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

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper found himself glancing inconspicuously over at Crysta several times before he realized what he found so distracting; she was feeling something strange around him, something he didn't quite recognize, just barely strong enough for him to pick up on at all. He frowned. It was almost similar to the way Edward felt when his ability made him aware of another presence, when none of his other senses were able to pick up on it yet. Almost. This was something new.

"Are you all right?" It was all he could think of to say at the moment. He wasn't able to read her very well, but something was definitely off.

[crystamaye]

"Hm?" She turned from her musings, eyes focusing on him. "Oh...uhm, yeah." Crysta didn't know why she lied and it made her feel uncomfortable. She frowned and shifted slightly in her seat. "Well.." Well what? Damn it, she didn't know what to say. How do you start a conversation about snapping knives and super human strength?

[feelingthirsty]

"Well?"

Jasper hoped this wasn't about that night. He shifted his grip around on the wheel, thinking about it. She'd really seen too much. He should have killed her. He should kill her still. But she hadn't done anything about it, so he really couldn't muster up the defensive urge.

[crystamaye]

She watched him, watched his body tense, or maybe she didn't see it but just knew he had. She shook her head. "I don't know Jasper, it's...strange. Everything is." She spoke quietly, the car filled with silence and making her words seem louder.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper didn't say anything for a moment. He wasn't sure, exactly, what Crysta was referring to, and he hesitated to ask.

"The world is a strange place," he finally murmured at length. She had no idea.

[crystamaye]

"So I've learned." She sighed, running her hand through her hair as was her habit and looked down at her lap. "...Jasper I know you don't want to tell me. I understand that. And that's why I haven't asked you about it. I'm just grateful for your help that night and..." Crysta glanced at him. "And well, I also thought if I did bring it up you might just run off. Jas, I don't know why, but I've had this strange feeling about you since that night..." He probably had no idea.

[feelingthirsty]

"...Mmm."

Jasper thought that over a moment. He wished that "strange feeling" was fear, but he knew better. He'd been acting anything but dangerous around this human, despite knowing better. It was just so tiring, after a while. Driving everyone away, one after another. It'd been bearable with the Cullens, but now, out on his own again--even temporarily--it was just...more than he was willing to bother with at the moment.

Another time, he would have run off. Another time, he would have chased her off. And yet here he was. And she was still alive. And he wasn't making any of his usual secret plans to change that.

Sighing softly, he sank back into his seat with a glance out his window, more for an excuse not to look at his passenger than anything else. "What kind of a strange feeling?"

[crystamaye]

"Uhm.." she nibbled her lip, wondering how to word it and not sound insane. Well, there was no way to do that. "After...that night..and I ran home, it was as if I could still tell where you were, feel your...presence. And every day after that I've always been able to tell how far away from me you are..." She wasn't looking over at him, intent to look down as she tried to explain this crazy thing. "It's like I have this connection to you I can't explain. Jasper...I knew the moment you pulled over to come help me today."

[feelingthirsty]

Whatever Jasper had expected to hear from her, it wasn't anything like that. He looked over at her in surprise, a frown on his face, not of disapproval but of confusion. He'd met humans like this before--not exactly like this, but ones with powers. They were much more rare than vampires with powers, but they did exist. Occasionally. Though what this particular...ability suggested, he had no idea.

"Have you ever had this connection with anyone else?"

He hoped she wasn't some sort of vampire hunter, not in the sense of slaying, but of detecting. Such a thing was dangerous, more for her than for any vampires.

[crystamaye]

Crysta noted his quick look and her head ducked down a bit more, hair falling like a curtain. "No." She had never had a feeling like she did with him. She wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. "Well, I mean, when I was little and got lost from my mom once in the mall..." She remembered suddenly. "I just...I stopped and then I knew exactly where she was and I went running to that store...but that only happened once."

[feelingthirsty]

That sounded more like a homing skill than a detection one. Jasper relaxed, minutely. She would make a very skilled tracker if such an ability carried over. Very good for hunting, or for keeping track of rosters.

Except...he looked at her again, his frown deepening. "And you said you were training this on me?"

[crystamaye]

"I...guess?" She shook her head. "I don't know what this is and I can't believe you aren't just calling me crazy right now." Crysta sighed, finally looking up at him. "Do you..know what this is?" She asked him. Maybe he would know, seeing as he seemed to have a few secrets of his own.

[feelingthirsty]

Jasper remained perturbed. Training talents was something he hadn't done in...decades, and certainly never with a human.

He should lie. He should lie right now, and pretend to have no idea what was wrong with her. But he wouldn't. It was too late now; he was curious. Boredom and isolation were two very dangerous things.

"Some...people, sometimes, can just...do things." A brilliant explanation. He sighed and rubbed at his forehead. "I'm sorry. It's nothing. A natural skill. Unusual, but not abnormal."

[crystamaye]

Crysta studied him as he drove, watching him as he spoke. "And...you know this from experience." She stated she noticed, not asked. God, she just wished she could get inside his mind and figure him out. Here she sat talking about constantly knowing his whereabouts and he sat there as if things like this happened to him all the time. Maybe it did for all she knew. Her eyes drifted over his face and she was quiet only a moment.

"Jasper. What exactly..." No, she wouldn't ask him what he was. That would be odd. Then again, what wasn't odd about them? She cleared her throat. "Uhm. Can you just...do things too?" That sounded more reasonable, though she didn't know why she still had the urge to ask him her previous thought question.

[feelingthirsty]

"I can't track people in my head, if that's what you're asking," Jasper told her, knowing full well that it wasn't. There was some connection between a human's extraordinary talents and a vampire's specific skill, something about the change that honed in on it, amplified it, modified it somewhat to recall past experiences--or dismantled it completely. Jasper had often wondered about it, but always suspected it was one of those things no one would ever fully understand. As it stood there was absolutely no connection between what Crysta could do and what Jasper was, and so he felt no obligation to reveal himself to her. His own unique ability, perhaps, if he had to, but not the fact that he was a bloodthirsty monster, in the most literal of terms