Nothing but Tricks

Andrew didn't like to be the person that would ruin everyones moment. But when someones live was on the line, he would not stand idly by and let that person meet his or her own fate. In his eyes, that would be murder and most people could say the same. He looked down at the grass that he sat on and sighed, feeling somewhat horrible for ruining her mood. Yet once again, she had the right to know.

"He's a horrible man," he said softly, not wanting to believe that he had said that. He always thought you could find good in a person, but what good could be found in someone like Vito? You couldn't. "he'll probably kill you if he wants to," he said again then had a look of disgust on his face "if it doesn't affect him in any way...the bastard." He had not talked about someone like that since Ne'Os, and well it felt odd.

He looked back up at Jack, nothing emitting from his hazel eyes "I woudln't talk to him if I were you." To his surprise, she had a facial expression of...well nothing. It was surprising because she probably would've looked angry or sad if Chase's family had been killed. But it almost looked like she couldn't think of what to do. How hard could a decision like that be?

Jack always did this. Whenever she was most affected by something or had more emotions working up, she looked as though she had shut down. She would just prop up those steel walls that were usually guarding her and drained herself of all expression. She could not explain it herself and she knew it weirded people out, and yet...here they were.

He said that Vito was horrible and Jack nodded. "Yes, I know." There honestly was no denying that. She had seen some of his most terrible episodes and she therefore knew firsthand just how insane the guy could be. Andrew said that Vito would kill Jack if he wanted to. She nodded and in that horrible, mechanical voice, she said, "I know." It was true. If he really wanted to, he would.

But that was the thing. He had not. Jack knew she had pushed him. She had pushed his buttons and she had found out delicate information that most people would never even dare to explore. Countless times, she had been that close. She had pushed him right to the edge and then prodded him in the back so he dangled right over it.

But she was here. As the person who had seen the worst of Vito, she should be able to testify to just how bad he could be. But in some strange way, it also proved that she could testify as to the hope she had seen. Maybe it was not hope exactly, but hope for hope.

She ignored when he called him a name. She herself had called Vito a bastard, to his face. But when he said that he would not talk to Vito, she coughed once and said, "Well you are not me." It was sharper then she had intended, but he did not get that there was a difference in how he and Vito operated and how she and Vito operated. She glanced at him. "Thanks for the heads up or whatever, but I know what I'm doing. Okay?"

Andrew felt like he was a teacher at that point. He would say something and the other person would just say I know. It didn't bother him, yet he was surprised by the fact she had not wanted to ask and see if he knew anything else, to try and find him and get him on the stockade or whatever. He knew that Jack didn't know Chase that much, but knew she had at least some sympathy for her and maybe ask if he needed help finding Vito. But Andrew realised at that point, he would be asking too much.

What was it with revenge that always got to Andrew? It seemed to call out to him, like some sort of siren song and couldn't leave his head until he would go explore the noise and crash into his doom. It was a dangerous thing, revenge, and sometimes Andrew couldn't find the difference between bravery and stupidity. Both had a clear cut line between them and even at that point, he still felt as if he needed to help avenge Chase and her family. Or something.

Andrew raised his eyebrow slightly, to a point where it was barely even noticeable, when she talked to him sharply. Something in his head bothered him to ask a question, yet decided not to bring up the subject. Talking about this would just get his adrenaline pumping and go seek another 'adventure'. He had too much of those already. Instead, he nodded his head and said "Okay then. I got it."

"Good." Jack nodded firmly, staring straight ahead, aware of the tension now siting between the two friends. Usually she and Andrew got along great, having similar interests like Potter's Army and Quidditch. They had bonded over Quidditch, battles, adventures, and brownies. But now for the first time since she had become chums with Andrew, Jack felt an almost awkward silence fall between them.

Her life had definitely been thrown upside down since she had delved farther into Vito's life, and she knew it had been affecting the way she interacted with people, but here was proof. She believed Andrew, even though she desperately did not want to, but she also felt unease settling on her, as though she could not trust him. Andrew had long since proven his trust in many of their various escapades together, and yet here she was, feeling suspicious.

Nowadays, Jack regarded all of her friends and acquaintances with suspicion, as though the only reason they were growing close to her was because they wanted to find the biggest and best way to crush her, to expose her, to break her down. She did not knw why she suddenly found it more hard to trust anyone, but now she could feel it. The tension was almost tangible.

She let out a sigh and looked across the grass again, the sun blinding her for a moment. She brushed her bangs into her eyes to keep the sun from hurting them and then groaned, flopping back onto the ground, laying down and banging the earth, returning back to normal as much as she could. "I'm bored."

((Andrew, Jack, and Vito should have a thread!!! =O How crazy would that be?))

For the only time he could remember, he noticed that things seemed to be tense now between both him and Jack. Why did it feel that way for him? He had always been the one to lighten up the mood, yet now something seemed wrong to him. It almost made him curious about Jack's intentions, wondering if Vito had perhaps killed the real Jack and made some sort of replica for his own amusement. He grimaced at himself, thinking that thought was stupid and exaggerated. There was no way the poltergeist could pull off such a stunt. After all, he was dead.

Andrew continued to sit there, wondering how they could perhaps liven things up between the both of them. Yet with every thought that passed by, he couldn't help but think of Chase, whom had enough taken from her already. He almost felt guilty at that. But he knew now that there was nothing he could've done, even if he was there. Trying to kill a dead man would be like fighting an invisible foe. And that creature had both advantages over him. But he knew he would have to stay on good terms with Jack. He needed someone to trust, someone who he could risk his life for.

Andrew turned his head slowly to where he could see Jack's face and raised an eyebrow. "Already?" he asked, perplexed by her sudden statement. He nodded however, knowing that they needed something to do to keep their minds off the subject. They would eventually overthink it and would probably have each others wands in their throats. The question was, if it would come to that later on in the future. "What do you want to do?" he asked in a questioning tone.

Jack smirked when he asked already. "Andrew, if I'm not on a broomstick, eating, or in a very dangerous situation, I'm bored." She laughed at the slight...slight exaggeration and sat back up with a huff, blowing some stray hairs out of her face as she squinted at the raging sun which seemed determined to burn out her eyes.

He asked what she wanted to do and she shrugged. Honestly, anything that kept her mind off of their previous conversation. She felt hollowed out, not only at the knowledge she had obtained but by the fact that her name was probably dirt to Andrew. She knew that he and Chase were close, and by ever having associating herself with Vito, she was associating herself with an enemy of two of her friends. It frustrated her that she could not live in a black and white world. She had always thought of things in black and white, good and bad, friend and enemy. Now there was gray everywhere, good and bad were becoming harder to distinguish, she didn't trust her friends, and she went barhopping with her enemies!

AGH!

Needless to say, she needed something to get her mind off of things. It did not need to be as drastic as an adventure as their Loch Ness trip or anything like that, just something to keep her focus on and to take up all her energy. She grinned. "Don't hate me for it, but we need another quest." She laughed to herself, remembering Andrew saying he needed a break from all these little excursions and knowing he was probably seconds away from rolling his eyes.

Eating? Now he remembered that Jack had been eating brownies, before they had gone on to find the Loch Ness, and before he nearly got lost in the large lake. Needless to say, he felt almost irritated by the request, thinking that he had enough adventures for a month. He didn't even want to run his mind on how many times he had cheated death, or killed someone. Yet he kept a straight face on, not wanting to show his irritation.

He blinked at her a couple of times when she said that they needed to 'quest'. Where could they go exactly? Everything seemed calm and nothing was really going on. The ministry was handling the Death Eater situation, Ne'Os was dead, Nerissa was safe, as well as Chase. Nothing seemed to want to interest him, nor did he even feel like getting back onto his legs.

"Well what 'quest' are we thinking about here?" he asked her, still curious about what she would have on her mind. Sure, the quests that they went on were fun and dangerous and often felt like he was 25, yet he still had a good time regardless. "Nothing dangerous, I hope."

Jack sighed, her eyes looking upwards as she scanned her mind for any ideas. "Eh, I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that," she said. When you are constantly thinking crazy things up, after awhile your plots begin to run dry. All ideas she had now were either too dangerous or too tame, both of which were not appealing to her.

Jack always seemed to be in motion and the people close to her always asked her incredulously why she did not get tired of all the trouble and problems. But it was a vicious cycle. She went on an adventure, and got hurt or in trouble somehow. To forget the pain or hurt, she distracted herself with another adventure, and so the cycle continued. It was stupid and yet here she was.

Suddenly she remembered something Uncle Chip had said. "Oi, wait a minute. My uncle said something about a tree fort being around here. Like some teenagers built a tree fort and then abandoned it." She grinned. "That's not to dangerous. I can stop either of us from slipping and falling." She pulled out her wand. "I'm of age now."

Andrew smiled a bit when Jack began to say that she had no idea. Jack had always been his source for ideas, and he often just helped get the plan into action. He had not once thought of a good idea for one of their adventures, since most of them were really dangerous. For example, fighting a large basilisk and killing mutated bears. Well that last one just happened for no reason, yet was still dangerous.

He began to wonder on why Jack had always been on some sort of mission. Whether it was pulling a prank on a small child or finding some sort of task to keep herself and others occupied, she was always doing something. Maybe one day he would ask why, but things already seemed tense enough as it was. He didn't need things to just become awkward.

A fort? He was surprised by the idea, but gave points for originality. He wouldn't have ever thought of such a thing and it really impressed him. "Okay then," he said, pushing himself ont his hands to get to his feet. He rolled his neck around in a circular motion, popping a couple of bones into place as he did. He then began to stretch out his arms and forced himself to wake up from his sleep. He already felt better, and seemed to be in a more cheerful mood. "Woo!" he said, getting his blood pumping again "let's go."

Jack laughed, hopping up onto her feet and brushing off her pants, glad to finally have a distraction. Now they could pretend that the previous conversation had not happened and they could just focus on finding the tree fort and not have stray thoughts.

It seemed that this was Jack's new philosophy on life. Pretend it never happened. She knew it was not healthy, because these thoughts then kept her up at night, tossing and turning as she rehashed the situation and got herself worried about it. But it was better than the alternative of brooding on it night and day.

Sometimes.

She pushed all thoughts of the uncomfortable, tense conversation and held out a finger, pointed forward. "Onward!" she boomed in a loud, commanding voice, like a general leading her troops into a battle. She began walking forward, the long grass tickling her legs, though she did not feel it through her jeans. She peered forward and schlepped along, running over to trees and glancing up into their branches, but never finding it. "It might be kid of far."