Who: Izzy Shaw and Tom Sully Where: Pamplona, Spain What: Date When: Saturday 3 August Warnings: Threats of violence. Open: Not this time Status: Complete
Izzy tried to keep from staring as they walked through the narrow brick paved streets of Pamplona. She’d never been to Europe before, and obviously had never been to Pre World War II Europe, and it was quite different from anything she’d seen before.
Of course Tom hadn't seen it either, so that was a plus for both of them. They were from two separate times and possibly even dimensions, and here they were on their first official date in a different time altogether! How weird was that? She glanced over toward him affectionately. “Having fun so far?”
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Tom had been up early that morning. He had felt on edge. Tired but too awake to sleep, too restless to stay in bed. So he had crawled out of it, forced his body into decent clothes and hunted the city for things to wear. He didn't want to look too out of place in the 1920's. One less thing to be nervous about. On the other hand he wanted to look good or at least not completely rubbish. There was no need to repeat the time she had cooked dinner for him. Her breathtakingly gorgeous - him like he had just climbed out of bed.
He had found the clothes, along with a book about the 1920's, another book about Spain and a Spanish dictionary. One could never be too prepared. In hindsight, he should have looked for an idiot’s guide to dating as well. Now, he stood here with Izzy in the middle of Spain, in a time and place he had never been and felt even more nervous than during his thesis defense. And for once he could pinpoint the reason for it. It wasn't the fact that he had just walked through a door to another time, could see places he had only ever dreamt about and couldn't even properly understand the people around him. No, it was simply Izzy's presence and the fear of making a total fool out of himself. Tom had never really been into this whole dating thing. Yes, he had dated girls. But he had never taken as much interest as he had right now. The three relationships he had had hadn't even scratched the one year mark. There had been a thesis to write, grief to overcome and Pandora to plan. Pandora had killed every potential girlfriend’s dream of a long-lasting relationship with him. And so far science had made up for the lack of a love life.
But right now, it didn't seem enough anymore. Tom felt full of life. And it wasn't because of science. Sure, exploring these old streets, meeting people who were long dead in his life and experiencing a culture he had never hoped to experience was indescribable. But doing all these things with Izzy made them even better.
At her question, Tom’s head turned to her. His smile immediately reflected hers. “Yeah, yeah, it’s fantastic,” Tom beamed at her. “We've gotta try some of the food as well. Did you know that the Way of St. James’ leads through the city?”
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"I didn't know that, no."
Izzy had spent more time trying to find an outfit that didn't look severely out of place or get her arrested in rural 1920's Spain than getting the layout of the town. Fashions had changed so much for women in the intervening ninety years that it had been a real struggle to find something close to 20's styles, but she'd managed. The dress was longer than she was used to and the wide brimmed floppy hat felt ridiculous but at least she wasn't being stared at like a moon person.
She was nervous about the date too, and her past failed relationships were prominent in her thoughts. In short she didn't want to screw this one up, though if it didn't work out the tech witch wasn't about to try and force it like she had with Logan.
"I'm always up for trying something new."
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“It’s supposed to be a beautiful route,” Tom said with a smile and then had to stop himself from babbling out all of his knowledge about the track. He doubted she was interested in it. And then Tom did something brave, just to test the waters and signal interest. He touched her shoulder with his hand lightly. “So... uh, anything else you want to do?” he asked.
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She glanced down at the touch on her shoulder and back toward Tom as she recognized the source of the attention, and gave him a smile.
“Aside from sight-see and try some of the local cuisine?” Izzy shrugged. “I don’t know? Just see what comes along and go from there.” Spontaneity wasn't always her strong suit but it was a good day to try it.
“So what were you saying about the route?”
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Tom immediately smiled back. It was only brightened by her question. He dropped the hand again as they strolled on. “Uh, yeah, that’s a pilgrimage route. It’s huge. Or it was huge. In my time you could still go the way and I guess some did but... yeah, cities don’t beat the nature. Anyway, it leads through the north of Spain and ends at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The track itself is longer and leads across different parts of Europe but the main part is in Spain only. Both Christians and atheists used to walk the route. I read that it’s a hard trip but beautiful nonetheless. It lead through little villages and parts of nature that are rarely touched by tourism otherwise.” Tom’s tone had immediately gotten an excited ring again. He imagined to walk the track himself. Only him, a backpack and nature - what a fantastic feeling!
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“Ancient ways like that were something special back home.” Izzy nodded her head at Tom’s description, having listened intently. “All the pilgrims passing through over the centuries left a powerful spiritual energy, and usually the destinations were centers of worship even before Christianity. But it would be a lovely trip just to take a backpack and go, regardless. I’m sure the scenery is gorgeous. I always wanted to hike part of the Appalachian trail back home but never got around to it.”
Spotting a particularly interesting looking building off down a side street, she took Tom’s hand without really thinking about it and tugged him in that direction. “Let’s see what’s down here, the buildings look older.”
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“Yeah,” Tom mumbled. He tried to focus on the buildings but it was hard with Izzy's hand wrapped around his. “The door will still be open for a few days if you want, we could take a day trip together.” The young scientist knew that was foolish. His wound still hurt and if he kept on pushing his body like this, it wouldn't get better. But the door would close, the opportunity vanish. Tom would regret it.
A group of young Spanish men turned into the alleyway behind them, muttering amongst each other. Fear gripped Tom’s heart and he entwined his hands with hers, holding onto her just a little tighter. He scolded himself for it. Not everyone that followed him would try to kill him and what kind of impression would he leave with Izzy? Easily scared geek that needed protection and hide behind the next bush if a rat approached him? And that’s why Jake got the girls and Tom didn't.
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“If you think you’re up to it, that would be nice.” Izzy was focused on the architecture and hadn't noticed the locals coming in behind them. “Look at the detail on this one! They just don’t build ‘em like this anymore, there’s no sense of craftsmanship these days. Just toss up a box and move on to the next project. If I ever build a place I want it to look like I cared about the details.”
It felt nice to hold hands again with a guy she liked. She hadn't really planned on doing that, but spontaneity was good, right?
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“Huh?” Tom said, glancing behind him. He really didn't like those guys. Call him paranoid but one learned. “So, err... were there are lot of old buildings still around when you grew up?” Tom quickened his pace a bit. He didn't want to raise any suspicion but at the same time wanted to get onto an open road again. Somewhere with more people.
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“Well not so much where I grew up, considering it was the hood.” Izzy conceded. At least in her first dimension. She still had memories from the body she possessed now, but to her mind they weren't really hers. “Even then , Atlanta doesn't really have anything older than the Victorian era thanks to the yankees. But there are still some lovely older buildings there, and if we went down to New Orleans there are some buildings that predate the Revolutionary War. I just like it when people took their time and built them right, and didn’t just toss up a kit, you know what I mean?”
She picked up her pace to avoid being dragged, but only raised a quizzical eyebrow.
Behind them the young toughs laughed, muttering in Spanish amongst themselves.
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“Yeah,” Tom mumbled. His thoughts were more with the blokes behind him than with Izzy. “You know-” The man behind him spoke up and interrupted his sentence. Shit. Tom’s head snapped around and he stood face to face with the stereotypical provocative male who was rattling away in Spanish. Or was it Basque? Fact was Tom didn't understand a word.
Without thinking about it, he pushed Izzy behind his side. “Hablo un poco Espanol. Yeah? Un poco más despacio, por favor,” Tom said in a calm voice, his hands were slightly raised in a soothing fashion. He did not want to pick up a fight, not another one.
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"Tom what-" she was abruptly pushed behind him and it dawned on her that there might be a problem as she took in the group of toughs. There might be eighty plus years difference, but she recognized gang bangers when she saw them. Izzy itched to cast a spell to either get rid of the the toughs or make themselves invisible, but she didn't want to give away the fact she could do magic. For all she knew the locals might string them up for it.
The leader rattled something off in rapid fire Spanish, and Izzy couldn't understand the dialect. His gestures were clear enough though: Tom was on their turf and he could pay a toll in money or give them the blonde.
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Tom stayed put. One arm was shielding Izzy while the other was held in front of him in a half calming, half defensive way. "Izzy, run, yeah?" He mumbled. He didn't have any money and the last time that he had it hadn't been able to buy him his life anyway.
"No comprehendo," Tom said towards the Spanish gang. He understood well enough but he wanted to buy them time or at least buy Izzy some time. His was already burrowed and he wouldn't let Izzy get hurt.
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“Not happening.” She mumbled back, and decided it was worth the risk to work a little magic to try and get them out of the jam in one piece. Tom was earning serious brownie points in trying to put himself between her and any danger though, even when he was still healing from nearly dying a few weeks earlier. Seeing him beat up and possibly killed wasn't something on her agenda for the day.
Her magic wasn't the best without her gadgets, but the right kind of simple spell could still cause a great deal of mayhem if applied just...so. A silent incantation and a flick of the wrist and suddenly all the toughs were stumbling about and rubbing their eyes, suddenly unable to see. “Come on!” She whispered into Tom’s ear as she grabbed his hand to tug him along with her toward the end of the alley and the open street, with its crowds. “That’ll only last about thirty seconds!”
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At first, Tom didn't know what was happening. But he was too afraid to care. Whatever was happening may saves his own ass and that was nothing he would argue with. He started to stumble after Izzy. One hand clung to Izzy's. One hand clutched his wound.
When they turned around the corner, reason started to kick in. "Was that magic? "
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"Yep, I'm not very good at that sort of magic and I don’t like doing it but in a pinch I can pull off simple stuff for short periods of time."
Izzy breathed a sigh of relief as they were safely out in the open with ordinary people milling about. The relieved smile turned into a frown as she looked at the way he was holding his side. "Are you all right?"
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“Yeah, yeah, I’m okay. It’s good,” Tom said, letting go of his wound. It throbbed in his side. But it didn't matter. They seemed to have gotten away, thanks to Izzy. That magic stuff was quite handy. “That was awesome,” he summoned up his thoughts. His legs kept going. He wanted to get as far away from the gang as possible.
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“Are you sure?” She didn't like the idea of him being hurt or re-injuring himself and felt a little pang at the thought of it.
Izzy glanced behind them, but they were already lost in the crowd for anyone to spot them from the alleyway at street level. “I think we’re safe Tom, but maybe we should get back so you can have your wound looked at.”
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“It just hurts occasionally. I don’t think it needs to get checked,” Tom said, knowing full well that he should slow down a bit. He was doing far too much. The trips to the woods, now Spain. He shouldn't run around so much. But it was too tempting. He wanted to see all those things.
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“Then let’s at least go have a meal someplace and relax for a while?” Izzy wasn't going to hide her concern, but if he wanted to be stubborn and pretend he wasn't hurting, she’d go along for now. “We've got two weeks, we don’t have to try and do everything right this second Tom.”
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To be honest, he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to go back to this place at all. He had done enough nearly dying for a month. “Yeah, relaxing would be good. Maybe we can eat at home? Maybe at Sookie's?” They didn't even have money and he just wanted to leave this place.
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“We can go to the diner, Sookie's is all sweets.” Izzy countered reasonably, not at all opposed to going back through the door to the island. She wasn't used to crowds anymore and all the people made her a bit nervous. “We could swing over there for dessert though?”
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Tom nodded. He didn't quite understand why sweet did not count as a real meal but as long as he would get it in at least one way, it was okay. “I haven’t been to the diner yet,” Tom said and reached for her hand again. “But the burger you brought was good.”
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“They have more than just burgers.” Izzy assured him, and decided to tempt fate a bit and take his hand deliberately now, when they weren't trying to run for their lives. “Let’s take a walk and go home.”
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Tom smiled, first at their entwined hands then at her face. “Then I’ll try something else this time.”