The Talk

Jasmine took a deep breath before knocking on Marcus' door. It took only a moment before it slid open. She gave him a bright smile, and stepped in as soon as he invited her with a sweep of his hand. It was all quiet on the ship, and everyone else was presumably asleep. Jasmine looked around at his few belongings. His couple of shirts and pairs of pants, were tossed casually on the floor next to the cot. She smiled, watching as he plopped back down on the cot and patted a seat next to him.

"What are you grinning about Jazzy?" He asked, managing to sit cross-legged on the bedding.

"This is just how you've always kept your room, junky as hell," she said, still smiling and taking in the sight of him. He still had his baby face, but on a tall, muscular frame that she was still trying to get used to. He shrugged broad shoulders and patted the cot next to him again.

Jazzy hurried over, and tackled him in an embrace. They hugged a long time, now able to enjoy it without fear or being in any immediate danger. Finally, Jasmine sat next to her brother, and looked him over closely. She rubbed his head, and stroked the side of his face. Eventually, he pulled away with a shy smile.

"What?" He asked, but he could have guessed.

"What happened Marcus? I don't mean with mom and all that, you told me that stuff. I mean, what happened to you? Why are you so tall and muscular? Two years shouldn't have made you grow more than a foot in height," she asked, the concern evident behind the playful demeanor.

Marcus slumped his shoulders, and looked at his sister. He started from the beginning. From the attack in the subway, to meeting Astro, and then waking up in a strange place instead of a hospital. He then told her about his escape from the place, but not before they could inject him with some unknown concoction. They'd been giving it to him from the very first day, he told her. The last dose was likely the most potent, as all these other changes only occurred afterwards. Jasmine didn't interrupt. As he told his story, she felt all the emotions at once. The fear he must have felt facing a hard meat, the fear of waking up in an unfamiliar place, and the confusion of it all, struck her at her core.

"I'm sorry," she said. He shrugged as he fiddled with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

"For what Jazzy? Not your fault," he said, but she wouldn't leave it at that. Jasmine scooted a little closer, and laid her head on his shoulders, wrapping him in an embrace as best she could.

"I left you Marcus. I left you to deal with all that shit, from mama, on up to this alien shit, and I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," she said.

"Yeah, but you did!" He exclaimed, jumping up from the cot. He paced the floor a little, trying his best not to start crying himself.

Jasmine's mouth worked, until she decided not to try to find words. What else did she expect? He was fourteen years old when she left, and he'd had to deal with so much since then. Of course, he would be angry with her, even if it wasn't quite logical. Emotions didn't need logic, they just needed expression. With that in mind, Jasmine simply waited.

"You left and didn't come back, and I didn't know what to feel. I didn't even know what to do with myself Jazzy!" He began. He paced the floor as he spoke.

"I thought you had died or something. I tried to get mom to care, but she didn't give a shit what happened. I went to the police, but nobody listened to me. I was just a stupid little ghetto kid, with a crackhead for a mother…..and a whore for a sister," he said, and that broke her.

Jasmine covered her face, and cried bitterly into her hands. She'd always hidden that from him. To her great shame, he had come to realize what a piece of shit his sister really was. In the process of looking for her, many disturbing truths must have been unearthed. She didn't even want to know what else he might have found, her being a prostitute was more than enough. Marcus instantly felt bad. He hadn't meant to hurt her with his words. He didn't mean to blame her for something that was apparently not her fault. Now, he felt it might have been his time to listen. He came and kneeled before his sister, and grabbed her hands from her tear-streaked face. He held them in his own, and reached one hand to wipe her tears.

"I always tried to hide that from you Marcus," she said between sobs. She then tried to get herself together enough to speak clearly.

"I never wanted to you be ashamed of me for what I had to do to survive. The night I left the house, I wandered the streets for a while. I decided that I should probably get cleaned up or something, you know, get you outta there away from mama," she said, stopping to wipe her eyes and clear her throat.

"I got to that outreach place, and went to sleep. When I woke up again, I was on a spaceship, although I didn't even know it at the time. I had to slowly find that out. I was so scared Marcus. I didn't know what to do. I didn't have anybody, nobody to tell, nobody to help me. The only thing I could think about was how I left you behind. How you would think I just left on purpose. I couldn't stand it Marcus," she said, finally looking him in his eyes. She took a big sniff, and lowered her eyes.

"Do, do you hate me Marcus?" The question hung in the air, and it was only in that moment, when he realized just how guilty she'd felt for everything. He grabbed her face.

"I would never hate you Jazzy. I love you, and I know you wouldn't have left if you coulda helped it. I'm just glad you're still alive. That was my biggest fear, that you left me alone, not because you ran away or anything, but because you died and didn't take me with you. I just wanted to be with you, no matter where it was. I guess, I got my wish, right?" He said, smiling through tears. Jasmine seemed shocked and relieved all at the same time. She clung to his neck, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"I love you Marcus," she said, as he stroked a hand through her long, puffy hair.

"I love you too Jazzy. Now, we gotta stop crying. Starting to feel like a little bitch," he said, pulling away and smiling brightly. He was happy to see a smile on her face as well. He sat next to her, a comfortable silence settling over them, although she could feel he had more questions.

"You love him, Jazzy, or you're forced to love him?" He asked. It was more than a fair question. It deserved an honest answer.

"I love him so much, and my little babies too. It was all so weird, because it definitely didn't start like that. They're different, but there's a lot that's sort of the same."

"Is it a one-way street? How do you know how he feels?"

"That took a lot of work, not gonna lie. There were a few times that I doubted it, to be honest. He's hard to read, and he doesn't like to talk. They don't think much of talking about shit like their feelings. Things are to be understood and done, not talked about. I don't know if I'm explaining that right," she said.

"Nah, it's cool. I get it. I can't see none of them sitting around getting in touch with their feminine side, not even the damn girls," he said, as they both shared a laugh.

"Speaking of girls, you know Nanku lowkey likes you, right?" Jasmine asked, enjoying the shocked, and slightly disgusted look on his face.

"Who the fuck is Nanku?" He asked.

"The girl predator that follows you around all day, stop acting like you don't know," she said, poking him playfully.

"Oh hell no! Not fucking that thing Jazzy. I don't even know how you do it. They're ugly, all of them. Well, the babies are almost cute….almost. That's really just because they're half you though," he said, then had to duck a swat to the head.

"Hey, my babies are the cutest!" She said, knowing he meant no harm. It was a lot to take in, and he was doing fine so far.

"Are you still a virgin?" She asked out of the blue. His eyes nearly fell out of his head.

"Why you gotta be all in my business?! I got plenty of girls trying to get at me, fuck outta here," he said dismissively. Jasmine wasn't moved.

"Just because you're a virgin doesn't mean you gotta be scared of sex. It also doesn't mean you have to have sex with Nanku, especially your first time," she teased.

"No, I am not having this conversation with my sister. Let Astro deal with it, he already told me he think it's sexy."

"She, he thinks she's sexy. Nanku is a female Marcus, but if you say that in front of them, and they think it's an insult, they don't have any qualms about confronting you physically, and I can't help you if that happens," she said. She was still sort of smiling, although she meant the warning. He seemed to stop to consider it.

"Am I gonna have to get jumped in, like a gang?" He asked suddenly. She laughed, but then considered it. He wasn't too far off.

"Not the way you think, but if you want to be considered part of the clan, you have to prove worthy and strong enough. If you stick around, which I have no intention of letting you out of my sight, then yeah, you'll have to go through a trial," Jasmine said, and waited for his response.

"I take it I have to fight in this trial?" He asked.

"Yeah, but not like a one on one fight. More like you have to prove you can hunt and kill, but that can wait. I don't wanna talk about that right now."

"Did you do one of these?" He asked, his earlier grin dying as she nodded in the affirmative. She didn't seem to be playing at all.

"It's pretty much everything we just went through, just perhaps in a little more controlled way. Just a little. Like I said, I don't wanna talk about that right now," she said, as she got to her feet and stretched.

"One thing though. I still don't know what they did to me Jazzy. You think, you think these aliens can help me figure it out?" He asked as they both got to the door.

"We'll ask Lijia. She's like the doctor or whatever. Maybe she can tell you what's up. She seemed like she found something out after your seizure. By the way, how are you after that? Do you even remember it?"

"I don't remember the seizure, but I feel better. Before, I felt like I wasn't myself. I felt like, I was losing myself, or turning into somebody else. I kept having all these violent thoughts. Jazzy, I didn't mind killing those people," he said solemnly. "I still don't."

Jasmine thought about that for a little bit. Sounded similar to her own experience. It wasn't as difficult to kill people as she once would have imagined. She still didn't know if that made her a bad person or not, and with the life she was now leading, she wondered if something like 'being a bad person' was even anything that mattered anymore. Instead of getting lost in that, she simply gave him one last hug.

"We'll look into it, and don't feel too bad. We're just surviving, like we always do Marcus," she said, and was thankful to see relief in his eyes.

"See you tomorrow big head," he called behind her, before pushing her out, and sliding the door closed to her playful protests. She could hear him giggle behind the door, and it brought a smile to her face. Her steps were a little more buoyant as she made her way back to Kujhade's bed.


In Loving Memory

of

Brandon "Issy" Davis

My Baby Brother

02/13/90 - 08/16/17


A/N: Just wanted to give a little one shot. There may be more to come. This one I found especially difficult to write, because recently my little brother passed away. I borrowed so heavily from our own relationship to create the interactions between Jasmine and Marcus, until it took me several times, to compose myself. Not any action, but a necessary conversation I believe. What do you want me to address in the next one shot? I'm open to suggestions perhaps.