Training Wheels (Ace)

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace had to double take. "15? Seriously? Dear God, you're a fucking giant for 15!" She laughed, honestly kind of shocked that he was so young. "I don't think it's something many people would outright enjoy..." She said simply to his musings about being mildly autistic. Though, she couldn't quite remember what that word meant.

She just grinned wider whenever he got annoyed at her for attacking his shirts. "That one was totally out, no fire in sight, - and screw you, you know it was an accident with the fire earlier." She said, picking up another butt from the ground in case she needed more ammunition.

She balanced one on the tip of her finger and concentrated on it. She couldn't keep the smile off her face as she lined it up with his head, keeping one eye closed, and flicked it off towards his face.

[Gleam]

Jacob nodded, not arguing. "I think I will be six foot five or six before this finishes growing. I think I will have to get used to being tall. Beforehand I never touched six foot at all."

He shook his head, bemused, and brushed the ash off the shirt, but didn't get distracted enough to miss Ace flicking another butt at him. His head jerked back and it soared past him to last on his emptied plate. Jacob gave her a Look. "You know if you do that again I will be forced to come over there and disarm you. And you would get nasty boy sweat all over you. Do you want to risk that horrible chance?"

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace laughed, "Chance, eh?" She grabbed another butt. Yes, they were everywhere. The ashtray on the table in front of the futon had plenty. She looked at it in her hand for a moment, "Probability of you doing that if I throw this, I'd say, roughly... 40- no, 38 percent. Lighten up!"

She moved herself so that her feet were both firmly on the ground in case she had any need to make a run for it. She grinned from ear to ear, and readied her arm... and tossed it at him.

[Gleam]

"I am lighter than a butterfly, my dear." Jacob murmured in answer, a cocky smile fixed on his face as he watched the cigarette butt with a hawk's focus. "I float on the wind."

When the butt went airbourne he launched himself sideways off the couch and under it, a fast break that ended with him hurling himself straight back towards Ace's midsection, aiming to nail her back into her futon.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace raised an eyebrow at his words, the song 'She bang' popping into her head. When she saw him coming at her she had had every intention of standing up and moving out of the way. She lept up and scurried outside of the couch's parameters by the time he had tried to slam her back into the couch.

She then proceeded to try to run over to the hall way and tried to close the door behind her, a grin on her face. "Yeah? Well I'm faster and better than you." She retorted cockily.

[Gleam]

Jacob grinned. "I got a longer stride." he corrected, and lunged at her, three long steps carrying him across the entire room to the door. The door caught on his shoulder and banged off, though he hardly even noticed, still flushed with adrenaline from a day of crocodile fighting, fire extingushing, and cigarette dodging.

"Maybe you are the newer model," he commented as he lunged again, trying to snag her around the waist, "but I'm classic, my dear."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace barely had a chance to look over her shoulder before he'd caught her. She got a small shiver up her back at the feeling of his hands at her waist, and was reminded of the other night. Her face went slightly red and she turned with her elbow to try and hit him whatever way she could, ending up hitting him somewhere in the facial region. She remembered his stitches, and breathed in sharply.

She struggled against his grip, hoping that her hit would be enough distraction for him to loosen his hold. If so, she'd go to the den which was unused and see if she could close the door behind her there. Her heart was starting to beat a bit faster.

[Gleam]

Jacob caught the elbow on his cheek and grunted, but otherwise was unbothered - he'd had decades of experience wrestling with children and pissed teenagers. He simply lifted Ace entirely off her feet with one arm around her waist, and carried her back into their flat.

There he let her back down and raised a cocky eyebrow at her. "Faster and better, are you?" Jacob mused with a smile, a bruise already starting to form on his face where the elbow had hit. "I think that is a judgement subject to testing for truth."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace, of course, screamed and roared at him for what he was doing. She was soon on her feet again, and he gave her her little talking to. He seemed to have found it hilarious. Ace's eyebrows twitched in frustration. Eventually she found words to use.

"You know," She said, able to feel her heart beat in her chest, "You can't just pick people up and lecture them and whatever. You can't do that, It's how you treat children maybe, but not people." She added, "And how the hell can a tall scrawny 15 year old body carry the average 18 year old woman? I mean how the fuck does that work?" She wondered, admittedly a little surprised by the feat.

She glanced at his face and was admittedly a bit glad that she hadn't hurt him too bad, anyway. She glared at him for a moment and then sighed, out of words but clearly annoyed. It seemed that she got this way at least once for every day she spent in this dorm.

[Gleam]

Jacob smiled, bemused, as he wandered back to the fridge and extracted the last two beers. "And now you are the proper one. Will wonders never cease." he quipped, as he cracked the tops off. "Jane, if you are well and determined to involve cigarette butts in my life, then you will have to tolerate me picking you up on occasion. We all have small quirks."

He chuckled, low and rich, as rather than drink his beer he just pressed it against his swelling bruise. "And, to answer your curiousity, I have always been partial to sailing. Tying rope knots on the Caribbean will teach a child strength. I learned it when I was twelve, the first time."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace rolled her eyes, "ha ha." She responded to his quip. Her eyes flickered over to the beers. "Fine then, I won't throw them anymore, but only if an agreement's reached." She stared him down, "Don't pick me up, and your next set of shirts won't catch fire." She grinned.

She took a beer. Her grin widened slightly at the sound of his laugh, "Sailing huh?" She said, a little bit curious. "Was it on holiday from England? Or were you originally elsewhere-ish." She waved, not really bothering to think of the word she wanted. She took a swig of the cold beer, happily.

[Gleam]

"You have said nothing of other articles of clothing. I am unconvinced that you will not torch them anyways." Jacob noted, and took a deep swig of his beer, leaning back against the couch. "I originally grew up in Croatia on the coast, where fishing is a large focus. Istria County, on the penninsula. Grew up on a boat, actually, sailed most of the Mediterranean."

Jacob smiled. "I like to get my hands back on a boat when I can. I convinced my most recent erstwhile parents that it was my life's dream. Which is not far wrong, I suppose." He shrugs.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace laughed at his judgement, "Smart boy, you're catching on fast." She said of her lack of promise not to torch the rest. She listened to his story and took sips of the beer. "Seems like the life." She said with a half-grin, "I mean, that's what a lot of people do when they retire or whatever." She looked down at the bottle in her hands, watching the droplets of condensation drip down the sides.

"Never been outside North America, myself, well, and central..." She admitted, glancing up to him to try to read his expression. She paused, wondering to herself, 'Wait, is the bermuda triangle is considered north america?' , but didn't ask for fear of the look she felt he might give her.

[Gleam]

Jacob snickered. "I have done exactly that twice, so I guess it must be true." He glanced out the window at the fading sunlight momentarily and let loose a heavy breath. "You might be the sort to enjoy it." he said, reflectively. "A place out where the worries are only wind and water, for a while."

He shook his head at his own romanticism and finished off his beer with a long drink. Then he set it aside and offered a slanted smile to Ace. "Thanks for an interesting day, Jane."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace gave a small laugh at his comment. His words made her think of Mexico, and the time she had spent away from everything with Papa Rags. A place where the worries were only wind and water. She took a swig of her beer, "I guess I would be... " She paused, "I've had a vacation before... It's nice, but..." She adjusted herself as though she had become uncomfortable at the thought, "It's too quiet, and so much isolation, that... You know, you can have too many thoughts." She explained.

"Welcome, Jack." She put her bottle down for a moment, "Oh by the way, Rust and myself are having a house party here when the new cans come in. Just thought I'd tell you." She said nonchalant.

[Gleam]

Jacob made a flicking gesture. "Yes. You turn nostalgic and somewhat desperate for company until finally you cannot stand your own head anymore and move back. The joys of being pack animals by nature - at least we do not groom each other, I suppose." A brief snicker. "You are a dear, Ace, but I doubt you would enjoy picking fleas off myself."

He paused and flicked a dubious eyebrow over to Ace. "I have met the young man myself, and he seems a decent, if gregarious sort. If it follows you home, it can shelter here for a little while, but unfortunately the dorms enforce a strict no pets policy."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace shrugged. She figured he was right about the whole pack animal thing. It felt simply better to have other people around. She knew the feeling. She laughed aloud, "You have fleas?" She inquired, messing.

"I'm pretty sure the guy's got a dorm himself, no need for him to stay here. I mean, unless there actually is gonna be a claim against him for what happened with the Hernia bitch." She shrugged, "And yeah, he's decent. I don't understand it myself." She grinned. "I like dogs though. I'm sure the dorm people won't mind that much."

"Anyway, the party'll be good. Music, booze, tropical island.. What else would you want? It's gonna be pretty epic." She said, grin growing. She picked up her bottle again and finished it herself.

[Gleam]

Jacob grinned. "I do not know, I have never found reason to check. As I fail to itch, I presume I do not. And what is this Hernia girl? He pick a fight with someone in the hospital with one? Naughty boy."

He stood up and headed for the kitchen. "If that is indeed the case," he called back, "do you want me to make anything special for the party? It is a special occasion, after all, so you can throw anything on your mind out there."

He dropped his empty beer glass in the glass recycle and leaned over the counter, eyebrows raised at his flatmate.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

"Apparently the girl's name is something like Hernia or Sorcer or... I don't know, it has an 'er' sound in it real strong." She explained, "And he happened to just smack her because she asked him questions. Her glasses broke and cut her face. They had a fight and then he threatened her to back off before knocking her cold. Same old same old." She shrugged, apparently finding no issues with the story. "So basically, said he could crash here if needs be."

She went around to the other side of the counter as they had their talk. "Huh? Make something?" The thought hadn't really crossed her mind, "What like barbeque or cocktails or something? Hey can you do both??" A grin sprouted on her face once again at this idea.

"Hey maybe you know like, Mediterranean food that's nice, like seafood or something."

[Gleam]

Jacob frowned. "He doesn't seem the type to hit a woman at all. I wonder how such an occasion arose . . . wait. Ms. Secernia? I met her when I was first wandering the campus."

He crosses his arms and leans on them, his brow wrinkling. "She seemed pleasant enough, if certainly very straightforward and stubborn. I imagine she prodded him on a sore subject and he reacted very poorly."

Jacob shook his head and straightened up. "None of my business, I suppose. I can make some Mediterranean cuisine if you like, yes, but I will have to commandeer the kitchen for the eight hours previous to the meal." A cheeky smile surfaced on his face, smoothing out the frown that had settled there previously. "Do you have objections to this?"

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace laughed, "Well apparently the chick hit him back. He has a nasty cut on his face and one on his shoulder too. Poor sucker." She said with a shake of her head. "Yeah! Secernia, that was it." She nodded, "Huh, so you knew both of them. I didn't expect such stupid drama in a school, like, it's something off TV." She laughed, not having any idea how ignorant it made her sound.

She raised an eyebrow when he spoke about the cuisine. "8 fucking hours, are you kidding me? What the hell is the stuff made of!!" She wondered, awe struck at the idea that anything could take that long. She noticed his cheeky smile, "Are you kidding? You're kidding aren't you." She repeated.

[Gleam]

Jacob cracked his knuckles. "I am thinking kleftiko; lamb, slow-roasted on the bone, marinated in garlic and lemon juice, with some olive oil and oregano. It is technically possible to make it in an hour and a half using a stove on its highest setting, but I do not settle for poor craftsmanship. I will start it in the morning at a low temp and check on it between periods."

He leaned on the counter, musing, mind somewhere else. "It would be comparable to grilling out, I believe. I would have to serve it with grilled potatos, at least, and those would also need to be started early."

A pause, and then Jacob shook his head and glanced over at Ace. "Really, the sealing of the kitchen is just personal insanity. If anyone managed to disturb such a meal in the making I would be - displeased."

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Ace watched him crack his knuckles and talk about some fancy meal. She was barely listening, all she really got from what he said was that it was going to take ages to make. "Whatever I suppose needs to be done. I don't really care how much time it takes if you don't, as long as I can eat something at the party." She laughed. She gave a small smile.

Her eyes squinted slightly at his expression, where his mind seemed elsewhere. He seemed to pull himself back to earth by the end of his chefly rant.

"Again, I really don't care... I only go into the kitchen to grab food anyway, you know that." She said. Ace glanced over her shoulder to the far window where the sun was becoming dimmer and dimmer on the horizon. Her eyes glanced over to the floor as well, now more tidy than she had seen it since she got here- well except for the drawer on the floor that she was to use as a new ashtray and all that.

She laughed softly at the look of the place, "Shit, turned the place upside-down..." She said with a half-grin, glancing back at Jacob.

[Gleam]

Jacob watched Ace for a little while, then smiled and leaned on the counter. "All it needed was a good shaking-out." he said. "There's plenty here that is worth my time."

He circled around the kitchen and back into the living room, where he dropped on the couch and nodded at the television. "Come on, I found a movie you might like to watch. I saw it when it first came out so it is somewhat old. Fair warning."

Jacob manipulates the remote, and the channel changes to a black-and-white movie, Bringing Up Baby, a classic from 1939.

['Ace' Julia Dale]

Once again, Ace passed him a strange look at what he had said. Plenty worth his time? Ace wasn't sure where that had come from, or what it meant. She gave a small laugh at the remark, unsure what else to make of it. She turned as he went around and out from behind the bar of the kitchen and into the main room.

She walked over after, and sat down, pulling her knees up towards her and putting her feet on the futon to curl into a little ball to rest her chin on, wrapping her arms around her legs as though to lock them in place.

"Old movie huh?" She wondered, turning her head towards him, and then glancing back to the TV. She blinked at the show, unsure what exactly she was witnessing. "They're talking so fast..." She said, as though entranced by the speech of the actors of the silver screen.