The Park, Thursday Lunchtime

[bitten_notshy]

Jack's spur-of-the-moment offer of lunch with Emma had lead to a spread of rather too much Chinese food in a shady part of the park.

He took his shoes off and stretched his bare feet in the grass, wiggling his toes a little. He wasn't happy she was going; he didn't think she was entirely happy to be going. But heading in different directions seemed to be their natural state of affairs, he thought wryly. Best to enjoy the picnic while he could.

"I hope you don't mind," he teased, as he reached into the bag for a carton of lo mein, "giving up your ledgers for this."

[OOC: For the girl named in the narrative.]

Comments

[icecoldfrost]

Between a growing werewolf and his mutant girlfriend, there was no such thing as 'rather too much' food. Ever. Too much food for a normal person, maybe, but never for them.

"They can wait. Unless gremlins make off with them, ledgers don't have legs and can't run off," Emma pointed out, taking off her own shoes to sit down. "Besides, I'd finished all of the current numbers; I was just doing business forecasts for fun."

Nerd.

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm not so sure," Jack said slowly. "The radio seems to think the books in the library run all over the place. perhaps your ledgers are the same breed."

He passed the bag to her for her to select from, not terribly concerned by the threat of moving books.

"I should have you do those projections for Devil's Nest some day," he mused. "Think Eric would be appreciative?"

[icecoldfrost]

"Get my fingers on Eric's books, with the chance to poke around at his money and see his investment patterns as a long-term planner? Please, why would I be interested in that?" Emma joked, reaching in for some vegetarian spring rolls. "I don't care if he's interested or not, I'll do it anyway."

"But if you need to sell it to him, tell him I'll track liquor and beer sales back the past ten years to spot trends, or try to predict future costs of his favorite True Blood based on their production and shipping trends."

[bitten_notshy]

"If his investments look like Sebastien's, they might give you a headache," Jack warned. "But I can give it a go. I think he'd find it amusing."

From what Jack could tell, Eric found humans amusing in general.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma's lips quirked in amusement. "Most things amuse Eric," she pointed out. "Especially things that are blonde and telepathic. We're very shiny toys to poke at and sic on Tiny."

[bitten_notshy]

"True. By the way, he was broken up when I told him you were going this week," Jack said facetiously. "Tiny, not Eric."

[icecoldfrost]

"Only because that means I won't come in and arbitrarily fake-fire the DJs like I did last year," Emma replied dismissively between bites of food. "I rather think he enjoyed that."

[bitten_notshy]

"If only we could fire the DJ for real," Jack mused. "You should have come with me last night. I think their choice of music actually qualified as an assault."

Jack Priest: Not a fan of dubstep.

[icecoldfrost]

"Well, if I don't have a proper internship or job in New York next summer, you'll just have to hire me on, now won't you?" Emma teased, glancing at him from under her lashes. "That is, if you don't mind me working under you."

TOTALLY DIRTY.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shouldn't have taken a bite of spicy chicken just before she said that. The coughing fit was hell on his sinuses.

"I think I could find that arrangement amenable," he said, when he was done. "You have plenty of relevant experience and take orders well. And you're diligent about performing tasks up to certain quality standards."

EVEN DIRTIER, EMMA. HA.

[icecoldfrost]

WELL PLAYED, JACK, WELL PLAYED.

"There's always the chance Eric could put me in charge, instead," she pointed out wickedly. "Think you could handle that?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm not sure," Jack said lightly, biting the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't smile and give the game away. "Sometimes you ride me pretty hard."

[icecoldfrost]

"Someone has to stay on top of you to make sure you get things done properly," Emma volleyed back. "It's a demanding job requiring fine attention to detail, not some one-off you can do yourself."

[bitten_notshy]

"I can be quite self-sufficient, Miss Frost," Jack said, eyes sparkling. "But I find better work is done as part of a team, wouldn't you agree?"

[icecoldfrost]

"So long as the team doesn't get too large," she agreed smoothly. "Otherwise you end up with the right hand not knowing what the left leg is doing."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack -- startled by the vivid mental image that brought up -- went pink right around his ears, though he kept the rest of his face under control.

"True," he agreed. "So it's good to have a member who's direct about what he wants in the room."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma managed not to smirk too much at that flush. Point, to Miss Frost. "Or she."

[bitten_notshy]

"Or she," Jack granted, but if he'd said it that way to start with he would have lost that lovely 'member' pun.

He smiled over, lowering his lashes slightly. "I didn't mean to demean female expertise; I know you're quite capable of ensuring full satisfaction for all involved."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma snickered and threw a fortune cookie at him before reaching over to claim the sweet and sour chicken. "Careful, Mr. Priest," she warned, pointing her chopsticks at him. "Or I'll make you put your mouth where your money is."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack caught the cookie neatly in one hand, set it to the side as he went back to poking at the lo mein with his chopsticks.

"Pity," he said, "when there are so many nicer things I could do with my mouth."

If his tongue seemed somewhat excessively involved in getting the noodles off the chopsticks after he said that, it was surely Emma's imagination.

[icecoldfrost]

No, it wasn't her imagination, but Emma was just going to lean back and watch the show while she worked on her own food. And being sure to suck the sauce off the chopsticks.

"Like your oral exams," she added brightly, between bites. "I look forward to you practicing for them."

[bitten_notshy]

"I have been working especially hard on linguistics," Jack nodded. It was odd, to be both fighting an urge to laugh and completely aroused; he hoped Emma appreciated what she was doing -- but he suspected she did. "Too bad we'll be in different cities, or we'd have to study together. But I suppose there's the phone."

[icecoldfrost]

"You could write and send bits of inspiration as you have them," Emma pointed out, "And I'll help refine your technique. Sometimes you have to try a few different conjugations before you get it right."

[bitten_notshy]

"A literary romance," Jack mused, and took a bit more lo mein. "I'll be up nights, driving myself to distraction thinking about ways to arouse your attention."

[icecoldfrost]

"And to maintain it," she deadpanned. "I'd hate to fall asleep in the middle of a recitation."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shot her a wounded look. "Have I ever put you to sleep, my dove?"

[icecoldfrost]

"If you don't know," Emma said, "I don't know if I should tell you, darling."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack grinned at that, hiding it behind his hand, and tossed the end of his egg roll toward a cluster of flamingos.

"It hasn't happened yet, but we may need a larger sample," he decided. "Just to keep me in practice, you know."