Ember jumped back, a scream catching in her throat. "Jayson what the heck!" She shouted in surprise, before turning to worry. "Are you okay? Did one of them hunt you? What happened?" Her eyes darted around his face looking for answers. She huffed out a shaky breath. Fear, and adrenaline still flooding her system.
Jayson let out a cry when he jumped on her but when he realized it was her he immediately let go and felt really embarrassed for thinking it was one of the monsters. "I-I'm fine" He stuttered and shifted uneasily on his feet. "I-I just thought that one of 'em was coming after me" He tried smiling for her but the anxiety and paranoia were clear on his face. "I'm sorry if I scared you…I didn't mean to" He swallowed the lump in his throat and held back the tears in his eyes. He never really had a thing for nightmarish creatures. He hated the idea of demonic beings actually being real. They terrified the absolute crap out of him. He probably never felt this scared in his life, not even when someone pointed a real gun to his head back in his old life, but the realization that he was dead was starting to sink in and he felt like he would break down any moment. No more jokes to cover up his terrified garbage soul, no more smiles and cocky moves to give off the appearance that he was totally cool with what was happening.
Ember gave a small shaky smile, "hey, you're okay. They can't get you in the town. Think of it as a safe zone. There's to much magic here for them. They'd explode." She made an explosion noise while jestering with her hands, trying to rid him of any fear. She batted at some of the blood that'd dried on her cheek, The small flakes falling away. "I'm sorry, I should have prepared you for them. They can be…over bearing to some people." Her smile melted away as she shrugged, her eyes find their way to his face. Seeing the fear. "Oh my gosh. Are you sure you're okay? You look really pale. And that's saying something for being dead."
Jayson stared at her for a long second after her last sentence then unexpectedly busted out laughing. "Oh looord that was great~ and yea I guess I do feel a bit pale?" He covered his face with his hand as he smiled, trying to stop himself from laughing. pale huh? He gave her a side smile. "But yeah, I'm fine, totally cool," He said as he patted her on the back and tried to stop his other hand from shaking. "Thanks for reassuring me though, appreciate it….but those ugly creatures are gonna haunt my nightmares" He stopped. "Oh wait." He said with another pause and then shook his head. Damn, being dead was difficult. "Well uh let's just say that those things are probably gonna have me scarred for life" He paused again. "wAIT" He said as he tried to process what he said. "For death?" He said with a really uncertain and confused look on his face.
Ember starred at him, her jaw hanging down slightly as she tried to process what he'd just said. "Yes. For death?" She said and began to laugh. "But," she added, "in a way of speaking you are alive. Your soul is alive, not your body." She shrugged, a barley noticeable movement. Ember glanced back, the edge of the town still in sight. "We should move deeper into town. This is a cross way for all Reapers so we could probably get some help."
Jayson nodded, agreeing that it was best to get help from others. "Is there anything I can do? I mean if we get attacked again I wanna know if there's anything I can do against those abominations" He said pointing at the direction where they came from. "I really don't fancy getting eaten on my second day here"
"Run, hide. Honestly its you best option. Even reapers have trouble with them. Turns out dying a bunch of times makes you a bit unkillable in the feature." Ember shrugged while briskly walking. Her eyes darting around, watching. "But lets face it. You won't be dying anytime soon. At least not with me around." She offered a small kind smile.
Jayson nodded and made a mental note to hide and run, which wasn't going to be a problem because that'd be the first thing he did in situations like these. As he thought about those creatures he was surprised to hear Ember say that she'd protect him. He looked up at her and smiled brightly. "So you like me now?? That means we can go drinking like real friends now right?" He said as he wrapped his arm around her in a playful manner.
Ember had began to form a response, but stopped short when he wrapped his arms around her. She froze. Every part of her seeming as if it was stuck on pause.
She forced herself to snap out of whatever fear had over taken her, and batted his hands away. "Drinks huh?" She smirked, obviously dancing around the first question. "That could result in danger. You do know that right?" She was talking about crawlers, but the tone of her voice sounded almost as if meaning something else.
Jayson noticed how tense she got when he wrapped his arm around her man, that was such a dick move dude. He casually retracted his arm when she brushed it away. He smirked at her when he picked up the suggestive tone in her voice, but knew better than to get his hopes up. "Yeah I suppose~" He said chuckling a bit.
"Not like that!" Embers voice squeaked out, making her seem much younger then she actually was. "And besides. You've known me all for two days and you're suggesting friendship. Which I've shot down-" her rant went on, the whole time her voice going more high pitched. And face turning bright pink at her own stupidity.
Jayson gave off a warm laugh at her rant and how her face got a bright pink. She's so adorable~ he thought as he kept on hearing her out. "Yeah? well I mean we could start with friendship, I'm cool with that because eventually I could seduce you with my whining and crying~" He laughed. "Besides it wouldn't kill you would it? Why not give it a try?" He suggested, not in a pushing manner but more in a reassuring type of way.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm already dead." Ember gave a sarcastic smile before laughing. "But yeah sure. Seduce me with your crying and whining. I love a man that knows when its time to run." She rolled her eyes and continued laughing. Her blush slowly dissapering.
(Heya dude I might not be on for a few days, I just don't want ya to get the wrong impression that I dropped this 'cause I haven't lol but I have a lot coming up in a few days so yeah, sorry 😖🐙)
Jayson flushed red when she mentioned the running part. "B-but you said!" He tried to argue but just laughed at his stupidness. "Alright, alright, fair enough" he said with a half smile. "So now that we're here, do we stay here forever for protection or are you still planning on throwing me into the depths of hell?" He raised an eyebrow at her as if blaming her for his fate but only in a teasing way.
(No its totally chill I get it. I've been freakishly busy with stuff to lately. Take your time and don't forget about your mental health! ^^)
"Nope, its still the depths of hell for you. Unless you can some who make up for everything you've ever done, on this trip." Ember gave him a mischievous smile. Even though she had complete faith that he'd be able to fix everything. "But we can rest for a day if you need. I'll need to alert all the other Reapers about the growth in Crawlers lately, and you can rest."
(thanks dude, I appreciate it~)
(I'm back but I might still be out for a few days)
Jayson nodded and noticing her mischievous smile, he kinda got nervous. Oh boy. "Yeah, sure I think I could cook something up to umm make myself not look horrible," He said pausing between words and almost tripping on a few. He put on a fake worried smile and gave her a thumbs up. "Great so that means we get to rest…" He quickly, in less than a second switched things around. "Will we be sleeping together?" He said smirking, but knowing full well it wasn't going to happen because she had stuff to do.
(Thats totally chill. Welcome back by the way. ^^)
Ember took a thoughtful moment. Deciding to or not to play this little game of his. Of course with the whole Crawler problem she thought against it. But that didn't stop her from at least being a tease. She took a step closer to him and smiled sweetly. "And, what if we did?" She asked, her voice taking on a different tone. She looked up at him with lazy eyes, ones that screamed of desire, and maybe, some of it wasn't being faked.
(Thanks dude!)
Jayson blushed when she got close to him. He was totally not expecting that. "Oh well um we could y'know do things that friends do" Then picking up on her change of tone, he casually side smiles at her. "But then of course if you wanna do something else then I'm totally up for it" He stared at her eyes with admiration of some sort, almost as if he were contemplating them, losing himself as his gaze softened. He wanted to lean in but he knew that would probably freak Ember out but he really wanted to. Without thinking he leaned in, wrapping his arm around her waist. What was he doing? He pulled her in and kissed her, hesitating a bit as he did so.
panic, red light. Pull back pull back. But yet Ember found herself kissing him back. She was stunned at herself. How she could do such a thing. "I-" she started as she pulled away, and searched his face. "I- I'm sorry." She mumbled. "I can't. We can't." A new panic had risen to her face. She took a few steps back to put space between them. "I'm sorry." But he was like a magnet, she was drawn to him. She'd had a taste and she wanted more. But the very thought of it scared her. "Down the street to the left there's a hotel. Tell them you're with a reaper. Get some rest. I'm so sorry." And with that she walked the other way.
(Imma do a little time skip if that's alright? Nothing much, it's just after all this happened. Right now he's walking towards the hotel that Ember point out)
Jayson was surprised that she had kissed him back. So she did have a thing for him? He sighed as he remembered how nervous she was around him whenever he got close. He knew he shouldn't have done that and yet he didn't regret it. "A hotel huh? Why do I feel like I just got dumped? It's like getting in a fight with your wife. 'You're sleeping on the couch tonight!' sucks man…" He said as he tried to imitate a girl's voice at some point. He had been walking for a while before he spotted the hotel and went in.
(Yeah that's totally chill. Feel free do to time skips or plot twists when ever you'd like. Just make sure to warn me first. I tend to be a bit stupid. Also sorry this might be a bit long.)
"Gosh Ember. Just kiss a guy will you. Yeah that won't come back to bite you." She rolled her eyes at herself just as she marched up to a road that led from another Reapers realm. Someone she knew quite well would come through any second. And of course as they did they came running. "Teddy! Hey!" She shouted as he made it over the line, their soul right behind them. "Crawlers. Lots of them." Teddy planted as he leaned on Ember.
"Yeah. I had to kill a few on the way here."
"Have you told the council?"
"No. I just got here you idiot." Ember rolled her eyes at him.
"Gosh I get it. They get the soul that was with you?"
"No. He's at a hotel right now."
"Then lets go. We need a place to talk anyway. Some where that's not so, public."
Ember nodded her head knowing that they shouldn't panic any of the lost souls that lived in this town. "Right. Lets go then." She began back off twords the hotel with Teddy And his soul in tow.
(Nah dude you're good, I enjoy reading a long response lmao and alrighty, I'll make sure to do that)
Jayson had checked in at the front and the guy had been real nice to him. He falls back on the bed and sighs, contemplating his own death. "Let's see, where do I begin? I died and now I'm on my way to hell. Yeah, that sounds about right…If I could just not mess up for once." He sighs again. "Habits die hard, I guess that also applies to the afterlife" Jayson felt surprisingly tired even though he hadn't done much but ran a few times.
(Heya, could I introduce a character of mine that's also a reaper? And also, if you don't have a villain yet, could she be the villain typa girl?)
(I have a villain already, but there can totally be a second if you'd like. Also, yeah fill free to add more characters.)
On the way back Teddy and Ember conversed more. Talking of the growing numbers crawlers. How the Grim Reaper has yet to rise again. And of what might happen if Crawlers broke into the human realm.
"Jayson!" Ember called through the door as she knocked.
(Aight, cool, I'll just have her be a normal reaper then lol I was only asking in case you didn't have a villain)
You can hear Jayson talking through the door, as if he were having a conversation with someone. "No, it's not even funny! What if I ruined everything? I'm starting to freak and think that running away is my only chance at this." A female voice laughs from within the room. "That's cute. As if you could have the guts after having an encounter with the crawlers. What do you think would happen if you went off on y-" the knock at the door interrupts her. You can hear Jayson whisper in panic. "Do you think that's her? Oh my Lord what if its her!?" He scrambles to get up from the bed and put some clothes on. He had been previously sleeping when Lazda had came in to visit the lone soul and he didn't usually sleep with clothes on. Lazda rolls her eyes. "Why don't you just go and greet her like that? I'm sure she would totally like that" Jayson quickly puts some clothes on, almost crashing to the floor as he did so. "Do you think I'm an idiot?!" He hisses and goes to open the door. He sees Ember and freezes, he was clearly a mess. Messed up hair, clothes not put on properly. Anyone would think that he had been up to no good looking like that and with a girl in the room. "Ember!" He tries to act cool and smiles nervously. "I was so sure you had dumped me there for a second!" His smile looks forced.