simon_doctor | (no subject)

The lens has a handwritten sign in front of it:

NO, TAM, YOU REALLY HAVE TO GUESS.

"Is this thing on?" comes Jordie's voice from behind it.

Simon's laughter is enough of an affirmative even before he says "Yes, it's on. I have to guess?"

"You get three before I put you out of your misery." He sounds very satisfied with himself.

"How specific do I need to be? Planet, district, city, street address...?"

"One hint. It's a place you know. And you just have to name it. No coordinates."

"A place I know. ...You're not still on Hadrian, are you?"

"That was over months ago. Try again."

"You're visiting Dunash on Londinium."

"Bzzt," Jordie says helpfully. "One more."

"You're at your aunt's place and just trying to mess with me."

"...good one." Thoughtful. "But no."

He whisks away the paper -- and settles back against a decadent-looking black leather sofa. "The subletters have vacated the premises. The third floor home of the dead animal corpse rides again."

(Jordie has referred to his extra-extra-long black leather couch as the dead animal corpse since the day he bought it as a reward for paying off his student loans.)

Simon blinks.

And starts to smile. "Your old apartment."

"The not-so-old homestead," Jordie agrees. "I moved back in last week."

"... Will post still reach you care of your aunt?"

It's an idle question. Really.

"It did, in fact." With a grin. "Not very subtle, Tam. And where am I supposed to be reaching you these days?"

Simon grins back. "I can send you our new address on Praxed."

"So you have one." Jordie puts up his feet on the table to the left of the lens and knots his fingers behind his head. "That's a start."

"We do," he says. "We're moving in near the end of January."

"They must be serious about you, if they're willing to push your start date back that far. -- are they?"

"Officially I start the first of February. I don't know if that's a fiscal-year thing or if they've made an exception in my case."

His tone's faintly uneasy, but only faintly, at the uncertainty.

"It might be a fiscal-year thing, considering." Jordie shrugs. "Give you a month to get up to speed and expect you to be puttering away by the third quarter. It would make sense."

Simon nods. "So other than reclaiming the old apartment, what have you been up to?"

Jordie glances to the side with a slightly crooked smile.

"I've agreed to join a practice, starting in January. Weekdays only. I'm with the clinic on a volunteer basis on the weekends."

He starts to smile again.

"Gōng xĭ gōng xĭ. That's good to hear."

"Well." He shrugs a little. "We'll see how it works out. It's a probationary thing for the first couple of months, and I'm just as okay with that as they are."