MCA #6- Monday afternoon

[solo_sword]

Jaina had had better newbie picnics. Since then she'd just had to bury herself in work and focus on that, because the alternative was something along the lines of potential depression. Some things she'd said she wanted to take back and wasn't sure she could, but she was still mostly confused as to where this had come from and how things ended up the way they had and how she'd obviously missed something or other.

At the moment she was curled up on the small sofa in her apartment, reading through a report she was making no progress on. After realizing that this was just not happening until she did something else first, she grabbed her phone to make a call, and then tried to resume her work.

Tried being the operative word.


[Door closed, post open. And so y'all know, it's fine to mod that Jaina told/Emailed/called with her address. Don't want anyone wondering where she is now omg.]

Comments

[solo_sword]

"Hey, I don't get caught," she reminded him, deciding not to take issue with the graduate thing when she was three days away from twenty-two. "And for as much as finding myself might sound like a solitary thing, I'd really like to have you around for it."

Welcome to as directly as she wanted to approach that subject. It kind of scared her after Saturday.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"It's not like I'm going anywhere," he pointed out. "At least not for seven weeks." Still it was awkward to him, trying to figure out what they were supposed to be now that he was back.

[solo_sword]

Seven weeks. It seemed like they were always headed to a deadline. "So what you were saying about taking a step back...?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Hey, this is the first time in a year for you and eleven for me that we've been in the same time and place for any solid length of time..." And wow, to remember when all that was forced to change was rough. "It'd be a little freaky to just jump back to where we were a dozen years ago."

[solo_sword]

"I can see that," she said after the briefest of pauses. It was disappointing, but she could see where he was coming from. They'd been okay when she would visit him for days or weeks at a time, or when he would visit since Atlantis, but one of them would always have to leave. "So what would make this not freaky right now?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You're freaked out right now?" The only cure for that was sending him back across town to his own place. But it was hot as balls out and he wasn't going to suggest that without verification.

[solo_sword]

"Not at all," she said quickly. "I mean, if jumping into things like they used to be would be freaky, do we set some kind of boundaries? Consider this a reboot? I don't have that eleven years, I don't know what's comfortable for you and what's not." And she really didn't want to make this any stranger for him, or she'd have at least attempted to remedy the fact that she hadn't so much as touched him since he'd been back.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"A reboot? Sounds like we're taking a page out of the Sheppard book of computer repair," he considered. "Can we keep it simple? Light?"

[solo_sword]

"I think so," she said, coming over to sit on the sofa near him. They'd always worked best with simple anyway. "So if I were to maybe suggest a real date, something easy, do you think that could be called light?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"A date?" Okay, it had been a long ass time since John went on just a date. "Like you're gonna take me out?"

[solo_sword]

"Yeah. Something fun and low pressure. Unless of course betting on cheese fries is pressuring, in which case I'm going to have to think harder," she nodded. The original thought had been a movie. That original thought lasted about two seconds, all things considering.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Low pressure? Then we can't play a game. I know how you Jedi work, after all." John could beat normal people, but not the Jedi.

[solo_sword]

"I have only cheated when you knew I was cheating," Jaina reminded him. "I can promise no powers, because superfluous use of powers should be limited to light switches and when I'm too lazy to get the remote." Yes, it happened. Not here, as she had no TV.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You have no remote," John pointed out like the helpful person he was. "How are you staying entertained here?"

[solo_sword]

"iPod," she admitted. "That thing's getting a workout. I might see if Marcus has anything at the junkyard I can fix up, make it a project. Which would be entertainment in itself." Yes, she knew it was sad.

"Okay, maybe I've been a little bored."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yeah you have," John laughed, turning to see her better. "Who's Marcus?"

[solo_sword]

It was really good to see him laugh again. "He runs the junkyard now. I have no idea what he does there, but he helped me get a part for the bike during some routine maintenance. And it runs very nicely, by the way."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

It was John, he'd never stopped laughing. "So there's just a guy hanging out in the junkyard now? What's the island come to. Next you're gonna tell me he doesn't wear pants."

[solo_sword]

"I first met him when the island turned me eight. He definitely wears pants," she promised, and couldn't help but smile. "Out of curiosity, why would he not wear them?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I met another whole race of people who abscond from clothing entirely. So if it's someone at all mechanical and friendly with you...I'm betting they're free of pants."

[solo_sword]

Jaina stared at him for a second before cracking up laughing. "Trust me, I have not been getting friendly with pantsless mechanics. What is it with you and meeting naked races?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John shrugged, smirking at her laughter. "What can I say, aliens have a thing for me."

[solo_sword]

"That's not news," she pointed out. Even besides her, she'd heard stories about the alien hos...

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"What, I'm supposed to have new lines?" John wondered, looking amazed.

[solo_sword]

"You have had eleven years to come up with new ones," she teased.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I was mostly busy mocking others in all that time," he admitted.

[solo_sword]

"As long as you were mocking others, I guess I can forgive it," Jaina decided. "Though now I worry that the mocking's going to turn on me." She wasn't really worried. She knew the mocking always turned on her.