1965-09-13 - Cabbage Care Package
Summary: Kaleb makes a club call to check up on the littlest Guthrie.
Related: None
Theme Song: None
jebediah kaleb 


Jebediah is currently in the office. The doors to the bar are currently locked, he'd made sure of that twice before he came in here to study after hearing from JP that someone might start casing the joint if they learn that both Sam and Doug are gone. Though, currently Jeb isn't doing any studying, he is instead lightly sleeping, cheek pressed against his open book. His hand lays against the notebook nearby and the fingers are poised like they once held a pencil, said pencil has since dropped against the notebook. When the phone rings, Jeb startles, picking up his water cup, upside down, dumping it all over himself and the floor to a very rude awakening. He shakes the water from his hand before he picks up the phone. "Hello?" He says, voice very obviously groggy.


Kaleb said only, "Good. You're there. What are you doing?" It had all the imperiousness one came to expect from Kaleb: A demand of an answer that presented like all answers were wrong. The 'mean girl' act didn't follow after a long pause. Instead there was an ill fitted, "…and hi." Right. Greetings go at the beginning but…whatever it was present.


"Cabbage? Hey." Jeb says, running a wet hand over his face. He answers the question anyway, he's long since gotten over Kaleb's abrasive way of friendship-ing. "Ah'm not doin' anythin'. Ah was trying to study and doin' real badly at it. You comin' over?" He doesn't remark on how Kaleb says 'hi' last, that's just Kaleb being Kaleb.


Kaleb paused and took in the information finally following up with a more casual tone, "Yeah I'll be there in a moment. Just… don't. GO. like… anywhere." Words were failing him in distraction and he wasn't entirely comfortable pointing and telling Jeb do this.

A little bit later a knock came at Jeb's door and Kaleb, long coat and all looking like he owned half of Wall St. which… in theory could be sort of true? Who really knows what Capstone was entirely into. He had a large box and said, "I know you've been studying and …everything. I told Jay I'd look in on you. I brought sushi. It's fish. It's good, you won't die." Kaleb caretaking. Endure at your peril.


"Don't go anywhere, okay." Jeb says, taking a napkin and wiping up the puddle of slobber that he left on his textbook and cussing softly under his breath when he manages to smudge some of the words. "Ah won't go nowhere, Cabbage."

When Jeb answers the door, his eyes are bloodshot like someone who had just been woken up, dark circles beneath his eyes and he doesn't look great, overall. Though, Kaleb has seen him in the past few days, it may escape his notice that Jeb is thinning, he had always been slender. His shirt is still wet on one side. He hadn't bothered to change in the amount of time it takes Kaleb to show up. He looks at the box as he holds the door open for Kaleb. "Come on in. Why Jay tell you to check on me? He worried?" This doesn't seem offensive to Jeb, instead he sounds like he's worried about Jay worrying. "What's sushi? Ah don't think Ah ever heard of it. You say 'it's fish' like Ah'm scared of fish. We went fishin' all the time."


Kaleb looked around for a place to put things down and did so. Absently he corrected, "Jay didn't ask me to do much other than stop making him sound like he's on helium." He didn't look but unpacked and checked the containers. His brow furrowed, "That is not… the roll… I asked for." He sighed and shook his head, "Ah well. Here. You don't have to use the sticks you can eat it with your fingers." He handed the box toward Jeb and arched an eyebrow lifting it in indication for him to take it. "I got to go fishing this summer. I actually kinda missed it."


Jeb still doesn't know why he should be afraid of this food and that makes him nervous, he gives Kaleb a look, like he's trying to see if this is really Kaleb and not just a clone. "You fish, Cabbage? Maybe Jay can take you some time, he would like that." He picks up one of the pieces of sushi and gives it a sniff suspiciously before he places it in his mouth. He chews it carefully, like he's waiting for a grenade to go off in his mouth. "Different, but not bad. What do you mean the sticks?" He picks up one of the paper bags covering chopsticks and hands them to Kaleb. "Show me how Ah'm supposed to use these."


Kaleb chuckled and a faint grin came to his face, "Yeah I…fish. I have a boat and everything." It's an 80' yachet but he didn't now, or ever feel a need to measure hulls. "I'd like that. I took it out to go loook at a property for a project." At the question of the sticks he shifted gears entirely and was… well he was almost a normal person. Okay it's as close to a 'normal' conversation one was apt to have with him. flicking his gingers int eh universal 'gimme' gesture he took teh conjoined wood utensils. "These, are called chopsticks. I don't know why. They chop nothing. It's a super inefficient name but I'm guessing they're called something else in Japan and in China and Tibet they're called Kuaizi. My…. accent is still pretty terrible. But that's what Max calls them at home. So there's two parts. one part moves the other part you kinda… hols still like this. The other one you hold like a pencil so you can pinch yoru food… I dunno why it might be to sho off. I dunno. but they use these to eat things. I applaud a farming community that works with dirt to keep their hands as far from their food as possible." Oh Kaleb and dirt.


Jeb listens while Kaleb explains what the ridiculous wooden contraptions were for after he hands them over. "Why ain't they have any forks over there?" Jeb asks, cocking his head to the side and reaching for the other pair of chopsticks and trying his hand at using them, luckily Jeb's hands are steady but he still manages to drop the piece of sushi a few times before he places the chopsticks down and just picks the sushi up with his fingers and eats a second one. "This stuff ain't so bad, still don't know why you would think Ah would be afraid of it. You got a boat? Can Ah go out with you on it some time?"


Kaleb mused "I dunno." Now he was thinking back and thought back "When I was over there …. I don't… I don't think so. At least the country there that his people populate. I didn't really see any forks, but… yeah." He considered that and nodded with a shrug, "Totally can. I try to as much as I can in the summer. It's like…. I'm at sea and nothing bothers me." He paused and cusiously asked, "You been to the ocean before?"


"Where is Max from really? Is he an alien or somethin'? Ah got the impression he wasn't from our world." And this apparently doesn't make Jeb uncomfortable at all, he's just curious. Once upon a time there was just here and the afterlife, heaven and hell, not other worlds, other universes, just theirs. Being here in New York had opened his eyes to a lot. "The ocean? No. Ah always wanted to go though. One day when Ah got money, Ah'll save up and take my mama and my whole family to the beach on a proper vacation."


Kaleb considered the question adn that the Kree were all over the news jsut after New Years and arched an eyebrow to Jeb, "I can trust you right?" It was a heavy question and he waited for the assurance, less because he needed it and more because it was a symbol it was one of those kinds of talks. "Cool. No he's not." A longer pause and he shook his head, "Sorry I had to mess with you. Yes Max is half alien. All his people are and they have a hidden country in Aisa I am sworn not to disclose the wherabouts of. Kellan and I got to go a year ago when…when I got really hurt. theeeeey took me in, fixed me up and really helped me kinda… understand what those assholes did to my body and my ability." Kaleb's tone was off and if one was not mistaken that was the rare sound of profound respect. "They speak a dialect off Chinese been trying to learn it but I think you'd kinda like it there." He finished his sushi bite pointing the chopsticks at Jeb, "I'm totally taking you to teh ocean. Just don't fall in it or put a hole in my boat. It's my birthday present.


Jeb looks a little shocked when Kaleb asks if he can trust him. "Of course you can trust me, Kaleb, consider my lips completely sealed." Jeb reassures him, reaching over to give Kaleb's hand a gentle squeeze. He looks confused at first when Kaleb says that Max isn't an alien and about opens his mouth to ask why the hell Kaleb wanted reassurance that Jeb could be trusted if Max was just a normal crazy guy. Then Kaleb tells him the actual truth and Jeb smiles, pointing at Kaleb. "You had me going there for a second, havin' me promise secrecy and you say he's just normal. Huh. Interestin'. Ain't never met an alien before, that's kinda cool. How did you get to datin' him?" Jeb's just curious now, he doesn't often ask Kaleb about Kaleb and it's a helpful distraction from everything else Jeb's been worrying about.


Kaleb looked a little proud of himself warming to a fistfull of expressions that didn't read as total indifference. "I did. Aaaand now you have. His ancestory has some cool stuff in it. but he has Kree DNA, the… stuff in your make up that makes you…you. Those would be the blue alien assholes that Elmo yelled at. But, they're like… wicked old and do a lot of stuff with genetics. From that came Max's people for a very long and prestegious run. They have this craaaaazy technology. It's unreal. But-" Oh a personal question. Huh.

Kaleb stopped and blinked guarding that carefully. Max was quick to catch judgement especially by Jay. Jeb… he didn't know. He was watching Kaleb though actually listening for an answer so after the pause he actually seemed willing to talk about it. "So… a year ago I was… dating this girl friom school- From Xavier's. And she was… well" His brow furrowed and while everyone liked calling her awful Kaleb wasn't. "She was in the middle of a lot of stuff. I mean we tried going out and I tried like hell to figure out how to make her happy but enough wasn't… enough and she didn't quiet ahve a good grasp on dealing with not-too well thought out choices. Long story short once she went to Max for help. he did jsut as she asked but she didn't like the result so she… blamed him for it. This made meeting him at a fancy dinner function for my family interesting and instead of being her hand puppet and going 'oh you upset her you're an asshole!'" He paused to roll his eyes and shrugged, "I asked him well, ya know him. What's up. and had to agree ya know, that's rough." He bit his lip and found the following words difficult but tested the water, "Max… has ability similar to mine in some respect and that… kinda makes us jsut the bad guy. No matter what happens, oh well, clearly we're bad guys regardless of how much we try to do and just fucking be what people want us to be it'll never be enough to attone for jsut having these skills soooo I get it. And when I didn't treat him like public enemy number one? We started talking. Traded tailors. Started hanging out a little bit and then… things got real crazy."


Jeb leans against the table and though his eyes are heavy, he keeps them wide and alert and listens to Kaleb talk about his past girlfriend, how he met his new boyfriend, with rapt attention. As if there was really nothing that he had any interest in that moment but the words leaving Kaleb's lips. He smiles when Kaleb mentions trading tailors, but the expression is almost sad as he realizes just how different he and Kaleb really are. Kaleb's love language is on a different plane of existence from Jebediah's.

"Ah'm real sorry you had to put up with a relationship you couldn't make work before you found Max but it's kinda funny that havin' her led you to find him. It's a funny world we live in." He reaches across the table to pat the top of Kaleb's hand. "You /ain't/ a bad guy, Kaleb and Ah'm tired of hearin' you say that. Ain't allowed no more. You're a great man, my brother wouldn't be around you if you wasn't a great man." He insists it sternly before he pulls his hand away. "Ah know that y'all have been through a lot which Ah'm sure makes your bond stronger. This might be pryin' so don't feel the need to answer me or nothing, Ah'm just curious but… do you love him?"


|ROLL| Kaleb +rolls 1d20 for: 16


Kaleb really was on his own planet with that. He offered objectively, "I mean I bought out a restaurant so she could have dinner and feel pretty and enjoy herself without feeling stared at and dropped enough money on her nails that I could have bought an apartment building with but… it was … she wasn't happy. When we got kidnapped and I woke up deaf in one ear and unable to feel… anything?"

He shrugged looking down for the hand patting his, "Max stepped up and said I'll help. And my brother and Jay let him. When I came back and I was broken from them trying to genetically rearrange me?" His jaw tightened and the words softened letting his eyes search Jeb;s behind those tired dark circles and opted to keep it simple, "He rearranged some legislature to get them to get his people to take me in and put ever resource in the palace toward helping me heal. I mean they studied the effects but we all learned together… he asked for nothing. He got nothing out of this. I was good to him and he just wanted me to be okay. A month after that… yeah I asked him out and…" Tragedy aside he smiled, "Yeah I really do love him. And he loves me. Even if we are pretty terrible and very different and not… perfect."

"I've done… some terrible things. One in particular I regret and I can't take back. I'm working maybe on being a good man but until then? Well sometimes I can be the asshole we need."


"Money ain't the root of all happiness, Kaleb and you shouldn't feel bad that you couldn't buy her love. That ain't your fault. If you did all that stuff at her request and she still couldn't find any happiness, then that's on her. You're better off without her in my opinion then. There's nothing quite as soul sucking as doing everythin' you can to make someone happy and have it never be enough." Jeb reassures Kaleb.

"Listen, the thing about love is, it's never perfect and maybe Ah'm not the kind of person you'll believe on that being that Ah'm even younger than you are and well, very single, but it isn't. It's never perfect, the thing is, love ain't about bein' perfect. It's about bein' happy and just… well, lovin' each other the best way that you can. Supportin' each other and it sounds like Max has done a lot of supportin' you. He sounds like a good man to me." The smile on Jeb's face still contains a little melancholy. "Ah'm real gald that he's good to you. You know you deserve it, right? Bein' happy? You do, Kaleb."

"Ah've done some shit Ah regret too, we all have. You should be afraid of anyone who tells you they ain't got nothin' they regret." Jeb reassures him.


Kalebrubbed the back of his neck and thought about that for a long moment, and nodded, "Yeah I think you're right. Part of me really hoped it'd work though. Like… I'm not…good at being nice. I can do stuff, sure. Non-issue, but I dunno. I let Jay do that shit and I'll jsut make sure he can."

He looked to Jeb and went to say somethning. Stopped. He went to say soemthing and shut his face up like a safe again. Then his voice spoke without him "You heard of hypnotism? Ya know where people put thoughts in your head, make you think they're your own?"


"Hey, don't do that. We was havin' a bondin' moment." Jeb says softly when he can tell that Kaleb is shutting himself off again. Jeb startles when Kaleb doesn't speak but he hears his voice regardless, hands going to his ears for a second like he thinks he might be having a stroke. "Um.. yeah, Ah heard of it." He says, voice sounding slightly nervous, like he doesn't know whether or not he's supposed to be answering out loud.


Kaleb blinked and couldn't help but half grin and let the voice talk without him, "I'm not a telepath. I can just direct sound where i want it to go. And sometimes," The sonic sighed and ate his sushi which, was another benefit of not needing one's mouth to talk, "I can also… make people think what they're hearing is their own thoughts or sometimes they don't hear it at all and can make whateer I come up with spresented as their own thoughts. Make em want to do what… I want them to do." He looked up and spoke vocally, but quieter taking a deep breath and making himself look at Jeb, "It's why people stop trusting me when they find that out. Because now you can forever question, 'Well is Kaleb Marshall Miller a decent guy or is he making me make excuses for him? Is this something he's making me do?" The smile was pulled tight and joyless. Taking a deep rbeath he confessed to his friend, because that's what frieds are supposed to do, tell the truth, "Max is far better at it than I am…and… he used it to save my life. Given that we can never really be the good guy, but it doesn't mean we can't… help good things happen. And… I think we can use that maybe to help Doug."


Jeb listens, still slightly uneasy that Kaleb isn't using his mouth to talk but he brings his hands down from his ears and relaxes his shoulders. "Well, Ah mean, do you use it for bad stuff? Ah would think you would only use it to help someone or like, when you use it for 'evil' things," and here he puts the finger quotes in as if the whole concept of Kaleb being evil was ridiculous. "Then you're doing it because someone is trying to hurt you or your friends, your family. Just because Ah know you can do that now doesn't mean Ah'm gonna assume all the time that you are usin' it on me. Ah bet you would just use it to make me eat and take a nap and stuff like that, you ain't gonna use it to make me do something awful." Jeb says, shaking his head at all the people who assume Kaleb is terrible. "You think you can… like.. suggest him to go back to normal then?"


Kaleb cracked a grina nd admitted "Eh I've made peopel that irritate me go do things for me. Kid in school embarass himself. It was funny to me at the time. He was an asshole." He paused and took a deep breath. "I think…over time with enough lines of code? Like you can't just tell a computer BE OKAY. It doesn't work like that and to change a behaviour requires a change of ethos. A um… like what you value and how you perceive things. SO… since something started coding his brain? We jsut have to find out what was said and rewrite those strings of code and…" He looked to Jeb with a less callous look thich ws the Kaleb 'ithis is the sort of empathy face'…or 'yeah. I really need to fire that guy. Shit I have to get up to do that' face. "Then we hope."


"Well, Ah think everythin' at this point is worth a try. Next time we see Doug, Ah won't punch him in the face when you're trying to rewrite his brain and then we'll see what it does. Ah want you to try it, Kaleb." Jeb insists, taking another piece of sushi and popping it in his mouth. He really is eating like he hasn't in a year. Jay was probably right to send Kaleb over to check on Jeb.


Kaleb didn't look convinced yet. he picked up the sushi bite between the sticks in his fingers carefully. He watched Jeb scarf the food down and wouldn't ever admit to him that Jay never sent him. He didn't never the credit. He never needed credit or regard, just results, and for his people to be alright.


Jeb sits down a little more heavily, exhausted. "Thank you for comin' by, Cabbage. Ah really do appreciate it." He says, and like everything else that Jeb says, it sounds geunine. "Ah think we should try your idea. Anything is worth a shot. Ah just want Doug back. Ah want Doug back and Ah want Jay to be okay."


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