Sometime, someday... [Closed]

[fallingjunkyard]

Characters: Stupid sexy Ffamran and Joshua
Content: An annoyance and a conversation, which may or may not involve relationship counselling.
Setting: The Vic II's mess 8]
Time: Maybe mid-afternoon? orz
Warnings: Ffamran and Joshua. We need our own warnings :|b

--

Joshua stirs his coffee as he re-enters the Victoria's Mess, happy he had managed to acquire

Comments

[bunansajr]

Ffamran had been taking advantage of the fact that Adrian was in the kitchen to beg another cup of tea. His trip out with the Admiral had been productive, but he was still more interested in her company than slightly better prepared tea he could make. His temporary relaxation and solitude was interrupted by Joshua.

He didn't exactly dislike the guy, but he bothered Fran some, and Ffamran supposed that was supposed to be enough to set him on edge.

"No, not this minute, although those insane posts about trains have me busy." He did have one thing he'd like to harass Joshua on, but he would hardly lead with it.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua takes a slow sip from his coffee, cradling the cup between his hands and savouring its warmth against his skin. He gives Ffamran a small smile, no sign of his usual smirk in this grin. "There would be a lot for you to go through, wouldn't there?"

He had been going through all the entries as well, though he didn't have the annoyance of having to hack all the posts too. Granted he was curious about what was being said behind all the encryption, but it wasn't interested enough to start learning how to hack.

He makes a vague gesture with a hand as he talks. "These public entries are a good way to get a feel for people, though I always wonder if what's displayed aren't fake."

[bunansajr]

Ffamran continued to nurse his own cup of tea. "Yes, even just public entries are a monstrous task to go through, especially with the journals all atwitter with the railroad news." Ffamran had been trolling through all the opinions, but he hadn't really found anything particularly noteworthy. Maybe a little more philosophy than he was used to seeing in the journals, nothing more.

When he had the time, he hacked everything he could get his hands on, and he was good, he could get into almost anything.

"Well, I suppose that's what the private entries are for, right, secrets and clandestine interludes, right?" He didn't bother to smirk at Joshua. The older boy had been engaging in some sort of bizarre courtship over the journals which had left Ffamran to furiously hack into it for hopes he'd find something useful only to find -- drivel.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua just arches an eyebrow and grins, raising his cup for another sip. Setting his cup down on the table, he leans on one hand, the other idly playing with the cup's handle. He smiled, his customary smirk easy to settle into. "With hackers like you, nothing is private."

He had been... a little careless. But nothing he really cared about others knowing ever made it onto the network.

[bunansajr]

Joshua was smirking again, it was definitely a little more annoying than the more natural smile. Ffamran took a slug from his quickly cooling tea, setting it down, empty.

"Well, honestly, securing files properly isn't too difficult, and it's for country." Ffamran considered, he wasn't usually the type to prod someone just to get a rise -- who was he kidding he was exactly like that sometimes. "And can you believe the sort of personal information people leave on their journals, family, secrets, relationships." He emphasized the last one intentionally. He figured even a smooth operator like Joshua would show some sign of if the topic was going to be fruitful.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua tilts his head, saying mildly, "People kill for their countries too."

He sighs, shrugging before taking another sip from his coffee. He still had quite a bit to go. Maybe he should get some ice for the rest of it; iced coffee could be pretty nice too. "I can believe it. People like to get these things off their chest, and what better place than somewhere 'private'?"

Joshua knows what Ffamran's been driving at for a while, but he's never been one to make information easy to obtain.

He loosely curls a hand by his mouth, half hiding his smile. Turning his head aside so he's looking at Ffamran from the corners of his eyes, Joshua says mildly, "Interested in people's love lives? They tend to be a lot like plays, only less dramatic and more private."

[bunansajr]

"Sure they do," Ffamran responded. Of course, that was something these peace talks were trying to prevent, and he didn't particularly want to go down that road again, he'd seen enough of that bandied around the journals lately. For the most part, he was even comfortable with that, even if he'd prefer peace.

"Yes, I suppose the illusion of privacy is a great motivator to be ones self." Ffamran had to wonder what Joshua was like when he thought no one was watching, perhaps less cynical, maybe. He seemed to have an honest smile from time to time. "Well, I can't say that their love lives are interesting, mostly it's just sappy." Not that he wasn't guilty of the exact same sentimentality from time to time. "You, for example, seem to have left a very unhappy doctor on the Way, that's dramatic enough, I suppose."

[fallingjunkyard]

If Ffamran had been expecting to get a rise out of Joshua, he would have been sorely disappointed. Turning so he was facing Ffamran fully, Joshua crossed his legs and leaned back in his seat.

"Relationships have their ups and downs," he replied blandly, hand idly toying with the handle of his coffee cup. "I had already made plans to come here."

He just didn't mention that they had been accelerated because of Ness. He was disappointed he missed the woodchuck stew. He'd have to ask Watanuki to make some on his return to the Winding Way.

[bunansajr]

"Ups and downs, huh? I suppose that explains why you haven't been back to the Winding Way since you left, despite being in the same port." Ffamran looked down into his cup, as though he could wish more tea into it. Maybe he'd go get another cup ... "Pardon me a moment."

He got another mug full of hot water and batch of leaves to start steeping another cup.

"And so soon after the onset of the relationship, doesn't bode well, really." Truth be told, Joshua seemed like an even worse prospect for a relationship than Ffamran was.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua doesn't say anything as Ffamran leaves, turning his head and staring at the other empty tables, as if they were the most interesting thing in Reial. He hadn't given that much thought to his actions, and really, most of the time he didn't, doing whatever whim dictated. He'd thought pride was stopping him from returning to the Winding Way, but it had never stopped him before.

After all, all things would pass.

When Ffamran returned, Joshua took a long sip from his coffee before he turned and smiled. "It's the people who make it work. I have confidence in Ness."

[bunansajr]

Ffamran caught a little of Joshua's more pensive demeanor while he was in the kitchen, and it seemed to persist, even after he got back.

"No confidence in yourself, then?" It seemed possible, certainly with the quick exit from the Way. His tone was a little commiserating, although he wasn't currently dealing with any problem of the sort.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua nearly laughed at the hint of sympathy in Ffamran's voice. He leans forward on the table, his smile reaching his eyes. He says in a slightly lowered voice, "I don't start games I don't intend to win."

[bunansajr]

Ffamran leaned back, trying to tell exactly what Joshua meant by that. He definitely hated the idea of someone playing with affections. He did it all the time, of course, but only if people knew they were being played.

"I'm sure the boy'd be happy to know you consider it a game."

[fallingjunkyard]

"It was a game that started all this, Ffamran," Joshua replies, finishing off the rest of his coffee before it went cold. He didn't want to waste the taste; lukewarm coffee was hardly something he wanted to drink. The spoon clatters against the side of his cup when he sets it down.

"And I take my games very seriously."

[bunansajr]

Ffamran actually did recall the simply bizarre game that seemed to have started their association, at least over the journals. He finished steeping his tea and blew on it before taking a sip, finding it still a little too hot and put it aside.

"Games, however, are about winning, and I can assure you that an actual relationship wouldn't be about that at all." Ffamran felt bad for the kid, Ness, not Joshua, to have fallen, even a little, for Joshua.

[fallingjunkyard]

Joshua had seen enough of the world and other relationships to know that. He had warned the other boy. He had seen enough. "There isn't always just one winner," he says calmly, pushing aside his cup.

Joshua gives his empty coffeecup a slightly annoyed stare before he reaches for Ffamran's tea.