Forget But Don't Forgive {Terra/Jarvis} Blitz

jarvis botts.

Hunched over on a bench, Jarvis Botts toyed with a weird specimen from District Six’s streets. He picked it up as he saw it being scuffled left and right by uncaring residents. It was so inconsiderate of them, and so he picked it up to take care of it. It was just a heavy red rock, but to Jarvis, it was so much more. It was helpless and inanimate, and needed someone to take care of it.

He was that guy.

Jarvis spun the specimen around in his hands, examining it’s many nooks and crannies. There was one indentation in the rock that was large enough for Jarvis to stick his pinkie finger in and balance it with one hand. Specks of glitter were splattered along the whole rock. It was a beautiful little figure, and it sickened him that people could just kick it to the curb, quite literally. Sickening.

”What do you have there,” a girl questioned his actions, startling him and almost making him to fall off of the bench. He clutched the red rock tightly with his hands.

”Oh, hello,” he said, trying to determine if he would show the girl the rock. Some would say that it’s just a rock, but people in District Six were insensitive. He didn’t like being made fun of, and this was a perfect opportunityfor this girl to do that. ”Oh, nothing,” he said, clutching his fist more and more.

jarvis botts.

The girl didn’t seem to continue to ask questions about the mysterious item in his hand, so he was relieved. In fact, she changed the entire subject. ”I’m Terra, I was just wandering about, trying to get my mind off things, so I thought I’d talk to you.”

Jarvis felt a sense of honor that out of all the people in District Six, she had stopped to talk to him. It made him feel special, noticed, and most importantly, important to someone’s day. Terra was a lucky girl if she wanted to get her mind off of things, because Jarvis knew just how to do it. Heck, he already did it once when she asked about the rock.

”Okay, okay, I can help with that,” he said, beginning to run through conversation starters in his mind. The cold air, the brutal winter..

”Nice weather, we’re, uh, having,” he said in a monotonous voice, almost by complete memorization of using the phrase over and over. ”You like the cold air, much?”

jarvis botts.

She likes the cold air much more than the heat. Jarvis nodded in agreement as she continued to talk. The hot air took a toll on her body and made her pass out, but the cold doesn’t bring along as much exhaustion or boredom. He smiled once she stopped talking because he knew from that point on that she was an honest person. People, including Jarvis, like to bottle up embarrassing secrets like passing out or making a fool of themselves, but she didn’t, proving her genuinity.

”What’s your name, by the way?”

He laughed at the question, expecting it to come one way or another. He petted the grainy texture of the rock as he spoke. ”Jarvis, Jarvis Botts. And it’s very nice to meet you, Terra. Very, very nice.”

He felt like he could hear Clever’s evil laugh making fun of him in the distance for the stuttering of his phrases. Jarvis’s awkward trait was prominent in his personality, but it made him seem more real.

Along with reality came insecurity, however, and it plagued him like a ton of ‘Jarvis Botts--.’

”So what else do you want to talk about?” He didn’t know what else to say, so Jarvis agreed in his mind to let Terra take the lead.

jarvis botts.

She was silent about the way Jarvis spoke, his words repeating themselves twice over. She was not one to judge, and Jarvis liked that. His world revolved around the uncomfortable stares of people in the District. Those people felt higher-up, and believed themselves to have higher standards. This girl, Terra, she was different. Jarvis liked that very much.

And even when she spoke slightly uncomforting words, the way she did it was with concern.

”You seem a bit fidgety, are you alright?” She said it like this, but other people would have attacked Jarvis with words that poked fun instead of pulled honesty from him.

”Oh, it’s nothing, I guess.”

He slowly revealed the red rock as if it was his most prized possession.

”I found this rock earlier. It just seems special to me.”

It was embarrassing that he felt the need to protect a rock. ”That’s really weird. I’m sorry,” he said, looking back down at the ground, where hundreds of defenseless pebbles laid. Can’t save them all.

jarvis botts.

She was gentle and sensitive with her words, and Jarvis liked that. "It's a very nice rock. It looks special to me, too. You should hold onto it.” He understood that she probably didn't view it as as special as he did, and that she was just trying to make him feel better. The few sensitive people in the world tended to do that, but it only made him feel smaller and smaller each time. ”I hope you find more special rocks like that, too. They seem to really interest you."

She was supportive, and Jarvis liked that. He liked everything about her character. And the best part was that he was getting her mind off of the bad thoughts that she carried with her to the bench. She was kind to him, and the least he could do was help her feel better too.

”I think I like it so much because red is my favorite color,” he thought back to the gory pictures he used to draw and a child. It was almost all red because blood and pain was all he thought of until Pepper tried to make him better with therapy. Now he hid the obsession to make himself seem more and more sane. But he trusted Terra with the information. ”I like red because it reminds me that things could always be worse,” it was a weird statement to say, and he didn't quite know where it came from. But it was the best way to say something about the color without scaring the girl off. That was his last intention.

He liked her very much, as a friend. And he couldn't let that go.

jarvis botts.

”Does that help you, knowing things could get worse?” She seemed to be quick to disagree with his philosophy, but he didn’t mind. Quite honestly, Jarvis didn’t realize what he was saying himself. Thinking of the worst case scenario was a pessimistic view, like the glass being half empty. Terra, however, was much more of a glass half full type of girl.

"Personally, I just try to think about what good things are in my life. To be honest with you, there aren't a lot of good things in my life, but there are some, and they cheer me up sometimes." He was happy that she shared this piece of her life with him. They were growing a bond that Jarvis felt to be something unreal. A friendship, a bond all because of a red rock and a need to start a conversation.

”Very optimistic of you. Terra plus plus for looking on the sunny side,” he laughed, rubbing the coarse rock between both of his hands as if he was making a fire. Muttering quietly again, he plus plus’d her with good joy. ”Terra has a score of one, which is for looking on the sunny side.”

jarvis botts.

Terra smiled at his offer to boost her score by one. Nobody else really paid attention to the tracking of his scores, mostly because they were typically reserved for him to he could manage how kind one person is and mean another. ”That’s nice of you.” Her response proved that she was just trying to be nice and not visibly weirded out, Jarvis knew the sight from anywhere. Nobody gets a score change without assuming they died or something.

”I think you deserve a score, too, Jarvis, plus plus for being a great guy.”

Jarvis laughed as she said it. ”Is that right?”

He chuckled as he responded to her. ”Of course it’s right, it’s just that nobody ever updates my score. Five years of scorekeeping and nobody’s plus’d me. I assume they minus me in their heads, though.”

(Jarvis has 1 point, but let’s be real, it’s much lower than that.)

He looked at the rock and smiled, ”Terra, I wanna give you this rock as a token of our friendship,” he held it out to her, waiting for her to take it.

Kindness was rare, and he appreciated it greatly when it did come along.