(no subject)

[heartstings]

WHO: Kenzi and OPEN free for all at the house
WHERE: Residence #004
WHEN: 2/12 - 2/13; Around midnight or so
WHAT: Kenzi's finally back from her tantrum about being brought back.
WARNINGS: Language, possibly drunken-ness, maybe violence? Also spoilers I guess.

---

The hour was late when Kenzi finally decided to return home. She'd been gone since the previous morning, a twenty-four hour port out that had actually been two years to her. Two long years fill with all the crazy Fae shit she'd missed and not missed at the same time.

She'd spent the day as secluded as possible, destroying wildlife and screaming her lungs out. A whole day trying to get her rage to subside but it did little good. Nothing could change the fact that she was here instead of back home torturing the man that had taken her future away from her. That she was here at all...

She'd flown back, barefoot, dirty, leaves and twigs still stuck in her hair, and most of all she was starving. The only thing on that list that mattered at that very moment was getting some food into her and then follow it up with alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

She came in silently, hoping to find everyone had gone to bed. She didn't want to see anyone until she was ready.


((feel free to respond in brackets if that's more comfortable, I don't mind matching))

Comments

[prearcadian]

She had little choice if she were to make the kitchen a priority. Shadows were playing in the on-again off-again light of the fridge, and glass was making dim clink or thdd sounds when set atop the nearby counter.

Harlock straightened up after ducking the top of the box, holding the door open with the toe of his boot while he gave himself a second to scratch at his neck and glance over what he'd found. Beer. Ketchup. Milk. Soda? Whatever that was.

The timing was just right for him to catch Kenzi's shape lurking and turn his head for a better look. Never the sort to startle so easily, he simply narrowed his eyes to try and pick some telltale details out in the gloom. Person? Coat rack? Lost bartender with a crate full of fireball whiskey?

A guy can dream.

[heartstings]

If only she had a crate full of fireball whiskey, not that she'd be sharing it.

The shadow thief (in training) paused in the living room when she realized the light in the kitchen was on and there was, indeed, someone in there. Her lips pulled into a scowl as she neared, only to realize the person was an intruder. Instinctively she reached for Geraldine only to remember the sword had been left back home, still covered in blood.

No matter, she didn't need her sword here. Hunger weakened her powers but she could still do a few little things. As she crept closer she focused on all the stuff Harlock had left all over the counter causing the items to lift into the air.

"If you're looking for anything valuable, bub, I would suggest finding another house."

[prearcadian]

Harlock's foot turned just enough to coax the fridge door open further, giving off a bit more light; it didn't do too much as far as solving the mystery Kenzi is, considering the glare, but it proved to not be a problem when she spoke up.

His head tilted.

"Didn't get keys to any other houses," he replied, his tone matching the shrug he gave along with it. "Why? You already clean this one out of liquor?"

[heartstings]

Keys? Kenzi's concentration faltered and all the items she'd been ready to throw at him fell back to the counter, most make it safely but a couple of the glasses bounced then rolled right into the floor where they shattered.

There was no reaction to the broken glass, just her moving forward to flip the light on. She let out a sigh and started at the broken glass for a moment before moving to find the broom. She was too preoccupied with that to catch the bit about liquor. If she had she would have been relived that he hadn't found her stash.

"So they stuck a newbie in here with us." Spoken mostly to herself but loud enough for him to hear.

[prearcadian]

"–!!"

Harlock did start at that; while he was looking her way, he'd so plainly missed that display of power on the counter that he stood a few minutes, rocked onto the heel farthest from the mess, and boggled at the little shards all over the floor. When had his elbow moved and knocked anything over? He didn't think he bumped anything – certainly didn't feel a hit...

"...Huh."

The sudden snap of lights made him grimace, having to close his eyes and blink them quickly a few times to adjust and slowly rocked out of his posture. His foot slipped away from the fridge and let it close at last, and he backed up enough for Kenzi to move in on the scene.

Rather than dive right in to help, Harlock's arms folded as he watched, ears tuned in to catch the mumbling. Newbie was what stuck, mostly, and made his mouth quirk.

"So they just dump people in on residents, no warning?"

[heartstings]

To avoid cutting up her feet Kenzi hovered a few inches off the floor as she began to sweep up the mess. Now that there was light he'd see just how tiny and messy she was. Five foot four, barefoot and looking like she'd taken a run through the woods; which was about the gist of it. Gil was probably going to be upset with her later for breaking a glass as well as leaving dirty tracks on the living room carpet from the door to the kitchen.

"There haven't been newbs for a while now and we've only been her about a month." She cleared her throat when she was done speaking, grimacing a bit. She shouldn't have screamed so much but it had made her feel a little better. She'd been holding those screams in for a while.

Before long she had all the glass up, it was too precise a job to use her powers on but she was sure she got it all up with the broom. She dumped the remains of the glass into the bin before finally setting her feet back down on the tile floor.

She turned to look at Harlock, studying him. Her eyes were red and any makeup she'd been wearing was a mess now despite having been waterproof.

[prearcadian]

Yikes.

He was frowning at her when she glanced his way again, having let the mystery of the fallen bottle itself fall to the wayside in favor of trying to figure this girl out. Out of the woods wasn't too far from mind, given all that mud and broken pieces of twig or bramble here and there.

An eyebrow slowly lifted as she talked, trying to take that alongside what he was looking at. Sure, he wasn't innocent of showing up somewhere looking like hell and carrying on like it wasn't an issue, but...

"...You lose a fight?" he tried, not quite sold on it. There was a roughness about her, certainly, but it didn't write a solid conclusion for it. Too much around this way-too-sunny Earth made it hard to guess.

[heartstings]

Kenzi continued to study him in silence until he spoke again. While her face remained relatively calm there was a sudden anger in her eyes, eyes that were suddenly glowing a brilliant blue. A sword of shimmery blue energy appeared in her right hand, looking solid and sharp.

She pointed it at him as her lips twitched into a smirk, "I don't lose fights." There was a growl to those words that wasn't caused by her sore throat.

Those words were completely untrue but she did her best to sell it.

And just as quickly as the sword appeared it was dismissed. Kenzi turned to dig through the fridge, certainly there were some leftovers still in there?

[prearcadian]

Both eyebrows lifted, but Harlock blinked slow, willfully refusing to flinch at such blatant aggression. It struck him as the way cornered animals bristled when cornered – obvious grandstanding, but there were fewer times when an animal could be more dangerous when they were pushed to those points.

Not exactly what he'd been hoping to find, fishing through the fridge.

He didn't blink so long as the blade was in view, but did let his arms relax some, having tensed up out of sheer instinct. With the threatening over and done with, his mouth tugged on one side with the start of a crooked smirk.

"Then the other guy must be a pretty gruesome sight." Maybe in slices, he thought.

after harlock, i guess. points to eyes points to elle.

[corviform]

Maurtia Falls had been... something, to say the least.

A touch more stressful than Cape Canaveral, but he was glad in some ways to be back in the house with a soft bed and a whole kitchen he still had to learn his way around. (It's frustrating, but also a delight to discover how sleek the equipment operates in this world. One of the pros, he would say.)

He had been napping in his bedroom when he heard footsteps. It was a late hour, so he wondered what it could have been and the horrible thought of another alligator got him jumping out of bed with his gun in hand. He slipped out of the room and down the hall, squinting hard to see through the dark when he smelled what might have been trees and something else.

Then he saw the mud and trail of leaves and twigs.

He didn't mean to raise his voice, but in a burst: "Why is there such a mess?! On the carpet!"

Works for me!

[heartstings]

So Kenzi had dragged a whole forest in with her, what's the big deal? She hadn't yet got around to cleaning it up, needing to shower first before she made a bigger mess. She was just coming out of the bathroom in a towel when she heard Gil's distress over her mess.

She paused in the doorway and wondered if she should just slip back into the bathroom until he moved on so she could get to her room without being seen. But that was a bit of a pause too long which meant he would probably see her before she got the chance to retreat.

"I'll uh...I'll clean it up after I'm dressed." She tugged the towel up a bit higher as she started to edge toward her bedroom.

[corviform]

He did catch a shadow moving in the darkness, even while he stepped closer to the carpet and fumed about the mud slathered on it. All he could fret about was how difficult cleaning that sort of material would be and how long it would take.

"Brand new... no respect..." He didn't have an idea who did it, but when he overheard Kenzi and looked, it occurred to him quickly.

Or not so quickly.

Instead, he stood facing her while she was almost entirely disrobed, with only a towel to cover her frame. He gawked for several seconds before panic set in and the blood rushed to his face.

"Why are.... S-SORRY!" he clapped a hand over his mouth and turned around as fast as he could, trying to erase that image of her from his mind.

... Wait, had she said something about cleaning up?

[heartstings]

Normally Kenzi would laugh at Gil's reaction and try to poke some fun at him for being embarrassed but she wasn't in the mood. Instead she slipped silently to her bedroom so she could dress.

It didn't take her long, she soon came back out in a pair of pants and t-shirt, damp hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. She flipped the light on in the living room so the mess she made could be better seen. The worst of the trail was from the door to the kitchen after that point most of it had dried on her feet or already rubbed off on the carpet so there was only a bit of dirt from the kitchen to the bathroom.

She stared at the mess in silence, unsure how to deal with it. It was mostly dry by now so the vacuum could deal with most of it but there would be stains unless they could get a steam-cleaner after it.

"I just keep making a mess of things." She said quietly as she shook her head.

[corviform]

Gil hadn't budged from his spot, and instead quivered in the fear if he did turn around he would see more than he wanted to again. He gripped his face, muffled, discomforted sounds as he tried to make sense of the situation.

The mud and wood and leaves... Was it possible Kenzi had dragged them in somehow? He let his eyes trail downward, making out small footprints that almost blended into the shadows of the room. Kenzi stepping out of the shower (he swallowed hard going over this detail) meant it had to have been her.

It didn't explain what had happened.

As Kenzi returned and light chased off shadows of the late night, Gil kept himself rooted to the spot.

[heartstings]

Kenzi continued to stare at her mess for a few moments before she seemed to remember Gil was there. She looked over at him and frowned, he was up because she'd woke him up. She was surprised no one else had come out to investigate.

"Go back to bed, I got this." Her tone was somewhat flat, defeated.

She didn't wait for a response out of Gil. She moved to the closet where the vacuum was kept and pulled it out. It looked old but so did everything else in this world, she figured it probably did a better job than any vacuum made back in her own world. Not that she ever used one back there, they didn't have carpet in the Clubhouse and really didn't clean up that often.

[corviform]

A light sleeper, he had always been. He didn't sleep more than five hours if he could help it, his body always awakening when it deemed he had had more than enough time to rest.

He thought he had misheard her the first time and then the almost doleful inflection in her voice. He stopped his shoulders from quaking and slowly, peered over it to get a glimpse of her and something about her appearance struck him as off. The lightning of the room had given her hair a tinge of brown, or so he thought.

"Did you track the mud in?" he asked quietly, no longer angry, but still dismayed by the mess. It was a brand new house as far as they were concerned.

[heartstings]

"Yeah, sorry." She didn't look over at Gil as she responded, she was too busy checking the settings on the vacuum.

Judging from his reaction he hadn't even noticed she'd been gone which didn't sit well with her. Back home her friends had left her feeling as if they didn't care about her or what she'd gone through. It'd been like having their friend and her future husband die had been nothing. She'd felt betrayed and unwanted and again she was feeling unwanted.

"I didn't realize I dragged in so much."

13th

[auntyquated]

Sharon brushed her hair back over her shoulder, the sights of Maurtia Falls firmly in mind. She finds it delightful after a certain fashion, the air of not-quite-overt criminal activity more of a draw than the safer streets. She wonders what that says about her, but doesn't spend too much time mulling over the thought.

School hardly keeps her engaged. She knows everything there is to know in subjects of importance outside of the social history she's attempting to absorb. For that information alone does she bear with the indignity of school all over again, along with the little thread of excitement in touching on something that'd been out of her reach for the same reason an advantageous marriage was.

"Is anyone home?" she said, setting her slim book-bag on a hook on the wall. She has homework. She fully plans on ignoring it until she gets bored.

[heartstings]

Kenzi probably had work but she didn't go in. After a day in the woods taking out her anger on the wildlife she needed another day to rest up. And then at least another week to try and get her head together. So instead she'd spent most of the day sleeping between drinks of whatever alcohol she'd managed to stash away over the last month.

By the time Sharon returned home Kenzi was more or less sober and looking for a snack in the kitchen. Sir Apple was the one to greet the blonde before Kenzi got the chance. The small dragon flew to Sharon, headbutted her in the shoulder, his way of greeting people, then flew back into the kitchen just as Kenzi peered around the corner.

"Oh...hey. Wanna snack?"

[auntyquated]

She's enchanted by Sir Apple's sign of affection, lips pulling up into a genuine smile of pleasure for all she'd rather he not actually touch her in the process without permission. He might stand to be better trained. Sharon contemplates informing Kenzi of the possibility, but it's not a current priority.

"What are you making?"

Sharon made her way to the kitchen, curious. She was a hopeless cause when it came to anything in the kitchen, generally relying on Gilbert to survive day to day. After managing to burn the toast one week straight in the mornings, she'd even given up on the simplicity of the toaster.

Simple her heel! Besides, why did she need to know how to do these things? (Frustration speaking more than practical sense, which understood the purpose.)

[heartstings]

In Kenzi's mind the dragon would do what he wanted to do, he'd been a wild animal before following her back to the City after all. Although she had managed to train him better when it came to food he was still a little thief. As far as his greetings went he was just really friendly, at least his headbutting was no longer to the point where he tried to knock someone over.

"Grilled cheese." Surprise! Kenzi could cook, when she wanted. The butter, bread and cheese were out, a pan on the stove ready for everything to go in it, meaning she hadn't really started yet.

Sir Apple settled back down in the corner of the kitchen where Kenzi usually fed him, expecting some food since Kenzi was making something.

[auntyquated]

"Grilled cheese?" Was there a parrot in here? Sharon comes closer, peering at the pan on the stove, then over at the supplies laid out on the counter. "That sounds delightful! If you don't mind, I'd love to join you."

She smiled, taking a moment to look Kenzi over more carefully. "You look like you've had a rough day."

[heartstings]

She nodded as she turned on the stove and dropped some butter into the pan to melt. "Yeah it's just a sandwich with delicious melted cheese." Kenzi sure does love her cheese.

Her jaw tightened when Sharon commented about how she looked. It'd been a rough week, really. But she had nothing to say about that as she dropped a slice of bread into the pan to soak up some butter before taking it out and putting the other in with a couple slices of cheese on it. "So how toasted do you want your bread?"

The whole time here left had was in plain view with her engagement ring still on her ring finger. She refused to remove it for anything, there was probably still some blood caked into the setting that she just couldn't seem to get out.

[auntyquated]

"Not enough to be black, if you please." The request was polite, even as Sharon's attention started to wander. The entirety of the cooking process could really only engage her when it was more of an overall show, or somehow related to the delicacies enjoyed with tea.

She had particular priorities.

Kenzi's ring drew her attention as her attention wandered, bringing Sharon back into immediate, sharp focus. She barely had a hold on her enthusiasm, keeping herself in check with a visible show of restraint. "Why Kenzi, you never told me you were engaged! Who's the lucky gentleman? Have we met?"

[heartstings]

"A'ight." Blackened toast was never good anyway. She figured she'd just toast as much as she toasted her own, to perfection.

Sharon's questions caused a few reactions in Kenzi all at the same time, it was hard to say which was more dominate the sadness, the anger, or the surprise that no one noticed she'd been 'ported out. Her jaw tightened again as she swallowed hard, swallowing back any emotion that wanted to spill forth should she open her mouth. It took her a moment before responding.

"No. It was back home."

The cheese was starting to melt so she placed the other slice of bread on top and flipped the whole thing so the other side could cook.