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's eyes widen as Nathan steps forward. She's never actually seen him mad and it's a little freighting. She knows the power he has, Tony had told her a little bit about the rescue and why it is that Nathan left.

She struggles against Luther, more than she would have had otherwise. He's a jerk but he's still one of her friends. There were many times she thought she'd have fallen back into the room in her thoughts if he hadn't been there to lend an ear.]

Wait, stop!

[Her struggling surprises him but he doesn't let her wrists go, his eyes still leveled at Nathan.]

Just let me go Luther.

[Airy really hopes that this doesn't end poorly and if they don't stop she's going to try and think of something to stop them. Only it's really hard to focus with Luther's fingers digging into her wrists.]

Why? He abandons you for a year and all you want to do is see him? [Luther makes an audible growl deep in his throat but lets go of her wrists, pushing away from her and turning down the hall.] Fine. I see how it is.

[Nathan visibly relaxes but doesn't take his eyes off of Luther's retreating form.] I guess I'll see you around then, Airy. [And Luther turns a corner away from them. Only then does Nathan turn to Airy, frowning.]

Gee, he seems nice.

[Airy almost stumbles forward when Luther lets her go. One step staggers and she watches as Luther walks away. He's upset and she knows that, she makes a note to talk to him later but it's been so long since she's seen Nathan and she doesn't want to put it off any longer.

She gingerly rubs her wrists noticing that there were slight red marks around her skin. Her hands then find their way into the pocket of her jacket not wanting Nathan to see.

Airy lets out a slow breath before finally turning around to see Nathan. It has been a year and now that he's here she has no idea what to say. She's replayed this exact scene in her head a thousand times thinking what might happen when he returned. Of course, she hadn't expected to start off with ... that...]

Yeah... he really isn't so bad. [It sort of looks back with her defending him so she awkwardly changes topics.]

I'm glad you're back... um... [She bites her lower lip trying to figure out what to say. Nathan has been the topic of a lot of conversations over the last year.] I've missed you.

[She's missed him more than she's comfortable admitting.]

[Nathan watches as Luther turns around the far corner before looking back to Airy. He doesn't look happy, but honestly, after that, who would?]

Yeah, he seems like a great guy. A real keeper. [His tone dripped with sarcasm as he slowly shook his head then ran his hand back through his hair to clear it from his eyes.]

You...look good. [A lot better than she had the last time he'd seen her. The only thing that had kept him going really was word from Cairn that she was improving, but he'd always been really vague as to what that had meant.]

[Airy smiles.]

So do you... [Except that sounds wrong.

She shakes her head, putting her fingers on her forehead and forgetting about the red marks around her wrists.] I mean you look like you've been away from... everything for the last year.

[The long hair is hot, not that she's going to say that out loud. After a moment she holds up a finger to her lips and hums softly.]

I think you need coffee.

[She has no interest in talking about Luther.]

[His eyes dart to her wrist and his jaw clenches but he doesn't say anything about it. This is about reconnecting with Airy, not talking about that asshole.]

Are you saying I look like Grizzly Adams? I shaved before I came here, you know.

[He shook his head.]

...yes. Yes I do. [He pauses.] ...I haven't had coffee, real coffee, in a year...

[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.]

[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.

[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.]

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".

[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?

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.

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.]

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.]

[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.

[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.

[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.]

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.

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.]

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.

[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.]

[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.]

[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.

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?

[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?

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