess. Why?

[underachievement]

[ She's thought of it more than once, as winter has steadily moved in and taken over. Weird how things start, and weirder how they can stop and unravel and end up coming together again. Jess puts her liquor to the side, making a cupholder of the snow, and then tucks her hands into her pockets. ]

I don't know. Still makes me laugh, though. [ Or her low rent version of a laugh. Their initial exchange might be her fondest memory from that nightmare, before the terror really began. That and the dog that gave her booze. ]

[oorah]

[ he ducks his head, another stupid smile on his face that he effectively smothers in her hair. ] Yeah, me too. At least you can count on me being a dick no matter how many places like this we end up at.

[underachievement]

[ Unlike his hand on her wrist or her arm, she can feel the warmth of his face against her head. It stokes a sudden shiver from the base of her spine, that Jess hides little shift to stretch her other leg. Truthfully she would rather be inside but that would mean separating, whether they took shelter at home or at the inn. With dedication and a little time, they could explain the current junction of their relationship to Kamala, but she wouldn't know where to start with anyone else. ]

Such a dick.

[oorah]

[ and for whatever reason, this group is a nosy sort. about things like this anyway. about actual matters of life and death, they seem unconcerned. but if jess and he were to canoodle in public it would be the talk of the town - literally. he never wanted to keep this a secret in reims, he wanted her at his side whenever he could. but here, here he wants this to be just theirs. whatever 'this' even is. if it's only holding one another as a comfort when things get to be too much or something more doesn't matter, he's not interested in analyzing it. ]

I had a good teacher.

[ it's murmured against her temple to try and keep the words from being snatched away by the wind, kicking up stronger still and sheering little pieces of icy snow to carry as projectiles through the air. they'll have to go inside soon, but it's the last thing he wants to do. ]