NOVEL NEXT Ch 48 – What Else Would You Call It?
"WHAT???"
Jack had gone home to his apartment, cleaned up, then took a taxi over to Rascal HQ where he asked to come in and see Ivy. A short time later, they were meeting in the lobby in the corner where they were reasonably isolated so they could talk in some semblance of privacy. However, Ivy's exclamation drew the attention of the receptionist. He looked up from his book for a moment, then made a point to pull out his headphones and plug them into his phone.
Ivy looked up for a second, then lowered her voice as she turned back to Jack, "Your boss is making you go on a date or she'll fire you? That's Illegal!"
Jack gritted his teeth, "Well, sort of. Kinda? I mean, I offended the client and if we lose the client, well..." He clicked his tongue, "Let's just say heads will roll if this situation gets out of control."
~Dude, this creative interpretation of the definition of words you got going on...~
Ivy looked pissed, "Who exactly is your boss? I'm going to go over there and-"
Jack cut her off, "No! Look... It IS my fault. I DID overreact. And... if I don't fix it, I'm not the only one who'll suffer. People other than me could lose their jobs." He lowered his voice to mumble, "More than their jobs." He cleared his throat as he continued, "The client-"
~Potential client, technically~
"Errr... Potential client wants to give me a chance to fix things and wanted to discuss it with me... over dinner."
Ivy narrowed her eyes, "I don't know how they handle things in the world where you came from, but this 'client' is trying to get in your pants."
Jack closed his eyes, "Yes. I know. I get it. And... I don't plan on sleeping with her. Don't stick your dick in crazy, as they say where I come from."
Ivy snorted and covered her mouth to hide her smirk. She looked away for a second, then back at Jack out of the corner of her eye, "I don't think this is the time to be cracking jokes."
~Wait a sec, in this world, are we the crazy when we stick our... err... nevermind. Answered my own question.~
Jack frowned, "I'm... sorry." He rubbed his brow, "Look. I feel I have to do this for many reasons and-"
Ivy looked up at Jack, "Why you telling me this?"
Jack looked back at her, "Huh?"
Ivy gave Jack a flat expression, "We've gone on exactly one date. I don't own you. You don't need my permission."
Jack was speechless. He stared at her for a bit before saying, "Oh." He looked away, "Sorry. I just... thought it would be rude."
Ivy relaxed a little, "Maybe I'm making too many assumptions here. Do you normally date multiple people at the same time where you come from?"
Jack snapped his head up to look at her, "What? No." He shook his head, "I mean, it's not unheard of, but I don't." He let his shoulders sink, "Look. I didn't want to do this behind your back, that's all. I... liked our date and I look forward to this weekend, but I'm also in a bind here and-" He threw his hands up in the air, "I feel like if I just DID IT and didn't tell you, even if nothing happened, it wouldn't be right." He rolled his eyes, "I can see trying to hide this just turning into a sitcom event."
Ivy looked out through the large bay windows of the lobby towards the street. She scrunched up her lips for a second before asking, "Is this a one time thing, or is your boss going to try and pimp you to other clients?"
~SNORT! Pimp? BOW chicka bow wow! Let's buy Big Marie a giant, wide-brimmed purple hat with a comically oversized pink feather sticking out of it!~
Jack looked shocked at her choice of phrasing, "Uh... one time. I don't like the idea of being 'pimped'."
Ivy pressed her lips together firmly into a thin line as she looked at Jack, "I don't like this. I think this is a bad precedent and you are being taken advantage of, but if you feel you have to, then..." She looked up at the blue sky then back down at Jack, "Make it up to me by going to to a late lunch with me."
Jack blinked, "Huh?"
Ivy waggled her head from side to side, "Well... I haven't eaten yet and I get the impression you'd like to DATE-date me. I understand you have to shmooze your client, but... if you'd like to DATE me, then I'd like to have been on more dates with you then the client you have to go to dinner with."
Jack slowly smiled wider and wider, "Uhh... yeah. I'd like to DATE-date you. I don't want to be too forward, but yeah." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, "Shall I call a cab?"
She shook her head, "Where I want to eat isn't that far. We can walk." She smirked, "Or if you don't mind me carrying you, I could just swing us over there."
Jack was taken off guard, "Swing?"
Ivy nodded, "Yeah. The sun is out. I can throw vines to swing on fairly well." She motioned like she flinging something with her hand, "Again, I'm solar powered, so it'd only take a minute or two."
Jack looked thoughtful, "Actually, you wouldn't happen to have any rope or twine lying around?"
Ivy squinted, "Uh... I think I saw some in the maintenance garage. Why you ask?"
"YAHOO!"
What started out as a short 'swing' down the street for just a few blocks to get sandwiches at a delicatessen, turned into a bit of a competition. Ivy was true to her word at being able to swing fairly well, at least in sunlight. However, Jack was able to keep up by imbuing two lengths of twine with a bit of power and use them to do his best spider-man impression. With a flick he could send it out to grab onto the corners of buildings or statues and swing along, only to retract it by having it coil up on his forearm when not in use.
Ivy started showing off a few tricks, then Jack started doing a few flips, and the next thing you know, the two are racing down the streets of Empire City, each trying to out do the other. In Empire city, there is always some sort of construction going on somewhere, so coming across a large building with open girders to swing through was inevitable.
Ivy called out, "Okay, but can you do this?" She found two girders at the top of the structure to grasp onto with one vine from each hand. She then proceeded to walk backwards down the side of the structure, pulling the vines tighter and tighter, until finally she reached her limit. She jumped while yanking as hard as she could. A second later, she was launching herself hundreds of yards straight up into the sky.
Jack did decided to NOT throw himself into the stratosphere and instead shielded his eyes against the sun to watch as she went up and up and up. Something he didn't have to do for long as a cloud started passing in front of said sun. Jack glanced at the cloud and frowned, wondering if this might affect Ivy. He figured she was going to come down next to the crane that was used to lift the girders up to the top, so he shot out a line to meet her over there. As she came down, she passed into the cloud's shadow just as she fired out a vine to catch the crane.
And missed.
This caused Ivy to lose her balance. She took aim again but started to tumble, making her second shot go wide. Jack starting to feel more than a bit of panic, shot out his line to swing out to catch her, just as she made a third attempt and connected with the crane.
Alas, now Jack was in the way.
As Ivy came down, their two lines crossed and pulled taught. This jerked Jack backwards suddenly while causing her line to come up short. The result was the both of them spinning around each other's lines in an ever diminishing spiral as they wound tighter and tighter. The conservation of momentum resulted in them spinning faster and faster as they got closer and closer until, abruptly, they SMASHED into one another.
A dizzy Jack let out a loud, "OW!" As he bonked into Ivy and lost his grip. He only fell for a second before Ivy grabbed him and held on tight. This lef the two of them dangling at the end of a long tangle of twine and vines twisted together. They swayed about under the construction crane about twenty stories off the ground. Jack rubbed his forehead as he recovered from head-butting Ivy.
She sounded concerned, "You okay?"
Jack nodded, "yeah I'm-WHOA!" He exclaimed as he noticed how far a drop it was, "Crap!" He clung to Ivy as he looked around to get his bearings.
Ivy humphed, "Why did you get in my way?"
Jack squinted at her, "Oh, I dunno, I was trying to CATCH you since you missed TWICE and were about to plummet to your DEATH. I prefer my dates alive and breathing, thank you very much!"
"I don't need DIRECT sunlight, you know." Ivy sounded annoyed at first, but as she continued, she mellowed her tone, "But yes, when it gets overcast I can't reach as far." She smirked at him, "Were you worried?"
Jack flicked her in the side of the head, "YES!" This motion started them slowly spinning in reverse as the twine and vine started to unwind, "I go to get a ham on rye with my girlfriend and next thing I know it looks like she going to do a half gainer into the concrete foundation of a twenty story high-rise! Of course I'd be worried!"
Ivy let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes, "Please. I was perfectly-" She stopped dead then gave Jack a double take, "Girlfriend?"
~Girlfriend?~
Jack blinked in surprise, "Well... yeah? What else would you be?" He glanced to the side and spoke with just a hint of worry, "Or... am I jumping the gun?"
Ivy held Jack as they slowly unwound, dangling in the sky. The cloud finally passed as Ivy gave Jack a half smile, "Well..." She leaned in closer to softly reply, "I suppose not."
Jack raised an eyebrow, "You suppose? You aren't sure?" He moved just a hair's breadth closer and spoke with a hint of accusation.
Ivy briefly licked her lips as continue to close the distance between them, "Well... There are certain things that come with that title, you know? Obligations..." One corner of her mouth curled up, "Privileges."
Jack moved in to the point that they were sharing the same breath as they spoke, "Oh? And do any privileges in particular come to mind?"
Ivy opened her mouth, focusing on his lips. She glanced up into his eyes, then focused on something past him, "Falling out of that window."
Jack squinted and curled a lip, "huh?"
Ivy grabbed Jack's hand and yanked up to press the vine she was holding into it, "Don't Let Go!" She shouted as she ignored her own advice and dropped away. Jack at first slipped slightly as he tightened his grip and reflexively grabbed the vine with both hands, nearly dropping his second length of twine in the process. He watched as Ivy did another double vine launch through the girders. This time she was aiming herself towards a man who was plummeting down the side of a building about a block away.
~Holy Crap! Did that guy jump?~
Jack rolled his eyes, "Oh of all The Bloody LUCK!" He concentrated and the twine he was holding on suddenly rippled and slipped loose. As Jack dropped, he brought his other swinging rope up to lash onto a girder and begin following her, "I hope she saves him, so I can murder him for interrupting my kiss!"
~Oh? You SURE you were going to smooch?~
"Shut up, Adam."
As Jack followed her, Ivy rapidly closed the distance and fired off a glob of plant matter with a flick of her wrist. It attached itself to the building the man was falling next to in a puff of sticky spores while also flailing out a bunch of wriggling, green tendrils. One snagged the man as he dropped past. The vine wrapped around the man's legs and stretched, slowing down his descent and bringing him to a halt against the building.
~She's good.~
Jack nodded as he came swinging around a corner, "Yes, she certainly-" He stopped talking.
~She certainly? Wh- OH. FUDGE.~
Jack looked upwards from where the man had fallen. Every window on the side of the building facing Jack and Ivy on the thirty eighth floor of that building suddenly exploded outward. It looked like what appeared to be an entire office of desks, chairs, and more importantly, office WORKERS were pouring out into the open air like a waterfall. It was as if, for some reason, gravity started working sideways, but for just the contents of that floor of the building, and only until they got outside.
As the objects and people flew, they abruptly came to a stop about twenty feet from the building and hovered for a few seconds.
Then normal gravity reasserted Itself.