[Ashley] Jarod's starting to become as regular a thing in Ashley's life as Kage or Emily (perhaps moreso, with Emily's oddness at the end of last year and as busy as Kage has found herself with work since October.) Habits, indeed. She's the sort of person who lives in the moment; it's possible that she doesn't even notice, and one day it will strike her the way it did when she realized that she and Kage had become friends, not just people who saw each other and occasionally drank tea together but something close and intense.
Regardless, tomorrow she'll sit in front of a fire with an Orphan and a Singer and feel a little reflective, but that's tomorrow. Tonight, she's asked Jarod if he wants to come over for a while and have tea.
There's a cold front and some freezing rain that's come through and had its way with Chicago, leaving it bitter, so it's probably lucky the Verbena both appreciates adverse conditions and doesn't have to walk all that far. There aren't any smokers outside Ashley's apartment tonight; there are evenings that are too miserable even to fuel bad habits.
The apartment's warm though.
[Jarod] It's true that Jarod did have a rather unusual affinity for a climate that many people would just as soon do without, especially considering the fact that Chicago's climate bore no resemblance to the one he'd grown up in. For a transplant, he'd blended himself into the Northern culture remarkably well. He hadn't so much adapted as metamorphosed. (This had actually happened in Northern China, and not the Northern United States, but cold was cold. Winter was winter.) This is not to say that he enjoyed freezing rain any more than the next person, but yes... he was also lucky enough to have easy means of avoiding bad weather when it suited him. He didn't have any trouble getting there, nor was he in any way difficult to convince when Ashley had called to invite him over. He could use a night off, and tea sounded lovely. (Possibly made more appealing by the addition of Ashley's presence, though... heaven forbid he actually tell her that.)
There was no one to let him inside, so he rang the buzzer and waited for Ashley to open to door. When she did so, he slipped inside the building and ascended the stairs to the second floor, giving a light knock to her door. After she let him in, he did away with his winter things in the usual manner before reaching out to grab the Hermetic about the waist (well, it was more like the torso, with her height) and pull her over to him so that he could bend down and kiss her. All rakish charm for a moment, up to and including the smile that appeared on his face afterward.
"And how are you on this absolutely divine evening?"
[Ashley] Jarod can usually tell which days Ashley's apprentice has been by to visit. It seems as though whenever she has, the apartment smells like baking. It's as though she thinks the Adept will go hungry (ha): there are often fresh loaves of bread, or cookies that are taken and deposited in the chantry more often than not. If Ashley actually ate most of the food Morgan gives her, she'd probably have gained an extra thirty pounds.
Everybody has their coping mechanisms, though, and Ashley doesn't begrudge Morgan hers. Particularly when it has delicious results. Regardless, today the scent is lingering, laid over the smells of wood and tea that usually permeate the place.
She wasn't expecting the kiss shortly after he came in the door, and though surprise was initially what showed on her face it's faded into a grin that can't help but look a little pleased by the time he pulls away. He seems to already be in a good mood, which is good - it means part of the reason she called him over won't be met with suspicion. Hopefully.
"Still adjusting to my schedule," she says. "I'm teaching two classes this semester." Which didn't sound so horrifying at first, but once she realized it was twice the number of students, twice the number of papers, her office hours twice as busy as they had been...well. "And reigning in some of the chantry's more unpredictable elements. You're in a good mood."
[Jarod] "My last modeling gig is in a couple of weeks, the company's making me enough money now to support me completely, and I'm back in school. I can't say I really have much cause for complaint." His smile broadened as he took a seat on the couch, leaning back and crossing his arms loosely above his head in a casual pose. "Though having to TA is a gigantic pain in the ass. When did college students get so young?"
(Says the man who seems to go through them like a kid with a bucket of candy.)
This was the first time that he'd mentioned to Ashley his plans for grad school, so it might come as a bit of a surprise. Once upon a time, shortly after his arrival back in Chicago earlier in the year, they'd discussed exactly this subject and he'd mentioned being much too busy to go back to school. Perhaps that had changed. (Perhaps this was why he was retiring from modeling.) And Ashley was right. By all accounts... he did seem to be in a good mood. More than that, he seemed like someone who was finally starting to see a payoff after years of patience (and working in a job he'd been born to do but nonetheless hated.)
He seemed to notice the way her apartment smelled, because there was a small flare of nostrils as he glanced toward the kitchen. "Have Morgan over recently?"
[Ashley] It does come as a surprise. Ashley's eyebrows raise, because she does recall that conversation at the restaurant over brunch. Then again, he's more acclimated to having Ilana now, and he has people he trusts enough to leave her with (obviously, since he is here tonight.)
Ashley walks over to the couch and settles onto one of the cushions next to him, folding her legs underneath her. She has a more compact manner of sitting even when she's relaxed, most of the time. "I didn't know you'd gone back," she says. "What are you going back for?" There's a beat, and a wry twitch of her mouth. "Even the other grad students seem young to me. I'm kind of used to it though, I went to college late."
Well, for most of it.
A look toward the kitchen and there's another smile. "Yeah, earlier today. She still comes over here to hang out even though she's not actually my apprentice, at this point."
[Jarod] "Dana likes to bake too. I swear my entire flat smelled like cinnamon over the holidays. I think she did it just to taunt me." At this, he glanced down at his stomach and lifted up the edge of his shirt (it was a simple black long-sleeved T tonight) to inspect the state of it, as if genuinely concerned that he might have put on a little weight over the holidays. He hadn't, of course - as the perfectly etched abdominal muscles and lack of visible body fat would indicate. "If I get fat, it's completely her fault."
He smoothed the shirt back down and looked up again, pulling himself out of whatever momentary obsessiveness seemed to have been occupying his thoughts. Ashley had asked him what he was getting his degree in. "I'm in the Communication Studies program. More specifically Rhetoric and Public Culture. But they've got me teaching a class in Mandarin, which makes my life easier. Fewer essays to grade. The head of the department asked me to try and refrain from flirting with my students." He laughed at this, apparently finding it rather amusing. "Somehow I have a reputation. Maybe she knows someone in the sociology department."
[Ashley] Ashley raises her eyebrows as he lifts his shirt up, as though to invite skepticism when he voices concern about getting fat. "Yeah, you might not fit into your prom dress. Tragedy," she says, and though her voice is dry there's no edge to it. She usually leaves that out of her conversations with him, these days. A beat and then she adds, "You look fine."
Well, more than that, but she doesn't toss out compliments like the one she gave him before very often. Too shy, or perhaps they have to be earned, or perhaps it just isn't her way. Who knows.
Ashley eyes him a moment and then twists to the side on the couch so that she can stretch out and rest her head in his lap. She folds an arm behind her head, and a wry smile touches her features when he mentions not flirting with his students. Jarod may have a reputation, but really, Ashley hasn't witnessed much of it and she's only heard about it through Nick. "It might push the bounds of professionalism," she agrees. "I'm...glad you're going back, though. Last year, it seemed like you wanted to."
[Jarod] Ashley teased him dryly, and Jarod seemed more amused than offended. Occasionally he displayed behavior that verged on self-parody, though it wasn't always easy to tell if he was being serious or merely playing around. Ashley had never seen him at work, so she didn't know how completely and effortlessly he could inhabit a role that was all style and no substance, but he carried enough of it around with him to at least offer hints and suggestions of it. Even he probably couldn't have determined precisely where the act stopped and reality began. (As Kurt Vonnegut said: be careful what you pretend to be.)
"Oh I look better than fine." He smirked. "But whether I'm living up to my own standards... that's another issue." (It was probably comments like that which made Ashley disinclined to compliment him.) She settled her head in his lap and he quieted for a moment as he looked down at her. One of his hands came to settle on her own stomach, absently tracing little patterns over the fabric of her shirt. "I've wanted to for awhile, actually. Just... couldn't make the time for it, I guess. I almost went into Linguistics but... I don't know. I changed my mind. Still doing some work with it, though. And I'm attempting to learn Latin. I guess free time is one of those things that disappears shortly after arriving."
[Ashley] Whenever he makes comments like this, it usually just earns an eye roll from Ashley. Though, of course, she can't complain very much; her own ego about some things is...well, healthy, if one were being polite. There are people who have probably had a similar urge with her whenever she's talked about intellectual superiority or strength of Will.
She looks up at him for a second or two when his hand settles on her stomach, and the after a moment she closes her eyes. Relaxed, for now, though not drowsy.
"I could help with the Latin, if you want," she says. A half-second's pause, just long enough to seem as though she's considering. "Actually, I probably should. About half of the books in my library are written in Latin." And then one eye cracks open into a narrow bright blue slit and she peers up at him, without missing a beat. "But yeah. Grad school and Awakened life together will run you into the ground."
[Jarod] "At least I'm not trying to run a chantry."
She'd mentioned her library, and he hadn't missed that. When he looked at her again, there was a shrewd cast to his gaze, but since her own eyes were closed, she might not catch it. "I know a little already. Words and phrases and a bit of grammar, but not as much as I'd like. I... might take you up on that offer, assuming you think we can manage to hang out without jumping each other's bones five minutes in." He said it teasingly, but this was perhaps a legitimate concern. Particularly on his part.
As if to illustrate this point, he let his hand travel over the small curve of her breast on its way up to touch her face, brushing hair away from her eyes and pulling it gently through his fingers.
"Now what is this implication regarding my ability to read the books in your library?"
[Ashley] She'd intended the implication, and she hadn't really expected him not to notice it - if he had, she might have been a touch disappointed. As it is, she opens her eyes again when he begins to tell her what he knows of Latin, suggests that he might take her up on the offer. He's teasing and so is she; the touch and his commentary earns a playful half-smile. "We could get it out of the way early."
Which is likely just a joke, at the moment, if only because she isn't really the sort to rush these things. She leans her head into his hand a little when it brushes through her hair, and her eyes flick, briefly, over his shoulder and toward the direction of the hallway even though she likely can't see it over the back of the couch.
Then they return to him and she says, "You can use it. I don't know what you needed it for when you asked before, but you can look at whatever you want as long as it isn't the couple of Hermetic writings I have." Or, well, the Enochian, but she lumps those in together. He won't be taking any of the books with him; this is implied. But, well. She seems rather open about allowing him in to peruse what's there, at least.
[Jarod] "You know that's not why I've been spending time with you, right?"
There's a hesitance to him now, despite the clear flicker of anticipation that showed in his eyes when he glanced down the hall. (Hunger wasn't only Ashley's purview.) Likely he was thinking of what had happened the last time he'd mentioned it - the fight they'd had, what she'd accused him of doing. "When I asked you last time... it's because I'd wanted it to be out in the open. I knew you'd make the offer on your own eventually, but it felt... dishonest. That's what I would have done if I'd been trying to manipulate you. Let you think it was your idea, and that I wasn't helping you in part because I wanted something in return."
There was an underlying implication here: that Jarod was the sort of person who thought about how to manipulate people - who not only thought but acted on those thoughts - and he wasn't denying that. Nor was he completely averse to the idea of using sex as a tool for manipulation (and why would he be, considering how useful a tool it was?) The fact that he wasn't trying to hide this from her (and pretend to be someone he wasn't) was probably a good sign, even if it did reveal things about him that some might consider... less than attractive qualities.
"I was just curious, honestly. I still am. I wanted to see what you had, and if there was anything to learn from it. I have kind of a voracious appetite for books."
(Not only books. Secrets. But he didn't say that.)
[Ashley] There's a flicker of hesitation in her too, but it's hard to tell where it springs from. It usually is, with Ashley, perhaps all the more because hesitance just isn't something one usually expects to see in her. "If I still wondered about that, I wouldn't have offered," she says. Which is true.
The truth is that she has stopped worrying about any of it. Not because there might not be anything to worry about (even though that might very well be true) but because that sort of caution makes a person lose out, in the end. It doesn't protect anyone. Not really. And what she knows is that she's been happy for a little while and these things are fleeting. She's learned to take in whatever she can when she can, lately; it's the rapid gorging of a survivor, of someone who doesn't know when they'll be starving again.
So he doesn't see uncertainty there, at the very least - or if he does, it's not the sort that might readily be expected given the subject of their last argument.
When Jarod comments on his appetite for books, Ashley's mouth twitches into a smile after a moment. "I know. I like that about you." It's something they share, something about him that she understands. "Most of what I have is philosophical writings though. It's less technical than what some people keep." Than what a lot of other Hermetics keep.
[Jarod] "Good. I prefer that. I don't need someone else to tell me how to do something. It's more about... using other perspectives to broaden my own. Even if a text is complete bullshit, there's always something to learn from it: about the author; about the culture and ideology it came from..." he shrugged. Perhaps that was part of why he'd spent so much time working in an industry that any other Verbena would have scoffed at. Perhaps that was why he lived in the city, and went to clubs, and frequently socialized with the Sleeper population - because he was... studying them.
A smile crept onto his face when he looked at her, and he tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear, tracing along the edge of the cartilage with his thumb. "You realize of course that now you're stuck with me for the rest of the night?"
[Ashley] "I agree. I don't shelve bullshit though, so you'll hopefully find things that are a little more productive than that." At least, from a Hermetic's perspective, though her methodology and Jarod's aren't always all that different, so she suspects he'll at least have something to gain from much of what she has.
Then his question, and she returns the smile, briefly. "I kind of expected that," she says, as it is much the sort of reaction she would have had if the same offer had been extended to her. She considers him a moment, and then pushes herself up on her elbows and then into a sitting position, getting up off the couch and offering him a hand up. "Come on, I'll show you around."
Which she has already done in the general sense, but he'll get a more detailed look now; there aren't as many shelves in there as there are out here, but her library is still quite respectable. Especially considering her age and time Awakened, that she hasn't had that long or the amount of wealth she'd need to amass a truly sizable collection.
[Jarod] She offered him a hand up, which was a little amusing from his perspective, but he took it nonetheless. Once standing, he followed Ashley down the hall and into the library. He'd been in here before. She'd even pointed a few things out to him, but he'd never been able to actually open the books and look inside, so he did this now, scanning titles on bindings and pulling one off the shelf here and there to flip through the pages and get a sense of what might be inside. He'd told her that he was only curious, and at the time of his original inquiry, that had been mostly true... but there were more specific things that he was after, as well. The books he'd taken from the Chorister's house had actually been extremely useful in this regard, but more knowledge was never a bad thing.
It was at this point that he finally admitted, while he was scanning the shelves, "I'm going out of town tomorrow, to try and... expand my grasp of Prime manipulation. It's a full moon. Timing feels right."
[Ashley] He's been in here before, and it looks much the same as it did then. It's a small room, but it lacks too much clutter: her desk is wedged into one corner near the window, and the laptop that she keeps is in here today. A leather chair, similar to the ones that are out in the living room, sits off to the side next to one of the shelves.
And of course, this is her sanctum, and it looks anything but mundane: in the center of the floor, there's a ritual circle, burnt and hollowed into the wood, and nine symbols are found at equidistant points around it. God knows what she'll do with it if she ever ends up needing to move out, but perhaps this isn't a real concern of hers. Around the room on the shelves and desk he'll see oddities, curiosities: a stone carving, very old, of a serpent coiled up on itself, end over end, its tail disappearing into its mouth. Metal orbs, free of fingerprints or smears. A piece of driftwood, pale and worn and pitted with time and age.
A photo, too, of smiling faces painted with woad beneath a summer sun. It's not in her bedroom.
And there are quite a few titles to be had. He'll find some that are, in fact, not books at all but are still scrolls, kept in protective cases. He'll find books that he has to cradle lest they crumble or crinkle in his hands. Many of them are studies on the Ars Mentis, perspectives, thoughts. Many are not. In fact, she seems to have hoarded quite a few writings that aren't Hermetic at all.
Ashley doesn't rush him. She leans her hip against the desk and folds her arms after she's guided him, letting him make his way through and explore. When he mentions that he's going out of town, she raises her eyebrows. "Where are you going?"
[Jarod] "If I told you, then I'd have to kill you." There was a dryly ominous tone in his voice when he answered her, but if she had any doubts as to whether or not he was teasing, he'd alleviate them when he glanced up from the book in his hands and smiled. "Southern Wisconsin. Baraboo, technically. There's a State Park there called Devil's Lake. Should be empty this time of year. They have these really great cliffs overlooking the water."
And it wasn't exactly a safe trek up to the top when ice and snow covered the steep, rocky pathway, but he didn't mention that part.
"Nick's been staying in my guest room the past couple of days anyway, so he said he'd look after Ilana while I'm gone." After a pause, he added, by way of explanation, "He's moving out of his boyfriend's apartment. Ex-boyfriend."
But there were more interesting things for him to focus on right now, so he left it at that and turned his attention back to the books. When Ashley had first shown him the room, he'd spent a long time inspecting the symbols and artifacts (clearly curious,) but today he only glanced at them, too focused to spend much time exploring. The photo... he avoided looking at. After some consideration, he slipped a few texts into the crook of his elbow (careful as always - he handled them as if they were priceless treasures, as some of them probably were) and carried them over to the desk, where he set them down before taking a seat.
"Thank you, by the way."
[Ashley] Perhaps it's for the better that he doesn't mention climbing steep, icy cliffs or the danger involved. Ashley doesn't seem like the sort to worry overmuch, particularly about other people, but who knows. Last year was a bad one. There's a little curiosity that touches her face when he tells her, particularly since he mentioned the full moon - perhaps because she still wonders how he Works. She just gives him a nod, and she doesn't tell him to be careful. Last time that didn't work out particularly well.
And mention of Nick, that Nick's moving out of his ex-boyfriend's and looking after Ilana, meets with little response either. Not visible, at least. She just soaks it in and turns it over and prods it, and then ultimately lets it lie.
"You're welcome," she says, and then there's an affectionate brush of her fingertips against the side of his neck, thoughtless almost, while she looks over his shoulder at the books he's set down at her desk. She's curious, too. Mostly at what caught his interest and what he's using to help shape his ideas of the Ars Vis. Then her hand falls away and there's an amused, "I'll let you study for a couple of hours. Want any tea?"
[Jarod] He didn't look up when she touched his neck, though there was an unconscious tilt of his head. When she asked if he wanted tea however, he pushed back from the desk and reached out to pull her by the hips into his lap, so that she'd have to climb up and straddle him. His arms wrapped around her back and pulled her in close, so that when he spoke, she'd feel his breath and the muted vibration of his voice touch her skin. "You... are wonderful." He kissed her gently on the edge of her jaw. "And generous." He kissed her neck. "And incredibly sexy." Then he kissed her lips, pushing against her hungrily. When he pulled away, he smiled. "And yes, I would love some tea. Black if you have it."
When Ashley had dislodged herself, he slid back into the desk and opened the first book, settling in to read. It was likely that he'd stay there for quite some time, seemingly dead to the world, and eventually, after Ashley had brought him his tea and he'd long-since finished it, he'd move over to the more comfortable leather chair and curl up with one knee perched against the arm-rest.
[Ashley] She hadn't been expecting this either, the sudden show of affection before she leaves him to his work. And if he hadn't done it, it probably wouldn't have really affected her; she'd have just gone out and left him for a while and perhaps felt a little amused by how easily he fell into it. Kae hadn't been that far off the mark when she'd told Ashley he was a little more like a Hermetic than he probably thinks, sometimes - though of course, that's a stereotype, and one that Hermetics and Verbena alike probably resent. But he does gather her up onto the chair with him, probably just so it doesn't seem as though he's dismissing her, and while Ashley doesn't realize that on a conscious level it's nevertheless something she appreciates.
Her fingers weave into his hair until the kiss breaks, and when it does there's something both pleased and skeptical sketched over her face for a second or two. She smirks and runs a thumb over his jawbone lightly before saying, "If you ever talk to Kage more, don't tell her I let you in here. I think she'd be kind of pissed."
The Orphan has never directly asked, but, well. They've been friends for much longer.
There's a last kiss placed beneath the hinge of his jaw before she rises off the chair, something that could almost be called lazy if there weren't that perpetual undertone of hunger. And then she goes back out to the other room to boil water (black tea as requested), and to settle in with a book of her own on her couch. At least, until she grows tired, and a sleepy hush settles over the place, broken only by the turning of pages.
