[PRP] Java Jive (Jordan & Horace)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Every so often (far too often), Horace would sneak about the Life labs in search of coffee. Sometimes, he got gloriously, beautifully, goldenly lucky. It was never good coffee, not beautifully smooth, but woefully bitter. Nevertheless, it was hot and full of caffeine. He had Oliver to thank for his coffee induction; every other Lifer he'd met around the labs had been reluctant to tell him. But today, today he was not lucky. A big sign hung on the coffee machine today, the letters scrawled across it spelling out defeat. BROKEN. Horace groaned and glanced forlornly at the empty mug in his hand.

"It's broken, Nokoni, so scoot." Horace turned around to look at her - he'd seen her before, they'd teased each other (her very exasperatedly), although he'd never gotten her name. The Life hunter made shooing motions with her hands and arced a perfectly manicured brow at him. Horace groaned before adopting a slow grin.

"Then when you gonna runic me a coffeepot, darlin'?" he drawled, crossing his arms.

"When you give me a grand and a coffeepot and even then I might just turn it into a nightmare factory, just for you." Horace made a disgusted face at her as she smoothed her labcoat. She seemed to make it her personal vendetta to needle him. At least she let him needle her right back.

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Later, armed with new knowledge courtesy of that cantankerous Life hunter, Horace roamed the halls. She'd told him a 'friendly coffee spirit' lived on the second floor. Horace figured it was some hunter she'd runic'd a pot for or something. Still, she refused to give the name, sailing off with a room number and a wish for his luck. It was probably a trap. But the thought of good coffee was too heady to ignore. He muttered the numbers of the rooms as he walked, stopping quite suddenly. Here.

Quickly, he rapped out a pattern on the door, bouncing forward on his toes.

"C'mon, friendly coffee spirit," he sing-songed lightly, staring at the door as though he could burn a hole in it from his eye strength alone. Idly, he wondered if -should hunters ever gain laser vision - if those with damaged sight would have weaker laser sight. Lame.

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"Friendly coffee spirit? I've been here a couple of years now and that's a new one." Jordan arched one eyebrow at Horace as he opened the door. "Let me guess, you bothered Santini for coffee one too many times and she gave you my name to make you go away?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

The door opened. Horace didn't know who he expected, but it wasn't Jordan. Not that the hunter was an unwelcome surprise; Horace supposed he should be grateful it wasn't someone he knew to be an a*****e. Still, somemeasure of surprise showed on his face before he relaxed into an easy smile.

"Santini - is that her name? Pouty lips, dark hair, perfectly made-up face no matter the time of day?" He gave a snort of laughter. If he called her anything besides 'darlin' or 'honeypot', it was 'labcoat'. "She actually wouldn't tell me the name of whomever she was sending me to - I thought it was a trap. Does she often send you people she's tired of?" He crossed his arms, mug dangling from his fingertips. Santini had, at some point, told him he could at least bring his own damn cup if he was going to pilfer Life's coffee.

"So... are you a friendly coffee spirirt? That's her words, by the way."

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"Yeah, that's her. She did the runic work for my coffee machine. Cost me an arm and a leg, too." Jordan didn't sound particularly upset about it. "Who she sends them to depends on how annoying they've been. Congrats, you're mid-tier. I take it the machine in her section is broken again?"  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Better step up my game - I shouldn't accept anything less than god tier." He snorted inelegantly. "Yeah, broken. It was probably Oliver again. He's broken it a couple of times, if I remember aright." Horace had no idea how the timid boy had been roped into coffee fetching for Jack, but it seemed like a thanknless job. One day, he still wanted to try and slip the giant his gross, purple coffee.

"So, I know it's a big imposition, but what can I do for you to beg a cup of coffee?"

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"No, you really should," Jordan said, amused. "Annoy her enough and she'll send you to Cael's office; good luck surviving that." He shrugged, one-shouldered. "I'm mid-tier myself. That's why she sends people to me, to get me back for it."

He sighed, but a glint of amusement lurked in his eyes. "You're not going to go away if I don't give you any, are you. All right, come in, but don't ******** expect it in future," he said, and turned back toward his kitchen, leaving the door open so Horace could come in if he so chose.  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Noooope. I'm nothing if not woefully persistent!" He grinned as he followed Jordan in. It wasn't entirely true; Horace would've left if Jordan had so desired, but he had to try. "I've still never met Caelius, though I'm not sure that's a bad thing. No reason to meet him yet, anyway." As he entered the place, he looked around curiously. Hunter's quarters were just so, so much better than the trainee counterparts. One day, he vowed. Obediently, he followed Jordan into the kitchen, much like a puppy dog silently hoping for a treat.

His eyes rounded. "Holy s**t, you have this set-up and Rep still hates coffee?" He blurted, blinking at the fancy coffee maker in the kitchen. Immediately, he tensed, hoping he hadn't stepped on a land mine.

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[prolixity]

"Cael is hazardous to be around and has stated outright that he considers trainees disposable, so I'd advise steering clear without a good reason." Jordan padded into the small, neat kitchen. His room was clean, well organized, the furniture somewhat worn and probably secondhand but in good shape; his coat and mission pack hung on the wall beside the door, and a minipet cage sat on a low table beside his desk. The bedroom door was closed.

The coffee machine was the fanciest thing in the kitchen; there was also a toaster oven and a hot plate with two burners, but both were much simpler and more utilitarian. Jordan took a canister of coffee out of the cabinet and started the process of setting up the machine to brew a pot. He grinned over his shoulder at Horace's outburst. "Rep doesn't like bitter things, so I never had to share; good thing, because he has no shame about using other people's supplies up." It might have been a sore point, even recently, but he seemed to be at ease with the subject currently. "You going to want sugar or cream?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He leaned one hip against a counter. "Most of the division heads seem a little bit... uh, unique." He didn't want to out-and-out say crazy, after all. Horace was sure that Deus monitored everything. He looked at Jordan. The man seemed more than competent, and he was nice. Rep was insane for letting him slip away. Or whatever had happened - Horace didn't know the specifics. But, oh, how he wanted to ask.

"Sugar, please, if you have it." It was hard not to become invested in the whole Harrison/Rep/Jordan triangle. It was, well, it was kind of all over twitter. "Rep seems like the kind of guy who pilfers supplies," he said, smiling. Just because he disliked Rep didn't mean Horace truly hated him, and the idea of him scurrying around stealing coffee was pretty funny. "So what's your plan of attack?"

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"If by unique you mean crazy," Jordan said dryly, apparently having no such concerns about monitoring. "Edith seems pretty solid most of the time. But it's possible I just haven't seen the crazy yet."

He got the box of sugar cubes out along with a mug for himself, setting them on the counter. The question made him sputter, his eyebrows jumping up as he shot Horace a bemused and slightly incredulous look. "Plan of attack?"

Ferros was laughing uproariously.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

The sputter was unexpected, but promising, and Horace grinned before setting his coffee mug down on the counter with a clink. "Yes. A plan of attack." He gestured expansively. "To get Rep and Harrison back." Horace had abandoned any concept of shame regarding the subject. Tilting his head, he seemed to comtemplate something for a second.

"Like - slipping anonymous love notes under their door, or making Rep jealous by pretending to date someone else, or giving them both chcolates of Valentine's, or engineering a mission where you guys have to pose as married 'for the sake of the misson'." His grin widened, one dimple popping out on his cheek. Horace was quite enthralled with the romance of it all~

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Jordan started chuckling partway through Horace's enthusiastic recital of suggestions. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter. "Not a whole lot of people who think I should," he said, "so thanks for the support, I suppose. No game plan as such, dude; we've been talking on and off, and I tell them what I think and feel about it. Been talking about and figuring out why things fell apart as badly as they did. If we can work it out and they want me back, I'll go; if they decide otherwise, I'll accept that." He shrugged. "If what they have works better without me, if they're happier, ultimately, well, that's what matters."

He shook his head at Horace, smiling bemusedly. "Chocolates I got covered, but the rest of those ideas, dude, those are terrible ideas. You gotta know the person you're offering things to, or it could backfire horribly, you know?"  

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You should gun for whatever you think will make you happy, regardless of how other people view it. As long as it's not hurting anybody, I don't get why people pass judgement so quickly." This was, of course, something Horace felt he had experience with. A lot of people seemed to hate Jan and, by extension, hate him too. It was kind of distressing, even if Horace tried to play it off.

Horace made a disgruntled noise and crossed his arms, although he couldn't wipe away his stupid smile. "Hey! I thought the mission thing was a good idea! Bonding and all that." Horace fell silent for a second, considering. Jordan exuded an air of 'hey, trust me'. Must be a useful skill, Horace decided. "I just really like happy couples... triples... whatever. More so if I like the people involved in them. And you seem like a good guy. I like romance, even if mine's a bit shakey at times." He laughed and shifted to stuff his hands in his pockets.

"Buuuut, you're right. Outside influence would likely backfire. However, if you need it, feel free to use me."

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"Grudges and tightly-held ideals," Jordan answered. "Living in a community of under a thousand, in a situation when most of the time avoiding people or even not talking to them isn't practical or possible, there's little chance for tensions to dissipate, and once you've expressed an opinion about someone to someone else, it's a hell of a lot harder to change your mind, for a variety of reasons. So when everyone knows what person A thinks of person B, there's subtle pressure, both internal and external, to hang onto that idea. And the longer you hang onto that idea, the more entrenched it gets and the deeper it sinks, the harder it is to change your mind." He shrugged one shoulder. "Applies to concepts and ideas as well. In a small community, you are your reputation and public presentation; you're this certain person, who likes these certain things, who can be relied upon to hold this set of opinions and can be found with this set of people. Deviating from the image can be more than someone wants to deal with or is capable of dealing with at a given point in time."

The coffee machine made the crackly bubbling noise that indicated that it was done brewing, and Jordan turned to take the pot out and pour himself a cup. "Here, give me your mug," he said, and aimed a lopsided smile at Horace. "I wouldn't want to pretend to the marriage," he said quietly. "I'd have to stop when we got home, after all. Thanks for the vote of confidence," he went on, more cheerfully, his smile going slightly wicked. "If I need a co-conspirator, I'll remember you offered."  

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace nodded as Jordan spoke. As usual, the other hunter seemed to make a lot of sense. Hehummed a little and clicked his tongue piercing against his front teeth. "I think that makes people less willing to give others second chances or third. Honestly, I wonder if the island would be better off without Twitter." He handed over his mug with a grateful smile.

"Ah, I can see that," he said. Pretend marriage sounds fun until it's over. "This is a really, really personal question, so please don't feel like you gotta answer it to humor me, but - I know how Rep comes off on Twitter and in person. Well, at least towards me, which is admittedly not an average meeting." Tap tap tap went his fingers along the edge of the counter. "But I was curious about the things you love about him?" He shrugged sheepishly. It wasn't that Horace thought Rep unlovable, it would just be interesting to know, especialy as Horace thought he loved someone who most people didn't like.

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