The wha-? He started to look and then very clearly moved his eyes up to stay on the glasses part of the duo. That was a trap and he wasn’t falling for it. Her eyes were up there. And dangit she ate the tomato! She seemed to dither over something, and bought herself time to think by sharing a tomato.

He’d imagined her popping it into his mouth like a fair maiden feeding a god grapes, but in reality she just handed it to him so he could eat it himself. It was his ankle that was hurt and he wasn’t helpless.

Still…

It was a good tomato, even if it wasn’t hand fed.

”Oh cool. Like a mutant or something?” He wiped his mouth since he seemed incapable of talking and chewing. ”That stuff never worked on me. My brain’s probably too smooth.”

She did make him look. Pippa smirked. From his floor-level vantage point, one of those features was definitely more obvious than the other. And she did have to give him a hint about the gloves too.

>>”Oh cool. Like a mutant or something?”

"Yeah." she watched him cautiously, waiting for some kind of a reaction to gauge how disappointed she should be in him. He ate the tomato. Good sign. She mentally crossed 'bigoted enough to believe in mutie cooties' off her list.

>>”That stuff never worked on me. My brain’s probably too smooth.”

"For a paramedic you seem to have a loose grasp on how brains work" she noted, popping another tomato into her mouth and handing him one too. "So, what else do you do? When you are not jumping around buildings or riding a cool life saving car? What do you do for excitement?" she asked with a grin.

He grinned at her reaction to his secret. Now that they were even, they could both safely ignore all that nonsense.

Uh. Except she asked about hobbies. He frowned again.

"It's hard to top jumping off buildings. Uhm. Nutrition? Working out? I take my niece to museums and stuff. Honestly, Emergency Services is not an easy schedule to live by, it's a 4/10 split. The pay sucks. And I work exclusively night or swing so I'm mostly nocturnal. I moonlight with the Fire Department to help make ends meet, but that doesn't leave a lot of time for... activities." He finished lamely. Very lamely. Possibly the lamest he'd felt in a while, honestly.

AJ looked a bit sheepish about his extracurricular activities. Or lack thereof, really. Apparently, being in Emergency Services did not leave a lot of time or money for hobbies. Well, at least parkour was low cost. Until someone broke an ankle. Pippa shifted, leaning her back against the couch so she was not looking straight down at him anymore. She poked the box of tomatoes within arm's reach to him.

"That sucks." she agreed "The money and schedule issue, I mean. You'd think they'd pay people better when it is their literal job to save lives." There was something entirely wrong with the system. "I mean, take me. I work PR. According to most people it's the modern day equivalent of selling my soul to the Devil. And yet, it pays. Not fair."

His answer got him some pity tomatoes. AJ was not above accepting pity tomatoes. He grabbed some and balanced the pile on his sternum like a sea otter.

"You'd think we'd pay teachers and value education as well as health, but here we are. Not. Doing that." He took a moment to chew. For a soulless lie-slinger she was at least self-aware. "Sorry 'bout your soul. Any chance on getting that back?"

He was careful to look as innocent and blameless as he surely was. "Y'know, I can accept donations on behalf of the righteous few underpaid. Say, in the form of one plate glass window replacement."

They peacefully shared the tomatoes. They were good tomatoes. Pippa especially liked the little yellow ones that looked like light bulbs. She was glad he did not land on those.

>>"You'd think we'd pay teachers and value education as well as health, but here we are. Not. Doing that."

"Fair point."

>>"Sorry 'bout your soul. Any chance on getting that back?"

"Jury's still out" she shrugged, she pauses "... figuratively. I'm working on it. Someone tried to blow me up recently so I might be on the right track." she added as an afterthought.

>>"Y'know, I can accept donations on behalf of the righteous few underpaid. Say, in the form of one plate glass window replacement."

The sheepish look on his face made her crack up.

"Smooth play. It's not really up to me, but I can appreciate someone being practical..."

How did one try to reclaim a soul? And he just about choked on his tomato with Pippa's nonchalant admission of near-blown-up-itude. It was good to distract her with a joke, but his concern left his stomach heavy and ill at ease.

"It was worth a shot." He grinned, but it was a short-lived smile that fast wilted around the edges.

"Is your bomber out of the picture or should I be concerned?" That window was suddenly looking suspicious as hell. AJ was sure he could fit out of it, so someone else could easily fit in.

"The worst I've dealt with are active scenes not cleared. We're not supposed to be in places with active shooters or active danger, but crazy ninja ladies cross a lot of lines they're not supposed to, I guess. Kinda made me consider changing occupations." His usual partner had gotten shot and even now, months later, wasn't back in rotation. Whether he'd admit it or not, AJ did like the rush of a life-or-death situation, but he could likely get that in a safer space running ER shifts. Kind of.

Pippa could tell that the throwaway comment about being blown up was not sitting well with AJ. A few months with SUPER, and she already had a new normal, that probably sounded terrifying to... normal people. Even if they liked to jump off buildings.

>>"Is your bomber out of the picture or should I be concerned?"

Was it? They never really established for sure who was trying to blow them up on the ship that night, or even whether Sabine or her had been the primary target. She sighed. "Not sure. But my workplace has pretty good security protocols."

>>"The worst I've dealt with are active scenes not cleared. We're not supposed to be in places with active shooters or active danger, but crazy ninja ladies cross a lot of lines they're not supposed to, I guess. Kinda made me consider changing occupations."

"Changing it to what?" she asked curiously. She narrowed her eyes, trying to picture Aj doing accounting or... insurance or whatever. Also, ninja lady? "I didn't know Emergency Services hired ninjas... Must be a new thing"

"Uh. No. The ninja cut out the tires from under our wagon, pried open the back, and killed our patient. Some kind of revenge thing since she didn't kill either of us and easily could have. Kind of a sore spot, actually."

AJ was sore because he hadn't been able to do anything. He'd been far too emotionally invested, to be fair, but he'd tried so hard to save at least one of the people there. He failed, Donnie notwithstanding, but the ninja girl had been in the position to end him and chose not to. It was literally nothing to do with what AJ had done or tried. He'd been helpless in the end.

AND AJ got a censure for driving and damaging the EMS truck, though they'd been more than understanding about the tires and the circumstances so it'd amounted to nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"I could see myself working in an ER. Maybe a morgue." He had run out of tomatoes and to keep himself from eating all of them, AJ folded his arms behind his head. "Chiropractor? Massuer? That's what man-ssagers are called, right?" There were other jobs out there, but it was a little scary thinking of changing now.

>>"Uh. No. The ninja cut out the tires from under our wagon, pried open the back, and killed our patient. Some kind of revenge thing since she didn't kill either of us and easily could have. Kind of a sore spot, actually."

Pippa blinked. Apparently, she was not the only one with the out-of-the-blue adventure movie story. Yikes. EMTs encountered a lot of traumatic scenes and situations, but a ninja breaking into the vehicle was still not something that should have been part of the everyday job. Sore spot, indeed. "Uh. That sucks. Sorry you had to go through that."

>>"I could see myself working in an ER. Maybe a morgue. Chiropractor? Massuer? That's what man-ssagers are called, right?"

Yeah. Because morgue was definitely a step up from that.

"I think it's just called massage therapist now." she mused. Since AJ was done with the snacks, she felt awkward looking down at him, so she turned around to lay on the carpet too, resting her feet on the other end of the couch. "Some of those sound definitely less stressful than others... What did you want to be when you were growing up?"

It was kind of funny that Pippa laid down next to him. Somehow that transported AJ back to a time in his youth, like he was a kid again dreaming about the future instead of a grown-ass man laying on the carpet with a bum ankle.

"Oh." Of course the PR lady would know what massage therapists preferred to be called. She probably repped one or something. She asked him about the past and AJ pretended the ceiling was an endless expanse of blue sky.

"I always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was a kid." The enthusiasm was palpable and infectious. "People are weird and bodies are amazing, you know? Did you know there's a bone in your throat—" He turned and thought about showing Pippa, but realized it was likely bad form to reach toward a semi-stranger woman's neck so AJ tipped his own chin up and showed off the line of where his beard was neatly trimmed, above his adam's apple there was a small visible bump.

"It's called the hyoid. It's a part of your skeleton, but it's not actually touching a single other bone. It's suspended by muscle and helps..." He seemed to realize that he was getting carried away and reeled it back in. "uh... so, TLDR: you need it to do all the fun stuff in life like breathing, kissing, and swallowing."

The moment AJ responded to her question, it was obvious that this guy was only ever going to be someone who works in medicine. Pippa smiled at his enthusiasm.

>>"I always wanted to be a doctor, ever since I was a kid. People are weird and bodies are amazing, you know? Did you know there's a bone in your throat—"

Pippa blinked, and noted the hesitation as he decided not to show off his medical skills on her neck. Good choice. Also, points for empathy.

>>"It's called the hyoid. It's a part of your skeleton, but it's not actually touching a single other bone. It's suspended by muscle and helps... uh... so, TLDR: you need it to do all the fun stuff in life like breathing, kissing, and swallowing."

"You need a bone for kissing?" Pippa smirked, arching an eyebrow. She was amused by how dorky he got about anatomy. She liked dorky people who were enthusiastic about their job. "People are weird. And sounds like you are in the right profession." she paused, giving him a cautious look "So, are you... in med school? Is that the long term goal?"

He smirked at the entendre, intentional or not. Or maybe that's why she was waggling one eyebrow? Intentional entendre?

"Well, maybe you don't, but most people need the anchor for muscular control." And she could make of that what she would. AJ settled back and looked again at his imaginary blue sky.

"I'm chugging through one or two classes a semester so I'll be done with med school approximately when we reach the heat death of the universe. I'll need to quit my job when I reach my practicum and I can't exactly afford to do that yet." Or, likely, ever. Especially since he was sharing his meager salary with a sister that didn't make enough to support herself.

AJ hadn't yet come to terms with just giving up. There might be a sponsorship or another loan he could take on. A problem for another day that wasn't this one. That was Tomorrow AJ's problem.

"What about you? You like being the wicked PR witch of the East?"

>>"Well, maybe you don't, but most people need the anchor for muscular control."

"Showoff." Pippa smirked. She was not going to make an innuendo, but it worked out that was anyway.

>>"I'm chugging through one or two classes a semester so I'll be done with med school approximately when we reach the heat death of the universe. I'll need to quit my job when I reach my practicum and I can't exactly afford to do that yet."

"Med school costs an arm and a leg, huh" she noted. She had friends who had gone that way, and the costs were almost as legendary as the workload. No wonder he was thinking about taking up other professions. Something that paid more than being a paramedic.

>>"What about you? You like being the wicked PR witch of the East?"

Pippa thought about that for a moment.

"I think I'm developing a nice little Stockholm syndrome about it" she noted finally "As cliché as it sounds, the people I work for are really trying to change for the better. Which is saying a lot, because I thought they were a bunch of prejudiced assholes. Low bar."

It did cost an arm and a leg. "And a partial liver." He joked about the drinking problems he observed in his classmates and himself, and tried not to sound too glum about it. This really wasn't Pippa's problem and AJ wasn't one to unburden himself by burdening others. "Luckily the liver is one of the few body parts we can self-regenerate without special powers."

Blue sky, blue sky. It had been such a nice day earlier, he just had to keep that fixed in his heart.

"So the people you worked for suck, but they at least acknowledge that and admitting you suck is the first step to recovery." His mind spun a few fancys of what kind of people she might work for that had both massage therapists and racists. Those two didn't entirely jive in his head, though.

"Wait. Stockholm? Are you really stuck there, or is it the metaphorical 'stuck' of a good pay check and health insurance?"