undergrounds | March open post

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March open post

I. The Department Store [OPEN]
Waltham Forest, Morning

A relaxed morning in bed with a cup of tea had turned into a trip to the store to buy a new set of sheets. The mattress was dry now, at least, even if it would probably smell like tea forever, but she'd somehow managed to scrub a hole right through one of the sheets so she'd need a new set of those. The new sheets came with new pillowcases, and she decided she might as well get new blankets too, because her blankets had also fallen victim to the tea disaster, and before she knew it the three hundred pounds she had left in the world became less than two hundred and fifty.

Loaded down with new linens, she headed for the cafe and bought a sandwich and a cup of coffee, ruefully counting out her change. She was so preoccupied with that, hoping that maybe the barista had miscalculated and maybe coffee and a sandwich wasn't really that expensive, that she failed to notice when she nearly walked right into someone, only barely stopping herself spilling coffee all over them.

"I'm so sorry," she said quickly, immediately readjusting her grip on the coffee.

II. The Mansion [OPEN]
Westminster, Night

Alex needed the money. Badly. And it wasn't like she was robbing an orphanage or a bunch of nuns or something. She did research. The guy whose house she was breaking into in the middle of the night was filthy rich and not very nice, and if the contents of his safe happened to go missing, well, that sucked for him. Getting into the mansion was easy, and cracking the safe wasn't much harder. There was some cash and a small bag of diamonds, which she took, and a lot of papers, which she left.

Before tonight, she'd figured out how many guards there were, and had so, so carefully avoided all of them. So it came as a huge surprise when she heard a floorboard creak and whirled around to find a guard pointing his gun at her.

A short fight later, Alex was running full speed towards the outside fence. She'd been shot in the shoulder and her hands were slick with blood from digging the bullet out, which made climbing the fence a lot more difficult. Some other guard must have heard the gunshot, because as her hand finally gripped the top of the fence, all the outside lights turned on, lighting the yard up as bright as day. She felt someone grabbing at her ankle, kicked out as hard as she could, and hauled herself over the fence onto the sidewalk. She almost landed square on somebody's head.

III. The Bus Stop [OPEN]
City of London, Early Afternoon

The bus was late. This bus was always late, and Alex knew its exact schedule because Edith rode this bus every week. She had to buy cat food, and it had to be specialty cat food from a specialty store in the City. Alex hadn't believed that at first, because an 85 year old werewolf who was obsessed with cats didn't seem like it could possibly be real. And yet, here she was, carrying around a thirty pound bag of cat food for Edith for the third week in a row.

She didn't hate it as much as she thought she would have. Cleaning dentures was gross, and doing the dishes and laundry and changing beds was tedious. But helping the elderly members of the pack generally felt kind of... good. Which was a weird feeling.

Alex was snapped out of her reverie by someone barreling past her, snatching Edith's purse as he went. Alex did the first thing that came to mind: she hurled the bag of cat food at the thief. It hit him square in the back, broke, and sent its contents showering over a near passerby. She ran over, picked Edith's purse up, and kicked the thief onto his back. He was out cold.

"Are you okay?" she demanded of the passerby.

IV. The Diner [CLOSED to Illya] (backdated to a couple weeks ago)
Camden, Evening

Three weeks to the day that Illya made his deal, Alex waited for him in a small diner near the British Museum. She'd scraped together a few thousand pounds and had it converted to rubles, so she would be able to buy weapons and transportation once she got into Russia. She'd mapped Pinksy Forest, partially from memory and partially by bothering immigrants in Little Russia, and she had some ideas of where the pack's new den might be. All she needed was a way into the country, and Illya, she hoped, would have one for her.

She was too excited to eat. If this worked out, she might be only weeks or even days away from going... not home, exactly, Russia wasn't home anymore. Back to where she started. To finally get closure for everything that had happened to her in the past six years. But she ordered some eggs and sausage for the appearance and sat, picking at them while she watched the minutes tick away on her phone, waiting for him to show.

V. The Confrontation [CLOSED to Kyle] (backdated to late February)

After Lupercalia, Alex spent days worrying that she had ruined whatever relationship she had with Kyle and wondering whether it would be easier to simply pretend she had never met him and move on. But he was a hunter, or at least somehow involved with the supernatural. And even if he'd never directly lied to her, he'd concealed the truth, and in her eyes that was just as bad. She wanted an explanation. Before long, she had worked up enough anger to storm all the way to his place with every intention of confronting him.

There were no obvious signs of life there. Maybe he was out. She raised her hand to bang on the door when she remembered that even if Kyle was a liar, his aunt and uncle might be clueless and innocent, and she didn't want to get them involved. If they came to the door, she would have to exchange pleasantries and possibly pretend to be there for some innocuous reason when all she wanted to do was shout at Kyle.

Instead of knocking, she yanked out her phone and called him. If he didn't answer, then she'd knock.

VI. Choose Your Own Adventure! [OPEN]
Anywhere, Any Time

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To eat people.

Kyle didn't show any sign of withdrawal or hesitation when she touched him. In fact, he seemed to barely notice, such physical contact being second nature to him. He wasn't afraid of her. All he was afraid of was ensuring that the wolf inside of her didn't kill anyone else. Both for their safety and for her sanity. If he could help her with that, then he could work on stopping the rest of the pack from doing the same. Try to help them get what they needed without killing.

"I know," he replied distractedly, entirely sincere. That was one of the few things that was never in doubt for him. After a pause, his gaze came back into focus. "Is there any way to control it?"

Edited (tenses) 2016-03-06 21:52 (UTC)

That he didn't pull away was a relief. As long as he didn't hate her for what the wolf was, hopefully they would be okay.

"That's what the cage is for." She dropped her hand from his arm, seeing no reason to keep it there once she'd made sure he wasn't scared of her. "There's, uh, there's wolfsbane. I take it before I change and it kinda knocks it out." That reminded her, she would have to renew her supply soon. She was starting to run low, and it was always worse waking up after a night of the wolf banging around in the cage than a night of it being unconscious. "Moonlight jewelry stops the change, but you have to know a witch to get it."

Kyle glanced down at her hand as she pulled it away, idly wondering if he'd upset her somehow before immediately moving on to listening to her important words. He made mental note of the cage and wolfsbane, still not feeling too good about things until she mentioned the moonlight jewelry.

"I know a witch," he replied immediately. "I know a witch! We can get you the moon ring. Until then, I'm staying with you during the full moon."

Alex's heart lept into her throat and then plummeted in the span of seconds. She'd had a moonlight necklace once, and she'd had to use it to change every night rather than to never change at all. If he could really get her one, if she'd never have to change again... Few things would make her happier.

"What? No, you can't do that!" It was the stupidest thing anyone had ever said to her, and he couldn't possibly know how dangerous the wolf would be to him if something went wrong, but it was also the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her.

"Why? You'll be in a cage. The only chance of it getting to me is if it would have hurt someone else instead. I'll take that risk." Noticing a man across the street watching them warily, he reached out to take Alex's hand and tug her along to continue their walk. He would release her hand not a moment later, as he remembered her not liking that, and return his hand to his pocket instead.

Alex glanced over her shoulder and glared at the man who was watching them. She couldn't stand nosy people. When Kyle tried to let go of her hand, she held onto it, not letting him stick it back in his pocket. If that guy was still watching them, it would be less suspicious if he thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend having an argument. It had nothing to do with the fact that she kind of liked holding his hand.

"If it gets out of the cage, it still has to get out of the apartment before it could hurt anybody else. Unless you're there with a neon sign around your neck that says 'Eat me!'" Of course, the wolf could tear through the apartment door like tissue paper, but Alex wouldn't admit that, if the wolf was absolutely going to kill somebody, she'd rather it kill a stranger than Kyle. Stupid, brave, stupid, considerate Kyle.

Kyle looked confused as he attempted to pull his hand back and found Alex holding tightly to it. He dropped it back between them, glancing over to her and seeing that stupid stubborn expression planted on her face. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he looked forward to the sidewalk again.

"Neon might be too expensive. I was thinking chalkboard." He flashed a brief grin her way before continuing. "Has it- have you- it.. Whatever. Has it ever gotten out of the cage before?"

She glanced sideways at him, and had to resist the urge to smile at his joke. It wasn't particularly funny, he could die, but she found it pretty charming that he was making dumb jokes about the whole thing.

"No, but I wouldn't want the first time to be when you're there," she muttered, frowning ahead at the sidewalk as though it had personally wronged her.

They made it to the Thai place, and she went in, finally letting go of his hand so she could hold the door open for him behind her.

This time, Kyle did roll his eyes. He followed her into the thai place, noticing she had held his hand long after the prying eyes had been left behind. He decided not to mention it. The two were lead off to a small table in the back, with decent lighting and some sense of privacy. There were only two other group in the small restaurant: the four nearer to them were loud enough to be clearly oblivious to what was going on around them and the other pair of men, possible a business meeting, were next to the entrance.

He ordered a Coke and waited until Alex was done and the waitress had wandered off before he really looked at Alex again. "Tell me what time you change back and I'll come then. You shouldn't have to deal with this shit by yourself."

No one had ever offered to do that for her before. For a long moment, Alex couldn't think of anything to say, overwhelmed by how kind and how idiotic he was. She might have kissed him right then and there, if they weren't in public.

If he didn't show up until she'd changed back, there wouldn't be any danger. That would be alright. "Sunrise. I'm always back by sunrise." She paused as the waitress brought their drinks, thanked her, then looked back to Kyle. She gave a him a small but genuinely grateful smile. "Thank you."

Edited 2016-03-07 00:27 (UTC)

"It's that or I break down your door. Saves me replacing some shattered wood." He lifted his drink, clinked the glass lightly against Alex's, then took a long sip. Returning his drink to the table, he gave her a better smile, more natural. This was the easier part, the part he could focus on to ignore the harder part.

"So what are you getting?" As he picked up his menu, looking over the various selections.

Alex actually grinned at that. She clinked her glass against his and took a drink. "It's okay, I'll give you a key."

That seemed like the natural thing to do, rather than make him wait out in the hall. As long as he promised not to use it while she was wolfed out. There wasn't anything in her apartment she wouldn't trust him with, and if she really did need to hide something, she didn't think he'd go snooping.

She glanced down at the menu when he asked. "What's good? I don't have Thai a lot."

Kyle looked genuinely surprised at her offhand reply. He specifically hadn't asked, even though it seemed a hell of a lot easier, because he didn't want to make her nervous. He didn't even know where the apartment was and now she was offering him a key. Less than an hour after accusing him of hunting her kind. Even if he was exactly the type of person that people should feel comfortable giving spare keys to.

"Curry," he answered almost automatically, not wanting to comment on her key offer and risk making it awkward. His eyes fell again to scan the menu. "What do you like? Rice, noodles? Spicy?"

Alex was just as happy to move on to a different topic. She perused the menu carefully, ultimately deciding to choose based on price rather than what she actually wanted. "I'm not picky," she said, smiling at him.

"The wontons look good." They were also the cheapest thing on the menu, but hopefully he wouldn't notice that. Or maybe he would. "Or curry," she added quickly. That was a little more expensive.

He glanced up then returned to the menu, her smile encouraging his. This was good. Kyle reached out to take another sip of his drink as she spoke, then shook his head. He was oblivious to the price, but more concerned with her actually eating.

"Wontons aren't a meal. We can split an order, but get something else too. I'm thinking red. Curry. Maybe try yellow if you don't know? Someone told me that's the least offensive. It's what I started with."

"It's okay, I'm not that hungry," she said offhandedly. She glanced up and decided to elaborate, in case he was worried. "I had a big breakfast." She really needed to do something about her money situation soon. She could stretch a few hundred pounds a fair distance, but not infinitely.

She read the curry part of the menu more carefully, picking which one she wanted. "The yellow looks good. And hey, I can get it with extra beef," she added dryly, making a jab at his earlier joke.

He frowned at her. Kyle knew the lunch was an excuse for them to bond and be okay again, but he misconstrued her financial woes as choosing not to eat because she was still stressed or upset with him. He couldn't really say anything about it, so he focused on her remark about the beef instead. "You say it like you're joking, but it sounds good."

The waitress returned then and Kyle smiled to greet her. He gestured to Alex to order first. Either she would order a curry or he would order one for her. Then he ordered his own with extra beef and an order of wontons. As he did, he slipped the waitress his debit card behind the menu. She nodded, understanding his ploy, and casually accepted it with the menus. Then she disappeared.

"I hope you're hungry enough to share the wontons." He still had a very American mentality about food. Order too much, take home the leftovers or give them to a homeless person. He forgot it was less common to do so here.

Alex likewise ordered curry, but with the regular amount beef - he was right, annoying as that was, extra beef did sound good, but she wanted to save the two pounds it would cost. She frowned when he ordered wontons, but she couldn't exactly object without explaining why, so she didn't say anything. It completely slipped her notice that he gave his card to the waitress.

"I'll see after the curry." She made herself smile at him, because it wasn't his fault she was practically broke and she didn't want him to think she was upset about anything else. It would take time before they were completely okay again, but she wasn't upset with him anymore.

It was surprisingly easy to fall back into their friendship, even if it was different now. She smiled again as she sunk back into her chair, more naturally now. "We still haven't seen the new Star Wars movie," she said tentatively, testing the waters to see if it would be alright to start making plans to hang out with him again.

He nodded and took another sip of his Coke, pausing at her comment. He set his drink down and nodded. Kyle was clearly not quite so enthusiastic as in the past, yet even now he clearly was interested in spending time with her and was entirely genuine in his response. "We haven't.. We should do that, before it goes away. If it hasn't already."

"If it has we can... find something else. The winter gardens," she said hopefully. Alex didn't particularly care what they did, as long as they could still spend time together.

Sensing his lack of enthusiasm - at least compared to how enthusiastic he used to be about his space movies - she rather awkwardly grabbed her glass of water with both hands and just held it for a while before taking a sip, then kept holding onto it rather than set it back on the table, just to have something to do with her hands.

"Sure. We can do both," he replied somewhat offhandedly. It certainly wouldn't bother him to spend time with her. He just needed some time to get over his anxiety and the damn memory of being bound and ready to die. It had aggravated and triggered some of his old vulnerabilities more than a little, causing nightmares and general exhaustion. Alex was related to the memories, but not a part of them. He would work to separate them even more.

"I was planning to check out The Shard next week, see the view." Where once he might have insisted 'come with me' with all the confidence in the world, now he seems vaguely uncertain. "You should come, if you're not busy."

That made her feel better. The fact that he wanted to do both was a pretty clear indication that he did want to spend time with her, and the invitation, tentative as it was, made her smile. "I'm not busy."

Alex took another sip of water just as the food arrived. She set her glass down and thanked the waitress before pulling her bowl of curry towards herself. Bracing herself for it to be very spicy and determined not to be intimidated by it, she stuck a spoonful in her mouth and was surprised when it wasn't that bad.

"It's pretty mild," she said once she'd swallowed it.

Kyle, likewise, said thanks as the food was delivered. He started with a wonton, no sign of hesitation or waiting for her to go first or any of that nonsense. Nodding his approval, he looked to her for her review and his lips curved into a smile. "Is that good or bad?"

He then took a large bite of his own curry, agreeing that it wasn't particularly hot. Ideally, it might have been a little spicier, but he wasn't about to complain about any curry.

"Mm. Try this." His mouth still half full with a second bite, he pushed his plate toward her.

Alex shrugged. "Neither, just not what I expected." She tried his, and nodded. "Definitely spicier."

She used her spoon to pick a couple pieces of beef out of his bowl and drop them into hers. She didn't actually want to steal his food, so it was just the two pieces, though she might take more depending on his reaction. "That's what you get for making jokes about me eating steak."

"Good. Take more. And eat some damn wontons too." He flashed her a grin, grabbing a few more pieces and dropping them in her bowl. Then he withdrew his food to continue eating, borderline inhaling his meal. Another habit from the military. Kyle made a conscious effort to slow down and save some. "Let me know if you want more."

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