Falling For You
Chapter 1: Unexpected Meetings
It was a clear night on the Montressor; you could see the Space Port and other towns shimmering with activity all across the planet. On the surface itself, there stood a village on the outskirts of one such town, invisible from space. In this village there stood a single inn. Lights could be seen shining out into the dark night from the inn, and shadows passing the large windows as the people within moved about. Music and laughter emanated from the structure. Up on the roof of the inn, a figure could be seen staring up at the sky.
Jim Hawkins stared up at the sky longingly. Thankfully, the inn wasn't so busy that his mother needed him to bus tables for her, so he was able to get some peace and quiet. Lately, the inn had experienced an increase in customers. Nothing came to Jim's mind as to why this was happening, however tonight's amount had given him the rare chance to get away from the noise of the dining area and get some alone time. He leaned his head a little farther onto the wall of the roof. A smile appeared on his face as he listened to the merry chatter and laughter of his mother and her customers. He was glad that he could do something right for her to make her happy. But he wasn't happy. Ever since he got home, it was back to the usual grind. He made sure to stay out of as much trouble as he could for his mother's sake. It wasn't that hard really. He still went solar surfing but now he was more aware of his surroundings.
Still his adventurous spirit had gone malnourished ever since he returned. He missed the thrill - the excitement - and the adrenaline rush. All of that came back somewhat when Delbert and Amelia's kids were born. Jim was made caretaker of the little darlings, as Delbert fondly called them, which was in itself an adventure all its own. He loved them like they were his own nieces and nephews, but they could be a handful at times. But now his mother could watch them as she went about her business within the inn. By giving them small tasks to do about the place, she could watch them and still do her own things. There was no more need for her to stop what she was doing and take care of them when Delbert and Amelia couldn't do it themselves.
So when the children were older and didn't need as much supervision, there was nothing to feed Jim's appetite for adventure. There were the occasional odd occurrences that happened around the town or inn, but nothing that would result in some new exciting adventure. A sigh escaped from him as he then looked up at the Space Port. He went up to the Port sometimes with Delbert or Amelia to look at the newest ships or to hear the latest news of what was going on with some far off planet. It had occurred to Jim that while he was up there, he could try and find a crew to join to try and at least go somewhere - do something. But the thought of leaving his mother after what happened between his father leaving and then the dangers of Treasure Planet didn't go well with him. He could just think of what kind of sorrow would come unto his mother if he told her that he was leaving to go wondering around in space again.
Jim let loose another sigh as he rubbed his forehead. He glanced at the cracked window and stood up. 'Guess all of the customers are gone,' Jim thought before glancing up at the sky. It was then that Jim noticed a ship flying overhead. It wouldn't have been odd, ships flew over the inn because of the town all the time, but this one was flying much lower than normal. He tilted his head as he watched the ship move off towards the Space Port. A number of reasons went through his head as to why the ship was flying lower than normal, but for some reason none really stuck with him. Right as the ship went over the inn, something else caught Jim's eye. Something had fallen off of the ship and was falling fast towards the ground. A closer look at the object made Jim realize something. The thing that was falling was person.
Jim's eyes widened and he quickly jumped off the roof. Running as fast as he could towards the spot where this person would fall, Jim could see that the person was struggling with something. Managing to get under the person, he placed himself in the right position to catch them. The next thing he knew, the wind had been knocked out of him as the person landed right on top of him. A groan ripped itself out of his mouth as another, more feminine, groan replied to his.
Rising up on his elbows, Jim got a better look at the person. It was definitely a girl that fell on him. Besides the sound of her groan, he could feel her breasts against his chest and the shape of body was too sleek and curvy to be male. She had a slim waist that then went into lengthy, yet strong legs. Jim guessed that she was about a head shorter than him. Jim concluded that she was probably around the same age as him. His eyes then focused on the girl's head. She had auburn hair with red highlights. It was cut to fall about half way down neck, but covered her ears easily, and was slightly spiky at the end; giving it a frayed look.
It was then that the girl decided to move. She let loose another groan as she raised her body slightly off of Jim's. A hand with fingerless gloves on was then raised to touch her forehead as Jim heard her mutter, "By Mieshet's light, why me?" It was at this point that Jim got a look at her face. She had medium sized almond shaped eyes that were a slightly lighter shade than her hair. Long eyelashes framed and enhanced her eyes. Her white skin was smooth, and it looked as if she never had a blemish at all in her life. Her lips were slim and a light shade of pink that went nicely with her skin. There was a long bang on the right side of her face that went half way into her eye. It was then that Jim noticed her ears. On the upper part of both of her ears were small-hooped silver earrings. But that wasn't the thing that caught his attention. It was their shape. At first glance, they looked normal if a person could see them past her hair. But when her hair moved, a person could easily see that they weren't round- but rather had a definite point to them.
At that moment, her eyes looked up at Jim. Jim swore that he never saw anyone's eyes go as wide or face pale as quickly as her did then. For a moment they just looked at each other till she spoke.
"Uh…oh…," she breathed out "hello..."
"Hi," he said, still slightly winded from the impact.
It was then that she seemed to have realized the position they were in. Jim also took more notice to this as well. The girl was right in between his legs, her chest touching his own, and her face just a few meters away from his. "Oh by Mieshet's, I'm sorry." She then moved off of him and sat next to him, looking over her body for injuries. Jim sat up and took in the rest of her appearance. She was wearing a black tank top that just barely revealed the top of her breasts. The top was also cut short so that her smooth, but decently toned, stomach was shown. Over her shirt, she wore a dark purple, almost black, jacket that went slightly past her shirt. Black cargo pants, which were held up with a black belt, covered her legs. Black combat boots finished off her outfit.
She then leaned in and tilted her head as she stared at Jim. "I didn't hurt you, um…did I?" she asked.
"Oh," Jim said quick as he sat up farther. But this was a mistake on his part. Right as he straightened his back, a pain shot through it and almost caused him to fall back down. Thankfully the girl quickly caught him and helped him sit up.
"Here let me help. Just stay still, and, um, I promise that you'll feel better once I'm done," the girl said as she moved behind him. Jim took notice as she moved his jacket and shirt up his back as she placed her hands on his lower back. But once her hands touched his skin, all the pain vanished. A tingling went up and down his spine for what seemed like a few seconds, but once she removed her hands, it vanished.
"What did you do?" he asked, astonished, as he looked over his shoulder at her.
The girl looked sheepishly at him as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Oh nothing really- where I come from, most women can do that to take away the pain of injures. I can remove the injury all together, however. You would have developed a bruise on your back and probably experienced pain for awhile if I hadn't done anything."
"You aren't hurt, are you?"
"Oh no, I'm alright. I was just taken by surprise...you know…falling and all. I guess I should expect things like that to happen to me more often than they do." The girl then smiled at him as her hand stopped rubbing her neck.
The girl's eyes then widened again. Frantically, she started unfolding her pockets and looked around her, apparently for something she had lost. It was then that Jim noticed a small jewel lying next to his hand. It was round and probably the size of a small rock. It was medium red color and looked like it was made of glass. The heat that emanated from the stone when he picked it up surprised Jim. It wasn't a burning heat, rather a soothing one.
"Looking for this?" Jim asked holding out his hand. The girl then stopped her search and looked in his hand.
Her smile widened as she saw the jewel in Jim's hand. "Thank you so much." The girl then pushed up the left sleeve of her jacket. On the upper part of her arm was a tattoo band of interwoven swirls. Right in the middle of the interesting pattern seemed to be a gold engraving set on top of the girls flesh. She then put the jewel onto the engraving with a sigh. As she pushed her sleeve back down she murmured, "I have no idea what I would have done if I couldn't find this." She then stood up and helped Jim off the ground. "Really, thank you for catching me and finding my stone. I owe you one."
"No problem," Jim said. Then, Jim realized something. He didn't even know this girls name. "The name's Jim Hawkins, you are?"
He offered his hand, which she shook while saying: "Ashe Aurion." She gave a sheepish grin as her hand went once again behind her neck to rub it. "You, uh, wouldn't happen to know a place I could spend the night, would you? I would love to return to the Space Port but, um, I highly doubt that a ship is running this late at night."
Jim chuckled a little. "Yeah, come with me." The duo then started walking back up to the inn.
"Jim," Jim and Ashe heard as they entered the inn. "Can you come here and help me please?"
"Wait here, I'll be right back," Jim said turning to Ashe before going into the kitchen. He briefly wondered where Delbert, Amelia, Morph, and B.E.N. were. Delbert and Amelia had offered to help out at the inn after hearing how busy it had been lately. After thinking it over, he figured that they were all trying to get the kids into bed since the Doppler's were spending the night.
Upon entering the kitchen, he saw his mother struggling to lift a large crate. Jim quickly took her burden away, which earned him a satisfying sigh from her.
"Thank you," Sarah Hawkins said as she leaned against the counter. She then turned a questionable eye at him as he started to stack the rest of the crates into a corner. "Where have you been?"
'Great,' he thought, 'the one thing I hadn't thought of. Guess it'll have to be the truth. How mad could she get?' He gently took his mother's arm and guided her towards the kitchen door. His mother looked at him curiously as Jim opened the door a smidgeon. She glanced once more at him before peering through the crack.
Ashe was looking at some of the paintings that were scattered around the room, unaware that she was being watched from the kitchen. Occasionally she would glance at the door or out the window before going back to looking at the paintings. Even though he didn't know her for that long, Jim could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable. Of course he didn't blame her. He had taken her here, a place she didn't even know, without telling her anything about himself. He gave her his name, but that didn't mean he had her trust. But that went the same for her, though she just got a feeling that she could trust him. This feeling took him by surprise as well. For a person who he had just met ten minutes ago, she already had a good part of his trust where it took most people weeks of getting to know him to get a tiny bit of it.
His mother then shut the door and turned to Jim. She put her hands on her hips and looked at him accusingly, which normally meant he was in for a scolding. He opened his mouth to defend himself but his mother beat him to it before he could utter a word.
"Why didn't you tell me that you had a girlfriend?"
Of all the things he expected his mother to say, that one hadn't even crossed his mind. It wasn't that he never thought of dating, it was just that he didn't have an interest at the moment. He did have an interest in girls, like any guy his age would, but none of the ones he met seemed to be his type, whatever that was he still didn't know.
"She isn't my girlfriend," he said quickly. "She's just a girl that I met ten minutes ago." His mother looked taken aback as she waited for him to explain more. Jim ran a hand through his hair before continuing, "While I was on the roof, I saw a ship fly overhead. But this one was flying much lower than normal. As it passed over the inn, she fell off and I managed to catch her. She-"
"You what!" his mother said as she rushed over to him. She then started to inspect him for any injures he might have gotten from catching Ashe. Not that she would find any since Ashe had taken care of that herself.
Jim quickly took her hands into his own, stopping her from forcing his shirt off like she had managed with his jacket. He gave her a reassuring smile as he said, "Mom I'm fine." He was about to tell her what Ashe had done but stopped himself. Telling his mother about what Ashe had done to heal him of his pain didn't seem right. So he did the only thing he could think of and cursed himself for it. Lie. "The ship was really close to the ground. She didn't fall that far."
His mother held his gaze for a moment then shook her head in a reassuring way; he couldn't tell if it was meant for him or herself. "You were saying," she said now waiting for him to continue.
"She then asked if I knew a place for her to stay. She said she wanted to go to the Space Port but figured that no ships flew up there this late at night. So I was going to offer-"
"-To let her stay the night?" she finished for him. She sighed before smiling up at him. "Alright, I have a spare room she can have for the night." Jim smiled and then hugged her.
"Thanks Mom."
They then made their way back into the dining area, Ashe turning to them once they entered. His mother then walked over to Ashe, a large smile on her lips.
"Hello, I'm Sarah Hawkins. Jim told me that you needed a room."
"Oh, yes," Ashe said returning the smile. "I'm Ashe Aurion. Um, how much is a room. I only have Gil on me right now but if you allow me to go to my friends tomorrow I can get you the money if you take a different currency."
"Gil is fine. It will be two hundred and fifty Gil," his mother said after doing the math in her head quickly.
Ashe nodded and then started to rummage through her pockets again. She pulled out a small leather pouch shortly after from her inner jacket pocket. Small gold coins littered a nearby table as she emptied its contents onto it. Ashe started to count out the amount. She suddenly stopped as a look of shock and disbelief came over her face.
"Uh, I'm a hundred and twenty-five short," Ashe said as she rubbed her neck, which Jim guessed was a sign of nervousness by now.
His mother just smiled at her. "It's alright; just getting it to me tomorrow will suffice." Ashe let loose a sigh as she handed over the amount she had. At that moment, a loud growling sound was heard within the room. Once again, Jim lost count how many times he saw her do it already, Ashe's hand was on her neck. His mother just smiled and let out a small laugh. "That answers my next question. Here, sit down and let me get you something to eat. Jim do you want anything?"
"Yeah, a glass of water please," Jim said. His mother nodded and headed back into the kitchen to fetch the food. Ashe then collapsed into a chair close by. She rubbed her temples in an exhausted manner. Jim sat across from her and watched her for a while. "Nervous?"
Ashe looked up at him, her left hand still massaging her left temple. "You have no idea," Ashe mumbled. Jim was a little taken aback by her response. He had expected that to be her answer, but not the manner she had said it. Ashe sighed as her eyes closed. "Sorry, I'm kind of edgy when it comes to new people, especially when I'm on my own. I'm not saying that I'm a bad person," she added in quickly, "But right now I'm too tired to care about anything really." Ashe then opened her eyes and looked over at Jim. Jim wasn't sure how to respond to that. Thankfully at that point, Morph decided to come out from wherever he was. Morph rushed over to Jim and started to chirp and lick Jim's face wherever he could. Ashe stared curiously at Morph, her exhaustion temporally forgotten. "Is that a morph?"
"Yeah, I got him from a close friend," Jim said as Morph went over to inspect Ashe. Ashe held out a finger, which Morph landed on, and started to stroke the little blob. Ashe tilted her head from side to side Morph mimicking her movements.
"I've only read about them in books. All the books said that they are rare, even on the planet they inhabit, and that it is hard to even get them on any kind of film."
"Well, Morph is…a special case."
"Apparently," Ashe laughed, "he's extremely friendly for a creature that by nature is suppose to be shy." Morph then floated off of Ashe's finger to rub against her cheek and chirping, as if agreeing with her. It was then that Sarah came out with a bowl of soup and bread for Ashe and the glass of water Jim requested.
"Here you two go. Once you're done Jim can show you to the spare room we have. If you want anything else just ask," she said before disappearing once again into the kitchen. Dropping Morph onto her shoulder, Ashe started to tear apart the bread and then dunked the slices into the soup. Morph edged a little closer to Ashe's neck then, seeming to tell her that he wanted some too. Jim watched, mainly making sure Morph wasn't being a nudge, as he sipped his water. It was quiet for the most part, besides Morph chirping happily whenever Ashe tore a piece of her bread apart for him to have. Once she was done, Jim stood up.
"Come on, I'll show you upstairs." Ashe opened her mouth to say something, but Jim cut her off. "I'll clean up after I show you to your room." Ashe nodded in acceptance and followed him quietly. Once they got to the room, Jim handed over the key he had picked up on the way to her.
"Thank you, for everything," she said accepting the key. She then moved Morph onto her finger and then onto Jim's shoulder.
"No problem," Jim said about to turn around but Ashe stopped him by speaking.