all_inclusive | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't actually done much to assimilate into the Nexus. My sister loved it here and loved everything about being in the hotel but I didn't trust things I didn't understand and I had just gone from one crazy bottleneck to another without being able to see my family in between. It was disorienting and confusing and I spent most of my time trying to figure out a way to get back to the caves and back to my brother.

I wasn't successful.

I had read somewhere once that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same result and now, finally, after two months of trying and trying to get back home I was finally giving up. Done. That was it. I was just going to embrace my new screwy life in the hotel and just enjoy the fact that I did have Wanderer and Nick even if I couldn't get back to Jamie and the others. I just wished I could open the door once, just long enough to shepherd my family and friends into safety before closing it again permanently. It wasn't meant to be.

With my newfound lease on life, I decided it was high time I finally got a job. I had been subsisting on the buffet and trying my best to make everything I had last as long as possible but now I wanted to work. I wanted something I could put my hands on, something to help me work out the stress and frustrations of the day. I tried my hand at waiting tables but it turned out that I was terrible at it. I don't really have a memory for orders and working quickly didn't come easily to me. After throwing my tray down and storming out, I wound up joining the maintenance and grounds crew. That was something I was good at. I liked fixing things and I had a decent knowledge of minor repairs after so long on the run. I could hack that.

That was what found me outside just before dawn started pinking the sky, laying mulch in one of the many gardens at the Nexus. It was easier to do this before the sun got high in the sky and it was hot and I wanted to take advantage of it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

After checking the herbs I had drying in my room, and dropping the ones that were finished at the clinic, I took my basket out to the gardens intent on seeing if there was any fresh basil ready for the kitchen.

I smiled when I saw Mel already at work.

"You're up early," I said, greeting her.

"It's too hot to do this when the sun's up," I tossed back, lifting a heavy bag of mulch and groaning with the effort. Even if it was before it got hot, it was still hard work.

"See, I put all the labor in and you make it pretty. That's why we're a team."

"And we make a pretty good one," I responded with a smile, dropping down onto the dirt near my herb garden. I worked in silence for a few minutes before looking up at my sister. "Still no luck with the doors?"

"None at all," I said. I stopped for a moment to catch my breath and while I thought about what I wanted to say, the only sound was my labored breathing. I had gotten soft on the island, it seemed.

"They seem to work for everyone else. Your vampire came back," I said, huffing a little. That wasn't fair to me, at all, but it was fact.

I couldn't stop the smile that formed on my lips, thinking of Eric. "Yes, he did. I was so surprised to see him at my door after giving him up for the disappeared." I looked up at Mel, a little sheepish. "I'm sorry for how I was while I thought he had; I know I wasn't very much fun to be around."

"Yeah, well, your unpleasant is the equivalent of my pleasant, so no hard feelings. Still, if he can come back and forth then why can't I go home for a little while?"

I just wanted to go home long enough to get Jamie and bring him back. The others could thrive back in my world but I wanted my brother, even if it was selfish of me.

"I know," I said softly because for all my relative happiness here, I worried, too. "I had hoped you'd be able to find him as well. Find him and bring him here where he'd be safe."

Neither of us mentioned the others we'd left in the cave by unspoken agreement. Jamie was different. He was so young, and so vulnerable there.

If Jamie could come through to the Nexus, most of my worries would be gone. I knew that Jared and the others could take care of themselves and had been, really, for longer than I even knew them. Jamie was different. Jamie needed me and, to some extent, needed Wanderer and I wanted him here.

"I guess dwelling on it is just going to piss me off, isn't it?"

"Probably," I laughed and looked up at her. "It's not all that bad here, though, right? I mean, you and Nick seem very happy to be reunited."

"Well, yeah," I said, laughing a little to shrug off how shy I got about that kind of thing. "But I don't remember him being gone so I guess it wasn't really a reunion for me. More of a continuance in a new place."

I hated that Nick had to suffer with me being gone, though, and I tried to make up for it as much as I could.

"Even so, it's a wonderful feeling, and it shows. He's much happier than he was when I first got here and I can't help thinking it's because you're here now, too. So that's a plus of sorts, isn't it?"

I couldn't help it. I was happy here, happy to have my sister here, to have Eric back, and I wanted her to be happy as well.

"Well, yeah. I'm not saying no," I said, grinning a little. Truthfully, it was a little overwhelming for Nick to be that happy to see me but that was better than finding out I had been replaced, that was for sure.

"Too bad Ian hasn't shown up yet. That would be nice."

I kept the smile on my face, but my eyes slid down to the herbs I was gathering. I tried very hard to not think about Ian, something that had come much easier here without the constant Luke reminder showing up every now and again.

"Yes. I think he would like it here," I said non-commitally.

"That's pretty nonchalant." Wanderer had been in my head before and I knew how she felt about Ian. This wasn't exactly the reaction I was expecting out of her but, then again, maybe she was just trying to keep from getting herself hurt by constantly thinking about what she couldn't have. It made sense. I had to do the same thing, more or less, and it had been difficult at first.

Nick knew where Melanie was when he woke up, the same place she'd been every morning - at work on the grounds. He'd told her he could float her however much she needed, and paid for them as often as he could; but he also knew that she was the type to want to do for herself and he admired that.

After a quick breakfast, he decided today he was going to give her a little surprise while she worked. Stealthily, he went out onto the grounds and allowed the partial demon shift that would free his wings and nothing else. With a grin, he took off and started circling her, watching to see if she noticed the large shadow on the ground.

Okay, so, it took me a minute. I had to blame that on the fact that I only had one cup of coffee so far and I got a little lost in my work but when I noticed the moving shadow, I laughed and stopped what I was doing in favor of looking up.

The sun had come up just enough that I could make out Nick flying around up there. I was never going to get used to that. "Seriously? You could have scared me to death, you know."

Nick laughed and dive bombed her once, swooping down just enough for the wind of it to ruffle her hair before soaring back up above the trees. "You love it and you know it, cher," he called down to her.

"It's true, I live to have years shaved off my expected lifespan," I deadpanned in reply. I did like a thrill here and there and Nick's flying was damn cool. Which led me to my next question.

"So, can you take me flying?"

Nick landed just in front of her, grinning wider. "Do you want to go flying?"

"Well, obviously. I mean, it looks incredibly dangerous and fun so it's right up my alley."

I had never been a particularly safe person and I had always pushed myself to be faster, harder, stronger - flying tied right into that in a neat little way that I couldn't even have come up with myself.

Nick laughed and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I'll have to bind you to me, unless you'd rather have your legs dangling free while we're airborne." The last was more question than statement, asking her permission to use his powers on her, something he knew she was a little leery about.

"Hmm, okay. As long as it's just for that," I decided. I was a little weirded out by anything that removed the control I had over my own body but in the interest of safety, I could allow Nick to bind me or whatever so I didn't plummet to a horrible death.

"Thanks for asking. It means a lot."

Nick positioned himself directly behind her then leaned over to kiss her cheek. "It's just a way to keep your legs from dropping. I'll be able to keep the rest of you still," he told her and wrapped his arm tight around her waist.

"Take a breath," he whispered when he bound them together and took off into the air, not stopping until they were well above the treetops.

I needed the breath. I needed several, actually, because it was just so insane to be this high in the air without being on a roller coaster or something. I tried to resist from screaming out because it was just so thrilling and scary at the same time.

"Holy shit, you weren't kidding, were you?"

"What, about how awesome this is?" Nick asked as he kept them at an easy soar, circling easily in the sky, "nope. Wasn't kidding about that at all. Want to dive bomb a little or just coast up here for a little while?"

"Let's coast so I can get used to it," I said. The last thing I wanted to do was get airsick mid-flight. That would make a hell of an impression.

"Then let's go for broke?"

"Soaring it is," Nick said into her ear as they circled the garden she'd been working just a few minutes before. "You let me know when it's go for broke time and we'll do a few dive bombs."

Dive bombs sounded thrilling and frightening and awesome all at the same time. I held on tight, even if it wasn't exactly necessary since I knew Nick wasn't going to let me fall, and tried to get myself used to the sensation of flying through the air. I got the sense it wasn't something to get used to.

"How long have you been able to do this?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only