Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jerry was feeling... stressed. At best. His burns had healed, leaving only their pink and white swirls of flesh across his cheek and neck, and so Shaving had returned to business as normal, but while his hygiene had taken a turn for the better his mood had taken a turn for the worse.

Candace appearing in his room reeking of bourbon had not helped. Not to mention his heart not being into his usual form of self-therapy. Never ending missions, just sleep, go suffer through rotting dead bodies, try to sleep, get suffocated by an inky darkness that tried to climb in through your eyeballs and blot out his brain had finally taken its toll on the man. He couldn't remember when he had gotten a good night's sleep.

There were more duties ahead, and honestly he should be forcing himself through the Shadowrun one more time... but he had lived through it once, that was enough for him just then, despite the Sun Training it meant. He had been too tired to even think about trying the other training runs between their endless missions.

It was for coffee that he finally drifted into the cafeteria, a nice hot cup of coffee to maybe perk him up before going out into the mist again for some target practice.

Blearily, the older man glanced up at hearing his name, nearly spilling hot coffee from the dispenser all over his hand. "Ah.... Miss Renie!" He forced a smile, catching himself before pocketing a few creamers and sweetener packets before sauntering meekly towards her, "Er... how have you been? You seem energetic this afternoon, ahahaha..." Personally, he felt a bit like he was going to pass out any moment. Just... coffee it away and get back to work.

"N-nothing!" Jerry tried to hide his embarrassment with his own smile as he sat beside her, but his hands were shaking as he emptied the creamers into the black recesses of the coffee. "Just.. just stressed, I suppose..." Well, there was certainly something particular bothering him, but he wasn't sure Reine was the best person to just... blather it all back to. "It's been awfully busy, hasn't it? Hardly any time to... do much of anything but Missions and training." He glowered at his coffee cup, debating his options.

Well... she... *was* a fellow phoenix, after all, right? No... real harm in just venting a little? She wouldn't think worse of him just to get a few things off his chest? Finally, he slumped, giving in to instinct, "It's Robert."

"Ah... Chriffmuff, umuff chewiff fo-" He managed as suddenly his mouth was filled with cookie, and it was all he could do to chew and swallow without gagging before there was the sudden hand clapping his back. His face looked grim a moment before he turned to glower darkly, light obscuring his eyes behind his glasses as his hands tightened into fists. "No... no, he just... it's awful. The most.... heinous thing. He...." He looked pained, as though the thought of it made him visibly sick, "He...refuses to sing."

"I usually try to... mostly avoid sugar, but these are pretty good" He managed, smirking a bit as the girl practically hung off of him, his face flushing. Enlisting had been the best decision of his life, apparently. Petra, Candace, and now Reine... So many new women in his life who actually spoke to him *more than once*.

He chewed through the next cookie, brows furrowing with growing intent. "I'm trying to start this Choir, you see... I don't know if you saw the fliers?" he added hopefully, "And I heard him and... and he's... he's BRILLIANT! Amazing! It's... it's RIDICULOUS that some... some... useless meat head- er, sorry, that's how Roar describes him- has that kind of raw talent and... and... and simply refuses to do anything with it! It's not like I'm making him do something embarrassing, even! I have plans! I thought people would LIKE it! I mean..." He finished the next cookie, eyes now locked on the garlands decorating the cafeteria, "We could at the very least find some people to sing Christmas carols, even! But he refused, outright refused, and wouldn't give any reason! I tried to talk him into it... we... well, it was... *sort of* a fight... but I probably should have stuck to Roar instead of dancing," He pouted. He was feeling... better, somehow. Without her offering, he picked up a third cookie of his own accord, munching it thoughtfully. Perhaps venting really did help?

Jerry's eyes remained locked firmly on the Christmas garlands, his chewing slow and mechanical as Reine carried on. It was... odd. The consistency was totally different, as was the taste, but somehow... it was like eating his Gram's Hamantashen. The more she insisted on Carols, the redder his face got before suddenly, he was on his feet, the trainees at the tables around them glancing their direction once more as he slammed a hand onto the table, "There's got to be CANDLES!"

He blinked, realizing she had just said something important. "Beat him? And... and he'll join? Really? You'd help me?" His eyes lit up immediately with hope and joy and wonder.

"Yeff!!" Jerry leaped after her, dropping his coffee while stuffing another cookie in his mouth to free his hands. Roar was summoned onto his shoulder before they even made it out of the building, accompanied by a mad cackling, "Yes, yes yes, just a bit more practice and I'll CRUSH HIM INTO IT!"