2020-01-28 - Papers, Papers, Everywhere!

Thank goodness for magic coats- winter's been cold, but James has stayed pretty toasty throughout most of it- and all it cost him was getting nearly mauled by a giant blue cat. It's already late January, the cold days seeming to fly by, and he's been over at Diana's pretty much daily, working on the book with her. And also smoochin'. Pretty respectable amount of smoochin'. This afternoon, he's just making his way to her door, squinting against a sudden flurry of snow and lugging a bag full of books. He knocks a couple of times on the door, huddling a little tighter in his oh so warm coat.

As for Diana, she's been warm thanks to her seemingly endless dorky Christmas sweaters. This one features Disney's Stitch with a red bag over his shoulder and a Santa hat, because of course. It may be January, but ugly Christmas sweaters are forever. As usual, he's barely had time to get his knocking in before she opens the door, this time pulling him into a kiss before abruptly breaking away and shivering. "Yikes," she says, and steps aside to let him in, closing the door firmly behind him. "It's so cold out there! You'd think it was winter or something. ...how are you?"

James is, as always, just mildly surprised at the kiss- as if each one was as unexpected and unlikely as the first. And just as always, after that fraction of a second he returns it enthusiastically- just as she pulls away shivering and lets him in. He ducks his head, stimping his feet a moment on the welcome mat she surely has to get the snow off. "I'm no meteorologist", he says, and smiles at her. "... but I'm pretty sure it is Winter." He takes off his coat after a moment. "The snow's a dead giveaway. I'm good, don't worry. Nice and toasty and, now, in excellent company."

"...oh. Is that how that works? Huh. I could've sworn snow was a summer thing." Diana smiles warmly at him, and definitely has a welcome mat, because as he'll have noticed, her place is always pretty spotless. She comes over to him after he takes off his coat, toying lightly with a lock of his hair before breaking away and asking, "Want anything to drink?"

"Something warm- hot chocolate if you got it?", James replies without hesitation, not one to miss an opportunity for something sweet. "And trust me, around here, snow equals winter. That's the kind of rough and tumble street knowledge you acquire, growing up in a place like this. You won't find that in your fancy books.", he adds, with a wink.

"I dunno. I'm pretty sure The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe covered that one pretty thoroughly," Diana counters. In a whiny voice she adds, "'Always winter, never Christmas!'" A pause, then, "Anyway, hot chocolate coming up. I hope you like packet hot chocolate cuz um. That's what I've got." She blushes lightly, and then heads into the kitchen.

"I didn't know there was any other kind?", James calls back as she heads into the kitchen, and then moves to bring his bag of books down near the couch where they're in easy reach before sitting down to start going through them- he's pretty handy at finding odd books and digging into records, and his haul today shows it- several books on psychic abilities, especially dealing with astral projection, some layman-level books about quantum physics, and a binder full of scanned pages from some of the original birth and family records from the founding of the city.

"There's not," Diana assures him, and in good time returns with two piping hot mugs of hot chocolate, replete with whipped cream on top. No marshmallows, though... for shame! His is offered up, and she blows over her own to cool it before bending down to peek at his finds. She blinks at the binder, particularly once she's read a few pages. "Is this what I think it is?" she asks, looking intensely excited.

James gives her a sheepish grin. "Part of it, yeah. They only let me photocopy a few pages at a time, and even that took a while- the originals are pretty old and not in the best condition, so, they're kinda antsy about it. But, y'know, given time I should be able to grab most of it. I hope.", he says, and then takes a short sip of his own hot chocolate, ending up with a bit of whipped cream on the tip of his nose.

Shaking her head, Diana says, "That's amazing! YOU'RE amazing!" She definitely needs a one-armed hug now, so she takes one, SO THERE. "Thank you, James. I-- it means a lot to me, all this stuff you're doing. I didn't make much money at all from the first book, but you get at least 50% of however much this second one gets. It's not-- it's probably not-- going to mean much, money-wise. But it means a lot to me."

James leans into the hug, blushing a little at her praise, but smiling happily. "Hey, I've always been good at digging stuff up. Probably better at it than I am at actually writing, if I'm honest.", he says, then chuckles and shakes his head. "Look, it'd be nice if we make a bestseller, but I'm not in this for the money. I wouldn't even know what to do if I suddenly had a buttload of cash. I'd probably blow it all on am underground bunker or something."

Diana smiles warmly at him, and then outright grins as she teases, "Are you implying an underground bunker is NOT the best use for a buttload of cash? If so, we may have to have Words." She reaches out to squeeze his shoulder, and then nods. "Honestly, I think you're an amazing writer, so if you're digging-up-stuff skills are higher, that's even more impressive."

James's smile widens, and he shakes his head. "Well, in that case, this book better sell. We're getting our bunker.", he says, then gives a happy sigh. "How do you do it? How do you make all of this ok?"

"I don't," Diana says simply, giving him a soft smile. "...but we do. We work well together. I mean, not just on the book, but... life stuff. We want a lot of the same things, and each of us cares what the other one wants where they're not the same. I want wild-crazy adventures, but I also know sometimes you won't be up for that-- and that's okay! And you, in turn, make sure I'm free to go off and have wild-crazy adventures at worst, and join me when you're up to it. It's a good kinda equilibrium."

James smiles weakly at that. "Oh, I have my share of wild-crazy adventures. Hell, enough of them that I'm starting to develop a tolerance, which is utterly terrible when you think about it.", he admits. "Sometimes I feel like there are fewer days like this one than there are where I'm literally fighting for my life against some terrible thing or another." He sighs, and pulls Diana a little closer. "Like hell I'm letting you go into the deep end of all this shit alone. I'll be by your side, every chance I get, no matter how weird it gets."

Diana kisses his cheek lightly, then nuzzles her nose against his. "And anytime you can't make it, I'll understand. We had different introductions into all this, different childhoods, different powers, different everything. We're not always going to look at the same thing and come to the same conclusions, you know?" She wraps her arm around him tighter, leaning up against him. "If it helps, I'm both sad for you that you have to fight so often-- and relieved there's a tolerance building. Tolerance is good, if you keep it in check."

"Yeah, well, I hate it. My reaction to seeing some horrible nightmare thing trying to rip my friends apart should be to scream in horror. Because horrible nightmare things are- well, it's right there in the name, yeah?", James replies, but then can't help smiling. "In the end, though, it's purely selfish. I want to make sure you're ok. That's all."

Diana nods her head to his first words, frowning lightly and brushing her fingertips down his face. "I understand what you're saying. And it's true that in a perfect world? Seeing that sort of stuff would be a once-in-a-lifetime event, if even that often. You'd scream your head off, you'd help yourself and everyone else get out, and you'd take your time in recovering. I wish you could live in that world." She kisses the tip of his nose. "I'll do my best to make sure I'm okay, just as much as you will. And that's all anyone can ask." This time the kiss is pressed onto one of his eyebrows.

James smiles happily at each little kiss, nodding his agreement. "I know, and I appreciate it, Diana. But you're right, we don't live in that world... we live in this fucked up hellhole, so... since we're stuck here, at least for now, well... one of these days I've got to introduce you a bit more properly to my friends. They're kinda badasses. I want them to know who you are if you ever find yourself in trouble and they're around. They've saved my ass more than once."

Diana nuzzles her face against his neck, then gives a faint nod. "You're kinda a badass too, you know. I'd love to meet your friends, but just because they mean a lot to you, not because I'm secretly hoping for them to save me. They seem like good people, and if they matter to you, then they matter to me as well." She kisses the side of his neck, then pulls back to give him a soft kiss on the lips this time.

James shivers at the nuzzling and kisses, sighing with soft pleasure at each one as he listens. "Well, I'm hoping they'll save you. But they are lovely. For the most part.", he says, before she steals his words away with that last kiss- a kiss he happily allows to linger and deepen, arms pulling her just a bit closer as it does.