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The Perk, Friday Morning.

After a week of whatever was in the air, Ghanima was in desperate need of a proper cup of tea. While Ghanima's Bene Gesserit training allowed her to filter the chemical effects of the pollen from her system, it required her to be awake and Ghanima was not giving up sleep just because of hormones. That would be ridiculous, and she was perfectly capable of being an adult.

Theoretically, at least.

[Up early for SP goodness! Open Perk is Open!]

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John Watson-- also in need of tea. It was hard enough feeling like a fifteen-year-old again when you could still remember your roommate as a fairly attractive woman, let alone going out and asking random (if pretty) bar staff on dates.

...His interpretation of 'hormones' might have fallen out on the stoic, conservative end of the scale, but either way: the Perk, where he was acquiring a cup of tea, and smiling at the attractive woman currently also present in the shop.

It was subconscious, really.

Ghanima smiled back, raising her cup to him. "Odd to see another adult in here, let alone someone choosing tea over the coffee gods."

"We're an endangered species," John assured her, and took his cup off the counter. "But we're still around, I'm happy to see." He gestured at her table. "Mind if I join you?"

He was mildly surprised by his own forwardness this week.

"Of course not, please do," she replied, gesturing to a chair. "I'd enjoy company."

"Good," he said, flashing her a grateful smile, and pulled up a chair. He sat down, setting the cup down in front of him. "As long as I'm perpetuating a stereotype, I might as well do it in good company."

"The stereotype of being English and drinking tea?" Ghani guessed, given his accent. "There's worse ones to perpetuate, I suppose."

"Ghanima Atreides," she said, offering her hand. "I teach up at the school."

"That one, yes," John said, with a slight laugh. He took her hand. "John Watson. I'm a doctor at the clinic - actually, I work today, so I thought I'd make certain I stayed sharp."

With tea.

It was rather harder to stay sharp this week, after all.

"Ah, so you're our newest physician," she replied. My, he had lovely hands. "Welcome to the island, Dr. Watson, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise, Professor Atreides." That... was the correct mode of address, wasn't it? Her eyes were-- well, they were peculiar, but they were also rather beautiful, in all that. "Have you worked here long, or are you a recent import?" And what was that accent?

"Three years, now. My brother suggested the posting, and I must admit, I never saw myself as a teacher before." Ghanima gave a little shrug and smile. "The children tend to be...unusual. It's interesting."

"What brings you to our fine island?"

[must sleeep, back in six hours!]

"Unusual seems about right," John mused. "I've seen their reserves." He lifted his cup and took a sip of his tea before responding. "I've been working with a private detective for some time," he said. "He decided to move here temporarily to take on a teaching position, and I thought I'd follow. Keep him out of trouble."

He ran that through his head for the moment, considering whether he needed to ammend that in order to prevent leaving the wrong impression. "I didn't really have anywhere better to be." Which still made him sound a little pathetic, but... "It's been interesting."

"So you're a doctor and an assistant dective. You sound quite interesting, doctor. But I think you're going to have a handful with your friend, as I'm rather sure it's impossible to keep anyone out of trouble here," Ghanima joked. "Even the adults. Has he given you fits yet?"

"One or two," John said, lightly. "But at least there's plenty of interesting women to talk to, which compensates for a thing or two. Speaking of which... would you mind very terribly if I asked you about your, er, eyes...?"

He barely bit down on something as utterly hokey as 'they are quite lovely'. This week.

"I don't mind at all. They're called the 'eyes of the ibald where I'm from," Ghanima replied, tucking her hair behind her ears so he could get a better look. "Everyone on my homeworld has them, as does anyone else who is exposed to large amounts of the spice melange."

He leaned in to get that better look, which might not have been the most subtle thing he'd done, but-- "They do suit you," John replied, and only slowly leaned back. "Unusual as they are. It's quite striking."

"Thank you. I must wear dark glasses off-island, since they tend to unnerver many people, but I wouldn't trade them for anything." They were too much part of her identity. "It's rather nice meeting someone who immediately finds them intriguing rather than disturbing."

"Well," he said, as he finally wound up seated again. "I'm a doctor. We see our fair share of the unusual." Besides, it wasn't like she was carrying around zombie piranha, John's new favourite yardstick for insanity. (Previously, it had... well, it had even ceased being 'finding body parts in the fridge', because that had quickly become a part of life.) "Though I find it hard to imagine anyone finding you disturbing."

He was really feeling quite loose at the moment. It was almost nice.

"What sort of unusual?" she asked, curious. "It sounds as if you've seen quite a lot, to not have been broken by the island already."

"I work with Sherlock," he pointed out, wryly. "Just before I left, the Chinese mafia tried to kill me with a circus act." John was just saying. "Don't get me wrong, this island does have a wholly unique concept of 'unusual'..."

Edited 2010-11-14 05:09 (UTC)

"With a circus act?" Ghanima's lips quirked in amusement. "Were the clowns that boring, or the knife-thrower was a little too good?"

"The spear-thrower, actually," John said, and found, to his mild surprise, he was able to smile about it now. "Spear-mechanism? I don't know the technical term, but there was definitely a spear involved."

"Unusual sounds about right," she agreed, smiling back. "It does make a better story than boring clowns, or the usual Chinese mafia methods of dealing with people using poison or blackmail. What on earth did you do to get on their bad side?"

"Sherlock and I had been trying to break up a Chinese smuggling ring," he recounted. "Or rather, research a few deaths pertaining to it. They'd been killing off smugglers that had betrayed them, leaving no mark behind besides some graffiti. In the process of the investigation, their leader wound up convinced that I was Sherlock. So they kidnapped me and the woman I was with at the time. Of course, I just had to have Sherlock's ID on me at the time, too-- you can imagine what they made of that when I tried to set the record straight."

He could have just pointed her to his blog, but...

"I'm assuming that they did not take it well," she admitted with dry amusement. "Mafia members are not generally renowned for their sense of humor when they think they're the butt of a joke."

"Not particularly," John admitted. "Skin of our boots, getting out of that one. But we got our killer, and we... made certain we weren't there for the time being."

Which was about the reason why Mycroft had manipulated Sherlock into coming here, but. Yes.

"I take it you've seen your fair share of unusual," he added. "And handled it brilliantly."

"Have you encountered the gremlins yet?" Don't look so amused, Ghanima, it's mean. "We ought to lure them into your friend's office, if you want revenge sometime. They are quite...entertaining creatures."

"...Gremlins? I can't say I've heard of them," he admitted. "Do I really want to ask?"

"About so tall," Ghanima said, holding her hand off the floor. "Green, large teeth, a taste for trouble and a tendency to bite. Especially if you're a member of the extended Skywalker family."

Poor Jedi.

"Their saliva is a powerful hallucinogen, which has been known to make people think they are TV characters, mermaids, singing groups..." Ghanima gave a little shrug. "Harmless in the long run, hideously embarrassing once you come out of it."

"Yes, well," John said, after a moment's pause. "Don't think it'd be prudent to set those on Sherlock." Frustrating as he could occasionally be, John... really couldn't bear to do something like that.

"Still, thank you for the information," he added. "And the company. The company is... nice."

Oh, stop rambling with your hormones.

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The Perk, Friday Morning.

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