Tracks

Disguise

Content warning for sexual content and an attempted sexual assault.

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Midsummer turns its wheel, setting its fruit and flowers out onto the earthly plane. Jacks kneels low in the tall grass beside the tracks, waiting– ready to jump at any moment now as a train approaches, slowing to a halt. He had walked for about an hour to get out to this point, not too far from the house, but just enough to where he's feeling a burn forming on his chest through the wide open collar of his shirt. Goethe distracts the drivers with a quick malfunction of the levelers, allowing Jacks a moment to hop aboard. A door unlocks, swinging open, and with a leap onto the iron stairs, he's in. The room is significantly colder, in response to which, he pops open another button on his shirt. He examines the car, making sure he is in fact alone. Heavy suitcases line the floor that isn't stacked with crates, a lack of windows ensuring seclusion in the dark. A luggage car.

"You in here, Goethe?" Jacks calls as he crosses the room to kneel beside a suitcase which he cracks open with his knife. Clothes pour out of it onto the floor as he fumbles to hold onto the heavy trunk.

"Shit!" Jacks stuffs the clothes back in, one of his fingernails catching on something, causing him to pause and examine the article.

"What the...?" He slowly raises a sheer stocking, looking directly through the tinted fabric at the light of the window in front of him.

"It seems that I've interrupted something." Goethe teases, Jacks scrambling to bury it back into the pile of clothes.

"Go chase yourself." Jacks cuts his eyes, hands still grasping the silk.

"I'll hear if you call." The door rattles as Goethe steps through it, likely setting off to wreck a little havoc and ensure his partner-in-crime goes unnoticed.

Jacks pauses, ensuring he's alone before slowly pulling the stocking back out of the pile, examining the fabric. His eyes trace the thin black line going down the middle, some small part of him fascinated by it. It was something that seemed entirely closed off to him, something he'd never had a chance to really look at before. He slips it over his hand, eyes widening as he feels how soft it is– and as an idea pops into his mind.

"Not a chance." He hisses a whisper through his teeth, letting the silk fall.

Shutting the suitcase and pausing as it lays over his lap, Jacks stares at it for a moment, the train bumping as it moves across the tracks. He sighs, realizing he very well could never have another opportunity like this again.

"Ugh. Fine."

A few stops after the looted suitcase had been unloaded from the luggage car– Jacks decides he's waited long enough. Being mindful of the heels he wears as he steps through the door to the next car, he checks himself in the glass of the window– his eyes widening as he processes the scenery behind his reflection. He scans the skyline of the city, buildings taller than any tree he'd ever seen stretching as far back as his eyes can scope.

"If it wasn't for that starry look in your eyes, I wouldn't have recognized you." Goethe looms nearby, eyeing up his disguised counterpart.

"Good. That's the point." Jacks responds as his eyes continue to scan the cityscape, the train slowing down as it nears the station.

"Shall I escort you outside?" Goethe teases again, his hand moving to Jacks' waistline– causing him to inhale sharply.

"I'll be just fine." He crosses his arms, powdery blue fabric draping across his chest.

As the train slows to a stop, Jacks quickly makes his way outside, following behind passengers and observing various women to ensure he's matching their energy. Blending in with the crowd was the easy part– but when he finds himself alone on a street corner, he realizes a disguise as the opposite gender may have been more anxiety inducing than efficient. He stops, wanting to admire the scenery– but finds himself riddled with a feeling of unease.