Ezekiel didn’t do fighty. He had said that since the beginning of his time as a Librarian and yet, when it came down to it, if Jake was getting into trouble, he usually wasn’t too far behind. It had started in the early days of them being Librarians and it had persisted to now, in Vallo, many years later. He didn’t care to examine why it was that the idea of Jake being in trouble had him running after him, so he didn’t think too hard about it.
At some point though, he probably should learn how to fight and also how to control this totem he was now in possession of. It wasn’t going to be today though. It was nighttime now and it had been a few hours since the attack on the salt mines to end those vulture creatures that had been attacking Vallo. He had headed to the Chakrabarti Clinic to get stitched up, though he had been relatively low in the priority line, considering all the injuries people had sustained in this attack. Those vultures had been no joke.
He had shooed Jake off hours ago, pointing out that sitting with him was dumb when he could be pouring over those new books he had gotten from the vultures’ lair. The other man had been reluctant to go, but he eventually did, likely study his new books. So when it was time for him to get back to his flat at Morningside, he called someone else and waited. Sitting on the bench outside of the clinic, he sat there with his eyes closed, doing his best to ignore the pain his whole body was in despite the drugs that the clinic had hooked him up with. He couldn’t wait to get back to his place and down some edibles.
Eleanor caught a ride to the clinic, thinking it would be easier to get Zeke back to the apartments if he didn't have to walk or attempt a waypoint, while also feeling slightly better that she at least got to help him out since she'd passed on the entire vulture fighting adventure. (Outside of the day before, where she wanted to make sure Jason didn't get himself killed trying to blow the vultures up.) But she wasn't a fighter. She had no secret weapon skills to assist her. And she was alive, which meant she could in fact die, and she didn't want to to do that. Again.
So paying for a Lyft was literally the least she could do, and she had the driver wait at the curb while she went to retrieve Zeke.
"Had so much fun nearly getting yourself killed yesterday that you decided to do it all again today?" she asked in greeting, but she was teasing. Mostly. He was looking kind of rough, so she wasn't going to give him too hard of a time. "Our ride's waiting," she added before waiting to see if he needed a hand.
Slightly opening up one eye and seeing the familiar head of blonde, he opened both eyes up fully and argued, “Listen, there was no actual decision making going on. Jake decided he wanted in on these supposedly forbidden books that they had there and I couldn’t let his dumb arse get murked because he thinks he’s the lovechild of Rick and Evelyn O’Connell.” He knew letting him work for the Mummy trio had been a bad idea, back in Blackpoint, but did that stop Jake? No. Now he thought he was Indiana Jones.
He winced as he got himself up off the bench and nodded at the Lyft. “Thanks for that. I didn’t want to call Cowboy and have him worry all over me again. I never know what to do with that.” Except to feel awkward, doubly so since officially ending whatever they had going on in Tumbleweed here. Walking to the car only slightly slower than normal, he asked, “Didn’t see Jason over at the mines though, take it that you guys played it smart today?”
"Alright, fair," Eleanor agreed. "You had him, I had Jason shouting 'BORTLES' yesterday, and couldn't leave him on his own because well…" He was Jason. Zeke knew. "But no, I don't think he could even have found the salt mines on his own and I sure wasn't going to try and find them with him. A baseball bat worked for the turkeys but…" The vultures were something else.
She climbed into the car first and slid all the way over to make it easier for him. The driver already knew to take them back to the apartments, so as soon as the door was closed they were on their way. "Besides, it's much more fun to stay home and worry about the people you care about getting hurt."
That had essentially been her day.
Oh yeah, Ezekiel knew. He had plenty of experience of trying to keep Jason out of trouble, but he didn’t have to say that. Eleanor mostly knew about how he had known a version of their favorite Florida man in another world. “Best to just let the big bad superheroes do their thing, when you can,” Zeke agreed, as he slid into the car after her with a flinch. The stitches on his side pulled as he contorted himself to sit down, but the tense look on his face smoothed over after a moment. He was clearly not a fighter, but he also didn’t want Eleanor to worry, considering she just said that’s all she had been doing today.
“Which one of the idiots at the mines were you worrying over? Maybe I saw them,” he explained, having been surprised by the sheer number of people that had shown up. Then again, once someone said something about forbidden books, he wasn’t really surprised that magic nerds had wanted in on it.
Yeah, Eleanor didn't miss the face he made, but at least he was up and moving even if obviously in pain. "So how bad is it?" she asked.
"Marina, though she probably had her amulet. But her friends too, not that she'd call them that." That was the bulk of it, though she assumed other people she knew might have been a part of it. She also didn't mention Margo specifically, even if they had made out and Eleanor had definitely considered doing that again.
Pushing the flannel he had borrowed from Jake off his shoulder and lifting his cut up and slightly bloody shirt to show off what was a stitched up cut from under his armpit to near his hip that was covered in a bandage, he said, "It's going to scar, that's for sure. But they numbed the area, so it doesn't suck too much yet. I fully plan to have a couple edibles so I don't have to feel it tonight though." Zeke definitely had whined about the pain a lot more earlier that day, but soon, he would be blissed out on cloud nine.
Dropping his shirt, he asked, "Right, I forgot you ran with her." He hadn't really known her back in Tumbleweed. He had only worked with Julia and Tony on a few projects and knew peripherally of her and the rest of the Magicians. "What does she get up to around here anyway?"
"Um, you're going to share, right?" Eleanor asked. "With your good friend who selflessly took time out of her day to pick you up?" Not that she wouldn't have done so regardless, but now there was the potential to get high, and she was going to jump on that if she could.
That was a long cut though. No wonder he was wincing. And yes, edibles would probably help and she was even more glad she'd gone to retrieve him to make sure he got back alright.
"She teaches, and then works at Lux," Eleanor replied. Details about Marina that were easy to find out. "She had to convince me I wasn't cursed when everyone I started to get to know my first month here kept disappearing." It seemed stupid now, but Eleanor had a hot streak going for a while there.
"Oh we're good friends now, are we?" Ezekiel asked rhetorically, though it was mute point now. Once you declare someone alive and tried mystery ranch with them, you are definitely friends. "But yeah, I guess I can share in the wealth." Because the weed that he got from his goblin plug was obviously where his disposable income went.
Trying to find a comfortable position to sit in as the car sped along toward Morningside, he gave up and sat on the hip opposite his cut and hoped he didn't look too much like an idiot. "So are you sure you're not cursed now? Cause I'm sure there's an artifact to figure that out too." Which was only half a joke, but mostly something to keep the conversation from getting too dark. Because he himself had felt like a curse when Jim left in Blackpoint and Jake got sent away in Tumbleweed. And now coming here with no Raven? Yeah, he was the common factor. But they didn't need to get serious now, when getting high was on the horizon.
"We survived Stupid Nick's," Eleanor pointed out. "Without getting high first, which is something." Because maybe with the munchies the sizes Nick's offered would start to make sense. She grinned though, when Zeke offered to share. The day had just started to turn around.
"And ask me that again if Marina disappears. Actually, no. Don't. Just take me out and get me drunk." Which was, she realized, and indication of how much she cared about her friend, but Eleanor wasn't afraid to admit as much. Not anymore, at least. That was all Marina.
"She did offer to have me painted up as a clown if I disappeared, and then to give it to me if I came back, so there's the mark of true friendship. Or loathing. I'm not sure which."
The car pulled up to the apartments and Eleanor got out on her side so Ezekiel wouldn't feel rushed. (All those little things she definitely never thought about doing when she'd been alive. The first time.) Then cheered him as he made it out saying, "Soon all this will fade." Hopefully, at least. It depended on the strength of the weed, she guessed.
"How are you so perky? Are you on uppers or something? Did I miss that in your bloodwork?" He wasn't used to this much peppiness, at least not anymore. Not since Cassandra back home. Maybe one day she would show up? But he walked up to the building all the same, after tossing a "Cheers, mate!" over to their driver.
It didn't take long before he was unlocking the door to his flat. He had his own rooms in the Library, but sometimes he wanted away from there and all the memories he had of Raven in his bed, so he held onto his place at Morningside as an escape. It probably wasn't being fair to Jake, but honestly, Ezekiel felt like he deserved to be selfish about this. If he could bleach his mind over Tumbleweed, he would.
Turning on the lights upon entry and kicking off his shoes next to the shoe rack he had by the door, Zeke said, "No shoes in the flat, but make yourself at home otherwise. I'm going to get out of this flannel before I start liking it and wash up some." It smelled like Jake and he was very deliberately trying not to think about that. "I think there's some leftover pizza in the fridge, but I planned to order something fresh if you have requests? Anyway, be back in a few." He didn't wait to hear any replies as he disappeared down the hallway to his bedroom.
The apartment was furnished, but that was about it. There weren't many personal touches and absolutely no pictures anywhere. A skateboard was leaning against one of the bare walls and there was some junk mail on the coffee table. The kitchen had the most signs of life, with its clean dishes in the dish rack and fruit on the kitchen island. The place definitely didn't feel like a home. There was a gaming system and large flat screen though, some of his first big purchases when he had started doing contract work.
"I don't know," Eleanor replied. "I was a total bitch before I died, then…" She shrugged. The fake good place had changed her. And being removed from that and here in Vallo she was just starting to see the extent of it. Even things that she had seen on the show that seemed ages away weren't necessarily. It was weird, and she didn't tend to dwell on it. It wasn't really fun thinking about how unnecessarily awful she had been as a person, or rehashing her childhood. Or finding out her mom had finally gotten it right, but only after faking her own death and assuming a false identity.
Stepping into Ezekiel's apartment and kicking off her shoes drew her from those thoughts. Alright then, Eleanor thought as Zeke disappeared down the hall. She took the time to look around but there wasn't much to look at. So instead she leaned against the island in the kitchen and pulled out her phone, looking for updates. Though maybe that wasn't the most efficient idea, so she sent a couple texts and then went to look for kitten memes, in case she ever needed an arsenal to bombard Marina with.
It didn’t take long for Zeke to wash up and change, just long enough for Eleanor to snoop if she had wanted to. Not that there was much to find. When he got back, he looked a little more relaxed in a plain t-shirt and sweatpants. He had house slippers on that looked like rabbits and the spirit totem clutched in his hand. That was deposited on the kitchen island carelessly though, as he looked through the drawers for takeout menus.
“What are you doing?” He asked, being a snoop and peeking over Eleanor’s shoulder as he continued his search. It was a short lived one, when he found them tucked away in the drawer by the utensils. Pulling them out, he offered them to her to let her pick anything that seemed appealing to her. “Cat memes?”
He kept moving though, reaching for a cookie jar that had been tucked away in one of the cabinets and immediately having regrets as the stitches were tugged. Hissing, he pulled the jar down and cradled in his arm, before turning back to Eleanor with his treats. “This is strong,” he warned, ignoring the stinging pain in his side. “I really don’t recommend more than two or three, depending on how your tolerance is.”
"You can never have enough cat memes," Eleanor said without any other explanation as she slid her phone back into her pocket. Raising a brow as Zeke pretty much injured himself retrieving the very things he was going to take to help ease that pain, she didn't say anything. Sure, she wasn't the tallest but she could have managed.
"I haven't had any of these in a very long time," Eleanor grinned. "So I'll just start with two. But let's definitely figure out food first?" She didn't want to be Sophie, mad that the calculator on her phone wouldn't work as DoorDash. Though to be fair she'd be more likely to just stare at it confused, wondering why she was looking at it in the first place.
So before she ate anything, she was gonna order actual food, going back and forth on ideas with Zeke before they managed to order something. There. Now she could get high. She took two chocolate chip cookies from the jar and ate one quickly, then took her time with the second.
"These are actually really good."
“Right?” The question was entirely rhetorical, as he grabbed three himself, picked up the totem, and headed over to the couch to find a comfortable position to lay in. “Thanks again, Blondie. Next time something goes down, I’m locking Stone in the Library and not letting him out until the danger’s passed.” He munched on a cookie for a bit, as he raised the totem up and studied it. “Though I really should figure out how to use this thing properly. If that Jedi hadn’t been there, I would have been bird food.”
He should also probably learn how to fight, but then that would be admitting to the fact that he would always have Jacob’s back no matter what. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to be that vulnerable again. Ugh, feelings. “Hey, catch,” Ezekiel said, abruptly tossing the totem at Eleanor when she was close enough for it. “Tell me if you feel anything off that thing?”
Eleanor was halfway through the second cookie when Ezkiel tossed the totem at her. She managed, just barely, to catch it without dropping her cookie and that seemed like an award-worthy moment.
Did she feel anything? No. It was too early to be feeling the edibles (thought that would change soon) and as she studied the totem, she really didn't feel any different. "I don't think so," she said, but frowned. Her voice sounded like she was shouting. Was she shouting? Then she started picking up other noises, like the elevator dinging, indistinct voices, the very distinct sound of people …
"Ew, gross!" she said, tossing the totem back to Zeke. "I don't want to listen in on your neighbors." She took a seat in a chair, and finished off her cookie, trying to focus on that and not what she'd just heard.
Zeke grinned as he fumble-caught the totem, holding it and looking at it to Eleanor. “Did you get enhanced hearing? I got what I assumed was dog hearing once, but it definitely gave me more insight on the flat down the hall than I wanted.” He placed it on the back of the couch and laid back down, starting on his second cookie.
“It’s handy, if you can control it. I still haven’t figured out the kinks though or why it makes me want to go do hero shit.”
"Yeah, who lives there? Wait. Never mind. I don't want to know." Eleanor shook her head, glad the enhanced hearing was gone. She definitely didn't want to go do hero shit but they also didn't have anything going on now that the vultures were dealt with. "I don't know, man. If I had some way of fighting I may want to, but it's kind of nice not having to." Other than the worrying. But being a liability if she showed up wasn't fun either.
"Guess I could learn to use a weapon. Besides a baseball bat, that is."
Eleanor glanced around Zeke's place, waiting for the cookies to kick in. "You should decorate in here. I'd offer you a clown painting, but mine are stuck on the wall."
“All I know is that they’re into really kinky sex or someone got murdered in there last Tuesday,” Ezekiel said, also not wanting to find out who lived in that particular apartment. “Anyway, I’m never here enough to care. It’s why I haven’t decorated. My old rooms came through with the Library so I usually stay there unless I want space.”
He poked the totem as he finished off the second cookie. The third one was left on the coffee table, where it would remain until Zeke decided he wanted to get any higher than what two cookies would do to him. “Sometimes I kind of wish I didn’t find this thing? Like, it’s pretty cool being able to sense things from animal and gorilla strength is fun, but now I feel obligated to not run and leave the fighters to do things when something’s happening. Does that make sense?”
"Like you want space now?" Eleanor asked. But she got it. Maybe. Zeke wasn't the easiest person to read but he hadn't wanted Jake to come pick him up, so whatever the reason, she'd stepped in.
"And I get that. Back when I was alive I definitely wouldn't have jumped into the fray. I may have tried to find the best way to make everything work to my advantage, but that wouldn't have been by actually fighting off monsters. Now…"
She shrugged, her entire body starting to relax as the cookies started working. "Now I should probably learn how to hold my own because these things don't always happen way out in the woods." Else she could just avoid the woods and not worry about it. She still wasn't looking to play the hero, though.
"You really should learn how to use it though. You'd probably be pretty badass way cooler than listening to your neighbors have sex."
“You’re nosy, you know that?” Ezekiel said lightly in place of actually answering her question about space. He preferred not to talk about Jacob and Raven and the whole drama of it all...but given he had just downed two weed cookies, there was a chance he could get chatty about it at some point.
A pleasant warmth started in him, spreading out to his limbs. Whatever the goblin he bought from used to make these, was always so potent. He was a happy and loyal customer. “Anyway, I’m already amazing. Have you seen my death ray? Very cool.” You know, when it wasn’t malfunctioning because the magic he had used was a little unstable in this universe. Version 2.0 would be better. “Learning to use it would all just be a bonus to my coolness.”
Then abruptly, he asked, “Wait, I just realized...what do you do for a living around here? Are you bumming around like I am?”
"Hey, I used to be a whole lot more nosy, I'll have you know," Eleanor retorted. And then she laughed, because she was starting to feel warm and fuzzy and being called nosy wasn't the insult it could have been.
"And no, I haven't seen your death ray. Why do you have a death ray? Is a death ray what I think it is?" She wasn't sure she trusted Zeke with anything called a death ray. She eyed him suspiciously until he distracted her with another question.
"Oh, I work. At the apothecary and the bookstore," she said, without specifying which, as if he should know. How many apothecaries could Vallo even have?
“Does it dispense death? Because yes, yes it does.” He had only so far tried it on things that weren’t human and wasn’t looking to expand beyond that. “Though the murder turkeys ended up overheating it, so I’m working on another version of it now.” Man, those turkeys had sucked.
“I really didn’t expect you to be a bookstore employee though. Doesn’t fit your vibe,” he said, squinting his eyes at her. “You look like you belong in an ice cream shop. Or Stupid Nick’s.”
"Cerberus Books, with the milkshakes," Eleanor said, giving Zeke a look before glancing around for something to throw at him. "I'm never going to work at Stupid Nick's. Ew. Don't you go stereotyping me. I don't stereotype you with your Aussie accent saying 'G'day mate' every time I see you."
Maybe she should. It sounded like a hilarious idea now that she thought about it, and Eleanor started laughing. Or maybe it was more like giggling.
“You’re just jealous you don’t sound as awesome as me, mate,” he said, preening like an idiot as she laughed. “And sometimes stereotypes are helpful! I knew when I met you right away that I could con rides out of you.” If there was one thing he was good at, it was reading people.
Ezekiel might not have been good at reading himself and figuring out his own emotions, but this he had picked up over the years of being a thief. And MI6 had really honed that skill, when they had gotten their claws into him.
Zeke may have meant that as a joke, but it sobered Eleanor for a moment. "That's right," she declared after a minute. "Because I'm a good person now."
And that was way too emotional of a moment that snuck up on her, but fortunately her gut reaction was to laugh at herself, which she did. "You didn't know me before," she teased. "I'd have told you I was on my way then left you hanging…"
Ezekiel vaguely knew about her world, or rather, the afterlife Jason had come from, But he knew enough about Eleanor at this point, to know that being a dirtbag was a big deal when it came to their world. So he got serious for a second and nodded, “Yeah, you’re pretty decent.” And then changed the subject by putting it onto him and how much of a dirtbag he had been. “I used to be a thief before I became a Librarian.” He didn’t mention that everything he stole had gone to charity and helping the needy. “We probably would have gotten along then too.”
"Yeah?" Eleanor asked. "We probably would have."
She was feeling really comfortable now, her entire body feeling the high, as she considered Zeke. He was so smart, and super nerdy, and yet had made her feel at ease during the entire dead or alive test. But where he'd really won her over was how much he seemed to care about Jason.
Jason was an idiot, but he was also one of the best people that Eleanor knew, with a stupidly big heart. Zeke seemed to know this, or maybe he had different reasons, but she appreciated that he always seemed to have Jason's back. That was important.
Or so she thought, as her thoughts sort of danced around in her head and she had trouble remaining focused on any one thing for long. "This was a good idea. You feeling any better?"
"Oh yeah, I'm not feeling anything anymore except bliss," he said, smiling like a dope as he stared up at the ceiling. Was it always that colour? Who knew? "You ever want to go back to where you came from?" He knew she, along with Jason, were dead in their world. But it hadn't seemed like a problem for them.
Zeke wasn't sure if he ever wanted to go back. He had grown considerably as a person and had expanded his knowledge, but everyone he had become close to was gone these days. Raven, Carol, Jim, Bones, Ianto, Rick, and Sulu...it was just Jake and Tina now. Sure he hung out with a few others, Jason and Eleanor namely, but would that ever replace wanting to see Cassandra again? Eve? Jenkins, or even Flynn?
Ugh, he hated getting melancholy when he was high. Everything always felt too extreme when he was like this.
"Well definitely not to Phoenix," Eleanor said. "And the entire fake good place is kind of iffy, but I've watched the show so I'd actually be heading to Phoenix for a few months then Australia, which would be cool. I've never been. And I actually would be able to remember my relationship with Chidi which would be better than wherever I'm at now..."
She fell silent for a while. "But eventually it all ends. Maybe I'd be ready for that if I lived it, but it's really, really weird to think about." Especially while high. "I'd rather everyone just show up here, you know. Crazed vulture human things and all."
“I remember Jason talking about Chidi a couple of times. Sounded like someone that would get along with Jake.” Ugh, Jake. Jake and his stupid flannel that Ezekiel was 100% not giving back. “I think you’re onto the right idea though. If everyone could just come here, that would be nice.” But the memory of those that he would never see again sucked, so maybe going back and not remembering anything that happen while he was here was better.
At least they didn’t have to agonize over that too much, since they didn’t really have much of a choice on how things went. Hearing the knocks on the door, he got up too quickly and felt woozy for a second, before settling. “I got it,” he declared, grabbing his wallet off the coffee table and heading for the door. Not too long later, he sat on the ground next to the coffee table, spreading the food out for them. “Well? You coming?” He asked, eyebrows raised at her.
Eleanor laughed, because the floor seemed so far down, and she practically slid out of the chair before making her way to the coffee table. "Whoever's hooking you up? I need their info," she decided, every other thought forgotten other than the food in front of them, as well as the prospect of more chocolate chip cookies.