Reunion;

[thelastdruid]

[That meeting had been annoying, awkward, and left Nathan with a bitter taste in his mouth. The last time he'd joined the lot of them in battle, he'd nearly killed them all, himself included. Now they wanted him to join a concerted effort to assault one of their adversary's weapons depots.

It felt really weird calling them "adversaries", but that's what Natalia insisted on calling them, and who was he exactly to argue with a centuries-old vampire? He couldn't help but smile at that thought. Tony'd hate him for it. "Does that make me an exception, Nathaniel?" He could hear it already. The little meeting they'd had after the main one was boring, and he let Cairn do the majority of the talking.

He was actually finding himself a little exhausted from all the meeting he'd been doing. A year was a long time to be in seclusion and contemplative meditation with only one other person for company and he could already tell it was going to take some to to acclimate to being around people again. There was actually only one person he wanted to talk to at the moment. He hadn't seen her for over a year, and she looked so...different now. Not anything too noticeable, just subtle differences. She held her shoulders straighter, made eye contact. She was more confident, that was it, and it was hot.

Adorable, but hot. Like she'd always been, like he'd remembered her to be. Finally he was dismissed for the night to go back to the rooms they'd prepared for him, and he didn't waste any time getting out of there.

What he wasn't planning on was stumbling upon Luther the Egotistical Prick and Airy in the hall. She didn't look happy to be there and Nathan's eyes immediate narrowed.]

I'm not interrupting anything, am I? [His voice was even, controlled. He didn't like what he was seeing, but the past year had taught him that much at least. How to control his anger, at least to an extent.]

[Luther responds to his question, but doesn't even give Nathan the respect of turning to look at him when he does.] As a matter of fact you are.

[Nathan's tone darkens slightly.] I wasn't asking you.

Comments

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy smiles a little wider.]

I like the long hair.

[She steps past him, in the opposite direction that Luther had stormed off in, and nodded her head.]

The sun is about to come up I think. I could use Starbucks.

[She knew where it was though she very rarely went inside.]

[thelastdruid]

[He smiles, running a hand back through his hair again and ducking his head slightly.] Yeah? I call this the "I lived in a remote mountain cabin away from a barber for a year". Sound good, or is that too long?

[He chuckles.] I missed you, too.

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy laughs, stopping when she noticed her voice carrying down the hallway.]

I still like "Random stranger making breakfast" better.

[Her fingers lightly tuck a lose strand of hair behind her ear as she glanced over at Nathan. There is so much she wants to say and talk about but at the same time she just wants to enjoy his company.]

Good. [She doesn't want to be the only one who missed the other. That's weird.] So are you going to tell me about all of your amazing training stories?

[It's better if they talk about him first. Airy doesn't have all that many happy moments to share except those with Gus and Rachel.]

[thelastdruid]

I'll always be the random stranger making breakfast. [He smiles.] And now I can do it over a wood-burning stove, which is a bonus.

[He chuckles, shaking his head.]

Uh...Early last March, he had me stand under a freezing waterfall for hours to "become one with water".

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy laughs softly.]

We just need a place to use a wood-burning stove. Though I wonder what that'd taste like.

[As they walked up the steps Airy moved ahead to push open the doors to the outside. The air was still cold and the sun is just beginning to peek over the horizon.]

So did you become one with the water?

[thelastdruid]

Like...smoke, mostly. Eggs are hard. It took me six months to get those right.

[He followed her up the steps, stiffening at the blast of cold from the outside.]

Uh, no. I didn't. I still have a hard time with it, honestly.

[imaginationswoes]

With water?

[Airy raises an eyebrow at Nathan and then her question slips from her lips.]

What did you get done? Will you have to leave again?

[There is a distressful tone to her voice even though she tries to keep it away.]

[thelastdruid]

Yeah, no dice with water. [He shakes his head, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans.]

When we get back, I'll show you. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, so to speak, but I won't be leaving again. [He looked over to her with a serious expression. He means that, okay.]

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy's gaze lingers on Nathan before turning towards the street. She's happy to know he'll be staying though she doesn't know how to express that; at least without sounding weird.]

It's a date then. [There is a momentarily awkward pause.] Ah... I mean...

[She waves a hand in the air as they walk.]

You know what I mean.

[thelastdruid]

[He looks over to her, eyebrows raising before he smiles awkwardly himself.]

Yeah...I know what you mean. I thought the date was coffee, though, not fire demonstrations.

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy squints at the sun before smiling awkwardly at Nathan.]

Is that how that works?

[It isn't the sort of thing she's had a lot of experiance with.]

So you're really good with fire?

[Explosions sound awesome and Airy's looking forward to Luther being asleep when they get back.]

[thelastdruid]

That's usually how that works, yeah.

[He nods, giving her a small shrug.]

Something to do with the planetary alignment at the time of my birth and how it influences the elemental affinity. [A pause.] And before you ask, yes, I did read that in a book, and yes Cairn did give me a test on it.

[imaginationswoes]

I wouldn't know. [What are dates.]

[Airy bites her bottom lip trying not to laugh.]

That's impressive. I've been reading a lot too. I've learned more about Creators. They sound a lot cooler than I am though.

[The store comes into view and Airy smiles at the familiar sight. She doesn't actually remember the last time she got coffee.]

[thelastdruid]

Unless...you don't want it to be a date. That's...cool, too. [It felt weird being back in the city after so long away, all the towering skyscrapers and the bumper to bumper traffic, even this early, reminded him just how many people there were here, and he found himself wanting to get his coffee and get back to HQ.

What did that say about him?]

Yeah? I didn't think anyone knew about Creators anymore.

[imaginationswoes]

[She smiles softly and shakes her head.]

It can be.

[Airy doesn't really care if they label the time they hang out as a date or not. The fact of the matter is they are together again and she has her friend back. It isn't as if her happy mood is about to drop.]

Oh and they don't. No one really does. A few of us [She isn't about to mention Luther's name again or that he is one of Airy's main guards.] went to somewhere in Europe. I think it was near Rome. We found a few Latin... tombs, I guess, that mentioned them but it was always super vague. Did you have anything where you were or was it just rocks, trees and hills sort of thing?

[She really wants to hear more about the forest he stayed in. Airy already knew what training with a wizard is like and she assumes that Carin is many times worse. It is strange seeing Carin again, considering the first time they had met was in Airy's head. It's a strange thought but she wonders what the old man thinks of her.]

[thelastdruid]

[He smiles in a way he at least hopes looks cool, but he's a little out of practice with pretending to be an emotion that he isn't. It probably comes off as awkward.]

Cool.

[He clears his throat.] You went tomb raiding for an ancient script without me? What the hell? [He chuckles, shaking his head.] That's...yeah. Rocks, trees, mountains. Cutting a lot of firewood. No power. Or indoor plumbing. I'm not sure what it all had to do with "learning to focus" but... [He shrugs.]

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy smiles, Nathan's smile always works on her and while she might not think him cool she thinks he's the most amazing person that she knows.]

It wasn't... that exciting. [That's a lie but Gus is better at telling the details.] Cutting firewood? [That paints a nice picture in her thoughts.] So we won't be getting cold any time soon.

What else did you do? Focusing is probably a good thing.

[She's a little over eager to hear more however when the coffee shop comes into view she takes a few quick stride ahead and holds open the door for Nathan.]

After you.

[thelastdruid]

You know what? I'm calling BS on that one. [He chuckles, shaking his head. Leave it to Airy to try to belittle pulling off something like that.]

Yep. Firewood, and no. My days of chopping wood are over.

[He frowns at his wording but he can't come up with any other way to say it, either.]

Uh...a mot of meditating, and pulling in energy and learning how to let it go again without doing anything with it. That's the hard part. Pulling it in, giving it a shape and letting it out, that's...easier. Just letting it go? That takes a lot of self-control.

[He looks over to her.]

What about you? Did you figure anything out about not just...making stuff happen?

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy's grin turns a little sheepish. It had been a pretty crazy trip but Gus still tells it better. He makes it seem more life threatening than it was.]

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

[Just saying.]

I... learned a lot.

[She wiggles her fingers as she walks up to the counter.]

Less accidents. [Though Nathan usually distracts her enough to stop her mind from wandering.] I'm learning more, I technically have... three teachers. No one really knows how to train me.

[They are trying though.

Airy steps up towards the counter, it's early enough that there aren't many people there yet.]

White chocolate mocha... large? [The sizes will always confuse her. She turns back towards Nathan.] Do you want what you usually get? Or used to usually get?

[thelastdruid]

I don't know. Rome sounds pretty cool. I went to Arkansas. [He smiles.] Yeah? Like what? What can you do?

[He smiles more sheepishly when she orders and asks him that question. She remembers what I like?] The usual.

[imaginationswoes]

[Nathan makes it a little hard to forget what he likes.] And a second white chocolate Mocha with a double shot. Names are Airy for the first and Nathan for the second.

[She hands the girl a shiny blue credit card before looking back at Nathan.]

Do you want me to tell you or show you? Oh, I did buy something cool in Rome. [She might have also gotten something small for him though thinking about it now it feels really stupid.]

[thelastdruid]

Whoa, Tony gave you a credit card? [He pouts slightly.] How come I never got a credit card?

[It wasn't genuine, though, and he quickly moved on.]

You can show me later, but what'd you buy in Rome?

[imaginationswoes]

[Airy laughs.]

I asked. Oh, [She quickly turns back to the woman at the cash register.]

Can I also have a small camerla macchiato with an extra shot? Name's Rachel. [She has some sucking up to do if she wants to try and take the day off. Luckily with it being daytime, all the vampires are asleep. With that done she turns back to Nathan, smiles and steps towards the end counter.]

I bought this really small statue thing I thought was cool and then I found something I wanted to give you. [Her smile widens.] But it's in my room so you'll have to wait until we get back and then I'll give it to you.

[She isn't going to give him any hints, mostly because it's dumb.

Airy knows that Nathan's been good for a year but standing at Starbucks and just talking... it doesn't feel like he left at all. She's changed a lot of that year though and she wonders if he'll notice or if he'll like the person she is now. She's still herself but parts of her were missing, even after Seth put her back together.]

So how was Carin's training? Besides waterfalls.

[thelastdruid]

Rachel? [He raised an eyebrow.] The healer? You know her?

[He really had a lot of catching up to do.]

What kind of statue? [He took a deep breath as they moved to the other end of the table.] ...I don't know. Peaceful, but...complicated? The cabin was within 100 miles of another node. Not too close, but I guess that's why he picked the spot.

[imaginationswoes]

Yeah, Rachel is Carin's granddaughter. She was one of my teachers. I thought I'd bribe her with coffee so that we could spend the day together. [Assuming that's okay.] Assuming you want to spend that much time with me.

[She takes a seat across from Nathan swinging her legs beneath her and hooking her ankles.]

It's of the coliseum but... broken. [Since the coliseum is broken.]

[Airy feels a little awkward when he brings up the node. They never have talked about what happened when he came in to get her and she doesn't feel like Starbucks is the place for that.]

How was it complicated?

[She isn't sure what else to ask and while she's kept up eye contact now she glances away and towards the barista's waiting for their coffee. She wishes that she had something in her hands to fiddle with.]