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 Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:03 am
Al clutched the object made of brightly coloured paper in his hands nervously as he stared at the door. He was worried for a moment he might be interrupting something and yet... well, he had to get it to him.
So he knocked and moved the object to be behind his back.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:21 am
Jordan hadn't slept well the night before, and artifact research material wasn't the most enthralling literature; when the knock on the door came, it startled him out of a half-doze over his book. He shook his head, set the book aside, and went to answer the door.
"Al, hi," he said, blinking. The younger man looked nervous. What was this about? "What's up? Need something?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 9:38 am
Al smiled at Jordan, good, it wasn't naked Rep like he was expecting. Butt naked and scratching certain things without a care. He mentally recoiled before rattling his head.
"Hey man, is it just you?" He leaned in trying to vaguely look around Jordan.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 10:31 am
"It's just me. The guys are out on duties." Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong? It's going to be a little while before they're back."
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 11:11 am
Perfect!
Al suddenly looked a little relieved before finally shuffling the card he made for Jordan to the fore. It was made of various colours of construction paper cut and glued into shapes of trees and ornaments and wrapped chocolates and candies glued all over it inside and out to such an extent it did not even come close to closing and quite possibly weighed about a pound.
Taped to the back was a little tied handkerchief; inside is a little carved soap figure much like Rep's... only in this case of a dragon. Sorta. No one ever said he was perfect at it. At least he was better at it than shopping.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:01 pm
Jordan blinked again. "For me? Thanks, dude." He grinned. "I won't tell Rep you got sentimental, promise." He accepted the card and stepped back, nodding to Al. "I don't think I did ever give you that cup of good coffee. Want to come in for a few minutes?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:19 pm
Al chuckled nervously. Jordan seemed to have the power to read him like an open book sometimes and this time was one of them. He doggedly lowered his head and followed the invitation to enter the room.
"How are you?" Al asked uncertainly.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:27 pm
"I'm all right." Jordan moved over to the not-quite-a-kitchen corner of the room and started shuffling canisters around, setting the card carefully aside for the moment in a spot where nothing would get spilled on it accidentally. "Less stressed out." He looked back at Al, an assessing, thoughtful look. "How about you?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:39 pm
Al considered being honest. He wasn't so sure though. Admitting weakness of any sort to anyone was just asking for something bad to happen someday. He wanted to say the truth, that he felt scared, but instead it came out as, "I'm okay."
He frowned and followed Jordan, mentally kicking himself for being a lying d**k. This feeling disappeared though as Jordan carefully placed his card. "Don't let Rep eat it."
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 1:52 pm
"It's been a rough few weeks." Jordan started the coffee maker and turned around to lean on the counter. He picked up the card again to get a better look at it. Al had obviously worked hard on it. When he got the little wrapped bundle on the back open, he smiled. "This is nice."
"Don't worry," he said with a wry twist of a smile. "I know where to hide the candy where he won't swipe it."
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:10 pm
Al watched as Jordan discovered the little trinket that awaited him with curiosity - and then relief. Good, he liked it. A question then began to gnaw at him, begging for answers. "What's Christmas like here?" It was his first after all.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:28 pm
Jordan looked startled for a moment. "That's right, this is your first year here, huh." He set the little soap dragon on the windowsill. Not that he'd really been here that long, he reflected with amusement, but it seemed like forever sometimes. Ferros rumbled with affectionate amusement. "I haven't figured out who decorates, but someone does, and there'll be a tree down in the first-floor lounge where people can leave gifts if they're not delivering them themselves. Might be a little sparse on the gifting this year, though, since portals have been mission-only."
He fiddled absently with the candies attached to the card, looking suddenly a little worried. "s**t, with everything that's happened, I haven't got much. I wonder if there's still time to manage something ... "
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:00 pm
"It's okay man," Al smiled and reached to plop a hand on Jordan's shoulder. "There's so much in the future to look forward to now anyway." He flashed a big toothy smile before wiggling just a bit with anticipation, "Though man I can't wait for the ******** tree and s**t. I don;t need anything but everyone to be alive, either. Okay." His voice went really quiet, "but a gift or two doesn't hurt."
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 3:14 pm
"Everyone being alive is a good goal." Jordan smiled a little. "But a little materialistic expression of friendship is pretty great too. I don't think anyone's going to complain, anyway."
The coffee machine gurgled, and he turned around to pour two cups of coffee, flavoring one liberally with milk and sugar. "Thank God for power sources," he said conversationally. "I was about ready to -- blow up the instant coffee supplies." The pause in his sentence was barely noticeable; whatever he'd originally been planning to say, he'd changed his mind rapidly. He held out the mug with the milky coffee to Al.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2013 4:05 pm
Al squeaked and gladly took the offered coffee, Jordan remembered. "Know what I really miss?" He paused to take a noisy slurp of his coffee. "Hot chocolate," he nodded as he shoved a hand in a pocket and fished out a wrapped piece of chocolate and unwrapped it before dumping it in his mug. He nodded with approval as if this somehow magically changed coffee to cocoa.
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