LOG oo1; Jasper and Crysta...wherever they happen to be.

[feelingthirsty]

Who: Jasper and Crysta
What: discussing Beowulf in class
When: ...you know, I'm not actually sure
Where: a university classroom in Chicago
Info: In which Crysta is nearly late to class and, Jasper is a grumpbucket, but he could be worse.

Who: Jasper, Crysta, and a very foolish mugger
What: a mugger has a very bad night
When: later that night,

Comments

On the road

[feelingthirsty]

Usually, when Jasper's thirst struck him particularly powerfully and it hadn't yet been long enough since his last human meal to justify another, he could make do roaming the Manistee National Forest for a night or two. Every now and then, however, that just wasn't good enough.

He'd gotten that Friday and the following Monday off from his classes, so he'd decided to make the drive all the way up to the Ottawa Forest. This one was connected to a few more national parks, without the annoyance of any interstates to surround it. After a nice, relaxing four days spent exploring the low, rolling mountains and the expanse of natural lands, Jasper was feeling pretty good about everything. Well enough that he opted out of spending his final night there as well, and so began the longish drive back to Chicago early Monday evening. His books, half-finished, were waiting for him, as was a hot shower. He hadn't exactly rolled around in the dirt like an animal, but four days worth of wilderness was enough to leave it's mark on anybody.

Only a little more than an hour away now, he had just crossed the state line when a vehicle by the side of the road caught his eye. There was a surprisingly familiar shock of red hair just visible past the raised hood. It was the human girl again, Crysta. Shocked to run across her here, of all places, Jasper wasted a long moment marveling at his luck, or lack thereof.

He should pass her by. Intellectually he knew this, just as he knew that he wouldn't, his foot already switching over to the break, hard, so that he wouldn't shoot too far ahead. His old golden '71 Mach, though very well restored, groaned her protest at such careless treatment, though she didn't try anything tricky as Jasper guided her with a firm hand over to the shoulder of the road. The moment the tires stopped, Jasper yanked up the parking break and cursed himself. He knew better than to get involved with humans, their apparently continues runs of bad luck be damned. His reluctant compassion was a result of Alice's bad influence, he was sure. This stupidity was exactly the kind of thing that had gotten him turned in the first place, and he thought he'd done a good job over the last hundred and forty-some-odd years stamping it out.

The sun was still up, but low in the sky, where the clouds caught the majority of its rays before allowing them to reach the earth. Still, Jasper unrolled the sleeves of his shirt from his elbows so that the cuffs hung loose, wrinkled, and unbuttoned around his wrists before he stepped out of his car to see what, exactly, was the problem here. He might appear a little strange, but nothing near otherworldly. Passable. He tried not to look as annoyed as he felt as he approached Crysta, keen on catching her reaction to his presence through or even despite whatever mental block kept him from experiencing it fully.

"Hey. You all right, here?"

[crystamaye]

Crysta was not amused. In fact, she was mad at her car for deciding now would be the time to kick the bucket. "Damn piece of..." She cursed, kissing the tire as she got out of the car after managing to pull it to the side of the road. Lucky for her it had been late and not that many cars had been around. Also, if she thought about it, unlucky. Her Oldsmobile, like what it was called, was old. Very old. Though it had been cheap, so at the time she could have cared less. But now she was stuck on the highway, in the dark, and she could swear she could see the welcome sign to Wisconsin not but a few feet away.

She sighed, going to pop the hood, not that she would know what to do. She knew little to nothing about cars. She peered in. Huh, smoke. Was that a bad thing? You would think so. As she stood there, peering in cluelessly, her spider Jasper senses kicked in. Or so she dubbed it in her mind with dry humor. She was insane. She wouldn't look up, she was an hour away from home, there was no way. But the feeling was unmistakable, she just knew it was him coming near. So in no way was it a surprise when she heard his voice.

"No, I am not alright." She sighed, leaning back and looking around her car to watch as he approached like an angel from the dark. Okay, a bit too much for her, but she was always fascinated by how he looked. How good he looked. "My car, which I admit is not the greatest, has decided now would be the best time to ruin a trip home, which I haven't done in a long time mind you, by dying right before I get into Wisconsin." She ranted, hand planting on the lifted hood like she was holding it up, but more like propping herself up as she fumed.

[feelingthirsty]

Now was a good time for Jasper to see whether or not he had any control over Crysta's emotions through the fog. With a glance first at Crysta and then over the car, noting the year and model, he pretended nothing was up as he stepped around the human to peer beneath the hood. Proximity usually made this easier. If her anger was going to dissipate at all, now would be the time.

"What happened to it?" Frowning at the state of the engine, Jasper had to waft away the smoke before he could get a good look at the smaller parts. The car was old, but not that old. Perhaps he could fix it and get her on her way again.

[crystamaye]

Her anger and frustration didn't change, not that he could tell her emotions anyways. Crysta huffed, crossing her arms as she leaned back and let him peer at her engine. Though his proximity wasn't lost on her, she was just too upset to think too much about it. "I really don't know. It just...sputtered and shut down on me. It's a miracle I managed to pull it to the side of the road." She sighed, pushing her thick hair from her face as she looked over his shoulder. "Do you know anything about cars?" She asked, gnawing her lower lip as she looked away from the smoke to the side of his face.

[feelingthirsty]

"Some."

The girl's emotions weren't wavering. Jasper couldn't help but cast a glance in her direction, not really surprised to see how close she'd gotten, but a little startled by it nonetheless. He quickly looked down into the car again, eyes darting to the source of the smoke.

"You've got the worst luck." Jasper had never poked around on this particular car before, but he understood how they worked. He prodded at a few parts, exploring, but the diagnosis wasn't good and he frowned. "Here." He pointed to a large crack splitting apart a chunk of black metal. "Your throttle position sensor is shot. And here." He waved his finger over a twisted piece of metal. "This is all warped to hell. This too. And this is all corroded."

His frown deepened. There was more damage besides, a lot more, but he saw no sense in pointing it all out to a girl who probably had no idea what any of it meant. It was a wonder this car had started up at all.

"When's the last time you had this thing looked at?"

[crystamaye]

Crysta took a step back from her smoking car, pressing her hand to her forehead in frustration. Really, she could never go anywhere without there being an issue. "Uhm, when I bought it? Two years ago..." She sighed. "I know better, really, but I just never had time for it. And besides, the thing was working just fine for me up until now." She grumbled, glaring at the now useless piece of junk. Damn, would she have to buy a new car? She didn't think she could afford that. She should have never taken this trip. Didn't matter now, she would have to just head back home and call her parents and tell them what happened. They would be disappointed in her of course. She groaned. This was all too frustrating.

[feelingthirsty]

Given the current state of the car, Jasper guessed it had already been in less than perfect condition when Crysta had bought it, probably for more than it was worth. He poked at a bit of corrosion and sighed. It was salvageable, but not for less than the entire car was worth, which was still undoubtedly more than he Crysta could afford.

Jasper braced his hands against the grill and pretended to lean in and examine the poor thing while he weighed his options. Despite Edward's convictions, it simply wasn't considered normal to buy someone, especially a stranger, a new car, no matter how much useless money you had lying around. Even less acceptable was loaning someone--a college student--your Maserati, and the Mach, well. The Mach was special. She was his, entirely, as much as a car could belong to anyone, built up in his spare time from the barest bones and held together on the road through sheer force of will. Even Edward and Rosalie had trouble driving it, with all its hidden, "unfixable" quirks, and that was exactly the way Jasper liked it. Except that meant it would be well beyond Crysta's expertise. Which left him two options, whittled down to only one, because ignoring this would plague him for years, he just knew it.

"I know a guy," he lied, shooting her a glance as he sighed again. "Just leave it here, and I'll have him take a look at it. He might be able to get it running again, for less than you'd pay a shop."

He supposed he could consider this a penance, of sorts, if he believed in that kind of thing. Kill a few thousand people, fix one young girl's car. It didn't exactly even out, but it was something.

[crystamaye]

Crysta dropped her hand to her side, watching him as he looked over her car. She should probably be wondering where he came from. He seemed to have come out of no where, to her rescue. Again. Was he some sort of guardian angel? Highly doubtful. Perhaps it was just coincidence. But she had also always believed that some things happened for a reason. And lately, there had to be a reason for Jasper to keep showing up in her life.

"Well I don't have a choice about leaving it here...but, would it be worth even trying to fix?" She bit her lip. "How much would it cost me?" Yes, she sounded entirely too worried about price, but really she wouldn't want to waste time on a car that would just cost too much in the long run. If she really had to, she would shell out for a new car if that was the better option.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper pretended to think for a moment. What was a reasonable amount? He had no intention of actually taking any money from her, but in the meantime she needed some sort of estimate, something that sounded about right.

He shrugged. "A grand, maybe? How much is the car worth?" He didn't know off the top of his head. Stepping back from the car, he unhitched the hood and tucked it closed with a metallic bang, looking over at Crysta again. He hoped she wouldn't have to buy a new car for that price; she would probably only end up with something even worse, and he could fix this one up pretty nicely, given half a chance.

[crystamaye]

"Not much.." she grumbled, looking at the car with distaste. "But only a grand for all that smoke? I'm gonna assume that's a good deal." Crysta sighed after he closed the hood, tucking her hair behind her ear. The thing had only cost her three grand if she thought about it. Maybe if she had taken the time to get it fixed up it wouldn't have come to paying a third of what it cost to fix it now. She looked over at Jasper. "Uhm, were you on your way anywhere Jas?" She didn't want to burden him too much, this wasn't his problem. She could always call a cab or tow.

[feelingthirsty]

Still unused to hearing his nickname from anyone outside of his little family, Jasper's eyes caught hers briefly before he aimed them back down the road again, squinting in the direction of Chicago. Well. So much for sitting around in his living room wishing he had something better to do.

"No, I wasn't going anywhere." He jerked his head in the direction of his car, hoping he would have more luck getting the human blood smell out of his seats later than Edward ever had. "Do you need a ride?"

[crystamaye]

Crysta looked at him for a moment after his brief gaze was directed away, her eyes flickering to her own broken down car before following to his car. Well, it would save her some time... "If you don't mind." She murmured, looking back at his profile. She could never tell what he was thinking, it was difficult to know if what she said was the right thing.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper wouldn't have offered if he truly minded. Giving stray humans a ride in his car was not exactly a pinnacle of entertainment, but he had nothing better to do with his time, and she could genuinely use his help.

"Just let me know where you need to go." He stepped around her in order to lead the way back to his Mach. It was a good thing he'd spent such a long weekend running off some steam and gorging himself on tasteless animal blood; Crysta's scent would still be tempting, locked up within the cramped confines of his car, but much easier to ignore with an already heavy belly.

[crystamaye]

Crysta sighed. "Just back home I suppose, I would just be stuck in Milwaukee if I went now." She leaned into her car to grab her bag, before locking it up and heading after Jasper to his car. A whole hour in a car with Jasper. She glanced at him as they slid in, slipping her bag in the back. Would it finally come up with them stuck together in here? What had happened that night?

It made her nervous now that she thought about it. There was so much and so little between them that her mind was constantly confused. She didn't know where she stood with him. He was aloof and indifferent, thoughtful and helpful. Baffling. That was Jasper.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper had nearly forgotten that Crysta had seen him acting...less than normal one night, she'd been so quiet about the whole thing. He remembered now, when he caught just a hint of the human's nerves as they climbed into his car. Of course she would be uneasy around him, alone in a car together with no control over where it went. Perhaps she wasn't so foolish after all.

Except that Jasper was, for once, ultimately harmless. He could stomach one hour alone with a human, now that he allowed himself to feed from one ever now and then. He pretended not to notice her smell as it built up all around him, instead cracking his window before pulling the old car back out onto the highway. One hour, give or take. He could do that.

"You're going to have to give me your address."

[crystamaye]

The car started and she exhaled, calming down some. Crysta glanced over at him, rattling off her apartment's address. "It's just a few blocks from the campus, so it shouldn't be too hard for you to get to." She added, watching as they passed by street lights. It quickly became quiet in the car and she laid her hands in her lap, staring out the window in thought.

She should probably try to talk to him. Though talking to Jasper wasn't always the easiest...which was funny because she found it so easy to talk to him. Being in such close confines with him had her Jasper alert turned on high, his proximity almost screaming in her mind. She didn't know why that was. Things were so crazy and she didn't think she could talk to him about any of it. Not about what happened that night. Especially not about her senses. But shouldn't they talk about it? Crysta didn't notice her gnawing her lip as she gazed sightlessly out the window.