The Causeway, Sunday Morning

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell couldn't say he was entirely at ease with what he'd found out about Kate's current-- hobbies, yet, but there was only so much he could say about it. Now, several days worth of hanging in front of the telly and checking on Nina and George both had finally come to an end, and it was time to get back to work.

He felt a little restless about it all, for no reason he could pinpoint. He stuck his hands in his pockets and eyed Kate as they got off the cab and wandered onto the island. "Home sweet home," he said.

[[ mitchell's here with one, but open as a causeway is ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

"Mm, something like that," Kate replied, hands in the pockets of her leather jacket, bag slung over her shoulder, eyes towards the town.

She didn't really know how to feel about being back, though she felt a certain amount of restlessness of her own.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell gave her an idle shrug with one shoulder. "A place to rest your head, at least," he said, then added, half-teasing and half-genuine, "It's no Bristol."

[vanillajello]

"No Overland Park, either," Kate replied, tone so purposefully flat it was hard to tell which way she meant that. She glanced over at him. "Think we missed anything too major?"

[chosehumanity]

"The school still seems to be upright," Mitchell noted, "I think we've fared all right."

[vanillajello]

"The school was there even when two thirds of the island disappeared into nothingness," Kate couldn't help pointing out. "So that's really no guarantee."

[chosehumanity]

"So's the rest of the island, if you have to be all pedantic about it, professor."

[vanillajello]

Kate snorted and gave him a glance. "All right, yes, it looks like nothing's wrong right now, at least. Happy?"

[chosehumanity]

"The jury's still out on that," Mitchell replied, taking a few more steps down the causeway. "Maybe 'content' is the word?"

Smartass.

[vanillajello]

She gave another snort and shook her head, wandering on beside him. "I'm not interested in that level of detail."

[chosehumanity]

"And what would the proper response to that be, then?" Mitchell mock-wondered. "'Your face'?"

[vanillajello]

"You shouldn't be talking about things you don't understand," Kate decided, mock haughtily, as she reached into the side pocket of her bag for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Old man."

[chosehumanity]

Kate had had about the right idea, so that's why Mitchell was going for his own cigarettes in his pocket. "Ah, I keep forgetting you're a sage, right."

[vanillajello]

"People underestimate me a lot," she replied idly, having fished a cigarette out of the pack and struggling with the lighter a little. "I use that to my advantage."

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell held his hand out for the lighter. Really, he needed to light his own, so it wasn't exactly altruism. "For good or for evil?"

[vanillajello]

Kate handed the lighter over with a mildly frustrated sigh. The thing was on its last legs from just how much she'd been smoking over the last two weeks, probably.

"I guess that depends on your point of view," she said.

[chosehumanity]

Mitchel fidgeted a bit with the lighter, and a few seconds later, he'd produced a flame. He lit his cigarette first, then offered the lighter to Kate. "Bad habit," he said, but it was a cursory statement; he only had limited responsible adult points to go around.

[vanillajello]

Kate gave him a wry look for that as she leaned into light her own cigarette, before pocketing the lighter again. "Only smoke when I'm stressed out, anyway."

[chosehumanity]

"Clearly we need to ship you off to a Carribean island," he said, taking a long pull of his cigarette. "One of those expensive clinics for the stars, perhaps."

[vanillajello]

"Clearly," she drawled. "Because occasional smoking is the biggest of my problems, right?"

[chosehumanity]

"Well, tackling your bad telly addiction won't be a small task, either," he snarked, "But admitting you have a problem is the first step."

[vanillajello]

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with the kind of television I watch!" Kate argued. "At least I don't claim my trashy shows have any educational value."