John Quincy Adams Cabin, Alcove B4, Wednesday Afternoon

[bitten_notshy]

For being a hundred and ten years in the future in a world with a completely different history, Jack didn't think he was doing too badly as he settled into his alcove with a book of American history at hand. He'd met interesting people while waiting for the "shuttle" and at the picnic (and while his roommate was difficult, that might be largely a matter of staying out of the conjurer's way), and he enjoyed both of his classes so far. And he still had two more, one with DCI Garrett -- no, Professor Garrett, here -- to look forward to.

He'd already written one letter to Sebastien -- an I got here in one piece but you should fire that coachman sort of note -- but it was time for a longer one; it wouldn't do to let the vampire think himself forgotten, even if Jack would be home for a weekend soon enough. He scratched his pen quickly across the paper, detailing his days in his neat handwriting and lingering just a bit over the short but suggestive passage about Ronan.

He was sure Sebastien would be delighted to hear he was making new friends.

[OOC: Totally open to cabinmates.]

Comments

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana was wandering through the cabin, trying to find where Samuel had decided to fall asleep this time. "Oh. Hey." She didn't expect someone to actually be in their alcove.

[bitten_notshy]

Looking up, Jack wiped his pen's nib on a bit of cloth and set it and the letter aside or whatever you would actually do with a fountain pen. "Hello," he said. "You're one of my neighbors on the other side of the cabin, aren't you?"

[OOC: SP for now!]

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Set it on a holder or cap it. Diana nodded. "Yeah, way over there. Have you seen a cat where there should not be a cat?"

[bitten_notshy]

And I learned something today.

"I haven't been looking for one, but I don't think so," Jack said, rising to look under his bed. "What does it look like?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Small, tabby. Probably asleep. Answers to Samuel when he bothers answering at all." Diana summarized.

[bitten_notshy]

"Samuel?" Jack called into the empty space under his bed, and emerged shaking his head. "No cat, I'm afraid."

He glanced up. "What do you answer to, when you bother answering at all?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana smirked. "Diana. But I'm not a cat. What about you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Jack," Jack said. "Also not a cat. I hope yours hasn't wandered too far."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"You know cats - he probably found somewhere warm and will be back when he gets hungry." Diana said with a shrug. "So where are you from?" She gestured at the pen. "Because I figured it was only my family that didn't bother joining the 20th century until the 21st started."

[bitten_notshy]

"We still have seven months left of the 19th century at home," Jack said. as dryly as he could manage when stating something he still wasn't entirely comfortable with "1899. Europe originally, but my guardian's in Baltimore now. Where is yours?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana had pretty much gotten used to the weird being normal here so she didn't even pause at the statement. "My parents are up in Lucan, Ontario. That's in Canada."

[bitten_notshy]

"Tony mentioned Ontario," Jack said. "North America is different for me. It's still European colonies: There aren't big countries except the Aztec Empire."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana had to ask the only logical question that came from that statement. "Do they still have human sacrifices?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I don't properly know, believe it or not," Jack said, not blinking at the question. "I need to ask, the next time I go home."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"You probably want to check before you enter their lands." Diana pointed out.

[bitten_notshy]

"I'll keep that in mind," Jack said. "Are there human sacrifices in Ontario, ion case I travel there?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Well, they might still have them in Toronto, but I think they're calling them Leaf's games now." Diana said dryly.

[bitten_notshy]

"It's mean to try to confuse me, you know," Jack said. He could tell that was a joke; he just didn't know what kind. "They might kick you out of the school for it."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"That would be a record even for me." Diana said with a sigh and plopped down on the floor. "If you ever end up in Canada, just avoid Toronto. All you need to know from that statement."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was going back to Europe as soon as he could talk Sebastien into it. "I think I can say that won't be a problem," he reported, then smiled at her plopping. "Are you all right?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Well, I wasn't going to stand there all day." Diana informed him from the floor.

[bitten_notshy]

"I thought you had a cat to find," Jack teased. "Not that I mind the company. I was almost done with my letter."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"He's a cat." Diana pointed out. "I wanted to make sure he wasn't chewing up someone's pants. Does the post office here ship across time and space?" If it did, Diana would be very impressed.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack was refusing to consider the possibility it didn't.

"No one's told me it doesn't," he said, tightly. "And there hasn't been time to get a letter back. Do you know how to send a telegraph?"

[OOC: NIGHT!]

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Is that the one that used dashes and dots?" Diana checked.

[bitten_notshy]

"Morse code," Jack confirmed. "If I could send a telegram, or couldn't send one, I'd at least know if I could get messages home."

He frowned a little. "You said used. They aren't in service?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Eh...no." Diana said, quickly running through what she knew of modern communication.

[bitten_notshy]

"I see." Jack wasn't happy at this bit of news; his lips thinned. "Has something replaced them?"

He had seen people walking around with cell phones, but had no idea what they were.

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana nodded. "There's the post office and cell phones." She fished her own out of her pocket and threw it at Jack. It was a few years behind the curve, but still small and futuristic looking.

[bitten_notshy]

As far as Jack was concerned, the phone he snagged from the air one-handed could have come from the moon. He experimentally hit a button; the phone beeped at him. "And I take it this is a cell phone," he said. "Is it supposed to do that?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes?" Diana shrugged. "Every person has a number, you can hit the buttons to enter the number and it calls that person." If you were a Keeper, you generally didn't need a phone book to look up the numbers either, so Diana may have missed a step or two.

[bitten_notshy]

"The school made me set up 'voice mail' when I moved into my dorm room, so if I hit that code, I would call myself?" Jack asked, poking at another button on the phone and making it beep again. "I wondered why I was speaking to a box."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana nodded. "Yeah, that's how it works. When you don't answer your phone, people get to hear that message and can leave you a message."

[bitten_notshy]

"It seems useful," he said, handing the device back to her before he broke it or it beeped at him again in that unsettling way. "Thank you."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana put the phone away in her pocket. "No problem. Any other technology you need a crash course in?" She was used to giving them.