entrancelogs | OPEN | here come the night

Entry tags:

OPEN | here come the night

Who: Adam Milligan (

halfwinchester) and whoever else might be admiring Ewaymas!
Where: Around the mansion.
When: Dec. 13, anytime from late night to mid-afternoon.
Rating: G for now!
Summary: What the hell's with all this Christmas stuff? At least one newcomer is out and about looking at the changes.
The Story:

_{[Very rarely does Adam sleep through the night--or at all, if he's being honest. When the light fades and the mansion gets quiet, it's the perfect time for thoughts of his time in the pit to creep back in, and almost every night begins and ends with him sitting wide-awake until he's too tired to mount a defense. Sometimes he likes to ward away his nightmares in the bathroom. It's smaller in there, and reminds him of the times he'd hidden there when he'd been sick with the flu as a young child.

That night, he's counting spots on the ceiling of his room when the snow starts to fall, and it's the first thing that grabs Adam's attention before the noise starts. Snow? Had that been in Wonderland's weather report? By the time his curiosity wins out over his apprehension, the noises outside his door have long since stopped.

He creeps into the hallway in bare feet to see what going's on. Christmas decorations? Is it Christmas?

The mansion looks beautifully done up in the late hours of the night, and for a while Adam looks around until the pull to return to his room grows too strong. He can be found downstairs inspecting the giant Christmas tree once daylight breaks, dressed for the weather in a heavy sweater. His breakfast is an apple, which he eats while poking at ornaments on the branches.

For once, he has something to do in the mansion that isn't simply "avoid angels." It's strange enough thinking it's already December. A lot of the time it feels like he just arrived, soul broken and all.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Bela's guess is as good as his. It's questionable whether him being out and about is a sign of improving health or stupidity. House elves would be the cute, harmless option, but God knows what's really behind the mansion going whacky.]}

You're British, I figured that one would fly. This place could double as Hogwarts.

_{[Humor is a good way to start the day. Better than waking up to night terrors and not daring to move out of his bed until the afternoon.

Because of that, he only looks slightly awkward at the question.]}

I'm all right.

I think I need to change your perception of British people, Adam.

[She does laugh though. It was good to see him in a lighter mood than when Bela saw him last. Who knows how long it would take until that lightness became more permanent, if even at all.]

All right? I suppose that's much better than awful. [Or scared. Bela remembers that all too clearly because she felt the same way when they were faced with possible death.]

Any plans for the day?

Probably. It's all house elves and English muffins up here. _{[He gestures to his temple.]} Sorry to your country.

_{[Apparently he's been dead for three years in the real world, he's a little behind on what the appropriate pop culture reference is for Britain and its peoples nowadays. But if a Harry Potter crack gets a laugh, he can deal. He hadn't thought he'd still be capable of getting someone else to laugh, let alone himself.

If he doesn't feel quite human, maybe he can fake it. Which is why he doesn't answer with the truth, that he'd been lying and that he's never all right. The corner of his mouth curls in the barest of smiles.]}

No one's been running for their life the last week, that helps.

_{[But getting comfortable in his zombie-free room again is about as far as Adam's gotten in terms of building some kind of life here. He shakes his head at the question.]}

[She's amused.] Suppose there's worse things you could assume about the country I grew up in.

[Bela's opinion on the majority of Americans wasn't exactly high but a lot of them were easy to dupe and manipulate for a huge payout on her part. But she had a good opinion of Adam at least: he was smart and sarcastic, if a little damaged by what happened to him. Bela had to hope that he would heal from all of that, but it mightn't come to pass.]

Mm. That definitely helps.

[Above them and slightly to the left is mistletoe. Bela hasn't noticed it yet.]

I was going to go for a morning run. Just a quick one, not a marathon. Haven't decided what to do for the rest of the day. [It sounds like an open invitation for Adam to join her, but he wasn't under any obligation to do so.]

If no one's going anywhere in a hurry, I've got all the time in the world to learn.

_{[Adam's not entirely serious, but when he thinks of Hell and all the years there, he knows sitting around doing nothing in between spurts of Wonderland trying to kill them is a far better fate. He can afford to talk to people. He has the time and the space now to talk to others besides two angels. Chitchatting about Bela's motherland? Yeah, he'll take that over the rip-roaring social life he's had for the last lifetime or two.

He'll even take the possibility of Michael crawling up his ass by staying outside the angel warding for a while. But running? He's not sure if her telling him is an invitation or a passing hint as to how things work around here, and he tilts his head slightly, questioning.]}

Is that what you guys do? Work out and body build for the next time something happens?

_{[He's not serious about this, either, but considering that he's thought about trying to pick up new skills himself, who knows. Playing Survivor is the least somebody can do if they really want to hold onto those five lives.]}

I don't about anyone else but I've always found that a brisk run can do wonders for you. I'm not looking to body build, just to keep fit and healthy.

[Fit enough to be able to run away from anything or anyone that might be running after her. As for skills? Bela thinks she should learn a few self defense skills rather than relying on her gun all of the time. She would just need to ask someone for help.]

You should consider it, Adam. Might do you a whole world of good.

[She prods one of the baubles with a finger, watching it swing back and forth. Bela is half-expecting something to come out of the tree but nothing does. It's just a normal, super-tall, Christmas tree.]

_{[That about answers that. Maybe all people do just keep themselves in fighting form for the next near-death experience.

Adam looks at the decoration, swinging gently on its hook, before glancing back at Bela. She's nice. If anything, she's been more than nice to him, she's helped him survive, and that says more than words could ever capture. She's one of the few people he feels comfortable around--comfortable enough not to have that vague worry in the back of his mind that he's going to find a knife in his back, anyway--but he's been out of his room for an hour or so already. That's pretty adventurous for him all on its own.]}

I did ten flights of stairs, that's close, right? _{[He pauses after the rhetorical question.]} I should... say thanks again, too. For before.

[Nice is the last word that Bela would use to describe herself. Adam wasn't the only person she helped during the zombie invasion; but he did have her back and according to her own rule of thumb, she didn't like being in anyone's debt. Maybe she should hold off on the nice a little so that he didn't get the wrong impression of her- but then Bela thinks of what Adam told her the first time they met and she didn't want to be cruel.]

You're welcome. [Rather than just brushing it off, Bela accepts his words of thanks for what they were. She doesn't expect anything in return.] I couldn't just leave you there to become zombie food.

Besides, you could have turned and come after me so you had to be alive. [It's said in a wry kind of tone.]

You could have, actually.

_{[But he hadn't thought about that... what would happen if he'd died for real. It comes as a surprise to him, now that he considers the possibility. If he'd caught the brain-eating, mindless zombie disease, then maybe he would have come back from the dead as one of those things. More so than anything else, the idea makes his appetite shrivel up.]}

Uh, guess we can be glad you didn't have to take me down.

_{[Not this time, anyway. Besides the ghoul, no monsters had stolen his face and gone on a rampage in recent memory.]}

You know, still, talking over the phones isn't the same. I would have said something in person, but this place has a million rooms to it.

I am glad.

[Like it or not, Adam had become an ally of hers. Maybe even a friend. And friends didn't abandon each other; or so Bela had been led to believe. She had been unselfish the first time they met and she did it for a second time, which apparently made Adam grateful. How long her unselfish streak would last, Bela didn't know.]

Look, it's fine. I did what I had to do and that's all there is to it. [Just don't thank her anymore, okay? She doesn't want this to become mushy.]

You could have asked me where my room was over the phone or picked a place to meet up. I could have even come to you if you didn't want to venture out into the mansion.

Yeah, well, me too.

_{[Better borderline mushy than reminiscing on the times he had died. He can do without the repeat performances.]}

It's kind of awkward when someone you don't really know that well asks, don't you think? _{[He pauses, gaze flicking away for a second.]} When you found me the first time, I wasn't exactly... I was worse.

_{[Saying "I wasn't exactly in my right mind" would be a lie, considering he still hasn't found his right mind yet, but the gist is there. He hadn't been sure the woman would care to see him in person. As for inviting people over for coffee and stimulating conversation... well, that's out, unless they wanted to admire the blood-smeared angel warding all over his walls.]}

I wouldn't find it awkward. [Unless the person in question was someone that Bela didn't really want around.] You were out of it; for lack of a better phrase. But you seem okay now.

[Okay being used in the loosest sense because things could be different underneath the surface. There's probably a lot more that Adam wasn't letting on- perfectly within his right of course.]

Baby steps, Adam. Just don't become a shut-in, all right?

_{[How neighborly of her. Not what Adam would guess people's first reaction to be when stuck in some strange dimension with a bunch of strange people.

He lifts his shoulders as he slips his heads into the front pockets of his jeans. Is that a shrug at the observation that he seems to be doing okay? Hard to tell.]}

If you have a good reason for why not, you'd be the first.

_{[But from his faint humor, he doesn't entirely mean it. Not overtly, anyway. Fact is, he's already well on his way to becoming one, because he'd needed to in the beginning. And because it's safer. According to Dean, no angels are getting into his space unless they bring the building down on him.]}

[Safer as it might seem, staying in a room all tucked away wasn't exactly living. She felt like Adam needed to take advantage of the second chance that was given to him, Wonderland mayhem and angels aside.

Bela tries for lightness:] Unless you like the Howard Hughes look. [Not exactly pretty.]

Would it help if I told you I like seeing you around? I don't think I can do much beyond that since I know you've got to work things out for yourself. [Is she being sincere? Quite possibly. For him, Bela will be. Just once.]

_{[Harsh, but true. Acting crazy, being in a ton of pain... Hughes might not have gone whacky because his soul had escaped from Hell, but Adam can't exactly argue the comparison. He hasn't spent time watching movies in the nude, so that's something Adam has over the guy.]}

See, there you go, you're pretty good with American pop culture.

_{[He smiles a little, becoming something smaller and more shy at the sudden show of good faith in his company. If it helps Bela, Adam's gotten a little rusty at sincerity, too. It's difficult to give your real feelings their due course when you have to live around the people who'd destroyed you.

And yet having someone who'd seen him at his worst say they'd like to see more of him makes a strange sense of hope bloom in his chest. Bela might claim she isn't nice, but she's given him something he hasn't had in a long time. Even if it does end up being a lie.]}

Uh, yeah, that... helps. _{[He's looking at his shoes as this awkward reply leaves him.]} You are the first.

_{[Even a polite offer to be a shoulder to lean on is better than none. He's grateful for the small kindnesses, the little flashes of humanity he'd thought Hell had taken away permanently.]}

I'm pretty good at a lot of things.

[Boasting much? But she smiles at the comment, deciding to take it as a compliment. Sometimes, it was better to take them instead of throwing it back in someone's face. And maybe Adam needed a boost in confidence or someone to tell him to get on with things. Someone who was aware of his experience but not a hunter, not an angel or a demon or anything supernatural.]

The first, huh? [Bela says, still looking at him even if he wasn't looking back at her.] Doesn't seem right, does it? People should be offering you encouragement.

_{[He huffs a laugh at that, serving to burn away some of his self-consciousness. Dr. Phil would get a kick out of this.]}

I got plenty of encouragement from angels once upon a time, and it ended like this. Not sure how much more of that I can take.

By now, you should have realised that I am not an angel. But you don't have to take my advice of course. It's entirely up to you.

[Bela takes a step back from the tree, causing her to end up in the mistletoe zone. Without warning, she leans in to kiss Adam. ~~Lucky him.~~]

Yeah, I had a feeling. You didn't turn my organs into mulch...

_{[And that's the highest form of praise.

What he's not expecting is for the woman he'd once had a zombie survival sleepover with to lean in without warning, far closer than any platonic acquaintance would. Lucky him indeed! Though that still doesn't stop the moment from feeling like the Wonderland version of Punk'd.

Okay. Wow. What did he miss?]}

[What if she just pulls Adam a little into the mistletoe zone? Would it make him more inclined to kiss back?

Anyway.

The mistletoe has hit her and Bela deepens the kiss by a fraction, sliding her arms around his neck; it seems unlikely that she'll be moving away from him anytime soon.]

_{[Bela, what are you doing.

Seriously.

Why is everything crazy in Wonderland?

He stands stock still, surprised to say the least. Because of his height she has to stretch up to meet him and once her arms settle around him he starts to reach up, half-wondering if he has to pry her off before something starts making sense. He freezes midway, hesitating to grab her arms. He's always been the focused one, the practical one, party nights and possible one-night stands held off in favor of putting his nose to the grindstone. Work before play.

This stuff doesn't happen out of the blue, especially now.}

[She's doing what the mistletoe is telling to do, Adam. Deal with it.

The height difference isn't much of an issue because well, Bela isn't exactly short. But nope, not letting go of him just yet, even if Adam isn't exactly helping by not reciprocating her advances. She'd commend him for being studious and professional in order to achieve his goals, but life wasn't just about work. He should allow himself to let loose and have a little fun from time to time.

Maybe she'll give him some of that fun.]

_{[This is not the Christmas spirit, Bela! They're still more than a month away from Valentine's Day, okay!

As it is, Adam's nerves can only take so much surprise. He makes a wordless, questioning sound, beginning to wriggle. How do you politely tell someone you're afraid the magical land of enchanted mistletoe has made them lose their mind?]}

[But kisses, Adam! From a pretty lady!

The wriggling is off-putting. It's clear that he isn't into this as much as Bela is, but she perseveres for a little while longer, pulling Adam closer. If he resists her again, she'll pull back and stop it from carrying on.]

_{[Pretty beyond a doubt. But this is also... probably pretty... wrong.

She's insistent but not forceful, and he goes still, mind blank. He's conditioned for pain, not this. Not for a woman pressing close to him and her soft, clean smell.

The fact that nothing about this is painful is the most disorienting part.]}

OPEN | here come the night

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enter mistletoe

VERY, VERY BELATED.

WORTH THE WAIT 8D

MUCH BETTER THAN HELL.

YEP

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