spaceguy | (no subject)

Jasper can't sleep, these days. Not well, anyway. He's almost used to it, so fuck it; when he wakes up and the sun is nowhere in sight, he just stretches his arms up a little and calls it morning.

Not like there's much to look forward to.

He wanders kind of aimlessly, trying to shake the stiffness out of his leg. No one else should be awake yet

Except, huh. That guy is. And he's going through his stuff like he's throwing half of it away.

"You going somewhere?" Jasper whispers, curious.

Unfortunately, though it seems that he's going to throw things away, he can't find many things that he doesn't think he'll need in the future.

He discards the remnant of the bait he used to catch the fish, the ones he traded in town. He can find that fresh.

Ah.

It's - Jasper?

He glances up, to Jasper, briefly. Is he going somewhere? That should be obvious.

"All right, all right," Jasper laughs softly. "Stupid question."

He takes a few still cautious steps closer, sitting down near enough to talk to the man without waking everyone up, but far enough away that he's not totally infringing on his space. As if he wasn't interrupting already.

"Where you headed?"

Just a shrug, this time, without looking up. He's not sure where he's headed. South. East. He just wants to be away, away from sickened Red Cross camps with their mud and their hopelessness. Better to be alone, where it's quiet.

He realizes that he's paused, in packing up his bag. There's no reason to do that.

So he continues.

Jasper notices the pause. Hey, almost had a conversation going, there. Sort of.

He looks over as the guy starts packing again. "You still not talking?" he asks, a little blunt, but not unkind. "Only, it's easier to talk with somebody when they actually, y'know, say things."

His eyes flick to Jasper's feet, then up to his face. Then back down at the bag. It's not that he's not listening, it's not that he's ignoring Jasper.

And they are having a conversation, of sorts.

Besides, Jasper talks enough for two anyhow.

"Hey, I'm not trying to stop you," admits Jasper, making a placating gesture with his hands. "This place is a shithole. I don't blame you."

He studies the man's face for a long moment. What the hell happened to this guy? And that's another thing...

Jasper smiles, not too hopeful, but he has to ask: "You gonna tell me your name, at least?"

He doesn't particularly want to have a name.

Which isn't really an answer at all.

He doesn't shake his head, doesn't nod. Just seals the backpack up, on his knees in the dirt.

"Didn't think so," Jasper chuckles, a little ruefully.

He takes a breath, because this is going out on a limb. "All right, look, can I just call you 'Guy'? Because weird as it seems, you're kind of the closest thing to a friend I've got right now, and it doesn't seem right to think of you as 'that dude over there.' I mean, I feel like we're kind of past that."

He shakes his head, realizing he's rambled a bit, and looks up at the man.

"Would that be okay? Like, it wouldn't offend you, right?"

...Guy.

It's as good as any other name, he supposes. Better, because it's - undistinguished.

Guy slides the pack onto his back and inclines his head, indicating for Jasper to come with him. A question, a request. An acceptance.

Jasper grins for the first time in what feels like forever. "Yeah? Really?"

He takes a brief look around at the camp. The sun hasn't come up yet, even though it's starting to get lighter with that grey sort of pre-sun glow; and all Jasper can see are the bodies (sleeping, just sleeping) and the mud.

"Yeah," Jasper nods, agreeing. Actually looking forward to something. "Fuck yeah, Guy, let's get out of here."

Guy leads them through the winding paths, between the tents - some shopkeepers already awake, already eyeing the duo with caution and suspicion. The world hasn't settled down yet; people haven't figured out that capitalism isn't a luxury, it's the simplest and best method of trade.

Up by the gate, Royal and his guards are in the process of opening for the day.

Guy has already guessed that Royal must have trounced Jasper - something about the kid makes Guy think that he would have mouthed off, and with Royal's type, that's never a good thing.

In order to halt any hesitation, he touches a hand to the back of Jasper's shoulder, firmly, pushing Jasper so he's walking ahead.

Jasper's not nervous, though he probably should be, up and leaving just to follow a stranger to nowhere in particular. He trusts Guy. He's not sure why, but he does, and the guy caught him when he fell, so... That counts for a lot.

Royal and the guards are out by the gate already, and Jasper can feel himself starting to tense up. Yeah, he brought that beating on himself, because he never can tell when to shut the fuck up; but that doesn't mean Jasper's eager for a repeat performance.

And even now, Guy's catching him again, shoving his shoulder enough to push him in front; to keep his feet moving.

"I'm going, all right?" hisses Jasper, not wanting to draw undue attention. "Though I have to say, me leading? Not the best idea." He cranes his neck back to look at Guy. "I'm not gonna stop, okay? I'm with you."

Guy gives him a brisk pat on the shoulder, a little amused at Jasper's timidity. It doesn't much matter to him whether Jasper's coming with him or not.

It doesn't.

Royal turns to stare at them, as they approach. Spits in the dirt. "What do you want?" he challenges.

Guy nods at the outside world, beyond the gate. Specific enough. But if Royal wants them more specific, Jasper's going to have to do the talking.

Jasper almost smiles at the pat to his shoulder. He gets that he's being laughed at, kind of, but it's reassuring all the same. Maybe there's hope in this whole friendship thing, after all.

He cocks his head at Royal's questioning, defiant and sarcastic like he hadn't had the shit beaten out of him not too long ago for it. "Just thought we'd take a walk, y'know, enjoy the fresh morning air."

He really doesn't know when to shut up. Guy rubs the bridge of his nose, and raises his eyebrows at Royal.

"Get the fuck out," says Royal. "So that someone else can waste a bullet taking you out of the gene pool."

Once they're clear of the gate, Guy gives Jasper a smack, on the back of the head. Idiot.

A quick check of the directions available - up the road, and down the road.

Neither look appealing.

Guy hops over the ditch by the side of the road and heads into the forest.

They're barely even past Royal - and man, that could've gone a whole hell of a lot worse - when...

"Ow! What the hell?" Jasper's hand flies up the the back of his head, even though it didn't hurt that much. He turns a mock-betrayed look on Guy. "I told you me leading was a bad idea."

Guy looks up the road, and then he looks down the road, and Jasper isn't really surprised when he hauls off and hops the ditch, heading straight for the trees.

He follows without hesitation, but can't stop himself from asking. "Hey, you know where we're going?"

It didn't hurt that badly. Couldn't have.

And Guy definitely isn't smiling, at Jasper's reaction. He pops off a shrug at Jasper's question, pointing somewhere due south.

Hopefully they'll hit a stream sometime in the next few hours. Guy's water supply is getting low.

Oh - right.

Guy stops, setting his pack on the ground, and reaches into a pocket sewn into the lining. He pulls out a small, flat rectangle, and passes it over to Jasper, careful not to drop it. The second he takes himself, hooking it onto a pocket.

"That's super helpful," Jasper teases. "You really know how to inspire confidence in a guy, you know that?"

He takes the little device from Guy, handling it delicately as he asks, "What's this?" Though a few more seconds of looking at it, and he can see the little numbers on the readout, the color coded bars...

"Oh, cool. Like a geiger counter, right? Where'd you get - never mind," he cuts himself off. He doesn't think Guy would answer him even if that wasn't a stupidly invasive thing to ask. Obviously this dude has some dark and mysterious past and shit, and just as obviously, he doesn't wanna talk about it.

Instead he smiles a little, tucking the counter into his own pocket. "Thanks, man. This'll probably help a lot. Y'know, staying alive."

And staying alive would be the plan.

Guy heads off into the forest, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket.

He doesn't know how he'll be able to feed them. He has enough trouble with himself, finding fish and plants that're undamaged by radiation. With two --

Then again, Jasper's wish to talk might be helpful.

If Guy can also teach him how to shut up.

They walk in silence for a while, because Jasper can't think of anything to say, and he's getting a little tired of hearing his own voice. And if he's tired of it, man, Guy must be dying.

He's favoring his right leg a little too much, but fuck, his left is still really tight. Jumping and climbing through the woods probably isn't doing him any favors either.

But hey, in for a penny in for a pound, or whatever; and even though his leg hurts and he doesn't know where the hell they're going, this is still so much better than the camp.

Jasper winces a little bit, stepping over a fallen branch, but he keeps walking.

After about an hour of walking (maybe three miles, Guy thinks, but probably less) he notices Jasper's limp.

And sighs. Because he really should have picked up on that sooner.

He halts, setting the pack on the ground, and pushes Jasper back, so he's sitting on a log. Crouches before Jasper's left leg, and runs a hand up his calf, sending a questioning glance up Jasper's way.

"Hey - whoa - what?" Jasper flails a little, until he settles on the log, and he doesn't have too long to react to that before Guy bends down and slides his hand gently up his calf.

He's not blushing. That's stupid.

"It's okay," Jasper says, "I mean, it's just a really old injury; I've had it for freaking years. I'm used to it." He's kind of babbling, but Guy still isn't moving, so he keeps talking. "There's not anything you can do, I don't think. I mean, you can touch it, if you like, but..."

And Jasper's totally not blushing now, no way, but he does feel kind of embarrassed.

"It's fine," he shrugs. "Don't worry about it."

And - there, Guy's located the scar tissue, and, yeah, probably that muscle that's having the problems. He digs in, hard, with his thumb, in a way that's probably at least a little painful to Jasper. And again; pressure, release, pressure, release. Basic, but effective.

Come to think of it, it might be nice to have someone to take care of.

And there, that should do it. Should help, at least, since there's a low supply of readily available ibuprofen, and there's no way Guy's using any of it until one of them gets a real injury.

He stands, offering his hand to Jasper, to help him get up.

"Ah, ah... ow!" Jasper cries out a little, because that fucking hurts more than he thought it would; but with each movement of Guy's hand, it gets a little better. After a minute or so, the rhythmic press and release feels pretty good. Jasper sighs reflexively when Guy stops, almost disappointed.

He stretches his leg experimentally, and damn, Guy has the magic touch or something; Jasper really didn't think he'd be able to do anything for it. "Wow, that actually feels a lot better."

Guy's hand is right there, and Jasper takes it, letting Guy help him to his feet. He tests his weight on his left leg, and it's amazing the difference. He could probably walk for the whole rest of the day, and...

And he's still holding Guy's hand. Shit, that's awkward. He lets go of it, shoving his own hands into his pockets, dropping his eyes.

"Thanks, uh, yeah. Thank you, Guy."