Leah shifts from foot to foot anxiously as she waits for the door to be answered. What's taking him so long? Shoulders back! Stand straight! Big, toothy smile! What if I overdressed? What if I underdressed?! Shit, fuck, fuck! The door is opening! Dial back the dumb smile! As the door slips open, Leah's attention shoots right to the man on the other side of it, a slightly less toothy smile plastered across
#Nate'sApartment – December 2, 2019
her features now. "Hey~" she offers cheerfully with a small lift of her left hand. Her green eyes shoot down briefly, giving his outfit a quick scan. Moreso out of anxiety over her own outfit rather than any attempt to assess his fashion sense. There's an internal sigh of relief once she sees that they both seem to be on the same page. She's dressed in a pair of light blue jeans, fashionably faded around the upper thighs.
She has her lighter weather, blue jacket on, Jasper's taxi service meaning her winter jacket wasn't required. It's open, revealing a simple, light grey spaghetti strapped top beneath it. A thin, silver necklace with a heart-shaped locket hangs from her neck, her last name engraved across the front of it. The outfit is nothing fancy, but it's certainly a step up from the usual casual attire she stomps around town in. A
pair of blue heels round out the outfit, adding a bit of her own usual colorful flair. Her hair is pulled back into its usual ponytail, her long bangs falling across her face as she adjusts the grey canvas bag over her shoulder.
December 21st. It's around 6PM when the buzz at Nathan's door sounds out. It's pre-empted a few minutes earlier by a text message from Jasper announcing their arrival. "Don't think that you're off the hook for that stupid stunt you pulled! I've still got half a mind to march on up to your apartment and slap some sense into the both of you! But since it probably wouldn't do much good, anyway... Try and have a good night, Ten." It's the
first Nathan would have heard from Jasper since the aftermath of their battle with House Bar'adon. It's also followed up nearly immediately with the afterthought of, "And don't screw this up!"
Nathan December 21st. 6pm. Date night. It's the goddamn date night. And Nathan was running around in blind panic. It's been a fair few years since Nathan had entertained a date with anyone at his own place and it was showing in his frantic last minute alterations and preparations. Sofia had naturally abandoned the apartment about thirty minutes ago with a cheery wave and a subtle threat of not screwing this
up and now Jasper was pitching a similar thing at the man, which was doing wonders for the anxiety brewing up in him. Did he have enough drinks? Did he pick the right crappy foods and movies? Was he dressed appropriately? Under-dressed, overdressed and so on and so forth. He's pretty sure at one point he forgot how to breathe. And now the moment was here. The knock on the door, the arrival of Leah.
Show time. He shook himself off and marched up to the door, inhaling a deep breath to try and still his jittery nerves. "Okay, Nate... don't screw this up," he muttered to himself. He palmed the door and it slid open. He stood there in an ironed white shirt with the top two buttons undone, a pair of dark blue jeans slightly rolled up at the bottom and, for some odd reason, a pair of slip on dark
leather shoes. Nathan mentally cringed at that, since there weren't any plans to leave the apartment.
Nathan 's smile grows as he sees Leah, her cheerful greeting doing wonders to calm his nerves. And further calmed by the fact that he hasn't overdressed either as he gives her outfit a quick once over. "Hey. You look great," he says, gesturing to her attire. He steps to the side and motions her in with a, "Come in, come in! I've managed to time everything right for once. Food is still piping hot and the beers
are still cold." His apartment hasn't changed much except for the addition of a small Christmas tree that's tucked away into the corner of the living room. It's been lovingly decorated with glittering tinsel, little wooden decorations of angels and stars and little ever changing lights are strewn across it in criss-cross patterns. Curled up underneath it is Pixel, who offers a lazy raise of his head as
greeting to Leah before he resumes his sleep. The sofa sits before a coffee table and a large screen. Two closed pizza boxes sit side by side on the table, the smell of cheeses and meats drifting from them. "Films are all lined up too. Got a fiiiiine selection of the greatest garbage that this galaxy has to offer."
Leah gives a quick glance down when Nathan compliments her outfit, briefly balancing on the outside of her heels as she looks her attire over. "Thanks. I just-... threw something on." she explains with an awkward snicker and a shrug. No reason for him to know that she spent all day stressing about every aspect of her incredibly simple outfit. She's quick to step inside once Nathan is out of the way and remains in place- if a
bit awkwardly- near the front door, her attention immediately pulled towards the festive tree. The scent of warm pizza does wonders to help clear away a bit of the jitters. Especially considering lunch was forgotten beneath a mountain of pre-date anxiety. "Can't wait." she offers idly in response to the plans for the night as she studies the Christmas decorations. The furry loiterer at the base causes her smile to widen.
"This looks great!" she offers, casting a brief glance back over her shoulder towards Nathan. "I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and assume Sofia helped you with these?" she asks, her tone tinted with a heavy dose of 'There's no way you did this on your own'.
Nathan closes the door behind her and steps in, bypassing her and straight towards the open kitchen. He pulls open the fridge and snags two bottles of beer, waggling them in the air in silent offering to her before her remark about the tree causes him to offer a somewhat awkward smile. "Oh, uh, yeah. She helped me out with it. Style and decor is more of her forte." He decides to sensibly leave the parts out
where he somehow spilled most of the decorations on the floor, got tangled up in the wire while he was trying to tidy it and fall flat on his ass and to keep out the part where he ended up chasing Pixel around the apartment because the little git had decided to play with the coil of Christmas lights. Not one of his proudest moments by far. "She kept pestering me to put at least a tree up for Christmas.
But I drew the line at the jumper." He makes a show of shivering at the word. "Not wearing that even if it was the only thing stopping me from freezing."
Leah gives a quick snicker. "Awww, where's your holiday spirit?!" she asks as she shrugs her bag off her shoulder and lowers it to the ground beside the door. Just her boots and folded up winter jacket. Just a precaution. Never know if Jasper is going to get caught up with work and she can't exactly go jogging home in a pair of heels. "You're no fun." she teases through a big grin as she moves towards Nathan and reaches out to
accept the offered beer. Talk of his sister causes her to cast a sudden glance about, nose scrunched up. "Where is Sofia, anyway?"
Nathan hands it over and twists off his own cap, taking a quick sip of it. He's trying to hide it, but there is still underlying nerves present. "It had bells on it," he said flatly. "Oh, she... left for the evening. Said something about not wanting to get in the way." There were far more words than that. A lot of teasing about Nate's panic, a remark about the overwhelming awkwardness the two can generate...
actually, he sorta tuned her out after that. If only for his own sanity. "She'll probably go and raid whatever shops are still open and see how festive other worlds are in comparison to home. I feel sorry for whoever becomes the target of her questions." He grows a fond smile at that, more than likely finding it endearing than an annoyance like his comment suggests.
Leah twists the cap off her own beer in turn. "Oh..." she hums. Well. Shit. There goes the buffer. Her fallback plan to just strike up chit chat with Sofia if things weren't going smoothly. Now it's just the two of them. Nobody else. Allllll alone. She sucks in her lips briefly, most of Nathan's comments that follow the revelation that Sofia isn't around are lost in the panic void as she lifts the bottle to her lips and
takes a long swig. No big deal! Psh! Just don't be weird! Simple! Forcing that big, bright smile of hers into place she glances back Nathan's way. "Guess that means we have the place alllll to ourself." she says in a cheery tone. Almost got an entire sentence without making things weird. Eyes: widening. Her whole body shifts his way, gesturing her previous comment away. "I mean-..."
she stammers, "...I just meant-... We don't have to worry about being too loud and bothering her!" she explains. That's not weird at all.
Nathan looks down at Leah in turn to catch her smile. Before he can reciprocate it, however... she speaks. And, naturally, when she starts to get flustered, Nate usually isn't far behind. Her attempt to fix her comment causes his cheeks to flush red and he snatches his gaze away to the bottle in his hand. A quick swig and a swallow. "Yeah, uh, the place to... ourselves. So we can watch whatever and do
whatever!" He pauses. Wait... that just made it weirder. He sucks in a sharp breath through clenched teeth as he looks back to her, tipping the bottle towards the screen and food. "And by that I mean, whatever crappy movie we want! Like, wow, there's so many to choose from. Speaking of, let's go choose one now!" He spins sharply on his heel to walk around the kitchen counter and towards the screen,
trying his best to hide his frantic search for the remote. What a great start to the date. Barely two minutes in and he's already made it weird. Or she did. Both? Whatever, find the remote, be saved by movies.
Leah now about three shades brighter than she was mere moments ago, nods aimlessly as Nathan takes over, her ponytail flopping about behind her. "Whatever!" she agrees to his first statement, a nervous snicker accompanying it and a deep, exaggerated shrug of her shoulders as if to say 'Could be anything' for... some... reason... "Abso-... movies! Yep! That's-... what we'll be doing tonight. Moooovies." she continues. His
suggestion that they get to it prompts another flurry of nods. "Right now!" She follows behind him, but only gets a few steps before realizing she's still holding onto her bottle cap and does a quick about face as she searches for the garbage can.
Nathan finds the remote around the same time as Leah finds the garbage can, tucked to the left of the counter. He turns on the screen and starts shifting through the vast collection of movies that are available throughout the galaxy. Truly, spoiled for choice. He teeters on the edge of the sofa's armrest, glancing over his shoulder at her as she searches for the garbage. "So... uh, what did you think to my
old co-workers?" A quick change of topic will probably save the pair of them from further embarrassment for the meantime.
Leah flicks the cap into the garbage can and shifts her beer from hand to hand as she removes her jacket. The change of topic is most certainly welcome, causing her to turn her attention his way. The forced 'I'm not blushing, you're blushing!' smile engraved on her face by sheer panic alone softens a bit, pulling into something a bit more sincere as she considers the question. "Rosinha seemed-... nice." she offers and
there's definitely an asterisk at the end of that statement judging by the tone. It's a probing statement if ever there was one, and her eyes remain on Nathan as she moves to join him in the livingroom, jacket folded over her forearm as she silently considers where to sit it.
Nathan breathes a laugh as he slips from the armrest to the actual cushion of the sofa, motioning for Leah to do the same. "Yeah. She's... yeah." He leaves it at that for a moment before he continues to speak. "She's a good woman, really. But... she's very good at switching between Rosinha and Lieutenant-Commander Alto." The embarrassment from before is swiftly forgotten, instead replaced by an air of wistful
remembrance. "Used to be a time she was more Rosinha than LC. But, hey, it was business. Gotta keep that game face on and all that." He furrows his brow at the screen as he comes across the trilogy of Furious Volus. He sure as shit doesn't remember downloading that.
Leah studies Nathan as he speaks, gaze dipping briefly when he gestures for her to join him. She opts to simply lay her jacket atop her bag near the door before joining him on the sofa. She sits near the edge of the cushion, hands resting in her lap, body angled slightly towards Nathan. His description of his old CO garners a soft snort, the woman's stern nature not having gone unnoticed. But that's the sign of a good soldier.
Someone who can draw that divide and 'turn it on' when they need to. That's what it takes to have a successful career in their field. But to have a successful life? That requires being able to turn it back off. "Yeah... Sounded like there might be a bit of history there..." she continues to probe, brow raising ever so slightly. After a moment's pause, she dips her head forward, smile growing a bit as she adds, "Faisca."
Nathan actually manages to look a little bashful at the nickname, one hand rubbing the back of his neck while the other passes the remote to Leah. "You're the guest, pick the movie," he says with a small smirk. "Yeah, uh, Faisca. Spark. She gave me that nickname shortly after we met, back when I first joined. I was working on one of the mechs assigned to her squad, when I... well, uh... let's say that one
spark later and a lot of explaining as to why one of the arms of the mech suddenly lashed out and crunched a nearby crate... is how I got the nickname from her. Spark." He pauses. Sighs. "That and the sudden jolt of electricity may have caused my hair to stand up on end, but that's not important."
Leah is quick to snatch up the remote and lean forward a bit as she splits her attention between the television and Nathan. "Alright, let's see what ya got." she sighs as she begins to browse through his selection of movies. It doesn't last for long, however, before Nathan's story has pulled her attention back to him, grin growing the further into his story he gets. The final addition causes a loud snort to escape, remote
dropping into her lap as she raises her hand to clasp it over her mouth before too much laughter can slip out. Once her shoulders have stopped bouncing to the snickering she's desperately trying to hold back, she tilts her head to the side as her hand falls away. "Spark..." she muses aloud, studying him as if to assess whether it fits. "...Yeah." she nods slowly, "I think I like it. I mean, it's a hell of a lot better
than 'Ten'!" she muses, scrunching up her nose in distaste. "At least 'Spark' has a fun story to go along with it instead of just advertising to everyone how high you can count." She gives a proud, smug smile.
Nathan flicks his gaze to her with narrowed eyes at her snickering, wagging a finger directly beneath her nose. "I'll have you know, Ten has been my nickname far longer than Spark has and is much more widely known!" He lowers the hand and directs his attention back to the screen, before immediately rounding back at her and wagging the finger again. "And I can count higher than that!" He relents with a smile
and leans back into the sofa, the fabric sponging his recline. "But yeah. That was my nickname with her and her team. She was a lot more relaxed back then."
Leah only seems to grow more amused as Nathan grows defensive. His assurance illicits a wide-eyed nod of her head, as if to say 'Of course you can'. His attempt at getting more comfortable is reflected in her as she shifts further back in the seat, big smile on her face while she turns her attention back towards the TV. "More inventive than most of the nicknames I had." she relents. "Shorty. Short stuff. Sh-..." she
trails off, brow furrowed as she looks back to Nathan, "You'd be surprised by how many different ways a marine can say 'you're short'."
Nathan peers at her with a perked brow. "Wait, you're short? I never would've noticed if you hadn't pointed it out." He gives her a wry smile and a playful nudge with his boot. "You know, you haven't really told me much about your Alliance life."
Leah gives an exaggerated smile that's only slightly hindered by the middle finger she greets Nathan with. "You're just-... sooooo fucking funny!" The nudge causes her to give a small roll of her eyes and turn her focus back to her movie hunt. "Furious Volus...?" she mutters aloud as she highlights the movie in question. As Nathan speaks up again she draws in a breath, a small shrug of her shoulders following. "Just-...
feels like a lifetime ago, I guess..." she muses softly, green eyes turning low for a moment as she briefly considers just how much has happened in the few short years since she left the Alliance. But she doesn't dwell on it. That's not what tonight is about. Instead, she's quick to turn her attention back Nathan's way. "What do you want to know?" she asks, brushing her uncooperative bangs out of her face.