Notting Hill, London, Friday Morning

[icecoldfrost]

Yesterday had been... amusing.

After getting packed at her alcove, Emma had caught her portal at the new date and time, spent a half hour scoping out her target, and then proceeded to let herself in through a second-floor rear window that had been left unlocked. Most likely because neither occupant expected agile and determined girls to climb a tree and break in to their house on a lark.

And then Emma proceeded to read a book on the couch until Jack came home to find her smirking at him over the pages, and proceeded to fuss and ply her with tea until carrying her off to the guest room and practically sitting on her until she fell asleep.

Which is how she found herself downstairs today, bundled in a robe with hair falling in her face as she sipped the coffee. Mmmmcoffee. "So, darling, is there a plan for today? Am I to be allowed out of the house yet, or do I need to pass yet more inspection?"

[OOC: NFB due to distance, house and occupant modded with permission!]

Comments

[bitten_notshy]

Jack caught the slight surprise and the hesitation, and that made him reciprocate the kiss with all the more fervor.

"Very well, I'll draw a bath for you," he promised. "Do you mind chatting while you bathe, or shall it remain a realm of mystery?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I think I can manage chatting," Emma decided. "You can discreetly check me for other injuries and satisfy yourself that I'm not broken, and I can politely pretend not to notice."

[bitten_notshy]

"As if you've ever complained about getting more eyes on you," Jack said, leading the way to the bath. "I can tell you aren't broken, by the way. You'd be complaining much more if you were.

[icecoldfrost]

"Exactly. If I was hurt, I'd be whining and playing it up for more attention," she agreed, following along behind him.

[bitten_notshy]

There didn't seem to be much to say to that, so Jack just nodded his agreement and went about setting things up for her bath.

"So what else have I missed?" he asked, going for casual. "Karla mentioned her parents came to visit. Did you meet them?"

[icecoldfrost]

"I didn't feel like getting in the way of any touching family reunions," she replied lightly. "I didn't want to get sap on my new shoes, so I kept to myself." Or she would possibly yell at Karla's parents for being so self-centered.

"It's been rather dull, really. I've got an absolute ton of classes this semester, which keeps me busy. Oh, and Karla has a date with Warren Worthington."

[bitten_notshy]

"Oh?" Jack didn't know Warren, beyond a vague awareness he had wings and money. "Well, good for them."

"It's probably better no one showed up for you," he added, as he squeezed some oil into the bath. "You wouldn't have wanted to show all of Fandom the softer side of Emma Frost."

[icecoldfrost]

"What softer side?" Denial was a beautiful thing, and Emma shrugged out of her robe. "Don't be absurd, Jack."

[bitten_notshy]

"Of course. Silly me. How could I have forgotten so much about you so fast?" Jack asked, and sat down to watch Emma get into the water.

[icecoldfrost]

Emma settled into the water, humming happily at the sensation as she slid into the tub. "This is wonderful, darling, well done."

"Besides, the trip was for the dead, so it seems. And the vast majority of my family is both living, and would not be a happy reunion."

[bitten_notshy]

"Mmmm," Jack said vaguely. "... and your brother? Oh, and let me shampoo your hair. I think your scrambled noggin deserves a massage."

[icecoldfrost]

"Somehow I doubt that Hell let the suicides out for a day to visit, and if you listen to most people, that's where they'll say he is," Emma retorted shortly. "And if he did get a day off, he'd probably go haunt Winston rather than waste time with me."

She slid under the water, eyes closed as she let it rinse off some of her foul mood. << You should give me massages all the time. Maybe it will keep me from flaying the terminally stupid with sarcasm. >>

[bitten_notshy]

"My people don't think that," Jack answered, fingers working over her scalp. "But we're not quite as devoted to the afterlife as you are."

He tsked his tongue, working the lather through her long blonde locks before his fingers strayed down to rub into her neck. "Flaying would be rude, wouldn't it?"

[icecoldfrost]

Emma leaned back into his hands, practically melting with approval. << I'm not devoted to the afterlife at all, >> she pointed out. << Winston had us go twice a year; Easter and Christmas, for reasons of his image, that was it. >>

<< I privately suspect that he didn't want my siblings and I to worship any god other than him. >>

[bitten_notshy]

"He was just hoping that if they said 'honor they father and thy mother' often enough, you'd ignore that some parents aren't worth honoring," Jack said, bitterness in his tone. His fingerpads dug more deeply into her flesh.

"Do you believe in hell, though? Tell me to hush if you don't want to think about it during your bath."

[icecoldfrost]

<< Hazel isn't bad, >> she objected, half-heartedly. << Just... sick. >>

It was the best defense Emma could conjure for the woman; Hazel was always heavily medicated, be it with alcohol or pills, but she wasn't hard like Winston. She just wasn't a mother.

<< And I don't. Believe in hell. >> Which to Emma, meant that Christian had chosen not to visit her last weekend. She'd stood by while they took him away, she hadn't been able to stop it.

That wasn't true. She could have, if she had used her powers, but Emma was too scared and too chicken to try it. She didn't really blame him for blaming her.

[bitten_notshy]

"And my mother was just scared and poor and trying to do her best for me," Jack answered. It was a sore point, parents were -- and one he was quick to gloss past.

"Maybe he didn't know if you'd want to talk to him," he offered, trying to paint Christian's absence in the best light. "I know he had reasons but he chose to leave you. He might be ashamed."

[icecoldfrost]

Emma snorted and shook her head. "'Shame' isn't a word in a word in Christian's vocabulary," she finally said aloud. "He always did exactly what he wanted."

[bitten_notshy]

"Then I don't know," Jack said, rarely for him. It was unsatisfying; he liked to have ideas, explanations, theories. This was beyond him. "I'm sorry. I wish I could have known him."

[icecoldfrost]

"He just had better things to do than pick-up after his baby-sister again," she said, trying for lightness. "And he would have adored you. I would have needed to fend him off with a stick."

[bitten_notshy]

"I've never had siblings," Jack noted, seeming duly flattered but not terribly serious. He wouldn't even if Christian were alive, willing and naked in front of him. "Did he look like you?"

[icecoldfrost]

"When I was little, Hazel used to say we had the same eyes," Emma admitted, sharing an image with Jack. "But we were pretty much inseparable until he moved out."

[bitten_notshy]

"He looks like you," Jack confirmed, blinking a bit at the image in his mind. he still wasn't used to Emma doing that.

He lathered shampoo between his palms, working it into her hair. "Now, close your eyes. I wouldn't want you to get soap in them."

[icecoldfrost]

"I ought to get injured more often, if I'm getting pampered this much," Emma joked, obliging him and closing her eyes. "Thank you."

[bitten_notshy]

"If I'd known you were going to run off and try to crack your head open the minute I left the island," Jack said, as warm water sluiced through her hair and down into the tub, "I would have finished out the summer there."

[icecoldfrost]

"It wasn't exactly in my planner, darling," she pointed out. "My apologies."

Not that Emma would have argued with Jack staying around, but she hadn't exactly planned on Bobby Drake breaking her brain.

"So today we do the museum and lunch, tomorrow you take me to the palace, as I promised Sookie I'd try and make the guards smile, and the Tower. What else ought we do while I'm here? There ought to be room for one more adventure."

[bitten_notshy]

"Forgiven as long as you don't do it again," Jack said, and kissed her water-warm forehead.

Thoughtfully, he recounted a few suggestions -- museums, shopping, walks through parks. "Or we can see where the days take us," he finished. "Which would be my choice."

[icecoldfrost]

"I think I like that idea," she agreed, smiling at him. "Pass me my towel then, darling, and as soon as I'm dry, we shall be on our way."