Alicia Spinnet (aliciabspinnet) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-04-06 17:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *jamie, *maxi, alicia spinnet, john grimm |
17 MARCH - ALICIA & REAPER
alicia & reaper
17, March [pre party]
lightning brew
PG13
complete |
The overall mission had been brilliant, dragons stealing a ship, blowing up a bunch of bad ships, it’d be successful and for Alicia, pretty fun. The bet to come in at the end just added to the amusement of the trip. The sub and the newly acquired warship were neck'n'neck as they rounded their way into the harbor. The sub came up first with Alicia Spinnet leaping off awkwardly with medics grabbing her the second her feet hit the ground. She did manage to yell out a "you lost! First round is on you." After a good hour of having her leg checked out and treated, Alicia finally got away to grab a quick shower, tell her flatmate she was alive and make it to the pub where she found her competition sitting and waiting. "Don't think for a second you won!" Alicia said jumping up into the seat next to him. "I won!" -The mission went off without much of a hitch; the recon had been successful, they enemy forces had been dealt a crippling blow, and the team had managed to even acquire quite the prize in the form of a new warship. Still, there had been an injury, and the trip back to shore proved to be a long and stressful one. Oh physically John was just fine, yet the strain of remaining awake for so the last few days straight; and the stress of trying to captain an unfamiliar ship while operating with only two crew members instead of the dozen or so that it normally required...it left the Staff Sergeant feeling glad to be back on solid ground. Even placing such a bet could have been a tad reckless, yet Reaper found it helped keep him focused on the task at hand. Granted when they docked at last, and he heard Alicia yelling out loud, a soft sigh escaped him. Still, Grimm was a man of his word. He took a little time to head back to his bunk, and after grabbing a shower and a change of clothing, he stowed his gear and headed out to the pub. While waiting for her arrival, John took the liberty of ordering a lot of food; having desperately missed eating something real that didn’t come out of an MRE. Halfway through his second burger, the marine spotted her arriving at last, and with a nod, he motioned for the bartender that her round was on his tab. “After finishing chewing the bite of his meal, Reaper finally wiped his mouth with a napkin before speaking up at last. “The best was to reach the port, and you pulled if off so claim your prize and have a drink.” - Smirking Alicia ordered a pint and a water as she got comfortable grabbing a menu, she could use something to eat herself. Glancing at it she knew she should have just ordered something without looking. "And here I thought I'd have to beat you into it," she teased glancing over at him with a small laugh. "Or at the very least threaten to make you dance uncontrollably before you'd give in." Everything about what she said was light-hearted and far from serious. "How's the burger?" She followed up with. • It had been over six months since John had been on leave, and while he always preferred being out on assignment, there was something to be said for enjoying a decent meal and a few drinks without having to worry about being shipped out on another rapid deployment. Even as he nodded to the man behind the bar to get his own glass refilled Reaper glanced at her for a moment and shook his head slightly. “Always keep my word, and pay my debts. So no need to go using threats or mojo on me.” For the first time in ages, he actually cracked a smile and chuckled a tad before turning his focus towards the fries on his plate. When she asked about the burger though Grimm paused mid-bite to consider the burger. “They’re good. The bacon and cheddar was cooked well, and the one with the crumbled blue cheese is pretty delicious too. Still, the cajun fries are probably my favorite part so far.” As if to prove his point Reaper moved his plate closer to her before returning his focus on eating again. "It's just so much fun to see your expression when I bring up how amusing it could be," Alicia told him before turning to her drink and taking a sip. In that moment she felt a weight lift off of her as she relaxed a bit more with a content sigh. Taking it as an invitation and never being good with the concept of not stealing chips she snuck one taking a small nibble as she made up her mind if she liked it or not. "Can I get a thing off the cajun fries and the elk jalapeno brawt?" she ordered before looking back over at Reaper. "Now that you've had your first mission here in Atlantis, finding it alright?" She asked. Serious seemed to be the Staff Sergeant’s default setting; having been enlisted and on far too many missions to let levity interfere with the job. Still, there were a few rare moments when John found himself relaxing just a little. Oh if his team was deployed tonight Reaper would have his game face ready, but for the present, he was content to let his shoulders slump as his rigid posture relaxed. No, he wasn’t amused by her teasing, but John understood the value in letting off some steam, and after the close call Alicia had had with that dragon...well he could stand being the butt of her joking. “I’m glad to see you in high spirits. Let’s just refrain from attempts to get me dancing, and you and I will hit it off just fine.” It was the mention of the elk brawt that caught his interest, and with an arched brow Grimm reached over to grab an unused menu for a moment. When he came in the man had just ordered something off the top of his head, but the sound of the spicy brawt peaked his palate. “Make that two brawts, and one more order of the fries please.” Oh John could pack away the food with the best of them, and after spending the last week surviving off of food that tasted like cardboard...he was more then happy to savor the dishes that the pub had to offer. The question of Atlantis gave him pause, and after considering it for a moment, he finally shrugged a little before quietly speaking up once again. “It’s a lot to wrap my head around, and the down time isn’t really for me. I always preferred being on assignment, instead of taking leave. Still, something tells me it won’t be hard to pull another tour of active duty around here.” Smirking she nodded. "Got it, not a big fan of dancing." She said as she let herself get distracted by watching people for a moment. She never could help herself from curiously watching what was happening around her. "But I bet you have the balance for it." She added with a shrug as if that were a normal thing to say. Laughing as he ordered more food she glanced back over at him. "That hungry huh?" She couldn't help the question, two burgers, fries and a brawt? Seemed like a lot of food, not that she herself couldn't eat a lot at times. Nodding as she listened to him talk about being here, she could understand it. "You could take up riding a pegasus there are lessons on it on Wednesdays I think. " She suggested. "You never know when riding a flying horse might become part of a mission." She warned. “Oh it’s more like I never danced before, and i’m just as likely to go stepping on toes then anything else. Still I suppose you’re right about the balance thing.” John had always been agile and possessed quick reflexes, yet after that damn injection...well his body was operating on a level beyond what humans could achieve. Still when the question was raised about his appetite Reaper chuckled again and managed a little nod of his head before snagging another fry from the plate. “Something like that. Didn’t really have much in the way of delicious food while deployed, but more then that I find myself quite hungry after recently healing from serious wounds.” Granted getting shot in the chest multiple times should’ve meant he was dead, yet instead Grimm didn’t even have a scratch on his anymore. So if a bit of hunger was the price to pay, well he paid it gladly. “Pegasus riding lesson?” He stared at her in disbelief for a moment, but when it didn’t seem like she was just teasing him John found himself at a loss. “I swear this place is strange, and the more time I spend here the stranger it all gets. Still...well if you’re being serious, it may be an interesting experience.” Alicia nearly choked on her beer as she took a sip. “You’ve never danced before?” She half coughed half asked. “Seriously?” She added not hiding the fact she looked from him from foot to toe. “It’s not like you’re a bad looking bloke, how is it that you’ve never danced before?” Alicia added. Her tone was shocked and curious. Shrugging at the food she could see that. “I suppose that makes a bit of sense,” she told him as she stole another one of his fries. Alicia never was good with not stealing food. Laughing she nodded. “Come on now, it’s actually a good bit of fun,” she told him with a smirk. “It keeps getting weirder, just wait, it gets weirder.” Alicia added leaving whatever else she had in mind up in the air. A simple shake of his head was John’s only response to the question for a moment, but after finishing the fry he offered a slight shrug and spoke up once again. “No I haven’t. My parents were research scientists who were always traveling, so my sister and I were homeschooled. After they passed away I went to the military academy, then enlisted in the marines when I was old enough. There wasn’t a lot of dancing in the barracks, or on the battlefield.” “Oh I can see the appeal of this place, somewhat. After all it’s not every day i get the chance to steal a warship. Still I tend to prefer focusing on the missions to come, and on training to stay in fighting form. The leisure time was never something I was good at handling.” Even as she smirked Grimm offer a small smile, and he nodded in gratitude when the next round of drinks were finally brought over. “Do you have much experience with warfare?” The question was born out of curiosity; since she had handled herself well when they were deployed...well that and Reaper wondered how else magic could be used in combat, for future reference. “You can’t go your entire life without dancing,” Alicia said before holding up a hand. “Don’t worry, I’m going to drag you onto the floor.” She paused. “Well, at least right now at least, next week might be a completely different story.” She really couldn’t imagine someone who never danced. She wanted to say something about his parents but she wasn’t really sure what to say and her expression showed it. “Stealing warships is a good perk,” she nodded and gave a small thanks to the drink. At his next question she leaned back taking her time with the answer as the war she had been in came to the forefront. “A little,” she answered before looking down for a moment. “In my world, just out of Hogwarts, well school, there was a war, a guy trying to take over and run things how he saw fit, kill anyone who wasn’t deemed worthy, and yeah, I fought during it.” She said shaking it off. “We won, and we rebuilt and went on to live. I hadn’t been in any sort of real battle until I came here, well unless you count battling on the Quidditch Pitch, it can get a bit rough.” Shrugging she smiled before adding. “I’m an athlete back home, or I guess I was…” John considered her remark yet only offered up a slight shrug. After all, to date, the man had never really found himself desiring to dance. Maybe someday he would, but as things stood Reaper had no plans on giving it a try anytime soon. When the subject switched back to the theft of the ship he chuckled once again, and that smile of his grew warmer. “Being stuck in that sub for all that time wasn’t much fun, but it things got exciting when we reached that base of theirs. Damn if I didn’t laugh when you all started destroying the rest of their fleet.” Taking the warship hadn’t exactly been too challenging; not with Wanda’s abilities, and John’s training. Well the training and the inability to be readily killed. “You should have seen the look on the captain’s face when he realized that his ship was ours.” The marine’s smile faltered, then faded away altogether, when she spoke of the war that she had been through back home. Honestly Reaper couldn’t quite picture a war of magic, but he imagined it must have been a brutal series of battles to be sure. “The guy sounds like he was just asking to be put down. Did you end up having to kill him, or did the guy surrender?” The intricacies of magic still eluded Grimm, yet after seeing Alicia get hurt by that dragon...well he took note that magic didn’t seem to always keep the caster safe from physical harm. He remained lost in his own thoughts for a moment until she mentioned the odd name, and with an arched brow John spoke up again. “Quidditch Pitch? Is that a drinking game or something? Like our version of quarters?” Laughing herself, she thought back on the moment she and Wanda used their magic. "Wish I could have seen the expression on the Captain's face." She confirmed, "Wanda did mention it was pretty priceless." She added having spoken to Wanda briefly. After all, she always felt like she and Wanda made a good team when it came to combining magic. Shrugging she added, "Cam's not bad company, even if does go on about things I haven't a clue about... "Muggle stuff." Alicia looked down to her drink taking a large sip before speaking about the war. "He was killed," she told him plan and simple. "He had to be taken out, mate of mine actually managed it." She didn't go into more detail at it. Laughing at his question, she shook her head. "No, it's where one plays Quidditch. I'm a chaser or was a chaser. It's a sport, the main sport where I'm from." She said before launching into a short description of Quidditch. "It's played on broomsticks in the air; there are three different kinds of balls, the Quaffle which the chasers handle and throw into hoops, there are the bludgers that fly around trying to knock people off their brooms. The beaters take care of those and try to use a bat to aim it at the other team, you've got the keeper, pretty clear what that position does, and you have the snitch which is this little golden ball with wings that a seeker tries to find, once the snitch is caught the game ends and the team with the most points wins." The whole operation had gone down pretty smoothly, and John had been impressed with how well the team worked together. Honestly as tag a long he half expected things to be far less professional; given the simple fact that two of the members didn’t really have military experience. Still Reaper had found himself being earnestly impressed by how well everyone had handled themselves. “Yeah, priceless is the right word for it.” He had no clue what a muggle was, but before he could ask Alicia began to explain the game...which only had a look of confusion spreading across his face. From what John could imagine the whole thing sounded beyond confusing, but to be fair he was still struggling with the thought of flying brooms too. In the end though he chuckled and just shook his head. “Well it sounds like an interesting game. Wouldn’t mind watching it sometime, but I’d stick to just being a spectator.” His focus drifted back to the food as the waiter brought out the order, and the sight of the brawt had the man’s mouth watering. “Damn, yeah that does look good. Good call.” “Don’t think you want to go flying on a broom?” Alicia asked with a smirk, she could understand it, it sounded weird to people who didn’t see it all the time, or it wasn’t normal in their world. “I can promise it’s loads of fun,” she added with a shrug. She knew she’d been bugging Cam about flying. When the food showed up she could feel her stomach growl and laughed as she was sure it made a good sound. “Guess my stomach agrees with you on that one,” She said not waiting to dig into it. She took a really awkwardly big bite that took a while to chew and let out a small happy sigh when she finally finished with it. “So, you going to the St. Paddy’s party?” She asked. The question didn’t phase him in the least, and after finishing chewing a bite of the brawt John wiped his mouth with a napkin and spoke up. “Tend to prefer keeping my feet on the ground, plus something tells me it’d be hard to use my rifle if I was grabbing onto a broom handle.” Oh he doubted he’d ever need to use his weapon in Atlantis, especially not during some sort of game. Yet after hearing just some of the crazy things that had been doing on during the war, well Reaper favored being ready just in case things went South. “At least if I was riding a pegasus I’d have a hand free.” The break in the conversation gave him a chance to finish off his food as well, and while Grimm wasn’t a messy eater he downed the food with haste...another byproduct of living on a military base for so long; and having been called up for deployment mid meal on more than a few occasions. When he was done at last the man reached for his beer, and after finishing that off in two or three gulps John set the empty glass down. “Honestly I hadn’t given it any thought. Just found out my team is now a man short since we returned, so I was planning on redoubling our training exercises. Never hurts to be prepared, and the last thing I want is to get rusty.” “You’d be surprised what you can hold and fly with,” she quipped with a smirk. She didn’t say anything else on that though, she didn’t think explaining it more really mattered. “The whole pegasus thing is a bit odd, but oddly fun too, not the same rush though.” She added with a shrug. Glancing over as it appeared he inhaled his food she did everything in her power not to laugh but a smirk did cross her features before she looked back down and grabbed a couple of fries from her plate eating the slowly. “Downside of people coming and going, it’s hard to get a really good feel for a team,” she said with a shrug. She’d been lucky so far, it didn’t look like Cam or Wanda were going anywhere. “It can’t hurt to go to a party for one night, who knows maybe your other teammate is there.” She said with a shrug not knowing who was or wasn’t on his team. An eyebrow arched when he spotted her smirk, and John smiled slightly before offering a little nod of his head. So much of this place was surprising him of late, and the man had no doubt that she was more than likely right. Oh he had no intention of rushing out to give flying a try, but it was something he’d possibly consider if John found himself with an abundance of free time. Her amusement over how fast he ate wasn’t missed at all, but Reaper instead turned his attention to ordering one more beer. When she spoke of people coming and going a hint of a frown was seen. It was already hard enough trying to get his team organized and prepped since the only other person who actually had military experience was now gone. The thought of having to retrain someone new, only to possibly have then vanish too...well it was a bit frustrating. “Guess this place doesn’t make it easy. We are already engaged in an unconventional war, but to not have a reliable way of ensuring that people stick around…” Grimm’s words trailed off and a sigh escaped him as the man grew lost in his own thoughts for a moment. However when Alicia spoke up again John’s focus returned to the conversation at hand. “Perhaps I can swing by if some of my team is there, but honestly...well the prospect of partying, while still being on active duty just doesn’t quite sit right with me. Spent so long living on a military base, and those rules and regulations just became like second nature to me.” He honestly wasn’t trying to be a buzzkill. In truth John enjoyed the occasional beer, but to go out partying while serving as a Squad leader, especially during an active war campaign, it didn’t seem like a good move. "Part of it is that some people pick to leave, but with Bucky breaking Intake this month and last month a COS agent taking it down... guess things just aren't exactly what we'd hope them to be. Hopefully, they get it all worked out, but that isn't something I know much about." She admitted. "At the very least I bet Wanda and Cam will be going to the party, I'm sure they'd like to see you, we might not be your normal team, but you weren't so bad to have around." She said with a smile, Alicia had actually enjoyed him joining the team. She was lucky though, she and Wanda worked well together and Cam seemed to put up with them well enough. "Besides, just because you show up at a party doesn't mean you have to go all out wild unless of course, you can't help it." She said as her eyes narrowed. "Are you a secret go all out partier when you aren't in war mode?" Oh it made sense that not everyone was cut out for fighting a war, and John couldn’t fault those that wanted to return home. Hell a part of him considered it when he first arrived, if only to ensure that his sister was okay. Still it made things harder when it came to leading a team into battle; when there was no assurance that the people he served with would stick around. Reaper had heard a few of the details about what happened with intake too, but since it hadn’t directly involved their own mission he pushed it aside for the time being. Partying had never been his forte. Sure he could enjoy a few drinks when the occasion called for it, but in the end John was far more comfortable avoiding social gatherings. Give him a rifle to clean, and a quiet barracks, and the man was happy. Granted the food here was better by far, yet the aspect of hanging out with others still just made him uncomfortable. “I’ll think about it, but no promises. Never was a fan of being around a lot of people, and in a social setting...well it’s just not my cup of tea.” Watching him carefully her eyes trained in on any little hints of what he was thinking. Alicia knew a good number of people who weren’t the most forthcoming, but she had to admit that John was a bit tougher to crack. “How about you escort me there, it’s the least you could do,” she said with a smirk. “After all, I did get beat up by a dragon, and if you don’t want to stay you can run off and find whatever it is that does make you,” she paused thinking of the right word, “comfortable after a long day.” Looking down she took a sip. "You don't have to, I really hate guilt trips, but I wouldn't mind the company on the walk there." A soft sigh escaped him when John saw her smirk again, and after considering it for a moment he finally shrugged those shoulders again. “I suppose there’d be no harm in stopping by the party for a few minutes, and escorting you there would be...well, practical given that you are still on the mend. I’ll reach out to my uh, friend, and see if she’d possibly be interested in coming along too.” Oh the man was a tough nut to crack; years of solitude, losing teammates in combat, and even his own parents when he was young left Reaper a bit disconnected from others. Things had been slowly turning around since he got to Atlantis, granted it was mostly baby steps, but still the man was slowly trying to come out of his shell. “Don’t worry about it. Guilt trips don’t really work on me...much. Still it wouldn’t hurt to start socializing a bit more with the others. If only to get to better know the people I’ll be serving with on future missions.” With a nod to himself Grimm turned his attention to the beer, and after downing it quickly he set the glass down and offered a slight smile. “I really should be getting back. Need to check in with my CO, and update my team on what’s been going on.” He started to stand, but paused for a moment to pull out a small wads of cash from his pocket. After setting the money down on the table he spoke up again. “The food and drinks are on me. But next time I’ll be sure to win whatever side bet we have going.” "Your, uh, friend?" Alicia asked as she picked up the she part and the pause before friend. Alicia wasn't going to be pushy about it, but she couldn't help herself from being curious. One of these dates it was probably going to get her into trouble her never ending curiosity. She made a mental note to ask him about it later. Nodding she just watched as he finished his beer and jumped up tossing money on the bar and telling her he needed to get going. "Becker and Kirk are good blokes," she said not knowing who exactly his CO was of the two of them. "And have fun with your team, let me know on the party," she said before smirking. "Oh, and next time I'll still probably win." She said with a laugh. "Thanks for the food and drinks!" She added. “Yep.” John offered a slight smile but no other details, or even a name, of the friend he had mentioned. He hadn’t met either of those men she spoke up, yet Reaper knew that would change since he’d be reporting to one of them. “I’ll let you know about the party...oh and I wouldn’t count on winning a second time.” With a chuckle, Grimm offered a small wave and nodded when she thanked him, before making his way to the door. |