15 December 1988

[noteful]

[Correspondance, November to December, 1988]

Meg steps into Marie-Laure and Sylvie's cafe a full half hour before she's scheduled to meet Dave there. She only has to wait five minutes for a table, and then settles into the chair that faces the door, so she can see, and be seen by, anyone arriving.

And because she has twenty-some odd minutes to kill, Meg pulls a notebook out of her bag and begins working on her packing list for her Christmas trip to see Kim in England.

It passes the time.

(And it needs to be done.)

Comments

[noteful]

"That and having your pen run out of ink.

"They run about even."

[oftheaxe]

Dave laughs - though he's willing to bet, privately, that it's a rare exam when Meg doesn't have a spare pen or ten lined up neatly next to her. She seems that kind of person.

Then he takes a sip of his drink, and carefully wipes his mouth before saying, "- you're right, this is pretty good chocolate."

[noteful]

Dave would win that bet, could he find anyone to take it.

"I'm glad you like it.

"This where I come to . . . hide from being a student, I guess, is a fair phrase."

[oftheaxe]

"It's good to have a place like that," Dave says. "I kind of wish I'd had one, when I was still in school.

". . . god, sorry, I don't mean to come off all ancient on you."

[noteful]

Meg laughs.

"Don't worry about that on my account," she says.

"Anyway, ancient is probably a stretch.

"That's reserved for Kim."

[oftheaxe]

Dave is cautious - of course - but his tone stays light.

"Heh. Don't I know it. I'm a younger, too."

[noteful]

"By how much?

"And brother or sister?"

Meg will assume there's only one, in that Dave identified himself as a younger, not a youngest.

[oftheaxe]

"Brother. Vincent. Just a year older - Kim knew him before she did me, actually."

(Everyone knew Vincent.)

[noteful]

"So I'm guessing you got called Vincent a lot, in school and things like that.

"I mean, I got called Kim half the time, and there are nine years between us."

It was actually almost strange to get to McGill and have no one around who knew her sister.

[oftheaxe]

"That, yeah - about half the time," Dave says, rueful, "and the other half, 'why can't you be more like Vincent?'"

He can joke about now, which is maybe the most significant difference between now-Dave and pre-Fionavar Dave.

[noteful]

"I didn't . . . mostly, people just assumed that I was going to be like Kim."

[oftheaxe]

"I don't know you very well, obviously," Dave says, after a moment, "but you don't come off as all that alike to me."

[noteful]

"Well, not anymore," Meg says, easily.

Though they certainly have their similarities.

She turns her mug so that the handle is parallel to the edge of the table.

"When I was younger, though . . . she was my amazing big sister, and I wanted to be just like her."

[oftheaxe]

"It's not that unusual, I guess."

Though Dave didn't want to be just like his big brother, not really.

(He wanted to be better than his big brother.)

"I've gotta say, though - I mean, I think Kim's pretty amazing. But I'm kind of glad there's only one of her."

[noteful]

Meg might have felt that way if she'd only been a year younger than Kim, too.

"Well, that's how it's supposed to work.

"One person per . . . person--I'm not sure there's a good way to say that."

[oftheaxe]

Dave gives her a quick half-smile.

"Yeah, along those lines.

"I guess your life goal isn't as much to be Kim Jr., these days?"

[noteful]

"Nope," Meg says.

Though as far as Meg can tell, even Kim's life goal isn't to be that person any more.

A lot of things have changed.

"I haven't completely figured out what it is, but it's not that."

[oftheaxe]

Dave nods, and says, "Well - it's not like you don't have time."

He doesn't even know if he's figured it out yet himself - not that that's something he's going to talk about with near-strangers.

"Hey - what is it you're majoring in, anyway? Don't think you mentioned."

[noteful]

"I'm studying biology. And then the plan is medicine."

A slight smile.

"It runs in the family.

"What about you? Why'd you pick law?"

[oftheaxe]

There's a number of answers to that question. Dave picks the easiest one, with a wry smile: "Because Vincent didn't."

[noteful]

"Ah."

She considered studying anything but medicine for a while, last fall.

Not for long, but for a while.

"Do you like it?"

[oftheaxe]

Dave hesitates.

"Some things about it," he says, after a moment, "but it's not the only thing I can imagine doing.

"How about you? With the biology?" Dave didn't hang out with so many premeds in undergrad - well, he didn't hang out with that many people, period - but they do have a reputation.

[noteful]

"I love it.

"Which I know makes me sound like . . . but I really do."

She's good at it and it suits her.

What's not to like?

[oftheaxe]

"I guess everyone has their - you know. Their thing," says Dave, Warrior of the Axe. "You don't really pick it so much as figure out what it is."

[noteful]

"I don't know," Meg says.

On the one hand, there are things that Meg is definitely more given to by nature than others.

On the other, that's getting closer to fate and the like than Meg is comfortable with.

"So what do you do when you're not being a lawyer?"