WHO: James Holden and John Sheppard WHAT: A random meeting WHEN: Wednesday WHERE: Starbucks WARNINGS: TBD STATUS: Closed/Ongoing
Getting used to being back on Earth was definitely an adjustment. The gravity, the sunshine, the wide open spaces - it was all a bit of a shock, even if he'd spent the first twenty years of his life here. Well, here 300 years from now, anyway.
He was actually lucky in a lot of ways. He'd grown up on Earth, and because of that, he had the right skeletal build and musculature that allowed him to stand upright without the gravity causing him irreparable damage. His skin had developed some protection from the UV rays. He'd grown up in Montana, which was Big Sky Country even in the 24th century. So while he hadn't been on earth in a very long time, at least there was a familiarity about it. Someone like Naomi would have found it far less agreeable.
He still hadn't admitted himself that there was a good chance he wouldn't be going home in the near future. He wasn't ready to leave his life back home, or abandon his crew. But while he was here, he intended to enjoy it as much as he could, and that meant eating as much fresh produce and drinking as much cheap coffee as he possibly could. It was amazing, how many fruits and vegetables they had here, and Holden was determined to eat each and every one at least once.
He'd gone to the grocery first, and was carrying a plastic bag full of a colorful array of produce. He was going to have a salad and a fruit salad, which was kind of a dream come true and something that would have been incredibly pricey back home. And he was going to top it off with a latte from Starbucks, made with real coffee and real milk for the bargain price of $5.75.
Waiting patiently in line, he looked around him at the people sitting, reading, working, living their lives. It was so much different than the Earth he knew, but really, people were people, and some things never changed.