The Road to 25 Unicorn Street, Saturday Evening

[on_her_korhal]

Well, the night had been a complete and total wash-up, but at least Kerrigan's brain was rolling with alcohol right now.

Which either made thinking about things easier or harder. "I think I'm falling into a habit of running away from parties."

[ open to a someone ]

Comments

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Nathan walked beside her, enjoying the cool night air. "Some people would say it's a useful skill to have."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I'd say it is," she snorted, "If it generally went faster than it does."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Think of it like a battle," Nathan said. He gestured in front of him as though indicating a path to follow. "Get in, hit your targets, get out before you get hurt."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"You'd make a horrible soldier," Kerrigan informed him. Smirking as she did it. Then frowned. "I'm a good one, dammit."

Oh, yeah, it made thinking about things easier alright.

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"No argument from me," Nathan said. "You made lieutenant as a woman. I know you're from a different time but I suspect you still had to fight twice as hard to get the guys around you to respect you."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"And then some," Kerrigan snorted, staring somewhat unsteadily out at the streets. "The crap guys think, you've got no idea."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"I am a guy, I'm pretty sure I do." Nathan kept an eye on her to make sure he could be there with a hand if she needed help with her balance.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Good point. Women are worse." Like that stupid brat Montoya back in the bathroom. "Everyone's a pig underneath." It was that time again. "Some less bad than others."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"I'd say that's a fair assessment of your current company," Nathan said. "Though normally I get 'shark'. But you're right. Everybody's got some kind of angle."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Well, you're a politician," she informed him, "Currently a teacher, born a lawyer, you can't help it."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"I just try to use it to my advantage," Nathan agreed. "Plus I try not to get distracted by sentiment." Such as, say, the sentiment that had his brother convinced that their mother was a sweetheart. "How about you?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"I'm a soldier," Kerrigan said, shifting her gaze up at the skies for a moment. God, she missed space. "Point and click and feverishly believe it's for the good of all."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Not interested in the leadership aspects of it all?" Nathan asked, geniunely surprised.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Not really how I started, no," Kerrigan said, a hint of dry resignation in her voice. "Now, we're just trying to make things better. Do what we have to."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"War's still going on at home?" Nathan asked.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Yep."

She felt a twinge of guilt. It seeped out through the word. Dammit. "Dammit."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," Nathan said, and meant it. "I've only ever flown peacekeeping. It's nowhere near the same thing."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Not really, no." And now there was a tinge of a wry smile, pulling on the sides of her lips. "Just got a major victory," Kerrigan said, "I'm not sure about our means."

...Dammit.

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like honor means a lot to you," Nathan said.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Not really," Kerrigan snorted. "But it's supposed to be my job to keep people safe."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"So you wish you'd been there."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"That's part of it."

She was doing a good job keeping the wobble out of her step.

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"What's the rest?" Nathan still kept his eye on her, ready to catch if need be.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"..." Nothing she could tell the politician, no.

Nothing she could really tell herself. "Probably still fighting right now," Kerrigan said, instead.

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Nathan was not Peter. Ergo, he wasn't going to push for talking and sharing of feelings like that would somehow make it better. Frankly Nathan felt the less said was often the better. Particularly when it came to his own problems.

"Is there much of a delay in the communication between here and there?" Nathan asked. Conversations about practical things he could do.

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

Kerrigan let go of a half-amused snort at that one. "It's horrible," she said, "Took me six months to get through."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Technical delay or censorship from above?" Nathan asked. "Or both?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Technical delay." She smirked at him sideways. "Got dumped here by alien technology. Took a while to get back."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Oh, well," Nathan said, as though he dealt with that kind of problem all the time. "Alien technology. What are you gonna do?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Shoot them, mostly." The smirk got bigger.

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

Nathan chuckled. "Shame we can't use that method for all of our problems."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Be a soldier for long enough, you'll find a way."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"I think I'll stick to hopefully managing the conflicts when they come," Nathan said. He looked up because his mun was starting to pass out. "Is this the place?"

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Yep." She glanced up, too. "Thanks for the escape. Guess that means I owe you another bottle."

[1petrelli1.livejournal.com]

"Anytime," Nathan said. "I've been to enough parties to know when it's better to escape them. Night, lieutenant."

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Night, Petrelli," Kerrigan said, with a grateful if wry expression.

Now she just had to remember the code to the door...