Natalie's Apartment, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had delicious takeout leftovers and a very small bottle of gifted wine. Soon enough, she also hoped to have a BDE-lagged deal partner (definitely not a boyfriend, despite appearances) over for a visit. She also had a forced lull in her schedule because of all the former.

And okay, she also had a bunch of poll results and various other stuff currently open on her desk. Might as well get as far ahead with work things before Jim arrived!

Her work ethic was actually amazing.

[ooc: NFB, for the boy I just modded.]

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[pursuedthestars]

The adrenaline had kept Jim up most of last night so when he got to Haiti, he was pretty tired. He knocked on her door a few times before resting heavily against the frame of the door and waiting for her to open it up so he could come inside and sit down.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie shifted the tablet onto the coffee table when she heard the knock, and came to answer the door.

"Hey," she said, with a little smile. "Going to keep the wall up, or would you like to come inside?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Hadn't decided."

And then he pushed away from the wall and stepped inside, rolling his neck on his shoulders and sighing.

"Okay, I decided to come inside. It was a very quick dilemma."

[whenshewasnice]

"Glad it didn't take longer," Natalie replied, joking. She thumbed the door closed. "No loitering in the hallway."

[pursuedthestars]

"Were you working?" Jim asked, making his way over to the sofa so he could drop down and stretch his legs out.

[whenshewasnice]

"Election time's creeping upon us, Mr. Kirk," she told him lightly as she followed him, and picked up the tablet to put it away. She could focus on things other than work for a while. "I'm always working."

Except maybe when she was sleeping.

[pursuedthestars]

"Whatever that means," Jim said, tucking an arm underneath his head and closing his eyes. He wasn't intending to go to sleep or anything. It was just nice to rest.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie looked amused. Not that he could see that. "It means that soon enough we'll find out whether all this work is going to amount to something big," she said, even though he hadn't exactly asked. "You're such a polite houseguest."

[pursuedthestars]

"I had a really long week," he explained, keeping his eyes closed while he looked over at her. "I'm just kinda tired right now. And my last classes were today and I didn't sleep last night. Don't I get some leeway?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Yes. There was a BDE."

Leeway was a given, although it would not save him from being made fun of.

Also, yes, she was calling it a BDE for real.

"Want dinner?"

[pursuedthestars]

"A what?"

He had no idea what a BDE was. Damn her and her ability to see things he couldn't.

"And yeah. Sure. As long as it's good."

[whenshewasnice]

"Big Damn Event," she replied easily, already turning to head into the kitchen. "I have local takeaway from yesterday. It's leftovers, but tasty."

[pursuedthestars]

"Big Damn Event," he repeated with a nod. "Riiiight. I'll take your word for it. The food sounds more tempting than word choice anyway."

[whenshewasnice]

"I was in Fandom for about an hour last week," she called back from the kitchen, getting containers from the fridge. "Saw the gun machines. Looked like an exciting week."

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah. Exciting. I got to kill a few robots with a cool looking gun," he said, yawning. "It was all over a freaking weather machine, apparently. The guy was way off."

[whenshewasnice]

"Typical Fandom, then."

Lots of silly drama spliced with mortal peril. Natalie came back with forks and two warmed up containers of delicious leftovers.

"Is it bad of me to be glad I missed it?"

[pursuedthestars]

"I'm sure you had enough of them back when you were a student," Jim said, finally opening his eyes back up when he heard her come back into the living room. "Guess it's time for me to get my fill before I graduate."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie sat down next to him and offered him one of the containers. Along with a fork, naturally. "I had more than my share. The multiverse disappeared, and there was the dungeon thing. Either would have been enough."

[pursuedthestars]

"Thanks," he said, taking the container and immediately digging in. "I didn't eat a lot the last few days. My fault. But hey, at least I didn't die. There was a lot of that happening."

[whenshewasnice]

There was a statement that had Natalie raising an eyebrow at him.

Okay, she was assuming everyone got better because they usually did, but still.

[pursuedthestars]

"It wasn't permanent," he said around a mouthful of food. "There were...machines that spit them out and put them back together. I saw one but never actually experienced it."

[whenshewasnice]

"Ohhh, respawning." Yeah, of course she'd know how that worked. The mechanics of it were present where she was from. "Huh. That's a new one."

[pursuedthestars]

"Of course you'd know that," Jim said, shaking his head and tucking himself a little more into her couch since it was comfortable and all. "But yeah, that happened. Not to me but it did."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie thought about it in silence for a moment, picking at her food as she did.

"I guess that must've been pretty unsettling for people who aren't used to that kind of thing."

[pursuedthestars]

"Probably," Jim said, shrugging. "I dunno, I didn't really spend a lot of time talking anyone through it. Just heard about it."