[In some ways the week had seemed to stretch on forever, excruciating in its slowness and ever-increasing tenseness--but in the same way things had seemed to fly by, somehow. Of course, the saying went "time flies when you're having fun" (and Jack would know about something like that better than anyone, having whiled away roughly three hundred years under such a careworn policy); but that certainly isn't the case this time around, not here. Not in this place.]
[Sometimes you lose track of time altogether, when you get to be as old as he is. And sometimes you're acutely aware of every hour as it goes by, the eternal rinse-and-repeat countdown to the next season. They don't blend together all that often at all for Jack, that said...and he finds he doesn't enjoy it at all when they do, now.]
[Too much time to think, not enough time to know quite exactly what to do--]
[It's drizzling this evening, a light and misty thing, when Jack wanders his way up to the deck--a sort of half-hearted precipitation he'd have been utterly irritated by, on a normal basis, but after nigh two solid weeks of relentless summer sunshine? The increased cloud-cover and very gradual drop in temperature, lately, had been one small blessing to take from this entire business. The water builds, ices into progressively wider pale swirls on his shoulders and upraised hood, but for once Jack doesn't mind it so much. Enjoys the coolness, as he can, even as he drifts down a rail he finds himself far too familiar with and lets thoughts wander around in the same circles they'd been wearing in his mind for the past half-dozen days.]
[He doesn't notice the presence on the crane, of course--probably wouldn't have even if the time of day were earlier, the surroundings brighter, not unless he were aiming for a perch on the top of the crane himself. But if there's one thing Jack does pick up, it's the peculiarly loud tap right behind him. Far too loud to pass off as any sort of raindrop. And then Zelos is reeling off his terribly elaborate greeting.]
[Compared to the thick quiet that had been settled on the deck right before that? Definitely startling, and not exactly in the pleasant way.]
[So Jack jumps in place, naturally. Whips around, staff shifting from a one-handed grip to a two-handed one with fairly impressive speed...and it's a good thing Zelos is already so familiar with his habits, really, because he is reflexively whipping the crook to brain the guy before recognition actually properly kicks in, foiled only by Zelos's own blocking hand.]
--Oh.
[Jack blinks, draws back a step, staff lowering and expression promptly seguing from alarm to surprise to--something between dismay and uncertainty, in equal measures. Because here's someone he hasn't heard from in awhile, all things considered...]
You really know how to almost give a guy a heart attack, you know that? [Mildly miffed, mostly to cover for all the other feelings--gotta start somewhere, after all, because it's either that or outright turning and leaving...never mind that heart attacks hold residence at the very bottom of Jack's list of concerns, have been for the last three hundred years.]
no subject
[Sometimes you lose track of time altogether, when you get to be as old as he is. And sometimes you're acutely aware of every hour as it goes by, the eternal rinse-and-repeat countdown to the next season. They don't blend together all that often at all for Jack, that said...and he finds he doesn't enjoy it at all when they do, now.]
[Too much time to think, not enough time to know quite exactly what to do--]
[It's drizzling this evening, a light and misty thing, when Jack wanders his way up to the deck--a sort of half-hearted precipitation he'd have been utterly irritated by, on a normal basis, but after nigh two solid weeks of relentless summer sunshine? The increased cloud-cover and very gradual drop in temperature, lately, had been one small blessing to take from this entire business. The water builds, ices into progressively wider pale swirls on his shoulders and upraised hood, but for once Jack doesn't mind it so much. Enjoys the coolness, as he can, even as he drifts down a rail he finds himself far too familiar with and lets thoughts wander around in the same circles they'd been wearing in his mind for the past half-dozen days.]
[He doesn't notice the presence on the crane, of course--probably wouldn't have even if the time of day were earlier, the surroundings brighter, not unless he were aiming for a perch on the top of the crane himself. But if there's one thing Jack does pick up, it's the peculiarly loud tap right behind him. Far too loud to pass off as any sort of raindrop. And then Zelos is reeling off his terribly elaborate greeting.]
[Compared to the thick quiet that had been settled on the deck right before that? Definitely startling, and not exactly in the pleasant way.]
[So Jack jumps in place, naturally. Whips around, staff shifting from a one-handed grip to a two-handed one with fairly impressive speed...and it's a good thing Zelos is already so familiar with his habits, really, because he is reflexively whipping the crook to brain the guy before recognition actually properly kicks in, foiled only by Zelos's own blocking hand.]
--Oh.
[Jack blinks, draws back a step, staff lowering and expression promptly seguing from alarm to surprise to--something between dismay and uncertainty, in equal measures. Because here's someone he hasn't heard from in awhile, all things considered...]
You really know how to almost give a guy a heart attack, you know that? [Mildly miffed, mostly to cover for all the other feelings--gotta start somewhere, after all, because it's either that or outright turning and leaving...never mind that heart attacks hold residence at the very bottom of Jack's list of concerns, have been for the last three hundred years.]
[It's the principle of the thing.]