Jeb and Terry - Backdated

[ax_siryn]

Terry can never resist investigating music.


Jeb was bored.

Worse than bored, he was bored and not really motivated to do much in the line of schoolwork. Sure, Jay would probably chew him out if his grades started to slip, but Jay wasn't one to talk much about academics in the first place. Mama Guthrie would never let him hear the end of it, neither, he figured. But that didn't stop him from enjoying the cool autumn weather outside while he mulled over some of the happenings of the last few days. Ever since he got here, things had been strange. And it wasn't just because it was a mutant school.

He put the cold harmonica to his lips and started to play, just sort of improvising as he usually did. Sam hadn't taught him any songs or anything like that; just the basics. He knew how to make good enough noise that sounded, more or less, like music, and so he'd sit there and fiddle with it for awhile.

Music was sure to draw Terry over, whether she could recognise it or not. She followed the sound of the harmonica over to the boy playing outside the building and bit on her bottom lip, stopping walking before he noticed her, so she could listen a little while longer.

More often than not, Jeb played with his eyes closed. It was easier to focus and visualize his hand placements as Sam had taught him, that way. It was a way to 'feel' the music, if he was feeling corny. It wasn't anything special or fantastic, but it wasn't terrible, and it was something to remember his family by. So many miles away. Okay, yeah, he was homesick, he was willing to admit it. He wasn't too tough of a guy to admit that.

He opened his eyes and set his harmonica in his lap, looking at it and giving a bit of a pensive sigh before looking up, noticing the girl. "Howdy," he said, tipping an invisible hat and giving her a grin.

"Hello," Terry told him with a small, slightly embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt you."

"Nah, it's fine, you weren't interruptin'," Jeb said, easily. "How ya doin'? I've seen ya around but I don't think we've talked none."

"I'm Terry," she told him, and nodded at the harmonica on his lap. "You sounded good."

"Jeb," he said, by way of introduction. "And thanks. M'brother taught me. He learned from my pa. I didn't much get the chance, so he taught me." He didn't keep his father's death like some sort of secret, but he didn't go about just spouting it off, either. "I could be a lot better, though. Ain't near as good as some I've heard."

Terry wasn't sure why he wouldn't have had the chance - there were more options than death - but she wasn't going to ask. She'd only just met the boy. "That's what practice is for," she replied with a smile. "And, well. As long as you enjoy yourself, it doesn't really matter, I find."

"Yeah," Jeb said, nodding. "So, if you don't mind me askin'. What'cha think of that announcement a few days back?" he asked. He was fifteen now; more or less just turned that age, and he was used to birthdays with little pomp and circumstance. He felt that much more independent, and his conversation with his brother was still fresh in his mind. How could it not be?

That was out of the blue, but it didn't mean Terry wasn't going to answer his question. "I think the headmaster's lied to us, and that's not all right. But doing something good with what we can do - that sounds all right."

"Yeah, I hear you," Jeb agreed, nodding. "So do you plan on signin' up?" he asked, curious. "Or already did?" That was a possibility, after all.

Terry nodded. "I've signed up. What about you?"

"Yeah," Jeb said, nodding. His brother didn't like it. But his brother didn't have to like it. "You know anyone against it?" he asked, curiously. Maybe they'd have common ground, there.

"Plenty," Terry confirmed.

"I don't reckon you got any sisters or brothers here that aren't keen on it," Jeb guessed, looking up and frowning just a bit.

Terry frowned. "I'm an only child." That she knew of, anyway. "Have you?"

"Yeah," Jeb shifted on the stoop, where he was seated. "It, uh. Y'know. I got a brother here. Older. And, uh." He scratched the back of his head. He didn't want to talk about Jay's trauma. Not to a stranger, or anyone, really. That was Jay's place, not his. "He's been through some stuff, on account'a him bein' a mutant. He thinks I'm fixin' to get myself killed."

Terry finally decided to take a seat beside him, if they were going to have this sort of talk. "Well. It is going to be dangerous, he's not wrong."

"Well sure, but... I'mma have plenty of folk with me. People to watch my back. I know I ain't invincible. I didn't get that lucky with the mutations," he chuckled.

"We don't really know what it's going to be like," Terry replied quietly. "We'll be going up against people who hate us, and the guards will likely target us first, if they're there." She remembered how frightened she'd been when things had gone south with her uncle. She knew what it felt like, having guns pointed at her. "And what if we have to go up against that Brotherhood gang? Mutants against mutants. Your brother's right to worry."

"I know that. But I can't sit around and do nothin'. And he can't respect that," Jeb replied.

"I'm sorry," Terry told him with a sympathetic grimace. "I'd say 'his loss', but it's yours as well, isn't it?"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "What's a boy to do, though, eh? I can't just sit 'round and hope things go well without me. I gotta be a part of it."

Terry nodded slowly. "I know the feeling."

"That why you're getting into it?" Jeb asked, curiously. They'd talked a good bit about him. What about her?

"Our mutations can be so dangerous," Terry answered after a beat. "They can be a force for good instead." And she owed the headmaster a lot. She didn't know what she would have done without him. Tried and found her way back to Ireland? Turned herself in? Fallen in with the Brotherhood?

"True enough," Jeb said, nodding. "Last time I used mine, I gave one of the Cabot boys--" He realized she didn't know who they were, so he stumbled into an explanation. "Family... feuding. Y'know how us southern folks get. Anyhow. Gave one'a them a heckuva zap."

Terry didn't really know how they got, but she understood the gist of it. It sounded a lot like what had happened to her. "Is he all right?"

"Oh, yeah, he's fine," Jeb said, waving a hand. "Put him on his ass. Had him twitchin' fer a bit, but he was on his feet 'fore he got home."

"Good." Terry's relief was completely genuine. "So that's what you do? Electricity?"

Jeb cracked a grin, and out of his right eye, tiny blue sparks crackled. "Kinda. I shoot lightnin' from my eyes."

"Stop the lights!" Terry let out with wide eyes, staring at the sparks in question. "That's savage!"

He blinked at her, never hearing the expression before. "What?" he asked, chuckling a bit.

"Impressive?" she offered, cheeks heating up slightly. "Sorry."

He shook his head, grinning. "Nah, just... never heard nothin' like that before," he said. "Yer not from 'round here, I reckon."

"The accent hadn't given me away?" Terry asked, amused and incredulous. It always did. "I'm Irish."

"Well, I weren't sure if maybe you was, y'know, puttin' on airs, or ... maybe it was just a family thing?" He chuckled, shrugging. "I'll be honest, wasn't really thinkin' about it."

Terry had to laugh at that. "They'd be the funny sort of airs." She wasn't sure anyone who wanted to put on airs had ever picked the Irish accent.

"I reckon so," he chuckled, nodding along. "I'm just used to that sorta thing. My brother, he kinda tries to hide his southern drawl," he said, drawing out the 'aww' in 'drawl' a bit, for effect.

"I'd never dare show my face in Ireland again if I did that," Terry admitted.

"Well, I dunno how it is in Ireland and ... all around that. France?" he asked, thinking. "And, uh. The UK. Britain. England. Whatever," he said, waving a hand. "But 'round here, accents like mine, people tend to think we're, y'know. Slow. Dumber than a box'a hammers, but half as useful."

Terry shrugged. "The English have always thought they were better than us. We know better."

"Wouldn't know," Jeb said, shrugging. "First impression, though, I'd say yer decent folk. First Irish I've met."

"Well, we're meant to all be drunks, violent, and redheads." She smiled at that last one, since here she was, and shrugged.

"I'm familiar with all three," Jeb said, shrugging. "Got no shortage'a drunk folk in Kentucky."

"Are you also a bourbon country?" she asked curiously, thinking about what she knew of Louisiana from Remy.

"Kentucky was more moonshine and whiskey, from what I know," Jeb said. "Though I reckon that ain't much, mind. Never did get a chance to see what Pa used to drink. And Ma, well, she was too busy to have a nip'a hooch."

"What happened to your father?" Terry asked, eyes a little wide.

"Black lung," Jeb said, glancing down at his feet for a few moments. "Was a coal miner, after all. Happens a lot."

"How old were you?" she asked, sympathy clear in her eyes.

"Little," Jeb said, honestly. "But not too little. I'm the middle of..." He did a quick count on his fingers for show. "Nine," he said, nodding, though he'd known that before. "All from my Pa."

"Whoa," Terry stated, eyes wide. "I don't know how your mother manages without drinking."

"Delegatin'," Jeb said, frankly, looking her in the eye and then smirking. "Sam an' Paige are the oldest. They've been helpin' with the little'uns since they was old enough. Paige still helps ma out, an' now Sam works in the mines."

In the mines? After what happened to their father? Terry couldn't imagine it. "Is it safer now? Working in the mines?"

"Probly?" Jeb shrugged. "It was the only thing he could do to support the family, after Pa died. Dropped outta school to go workin'. He's a braver man than I."

"He sounds very brave," Terry agreed.

"Sam's the best," Jeb said. "My brother, Jay, maybe you met him?" Jeb asked, shrugging. "He's a swell guy, too. Don't tell 'im I said that, though. He'd never believe ya."

"I don't think so," Terry stated after a second's thought. "Which one is he?" There were few enough students that she would probably know him by sight, at least.

"Red wings," Jeb said, figuring that'd be sufficient. "He's probably real quiet in class, I reckon."

"Oh, yes!" Terry confirmed with an enthusiastic nod. "He's hard to miss. We haven't talked, though."

"Yeah. He stands out." And Jeb knew he didn't like it. "Y'should talk to him sometime. If yer into music, at least. He plays guitar, and he's a singer, too."

Terry's smile at the thought was bright. "I will," she said with a nod.

"Good," he said, smiling. "He ain't all country like me, though. Jay's a little more rock 'n' roll. Which is fine by me; I like me some rock 'n' roll, too. I just mean like, in his attitude. I guess. I dunno what I'm tryin' to say."

Terry chuckled at his conclusion. "That's all right. I like rock'n'roll. I'll definitely go talk to him."

"Cool, cool," Jeb said, nodding. "Guthries look out for each other," he said.

Terry smiled more softly. "Is that what having siblings is like?"

"I reckon so," Jeb said, shrugging. "I've always had brothers 'n' sisters. Don't know what not havin' 'em's like. Don't reckon I'd be keen on it."

"I'm used to being on my own a fair bit," Terry replied with a shrug. And her uncle had had her back.

"Sounds lonesome," Jeb opined.

"It can be," Terry confirmed. "But that's what school is for. Well, that and learning things, I suppose."

"S'pose so. Never was so good at the learnin', dunno about you. Ain't a single Guthrie ever gone to college. Paige is shootin' fer it though. I wish 'er the best."

"She's one of your sisters?" Terry checked. She really couldn't imagine having so many siblings.

"Yeah, the oldest sister," Jeb said, nodding. "Don't know about nobody else. Mama tells us to do our best, but we gotta do what we gotta do to help the family."

That sounded horrible, to Terry. The lack of options... She had no idea what her own options were, especially now, but she had never thought that family could be a burden until now. Not that he would see it that way; she only could because she wasn't invested emotionally. "What about - scholarships, or...?" She was even more out of depth here in the US.

"Yeah, Paige is tryin' to get 'em. She's workin' hard on her grades. She's probably the brightest Guthrie that ever was."

"I really hope she makes it to - college," Terry stated with a small, honest smile.

"Every Guthrie's rootin' for her," Jeb said, grinning. "Mama makes sure the little'uns don't bother her when she's studyin'. Everyone does their part to help each other out. That's what family's for."

"That sounds really nice." She looked back towards the mansion, then smiled at Jeb. "I oughta head back in. It was nice to meet you, Jeb."

"Nice meetin' you, too," Jeb replied, smiling at her. "I'll see ya 'round, I reckon."