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]

"Nothing personal to you," Jim clarified. "I just won't like Peter. It's just not gonna be a thing where we have drinks. That's how it is."

[whenshewasnice]

"I didn't mean personal to me as in directed at me, just that it seemed that way to me." That made sense, honest. "Anyway, I didn't come here to talk about Peter."

Much. Talking about him a little bit was inevitable when he'd been her closest companion for seemingly forever.

"Get some clothes off."

[pursuedthestars]

"I've got my hands full," he pointed out. "Might need you to take these from me or take my clothes off for me."

He held up the wine and his glass and waggled his eyebrows at her.

[whenshewasnice]

"If you want me to strip you, you're still going to have to lose them," Natalie pointed out, although she stepped closer. "Or do you think you can get out of your shirt without doing something unfortunate with the glass?"

[pursuedthestars]

"I think I can hold onto the glass as long as you're not yanking my shirt off," Jim told her. "I'm pretty sturdy and there's not much less in the glass anyway."

[whenshewasnice]

"Mm, and you can gulp down what's left before it gets to a risky point." She brought her hands up and pressed them to his chest, smoothing the fabric out under her fingers. Or maybe just feeling up his chest through it. Or both. "Okay. I'll help you. But while I do that, you should tell me how much you've missed me."

[pursuedthestars]

"You want me to talk?" Jim asked, making a face though he didn't really mean it. "You know that's asking a lot, don't you?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't think that's asking a lot from someone as smart as you," Natalie countered, running her hands slowly further down. "You love talking dirty, for instance, and there's absolutely nothing in the request I posed to keep you from talking about that the entire time."

[pursuedthestars]

"I missed you a lot," Jim told her grudgingly. It'd take a second for him to switch into anything resembling dirty talk since he wasn't in that mindset right now. "I missed having someone to talk to about nothing at all. And I missed being able to see you whenever I wanted to. I got bored while you were gone."

[whenshewasnice]

At least he made the look on Natalie's face soften considerably. It hadn't been hard to begin with, but, yes.

"I think Iowa might also have had a little bit to do with that," she murmured, getting her hands tangled with his shirt.

[pursuedthestars]

"Maybe," Jim said, shrugging. "You being gone didn't help."

[whenshewasnice]

"Sorry," she said, giving his shirt a slow little pull upwards. "Couldn't be helped. But I can try and make up for it now."

[pursuedthestars]

"No need to apologize," Jim said, holding his arms out a bit to make getting the shirt off easier. "It couldn't be helped and you're back now. Can make up for lost time."

[whenshewasnice]

"That seems to be the idea. Behind luring you into the bath, and everything." And she smiled a little bit, pulling the shirt further up. "Okay, I need your cooperation now, I'm going to try pulling this over your head."

[pursuedthestars]

"And what do I need to do?" Jim asked her. "Hold still? Lift my arms? Smile handsomely?"

[whenshewasnice]

"The last two."

Smiling handsomely was a very important part of the process, clearly.

[pursuedthestars]

Jim smiled handsomely and held up his hands, glass in one and bottle in the other. He made sure to keep still too though since he didn't want to slosh any wine over the edge of his glass or anything.

[whenshewasnice]

Probably a good idea. Natalie was careful about getting the shirt over his head, too. No yanking or other sudden movements. Seemed to work, because eventually the shirt was just around his arms.

"And how do we do this part?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Easy," Jim said, holding his glass and the bottle with one hand which left his other hand free. "Pull it off that one first and then I'll switch."

[whenshewasnice]

"Showoff."

Not really. But at least the shirt slid off his arm easily enough once he did that.

[pursuedthestars]

"I'm just that good," he said, switching the glass and bottle to his other hand and waggling his eyebrows. "See, I had this under control."

[whenshewasnice]

"Sure you did," Natalie drawled, but with a smirk. His shirt got tossed aside, and she leaned forward just briefly to kiss his shoulder. "Well done, Jim."

[pursuedthestars]

"Thank you, thank you," he said, nodding. "Get rid of my pants now and let's get in. The water's gonna get cold."

[whenshewasnice]

"I can do several things at once," Natalie told him. Then proved it by pressing a few more kisses against his skin while her hands went down to the front of his pants.

He'd probably be pleased to find out she hadn't forgotten how to undo them efficiently.

[pursuedthestars]

"Just giving you some encouragement," Jim told her with a quiet sigh. "Wouldn't want to sit in cold water. Makes it a little less nice."