windandstorm | Not-quite vulture bait

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Not-quite vulture bait

Sunset was a wonderful thing. Or it would have been, if it wasn't taking hours to actually happen. Scott was currently laying right next to his car, his shirt off and balled up on top of his face, and wishing he were dead. Okay, so perhaps not really wishing he were dead, but at least wishing he were anywhere else but where he was: stuck in the middle of nowhere with a nonfunctional car. The only bright side was that his friend was on his way, hopefully with some way of fixing the current car issue.

If he had any energy left after the hours spent baked by the sun, he would probably be pacing and worrying about how he was going to get his car home, or what he was going to do about work if he couldn't get his car home, or just how he was going to repay the huge favor of driving six hours just to help him out... But he didn't, which was why he was currently sprawled on the ground just off to the side of the highway, waiting for his ride.

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Jared really couldn't help but wonder how his friend's luck seemed to be bipolar in nature as he sped down the highway, farther and farther from civilization. At least the desert was somewhat pretty at dusk. The flat land coupled with the fiery sunset had quite a pleasant ambience about it. Even the nature-provided roadside decor looked somewhat interesting in the glow: cactus, cactus, dust cloud, cactus, passed out guy next to a sport's car, cactus- hold up.

He pulled over, the hood of his small pickup truck as close to Scott's as he could get it, killed his radio and stepped outside. The tire in the bed of his truck would wait. First things first. He knelt beside Scott, picked the shirt up off of his face, and offered him a huge bottle of water.

It took a second for the movement of the shirt to sink in, and by the time that was processed, the water bottle had been noticed. This meant Scott didn't comment on Jared's presence (or react at all, really), just grabbing the water bottle and taking a few huge gulps. He'd had some water to begin with, but warmer-than-lukewarm water was only palatable for a short time, and he'd wasted some more of it by pouring it over his head.

Apparently his reflexes still weren't up to speed, because he started coughing like mad after drinking some, his throat having realized that he should have sat up a little more before trying to down the water.

Jared shook his head, plopped down on the sand next to Scott and gave him a few hearty pats on the back in some attempt to dispel the coughing. "Don't die, I just got here," he said with a laugh. He looked his friend over and shook his head. "You know, it's rare you can get away with taking your shirt off in public. Enjoying it?"

He glanced back to the car, wondering how long the car had been stuck with the back end already jacked up and waiting for a tire that wasn't even here yet. Scott had a weird way of doing things...

Coughing dealt with, Scott gave Jared a blank look. Get away with...? He shook his head, but whether he was answering Jared's question or just denying the world at large was something of a toss-up. "C'we go?"

Jared shook his head, grinning, and jerked a thumb toward Scott's popped tire. "Don't want to fix that first?" He thought for a second, then added, "Tell you what, you can go sit in my truck and run the AC full blast. I'll change the tire and jump the battery. Unless you seriously plan to leave your car out here?"

Scott looked from his car to his friend, frowning, and then nodded. "Okay." The only part of that he was paying attention to, of course, was the 'sit in the truck' and 'AC' aspects. At this point, he could care less about his car, which meant it was a very good thing that Jared was thinking about it. Something else he would owe the guy for later — not that he was thinking about that at the moment.

Jared waited for Scott to actually get up and move after acknowledging that he had permission to go sit in the path of a functioning AC, but when that didn't happen, he laughed slightly and gently shoved his friend in that direction before. He then stood and made his way toward the spare tire, ready to get to work.

Scott stumbled the first few steps, but quickly caught on and made it over to the car and inside. Once he had, he just leaned back in the chair, eyes closed, just... basking.

Jared caught a glimpse of Scott in the mirror as he walked by, and resisted the urge to laugh out loud. Instead, with a grin, he went about fixing the car.

Half an hour later, he had finished jumping the car's battery and putting everything away. He went to tell Scott he was good to go, but seeing him as zombie-like and exhausted as he was... he figured Scott wouldn't be up to driving back. So, he turned off Scott's car, got into the driver's side of his own, and dropped Scott's keys in his lap.

"Home?" He asked, though he was already pulling away.

Scott had recovered enough for full sentences by this point, but it didn't make him any less tired. "Please," he said, shifting so that he could see Jared without sitting straight. "Thanks. For coming."

"Yeah. No worries," Jared assured him as he drove off. "What are friends for?"

He reached over and flipped on the stereo — ambient trance, hardly loud enough to get in the way (if ambient trance were ever capable of such), then reached into the backseat for another bottle of water to drop in his friend's lap.

Scott took the bottle gratefully, managing to drink some without nearly choking. That taken care of, he set the bottle down on the floor and went back to half-curling up on the chair. "So damn hot out there." It wasn't the best conversation, but it was certainly the issue at the front of his mind.

"Hell yes, it is. I don't know how you lived, man." Jared shook his head. "But it's over now." He paused, thinking, then sighed. "Should have probably brought some food, too. Doubt there'll be a dinner stop between here and home. Sorry man."

"Nah," Scott said, shaking his head. "It's fine. Not that hungry anyway." He half expected his stomach to rumble in disagreement, but between cooling off and getting some water, he'd hit on the two biggest problems. He could deal with missing a meal.

"If you say so." Jared shrugged. He couldn't tell if Scott actually wanted to talk, or if he'd rather just sit and drool over the air conditioning for the next three hours. Maybe he'd just wait for Scott to say something else... But really, his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"So... the hell happened?"

"Tire popped. And then I was waiting." Scott shook his head minutely, not actually bothering to lift it from where he was resting it against the chair. "Guess the air conditioner killed the battery, I don't know."

"Sounds like it," Jared mumbled thoughtfully, "And towing would have cost you your first born this far out, I bet. Either way, you're set. You know, whenever you can get your ass back out here."

Scott nodded, thinking that through, and frowned after a few seconds. "I have to come back and get it." He sounded somewhat puzzled (and frustrated) by the realization.

Jared shook his head. That was far more amusing than it should have been. "I've got tomorrow off. We'll make it work." He waved a hand dismissively, ignoring the voice in his head barking at him (in his father's voice, imagine that) to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. The hell was he going to hit out here? A cactus? Some dried bones of the last person whose car broke down out here? There certainly weren't any other cars on the road.

((OoC: Why hello there. ♥ Also feel free to skip if you're done with car ride shenanigans.))

Scott gave Jared a wide-eyed look. "Really?" It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the offer, but it seemed a bit much — coming all the way out to get him had been extremely appreciated, after all. And it wasn't as if Scott had a lot of other options. What was he going to do, call his boss and ask for a quick trip out to the middle of nowhere.

Jared nodded, giving Scott a confused look. "Yeah?" He didn't get why it was such a big deal, to be honest. It's not like he had anything better to do with his life on his day off, right? Well, he could go shopping, maybe... but he was putting that off, and this was as good of a reason as any.

Scott started to explain, but realized he didn't actually want to talk Jared out of it and just nodded. "Thanks." He took a long drink from the water bottle, before looking around curiously — apparently it had been long enough that he was acting at least a little aware. "Did I get my shirt?"

Jared blinked, frowned. He took a quick look around - as long as driving would let him - and scratched the back of his head. "Don't know. I don't see it. Do you remember grabbing it?"

Bugs.

Not normal bugs, magical bugs. The kind of bugs that meant business, mostly because of where they came from. Council. And that pissed Jared off most of all, truth be told. He hadn't even done anything wrong. It was his uncle's fault, wherever the bastard even was. Why did they tap him, as if he had any clue where to find the wayward old man? And why weren't they satisfied with "I don't know"?

Some days, Jared just had to accept the fact that his life sucked.

Too afraid to turn anything on, or say anything, or do anything, Jared was left to just... sit on the couch and stare blankly ahead. He thought about texting Scott, but then he realized Scott would probably show up eventually (since he was pretty sure Scott wasn't out working today). He'd just complain to the other's face instead of electronically.

In the meanwhile, Jared had nothing to do but stare at the ceiling and think about how much this sucked. And hope that they couldn't somehow read his damn thoughts, too.

Having the day off work always left Scott somewhat off-balance, but after the experience of a few days ago... he was glad to be schedule-less. He had stopped by the deli on his way to Jared's, thinking that sandwiches might be welcomed (and if they weren't, hey, more for him). He didn't bother knocking, just making his way in, but stopped when he came into view of the couch, a puzzled look on his face. "Did you fry your computer again?"

"Nope," he answered, teeth practically grinding together. He waved a hand in a vague manner, that kind of maybe pointed toward the corner where the ceiling met the outer wall. Maybe Scott would see what he was talking about. Maybe not. If push came to shove, he'd drag him outside.

The hand gesture didn't make all that much sense, but after another moment of wth-look in Jared's direction, he looked that way... and frowned. The easy question would be 'what the hell did you do to get bugged?', but it looked like Jared wouldn't really appreciate that at the moment. "Hey, you want to come eat at my place?"

"Yeah. Sure. That'd be great." And just like that, Jared was already up and grabbing his coat. He even already had shoes on. You'd think he was preparing for this or something... nah.

He snatched up his keys from the counter (rather violently), opened the door, and gestured for Scott to go right ahead of him and start leading the way.

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Not-quite vulture bait

icon just for you, man

appreciated XD

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TIMESKIP - Five days later, 5:45 PM

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