The annoying thing about being a Ranger was that you more often than not missed out on some of the perks the world had to offer, what with the relentless training to shape you into a Kaiju-killing machine. Alcohol was one of those perks. Jazmine had never actually had alcohol, if you didn't count the times that her mother had allowed her a sip or two from a glass of wine. Jazmine had screwed up her face in disgust whilst her parents had laughed fondly and her brothers had teased her mercilessly.
She hadn't chosen wine tonight, however. She wanted to drink herself into oblivion, and she didn't intend to do it with class.
She didn't really like the taste of vodka, just the smell made her eyes water, but mixed with coke, orange juice, or any sort of soft drink, really, she found that it went down quite nicely. She was on her third glass, and was happy to find that it was mellowing her out nicely. Her troubles seemed a long way away, although she was sure that they'd come rushing back to her at three in the morning so that she could sob very unattractively about them.
It was a crime that this was the first time that Jazmine had actually ventured out of the Hong Kong Shatterdome into Hong Kong itself. It was a shame that it had to be on such bad terms, because she was discovering that she really, really liked Hong Kong. And she also really, really liked bars. Alcohol on tap? What was there not to like?
If nothing else, there was no shortage of good looking guys that she could distract herself with if she felt like it.
Fuck the Marshall, she thought, perhaps a little unfairly. He was only doing what he had to, to try and protect what was left of the world. It wasn't his fault if she couldn't get her shit together. Ok then, fuck Chuck, with his stupid face and his ridiculous body and that intensely annoying accent. Fuck Hannah, her so-called best friend. After everything they'd been through together, after everything they'd achieved, she would have never thought her capable of keeping something like this from her. She could understand why Chuck would keep it from her, since they weren't exactly friends, but Hannah? They weren't just friends, they were co-pilots, that kind of bond was supposed to be unbreakable. Fuck the Mark-3 restoration programme, and mostly, fuck Raleigh. She didn't care if she was on that damn list of candidates, there was no way she was going anywhere near the Drift with her brother. There was no way she going anywhere near anything with her brother. She didn't want anything to do with him.
"Fucking Raleigh," she muttered to herself, downing the rest of her fourth glass.
"Sorry?" Jazmine turned. The guy next to her was watching her, amused. He was good looking, she noted. Tall, dark blonde hair, brown eyes. Damn, there wasn't a lot she wouldn't have done to have him show her a good time.
"Talking to myself." Jazmine replied. "Don't worry about it."
"Who's Raleigh, and why are you angry at him?"
"I'm angry at everyone," Jazmine said. She took a swig from the glass in front of her. Her fifth drink. For a more experienced drinker, it wouldn't have been much of a problem, but she could feel it going to her head. She could really feel it. "And it's a long story."
"He your boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend?" Jazmine began to laugh. "I barely have time to brush my hair from day to day, never mind maintain an actual relationship."
"Why, what do you do?"
"I'm a Jaeger pilot," she paused. That wasn't entirely true. "Or, at least, I was," she took another swig from her drink. She wasn't half as drunk as she intended to be.
His eyes widened. She supposed it wasn't every day that you met a Jaeger pilot, even a crappy one like her. "A Jaeger pilot? That's so fucking cool!"
"Don't get too excited," Jazmine halted him in his tracks, certain that he was about to go off on a Jaeger appreciation rant. "I never actually made it out of the freaking Shatterdome before I was replaced by my bastard brother."
"Why were you replaced?"
"Again, long story. Drift compatibility is a bitch."
How exactly she and the guy whose name she couldn't remember ended up down the alley behind the bar, she had no idea. That part of the evening had already been erased from her memory, washed away by the unhealthy amounts of alcohol coursing through her veins. She was drunk and she liked it. Why didn't people do this all the time? Why had nobody taken the liberty of telling her that drinking yourself stupid was, in fact, the best pastime? It was hard to worry about Kaiju and Jaegers and stupid absentee brothers when there was enough alcohol in your bloodstream to turn you into a walking keg. Her head was fuzzy and it was hard to form any clear thoughts. When she spoke, the words came out with difficulty, like they had to fight their way past the barrier of alcohol she'd consumed. She could barely stand up straight, but it didn't matter, her new friend was helping with that. It was hard to worry about anything when your legs were wrapped around the waist of a very attractive man. His hands were knotted in her hair, his lips moving furiously against hers. Her fingers were fumbling with his belt buckle, which was turning out to be difficult to do with numb fingers. Finally, after what seemed like hours (but which was actually seconds) she managed to get it undone. She was practically shivering in anticipation (that might have been the cold) an—
"Jazmine?" No. No, no, no, no, WHY? Fucking Hannah, why did she have to come looking for her? Why couldn't she have at least given her until the morning, didn't she deserve that much?
"What the hell is going on?" Oh, seriously? She brought Chuck along for the ride? Hooray!
Jazmine and who would have been her drunken one-night stand broke apart, reluctantly. They peered over at the mouth of the alleyway. Hannah and Chuck were striding down towards them with a nauseating aura of confidence and self-righteousness, the kind that only Jaeger pilots possessed.
"We've been looking everywhere for you!" Hannah claimed, as though she thought Jazmine would care.
"You found me," Jazmine replied. Talking was difficult. Her words felt heavy, and getting them out without tripping over them was a challenge.
"Is that a gun in your pocket, mate, or are you just pleased to see me?" Chuck asked her would-be-suitor unpleasantly.
"Who busted your lip, mate?" He retorted, glaring at Chuck. "I'd like to send them flowers."
"That would be the girl you're trying to rape."
"Rape? Does she look unwilling to you?" He'd removed himself from Jazmine's grasp and was now stood almost nose-to-nose with Chuck. They were more or less the same height, but Chuck was all muscle. Though she wished otherwise, it really wasn't difficult to see who would win if it came to blows.
"She's fucking hammered!" Oh, Chuck was actually pretty angry. Jazmine momentarily forgot that she was furious at Chuck, had punched him only hours earlier, and took a moment to appreciate how hot it was to see him so mad.
"No. No'm not," Jazmine put in, feeling the need to defend the guy she'd been perfectly happy to give herself to in an alleyway behind a bar. He wasn't to blame here, he hadn't been the one plying her with alcohol. No, she'd done that perfectly well herself. She was also fairly sure that it had been her idea to, y'know, fuck in the alleyway. Like, 60% sure. Her memory wasn't very clear.
"Look at you, you can barely stand!" Chuck rounded on her. She realised that she was leaning against a pillar of wooden boxes in an attempt to keep herself upright, and apparently wasn't doing a very good job of it, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying to prove Chuck wrong. Who did he think he was, following her into Hong Kong and destroying her only chance of carnal happiness? Defiantly, she forced herself to stand up straight, pushed her way between him and the guy, and made to flounce away, out of the alleyway. And she would have managed it, too, she was sure, had she not tripped over her own feet, staggered sideways, into Hannah, and ended up in a heap on the floor. She started laughing. Well, giggling, really. She'd hit her head, probably, but she couldn't feel it. The pain was there, she was sure, but in some far off corner of her body that was unable to access in her current state. She offered no resistance when Hannah pulled her back up. Had she been in a better state, she would have punched Hannah in the face. Not for pulling her to her feet, but for the whole Raleigh thing. If Chuck had deserved it, then Hannah certainly did.
"You ok?" Hannah muttered as she pulled one of Jazmine's arms around her neck so that she could keep her upright.
"D-don't talk t'me."
Chuck had backed the guy up against the back wall of the alleyway. "I'm gonna let you go, just this once. Consider this your warning. If you ever come near her again, if you as much as look at her—"
"You'll what? Kill me?"
"I won't have to. When she wakes up tomorrow and realises that she was taken advantage of, I would be surprised if she doesn't come looking for you herself. I imagine ripping a man limb from limb with your bare hands is actually quite satisfying." He turned away and made to take Jazmine from Hannah, so that Hannah could lead the way. However, apparently her scorned lover wasn't finished. He would learn (very soon) that trying to get a rise out of Chuck Hansen was a very foolish thing to do.
"You know, she told me about you. Chuck, isn't it? She had a lot to say about you. Arrogant, egotistical, a moronic show-off. She went on for quite a while, actually. You wanna know what I think?"
Chuck turned around slowly, his jaw clenched, as well as his fists. "I'd advise you to stop talking."
"I think you quite like her. I don't think this has anything to do with her being drunk, but the fact that it was me about to do her, not you."
Chuck didn't say a word. In a move that mirrored Jazmine's from earlier on, he swung his fist right into the other man's face. Hard. He could have beaten him to a pulp quite easily, but he wouldn't be wasting his time. "I kill monsters for a living," Chuck told him. "Don't think I won't hesitate to add you to my count."
Jazmine lay fully clothed on her bed. Hannah had placed a bucket by the side for the morning, when Jazmine would undoubtedly need it. She'd also attempted to help Jazmine out of her clothes and into something more comfortable, but Jazmine had resisted all of the help that Hannah had offered her. Even in her intoxicated state, her anger at her friend had not subsided.
Chuck had sent Hannah away with the promise that he would look after Jazmine, who did not seem at all opposed to him, despite their confrontation earlier. He placed a glass of water on Jazmine's bedside table. Even if she didn't want it now, she'd certainly need it later.
"You know, Hannah didn't mean to hurt you." He sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Should've told me," she murmured without opening her eyes.
"She wanted to. We all did. None of us were happy about keeping it from you, but the Marshall made us promise."
"Boo-fucking-hoo."
Chuck rolled his eyes but didn't pursue the subject. There was no talking to her, not like this. She was even more stubborn drunk than she was sober, if that was even possible.
"Here, I brought you some water. You should have some now, you're going to feel like hell in the morning."
"No."
"Jazmine—"
"Why're you doing this?" She opened her eyes and pushed herself slowly into a sitting position. Drunk though she was, she looked fairly lucid. Her gaze was hard but steady, and her words, though still slow and heavy, weren't slurred and she didn't seem to be having nearly as much trouble getting them out in a coherent manner as she had been when they'd found her in the alley.
"Doing what?"
"Being nice to me. Looking after me. Shouldn't you be with your…" she trailed off. Chuck wondered if she'd lost the thread of the conversation.
"My what?" He prompted.
"Girlfriend."
"Natalya isn't my girlfriend," Chuck said slowly. He looked away from her and gazed down at his hands instead. He wondered whether things would have been simpler if Natalya was his girlfriend. Probably not. It wouldn't have changed the way that he felt.
"I thought you liked her," Jazmine was beside him now. He could feel her gaze on his face, though he refused to look at her.
"I do! I did…I just, I don't know. Things change." He brought his gaze up to meet Jazmine's. She was watching him carefully. He had no idea what she was thinking, and that frustrated him. People in general were like open books, so easy to read, but Jazmine? She was closed, locked, locked again, wrapped in chains and sealed in concrete.
"What things?"
Chuck shook his head. He didn't want to talk about it. Not now, not with her. He could barely stand to think about it. Jazmine bit down on her bottom lip. She seemed to be considering something. He looked away from her, over at the door. He thought about leaving, he'd had more than enough for one day.
She was drunk and overconfident. What came over her, she had no idea. Had she been sober, her mind would have screamed at her to not do what she was about to, and she wouldn't have done it and that would have been the end of it, but the alcohol seemed to have killed her mental filter, or at least knocked it unconscious, because her left hand moved of its own accord and ended up cupping Chuck's right cheek. She gently pulled his face around so that he was looking at her again. She leaned in and saw Chuck's eyes widen as he realised her intent. She hesitated. Her eyes found his and for an unbearable couple of seconds, there was nothing but dead silence between them. That was, until Jazmine took the plunge and kissed him.
