Friday afternoon, at Loch Ness

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Jamie and Rahne go hunting lake monsters, because Jamie has a Plan, and end up talking about what they want to do when they grow up. Pure feel-good fluff for after last night.



Jamie: Jamie has been all but sticking his head out the window of the van ever since Loch Ness came in sight, and when they stop for lunch near Urquhart Castle, he's the first one out, camera in hand. He skids to a halt after a few feet and turns back around. "Hey, Rahne! Want to come help me look for Nessie?" He waves half a ham sandwich. "I have bait!"

Rahne: Rahne blinks and laughs. "Ye want -- Well, if Nessie would come up for anybody with a ham sandwich, 'twould probably be you. Just a minute --" She gets a sandwich of her own and follows. "I'm eating this one, though."

Jamie: Jamie grins at her as he hunkers down by the water and weights his sandwich down with a rock at the edge of the loch. "That's okay, I left a dupe with a haggis at the other end, when we stopped for gas in Inverness, so everything that lives in here is gonna be swimming this way as fast as it can go, I figure."

Rahne: "They're Scots fish and whatever, Jamie, that could backfire."

Jamie: "I thought of that. The dupe has a camera too. And either way, it's a sheep stomach. Yuck."

Rahne: "I've had haggis. And mutton's sheep... muscle. Kidneys I do wonder about sometimes, though."

Jamie: "You're supposed to eat muscle, though. That's the part you eat. Everything else you have to wonder if they started eating because somebody came along and took all the edible parts." Jamie twitche the ham sandwich hopefully in the water. The bread is getting noticeably soggy. "I can see why you were so excited to come back here, though. Kansas is flat."

Rahne: "I'm no used to flat," Rahne muses. "But... aye, 'tis good to be near home again."

Jamie: "Well, you can sort of get the idea." Jamie kneels down and puts his eye level on the waterline. "Yep. Now imagine a whole state like that, except with corn. And there's all the history here, too."

Rahne: Rahne crouches to look over the water too, giggling. "Kansas canna be that wet...." She jumps back as Jamie threatens to splash her. "Nice. I never did think to be on Muir, though."

Jamie: Jamie blinks. "Really? Dr. MacTaggart's so nice, though."

Rahne: "Oh, she is, very! But I'd not thought about going there. Not that I'd thought about going over to the States, either...."

Jamie: "Yeah, I guess not." Jamie snaps bolt upright and dials the zoom lens on his camera to full. ". . . Darnit, driftwood. I thought we had something there. What did you think you were going to do?"

Rahne: "...I donnae ken." Rahne shrugs a little, looking down at the sandwich, which is beginning to disintegrate. "Be good, if I could. Grow up, find something to work at -- maybe little children, I thought, if nothing else seemed to fit, maybe the kirk -- perhaps get married and have some, but I don't suppose I'd have been surprised if not. Maybe... write stories." She ducks her head a bit and jerks it up as her hair nearly dips into the water. "I was never that much of a dreamer, not about real things anyhow."

Jamie: "I was. I was going to be everything from Superman to a paleontologist--only, the Indiana Jones kind, where I'd get dinosaur skeletons for museums by hunting actual long-lost dinosaurs. And then I wanted to be a vet like my mom, for a while. Now, I dunno, I just want to do something big and important." He grins. "But you should write! That's a great dream. I bet you'd be good at it."

Rahne: "Thanks, but what about?" She laughs then, still a bit embarrassed, and shakes her head. "No, that's what I'd be answering. -- I think ye have a minnow, there, after Nessie's snack."

Jamie: "Eh. I think Nessie's allergic to ham. Remind me to make a note for the next time I'm here. --You said you didn't dream much about real things. What about stuff that isn't real? All the really fun books are fiction, you know."

Rahne: "Oh, not all... but aye, some of that." She glances sideways at him and adds slyly, "Maybe I should write about trying to lure Nessie up near sure with a packed lunch...."

Jamie: "Only if Nessie actually shows up. The Strange Adventures of Mike the Ham-Eating Minnow wouldn't be the same. Can I read it if you do?"

Rahne: "She'd show up in the story. Mike wouldna stay once she did, though. If I get far enough, ye may."

Jamie: "Thanks." Jamie grins, then tosses a look over his shoulder. "Darnit, I think we're supposed to go back. Maybe I'll have better luck with the haggis while we're driving around."

Rahne: Rahne looks back as well and stands up. "Right.... Well, 'tis Mike the Minnow with the luck on this side. If pictures of driftwood bring tourists in, I wonder what experimentally confirmed bait for appearances would do."

Jamie: "I dunno. Put it in the story." Jamie grins and fishes the slightly squashed other half of the sandwich out of his jacket pocket. "And let me have your autograph when you're famous."

Rahne: Rahne shakes her head at him again. "Sure, and you'll do the same when ye play yourself on television." She pauses, struck by a thought. "Or we'll both end up in the office Marie-Ange was dreaming. That one sounded nice."

Jamie: "Yeah, it did. Except for the part about the suit. But it would be fun working with you guys."

Rahne: "I think so too. Even if I've no idea what we were doing." Someone beckons impatiently from the van, and she speeds up with a bit of a lope.

Jamie: Jamie speeds up to keep pace. "Guess we'll find out if it happens, huh?"

Rahne: "We should." Rahne wrinkles her nose. "Now if the one with everything on fire just won't."

Jamie: "I bet that one was just leftover chili. Race you the rest of the way?"

Rahne: "All right. ...Go!"