A (Most Likely Not) Normal Night ((Open))

[Aela Ward]

Not many people enjoyed sitting at the edge of an apartment building's rooftop, bare feet dangling over the side, possibly hundreds of feet above the busy New York City streets. Then again, not many people were even remotely like Aela.

With the twinkling night sky above and the light-filled city below, Aela felt as if she was caught between two worlds. One full of galaxies and planets just waiting to be discovered, and the other polluted with pride and conflicts and hate. It was cruel, really, to call such an oblivious world such as the one she resided in those things. But Aela could only see the facts. The flaws in the societies that surrounded her; nobody was truly free unless they had the cash to cover the down payment. No one could do what they wish unless they wanted someone jumping down their throats for it. The idea of illusion was the only thing keeping the fragile order around her from shattering into a million deathly shards.

Aela sighed, setting the steaming mug of chamomile tea down next to her on the bricks. There was absolutely no use in worrying about something she couldn't change; it only caused grief. So instead, she picked the fiction novel she'd brought up with her - The 5th Wave, the title read - and flipped to the first page. 

Maybe a little reading would take her mind off the hell around her.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    I'm in town for a minute. Wanna to hang out? Jack sent the text to Aela before turning his attention back to the task at hand. He was in town. Had been for most of the day, on business. Jack wasn't the biggest fan of New York. The young man found the city stifling and far too crowded. And maybe it was just in his head, but the air tasted wrong. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Oh well. It didn't really matter. The young man hadn't seen his friend in what felt like a very long time.

    A muffled sob drew the young man's eyes back toward tonight's project. Tom was a family man. He had four kids with his wife of twenty years and he never missed a soccer game. But Tom also had a gambling problem, unfortunately. A few months ago he'd lost. He'd lost big to some very dangerous people and found himself in an unpleasant situation where he was indebted to said very dangerous people and found himself needing money. Quickly. Every penny he had and one kidney later, he found himself in their employ, working off the remainder of his debt. His job wasn't terribly important. He was disposable, actually. But it did put him in a position where the information he possessed might prove useful to someone. Someone like Jack.

    It had taken a couple hours but Jack was finally satisfied that he knew everything Tom could tell him. He finished what he had to do and took a quick shower. The whole process took less than twenty minutes but once he was finished he checked his phone to see if Aela had responded.

[Aela Ward]

Aela's phone buzzed twice beside her, startling her out of the trance she'd achieved. Putting her book down after finishing the enticing paragraph she was on, she picked up her iPhone and tapped in her four-digit passcode, revealing a text from Jack. "I'm in town for a minute. Wanna hang out?" it read, and Aela smiled. She hadn't talked to him in what seemed to be ages, and having a friend to chat with would do her some considerable good.

Swinging her legs from the open air to the cool brick rooftop on the other side of the short wall she sat on, Aela responded with a quick, "Sure, that'd be great! I'll order pizza." Shoving her phone into her back pocket, she grabbed her book and headed to the fire escape, stepping onto the rickety ladder with much more confidence than should be put in rusty iron rungs like those.

A few minutes later, she was sitting on the two-cushion couch in her small living room, laptop resting on the coffee table displaying the Domino's Pizza website. According to the handy little tracker at the top of the screen, her pizza was in the oven and cooking. With tea mug in hand, she sat patiently waiting for her friend to arrive.

Hopefully he remembered where she lived...

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    The young man smiled when he saw Aela's reply. Pizza was sounding pretty good just about now. He hadn't eaten much all day because he'd been so busy with work. Ok, so that was sort of a lie. Jack hadn't eaten because he hadn't bothered to buy more snacks recently and he'd been too lazy to go somewhere and grab something to eat. Mostly the young man was just relieve that she remembered him. They hadn't spoken in a while and Jack had a distinct lack of presence that seemed. "Cool. I'll be there soon. Like, teleport soon."

    Jack brushed some junk from the couch and, with that, he sat down and tried to remember what Aela's apartment looked like. He was usually pretty good when it came to remembering places he might want to teleport to later but his memory wasn't exactly the fastest when it came to remembering places he didn't frequent or hadn't been to recently. So it would take him a couple minutes. To help him remember, Jack went over the other events of that day, closing his eyes.

    First came the taste and smell of coffee. Right. They'd met at a Starbucks. The same day, and place, he'd met Nyght. It began coming back to him more clearly. He could see Aela's apartment building now. Everything sharpened considerably and he felt as though he were there again, walking through the halls until he stood in front of Aela's door. Jack opened his eyes and stood up, his destination firmly in mind now. The whole process had still taken him some ten minutes or so but that was ok. The instantaneous nature of his teleportation meant he was only a blink away at that point.

    Following the familiar tearing feeling, Jack found himself in front of Aela's door. He knocked and waited patiently for her to answer.

[Aela Ward]

At the sound of a few quick knocks at her door, Aela leaped from the couch, nearly spilling her tea everywhere in the process. Glancing quickly around her apartment, she noticed a few stray objects that made the place seem minorly cluttered. Hurrying over to a small pile of clothes in the corner, she scooped them up and ran to the small laundry room, dumping the clothes into a hamper before shutting the door behind her and continuing to hurriedly clean.

In the kitchen, she gathered up a few of the stray dirty dishes and placed them in the sink, causing the slight clinking of glass to sound. Hopefully Jack hadn't heard that. Then he'd know her apartment was a mess!

"Pull yourself together, Aela." She hissed quietly to herself. "He's a friend. He's not the freaking president of the United States. He won't care if your space is a little messy." Nevertheless, she finished tidying up the kitchen and finally went to the door.

Pulling it open, she put on a welcoming smile as she was greeted by the sight of her friend. "Hey! Come on in!"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    The young man liked to imagine that he could here some minor hurrying about from within the apartment, but his ears weren't the best and Jack guessed the sounds could be coming from just about anywhere. Though, when he thought about it, it occurred to the young man that perhaps Aela might be tidying up a bit before letting him in. The notion embarrassed him somewhat. He hadn't meant to impose and would never wish to inflict the pain of cleaning upon anyone. The very thought made him uncomfortable, so he quickly dismissed the notion.

    A few moments later, she opened the door and greeted him. "Hey, Aela. Thanks for having me over," The young man responded casually, changing his expression from pensive to the easygoing smile he usually wore. I hope it's not too much of a bother, Jack nearly said, only managing to bite it back at the last second. "You look good." Smooth, Fletcher, a snide voice in Jack's head sneered. He could almost slap himself.

    Entering the apartment, Jack glanced around casually. He hadn't been over in a while and, while he might've been able to teleport directly into her apartment, he would considered just popping in to be somewhat rude. It looked much like he remembered, perhaps slightly different in some way he couldn't quite put his finger on, but still infinitely cozier than his video game and junk food strewn cave. Anyways, he nearly walked straight over to plop down on the couch before he remembered where he was. Force of habit.

    Keeping in mind his manners, Jack figured he'd converse a bit before melting into the couch and inquiring about the pizza she'd mentioned in her text. "So how's it going? Haven't seen you in a little bit."

[Aela Ward]

"Ah, thanks." Aela responded to Jack's compliment with only a mildly surprised tone - which he hopefully didn't notice. Doing a once over of the apartment, she casually slid into the kitchen and placed a lone, mac and cheese-encrusted bowl into the nearly full sink. Nice, Aela. Real discreet.

Walking back over to her friend, she answered his question with, "I've been busy lately. Nearly got deployed to Syria to aid in the training of recruits wanting to fight against the terrorism down in that area." She chuckled lightly. "I'm just glad that they didn't need as many officers to monitor happenings as they thought."

Aela, in all honesty, didn't usually have people over. She didn't have any real close friends - work and regulars at the bar on 5th were really all she had for a social life - so she wasn't exactly accustomed to having another person in her apartment.

"Pizza should be here soon." She stated, hoping to break the awkward silence that had formed over a few seconds after she answered. "How've you been lately? Anything interesting happen at work or whatever?" Work or whatever. Sure, that works. Not great wording, but you got the point across. Nailed it.

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack heard but did his very best not to overthink the mild surprise he'd detected in Aela's tone after his compliment. Had it been too much? It was moments like this that the young man regretted his social inexperience. He wasn't entirely confident in what was appropriate and what wasn't so Jack usually played it safe which had the unfortunate effect of making him seem aloof and even more awkward. Or, at least, he worried that was how he seemed.
    
    Once Aela had returned from her brief trip into the kitchen, she'd answered his question. "I'm glad you're still here," Was all he managed to say just then. The young man tried to not let his surprise show, realizing just then how close he'd come to losing his friend. Jack had known about her military work, of course, but with the day to day way he lived his life the young man all too frequently forgot that change was a constant in everyone's life. When he'd texted Aela earlier that night, he'd expected her to be there, in New York. It hadn't even occurred to him that events in her life might have taken her elsewhere. Jack's selfishness shamed him.

    The mention of pizza was a welcome break to the brief silence and Jack's stomach growled appreciatively at the thought, if perhaps a little insistent. "Lately I've been working pretty hard. It's taken me all around the world and the teleportation alone has been exhausting. Oh, I also got to visit this other planet I hadn't even known existed before, so that was cool. I did have to work but the novelty was nice."

    The young man thought for a moment before asking his next question. "Have you heard from Nyght lately?"

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght had finally come home for a while. She was not entirely sure where Aela had been, but a week or so after she disappeared Nyght had gone out to learn more and accomplish some things. Now she was back, and she was thought...just could that be? Oh crap...it was... Aela was BACK! Nyght looked down at her arm, wrapped up in some ace bandages. She had not had time the past day to get to a doctor and have it properly set after breaking it from a hunt with Stymphalian bird. Aela was going to fret over this. She contemplated not going it, turn around and just walking away. Yet she knew she would not. No, it was even deeper then that. She COULD not. Aela meant so much to her. It was not a love relationsh ip such as intimacy or anything, it was something far different.

Nyght saw Aela as more like a sister she had suddenly found. No, it was even more then that. Nyght looked up to Aela, and Nyght respected time Aela so much...it was almost like Aela was the mother Nyght had never had in her life. Her lose for several weeks had been heart breaking, and she had worried about the other female intensely over that time. Now Aela was back, and Nyght was hesitating to walk in to the house she shared with her? Nyght bit her bottom lip, then decided to sneak in the back way, which was actually something she had been doing almost all the time (which was more or less also because she had lost her key three days after Aela had left). She moved around the building to the fire escape. She climbed up on to a box, then pulled herself up to the fire escape via a ladder. She moved up and to the right floor, then slowly stepped up on to a windowsill which leads in to Aela's bedroom. Shimmying along, she moved to her own window which she slipped her fingers beneath and pulled up slowly. She had freaked out the first few times when it had made a lot of noise, but she had greased it up and now the window moved silently. Getting it up all the way, she went to move inside when a sudden gust of wind hit her and she lost her balance. She tumbled inside, crashing over her nightstand and shattering her lamp. She fell over it and slammed in to the floor, jarring her arm. This brought tears to her eyes from pain, making her whimper in pain as stars danced around her vision and she bit her lip to shut herself up.

[Aela Ward]

"Actually, I haven't seen her since I got back from my last deployment," Aela answered, thinking back to the last time they'd seen each other. It was at the coffee shop where they'd first made acquaintance; Jackson had requested a few companions on a quest to hunt the Stymphalian Bird. Shortly after she'd arrived, though, a call from her commanding officer drew her away to work.

"A short deployment," He explained, shifting his weight every now and then. "Five months, give or take." He'd ordered her to come back to the base ASAP; her flight to the Pakistani border left within the hour. Not having time to head back to the coffee shop and explain things, Aela had left a sloppily scrawled note on the counter telling Nyght where she was and not to worry. Everything would be fine, she wasn't heading to the front lines. Of course, there was always the risk of their enemies using airstrikes... But she wasn't about to tell Nyght that. She'd worry too much.

Suddenly, a crash from down the hall resounded through the apartment, followed by a heavy silence. Aela turned towards the dark hallway, sidestepping quickly and quietly into the kitchen. Opening a drawer with one hand, she used the other to remove a semi-automatic pistol, one she always kept in the kitchen. Casting a glance at Jack, she started down the hall, light on her feet and weapon held out in front of her, ready for firing.

The last door on the right. That's where the sound came from. Twisting the knob slowly, Aela took a deep, calming breath. With a small push, the door creaked quietly open, revealing the dark room and gaping window behind it. Using her elbow to switch on the light, she aimed her pistol at the intruder on the floor for a few seconds before realizing who it was.

"Nyght?!"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Before he could ask something else, there was a crash in the next room that had the young man turning his head, curious. He wasn't feeling the onset of the symptoms that typically accompanied his danger sense, so Jack was fairly certain they weren't in any immediate danger. But that could change any second so the young man decided to stay on his toes, just in case.

    Following Aela at a respectful distance, the young man couldn't help but wonder what chucklehead was in the room causing a ruckus. From Aela's response to the noise, he'd gathered that there hadn't already been someone there with her. Jack suppressed the urge to say something silly and instead remained quiet.

    When Aela opened the door, he was expecting just about anything to jump out at them, but Jack wasn't expecting to find her. Even before she turned the lights on, he could see that it was Nyght. Her arm was bandaged, apparently not fully recovered from the Stymphalian hunt. The young man felt a little guilty about that. He'd started and led the hunt that had gotten her injured. She seemed to have come in through the window, although why he couldn't guess.

    "Nyght?" Jack echoed after Aela, his confusion clear. "What's going on?"

[Nyghtingale]

Nyght grimaced, hearing the voices and footsteps headed her direction. When the door opened and the light kicked on she yelped, rolling away and flinging her hand up. All she had seen was the business end of a weapon, and calling on her power she shoved the weapon upwards and away from herself causing the slide to rip backwards off the weapon itself and embed in to the wall rending the weapon nothing more then an inert piece of metal. Useful for maybe braining somebody, but nothing more. She whimpered, laying on her stomach now her full weight pushing on her injured arm. Tears streamed down her cheek, and she pushed herself up slowly with her good hand and sat up.

"Well..hello to both of you as well!" She said, grimacing as she stood up and cradling her injured arm with her good one. She sighed, eyebrows furrowed in pain an tracks of tears down her face. The fire of the pain was dancing up and down her arm, all the way up in to her shoulder. She moved over and closed the window again, and then sat down upon the bed that was in this room.

"Anybody have some painkiller?" She asked sheepishly, looking from Aela to Jack.

[Aela Ward]

Aela barely paid any heed when her gun was practically demolished only a split second after entering the room. She was too focused on Nyght, whose arm was bandaged; the hunt for that damned bird must've done it. A sudden feeling of protectiveness took Aela by sheer surprise. It took a moment for Nyght's question to register. "Uh, yeah. I've got some in the kitchen. Give me a sec."

Turning and making her way through the small apartment to the kitchen, Aela tossed what was left of her handgun onto the couch and went straight for the medicine cupboard. There were a few bottles that suited Nyght's needs; a half-empty thing of Asprin, another of Ibuprofen, and a few others. But the one that caught her attention was the nearly empty orange canister of prescription strength Lortab, left over from a few months before when she'd screwed up her ankle.

Grabbing the bottle and filling a glass with water from the tap, Aela hurried back to the room Nyght and Jackson were in, going to sit next to Nyght on the bed. "Here," She said after an awkward second of silence. "This should help a lot. I'd only take one, though. They're pretty strong."

After a moment, Alea asked, "So... Why didn't you come in the front door?"

[Jacksoπ Flεtchεr]

    Jack just stood off to the side while Aela fussed over Nyght, providing the asked for pain meds. He didn't want to get in way. And also there wasn't anything he could do. The young man couldn't fix Nyght's broken arm, he didn't know where Aela kept her drugs, and was pretty much useless. Oh! He had candy. Taking a pack of twizzlers from his pocket, the young man held one out to Nyght. "Um. Want one?" He also offered one to Aela. It would've been rude otherwise.

    After Aela had fussed over Nyght some and offered her painkillers before, finally, asking her the question that had been bugging the young man since he'd realized she'd stumbled in through the window. Why hadn't Nyght used the front door? Jack figured she'd either been trying to sneak up on them, perhaps to jump out and shout 'Boo!', or maybe she'd forgotten her key or something silly like that. The young man chewed on a twizzler while he mulled it over in his head.

[Nyghtingale]

     Nyght blinked and watched as Aela went to go get something. She looked at Jack and smiled, and nodded when he suddenly offered her a piece of candy. She reached out to take the candy, and was chewing upon it slowly when Aela came back with a glass of water and some serious looking pain killers. At least serious in the fact that they where not Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Tylenol, or anything else really that she could identify right off that bat. She sighed, setting the candy aside to take the pills. Popping them between her lips, she tilted her head back and took a large swallow of water and swallowed.

      Nyght smiled and looked between the two of them, picking back up her candy and tugged a piece off of it and chewed it between her teeth. She chewed it then looked at the two as they questioned her about her entrance in to the building. She glanced over at the window, then shrugged her shoulders.

      "I lost my key a few days after you left Aela. I did not want anybody seeing that me I was breaking in to the room and get the cops called on me so I just took to sneaking in through the window. Just was easier and quicker that way then worrying about the door."