The sunset was always so beautiful over the ocean, wasn't it? Most people seemed to think so. Well, if you were to ask Jasper, it was much nicer over Lake Michigan, or the Chicago skyline. Despite having moved to Maine over five years ago, he had yet to grow used to the differences in Newport and Chicago. He woke up every morning hoping to be greeted by skyscrapers and the loud roar of a train rushing by, only to be disappointed by the open land and silence. Sure, the East Coast had it's advantages -- beaches, milder winter, less people -- but Jasper was raised in the city. He had family and friends there. Really, it was no wonder he was having a hard time adjusting to everything.

Luckily, though, things weren't completely terrible here. He had a somewhat steady income, a home, new friends. Still, though, Jasper wished he could go back to Chicago, even just to visit for a week or two. Show his daughter where he grew up and everything. It would be a nice reprieve for the two of them... if only Jasper had the money to afford it. So, until the day he hit the lottery, and/or got a higher paying job, there wasn't much he could do but dream of one day going home again.

Just as Jasper was beginning to delve further into his fantasies, he was jerked rather harshly back into reality by a yell from his daughter, Emelia. "Daddy!" She called, her high-pitched voice piercing the quiet air around them. Jasper, of course, became highly worried by such a cry, especially after the idea that she could be hurt seeped into his head. A jolt of panic gripped him for a few moments as he searched the area, wide-eyed, for his daughter. Fortunately, he found her... just as she bowled into him and pretty much leaped into his lap. Of course, because he wasn't expecting such an entrance from her, the gesture almost gave him a heart attack. Poor Jasper was often very skittish, especially when it came to his daughter, and this instance was no different.

However, Emma seemed to think her father's shock to be quite funny, and began to laugh as she situated herself nicely in her father's arms. Before Jasper could even begin to fully process his daughter's sudden approach, she reached her hand up and shoved a rather large, strangely-shaped shell in his make-up covered face. Well, how's that for a "hello"? "Look what I found!" The little girl exclaimed excitedly, her hazel eyes eyes (that matched her father's perfectly) sparkling in the twilight. Jasper gingerly took it from her hand, examining her find in an attempt to figure out what the hell it was. Dammit, what were those things called? He hesitated for a few moments, contemplating on the word before it finally popped into his head. A conch shell! A rather nice looking one, at that. "Wow... that's really cool, Emms." Jasper said with a nod, handing it back to her. "You know, they say if you hold it to your ear you can hear the ocean."

Such a fact appeared to have fascinated little Emma, for almost immediately after Jasper stated it, she had the open end of the shell up to her ear, listening contently. "Where'd you find it?" He asked, tilting his head to the side curiously as the wind blew a piece of his obnoxious brown hair over one of his eyes. Emma, who was still eager to find out whether or not the myth her father informed her of was true, pointed over to the jetty not to far away from where they were sitting. "Over there by those rocks." She answered as she pulled the shell away from her ear and looked up at Jasper. He followed her stare over to the set of rocks, the smile fading from his face. Why did she have to pick the most dangerous places to explore? What if she fell and cracked her skull open or something? Okay, that was a little unlikely... but, still. Jasper was always very over-protective when it came to Emelia's welfare. He already lost Juliet, the little girl's mother -- there was no way he was going to lose his daughter, as well.

"... be careful, okay?" Jasper warned softly, pulling her long, blonde hair back over her shoulders and out of her face, before lightly brushing his lips against her forehead. "I will." Emma agreed, smiling broadly up at her father. What a lovely smile she had. With a sudden burst of energy, she jumped out of Jasper's lap just as quickly as she had nestled her way into it, grabbing his gloved hand tightly. "I almost caught a crab, too! Come and see!" With that, Emma had her father up on his feet, pulling him along after her with all of her might. She wasn't taking no for an answer, was she?

» Jasper's appearance can be found above
» Listening to: gob - banshee song
» This is very old, but I wanted to get something up quick since I have to leave soon.
» This thread is tagged for audrey patterson.

Dear God, where did this kid get all her energy from? Jasper felt like an out of shape fifty-some year old man running alongside her; something that was far from what a normal twenty-one year old boy should experience. These were the best years of his life, or so Jasper was so often told. He was still in his youth... well, sort of. And yet, he could barely keep up with a five-year-old. Was that sad or what? Maybe he should join a gym or something, since, according to his own standards, a man like him should be able to defend himself in a fight, or have the agility to run away, and apparently, at the moment, Jasper could do neither of these things. A regular sleeping pattern would probably help, too, in addition to a better diet. Clearly, all those late night stops for fries from Wendy's was starting to catch up wit him. While this might not show in his appearance, it was very obvious when it came to his stamina and endurance. Yes, Jasper really needed to make some changes in his life if he wanted to live past forty. Though the probability of him actually making some of these changes in his life was low. Call him lazy, but he felt too attached to his current lifestyle to bother going back and modifying it. Sure, Jasper was far from being able to take up running track, but other than that, he wasn't feeling too bad. In fact, he was quite content with the way his life was going. He had a sweet, loving daughter who was doing wonderfully in school, a nice job, a place to live, and was able to fulfill his dreams of being involved in a band. Life was pretty good for the small Devine family. After all, it could always be much, much worse.

The pair reached the jetty faster than Jasper had anticipated, and due to the fact he was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn't even notice that little Emma had come to an abrupt halt in front of him. Normally, this wouldn't be much of an issue. He tripped over things all the time... even his daughter. It was something both Jasper and Emma had grown used to. But, in this case, they were both standing dangerously close to a line of very large and extremely sharp rocks, making Jasper's clumsiness even more of a danger than it normally was. Luckily, though, he was able to rip himself out of his thoughts and bring himself to a stop just before he bowled right into the young girl before him. Thank God... boy, would that have been quite a terrible scene. A relived sigh rolled off his lips as he watched Emma skip cheerfully around the rocks, searching in between the crevasses for another one of her little aquatic friends. Jasper shoved his hands into his pockets, glancing around the rest of the beach in search of any other life. Despite the fact it was summer, there were still very few people out on the beaches of Newport. Perhaps because it was late, but not late enough that all the crazy college kids started coming out with their coolers of beer and bonfires. A smile curved the edges of his lips upward at the thought. Jasper used to do that... once upon a time.

Before he could dwell any further on his past, Emelia called out for him, causing Jasper to immediately spin around. In fact, he turned so fast he lost his footing, causing him to stumble and practically fall over. It was kind of embarrassing for him, but, Emma got quite a kick out of it. At least one of them was amused by Jasper's humiliating klutziness. "Whatzamatter?" He asked in a mumble, slurring all the words together in a somewhat drunken fashion. This was somewhat odd, considering he was completely sober, but he shrugged it aside. God, he could barely walk or talk today. Maybe he was losing it. But, there was no time to weigh the possibilities, for he had a daughter to attend to at the moment. She seemed quite entranced by something... err, someone, as Jasper noticed as he moved closer. He stood at her side, glancing from Emma, to another young woman sitting a distance away. It was hard to see her in the dim light of the twilight, but her black hair was easily noticeable, along with her somewhat eccentric color choice. Not that Jasper could really begin to talk about eccentricity, for his entire effeminate appearance was the epitome of strange.

"Who is she?" Emma asked in a hushed whisper, disturbing Jasper's curious thoughts. Well, jeeze, how was he supposed to know? Just because Newport was a small town didn't mean he knew everyone in it. A somewhat irritated sigh rolled off his lips as a shrug rolled back his shoulders. "U-Um... I don't know. Let's --" He started to try to steer her away from the black-haired woman nearby, but Emma was determined to find out more about her. Perhaps Jasper should've known better than to ever assume his daughter would let up on anything. "She looks lonely." The child said, interrupting her father's attempt to distract her. Jasper nodded a few times, parting his lips in order to answer. But, it really didn't matter what he said, because it was already made up in Emma's mind that she was going to go talk to the young adult. Before Jasper could even think to stop her, Emma took off, announcing her plan just as she started running, "I'm gonna go talk to her!" Fuck! While his daughter might've thought it was alright to run up to random strangers and strike up a little chat, Jasper wasn't as eager to do so. He tried to grab her before she could get away, but there was no holding Emma back in these situations. Maybe he was just too much of a pushover, but he was never able to talk any sense into his kid. It was kind of sad that he had absolutely no control over her, really... Goddammit, why did she have to be blessed (or cursed, in Jasper's opinion) with such stubbornness? Psht... reminded him of someone else he knew.

After throwing a miniature, somewhat feminine freak out over the situation, Jasper took off after Emma, cursing under his breath all the while. Unfortunately, he couldn't get to the little girl before she reached the girl, and by the time he got there, Emma had already tried to engage her in conversation. "Hi, lady!" Emma cooed happily to the young woman, a broad smile over her face. It was a rather informal greeting, but considering it was coming from a six-year-old, it was kind of cute. However, before Emma could continue her attempts to speak with the young woman, Jasper snatched her, gently spinning her around to face her. "Jesus Christ, Em, you're going to give me a heart attack one day." He said rather loudly and irritably. Emelia wasn't fazed by her father's worry, though. In fact, she thought it quite funny. Every time Jasper tried to come off as threatening, or unhappy, Emma couldn't help but laugh. He was just that bad at acting tough. He shook his head disapprovingly, though there was a small, slightly amused smirk across his lips that was rather contradictory toward his words and actions. His eyes glanced from Emma to the fair-skinned girl before him, suddenly growing nervous beneath both of their gazes. He straightened his posture so he was level with the young woman, taking note of how close in height she was to him -- another factor that proved to be quite intimidating for poor Jasper. Tugging at the bottom of his striped vest anxiously, he opened his mouth to speak, eyes flickering from the ground to her face, avoiding eye contact, "I-I'm sorry... I hope she wasn't..." His voice stammered and his tone was very mousy, like a elementary school student speaking in front of the class for the first time. He both looked and felt awkward, standing there biting his lip in apprehension. God, she probably thought he was some sort of babbling moron at this point, since he could barely get out a goddamn sentence without stuttering like an idiot. Finally, Jasper shyly looked up at her from beneath his perfectly mascaraed eyelashes, taking a deep breath before he finished his sentence, "...bothering you."

A relieved sigh rolled off of Jasper's soft lips at her calm reply, delighted to find that she wasn't angry. His joy didn't last long, though, for after a few seconds, uncertainty started to settle in. Now what was he supposed to do, grab Emma and leave? Just walk away? Or stay an attempt to strike up a conversation? He mulled over the three ideas, weighing the pros and cons of each as quickly as he could. Best to decide as fast as possible, since the longer he stood there the more moronic he probably appeared. It might be nice and polite of him to try to talk with her, but communication really wasn't Jasper's forte. In fact, he was probably one of the worst conversationalists you'd ever meet. So, in the end, Jasper chose the first option: just leave. While she didn't exactly seem upset to be bothered, she didn't seem all that thrilled to have company, either. So, it was probably a good idea to just leave her alone. But, just because Jasper thought it was a smart move didn't mean that the feeling was mutual for his daughter.

As usual, she thought the opposite of her dad. While he was ready to get going, Emma wanted to stay and chat with the woman, her 'new friend.' The little child gazed up at the dark-haired girl with interest in her hazel eyes, head tilted slightly to the side with curiosity. Jasper made an attempt to take her by the hand, but Emelia simply shoved it away, taking a second to glare at him before turning her sweet gaze back toward the person to her right. "Come on, Emma." Her father muttered quietly, but of course, it was ignored. Emma tugged lightly on the girl's shirt again, eager to grab her attention once more. "What are you doing out here all alone, lady?" A question that may have seemed cute and adorable to some, but it simply made Jasper feel increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. He shook his head quickly, embarrassment sinking into his chest and stomach like acid, making him feel sick in a matter of seconds, "I'm sorry, please don't feel obligated to answer that." Jasper interjected suddenly, pulling his daughter closer to him in an attempt to get her to keep her mouth shut. However, it only made her more annoyed with him, bringing her closer to one of her ever-so-sweet tantrums. Again, he sighed, only this time the air fell nervously from his mouth rather than joyously. His gaze glanced from Emma to the young girl before him, an uneasy and apologetic look clouding his eyes.

» This post sucks so badly. I've been so brain dead for the past few weeks it's not even funny.