[Tina's hotel room - afternoon callers: open]

[rn_chapel]

One of the benefits of having people over when you were staying in a hotel was that you didn't have much tidying up to do to make the place presentable. Tina cleaned up the little bit of mess there was in the kitchen, made the bed, picked a couple of books off the floor and she was done. Now she was ready to receive any of the visitors she'd

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[rn_chapel]

Hm. Vulcan pudding. That sounded good.

"What's the pudding like?" Tina asked, with the intense interest of a person given to sudden cravings.

[canadianbill]

Bill couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Weirdly good, actually, for a race that surely shouldn't take pleasure in something as necessary as eating. I can bring you some, if you like?"

[rn_chapel]

"Gifts of food, particularly dessert food, are always welcome."

Tina looked at Bill's purple shins and grinned. "I don't have anything as exciting as turning purple to brag about. I haven't really been doing much. Though I did go out and see the unicorn sharks - have you been?"

[canadianbill]

Bill laughed.

"Jim did mention the unicorn sharks! But no, I haven't been - was it cool?"

He made a mental note to come back in a couple of days, with pudding. And maybe some other random foodstuffs.

[rn_chapel]

"It was. Lots of different kinds of animals to see, and it was pleasant to be out on the water, too. You should go if you get the chance."

[canadianbill]

"I'll bear it in mind," Bill said, smiling. "Sharks with horns...what's to lose?"

[rn_chapel]

"Totally. I hear the babies are rainbow-colored, even, though I only saw a mature shark. Makes me wonder what sort of evolutionary pressures produced them... The variety of marine life is really unusual..."

She trailed off and was quiet for a minute, thinking happily about mutation and heritability, before she sat up straight and reminded herself that she had a visitor.

"The only other thing I've really left the building to do is go shopping with Christine. That was fun, though. But I was so tired when we finished up."

[canadianbill]

"Rainbow coloured babies?" His eyes widened. "My God. I clearly need to go see these, now."

He watched her, smiling, as she got distracted by science. He could almost see the cogs in her head turning as they drew her mind onto Christine.

"How's she doing?" he asked, curiously. "I haven't seen her since our birthday, I don't think."

[rn_chapel]

"Okay, I think." Tina wasn't sure what Bill knew, but she guessed he knew enough. "She's getting over a lot. But she'll be okay."

[canadianbill]

Bill knew all about the Christine thing from Jim. The problem was that he was pretty sure Christine didn't know that he knew, and might not be too happy about it if she did. Which made asking her how she was a little difficult.

"I hope so," Bill said, smiling; and then, "You Chapels are tough." He laughed. "You could get T I N A on your knuckles, Tina. Shame 'Christine' wouldn't fit on hers."

[rn_chapel]

Tina grinned. "If you actually go through with the B I L L thing, I'll consider it." She wasn't so sure about tough, but maybe Bill was right. They certainly seemed to be weathering a lot of heartache, and neither of them had completely given in yet.

[canadianbill]

He laughed. "I'd have to find someone who could do it. I could, of course, try it myself the old fashioned way with a needle, but somehow I doubt Len would think very highly of that as an idea."

[rn_chapel]

"It might be better to start with something non-permanent, I guess. See how you like the effect. Marker or something." She looked at his hands. "You'll have to pick a color that coordinates nicely with your purpleness, of course. Maybe a very dark pink?"

[canadianbill]

He considered this.

"You can wear black with anything," he mused. "That might be best, since I don't intend to stay purple forever. It clashes with my eyes."

[rn_chapel]

"Oh, that's a good point. Black it is, then. A wise and fashionable choice."

She sipped at her water, and let a comfortable silence fall. She couldn't think of anything else to tell Bill about, but she liked having his company even if she didn't have much to say.

[canadianbill]

"I'm glad I have you to vet my fashion choices, Tina."

He smiled at her. She didn't look especially tired, but he recognised the 'end of conversation' silence impending, and he didn't want to overstay his welcome. Besides, now he had to go get pudding. He sat for a short time, listening to the strange sounds of unfamiliar birdcall outside. Then he stretched, stood up, and said,

"Anyway, if you've had your fill of my purpleness, I think I'll take it elsewhere before you get eye-burn from it. I'll bring you some of my pudding discoveries soonish, if you still want?"

Maybe somewhere in the market sold black markers.