(no subject)

[walksthebounds]

A rather short, disheveled novice, clad in a red mantle and purple wimple, slides into the bar with undignified haste, then stops to lean against a table and glance backwards.

"Whew - that was a bit close!"

The young nun sinks onto a stool, pushes back his wimple, and says to the bar, "I think I could use some kind of fizzy chocolate drink right now."

(Jamie's voice still hasn't broken, and he's only grown half an inch since he was last in the bar, fifteen or twenty years ago on his timeline. Still, he's well aware that won't be able to get away with this sort of thing much longer.)

Comments

[stillbecoming]

Buffy is idly surveying the room from her own barstool -- watching people chat in the booths, trying to avoid eye contact with the belligerent sheep, wondering how the word "wimple" came into existence --

Jamie's a nun?

[walksthebounds]

Jamie squints across over at Buffy.

Is that Buffy - whom he vaguely recalls as being nice - or is that the sketchy girl from the girl's bathroom?

If the latter perhaps he'd better put the wimple back on.

[stillbecoming]

-- Jamie's a nun.

Buffy looks immediately back at the sheep. (Who remains unimpressed.)

[walksthebounds]

. . . this seems Jamie's cue also to look at the sheep.

Jamie is not fond of animals. Animals also tend not to be fond of Jamie.

[stillbecoming]

That means he noticed her.

"Jamie," says Buffy, reluctantly. "Hi."

[walksthebounds]

Well, she knows his name! That means -

- no, wait, he'd given his name to the other one too, hadn't he, so it doesn't really narrow it down any.

"Hullo," Jamie says, with cautious cheer. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" and hopes very much that it has in fact been.

[stillbecoming]

A pause.

"It has?" says Buffy, hopefully.

Maybe he has amnesia.

[walksthebounds]

. . . oh hell, it hasn't been.

"- well, for me," amends Jamie quickly. "Time tends to go longer out there when I leave. So, ah -" He gives her his best attempt at a charming smile. "It would actually be really helpful if you'd tell me how long it's been since we last saw each other in here. For orientation, sort of."

[stillbecoming]

"A long, long time ago," says Buffy quickly. "And in fact, if you -- no, you know what? It hasn't been that long since you saw me. It's been longer since I saw you."

[ellectrical]

Elle's already taken a stool at the bar, and is currently playing with the purple straw that came with her soda.

(Something gold is also glinting from the front pocket of her jeans, if Jamie were prone to notice such things.)

She glances over at Jamie's outfit, and then decides, "It's better than the orange thing."

[walksthebounds]

"That's what I thought too," agrees Jamie placidly.

"It's actually really comfortable. Nice and roomy."

[ellectrical]

"You can't go to a place where the clothes don't look weird?"

It's not a very open-minded view. But he's the one in the red-purple-thing.

[walksthebounds]

Jamie grins.

"They'd think what you're wearing's pretty funny, come to that. It's all relative. Girls in my home didn't even wear trousers."

[ellectrical]

"Your home was..."

Beat.

"... a while ago."

So it doesn't count. Or something.

[walksthebounds]

"So? There's more places with that sort of custom than you'd think."

Jamie pauses, and reconsiders. "More places without it than you'd think, too. More places in general, really."

Now that he's looking at her outfit, he has a chance to take in the gold at her jean front pocket, and raises an eyebrow briefly.

[ellectrical]

She follows his gaze - fortunately, it doesn't take her long to see what caught his attention. Elle reaches down, and pulls the gold-plated jump drive out of her pocket.

There's a pause, as she realizes, "You don't know what this is."

[walksthebounds]

"Haven't the faintest," Jamie agrees amiably.

"Is it a new jewelry trend?"

[uquars_gadget]

Further down the bar, Helen starts coughing on her coffee, and sets it down.

She clears her throat, with some dignity, brushing back a hank of her hair with her right hand.

"What are you wearing."

[walksthebounds]

Jamie jumps, with a complete lack of dignity, and spins around.

"- Helen!" he says, before he can catch himself, and then coughs, in an attempt to cover it up, while silently cursing time differences for all he's worth.

He hasn't seen Helen in three or four years; he hasn't seen Helen look like that in two decades.

"Ah - a standard novice's uniform," he says, in his best attempt at a cool, careless tone. He's had twenty years to learn how to copy Adam, and it's not a bad effort. "Why?"

[uquars_gadget]

"It's ...interesting," Helen replies, sounding faintly smug.

She's still looking dignified over here, at least!

"Are those robes, or a dress?"

[walksthebounds]

"Both, I suppose. They're religious, so it sort of blurs the line," Jamie explains.

The best defense is a good offense! Also, if Helen boggles, it will give him time to deal with his own boggling.

Helen's just got older enough than him that he's used to it, now. There were years and years in there where he kept expecting her to look young every time he dropped by, and being startled by the extra inches, the changes in her face, the faint beginnings of lines. These days, he can manage to remember that she's a grown-up lady nearly all the time.

But this - this is going to throw him all off again.

[uquars_gadget]

Helen nods. "Where have you been? I know time doesn't go right, here."

Pause.

"Would you like some coffee?"

She's not going to get up and move to a closer stool, though. She's not that friendly.

[walksthebounds]

"I've got my chocolate," Jamie says, but he comes over to sit next to her.

Time not going right is only the half of it. And now the question is: does he tell her?

"That's always such a funny question," he says instead. "I could say the name of the country, but it isn't as if it'd mean anything to you. It's a place they're not fond of the lads, though." He bats his eyelashes at her, in an exaggerated parody. "Good job I've got this pretty face."

[uquars_gadget]

After a startled moment, Helen gives an awkward half-laugh. "Jamie," she says, quite honestly, "you are a very ugly girl."

[walksthebounds]

Even after all this time, it's still always makes Jamie feel rather smug when he can get Helen to laugh.

"Well, that's your opinion," he says, mock-injured. "I like to think I'm just a late bloomer."

He takes a sip of his fizzy soda, with a righteous air, and then steals a glance back at Helen. How old is she now, anyway? She's wearing the glove on her left hand, which means -


"I always said your world was mad! Maybe now you'll see I'm right!"

"A leader has to be able to handle pain. And I can. So! Honestly, Jamie, you'd think you were the one who got your hand burnt."

"For the love of - you're mad as the rest of them! Or madder - they're just cruel, not suicidal!"


- she'd be fifteen or so, then. Not much older, or she'd have started getting broader.