The Park, Sunday Morning

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

In a little while, Jak was going to find his ass requested on a mission to blow up some cargo in the port for Krew, but right now, he was still frustratingly free. And bored. So bored.

His thing with Hannibal the previous afternoon might promise some distractions, though, and so Jak made it down to the park, JET-board strapped to his back. Spotting no one there yet, he yanked it off, activating the board, and got on.

There were more park benches that needed grinding. Plus? You could make the best cartwheels from a hilltop. It was a proven fact.

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[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

Sunday mornings were usually used for sleeping in by Hannibal. Today, though, he'd made plans so he made himself get up, get some caffeine in and get down to the park.

So, there he was, looking like he was waiting for the caffeine to kick in but awake and already looking interested.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

After a neat flip in mid-air, Jak landed, putting some strain on his knees as he braced himself then made a quick turn, winding up in front of Hannibal.

He hopped off the board. "Hey."

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Hannibal said after a moment spent gawking at both the board and Jak's talent on said board. "Hope I didn't get here too late. Mornings aren't my friend."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Whatever time's fine." He had anger issues, not so much punctuality ones. "So, you want to keep watching, or you want to give it a shot?"

He was reaching out. Daxter would be so proud.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"I'll give it a shot but my momma would smack me if I didn't ask how it works first," Hannibal said. "To prevent any broken necks."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"If it's your neck you're worried about."

Jak lowered the board so it was just hovering idly on thin air. "As soon as your feet touch it, it's going to start moving. Tip it one way, you head that way. Tip it the other, and you're gone."

Yeah, Jak was not really a walking manual.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a motorcycle," Hannibal said, peering down at the board and Jak's stance. "With less floating and all."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Somewhere between a skateboard and a zoomer." Because that meant something to Hannibal.

Then Jak gave the board a push to land in front the other boy.

[decoder-rings.livejournal.com]

"Right. Those two things." The skateboard he got but the zoomer wasn't as familiar. Hannibal wasn't going to ask though. Without really thinking about it, he hopped down and found out that Jak wasn't wrong. As soon as his feet hit it, the board started moving and sent him flying off the back of it.

Ow. "Well." Ow. "Guess you weren't kidding about it moving."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Okay, Dinah had made a resolution not to approach Jak until he felt like it, but-- TOY. NEW TOY. "Ooooooooo!"

She stopped to watch him swerve and couldn't help bouncing on her toes. Just once. "Cool!"

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

... Okay. Weird.

Jak slid off the edge of one bench onto the ground, making a full circle just to slow the thing down, then hopped off and yanked it up. "...Dinah."

Awwwkward.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Dinah said, a good bit weaker than the squeeing over the jet-board-thingy. "That the one you rode into the banner ad?" With Praxis's face on it. She shoved her hands in her pockets, gave him a small smile. No pushing. Noooo pushing. "Looks like fun."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"No," Jak said, after a long (long) pause. "That was just a zoomer." Conversational ability: actually functioning around Dinah for once.

Sorta.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Kinda.

"So this is an upgrade?" Dinah asked, inclining a shoulder toward it, keeping her voice interested. Not too eager. "Awesome. Way faster than a skateboard, hunh."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"It's nothing like a zoomer," Jak said, after a long pause. "It doesn't fly. In case you couldn't tell."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah felt herself turn red, but managed not to sound insulted. "I just got here. Saw that last part." She tilted her head and looked puzzled for a second. "How does it know when to stop?"

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Lack of weight on it." No. No brakes.

[momslilassassin]

Ben was making his way back to the dorms with his usual coffee when he detected something, which turned out to be someone, that set off his niggling "bad feeling about this" alarms.

He stopped at the edge of the park and watched the demonstration for a while before stepping closer.

He wasn't distracted, exactly, by the totally astral new flying toy, but it certainly was shiny, to quote Kaylee.

"What's that called?" he asked finally.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"JET-board," said Jak.

About two minutes later, when he'd stopped moving and yanked the thing up and put it back on his back, his feet firmly on the ground.

[momslilassassin]

"Did you make it?" Ben asked, fingers kind of itching to take it apart.

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"No," Jak said, shooting him a curious look. "A friend did." Acquaintance. Whatever.

[momslilassassin]

"It looks astral," Ben said with a little smile. "What does it run on?"

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

"Eco, I guess."

Jak was not a technician. He shrugged.

[momslilassassin]

"Stupid question, probably," Ben replied, "but what's eco?" He gave Jak another small smile. "And it's totally fine if the answer is 'stuff that makes stuff work'. I have problems explaining the Force around here too."

[unborn-renegade.livejournal.com]

Jak shrugged one shoulder and crossed his arms. "Eco. Life force. Back home, it's what makes up everyone. And everything." Beat. "What's the Force?" Smart question.