aterat | Advice?

Entry tags:

Advice?

Who; Watts and Ivy
What; Friends having pizza and awkwardly asking for advice. Very awkwardly.
Where; Ivy's Pizza parlor
When; 2/24
Warnings;None at the moment

Ivy Tamwood had never been good at asking other people for help. Not when it came to her job, not when it came to her Master, not when it came to her issues, and certainly not when it came to romance. No, Ivy
was about as bad as anyone could be at asking for any sort of assistance. Ironically how horrible she was at asking for help or advice was actually just serving to embarrass her more. Why was she this terrible at it? It shouldn't be this hard to just text someone, ask them to come by to talk, and then talk to them.

But it was.

A million thoughts went through her head. Like that she was just bothering someone by asking. Or that it was stupid that she was bothered enough to want advice in the first place. She shouldn't be. It wasn't that big of a deal was it? Yeah, it kinda actually was. The entire idea of the soulgaze with Harry was disturbing on it's own. The idea that you lock eyes with a wizard and then they magically get to see some glimpse into who you really truly were? That was messed up. The fact that you saw them as they were was also messed up. The fact that it was unavoidable if you made eye contact was even worse.

Though the thing bothering Ivy the most was that Harry had just neglected to every mention it was a thing. When that thought hit her she finally got the nerve to send a text to Llewellyn reading:

Free Pizza if you come by Night Owl.

Now she just had to hope he'd take the bait without needing her to explain she wanted to talk.

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"Maybe someone will want to someday. Or a sailor will show up." Personally, she'd sooner go back into the forest and try to deal with that again than take a boat out herself. That was something he both had no knowledge of or interest in learning. Even if she was curious if there was any way to actually get beyond there now.

"You are. Maybe I'll tell you a story someday. I could tell you about my ex-girlfriend and some of the things we got up to." Those things happened to involve a lot of blood, a lot of parties, and a lot more blood. Skimmer had never been particularly good for Ivy, she'd just encouraged her bloodlust and pushed her to embrace it and let go. Skimmer embraced being a vampire while Ivy struggled with every moment of it. That was never going to be something that would work in the long run. She shrugged after a second. "Parties, clubs, breaking the law, those kinds of things," she gave a toothy little smile as if to accentuate that she couldn't quite see him doing any of that. Though she might be more than a bit amused to.

"Either way, it's frustrating. A mass of frustration." And she hated being frustrated. Her legs tensed and she began to bounce one over the other as the irritation at the entire situation flared up inside of her all over again. "He's just....frustrating. He makes everything some big production about protecting people and so he hides things." There was an exasperated quality to her voice. "Like he thinks he's cursed to screw things up with people but doesn't realize he's the curse. Some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy in the making."

Of course she'd been afraid to tell him about her issue, about how she'd been groomed by Piscary, about her connections with blood and sex. She'd been terrified to tell someone and even more terrified to let someone in because it meant trying to confront those issues. So maybe it was hypocritical of her to say that about him. She'd tried to push away too. But somehow Harry was worse. He made his priority the protection of everyone else, whether they needed that protection or not. He just decided they did and then went with it, all the while ruining his chances of anything not getting messed up.

“Mm… Either is always possible, especially around here. Seems like all sorts arrive, and the world tends to move in such odd directions itself.” He responded with a small shrug. It really was anyone’s guess what would happen and who it might be that pushed something forward.

He hummed a little at the suggestion, though, smiling a bit. “Then I look forward to the potential story one day, Ivy.” He responded, knowing better than to push for one now given the overall mood of the conversation. Though he had to chuckle a little at the grin she gave him and the small hint at what those stories involved. “Ah, so all the things one could consider an exciting and interesting night out.” He could think of a few stories he heard about other people, after all. The signs of an adventurous evening tended to involve one or more of those very things.

“That it certainly would be.” He can’t deny that, not at all. In Ivy’s place, he can imagine he would have been just as frustrated if he found out something like this about his own significant other. Relationships were always a… particular kind of frustration at times, even if they were worth pursuing. “He does seem very sure of these things, at least from some conversations I’ve had with him.” He remembered the very specific advice about not wasting time, though, back at his wedding at the Sphere… “Makes me think he has his reasons for it, some experiences making it hard to not be over-cautious and serious about protecting people.”

But it did tend to make a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even Llewellyn knew by now that trying to do whatever was required or seemed expected to avoid disaster and ending up alone… It didn’t end well. It hadn’t in his world, that was for sure. “Was that something you spoke to him about before you both, uh- put the matter aside till you had time to think?”

"And I'll hope you just forget about it," but she knew eventually, someday, he'd probably ask for the story. That was just his way of things. "All those things and more." She gave a little smirk before shaking her head. There were moments she missed those wild days. They required less control and less monitoring herself which, by default, meant they also were just an easier time.

"Evidently he caused his last girlfriend to get turned into a vampire." She shrugged. That was the gist of the story he'd told. "Kind of sounded more like she made a bunch of dumb decisions that came from him not being entirely upfront." Just like his situations here. "I think he tried to protect her by keeping her out of things but she was nosy and ended up digging into it." Which was his fault and wasn't at the same time. Maybe if he'd just been honest and upfront with her it wouldn't have happened at all, but it was also her choice to continue pursuing things. "I don't think that was his only bad experience like that either." He'd alluded to losing a lot of people and having several relationships that ended up going shitty due to things like that.

"No. Not really." Talk like a responsible person??? Who does that? "Kind of in a roundabout way. But not deeply."

Oh, he definitely would be asking someday, unless she was very lucky, and this was one of those things that slipped from his slightly scattered memory. It was just a matter of when, and if the time for that kind of conversation seemed right.

Which was not now, unfortunately, as he listened to her explanation. There’s a small furrow of his brow, it definitely gave a little more of an idea why Harry sometimes said the things he had in the past… “I guess that would explain why he might have a hard time with opening up about these things… But it seems like he needs to realize that with you he doesn’t need to keep those kinds of secrets.” Ivy was already a vampire, for one, but that wasn’t exactly the point. Ivy was a capable woman, one who knew wouldn’t have as hard a time wrapping her head around situations of a magical, disastrous nature that Harry seemed to end up involved in if his experiences were anything to go by.

But that also meant, unfortunately for the two of them, talking to each other like responsible people. “Then I think once you’ve, uh… had some time?” When she wasn’t as angry, really. “You might want to try having a deeper conversation about that. Get on the same page about keeping secrets and being allowed to make decisions concerning your relationship together instead of one or the other.”

"He needs to realize a lot. That's definitely at the top of the list." She sighed a bit dejectedly and slumped in her seat for a second before returning to her own slice of pizza. "It's not like he can accidentally lead me into becoming a vampire. I'm already one as much as I hate it. I also haven't gotten killed in either of the places I've been so..." she pushed the food around then took a bite. After she'd finished chewing she continued. "I doubt he'll be the one that gets me there." If anything she'd end up there herself by some stupid choice she gave. "But we come from such similar worlds that he shouldn't be afraid to tell me anything." Sometimes it was kind of weird how similar their worlds were. It was just minor differences that separated everything.

"I thought we'd talked about the last one. But I guess it only applied to me." Oh, maybe she was still a bit bitter. "Thank you though. I'm sorry," she waved a hand and then took another slice of pizza. "This must seem all dramatic to you. I've never really talked to anyone about things like this." Which honestly probably explained her hideous track record with relationships.

Llewellyn nodded sympathetically as she continued, taking another slice of pizza for himself. He didn’t think he needed to point out that sometimes it took people a while to learn things that should have been pretty obvious. But forced habits were hard to break and repeated experiences were hard to move past. It seemed more like Ivy just needed the chance to vent a little and get it out before she approached Harry again on the subject. He shook his head at the apology, though. “No need to apologize. I think you are well aware that my own track record with relationships isn’t the best. Dramatic moments are mm… almost natural, I think.” It’s easy to focus on the one more stable relationship he had here, and it would be preferred to do so… But he can’t deny he’s had some awkward moments himself. Both with what happened with Jack Walker, and then the confusing situation that was Milo Strange.

“And if we don’t talk about things… Well, it all tends to bubble up after a while.” He shrugged lightly. Llewellyn hadn’t really had anyone like that in his world. The inspector tried, but he also wasn’t… really good at dealing with Llewellyn’s particular situation. “Better to get it out, especially if you’re going to try talking to Harry about it later.” Better to have gotten some of the frustration out in the open, rather than go in all tense and riled up. That would just lead to more drama, Llewellyn thought.

"Guess we're both just lucky in love," or intensely unlucky as it seemed to her. Except for him, it seemed like he'd finally managed to get lucky somehow. After everything she'd heard about, he definitely deserved it. "Of course it is," she sighed with obvious exhaustion at the very idea. He was right though, that was one of the worst aspects of a relationship, accepting that dramatics and problems were just a thing. ~~What might even say a strange thing~~

"Emotions are something my kind always struggle with bottling up then we snap." Which....was generally a really bad thing for a vampire to snap. "Thanks." She shifted a bit awkwardly and gave him a tiny awkward small. "I hope it'll go alright."

“Luck is an odd thing.” He responded with a little shrug. She wasn’t wrong, though. Maybe they really were intensely unlucky… Until the moment they weren’t. “It changes, as much as anything else. One minute you’ve lost everything on a stupid bet, the next you’re suddenly you fall into something you never expected.” Love from someone who didn’t care about how awkward you were and was willing to work through the difficult times. But that was the thing. Getting that lucky card called love didn’t mean things would progress easily.

But it was worth it, Llewellyn thinks. At least here he does. If Ivy were to ask him back in his world with no memories of this place? The detective might have felt different, at least from his current point in time. The difference between happy and mostly stable and an unhappy mess was rather large. “Mm… Well, then all the better that you got in touch. You should have someone to talk to before you get to the point of ‘snapping,’ I think.” A snap of any kind generally wasn’t pretty, in his experience.

“You’re welcome, and you know you can always call if you need to talk about these things.” He added with a reassuring smile, holding up a slice of pizza. “I only charge one of these, hm?” He added in a light attempt at a joke. The pizza was never necessary, but it was a nice bonus considering how darn delicious it was. “I think it will. I have faith in you two, having gotten to know you both over time.” It just… was going to be a tricky path for them to navigate, he thinks…

"I guess you can't completely discount luck then. Even if I am a pessimist that wants to." She could at least admit that much about herself. It wasn't entirely fault, there was also the fact that she'd been conditioned to think she'd never be able to get the life she wanted, but that conditioning didn't matter here. Not entirely and she was slowly trying to fully come to terms with that.

"We're not supposed to," she said with a casual shrug. "But I guess what we're supposed to doesn't matter. Piscary isn't here. No other living vampires or undead are. There's no hierarchy to follow." Which was sometimes difficult to wrap her head around, but here they were.

"Thank you. You've just set yourself up as the person I call. Hope you're ready." She laughed and shook her head. "You sure you don't want two for it? Seems like a tiny price to ask."

“Not supposed to… Hm…” That seemed sad, really… Though there were a lot of people, even humans, who also tended to believe talking about your feelings and the like was an absurd notion. His inspector got fairly annoyed and huffy every time something like that came up. “Well, as you say, he isn’t here to discourage it. You get to do things differently, as you like or wish to try.” He smiled awkwardly, gesturing at the pizza place around them. “And you’ve made a pretty good start at that, I’d say.” So he hoped she kept trying, both exploring things in her own way and talking to people instead of bottling it all up. Easier said than done, but today was a good start.

Llewellyn chuckled a little at that, “You’re always welcome, Ivy.” He hoped she knew that already, though. The detective liked that he could be there for a friend. She had been there for him plenty after his return from his world, after all. “I am always ready, and even when I’m not… I like to think I’m adaptable.” he responded with an amused rise of his brow. Picking up a last slice of pizza and considering it before taking a bite. “Hmm… One pizza would be plenty, but!” He added with another grin. “I’ll never complain if there happens to be two once in a while.”

"Thank you." She chose to not elaborate further on the not supposed to topic, for her own sake and his. It wasn't entirely pleasant to think about the fact that their lives were meant to be decided for them. Not in that way that was predetermined destiny so much as the fact that had a very strict set of social rules they were expected to follow. One step out of line would go very badly for most. She'd been lucky in a twisted way that Piscary 'loved' her.

"I'd give you an 8 out of 10 for adaptability." She said with tiny smirk. "I'll keep that in mind. One is enough but potentially leave room open for two." Or at the very least one to share as they talked and one for him to take home.

“An 8 out of 10, hm? That’s a decently high grade, so that’s a good sign.” He responded with a small grin in return, finishing off another slice of pizza and gesturing at the table lightly. “It’s always good to be prepared for the possibility of the need for more pizza.” He added, and the detective would never say no to the option of taking a pizza home. They were working on their cooking skills, but Llewellyn still tended to rely on bringing things home instead, given his general distraction when he made the attempt.

Llewellyn finally set his plate aside, though. “But I do hope your next conversation goes well, Ivy.” He had a feeling it wouldn’t be an easy one, not for either of them… But it would need to happen. “And let me know how it goes, or if you need to talk.”

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