Kate was seated in a booth near the back, and she waved at Jim as he walked in. She grinned as he approached.

"It's been too long, Jim."

Jim shrugged out of his jacket before taking a seat opposite her.

"Sure been. How're ya doing?"

"Good, I'm good."

She signaled for the server as Jim got settled.

"I'm very glad to see you made it through that fog stuff."

Jim nodded. "Turned out fire axes make pretty good weapons. You seem OK, too."

As the server approached, he ordered a beer and chicken wings, then looked to Kate, waiting for her to place her order.

Kate ordered a burger, then turned back to Jim.

"I came here with my two guns, so we were okay. Does that kind of stuff happen around here often?"

"It's a funny ol' place for sure, but ain't seen nothin' like that before," Jim replies. "Not sad about it."

He puts up a grin again and leans forward a little. "So, what else is new?" Hopefully something better than monsters creeping around in fog and ash.

"Not sad at all."

Their server brought her beer, and she took a slow sip.

"I've just been working and working out. And spending time with Castle. How goes the emergency squad?"

Jim seemed surprised. "Oh, you heard of that?" He'd been hoping he had some news to share with that. "It's OK, now that no creatures try to take over the station. On the quiet side, just had a false alarm this week. Burnt food - lot of smoke but nothing dangerous."

"I think Castle mentioned it."

He seemed surprised, and Kate hated that she took the wind out of his sail. She leaned in, ready to listen.

"Did you start the squad?"

Castle! Yes, that made sense. The newspaper editor would hear about such things.

"No, I didn't. It was odd, one morning I found a shift-plan on my kitchen counter and it listed me as crew-chief." He shrugged. "Ain't a big squad, just enough to man our firetruck really." But Haurvatat wasn't that big a village, so hopefully they were enough in case of a real fire.

Kate gave him a warm smile.

"I'd say that's as good as starting it. You're in charge at least. So does that mean you get to drive the firetruck?"

Jim had to laugh at her question even though he wasn't sure he even wanted to be in charge. He'd never seen himself as a leader.

"So far I get to say who does. But I intend to give it a go soon. Never drove anythin' that big. Well, not with four wheels."

He grinned at her. "And you, working out? Not working on your disappearing-forks tricks?"

"Oh come on, you've flown planes. A firetruck should be a piece of cake."

Kate took a sip of beer.

"I worked out a lot back home. I don't want to get out of shape. Don't worry, I'm still working on magic tricks too."

Jim grinned at her. "Believe it or not, flyin' is different from drivin'." He leaned a little closer, as if to let her in on a secret. "It's much better!" Of course he'd not driven anything but old military jeeps in years, so he did have some respect for the big modern truck.

He leaned back again and reached for his own beer before he continued. "I must be totally out of practice after all these months." Thinking of fist-fights rather than any work-out as such. This village just didn't offer a brawl you could throw yourself into every other day. "Hey, did Castle also tell you 'bout our softball game we staged between Christmas and New Year?" Maybe he should start reading the newspaper, he had no idea if they had covered it or not.

Kate thought for a moment.

"Castle didn't mention the softball game. Let me know the next time you plan one, I'd like to play."

Kate laughed a bit.

"He probably remembered the emergency squad because he wanted to drive the firetruck."

Jim laughed, too. "Yeah, he comes across as someone who'd enjoy that," he said, remembering his encounter with Castle at the fair.

"Too bad you missed the game, I had sent a village-wide message out to find players. 't was fun. Did ya know we've got an ex-baseball-pro in the village?"

He looked up as the waiter drew near with their food.

"I'm not always great about getting messages. I should pay more attention. I'd love to get in on the next game."

She took a bite before she spoke again.

"Who is the ex-baseball-pro?"

Jim took a bite off a chicken wing before replying. "Fellow called Peter Burke. Got a damn good arm."

He washed the next bite down with some beer. "So how does one go about contacting you if messages don't work well? Stalking the coffee-haunts?"

"Name doesn't ring a bell."

Kate really needed to get out and meet people. She laughed at the coffee remark.

"My caffeine intake is well-established. I'll pay more attention to my tablet thing. I'd enjoy a good ball game."

"Oh, hey, does Castle's newspaper feature personal ads? Could leave one for you there," Jim joked.

"We should try to get another game going when it gets a little warmer. Would be good to play in the park instead of the holosuite. Amazing place that is, though." There was a bit of a dreamy expression on his face as he mentioned the suite.

"I don't know if there's a personals section, but I'm sure Castle would think that's a great idea."

And it could work, maybe.

"Holosuite?"

"Then maybe ya oughta suggest it to him."

Jim cocked his head at her while he chewed on some more chicken.

"Haven't been to the holosuite yet, have ya? Took half a year for someone to point it out to me, too. It's like ..." he struggled for the right words, "a fantasy turnin' real for a while." He shrugged a little helplessly, how to explain technology you didn't understand yourself? An example? "I can fly my Corsair there. Feels totally real."

Kate's eyes widened.

"That sounds amazing. I need to check that place out."

Jim nodded enthusiastically. "You really should. It's in that Ten Forward bar, I asked the owners to show me howta use it. Odd pair, the two, but they know how to work it."

"I haven't been there, but I definitely will now."

They ate in comfortable silence for a moment.

"How else have you been keeping busy?"

"What, all that and my regular job aren't enough?" He smirked at Kate. "Happens I am reading a damn interestin' book at the moment. You heard of Chuck Yeager?"

"You should get paid for the squad so you could quit the casino."

Kate's eyes narrowed as she tried to place where she recognized the name.

"He did something with the sound barrier?"

"I get a little for the hours I spend working on the squad. Which ain't all that many, with it bein' a volunteer service," Jim explained. "Not enough to quit my other job. But maybe I can reduce my hours there once I get an idea how much I'm really makin'. And Yeager, yeah, he broke the sound barrier. Only a few years on from my time!" He sounds excited at the thought. "Imagine that - flying faster 'n sound travels. Must be grand!"

She shook her head, a little in awe.

"I actually can't even imagine it. I can't wrap my head around how fast that is."

Jim nodded. "Yeah, not sure I can imagine it properly, either. But damn, I'd love to give that speed a go. Might be worth hanging onto my rank after all."

Kate grinned at his enthusiasm.

"I've never flown a plane, but I've got a motorcycle, and there have been times when I really pushed the speedometer. It would be incredible to try flying."

Jim cocked an eyebrow at her. "I bet I could make that holosuite give me a trainer, if ya'd like to try."

Kate's eyes lit up.

"You think so? I'd love to give it a shot!"

"If that thing can give me a Corsair and a squadron to fly with, it'd better be able to make a trainer appear," Jim said, grinning widely. "Pretty sure it's possible, I'll check it out." After all, any chance to fly was more than welcome with him. And sharing the joy with a friend would be even better!

"That would be great, Jim. Thanks!"

She gave him a grin before taking another bite of burger.

"Pleasure's all mine," he confirmed before reaching for his beer.

"So, what kinda workout is it ya do? See a lot of people runnin' round town - that kinda thing?"

Kate swallowed, then took a sip of beer before answering.

"I jog some, but mostly I do weights and kickboxing. I used to do a lot of hand-to-hand sparring back home."

Jim seemed impressed. "Kickboxin', eh? Know plenty of people in the Corps who box, but kickboxin' is rare. Where'd ya learn that?"

Kate gave a smug smile.

"I took classes in college, and I kept it up through police academy. I had a sparring partner later on as well. It's hard work, but it's worth it."

Jim pulls a face at "hard work", that's never been his thing.

"Sounds like a lot of education. Didn't know ya could take somethin' like kickboxing in college." He never got that far, didn't even finish high school.

"I started kickboxing classes as a self-defense measure after-" she cuts herself off before she can say after my mom was murdered, because bringing up your dead mom is no way to keep a conversation light, "and then I realized I really liked it, and it was a good way to work off stress, so I kept it up."

Jim noticed that there was something she was avoiding, but he wasn't the kind of guy to probe.

"Yeah, beating up people is a good stress-relief," he agreed. "Only no one does it that way in my day." He smirked, remembering many a brawl he got into. God, he missed those rowdy days but you just couldn't live like that in this place because the people here were so different.

Kate laughed.

"Beating people up is my favorite stress-relief. You should try kickboxing. I could show you some moves."

Jim considered her offer for a moment. "Ya know, why not? I could do with some action. Kickboxing moves in exchange for some flight lessons?" He held out his hand for her to shake on the deal, grinning.

She grinned and shook on the deal.

"That sounds like an excellent deal, Jim."

"Great! Looking forward to both. Now how about another round of beer?" Still grinning, Jim signalled for the waiter.

[ooc: Want to fade here?]