acontritemess | Reunion;

Reunion;

[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.

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[Airy has to try not to blush when he calls her cute. She looks down at the mountain picture and laughs.]

It was a few yards up? There was one steep side and one easy slopped that we walked up. He fell down the slop. [It's still funny. She looks over at the family day.] We did things like three legged races and balancing an egg on a spoon in your mouth.

[Yeah, in high school.]

Really? I can talk about anything? Ever? Are you sure you want to say that?

[Airy is trying not to smile to brightly at him. It's really nice to be able to talk to someone who knew her before she was just 'the creator']

I'm glad you got pictures. Falling down a mountain's something to remember. [He chuckles.] That...sounds really lame, but...my high school never did anything like that.

[And then he smiled, reaching out to take her hand.]

Yeah, of course. I just...really missed talking with you.

[Airy smiles brightly, unashamed by how happy his last comment made her.]

That's what happens when you live in a small town where everyone knows each other.

[It is a tight community in Island Falls, Maine. She looks down at the album again and inhales a soft breath the next page is filled with pictures of Mark and Sara and another thin boy that hadn't been in the others.]

So I think I've mentioned Mark and Sara before. They were my two best friends through grade school. This is John. [She points to the young thin scraggly boy.] He's my little brothers best friend. My parents sort of adopted them in a way, they were always over and mom was always feeding them. She didn't mind but because of that they were part of the family and ended up in the album.

[She looks up at Nathan wondering about his friends but she bites back the question. The small album is at it's end and the last picture is Airy's senior photos which all look very lovely. She doesn't wear makeup often but it's clear she had for that day. On the back cover are pictures that Airy had paisted there herself which included Gus, a headshot of Nathan that she swiped from Antonio, the Flores, Antonio and everyone person that she could from the hideout. Luther is there as well which is why she doesn't linger long on that last page before closing the book.]

That's all of it.

[He smiles, nodding through all of it. Her childhood was so much different than his.]

It sounds like a nice place to grow up. Pelham Bay wasn't too bad, but...it was still a community in New York City, not...nothing like this. [He gestures to her album.] I played baseball when I was a kid.

[Airy smiles.]

Really? Both my dad and my brother played, that and football and basketball and a few others. My brother always roped me into playing with them because he couldn't take my dad down by himself.

[Nathan seems like he'd be good at baseball. It has a finesse that suits him.]

We didn't have many sports teams, not enough people but there was something like an all ages league for baseball.

[She pauses for a moment and then moves to place the album back on her nightstand. When she returns to sit next to Nathan there is more space between them, not having the book as an excuse to sit close.]

What was growing up in New York like?

[As she sits back down, Nathan can't help but feel a little sad about it. It was a nice excuse to sit so close to her. Without one, the distance seems somehow greater.]

We didn't really have many sports teams, either. [He laughed.]

That didn't stop us from having a good time, though. [He ran a hand back through his hair.] I always sucked at food ball. I could hit a baseball and I could run. I wasn't so great at catching it.

[He shrugged at her question.] Well...millions of people live here. I went to Public School 138 for elementary, 247 or middle, 356 for high school. They don't have names, so I mean...if that give you an idea.

[Airy's eyes widen, she knows that there are a lot of people in the city but she can't imagine the schools having numbers instead of names.]

I guess people came and went a lot from school to school? [They probably have different districts while Airy saw the same group of people every year from kindergarten up to senior year of high school.]

I don't think you ever told me about your friends from high school. [For this Airy turns to face Nathan on her bed. She snatches a pillow next to her and hugs it against her chest as she crosses her legs. Her lips are fixed into a smile with her eyes set on Nathan.]

What did you guys do? Any late night adventures?

[Airy has a few of those with her friends.]

[He shakes his head at that.] Not in my neighborhood, really. Sometimes, but not often.

[He shrugs.] I didn't really have many friends in high school. There was Chad. I've known him since we were kids. He was in band, I was one of the drama nerds. Most of the popular kids hung out with my older brother.

Chad was almost as a big a clown as me, but we sort of drifted apart after I left for college. When I came back, he let me crash with him for a while...until he kicked me out to let his girlfriend move in.

[Airy smiles as she listens.]

I bet you were cooler than you think. Chad sounds... okay.

[Its not very nice to kick out your friends.]

Sorry. There was one time when Mark, Sara, Jake and I all snuck into an abandoned hospital I was torn down the next year. It had been creepy. I didn't know if there were places like that in New York.

[He shrugs.] Yeah, I thought Chad was cool. I was wrong, though.

[He nods.] That does sound awesome. We've got plenty of abandoned buildings. Most of them are just, you know, places for squatters to hang out. Or homeless people.

[Airy isn't sure if there are enough people in Island Falls Maine to have homeless people there but there were occasionally strange people who wandered into town. Thinking about it now, she wonders if any of them knew about her. They could have easily been a werewolf or something though that might just be her memories acting up.

She shakes her head as if the action alone flings the thought from her mind.]

I think you have some pretty cool friends now.

[She mostly means herself, Gus and Antonio. She doesn't know a lot about Cairn.]

[He grins, leaning back on her bed, and laughs.]

Yeah, I guess they're pretty cool. Weird, but pretty cool.

[Airy watches Nathan as he falls back across her bed. She smiles, her head tilting slightly.]

You guess? I'd like to point out that I'm very cool and totally normal.

[Except she's smiling when she says that.]

[He can't help but keep laughing.]

There isn't one person here who's normal, Airy, but that's fine. Normal's boring.

[Airy shrugs and finds his comment incredibly ironic considering she had spent most of her life before now trying to be normal.]

That's true. Oh! We should probably stop in and see Gus.

[She usually sees him for breakfast anyway and she thinks it still counts as morning. Who needs sleep?]

[As if on cue, Nathan's stomach growls. It's not that he really knows Gus is essentially in charge of the food. His stomach just chose that moment you announce he'd been ignoring it.]

Heh, yeah. I guess we should. I...need to thank him, anyway.

Why thank him?

[Airy asks as she slips from her bed and waits for Nathan to follow. It isn't a short walk to the dinning area but they at least don't have to worry about running into anyone weird.]

He...found you. [He stands, running a hand through his hair to even it out.]

...when you were taken, he was the one who tracked you. I never got a chance to thank him.

Oh...

[Airy knew that of course but it sounds weird coming from Nathan. She shifts a little awkwardly before stepping towards the door. She smiles at Nathan, her expression warmer than before.]

Then let's go say thank you.

[Airy doesn't know what she'd do without Gus.]

[Nathan nods, completely in agreement.]

Lead the way. You're the one with the map in your head. I'm still the new guy.

[Airy laughs softly.]

You know, I still get lost around here sometimes.

[Once they are out of the room she closes the door behind her. Not that it will keep anyone out but it makes her feel safer. Seth had set up an alarm around her room in case someone ever does force entry into it. She waves at Nathan to follow before grinning at the thought of food.

Gus will probably be peeved that Airy is late to breakfast, except that Nathan's back so she has a good excuse this time.]

Gus will probably make a lot of food to welcome you back.

Gus makes food? [That was news to him. He follows dutifully at her side.] I bet you get lost less than I would.

[Airy laughs softly and then shakes her head.]

Probably, when I get lost I just wait for Antonio or Lu- [She cuts herself off.] Someone to find me. [She has no idea why she feels so awkward about bringing up Luther. Yeah, he's a jerk but he isn't all that bad or he wasn't. Airy isn't really sure of her opinion on him anymore. It isn't a great opinion but it isn't awful either.]

Oh! We're close.

[She walks a little faster as the smell of food fills the hallway. Since they are late the cafeteria is full of others who call this hideout their home. Everyone turns to stare at both Airy and Nathan as they walk in.

Airy ignores them spotting Gus's gaze and waving.]

[Gus waves in return, his worry over her lateness evaporating as he sees who she's with. He waves the two of them over, motioning for them to take a seat at the bar.]

You two must be starving. Get over here.

[Nathan smiles at Gus. He hasn't seen him in over a year, except at the meeting, where he didn't actually say anything. The feeling he was having currently was weird, too. It was like transferring to a new school. All these groups of people knew each other and he was the outsider. He followed Airy dutifully, though, at Gus' command.]

Morning. [He said as he got within earshot.] It smells amazing in here.

[Gus chuckled.] It damn well better.

[Airy's smile brightens when she takes a seat at the bar next to Nathan. Her elbows rest on the counter and she leans forward as if to see what Gus is hiding in the kitchen.]

Got anything really good this morning?

[She'd say all of Gus's food is amazing but she isn't that much of a suck up. Her gaze looks over at Nathan as if to fill in the blank she hadn't mentioned before.]

Gus is in charge of the kitchen.

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