Devil's Nest, Monday, 11/19

[bitten_notshy]

Jack barely left the house over the weekend: He had extremely glamorous term papers to catch up on. To go by radio, though, he was grateful to have had this one pass him by. Bad enough to get used to being a werewolf without something completely new to deal with.

He was also grateful the DJ seemed to have been firmly scared away from the holiday-themed soundtrack. All was (relatively) peaceful as Jack settled into his usual booth, stack of invoices to enter into the system at his side and chat window with Queen Sophie-Anne's assistant open on his laptop screen. Whatever Eric had sent in, apparently it had been very impressive.

[OOC: I will live dangerously too, and skip the OCD.]

Comments

[not_a_whiner]

"I have to say, I admire your work ethic," Kaidan said as he popped in-- just to grab a drink and at least do something this week besides sitting around the house doing busywork.

His tone fell somewhere in that odd space between serious and sarcastic.

[bitten_notshy]

"Thanks. That's why Eric pays me so well," Jack said, not looking away from the screen at first.

Not that money was all of it, but it made for an easy answer.

"Anyhow, where else would I be?"

[not_a_whiner]

"At home, staring at a screen for academic reasons," Kaidan said easily. "Guess doing paperwork for a bar is a change of pace."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack laughed at that. "That does seem to be where my life is going these days, doesn't it?" he asked. "And if it's not a screen I'm staring at, it's a piece of paper. But at least I'm on semester break in a few more weeks."

And then it would almost all be bar paperwork. Yay?

[not_a_whiner]

"You think you're doing well this semester?" Kaidan asked, glancing towards the guy actually serving the drinks. "And you want a drink?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Tonic with lime, thanks," Jack said, glancing over to Tiny himself and trying to gauge if he missed the Christmas carols and might therefore be in a bad mood Kaidan would need to be warned about.

It did not appear that he did.

"And my classes are fine. I shouldn't say this given your occupation, but so many of them just want to hear their own opinions parroted back at them. I can do that, so --" He shrugged. "How did your science class go?"

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan nodded, placing an order for a beer himself.

He returned to Jack's booth with both drinks in hand. "Well, the kid who's usually looking pointedly bored at me actually showed a brief moment of interest," he said, setting Jack's tonic down.

[bitten_notshy]

"Impressive," Jack said, with a quick smile of thanks as he seqeezed the lime into his drink. "What brought it out of them?"

[not_a_whiner]

"I don't know, and I'm not sure it's a good thing," Kaidan said, sinking into the seat opposite Jack. "Half these kids have things going on I can only guess at."

[bitten_notshy]

"There are a lot of complicated lives, that's for certain," Jack agreed. "It must be hard not to step on any toes."

[not_a_whiner]

"More than a little," Kaidan agreed, taking a swig of his beer. "My first go-around, I was so startled by one of the students I didn't exactly wind up very, uh. Teacherly."

Not that he considered himself teacherly to begin with.

"I'm trying to better my ways, but, well, they're teenagers."

[bitten_notshy]

"I almost got into a screaming match in study hall once," Jack shrugged. "Culture clashes are going to happen. Really, it's amazing there aren't more fistfights"

[not_a_whiner]

"You got into a screaming match?" Kaidan asked, leaning back. "This I've got to hear."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack sighed, leaned back. Wondered how to word it before he remembered Kaidan was both a soldier and his elder and had likely heard worse.

"Apparently some worlds put rings on men's pricks to encourage subservience. I don't remember how it came up, but I was horrified when I heard that."

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan blinked; he couldn't quite repress a slight chuckle. "Sounds like a story ripped from an amateur extranet fetish site," he offered. "Seriously?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Oh, god, there was some horrible thing about it making them safe from a blizzard, because apparently men in this world are so dim that they can't find shelter on their own," Jack cheerfully maligned. "I'm sure someone somewhere has made pornography based on it. In retrospect it's funny, but at the time --"

[not_a_whiner]

"You had a blast of culture shock," Kaidan filled in. "Yeah, I can see that. Especially considering when you come from."

Beat.

"A blizzard, really? Nobody thought about just packing them some sweaters?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Or not going out in fucking snowstorms to start with, but it would seem that's not an option," Jack said, laughing in agreement. "It's a primitive culture in some ways. The rings somehow send a magical distress signal. But you're right, the entire topic is not something I'd bring up casually at home."

[not_a_whiner]

"I've been skipping over some stuff in my reports," Kaidan admitted, taking another swig of his beer. "I try to be open minded. Take things on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes that means making sure nobody barges in here to start poking and prodding at anyone."

[bitten_notshy]

"Good," Jack said firmly. "I'm all for science, but no one needs men in white coats rummaging around here."

[not_a_whiner]

"I'm not big on lying," Kaidan admitted. Shocker. "But, well. Like you said - you're not going to write home about a lot of this either."