[R] My Sanctuary (Ari + Tom)

[kalindara]

As grateful as Ari was to Sirius - Louisa, she corrected herself - for a place to hide the night before, the redhead had let Louisa know as she left that morning that she'd find somewhere else to stay for a while. It was best if the remaining BMC members spread out, so that if Ares found one, she didn't get a few freebies. And perhaps they'd be less noticeable through the mirrors if they weren't grouping together.

Most importantly, Louisa's home was unknown to any of the other members. Ares herself was one of the only people who knew Louisa was Sirius, so if those memories were lost to corruption like Lyra's seemed to have been, Louisa was completely safe. It was Ari who would be the major target of Ares' rage. So it was safer for Louisa if Ari wasn't there.

Her visit with Kaatje was over. The loss of Gunn, even if it was only temporary, was a heavy weight on Ari's mind. She couldn't plan any more than she already had with Kaatje this morning. Having barely slept last night for fear of attack, having lost one of their best warriors right after she went Eternal, Ari just needed time. To recuperate, to rest, to accept everything that had happened.

She needed somewhere safe.

After leaving Kaatje's, Ari had let her feet guide her while mulling over her current predicament. By the time she came to the conclusion that she needed to take a break before she could even think about taking any action for the BMC, she looked up to find herself in a familiar neighbourhood. Ari smiled. It seemed her subconscious knew exactly where she needed to be, even before her own thoughts had caught on.

Ari continued on. A few minutes later, she was standing in front of a giant house. It might have matched her parents' from the outside, but Ari was well aware that inside was another story. The person who lived here was as far from Ari's parents as was possible.

A high gate prevented access to the house. On a better day, Ari might have tried climbing it - or transformed and jumped it - but she was tired. Doing things the easy way sounded fine right now. She pressed the buzzer on one side of the gate, the small two-way system laid into a brick pillar. Such a posh communication system didn't suit the guy who lived here at all.

"It's Ari," she said, when the call connected.  

[endejester]

The gate clicked and swung inward, he didn’t need to be the one answering the intercom for you to know it was he who unlocked it. Speed alone would be the telling point. “Be right down!” Came the reply, the speaker made a small popping sound as it clicked off again leaving you to slip in the gate and make your way up the drive way.

He was waiting for you already at the door, casual as anything, barefoot in faded jeans and a white t-shirt and a big smile just for you. At least there was a smile till worry replaced it for a moment and he stepped off the stoop to wrap an arm around your shoulders. “Hey, long face… what happened?” He said giving you a squeeze that somehow, while casual to observers seemed more intimate than that. Maybe just the spicy smell of him that said he was fresh from a shower and the lingering sent of clove from the nearly never-ending cigarettes he kept smoking.  

[kalindara]

Just seeing Tom lifted some of the weight off Ari's shoulders. She could only manage half a smile, but her eyes were warm. He knew her too well, picking up her mood, but she didn't want to discuss it in an open doorway. Paranoia (or a healthy respect for her enemies) had Ari glancing over her shoulder, searching the street and the rooftops.

"Bad stuff, what else?" Ari ruffled her bangs and tried to look innocent. The act was doomed to fail, if only because her voice still sounded like sandpaper on rusted metal. "I swear I don't just come over when things go wrong."

Or she didn't mean to, at least. But when things did go wrong, who else was she going to turn to for support?

She checked the skyline again. "Can we... move this inside? Please?"  

[endejester]

The fact she checked the skyline on some level made him curious, the very act of looking upward for an enemy was fairly unnatural for humanity as a whole. He readily agreed however, ushering her inside to the warmth, the vague smell of old smoke that said he’d been here a few days with no one to spray the furniture and try and get the smell out.

Business trips, always business trips, he shut and locked the door behind her. Hand to the small her of back for assurance he lead her onward. “Where to? Kitchen? Pool?” He paused and then offered a small grin. “Bedroom?” He was half teasing but who knew if the distraction might prove fundamentally helpful.

“What’s on your mind?”  

[kalindara]

There was a noticeable drop of Ari's shoulders as the door closed behind her. She kept glancing around, though this time it was at the interior of the house. For once, the mention of the bedroom didn't earn some glimmer of interest from Ari.

"Which room has no mirrors?" she asked instead. Smashing them 'just in case' might not be the best way to begin the conversation. Better than Tom knew the 'why's before assuming his girlfriend needed a padded white jacket.

Tom had never met Ares, as far as Ari knew. Ares had no idea that Ari had been seeing anyone - again, as far as Ari knew. But she wasn't willing to risk him on the chance that someone else knew where to find Ari when she wasn't at home.  

[endejester]

His eyebrows went up but he said nothing for a moment as he thought. “Reflective surfaces count?” He asked carefully. Um… Kitchen, uh… the pool itself… “ He paused thinking. “Defiantly not the gym, way too many in there, what’s your preference?” He asked wanting to know why but at the same time not wanting to push.

It was such an odd request but she had to have a reason right? I mean this was the same young woman who didn’t ask ‘why’ he wanted to go cliff diving. That wasn’t much crazier than ‘which room has no mirrors’ right?  

[kalindara]

"Just mirrors," Ari confirmed. She wasn't sure why anything reflective didn't count. She'd never thought to ask Ares. Just taken it at face value that whatever special magic the Parallels had, it only worked on proper mirrors.

"The kitchen is fine, if there're no actual mirrors there. God knows I could use a drink." And sounded it, too. The raspy voice might have just meant Ari had been out clubbing last night - and not invited Tom? Unusual and unlikely.  

[endejester]

To the kitchen it was then, land of the morning she’d woken up drunk and been cornered into scrambled eggs and lots of water. A sanctuary with a raised center island and a central vent that hung like some sort of odd chimney over the very modern stove, all slick black and chrome. Most important though, it lacked any mirrors.

He patted a hand on one of the bar stools that surrounded the central island. “Have a seat, have you eaten yet?” He asked, funny how much he could mother hen when he was himself rather terrible about taking care of his own person. “Bet not.” He added glancing her over and then got her a large cup of ice water from the fridge.

What had she been up to? Not inviting him COULD happen, she had enough lady friends it might have been a girl night out, but he suspected even then she might have tossed him a text message. He fished around in a drawer and pulled out a small pleather hard case and then slid something over the counter to her. A pair of lavender shades rather like the cobalt ones he himself opted to wear almost all the time. “Just incase we’re having a visit from Mr. Hangover.” He said with a grin. “But you can keep ‘em either way.”  

[kalindara]

"No," Ari answered as she glanced around the kitchen. It wasn't that she didn't trust Tom, more a definite need to be certain that she was safe. "Not since breakfast."

And that had been a while ago. Rather a rushed affair, too, Ari not entirely comfortable lying so much to Louisa's parents and wanting to just get to Kaatje's for some much-needed panicking support. Yeah, she could eat.

Settling herself onto the barstool, Ari accepted the glasses. She had to smile. "I'm not hungover." Same driving force behind the last attempt to keep herself permanently drunk, but that was a risk she couldn't take this time. Staring at the countertop, she admitted, "Group worries again, but no drinking."

She didn't dare.  

[endejester]

He reached over the counter to brush her arm, “First,” He said seriously, watching her with the dark crimson eyes that made him look almost like he should have been an albino, yet wasn’t. “Tell me what you want to eat, can’t promise I’ve got it but you’re eating something even if its instant-microwave-macaroni and cheese.” He pulled a soda out of the fridge and set it before her before he continued.

“Then…you tell me what has you so spooked, from the top right on down. I don’t like seeing you look so much like you have the Mafia on your tail.”  

[kalindara]

"Whatever's easiest," was the almost-immediate answer. Ari didn't want to make a fuss and she hadn't come here to be waited on.

Taking the soda, Ari popped the top and took a sip. Her eyes closed and she gave a small sigh. Her throat had needed that. Mentally, she berated herself for not remembering to keep up her fluids after last night's smoke inhalation. Setting the can back down, she regarded first it and then Tom with a serious intensity.

"Ares," she said, as if that explained it all. Maybe it did. If Tom hadn't known about the leader of the BMC before hooking up with Ari, he certainly did after dealing with the emotional fallout of Ari's role in Operation Rota. Ari took another gulp of her soda. As she lowered the drink, she added, "She corrupted herself. And then took three of our senshi with her."  

[endejester]

“Corrupted…herself?” He tilted his head looking deeply confused on that idea. “How the hell do you, actually, no…I probably don’t want to know that.” He looked thoughtful.

“So, no mirrors because…she did that freaky thing with the…” he made little running motions with his fingers and then made them jump trying to refer to the mirror jumps.
“Did she try and get you too?” He said frowning. “What’s going to happen? Do you need help?”  

[kalindara]

Ari wasn't sure she wanted to know how that was possible, either. Ares had claimed that corruption was the natural state of the Parallels - Ari wasn't sure whether to believe that or not. Could a person truly be born corrupted, or was it simply that they had become corrupted in their last life? The latter didn't make it any more 'natural' than what had happened to Lyra, or to Requiem.

She nodded at the mention of the mirrors. "Yep. Travelling through mirrors, and spying through them, too. You should be careful. Even if you're not on her radar, there's no telling what they might be listening out for."

And there was the million dollar question. What was Ari going to do now?

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Ares says she'll kill or corrupt us all - the BMC, I mean. And I'm pretty sure I'm on the 'kill' end of things." What would happen... what to do next... "Some of us are running. Some hiding. Some I doubt would ever come back to a BMC meeting, even if one was called..."

Was this the end of the BMC? Ari had claimed that despite it being Ares who'd brought them together, that they didn't begin and end with Ares, that they could go on without her. But Ari had been thinking in terms of Ares' possible death, not Ares going dark side and trying to wipe them all out with an even stronger power at her disposal.

Slumping onto the bench, Ari looked Tom in the eyes. "I really don't know what happens from here."  

[endejester]

“Not on my watch.” He said with a cold frown. It wasn’t normal for him, even when he should be irritated at life he was normally warm and full of life, but at the thought of Ari dying all that was briefly swept aside. He put a hand over her own and looked thoughtful for a good long while before he spoke again.

“So…what you need are new members, so that people might be less worried? Maybe seeing new faces that join, even knowing about Ares will inspire some confidence. Maybe someone who just happens to have a SLIGHT talent for fixing people up, even if its temporary?”  

[kalindara]

Ari gave Tom a warm smile, squeezing the hand that covered hers. That was a plus side to this, she thought. The BMC may be spread to all corners of the city, but if Ari had to patrol or save someone, she had a super-powered boyfriend here to help. She wasn't a lone target with Tom (or Vulpeculae) at her side.

Violet eyes widened at the second half of the conversation. "Um, maybe." Yes, actually. Definitely, the BMC needed more people if they were going to survive. "I guess that depends on whether people come back, if there's still a BMC to join."

Tom had mentioned joining the BMC before. It had been a sweet offer back then. Now, while still sweet, it also had a slight element of crazy to it. But, she reflected with a wry smile, crazy was what she and Tom did best.

"What'd I do to deserve you?" she teased warmly.