Room 632, Atlantis Resort, Late Tuesday Morning

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had toured the aquarium and then gone back to his room with the vague intention of finding a swimsuit to finally get to the beach. (He knew that was where he should be, he just ... hadn't felt up to it. There was a lot of malaise in Jack this week, and he couldn't snap out of it despite a general urge to roll his eyes at himself. It wasn't exactly news that vampires were not fluffy puppies, after all.)

He wasn't showing any signs of making it this time, either. After a half-hearted search of his drawers, he'd opened yet another tiny bottle from the minibar and was nursing a scotch as he flipped through a book on criminal profiling. He was sure it would be very interesting, if he could actually focus on the pages.

[OOC: For anyone who might want to track him down.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

"Really?" she asked, inspecting her nails idly. "I'm not so sure about that. If you can be distracted from the sunshine and the adventures of the Bahamas by --" Emma picked up the abandoned book, making a face at the title. "-- By the Anatomy of Motive, then you aren't even trying."

[bitten_notshy]

"It's for work," Jack protested. "I don't mock you when you read dreary things about the stock market!"

He sat on the bed beside her, now in swimtrunks and a dark t-shirt. "I've just ... been in an indoor mood the last few days."

[icecoldfrost]

"The stock market is a living, dynamic creature driven by an innumerable number of variables," Emma objected, giving him a pout. "It's not a serial killer."

Well, maybe vaguely similar, but that was beside the point.

"Besides, this is vacation. No more work for you, Mr. Priest. I didn't bring my economics magazines, so put aside the serious reading," she coaxed. "Whatever it is that's been chewing at you isn't going to go away just by drowning yourself in unnecessary research."

Which was Emma's way of saying, yes, she knew he was hiding things, and no, she hadn't gone peeking.

[bitten_notshy]

"The book's not just about serial killers," Jack pointed out, sullen and vaguely embarrassed that she'd called him out in this way. Still, he set the book aside and rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry. I know I haven't been at my best on this trip. Forgive me?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I usually do, don't I?" Emma asked, shifting on the bed to pick up the sunscreen and swat gently at the hand rubbing his neck. "Move, darling. Unless you want me doing finger paints so that you get funny patterns all over your neck."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack pulled his shirt off again to give her better access. "You'd write rude words just to embarrass me, wouldn't you?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Mmm-hmmm," she agreed, starting at the top of his neck and working the lotion in slowly and firmly. "Or possibly draw pictures. I could give you a lovely tattoo of a flower; would you like that?"

[bitten_notshy]

"You could draw snowflakes and mark me with your name," Jack suggested amicably.

[icecoldfrost]

"I hardly need to brand you," Emma scoffed. "Unless you're hoping it will keep people from pestering you." Still, she carefully printed 'Emma's Jack' on his back in long strokes, so that he could guess at what she was doing.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hesitated, but whined once he was certain what she was doing. "Emmaaaaaaa......"

Some things just weren't manly.

[icecoldfrost]

"It was your idea," she pointed out, but smoothed over her work with more lotion, carefully working it into his skin.

[bitten_notshy]

"I didn't think you'd do it."

[icecoldfrost]

"Then shame on you for suggesting it at all, Mr. Priest. You ought not practically dare someone to do something, if you don't want them to follow through," Emma scolded. "You'll get a reputation for being a tease if you keep that up."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'd never want anyone to think that of me," Jack said lightly. Usually he would have proven how much he wasn't a tease, but today he just held his hand out for the lotion. "Here, let me get your back."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma obediently handed over the sunscreen before stretching out to lay on her stomach. "You really are feeling off-balance, aren't you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Yes." He didn't elucidate further as he carefully rubbed lotion into her back.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma practically purred at the contact, relaxing under his hands. "You're my official lotion-partner for the rest of the trip," she sighed. "I've decided. I do hope you don't mind."

If he needed company first, Emma would provide, but she wasn't going to let him off the hook completely.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack rubbed the lotion lower on her rib cage, fingers grazing the sides of her breasts through the suit. "I think being your lotion slave would be an honor."

[icecoldfrost]

"Don't go giving me ideas," she warned, turning her head just enough to watch him from half-lidded eyes. "We can't hide from the school in the Bahamas forever, as tempting a thought as that sounds."

[bitten_notshy]

"Why can't we?" Jack asked, massaging in smaller circles. "There's sand, sun, plenty to drink ... you could win money for us at poker."

He almost halfway meant it.

[icecoldfrost]

He did almost-sort-of mean it, didn't he? Curiouser and curiouser.

"Are you encouraging me to use my powers in unscrupulous ways, Mr. Priest?" Emma asked, brushing just along the outside of his mind. Nothing invasive, just a telepathic 'hello'.

[bitten_notshy]

"Isn't the saying that you can't cheat an honest man?" Jack asked. "People who mind losing shouldn't play cards."

He was momentarily startled by the brush of her mind, then -- <<Oh. Hello, you.>> It was more resigned than warm, but he wasn't trying to block her out.

[icecoldfrost]

<<Hello yourself,>> she answered. <<You know, for a man on a tropical island with his lover under his hands, you're positively an Eeyore.>>

<<If you don't want to 'talk' about it, that's fine, but show Emma what's wrong, darling.>>

[bitten_notshy]

<<I'll show you anything if you don't call me a donkey again>>, Jack said, but he seemed more at ease as he kneaded her shoulders. Showing was easier than telling would be. <<You won't hold it against me if you don't like what you see?>>

[icecoldfrost]

<<I will try not to,>> she answered honestly. <<But if you did something horrifically stupid, I reserve the right to sulk at you later.>>