Locust campfire- Thursday night

[solo_sword]

This was really weird.

Jaina didn't have the anxious, jittery feeling in the cabins that she used to. Some closure and time had done some good there. No, the weird part was that she was still in the cabins again. But it was this or singing insects and she'd already screamed at them twice before the announcement, so she figured she was fighting a losing battle there. It was just very strange going back to something she'd thought was fun at sixteen and then circumstances had sort of ruined the fun part.

Still, she could deal with it, and it wasn't going to stop her from getting a fire going and bringing out the makings for s'mores when she was pretty sure it wasn't going to be raining. When you'd been deprived of chocolate as long as she had, you found reasons to have it.


[I've been wanting to play all daaaay. You should play with me. *nods*]

Comments

[solo_sword]

War was completely forgotten right this second. "...Do you have footage of that?"

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I meant when it happens." When they were dating, it had been easy enough, but now he'd just track down the visuals of her gremlin bites.

[solo_sword]

"I'm going to start wearing armor," she decided. "Or start bribing you. Maybe both."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Bribing me with what?" John asked, totally curious here.

[solo_sword]

"It's been five years. Remind me what it takes," she said.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John put up his hands, warding off what would come from that. "Oh no, I don't suggest bribes. That way lies to trouble."

[solo_sword]

Jaina went a little pink, realizing that yeah, that'd probably been a bad setup. "Good call," she said quickly. "Do s'mores count as bribes, because I can start on that now."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"I can dig some chocolate," John figured, moving to sit over by her. "Cooking over an open flame makes the small talk easier, after all."

[solo_sword]

Staring to put the s'more together, she asked, "Is this small talk? I thought it was banter." Small talk usually seemed more uncomfortable to her.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Banter?" John acted shocked. "That doesn't sound like me at all." Ignore how he'd gone to the bar tonight to fill the banter void in his life.

He missed McKay.

[solo_sword]

"Yeah, you're right, you would never do that," she said dryly. "For the record? People don't banter with me back home the way you do. I hardly ever end up mocked. I almost started to miss it."

She'd totally missed it.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You mean they called you Goddess to your face and meant it?" John joked, his smile growing a little.

[solo_sword]

"Only Kyp," she grinned. "I haven't heard that in a long time, actually. Thanks for bringing it back up."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like that's what I'm here for," John told her. "Reminding you of what life was like when you were young. How old are you, anyway?"

[solo_sword]

"Twenty-seven," Jaina answered. "I am still young, thank you."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Completely young," he agreed with a nod. "I'm only two years off of you now." And only a lot jealous how her timeskip had worked out.

[solo_sword]

"I think I like that better than before," she admitted. Though it did put him at the same age as both Jag and Zekk, which was weird. "I would have appreciated some warning that it was going to happen..."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't we all appreciate knowing how time's going to go when we cross over that causeway," John pointed out. Really, he'd let her whine up to a point, but after eleven years, he thought he kind of owned the shit end of the time skip stick.

[solo_sword]

"I know, I'm talking to the king of this," she said. "How long did it take you, adjusting to being back here?" And now she'd just hope he had adjusted. She hadn't really had the chance before to find out.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"How many weeks have I been back?" John asked teasingly. "I dunno, Jaina. I'm not really adjusted. I just kinda deal." It was how he'd gotten through with a sense of humor.

[solo_sword]

"Is it wrong I was hoping for, 'About a week, and then everything was normal?'" she asked with a little smile. Yeah, she knew that'd been a naive little hope, but she also thought having to just deal as long as he had kind of sucked for him. That kind of thing was how she'd ended up still wondering how he was over five years.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Amazing you choosing optimism over realism. At least I can say things have worked so far." John was ever hopeful things would go in his favor despite the way life worked. "You'll be fine. And if not, we'll get you drunk and buy you a cat."

[solo_sword]

Jaina laughed. "The drunk part might happen," she said, though she was pretty cautious on that front these days. "The cat is a no. Remember what happened to your fish when left in my care."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"You're older now," John pointed out. "You should be capable of caring for another life at this point."

[solo_sword]

"It's somehow even less of my thing than it used to be," she pointed out. "I kill too many things to be okay with having a pet, let's put it that way."