Jay and Jean - mid afternoon

[x-icarus.livejournal.com]

Jay and Jean are paired up. Jay fumbles while Jean is uneasy about large bodies of water.

"Ah'm gonna hate water after this. Cold showers are gone for the year. Look at mah hands," Jay complained. "They're all wrinkled. Haven’t dried out since we got here. But look," he turned around, pulling out a pair of gloves from his back pocket. "They gave me some gloves. Already wet too." He held them up, ringing the water out of them to prove it. "Why don't Ah just dive right in the water and stop complaining huh?" he smiled at Jean who looked like a wet rat.

Jean shoved back a few tendrils of hair which had escaped her braid to lie plastered to her cheeks. "You do that and I'm dragging you off for a tetanus booster," she told him, pulling her jacket hood further back down in a vain attempt to keep the rain out of her eyes. "At least the rain's clean. I don't even want to think about what's in the river..." Not that the filthy state of the rushing water below them was the only reason she was doing her damnedest to keep at least a foot between her and it at all times. Nothing like traumatic flashbacks to really ruin a rescue attempt, and Jean wasn't taking any chances, particularly not after she'd seen the railroad bridge go down.

"Me either. Ah reckon some dead stuff. Maybe some bodies?" he laughed nervously and rubbed his hands over his wet jeans, sniffing. "Oh Ah'm so sick of being wet. Ah just wanna go somewhere dry after this. Dry and hot. It's gotta be hot or Ah'm gonna catch a cold. Actually, Ah think Ah got a cold now. Maybe Ah caught somethin' worse than a cold. Maybe Ah'm gonna die a horrible death. Oh, could Ah get what dogs get? Yanno, with healin' and all. Ya think Ah could get tape worm? Could you get tape worm here?" he decided that after he ate, he would not lick his fingers here.

"Cheerful thought," Jean said. "You have a remarkable talent for... gruesome imagery. And there will definitely need to be dry, warm places, later. Can hardly even imagine being dry, right now, though. It's like dry is a thing which happens to other people." The two of them were doing a quick pass through one of the evacuated neighbourhoods; in theory, everyone had been told to get out hours ago. In practice, far too many people had been told the water was coming and not believed. Or cared too much for their homes to leave.

"Thank you. It works good for lyrics," he said, flattered. Sitting up, Jay placed his hands on either side of the boat and leaned forward. "Screw being dry, look how cold it looks in there." Jay stood up and waved Jean to stop. "Hang on," he started and wobbled, grabbing the side again, crouching down. "Somethin's up here."

Jean glanced in the direction Jay was staring as she cut back on the throttle, leaving just enough power to hold them more-or-less steady against the river's current. "What is it?"

"Aren’t you telepaths suppose to know already?" he glanced behind him, shrugging. Out of all the telepaths, Jay trusted Jean the most. He could almost forget she was one. "One sec, Ah dunno. Lemmie check." Jay stood up fully and spread his wings, launching off the boat and heading towards a mess of trees, branches and power lines. He rose above it, looking beyond and then came down a fraction, checking the lines.

Jean flinched slightly as the downward sweep of Jay's wings and the sudden lack of his weight set the boat to rocking. It took her a moment to get the brief surge of fear under control, but when she did she opened her shields and reached out, sensing what Jay had seen. "Damn it," she muttered. Stuff was not worth this sort of risk. "There's people around," she called after Jay. "Can you see them?"

"What a mess. How we gonna get around this?" he complained, flying higher to see if he could see anything. Sure enough, there were people on their roof, waiting, waving. "Oh, hell ya! A whole buttload! We're gonna need help!" Jay called out as he hovered next to a post. Wind had picked up significantly and Jay shivered, flapping closer to the post. He was really tired and was about to settle on top when lightning struck down, setting the post ablaze.

His heart surged with panic and he flew back several feet which actually felt like thirty because he kept going. It took Jay several minutes to regain himself, he almost toppled into the water again and flew clumsily down to the boat with Jean. Landing inside, Jay gripped the sides, breathless. In fact, he was hyperventilating and his knuckles turned white gripping the boat. "Oh.... Okay..' he said breathlessly. "Ah think...Ah think... Ah.. Ah.. wanna ... go.. now..." His skin was crawling and if his hair wasn't so wet, it would have looked puffy. He almost got fried. And just then, Yvette's voice was telling him that there was going to be something one day that he would not recover from. Damn her. Yeah, he was so done with today.

"Are you all right?" Jean asked, frowning at the burning pillar and then giving Jay a concerned look. "I mean, other than the sudden shock?" Fire was a bad thing during a flood, she reminded herself - there could be broken gas mains and, even if there was water for fire services they couldn't get here, and the river water had an alarmingly high possibility of having gas floating in and on it. The rain, at least, meant that the tree which was tangled in the electric wires was being slow to catch, but eventually it would. They'd have to deal with that, but first things first. "How many people did you see?" she asked, picking up their radio; by her count they were going to need at least another boat.

Jay nodded three times, calming a little but not enough for comfort. "Te...te....ten Ah think. Ah didn't check." His wings bristled and he looked down at his arms. "Phew. Ah almost became Kentucky fried Chicken there." Glad he found his voice and looked down at his arm, brushing his hand over it. All the hairs were standing up. What a close call.

"Hmm. I thought I sensed more," Jean said, gaze becoming distant, "but some of them are children. I think they're trapped." Scowling at the tree and wires she added, "It looks like when the tree came down it dammed up the water around here, forced it higher. Probably why they can't get out. Means we're going to have to get in there."

Ruffling his wings, he stood up despite his heart thumping against his chest. "All right. Ah'll check again." He wasn't too eager to go flying around lightning but if there were kids, well, he was suppose to be some sort of leader right? Better start acting like one. Wiping his hands over his sodden wet shirt, Jay took off again, rocking the boat wildly. "Ya wanna move all this? That's crazy!" He wasn't superman. Sure, he could .. move some branches.

Jean's hands clutched spasmodically at the sides of the boat, her eyes shut tight as she forced herself to breathe normally. "Right," she said after the boat stabilized a little bit. "Right. I can do that." Looking up with a scowl she focused on the tree and with a mighty crack the trunk broke free and was lifted away from the tangle of branches and wires.

Beating his wings, Jay maintained a position in the air, noticing for the first time Jean's closed eyes. She looked like he did with the lightning. He was about to say as much when he remembered why he was up here. Turning around, he started counting the people he could see. Obviously, they could see him as some stood up and waved to him. He waved back and startled at the sound of the trunk breaking. Wild eyed, Jay looked around for lightning while his heart jumped out of his chest, realizing it was Jean and not God playing target practice.

"Jesus," he muttered beneath his breath before dropping down to start moving trees. "From what Ah could see, almost fifteen."

"I think the tree damned up the water," Jean said, focusing on the tree rather than looking back at Jay as she started the complicated work of untangling it; the wires might not be live, but they would still be dangerous if they broke free and started flopping about underwater. "Either they were planning on leaving and got cut off, or they weren't but the water going higher's chased them out of second floor, even. Can you radio in? We're going to need more boats out here."

Jay tossed a tree to the side and flapped his wings, keeping himself level as he fumbled for his radio. It slipped from his hand, bounced off his other one, grabbing for it and it disappeared into the dark water. "Shit!" he threw up his hands and flopped them down against his thighs in defeat. "Ya got a radio or am Ah gonna have to fly back?"


Jean blinked up at the young man, finally really seeing past her own preoccupations to see just how much the lighting strike had rattled him. "It's all right," she said, forcing some calm into her demeanour. This was good; she could put off being afraid by focusing on being calm for him. That would help. "Here," she added, diverting enough of her attention to float her radio up to Jay.

He grabbed for the radio with both hands and held it out, calling for assistance. Sort of. "Uh ten four, over?" he cleared his throat, uncomfortable in knowing that everyone who had a radio could hear him. "Anyone there?"

No response. He lifted the radio to his lips, speaking louder. "This is the red team," he called out to the abyss of static, giving Jean an unsure look. "Anyone there?"

"Go ahead Red team. What is your status?"

Jay gave Jean a thumbs up and pressed the button. The radio slipped from his hands and he dropped two feet, catching it and held it tightly to his chest.

"Go ahead Red team, what is your status?" They repeated, more concerned with a hint of impatience.

He pressed the button again, careful not to let the radio slip from his wet grasp. He rose up in the air, turning to double check his count. "We got fifteen stranded folks. Could ya bring some boats please?"

"Ten four give us your location please."

Jay gave the location and flew down to Jean, landing in the boat to give her back the radio. "All right. We’re all set. Want me to keep movin' the branches then?"

"Yes, please," Jean said, smiling at him. "Anything that's lose enough for you to move, get it out of there. We're going to have to get the waterway clear before the rest of the boats come."

"All right," Jay said, beaming back and took off from the boat again. She made him feel important and despite her being able to read his thoughts, he really enjoyed her company now. He noticed her discomfort in the boat earlier and to shake off his jittery feeling, he brought it up as casually as possible while moving fallen branches. "Are you worried you're gonna fall in?" he asked.

She noticed that he took a little more care with his take off from the boat this time and flashed him a little smile before turning her attention back to freeing the last of the tree from the wires. "I don't do well with large bodies of water," Jean said as they worked. "Particularly not dangerous, quick moving ones. That whole two years I spent dead really made an impact."

Jay winced at himself for his lack of tact and memory. He had forgotten about that and hadn't meant to bring it up. "Sorry," he said apologetically. There were times where you could keep talking and smooth over any bumps in the road you had caused, but this wasn't one of those times, and he quieted down as he helped toss the branches away. Chewing his lip, he wondered what it would be like to be dead for two years and then Yvette's voice was scolding him in his head for such a thought. God! He'd swear she was a telepath. Would she never leave him alone?