{ scene } i wonder how you'd be if someone were to call you on it

[inthewaywedie]

The strange adjustment coming off assignment is one constant in James's life- there are more of those than you'd think, although it'd be a challenge to get him to name many of them. Ordinarily he spends it loafing around his London haunts or pretending the flat doesn't feel like a cage, but when he signs himself (somewhat painfully) out of the

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[mareprocellarum]

Calling Pela is in and of itself something of a gamble; there is no guarantee she'll have her pinpoint with her, and even less of one she'll answer it. Generally she does mind it, since James is considerably more interested in the use of technology than she is, but she is headstrong. Still, her appearance today is mostly (...arguably) fortuitous; she was bored, reuniting with her countrymen under the sea is rather hit-or-miss in terms of acceptance, despite all she's done for them, and she goes where she likes. Even if there are whispers about her close involvement with land-walkers and worse, humans, she is considered a hero, and few people will question her openly.

Certainly none of the men.

He might be more keenly attuned the flash of her tail in the water by now, but he still receives very little warning before she comes slicing through the top and regards him calmly, silent.

He is injured. And morose-looking.

[inthewaywedie]

All the same he doesn't startle - or he forces himself not to, because christ that'd hurt - but rather lifts the glass, takes a drink, and remarks, "There you are," like he'd been expecting her. The fact that he hadn't is, obviously, irrelevant; he wanted to see her, and here she is without any effort on his part.

Pro tip: most people don't mix bad injuries, painkillers, and alcohol. These people lead long, healthy lives. James probably won't, but he doesn't seem to mind that.

[mareprocellarum]

"What did you do to yourself?" It's as imperious as it is vaguely concerned; he's obviously well enough to be sitting here, so it's not life-threatening, but the princess does not approve of his being maimed.

She has no idea that you shouldn't mix alcohol and painkillers, much less with injuries, either, but that's probably no shock. Pela still hates liquor.

[inthewaywedie]

"There was this log coming towards me, so I obligingly held still until it was quite done hitting me," he supplies helpfully, with a small and crooked smile. (He's always been better at the kind that look slightly unpleasant.) "Are you coming up here or do I have to keep yelling across the rocks?"

Shut up, James, you're barely raising your voice.

(Maybe he'd like to touch her and he can't risk the water right now. Maybe he could just say that- well, one of those statements was more likely than the other.)