no subject

[cassieholmes]

WHO Cassie Homles & Briar Moss
WHAT Meeting for the fiiiiiirst time
WHERE Central Park


Being a grown up made life a hell of a lot easier in so many ways. Being in a big city made it easier to hide. It felt like she could breathe here, like she could actually figure out who the hell she was. Still an artist, a somewhat better Watcher, and generally a pain in the ass for the people she loved. Which was really just Emily these days, given she had helped relocate her to NYC, set her up with a shitty apartment and some connects to keep herself out of trouble. Mostly.

Keeping busy kept her out of trouble, even if that busy was teaching herself how to draw better or people watching or both. Central Park was perfect for both of those things and she'd gotten herself into a bit of habit of taking the same route into the park from her place, stopping at the same hole in the wall coffee place for the biggest cup of black coffee they had.

After that, it was just crossing the street to enter the park off one of the side entrances. A little less busy, a little more shaded. There were some beautiful trees that were perfect for sitting under, and they were positioned just a touch above that section of the park so it was perfect for prime people watching. Well, it would have been if someone wasn't also there.

"You mind?" she asked, a hit of tone in her voice but even she couldn't tell if she was asking him if he minded that he joined or if he minded clearing out. Maybe more the former than the later. Personal growth and all that.

Comments

[shakkans]

If he were a better person, Briar would have asked about her drawing. She'd come to the park to do it, after all. But if he were a better person, he wouldn't be accepting an offer to go to bed with her, a stranger he'd met on a park bench, who he knew nothing about other than that she was pretty in a rough around the edges way and that she drew better than he did. He'd have tried to get to know her first. But, well, truth be told he didn't see the necessity girls tended to put on that sort of thing and far away from home and everyone he knew and loved? He'd be a fool not to take whatever comforts he was offered.

Briar might not have had a mother to raise him but he hadn't become a fool all the same.

"Right then," he agreed easily, his notebook tucked under his arm as he stood to join her. "Lead the way. And I'll ask you not to try to slice my throat when we get there." Going off with strangers wasn't always safe, Briar knew, and New York was even as much so as any of the more dangerous cities he'd been to. Cities, by in large, didn't have the plant life for him to call upon for protection if he needed it. He had to rely on his mage kit, and that wasn't practical to carry around much of the time.

[cassieholmes]

Cassie grinned when he asked her not to kill him. "I'm more of a self-defense fighter so as long as you don't try to hurt me, you'll be good," she promised. He didn't seem very dangerous, maybe if provoked, and while she was intent on provoking him it was in the fun way not the bad way. That did make her think, though. "Hey, you clean?" she asked as they walked. "I'm clean, and on birth control," she offered, since the two usually went hand in hand.

They were stuck at the light, waiting for it to change so they could cross. She tilted her head to look at him, in a kind of considering manner, but it only lasted a moment as the light turned and they were able to cross. Cassie grabbed his hand as she led the way, weaving in and out of people. She lived in the more populated, densely packed areas, the cheaper side of town for sure. Hopefully he didn't judge. He was getting laid, that had to be enough incentive not to judge too much.

"Only another block, just up on the left," she promised.

[shakkans]

Briar was absolutely a lot more dangerous than he looked, but he'd made the choice a long time ago not to be. Well, it wasn't much of a choice. When Niko had saved him from yet another arrest, he'd had to give up any path that might have led to being a violent man. And then a life with Rosethorn and Lark, the girls? Turning himself into a gardener and a teacher and a healer? A self-defense fighter sounded about like how he approached things too. And Briar did not think that Cassie posed any kind of real threat to him.

But then, who knew what she was capable of. He'd grown up with Tris Chandler; he knew not to underestimate anyone.

He hadn't really been worried about birth control or anything like that, he took care of that for himself and it had never been an issue. Droughtwort had been one of a few important herbs he'd always have on hand. Briar was determined not to sire any unintentional children. Ever. He doubted he'd be doing it intentionally, either. To messed up, for that.

"Guess we don't got nothin' to worry about, then," he said lightly, easily following her through the crowd of people. He moved with the same ease as he always had, as comfortable in packed cities as he was in the quieter streets of Summersea or the spiraling paths of Winding Circle. "Except maybe that you're in somethin of a hurry?"

The latter came out teasingly and he squeezed her hand around his. A hurry wasn't a bad thing. He sort of liked it.