walksthebounds | (no subject)

(no subject)

Jamie has gotten them out of the sticky situation with the tickets, and then out of the station and safely into the city. This would normally be the time for some well-placed boasting, and Jamie is about to do just that -

- when he catches sight of a canal running over the street, over the tracks, on a set of yellow arches.

They are more than familiar.

Home.

The word only rings in his head for a second - long enough for his heart to start racing and ever-present Hope to flare up in him like a beacon, higher than ever before - before his brain catches up with him and starts pointing out the far too many ways things that are wrong, wrong, wrong. The trains are wrong. The clothes are wrong. The machines buzzing about everywhere, they're all wrong, and the buildings are wrong, and even the arches, now he comes to look closely at them, are different from what he remembers, must be. It's not his Home. Can't be his Home.

Get ahold of yourself, Jamie, he thinks, trying not to double over with disappointment - it's not like he's not been through this before -

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Adam looks over at him, blank and suspicious. The boy talking goes quiet, but the other one doesn't stop laughing for the rest of the drive back into the city.

"Macready," the teacher calls when they're getting close, "where do you and your gang want to be dropped?"

Adam walks to stand by the teacher's shoulder. "I'll show you, sir." They're are a few alleyways in this area, and he stops him at the lamppost near the one closest to his house. "This'll do, sir. By that lamppost."

He gets out first, and stands to the side as the boys bring out the two thieves and their friend. As the group gathers around, Nicholson asks "Where to?" and Adam glances over at him, briefly. It seems like they boys have got a good handle on the thieves, though, so he says "Up here. There's a lonely alley that will suit us perfectly."

They pass by an old tramp who's been lingering the past few days, when Carver says "I hope you meant that about tea, Adam."

"Sure," Adam shrugs. "My parents are away for the weekend. They left loads of food. Just deal with these two yobboes, first. I want them to know how it feels to have their clothes stolen."

There's awhile until his good-for-nothing sister gets back, anyways.

Of course it's an alley.

Just like in Jamie's Home - uncannily like, in the shape, anyways. But in Jamie's Home this part of the city is in the worstp art of the slums, with rubbish and tramps and ruffians. You can get robbed in those alleys, in Jamie's Home.

This particular alley looks a lot cleaner than those. But Jamie's fairly certain that they can still get robbed in one, and are probably about to.

Which, considering what tends to happen with Rule Two when someone goes after a Homeward Bounder, is just wonderful all round. Especially once you factor in how Joris feels about that bloody demon hunter's uniform of his.

They're all in the alley now, and Jamie's brain is firing double-time trying to figure out how they're all going to get out of this without anyone ending up dead.

"Look," he says, rather hopelessly, "I've told you you can have your trousers back. Take them."

"Ah," Adam replies, kindly, "but I want your shirt, too."

"You can have it," Jamie says quickly. "I'll give it to you."

He can always steal another.

Helen had stopped by the beggar, and helped him to his feet, but she overhears Jamie's hurried comment as the two of them get closer to the alley's mouth.

"...you really are a coward, aren't you?" Adam asks, disgusted.

The smart thing to do would be just to say 'yes'.

Jamie doesn't have much pride, and he's groveled more than this before, but - damn it, he really doesn't like this boy. Anyways, groveling is unlikely to convey to Joris exactly why they should be offering to strip.

"That's got nothing to do with it," he says, instead. "You take anything of ours and you'll get killed. It's as simple as that. I don't care two hoots about you, but it seems a bit hard on the rest of them. It would be safer for you just to beat us up. We'd prefer that, wouldn't we, Joris?"

He glares at Joris, and attempts to convey telepathically 'YES WE WOULD, YOU IDIOT, SAY YES.'

...

You honestly think that Joris is going to agree to that, Jamie?

He crosses his arms, and eyes the boys surrounding them. Joris certainly will not start anything-

But he will be damned if he will just stand there and do nothing.

The boys exchange looks. Like they really believe two kids--even if Joris could be a threat on his own--are going to be able to fight against the whole lot of them?

They close in, and Adam tumbles backwards and throws an arm up as the shorter boy throws himself at him, grabbing hold of his glasses.

It's the daftest thing. Jamie's got to fight them because if he doesn't fight them he'll steal his things and they might die. Everything's upside down.

. . . also, he is righteously pissed off by this point, it's true. So he doesn't exactly mind going for Adam and trying to stomp his glasses to shreds. But really it's for their own good!

Jamie might- might- be able to handle Adam. But certainly not the rest of the group of boys, and Joris is not going to hold his breath that they will decide to play fair now. For once can actually fight back, he can do something-

And unlike when he was surrounded by Them,

("Leave me alone! I was only doing my duty!")

This time Joris is far from helpless.

"Look out! He's got a knife!" Konstam has taught him ways to fight against someone who is armed when you are not, but clearly these boys never had any sort of training in these matters. Someone shouts and they all scramble back, Jamie with them.

Joris is crouched and ready, eyeing the group.

"This is a demon knife." They all may not know what that means, but the sunlight glints oddly off Shen and the other symbols carved on the blade. "I'll only have to touch you. Who comes first?"

And even he does not know if he wants them to just run away or leave them alone, or-

Or if he actually means this.

. . . that knife looks nasty, from the glimpses of it that Jamie can see around the tangle of boys trying to get Adam's trousers off of Jamie's legs. And Jamie has no doubt that it will do what Joris says.

(Jamie feels he knows Joris quite well by now. And Joris would certainly feel very sorry when he found out that he'd killed a boy - but that wasn't going to help the boy. Or Joris, come to that.

Or any of them, once They start enforcing rules.)

He lets go of the boy he's currently grappling - which does not mean that the boy lets go of him - and squirms backwards, shouting as loudly as he can, "No! Stop it, Joris! You can't! That's entering play!"

"Why should I keep to Their rules?" Joris spits out, glancing at Jamie then looking back to the ring of boys.

They are to blame for him being here in the first place, surrounded by people who thought they could toy with him and beat up Jamie-

Clenching his jaw, he starts for the nearest figure.

Standing in a ring at the center of a set of unfriendly attackers - it must be taking Joris right back. Jamie doesn't blame him, not really, or at least, he understands it. He knows how it is. The memory of Them doesn't leave you that easily.

But the fact remains that Joris is being an idiot, and it appears to be up to Jamie to stop him from making a mess of it, as always. Cursing, he charges his way through what feels like sixteen boys and dives for Joris, grabbing for his arm to stop him doing anything Jamie knows he'll regret -

Joris' eyes flicker sideways to Jamie-

And if that is not the stupidest thing he has seen Jamie do so far, running up to someone holding a knife-

Well, he certainly has no plans on hurting Jamie.

Even if he is still trying to quickly figure out what exactly his plans here are.

"For shame! For shame! A man's hand against his brother!"

Nobody was expecting that.

Joris especially.

He jumps, and-

Do not ask him how, as the demon knife was no where near Jamie, Joris would swear to it-

there is some sort of fizzle and twist and the demon knife slices right along Jamie's arm.

It doesn't actually hurt all that much. The knife is sharp enough for that.

However, his arm is now pouring blood, which is probably not a good sign.

Jamie recognizes this, dizzily, and remembers to clutch at it to try to keep the cut closed as he stumbles back against the wall.

That was-

He wasn't-

It couldn't-

But he did.

Joris stares at Jamie with dawning horror.

"It only takes a touch!"

He would have dropped the knife, if his training had not been so ingrained.

"I've killed you!"

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