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Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 12:31 pm
In the hour and a half Peyton had before meeting Noah at the light house she'd not only packed, but had also changed into a cute little dress and leggings combination, thrown her hair up into something a little more dressy than just a ponytail, and had a little chat with Taym. The latter she had expected to go... differently. Not bad, but he usually gave her quite a bit of s**t whenever he got wind of her doing anything with a member of the opposite sex. Instead he'd actually been supportive. It had been surprising, but a relief. Now she stood leaning against the outside wall of the lighthouse with a backpack slung over one shoulder and her attention directed down at her phone. The clock said she was early, so she'd opened twitter, scanning through the most recent messages to entertain herself while she waited for Noah. Now that she was on her own, nerves were beginning to creep in, but these were the sort of nerves that came before the first hill on a roller coaster. A little scary, but ultimately fun.
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Posted: Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:01 am
Noah had made several phone calls, promised favors to three people in return for covering his duty shifts, and gotten clearance to take a day of leave. Then he'd thrown some clothes into his backpack, remembered to add a comb and a toothbrush, made sure his wallet and phone were in his pocket, and started out the door. GROOM YOURSELF, Laz said, amused. Noah turned around and went back into his room to change. Not fancy, okay, he didn't really have anything fancy and this wasn't really a fancy thing anyway, but he could put on his newest pair of jeans and a nice shirt that didn't have something stupid printed on it, and hey he should probably leave his coat here because they were going out to the civilian world, that would have been a mistake. While he was at it, he checked to make sure that the shirt he'd put in his backpack was something approaching respectable and oh s**t he'd almost forgotten to put something in his bag he could wear for pajamas, that would have been super embarrassing. If they shared a room, anyway. That was a whole new can of worms to think about, and if he started thinking about it now, he might chicken out, so he just pulled on his nicest jacket, slung his backpack onto his back, and started out the door again. After one more loop back to get his wallet and his room key, he headed for the lighthouse. By the clock on his phone, he wasn't late, but he'd taken more time than he'd planned on taking, and when he got there, he discovered that Peyton was already there, leaning on the wall and waiting for him, and whoa she'd put on a dress. Noah tried not to goggle at her, and managed, "Hi, sorry I took so long, you look really nice."
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Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:46 am
Noah's voice had her lifting her head, the screen of her phone blanking, and she smiled as he came towards her. Then a soft blush hit her cheeks, because he was looking at her quite intently, and followed it up with a compliment. "Hey! You're not late, no worries." Her phone found its way quickly into her bag, and she swept a curl back from her cheek. "And thank you." Small hands smoothed her skirt along her thighs, settling the light fabric. While she obviously preferred her shorts, she seemed equally at home on something quite a bit more feminine. She enjoyed dressing up when the chance presented itself. Hell, she would have been wearing heels if they hadn't been planning on walking so much over the course of the next twenty four hours. "You look nice, too." She couldn't recall if she'd ever seen him outside his jacket. He was usually loud Tee's and ripped jeans, and that was just fine, the look flattered him, but this was nice too. Head tilting back towards the building at her back, she'd grab hold of the shoulder of her bag. "Ready to go?" That almost nervous eagerness had crept back into her voice. The portal operated gave them an a pointed look as they passed, smirk sliding into place after Peyton had slipped through. He shot the tall trainee a thumbs up and a knowing grin before ushering him through. They'd pop up in a alley off one of the side streets branching from time square, and despite the relative distance between them and the hustle and bustle of busy streets barely a block away, the sound closed in around them at once. Loud and vaguely chaotic, it was unmistakably New York.
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Posted: Tue Feb 25, 2014 7:51 am
"Thanks." Noah ducked his head a little, a little embarrassed but mostly just really pleased that she'd noticed. It had definitely been worth taking a little extra time, especially since she'd put on something nice too. It would've been pretty embarrassing to look like, well, not like a slob, he kept clean and everything, but just like he hadn't put any effort into it at all. "Ready to go," he agreed, and followed her into the lighthouse. The thumbs up from the tech operating the portal made him blush a bit, but he grinned and returned the gesture before stepping through himself. The amount of noise on the other side surprised him. It wasn't like he'd never been to a big city before, but this was a whole different quality of noise, the sounds of voices and machines and everything that made up the life of a city concentrated and echoed back among the buildings. A pigeon startled and whirred up and out of the alleyway a short distance in front of them, and Noah jumped a little. He gave Peyton a slightly sheepish smile, but couldn't quite keep his excitement from showing through. "Cool," he said. The word didn't come anywhere close to covering the range of emotions he was feeling, but he didn't really think any one word could.
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:28 am
Pale eyes rolled up to the tall trainee, an amused little smile playing over glossed lips. "Cool?" She grinned, clearly teasing him. "Yeah, it's pretty cool." Thinking back on it, she recalled having a similar reaction. Standing there at the edge of time square, rooted to the spot, with wide eyes frozen on the jumbo-tron. "Just wait, it gets better." Not even thinking about it, Peyton reached out and grabbed hold of Noah's hand, small fingers slipping between his much longer ones. He was warm, and as she gave him a tug towards the end of the alley she blinked down at their hands as a soft flutter of butterfly wings fluttered through her stomach. A date. In New York City. With an incredibly cute, incredibly nice young man that she was already friends with, and felt maybe there was a little more potential there than just friendship. She gave his hand a small squeeze, color rising in a soft flush over tanned cheeks. "Come on." Another tug, than they were walking along the side street towards the ever growing roar of noise that was Time Square. The sidewalks were filled, bodies bustling, and Peyton, small as she was, stepped in to walk a little closer to the obviously much taller Noah. Shoulder in constant contact with the length of his arm. "So where is the coolest place you've ever been?" So far this was it for her, but Deus's portals provided a unique opportunity. She was looking forward to being able to travel on her terms. To where ever she wanted to go.
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Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:17 am
Noah managed not to freeze up for more than about half a second. Peyton's hand was warm, small, almost delicate, but her grip had a confident strength that belied that impression. He folded his fingers around hers and let her pull him along, a big, bright smile blooming on his face. " Really cool," he amended, teasing back. He liked her. It wasn't an epiphany or anything, he'd had the thought before, but it startled him a little every time. She was a nice person, a good friend, full of a kind of sparkling energy he couldn't help but admire. Hanging out with her was uncomplicated, easy in a way he couldn't really explain to himself, and he just liked her company. It was really awesome that they were here, in New York City, ready to go see the sights like a couple of tourists, but it would've been nice even if they hadn't taken a trip. Lazarus snorted in Noah's mind, and Noah sensed annoyance and fondness in equal measures from his weapon. Laz didn't seem inclined to explain, and he wasn't giving any advice or warnings either. It would take more time and attention than Noah wanted to devote right now to pry it out of him, so he left the question alone for the time being. The streets were much more crowded than he was used to, either on the island or back at his family's home, and he had to concentrate a little to keep from bumping into anyone. He didn't mind at all that Peyton was sticking close. It was practical, and he liked it anyway. "Um, my parents took us on a cruise a few years ago, does that count?" he answered. "We saw a whale, even."
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:53 am
She was trying to steer them towards the massive joining of streets that was time square. Something that would have been more difficult if the crowd wasn't mostly headed in that direction anyways. "A cruise totally counts." There was a hint of envy, just a little touch. "The only cruise I've ever been on was for a mission, and it got attacked by a kraken, and spider beasts.." She frowned, recalling that first large mission. "And skeletons." It had been fun until the s**t had hit the fan. She'd still been so green back then. Newer then Noah was now. She hadn't been around long enough to know how much her actions could effect the people around her. Mistakes had been made, and she'd paid for the. But he had also learned. Old and horrifying missions were not what she was aiming to think about while they were here though. So she smiled, giving his hand a small squeeze, then pointed up with her free hand as the side walk they were walking along opened up into the giant space that made up Time square. She was pointing at the giant television screen, but there was any number of attention catching things lining the street. Signs and posters, the marquee to a Broadway production. Lights and sounds everywhere. It was pretty amazing, but it could also be a little overwhelming. "How cool is that?" Even though she'd been here before it still seemed unreal. as if what she'd seen in movies should have been exaggerated somehow, but they weren't.
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 5:11 am
"Holy crap, that doesn't sound like a fun cruise," Noah said, peeking sideways at her, his brows creasing a little at the frown she wore. When she smiled, though, he couldn't help smiling in return, a wide, sweet smile. He trusted her to guide their course; after all, she knew where they were going, and he didn't. The buildings opened up around them, depositing them into the startlingly large open space of Times Square, and Noah gawked wide-eyed. The ebb and flow of a sea of people swirled on the sidewalks and in and out of the buildings, traffic crept or sped through the streets, and everywhere there was something to look at. Advertisements, posters, screens, signs and shop windows, a glorious chaos of noise and color and motion that was city distilled into its most concentrated form. He squeezed Peyton's hand and looked down at her, grinning delightedly. "That's really cool," he answered. "Like. Really cool." It was kind of a stupid thing to say, he was aware, but eloquence was escaping him totally.
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:55 am
Nope, it had not been a fun cruise. But it was over and done with, so no use thinking about it. Least not unless Noah was interested in knowing what sort of craziness he was likely to expect as a Hunter. Judging by his expression as he took in the sensory overload that was time square suggested it had already slipped his mind. She grinned as she watched him take it all in. "It is," she agreed, knowing exactly what was going through his head right that second. It was amazing. Movies both captured it, and somehow didn't. "We'll have to swing by here later, after the sun goes down. It's even better." Returning the hand squeeze, she'd turn so she could look up at him. "So what do you wanna do? I don't know how much you're looking to spend, but there's shows up and down the strip if that's your thing. Of course there's central park, which is pretty awesome on it's own, but there's also the zoo." She was flipping up fingers as she named places. "The Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockafeller Center, a whole mess of museums." Her head tilted, a small frown touching glossed lips. "We might not be able to see everything in 24 hours." Not a chance in hell. "So realistically, top five?" She sounded just a touch unsure, as only getting to see a handful of everything New York had to offer wouldn't be good enough. "We can always come back again in a month or so to see anything we miss this time around." And was it presumptuous to assume he'd even want to take another trip with her?
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:32 am
"Wow. That must be amazing. Hey, are we going to ride the subway? Noah asked. "The zoo would be cool. I always liked zoos. Um, I sort of wanted to check out the Statue of Liberty too. Did you want to go anywhere specific? I mean, I don't want to just decide for us, this is for you too." He relaxed a little at the next statement. "That would be awesome. We could, like, plan to see a show or something, I bet it's easier to get tickets if you get them father ahead. Right?"
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 10:11 am
"We can." The subway would be cheaper then a cab, probably faster too. And mustn't forget the unique experience that was the New York underground transit system. "The zoo sounds like a wonderful idea, and I didn't get a chance to see the Statue of Liberty last time I was here, so we should definitely make it a point to see that." With a thoughtful hum she pulled her phone out of the side pocket on her bag so she could check the time. There would have to be some planning, but she was fairly sure they could fit in a good handful of sights to see over the course of twenty four hours. "Why don't we head towards the nearest subway entrance and make our way to the Zoo." They could spend a few hours there, then catch the last ferry to Stanton island around sunset. Then she paused, realizing what he'd said, and looked up again with a soft touch of warmth darkening tanned cheeks. "Yeah, I would imagine that would be easier." She could only imagine bigger shows selling out fairly quickly, which would make obtaining tickets a little tricky. A quick glance was turned down to their clasped hands, stomach giving that little, familiar flutter. The blush darkened, and she turned quickly toward the closest subway entrance, giving his hand a small tug.
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Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:44 pm
"We can just start with that, and then see what we have time for?" Noah offered Peyton a shy smile. "Even if we don't do a lot, if it's fun, that's fine, right?" She hadn't let go of his hand, and that was making him feel warm, even though the air was chilly. "What kind of shows do you like?" he asked. "Like, musicals? Dance stuff?" He thought she might be blushing, and it made him blush a little too, not sure why. But the pleasant warmth increased. He was content to let her lead the way, following obediently towards the steps that led down into the ( basement, the deep dark pit) subway, and his moment of uneasiness at the gaping dark mouth of the stairway was eased by the steady stream of humanity that flowed up and down the steps.
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Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2014 8:26 am
"Yeah." Sounded like a great time to her. It wasn't as if they didn't have the opportunity to come back almost whenever they wanted, and considering all their cost of living was covered it was easy to save up, so they'd always have money to do the things they may want. It was a little startling to realize how much she might have been looking forward to making future plans when their current trip had only just started, but she decided to take it as a good sign. A mutual attraction, and desire to see where things went. She considered his question for a moment, before a small shrug was offered. "I'm not really sure. I haven't seen many musicals, but I feel like I'd enjoy them. I like music. I know I like dance themed things. Or dancing in general," she chuckled, glancing up. Brows rose at the intensity in his gaze as he stared at the subway entrance, and she gave his hand a small squeeze. "What about you? Any preference on types of shows?" Her shoulder bumped his arm, a line of warmth running from bicep to wrist as she kept close to his side. When they got down into the station Peyton tipped her head towards the teller and the little machines you could feed your money into for tickets.
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Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:02 pm
"I like dancing, and like, acrobatics and stuff," Noah offered. "We could see if we can get a schedule or something, so we can figure out what we want to go see next time." Next time. He really kind of liked the idea. The little hesitation in his step smoothed out as they headed down the stairs, the warmth of her shoulder and her hand keeping him grounded against old fears and letting him shake off the moment of uneasiness. The impression of Laz's presence in his mind kept close at his heels, the weapon not speaking but leaning a little into the bond, reminding Noah of what he carried with him. It was dark in the subway compared to the brightness outside, but the lights and the constant bustle of activity were reassuring. Noah studied the confusing tangle of the subway map. "Um - what stop do we need?" he asked. "Do you know?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:37 am
"That sounds good. I'm sure they have tour dates listed somewhere." They'd have to look into it. Blonde brows had twitched up at Noah admitted to liking dancing, and she wondered if that was restricted purely to strictly observational enjoyment, or if he enjoyed participating as well. Peyton liked to dance, though she seldom got much of a chance to do so. It reminded her that she needed to look into getting herself an iPod so she could get rune modded. Plans for another day. The giant jumbled up, twisted subway map was a daunting thing, but Peyton had had to figure it out the last time she was here, so it wasn't quite as imposing to the shorter hunter. She paused, features thoughtful, to look over the thing, searching for the line that would lead towards central park. Then, grinning suddenly, she lifted a hand and poked a finger towards a colored line with a number labeling it. "We need that one. It'll take us straight through, which is lucky. No having to hop trains between stations." The teller was paid, tickets handed over so they could get through the turnstiles, and Peyton lead Noah towards a seat near the back of the car. When they arrived, climbing the stairs back up towards the side walk, the sun was high and the weather delightfully mild despite the time of year. It was gorgeous out. The perfect day to visit the park, and they weren't the only ones to think so if the crowd was any indicator. "Wow." Voice soft, Peyton stood for a moment and just looked around them. There was a huge fountain. Bigger then she'd ever seen before. People all around them, some walking dogs, some riding bikes. There was a guy sitting on edge of the fountain with a guitar. He was playing some Jason Mraz song, and people were dropping money into his opened case near his feet. Not far from him another performer was dancing. There was a hot dog vendor, a guy selling balloons, another pushing a cart with what looked like beverages. It was all a little overwhelming, but in a fantastic way. And it was all better for the company. Pey had taken Noah's hand again when they'd gotten off the train, and she'd kept it, quite happy with the warm weight. It felt good. No, it felt right. Easy and uncomplicated. She'd begun to forget what it was like to be able to reach out, to touch someone, and to not have to worry about them jerking away from her. At first any small touch had been half hesitant. Now she realized he not only didn't mind, but he liked the feel of her hand in his, the brush of her shoulder against her arm. Smile soft on her lips, the dainty Sun looked up at the much taller Lifer beside her. "If we don't get to see anything else, this as still been really awesome." Small fingers tightened around his. "I'm glad you agreed to come." Warrick was quiet in her head. No words of warning, or sarcasm, nothing. Only silent approval.
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