Too low to dig, I might just touch hell.

[hostage]

WHO: Jesse Pinkman & OPEN
WHERE: Various
WHEN: Throughout September
WHAT: Average day-to-day encounters with Jesse.
WARNINGS: Language, drugs, gore, body horror...

HEROPA - THE PARK ( OPEN )

[Coming off a healing tour of the local hospital's ICU, Jesse heads straight for the park across the street and settles himself on the grass beneath the shade of a willow tree. He's a mess - as he always is after a long round of healing the sick and injured - and doubly so since he's dressed in his rattiest torn jeans and dirty t-shirt combo. He self-reports as homeless on his paperwork, and today he looks the part.

Hands wrapped in gauze from fingertips to shoulder, there's not much Jesse can do while he waits to regenerate. He sprawls out on the grass and stares skyward. Bleeding through his bandages, he probably makes an alarming sight. But he's not unconscious. Just resting.]

NONAH - BEER GARDEN ( OPEN )

[Fresh out of a business meeting with some of his more respectable contacts, Jesse's looking remarkably clean-cut tonight. He's not in a suit, but with his pressed denim jacket and neatly styled hair, he fits in with the young professionals around him. He's not a regular here. He just looks like he could be.

Since he's dining alone, he takes a seat at a communal table around a fire pit and orders one of the fancy overpriced pizzas off the menu, along with the special craft beer the waiter kept pushing on him. His mind isn't really on dinner. He pulls a notepad from his pocket and starts crunching numbers with abstract notes. A few things to jot down before he forgets.]

MAURTIA FALLS - THE STREETS ( OPEN )

[It's the kind of night he used to love. Bass thumping in the club, throngs of revelers bumping and grinding around him, beautiful girls snorting rails off the bar... Nowadays it's overstimulating, and if Jesse could get a headache, he'd have one. Instead the pressure's more discarnate, less tangible, like the air's too heavy. After a few hours, he's having trouble maintaining the necessary smile and the social lubricant of easy conversation. People look to him for charm and entertainment, and when he can't give that to them anymore, that's when it's time to excuse himself.

Stepping out into the cool night air, Jesse swipes a hand across his sweaty forehead before lighting up a cigarette. It's better out here, with the music and shouting muffled behind him. When he exhales, a sigh of relief escapes with the smoke.]

DE CHIMA - THE OFFICES OF PKE ( CLOSED TO MARK VORKOSIGAN )

[Jesse's about five minutes early for their scheduled appointment. The last time they sat down together was in a grimy dive bar, and Mark was going by a different name. This time around, the setting's more professional and so is Jesse. He may not be wearing a tie or carrying a briefcase, but he fits the part of an upstart entrepreneur. He's flying under the radar. That's the whole point of this.

When he's called in, Jesse walks into Mark's office with a notebook tucked under one arm. He smiles as he approaches Mark's desk, offering his free hand.]

Hey. Thanks for seeing me.

Comments

[hostage]

I'm really, really hard to kill.

[So maybe don't go getting any ideas, creepy dude searching for bloody corpses in the park.]

[neverdied]

How hard...?

[What the shit is it with all these hard to kill types? He's already met another immortal, surely this can't be a third? Unless this place hands out immortality like it's going out of fashion.]

[hostage]

I been stabbed, shot, beaten, burned, lost body parts, had just about every disease ever... It resets to zero. I walk out without a scratch.

[neverdied]

So. You heal. Are you immortal?

[The kid did mention lost body parts... that could be useful. Jack's already found two imPorts who can grow limbs, which is pretty much the jackpot for him and his 'hunger' issues. Good to remember, even if he doesn't pursue it immediately.]

[hostage]

Dunno. I got killed once, but it happened after somebody took away my powers.

[neverdied]

[That sure does sound like a challenge! But no, he's behaving himself in the loosest definition.]

You lucked out on the powers generator.

[hostage]

Not really.

[He's sitting here suffering through several other people's ailments, after all.]

[neverdied]

[And Jacks suffering through the tasty smell of Jesse's blood. Hardly fair to dangle that in front of him.]

You can survive virtually anything and you don't consider that a bonus? Could've got shitting rainbows.

[hostage]

Surviving's less fun than it sounds.

[neverdied]

[Preaching to the choir here, Jesse, and yet Jack shrugs, feigning ignorance.]

Sounds fine to me.

It's more than surviving though, right? You said you can 'take' pain away from people. Damage sponge?

[hostage]

[This guy isn't the first to imply that Jesse's somehow blessed by all this shit. Most of those people seem to forget he actually feels pain.]

Basically, yeah.

[neverdied]

Huh. That one's useless. No way I'd take someone else's pain.

[Selfish, sure, but he doesn't see the use of it when it comes to self-sufficiency.]

They pay you well?

[hostage]

I volunteer, actually.

[So... No. He's double the fool.]

[neverdied]

[Just. This face. Unimpressed and not entirely believing. He's seen some good saints in his time, but this shit is too much.]

Why?

[hostage]

'cause I wanna.

[He doesn't expect this guy to get it. No one ever does.]

[neverdied]

Uh-huh.

[He falls silent for just a few seconds, eyeing up Jesse with interest, sizing him up like he's trying to read some sort of bullshit meter. Apparently satisfied, he adds:]

People don't often do something for nothing.

[hostage]

Yeah, well. I guess I'm special.

[What would his world have looked like if Walter White had been cured of his cancer immediately and for no cost? Those are the types of things Jesse considers. It really isn't so crazy, in his opinion.]

[neverdied]

[Finally, finally Jack decides to sit, dropping to the grass heavily still a respectable distance from Jesse, more for his own sake as much as Jesse's. But he's watching, leant in slightly with that unwavering glare.]

Maybe you are special. Or maybe you are doing it for something. Not money, but... repentance? [It's usually that or self-congratulations and approval of others, but this kid doesn't really strike him as the type, not when sprawled in a park alone.]

[hostage]

[There's nothing more annoying than a stranger speculating on your motives. Jesse hisses out a breath and rolls his eyes so hard his head tips back.]

This ain't a church and I ain't out to impress nobody.

[neverdied]

Other option is that you're just fucking crazy.

[He's dropping it because he knows that look, he's given that look thousands of times before.]

[hostage]

That's probably right.

[No, well, it... definitely is.]

[neverdied]

[Knew it, and also totally relatable.]

How long before you're healed up?

[hostage]

It's pretty bad, so... a few hours, maybe.

[He is regrowing most of the flesh in his arms.]

[neverdied]

Huh.

[Similar to his own, he thinks, not that he'll be announcing that in a hurry. This world may be more accepting of powers, but Jack's too used to keeping his immortality hidden away to avoid witch hunts and the curious.]

You're not even the first guy I've met that heals quickly.

[hostage]

Yeah, there's a few of us.

[Though the others seem to avoid this type of situation, because they're smarter than Jesse.]