captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

James startled at the suggestion of a chair. His eyes darted back in the direction of the PT room, paranoid that everyone in there could hear her or that his therapist was going to come walking out and see what she was pointing out and then–

"I'm fine," he shook his head, both in dismissal at her and to rouse his senses. James gripped his crutches and pushed up on them, shifting his foot against the ground so that he was fully upright again, weight evenly distributed between the three points along the floor.

He swallowed down the squirmy feeling in his throat before picking up the crutches to set down in front of him and swing himself forward. His thigh and core muscles (which he didn't even know he had anymore, christ) were exhausted, but he ignored that in favor of being a stubborn little bitch about this.

James wanted to go forward again but it was like he'd hit some sort of mental wall, his body refusing to listen to the commands he was trying to give it. Instead he just stood there, leaning on his crutches again, and panted a little.

Push It To The Limit || Pirate Fox

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@pall0r-mortis

Interesting. Sid thought he was interesting.

Well, it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever been called. But interesting meant curiosity, and that could be a very hard thing to shake off. Which was what James was trying to do here, shake Sid off. And he wasn't convinced Sid was even telling the truth there, as much as it had sounded like he was. The fact of the matter was, James didn't know the other boy well enough to be able to tell what was real and what was fake, and he was not willing to risk taking this guy at face value.

Maybe if this had been weeks earlier, when James had been an entirely different person. When he would have been more than willing to hear someone out, to make a friend, to take someone's intentions at face value or to just play out the joke for the sake of the punch line, to enjoy life as he always had.

But he wasn't that person anymore. He was someone else. Someone with only one goal in mind, and that didn't include indulging in a sick prank.

"I didn't say you should shut up. We're supposed to be having a conversation, yeah? That means we both participate," he sighed, annoyed once again at the presumptuous manner the other boy always seemed to have. "And there was nothing I wanted to say. I already answered your question. Good? Okay. You're turn. Go ahead."

"Actually the fact that I have no idea what you're usually going to say is what makes you interesting," Sid replied; which he probably shouldn't have said, but sometimes just the blatant and flat truth to things was what it was, and he figured sooner or later James was going to weasel his way around what he wasn't saying and what he was saying and figure out what was actually going on behind it.

Irritating James was side effect to try to get James to talk to him, and trying to get James to talk to him aligned with getting reagents from him, and establishing some sort of connection that his father would approve of so far as contacts based fully on the fact that the elder Phillips had some sort of past connection with James' father.

It was a carefully constructed plan that was supposed to fit together.

But that plan wasn't going exactly the way that it was meant to, because he expected any exchange with James to be very sterile, potentially volatile in the sense of the two of them arguing, but he didn't expect the complicated sidebar to all of that being that he liked arguing with James. Talking had never been as satisfying to Sid as the intensity that came with contradiction.

Like the contradiction of James refusing the idea and continuing on along the sidewalk instead; it was becoming increasingly clear to see that the other man's stubbornness was one of his better points.

All things considered though, James was right and he was doing most of the talking himself.

"The point of asking is I want to know." It could have come off the sarcasm, he seem to be exceptionally fluent in that particular language, there wasn't really any bite to the words. "Okay, you're right; I should shut up." He'd heard that so many times over the course of his life one would think that he would have been better at recognizing the fact; it had practically been the only thing said to him at times. "So, what do you want to say?"

It took a monumental amount of effort to stop himself there, because the impulse was of course to explain more, to point out to James his reasons and thoughts with the same viciously eager lunge he always felt in conversations.

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@plutothe-pup

While he chewed he shot Young a little scowl at the cute comment, as well as the continued dismissal of concern at his own health. But James had said his piece on the matter, and now that it had been put on his radar, he'd try to keep track of whether or not he noticed this odd phenomena in the ebb and flow of Young's health.

This was, of course, thought of in a very optimistic fashion. In one where James wouldn't be so wrapped up in his own bullshit that he'd have time to look out for his friend to such an extent. He would try to be diligent, though– especially since it offered a distraction from said bullshit. And what better way to direct his frustrations than onto someone who could potentially get better where James knew he never could. He could only adapt to a new normal now.

After he had swallowed and swigged water from the massive jug they kept filled for him, a smile softened his features.

"Oh yeah? You gunna have time for that on top of everything else?" James questioned, though what he was really asking was, You'll still want to spend time around me like this?

Turbulence || Captain Barkossa

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James figured that was probably bullshit, because why was Mr. Smee working at this hour?, but didn't call him out on it. Usually he would have but not today. Another blow had been administered and neither of them had really recovered from the initial one, so James wasn't about to kick Mr. Smee while he had just been put back down.

If he didn't want to hang out with James then he wasn't going to make him, even if James wanted nothing more than to stay in his presence. Even if they were just sitting there in silence, tending to their own stuff, it was better than shuffling off to his room and becoming hyper aware of everything that moved, wondering if the dead had come to pay him a visit.

"Pizza works," he nodded. Then he quickly added, when a thought so psychically damaging entered his mind that he had to he squeeze his eyes shut against it, "But only if I don't have to answer the door."

Not when there was the off chance that bitch from up the street would be delivering.

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

Hey, you have just found a chest on a desolate planet

Open it>>>>

Your Loot:

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

James hadn't really expected the double down. Usually when people caught that he wasn't going to easily let them pry his muzzle open and get the point out of his mouth like a dog with a toy they pulled away, not wanting to get bit. Instead, she continued to try making him spit it out.

Too bad he was a stubborn mutt who clenched his jaw.

He shifted, one of his crutches digging further into his armpit as he did, to lift an arm so his sleeve pulled down to reveal his watch. James rested, eyes focused on the little screen, bobbing his head in time.

"...four...five!" He looked up at her, smiling. "Well, would look at that– still upright. Sorry, maybe if you'd sent Fabio in on a white horse with mood lighting and fog, I'd be more inclined to swoon."

Except that crutch seemed to have cut off the blood supply to his arm because his arm suddenly felt really cold and heavy, fingers tingling with pins and needles. He quickly moved to correct it and got a head rush as the blood began to move. James tried to shift to catch himself on the crutches but thankfully the wall helped him instead.

"Oof," he grunted, eyes closed. "Okay, so maybe all it took was seven seconds and your angelic visage in these florescence."

Push It To The Limit || Pirate Fox

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James' eyebrows arched at Mr. Smee's shift in tone. Whoopie daisies. Though, it did make him suddenly very aware of how brilliant the other man was. He already knew this, of course, but– he hadn't even thought that someone would think to keep track of him in that way. That they could just go look at all the things he had gotten from the library and start pointing fingers. Not that James would have done that, having meant it as a joke but shit. That was one of those details characters in books and movies got fucked over for.

It was a very good thing he had Mr. Smee looking out for him so that he didn't make those sorts of mistakes.

Because, like his father, James didn't really think things through all the way. He was brash and wanted things done as soon as possible, going fist first sometimes. Most of the time. But the stakes were higher now, the consequences more than just getting expelled or detention.

"Okay," he said, his tone serious to show he had heard Mr. Smee and was taking his word to heart. "Heard. Anything I need to know, you'll be the first and no doubt only person I'll ask."

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@pall0r-mortis

James breathed in deeply through his nose, trying his damnedest not to just turn the chair around and go back home. There was a goal to achieve here, and he wouldn't get to accomplish it if he did that. It would no doubt have the opposite effect and Sid would follow him back since there was no way James could out run him there– or was it out roll him?

But god it was really getting to him how self absorbed this bloke was turning out to be. Oh, he had a driveway where he parked his beloved car, did he? As if James was so fucking obsessed with him that he took note of every little thing about him. Like he didn't have better things to do, or the energy and will to get up out of his bed in the morning, much less go outside. And he knew it was meant to be teasing or joking or whatever, to rib him in a way that wasn't supposed to be a bat to the back of the head and just a play ground taunt.

In his more vulnerable and less stable position as of late, it felt more like he was getting burned and he wanted nothing more than to stop the pain. To lash out, do something to protect himself.

Instead he just let Sid keep going, hands continuing to turn over the wheels on his chair to push himself forward down the walkway.

He'd been about to answer when Sid suddenly seemed to think of something else and deflated, listening to the rest of what he had to say. Or ask, rather. James glanced over at him, got a look at his confusion, and snorted as he turned back to face the path ahead of them.

"It means exactly what you think it means," James said. He knew it was a non-answer but that was the point! Mess with the big guy's head the way he thought he could mess with James'. "Anyway, you're not hearing my opinions because you haven't asked for them. Then again, I've just come to assume that you already know what I'm going to say for everything so– what's the point of asking, eh?"

The change of expression was anything but subtle and Sid lifted an eyebrow for a brief instant, expecting James to say something, but he didn't. And as the seconds edged past without him making some comment about the fact, which in this case actually hadn't been something Sid had done to antagonize him because he had fairly often done things to antagonize James during the short duration of their encounters together, but that time he was surprisingly innocent.

It wasn't a common state for him, no.

"What? I thought this whole thing was you getting out of the house and moving around," he pointed out, "you can see my house, you can see the driveway; you can probably see my car. You have seen me drive my car to work. You are always watching people in the neighborhood so how do you not know I have a car?" He reasoned, because he thought this was solid logic.

Obviously James didn't reside in the front yard and spy on the neighbors all the time, but Sid knew that he did do it some of the time, and then some of those instances he had to have seen him driving. But he also assumed that James was going to argue this logic.

"I didn't know you wanted to trek all the way across town," he added, "you do know that we are still practically on the same street where we started, and it would be faster for me to walk back over to my house and get my car then it would be to walk all the way to campus. Or wherever; it's not like we can't go to that other town outside of this one." Again, this felt like very sound and very obvious logic to Sid. "Don't look at me like that; I didn't plan some elaborate attempt to make you miserable in this case."

Really, just rude, projecting that on him when he wasn't even doing that in the first place. At least not that time.

Of course then James said something about him projecting and it actually wasn't something that Sid could even argue, which made it more annoying.

"And I'm not hearing very much of anything you want either way," he countered, since most of James' questions had been carefully evading saying anything himself, even the nonsensical ones. "This is entirely hindering my attempts to convince you I'm not just here to annoy you in this situation."

"Wait," he realized this as an afterthought in fact, "what do you mean you never would have guessed? What's that supposed to mean?"

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@madmagicmim

"Cherry coke," he replied like a reflex, not even having to think about it. James started backing up, the three point turns still giving him a bit of trouble, when she spoke again. He looked up at her, wondering if he was supposed to know who this Stella person was.

Surely she didn't mean Ms. Warner who lived in the neighborhood. Her first name was Stella, which James only knew because her house had the same number as theirs did, but she lived on a different street. Some service had delivered a bouquet of flowers to their doorstep instead of hers. The note attached had read, For my Stella. His dad had sent him to correct the mistake, grumbling about what an idiot the delivery driver must have been. She was in her mid 30's probably, and not a sorcerer as far as James knew. So how did Mim know her?

...but eh, what did he care? That was none of his business. Not unless she stood outside the woman's house and gave her best Marlon Brando impression.

It went completely over his head as to any other reason she could have wanted to walk back with him to the Southern Isles neighborhood.

"Then I hope you won't mind going at a snail's pace," James warned, rolling off to go traverse the tables and chairs in the dining area.

1cc || Maim

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

As soon as he felt her scrutiny James tried to right himself, pick his spine up a little, in the hopes– aaahhh fuuuuuuuuck.

Instantly, he was on the defense. Vixey had seen him in all his vulnerability and while he appreciated her general lack of judgement, he did not need her going to tattle on him to his doctor or physical therapist. If she said something that might make them rethink his timeline, or that his recovery was suited for a leg, then he was screwed.

"Yeah, well, the lack of sunlight will do that to a person. Haven't been out much lately. And even when I am, the sun never seems to be out this time of year," he said with a little disappointed shake of his head. James clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "I am of the generation who prefers to sit inside all day instead of playing outside. But then, I can't exactly do that right now either, can I?"

Push It To The Limit || Pirate Fox

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@ariel-the-undiscovered

When James had come hobbling to the door on his crutches, because he was forcing himself to use them instead of the wheelchair no matter what he felt like, the last person he expected to be standing on the other side of it was Ariel Triton.

Well– that was a lie, actually. There were plenty of people he would have put behind her on that list. But she was pretty far down.

It wasn't like they were enemies or anything, but it wasn't like they were friends either. They just sort of...were. He didn't think she thought about him at all, even if he still knew her birth date (the same month as his father's) and thought of her when he passed by the store front that was now filled that they had once hunted around in for treasure that wasn't there when it had still been just an empty building or saw her username on Twitter.

Yet here she was– with gifts for him.

"Uh," was his very intelligent reply to this. That was him, James Jones the II, model wordsmith. He breathed in, mentally shaking himself. "Yeah! Yeah, are you kidding? It's my drug of choice since it's legal and all." A beat passed. "Er– sorry, is this a stop and drop situation or did you want to come in? I won't be offended if it is."

Revisiting Memories {Ariel & James}

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

James did attempt to hide the smile that was still pulling at his features by going back for a proper drink of tea, holding the mug in front of his mouth– but it was hard to hide the creases by his eyes and the light within them as he looked at the older man. Honestly, he didn't really think Mr. Smee could have written something like he had been teasing him about because James had only ever known him as the man who sat across from him.

He'd heard about his and his father's adventures, had listened to his father talk about who Mr. Smee had been when they first met and all the years after, but it was hard to imagine that he had been different. Younger, sure, but personality wise? All James could imagine was the proper gentleman sitting aboard, making sure everyone else was taken care of.

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Mr. Smee. I'm sure it's all strictly business as usual," he said, unable to keep the sarcastic skepticism out of his tone. James sat back, letting the joke dissipate. "But, seriously, thank you. I'd appreciate it since, well– I doubt they have this sort of stuff in the local library. And even if they did, I'd rather read from someone who was actually facing this stuff than some researcher who's never seen outside of their desk job."

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

He nodded, giving a little, "Mhmm," as he did. His person shifted as he let the crutches take more of his weight, armpits sitting heavily on the padding and palms pushing into the hand grips to keep it from all going to his whole leg and foot. It felt sore and wooden all at the same time, having been the willing sacrifice to James' exertion in wanting to get the other leg up to snuff.

But now it was all the harder to get around since his only footed leg was the one that was giving him the trouble. As well as just being tired overall from these past few sessions.

He figured that was a good thing, though– all the meat heads were always going on about how exercise hurt and how it was good for you. Feel the burn!

"What about you? Nothing too gruesome I hope," he replied, voice softer than his usual demeanor, too tired to think of anything that might crack a smile or that might have her take a crack at him at present.

Push It To The Limit || Pirate Fox

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@madmagicmim

James, a fellow bullshitter, was grateful for her levity instead of one of the many other routes that could have been taken. He let out a huff of amusement, glancing at her for a moment before watching the screen change over back to the title screen and main menu.

His reagents weren't lying (not that they could), he was tired. He had been tired since he had woken up. Imagine that, a major surgery and the body trying to recover from it really fucking took it out of you! Not to mention the journey to get there, and socializing in general.

But– he also felt a little better. Having done something he enjoyed, even if they hadn't gone as far as the pair of them maybe normally would have in the game. And he had held a conversation without letting it fall to the floor.

He raised his brows at her question, then nodded. "Oh yeah. I'm going to need all the caffeine I can get just to make it home."

James lifted his wrist, shaking it so that his watch shifted for him to read. "Wow, good timing, there's only about a minute left on your magic–"

But then the minute turned over to the next and the rectangles the wheels had been turned into began to shrink back and round back out. He blinked, looking up where he was now sitting below her eye level once more.

"...nevermind."

1cc || Maim

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@apirateslifefor--smee

He brightened a touch upon hearing this, though not by as much as he would have had the day not been significantly dimmed by death and loss. But it made something inside of him shuffle with excitement at the thought of getting a glimpse into that portion of Mr. Smee and his father's lives from a first hand account. Sure, he had the stories they would tell him memorized at this point, but getting to read about it from the hand of Mr. Smee when he had been living it?

Getting to be even that much closer to his father, even if he wasn't even mentioned within the entries or he was just a passing detail within them, had him gripping his mug a bit tighter to keep from reaching over and giving Mr. Smee a shake to go get them right that moment.

He lifted the mug to take a drink of tea just as Mr. Smee suggested that he take a look through them– James laughed and the tea spewed a little from the gust of air hitting its surface. Not to mention the mouthful that half went down the right pipe, half went down the wrong one and up his nose. The mug was placed unceremoniously down on the table as he coughed, turning into the crease of his elbow as more of the tea was involuntarily spit into the fabric of his jumper.

He was still coughing and wheezing when he managed to get out, flicking his hand that had gotten wet, "Irrelevant nonsense? Oh my god, Mr. Smee, what's in there? You waxing poetry about someone? Or is that polite talk for scandalous?"

Up in Smoke | Jolly Roger II

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@pall0r-mortis

James' arms paused in their movement of propelling the wheelchair's wheels forward because– what? This prick had a fucking car? And he hadn't brought it to pick James up for their date? James, who couldn't walk and had to get around in this thing? What the hell! Why? Was he trying to save money on petrol or something? No flowers, no chocolates, and he hadn't bothered to pick him up in his car. Talk about a cheap date.

He let out a sharp breath, lips vibrating with it, and continued moving, though he was admittedly more peeved now. Which was saying something, since he'd been super annoyed at having to leave the house. He'd just been lulled into a sense of comfort there for a brief moment in time– not anymore! He was right back aboard the this sucks train.

Made all the more vibrant by having to listen to Sid answer the questions that had been meant to make him uncomfortable. Instead he just leaned into it! Lovely!

But James should have seen that coming. Sid was turning out to be quite stubborn. Almost like his purpose in life was to act like the human version of the feeling of pins and needles– not exactly painful, but just really distracting and annoying as shit.

It was horrible when game recognized game, and while James wasn't someone who cared whether he won or lost so long as he had fun, this was a competition he wasn't willing to go down without a fight against. Hence why he was there on this stupid so-called date in the first place, because he was trying to prove a point; which was that Sid did not like him and this was all a big fucking joke.

"I didn't say I didn't think you were marriage material, I just asked your thoughts on it. Stop projecting," he tsked. "But okay! Good to know you've got some very strong opinions about this stuff. I would have never guessed you would want a not-ugly wedding. Though, I'm hearing a lot of what you don't want and not what you do."

All things considered, he wasn't terribly disappointed at the time. Maybe James wasn't giving him much information overall but maybe he hadn't come there for information, maybe he had come there just because he had a point to prove. And that point seemed distant, he had proven it, and James said proven himself to be equally immobile.

The answer wasn't an answer, Sid wasn't sure if the answer mattered in the first place, he was just trying to figure out the outlook behind it. James had not seemed to be particularly optimistic, and that was either a byproduct of the situation or just his personality. Cynical Sid had already guessed, sarcastic; none of which were shocking or even unusual, but frustratingly there seem to be a much sharper something under that surface. James was clever.

He would have grumbled in annoyance if he wasn't more invested in keeping up with whatever circular game James was playing at the time well.

"No," Sid noted the faint change of expression that crossed James' face as they reached the intersections of the roads, "apparently we're on a hike, so I guess it counts as a date but also I should have just brought my car."

His brow furrowed at the nickname, turnabout was fair play after all, and Sid begrudgingly had to admit to himself that he actually liked that about James.

"What, I don't seem like marriage potential? I think I have an endless amount of potential there," he countered, this was actually a lie because it was hard to imagine anyone would want to be around him that consistently, "I do hate that white wedding thing though, so that's off the table; it's ugly. Not going to have an ugly wedding."

This of course was the oddity, he was discovering, about being around James; there was a challenge to it and there he was answering stupid questions because he liked a challenge and maybe James had already figured that out about him and how to use it. Or maybe James just really liked asking stupid questions.

"Kids? Why not; somebody has to be a problem after I'm gone, right? I have no point of reference on how to do that in a way that doesn't fuck a kid up but it can't be that hard." Sid reasoned. As unrealistic as the entire hypothetical situation was he had to be a better father than his own had been. Frankly a rabid animal had to be a better father than his so it wasn't a high standard.

"We are definitely going to have to have a discussion about names though," he continued because James had started this and James was not going to escape either, "because every time I hear about someone naming their kid something stupid like Arizona or Rainbow, or whatever the hell else, I want to punch them in the face." Sid rattled off, kicking at a rock in the street as they crossed.

"There's only so much compromise I can make there Princess," he concluded, tone so clearly mockingly saccharine with a hint of something that was more of a huff but clearly dangerously close to a laugh.

@captainjamesjoneshook

[captainjamesjoneshook]

@vixey-chakraborty

Apparently, James had been making pretty good progress in his recovery. Who would have thought, someone like him actually following directions and doing his homework? It was true, though! His doctor and physical therapist had agreed that they were happy with what he had been able to do, and were going to start prepping him for a prosthetic.

Now, that didn't mean they were just going to shove a leg on him and get him to start walking. There was still a lot to do, like continuing to desensitize his skin, shaping the residual limb to be fit for the prosthetic, and all the exercises that were prepping his joints and muscles to be able to walk.

But all James had heard was that he was going to get a new leg. That meant he was one step closer (no pun intended) to being able to go find the thing that killed his dad.

And...well....if he could speed that process up, that was just a good thing, right? Everyone on his team wanted him to walk again. There was no such thing as too much progress, after all.

So who cared if he had gotten a touch woozy during his session that day? Or that the feeling lingered as he left the room on his crutches, forcing him to have to stop just outside in the hallway and take a breather. And then pretend like he was not doing that when someone else came out after him.

He glanced up and gave a nod, hoping that the amount of sweat coating his shirt and general tiredness about his person went unnoticed as he said, "Afternoon, Nurse Chakraborty!"

Push It To The Limit || Pirate Fox