fandomhighdorms | Somewhere outside the dorms: Wee hours of Friday morning

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Somewhere outside the dorms: Wee hours of Friday morning

Jack had crashed out early Thursday night, with the predictable result that he woke up in the wee hours of Friday morning.

Since staying in the dorms held absolutely no appeal, he got up, got dressed, (deciding a shirt was unfortunately necessary given the weather), threw on his swoopy coat, and headed out into the night.

A sudden break in the clouds left him staring up into the sky, and he lay down on top of a picnic table, hands folded behind his head, and tried to figure out which star was Parker's.

[ooc: open! But thread with Jack and Parker locked to them, please.]

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Parker rolled her eyes. "Nothing all that interesting. Old nightmare." She sighed, but didn't look away. "I had a friend who died when I was-- twelve? Thirteen?" She frowned. "Younger. From cancer. Sometimes I remember it. Or dream that I wasn't there, at the end, and she was alone..." She folded her hands together. "Like I said. It's been a while."

"Okay," he said, kind of regretting he'd insisted on hearing it, and decided to change the subject. "But it's old news, and nowhere near as interesting as teaching the High Princess Irulan to shoot."

Parker stuck out her tongue at him, then grinned. "Irulan? Her Royal Highness Princess Irulan Corinno of the House Corinno? Oooooo." Parker fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Did you show her where to put her hands, Jack?"

"That'd be her." And he grinned a grin of pure smugness. "Hands, arms, and the rest of her. You have to love someone who responds to instructions with 'I hear and obey'."

"Oh, God." Parker was laughing already, and leaning her head forward on her knees. "Does she have any idea...? No, of course not." She grinned at him, and said, "I got to hear about your many virtues when I met her. And dear sweet God, I am burning those hats the first chance I get."

Jack grinned and gave Parker a light shove. "My virtues are many and varied. It's about time someone recognised them. And based on the blushing, I'd say some part of her has some idea. But she's so earnest, it's adorable. Like a puppy with really odd taste in head gear."

"Or one with an ear infection who has to wear a lampshade to keep from hurting herself," Parker said dryly. She snickered a little more. "And yes, earnest and solemn and serious. Another thing to burn, when we get the chance." She grinned and shook her head. "So, how did she do at the actual shooting?"

"She did okay, better than okay - after a few tries she was hitting the target consistently. I had to take a much more hands-on approach to teaching her than you did for me, but," he smiled and looked away, "weird thing was? I was proud of her. It was all so new, especially having someone that physically close to her, and she just kept on going until she got it right."

Parker grinned, then teased, "So, something else you like to teach. And apparently are good at teaching. And one more way in which Irulan resembles Flitzy the Conehead, if she's okay with being taught through touch." She tilted her head, smile gentling. "I'm glad you can pass it along now, though. You didn't need much instruction, you were a natural."

The comparison of Irulan to Flitzy set off another round of laughter. "Parker, that's just disturbing, and I don't know which one of them would be more offended." He shook his head, still amused, then said slyly," Most things I teach I'm a natural at, and teaching through touch is the only way to go."

Parker snickered a little, drawing her knees up under her chin. "And a nice way to teach it is." She grinned, thinking of Weiss and lockpicking. "Much more fun than books or lectures."

"Especially when the hats get left at home." He smirked and leaned on Parker, just a little bit. "But she did good, I think she's got a lot of potential."

"Yay. She struck me as bright. A little rigid, a little inflexible, but... if this place doesn't get her over that, nothing will." She smirked a little, leaning back into him, and looked upward. "Kaitain, where the hats are huge and the people dignified beyond reason. Tell me a better planet, Jack." She elbowed him suddenly. "And hey. Xander's back. Happy thing in the middle of a worsening week."

"Xander's back? You're kidding! Any explanation for where he disappeared too, or why he dropped off the face of the planet?" Jack grinned, because a lot of people were going to be very happy about that. Or possibly want to kill Xander. "What else went wrong besides Z and Bridge? And I really have to start listening to the radio more often."

"Cally's better-- someone attacked her here on the Island, put her in the Clinic, but she's awake, amnesiac, and has her jaw wired shut now." Parker shook her head. "And Angela's not missing any more, though I have no idea what was up with that. And Xander-- I'm not really sure how that worked, but it's been about seven years for him. He's twenty-six now Jack." She was silent a second. "He lost an eye, somewhere. We didn't have time to get into how, or when. But... he's all grown up." Her voice might have sounded a little woebegone at that.

It took more than a few minutes to process all of that. Cally attacked, Angela missing and returned, and Xander apparently having fallen through a hole in time. Without his eye. "But he remembers you, right?" he asked, the arm around her shoulders tightening slightly in response to her tone.

"Yes. He knows me." Parker suddenly grimaced. "A little too well. I may have, uh. Left him a few messages, over the last four months." She leaned into him, one hand scrubbing her face. "When things got bad, and I just wanted to yell about things."

It startled a laugh out of him, but he caught it and cleared his throat. "So he got four months worth of Parker tirades at one time." His voice was brimming with barely contained mirth. "And he's still standing. The boy - err, man- is very resilient."

Parker whapped him on the arm, then snickered a little. "Hey. They weren't *all* tirades. Some of them were just... observations. Mention of Trolls. Stuff like that." She shook her head, then muttered, "But oh, I have some explaining to do. I gloated after that first break-in at the Centre. Gah." She sighed. "Blow up that bridge when I get to it."

"Uh huh, of course they weren't." Jack rolled his eyes, and nudged her with his elbow. "You gloated over the break in? Parker, you know better than that." He tsked her, then abruptly stopped. "Does Bridge know he's back? Cause they were way past casual when Xander left."

"Bridge said he wouldn't get it for years! I thought it was safe!" Parker protested, then shook her head, looking tired. "No. He was exhausted and knocked around, the last thing he needed to hear was 'by the way, the ex you still have feelings for is now seven years older, has that much more mileage on him, and may not be sticking around very long.' Time to deal with that tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's going to suck for both of them," Jack muttered.

"Probably," Parker agreed. "But... better a reunion like this, with both alive, than the alternative." She yawned a little. "I'm just glad Bridge and Z are both okay. And the Emperor of Everything doesn't feel like conquering Fandom." She sighed. "I'm going to sleep in tomorrow. And possibly all of this weekend."

"Very true. Any reunion's better than no reunion at all." And he wasn't thinking about May as he said it. "Sleeping sounds like the best thing you could do. I feel like I didn't do anything this week but go to class, so I'll be in search of fun this weekend," he smirked, "and I promise not to call you if I need bail."

"Oh, you can call. So I can laugh." Parker grinned, bumping her arm against his. "And pass the hat." She rested her chin in her hands, studying him. "Isabel said you guys talked about the Time Agency tests."

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