((continued from here (http://angdar.com/nightsomen/index.php?topic=1027.0) ...and lol, the tag might not have been necessary, but just felt like making it clear ;)))
The office of the new administrative assistant to the Head of Nyeusi Relations was kept fastidiously neat-- almost to a fault. Aside from the redecoration, which left the furnature sleek, dark, and modern, the scores of volumes and texts that lined the shelves, and a recreation of a particularly lonely-looking Edward Hopper painting positioned meticulously on the wall behind the spotless desk, the office looked...abandoned. Even when it was occupied, the new employee was so quiet that he hardly seemed there at times.
This was not one of those times.
Jacob, his arm still wrapped tightly around Rae Adams, appeared with startling suddenness in his office, and due to the energy he’d expended in travelling so far and transporting someone with him, to boot, he did an uncharacteristically clumsy thing: he misjudged where he would materialize and landed with one foot on the bookshelf and one foot in the air. In his scrambled haste to make sure Rae would make it safely to the ground (and he made certain that she did), he ended up knocking a good few books flying. He himself landed on the floor with a bit of a jolt, and his hand flew reflexively to his sunglasses to adjust them when he felt them slip, only for an instant.
Phew. He hoped this would not become a common practice-- racing clear across the city to his office with a passenger in tow. Travelling like that had never been his forte (teleporting was just another skill that grew finer with age, like a good wine, but not something he cultivated). He’d be fine shortly, but even to feel ungainly and drained for a moment...it was not something he was eager to recreate.
His hand trailed back down to his side, pausing by his tie to adjust it, and he turned to the human girl smoothly, regaining his composure and conjuring up a comforting smile to replace his slightly worried expression like a magic trick. “I am sorry if I frightened you, and I probably should not have forcefully removed you without asking, but I had to make a decision and I can now assure you that you are in one of the safest spots of the city." He was about to add "That is, you're with me", but that didn't seem humble enough...although that was really what he meant (really, sometimes being old was enough to disconcert people, even if he was of the Mira bloodline). It was why he hadn't just escorted her directly to a safe house, although he might in time, once he determined just what was going on. "He didn’t harm you, did he?â€
The location change was not entirely pleasant for Rae Adams even with the older vampire's care to make sure she landed safely while he ended up on the floor. Rae landed safely on the floor, true, but she felt dizzy, disoriented, light-headed, and just plain sick to her stomach. She found herself on the floor, anyways, and vomitting. Luckily she hadn't eaten much that day because she was moving around too much. Dry-heaving was much worse than actually vomitting.
It didn't help that she wasn't even sure what had just happened. Was she dead? Did the vampire kill her? If she was dead, she was so going back as a ghost and haunting West until the day he died. Did dead people vomit? Well, that question ended the whole line of questioning and planning around her own death.
“I am sorry if I frightened you, and I probably should not have forcefully removed you without asking, but I had to make a decision and I can now assure you that you are in one of the safest spots of the city."
Well, that was reassuring...just like West trying to give her that stupid gun. Who was this guy anyways? When she was sure she wasn't going to be vomitting anymore, she looked up to see a very handsome, but definately older man standing above her and... smiling. Well, at least he didn't look like he was trying to kill her. Though the whole teleporting thing meant that he really couldn't be human so the comfort only went so far and then it fell flat.
"He didn’t harm you, did he?â€"
Rae shook her head and then slowly climber to her feet to look around, trying to act nonchallant about... well everything. It didn't exactly work. "No, I'm okay... just a little shaken... thanks for... I guess... saving my life." It was a nice place.
Jacob did not have anything within immediate reach, such as a glass of water, to offer the girl once she'd recovered from vomiting. He did not appear outwardly fazed by her reaction to the teleporting, nor did he make any move to help her up-- not that he was uncaring: as unpleasant as it must have felt, he knew it would pass before too long.
He was a bit more concerned about making her uncomfortable; he could tell from her thoughts that she was still quite rattled, even with him around. That was no good. He wasn't going to plant himself audaciously in a spot where she couldn't avoid locking eyes with him, but he certainly hoped they'd make some sort of solid eye contact soon: this was one of those situations where a little pleasant atmosphere would be conducive to further dealings. Didn't want to frighten the poor girl any more. "You're welcome," he answered gently. "I'm glad to hear you are uninjured. Allow me to introduce myself-- my name is Jacob. I do not know how much you know" --a bit of a lie; he could see into her mind fairly clearly, but it wouldn't be a comfort for her if she realized that-- "but apparently you are aware of the existence of vampires, at the very least. Further explanations can be offered shortly in that regard, but first..." With a graceful little movement he reached into his breast pocket and elicited one of his cards, then extended it, still smiling, to the girl. The card listed his office number and bore the words "SINGLE EARTH". That was it. "I don't suppose you know what Single Earth is," he went on, keeping his manner genial. "Suffice it to say, 'peaceful relations among all' is our objective. As long as you are mindful of our policies you are welcome here. We can do our best to offer whatever assistance you need...to protect you," he affirmed. "Needless to say, I'd like to hear how you became aware of vampires. ...But of course, here I am, spiriting you away from your business...if there's anyone you need to contact, first...?"
The moment Rae heard the words "Single Earth" she knew they sounded somewhat familiar, but she ignored it. There was too much to take in. Okay, so this... guy was Jacob... he worked here... they liked peace. Peace meant no killing. No killing meant Rae hadn't escaped one bad situation to land in another worse situation. Good, good. She took the card and looked it over, that thing in the back of her head insisting that it sounded familiar, but she kept pushing it aside. In a similar fashion, she tucked the card into one of her many pockets.
"All I need to do is call my sister. She must be worried sick by now..." Rae searched her pockets for her cellphone and found it, but it'd turned itself off again. Dang it, Leah was going to yell Rae's ear off and then some. Every minute Rae wasted not calling Leah, Leah would spend twice that much time giving Rae a big "I told you so" speech complete with two or three guilt trips with a little bit of "when I was your age..." tossed in to make it worse.
"Can I borrow a phone?" she asked Jacob, "Then I'll tell you about West?" She offered the West tidbit in exchange for the phone thing like it was some sort of peace offering.
His smile, usually sincere but automatic, widened and became more natural. She seemed a bit more comfortable now, at least, as he skimmed her relatively clear and articulate thoughts: he liked being able to follow her direct line of thought as she figured out that he was "one of the good guys".
And the way she asked for the phone...then offered information...he was amused, and almost tempted to tease her, asking how she would feel about giving him the explanation before she could make her phone call...but that wasn't exactly appropriate. He indicated the phone on his desk. "Please, help yourself."
Rae's grin broadened and she went over the the phone, sitting down on his desk right next to the phone. She picked it up and dialed her sister's number.
Leah had been worried sick. Her sister was supposed to be home an hour ago and she hadn't even called. If Rachel wasn't already dead, Leah would kill her herself! Then the phone rang. Leah checked the caller ID and found it was her boss's phone number. What could he want? She picked it up, "Hey..."
Rae sighed with relief when her sister picked up the phone and then said quickly, "Hey, Leah, It's me. I'm calling to tell you I'm safe and I'll be at your house as soon as I can." Now, she just had to wait for the yelling.
Thank God! "Where have you been? Do you know how worried I've been about you?" What was Rachel doing with her boss?
"I'm sorry." Rae's face fell. Here it came...
"You should be! I've been waiting on pins and needles for the past hour. I actually called Mom!" That was a lie. "She's worried sick about you. Why didn't you call?"
"I got lost and my phone battery died.... a-and then I was almost mugged...I'm sorry..." Rae was surprised by the obvious cover story that passed through her lips. Leah wouldn't understand that a vampire tried to kill her.
That caused Leah to pause. "Almost mugged?"
"Y-yeah... But I'm okay, this really nice guy helped me out," Rae replied.
"Then you're using his phone?" Leah asked rhetorically. "Can I talk to him?"
"Let me see," Rae replied, "Umm... my sister wants to talk to you," Rae said offering the phone to the older man. She tried to give him a pleading look. She would rather he was rude and didn't want to talk to her or something like that. Leah didn't need the whole idea of vampires tossed into her reality.
Jacob waited patiently while the girl was on the phone with her sister, occupying himself with the task of fetching the books he'd knocked flying and replacing them neatly on their respective shelves, and itching to leave and track down some paper towels in order to clean up the --thankfully small-- mess she'd made on the glossy, hardware flooring...but no, he wasn't about to leave her alone in his office. And she certainly couldn't stay in his office forever; he would have to decide what to do with her once he had more details about her past interactions with vampires. He'd picked up on the fact that she seemed to know at least one personally, and this pleased him: no passage of blood, and he detected a strange friendship. He smiled to himself. Perhaps there's hope after all...it would make sense that the young ones--
"Do you want to talk to my sister?"
His thoughts were interrupted by the girl addressing him out of the blue, and once he'd registered what had been said, he arched his brows nearly to his hairline. Talk to her sister? Oh, dear. This was why he'd rather hoped that the girl had simply called to say that she'd been delayed (which wasn't a lie), not that she'd been "mugged" and subsequently rescued. But on that note...she had fabricated the truth. It was quite possible, likely, really, that this sister on the phone was not aware of the Nyeusi community. Single Earth policy stated that he not inform innocents of such matters if it was not necessary; and he had to wonder if the situation called for it. He could determine the answer to that question by gauging the girl's response to what he proceeded to ask.
"The question is, does she want to hear what really happened?" he put forward after a moment's hesitation. "Or would it be best that she didn't know?"
Rae put her hand over the receiver a moment, beginning to answer and then she put the phone back to her ear. "Why do you want to talk to him?" she asked her sister, "He's a littele busy cleaning up a mess I made."
Leah froze a moment as she heard her sister's question and then turned it over in her mind. Rae was always making messes, she probably broke something of his. "Just tell him Leah Adams, your sister would like to thank him formally." If Leah didn't talk to him tonight, she'd just call him later when Rae was asleep and talk to him. This was just very annoying.
Rae's brow crinkled. Okay... Leah was going nuts. "She says she wants to thank you formally... She sounds very perturbed." Rae put her hand on the receiver so Leah could exactly hear what was said. "Please don't tell her the truth. I don't want her to have to deal with this whole thing. She's got enough to worry about." Rae bit her lower lip, thinking about her sister. She shouldn't have said the whole mugging thing. She should've come up with something less... alarmist. But, Rae couldn't fix that now.
Jacob sighed inwardly; he would do his best to remain truthful, but obviously omit certain details...for now. He'd have to wait until later, after he'd fully assessed the situation, the involvement of both sisters, whether the crazy vampire who called himself a priest was a threat specifically to this girl, if she'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time...so on and so forth. At least now he had access to the sister's number, since the girl had used his phone to dial it. He could call later to explain things if he needed to; for now he would humour the girl's request.
He glided forward, accepted the phone, and calmly spoke into the receiver: "Hello. I hope you haven't been too worried, and please, no need to thank me, I was only too happy to lend my assistance."
Rae slide ot the other side of the desk, careful not to knock anything over, which was only slightly difficult. Something did fall off, but there wasn't a sound of something breaking, so she ignored it.
"Oh, but I insist, especially if it was really just a mugging, Bossy boy," Leah replied in the sweetest, most happy tone she could muster, rolling her eyes. She'd only been working for the guy a little while and he was already too nice and kind and generous for her comfort. Then again, a lot of the vampires at Single Earth seemed to be that way. Leah was getting a little too used to being spoiled in that way. She needed to find a dishonest crowd... or just hang out with her much younger sister more. If only she had time for that...
"Oh, but I insist, especially if it was really just a mugging, Bossy boy."
Jacob blinked. That was the only indication of shock that he could allow to register physically; the girl was sitting right there, hardly an arms-length away, and he wanted to keep up the appearance of granting her request: to conceal the truth from her sister.
Her sister. His secretary.
God must have been feeling whimsical, tonight.
"Yes, yes, your sister is quite all right," he improvised, trying to figure out how the imaginary conversation might have played out, inserting brief pauses between his phrases as though Leah were interjecting. "Oh...'mugging' isn't the word for it, she was never touched. No, she's fine, not a scratch on her." He finally paused to give his secretary a moment to get a word in, hoping she'd get the hint.
Leah listened intently for any signs of hints. Maybe Rachel just wasn't sure what'd happened and he was trying to hide it from her... or something. Well, at least Rae wasn't hurt, right? That was something to be happy about. Jacob would take good care of Rae. If he didn't, well, he still have to work and hear about it from Leah, so she wasn't too worried. "Well, bring her home soon, once you've done whatever needs to be done. I demand a full explanation the next time I see you... complete with pictures and diagrams... okay the last bit was a joke. Tell Rachel to be home decently, or better yet, bring her home and do that vampire mind trick on her. Which do you think would be better?"
Rae sat over on her side of the desk, watching Jacob carefully. She hoped her sister didn't freak the poor guy out... or start yelling at him the way she had yelled at Rachel. The waiting part was the worst. At one point, Rae held up her hand and started making a the hand gesture that showed that her sister was talking too much. Hopefully, he wouldn't take it as rude. If he did find it rude, oh well.
Jacob couldn't help but faintly smile at the gesture that the girl --Rachel, apparently-- was making, indicative of her sister's talkative nature. Don't I know it. He was about as lively and chatty as a tombstone in comparison to his incorrigible secretary-- which was a bit odd, considering she was an Avian.
He needed to understand just what was going on: Rachel was clearly aware of the Nyeusi community, and didn't seem to know that Leah was, as well, while Leah --as he knew for a fact-- was involved with the Nyeusi community, and from what he could determine from her words and tone of voice, it was possible that she did not know that her younger sister was acquainted with at least one vampire. Hard to tell, though. He wished he could skim his secretary's thoughts through the phone, but alas, that was not to be.
(By the by, Jacob was not very fond of telephones; they were a frustrating invention that severely limited communication. If he was going to talk to anyone, he preferred to do it face to face, where he could pay attention to not only the words themselves, but visual and aural and mental cues. Still, most people these days used them, and it was conventional to have one in his office. At least it wasn't a computer. You can imagine how he felt about computers.)
In the meantime...he had to think of a way to get his message across. "No, hopefully we won't be long. She'll be safe," he answered after a moment, laying a bit of stress on that final word. He hoped the meaning would be evident: he needed to sort out this mess, and he really wasn't sure how long that would take, and meanwhile, Rachel would be safe with him...alternately, "safe" could refer to a safe house. He had to leave that option open.
Shooting Rachel a glance from behind dark lenses, he continued speaking pleasantly into the phone, keeping up the act: "It is heartwarming to hear a sister so concerned for the well-being of her sibling. Please do rest assured that she is unharmed." False pause. "You're welcome...no, thank you. Would you like to speak to her again?" He had a suspicion that Rachel would not be too pleased to hear him say that.
Now, Rae was an understanding person. She could understand why the guy would offer to let her sister have another go at her. Why? Because he didn't have to live or interact with her sister on a regular basis. That didn't prevent Rae from narrowing her eyes in alarm and shaking her head vigorously when he made the offer to Leah. It also didn't prevent her from thinking of some choice expletives that would fit him at that moment such as jackass, bastard, son of a bitch... the list just went on.
The false pauses were starting to get to Leah... mostly because Jacob--and most normal people--didn't do that. Which meant that he was trying to put up an act for Rae... or... something else was up. Leah hated being out of the loop. She also hated being spoken to in code... especially when she didn't entirely understand the code. Though she was certain that the repetition of the word "safe" was important.
"Actually I would like to speak to my sister again. Unless you'd like to leave the window open and I can just fly over?," Leah said with a bit of an edge to her voice.
Jacob was getting it from both sides. Not very nice. Leah was clearly put out, from the tone of her voice, and he couldn't help that, he simply couldn't explain everything at the moment; Rae, on the other hand, was an accessible problem he could deal with, and deal he would, as really, was it doing anyone any good when she was projecting such an objectionable string of unfriendly terms and attributing them to him?
She was already looking at him, so it was easy enough to catch her eye, which automatically brought his ability into play. With his lenses on it wouldn't be anything drastic, but it'd likely subdue her present hostility a bit (and as a mere human, she wouldn't be any the wiser). He simultaneously smiled pleasantly, said, "Here she is", and handed the phone to Rae.
He honestly hoped his secretary would not be much longer. He needed to figure out what was happening, who all was involved, etcetera, and with Rae distracted by talking to her sister, it was not as easy to pick out all the details from her mind. They needed to talk.
Rae looked into his eyes, and her angry thoughts at him melted away. He was cute. She even took the phone without a second thought. "What?" she asked her sister with only a little bit of attitude.
Now Leah was in a tough spot because the moment she was on the phone with Rae, she wasn't sure what to say to her sister. If Rae knew the sort of person she was with, Leah had no idea how to tell that. If Rae didn't know, well Leah was in the same position. The worst part was that this was all happening on the phone, too. Why couldn't this be in person? Well, Jacob better know what he was doing.
"Be careful," Leah finally said, quietly.
"Umm... sure, don't worry. Like my hero said, I'm safe," Rae replied quietly.
"Bye Rae, be here at a decent hour."
"Bye," Rae replied quietely as well before hanging up the phone. She looked at Jacob, "That was weird. She didn't say much at all that time." Rae wrinkled her nose for a moment confused, but then her frown turned upside down. "So... wanna hear about West? You know, you may not. He's a total dork, really. Tried to give me career advice as a conversation opener once. Then again, I'm probably a total dork to him too. I asked him what blood tastes like...."
Jacob held up his hands in a gesture for her to stop. Her switching topics to this vampire named West was enough to give him a fairly good sense of what their interactions had been thus far: harmless. That was a start. But he had a specific thought in mind, and needed confirmation.
"Rachel--" he was not a man for nicknames "--I will, as they say, cut straight to the chase: could you please tell me if you have had any previous encounters with the vampire I rescued you from tonight? Or, and this is just as important, has your friend West ever mentioned anything about his having encountered him?"
If the answer was affirmative for the first question, he would most certainly have to consider a safe house for her. If yes to the second question...well, he'd have to see. West appeared to be the only vampire she knew personally. If someone had somehow gotten her linked to this business with the crazed "priest", it could very well have been him. But then, of course, there was the chance that the murderous vampire was indiscriminate in his attacks. At any rate, knowing if either or both of these very different people who were, nonetheless, connected through association --a teenaged human girl and, it seemed, a relatively young male vampire-- had encountered the vampire would help Jacob to understand if there might in fact be a pattern, or a specific, personal motive.
Rae looked at Jacob with a wrinkled brow for a moment. Dang this guy wouldn't let her focus on the positive for even a moment. That sucked. Oh well, she could play things his way if he wanted.
"West was the only vampire I'd ever met... until tonight that is. But, that guy... he knew West. He wanted me to call him," Rae explained. She shivered at the idea. "West never told me anything about the guy. In fact, West said I was more likely to be mugged by a human than attacked by a vampire. Is that true? Or is West more of a dork than I thought he was?"
Rae laughed nervously actually looking carefully at Jacob's face and total reaction for the answer. Yeah, Rae talked a tough game. True, Rae said that life sucked, but Rae wasn't about to just let herself die all because of creatures she didn't even thingk existed until recently. She was actually genuinely scared. That guy had tricked her. She'd been mostly convinced he was just some harmless old man. The idea that he was a vampire didn't cross her mind until... well that last moment. Rae was still mostly shaken, but she didn't want to show it.
Ah. She had confirmed his hunch: West was very likely the reason why the vampire-priest-murderer (Jacob would really like to have a name for him one of these days) had targeted Rachel.
It was also likely that West would have more to say about said vampire-priest-murderer than this poor girl, here. It was time to take steps to resolve this issue...peacefully, of course. Speak to West, flesh out details, and then, hopefully, pin down the other vampire and speak with him. If he could. If it turned out the matter could not be dealt with peacefully, at least Jacob could say that he had made an attempt. He would then hand it off to Nesrin and let her deem how involved Single Earth would be...harboring intended/surviving victims, likely.
First, to take care of Rachel. He smiled warmly at her, hoping to put her mind a bit more at ease. She was clearly still shaken by the night's events. "More likely to be mugged?" he repeated lightly, almost amused. "Well, this is New York City, after all. Not every crime can be blamed on vampires. I'd say that his statement is not entirely unfounded." The amusement faded, but the smile remained. "Thank you for the information. It would be prudent to contact West, but I would prefer to take care of it myself," he stressed, lifting an eyebrow, "as your sister explicitly asked that you be home soon, and this is, after all, my job. You have his number, but your phone has...er, died." Cell phones still mystified him; the word "died" carried the slight lilt of bewilderment. "In which case, once I get you home, and after you...fix your phone...I would like it very much if you could call the number on the card I gave you and give me West's number." He paused, to make sure she was listening and understanding. "Now, where do you live, my dear?"
If it wasn't too far, he'd grudgingly teleport her again. After all, it was safer.
Rae looked at her feet, feeling slight ashamed when he reminded her that she'd allowed her phone to die. She couldn't wait for that little round of reaming from Leah. At least he didn't act like she was in any trouble anymore. And at least he wasn't demanding that she go on and on and on about the whole attack. Well, he'd seen part of it so he probably just needed to know the details.
"Well, I live in Ramsa with my mom, but I'm staying with my sister, Leah tonight. She lives in an apartment complex by Vancouver Street... but that guy knows I was looking for Vancouver," Rae's face slowly changed into a look of horror as she asked very quickly, "Hesnotgonnacomeaftermeormysisterishe?" And just like that, the calmness was gone. Why had she been so stupid? Why couldn't she just listen to all those stupid kiddy shows when she was little that said "never talk to strangers"? Dang it!
When Jacob heard the word Ramsa he almost twitched, horrified at the prospect of teleporting the girl that far (God! He'd need to focus on improving this skill if teleporting passengers all hither and thither was a part of his new job!), but then she amended her statement and he relaxed. A little. Only for a moment.
And then he was staring at Rae in discombobulation. A part of him wanted to ask her what had possessed her to glibly share her address with a complete stranger, but then...he supposed that everyone was taking that risk when they got into a taxi cab. No need to punish the poor girl. For all Jacob knew, the "vampire-priest-murderer" had persuaded her to give him her destination through vampiric means (although skimming through Rae's mind a moment later left Jacob thinking perhaps that wasn't the case).
Still, he remained composed. Someone had to be. "Please, calm yourself, Rachel," he uttered in the most soothing tone he could muster, again holding up his hands to shush her. "Vancouver, you say? Unless you gave him an exact address, I doubt he would know where to begin. It's all very convoluted in Greenpoint, if my memory serves me correctly. Still..." He hesitated, doing some quick brain-storming. He didn't want to leave Leah and Rachel to fend for themselves should the mad vampire show up after all. He could not stand sentinel at all hours, he still had to hit a few Nyeusi haunts tonight as a part of his usual routine. He needed to call in somebody... "Someone can stand watch by the apartment complex," he finally said, decisively reaching for the dreaded phone. "I think that is the best course of action for now..."
He dialed Michael Light, uncertainly listened to the automated voice mail instructions, then left a message as directed: "Mr. Light, this is the new administrative assistant speaking-- Jacob. I will explain more once we have converged, but I must request that you report to the following address if at all possible, or call me as soon as you can if you are unable to show. It is in Queens, in Greenpoint, and the address is 144 Vancouver Street, Apartment 8A--" he glanced guiltily at Rae; he couldn't help overhearing the address when she was thinking of it so loudly, and it worried him that the other vampire could have done the same "--and the residents are possibly in need of protection. We need someone to stand watch. Immediately, please. Thank you." He hung up the phone with a slight grimace; there was no guarantee that Michael would get this "message" anytime soon. He'd just have to hope.
He turned to Rachel, smiling apologetically. "The safest and fastest way to get you there is for me to teleport you again. I don't believe either of us will enjoy it any more than the last time, but in view of the potential danger at hand..." He extended his arm. "I can attempt to make multiple, shorter jumps, rather than try to cover all the distance in one go. That might help. Are you ready?"
Rae took a deep breath when Jacob told her to calm down. She hadn't told Father Dantes the exact address, just that it was on or around Vancouver Street. She'd be okay... unless he scanned her mind for the address the way Jacob just did. That would be a problem... but Jacob solved it. He called some guy named Michael Light to watch their apartment. Hopefully people at Single Earth really did believe in the protection of others if Rae was to expect this guy who she'd never met to protect her and her sister.
Then Jacob proceeded to bring up teleporting. He wanted to teleport her again. She cast a tell-tale glance over to where they'd previously landed with the vomit on the floor. He wanted to teleport her with that showing that Rae wasn't up for that mode of travel? And what was he thinking? Leah would flip if Rae and a strange man just appeared in the apartment.
"We can't teleport to the apartment! Leah would totally freak out!" Rae exclaimed looking at Jacob wide-eyed, like he was crazy, "I already told you, I don't want her to have any part in this world. She's got enough to live with taking care of me, going to college, and she got a new boss who, while hot, must be the most difficult man to work with because her temper has gotten way too short."
Part of Jacob desperately wanted to laugh once Rachel reached the climax of her outburst...but naturally, he would not. He would let the sisters sort out for themselves which worlds they were a part of and who knew what and so on and so forth. It was not his place to interfere (or to laugh at the irony). "Rachel, I won't teleport directly inside the apartment," he explained placatingly, still amazed with himself for accepting so easily the fact that he was, in fact, planning on teleporting again. "I intend for us to arrive outside, and then I shall escort you to your sister's residence. And," he went on, still speaking pleasantly and holding out his arm, "if you feel nauseous or lightheaded once we arrive, sit and put your head betwixt your legs. I hear that helps."
He really had his work cut out for him. The way he saw it --and the way it felt-- teleporting, particularly while bringing someone else along, was like a form of exercise, and he was out of shape, for lack of a better simile. He honestly wasn't looking forward to this much more than Rachel could have been, but he smiled gamely on.
"Well, if you aren't teleporting inside the apartment... then I guess I have no other argument," Rae responded slowly, looking at the ground. "Though I still think you're nuts if you want to teleport again." Rae shook her head. Yup, she was safe. Her sister was safe. And she was going to have to do that teleporting thing again... and probably that vomitting thing as well. Excellant.
Rae walked over to Jacob and said, "Well, let's go... beam me up, Scotty..." Rae laughed nervously at her own stupid joke. Luckily, this guy hadn't laughed at her hysterics, but maybe he'd laugh at her jokes. She liked people more who laughed at her jokes. She needed something normal in this huge freak show.
Hm. She wanted him to laugh at that? Jacob was completely clueless to the reference, having just about as much interest in television as he did in figuring out how to work a computer (aka, NONE, telephones were complicated enough contraptions), but nevertheless, he chuckled softly. There. That should suffice. He hooked one arm 'round Rachel and set to work.
Jacob had spent a long time studying maps of the city, and for being so new to the area, his knowledge of the layout was impeccable. His office happened to be up near 97th. A moment later they were at West 62nd, materializing in a corner of the Lincoln Center Plaza, the opera house illuminated beautifully in the night (Hm, 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann' opened last night...I might attend when I get the chance...). Another jump, and they were down to 46th, a positive madhouse of light and sound and Broadway-goers spilling in and out of their respective theatres. Again, across the East River. And then, finally...
They were safely in the parking lot of Leah's apartment complex. Jacob was breathing hard, in spite of the fact that he didn't really need to: it was all mental. So, splitting it up hadn't really made much of a difference, it was still exhausting. I am taking the subway back, he promised himself with a wince, and then made sure that Rae was all right. If she needed to sit, he was ready to assist.
He'd made sure that they'd appeared between two cars; if anyone had happened to glance over and see them, they might have thought they'd just climbed out of one car or the other. If Leah was watching, though, she would know. Jacob wondered if she was peering out from between some window blinds, counting down the minutes it had taken for him to escort her little sister safely to the complex. He would not put it past her.
"Let's get you inside," he finally said, offering Rachel his arm again and looking around for the correct apartment. "I'm not going to teleport us again," he added with a slightly amused smile.
Rae, again felt the sick feeling, but it wasn't as bad as last time and she didn't vomit. She simply... gagged a little upon the first landing and not again. After that, teleporting was actually a little fun, though scary. She kept getting scared that Jacob would teleport them into a wall. That wouldn't be fun at all.
Then, they landed between two cars and Jacob didn't try to teleport them again. That was... good. Rae still felt a bit of nausea, but not to the point of vomitting, just light-headedness. She took a deep breath and tried to lower her pulse rate, which she swore had to make a mouse's look slow and sluggish. Yick.
"Let's get you inside. I'm not going to teleport us again," Jacob said, to Rae. It sounded like he was mocking her and her worries. He probably was. Teleporting was probably just a walk through the park for him. He probably did it all the time. Well, if so, Rae hoped he teleported into a wall next. That'd teach him to mock her.
"Yeah, let's get inside and face the beast known as my sister," Rae replied looking around the parking lot and then heading to the door of the complex as though she did it all the time. She actually did with her sister, but this time it was just a little bit weirder.