lucetilogs | Somewhere along the way I got caught up in all there was to offer

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Somewhere along the way I got caught up in all there was to offer

Who: Jilly (

thedicearecast), with a lurking Katie in the background.
What: Jilly's friends need to find a way to knock her out.
When: Early evening, Oct. 9
Where: Geordie's Apartment/Jilly's Studio
Summary: Whether she meant to or not, Katie raptured Jilly...and now Geordie and Amelia can't get her to stop painting.
Rating: PG

Cool, autumn air drifted in from the open windows, chilling the apartment as the sun sank lower on the horizon. Inside, the scents of oils and turpentine was heavy, the lingering mark of hours of work, but neither the dimming light or the dull ache that had started in her legs slowed Jilly down. She stood at her easel, her brush hand a constant motion over the canvas as she worked.

The painting--a vibrant portrait of a young, winged girl, face upturned in wonder as she stared at a city that seemed to blend with the edge of a forest--was classic Jilly. Vines and flowers and trees merged with cement and steel as, hours later, she began the careful detail work that she loved. It was beautiful and full of color and her.

But unlike her usual work, there was no stopping to pause. There was no break for coffee or laughter or music. There was no careful thought over a new detail. There was only intense focus and constant motion. It was almost as if she'd been possessed by this new project, already perfectly formed in her mind, and she just couldn't stop until it was completed.

...It might have been explainable. Unusual as it might be for her to work this quickly, it wasn't impossible. But a different, still-wet painting that was leaning against a nearby wall was evidence that something very strange was going on. Because the artist might become enamored with one idea...but even she shouldn't have been able to complete two, full oil paintings in a single day.

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He pushes the door to the apartment open, carefully shuffling the bag of groceries in his arms. It had been a good walk around the town this afternoon. Although Geordie still had no luck with his fiddle, being able to go shopping without a budget was something he was quickly starting to enjoy.

"Hey Jilly," he greets when he sees his friend at the easel, walking over to the table to put the bag down. "How's the painting going?"

She could get lost in her work. Sometimes it was as if the whole world disappeared, and her friends might have to say her name two or three times before she came back to them, bemused and smiling like she'd just come out of a daydream. But now, the look she shot him was dark--almost angry--at the interruption.

"Fine."

One syllable, and then her attention was fully back on the canvas. More than that would require more effort and concentration than she was willing to give outside of her painting.

Jilly had been late for lessons before, and Amelia knew the typical places to look. Of course she'd started by trying to leave messages on the journal, all of which had been unanswered. By the time she made her way up to Jilly's studio, she had gotten a little annoyed, but the training would let her work out that frustration.

She just had to get her student first.

"Jilly? Are you in there?" Amelia knocks hard on the door, wanting to get the woman's attention even if she's distracted. "It's Amelia. Open up."

"Just fine?"

He couldn't keep the perplexed tone out of his question. That strange experiment thing aside, that had to be the shortest response he'd received from Jilly since his arrival to Luceti. Definitely the least enthusiastic and certainly the most angry. Geordie couldn't recall doing something wrong.

Groceries ignored, he walked over to the easel to get a better look.

"It looks a whole lot better than 'fine' to me. If everything o-" The knock on the door interrupted him and he looks away from Jilly for a split second. "Want me to get that?"

She stiffened when he came close...not out of discomfort, but out of irritation. Normally, sharing her studio--whether it was with Sophie or just friends in general--was one of her favorite ways to work, but right now she couldn't think of anything she wanted less.

There was a voice in the back of her head, a quiet, urgent whisper telling her that something was wrong. Geordie, of all people, didn't deserve the sharp edge of her temper. But the best she could do was hold her tongue, shrugging irritably as he started to speak. And when the knock came at the door, even that tiny bit of control broke. The noise and distraction was an annoyance, and one she couldn't seem to think clearly about. All she wanted to be left alone with her work.

"God...what now? Yes. Get it." It was only the fact that it was Geordie that kept her from adding a sharp just go away. She even, after an uneasy pause, managed a reluctant, "Please."

Geordie frowned when she snapped again. No, this wasn't like her at all. Even when Jilly grew absorbed in her work, she was never rude. Maybe she'd accidentally ignore him or Sophie or Wendy from time to time, but she never snapped at any of them like this.

Reluctantly, and quietly, he began to walk away. Geordie paused midway to look back in Jilly's direction. The intensity radiating from her work was almost unnerving, not comfortable like it should be. So when he finally did open the door, it was with a worried look on his face rather than a welcoming expression.

"Hey Amelia," he said upon seeing the woman on the other side. "Are there ever any side-effects to the experiments?"

It wasn't Jilly who came to the door, but Geordie, with a look of concern that made her pause. His question didn't help, and Amelia frowned as she moved into the apartment, shaking her head. "There was a mistake once, but not usually. Why?"

She looked past Geordie as she asked, seeing Jilly standing at her easel. While she assumed Geordie's question had something to do with the woman, there was nothing at all unusual about Jilly painting.

"You're late for practice."

There was no answer. As soon as Geordie had moved away from her side, she'd blocked out her friends' presence with a sigh of relief.

This irritation and action-dependent release...she'd felt this before. She knew this. Except, instead of a needle, it was her painting that seemed to tap into that high, blocking out the rest of the world and letting her just fly.

But it took so much. If she stopped...if she slowed...she could feel that beautiful peace start slipping away. So she just wouldn't stop. She didn't want to stop.

His frown deepened when Jilly didn't respond. That, again, was contrary to her normal behavior. She'd never ignore a friend like that, even if she was furious.

"See?" He waved a hand in Jilly's general direction. "She gets caught up in her paintings but never like this. She'd at least say hello."

Even before Geordie said it, Amelia's thoughts ran along the same line. That Jilly utterly ignored her was drastically out of character for a woman Amelia's always known to be vivacious and outgoing.

"Yeah, I see. Don't know why this would happen after memory loss though." Amelia took a step closer, putting her hand on Jilly's shoulder to give her a shake. "Jilly. What's going on?"

The reaction was immediate. She recoiled from that touch, snatching her hand back away from the canvas as quickly as possible to avoid any accidental splashes of paint that might ruin what she'd already done.

She didn't lash out, but the look she shot Amelia was angry and almost...hungry. There was a sense of fury, but it was based in need--a need her friend was getting in the way of.

"Cut it out. I'm busy."

The words were clipped and sharp, and gave the definite impression that there was more she'd like to say, if she wasn't holding herself back for the sake of friendship.

Geordie's brows knited together when Jilly snapped at Amelia. It almost made her earlier response to him seem polite. He frowned and stepped between the two girls. Unlike Amelia, he didn't attempt to place a hand on any part of Jilly. Instead, he shook his head.

"Even when you're at your busiest, you usually have a few minutes to spare for your friends," he said, slowly attempting to step between Jilly and the canvas. His brown eyes remained steady on her own sapphire ones as he talked. "If there's something bothering you, you know you can tell me. You can tell me anything, Jilly."

The way Jilly looked at her made Amelia pause, because she'd never seen the woman with an expression like that. Considering their conversations, it was hard to imagine Jilly even could feel angry, much less let it out. And now she was, without some experiment or even a kidnapping to explain it.

Jilly was furious, and it scared Amelia in a way few things could.

Geordie was trying to get around, which was a good idea--but too indirect for Amelia's methods. She again reached out, trying to take Jilly's arm, not meaning to hurt the girl but just to get her attention. "You can tell either of us. This is way more than just being busy."

There was no itch under her skin. There was no sting from a needle and no rush from chemicals sinking into veins...but it was familiar, all the same. Part of her that was still her struggled to keep hold of her usual patience, but her control was rapidly fraying at the edges, especially when Geordie stepped between her and the canvas.

Being blocked from her work...it was almost physically painful. And he might have been meeting her gaze, but she couldn't seem to focus on his. Her attention darted from him to her painting, her fingers tightening and loosening around the brush in her hand. He was in her way. In her way, and she just just just needed to work.

"Damnit, Geordie. Just.... enough. I'm fine. Just leave me alone."

As she spoke, she moved, hoping to shoulder her best friend aside and get back to what she'd been doing. But a hand on her arm stopped her, holding her in place, and--in a sudden wave of desperate irritation--she whirled, lashing blindly out at the woman holding her.

"Let. Go."

In any other situation, it might have been something to be proud of. The blow wasn't meant to be painful, but it was well aimed. More than enough to stun an attacker...even if they'd actually been expecting it.

His own reflexes were too slow to stop Jilly when she lashed out. He had been too preoccupied with keeping between his friend and her canvas, trying to keep her attention on them instead of the paint. The slap was loud and Geordie's eyes went wide.

Jilly hitting someone was definitely not normal behavior.

This time, his hands dart out to grab her wrists. No more violence, not tonight.

"Jilly." His voice is stern. It takes a lot to get Geordie angry, but the worry he feels right now is enough. "Jilly, what happened?"

She saw it coming. Amelia had been fighting too long not to recognize the movements of Jilly's body, and so she saw the strike before it came. But this was Jilly, one of the gentlest, sweetest people Amelia had ever met in her life. Jilly, who Amelia had to drag to self-defense lessons more often than not.

Jilly, who Amelia would never have suspected to have such violence or anger in her. Even though she saw the blow coming, Amelia couldn't believe it, and she didn't move to stop it.

It was loud, and painful. Amelia's head whipped to one side, her eyes wide in shock. She raised a hand to her face, touching the spot that was just slapped out of disbelief. But it had actually happened, Amelia's skin already growing hot and red.

"What the hell?!" Anger shattered through the surprise, and she leveled a dark look at Jilly. "What's wrong with you?"

Left alone, maybe...maybe the realization of what she'd done would sink in. But between Katie's power, Amelia's anger, and Geordie capturing her hands, her desperate anger rises up into something nearing panic.

"You are! Fuck. Let me go!" Her voice rose, growing more shrill as she continued, the mellow artist misplaced by something else entirely. She jerked in Geordie's grip, trying to twist away from both him and Amelia even as they circled her, her eyes fixed solely on her unfinished painting. "Stop it! Let go! I need to work."

He glances back at Amelia just for a second to make sure the woman was okay and then his attention is entirely on Jilly. Some corner of his mind register's Amelia's angry yelling, but the words don't really process. It's that look on Jily's face, the way she struggles to get away from him.

Geordie knows her past. They had shared war stories that night in Tyson all those years ago. Stories that had cemented the friendship between them. He can only imagine that this might have been a look given by another Jilly. A Jilly that existed before he ever knew her. To have her look at him with such anger and panic is heartbreaking.

He wants to hold on to her but he lets go, just not having the heart. Geordie takes a step back and turns to address Amelia. "You okay?"

Geordie may not have had the heart, but Amelia sure as hell did after being hit across the face. Something was very wrong, and if it drove Jilly to paint? Then that was the last thing Amelia was going to let her do.

She was ready this time, and when Geordie dropped Jilly's hands Amelia gripped the woman's arm, twisting it behind her back.

"I don't want to hurt you." Because this was something beyond Jilly, otherwise she never would've lashed out like that. But Amelia wouldn't let the woman go, either, and she held on as tightly as she had to so Jilly couldn't break free.

"I'm fine. Get your journal." Amelia didn't look at Geordie even as she spoke to him, keeping her focus on Jilly. "We need to find someone to try and get her calmed down."

The change was immediate once Geordie let her go. As he stepped away, she seemed to instantly calm. She was already taking a step back towards the canvas, his presence practically forgotten, when her arm is grabbed and suddenly wrenched back behind her back.

The sound that comes from her is irrational and wordless, a frustrated cry of rage as she wiggles fruitlessly in Amelia's grip. While the other woman might not be trying to hurt her, Jilly certainly wasn't making it easy on her, desperately squirming in an attempt to get free.

If she wasn't watching, kicking might happen as well.

"Whoa, whoa."

He held his hands out, palms up, to indicate his good will. This was getting out of control fast. He didn't know what was going on with Jilly and to say it worried him would be an understatement. She was never violent, especially not with her friends. It was almost frightening to watch her struggle against Amelia like a wild animal.

"Jilly, calm down," he spoke the words softly, placing a hand on her shoulder and then immediately retracting it when she began to squirm again. Geordie glanced from one girl to the other. He wasn't sure what help someone else could provide in calming her down. He was her best friend, the closest person in the world to her. Shouldn't that be enough?

"Don't hurt her," Geordie warned Amelia before walking quickly to the bedroom to fetch his journal.

“I’m trying not to.” Amelia’s patience was gone, and she snapped the reply at Geordie as he left the room. All of her focus was on Jilly, and it was with no small sense of irony that she realized the lessons she’d strong-armed the woman into were being put to good use against her. At least Amelia was ready for it, and she moved with Jilly, not letting the woman gain the distance she needed to really do anything. It was a hold Amelia had been on the opposite side of more times than she cared to count, and it helped her predict a lot of what Jilly tried to do—right down to the kicking.

“This is not what I meant when I said you needed to learn to defend yourself.” She held on as tightly as she had to, and if that meant leaving bruises to make sure Jilly didn’t get away, then that would happen too. Something was wrong, and since whatever it was had Jilly urging to paint in the worst way, Amelia was determined to make sure that was the one thing Jilly didn’t do.

If she ever wanted proof that Jilly had been paying attention during her lessons, Amelia got it now. But whatever added skill she'd gained, she was also growing more and more desperate.

It wasn't that the urge to paint had become all encompassing. It was close, maybe, but it wasn't there, yet. More terrifying was the knowledge that something was wrong...very, very wrong... and that meant her friends would stop her. They'd take her away from her art, trying to do the best things for her, and they'd keep it from her and she couln't. let that. happen.

"Try harder," he grumbled under his breath as he left the room. Now wasn't the time for arguments, he knew, but Jilly's strange behavior had riled Geordie up. He was worried and angry and hated that the situation was out of his control. The most he could do was fetch a notebook while Amelia held his best friend against her will.

Yeah, he wasn't happy at all.

It took less than a minute for him to run into the other room and return, already flipping through the notebook for any sign that something was going on. "Who am I looking for in here?"

It was good that Geordie kept that comment quiet; Amelia’s patience was already gone, and with her focusing on trying to keep Jilly contained, she would’ve snapped something harsh back. As it was, she had to devote all her attention to the woman thrashing in her arms, or she would break out. And that wasn’t even taking time into consideration; hopefully Amelia’s endurance would hold out longer than Jilly’s.

“I don’t know!” Now she did snap at Geordie, despite her having told him to get the journal in the first place. “Someone who can figure out what’s going on. Even better, someone who can fix it. It’s got to be magic if it’s not a shift or something, right?”

Why was she asking him? She was more familiar with this place than he was. Especially when the idea that this could have been magic caused still seemed absolutely ridiculous to him. The face he makes seems to express such sentiments.

"Magic?"

"Oh you can't be serious. Yes, magic." Amelia would roll her eyes if she didn't have a still-struggling woman in her grasp. "I don't care if you believe it or not. Either you get someone on the journal, or I'm going to have to knock her out."

"Okay, okay," he says grumpily, raising a hand in defense. Geordie takes a seat on the nearest surface and turns the camera on to record. He glances up at a still struggling Jilly and frowns, worried.

"If there's anyone out there with some understanding of magic, I need your help right now. Jilly's not acting like herself right now. Amelia has her restrained for now, but we don't want to hurt her. We don't know what's going on." He pauses, taking a deep breath. "I'm in Building 4, Apartment 17. Anyone who can help - please."

...well, this should really be handled by someone who has more experience than her - like Harry, or Sabriel or - anyone. But when Molly sees this, with Harry out of the building, she figures she can at least go take a look, maybe make a diagnosis? She likes Jilly and Geordie and - okay, she doesn't think much more beyond Maybe I can help, and I know where to get help if I can't.

"Geordie? It's Molly. I've - got some understanding of magic. And I'm coming, okay? I'll be there soon."

Finally Geordie cooperated, and it only took a threat of bodily harm to his best friend to make it happen. Amelia might actually feel guilty about that, if Jilly wasn’t pulling out every trick in the book to break free. As it stood, however, Amelia was devoting her energy to just holding on until someone got there.

Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long. If Jilly managed to get loose or wore her Amelia out, Amelia really might have to resort to violence. Even if it would be easier to just let her go, she couldn't justify it. Whatever this was, it wanted Jilly to paint. So Amelia won't let it.

Her struggles didn't stop, unfortunately, though she began to get more wiley. Seeing that pure strength wasn't going to free her, she began twisting and turning and stopping and starting...anything to try and get out of Amelia's grip.

It wasn't too long before Molly was knocking on the door. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

With Amelia still struggling to hold Jilly, Geordie rushed over to the door as soon as he heard the knock. He opened it and gave Molly a quick, worried smile as he gestured her to come inside.

"Thanks for getting here so quickly. Amelia's been trying to hold Jilly down before she hurts herself."

Or, he fears, another.

When the knock came, Amelia gave up trying to keep Jilly restrained and upright. Molly would need to examine her, and that meant getting the woman to stay still long enough for it. The only way that was going to happen was if Jilly was pinned down, so Amelia muscled her close enough to the couch to shove her down onto it. They both went down, Amelia doing her best to keep Jilly down.

"Might want to hurry up. She's going nuts." And Amelia was getting tired; even the new position wouldn't last for long.

Edited 2012-11-25 22:13 (UTC)

If Jilly was aware of the newcomer, she didn't show it. Eyes narrowed, she fought Amelia with singleminded purpose.

As soon as Molly stepped in and focused her attention on Jilly, she sensed something was wrong. The air over her was practically shimmering with magic, and she could feel it along her own skin, burning, burning--

"Jilly," it wasn't her full name, but Molly said it the right way and invested Power into it. She didn't have all of Jilly's name, but it should be enough to break through some of this fit, enough to get her attention.

Geordie turned to look at Molly, a little confused. "We tried that. Talking to her. She won't listen to anyone."

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Somewhere along the way I got caught up in all there was to offer

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Sorry this is so late. ;;

hoping this is right, order-wise!

I have noooo idea anymore!

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lemme know if this isn't OK!

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