(no subject)

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

[New York City is all around him, a mixture of loud noise and constant movement. He's standing in the middle of the sidewalk, holding a piece of paper and scanning the crowd.

And there she is.]

Kate! [He starts running after her, pushing people aside as he goes.] Kate, wait!

[He runs faster and faster, following her through the streets, darting into alleys and making sharp turns but he can never quite reach her, no matter how fast he goes.

His lungs are burning, his legs ache but he keeps moving, taking another quick turn and nearly crashing into a brick wall.

A wall. A wall with no other exits in immediate view and too high to climb.]

...Kate?

[He looks around, expression momentarily helpless.]

Comments

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He arches his eyebrows at her. "You've got some interesting hobbies," he reflects, leaning back against the wall, studying her.

He's tempted to ask whats going on, why the world seems to blur around the edges, why nothing feels right but he doesn't. Instead he concentrates on her, watches the way she holds herself, the way she moves, and notes how the world around her seems to bend and sway.

A dream? Maybe. It could be but he's not sure.

"So," he says with a smile. "Here's a question for you. If you were a girl on the run, what would make you run down a dead end?"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"If I wanted to be caught." The answer comes almost flippantly. "Or if I didn't know it was a dead end. Does she know this area?"

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He laughs. "My life would be a lot easier if she were willing to be caught. Well, caught by me." He smiles, something sad and a little bitter to it.

"She should know the area though, so I don't...." he shakes his head. "I don't know whats going on." It's an admission he's not entirely sure he should be making but the more he thinks about it, the more he wonders about whether he's actually awake or not.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

She was not the most sympathetic. Helpful, perhaps. Sympathetic was something hard for her as she was now.

"Then you need to know it better if you want to find your prey."

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

"She's not prey," he says automatically."She's in danger and I need to find her."

He's not looking for sympathy, he just wants answers. To Kate, to what's going on around h8im, do anything at all at this point. He wants something to make sense.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"You need to know it better to be the hero, too." She really kind of hated that side of this person; but of course it didn't direct affect her when it was people she knew nothing about.

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head. "I'm not trying to be a hero, I'm just trying to get her back." Neal never though of himself as a hero, a dashing thief, yes, a clever, elusive man, yes but never a hero.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Good. Because she kind of hates heroes.

"Doesn't matter," she says, though. "The end result is the same. You already know what you should do, right?"

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He has an appreciation for heroes in theory, after all, he's a man of the classics, but heroes are also the kinds of people who think it's a good idea for people like him to be behind bars.

He much prefers those who identify themselves as morally gray.

"Honestly?" He smiles bitterly. "In this second, I have no idea."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"If she's that important, you get her back. This place seems a bit strange, don't you think? It just might respond."

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

"It's New Yo--" But he stops, considering something for a moment. Was it New York? Was it really?

"Shit," he curses under his breath, looking around them. "What's going on? What---" he shakes his head.

"What do you mean respond?"

totally misread things, sorry

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"Who knows? Doesn't it feel like anything could happen?"

<333 It's fine, no worries at all

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He looks around uncomfortably. "Yeah," he starts carefully. "You could say that."

He slips his hands into his pockets, studying their surroundings. "How did you get here, really?"

Because there was no build up to the running, there was no cohesive timeline leading up to that chance, he was just going after Kate. Did things start the same with her?

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

How? She shakes her head, and it dispels a little of that confident air.

"I was just here." She supposes she could explain the nexus, that this isn't the first time, but-

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He nods, considering that for a moment before he turns around and slams his hand into the wall.

And it hurts, it hurts like hell.

"Well," he says with a sharp breath, shaking his hand to try and relive t pain. "If it's a dream, it sucks eve more than I thought it would."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"What are you doing?!" It catches her so off-guard that the reaction comes naturally and immediately. She grabs at Neal's hand to stop him.

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

"Testing the reactions," he says with a pained smile. "You said it yourself. You aren't sure how the world reacts. If this is a dream, or...or something, I thought that maybe something besides the obvious might happen."

He cradles his hand. "Guess I was wrong."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Ami stares at Neal, almost huffy, jaw tight.

Or perhaps making up her mind, because it's after a long moment of this that she says simply, "Give me your hand."

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He blinks, tilting his head at her. "Why," he says skeptically, though he's holding out his hand anyway.

"Am I going to regret this?"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

And she thought she was the cynic. It makes her give a quiet smile despite herself. She examines Neal's hand closely.

"Tell me if there's pain."

Unless it's injured, there shouldn't be; she takes the hand through its normal range of movement and resistance.

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He lets her do what she'd like, surprised by how easily hand moves. He was sure that it would hurt at least a little bit.

"We're good," he confirms with a nod of his head, not removing his hand from hers until she says.

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

She smiles as she releases the hand. "Let me introduce myself again. Doctor Mizuno Ami."

It's probably good it wasn't injured; she's not so sure bandages and a splint would just appear for her.

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

"Ah," he nods his head, letting his hand drop his his side. "Well, I guess i did that little test in front of the right person. I promise, I don't go hitting brick walls on a regular basis."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't lift a finger to help you if you did." She can understand using it as a test. Doing it foolishly would be, well, foolish; and she doesn't suffer fools gladly.

"As long as it's not injured, it's fine. It'll stop hurting soon enough."

[smileforaliving.livejournal.com]

He smiles at her, slightly more genuine than he had been. Whoever she is, whether she's a figment of his imagination, something else entirely, or the person she really is claiming to be, he thinks he could appreciate her.

"That's what I'm hoping for," he says with a shrug. "What are the chances that, if we wish really hard, I could get ibuprofen?" He says it jokingly, already fairly certain of the answer.