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

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper almost didn't answer. Digging out his phone meant extricating himself from Crysta, and he was loathe to disturb her at such a late hour, let alone wake her. Unfortunately he had a sneak suspicion that he knew who was calling, and that she would just continue to call back again and again until he spoke with her.

Crysta's breathing barely hitched when he climbed carefully out of her bed and took the phonecall into the kitchen, where he could finally breathe a little better and where she wouldn't be able to overhear.

And yes, he didn't have to feel the source of Alice's grin to know that it was there.

"I don't much care for the thought of you snooping through my personal goings-on here." It wasn't a confrontational statement, just an honest one. He knew better than to expect a modicum of privacy among the Cullen household, but out on his own like this he tried to pretend, at least, that no one was peeking over his shoulder all the time. Then again, this was Alice. He'd likely be more concerned if she wasn't busy trying to scry his decisions about Crysta.

[crystamaye]

"Jazz..." Alice's usually cheerful tone goes soft, a barely audible sigh slipping her lips. "I don't search your future on purpose, I hope you know that." It was damned near impossible for her not to see Jasper. They'd been lovers for much too long, she'd seen him before she'd even met him, how could she possibly stop seeing him? That wasn't how it worked.

Clearing her throat, she's moving past that. "Sorry to call at this hour, but it seemed the only appropriate time to reach you is all." Alice knew good and well Jasper didn't want to have a conversation about her yet with Crysta. She respected that choice at the very least.

"I just thought you should know is all...that the family is back together. And we've all moved to Michigan." There's a pause, more for letting him absorb the information. "I did insist I be the one to tell you, if you're wondering."

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper sighed, too, as guilt tugged at his belly. He did know that. He hadn't meant to be abrasive, it was just...difficult, still, to talk to Alice like nothing had transpired between them. Not her fault, he knew that very well, and he didn't blame her one bit.

He was halfway through formulating a decent apology when her words startled him. "You--Michigan?" They may as well have moved in right next door! He wouldn't mind normally--or at least, so he told himself--but the timing of this just smacked of meddling. He didn't need the family's help, here. He didn't want it. Surely they would stick their noses into everything like they always did, and just...just mess it all up, at his expense.

"Alice." He had to phrase this carefully, lest she listen to him for the moment and then proceed to do exactly the opposite. "You can't. This is too soon. She isn't Bella."

[crystamaye]

Jasper was clearly being ridiculous. Giving a bit of an indignant huff, Alice has had about enough of this. "Look Jazz, the family has been separated for a long time now. Em and Rose finally came back from South America and Edward and Bella are back from Europe. Michigan seemed like a goos choice for all of us, so don't be so self-centered as to think we all moved here because of you."

That was far from the case, honestly. Alaska was never going to work out, at least for a long while. Washington was out. It had been a very long time since the Cullen family had been in Michigan at all. It seemed fitting.

"No, she isn't Bella. But you also can't hide from us forever. Or at the very least the rest of the family. I understand...not wanting to see me."

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper ran a hand through his hair with an indignant sigh of his own. He was not being self-centered. He simply knew the Cullen family very well, and happened to not believe in coincidences.

"It isn't...I'm not avoiding you." Not exactly the truth, but not really a lie, either. He was just...trying to be on his own for a while, at least in regards to the family. "I'm not trying to avoid anyone. I'm just not sure this is a good idea right now."

He wasn't hiding behind Crysta. He wasn't.

[crystamaye]

He was.

There's a beat of silence from Alice. This all really had been tearing her up for such a long time. It had been no easy thing to end her relationship with Jasper. She had loved him, still loved him, but it wasn't destined to be. For so long Alice had toyed with the outcome of certain futures, but this was one she could not fight.

"Sure, Jazz." She sounds unsure actually, but she'll humor him at the moment. "Just...it's all very inevitable at this point, you know that. Perhaps it would be better to...move forward than to keep putting it off. Quit fighting it."

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper wanted to tell her he wasn't putting off anything, but was aware that he'd only come across as petulant and childish. And perhaps that's exactly what he was. It wasn't that he thought Crysta might not enjoy meeting the family, though it may certainly be a little overwhelming for her, he just...didn't know if he was ready to face them yet himself.

He sighed again, his hand tangling tiredly in his hair. No, he couldn't put it off forever, though a part of him would definitely like to try.

"Give me your address. I can't guarantee anything any time soon, but I'll consider it."

[crystamaye]

Mary Alice Cullen had spent a very long time with this man, she knew him inside and out. Knew how he thought, knew how could find something negative and focus on that for as long as he possibly could. Sure he was empathetic, but at the end of the day, Jasper barely knew what his own emotions were, they could confuse him if he even bothered to notice them in the first place. This was why Crysta was good for him.

Alice rattles of an address. They've relocated to a small town in northern Michagan, they're usual type. "--the guys miss you, of course. You were sorta the balance they needed. Without you, Em and Edward just seem to bicker a lot. It's getting quite tiresome. Esme misses you a lot too."

[feelingthirsty]

This right here was exactly why Jasper liked being off by himself, with no one around to remind him to think of the Cullens. He missed them, too, despite himself. They kept him in check, as irritating as he found that, and forced him to be around company when he wanted nothing more than to disappear off by himself for an indeterminable amount of time. It was good for him, he knew. Otherwise he tended to withdraw into himself, and while that was easiest, he was aware it was not the healthiest.

He remained silent for a moment after Alice finished talking, contemplative. He'd always felt connected to the family through Alice, sort of like a dangling eighth wheel, and it was strange, now, to be one of the bunch, to be introducing them to a potential partner of his own. He wasn't getting rid of them any time soon, and truthfully, he didn't want to. They were family to him, no matter how much he tried to pretend otherwise sometimes, complete with all the perks and petty annoyances of the real thing.

"I'll mention it," he promised her, silently wondering how Crysta would react to meeting a gaggle of vegetarian vampires. They may be able to answer a lot of the questions he was sure she had, at the very least.

[crystamaye]

This was a start at least. Isolation did terrible things to Jasper, practically turned him as brooding as Edward, if not worse. Sure he had Crysta now, but he couldn't cling to her like some sort of life raft.

"Great!" Alice is once more chipper, satisfied with the way the conversation has gone. Jasper may see it as meddling, but Alice saw it more as fixing what she'd broken. She felt an immense amount of guilt for Jasper's heartbreak and for the family losing him in the process. Even if it had been for the best in the end, she still had caused all this grief. "Oh, by the way. Spring break is coming up soon, yes?" The question screamed of pointed nonchalance, meaning then pixie-like vampire was plotting something Jasper would probably disapprove of.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper had already been considering spring break, so he was far from surprised when Alice brought it up in a completely, obviously not-subtle way.

"She's already got plans," he drawled with wry amusement. "Nice try, though. We'll see you when we see you, and--well, by then and you'll likely already know we're coming."

Alice was definitely meddling. She likely just couldn't help it.

[crystamaye]

"Right, silly me, of course she does." Tone ringing with amusement, Alice didn't press the matter further. Considering she already knew the outcome after all.

"It was nice talking to you though, Jazz. Just...know I'm always here to talk, okay? But I'll let you go now." Is that a bit of melancholy in her voice? Perhaps. Jasper was once her confidante, her best friend. She could act as chipper as she'd like, but if he were around, he'd surely feel the truth.

"Have a good night, Jasper." And with that final parting, the line went silent.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper returned to Crysta's bedroom feeling nostalgic and somewhat melancholy. He missed Alice. He would likely always miss her, given just how long they'd been together, what all they'd gone through. He'd thought that chapter of his life would go on forever with her, but it was over now, and it was difficult to try and start all over, yet again. At least he had Crysta to help him through, though it must have been strange for her to learn to share her time with a man who didn't eat or sleep, and who still struggled to grasp the purpose of Go-Gurt.

She lay exactly where he'd left her, still fast asleep. Her soft, rhythmic pulse had become a soothing sound recently, her warmth and scent a welcoming one. He still thirsted, of course, that desire had never and likely would never abate, but it was...manageable. Perhaps he was finally getting the hang of this after all.

[crystamaye]

The second Jasper returns to her, Crysta drifts in, snuggling close and holding on as if he had never left in the first place. It was like a gravitational pull, a force that drew her in to him. It spoke volumes to how accustomed to his presence she'd become and how comfortable she was with him as well.

The next few days pass with out incident, mostly Crysta dealing with the work load piled on before spring break. As if the professors did it to spite everyone before their week of fun.

"--I can't believe it." Having just finished up her phone call with her mother, Crysta drifts into the living room with a soft frown tugging at her lips, dropping down unceremoniously on the couch beside Jasper. "My parents are in Florida." Miami to be exact. But that was beside the point, she felt like she hadn't seen them in ages and they were in Florida soaking up the sun. Spoke volumes that her parents could go out and have more fun than her, but that was a whole other train of thought she didn't want to go down.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper had been sitting in front of a mildly interesting documentary on the television, but the bulk of his attention was on Crysta's conversation with her mother.

"Really."

His thoughts had returned rather quickly to his phonecall with Alice, and to the suggestions therein. He was not at all surprised to realize that she'd seen this coming a mile away, but he was a little aggravated by it. He did not believe in fate. He did not believe in coincidence. But damn it, it was hard to argue with either when his old friend and confidante was capable of reading the future like a book.

He kept his expression carefully neutral as he watched Crysta settle down beside him with a frown. "Throughout your break, I assume?"

[crystamaye]

Usually Crysta would find this sort of past time of Jasper's amusing or at the very least adorable, but she was too distracted to comment at the moment. Instead, she shifts, tipping to rest her head on his shoulder as she thinks about this turn in events.

"Basically, yes. For some reason my mother thought my break was next month so she and my father planned their vacation ahead of time. Or so they thought." Her mom did that often though, mixed up dates. All the time in fact, so Crysta couldn't even be that surprised.

Sighing, she peers up at him, a crease forming between her brows from her frowning. "I hope you won't mind being stuck here with me for the next week." Truthfully, that didn't sound too unappealing, but she was sure Jasper would tire of her soon at this rate.