Seishi - Tuesday, September 25, 2001, 2:35 AM
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Jack sits across from Kate, with a decidedly shell-shocked look. Yes, Lord Nelson is still atop his column, and the legions of pigeons are still crapping on him. But much of the London he knew is long gone. At least the tea is decent.

Kate is hanging out in the hotel cafe, sipping a cup of tea. It's casual, there are potted palms around, this is real bone china, and everyone sounds like Jacky and Holmes when they speak. Kate is having a ball.

<OOC> Kate realizes she should've said Jacky, Holmes, Lara and Constantine when they speak...and then we get the Aussie flavor from Whisper...heck, it sounds just like we're back in Beacon Harbor! Only the tea is really good.
<OOC> Whisper laaaughs!
<OOC> Seishi will have you know she makes EXCELLENT tea.

Jack notes, with some relief, "St. Paul's is still the same as it was. Not that it hasn't been that way for near on three hundred years now. And the National, too, though it's got more room." More for his own comfort than Kate's edification, he's been cataloging the things that have remained as they were. "But no fog! It's as clear as the countryside. And no gas-lamps."

Lara steps into the hotel lobby, apparently returned from her walk.

Kate nods her head. "Right, I think I recall hearing all about how the fog got so bad at one point, people were dying from it. And they've actually cleaned up the Thames, too.

Whisper steps out of the elevator and into the cafe, adjusting the lay of her new blazer and giving the cafe a quick glance-around before heading over toward the people she recognizes. Hey, it's People!

Jack nods, still looking faintly incredulous. "It's much cleaner than it was." In more ways than one. His manner with Kate is still oddly tentative - perhaps they've had a fight. As Lara enters, he looks up with a smile. "Did Your Grace enjoy the walk?" he teases.

Lara smiles. "Her Grace did." she confirms, and moves to join the couple. She doesn't seem overly concerned about the state of the pair's relationship.

Jack nods, as he sips from his teacup, and sighs. He's still watching Kate as if he expects her to jump up and bite him.

Kate watches Indy wander in... and then head right out the other door. "I expect he's off to the basement of some ancient bookstore, and will return with tomes pinpointing the exact location of Atlantis and Mu."

Lara says archly, "I don't know why he bothers. I know where Atlantis is."

Jack notes, tiredly, "That Thatch fellow found it, didn't he? Right before that first big war?"

Kate looks between the two of you. "Atlantis has been found? At least in another dimension? Where is it?"

Seishi wanders into the cafe, all loose-limbed easy grace of motion. She seems in a good mood, and is in fact singing softly to herself--a spirited melody something like a high-minded call to arms--as she threads her way between tables to join her friends: "Into terror, into valor! Charge ahead! No, never turn! Yes it's into the fire we fly, and the devil will burn!..."

Jack gestures at Lara, letting her explain as he produces that red and black pack of cigarettes. "Some dreadful little American with big spectacles tracked it down, from what I heard. Though Lara herself was involved in one of the more in-depth later expeditions?" He looks up at Seishi a wry half-smile. "My, you're in good spirits today, Sei-san."

Kate grins. "I don't know what you're singing, but it makes me think of another song, Sei-chan." She responds to Seishi's melody with a burst of Gilbert & Sullivan. "Go, ye hero! Go to glory! Tho' ye die in combat gorrrrey! Ye shall live in song and story, go to immortality!"

Lara laughs. "Yes. I discovered one of the sacred temples, back in my own world."

Seishi leans against their table, greeting easily, "Hello, everyone." She grins and bobs her head toward Jack, then looks to Kate, telling her, "The Scarlet Pimpernel--I adore that musical."

Jack threatens, as he leans back in the chair, "Keep that up and I'll inflict more Gilbert and Sullivan on you."

Kate is torn between listening to Lara's fascinating tale, and starring in her own private version of 'The Pirates of Penzance'. The second stanza is inevitable... "Go to death, and go to slaughter! Die, and ev'ry Cornish daughter with her tears your grave shall water...go ye hero, go and die!" But she breaks off, upon noticing quite a few other cafe patrons giving her some very odd looks indeed. "Hey now, I was in tune and didn't sound bad at all."

Lara grins, "I'm called little Buttercup, sweet little Buttercup, though I could never tell why..." she sings. And of course, Lara's even got that eensy touch of vibrato.

Whisper lifts her eyebrows on hearing Kate singing Gilbert and Sullivan. "I am the very model of a modern major general?" she suggests on approaching the table where everyone seems to have congregated.

Seishi rolls her eyes expressively, laughing. "Oh, dear, what have I started?"

From afar, to (Jack, Seishi, Whisper, Lara): Kate suddenly thinks it would be highly amusing if we all call Lara 'Buttercup' from here on out.
From afar, to (Seishi, Kate, Jack, Whisper): Lara would start calling Indiana Farm-Boy out of self-defense.

Jack sings the first verse of Modern Major General in a rapid, clear tenor patter, looking entirely amused. After all, what else could the British stuck in Indian hill-stations do, for months on end?

Lara grins, and swings into 'Three Pretty Maids From School' in counter-attack.

<OOC> Jack giggles. Dueling Gilbert and Sullivan.

Seishi promptly covers her face with her hands.

Jack retorts with the "Lord High Executioner" and even manages to blow creditable smoke rings in the process.

Kate says "Seishi! We shall have to instruct you in the wonders of G&S. We could open our own community version of the D'Oly-Carte theatre."

Whisper apparently only knew the opening verse there, for she merely sits down with arched eyebrows. "The mind truly doth boggle."

Seishi peeks cautiously out from behind her hands. "I think I'll stick with the Pimpernel, and Jekyll and Hyde."

Kate says "I think that Holmes would be a capital 'Pirate King'. Can't you see it?"

Lara grins. "I'll take your G&S, and raise you R&H." to Seishi, and unable to resist, goes into 'This Is The Moment'."

Jack chokes at the idea, nearly swallowing the clove dangling from his lip. "Gods, woman, don't do things like that to me."

Kate breaks into another verse. "When I sally forth to seek my prey, I hold myself in a royal way! I sink a few more ships, it's true, than a well-bred monarch ought to do! But many a king on a first-class throne, if he wants to call his crown his own...must manage somehow to get through more dirty work than ever I do!"

After hastily stubbing out the clove in the politely-provided ashtray, Jack winces...though he's grinning at Kate.

Kate has started to laugh in grand amusement. "No, no! Holmes is nothing, compared to the idea of Indy or Constantine trying to sing!"

Lara smirks. "I bet Indy and Con sing when they're drunk."

Seishi eyes Kate with serious doubt, then perks up at Lara's latest sally. Now she just /can't/ stay out of the fun, and launches into a counterattack--by now they've got to be attracting an audience--"La, but someone has to strike a pose, and bear the weight of well-tailored clothes! Each species has a sex that's fated to be highly de-co-ra-ted! That is why the Lord created MEN!"

Whisper starts giggling at /that/ musical sally and can't stop. She just leans back in her chair and lets her shoulders go on shaking, the images Lara and Kate keep conjuring up doing Absolutely Nothing to help.

Kate says "That's what we should do while we're in town, before we're rushed off to the Raj; we need to go find a good musical to attend."

Jack wonders aloud to Lara and Seishi, "so, what was your little adventure in London like?"

Kate says "Yes, we've not heard anything about what you were doing, Sei, while Lara, Indy, Jack and I were off in Eastern Europe."

Seishi makes a distinctly wry face. "I'm afraid we can't really claim to have scored a point for the home team this time around," is her reply. Her tone shifts a bit, so as not to carry beyond their table. "Most of what we accomplished by crashing that auction was to get ogled, menaced, and shot at, and to set off an alarm, trip over a couple of dead bodies, and jump out a second-story window."

Kate looks over at Lara. "Sounds like what's all in a day's work for you, isn't it?"

Whisper winces, "Maybe I should thank the faulty tuna," she says quietly. "I just saw how you looked and thought it best not to ask."

Jack grins thinly, a vulpine expression. "Sounds like capital fun, in my opinion."

Seishi's tone of voice is a bit quelling. "It wasn't."

Kate sighs. "I'm sorry, Sei-chan. I shouldn't make light of it. We, on the other hand, had a bizarre flight straight into the Twilight Zone."

One of those half-shrugs is the Brit's only reply, as he fingers the packet of cigarettes. He makes no move to discuss the incident in Rumania, casting Kate an unreadable look.

Lara also seems rather disinclined to share the Romania adventure.

Seishi looks from Jack to Lara and finally to Kate, and opts not to ask, subsiding into rather uncomfortable silence.

Kate looks around. "Where are the others? Buffy, John, Simon and Sherlock? Out wandering the city, or doing something important?"

Lara says "I believe Sherlock has retired for the evening with his pipe and a good book. Buffy went home, I think?"

Kate says "So will they meet us in India, or is it just the rest of us going on?"

Whisper nods, "Which means that John's probably the same place." She takes her wallet out of a blazer pocket and begins to count up Spiffy-Looking Money. "I think I need cake."

Jack rubs at his chin, which for once is less than perfectly shaven. Now he's deciding to grow a beard? "Hn. It'll be good to see India again," he notes. "I should most likely go on ahead."

Seishi dips her head in a small nod, confirming, "Buffy and John both went back to Beacon Harbor. I don't know where Simon has been, though."

Kate nods thoughtfully, and then reaches over and takes Jack by the hand.

Jack holds the pilot's hand, tightly, not even bothering to conceal the motion.

Jack notes, suddenly, "Dear, I think I'm going to retire. Evening, ladies, Your Grace."

Kate blinks a bit, and then nods. "Are you feeling all right, m'dear?"

Lara seems to find Jack's use of her title extremely amusing, but she nods.

He smiles, suddenly...that smug, 'I know a secret' grin. "Never better." With another scratch at his chin, he rises, and bows.

If Seishi's slightly confused by all of this, well, she's used to it. She nods pleasantly to Jack, telling him, "Take care..."

Kate watches Jack saunter off, shaking her head. "And they say that we women corner the market on secrets."

Seishi laughs softly, going a bit introspective... "I think it's more evenly divided than anyone wants to admit."
 

Lara remarks softly to Kate, "I imagine you could see us...does he realize yet that we could see you?"

Whisper waves to Jack as he heads off and lifts an eyebrow again as she catches Lara's comment to Kate.

Kate looks over at Lara, uncertain for a moment, but then it clicks in. "Oh! Yes, we were watching and calling to you, when you and Indiana were in the monastery...and you...you..." She blinks. "Ah; you and Indy saw us too." She look away for a moment. "I don't think he's thought of it. I didn't, until just now."

Seishi's brow creases; now she's /really/ confused. But she doesn't ask, or even say anything, simply listens and absorbs.

Lara explains, at least a little bit. "We ended up having to 'prove ourselves' to the Rom. They made us drink this hallucinogenic tea...we went on something of a spirit walk. It was a very...harrowing experience."

Kate says "Was that as intensely personal for you, as it was for us? I imagine it was...I remember once you telling us a bit about your history."

Whisper leans forward a little, resting her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand, The Thinker with red hair and a green blazer. Weird.

Seishi ahs soundlessly, turning this over in her mind, considering the implications.

Kate murmurs, "I wonder what would have occurred if we had not won through? Yes, they would have told us to go home. But I wonder what would be the effect particularly on you, Lara, and on Jack. Seeing as both of you were slated to die in the dreams."

Kate hmms, seeing Lara get up and move away without answering. "I hope I didn't upset her too badly..."

Seishi says slowly, "It seems like something she needs to come to grips with on her own first..." Not that, Seishi is aware, /she/ knows anything about it beyond what they've just said.

Whisper watches, a little confused, a state she's getting used to. "That she was supposed to die in a dream?"

Kate leans forward, looking at the two of you. "Well... essentially what Lara said is what occurred; we all drunk something, that caused us to fall into a dream state. But it was a shared dream, not individual. And in it, our worst fears were realized and had to be combated. Now... what would your worst fears be, in such a situation?"

Whisper looks down at her hands for a second. Then a shudder runs through her shoulders and she glances up quickly. "I don't want to think about it."

Seishi smiles slightly, a great many things swimming behind those dark eyes of hers. "This sounds like a discussion that ought to be held in the comfort of one of our rooms, preferably over about a quart of ice cream."

Kate says "Ice cream sounds marvelous. Shall we pack up and so move?""

Whisper puts her wallet back and nods, "That sounds workable, although I'm afraid I need to go soon--I have to make a phone call."

Kate nods her head. "Make sure to check the time change, if you're calling back to the States."

Seishi straightens up from the table. "All right, then..."

Kate follows Sei out of the cafe after paying for her tea, and goes into the shopette that you find in most every hotel. And then it's up the stairs bearing a pint of Moose Tracks.

Whisper follows Kate up the stairs and toward the room in question, trying to see the flavor of ice cream. "Moose Tracks? Haven't had that one."

Seishi leads the way to the room she and Whisper are sharing, fishing her key out of her jeans pocket and opening the door. Despite the fact that they've been in residence for a while now, the room is tidily in order--Seishi's natural state, away from Holmes' rather overwhelming influence and general lack of housekeeping ability.

Kate says "you haven't? This is the greatest stuff. They take a vanilla base, then lace sort of a crinkly, very slightly crunchy chocolate layer through it, along with little peanut butter cups. It's excellent."

Whisper makes "mmmmm" sounds as she ascends the stairs, heading into the room and bouncing to a perch on her bed, having kicked off pumps somewhere along the way.

Kate settles down into one of the chairs in the room, slipping off her shoes.

Seishi notes wryly, "It does occur to me to wonder if we have spoons..." She wanders across the room to a portable CD player, a splurge for this trip (one could hardly expect her to go so long without music!) and with half-conscious motions cues up the CD that's currently in it. The Scarlet Pimpernel, which explains why it was on her mind when she came downstairs.

Whisper casts a curious glance over toward the CD player. "You didn't have that one when I was in here last. Just buy the CD?"

Kate holds up the plastic-wrapped spoon she picked up in the shopette. "You didn't see these over by the refrigerated section?"

Seishi admits, "Yeah. I'm slowly rebuilding my collection." Then, sheepishly, to Kate: "I guess I wasn't paying attention."

Kate grins. "Well, then it's a good thing I picked up three of them." She tosses each of you a spoon from the bag she has.

Seishi catches hers, smiling. "Wise Kate-chan."

Whisper grabs the spoon as it flies by. "Truly a worthy ally."

Kate settles into some thoughtful ice cream eating.

Seishi settles down on the floor with her back against the foot of the bed that Whisper sits on, positioned handily to be able to pass the ice cream back and forth. She, too, subsides into quiet, listening to Douglas Sills' delicious voice sing the part of Percy Blakeney. Rowr.

Kate says "So tell me, Seishi; what would be your darkest fear?"

Whisper passes the ice cream back and forth like one of those old Greek women with the eye.

Seishi's mouth twists ruefully at the question. "You don't believe in asking the easy ones, do you, Kate-chan?"

Kate shakes her head. "Well, it wasn't easy for me. For any of us."

Whisper leans back against the wall, nodding, "Wouldn't imagine. Besides, there are no easy questions."

Seishi murmurs, "No, I don't suppose it could be." She sighs softly, while in the background, the voice soars upwards: Oh Lord... how could you let me love like this? No one dies upon a kiss... and only fools believe in bliss...

Finally Seishi answers slowly, "I'm not sure there's any way to say for certain until one is actually /confronted/ with one's worst fear... but I think, for me, it would be to lose control of myself."

Kate says "What do you mean, to lose control? Through anger and rage? Or to literally have someone or something else controlling you, moving your body and you unable to stop yourself?"

Whisper makes the spoonful of ice cream all smooth with her mouth, her eyes solemn and dark as she watches Seishi speak. "Either are pretty scary things. The second a little more so, for me."

Seishi smiles briefly; "Have you ever known me to be given to rage, Kate-chan?" Toying with her spoon, she explains, "It's always been important to me to have some sort of control over my circumstances--some sort of independence." Which is why she keeps bugging Holmes about the rent he won't let her pay. "And through what I do--through meditation and concentration--I have a great deal of control over my own body." She doesn't go into any more detail on that topic. "To have that taken away... for me to be unable to command myself properly... that frightens me."

Kate nods her head. "We had a hypnotist in the carnival, he did a fairly good show. But I never let him try anything out on me. He was a cool guy, but the idea of having someone suggest things in my head without my knowing gave me the creeps."

Whisper eliminates the rest of the ice cream on her spoon. "Mmm. Yech. I'd pretty well avoid anything like that myself."

Seishi inclines her head. "I could never let anyone try to hypnotize me... not unless I was willing to trust them with my life." Seishi adds, after a pause, "That's why I don't drink, and why I don't like to use drugs, even over-the-counters."

Kate nods her head. "Whisper, what about you?"

Whisper chews on her lower lip, thoughtful and reluctant at the same time. "The second part of what Seishi said, but that's...more recent and not as bad. I guess it's...being alone, but more than that." Not an English major, she searches for the right words. "Not having friends, not having something to do, just sort of /existing/."

Kate says "Sounds like solitary confinement in a prison."

Seishi nods slowly. "I understand, I think... it's important to have some kind of meaning to your life... a purpose." This calls something else to mind, and her dark eyes go quiet and still, gaze drawn inward.

Whisper glances down at her ice cream for a second, flicking a quick, wry smile at Kate. "Something like that, except in some cases, it's actual normal life. Sort of. None /I'd/ want. Mm. Yeah, that's it. I wouldn't like to have /only/ a purpose, either."

Kate sits up in her chair. "Well. My worst fear, as it was realized in this spirit quest, was to have Jack taken away from me by...for all intents and purposes, the Gestapo. And to see him beaten, as they took him. And they trained guns on me and my children, to prevent me from stopping them. And later, they were going to hang him."

Seishi focuses on Kate again. "But you didn't let them," she says softly, fitting the pieces of what Kate and Lara said earlier against this description.

Whisper winces, lips coming together as she hears the description. "I can only imagine, thank God. At least nobody I love was ever threatened," she adds, "no matter what else may have happened."

Kate nods her head. "I rescued him at the last moment, in a World War I biplane, complete with mounted machine gun, yes. But...it was unearthly. I'd had nightmares before, of the portals opening up and spiriting him away. Or the same men who killed my father arranging an 'accident' for him. But this was so intense, and so much more horrible."

Seishi remarks slowly and thoughtfully, "I'm beginning to discover that what we imagine in the privacy of our own minds is rarely anything so horrible... or so wonderful... as what the world we're in can present us with."

Kate nods her head and takes another bite from her pint. "Here, would you two like to try this flavor?"

Whisper passes a hand across her mouth and considers this for a second or two. "I have a /little/ more faith in the human imagination. Then again, the portal seems to conjure up most things that /are/ imagined... and going down that road will give me a headache. Sure, thanks."

Kate passes over the Moose Tracks.

Seishi gives a soft laugh. "That, Barbara, opens far too many doors, and some of those trains of thought lead in circles. No, thank you, Kate-chan. Though you're welcome to some of mine if you'd like." Hers is raspberry sorbet.

Whisper takes a spoonful of Moose Tracks and makes Highly Pleased sounds as she tastes it. "Ooh, yummy. So, have you seen much of London?"

Kate mmms! "Now, this is the best thing in the world on a hot day." She takes a spoonful of the sorbet.

Seishi smiles, though she's clearly still feeling rather introspective. "I agree entirely," she tells Kate. "The only thing better is adding whipped cream."

Whisper shakes her head, "Fruity things are better when it's hot. Smoothies and pineapple sherbet and Popsicles."

Kate nods her head in agreement, and then recalls that she was asked a question. "Have I seen much of London... well, not really. We arrived yesterday afternoon you recall, and frankly I was flying on not really enough sleep. I'm glad we were flying into England instead of into the Carpathians, I'll admit. So anyway, once we got in, and checked in here... I went straight to sleep. Jack woke me to have dinner, and then I went back to sleep. This morning we did a little walking around, though. That's when Jack got to gape at all the changes."

Seishi adds vaguely, "Sweet lemon pops..." The dark eyes fix on Kate again, and sharpen. Abruptly she inquires, "Kate-chan, when did you realize you were in love with Jack?"

Kate says "Do you remember the Mexico trip?"

Whisper starts to say something, then blinks at the sudden change of direction. She waits to hear this.

Seishi nods once. Just that.

Kate says "Well... it was when I was kidnapped by those cultists, and brought to the temple, and we ran into you guys in the treasure room. And the way Jack came and beat them away from me, and swept me up and carried me out... then. Just looking at his face, and realizing."Kate muses, "It was like someone hit me with a ball peen hammer... WHOP! and all I could see was him, afterwards."

"Oh," Seishi murmurs, and subsides into silence again, cupping her chin in her hand and propping her elbow against her knee. Apparently Kate's answer hasn't helped her much with whatever's on her mind.

Kate says "Why do you ask?"
Kate leans forward, curious.

Seishi replies, in a vague sort of voice, "I was just wondering how you tell."

Kate says "Well... I mean, it was a very visceral thing, for me. I thought he was nice and decent looking and all, before that point. But...I don't know. After that, every time I'd look at him, see him looking back at me, it would feel like my heart would stop. Or skip, or something. Just everything he says, or does..."

Kate sighs. "I hope it will be the same... even after what happened."

"It's different," Seishi says softly, and probably isn't even aware she's said it aloud. Concern comes to her face at that last hope, but she can't find anything useful to reply with, and won't ask more about what happened than Kate is willing to tell.

Kate says "But we can't stay the way things are. I think... well, I'm so used to they way things are /now/. How a couple is so open with each other, you generally know most of what there is to know, when you're going to marry someone. And yet that's not the way Jack's used to things. In his world, that's not the case. And... well, I think that the dream revealed more about him, than it did about me."

Seishi considers this. "Not a comfortable thing for him, I suppose," she muses. She doesn't ask what was revealed. "But he loves you, too. It's there for anyone to see."

Kate says "I know he loves me; but I think now... at the moment there's a worry on both of our sides. He worrying if I can love him as much as I did before, me wondering if I can trust his love as much as I did before."

Kate says "And it's stupid, on either side; of course nothing has changed about him, so why should I distrust? And I would never want to leave him, ever. So why should he worry he doesn't measure up in my eyes?"

Seishi says quietly, "I'd reassure you, if I had any reassurance to offer... but I'm new to this love stuff. All I can tell you is that I think the two of you can work through it, whatever it is."

Kate nods her head. "We've not really talked... we had a confrontation, after the dream was over. And it ended with me in tears, and I know he hates to see me cry. And that's why I cried, deep down. I was upset that he'd hidden something away from me, and I wanted to sting him about it."

Kate says "And then... well we were both very worked up. We didn't... really get to sleep, until early morning. But since then... we've been walking on eggshells."

"Then you'll have to talk about it," Seishi says. In her mind, that's a simple truth.

Kate says "It's so strange."
Kate nods her head. "I just don't like to make him uncomfortable."

Seishi says, "It would be better not to let it fester. It won't resolve if the two of you can't talk about it." A sarcastic little voice in the back of her mind makes a crack about pots and kettles, which she resolutely ignores.

Kate nods her head, quietly. After a bit she says, "When did you know you were in love with Holmes?"

Well, /that/ stung! Seishi is suddenly sitting bolt upright and looking very surprised.

Kate looks at you, not unkindly. "You see, it's that... well, anyone can tell, to look at you."

Seishi deflates, settling back against the foot of the bed with a very rueful expression. "Well," she admits, "I /knew/ I was never any good at dissembling."

Kate says "Is there a need, to dissemble?"

Lara knocks on the hotel room door.

Seishi grimaces, running a hand unconsciously over her hair. "I'm not /sure/ of it, that's the problem. And even if I could be... seriously, Kate-chan, what do you think /he'd/ think about it? As married to Science and Reason as he is?" She looks up at the knock; well, hell. "Come in," she calls with a note of resignation.

Lara enters, wearing a pair of red satin pajamas. "I couldn't sleep." she says ruefully. "And when I was passing in the hall, I saw the light was on. Do you mind company?"

Kate is sitting cross-legged on one of the comfy upholstered chairs, wearing a white cotton nightgown trimmed in eyelet lace. One sleeve has slipped off her shoulder, and every now and then she tugs it back up but... to no avail. It slips off again.

Kate looks to Seishi. "The more the merrier, I say. Have some ice cream and ponder the deep mysteries with us."

Lara's red satin pj's make swishing sounds as she enters. "Ice cream?" she perks a touch. "What kind?" she finds a spot, the floor, a chair, the side of the bed. "And what deep mysteries are we pondering?"

Seishi is curled up on the floor at the foot of one of the double beds, also in her PJs, which for Sei-chan means a black teeshirt with 'Bite Me' blazoned across the chest in blue, and a pair of Black Watch plaid flannel boxers. She doesn't look especially happy. "Sure," she tells Lara. "We're having a slumber party, with all that entails." There are at least two different kinds of ice cream, Moose Tracks and raspberry sorbet. "Which means we're examining our love lives, such as they are."

Lara grimaces. "What love life? At least for my part. Oh. My. God. Moose Tracks." Lara's got her chosen target. "Who's love life are we discussing? Kate's is in fine condition, so that means we're discussing..." her gaze zeroes in on Seishi. "Ah."

Seishi makes a face. "My lack thereof, you mean," she tells Lara. "Yes."

Lara says plainly, "Holmes."

Seishi nnnghs. "Yes," she replies, in a similar tone. And adds, more plaintively, "And here I thought I was hiding it so /well/."

Kate rolls her eyes. "Well, I don't know about exactly fine... it's been a roller coaster within the last few days. And I don't know which part of the track I'm on, at the moment." She looks over at Sei, handing Lara a plastic-wrapped spoon. "I told you!"

Lara flickers her eyes over. "Oh, you are. Believe me, if it were someone who didn't know the lot of us, they'd have no idea. But I know you, I think - and I know Holmes. And we've uh... discussed it." To Kate she arches a brow, "If what I heard the last night in Romania was any indication, I'd say you two were just fine."

Kate blushes furiously.

Seishi blinks a few times. "Who's 'we'?" she asks.

Lara presses her lips together and says, "Holmes and I. Well, more like I brought it up, because he gave me the leisure of one question about anything. So I asked about you."

Kate leans forward, hugging onto a throw pillow.

Seishi groans and curls up into a miserable little ball there at the foot of the bed. "For pity's sake, Lara!"

Lara says diffidently, "It hardly makes a difference, Seishi. Has his behavior changed one whit for the asking? It's not as if it were embarrassing to him." and she muses. "He was... vague about it. The thing about Sherlock is that the way he processes emotions is just so different. The emotions are there, but the way he displays them are not in accordance with standard human behavior rulebook."

Kate muses, "It really wouldn't be the same if he did, wouldn't it?"

Lara says dryly, "I suspect that's part of the attraction."

Lara notes, "My point is, he wouldn't be vague about it if there was nothing to be vague about. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Seishi straightens up a bit, setting self-pity aside to admit, "Yes, I know... but it complicates it so much. It's such a strange situation to be in."

Kate nods her head in agreement. "I mean, he treats you with such care, Seishi... when you were injured, he positively fretted."

Lara says "Could you explain that logic to me? Because frankly, there's evidence that he's attracted to you - is it that if you're wrong, and you say anything, it will change the way he views you?"

Lara attacks the ice cream glumly. Her own love life is just as pathetic, by her reckoning.

"Well--" Seishi grimaces, searching for a way to explain. "--yes, damn it. If I bring it out in the open like that, things will /have/ to change. And I don't expect anything from him, I just--" Damn, this is hard.

Kate considers. "That's true. There's a kind of mystery in not knowing, isn't there? The tension and all."

Lara says "So is being miserable because you don't know somehow better then potential misery because of what it would be like if you're wrong?"

Seishi says, almost musingly, "That's the funny thing, Lara. I'm content to be what I am to him now... sidekick, faithful roommate, whatever... if that's all he wants of me."

Lara points out reasonably, "Would we be even having this discussion were that really true?"

Seishi replies dryly, "It sort of evolved out of a discussion about Jack. I'm still just trying to figure out if I'm actually in love with the man or not!"

Lara tsks. "You're being dodgy. You would /not/ be pining with ice cream and - pardon the presumption - your two bestest female chums excepting Barbara, if you weren't. On the other hand, I'm certainly no one to criticize." She turns to Kate. "What about Jack?"

Seishi protests in a mutter, "It's not that simple." And she, too, looks to Kate; here, /you/ take the heat a while.

Kate turns to Lara. "She inquired how I felt, when I first knew I was in love. Of course, nothing happens in halves, with me. I told her, it was like Cupid hit me over the head with a mallet, when I fell for Jack."

<OOC> Jack sits in the corner and preens.

Lara grins. "Yes. I don't know about Seishi, but /I/ am terribly envious." She seems to mean of the whole love-at-first-sight thing, not of Jack in particular.

Seishi agrees ruefully, "It certainly seems like a much /simpler/ way of doing it. None of this confusion."

Kate sighs. "I mean, he rescued me from dagger wielding demon cultists! I know the rest of you were there too, but all /I/ saw was him leaping forward to sweep me up and rescue me. I shudder to think what would've happened if you all hadn't turned up."

Kate says "I don't speak very good Spanish, but I *think* some of those thugs were trying to ask if I was a virgin."

Lara blinks. "I don't know. But... my." she leaves it at that. "You seem to have good equilibrium for knowing when to sit back and let the man do the rescuing, and when to smack the enemy over the head with a wrench yourself. I wish I had such discretion.'

Lara pauses. "Then again.... maybe I don't."

Seishi makes a face. "Myself, I'm not into sitting back and waiting for a rescue."

Kate shudders, now thinking of the thing that she was trying to smack with the wrench. "The answer to /that/ is... you let yourself get rescued when it's clear he's well and capable of doing the rescuing. And then you fight 'til you drop when you know he needs your help."

"And that's just it." says Lara. "I don't think I could let myself."

Kate looks over at Lara. "You were quite ably rescued, though...at least in the vision that I saw."

Seishi argues, "It would feel too much like being dead weight. If I can get myself out of a situation, I'd better damned well do it!" She pulls up at this comment of Kate's, turning to look at Lara. She doesn't ask--at least, she doesn't ask /out loud/--

Lara holds up a finger. "Indiana rescued me because it was the human thing to do - he'd have done it for anyone. Not because he's in love with me. On the contrary, Dr. Jones has made it quite clear that I'm little more then a brash, trigger-happy, snobby male who conveniently happens to have breasts."

<OOC> Lara mentions her breasts. Mark the calendar!
<OOC> Jack says "And such nice breasts they are, too."

Seishi suddenly grins. "Oh, Lara, haven't you ever seen Star Wars?"

Kate says "Oh, now come on... do you actually believe what he /says/? I think you two get a perverse glee out of sniping with each other. You didn't see his face when he looked at you. Of course, you were mostly dead. But still..."

Lara protests. "He avoids being alone with me." she then looks to Seishi, "Of course." and Kate, "He'd have been horrified if it were anyone. Watching a vampire drink someone's blood is not exactly like watching a matinee, you know."

Lara suddenly growls. "I sound like a secondary school girl pining for the captain of the football team."

Seishi says, with a certain cheer for being on the other end of this now, "You drive him bats. In a /good/ way. I'll bet he's never had to deal with a woman as his equal before."

Kate says with conviction, "You're right, he would have rescued anyone, because he's not a bad person. But still, it was /you/ who he held onto, and gasped in relief when the wounds vanished." She glances back at Lara. "Aha!"

Lara looks affronted. "I've never denied being attracted to Indiana." she then looks puzzled. "But what does Star Wars have to do with it?"

"Han Solo and Princess Leia!" Seishi informs. "It's a plot device as old as romance stories."

Kate says "He's got that whole Han Solo and Princess Leia thing going with you. I'm surprised he doesn't call you 'Your Worshipfulness'." Kate nods to Seishi. Hive mind.

There's that knock at the door - more definite this time. Jack has spent enough time alone in bed, so far as he's concerned. Now it's time to hunt down Kate.

Lara corrects absently, "Your Ladyship. He calls me Your Ladyship." She looks over. "Must be Barbara."

"You see?" Seishi says brightly to Lara, as she gets up to open the door.

Kate glances over at the door, as Seishi goes to answer it.

Lara harumphs. "It doesn't mean a thing if he doesn't do anything about it." She pauses as Seishi opens the door.

It proves to be a slightly damp Jack, clad in what is no doubt embarrassingly little for him - just sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. "Oh, evening, ladies," he greets, smiling shyly at Lara and Seishi.

Seishi informs Lara over her shoulder, "If you're going to stand back and wait for /him/ to do something, you don't deserve more." She pulls up short at that, and adds wryly, "Was that really hypocritical of me? Hi, Jack," she greets the Englishman without a pause for breath.

Kate brightens as she sees her man. "Jack!" She says. "Oh, I'm sorry, it's terribly late, and you must have had no idea where I'd wandered off to..."

The scarred brow is arched. "Dare I ask what's being discussed?" He nods at Kate, not willing to admit that he simply wants his fiancée to cuddle with.

Lara starts to answer Seishi, but answers Jack instead. "Oh, you know. Girl talk." She smirks, despite herself.

Kate stands up, moving over to sit on Barbara's bed. She beckons to Jack to come over and join her. "And ice cream."

Seishi steps back and waves Jack into the room. "Come join us. Lara and I are bickering about romance. Anyhow," she defends herself, this aimed to Lara again, "it's hardly the same situation."

Lara says archly, "True. He wheedled it out of me, you know. Said I reminded him of a woman from his past." Her smile implies she has more detail. "Still, you aren't content, or you wouldn't be all twisted up about it. My problem is that he knows, and doesn't seem to give a damn."

Jack quotes, gently, "Surely Love is a wonderful thing. It is more precious than emeralds, and dearer than fine opals. Pearls and pomegranates cannot buy it, nor is it set forth in the marketplace. It may not be purchased of the merchants, nor can it be weighed out in the balance for gold." He settles himself next to Kate, drawing up slender feet to sit cross-legged.

Seishi rolls her eyes, but she's grinning. "Now I'm getting our 'he's confused," she tells Lara.

Kate is a tricky sort...she slides in behind Jack, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head against his back. One gets the impression she likes riding around on the motorcycle with him, since she gets to settle into this position there, too. "Jack, have you ever talked to Indy about what he thinks?"

Lara looks mortified. "I'm sure he hasn't. Jack wouldn't pry." She seems fairly sure of that.

Jack leans his head against hers for a moment. "Jones? No. I haven't yet felt that I know him well enough to ask. And he has not brought it up. The same goes for Holmes," he notes, with a nod to Seishi.

Seishi slaps palm to forehead. "Have I been fooling /anyone/ other than myself?" she wants to know.

Kate giggles softly to herself. Yet another person who sees right through poor Sei-chan's defenses.

Jack's smile is tender. "Those who are in love can more easily see it in those they know."

Lara snorts. "'Love is an illusion nature plays on us so we can breed.'" she quotes, only a touch bitterly.

The soldier's expression is uncharacteristically fierce, as he looks to Lara. "No. It is far more than that."

Jack leans back into Kate's embrace, though he's still supporting his own weight.

Seishi counterquotes, her attitude gone solemn, "'To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.'"

Kate says "Things will work out. After all, we've got all the time in the world."

Lara just gives Seishi a look. "'Love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love'?" the edge to her voice is plain, and she shrugs. "Kate's right. Things will work out, in their fashion." Yes, Lara sounds terribly hopeful. Not.

Jack says "If you let it, Lara. Love entails vulnerability. Something that few of us are good at, or at all comfortable with."

Kate murmurs, "We were talking about that, yes. When to swoon into a man's arms, and when to be the one who flies the getaway plane."

Seishi admits ruefully, "That's true enough. I'm just not a swooner."

Jack grins, wryly. 'It doesn't have to mean swooning. It means surrendering one's pride enough to admit that one wants another."

Lara gives Jack a quelling look. "Been there. Done that. Things are not improving."

Jack meets Lara's gaze levelly. "Have you admitted to Indiana that you do want him?"

Lara looks to Jack. "Yes," she says coolly. "And do you know what he said?"

Jack shakes his head. "No."

Lara says "He said, 'There," her tone mimics Indiana's cadence at its most smug - she can't imitate the same tone, as it's much deeper - but she has his vocal mannerism down, "'Was that so hard?'."

Jack winces at that. "Did he say anything else?"

Kate looks thoughtful, hearing that. "It seems to me," she remarks, "that Doctor Jones is going to need to be taken down a few pegs before he realizes just what a valuable thing your affection is, Lara."

Seishi wrinkles her nose. "So, he's an idiot." She nods agreement with Kate's assessment.

Lara says "He said I reminded him of a woman he knew once. He told me a little about her, but not much. I had to pry."

Lara smirks at Kate and Seishi. Ahh, the solidarity of sisterhood.

Kate says "Because right now, he's all brash about it. "I'm Indiana Jones! I've got the smile that broke a thousand hearts! Wanna see me use my whip?""

Jack colors, and coughs delicately. "Indeed. He is."

Seishi can't help it. She starts to snicker.

Kate starts to laugh. "Even though I was busy falling hard for Jacky here in the temple, I didn't miss the expression on Indy's face, when Lara grabbed his whip and used it on one of those guys..."

Jack says "And what woman did you remind him of?"

Lara can't help smirking. "It was on hand!" she protests, and then to Jack, "A young woman he knew while he was serving as part of the Belgian Army in World War One. She was a British girl working at the Railways. Apparently they had plans, but with the war and such, they lost track of each other."

Kate says "How very Casablanca."

Jack's expression is wistful. Jack is a sucker for romance. "Oh."

Seishi smiles a bit, remarking, "I love that movie."

Lara says "Yes, well - it's delightful to know I resemble a woman he couldn't be bothered tracking down."

Jack winces. "Well, if he's not going to oblige you, you'd best work on getting over it, then hadn't you?"

Seishi mms. "Well, we've recently established that he's a pig."

Kate nods her head. "Maybe he's one of these guys who wants what he
can't get."

Lara grins at Jack. "Thank you, Jack." she looks to the ladies. "True. So what's the cure for that?" I'm woefully out of practice in this department, you know. At least when it comes to myself."

Jack's grin is sly. "This may seem like a typically male suggestion... but find someone else who is pleasant and obliging and not seeking anything further?"

Seishi shrugs. "I think we've also established my lack of a clue in this department, haven't we? But my advice would fall along the lines of 'we won't let the bastards get us down'. You're too good to be treated like that."

Kate sighs. "But at the same time, you don't want to get yourself into a situation with someone else who is nice, but... not who you want. Because then they might get hurt if things don't go well. The important thing is to seem not to be mooning about him, Lara.

Kate says "And then one day, when he actually gets some sense knocked into his head and he does treat you like the lady you are... /that's/ when you get to say, 'Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?'"

Seishi nods firm agreement. "Exactly."

Jack nods firmly.

Lara chuckles. "More or less what I said to him after I got the details about that suffragette." She leans back. "At any rate, that more or less solves -my- problems..." she turns a wayward eye Seishi's way.

Seishi acquires a longsuffering look. "What, time for my diagnosis now?"

Jack nuzzles at Kate's hair, gently. "Well."

Kate says "Holmes, now...he's not a pig, not at all."

Lara says "No, he's not. And it's certainly a saving grace."

Seishi is quick to defend him; "Of course he isn't."

Jack says "He's just too in love with his own mind to give much space in there to anyone else. Rather a cerebral version of Narcissus. There's also the time and place he comes from."

Kate says "However... he *might* be one of those sorts where it would be a good thing to know when to swoon. Because he does like being the one to figure everything out and save the day."

Kate says, "So if it would be possible to be rescued by him... and then to breathlessly marvel at how he knew it all along... then that would be the perfect time for him to kiss your brow and murmur, "Elementary, my dear Seishi."

Jack points out, "But he could see through any act. And he has no patience with what he sees as foolishness, or stupidity."

Kate hmmms, nodding. "That's true. But it's still a very pretty picture. Hmmm."

Kate mmms, her eyelids drooping. "I'm getting too tired to think. Jack...will you put me to bed?"

Jack tries to restrain his obvious enthusiasm. "Oh, certainly, dear."

Lara yawns and stretches. "I should probably vacate myself."

Seishi picks herself up off the carpet. "Well, then... thank you all for dropping in."

Jack says "Of course. I only wish I could be of more help."

Kate stands up, "And sleep tight, all of you."

Seishi shrugs with good-natured resignation. "I suppose I'll just have to muddle through on my own. Take care, guys."

Jack grins over his shoulder. 'I could challenge him to a duel over your affections."

Seishi gives a surprised yelp of laughter. "Don't you dare."

Kate says "No, because then I'd have to challenge Sei-chan to a duel over /your/ affections, and she'd trounce me!"

Jack laughs softly.

Seishi quips, "Nah, I bet you'd fight dirty, Kate-chan."

Kate slips out with Jack in tow, waving farewell.

Seishi waves them out with a pleasant, "Good night!"