Thread: Neutral Turf WHO: Jack & Blake WHEN: Friday, November 11 [backdated after THIS] WHERE: The Dockyard, Camden
Blake had faced down some of the most fearsome and dangerous creatures in the world, and yet as the time drew closer that he was to meet with Jack, sit across the table from the banshee professor and have drinks, the retired Dragonslayer felt a sense of dread. This could go terribly. There was no doubt in Blake's head that Jack didn't like him. There was even less doubt that Jack would prefer it if he not only left the school, but kindly stepped off a cliff and fell to his death. It would be an act of charity, Blake could hear Jack saying, to give the world one less slayer. A real demonstration of peace. A true form of retirement.
But Blake wouldn't give Jack, or anyone for that matter, the satisfaction of denying him the chance to pass on what he had learned. How often, Blake wondered as he stepped into the bar, did someone so extremely set on one side of matters have the opportunity to turn a 180 and open his eyes? How many extremists - whether they be slayers, racists, or just a man stepping outside of his privileged comfort zone - got this kind of chance to learn, to be awake?
No, Blake wouldn't disappear from history after finally coming around. That would be a slap in the face to everything he'd put so many dragons through. He'd hurt them enough. Now was the time to protect that which he sought to destroy. No one, including Jack, would deter him from his course. However difficult it was to live among them and endure their displeasure. He had faced worse, but that didn't mean he was gleefully anticipating a night of Jack's witty and scathing remarks.
Blake steeled himself and glanced around the room. It was Friday night and the Dockyard was packed. Plenty of witnesses, Blake's subconscious noted. Somewhere in the room, Jack was waiting for him. Blake had wanted to arrive first, get a good strategic seat, have the upper hand. But Ryuuko had been crying and upset about a missing teddy bear, and they had to scour their living quarters until it turned up. Baby dragon reunited with her treasure, Blake gave her one last reassuring kiss on the head and reminded her to be good before he left to meet Jack, running twenty minutes late.
Expression unreadable, Blake weaved through the people. He didn't move out of the way, but others stepped aside to let him pass. It was the kind of bearing Blake had that made men twice his size give ground without a word. The silvering Dragonslayer had yet to spot Jack. For a moment, he imagined with some amount of relief that maybe Jack had not shown up.