itinere | Open | Network + Action

Entry tags:

Open | Network + Action

NETWORK

Best place to get a pumpkin spice latte, bonus points if there are cream puffs, too, because I'm craving them and don't judge me, ready, set, GO!

ACTION

While Zatanna has been kind of laying low and trying to find a way back to Alpha Complex — a thing that you couldn't have paid her enough to consider doing before; she supposes that's what she gets for getting attached to Al — she's also maybe kinda sorta totally been secretly enjoying the freedom that comes with being the crap out of there. Real food. Real food that she doesn't have to hide in the skirt of her dress and sneak out while Alcide is laughing like a jerk and nearly blowing their cover. It's a novelty in spite of the fact that it really, really shouldn't be. But every time she eats a meal, it makes her feel guilty because, as far as she knows, Alcide can't. As far as she knows, her bestie is back in that horrible place and she'd promised to bring him home with her. Now she's neither home, nor is he with her. God, when did she get so bad at keeping promises?

She's been practicing her magic in secret, usually far out near the blue doors that no one really comes out to disturb. The thing is that Zee is trying to teach herself to get back there and retrieve her friend, and then go home and rejoin the team with her own freaking wolf. Take that, Wolf, her wolf could talk. And he was nice to look at when he wasn't a wolf, but again. Don't judge her. She's out there because it's safer, in case she does something wrong in a totally whelming way; the last thing anyone needs is for Zatanna to blow up the building in which the majority of them are housed.

Zatanna is on her way back into town because she's dying for something...pumpkin-y. It's fall. The leaves are turning, the air is getting more crisp. She's been here too long without her team or her friends — in some cases, they're both...man, she misses Rob... — and it's time to really crack down and get it right. If nothing else, she has to get Al and bring him here so he's safer and so that he can be the wolf he really is. She's never felt more liberated than when she was finally able to use her magic again and she can only imagine how it will feel for him. She's doing this tonight if it kills her. ...it might kill her, actually, so she's absolutely having one last pumpkin spice latte or something with pumpkin spice before she tries because if she gets back to Alpha and she can't get out again, dammit, she needs to make it worth it. So as she strides into town and down the street, if it looks like the girl is on a mission, that's because she is. That doesn't mean she won't stop to talk, though; she's very friendly, really.

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Alcide has been working on fixing up the Summers household. The house is great but it's also obviously been around for a hot minute with outdated plumbing and electric and fixtures. He's poured himself into this work just as he used to do back home. Fixing things, building things, refurbishing things - that's what he used to do and it makes him feel useful and productive, like he isn't just a waste of space, and like he's earning his keep where the Summers girls and Spike have been so nice to let him crash.

He's taking a break from that though, out and about on his way to grab some lunch, when he catches a familiar scent. It's a scent that immediately takes him back to the Complex and immediately makes his heart feel warm and welcome. Creepy as it is, he'd know that scent anywhere, he thinks, as long as he has his wolf abilities, which he does.

She's easy to track down once he catches her scent. He spots her striding down the street like she's after something and nothing is going to stop her or get in her way. He has a brief spike of anxiety: what if she doesn't know or remember him? But he pushes past that and calls to her from across the street. "Zee!" He looks both ways, then jogs across toward her. He'll be wrapping her up in a tight hug if she lets him. If not, well then, he'll have his answer and back off.

It's almost comical, really, the cliched way that Zatanna Zarata stops dead in her tracks when she hears her name in that familiar voice. She'd know it anywhere, she's just not sure she really heard it or if she heard it because she's been thinking about Al a lot lately.

Her head whips around toward the source of the sound and, sure enough, she sees him jogging toward her. He doesn't have to go the whole way — she knows better than to meet him literally halfway, because then they'd still be in the streets and that's a dumb thing to do — but she meets him at the curb and her blue eyes seem even brighter when coupled with the first genuine smile since he let her get drunk at that stupid Charity Ball and she sat around in her underwear laughing at the cream puff caper which had been the reason behind taking off the dress in the first place.

"Al!" she squeals, throwing herself wholeheartedly into the hug. Then, an instant later, she realizes she's been working so hard and he's already here. She steps back and swats his arm. "You're already here!" she snaps. "Been busting my butt to get back to the Complex to go get you, you big lug!" she adds, but the smirk on her face and the light in her eyes don't match the stern tone she's trying to keep in her voice.

There is no way to describe the relief he feels when she seems to recognize him. He isn't sure how it would have felt if she hadn't known who he was but he knows it would be a level of hurt that he isn't prepared for. The kind of hurt that shocks and stings and has reverberations and ripple effects for a long time to come. There's very little that was important to him in the Complex. He can count the people on less than one hand. Zee got in deep with him, deeper than anyone.

He holds on tighter than he probably should until he realizes he's doing it and loosens his hold. He won't let go though, not yet, just make sure he isn't crushing her against him like she'll disappear if he doesn't hold on tight enough. His letting up though lets her step back, something he wasn't ready for. He flinches at the swat to his arm and his features scrunch up a bit.

"Been here about a month, maybe more. How long have you been here?" If she's been here all this time and he didn't know it, he's not going to be happy with himself. Guilt is already curling its tendrils around him for not knowing she was here the second she got here, even if it was today or yesterday.

She looks genuinely surprised that she somehow missed his arrival when Al says he's been here for a month. Her eyes widen a little and her jaw goes slack with the revelation. "I've been here all summer, how the heck did I miss you?" she asks, sounding broken and horrified by her own oversight.

"I'm so sorry...I was trying, I really was. I was trying to get back so I could bring you here. Or home. Or anywhere but there. I'm so sorry I left," she insists, throwing her arms back around him for another hug, pressing her face against his broad chest.

It's the only thing she's been doing with all of her time. Practicing her magic, trying to hone the spells until something might stick and send her back to the Alpha Complex so that she could pluck him up and take them back home. They were going to fight crime together. She was going to have her own wolf to rival Wolf. But the important thing is that he's here now and he's safe, and so is she.

Her expression drops again suddenly, remembering his other friends and her own. "Buffy?" she asks hopefully. "Derek?" She pauses. "Have you seen Katniss or Prim?"

"No no no..." Alcide says quickly with a shake of his head. There's no way he's letting her take all the blame for this. Honestly, he wouldn't let Zee take all the blame for anything no matter what it was. He's way too protective of her to allow that. He's even protective of her when it comes to Zee herself. Besides, neither one of them can rewind and undo what's been done. "We missed each other, that's all. It's okay. We're here now."

He's all too happy to have her back in his arms. He holds her tight again, only briefly, before letting up enough that she can breathe easily without his letting go entirely. The only thing that can make him let go right now, as a few minutes before, is Zee herself. He'd do anything she wanted him to, really.

"Buffy's here. So is Derek. They're straight from the Complex just like me... and you." Zee's here. She's really here. "I haven't seen Primrose. But Katniss and Gracie are here. They're not from the Complex though. They don't... they don't know us. I'm slowly gettin' in with Gracie again. Katniss, she has a life here and is with some other guy. I haven't really talked to her beyond finding that out. Derek's been pretty quiet about it. I can't imagine."

Regardless of his words, Zee still feels terrible. It didn't occur to her to keep asking around for him, she realizes belatedly, because some part of her had just assumed she'd notice if he got on the network. If he did, she missed it, and that's on her, no matter what he says. But she isn't going to argue with him about it, because they'll be going around in circles trying to take the blame all day.

She backs off a little without fully letting go, almost like she's afraid he'll disappear if she does, and she looks up at him when he answers. Zatanna's expression drops with disappointment after he says that Gracie and Katniss don't know them and that Prim isn't here at all. Prim was probably the only age appropriate friend Zee made the whole time she was in that place.

A yeesh sort of expression crosses her face when Alcide says that Katniss is with some other guy. "Ouch..." she says quietly, figuring if she was dating someone in the Complex and when she got here, they were with someone else, she'd be pretty upset. Then again, maybe not. It's not like she would know. Zee wasn't there super long, so she went it alone in that regard. She thinks she might actually have been one of the few.

"Where are you living? What have you been doing? I freaking missed you," she says, giving him a little smile.

The truth is that Alcide can imagine what it's like to see the girl you love with someone else. He's done it most of his adult life with three different girls. He even knows what it's like to have that girl and then watch her not be yours anymore. He doesn't want to get into that though, hence his saying he can't imagine it. He knows what kind of hurt Derek is in though. He knows it well.

So all he can do is nod when Zee gives him that expression and says ouch. Ouch is right. Ouch is maybe even too small a word for it. Maybe the right words don't even exist. There's probably an appropriately fitting country song about it somewhere though. Alcide's from the deep South. He knows and loves his country music.

"Derek's got his sister here. I'm stayin' with Buffy and her sister and this other guy from her world. Her ex." The guy who was the reason she wouldn't commit to him at the complex. "But they're from different times and he ain't with her anymore so... we finally got together. I've been fixin' up her house. You in the apartments?"

Zee's eyebrows lift a little at Alcide's response. "Aaaaawkward," she sings playfully, in spite of the fact that he's just said that it doesn't really matter, since he and Buffy are officially together. A grin takes over her expression a second later. "That's cool, though, I'm glad. It's about time you two made it official."

Reflexively, she looks back in the direction of the apartments and nods. "Yeah, that I am," she replies. It's kind of cool to be living on her own, but at the same time, it does make her miss Mount Justice. It was nice having the roommates, especially since M'gann was always such a great cook.

"So, you can do the wolf thing now, right?" she asks abruptly. "I want to see! I could show you some of my magic," she offers as if she needs to offer a trade. Zatanna remembers how important the wolf was to him and how devastated he'd been that he'd been stripped of it.

"You're tellin' me. Although it's been some time and we're workin' shit out." It has been a little bit awkward, truth be told. But him and Spike have hashed a lot of stuff out. So have him and Buffy. And Dawn is just... well, she's like a mini Buffy although a little more geeky so she's alright. He cares about Dawn and Spike because Buffy cares about them, but then that's how he's always been except for his short stint as Pack Master. Otherwise, he's always been a vicarious part of other groups, one of the gang twice removed.

Alcide has been on his own a lot, enough to the point that he embraces being a part of other people, no matter how he can be a part of them. He completely understands Zee's enjoyment of being alone though. When he'd been younger he'd wanted/needed alone time too. Pack life had been stifling until there was no more pack life. "Hey, the apartment's nice. Stayed there a few days myself until I found Buffy and she found her house."

He's quick to nod about his wolf. Alcide is all too happy about having all of his other half of himself back. He's no longer gutted, no longer half of who he used to be. He chuckles low and grabs Zee's hand in his own as if they've spent no time at all apart. "Come on. I'll show you."

They walk into the nearest alleyway, a small space between two buildings. After they're a ways in, he starts to strip, whether Zee turns around or not is up to her. Nudity isn't a big deal to wolves in his world. "Have you used your magic yet here?"

In all honesty, that's maybe the thing that has Zee feeling the happiest for him, the fact that he and Buffy are all set and have become official and worked everything out, because she'd always known how much he cared about the other girl. It's nice to know that he finally has a woman who deserves him. ...plus, they're in the same place and now Zee has her magic, so if Buffy treats him like crap, Zatanna will make sure she's sorry. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

"Yeah, it's not too bad. It's no Mount Justice, but it'll do," she teases with a little shrug. It does get a little too quiet for her taste, sometimes, but maybe now that she's got Al, it won't. Maybe he'll come spend time with her once in a while like he used to.

A wide grin crosses over her expression when he takes her hand because she can see it in his eyes that he's got it back and he's happy to show it off. Zee knows that it's a really important part of himself that he'd lost in the Complex and she's curious to see the man he really is when he's whole again.

Admittedly, while she doesn't mind nudity and she's comfortable with her own, Zatanna has never actually seen a naked man so, hopefully he'll forgive her her unintended staring before he speaks and she finally realizes that she has, in fact, been staring and quickly looks up at his face again as she clears her throat. "Uh, huh? Oh! Yeah! Yeah, totally. I've been trying to find a spell that would take me back to the Complex to go get you. I've been practicing other stuff, too, but yeah. Yeah, I use it all the time. I missed it like you wouldn't believe," she sighs gratefully. "...yes you would, you know exactly what I mean," she corrects herself, rolling her eyes a little and smiling. Then, she gestures with both hands to him. "Okay, let's see it! I'm excited to see!"

Since there's no way for Alcide to go to his home without being dead, he's pretty sure that this place is near perfect for him. None of his people from home are here, but he finds he's okay with that because he was always a sidenote to them anyway. Buffy is here. Derek is here. Zee is here. He has a roof over his head. There's plenty of food. His wolf exists. This is as close to perfect as he has any right to ask for. Then again, Alcide isn't the kind of person who has ever needed very much.

"I might drop by uninvited sometimes, you know, for a change of scenery." In truth, he wants to keep tabs on Zee. She might get sick of him dropping by for any and every excuse he can come up with. But it's just because he cares so she can't get too mad at him for it.

He might feel bad knowing she's never seen a guy nude before. As it is he just doesn't think about it. Buffy has even had to remind him a few times not to shift in front of Dawn. And it's still taking Buffy some time to get used to his casual nudity, not that she's complaining. Her excitement only feeds his own and when she urges him, he grins at her - just a little bit cocky because Alpha and wolf - it's all back and he couldn't be happier about it.

"Here goes." The shift is quick and painless. Where Alcide once stood nude, he's quickly morphed into a large white wolf with glowing yellow eyes. The wolf pads over to Zee with a bounce in his step and nuzzles a cold nose into her palm. His tongue licks the skin there and he looks up at her, tail swaying slowly back and forth.

Feigning offense, Zee rolls her eyes, but the smile is quick to follow when he says that he'll stop by uninvited. "Joke's on you, Al, you're always invited," she says smugly, shrugging her shoulders. As far as she's concerned, she really can't think of a time when Alcide wouldn't be welcome in her apartment. It doesn't occur to her that maybe it's because he wants to keep an eye on her. She would be incredibly indignant if it had. Typical teenager.

Her interest in his naked body is distracted wholly by his interest in the wolf form that materializes in its place right in front of her very eyes. He's significantly smaller than Wolf, but he looks like him otherwise, with sleek white fur and yellow eyes.

"Whoaaa..." she breathes, awestruck at the transformation and the way it happens. "This is so totally whelming!"

She reaches to stroke the top of his head gently, grinning for a moment before she lifts her hand away. "Egnahc otni ym mrofinu," she says, her voice echoing slightly with the words. With a whirlwind of purple smoke, her street clothes change into a pair of short shorts, tights, and her shirt and jacket; her superhero uniform. "Tada!"

Any luck with that search?

Pumpkin Spice, check! Cream puffs, no. Consider me incredibly disappointed.
I must be looking in the wrong places.

Damn. I was really hoping you might know.

Have you tried wishing any up?

No! I totally forgot that was a thing! Thanks, I'll have to try that!

I've ever tried wishing up food but I have repeatedly tried wishing up new digs.

Sometimes I think this place has a sense of humor.

No luck? What the heck, Itinere, make up your mind. Can we wish things into existence or no? Geez... :P

I think it's going for option C: when it's in the mood. :P

Well that's a crappy caveat. :P

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Open | Network + Action

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