xp_logs | Nathan and Jean and the promised squirrel counteroffensive

You never know what evil lurks... in your kitchen cupboards.

It wasn't that Jean was pretending to work - she was definitely doing actual work. She just wasn't really concentrating on it. Mostly she was waiting for the boom. Half an hour and she'd lose her bet with herself...

It was less than five minutes. About four minutes and forty-five seconds, as a matter of fact - if anyone had been timing - before Nathan appeared at her office door. "You," he said in a deadly voice, half his body hidden by the doorframe.

Jean's smile was suspiciously bright and her "Good morning, Nathan!" was way too chipper, but it wasn't as though Nate needed any more proof. "Would you like some coffee?" she asked, just to tease him.

"Coffee." The glare was withering. "Would you like to see what I found when I opened the cupboard where the coffee is? Oh, wait, you already know. Because you are the only one who would do this!" He stepped fully into view, brandishing the offending object.

The little stuffed squirrel was actually quite cute. It was small and brown and fluffy. The problem was, it also had a little cloth knife attached to its paw, and a little note attached to its foot. 'We're coming!' it threatened, in very familiar handwriting.

If anything, Jean's grin got bigger. She was going to die, but she was going to enjoy it. "Clearly the squirrels wanted to give you fair warning. That was nice of them."

"You're an evil woman. It's the redhead thing again, isn't it? All of the redheads in my life are crazy and evil. Except Rahne. Why couldn't you all take notes from Rahne?" He came in, flopping down in the chair opposite her desk and glaring.

"Oh, Rahne is secretly both crazy and evil, she's just sneakier than the rest of us." Jean waved his objection away, then went to collect a second mug and pour him some coffee.

"No! Rahne is my bastion of sanity in a sea of - give me that," he muttered, snatching at the coffee she offered. "You scared a year off my life."

"Aww," Jean said, sitting back down behind her desk. "Now that I'll apologize for. Although you can be glad I gave up my first idea of sneaking it onto your bedside table..."

"There would have been death." Nathan slouched in his chair, sipping at his coffee and giving her baleful looks over the rim. Like he hadn't been twitchy enough, the last few days. He looked down at the squirrel, and snorted.

"Yes, which is part of why I gave it up. Come now," she said, aiming for 'I am sounding reasonable, yes I am', "you can't be that mad at me. It's not allowed. It's a stuffed squirrel. It's cute!"

"I'm not that mad. It was just rather creepy." Funny, though. He supposed. Nathan grumbled and slouched a little further in his chair. "I should give it to Rachel when she gets back tonight and see what her reaction is."

"I foresee either increased flingage, or it will become her favorite toy, ever. Because she's contrary like that." The grumbling was moving decidedly into the mostly for form range, so Jean wasn't that worried.

"I wonder where she got the contrariness from." The caffeine was also helping. "You realize of course this means war. Cute or not."

"Mmmm, I can live with that." If anything, Jean's grin got wider.