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]

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."

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John eyed her carefully, "How many things we talking?"

[solo_sword]

"Well, war," Jaina said. "Plus the usual that comes along with bringing justice to the galaxy as a Jedi and all that. I haven't turned into a psychopath, if that's what you're worried about." She probably could have...

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John bit his lip. "What would you count as a psychopath?"

[solo_sword]

"Someone who does it for fun," she answered simply.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

So Kolya, then. "Good definition."

[solo_sword]

"You weren't actually worried I was a psychopath, were you?" she checked.

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Nope. I don't think I've ever worried about you going that way." Just himself. A little.

[solo_sword]

"Thanks." And she might have sort of wanted to tell him about that slip on Tenupe, but she wasn't sure either of them was at the place for that conversation to be okay. "Sometimes you just need to hear that someone thinks you're not going off the deep end."

While she was smiling, yeah, she was a little serious.