(Untitled)

[jill_langston]

Growing up, Jill hadn't been a particularly great student, but she'd also been one of those kids who could often be seen wandering down the sidewalk or across the playground with a book held in front of her face. She'd always loved reading and while the material had changed over the years, the book was still firmly in the place it had always been.

Comments

[sgmitchell]

For a moment or two, Cameron was genuinely concerned that Austen had gotten herself lost--some time after she'd pelted off of the boardwalk, and he'd been forced to chase her through brush. It was only Austen's might kitten yowl that pointed her out to him before she burst once more from the brush.

Rather than charge at or directly away from him as she tended to, she chose instead to charge at the woman sitting on the edge of the boardwalk a little ways ahead of where he stood. He'd been too engrossed in searching for Austen to pay much attention to anyone else on the boardwalk. For maybe half a moment, he had the terrible idea that Austen was about to pounce Morgan.

The concerned drained back to annoyance once he realized it was only Jill. "Austen! You're gettin' a leash, Girl!"

[jill_langston]

Jill twisted at the sound of Cameron's voice, surprised to see a cat running toward her on the boardwalk. She liked cats, liked them better than dogs, which was probably made clear by the lynx who spent most of his time at Jill's side.

"Hey," she said as the kitten skidded into her and she rubbed her elbow against the top of its head, not wanting to get the blood on her fingers on its fur. "Does she belong to you?" she asked Cameron, looking up at him.

[sgmitchell]

Austen looked entirely too pleased with herself.

Cam scrubbed a hand through his hair, before nodding, watching the kitten warily. If he knew Austen, she'd bolt once again as soon as she was done investigating and soaking up attention.

"Yeah. Although you might get a different answer if you ask her."

[jill_langston]

"Probably, considering I expect she speaks very little English," Jill agreed, giving the kitten one last rub with her elbow before she continued to wipe the blood off the sole of her foot. "I've never seen her before. Was she one of those presents we all seem to get every year?"

[sgmitchell]

"Never underestimate Kittglish." He dug his hands into his pockets, and made his way closer to where she and Austen sat. Austen looked about ready to either run, or try to clamber her way up into Jill's lap. "Yeah. Island Christmas present." Probably a tipping of its hand before it did the sex-swapping thing.

He gave a half gesture toward her foot. "You alright?"

[jill_langston]

Jill nodded, although she winced a little as she began to pick the splinter out of her foot. "You missed my spectacular tumble off the end of the boardwalk?" she asked, feeling a little relieved that he hadn't actually seen it. Even if the kitten had seen, she couldn't exactly tell anyone about it, which Jill was grateful for.

[sgmitchell]

He grimaced, and shook his head. "Afraid so. Was hunting a kitten."

He pointed down at the boardwalk. "What happened?"

[jill_langston]

"Apparently I just haven't learned that it's a bad idea to walk while reading," Jill answered with a wry grin, tapping the textbook that had fallen at her side. "It's okay, though, just a splinter."

[sgmitchell]

He offered a wry smile at that. "I've heard it's a difficult lesson to master. Last I've seen, Doctor Jackson has yet to learn it, either."

Then again, the last example he'd seen was a year by his reckoning, and two by Jackson's.

[jill_langston]

"Last time I checked, most scientists had yet to learn many of the regular social skills normal people have," Jill agreed dryly, although she knew that really wasn't the case. The scientists she knew were all pretty good at being social.