(Jack, Joe - 10/16)

[echolls_cursed]

So, okay, he hadn't gone to see the dinosaurs, but he had gone up to the mountain. It hadn't been a long trip or a long stay. Gone on Tuesday, back by Thursday morning. Nothing monumental or exciting had happened, and whatever it was he'd been hoping to find out there hadn't been found.

Still, Linus had enjoyed the trip, and a few days away from the world had helped clear his head a little.

The hut was starting to get a little untidy again, but he made no move to clean anything up, dumping his bag out on the table and tossing the dirty laundry in a pile in the corner before putting down the food he'd grabbed for Linus at the compound when he'd stopped off for a shower.

In fact, his hair was still damp, and when he heard someone head up the steps to his stilted hut he raked his fingers through it, causing it to stand on end as he glanced over to see who it was.

Comments

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan did understand, he honestly did, but he had never paused to consider anyone might actually think he'd vanished. Hell, he hadn't even thought anyone would notice he was gone at all.

"I took Linus," he offered lamely. "I figured anyone who cared enough to look would notice that and just figure I was out. I wasn't, you know, trying to screw with you or whatever. Honest, man, I'm sorry, okay?"

And he was. Joe was one of the few people left on the island that Logan didn't go out of his way to piss off.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

For a moment longer, Joe stood in the doorway and glowered, looking as irritated and scared and put out as he'd felt for the past few days, but then his shoulders relaxed and he finally stepped inside, closing the door behind him. "I was just fucking worried, that's all," he grumbled, still not quite ready to smile or joke around, but he didn't look ready to bite Logan's head off anymore either. "So where'd you go?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Leaning against the shelf, Logan nodded a little. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, look, next time I get it in my head that I need to go away for a few days, I'll leave you a note."

He smiled a little when Joe finally came inside, relieved that it didn't look like he was about to get a lecture or have to charm Joe into forgiving him, and he pushed away from the bookcase as he wandered over.

"Just up the mountain, to that spot where we went camping that one time. I was going to go see the dinosaurs, but..." He trailed off and laughed a little, realizing that saying he'd been too sore to risk it probably wouldn't lead to any sort of conversation Joe would be comfortable having.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"But that would be fucking stupid and you don't want to get yourself killed, so you get up the mountain instead," Joe finished, because he didn't really want to hear any other reasoning besides that. He didn't know why Logan wanted to go see the dinosaurs, but it wasn't the smartest idea, that was for damn sure.

"So you just camped with Linus for a couple of days?" he asked, letting out a sigh as he relaxed further. "Same place we went?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Something like that," Logan replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and glancing away.

"Uh, yeah, same place. It was nice. Linus had a good time anyway... I uh, did some writing, like you suggested. You know, like, song writing or whatever," he said, nodding at the green notebook on the table. "I would have asked you to come, it was just sort of a last minute decision to go up there in the end."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Joe waved that off, bending down to scratch Linus behind the ears when he wandered over, his tail wagging. "I don't need to go everywhere with you, man," he said, his head ducked as he lavished attention on the dog. "I just wanna know if you're gonna take off like that, that's all. You can do what you want, but I just... I just worry. I don't expect you to invite me everywhere," he added, finally relaxing into a bit of a grin as he tipped his head up slightly to look at Logan.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I know, but I would have." Logan shrugged, returning the smile and sitting down heavily in one of the chairs by the table.

"You want to see what I did while I was out there?" he offered.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Pushing to his feet, Joe flashed another small smile and nodded, crossing the room to where Logan was. "Yeah, let's take a look at it. I can start to see what kinda music it should be put to. Might have a couple of songs of your very own by the end of the week."

It'd be interesting putting music to words written by someone else. Joe hadn't actually done that in a long damn time, not since working closely with John.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Picking up the notebook, Logan flipped past doodles and random thoughts until he found the songs he'd been working on. Sliding the book across the table to Joe, he looked a little nervous as he leaned back in his seat, his arms folded over his chest as he glanced away.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

Joe fell silent as he read the words Logan had written, his eyes scanning over the pages as he nodded and then flipped to another page. "It's good," he said honestly, reading things over. "You got some real emotion out here, that's good."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Logan asked, looking unsure. "I wasn't really sure what I was doing when I started. I was just thinking about what you said before. About how I should try."

He shrugged a little and then looked down at the table as he raked his fingers through his hair and laughed nervously. "I dunno if I'd ever play them in front of other people though."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"No, it's good. You just... it doesn't matter how you do it, y'know? It just has to be honest, that's all that's important," Joe answered honestly, then closed the book and handed it back to Logan. "I mean, shit, if there was a method to it, anyone could write a song, right?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan nodded a little, taking the book back and holding it tightly, as if guarding his secrets. Not that he had anything to hide from Joe. Not really.

"Yeah, I guess so," Logan agreed quietly.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"No, it's good, man," Joe insisted as he finally took a seat, slouching down comfortably, his legs stretched out in front of him. "I know you're probably never gonna agree with that, but it's the truth," he said with a laugh, giving Logan another small grin.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, well, thanks," Logan said, grateful for the praise, even if he wasn't sure he agreed with it. Though really, he hardly expected Joe to tell him it was crap or slap it down, that was part of the reason he'd let him read it.

He knew he could trust Joe not to say anything negative.

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"So what's the story? You gotta head off alone to get the creative juices flowing?" Joe asked and although his voice was teasing a little bit, he was also a little serious. It was something he could understand, anyway. Shit sometimes got to be too much and he found himself overwhelmed with every day stuff and couldn't write.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"I just needed to not be here for a while. Needed some space from, well, me. Sometimes if I don't walk away, I can't see where I'm going. I dunno if I like where I'm going, I still don't, but... Walking away gave me a chance to get a good look at it all. Gave me time to think," he sighed.

"Thinking about all that, it sort of got me started."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Well, whatever works," Joe said honestly, nodding his agreement before he rubbed the dog's ears again. "Guess sometimes the shit here just gets to be too much. You doing okay otherwise?" He didn't know if there was a reason Logan had taken off, something he might have missed.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

Logan knew enough to know that Joe wouldn't want to hear what had been going on with himself and Jack, and he nodded as he glanced away. "Yeah, I'm fine," he lied quietly.

"Anyway, how are you? Did I miss anything exciting?"

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Nah, nothing exciting ever happens 'round here," Joe answered with a laugh. "Been thinking about what I can do to fill my time, thought about the Council again, although I dunno if I'm gonna be any help if I run again. I dunno if I'm doing it just to fill my time or if I really got anything to say, you know?"

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"You were really good on the counsel, man," Logan replied. "Couldn't hurt. Sometimes you don't need an agenda to push, just, you know a chance to voice some common sense in case someone else is pushing an agenda people won't agree with."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's something to think about anyway. I'm not used to just sitting around and not doing nothing," Joe admitted, frowning faintly. "I mean, hell, even back home I had shit to do. Not always good shit, but that never really concerned me, y'know? And I can't exactly tour the fucking island, so it doesn't leave many options."

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Maybe you just need a project or something. Something you want to build or do," Logan suggested with a shrug. "I was thinking about making Linus' pen a bit bigger. Maybe wrap it around the hut. You could help if you want."

[jdick.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, of course," Joe answered, giving Logan a nod. "You know I'd help you with anything you got going on, man." He didn't work with the building crew as much as he probably could, not because he didn't like it, but he'd never been good at organized manual labour. Or organized labour of any kind, really.

[echolls-cursed.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, man," Logan replied, picking up one of the mangoes he'd brought in earlier and tossing it lightly in the air.

"And, you know, if you need something to do, I still give surfing lessons. You know, those lessons you keep saying you'll take?" he teased.