Toronto, Not Brazil Nor Space, Tuesday

[whenshewasnice]

This felt surreal. After the... several months Natalie had just had, taking a day or two to actually be away from Brazil and the Hegemony and Peter was just surreal. Knowing she was going to get to actually see Jim for the first time in over three months? Yeah, weird.

Since they were not very into the idea of meeting in either Ribeirao Preto or Iowa, Natalie had picked a place almost at random from the first selection of package deals Portalocity had happened to offer her. So now she was standing in the Drake Hotel lobby in Toronto, with her bag slung over her shoulder and check-in already dealt with, just waiting for Jim to arrive.

[ooc: NFB, for the boy!]

Comments

[pursuedthestars]

"Have you really been so starved for my affection that you're going to be critical of me the whole time?" Jim asked, shaking his head. "That's not a nice reunion."

[whenshewasnice]

"You're the one who brought up food and how much you like it."

So really, he could only blame himself for this one.

[pursuedthestars]

"I do like food but I've also been keeping myself lean and mean for all the girls out there," he joked. "Can't let the figure go to waste."

[whenshewasnice]

"Eating chicken in a chair somewhere while a girl sleeps cuddling a doll seems like a waste too," Natalie told him, reaching out slowly to run her fingertips down along his arm.

Except about an inch, maybe half an inch away from his skin. She'd earned her little bit of idle playfulness.

[pursuedthestars]

"Yeah, but would you actually cuddle the doll?" he asked, glancing down at her fingers. "I don't think you would."

[whenshewasnice]

"I walked into the enemy's lair with a group of largely unarmed men last week," she pointed out lightly, keeping up her slow lack of touching. "I might feel like cuddling things."

If she'd had Moxy, she definitely would have.

[pursuedthestars]

"You wouldn't wanna cuddle something that would cuddle back?" he asked her quietly.

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, obviously," she scoffed quietly, trailing her fingertips over his wrist. "But you were eating chicken. So in this scenario I took what I could. Reality is a different thing."

[pursuedthestars]

"I wouldn't let you cuddle with a doll if I was around," Jim told her. "The food could wait. Room service is always available."

[whenshewasnice]

"I didn't really see why you'd need chicken in that kind of a moment anyway," she noted. Her fingers traveled up along his arm again, and she watched them move. "Thank you."

[pursuedthestars]

"Are you all right?" Jim asked her quietly.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie looked up at him, her hand still hovering over his arm. She shook her head.

"It's been a long and traumatic few months. Topped off with seeing someone die and not even feeling too bad about that."

The trauma of having to see it? Yes. The fact that Achilles was finally gone and wouldn't come after them again? No, couldn't say she felt bad about that.

[pursuedthestars]

"Do you wanna sleep? Eat? Watch television?" asked Jim. "I don't really know what to do in times of trauma like that. You sound like you just need to rest and relax. Do nothing at all."

[whenshewasnice]

"I just want to touch you," she said. Not that she'd actually done that yet. It'd been three months and she wasn't rushing into anything. "I just want to savour the fact that I'm here. This is a safe place."

So was Ribeirao Preto again, but it was a different thing to be a universe away.

[pursuedthestars]

"So, why aren't you touching me?" he asked quietly. "You can, you know."

[whenshewasnice]

"Because I can," she murmured. "Because now touching you and not touching you is an actual choice I can make. And not something that's forced on me by circumstances."

But, she pressed her fingertips against his arm now.

"Hi. I missed you."

[pursuedthestars]

"I missed you too," he told her, smiling. "I'm glad I can see you in person and not just have quick phone calls that promise better things."

[whenshewasnice]

"You can have the better things now," she promised, dragging her fingertips down his arm. Actual touching. "I'm here."

[pursuedthestars]

"You are," Jim said, smiling at her. "Hi."

He kept smiling at her.

[whenshewasnice]

"Hi."

Natalie smiled back at him. There was maybe something a little sad about it, though, a wobbly little tilt. It'd been a long and hard few months.

[pursuedthestars]

"Don't look so sad," he told her, shaking his head. "Relax. Put the past away for a bit. Enjoy yourself."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm not sure I remember how," she replied, mostly joking but not entirely. She finally shifted closer, plastering herself against his side, one arm and leg draped over him and her head against his shoulder. "It's been a while."

[pursuedthestars]

"I can help you with that," Jim told her, kissing the top of her head lightly. "All I've been doing is relaxing lately. I'm an expert. Top of the class, I think."

[whenshewasnice]

"Teach me, o wise one," Natalie teased quietly. "Because I'm terrible."

[pursuedthestars]

"Well, you're doing pretty well already," Jim pointed out. "You're not trying to work, you don't have your phone or a laptop and you're laying down. That's a good start. You should just keep this up."