Division of Worlds

CH 5--Hindrance


Jocelyn stirred, Vespat's eye opening up and peering down at her. He had slept in all but his tights and the frames with glasses so he could see her. She had slept soundly like the dead until morning when she started to stir. Looking down, she had curled up close to him but didn't rest her head on his chest like before.

The Discus can't stay here…Vespat had concluded as he sat up to watch her. And neither can she…but laws restrict me from removing a person from their dimension…What can I do?

The low buzzing sound of Jocelyn's alarm clock sounded off. Had he really been awake that long? In reaction to the alarm, the woman had rolled over and smacked it, retreating back under the covers. Well, she didn't have to actually get up but still…she needed to get up and moving.

Reluctantly, Jocelyn pushed herself to get out of bed. Her whole body ached from the amount of tension in all of her muscles from yesterday. Getting up, she hobbled out of the room, not even bothering to chastise Ves into getting out of her bed. The elf followed behind her, watching her carefully.

"Hello…are you…"Ves started, reaching out for her shoulder and getting an uncomfortable flinch.

"Ah…Sorry, no…Its just that my shoulder still hurts. It's nothing."Jocelyn said as she turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. "I have more errands to run today. You don't have to come if you don't want to."

"You're going out again? After what happened yesterday?"Vespat frowned.

"I'm not someone who can sit still. Ask my co-wor…never mind. You would probably just need to see it to believe it. Just…get dressed."Jocelyn said as she stomped off to the kitchen, leaving Ves in the dust. The elf's eyebrow raised.

I guess she'll be alright…Ves said as he sighed and returned back to her bedroom.


Jocelyn had made their trip more anxious with her little jumps and twitches as someone accidentally bumped into her in the store. Ves sat in the chair near the fitting rooms while she was trying on clothes, watching her step out, examine herself then went back to change. It was just reminding himself that even he did the same thing in his world.

The clothes however, were far more elegant than the 'jeans' or 'sweaters' that she seemed to wear all the time. Ves' eyes started to wander around in boredom, his eyes falling on a dark blue shirt. Getting up, he went to examine it, feeling the cloth between his fingers.

Soft.

Perhaps he could lighten her spirits a little? Glancing around, he saw that no other beings were around, quietly lifting the sweater off of the rack and moving to the dressing room as Jocelyn came out again. She saw the shirt first.

"Why are you holding a woman's shirt? That won't fit you."Jocelyn said as she looked up to him. Ves caught the view of the fine cut on her neck as her hair tousled about.

"It's not for me. Try this on."Vespat said as he shoved the shirt into her arms, making her stumble a bit. Jocelyn glared at him though it wasn't as frightening as her previous ones. She turned around, giving into it and going to go try it on.

The shirt was made of two parts: A shirt that had a scooped neck that swooped a little dangerously low for her to her cleavage and a water-fall light sweater that was long enough to cover up some of the areas she didn't typically like about herself. Looking at herself in the mirror in the changing stall, she stepped out to the larger mirror. Ves waited for her, smiling slightly.

Blue was a much more charming color on her. Jocelyn looked at herself in the mirror, moving some of her hair around a bit. "You really picked this?"She asked him, the elf nodding.

"It caught my eye…the fabric is remarkably soft. I liked it."He said, his face reddening under the purple frames of the glasses. They almost seemed to fog up as well, Ves removing them to clean them.

Jocelyn stared at him, reddening and quickly going to go change. As she removed the sweater, she stared at herself a little longer. Ves was nice…it didn't particularly bother her that she was allowing some stranger into her home…but the dangers that seemed to come with him.

Her life wasn't simple anymore. Stepping back out of the dressing room, she had the clothes she wanted to purchase over her arm, walking past Vespat who followed behind her like a duckling to the counter. "Are you going to get it?"Ves prodded.

"That's for me to know and you to find out."Jocelyn whispered the cashier looking at her oddly before ringing up the total. Thankfully, her job the museum paid her well enough that she could afford to do some personal shopping once in a while. Nothing proved more therapeutic than some new clothes or a new pair of comfortably cute shoes.

Driving back home was oddly quiet. Ves hunkered down a little in his seat, feeling oddly uncomfortable without Jocelyn being angry with him for some reason or some form of conversation going on. The odd music that played on the radio was low, making the car feel even more silent.

"You…"He started, trying to break it.

"How much time until the next full moon?"Jocelyn asked, gently pressing on the brakes at a light.

"A-another twenty eight days…"Vespat said warily. "Why do you ask? You know this already."

"I'm wondering…just how long…"Jocelyn said as she gripped her steering wheel a little tighter. "Because I don't think I could stand another thing like that on the roof happening again. It's too…too…fast."

"Then I'll do my best to try to find a way around the full moon restriction but it will take some time. No one has ever really tried it before to move beyond them out of caution…"Ves said as he looked forward, seeing more of the large metallic beasts in front of them called 'cars'.

"Then figure it out!"Jocelyn shouted at him, gasping a little and looking forward again. Vespat's glasses slid down his nose as he had retreated against the car door, blinking. Correcting himself, he slid the glasses back up his nose. "I'm sorry…"She added softly.

"You are frustrated and scared…it's reasonable to be upset."Ves said as he managed to crack a decent smile. "I think any other woman in that circumstance would have died…I couldn't help to enjoy the sound of the beast howling because you bit his tail."

Jocelyn reddened, gripping her steering wheel with white knuckles. "I-I was pissed off…"She huffed, making Ves smile a little more broadly. She was getting closer to becoming her normal self again and with some more goading she would be right as rain.

"I think it was more than that…you were furious. I think being underneath something bigger than you are turned you into a brash woman."Ves said as he saw her knuckles go whiter.

"Furious? He stomped on me…he spied on both of us and he was a student of mine. I don't know if I had any patience left at that point…I went from quiet, intelligent lady to an Amazon."Jocelyn sighed.

"At least you are an Amazon that is alive because of your actions."Ves said, giving her a prod on her side though she promptly smacked him upside the head. "Ow!"

"My side hurts, elf-man."Jocelyn growled, the dimensional being grinning on the inside. Back at the apartment, she began to be a little more gruff with him as she moved about the apartment. As she put away her new clothes and a couple of warmer clothes for Ves that she had purchased out of thanks though she hadn't mentioned anything. However, when she moved, she would brush against him hard or step on his naked foot.

By nightfall, they both had taken spots across from each other in the living room, Jocelyn sitting with a newspaper and a cup of tea with Ves looking at another colorful magazine with images of this world's environments. Some reminded him of his home and made him feel a tinge of guilt that he hadn't gone home sooner as soon as he had found the discus.

"I want you to come to work with me tomorrow…"Jocelyn said, having not looked up from the newspaper.

"Huh?"Ves said as he looked up from his magazine.

"I don't want a repeat…and you can hear or pick up on things that I can't that are from other dimensions can't you? I want you to be my eyes and ears…"She said, finally looking up at him. "That way, I can concentrate on work and you can be near the discus."

"A wise decision…"Ves agreed, looking down. "And I am intrigued by this place of work you talk of in passing."

"Good. We have to get up early tomorrow."Jocelyn said as she finished the last of her tea, getting up and tossing the newspaper on the coffee table. Ves got up, setting the magazine down and following behind her only to stop abruptly when the woman in front of him stopped.

"What? You're not going to your room?"Vespat asked, Jocelyn looking over her shoulder.

"I am, but why are you following me?"She growled a little.

"Would you not like a second set of eyes in the same room?"He prodded, the plump figure cringing.

"No…maybe…"She said, looking to the bedroom door. "I'm afraid…"

"I assure you that the beast won't be back for some time. The wounds he sustained would take some time to heal even with a proper healing spell in place."Vespat said, giving her gentle guidance with his hand to the bedroom, Jocelyn sitting down and removing her glasses.

"From that summons?"

The elf nodded darkly. "It was either him, you, or the discus."

Human she may be but Ves could notice things in the little time he had been in this earthen dimension. She bit her lower lip, crawled into bed and lay there while he watched her. A frigid ice queen, an intelligent voluptuous woman she was but even she had that shy, bothered look about her. Ves removed his clothing one item at a time, sliding into bed and sitting up against the wall that it was squeezed against. Jocelyn peeked up at him, shifting a little closer while Vespat put a hand on her head gently, running his fingers through.

"Do you have someone on the other side?"Jocelyn asked softly. "You don't have a wife…or a lover…who else is there?"

Ves's ears twitched oddly, his eyebrow raising. "You'll find out soon enough…"He said, giving her head a pat which made her bat his hand away. He smirked, removing the glasses and sliding them onto a shelf just above the bed.