aterat | Imagine a fancy title here, you will

Even as he headed to her apartment, hoping she was there, everything in the logical part of his mind was screaming at him this was a bad idea. The last time they'd talked, they'd even agreed it was a bad idea, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. No amount of magical prodding he'd done had suggested his inability to stop thinking about her was magically or supernaturally induced, either, and while Harry Dresden could be exceptionally stubborn and hard-headed, in the last few weeks, another voice had joined the chorus. An annoyingly familiar voice he'd come to look up to, at least in some ways.

Thomas would tell him that yes, Ivy was dangerous, but he would also note that Harry was dangerous too, and that Ivy's nature suggested she would better be able to protect herself than a normal person would. He'd also note that unlike some people, Ivy didn't take a little piece of your soul every time she had sex with you, so she was definitely a better option to date than he would be. Harry retorted that they only pretended to be a couple, and then he chastised himself for talking to himself and also for being homesick enough to fabricate a conversation with his vampiric half-brother.

What would Thomas do? Drink a lot and lament his lot in life, but he'd also tell his little brother to get off his ass and talk to a girl he liked because blah blah blah you need to get your feet wet again, blah blah blah. It also helped that just talking with Ivy made him feel at least 10 years younger and a lot lighter. He couldn't tell if that was hormones or emotions, but he got the sneaking suspicion it didn't matter. Either way, here he was, knocking on her door one random afternoon to see if she wanted to have lunch with him.

Maybe he should have called first.

Lately Ivy had done nothing but avoid people. There were a lot of reasons for that, at the top of the list was the fact that she had taken a bit of blood a while ago. Nothing too bad, nothing too out of control, but enough to have made her feel ashamed enough to just hide away. It wasn't something she'd wanted to do, but after her run in with he plant version of her "master" she hadn't been left with much choice. Not if she'd wanted to come back to her senses and heal. The fact that the thing that had pushed her over the edge had been something wearing the face of Piscary made everything all the worse.

The problem was that once she'd started she had a hard time going back. More. There was always a desire for more. It wasn't just a desire for more though, it was a desire for more from someone specific and she wasn't about to let that happen. Not any of it. Despite Watt's words to her she was still hesitant about everything involving Harry Dresden. She couldn't convince herself she actually deserved a decent relationship and she couldn't convince herself that it was actually possible for her to have one with how screwed up she was. She couldn't convince herself that a relationship in a place like this could even work, despite having proof in Watts that it could. Maybe that was just her trying to self-sabotage though. Kisten did like to say she did that and a tiny, tiny part of her was starting to think that he was right.

In the end everything just ended up back at it being a terrible idea to associate with him. Plus, she'd convinced herself both of the feelings they had probably came from her vampiric nature. Which meant she was patently ignoring Watt's point about using the network to tell if feelings were being manipulated somehow. She was exceedingly good at just ignoring things that could be good in her life. Now that was definitely something to wallow in.

Which was exactly what she was doing when she heard a knock on her door. Visitors weren't exactly something she was used to so she hesitated for a few knocks before making her way to the door to open it up. When she saw who it was she immediately regretted both opening the door and not grabbing a sweater or something to throw over her black tank top. She shook her head in a vain attempt to use her long black hair to cover the numerous scars around her neck that she usually kept hidden.

"Uh," uh. Brilliant. Great start already. She pursed her lips and bit down on her lower lip revealing just the briefest glimpse of her fangs. "How can I help you Mr. Dresden?"

"Mister Dresden? Really?" He knew he was dropping in unannounced, and even if he hadn't been, with his track record of appearance when someone came knocking at his own door, he was hardly a judge of her own. Besides, most guys really don't care what you're wearing in the first place. He was an observant guy, and he did notice the scars near her neck. After their talk, it shouldn't be a surprise, he knew what Piscary had done to her, but there was something different about seeing it, something that made it more real, and the desire to protect her surged up in the back of his mind.

Whoa, tiger. She's calling you by your surname. Maybe get her to call you Harry again before you start swearing yourself as her protector.

"I, uh," now that he was here, he realized he probably should have figured out exactly what he was going to say before he knocked on her door. Be yourself, right? Harry Dresden was usually way more prepared than this. "I know this is sudden, but I was in the neighborhood, and I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch." In the neighborhood? You live here, Harry.

"In the neighborhood? Really?" she said with a tilt of her head and arch of her eyebrow. Maybe mimicking his really with one of her own wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do. But really, did he expect her to believe that? No, he knew how stupid that sounded. His nervousness permeated the room enough that she could almost see it. Or maybe it wasn't nervousness, maybe he was just this awkward. Strange how it was almost endearing.

"You come through the neighborhood often?" she bit down on her lip again in an attempt to hide the smile that threated to creep it's way onto her expression. The question gave her pause and she shifted her position, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the doorframe.

"That depends entirely on what you have in mind for lunch." The smile finally came through though it looked much more like a smirk than a smile. It hadn't been her intention to make her voice sound so sultry, but that was exactly what she'd done. Was filtration really her instinct now? In the back of her mind a voice asked her if she was just looking for a potential meal, something more meaningful than what she'd had. The whisper was loud enough to give her pause. Pull it together, Ivy and stop overthinking like this.

Edited 2021-09-16 13:16 (UTC)

He returned that smile she struggled to mask with a lopsided grin of his own. It was hard not to feel a small surge of relief that his awkward suggestion was successful. Score one for the wizard.

"Every once in a while, you might have seen me around."

His eyebrows rose while his libido reminded him it had been a very long time at the sound of her voice. Stars and Stones it'd been a long time since a woman had talked to him like that when she wasn't trying to eat him. She wasn't...was she? The logical, self-preserving part of him voiced its concern, but he shoved it down. He could hadn't her if things got out of hand. Right? Right.

"Well, I was thinking a steak sandwich and fries, maybe, but if you had something else in mind..."

"Here and there," she said with a chuckle that she tried to hide with her hand. It was only after she'd assured that he wouldn't see that she'd chuckled at his joke that she moved her hand to her hip.

"I could have a lot of other things in mind." She flipped her hair back and gave a throaty chuckle. "But steak and fries may be a good start. Especially if there's ketchup." There was probably something ironic about a vampire liking ketchup. Luckily she didn't spend too much time thinking about irony. "Let me throw something nicer on." The voice in the back of her mind told her to just say no, that this was a bad idea. It was a voice she just ignored.

He grinned, making no effort to hide it, he was a bad liar anyway, and nodded. "Sure, sure. Take your time."

He was not ashamed of the fact that he watched her hips sway as she moved off into her house to put on something nicer. He did not go inside, because he wasn't invited. Even if she had thought of this place as a home, it hadn't had the time or the attention required to give it a threshold, but it was still polite not to enter when one wasn't invited, and so he waited on her front step, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his duster, and waited for the vampire he was taking out for lunch, ignoring the voice in his own head that told him that was a bad idea.

"Shouldn't be long," she shouted back at him from her room. The sound of rummaging could be heard and after a few minutes had passed she came out. What she had on was nothing too impressive: a black shirt with fishnet sleeves, a deep red scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, black jeans, and combat boots to finish things off.

"Alright, lead the way," she gestured forward as she tied her long hair back in ponytail. It was a test and he probably had no idea about that. Dominance played an important role in vampire society and she wanted to know if he could be the dominate one. Which was probably something she shouldn't even be thinking about but...no, no, she shouldn't be thinking about it. If he could be the dominate one then she could put more trust in the fact that he could control her. That shouldn't matter though. It shouldn't be something she was thinking on.

He nodded, turning and heading toward the stairs as he did. What she'd put on wasn't classy, but neither was this lunch and it suited her in a way he appreciated. They looked like a study of opposites with his jeans and mantled duster, but there was something he liked about that, too, not that he had any business thinking things like that.

"It would be my pleasure, though it's just the tavern in the market district. It's a pretty nice place if you've never been. Real...old world charm, you know?"

"Old world, hmm?" she said she she followed closely behind. "You know, I've had bad experiences with things described as old world." Her smirk was almost audible, as if he wanted to make up for the fact that he wouldn't be able to see it. Most people would describe Piscary as old world and that wasn't a pleasant connection. At least she'd been to the tavern before, it wasn't terrible.

"There are worse places I suppose. Not something I'd choose back home unless I was after something specific."

Once they were downstairs, he moved to the door leading outside quickly, holding it open for her.

"I get the impression you and I have different definitions of 'old world'. Mine just means a time before technology killed belief in the supernatural."

"Looks like you have a lot of old world tendencies." She glanced at him with an arched eyebrow as she walked through the door. At least nobody could claim he wasn't trying to be polite.

"Does it make it easier that they don't believe?"

"So I still believe in chivalry. Sue me." But he was smiling as they made their way to a table.

"Yes...and no. Does it make it easier to do my job without news vans trying to get the scoop? Sure. Does it make it easy to avoid run-ins with mortal law enforcements while I'm trying to track down rogue faeries kidnapping people? No. I get locked up for obstruction and let out on a technicality."

"Chivalry died a long time ago. Guess you missed the memo. Or the email." she said with a tiny smirk that quickly turned into a light laugh.

"I feel like you'd manage to get locked up in my world too. Rachel's managed. Luckily I have connections. Maybe I'd even use them for you."

"Most wizards don't have email. We tend to kill anything made after the second world war, just the magical aura that surrounds us. Tell the higher-ups to send a courier next time," he responded with a smirk of his own.

"Gee, Miss Tamwood, you really know how to make a fella feel special." When they got to a booth, he waited for her to slide in first before leaning against edge of the table. "Steak sandwich and fries for the lady? I like this place, you order at the bar."

"Now that's strange," she said with a shake of her head. "Must make research hard for you." She gave a shrug as she slide in and crossed one leg over the other.

"Quaint. Sounds good enough."

He grinned, as though it was some deep trade secret he was commenting on. "Wizards have a lot of ways to get information." And then he headed to the bar, ordered their food, and came back with two light beers. Sure, it was lunch, but they were two consenting adults.

"I hope you didn't miss me."

She arched an eyebrow as he came up with the beers. "Hmm," not something she'd have necessarily chosen but it somehow wasn't surprising that he did. Simple seemed fitting for him.

"Loneliest few minutes of my life," she said with a low voice as she reached out to take the beer from his hand. She let her hand linger on his for a moment too long before slowly pulling it away and taking a sip from what he'd brought. "Wasn't sure if I'd make it, and this is my only reward?"

"What, I'm not reward enough?" He grinned as he retook his seat, his libido definitely not missing her prolonged touch when she took her beer. He may not be an exceptionally attentive man, but some parts of him always paid attention, even if it wasn't in their best interests to.

"How can I make it up to you?"

"Hmm, do you really think you're a reward?," she said with a flash of a smirk. She lowered her gaze to him and took another sip of her drink. "I could think of a few things." Though, everything she could think of seemed like a horrible idea. Horrible and yet she couldn't stop thinking about it.

"I think I can at least claim 'consolation prize'." Maybe, at least on a good day. "Are you telling me you're only here because you've got nothing better to do?"

He imagines if Ivy hadn't wanted to come, she would have come up with a reasonable excuse to stay home.

"Oh, do you?" she chuckled and ran a finger along the top of the bottle. "What if that was the reason?" There was a playful quality to her tone though, as if she were teasing him about his question. The last thing she wanted to do was to think about why she'd actually come here with him.

He gave her an awkward smirk at her question, leaning in conspiratorially. "Then I'd say that makes me the best option, and I'm calling that a win."

This was a terrible idea. All the red flags were blatant, in his face, but at the moment, he just didn't care. This was the second world they'd been trapped in together and it just seemed almost pointless to be worried about what could happen between them when there was so much outside of them trying to kill them.

"Mmm, the best option with the others being cataloguing my notes on this place and doing my hair," she said with a little tilt of her head. She moved her finger from the bottle slowly and then took a long drink from it. Was it a bad idea to be purposely trying to be seductive right now? Definitely. Could she help it? Not particularly. At least not right now.

"What was your reason for asking me?"

"Hey, I rate above doing your hair. Definitely a win." He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd bantered this way with a woman, at least in a way that actually meant something, not the playful chatter between himself and Murphy. Sure, Murph was cute, strong, and if things were different, he'd definitely go for it, but she was Murph, and she most certainly did not think of him that way.

"What, a guy can't ask a friend he's been to two worlds with out to lunch without there being some kind of ulterior motive?"

Closed → Ivy Tamwood

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