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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))

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"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.

Difficult timing had made it a strange lapse in tracking where-abouts; one Sharon makes note of now to her own displeasure. What network of information was worth building required keeping track of those who moved within it.

Kenzi's face was a study of conflicting, competing emotions. Sharon reached out, not thinking about how her hand touching Kenzi's arm might be both unwelcome.

"Oh dear," she said, not needing to affect the concern she felt. "What's happened?"

Kenzi jerked away the touch as she moved to get a couple plates from the cabinet when she could have just used her powers to do so. She didn't want to be close to anyone right now.

"I happened." As far as she was concerned it was entirely her fault. Everything was her fault.

She filed away the reaction to touch, along with the word choice. Something had certainly happened, and it hadn't gone well.

"That's hardly the way to look at any situation, but I digress. When you say you happened, what do you mean? What did you find waiting for you when you returned home these last few days?"

She returned to the stove to deposit one finished sandwich on the plate, cutting it lengthwise so it formed two triangles. She passed the plate to Sharon before starting up her own sandwich.

"Two years. I was there two years." A lot can happen in two years, which went unsaid. She didn't look up from her prep work, not wanting Sharon to see the tears she was fighting back. She did her best to keep her voice even and to keep her hands from shaking as she worked with the food.

"I wanted power and I paid for it." Almost with her own life, instead it'd been his because he'd come to her rescue. And all that had only happened because she'd paid for her powers with an item that effectively made the holder invulnerable or immortal depending on how one looked at it.

Sharon fell back into a softer calmness, keeping her voice even and soothing as she listened to Kenzi. What wasn't being said carried it's own weight, but as she was passed the plate and held it in her hands, she surmised it'd be a matter of Kenzi deciding how and when to share what it was that had gone on.

Two years is an awful long time.

"Power always has a price." It's an agreement that carried its own weight, one that Sharon herself knew. That Contracts done by mirror were less gruesome than the illegal ones that consumed the user was only a matter of technicality. Chains were not, by and large, used to perpetuate peace. Greater power carried greater cost.

Break was a walking testament to that, among many other things.

"He died?" Soft as she asked, it was still a painful question. Sharon doesn't predict a good response, but dancing around the point would be nonproductive.

"I know that." She couldn't keep the tremor out of her voice. She'd known it then as well, Massimo had made it clear it wouldn't be done for free. She'd done her best to pay him, stolen goods, money, whatever she could get her hands on was his and in return she was granted powers. He couldn't make her Fae but he could do the next best thing.

But then he'd gone a step too far in it and all Bo had killed him, or so they thought.

The question caused the sensation of ice closing around her heart accompanied the feeling and her throat tightened. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes as she dragged in a breath. She refused to cry in front of Sharon, Gil had seen her at some of her worst but no one else was allowed to.

"Yes." She couldn't say anymore than that, not now, she knew she'd start crying if she does.

Edited 2014-02-15 10:48 (UTC)

"Kenzi," she said hands holding her plate. "My condolences. I'm beyond sorry for your loss."

She wasn't making it an affectation. Sharon meant what she said, her face and posture conveying her sense of sympathy. She set the plate back down on the counter, taking a small step forward. "What was he called?"

Kenzi sucked in a breath as she turned back to her now slightly burned sandwich so she could flip it over.

A slight smile formed on her lips before fading almost as quickly as it had appeared. "Hale. Hale Santiago."

She could feel the tears stinging her eyes and quickly blinked them away before turning back to Sharon. "You want something to drink?"

Over on his perch, Sir Apple made an impatient noise, he still expects some food of his own.

Edited 2014-02-16 03:25 (UTC)

Sharon moved to feed Sir Apple a portion of her sandwich, keeping her eyes on Kenzi. "Hale. That's a lovely name." She sounded apologetic, voice and demeanor kind.

"Ah, perhaps I can put the kettle on. Would you like tea? Coffee?"

Water was difficult to fail to boil. That much Sharon could manage on her own.

Sir Apple happily gobbled up that bit of sandwich and looked around for more once it was gone.

"It was short for his middle name, Haley." She gave a soft laugh. She'd teased him when she'd first found out his full name, at the time they were just friends.

"I'll just have some water." She plated up her own sandwich, frowning at the burnt side.

Edited 2014-02-16 07:38 (UTC)

Dragons and their stomachs! Sharon pulls down a glass, stopping by the fridge to pull an ice-cube tray out of the freezer. One, two, three. Water from a container in the fridge fills it up, all done smoothly as it requires no real kitchen know-how, just simple hostessing skills. Sharon has those in abundance at least.

She handed Kenzi the waterglass. "He preferred the shortened version?"

Kenzi nibbled on her sandwich as she watches Sharon bustle about. "Thanks." She took the glass with a small smile and took a sip.

"Well, Fae nobles often have long and ridiculous sounding names and he wasn't like that. He didn't like to flaunt his status and preferred to fit in with everyone else." Which was why they had got along so well as friends for years. She'd been so amazed to find out he was of one of the noble houses.

Nobility is a group of people Sharon herself is used to navigating. A member of any such class who knew not only how to be humble, but gracious and well dispositioned as well was a catch indeed.

"He sounds like a lovely man." Fae or otherwise, Sharon wasn't certain of the proper term. Hopefully man would suffice. "Do you care to tell me more about him? How the both of you met? How you fell in love?" A question she sounds subdued over, much as her tone is infused with warmth and a sad sort of understanding. This wasn't an opportunity to be supremely happy for a friend. It was one for embracing a loss along with what's left in the wake of such: the memories.

It felt strange to talk about Hale in the past tense and it felt even more strange to talk about him with someone she didn't really know. Someone who looked so young yet came off as so mature.

Kenzi pulled herself up onto the counter and settled there with her plate in her lap. Despite making something to eat she wasn't all that hungry.

"I guess..." Her throat felt tight and she knew the tears would start again soon but maybe talking about him would do her some good. She took a deep breath, blinking a couple times while she mulled over how to answer.

"First time we met him and Dyson were kidnapping Bo to take her to Ash, that is the leader of the Light Fae. First Fae to ever use their powers on me was him and he really packed a punch. Didn't take me out with that whistle of his but it felt like someone trying to scramble my brain in my skull." As for how they fell in love she can't remember when she started feeling something for him.

"He said he pretty much fell for me the first time we talked. I'm...not sure when I fell for him. We were friends long before we were anything else."

Sharon could understand relationships that changed over time. Her most precious ones, and one in particular, was much like that - not a one way love from the other side, but a change in emotion over time from her side.

These things had a way of slipping in without any set beginning, even when they knew there was no possible way for happy endings.

"You were both involved in all sorts of excitements together?" Bonding experiences of the most intense sort?

She can't help it if her imagination starts to run wild.

Kenzi lowered her head and gave a soft laugh. Exciting times with Hale prior to them becoming an item? There were certainly plenty of those.

"The funny thing about being a sidekick as that even we get to have our own little adventures while the heroes are teamed up. Yeah, we had plenty of intense bonding experiences." The one coming to mind, at that moment, was the time she was stabbed and Hale used his whistle to cauterize the wound before Kenzi bled to death. The look on his face, he'd been so scared of losing her then she'd never wanted to see that look again...but she did.

Kenzi sucked in a shaky breath and pressed her lips together as tightly as possible. But that didn't stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She ducked her head and tried to dry off her face with one sleeve.

Sharon moved to feed Sir Apple the rest of her sandwich, not in much possession of an appetite at present. From a pocket, she withdrew an embroidered handkerchief. She gently, but matter of factly, pressed it into Kenzi's hand.

"Being a sidekick sounds very much like being one of those who pulls strings from behind the scenes. More exciting," she said, "And important, if not as glorious or in the light of the sun. Or stars, for the more nocturnal among us."

The little dragon happily gobbled it up and seemed satisfied after he was sure he got every last crumb. For the moment he stayed where he was, he could tell Kenzi was upset but she'd been upset a lot lately.

There was another shaky breath sucked in as Kenzi took the handkerchief and wiped her face with it. "I wouldn't...wouldn't say pulling the strings but without us the heroes wouldn't know what to do. Bo...as angry as I am at her for not bringing Hale back, she needs me. She always has." Even if she wasn't part of the prophecy, as far as she knew, Bo had always needed her and in return Kenzi had always needed Bo.

She lifted her head so she could look at Sharon and offered a small smile. "I'm sorry...I haven't even told you that much about my world or my friends. I'm sure a lot of this doesn't even make sense."

"What we sometimes need to say will only make sense to us. I'm sure you'll tell me more about all of them in time. Right now, don't worry if I can follow along. Say what it is you need to say. Tell me about the wonderful things, or the painful things, about these people who mean so much to you."

Sharon offered a small smile in return. "I'm here to listen, Kenzi, for as long as you wish to talk. And if talking doesn't suit you, then I'm not all that bad with sitting in quiet companionship."

She only occasionally had to smack someone around with her fan, but she doubted Kenzi would need quite the same kind of shaking out of a foul mood as Gilbert. She appeared to be far less prone to wallowing.

Kenzi set her plate aside and slipped down form the counter. If Sharon allowed Kenzi would drop down to be more on her level and pull her into a brief but tight hug.

"Thank you. I guess this is all I really needed back home but no one seemed to have the time for it." She smiled and wiped her eyes one more time. "I'm sure what else to say about Hale. He wasn't like other Fae, he didn't look down on humans or just see us as food. He just wanted everyone to get along."

Sharon stayed, returning Kenzi's tight, brief squeeze with one of her own. There's a brief pat of Kenzi's hair, an almost motherly motion. Sharon has it in her from time to time.

"You're welcome."

Grief didn't always have a proper sense of timing. When and how one was allowed to grieve depended on circumstance; if there were more pressing things to address, the grief was held off for longer, felt but not truly digested, and even more rarely spoken on.

She's glad to have been able to help Kenzi in some sense. Losing one you loved is a hurt that never leaves, only cuts less deeply into scarred flesh over time.

"He sounds like he was a good man. He'll be missed," she said, for all it was guessing, "For the good that he does. Do you feel it will be something you can continue forward with? Perhaps with this friend of yours, Bo?"

What did she plan to do with his memory? There was no one way to react, and as such, Sharon felt herself genuinely curious.

Kenzi straighten out her shirt and realized, for the first time, that Sharon was almost as tall as her. Without her heels on it was clear just how short Kenzi was. If Sharon had been any shorter Kenzi might have commented about being reminded of little Tamsin before she shot up; Valkyries and their growth spurts...

"Yeah," she said softly. "I want to see his dream come true. I want to see humans and Fae living side by side and I want to see the Light and Dark working together. I know Bo does too, from the start she's wanted this divide between the Fae to come to an end. And since she was raised by humans she doesn't like how the Fae treat us. But it's a bit hard to make those things happen when Fate has other plans." Like the end of world.

Sharon, in the stasis brought on by a decision made as a young girl, was not so different than Kenzi in age as well as height. Had things progressed according to the whims of nature, she very likely would have grown, but that dream had faded in favor of the practicality, and acceptance.

A young woman who listened to the way Kenzi spoke, hearing an emphasis that spoke of proper nouns instead of broader reaching concepts.

"You say Fate as if it has a will of its own." Which it very likely did; ideas could be presences and intelligences of their own, should stories out of the Abyss be believed. The very mystery the people of Pandora raced toward, or that her household did, entangled with the Baskervilles, aimed to address questions just like those.

Worlds were trying to end all the time. She empathized with Gilbert, living through one horrible thwarted ending to come to a world that held an absolute ending in the mouth of one inconceivably large. She wouldn't tell him how things were at home, or how she'd ached and raged to know what had happened.

Fate, she believed, could very well be an individual. And an individual could be fought, much like an idea. At what cost...

Well. Perhaps too high a cost, but that was neither here nor there. It was Kenzi's story. It was from Kenzi that Sharon wanted to hear whatever it was she desired to say.

"A bit hard is a reasonable challenge in the face of something worth winning. When you look to change the foundation of a world, a bit hard is the least you can expect to oppose you, Fate willing or not. You have you, and you have your Bo. I don't believe you will be so alone in seeing your love's wish through to fruition."

"I wouldn't say it has a will of it's own but it's certainly a thing that dictates our lives. There's no fighting it, trust me, I tried once. I tried so hard and yet the guy died anyway." He'd probably been her first Fae crush even though she'd only known him for a few hours.

"It'd just be nice if we could get a break for once to do other things. Ever since Bo found out she's Fae there's been an end of the world crisis nearly every year. It gets tiring after a while." First it was Bo's mother trying to start a war between the Light and the Dark that could have ended in the death of pretty much everyone. Then it was the Garuda, awakened because Trick used his powers. The year after that wasn't so much world ending as shit hitting the fan but now, just as she'd left, it was Bo's father trying to come into the world from Hell to claim his daughter.

Kenzi offered a little smile to Sharon, "Thanks."