fandomtownies | The Umbridge Arms, Thursday

Jaime was distracted. Which wasn't entirely unusual. What was unusual was that he was distracted enough to, well, be noticeably distracted. He was usually quite good at being attentive and helpful and getting work done.

And of having a good idea of where the loyalties of everyone around him lay. Considering the work he did on the side, that was pretty important.

But today he was just distracted. He was at the front desk turning a bit of pink plastic over and over in his hands. It looked an awful lot like a make-up compact, actually. Not something that Jaime was likely to have considering the fact that he didn't wear make-up himself, and that he didn't really spend that much time around people who did. Mostly because he didn't spend that much time around people.

Maybe he'd just found it lying around somewhere. That seemed likely.

Every so often he would shake himself, trying to escape whatever thoughts held him in reverie, and look around. After all, he had a job to do. Two, really. Assisting Arms guests was one, and doing what little he could for the Resistance was the other.

And given his discussion with Ender the day before, that second one was beginning to feel more urgent.

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Priestly was feeling . . . restless. He'd been on an emotional rollercoaster for days now, what with the news of the impending resistance attack (which he vacillated between being excited for and convinced was doomed to fail), the graffiti (which either was awesome or going to get a lot of people killed), Momoko (awesome or heartbreaking), and his students (pretty much just heartbreaking), and the stress was starting to get to him.

Which was why he was showing up at the Arms in the middle of the day, when Momoko was likely at work, bearing a surprise bunch of flowers to leave at her door for her to find when she got home. With a card showing a picture of cherry blossom trees in bloom at Kasai Rinkai Park in Tokyo, just in case it jogged any fond memories.

"Hey, Jaime," he greeted, stopping by the front desk as he went. "How's it going?"

It said something that Jaime was distracted enough to start slightly when he heard his name. "Oh. Hey, Priestly."

Jaime shook his head. And managed a sort-of half-smile. "Hey, Priestly."

His eyes caught the flowers, and his smile grew a bit more genuine. And a bit more bittersweet. "For Momoko?" Like he had to ask.

Priestly looked at the flowers himself and shrugged. "Yeah. I figured she'd like them." He turned the bouquet to show Jamie the card. "A little touch of home, you know?" It would be pretty hard to miss the undertone of melancholy in his tone, but then, that was pretty standard for Priestly, these days.

Yeah. It was.

Jaime knew that it wouldn't really help, but he still sighed and looked up at Priestly. "I'm sorry, man." Really sorry.

Yeah, Priestly knew. "I gotta try," he said with another shrug. "Especially with . . ." he trailed off, not wanting to say 'the plan for Saturday' out loud where he might be overheard by the wrong people. "You know what I mean."

Jaime nodded. The motion brought the compact in his hands into view again, and he froze for half a second.

"Look," he began, then trailed off. What was he going to do? Tell Priestly that it might have been his fault Momoko had been caught? He shook his head.

"If there's anything I can do..." he went with instead. Because that was both heartfelt and vague.

"I know, man." Priestly tilted his head, trying to get a good look at what Jaime was holding that had caught his attention without being too obvious about it.

He really missed getting to be obvious about things.

"So how're things on your end?"

Edited 2012-07-26 18:44 (UTC)

It wasn't like Jaime was really trying to hide the compact. Even though the pink, if nothing else, would mark it as pretty much not-his.

He shrugged, helplessly, tearing his attention from it. "Business as usual, really." He sighed. "Which, I guess, is better than most of the alternatives. But..." Another shrug. "I'm about ready for a change..."

The pink made Priestly wonder if it belonged to Umbridge. Or at least a loyalist.

"Yeah," Priestly said. In his head, that was a lot more vehement and involved the sorts of words that would probably get him at least reprimanded. "Change would be good."

It was almost as if Jaime heard those unspoken words, the way he looked up and offered Priestly a sympathetic smile.

"It can't be too much longer now. Nothing stays the same forever, you know." Especially not something like this.

"And sometimes I even believe that." It seemed to be getting harder these days. Priestly reached up and tugged at his collar, pulling his tie loose in the process. "I take it you've been hearing good things?"

Priestly himself kept to the edge of it. He wasn't much for planning or fighting, so he kept a low profile and helped out where he could, passing information and making sure the kids at the school didn't get TOO downtrodden.

Jaime nodded slowly. "When you work in a place that so many people pass through, you're bound to."

And when you made time to go talk to Ender every so often. Though, not so often as all that, since Jaime tended to keep on the outskirts himself. Better if no one thought of him as a threat.

And better no one thought they could get anything from you if you were caught.

"Well that's good to know. I don't get to hear about enough good news, these days."

That drew Jaime's eyes to the flowers again. "Yeah." He tried for a grin, but mostly failed.

"I used to be jealous of you, you know..." He didn't think he was anymore. Not watching what Priestly was going through these days, at least.

"I know, man." Priestly even used to kind of enjoy that. "Just how things turned out, huh?"

Jaime nodded. "Could have been me," he nodded thoughtfully.

He shook himself slightly. "But, seriously, it's not like everything's lost. I'm sure things will work out." She'd come around. She had to. If only because of how utterly unfair it would be to Priestly otherwise. And to Momoko, for that matter. She deserved to be actually happy, not... whatever this was.

A thought which took his eyes back to the compact. Again.

"Nah, man. You would have figured something out by now." Instead of treading water like a damned coward like Priestly did. "Anyway. I should get going. I'm supposed to be, I dunno, something visibly useful."

"It's nice that you think so," Jaime decided with a self-derisive snort. He took a breath and shook his head again.

"But, yeah. Things to do." And it was probably best if they weren't seen as being too friendly. Best for both of them.

Oh, and the flowers.

"Momoko's out, but you can go on up if you like."

"Yeah. I figured I'd leave them on her door. She's had a lot to do at work, she might like a surprise when she gets home. "See you, man."

Jaime felt the urge to raise a fist and tell Priestly to 'fight the power', but it was brief, and he suppressed it. Instead he just lifted his hand to wave. "Yeah. Stay good, man."

The Umbridge Arms, Thursday

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