33 Apocalypse Avenue, Thursday Evening

[bitten_notshy]

Jack wasn't ready to say goodbye to Kaidan. He remained quite firmly opposed to this general trend of people leaving.

But if Kaidan was going to go fight purple blobby land jellyfish --or whatever he was up to -- he deserved a decent send-off. Which was why Jack had ordered several pizzas, laid in a few kegs of Canadian lager, and sent an email to everyone he could think of who might want one more chance to hang out with Kaidan.

A bad action movie played on the TV, though the sound was quite soft, and everything was ready for a low-key party.

[OOC: If you think you were invited, you were!]

Comments

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"I can't not worry about the science," Kaidan said, with a self-conscious little chuckle. "... Oh, she should've put on a raincoat."

Thank you, goldfish-like attention span.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"She should have put on a sharkproof bodysuit," Jack nodded. "But a raincoat would be a good start."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"You'd need a kinetic barrier to make anything shark proof," Kaidan said. "I mean, the right kind of mesh might do in a pinch..."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

Jack sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You really aren't going to be able to stop thinking about the science, are you?" he asked.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"...Look, I'm used to thinking about the practical side of tech," Kaidan said, sounding a little embarrassed.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"Where I grew up knowing some things were just magic," Jack countered neatly.

Magic in his world had rules and logic and a whole science of its own, of course, but it still made it easier to accept sharks in a tornado.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"And where I'm from, some things are biotics," Kaidan returned, "But that still involves physics. Logic."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"There's a logic to our magic too," Jack admitted, swallowing a sip of his beer. "It's all about balancing elements and like calling to like and ... look, if the fact I don't really understand it makes it easier for me to accept sharknados, I'm willing to go with that."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"I just want to know how this would work," Kaidan said.

He paused.

"... it's fictional."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"Exactly," Jack said, as if he'd proven a point somehow.

A moment of silence followed, then: "I will miss you, you know."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"I know," Kaidan said.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean," he said. "...I don't know what I meant with that. I'm sorry. This is tougher than I hoped."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"What did you hope for?" Jack asked. "And it's all right, by the way. I know you need to do this."

But in his secret heart, he didn't mind Kaidan feeling a little bit bad about it.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"Easier, I guess," Kaidan said, after a short pause. "I'm not used to staying around a single place as long as this. At least not when the place itself isn't on the move, you know? But suddenly you start to grow roots."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"It happens," Jack agreed. "I didn't expect it either. But if you asked me when I came here, I was going to stay until I was 18 and then be done with it."

Teenage Jack had been kind of dumb, he realized with hindsight.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"Yeah?" Kaidan said. "Somehow I have a hard time picturing that."

Probably because he'd only known Jack as an adult.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

Jack half-smirked. "I was in love," he explained in a voice that was somehow both wistful and rueful. "Sebastien was my world. I figured I'd stay here until I was old enough that no one else could have a say, and then go back to that."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"Yeah, well," Kaidan said wryly. "Teenage love has a habit of not working out the way you planned."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"Seems like a habit of life in general," Jack nodded. "Anyhow, clearly I was particularly wrong that time."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan paused to think over his next question, but he went with it anyway. "You hear from him at all, lately?" he asked. "I mean. If that's not too personal."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"It's not, but I don't," Jack said, eyes skittering away. "I haven't heard from him since just after I was bitten."

He shrugged. "There's a book from my world that mentions him being around in the '80s. So I have every reason to think he's still out there, somewhere. Probably making some other blond boy fall in love with him."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan shook his head. "What an ass," he said.

That was about as strongly-worded as he got. At least this side of a disguised Cerberus testing lab.

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"A year ago I would have fought you about that," Jack said. "Now --- "

He let his shoulders rise and fall in a shrug.

"He's a good man, but he doesn't like having people around who he cares about. Humans have a nasty tendency not to stay around forever."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"He should talk to the asari," Kaidan said meditatively. "They've got a whole philosophy about dealing with that. I can't say I understand it, exactly, but it's better than running away from people."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[bitten_notshy]

"Yeah?" Jack asked, interested. "Think they'd like a wampyr? I forget other worlds have long-lived beings too."

Re: Movie Time [8/14]

[not_a_whiner]

"They get to be a thousand, at the very least," Kaidan shared. He shrugged lightly. "I talked to Liara a couple of times," he said. "She says her people have learned to embrace the time that they have with shorter-lived species. Like, it's the quality of the time that matters, not the quantity."