(Untitled)

[jill_langston]

The snow had been charming and distracting for the first day or so and the fireplace had been even more so, but now Jill was starting to get tired of it. All her life, she'd had poor circulation and the frigid weather certainly wasn't helping. She was cold, even though she'd been in the Compound for nearly a half hour already. Her things were in

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[stilljustbob]

Bob had done his best to kick the snow off his boots before stepping into the Compound, but there's still some lingering in the cracks, making him slip a bit on the floor as he walks toward the rec room. He has one hand against the wall to steady himself and he pauses after a moment to tug the boots off completely, holding them carefully by one hand as he gets to the entrance way.

The mistletoe has been there as long as the snow and prior to a few days ago, Bob's not paid it much notice. But, things are different now and he eyes it warily and sticks close to the wall as he tries to get by it, not wanting to get caught under it even by accident.

"Oh, hi, Jill," he says with a slight smile when he sees her standing just in front of him and gives a stilted nod before he works on taking his coat off. She doesn't look happy, but Bob hasn't expected her too and he's already thinking about work-related things he can talk to her about, starting with all the various new plants he's been able to find. Anything but David.

[jill_langston]

"Hey, Bob," Jill replied, then leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. It was tradition, after all, and even if no one else on this fucking island was around to kiss her, at least she could count on Bob for some things. Small gestures of affection, things she needed without even realizing that she needed them.

"Is it still frigid out there?" she asked when she pulled away, leaning against the side of the door once again.

There was no way in hell Jill was leaving the Compound again until she could feel her toes.

[stilljustbob]

Bob's face flushes immediately, completely caught off-guard by the kiss and his head ducks a bit. It's Jill, so it's probably okay and he knows there's nothing behind it but friendship, but things are a little different now and he immediately feels something like guilt.

"Is it-- yes," he says, glancing quickly back over his shoulder toward the door as he tugs his coat off. He gives her a very small, very brief smile as he tucks the coat over his arm. "How are you?"

[jill_langston]

Truthfully, she hadn't expected anything less than that reaction, but it still made her smile faintly, even as she pushed off the door and collected her coffee from the nearby table. "Cold," she answered honestly, pulling her thick red sweater tighter around herself. The box seemed intent on dressing her in Christmas colours, but she'd been cold and the red wool sweater was the only one it would give her.

"I don't think I'm going to go back out there until it's all melted," she decided. "Maybe I'll sleep on the couch or in the lab." It wouldn't be the first time she'd done it.

[stilljustbob]

"That doesn't sound very comfortable," Bob replies with a worried frown, his head tilting to one side as he studies her. He remembers back to before he arrived here, back at NorBAC when she'd been working so hard on the juvenile diabetes research, he remembers how haggard she'd looked and how it'd irritated David.

David.

The frown still curving his lips, he looks up toward the kitchen then quickly, almost like he's expecting to see someone there and he thinks maybe he is. He hasn't seen Delirium at all today and he'd like to. "Are you hungry?" he asks her, still obviously concerned.

[jill_langston]

"Yeah, a little bit," Jill said with a nod, watching Bob frown, wondering if things with him had gotten worse instead of better. Lately he'd been spending more time away from the lab, which she took as a good sign, but maybe she'd been wrong.

"Let's go get some breakfast, okay?" she asked, still holding her coffee cup in both of her hands. "Then you can tell me where you've been disappearing to when you're not in the lab." She was teasing, mostly, although she doubted Bob would catch onto that right away.

[stilljustbob]

He nods and bends down to pick up his boots, his coat still tucked over one arm and follows her toward the kitchen, still glancing around in the hopes of catching sight of Delirium. But, she must be elsewhere.

He takes her comment to mean she's disappointed in him and his eyes widen quickly, his entire demeanor shifting. "Oh, that's where I was going," he tells her, speaking quickly. "I know I've been-- I've been spending more time with Pearl," he explains. "And, and Delirium. But, I've found many new trees and plants, they must've come with the snow, like the entire climate's changed, including vegetation and animal life--"

[jill_langston]

"Bob, honey, I was teasing," Jill said lightly, offering him a gentle smile as she placed her coffee on the table and then gestured for him to put his thins down so that he could help her find something for the two of them to eat.

"I noticed the change in vegetation," she admitted, opening the refrigerator door, chewing on her lower lip as she studied the contents. "I thought you might be out studying it." She couldn't stand the cold long enough to really be of much use to him, although she wanted to help.

[stilljustbob]

He falls silent when she interrupts him, brows still furrowed, not entirely convinced she's not upset with him until she continues talking. David would've been upset with him, he knows -- Where the hell have you been, Bob? -- but, Jill isn't David.

"Oh," he says, voice still quiet and he looks down at the floor for a moment before gingerly setting his boots down and then folds his coat and rests it on top. "I've been taking notes," he assures her and pulls out a small notebook from his pants pocket. "It's only a start so far, but it's something. And we can add it to the others; I don't know how long it'll stay like this."

[jill_langston]

"It only lasted a month last time," Jill told Bob, still looking into the refrigerator and eventually settling on something that she was good at. Cereal.

Taking the milk out of the fridge and then heading to get two bowls out of the cupboard, she set those all down on the table, leaning over to look at the notebook. "What have you got so far? And what kind of cereal do you want?"

[stilljustbob]

"Cornflakes are good, thank you," he says as he walks over to the table, opening up his notebook to rifle through the pages. Carefully, he takes a seat, sniffing still as he warms up.

"Well, the trees are the most obvious," he tells her, flipping open to a page where he's cataloged Blue Spruce and several other alpine trees. "All the palm trees have disappeared. Which, at first, confused me. I thought they were still here, but just covered in dense snow. But, they're all gone. Isn't that interesting?"

[jill_langston]

Getting the cornflakes, Jill brought the box over to the table as well, then sat down beside Bob so that she could see his notebook. "It's strange. It's like the changing stars." Which still bothered her, although she wasn't quite sure how to explain why it upset her.

"So none of the palm trees are left, which would suggest that the tropical vegetation is likely all gone," she murmured, pouring cereal for them both. "Have you looked for anything else that we were used to seeing?"

[stilljustbob]

Nodding, Bob reaches for the box of cornflakes, resting the box in his lap as he opens it and then pushes the notebook closer to Jill, silently inviting her to look through it.

"The animals are all different, too," he tells her, beginning to pour some of the cornflakes into his bowl. "I haven't had a chance yet, but I think it'd be interesting to try ice fishing. I'm willing to be they're different as well." A thought occurred to him then and his eyes widened as he looked up at her, excited. "I wonder if we could see a whale!"

[jill_langston]

Jill couldn't help but smile at Bob's enthusiasm, nodding a little as she glanced through the notebook, flipping through the pages curiously before she poured some milk into her bowl and took a spoonful of her cereal.

"We should head down to the beach sometime and check it out," she agreed, because that actually sounded like a nice idea. It might take her mind off how damn cold it was.

[stilljustbob]

"It'd have to be a very big hole," he says, quirking another smile before he takes a spoonful of cereal. Either that or they'd just have to clear off a large spot of ice. The water still appeared to be as transparent as it'd ever been before and it's probably cold enough that the ice is fairly thick. If they can just push away the snow on top, they might be able to see under for aways.

[jill_langston]

"Well, the ocean is frozen only so far out, isn't it?" Jill asked curiously, still flipping through the notebook. "I haven't been down to the beach since it snowed." And she likely wouldn't go back there unless she and Bob went to look for whales. There wasn't much that could get her to go out in the cold right now.

"I saw a penguin on my way up here this morning," she added, glancing over at Bob. "It was strange."