surejess--arc

[surejess--arc]

[surejess--arc]

thalassofins​:

         entirely transfixed by the bird still sat upon his hand, fins is oblivious to his surroundings. nothing else matters except him and this bird—and jess, of course!—and the joy of finally finding a sense of belonging in the world. maybe for the wrong reasons ( people don’t like pigeons, and like him even less ) but the feeling is nice to consider. nice to hold onto. “flatbread…” that’s all he needs to continue to win her favor? a few pieces of bread? fins wonders if he can find where they make it and buy some… maybe a stand, somewhere? “where do you get flatbread?” he asks, urgently wanting the answer. he’s obsessed. he’s a bird-feeder now. his winnings will be spent entirely on bread. “maybe i could get more, and then they wouldn’t have to rely on you as much.”

“ flatbread, ” jess confirmed, a firm nod of the head highlighting just how serious the statement was ! babe did not discriminate ! you could kick a puppy and, as long as you had flatbread, babe would still be your best friend ! ( that said, jess wouldn’t be surprised if babe would kick a puppy if she were able to... a bit ruthless, that one ! )  now, in truth, would jess ever want to have someone take over for her as the self-appointed pigeon lady ? unless she was dead, no ! they were her very best friends when she managed the escape ! and, even now, they still gave her a sense of purpose when all else was lost ! ...but babe was at a healthy weight ( ...she was pretty sure... she could really only make assumptions about pigeon health ! ) -- if she got a little bit chunkier because she was being consistently fed by two people ? no harm, no foul ! especially if it gave the fella that same boost of joy it had always given her ! “ bakeries always have ‘em ! ya also might be able t’ find some at any kinda greek restaurant or sub shop -- delis are good places t’ check ! and they’re always throwin’ out the ‘stale bread’ at the end of the day -- don’t think t’ give it t’ the pigeons ! ” or, like... the homeless population ? but obviously the pigeons took precedence ! “ sometimes they just appear, and that’s always real convenient, but the trash behind the little bakery two blocks down ? you can always count on them. ”

[surejess--arc]

@kamelyayildiz

Dorothea Grossman

[surejess--arc]

kinevart​:

Kinevart often has very little idea of what Jess is talking about. She doesn’t know what a sitcom is, or Cindy Crawford, but she thinks she gets the gist of the matter. It’s a nice image that Jess describes, though. Lucine’s issues will probably take more than thirty minutes to resolve, but the optimism is appreciated, and she does think that in the end, Lucine will turn out okay. They have each other, after all, and as far as Kinevart is concerned, nothing is stronger or more healing than the love between a mother and daughter.

“I hope you are right, Jess,” Kinevart smiles. “I think that being a teenage girl in America is very difficult, even for the ones that weren’t raised in a torture barn.”

She opens her mouth in surprise at the fact that alcohol doesn’t work on Jess. “Really?” she sounds faintly horrified. It feels like a failure on her part that she never knew this about Jess, and it makes Kinevart aware of how bad she is at getting to know people. Jess is probably the person she knows best in this country… and she had no idea alcohol had no impact on her! “I had no idea… so… getting drunk is a part of American culture that I am better at than you.” she gives a satisfied smile. Though not usually a joking sort of person, Kinevart is relaxed enough around Jess that she does make the occasional crack.

“ ya know, i’d tell ya what it’s like from experience, but... torture barn... circus... ” -- she had half a mind to end it with ‘what’s the difference!?’ -- and, had it been anywhere else but the circus, she probably would have ! what was the point of it all if there was nothing to laugh about ? -- but she didn’t have the heart to compare the two when the latter had been so kind to her, as much as she wished she did ! “ i think i’d compare about as well as you, if not worse. ” the average american teenage girl’s unrealistic body expectations ( as jess had last heard ) ? cindy crawford. jess’s unrealistic body expectations ? ronald mcdonald. “ i got the ‘very special episode’ knowledge at the ready, though. if lucine’s ever real interested in a boy ‘cause he looks just like john stamos, but he peer pressures her into smoking, i know what t’ do ! ” “ i’m good at fakin’ it, aren’t i ? key is startin’ out real ‘normal,’ ” she replied, tapping her temple. really all she had to do was start lowering the mask ! once it was down, it was plenty easy for anyone who was unfamiliar with her to just assume it was a different state of mind ! -- not that kinevart was unfamiliar with her in the slightest. hell, not that she’d pretend around her ! pretend for everyone else, though ? oh yeah ! getting drunk was one of the things she was pretty sure the plot would never warp... she had accepted her fate. “ tonight, you’re the real american. gonna have t’ get ya some fried oreos, a bald eagle, and a shirt with that little yellow guy on it -- the ‘ay caramba!’ one, ya know ? ” even in forward!verse, may still thinks jess should simply not know who bart simpson is ! “ oh ! and an ‘i heart chicago’ t-shirt ! then you’ll be more american than i could ever dream ! ” the very picture of it was just astounding !  of course, curiosity does have the cruel reputation of killing the cat -- but satisfaction always brings it back ! and something about this... it would feel unnatural to ask anyone else in her life ( not that that had ever stopped her before, but... if something can feel more natural, awesome ! )... “ what’s it really like anyway ? does it really make the taste worth it ? ” she had tried ordering straight liquor before ! never a-fucking-gain !

[surejess--arc]

[surejess--arc]

Anyway, pigeon poll.

[surejess--arc]

alarakaplan​:

“It’s my pleasure. What’s your poison, buttercup?” This woman seems like she’d be a lot of fun, but not in the conventional way. Alara has a feeling that there’s something chaotic residing inside her. She sensed it with Ihsan when he began to change, and she senses it now. It’s something hidden in their eyes – to some it would appear as a glint of mischief; to Alara it’s something teetering on the edge of dangerous. 

She laughs at the Elvis impression. “Well, if you ever get bored of what you’re currently doing, you could always become an Elvis impersonator.” Alara says it as a joke, then it dawns on her that the beautiful clown beside her might take it seriously. Oh well, it’d still be a good set, she thinks to herself. And for all she knows, this stranger could have a beautiful singing voice.

“I think I’ve only been here a couple of times in the past; never saw you here before, though. You were a very pleasant surprise tonight.” Alara really means that. She’d had a long, stressful day at the museum, and this was just what she needed to cheer herself up. All work and no play makes her a very disgruntled fairy. “I’ll definitely have to swing by more often, now that I know you perform here.”

“ i’d never say ‘no’ to a classic mojito. ” -- actually, she would. if she were alone and not trying to blend in and was offered a mojito ? hell no ! she’s not gonna pay for that ! but it was still important to keep that mask on -- keep the people coming back ! -- and man. man, oh man. if she didn’t have to play human ? she could stretch herself into elvis then and there -- give her company a proper elvis impersonation ! oh, what a hard life it was ! “ that’s my backup plan -- already got my license t’ officiate weddings, don’t think i’d need much else down in vegas ! ” she was not, in fact, able to officiate weddings... but, you know, anything for the bit ? besides, it really wasn’t much of a bad backup plan ! she’d make a great officiant ! “ ya definitely should ! gettin’ some more familiar faces in the crowd is always a treat, ya know. ” they kept the pay coming, for one ! and, hey... as boring as playing human was, knowing who she was talking to after the fact always made it, eh, a little more tolerable. “ so what’s your name ? now that i’ll have t’ be usin’ it in sets, and all. ”

[surejess--arc]

kinevart​:

Kinevart doesn’t need Jess’ thanks, but she smiles and nods anyway. It is something Kinevart likes to do; not just to support Jess, but for herself, too. Living in a city is very different. Even after a few years, she’s not really used to it. In the forest, you don’t feel lonely. The trees keep you company, and the birds and the toads and the earthworms. Here, though, Kinevart learned about loneliness. Seeing Jess made it more tolerable, as though she was not so alone.

Jess explains the getting in shape thing, and Kinevart nods with an ohh of understanding. “Humans are strange.” she concludes, as if she’s not one of them. Kinevart never once thought about how she looked before, but since moving to the city, to America, she has been inundated with information telling her how to get skinnier, look younger, make your breasts look bigger, all sorts of things that seem unfathomably pointless to her but of vital importance to many people.

“I think Lucine wants that,” she frowns thoughtfully. Lucy had been talking lately about taking a trip with some schoolfriends, and how she wanted to work harder in gym class so she could look good in her bathing suit. Kinevart didn’t understand, because she thought Lucine was lovely with or without gym class. And it makes her sad, because she doesn’t know how to relate to her daughter sometimes. Kinevart never thought of diets or bikinis or crushes, but she tries for Lucine’s sake. “I know people think the wild parts of the world seem dangerous, but it seems to me that cities are more dangerous still. You poison yourself willingly!” she holds up her small glass of vodka and soda water (it tastes clean), and tilts her head. “We poison ourselves willingly. Speaking of such things, would you like one?” Sometimes Kinevart wishes there was more she could do for Jess. She is a strange woman, but without her, Kinevart would not have known how to live. In her own strange, wild way, Kinevart quite loves Jess. She would gore any foe with her horn for Jess, so a drink seems a small token, all things considered.

“ ya can say that again. ” -- because they weren’t humans. perhaps kinevart, when out of her unicorn shape, could look the part. perhaps jess, upon first few glances, could play the part. but they were not human. -- not only in... you know, literally not being human, but in life experience. very few humans spent the majority of their lives in the forest, then a poorly put together torture factory ; very few humans spent their formative years in a traveling circus designed to protect other mutants, ...then, you, a poorly put together torture factory. and if some of those ‘experiments’ had taught her anything, it was that she did not even have a brain on par with that of humans ( constant lobotomies (‘let’s make sure we were right last time!’) were very telling, as were other invasive brain ‘surgeries’ ). she and kinevart were not human. they would never be human. and, seeing how bored some of them seemed to be over nothing more than another day in the life -- seeing how they had to ‘get in shape’ and, as kinevart wisely said, ‘poison themselves willingly’ to make it through ? ...geez, she was glad they weren’t human ! “ maybe it’ll pass ? ” here’s to hoping it would pass ! at lucine’s age, jess had had... a wildly different experience ( you know, she may have spent some of her formative years in a poorly put together torture factory, but she wasn’t a complete child ! not to mention the circus, and all ! ). she’d been mostly surrounded by adults who were amused to death, whereas lucine actually had the chance to be around other kids her age. and jess had never experienced it, but she’d seen the trope... “ ya know, it’s like all those good sitcom ‘very special episodes’ that focus on peer pressure and unrealistic beauty standards ! ya got the middle child who wants t’ look just like cindy crawford, so she starts workin’ extra hard, but she learns t’ love herself just as she is and never give into peer pressure or unrealistic beauty standards by the end of a thirty minute episode ! ... and everything is good, ‘cause it’s a sitcom, so it’s gotta be. ” did sitcom characters know how easy they had it ? lucky bastards ! “ i’m gonna tell ya somethin’ i never tell these guys so i can still play human: that stuff has never worked on me ! so thank ya ! but i don’t want ya t’ be wasting any money. ” she’d love to get drunk ! just once ! just to know what it felt like ! alas, the world was a cruel and unjust place... “ but i do have a discount over here if ya want me t’ buy you your next one... ”

[surejess--arc]

sexysamson69​:

Strolling through the dappled winter sun, he’d heard someone else and he was aware there was a bipedal creature around before her approach. Samson simply hadn’t been bothered about moving. He’s not hungry, so any wandering souls are safe around him. This one, though, is peculiar.

This one is a clown. Samson can’t smell any makeup—a distinct scent that makes him think of his friends, or his ‘work-family’—so he doesn’t mind her. In fact, he stops.

The stranger speaks, approaches with all the ease of an old friend. She even says he’s familiar. It’s not a sentiment shared, but he knows he can feel some sort of kinship with her. The clown isn’t human, she looks more human than Samson does in his human form. She could easily be mistaken for someone in makeup, someone with a very specific sense of style.

 Samson tilts his head to the side, a dog-like motion as he carefully looks her over. The coke product is a strange thing to add, but he simply accepts it. He decides then to sit. The clearest sign he can give her that he isn’t planning on running away without having to shift and speak. His tail flicks, slowly, something almost cat-like about the movement as he watches her.

he sat down ! he tilted his head to the side ! he was paying attention and he wasn’t gonna run away ! okay... okay, she could work with this ! ( sure, she could work with him leaving too -- a fox would not have been the strangest animal she’d ever gone after, but it was nice that she didn’t have to pursue ! especially all quiet-like ! ) “ oh, wait ! ” ‘jess’s bag of fun’ dropped into her hand, comically small in comparison to all of the items she rifled through -- an anchor, an anvil, a baseball bat... “ ya know, ya really do forget things that happen in the slammer ! this is the most useful carrying bag i ever had, but here i am, with a purse, like a chum ! ” a bomb ?! -- which, thanks heavens above, was disarmed. “ here we go ! ” pulling out a giant t-bone steak, she shut the sack nice and tight ( the discarded items vanishing from this little woodsy area to sit back in the bag ). “ i don’t really know where a good half of the stuff in that sack come from, but i knew it’d have somethin’ like this ! ya like steak ? ” foxes ate meat, right ? that was one of their whole things ? they had sharp canine teeth -- they were at least omnivores. so she did her best to tear off a piece... which ultimately failed and left her lugging an entire comically large t-bone steak between herself and the fox.

[surejess--arc]

thalassofins​:

         fins’ eyes can’t widen in surprise, so his gills and nostrils flare instead. instead of continuing to warily snub him—if not fly away as soon as he appears—the bird swoops in to peck at the bread placed into his hand. she’s small enough ( he’s large enough? ) that he could close his fingers around her, if he wanted to. but he doesn’t. he enjoys watching her eagerly peck away. “she’s impressed me,” he says, happy to see that some treats are good enough exchange for his company. “…you have, too. i’ve never met someone so good with birds, before.” sure, the list of people he’s officially met is very small… but most others he watches would rather scare the birds than feed them.

it was official ! there was one pro to babe’s obsession with flatbread: it made this guy -- who had seemed very disappointed when the birds flew away -- excited ! oh, lady luck had finally given purpose to babe’s addiction ! one that certainly made jess smile -- no one was ever this excited about babe ! babe was kinda a jerk ! good vibes all around ! “ ya know, i’m startin’ t’ think they don’t know there are other places t’ get food -- mighta been spoiling them for a little too long now... ” but they were her only friends for the longest time, how could she ever abandon them ? “ but ! that one in your hand is babe. she’s a real feisty one ! if ya ever wanna see her, all ya gotta do is get your hands on some flatbread. ” 

[surejess--arc]

thalassofins​:

         fins watches with more than a little confusion as jess seems to… mutter to herself? far be it for him to judge someone, but he almost wants to ask who she’s talking to. and why she thinks they can bring back the birds. maybe one of them is her friend and likes to tease? it’s not the most unusual excuse in the world. he thinks maybe someone would be confused to see him talking to royal, too. he’s never seen anyone else talk to him, anyway.

         regardless, he watches as jess holds out the bread in her hand—which had always been flatbread in this thread and never anything else—and… thanks someone for it. maybe this friend had always given her the bread to feed the others? ultimately, his own ideas don’t get him anywhere. better to focus on the pita ( of which it had always been ) that was being offered to him. gingerly, he takes the little piece and holds it in his palm. “like this?”

“ just like that. learned the real hard way that that’s the safest way t’ feed babe when there’s some flatbread involved. ” she had the light scarring from babe’s ruthlessness to show it ! never feed babe flatbread around other birds unless you’re tossing it really far or going palm-up ! setting the rest of the flatbread in his hand -- because babe would just be sticking with her known source of food ( jess ! ) otherwise -- jess didn’t even get the chance to count reach ‘2′ in her countdown ! as quick as a flash, babe had flown over to the big fella’s hand and was eating right out of it. “ babe, ya don’t ever wanna let me impress someone, do ya ? ” it wasn’t even the person’s fault ! it was all babe’s doing, not letting her count down from three !

[surejess--arc]

saintjcmes​:

•

“Good evening to you too, darling.” Behind the shades, January is still a little taken aback with Jess’ greeting—though much less alarmed by the flock of birds that she seems to perpetually travel with. Pigeons seem to be attracted to her, much like a beacon, or a bird lady. Or one of those children that seem to form exclusive relationships with a murder of crows. There’s no hesitation there, merely golden light that flares from behind her eyes, and the appearance of foccacia in her hand as if it was always there to begin with.

Her eyes travel to the birds once more, and an amused smile plays at her lips. “Not enough bread for the flock, Jess? Sandwich shop close early? You know, I’ve got half a mind to set you up with a nice bakery.” Her mind attunes to the bird near her, pecking furiously at the bread with thoughts too feral for a bird for her taste. Eat. Bread. Mine! All of these rush through her head, and she blinks. “She’s definitely a… spirited bird. Having some trouble there?”

oh, jess was thanking her lucky stars that january came around, focaccia in hand ! her own hand was getting torn up by old babe, and someone ( may ! ) wasn’t listening to her pleas ! apparently watching her get torn apart was funnier... or she just still didn’t know how to properly communicate all the time -- one or the other ! 

with a sigh of relief, jess threw some of the new bread into the flock ( though she could tell babe was quite depressed ). “ apparently no one likes pita bread these days ! it was all they had left -- but, i gotta say, they had a lot of it. ” a bakery would be so nice... but jess would never communicate that ! january making some new bread appear was more than enough ! more than she deserved ! “ ya should’ve seen her when i first sat down -- i feel like tippi hedren. ”

[surejess--arc]

trentshaw​:

open starter // @forwardstarters​​

​“That’s not an orange. It’s a lemon,” Trent states, picking up one of the lemon slices and slapping it against the other’s cheek. It’s not a malicious or angry gesture — he’s just joking around. “Now, that’s a sour face if ever I’ve seen one. Ba dum tss!”

“ ya can’t be citrus ! ” she replied, picking up the nearest lemon slice and slapping it against his cheek. if it was a pun war he wanted... it was a pun war he would get ! “ you’re riskin’ losing some of the zest business ya ever had ! ”

[surejess--arc]

thalassofins​:

         thankfully, the woman in question doesn’t seem too put out by the fact that he’s scared away her flock. fins isn’t a stranger to the fear that his appearance can cause, not just in humankind but in… well, pretty much everything. it’s rare that something stops and stares and doesn’t puff up, or hiss, or bark, or—run away. “oh,” he says, not entirely sure of how to take that information. is it true? will they come back? he certainly hopes so. “i’ve never been able to get close to them, before.” the few animals he has gotten close to are… more for food’s sake than anything else, and almost always ragged and underfed.

looking upward, jess said, “ bring the birds back for him, will ya ? ” ...followed by a sizable pause, an impatient foot tapping, then a defeated, “ fine ! always wantin’ t’ make me look insane... ” turning back to fins, she shook her head and added, “ i promise ya, sometimes, she listens. ” but jess had not completely mastered the art of pulling back the curtain that was the fourth wall. “ could ya at least do a little rewriting ? make it... pita or somethin’ ? ” and history repeated itself, but this time, when she got to the front of the line, she ordered flatbread. “ thank you ! ” redirecting her attention to fins as opposed to the invisible third party, she held out the flatbread and counted down from three. on ‘one,’ babe dared to come back and start pecking it out of her hand ! “ babe here’s a real big fan of flatbread. ” tearing away a piece, much to babe’s chagrin, she held it out to fins. “ ya wanna feed her some ? ”

[surejess--arc]

kaapoww​:

  ‘    why would sucking out air from balloons be bad for me ?  will i FLOAT TOO !? is that why!?    ’    with the energy of a kid at a party, he continues to inhale helium from the rubber.       ‘ LISTEN LISTEN, JESS! MY VOOOIICCEE ! fit of rambunctious laughter fills their space, as his voice pitches higher & higher.

being around kian was always a... strange experience. he was, like, biologically a part of her... but they weren’t related... but were they ? -- it was best not to think about it ! and usually she was great at not thinking about things -- truly, head empty ! the important part was: she could thank him for becoming so powerful ! “ ya ever think about smokin’ helium ? ya know, i don’t know how that’d work, but there’s gotta be a way t’ make it the hip new thing that’s got a lotta profit ! ” taking the helium from him and inhaling some of it herself... you know, if she had a better grip on the ‘adult world,’ she’d realize they were basically chain-smoking helium. “ it’s got some real good potential ! ”

[surejess--arc]

Fleabag | 1x04

[surejess--arc]

thalassofins​:

          starter for @surejess​ !!

         fins has been watching for a long while, trying to work out the intricacies of the ritual… but there doesn’t seem to be one. she tosses the crumbs, the birds flock to peck them up. it’s almost peaceful… “do they…” he trails off, realizing too late that his presence might not be appreciated. the birds certainly don’t approve! they fly off the second he’s in range… “oh, i’m… sorry.”

thank goodness -- the bread store that is totally a thing because bread stores are totally a thing had more than just pita bread ! some rye was the pick of the day, meaning babe was not being absolutely vicious ! though babe did usually stick around for the feeding anyway... as did the others... and now they were all flying away -- oh ! probably because of that really deep voice that just came out of nowhere !  a shark guy. neat ! she’d seen a lot of physiologies in the past -- herself included ! -- but ‘shark’ had not been one of them ! anyway. “ they’ll come back, it’s alright ! ” she assured the stranger. “ they just get real focused when they’re eatin’ -- ya just took them by surprise. i mean, this little cat came by one time. they didn’t notice him, then he meowed -- ‘cause of course he wanted some bread, too -- and they all flew away for the next seven minutes. i’m tellin’ ya, chicago pigeons ain’t all they’re cracked up t’ be ! just made a cat friend that day ! ”