OPEN | did you fall from a shooting star ; one without a permanent scar

[the_dawnster]

It's been awhile since Dawn has been in the hotel. She's been home, living her life, growing up. She's had two birthdays since she was last here. She's fought a few big bad's and helped save the world at least two more times. That's the thing with apocalypses in her world, they always come in the plural rather than the singular. One ends and another begins. And you can never quite see them coming until you're smack dab in the middle of one. Sometimes evil is stealthy like that.

Thwarting the destruction of the world is what got her lost in an alternate dimension in the first place. Then, as she used her key power to punch her way between worlds, she unlocked the door to the hotel and can't seem to step back out of it.

Of course, her first order of business is to check for Buffy. Some things never change. Her attachment to her sister is one of those things. No matter how old she is, no matter how many years of college she completes, she'll always be Buffy's little sister. She's accepted that. She's grown to love that. Which is why she's sad to find that Buffy isn't here anymore. She remembers her time here from before. Buffy had been here then. Now Dawn's alone.

After a quick shower and change of clothes in the room that she used to share with her sister, she makes her way downstairs to the cafe to grab some food (she's starving, okay?) and then to the library where she used to work beforehand because books make almost all things better. Maybe she can get her job back. She does get her job back. Then she checks out a book.

She makes her way out into the gardens and sits in the grass. She opens her book and gets lost in another world.

Occasionally, one might find her concentrating very, very hard, trying to get her key power to work, trying to see a thinning of the veils between dimensions and punch her way through it. There are no portals here, not that she can see, not like what she could see in the other hell-ish dimensions. She's as stuck as anyone.

Yeah, reading is good.

Comments

[silenttrainbaby]

There are random moments in the day when Grey isn't with Cinna. If he's working with a client in his shop, if he is intent on working on a design (he is making glamorous, elaborate dresses, now, made with yards and yards if fabric that slips through Grey's fingers like water as he carefully handles it).

When he is alone, he often seeks the sun or the library: looking for books that he and Cinna can read together, or feeling that warmth on his shoulders. If it's warm enough, he will sit with his shirt off, feeling that heat on his shoulders. It often makes him sleepy.

When someone else enters the garden, he doesn't so much move as waken entirely, watching the girl who seems to be close to his own age. He still doesn't approach strangers; Cinna is all he needs. But if this girl looks up, she will see the silent, tattooed boy watching her without blinking. He doesn't look dangerous, not really. Just an observer, like a bird or a cat.

[the_dawnster]

It takes Dawn a bit to notice that she isn't alone in the garden. Since Grey is so still, a precursory glance around the garden makes her think she's alone. She sits in the grass with her back against the trunk of a tree. She digs in her bag and gets a slim jim out of it, takes a bite, tries to concentrate on the Key parts of her to see if she can find any portals, comes up empty handed.

She gets her iPod out, puts the earbuds in her ears and listens as she begins to write in a journal. Someday the chronicles of Dawn Summers are going to be a real page turner for robots that eventually take over society or something. Her shoulders a beep-bopping to the music as she writes. The book she's about to read is laid out beside her.

Then she notices someone else is here. She pauses mid bebop and stares back at the shirtless boy staring at her. It's a staring contest. The boy wins. She looks down and pulls the earbuds out of her ears. "So I guess this is your spot? You look like you were here first. I guess... I mean it's a big garden. I don't mind moving." She starts packing up her things.

[silenttrainbaby]

Oh, no. That isn't what Grey meant at all. He raises a hand to stop her, moving form his crouch to come a bit closer.

There are times when he's still not very good with people. Cinna helps him with that; teaching him how to be polite.

Since he's not got a shirt on, he can tap his chest over his name. He's Grey. She doesn't need to leave because of him. He's met few who are near his own age; perhaps that's what made him stare a bit. She's healthy, too.

[the_dawnster]

Truth be told, aside from college, most everyone Dawn hangs with is older than her too. She's twenty-two. Everyone else is Buffy's age, which used to seem ancient to her but doesn't so much anymore. So she knows the value of seeing someone your own age, of having friends that aren't vicariously your friends because they're BFF's with your sister. She gets it.

As he gets nearer to her, she wonders if she should reach for the stake in her book bag. A look into his eyes makes her hesitate. He doesn't seem like he's out to attack her. Then again, she can be gullible that way. She can think someone is harmless and then... her blood is being used to start he end of the world. It happens more than one might think.

She tries not to be so naive anymore. Hence, the slight trepidation until he's close enough for her to be sure he isn't about to do anything hanky. Boy she wishes Buffy were here so she'd have her sister's name to fall back on when things go South.

She notices all his tattoos, just random words, a split second before he taps over one of the words. "Grey? Is that your name?"

[silenttrainbaby]

Yes; Grey nods. That's his name. That should make her less nervous, or at least he hopes. He takes a couple steps back, to allow her space, too, having seen her tense up at his proximity. He crouches down again, illustrating that there is no threat, just ... maybe they can talk a little bit?

He points to her, then. What's her name?

[the_dawnster]

Dawn can easily pick up on the cue that Grey won't or can't speak. She's communicated with a few spirits and demons that couldn't speak back to her, not in the usual way. So naturally, her first inclination is to think that Grey is a spirit/ghost of some kind, which in her corner of the universe is kind of cool.

"I'm Dawn. Summers. Dawn Summers. But you can call me Dawn." She says, digging through her bag and getting a notebook and pen, a purple glitter pen to be exact, and sets it in front of her. She won't push him to use it. It's just an experiment, really, to see if this is the kind of spirit that can touch things and use them.

"Sorry I didn't see you before. I was... dancing to my music." Her hands come up to cover her face. "Oh no. You saw me dancing. That's totally the most embarrassing." She peeks through her fingers. "Sorry?"

[silenttrainbaby]

In some ways, perhaps Grey is a spirit. He's always been somewhat existant in his head than in his body; it was one of the only reasons he survived as long as he did on the train.

He nods when Dawn says her name though; Dawn. He'll remember that. His eyes are drawn to the pen; he's never seen one like that, actually. It's so sparkly. He has no reason to use it yet, though, as what she says doesn't require a written response. It's cute, actually; he smiles just a bit. She has no reason to be embarrassed; he shakes his head. Nothing to be sorry for. He only knows how to dance slowly, so he doesn't move. He does like music, though, most of it. He points to her earbuds and then points to a word on his arm - What? What is she listening to?

[praiseandglory]

Porthos has been back for a few weeks, and hasn't gone back to the war yet. He's been following Athos's advice, and making the most of that time. It's an opportunity to rest, and come back to the war in better condition.

He's also been avoiding Aramis.

Now one person he would not have been avoiding, if he had known that she was around, he finds out on the lawn, reading a book. He heads over to her with a smile, and has no hat to take off to greet her, but still politely calls out, "Mademoiselle Dawn," as he walks closer.

[the_dawnster]

The lack of Buffy is a living and breathing thing for Dawn. It's a solitude that sometimes feels like it's a tangible thing, closing in on her, threatening to close in around her so tightly that she suffocates on it. She keeps having to give herself a pep talk in her mind. Buck up, Dawn. You can do this. She keeps trying to use the power of the Key. It isn't working. Needless to say, she welcomes the company more than Porthos would probably suspect.

The minute she looks up from the book in her lap and sees Porthos, who is somehow even more ruggedly handsome than she remembers him (how is that possible?), she smiles brightly. So relieved and happy is she to see anything familiar, even if that familiarity is confined to this hotel, this dimension, that she stands up and runs at him to wrap her arms around his waist and give him a tight hug (what is personal space?).

"I kinda missed being called Mademoiselle Dawn. Do I need to remind you that you can do that anytime you want?" She asks, her cheek pressed to the chest of his doublet. She might really need a hug. "Cause it makes me feel all posh and fancy."

[praiseandglory]

Porthos is more than a little taken aback by the sudden embrace of a young woman. He looks it for a few seconds, surprise etched clearly on his face, hands held up in shock, but then he pats her awkwardly on the shoulders, and forcing a smile past the surprise. "I swear to never call you anything else?" he offers, and hopes that this embrace is going to stop some time soon, although he is growing more easy with it by the second.

It might not be proper, and it might be very sudden, but if she needs an embrace, who is he to turn her down? So eventually, the hug becomes easier, and more like the real thing. "How are you, mademoiselle Dawn?" he asks her, faint humour and genuine caring in his voice.

[the_dawnster]

"I'd like that. Unless you get tired of it." Using a title all the time in Paris might be strange. To Dawn, who is so unaccustomed to titles, it's just fun. It adds a tiny bit of silliness to her day. Maybe she needs an inkling of silliness today.

Hugging Porthos is initially like hugging Giles used to be before he became the cool Watcher. If anyone thinks that matters to Dawn, well, they'd be wrong. Dawn is selfishly hugging Porthos for herself, not for anyone else. Although, when he finally seems to relax and become the cool Watcher version of Giles (only much much bigger than Giles) it sort of becomes something for Porthos too.

"A little bit scared. But that's okay. I can get through it." She tells Porthos.

Forgive her for holding on just a few seconds longer than absolutely necessary. Eventually though, she does pulls back and look up, up, up at him. "How are you, Monsieur Porthos? Is it Monsieur, cause I could have that wrong. Paris is awesome but I only know très peu de Français."

[praiseandglory]

He's forgotten how odd it was, that people didn't realise that to him, they were all speaking French. It's not like he knows to speak anything else. "Everybody calls me Porthos," he assures her with a small smile. Technically, he's not a Monsieur but a Marquis, except he doesn't want anything to do with his father's legacy. "Why are you scared, mademoiselle?"

[the_dawnster]

"Porthos. Okay then, I guess you can call me Dawn too. Just Dawn. But only if you promise to sometimes call me Mademoiselle still cause I'm not ready to give up a handsome Musketeer calling me that. I mean really, I just need one good thing. That's my one good thing, ya know?" She shakes her head and starts pacing in front of Porthos, back and forth, bare feet in the grass.

"You're gonna think it sound really stupid probably. But it boils down to the fact my sister isn't here and I can't seem to get to a place where she is. I've been... traveling." Traveling is so much easier than explaining that she's been tearing down walls and opening portals between worlds trying to get back to the right one. She doesn't want to scare Porthos away with the crazy that is her everyday truth.

"And I was trying to get back home to her to help her... save people." Again, she won't say she was trying to stop an apocalypse that would destroy the world. "And now I can't seem to... travel. So I'm just here, by myself, alone, party of one. I'm not very good at alone."

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke likes to come into the garden to meditate. It's quiet and calm and he can connect to the Force without a lot of interruption usually. He still spends time with Obi-Wan sometimes, but he knows there's a need for each to have their own time as well.

She feels a little odd in the Force, but it isn't anything he can place.

"Is that a kind of meditation? It seems kind of interesting." he said, noticing how she was concentrating. It wasn't quite like his, she seemed intense. Thinking hard. Not like how he tried to clear his own mind.

[the_dawnster]

So intent is Dawn on trying to use her key powers that she's startled when she isn't alone. At the sound of another voice, bright silver-blue eyes are turned on the newcomer. Oh. He's cute. She really hopes her face wasn't doing something weird. To be fair though, Luke is right in noticing how displaced she is in the grand order of things. Dawn's existence is weird.

"What? Oh. No, I'm just... thinking." Thinking is so much easier than explaining that usually she can rip down walls between worlds. She laughs. "Which... I guess is kind of like meditation now that I think of it so... yes? Kind of."

[farmboyjedi]

"Yes, I suppose it is, a little bit." Luke replied.

In one way, it was nice not to have someone recognizing him and fawning all over him as soon as they saw him. Granted, it was easier to blend in here, which is one of the reasons he visited so often and spent time in the hotel. He devoted his life to helping bring peace to the galaxy, but celebrity wasn't always the best thing to deal with.

"You did seem to be concentrating a lot, so it definitely was." he nodded. "It actually was pretty good...younger ones sometimes aren't able to concentrate as easily on such things. It takes practice." Force knew it took enough practice and patience to keep the younglings on task and help them learn how to connect with the Force.

[the_dawnster]

It might sound horrible, but it's also the truth that Dawn has blinders on right now. She's too engrossed in her own stuff to recognize celebrity, even one she should probably be geeking out over. Given time, she might get there. Right now she's just a little bit lost in her own brain space to think beyond 'cute guy'.

She can also understand the dark and twisted side to celebrity. Her sister's famous too in her world. The bigger the fame the harder you can fall.

"Oh I've had a lot of practice." Yeah, she's twenty-two years old. But she's only really existed for a handful of years. She's definitely a young one. But she's also had a pretty spectacular life. Understanding her key abilities has helped her learn that focus. "I mean, nothing changes if you don't put some effort into it, right? You have to really try to make stuff happen sometimes, to make something out of nothing."

[farmboyjedi]

Luke isn't going to complain, though.

"Does that mean you've grown up with it?" he asks.

"Yes, That's definitely true." Luke knows that all too well, from the rebellion to rebuilding the Jedi to a lot of things in between.

[the_dawnster]

"I guess it's something I could always do, but I didn't know I could. I've only started really working at it in the past year or so." Dawn tries to explain.

She smirks and smiles a bit. "Except I didn't have a mentor telling me that the power was always in me. Kinda had to learn that on my own."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

He's walking through the stacks looking for something interesting. Maybe he's hoping a series of amazing DVDs will suddenly appear somewhere and he'll have a movie or two to watch. Most of the time, it's nothing but books. Books are okay. He stopped reading random law books when he dropped the third one out of his lap and onto his feet because he fell asleep trying to read it. He's moved on to TV-tie-in novels when he can find them, and the occasional movie novelization.

What he finds in the library this time is unusual. He leans against one of the shelves. "The last time I saw you, you were trying to hold my door closed from the wrong side," he says casually.

[the_dawnster]

Well, that's a voice she'd just about decided that she wasn't going to hear this time in the hotel. She remembers her time here from before, how Harvey had become a friend whether he'd wanted to be her friend or not. How she had kind of crushed on him whether he wanted to be crushed on or not. Strangely enough, she hadn't remembered any of that in her years she'd lived in her home world between then and now.

Dawn slides the book into place on the shelf and then turns to look back at him. There's a moment where she marvels at how nonplussed he is about seeing her again. That's very Harvey of him. Alternatively, Dawn is a jumble of nerves on the inside. What does she do with nerves? She plows right through them.

That's how Harvey suddenly ends up with Dawn tackling him and hugging him tightly. "Just tell me you missed me and how awesome it is to see me again. I mean, it's been years. Maybe boost a girl's ego a little bit, huh?"

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

Harvey's been here a long time. He's not sure what 'home' will be like when (if) he ever goes back. The running theory is that nothing changes and he'll walk back into the same moment he left from. (From his perspective, that will be super weird, but he doesn't think on it much.) Lots of people come and go pretty regularly from here - Buffy, Kirk, even Rachel hadn't been around since, what, New Year's Eve? - so, he's gotten pretty accustomed to random people popping up. (Honestly, the fact that his abandonment issues haven't reared their ugly heads and kicked him in the damned teeth is pretty impressive at this point.)

The tackle-hug is a little overwhelming, even if it isn't all that different from their first meeting. He curls fingers around the edge of a shelf, glad for its sturdiness. "Hey," he says. "I'm pretty solid and all, but I'm not twenty." Despite the fact that he may want to deny that he's reached forty. He leans back a bit to look at her. "What are you, fifty, now?" he teases, because it's clear she's been gone a while.

[the_dawnster]

"You're solid enough." Maybe Dawn needs solid right now. That's why she holds on just a little bit longer, maybe long enough to make it awkward for anyone not her. From her perspective, it's just the right amount of time to hold on - and then some. However, if Harvey pushes her away, she'll let go. She's not so delusional that she can't pick up on cues... mostly.

"Noooo, not fifty. Twenty-two. And I'm gonna pretend like that was a joke cause I better not look like I'm fifty." She pulls back (finally) and lightly baps Harvey on the arm, partly because he deserves it for calling her fifty and partly because of the touching.

She steps back and shoves her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "I was worried you weren't here anymore either. I mean... okay, yeah. What I'm saying is that it's good to see your face and the here-ness of it."

[notgivingyourmoneyback]

A Harvey who had never been to this hotel might be less inclined to indulge such casual physical contact. But the Harvey who's been away from home for a while is a little more open to such things. It doesn't hurt that she's pretty. Harvey's a little shallow sometimes.

He arches an eyebrow at her. "How old were you when you left?" All he knows for sure is 'over 18'. And, yes, the fifty thing was a joke. He's a dick, but not that much of a dick.

He shrugs, hands held out to either side. "As far as I know, I still can't leave. So I'll probably always be here." He's not sure he's really happy about that, but it could be a lot worse. He could be stuck in the room with the T-rex.

[the_dawnster]

"Twenty. I was nineteen when I first got here. But... now a handful semesters of college and a few thwarted apocalypses, almost dying a few times and traveling through several different dimensions where time moves a little wonky compared to my world -- yeah. Life happened." Harvey already knows that her life is a lot this side of crazy, so she has no qualms about talking openly about it to him.

Her shoulders lift in a slight shrug. "I was trying to get home, to my world, when I ended up here."

Selfishly, Dawn secretly hopes that as long as she's here, Harvey can't ever leave. It's a horrible thought, she knows. But right now he's the most familiar face she's seen in a long, long time. She's clinging to that like white on rice... even if she should wish Harvey could go home for Harvey's sake. Dawn never claimed to be perfect, far from it.

"I'm moving in next door to you." Dawn decides. All the better to keep an eye on him. "Also! Oh! We can have movie nights with snacks and PJ's! Like sleepovers but without the pillow fights and the actual sleeping over." Although she might weasel her way into that too just so she doesn't have to be alone sometimes.