Iowa | Thursday FT

[pursuedthestars]

Iowa was boring. It was really, really boring and it was starting to eat away at Jim's psyche. He felt like he'd done everything, seen everything, knew everyone and it was boring. He didn't know how much more stagnation he could take. The urge to do something, anything, was growing in his belly, hot and fierce and strong.

Jim kept ignoring it because he knew (he knew) what he might end up doing. He ignored it to drink and to date and to walk and drive and fight. But, it was still there. Still waiting and Jim knew he wasn't going to be able to ignore it for much longer before he gave in.

It was dark tonight, warm and sticky. Jim's feet were stretched out in front of him, dirt gathering on his boots. Inside, Frank was watching something loud on the television and his mother was off somewhere, doing her thing. It was just him and the vast openness in front of him.

He sighed and tapped the porch with his fingers, watching streaks of light brighten the night sky before it sunk back into its darkness. Those people were doing something. Something good, something new and something that wasn't sitting on a damn porch on a Thursday night.

God, he sucked.

[NFB but open for usual things]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"Everything's fine," she said, and reached out a hand for him, without looking over.

If he took it, she was going to try and tug him behind her. She could be needy sometimes, in her own quiet way.

[pursuedthestars]

"Mmm." Jim took her hand, fingers twining with hers. "Just got the urge to look at stars in the middle of nowhere?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie didn't answer. Yet, anyway. The answer was too complicated to just be given out just like that.

So instead she gave his hand a tug. "I started at the University of Toronto," she said. "And now it's already summer break. Time goes much faster there."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're in Canada now?" he asked, sliding behind her and leaning against her back. "Wow."

[whenshewasnice]

She leaned right into him, and tried to wrap his arms around her, her hand still in his. See? Needy, but in a quiet and understated way. Perfectly Natalie.

"Yes," she said, "and no. I'm in Brazil and Canada. The time difference is ridiculous. When I'm in Brazil, time flows normally in Toronto. But when I'm in Toronto for a week, it's half a day in Ribeirao Preto."

Not that she was complaining. It was convenient.

[pursuedthestars]

"You're doing both?" he asked, sounding slightly surprised. "You're going to burn yourself out if you're not careful."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm being careful. I'm aging a little faster than usual, from your perspective, but I'm being careful." She tipped her head back against his shoulder, to look up at the stars. "I'll put something on hold if it gets to be too much."

[pursuedthestars]

"You're aging faster?" he repeated. That just sounded...strange.

[whenshewasnice]

"It's math, Jim," she replied with a sigh. "If I'm over there for a week and come back and only a few hours have passed over here, then from your perspective, I've aged more in those four hours than I should have."

[pursuedthestars]

"That's just weird," he said, shaking his head. "Is it healthy?"

[whenshewasnice]

She glanced over, quirked another little smile at him.

"Is growing older healthy?"

[pursuedthestars]

"Just the way you put it," he said and shrugged. "It just sounds strange. I'll take your word for it, though."

[whenshewasnice]

"It's normal," she assured him, returning her attention to the sky. "It's just a weird way of doing it. A weird experience."

It could be a little disorienting to come back and have work things be further back in her memory than they were in Peter's.

[pursuedthestars]

"Why're you doing both?" he asked her quietly. "Why not just do school?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Because I don't want to quit." It was oddly simple when she could just put it like that. She was watching the stars as she spoke. There was a faint sort of fondness to her tone. "I don't want to leave Peter. Not yet, anyway."

[pursuedthestars]

"Think he'd fall apart without you?" he asked, sounding faintly amused.

[whenshewasnice]

"Not entirely."

That was an honest answer, whether he'd expected one or not. Peter wouldn't fall apart entirely, no, but there would be cracks.

[pursuedthestars]

"I was teasing."

He sighed and glanced up at the sky and the stars for a second or two.

"How's school going, then?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Well," she said. "Some people like to try and give me a hard time because of my status in the Hegemony, and I'm not too fond of my roommate, but other than that, I like it."

And she didn't mind those things too much, either. She'd kind of expected them, if she was honest.

[pursuedthestars]

"They know what a Hegemony is?" he asked. "Your universes are connected?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Not really," she said, although she supposed they were now, through her. "But where I'm from is more accepting of the idea of multiple worlds than, I guess, most places are."

They had subspace travel and all kinds of weird and wacky things.

"A letter of recommendation from Peter was a part of how I even got in when I did. Because I started in the middle of the year and I'm missing some of the academic credentials I should've had before entering university."

[pursuedthestars]

"They're probably just jealous all they have on their resumes is a job at some fast food joint or a paper route," he joked, snickering at himself. "What's wrong with your roommate?"

[whenshewasnice]

"I don't know, she just seems annoyed all the time." Ugh, Julie. "Our interests seem pretty incompatible."

[pursuedthestars]

"You guys in an apartment together or something?" he asked curiously. "Or something like the island?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Almost exactly like the island." Well, except for the invasions and the weird weather phenomena. "We have dorms. We share a single room. Pretty weird after the duplex at the Hegemony compound."