xp_logs | Log: massively backdated

a few days before the HeliX party Clarice tries to talk Jay into going and ends up hitting all his problems on the head

Two weeks at this place and still his inspiration hadn't returned. Jay had spent the better part of the afternoon in the music room, trying to play something, <i>anything</i>, on his guitar, but little if anything came out. Finally getting frustrated, he packed up his instrument, slung the case over his shoulder and made his way back to his suite. And he would have made it, too, if not for a certain purple-skinned girl running down the stairs.

"Oooph!" Clarice ran right into Jay, knocking him over. "You okay?" she asked, hand out to help him up.

Only instinct had Jay drop his guitar case instead of landing on it. "If ya broke mah guitar . . ." he muttered, getting up on his own. He opened the case and saw that two of the strings had snapped. Swearing under his breath, he closed it and picked it up again.

"Sorry..." Clarice blushed, "Can you fix that? You should watch where you're going though."

"Ah was," he protested. "Ah have spare strings in mah room. It's easy tah fix. A bit annoyin', though."

"I bet we have spare strings somewhere too, I mean, we have a band and all. Why're you so light?" she asked curiously, "I didn't knock you that hard."

Jay sighed and just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Obviously, he wasn't going to get to his room anytime soon. "So Ah can fly. These dang wings wouldn't do much good if Ah weighed two hundred pounds. At least that's what Ah been told."

Clarice thought about this for a second remembering what she learned in anatomy class, "Hollow bones like a bird. Makes sense. Does that mean they break more easily too?"

"Dunno. They told me mah bones are stronger than regular bones, but even if Ah did manage to break 'em, Ah'd heal right quick." Jay's hands instinctively went to his belly, where there were no scars from an attempted suicide. Realizing that Clarice would probably ask questions about the gesture, he rubbed his belly like he was hungry, hoping that would stop her.

"That's good. Brittle bones suck. Did the shirts work?" Clarice asked misinterpreting the gesture and noticing he wasn't wearing one at all, "I can fix them or whatever. I could do better if you let me pin them."

"Um, yeah, they're good, thanks." Truth was, he preferred going around shirtless, since even with wing-holes in his shirts, he felt restrained. There was a certain amount of freedom achievable through nudity.

"So, are you going to the HeliX thing?" she asked, shifting slightly to look up at him. He wasn't <i>that</i> tall for a guy, but she wasn't exactly tall either. And well, those wings, not to mention the rest of Jay, would look really nice in a tux.

"The big ole' fancy thing ya'll're plannin'?" he asked. "Naw, don'think so. Don't got no one to go with. And Ah'd ruin a tux, that is if Ah even had one. Not to mention Ah don't think many folks here like me much. Not that it matters, but if this is supposeda be some kinda fundraiser, ya'd rather have the nice smiley friendly people out there shakin' hands an' accepting checks."

"They're letting me go, so the standards for this thing can't be high," she laughed, "Besides, I bet Sam and Paige are going. And you can get a tux, that's no problem."

Mah family and Ah . . . we don' see eye to eye so much," Jay said hesitantly. "Puttin' me in the same room as them sometimes isn't the most genius thing, y'know? And Ah don't have any money. Tuxes are dang expensive. And Ah ain't gonna let somebody spend hundreds of dollars on me."

Clarice stuck her tongue out, "Spoilsport. Now I can't dance with you," she pretended to be insulted, knowing completely well that Jay wouldn't've danced with her anyways. "Go fix your guitar and sulk and come back to me when you realize how lonely you are."