(4:18:13 AM) ***Altea arrives back at the dorm in the early morning, having stayed over to make sure her boyfriend got a full, good night's sleep for once in the past few weeks. Not that she's particularly stealthy about it, but she does seem to be making sure there are no tentacled sergeants waiting for her.
(4:22:58 AM) ***Claire is already awake as well, puttering around in the small dorm kitchen in her pajamas, making breakfast. She turns as the door opens, and smiles. "Hey, Altea," she calls. "How was Marcus?"
(4:24:09 AM) Altea: "Hey Claire." She's in real clothes, not that she necessarily needed to be, the other squad's barracks is pretty close. "Better, once he settled down a bit he slept like a baby."
(4:24:29 AM) Altea: "The, uh, babies that are at the point where they sleep.
(4:24:29 AM) Altea: "
(4:24:39 AM) Altea: "Not the real young babies where they wake up every three hours to cry."
(4:26:29 AM) Claire: She giggles. "I knew what you meant. And good; I'm glad you could help him out like that.'
(4:29:40 AM) Altea: "Me too. He's been putting himself through a lot. So how was your night, spend it with anyone special?"
(4:32:42 AM) Ikiryo: Dufort would be offended if she heard 'tentacled'. They are Tendrils.
(4:33:40 AM) Claire: "Well, you heard Tazzari kick me out of our room last night, so I ended up staying on the couch. Alexa kept Ainlinn company."
(4:34:02 AM) Claire: She shrugs. "No big deal."
(4:34:15 AM) Altea: "Aww, sorry to hear that. You could have used my room, at least."
(4:35:23 AM) Claire: "It's okay, it's a comfy couch. Plus Epsilon stayed over until like three in the morning until her sugar high finally wore off."
(4:35:49 AM) Altea: "Ahh, so you WERE busy."
(4:37:20 AM) ***Altea goes into the kitchen to help with breakfast how she can.
(4:38:23 AM) Claire: "Trying to keep tabs on that nucase will wear ANYONE out, yes." She's got a few pans going on the cooktop, and hands egg-duty to Altea. "Oh, and can you put a couple pieces of bread in the tazzari over there?"
(4:43:01 AM) ***Altea giggles, and does so, two slices of bread in her hand. "Cooking is a lot more complicated this way. Can't really multitask."
(4:47:49 AM) ***Altea goes over to the eggs, spatula in hand.
(4:50:34 AM) Claire: She shakes her head slightly as she watches pancakes, turning them and getting them only slightly too dark. "I still can't believe how quickly you're adapting to that."
(4:50:48 AM) Altea: "Well, it wasn't easy, but..."
(4:50:57 AM) Altea: "I kinda just started thinking about it a different way."
(4:59:42 AM) Claire: "Well...oh." She blinks as something occurs to her. "Altea...uh, have you told your boss at Kitties?"
(5:04:13 AM) Claire_ left the room (quit: Ping timeout).
(5:05:20 AM) CelestialDoggie left the room (quit: Ping timeout).
(5:06:35 AM) Altea: "Oh. No, I haven't."
(5:06:45 AM) Altea: "Hmm...I should probably call and tell her, huh."
(5:08:36 AM) Claire: "Well, yeah, maybe. Just don't let her pile a whole bunch of extra work on you to make up for being gone."
(5:08:57 AM) ***Claire moves the pancakes to a cooling rack and pours a fresh set.
(5:09:39 AM) Altea: "Oh, I won't. I'm not sure I'd even be cleared to go back to work until my PT is finished and we're caught up on schoolwork." She pulls toast out of the Tazzari and puts more bread in.
(5:10:33 AM) Claire: "Good point. Speaking of--we were gonna stay in pretty much the whole day and try to get as much of that out of the way as we could. Gonna stick around for it, or do you have to spend a lot of time out at physical therapy?"
(5:10:55 AM) Altea: "I'm gonna have a 2 hour appointment at 11, over lunch, but other than that I'm free."
(5:11:46 AM) Claire: "Kay. We'll plan around it, I think."
(5:14:55 AM) Altea: "Cool." She pulls the eggs off the burner, setting the pan to the side, and getting more toast going.
(5:19:43 AM) Claire: "Thanks," she says absently, finishing the next set of pancakes and pouring more. "So...what's next for us, do you think? You're going to bring the spear back home, after your therapist says you're clear, right?"
(5:25:36 AM) Altea: "Yeah, that's all I really have planned though. I mean, the rest is kind of waiting, right?"
(5:26:59 AM) Claire: "Pretty much." She sighs. "When we graduate, you're going into S&R, right?"
(5:28:11 AM) Altea: "Honestly, I'm not even sure anymore. I was originally thinking Ground Forces, or maybe Navy like my dad, but..."
(5:28:37 AM) Claire: "Ah. But?"
(5:29:13 AM) Altea: "Well, I'm not sure about that anymore. I've got a few things I want to check on, but I was gonna maybe look into the Tactical Instructor Corps. Like Ms. Strommons."
(5:31:23 AM) Claire: She smiles a little ruefully. "I'm sure you'd be great at it...but why would you not want to do the other courses? You think they wouldn't let you in like that?"
(5:32:20 AM) ***Altea shakes her head. "Definitely not that. I can probably still bench more weight than anyone else making it into those courses, but...well it all just seems so limited now."
(5:34:34 AM) Claire: She nods slowly. "I think I know what you mean. When I first enlisted, I'd planned on doing S&R stuff, 'cause my Dad is an emergency medical tech--not quite a doctor, but one of the first people on the scenes of emergencies and the like, you know?"
(5:34:52 AM) ***Altea nods.
(5:35:37 AM) Claire: "But...after everything we've gone through, all the crazy we've seen? I don't...I don't want to be reactive." She turns around and leans against the kitchen counter, staring at the floor. "I don't want to be on the scene and have to realize there are people that I could have been there earlier for, that I can't help now."
(5:36:12 AM) Altea: "Yeah. I don't want to just fight for a better future, I want to be one of the people creating that better future for the TSAB."
(5:37:17 AM) ***Claire echoes Altea's nod. "That's...pretty awesome, actually. It's one thing to knock down things in our way...it's a whole other thing to build stuff up instead."
(5:37:30 AM) ***Altea grins. "Right?"
(5:38:39 AM) Claire: "Yeah...and I could see you being in the instructor corps, really. You've got...that kind of a way about you."
(5:38:48 AM) Altea: "Yeah?"
(5:39:32 AM) Claire: "Yeah. Like...that sort of raw honesty that compels people to listen, *really* listen, and inspires them to follow you."
(5:40:04 AM) ***Altea nods. "Thanks. And related to that, I wanted to thank you for bringing the LT into all this, I know you had to have gotten flak for it."
(5:40:33 AM) Altea: "But I would have never realized it without her there...and who knows what would have happened if she wasn't there."
(5:42:27 AM) Claire: She sighs heavily. "It...almost cost me and Tazzari being friends, actually. I'm glad it didn't, but...it was rough. And not just because of ended up happening, either. But I was scared, Altea."
(5:43:10 AM) ***Altea goes over and gives Claire a one-armed bear hug somehow.
(5:43:50 AM) ***Claire wheezes out a little laugh and returns the hug as best she can.
(5:48:57 AM) Altea: "Are you doing better now?"
(5:49:36 AM) Claire: "Yeah," she says, patting her chest after Altea lets her down. "Thanks. All of it being over and us being home again...it's nice."
(5:50:17 AM) Altea: "It is.
(5:50:19 AM) Altea: "
(5:51:23 AM) Claire: "Anyway, I'm gonna be an Enforcer when we graduate, like Ivory and Miss Tia. It made Mom gloat when I told my parents, 'cause she's a police detective, so it's kind of the same as her," she chuckles.
(5:53:22 AM) ***Altea laughs. "Competitive family, huh?"
(5:56:49 AM) Claire: She smiles. "Sorta. I'm the first person with a strong enough Linker Core to even be an active mage in the Bureau, so there's that...but they're just playing around with it."
(5:57:12 AM) Altea: "That's good. My parents are both military, but very very different tracks."
(5:57:19 AM) Altea: "Though at this point you've met both my parents, huh.
(5:57:20 AM) Altea: "
(5:59:24 AM) Claire: "Actually, yeah, your mom back on Francisco and your dad on the consular cruiser, yeah." She nods. "Nobody's met mine 'cause we haven't had reason to go to Cranagan."
(6:00:04 AM) Altea: "Hm, we'll have to change that when we actually have some time."
(6:00:48 AM) Claire: She grins. "You'll have to put up with my annoying little brothers...I mean, you have little siblings too, but..."
(6:01:46 AM) Altea: "I think I have you beat on that front, unless you have ten little brothers."
(6:08:01 AM) Altea: "But yeah, I think I can handle them. If not, I'll beat em up."
(6:08:07 AM) Claire: "Nowhere close!"
(6:08:15 AM) Claire: "Alright, well, we'll make a trip of it."
(6:15:50 AM) Altea: "Sounds like a plan!"