Isabelle "Izzy" Shaw (izzy_shaw) wrote in city_limits, @ 2009-04-25 22:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | isabelle shaw, juliet winters |
Birthday
Izzy pulled up to the curb in front of the Winter's townhouse, having arranged in advance with Bart to make sure a spot was kept open. She'd promised Juliet that they'd go out on the town on the Slayer's birthday, and she was looking forward to making sure that her friend's eighteenth birthday would be a happy one. Fortunately the weather was cooperating, with balmy temperatures all day long and the warmth lasting well into the evening under a cloudless sky.
It only took a few heartbeats and Izzy was up the steps and knocking on the front door of the townhouse. When the butler opened the door she smiled brightly. "Hi Bart, I'm here for the birthday girl, is she ready to go?" She hadn't interacted with Bart that often, but he seemed to be a nice guy and one of the few friends Juliet had in the household.
"Of course I am!" she exclaimed, coming down the stairs. She was dressed to party and had already told Rhi she wouldn't be patrolling that night, given it was the one night she would be able to let her hair down without having to constantly hide who and what she was from the person she was with. That would be the case on Saturday, when her 'arranged' celebrations were to be held in the Marriott Downtown. Tonight she wanted to try and relax and enjoy herself, something she knew would be a challenge given what had happened less than 24 hours earlier and the situation with Rhiannon. Two of the town's top Slayers both out of action at one time was more than Juliet's head was able to get her head around at times, and having seen Kris last night, looking to all the world like she was working with Bethany...
"Hope you've got your dancing shoes on Miss Izzy!" she told her friend, looping her arm through Izzy's and taking her toward the front door. "Don't wait up, Bart!" she told the butler with a cheeky grin, the man sure to be awake when she returned, though she had no idea how he managed it.
"I do," Izzy laughed as she allowed herself to be led out the door, glad to see Juliet in high spirits. She'd dressed up as well, and was looking forward to just blowing off steam and celebrating her friend's ascension into legal adulthood.
Before long they were in the car and pulling away from the curb, Mellencamp's R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. blaring out over the speakers. "So Miss Juliet, where do you want to go for your birthday? I'm sure you've got your best fake ID ready to go so we should be able to get in anywhere." She wasn't humble enough to think they'd have to worry about making the cut if they wanted to go to anywhere exclusive, with their looks it shouldn't be a problem.
"Tonight you get to make the rules birthday girl!"
"What is this you're playing??" Juliet cried out, laughing at the old classic belting out of the speakers. "Izzy, tell me they aren't the top thing in your dimension, please!!" They had talked about various things that were the same, and different between their two worlds, much of it greatly surprising Juliet. Despite her cries there was no doubting the catchiness of the tune and beat and she was bobbing up and down in her seat as the car cut through the evening traffic heading downtown.
"Oh, come on!" Izzy protested, smiling "You can't go wrong with this stuff, gets the blood pumping. Besides, it's good to get back to the old school every now and again." The musician differed little between the two dimensions, some of the hits were different but the overall arc and theme of the man's career seemed to be the same from what Izzy could tell, not that she was any expert on the subject.
He had been pretty cute in his younger years though, judging from the album covers.
"So how does it feel to be free?"
"Free? Free of what?" Juliet asked, smiling as the next track started. She grinned at Izzy. "Free of the worry of being busted some place with my ID?" She knew it had surprised Izzy when she'd first told her, and couldn't help but be touched when the woman showed concern on ocassion. Juliet had never taken her to Devil's Own, mainly because she didn't want Izzy to be at risk from Bethany, if anything went wrong, but also because she sometimes figured that Izzy might be a little uncomfortable in that sort of environment. All she could think of was that Izzy had been far too involved in her studies and tech-magic stuff to have really ever get into serious partying.
"Guess I won't have to wonder much about that now, hmm?" she winked as she told Izzy the name of the club she suggested they start the night at.
"Guess not, though it won't be over for good till you turn twenty-one but I don't think that's going to stop you." Izzy shook her head in amusement. "You're like a force of nature Jules, I rue the day some bouncer tries to tell you 'no way kid'." She nodded in recognition of the club name, she knew right where it was at and steered the car in that direction.
"I think I found a place for my workshop," the tech-witch informed her friend, changing lanes to avoid a beat-up Pontiac that seemed to think the speed limit was actually something people followed. "There's an old auto shop just outside the Zone off Belmont that's for rent, pretty cheap too. I think it could really work for what I had in mind."
"Oh that's great!" Juliet replied, grinning as Izzy zipped past the old lumbering vehicle. "I was thinking about all that land they're opening up and selling in there. Given what's potentially in there, whether it'd be good for us to have a base, sort of thing, in there? Like a safe house, with gear, and food and whatever else." She had been going to talk to Rhiannon about it but given her mentor's current predicament she didn't mention it, the main concern for her right then being to get her powers back.
"I'd thought about getting something in the zone itself, but I came across this place and it seemed to fit just what I've been looking for. It's even on a ley line of all things, which means I can tap that when I'm working on projects and not drain myself as much." The tech-witch was even thinking about seeing if she could somehow jury rig something that would convert a portion of the ley line energy to electricity and power the shop 'off the grid', but maybe that was pushing things a bit.
"A safe house definitely sounds like a good idea, and you guys would always be welcome to hang out at my place. The more white hats that are seen there the more likely it will be safer from the garden variety vamps and other nasties out there." There was also the possibility it would make her shop a target to the more dangerous and powerful of said nasties had crossed her mind, but that was the chance one took and she had always gotten top marks in her wards and protection magics.
"White hats!" Juliet giggled, the term still making her think of kids running around with white cowboy hats, fighting the kids running around with black cowboy hats. "And this ley line, how did you figure out there was one there? One of your gadgets?"
Izzy laughed along with her. She'd always thought the term silly herself but it was one that everyone in their circles seemed to use to refer to the good guys and she couldn't help but start using it as well.
"Nope, don't need gadgets for that. I can sense ley lines and their intersections if I concentrate, they're powerful enough that they stand out of the 'background noise' for lack of a better term. But this time around I was able to call up a map of ley lines in North America that I had on my PDA when I crossed over and I've verified the ones in the Chicago area since then, they hadn't changed between the dimensions."
Juliet's eyes widened as she stared across at her friend. "You can sense them? Get. Out! How? I mean what does it feel like? And all the background noise and all, do you hear it, or whatever it is... Izzy, what's it like?"
"Any sufficiently talented magic user can sense them with the right training," Izzy brushed off her friend's fascination as she made a left turn on the road. To her it was no big deal, she'd seen other magic users in this dimension sense and use them. "I'm not sure I can really explain it, 'background noise' was just a figure of speech. They just...stand out."
Juliet laughed and shook her head, not phased by the unclear explanation. "Cool!"
If she was asked to explain about being a Slayer, about how it felt to be able to fight, and move, and heal the way she did she couldn't explain it, she'd been that way as long as she could remember and didn't know where the Slayer-thing started and reality finished. It was just who she was. And for a moment she thought of Rhiannon and how she was feeling, not having her Slayer strengths. She really hoped that Joseph was able to find something to give some leads on who the old geezer was and how to get those 'fireflies' he stolen.
The song changed again and a popular track came on that both of them sang to at the tops of their voices, attracting a few looks from other vehicles around them when they pulled up at a set of lights. "Party night!" she called out to one car whose occupants were obviously enjoying the sight.
"Birthday girl!" Izzy yelled, pointing at Juliet to the obvious amusement of the occupants of the nearby cars, one group in particular held some fairly good looking guys around her age. Too old for Juliet, not that it stopped the Slayer with her older boyfriend anyway, but still...
The light changed green and Izzy put the pedal to the metal, tires squealing as they pulled away from the intersection.
It was only a few blocks now to the club, and she was looking forward to making sure her friend had a good time.
When Izzy pulled away Juliet let herself fall back into the car seat, laughing. "Oh did you see the one in the back? He was so cute!" she squealed, looking across at Izzy. "You should slow down a little bit, let them catch up!" she told her friend before looking over her shoulder to see where the other car was.
"All right, what the birthday girl wants the birthday girl gets." Izzy complied with her friend's request, the one in the back was especially cute and they'd looked like they might be clubbing tonight as well. The car slowed just enough for the convertible the men were driving to catch up to them and the blonde waved at the occupants.
"She thinks you're cute!" she called out to the one in the back seat, pointing at Juliet and grinning like an idiot. The likelihood that she'd see any of them again was slim and none so why not have a little fun?
The guys let out whoops of laughter, the one singled-out pulling himself toward the side of the car closest to the girls' vehicle. "Where you two ladies heading?" he called out, Juliet telling him the name of the club she'd decided they would start their night at. Laughter and nods of approval met the suggestion and one of the other passengers let out a cry of 'Onward!' as the two vehicles headed downtown.
Juliet turned to Izzy as they approached the parking station near where they were headed. "OK, which one's your type?"
"I don't know, they all looked pretty good," Izzy drummed her fingers against the steering wheel, thinking it over. "The driver is probably closest to my type." He looked tall enough behind the wheel, and had the sort of features that caught her eye.
They pulled into a parking space and Izzy put the car in park and killed the engine. She turned in the seat toward the young Slayer, her expression serious. "Before we go in, I wanted to give you your birthday present."
The other car was finding a parking spot and Juliet turned her attention to Izzy, blinking when she saw the serious expression. "Wow, OK," she said, wondering what could be so serious about a birthday gift.
"Relax, it's not going to hurt." Izzy softened her expression a little as she pulled the small box out of her pocket and opened it to reveal the medallion inside. "The archangel St. Michael, patron of Soldiers, closest thing I could come to a Slayer. I've enchanted it to let you know if you're in the presence of evil, and gotten it blessed as well. The closer it is to you or the more powerful the entity the stronger it will tingle."
She gave the Slayer a small smile. "I thought it would give you a leg up when you're dealing with things that don't show their true colors on the outside."
Juliet looked at the medallion, resting on the soft padding of the box, her eyes widening as Izzy explained. She looked up at her friend as she let out a soft exclamation. "Oh, wow!" she repeated, but this time the tone entirely different. "Damn! I mean... wow!" She looked down at the locket she was wearing on a long chain, a photo of Grayson snugged inside, and slipped the chain from around her neck to undo the clasp.
"Izzy, this is amazing! It's the best birthday present ever!" she told her friend, slipping the medallion onto the chain and refastening it. With the chain back around her neck the medallion and locket hung together, resting just above her sternum. She was probably imagining it, but it felt warm against her skin. "Thank you!" She reached over and wrapper her arms around Izzy, hugging her tight.
Izzy hugged her right back. "I worry about you out there, so this helps me as much as it does you." She joked but there was truth in her words. Juliet was the little sister she'd never had, as much a part of her adopted family as Michaela and her kids. Izzy didn't want to see her get hurt, or god forbid, killed. The medallion would help the fledgling Slayer in those situations that weren't so black and white.
She pulled back and smiled at her friend. "Now, let's go do some dancing!"