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xp_logsJared sees a mutant in flight for the first time and decides to complete an item on his list of things to do now that he can feel again. Feel is exactly what he wants to do, but Untouchables aren't the only ones who can have a hands-off policy. Backdated
Crystal liked being outside; it was a good place to thing. Here, with the air around her, she felt the most at ease, even if recent events had left her a bit confused. She'd been torn between wanting to meet with the woman known as Haven right away or waiting to meet her, but had decided that agreeing to wait and meet after the long holiday weekend was acceptable. She didn't wish to barge in on the woman, and if she was being honest with herself she was a bit worried about what she might find out. She hoped that Haven would know what had happened and would be reasonable, but she was also well aware of the fact that the woman could be dangerous.
Soaring through the sky, Crystal spotted a figure down below. She flew towards the ground, recognizing the man. Jared, one of the former Untouchables. Out of the four who had been changed, Jared seemed to be taking the most laid back approach to what had happened. Yvette was obviously the most excited, Cammie seemed upset and angry as always, Kevin was still walking around with as much skin covered as possible, and then there was Jared. Of course, while he had been labeled an "Untouchable," he wasn't truly Untouchable, he just couldn't feel the touch. Touching him wouldn't result in a bloody cut, decaying skin and flesh, or being poisoned.
As he looked up, Jared was having his first encounter with a flying mutant. It had been more than a month he'd been living at the mansion, but still, working at night and sleeping during the day didn't help meeting the other residents. But since he was taking a couple of days off after his weekend in the medlab, Jared decided to live a normal life as a young man on vacation: chilling in the sun, wearing shorts and juggling with bottles in the garden.
When the flying girl was in closer range, he shouted: "What's up?"
"I am," Crystal replied seriously. While she had lived in New York for several years, she still wasn't entirely sure about certain bits of slang and phrases. What did "up" have to do with the status of a person's life unless one was truly up, something Crystal actually was at the moment seeing that both of her feet were above the ground, even if she wasn't as high up as she had been only moments before. She knew what Jared meant, but chose to give a literal answer. Perhaps he would take it as a joke, perhaps not. In a way, it was meant to be a bit of a humorous statement. Ask a funny question, receive a funny answer.
"How are you?" Crystal continued, in case Jared wasn't sure what to make of her statement. It wouldn't do to leave him taken aback, unsure of what to say. "It is a beautiful day, is it not?"
Before giving an answer, Jared gave Crystal a quick body scan and was amazed by what he was looking at. "Beautiful indeed! And getting better." The woman sounded way too educated in Jared's mind. He was not used to such politeness, so this encounter was both troubling and refreshing. "Day's pretty hot, I'm not used to the daylight. I haven't met you before, right? I'm Jared."
"We have not been formally introduced in person, that is correct," Crystal replied. "I am Crystal Amaquelin; we spoke on the journal systems and I sent you a wine and cheese basket from my homeland. It took me quite some time to grow accustomed to the idea that the journal system is the usual method of introduction for people at the mansion." She remembered never being quite sure how or if she was supposed to introduce herself to someone she had never actually met face-to-face yet had communicated with via the school's online journals.
"As for the heat, that does not pose a problem for me," Crystal explained to Jared. Indeed, despite the fact that she had been flying around for a while, there was no trace of sweat on her body. Of course, it wasn't that she didn't sweat, she could just keep herself cool and remove moisture from her skin using her abilities. "Would you like for me to create a cooling wind or lower the temperature of the air around you?" She'd learned to ask this question long ago; some people did not want her to do this, and she didn't want to take anyone by surprise.
The body was perfect. Perfect smile, perfect hips, and the outfit revealed just enough of the girl's anatomy. a cooling wind would be more than welcome but he didn't want to make it a habit around her. "I'm doing just fine." Then, Jared thought about the basket he received. "Thanks for the housewarming gift. I haven't had the chance to drink anything from it? It's pretty good stuff, don't want to waste it."
Jared grabbed a towel on the ground to wipe the sweat off his face. "Don't know if you heard but, I'm not really a mutant anymore. You know Yvette? Well, same for me -without the spikes." Then he raised his head, showing his scarred palm and gave Crystal his puppy dog eyes. "He hurts!" Still he could not hide a smile on his face. "But it's cool. I felt it. Still do. Now all I wanna do is feel things. I have a whole list of things." Some ideas came back to his mind as he gave Crystal another body scan. "Lots of things..."
Crystal nodded. "Yes, I am aware of the current situation." I will, hopefully, be finding out relevant and helpful information soon. Despite his injury, Jared didn't seem at all disappointed about his change in status; indeed, he seemed almost as excited as Yvette, even saying he was planning on taking advantage of his newly regained sense of feeling. Crystal decided to try to do her best to keep her personal opinions about the change to herself. She was well aware of the fact that her beliefs about mutants did not always mesh well with the beliefs of others and she did not wish to make anyone uncomfortable.
Speaking of uncomfortable, while Crystal was generally oblivious to certain looks she received from men and women alike, the thought did strike her that maybe Jared was examining her a bit too closely. She pushed that thought of her head, sure that she must be mistaken, surely Jared wouldn't be that rude or obvious. His innuendos were lost on her as well; Crystal just didn't have much experience with this type of situation. She'd only been involved with one man before, and that included even just kissing.
"I read the journals, and I volunteer in the infirmary and Medlab," Crystal explained. "I have not been spending as much time in the Medlab during the past couple of months as I did during the school year, but I am still part of the medical team at the school." It was quite a small group, Crystal reflected, thinking of her year as a student at the school when there had been multiple student helpers in the Medlab, including herself. Now there were none, there were four adults with various degrees of medical training involved with the mansion's infirmary.
Now Jared was picturing her in a nurse outfit, which was highly inappropriate for that time of the day. "That's a pity. You know, it's hard sometimes to be surrounded by kids and teachers when you're not going to school anymore." He had received a few messages from grad students, but most of them had their own apartment. Living here was hard, but it might be getting harder now that he was fully human.
Jared was now sitting on the grass, stretching his arms and enjoying the sun. "Can I ask you something? What does it feel like, to fly? The wind, and just flying? I should try that. Can you lift someone? Or just you?"
Crystal decided to refrain from mentioning the fact that she was a teacher at Xavier's, and that taking classes for her paramedic training meant that she was also a student, even if she wasn't a 'kid' or taking classes here. She wasn't entirely sure why Jared was even at the mansion, unless maybe he'd been hoping to learn about his abilities and see if he could feel again. If that was the case, Crystal wondered if Jared was hoping that his powers wouldn't come back, and then he'd leave the mansion. She wondered this about the other 'Untouchables' as well; with their abilities, they might have felt that they the mansion was the best place for them or that they had nowhere else to go, but with the sudden lack of dangerous abilities, perhaps their feelings on that might change.
"Would you like to experience my method of flight?" Crystal asked. "There are multiple types of mutations which allow people to fly. For example, Warren, Jan, and Megan have wings, so they fly in a different way than I do, and even there they have different types of wings and do not fly using identical patterns. I have been able to fly for over a decade, so there is no need to worry that I will drop you. I am perfectly capable of moving living beings as well as inanimate objects into the air, both when I myself am in the air and when I am on the ground."
"I just want to feel the rush, whatever works for you!" Jared winked. Crystal was talking like a professional flight instructor, while all he could say about his power was that he couldn't be hurt. Once upon a time. "I know Jan, I poured her a few drinks. Never got to see the wings, though... and I think Megan is one of Yvette's friend or roommate..."
Jared came back on his feet. Shaking his shoulders, as if he was getting ready for a real effort, he asked: "Uh, what am I supposed to do? Will it hurt?" He was not worried, but since he lost his powers, he was willing to feel things, good or bad, as long as he knew what to expect. "Do you have to touch me or carry me? How does that work?"
"It will not hurt," Crystal said, trying not to look offended. "I would not have offered to lift you into the air if it would cause harm to befall you." Perhaps it was good that she hadn't mentioned the various pieces of artwork, furniture, and dishes that had been damaged or destroyed as she learned to control her ability to move things in the air. Of course she hadn't started on trying to move people other than herself until she had mastered causing inanimate objects to go where and when she wished.
"At the most, you may feel nauseous, and we will not go high up into the air, so simply tell me if you begin to feel ill and I will set you down upon the ground. I do not expect this to happen, but I also do not know if you have any sort of fear of heights, suffer from motion sickness, or are prone to becoming seasick. As to how it works, it works like this." As Crystal spoke the last two works, Jared began to rise into the air.
"Wow" Jared muttered as his feet were leaving the ground. "How about a more superhero style?" He was disappointed by the lack of contact, this made it all less fun. "Hold me still", he added, trying to think of what this situation could be compared with. Then he thought about water. This non-contact situation reminded him of how it felt to swim or just float in the pool while he still had his powers. No contact with the ground, but no physical evidence of how or why.
He would have asked for some weird things, like spinning around or even flying at high speed, going high and go back down, just for the rush, but the mood wasn't there anymore. "Okay, put me down..." he finally said. That came out more as a request than an order. And while he was still in the air, his right hand reached a piece of paper his back pocket. That was his list. Unfolding the paper, he could read: "#3: flying". That was one thing...
"So that's it? That's your whole thing?" It was not rude or cocky anymore. Just sad.
Crystal looked at him quizzically, still following his request, odd as his spoken series of statements seemed to be. First he appeared disappointed, then he didn't want to so much as move, then he wanted to be put down, and now he seemed to be disappointed again. "I am sorry, I did not think that immediately moving you along at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour or rocketing you up into the sky would be good ideas for your first minute of flight. I thought that it was best to allow you to become acclimated to the simple idea of being in the air before checking to see if you felt comfortable with trying a higher speed." Not that she was really planning on shooting into the sky and zooming off with Jared in tow, but she had been planning on actually moving once she knew he wasn't going to be sick.
Her 'whole thing.' Indeed. What did Jared think was needed... oh. Quite possibly Jared didn't actually know what her powers were. He had mentioned wind, but did he know that she had power over air? He had seemed to believe that physical contact was necessary, probably from watching movies or reading comic books. It was true that it was needed for many forms of flight, but not hers. Crystal could control the wind and her abilities were completely hands-free; she never needed to touch someone or something in order to use her mutant gifts.
"You were just fine! Don't worry." Jared didn't want to undermine her abilities, nor was he trying to disrespect her. Since he had lost his power, it had been hard for him to decide on what could be a real change in his life. He had been spending a lot of time trying to work as he used to without hurting himself, and working on this list he hadn't shown anyone yet. Yvette had done one, why wouldn't he, after all.
As a sign of good faith, he was willing to take her in his little game. "Look, I need your opinion on that. I'm kind of gathering ideas of things to do, that I can feel. I have #5: play with fluffy things, but I think Jelly wrestling would actually be more fun. Any input on that?" He was actually running out of ideas. Yvette has had tons of propositions of things to do, but he was really struggling right now.
'Play with fluffy things'? 'Jelly wrestling'? Crystal wasn't quite sure what either of these meant. Did Jared need to borrow someone's plush toys, or did he wish to pet a real animal with fur? And what on earth was 'jelly wrestling'? Did Jared wish to wrestle with gelatin or sandwich spread, and if so, why? A dog fight was a fight between dogs, but while jelly was a hydrogel and could appear to have movement, it was not alive, or at least it should not be. Unless there had been a sighting for a monster made out of jelly, Crystal couldn't fathom a reason why anyone would wish to do such a thing, and even then it shouldn't be fun.
"What is 'jelly wrestling'?" Crystal asked, both polite and curious. Surely there had to be something she wasn't quite understanding here. Perhaps this was some sort of American phrase she had not heard yet. It wouldn't be the first time two words placed side by side didn't lead to what they would appear to mean.
"You've never been on Spring Break, have you?" Jared was only half surprised by Crystal's recaction, considering her obvious education and background. "You know wrestling, right? Well, it's the same, but you're covered with jelly, so it makes it harder to get a hold on your opponent. It's fun. Pretty similar to chicks wrestling in the mud." He was pretty sure Crystal was not convinced at all by his explanation but it was worth trying.
"Hey, do you wanna grab something to eat later? Nothing too fancy. Do you like sushi? That could be cool, with some of the wine you sent me last month!" The tone was both friendly and flirtatious. Jared didn't expect anything in particular and knew Crystal would not lose her temper or that comment. Still worth trying.
Of course Crystal had taken vacation during spring break, but it seemed clear that her version of how to spend that time did not mesh with Jared's version. Apparently, Jared felt that spring was the perfect time to cover yourself with food or dirt and wrestle another person. That was... odd. And somewhat disturbing. And sticky. Well, perhaps Jared wanted to feel something on his skin so much that he wished to coat his body with jelly and wrestle someone. As long as he did not touch her or try to convince her to be his wrestling partner, it really didn't matter to Crystal one way or the other if Jared decided to engage in this rather strange activity.
Crystal wasn't particularly interested in sharing a meal with Jared, but felt that it would be rude to say so. Hopefully it wouldn't come to it, but if Jared didn't respect her personal space, he would quickly learn that being able to touch and feel didn't mean one was at liberty to touch and feel anything and anyone just because it was possible. Case in point: Princess Crystal Amaquelin of Attilan, who was near 'Untouchable' by choice. "I like sushi," Crystal said. "I can have a selection brought by later this afternoon."
Jared's look was somewhere between astonishment and victorious. It was rather unexpected. I would have offered to have dinner in his own room, since he didn't want any other guest to tag along, but that would sound wrong again. "Nice! I'll have the place set up." Then, he grabbed his bottles and put his towel back on his shoulder. "I should go now, I have to hit the swimming pool before the kids turn it into a theme park for the rest of day." As he was reaching the front door, he turned back and added: "See you later, then..."
Crystal nodded once. "I will see you then."
Crystal liked being outside; it was a good place to thing. Here, with the air around her, she felt the most at ease, even if recent events had left her a bit confused. She'd been torn between wanting to meet with the woman known as Haven right away or waiting to meet her, but had decided that agreeing to wait and meet after the long holiday weekend was acceptable. She didn't wish to barge in on the woman, and if she was being honest with herself she was a bit worried about what she might find out. She hoped that Haven would know what had happened and would be reasonable, but she was also well aware of the fact that the woman could be dangerous.
Soaring through the sky, Crystal spotted a figure down below. She flew towards the ground, recognizing the man. Jared, one of the former Untouchables. Out of the four who had been changed, Jared seemed to be taking the most laid back approach to what had happened. Yvette was obviously the most excited, Cammie seemed upset and angry as always, Kevin was still walking around with as much skin covered as possible, and then there was Jared. Of course, while he had been labeled an "Untouchable," he wasn't truly Untouchable, he just couldn't feel the touch. Touching him wouldn't result in a bloody cut, decaying skin and flesh, or being poisoned.
As he looked up, Jared was having his first encounter with a flying mutant. It had been more than a month he'd been living at the mansion, but still, working at night and sleeping during the day didn't help meeting the other residents. But since he was taking a couple of days off after his weekend in the medlab, Jared decided to live a normal life as a young man on vacation: chilling in the sun, wearing shorts and juggling with bottles in the garden.
When the flying girl was in closer range, he shouted: "What's up?"
"I am," Crystal replied seriously. While she had lived in New York for several years, she still wasn't entirely sure about certain bits of slang and phrases. What did "up" have to do with the status of a person's life unless one was truly up, something Crystal actually was at the moment seeing that both of her feet were above the ground, even if she wasn't as high up as she had been only moments before. She knew what Jared meant, but chose to give a literal answer. Perhaps he would take it as a joke, perhaps not. In a way, it was meant to be a bit of a humorous statement. Ask a funny question, receive a funny answer.
"How are you?" Crystal continued, in case Jared wasn't sure what to make of her statement. It wouldn't do to leave him taken aback, unsure of what to say. "It is a beautiful day, is it not?"
Before giving an answer, Jared gave Crystal a quick body scan and was amazed by what he was looking at. "Beautiful indeed! And getting better." The woman sounded way too educated in Jared's mind. He was not used to such politeness, so this encounter was both troubling and refreshing. "Day's pretty hot, I'm not used to the daylight. I haven't met you before, right? I'm Jared."
"We have not been formally introduced in person, that is correct," Crystal replied. "I am Crystal Amaquelin; we spoke on the journal systems and I sent you a wine and cheese basket from my homeland. It took me quite some time to grow accustomed to the idea that the journal system is the usual method of introduction for people at the mansion." She remembered never being quite sure how or if she was supposed to introduce herself to someone she had never actually met face-to-face yet had communicated with via the school's online journals.
"As for the heat, that does not pose a problem for me," Crystal explained to Jared. Indeed, despite the fact that she had been flying around for a while, there was no trace of sweat on her body. Of course, it wasn't that she didn't sweat, she could just keep herself cool and remove moisture from her skin using her abilities. "Would you like for me to create a cooling wind or lower the temperature of the air around you?" She'd learned to ask this question long ago; some people did not want her to do this, and she didn't want to take anyone by surprise.
The body was perfect. Perfect smile, perfect hips, and the outfit revealed just enough of the girl's anatomy. a cooling wind would be more than welcome but he didn't want to make it a habit around her. "I'm doing just fine." Then, Jared thought about the basket he received. "Thanks for the housewarming gift. I haven't had the chance to drink anything from it? It's pretty good stuff, don't want to waste it."
Jared grabbed a towel on the ground to wipe the sweat off his face. "Don't know if you heard but, I'm not really a mutant anymore. You know Yvette? Well, same for me -without the spikes." Then he raised his head, showing his scarred palm and gave Crystal his puppy dog eyes. "He hurts!" Still he could not hide a smile on his face. "But it's cool. I felt it. Still do. Now all I wanna do is feel things. I have a whole list of things." Some ideas came back to his mind as he gave Crystal another body scan. "Lots of things..."
Crystal nodded. "Yes, I am aware of the current situation." I will, hopefully, be finding out relevant and helpful information soon. Despite his injury, Jared didn't seem at all disappointed about his change in status; indeed, he seemed almost as excited as Yvette, even saying he was planning on taking advantage of his newly regained sense of feeling. Crystal decided to try to do her best to keep her personal opinions about the change to herself. She was well aware of the fact that her beliefs about mutants did not always mesh well with the beliefs of others and she did not wish to make anyone uncomfortable.
Speaking of uncomfortable, while Crystal was generally oblivious to certain looks she received from men and women alike, the thought did strike her that maybe Jared was examining her a bit too closely. She pushed that thought of her head, sure that she must be mistaken, surely Jared wouldn't be that rude or obvious. His innuendos were lost on her as well; Crystal just didn't have much experience with this type of situation. She'd only been involved with one man before, and that included even just kissing.
"I read the journals, and I volunteer in the infirmary and Medlab," Crystal explained. "I have not been spending as much time in the Medlab during the past couple of months as I did during the school year, but I am still part of the medical team at the school." It was quite a small group, Crystal reflected, thinking of her year as a student at the school when there had been multiple student helpers in the Medlab, including herself. Now there were none, there were four adults with various degrees of medical training involved with the mansion's infirmary.
Now Jared was picturing her in a nurse outfit, which was highly inappropriate for that time of the day. "That's a pity. You know, it's hard sometimes to be surrounded by kids and teachers when you're not going to school anymore." He had received a few messages from grad students, but most of them had their own apartment. Living here was hard, but it might be getting harder now that he was fully human.
Jared was now sitting on the grass, stretching his arms and enjoying the sun. "Can I ask you something? What does it feel like, to fly? The wind, and just flying? I should try that. Can you lift someone? Or just you?"
Crystal decided to refrain from mentioning the fact that she was a teacher at Xavier's, and that taking classes for her paramedic training meant that she was also a student, even if she wasn't a 'kid' or taking classes here. She wasn't entirely sure why Jared was even at the mansion, unless maybe he'd been hoping to learn about his abilities and see if he could feel again. If that was the case, Crystal wondered if Jared was hoping that his powers wouldn't come back, and then he'd leave the mansion. She wondered this about the other 'Untouchables' as well; with their abilities, they might have felt that they the mansion was the best place for them or that they had nowhere else to go, but with the sudden lack of dangerous abilities, perhaps their feelings on that might change.
"Would you like to experience my method of flight?" Crystal asked. "There are multiple types of mutations which allow people to fly. For example, Warren, Jan, and Megan have wings, so they fly in a different way than I do, and even there they have different types of wings and do not fly using identical patterns. I have been able to fly for over a decade, so there is no need to worry that I will drop you. I am perfectly capable of moving living beings as well as inanimate objects into the air, both when I myself am in the air and when I am on the ground."
"I just want to feel the rush, whatever works for you!" Jared winked. Crystal was talking like a professional flight instructor, while all he could say about his power was that he couldn't be hurt. Once upon a time. "I know Jan, I poured her a few drinks. Never got to see the wings, though... and I think Megan is one of Yvette's friend or roommate..."
Jared came back on his feet. Shaking his shoulders, as if he was getting ready for a real effort, he asked: "Uh, what am I supposed to do? Will it hurt?" He was not worried, but since he lost his powers, he was willing to feel things, good or bad, as long as he knew what to expect. "Do you have to touch me or carry me? How does that work?"
"It will not hurt," Crystal said, trying not to look offended. "I would not have offered to lift you into the air if it would cause harm to befall you." Perhaps it was good that she hadn't mentioned the various pieces of artwork, furniture, and dishes that had been damaged or destroyed as she learned to control her ability to move things in the air. Of course she hadn't started on trying to move people other than herself until she had mastered causing inanimate objects to go where and when she wished.
"At the most, you may feel nauseous, and we will not go high up into the air, so simply tell me if you begin to feel ill and I will set you down upon the ground. I do not expect this to happen, but I also do not know if you have any sort of fear of heights, suffer from motion sickness, or are prone to becoming seasick. As to how it works, it works like this." As Crystal spoke the last two works, Jared began to rise into the air.
"Wow" Jared muttered as his feet were leaving the ground. "How about a more superhero style?" He was disappointed by the lack of contact, this made it all less fun. "Hold me still", he added, trying to think of what this situation could be compared with. Then he thought about water. This non-contact situation reminded him of how it felt to swim or just float in the pool while he still had his powers. No contact with the ground, but no physical evidence of how or why.
He would have asked for some weird things, like spinning around or even flying at high speed, going high and go back down, just for the rush, but the mood wasn't there anymore. "Okay, put me down..." he finally said. That came out more as a request than an order. And while he was still in the air, his right hand reached a piece of paper his back pocket. That was his list. Unfolding the paper, he could read: "#3: flying". That was one thing...
"So that's it? That's your whole thing?" It was not rude or cocky anymore. Just sad.
Crystal looked at him quizzically, still following his request, odd as his spoken series of statements seemed to be. First he appeared disappointed, then he didn't want to so much as move, then he wanted to be put down, and now he seemed to be disappointed again. "I am sorry, I did not think that immediately moving you along at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour or rocketing you up into the sky would be good ideas for your first minute of flight. I thought that it was best to allow you to become acclimated to the simple idea of being in the air before checking to see if you felt comfortable with trying a higher speed." Not that she was really planning on shooting into the sky and zooming off with Jared in tow, but she had been planning on actually moving once she knew he wasn't going to be sick.
Her 'whole thing.' Indeed. What did Jared think was needed... oh. Quite possibly Jared didn't actually know what her powers were. He had mentioned wind, but did he know that she had power over air? He had seemed to believe that physical contact was necessary, probably from watching movies or reading comic books. It was true that it was needed for many forms of flight, but not hers. Crystal could control the wind and her abilities were completely hands-free; she never needed to touch someone or something in order to use her mutant gifts.
"You were just fine! Don't worry." Jared didn't want to undermine her abilities, nor was he trying to disrespect her. Since he had lost his power, it had been hard for him to decide on what could be a real change in his life. He had been spending a lot of time trying to work as he used to without hurting himself, and working on this list he hadn't shown anyone yet. Yvette had done one, why wouldn't he, after all.
As a sign of good faith, he was willing to take her in his little game. "Look, I need your opinion on that. I'm kind of gathering ideas of things to do, that I can feel. I have #5: play with fluffy things, but I think Jelly wrestling would actually be more fun. Any input on that?" He was actually running out of ideas. Yvette has had tons of propositions of things to do, but he was really struggling right now.
'Play with fluffy things'? 'Jelly wrestling'? Crystal wasn't quite sure what either of these meant. Did Jared need to borrow someone's plush toys, or did he wish to pet a real animal with fur? And what on earth was 'jelly wrestling'? Did Jared wish to wrestle with gelatin or sandwich spread, and if so, why? A dog fight was a fight between dogs, but while jelly was a hydrogel and could appear to have movement, it was not alive, or at least it should not be. Unless there had been a sighting for a monster made out of jelly, Crystal couldn't fathom a reason why anyone would wish to do such a thing, and even then it shouldn't be fun.
"What is 'jelly wrestling'?" Crystal asked, both polite and curious. Surely there had to be something she wasn't quite understanding here. Perhaps this was some sort of American phrase she had not heard yet. It wouldn't be the first time two words placed side by side didn't lead to what they would appear to mean.
"You've never been on Spring Break, have you?" Jared was only half surprised by Crystal's recaction, considering her obvious education and background. "You know wrestling, right? Well, it's the same, but you're covered with jelly, so it makes it harder to get a hold on your opponent. It's fun. Pretty similar to chicks wrestling in the mud." He was pretty sure Crystal was not convinced at all by his explanation but it was worth trying.
"Hey, do you wanna grab something to eat later? Nothing too fancy. Do you like sushi? That could be cool, with some of the wine you sent me last month!" The tone was both friendly and flirtatious. Jared didn't expect anything in particular and knew Crystal would not lose her temper or that comment. Still worth trying.
Of course Crystal had taken vacation during spring break, but it seemed clear that her version of how to spend that time did not mesh with Jared's version. Apparently, Jared felt that spring was the perfect time to cover yourself with food or dirt and wrestle another person. That was... odd. And somewhat disturbing. And sticky. Well, perhaps Jared wanted to feel something on his skin so much that he wished to coat his body with jelly and wrestle someone. As long as he did not touch her or try to convince her to be his wrestling partner, it really didn't matter to Crystal one way or the other if Jared decided to engage in this rather strange activity.
Crystal wasn't particularly interested in sharing a meal with Jared, but felt that it would be rude to say so. Hopefully it wouldn't come to it, but if Jared didn't respect her personal space, he would quickly learn that being able to touch and feel didn't mean one was at liberty to touch and feel anything and anyone just because it was possible. Case in point: Princess Crystal Amaquelin of Attilan, who was near 'Untouchable' by choice. "I like sushi," Crystal said. "I can have a selection brought by later this afternoon."
Jared's look was somewhere between astonishment and victorious. It was rather unexpected. I would have offered to have dinner in his own room, since he didn't want any other guest to tag along, but that would sound wrong again. "Nice! I'll have the place set up." Then, he grabbed his bottles and put his towel back on his shoulder. "I should go now, I have to hit the swimming pool before the kids turn it into a theme park for the rest of day." As he was reaching the front door, he turned back and added: "See you later, then..."
Crystal nodded once. "I will see you then."
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