Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jordan nodded. "I prefer to be honest with my friends," he said, and wondered quietly if Melvin would pick up on all the potential implications and complexities inherent in the statement. Melvin seemed to realize how much of his thoughts Jordan usually held back, at least. "Your curiosity overrides your consideration sometimes. Maybe your friends in college were like that too," he suggested. "What did you major in? I don't think you've told me."

He sipped his tea. "I'm not surprised. She's pretty protective about her sister." Family could be a sensitive topic anywhere, and particularly here. Jordan's mouth tightened a little as he thought of what Harrison had said about his family. He kept the thought to himself, though, not ready to talk about that to anyone, not really ready even to analyze it. He was tired, physically and emotionally, and that particular subject was a complex knot of conflicting feelings. "She's got some opinions on morals and ideals that don't fit well with how Rep sees the world, and she doesn't always think a lot about what she says before she says it. But she wants to do the right thing."

He half-smiled at the not-a-question about tea. "Got a kettle and some boxes of tea for my birthday," he explained, and left out that the gift had been from Harrison, because every conversation was a minefield still and Melvin was trying very hard not to ask overly personal questions. "There's a certain amount of technique to brewing different kinds of tea. Water temperature and steeping time play a part in how it tastes. I've been learning how it works. I'm sure a chemist could tell me more about how the heat interacts with the compounds in the leaves, but that's not my field."

"I left toward the end of my second year in college," Jordan offered. "Didn't have a roommate. I don't know how long it took them to notice ... " He trailed off, sighing. "Not more than a week, probably. I was going to school in my hometown, so I saw my family pretty often." They'd almost certainly thought it was suicide, so soon after the accident. In a way, sometimes he thought it had been an attempt.

"You don't really think school's a forgiving environment, and then you leave," he said, and puffed a breath of air that wasn't quite a snort.

"Knowing you see things that other people don't see doesn't prepare you for what they really are," Jordan agreed. "Not sure there's anything that can. Not the way things work now." Maybe an extended training program, started early; but that wasn't this world, this place.

"I do," he answered. "I've toyed with the idea of sending back money to help the family out, but I haven't been able to figure out a way to do that that's not traceable or suspicious. I won't put them at risk just to ease a little of my own guilt." He shrugged, looking troubled, and debated a moment before adding, "Candace said my aunt looked like she was doing all right when she was in the area." He sighed. "What about you?"

"I think it's human nature to want what you can't have." Jordan sighed and finished off his tea. "Even if it was you yourself that decided you couldn't have it."

He got up, rubbing his free hand across his eyes. "I think I'm going to go to bed," he told Melvin. "I'm just worn down. You want any help with the sheets, or would you rather get that yourself?" He nodded toward the pile of bedding at the end of the couch.

"No problem," Jordan answered. He paused a moment, avoided looking at Melvin, decided what he was going to say. "It's sort of selfish, I guess. Didn't want to deal with an empty apartment in the morning, thought you might not either." He shot a brief sideways glance at Melvin, something unreadable. "Good night," he said, and disappeared into the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind him.