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Typical day for Jay is a might busier than his days back home ever were. He does that on purpose; it leaves less empty room for thinking. Though, oddly enough, not a lot of that time is spent at the school that Sam was trying to hard to get him to to help him with his, um, issues.
Currently, the younger Guthrie man is stationed at Mutant Town Community Center, oddly enough where Sam had left him. You know, it seems safe and steady, among his own kind and with a roof over his head. The oddity here is that Jayinfinitely mild and shy and shell shocked Jayisn't covering up his wings. So while he helps pull boxes and boxes out of a small truck on the loading dock of the Community Center, as if the red hair isn't a dead give away, the fully feathered wings hanging out over his head sure may.
He's working hard and in his own head, because daddy didn't raise any of those boys to half ass it, stacking up provisions where they need to go for further unpacking later. The alleyway dry dock door wide open and an autumn breeze trying to cool things down.
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Cannonball approaches with his sunglasses on, keeping a low profile on his way into the place around to where Jay was packing up the boxes. Always a do-gooder. He stands there a moment and just admires his brother's hard work, the sight of him…a very welcome one. He struts up closer and then grabs a box to hand off to Jay, helping him, silently joining in, until Jay decides to look over at the helping hands.
Jay isn't the most situationally aware individual in the known universe. Especially when he's working at some menial chore that allows his mind to wander a little bit. Walk into the truck, pick up a box, carry the box to the pile. Go back into the truck, pick up a box, carry the box to the pile. Repeat. All along, the soft 'click-click' of his flip flops following him around. A second pair of hands appear, and Jay seems to anticipate the 'who' after a slight start when he takes the box from a seet of hands rather than the truck; a quick smile starting to appear, eyes bright when they flick up to meet—
Sunglasses? Jay's expression drops into surprise like a lead weight when he realizes who he's looking at, standing there stupidly with a box of supplies between them. He looks shocked, but his wings make up for the lack of expression; shivering and expanding away from his back, making his silhouette larger. "Sam?" Well, now, that's a confusing array of flash emotion.
Sam flips up his sunglasses, pinning back his straw hair and smiles like a summer's day, all dimples and teeth, eyes twinkling with clear affection. "Heya, Jay. Ah know ahm a bit late. Give yer brother a hug." And he takes the box into one arm so that he can hug with the other one. Whether Jay likes it or not, its coming!
Shocked into compliance more or less, Jay sort of lets the box go when it's taken, and brightens again, smiling warmly enough that that single off-center dimple appears for a moment. "Holy…paint me silver and call me a triangle." Slinging an arm over Sam's shoulder, Jay comes on in for a hug, slapping his brother's back heartily. He does after all care about his brother and his initial reaction is positive. Pulling back to look at the good ol' boy, pushing his free hand in the center of Sam's chest while Jay gives him a once over. "You're lookin' good, man. Sorry, wow Ah didn't expect to see you here," his tone to seem by was of apology for his less than enthusiastic response.
That's about when Jay's expression starts to shift and he seems to sort of remember a thing or two about when they last saw each other. Slow realization starting to creep in.
Cannonball 's expression also fades a little bit. Perhaps he thought he could just totally get away with…walking in and smiling his way past having to explain. "Ah…yeah…though, I shoulda been here." He swallows. "Ah was…" he lowers his chin and takes a deep breath. Then licks his lips as he continues to stall. "Ah was…" he makes a little gesture. No, Sam, that didn't finish the sentence for you. "Ah got /arrested/." he whispers. He hangs his head a little more. "Ahm so embarassed and…I just…/couldn't/ call home, or…the mansion. Just a short sentence and…I didn't kill no one or anything. I'm here. Ahm not goin' no where else, Jay. Can ya forgive me?"
Sorry, Sam. That smile wins you out of all kinds of situations, but this isn't one of them. Almost! But not quite there. Jay's spent a lifetime with it to have /some/ inoculation. Jay remembers that he's not exactly pleased with his brother, a coolness starting to soak into the warmth initially between them. The younger man doesn't seem /angry/ however. Anger might have been easier to deal with. Instead, Jay seems a little disappointed and hurt as he leans away from his older sibling and falls silent to let him explain.
"Yeah. Yeah, you probably should'a." Agreeing simply, he waits for the answer to come out. A couple of false starts have Jay's brows arching upward a little bit with expectation, exhaling a sigh that seems to hurry him along.
Arrested? He didn't expect that. Well, an afternoon of surprises. Taken aback, he looks Sam over again, this time for a different reason. "Arrested? What the hell ever for?"
"Ahm not sure I wanna talk about it, yet. I will. I will. Just…I just got out and I'm ready to have a little fun. I just…got wrapped up in what other folks was doin', that's all. Hey, I…could help ya here, and then ah…we can get some pizza and you can catch me up on what all ya been doin'." Sam's inability to contact Jay may be more easily forgiven since its the 1960s, and its not like Jay has a personal cellphone. THANK GOODNESS. Man, people could get away with so much stuff back then.
Yeah, it isn't as if Jay had a personal number that Sam couldn't called him from prison or whatever. That is a saving grace of the time, though there is still a goodly amount of uncertainty over the whole 'I got arrested' thing in Jay's eyes. Still. Jay's his brother, and it isn't as if their family doesn't have some criminal history. There /is/ that one ever so troublesome uncle.
Wings shiver gently, and Jay nods slowly, sounding a little less than convinced, but easing up upon repetition. "Yeah. Yeah okay. Jus' help me unload this truck an' we'll head out. Ah know a place nearby that's pretty okay." His cheek hollows slightly while Jay chews on the soft inside, brows tripping together with another glance at his brother. His expression smooths out again. "Well. You look pretty okay fer bein' a hardened criminal." Trying the faintest lift to a corner of his mouth.
Sam helped him with the boxes and rolled his eyes. He does look fairly well, all told. A little leaner, but that's just because he probably doesn't get enough ham in his beans in prison. "Yeah, yeah, I wouldn't say /hardened/. More like…hey…we country boys can go a little wild and the city just aint used to it." He grins crookedly.
Meandering back and forth, the persistent 'click-clack' of thongs following Jay around as they unload boxes for the center, Jay is quiet and attentive. A little withdrawn, but not quite to the point of the dark place that Sam last saw him in, the shade still hangs on the younger man's limbs, trying to drag him down, but doesn't seem to consume him. Jay was always a fair listener anyway, and nods, twitching an appreciative smile.
"Yeah. Yeah things around here are just different. Upside down and backwards in ways Ah wasn't quite anticipatin'," Jay admits with an emphatic pop of his brows, blowing out a breath. Setting down a box, he eyes Sam. "Y'didn't tell me the drinkin' age was different, either. Took me two months before someone told me Ah didn't have t'be 21." Because when things are uncomfortable, talk about the pointless stuff!
"Like I wanted ya bar-hoppin' and gettin' drunk every night! I knew what I was doin' when I left that little bit out. There are some real sketchy folks in bars around these parts. All kinds a perverts and con artists and whole heaps a folks that aint been ta church in a loooooong time. Ahm here now and I'll keep a watch for those folks if you wanna grab a beer." Sam insists, ever-protective, even when he doesn't need to be. Its as natural as breathing, being the oldest in the family.
"Because somethin' real bad might happen t'me?" Jay arches a brow at his brother with the clear cynicism in his voice that emphasizes a pretty gallows dark reminder that he's kind of hard to damage permanently. Hell, it might warrant some reminding for all he knows. That new mutation of his had kicked in only weeks before he was shipped off with Sam. "Well, lucky fer you, it turns out that drinkin' a can of paint thinner is about the only way Ah get a buzz these days. Not fer a lack of tryin'. And considerin' some of the folks around here, perverts and con artists are sorta the least of one's worries." His fair skin flushes with just a little color, now second guessing every single move that he's made since he's been here. "…found a demon livin' in a church." Talking about demons: Way safer than talking about the /multitude/ of perverts he's befriended.
Yeah, Jay, lets talk about all the folks ya been bunking over with! Sam reaches up to rub the back of his neck a moment, watching Jay, seeing how the bitter still settled around him, though also how it seemed, ever-so-slightly, improved. "Ah know yer strong, Jay. Really…I was only worried about ya every /other/ day." the older brother smiles softly with just one side of his mouth. Then he hoists up a few more boxes. If he's trying to show off…yeah, he's probably trying to show off those guns. Ham. With beans. "Ya really found a demon? What was it like?"
Sure, he's bitter. But he's also proud when it comes to his brother. Weakness is easier around people you didn't grow up with. He doesn't want to look /weak/ and incapable around Sam, so it's a bizarre back and forth for him. Yeah, you vanished, and I persisted. At least until he finds out the details of his brother's incarceration, Jay still has a little high ground.
Still. Sam's got that charisma about him, and Jay can't help but smile smally back toward the broom-head. Unspoken, there seems to be a little bit of a competition brewing as well while Jay notices that Sam takes a couple more boxes. So. Jay grabs a pair of boxes to rival and totes them off the truck. "Actually, he was sorta…nice? At first? Ah don't know. He was a demon or a human who died and became a demon, but he claimed he didn't like Hell? Ah mean, who'd like Hell, y'know? So he escaped an' was tryin' to help people. Ended up takin' care of a bunch of homeless people livin' in this big ol' spooky catholic church."
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