A Studio Apartment, Emma's Manhattan, Monday Night

[bitten_notshy]

It had been almost a week since the curse ended, and Jack had not made a great deal of progress toward Project New Life. (It was daunting, was what it was -- the process of picking up pieces he hadn't put down with much care when he'd left six weeks before. Easier to hide in a different world and pretend he had all the time in the world.)

Anyhow. Today he actually had made some progress. Spurred by his conversation with Mitchell, he'd navigated his way to an interdimensional website and found a few jobs worth applying to. Nothing special, busywork in offices, but any one of them would keep his hands and brain occupied. He sent a few resumes in and called out for pizza. He and Emma weren't Valentine's people, per se, but dinner together the day before seemed safe enough.

[OOC: For Miss Frost, or for texts and such.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Emma was late, sadly, since her lab had run over and she'd had to run for the subway if she wanted to make it to Jack's at a decent time.

So when she arrived, her hair was in disarray and she was weighed-down with homework. "Open the door, Mr. Priest," she called, kicking at it with one foot. "I can't reach my keys."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack had known she was coming from the moment she stepped off the elevator, but there was something nice about having her let herself in.

Well. It was nice when she wasn't buried in books, anyhow.

He got the door and stepped obligingly out of the way.

"Here, can I get" -- he scrutinized her load -- "anything?"

[icecoldfrost]

"My sanity?" Emma asked hopefully, giving him big blue eyes and trying not to drop one of her totes. "Or dinner?"

She gave him a bit of a pout as she shimmied past. "I'm going to need to work harder to surprise you."

[bitten_notshy]

"Well, I've rarely been able to surprise you," Jack pointed out, stepping back and closing the door. "It's turnabout. And I like making you work."

He flopped onto the futon. "Pizza is already on its way."

[icecoldfrost]

"You are a lifesaver," she breathed, shedding bags. "I don't think I even had time for lunch today; pizza sounds divine."

[bitten_notshy]

"I like sounding divine," Jack told her, and gestured for her to sit by him. "Poor thing. what were they making you do up in the halls of knowledge?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Psych experiments," she said absently, sitting down and breathing a sigh of relief. "My mice were problematic."

"...I'm tempted to give them to Hank. He'll make them behave."

[bitten_notshy]

"Or eat them," Jack said absently, nose twitching. So that was what the animal scent was; he should know mouse by now.

"I got a text from Mitchell today," he added, moving around to try to rub her shoulders. "And looked through the job ads."

[icecoldfrost]

"I can hop in the shower, if it's annoying?" Emma offered, as usual not pretending not to listen. She'd stopped wearing perfumes, for the most part, out of courtesy. Mice smelled sawdust-y to her, as it was, so she knew it was probably worse for Jack.

Still, she relaxed happily into the massage. "Oh? Tell me Mitchell isn't gallivanting off on some new mad adventure. I'm afraid I'm on vacation from adventure."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shook his head. "I got the wrong kind of soap," he admitted. "You smell nicer to me than it does."

He smiled gently, thumbs going up the sides of her neck. "No. Freshly back from an adventure, actually. He went into the afterlife after Annie."

He would have added that he wasn't joking, but the sad part was that their lives were at the point where she wouldn't have thought he was.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma groaned and closed her eyes. "I can't think you're joking; it's so stupid it has to be true."

Look, he had been Teacher Hot Mitchell when she was sixteen. Now he was Former Teacher TROUBLE KEEP JACK AWAY Mitchell.

[bitten_notshy]

"Mmmm," Jack said, not disagreeing. He brought his palms into the massage, forming small circles. "I don't understand how it worked, but it did."

He so wasn't telling Emma he'd threatened to go after Mitchell if it had gone wrong.

"I would like to think someone would do as much for me."

[icecoldfrost]

"Go into the afterlife without a clue? Unlikely," she teased, letting her head fall back. "Tear down every corner of heaven and hell or whatever and make it loud and messy until you show up on a beach with a note of apology? More likely."

[bitten_notshy]

"And then you'd never let me forget it for the rest of my life," Jack said, and ran his fingers through her hair to smooth any tangles. "... actually, your path would be the more efficient one. Have I mentioned lately how glad i am you're on my side?"

[icecoldfrost]

She did so adore it when someone played with her hair, and Emma purred. "Of course you are," she replied smugly. "For one, I'm prettier than Mitchell."

[bitten_notshy]

"You didn't see him when he was a purple pony," Jack teased, but kept playing with her hair. "... all right. Other than that it isn't even close."

He'd stopped noticing Mitchell's looks long before. besides, he seemed to have a fondness for the breathing these days.

[icecoldfrost]

Yes, well, breathing bed partners tended to be warm and snugly and not prone to vampire angst. Which made them automatically better.

All the tension was slowly training out of her, and Emma made a happy sound. "Mmm," she responded, the topic of Mitchell's idiocy closed, as far as she was concerned. "See anything interesting in the job listings?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Most things want a degree," Jack admitted. "But there are a few nonprofit office monkey positions that look promising. I'll send in my C.V. and see if I can charm them into giving me a chance."

He paused, leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. "I won't refer to the job as 'office monkey' in my cover letter, promise."

[icecoldfrost]

"Have you thought about taking a distance learning class or two?" she asked idly. "That way it looks like you're still working on your degree, but in a non-traditional way. Thinking outside the box, and all that nonsense."

[bitten_notshy]

"Would they let me start?" he wondered. "I assumed I was boxed out until May at the earliest no matter what."

[icecoldfrost]

"No idea," Emma admitted, turning her head just enough to regard him. "But it's worth a shot, at least so you don't die of boredom."

[bitten_notshy]

"I would offer to be your kept man, but I think I'd get into far too much trouble that way," Jack said, with a hint of a smile. "Better I go home, get a job ... all of that."

He liked her New York perfectly well, even if he still thought it should have been New Amsterdam. But it was safer to be a werewolf in his world.

[icecoldfrost]

"You would be hideously bored as a kept man," Emma pointed out, laughing. "I can't see you taking up knitting to pass the time."

[bitten_notshy]

"You know, Sebastien tried to teach me?" Jack laughed in return. "It's the one thing I never took to."

[icecoldfrost]

"What, no making sweaters for penguins caught up in oil-spills? No tea cozies?" Emma teased. "I think I'm shocked; I thought you could do anything you set your mind to doing."

[bitten_notshy]

"I could, but that doesn't mean I want to," Jack answered. "There's too much sitting still in knitting. Though now you have me feeling sorry for the penguins."

[icecoldfrost]

"Have you ever seen Mr. Drake as a penguin?" Emma asked. "I feel sorry for him, too. He'd be quite dashing in a little sweater."

SORRY, BOBBY.

"We'd have to find you another leisure activity then. Dominoes?"

[bitten_notshy]

Jack gave her what he hoped was a withering look. "You can't think of anything better for me to do than dominoes?"

he might have demonstrated what he meant, but the buzzer sounded for the pizza delivery.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma made a disgruntled sound and got out of his way so he could get the door. "I could think of a few things," she offered, "-but I was trying to think of sedate things for a kept man."

"You could always start a literary circle? Run a scandalous salon of some sort out of the back room."

[bitten_notshy]

"I could go back into politics," Jack tossed over his shoulder, and fumbled for his wallet and paid for the pie.

Once the delivery man was dispatched, he brought the box over to his tiny table. "Could you get drinks out of the icebox?"

[icecoldfrost]

Emma glared and pointed at him. "No more politics!" she yelled, hauling herself off the futon to go rummage in the fridge for sodas or beer. "You are banned, darling. A year, at least. My poor fragile heart can't take it."

[bitten_notshy]

"Can I work for an activist group if there's no cloak and dagger involved?" Jack wondered, though in a meeker tone. "Superhuman rights and magic are valid fields in my world, you know."

[icecoldfrost]

"If they meet during daylight hours, and you carry pepper spray," Emma retorted. "I swear, darling, sometimes you try and shorten all our lives with worry."