Natalie's Office, The Hegemony Compound, Brazil, Sunday Afternoon

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie had portaled out to Toronto to spend a week doing orientation at the university. Dorms (ugh), professors (okay), classes (fascinating), roommate (the less said, the better, probably). The works. And now the week was over, and she was back.

Of course, she thought it had been a week. Because it had. In Toronto. Not so much over here. She had wondered about the lack of urgent emails coming in while she'd been gone, but she'd figured that had been some kind of a makeup move on Peter's part for the day he'd tried to take her work away from her. She hadn't thought about it much beyond that.

But now she was back, and she was at her desk in her office after dropping her things off at her apartment, and she was flipping through things, and ––

"Wait a minute."

It was very much starting to look like she'd only been gone for a couple of hours at most. What now, multiverse?

[ooc: NFB, but open for all the usual stuff.]

Comments

[lockestheway]

Peter was paging through some files as he wandered past her office-- and immediately came to a stop.

"Aren't you supposed to be haunting the halls of an institution of higher education?"

[whenshewasnice]

Thank goodness it was him that was the first person she saw. With an intern or something, she might have had to try and think of some kind of a preface to this question.

"How long has it been since I left?"

[lockestheway]

Peter took a glance down at the browsing device he was holding. "...Four hours," he said. "Fandom?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Fandom," she agreed. "Or the multiverse, less specifically. Because I was in Toronto for a week. I know life there is a lot less fast-paced than here, but not by that much."

[lockestheway]

Peter turned, taking a couple of steps into the office. It looked slightly less ridiculous than standing out in the hall loudly talking at an office, after all.

"Well, that's useful," he concluded. "If it keeps up."

[whenshewasnice]

"Assuming that from our perpective, time doesn't also keep on rushing forward there even while I'm here," Natalie noted. "But it wasn't doing that before I left, at least."

Otherwise she should have arrived in Toronto months later than she'd agreed to.

[lockestheway]

"You can always toss in a quick phone call and check," Peter said. "'Hi, mom, has it been five years since we last spoke? No? No reason. Thanks!'"

[whenshewasnice]

"I'll do that a little later. The difference will be more obvious then, if there is any." She shifted some things around on her desk. "I have to orient myself to this reality a little, first."

For all that a university orientation week wasn't a political crisis or an assassination attempt, it was still a pretty big change from what she'd come to see as the norm.

[lockestheway]

Peter glanced down at his files again. "Well, it's a little late for a lunch break," he said, "But hey, you have the rest of the day off. Dinner tonight?"

Because he was a little relieved she wasn't gone for the entire week.

[whenshewasnice]

"I've been surviving on cafeteria food all week." Day. Whatever. Also there'd been a lot of Pocky sticks. "Dinner would be great."

[lockestheway]

"There's this new barbecue place that opened just a few streets down from the Hegemony," Peter said. He sat down on the edge of her desk. "I hear it's pretty good. Or at least better than cafeteria food."

[whenshewasnice]

"Almost anything's better than cafeteria food, Peter," Natalie replied, and while her tone was dry, her use of his name still sounded like an endearment. He wasn't Julie, and she was so very glad of that. "Sounds good to me. Also like they might have ice cream on the dessert menu."

[lockestheway]

"Ice cream?" Peter echoed. "Sounds like someone has a craving."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm a student again," she retorted. "I get to have those now."

[lockestheway]

"I don't know," Peter mused. "You're still on my payroll..."

[whenshewasnice]

"I will flip this desk with you still on it if you try to stand between me and ice cream," Natalie informed him mildly. "So if you have to choose between cravings and reckless behaviour as student-like traits, I think we know which you'll prefer."

[lockestheway]

"I don't know," Peter said, shrugging. "Reckless behaviour, in this joint? Might be fun. Might put a funny look on Bean's face."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie heaved a put-upon sigh.

"I just want ice cream."

[lockestheway]

"I'm done in two hours," Peter said. He smirked. "Please contain yourself."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie rolled her eyes, and pushed herself up from behind her desk.

"Well, I'll be at home." Meaning her apartment. That was more home than the dorm room was, at least. And look at her taking the day off, too. "I'll try to contain myself."

[lockestheway]

Peter tapped her desk before hopping off it. "That is all I ask, miss Adams," he said, grinning. "Or is it Freshman Adams now?"

[whenshewasnice]

She quirked a faint smile back at his grin.

"It's just Nat."

[lockestheway]

Peter threw her a mock-salute with his files. "Then if we're going to be boring and informal, I'll see you in a couple of hours, Nat," he said, and then went for the door.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie waved him off, gathering her things.

A couple of hours to decompress seemed like a good idea.

[lockestheway]

A few steps down the hall, Peter entered his office and sat down behind his screen. He grabbed the phone first, though, and put down two reservations before getting back to work.

No decompressing for him until after work, alas.