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Good Vibrations - Printable Version

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RE: Good Vibrations - Jupiter Smith - March 13, 2020

How annoying. The ministry was known for its secrets, such was the natural way of things. However, such truths didn't negate the needs and curiosities of the civilians. Jo bit the inside of her lip as she considered whether she had any worthwhile advice to share. "That's frustrating." She agreed once realizing she had nothing. Curses were, after all, very much not her forte.

Despite her lack of experience in preparations for long journeys, Jo didn't imagine finding crew members willing to submit to such a lengthy journey. Even she, for all her wanderlust and carefree attitude, would have to consider the repercussions for leaving for so long. Especially in light of recent circumstances. Still, Jo couldn't foresee any future where she didn't join Captain Darrow. Sailing off into the unknown, into treacherous seas sounded more like a dreamlike fantasy than reality to her. The Smith's would have to forgive her, just as they had these past four years.

Like magic, a full, frothy glass of beer was placed before her and the empty one removed. Jo smiled appreciatively at the waiter and took a small sip of it, narrowly avoiding a mustache made of foam. Really, she ought to have stopped drinking two glasses ago, but she couldn't be bothered. It wasn't as though she was drunk &mdash, just pleasantly tipsy. "A lengthy endeavor. Sounds like we — you should start planning." She blushed slightly at the slip and dropped her gaze to the foam once more. The rosy hue on her cheeks could easily be blamed on the alcohol if someone dared to ask. "Forgive me...I get carried away sometimes."

RE: Good Vibrations - J. Alfred Darrow - March 13, 2020

Her slip of the tongue sent a little rush of delight through him, though he couldn’t pin down exactly why. Was it just that someone else seemed to share his enthusiasm for a voyage that most would likely consider to be absolutely insane, either on the very surface of the thing or at the very least because of what had happened to the last crew who had attempted it? Or was there something else to the grin that came unbidden to his face as her beer was replaced? Something, maybe, that had to do with her specifically?

“Don’t worry,” he said, waving off her blush. He was unable to hide the cheer on his face as he finished off his own drink with a large gulp and scooted his empty glass towards the edge of the table for it to be replaced. “I don’t mind the enthusiasm. But if this is just a play to get a chance to see my tattoos,” he joked, “We could arrange that with a lot less hassle, you know.”

Alfred had hardly even thought about the words before they’d left his mouth, but he realized now that he was flirting with her — or, at least, it certainly sounded that way. After her misplaced word, though, he felt emboldened to do so. She would hardly have said we out of a sense of polite obligation, after all.

RE: Good Vibrations - Jupiter Smith - March 13, 2020

Jo rolled her eyes and laughed. Perhaps her earlier assumptions of him were inaccurate &mdash, maybe he wasn't a boring conformist but simply shy. That certainly made more sense given what she knew of him, which was likely yet another inaccurate account given the probable embellishments in his book. Then again, what comformist would have tattoos? Merlin...maybe she was more inebriated than she believed.

"I assure you it's not..." An opportunity to see a previously undiscovered area of the world? Jo would be a fool to turn such an offer away. "...but I wouldn't turn down an offer to see them." She returned with a flirtatious smile.

RE: Good Vibrations - J. Alfred Darrow - March 14, 2020

Alfred's stomach flipped when she smiled. Merlin, not only was he flirting, but it seemed like it was working. This was uncharted territory for him. It seemed like the only thing in his brain at the moment was a confused buzz of how did I get here? which meant that the smile he flashed her in response was almost unconscious. He was on autopilot to a certain extent as he shifted his gaze down to the table and looked for something to write on. He often carried a small notebook in his pocket, but didn't have it today, which left him with no recourse but to pick up a discarded copy of the Daily Prophet that some earlier patron had left lying on a nearby chair. Fishing his wand out, he mumbled a spell to turn the tip of it into a quill pen temporarily — one of few spells he used regularly, because who had the time to mess with ink pots? — and scribbled his address in one of the empty margins.

"This is my flat in London," he said, tearing off a large triangle of the newspaper and sliding it over to her side of the table. "We're on the floo, so you can come by that way. Just send an owl so I can warn my flatmate first, eh?" he said with a teasing grin. "He might mistake you for a robber otherwise." The last statement was clearly offered in jest — but depending on how the rest of this conversation went, it was possible that Alfred might want her over at a time when his flatmate was out for other reasons. If nothing else, he didn't necessarily need Bilton to know unmarried and unescorted ladies were visiting to get a look at his tattoos.

He glanced down at the scrap of the Prophet he'd put on her side of the table and realized that he'd caught a bit of a headline, which proclaimed in large black letters TO WED. He flushed, and all at once the how did I get here? part of his brain took over. Had he seriously just invited a woman over to his flat after having known her for less than one full afternoon? And had he really done that without even giving it much in the way of conscious thought? The only real form of encouragement he'd had was a smile and an offhand comment from her, and that had been enough for him to slip her his address and an open invitation? What on earth was the matter with him?

This was not the sort of thing he did, or at least not the sort of thing he had ever done before. Even sleeping with Zelda, which had been probably his biggest misstep in the world of society to date, had been preceded by time and build-up and feelings. This was so casual and had happened so quickly — it was the sort of thing that seemed perfectly in character for the type of man Ari Fisk had more or less accused him of being, when they'd had their confrontation, but it wasn't the type of man he was. Or, at least, it hadn't been.

A waiter had noticed his empty glass and was approaching with another, but more alcohol was the last thing Alfred needed. He tried to subtly wave him off, but the man didn't catch the hint (or pretended not to) and placed the full pint glass down in front of him. She'd just gotten another glass, too, which meant they more or less had to sit here for at least another twenty minutes. How big of an ass could he make himself out to be, he wondered, in the span of twenty or thirty minutes?

RE: Good Vibrations - Jupiter Smith - March 14, 2020

Well, that was considerably easier than she thought a few minutes ago. Definitely not a conformist, then. Saturn was going to be so jealous if she ever relayed the tale of her afternoon. Not only did she get to chat with Captain Darrow, but she also now had an open invitation to visit him? Saturn might even try to impersonate her to go to the flat himself, if only to see his hero in the flesh.

Jo pocketed the scrap of paper without taking much note of the headline or the address scribbled down. Later, she could scrutinize the area he resided in and the swirls of his script. For now, Jo was content to keep conversing for however long they chose to stay.

"And how do you know that I'm not?" Jo jokingly asked. It was obvious by her mock offense that the thought hadn't- and would never - cross her mind. She was many things, but she was no thief. "Don't worry. I will definitely send warning. Last thing I want is to have to answer questions from a curious flatmate. My family is generally accepting of my oddities, but I think even they might draw the line there if they knew." Tiffany Smith, especially. It was definitely best to keep rumors of her antics to a minimum.

RE: Good Vibrations - J. Alfred Darrow - March 15, 2020

'My oddities.' That was one way of phrasing it, Alfred supposed. A particularly mild way, given that what they were talking about was something that would have shocked any respectable member of English society. They had established already that neither of them were respectable members of English society, but still — he was still struggling to see this as something that he could just do. It was one thing to not believe many of the same things as the people around him, or to question a few of the things they took for granted. It was something else entirely to take the rules of society and throw them right out the window.

But she'd taken his address, and she was still smiling, so he supposed that was what they were doing. For better or for worse, he'd thrown the dice, and she'd taken him up on the bet. He hoped he wasn't getting himself into some sort of trouble here accidentally. She looked like a reasonably respectable lady, but he didn't really know anything about her, and accepting an offer like the one he'd just made wasn't really something respectable ladies did. Maybe he'd have to see if he could find something or other out about her before she came by, just to feel that he had a bit more of a grip on the situation.

"Would they?" he asked, tone still teasing despite the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to figure this whole scenario out. "You mean visiting strange men's apartments to review their tattoos isn't an every-Tuesday sort of activity for you?"

It was a joke, but it wasn't. He was legitimately curious how often she did this sort of thing (though obviously this exact scenario was unlikely to have happened in the past). He was hoping that this really was out of the ordinary for her, and that she wasn't some sort of streetwalker who had managed to fool him into thinking she was a functional member of society — but assuming that was the case, it raised another question: why make an exception for him?

RE: Good Vibrations - Jupiter Smith - March 15, 2020

It would be a lie (a particularly big one at that) for Jo to say she hadn't ever gone home with a person she had just met. That being said, it would also be a lie to say she frequently went home with men whilst in England. There were enough rumors floating around her behaviors without adding fuel to the fire. Besides, most men in England didn't have tattoos they boasted about over beer in a very public setting. She had to be at least a tad bit interested in the person.

"Just on Fridays." She returned in the same teasing tone. The last time she had been engaged with someone like this had been back in Venezuela, and that was still some month or two ago. One of the sailors on the trip home had been particularly attractive, but Jo, unfortunately, had been too sick and distracted to make a move. "Can't say I've seen many attractive men's tattoos outside of South America, though."

RE: Good Vibrations - J. Alfred Darrow - March 15, 2020

The fact that he'd said it as a joke meant that he didn't actually get any useful information from her answer. Not that this was the sort of thing you could just come out and ask without joking. No one was likely to just come out and say why yes, I do tend to sleep around. Not in England, anyway.

Alfred was very quickly distracted from this train of thought when she referred to him as attractive. It was a good thing he'd just swallowed the sip of beer he'd taken, or else he might have choked on it. He wasn't sure he'd ever been called attractive, at least not straight to his face. Even before the Sycorax expedition, when he'd been — well, he hadn't had hair this long, for one thing. He wouldn't have really said he was traditionally attractive at any point in his life, but at least he'd been less obviously, eye-catchingly odd. He'd been putting more effort into it at that point, in any case. Now, he was just... he didn't even remember if he'd actually combed his hair that morning, since he was just going to the Voyager and back. It wasn't as though the sailors were likely to care.

Was she teasing him, or being genuine? With the flirtatiously joking tone their whole conversation had taken on, he couldn't be sure. But she'd taken the address, so he supposed he'd find out sooner or later. She'd either take him up on his invitation, or not. And then — Merlin, what had he gotten himself into?

Never mind that, though, because he had a more pressing concern, which was that he had no idea what to say in response to a comment like that. "We're, uh, in short supply," he said with a chuckle, hoping that the short pause before his response hadn't made it entirely obvious how out of his depth he was at the moment. The back of his neck was warm and he thought the tips of his ears were probably bright red, which would tip her off if she was paying attention too closely. Hopefully she wasn't.