fandomhighdorms | The Salle, Monday Midday

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The Salle, Monday Midday

It was pretty typical of any trip back home for Gabrielle to barely get a chance to breathe, let alone adjust to . . . a lot of eventful things, and that was the downside of heading back to Fandom afterward. She'd gotten in late last night and crashed out for a good ten hours before her growling stomach finally woke her up, and then, in the process of going to take care of that, discovered that her body was really feeling the effects of the entire trip. Funny how extreme exposure to cold and then strenuous use of muscles she hadn't really exercised in far too long would do that, huh?

It was tempting to just crawl back into bed and lie there until the pain subsided, but in the end she convinced herself to shuffle awkwardly down to the salle; Xena would say something about the best cure for that kind of soreness being to work those muscles more.

Therefore the salle it was, with an hour or so of yoga to start, and her sai laid out near one of the practice dummies for after that. It wasn't that she was avoiding thinking about what she'd just been through; it just seemed easier to think about it while whaling on a dummy.

. . . huh. Interesting.

[OOC: Open salle, bits of work-related SP likely.]

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Know what was probably a terrible idea? Trying to beat up a dummy from a wheelchair. Know who was coming down to the salle to try it anyway? This guy!

"Oh," he said, pausing at the door when he saw Gabrielle. "Hello."

"Hi, Wesley," replied Gabrielle, who was a lot less henna-tattooed and yellow-wearing than she'd been last time she'd spoken to him, and more leather-clad instead. ("Clad" being relative. Sigh, Gabrielle's outfits.) She hadn't started in on the dummy yet, just picked up the sai and started to spin them experimentally in her hands. (Her fingers were sore from getting accustomed to the grip. She'd have to get used to that.)

"Gods -- what happened to you?"

"I was just about to ask the same thing," Wesley said a bit wryly, wheeling in a little further and managing not to run over anything or collide with any walls, for once. "You look -- different."

Yes, Wesley, just ignore that elephant there and focus on the slightly smaller, more leather-clad one. Why not.

"It's a long story," Gabrielle answered with a low, brief chuckle that sounded more sheepish than amused. "I had to go home for a while, and what I thought would be one simple mission turned out to be a lot more."

Yes, "let's stop a Roman army from enslaving the Amazons" was simple by her standards.

"But never mind that. You've been hurt -- how did this happen?"

Nice try with the elephant-ignoring, Wes.

Damn it. Wesley hated that stupid elephant. Hated it so.

"Rather the same thing as what happened to you, actually," he commented, glancing down at his hands. "I was called home to help my former colleagues with a -- well, actually, they hadn't even had a project in mind at the time. But, ah, there were demons, and a gunshot, and it was a bit of a mess."

Great use of detail there, Wes. Really, top-notch.

"What, ah. What sort of missions were yours?"

"I know how that goes, believe me. For me, it was putting a stop to Pompey's attempts to sell my Amazon tribe into slavery," Gabrielle replied casually, shrugging. "That's how it started, anyway -- we ended up caught in the middle of his war with Julius Caesar again and -- ah. Caesar put a bounty on Xena's head, she decided she needed to end their feud by killing him, Caesar ordered me held hostage against his safety . . ."

She rolled her eyes. Roman politics, really.

". . . would you believe it got even more complicated from there?"

Wesley blinked. He'd known, of course, that Gabrielle came from a rather more... historical time frame (even if her speech pattern and certain mannerisms seemed thoroughly antithetical to that), but to hear it all laid out like that... well.

"Not without further explanation, at least," he said wryly after a moment and a few more bouts of blinking.

[[And now I flee for shopping adventures, so here, have some SP with your SP.]]

Edited 2012-03-19 17:08 (UTC)

Not to mention her completely non-Greek name and her inexplicable ease with modern-day English. Just don't ask, Wesley. It's better if you don't.

"They have a history, Xena and Caesar. Or had," she corrected herself. "I hear Brutus and the Senate put an end to that while we were . . . indisposed." There were just some developments you didn't drop casually into conversation, because really.

"Things went bad when she tried to break me out of prison." Oh, understatements.

She reached out to tap one wheel of the chair with the pommel of her sai. "This -- this isn't permanent, is it?"

Wesley thought about mentioning that what she was talking about with Brutus was regarded somewhat differently nowadays, but let it go. Probably best not to, really.

"Oh! No, no," he said hastily. "Just until it heals enough to stand. Shouldn't be more than a few weeks." Really, he should get better at saying that upfront, to keep people from freaking out too much.

"So -- Brutus is an -- ally of yours, then?" What? He was curious.

The Caesar she knew didn't match up to any historical records either, so there was probably no point in bringing that up. There was no way that could end except in tears.

"Thank the gods," Gabrielle said with clear relief, but her expression turned distasteful at the question. "Brutus? No. He was almost a friend once, but that ended when he started using us as pawns in their game. It doesn't matter, now. That's done with."

"True," Wesley conceded, though now he was just really curious about ALL THE THINGS. So... questions ahoy. "What, ah, what was his issue with Xena?"

[[Yeaaaaah, shopping adventures turned more intense than expected. SORRY OMG.]]

This was karmic payback for Gabrielle asking ALL THE QUESTIONS for so long. And since she was into the whole karmic thing, she could accept that gracefully and answer.

"Who, Caesar?" she guessed. "They were allies once, years ago, and then -- well, if you ask him, she betrayed him. According to Xena, of course, it's the other way around."

Of course.

"Ever since then, she took a . . . personal interest in keeping him from gaining too much of a foothold in Greece, and naturally every time he found out she was involved it just goaded him on more . . ."

Roll with it, Wes. Roll with it. Gabrielle's ancient history is not anyone else's ancient history.

"...naturally," Wesley said. It couldn't be called agreement, per se. More just... repeating what she'd just said in the hopes that that might make it make any kind of sense at all. "So a sort of... snowballing effect, then. What, ah, what inspired the betrayal?" Just keep asking the questions, Wes. Keeeep asking them.

Oh, Wesley. Don't think about it that much. It'll only hurt.

"That I'm not sure about," Gabrielle admitted. "Though knowing how she was back then, they probably tried to double-cross each other."

"Bit of a renegade back then?" he guessed, thinking of their last conversation and all the comparisons of Xena to Angel. "Sounds familiar."

"Mmm," Gabrielle said neutrally. "Does the phrase 'the Destroyer of Nations' give you an idea of what she was like back then?"

She shook her head. "Strange, thinking about that after I saw what she was like when we -- came back."

Subtle, Gab.

Well, maybe not now, but in a year or so when a crazy eighteen-year-old fell out of a portal in the Hyperion lobby calling himself the Destroyer, maybe Wes would give that a second thought. And hope to god that Xena and Connor had nothing in common.

"...came back?" Wesley repeated carefully.

Gabrielle cleared her throat and looked down, weighing her options before deciding to go with the truth.

"We, ah. Xena and I -- Caesar had us crucified."

Staring. Staring.

"What?" Gabs, your world was weird. And also terrifying. "You're -- well, you're -- all right, obviously, but -- what happened?"

She'd just told you, Wes. God. Pay attention.

"We died," Gabrielle said in a tone that would be amazingly matter-of-fact even if you happened to know that this would not have been the first time for either of them. "My friend Eli, the healer, brought us back somehow, but we were dead for about a week, I think. It had to be at least that long before Amarice and Joxer could get our bodies down."

She shook her head again. "It really is strange. I have these vague memories of demons, and being an archangel, and then the next thing I knew I was waking up in my own body again."

If you wanted to assume she was completely out of her mind at this point, Wesley, probably no one would blame you.

"Good lord," Wesley said, after another few rounds of blinking interspersed with at least that much staring. "I -- that is, I've heard of -- but -- nothing like -- I never thought -- good lord."

Yes, Wesley, thank you for that bit of eloquence.

"I know," she told him, smiling slightly. "I don't really understand it either."

Who could, really? That would assume it made any sense whatsoever.

"What was I saying, though . . . oh. Right. Xena didn't have any memory of being a warrior at first, when we came back. Just . . . completely pure and innocent. And you'd think I would be glad about that, but I really just missed the old her," she admitted.

"Well, that's only to be expected," Wesley offered gently. "She's a -- mentor of sorts to you in that respect, isn't she? If she lost the part of herself that so much of your relationship is based on, it's only natural that you'd feel some degree of loss."

Not that he'd felt any urge to sit in the dark and drink scotch on his dorm room floor after Angel had fired him, or anything. Nooo.

"She's -- all right now, though?"

Edited 2012-03-20 03:44 (UTC)

Gabrielle thought about the raid on Kal's temple, and looked down at the sai in her hands, and smiled. "She did teach me everything I know. I think it's more than that, though -- like her darker side is just necessary in the world we live in, if the, um, higher qualities are going to survive."

If he'd had that urge, she wouldn't judge. Just saying.

Huh.

"It's interesting," Wesley said after a moment, thoughtfully. "To think of it that way. I wonder if the same holds true for Angel." He turned his attention briefly to wheeling over to Gabs' other side, totally not to avoid making eye contact or anything. Nope. "He's -- well, his mission is redemption for what he did back when he was Angelus -- that is to say, evil. Without Angelus... without his occasional, er, lapses in judgment ~~that lead to eating lawyers~~... no present-day Angel helping the helpless."

She wouldn't push for the eye contact, anyway.

"Just like Xena wouldn't have the skills and experience to help people now if she hadn't learned them in her warlord days?" Gabrielle suggested softly. "I think -- yeah. We can't ask them to erase those parts of their past, no matter how painful they might be. It's made them what they are, and without that, who's to say they would be half as valuable in the good fight today?"

"Exactly," Wesley agreed. "That is -- Angel learned half of what he knows about demons and how to hunt them from the days when he went around working with them, betraying them, and then killing them horribly."

Great guy, Angel.

Gabrielle laughed. "That sounds like Xena. Some warlord's got a city under siege? She probably rode with him for a while, and knows how he thinks. Or how to prey on his weaknesses, because she duped him a long time ago. On the other hand there's the places we can't go to buy supplies because they haven't forgotten how she forcibly conscripted all their youth for her army . . ."

She trailed off, but twirled the sai in her hands and grinned. "You understand what it's like living with someone like that. That's nice to know."

"It is," Wesley agreed, grinning back. "I suppose it makes us both a bit mad, but so long as we've got the company..."

"Then at least we're not out of our minds all alone," Gabrielle agreed. "Especially if we insist they're worth it, and no one else understands why -- how are things with Angel, anyway? Any better?"

"Not really," Wesley admitted, but without the emo from last time, so. Improvement! "I was told he stopped by the hospital while I was asleep, but we haven't spoken."

Okay, trace of emo there, so best to change the subject. "You and Xena -- how long have you known one another?"

Be glad Gabrielle was sparing you the story about the giant fight that culminated in getting dragged behind a horse and then falling into a magical land of tarot card symbolism where everyone had to sing their feelings, Wes.

"About five years now," she offered. "Maybe a little more? I can never tell, with time passing differently between home and here ~~and also XWP caring not one tiny bit about making chronological sense~~. She rescued my village from slavers, and then I just followed her around until she agreed to let me travel with her, and it feels so long ago."

She tilted her head, because she could be just as curious, so sorry, Wesley. "It's only fair if I ask the same question about you."

"Just two years," Wesley answered. "I was, ah, stationed in the town where he was living at the time, assigned to help mentor his -- girlfriend, I suppose. I was working for the Watchers' Council at the time, a sort of organization of mentors to... supernaturally gifted young women warriors called Slayers. Within three months, Buffy decided to leave the Council, Angel left for Los Angeles, and I, ah, opted for autonomous work." Or he was fired. Either one. "Eventually Angel and I... ran into each other."

"Female warriors?" Sure, Wesley, pique her interest like that. At least she knew that was incidental to the story at hand here. "If you're the type to believe in destiny, it's almost as if you were meant to run into each other again."

"I suppose that's one perspective," Wesley offered, smiling faintly. Though he was partly humoring her, because somehow he was a little bit blind to all the character growth working for Angel had brought him. It was like the guy wanted to be back in suits at the Sunnydale library or something. "So you and Xena -- is it only the two of you? Or do you have others who travel with you as well?"

"Most of the time it's just us. Occasionally we'll run into a friend who'll travel with us for a while, or just pick up a new companion somehow." She didn't get that. One or the other of them had some strange superpower of being a sidekick-magnet. "We wouldn't be here now if not for some of those peple."

Humoring Gabrielle was a tried and true way of dealing with her, incidentally. Because she was the type of person who rambled on about destiny and things like that.

"You said you had other people working with you too, didn't you?"

"Two, yes," Wesley said, nodding. "Charles and Cordelia. And I'm quite fond of them -- Cordelia's visions are indispensible, and Charles is likely the reason this--" he tapped the wheelchair-- "is only temporary." He was also the reason Wesley had it at all, but... details. "But I imagine it must be rather nice to travel just the two of you, as well."

Gabrielle considered Amarice and Joxer's constant bickering over the last week or so and laughed. "It definitely has its upsides." Like nice quiet nights around the campfire where they could -- WELL, WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW? She paused to frown briefly at the mention of visions, but decided they couldn't be like Alti's, or they wouldn't be much of an asset in helping the helpless. "But there's an upside to having other friends to help out when you need them, too."

"There is," Wesley agreed. "That is -- I may just wind up working with Charles and Cordelia now, after I graduate. If Angel insists on being... unforthcoming, I can still, ah, make a difference with the two of them."

Just, you know. Less of one.

Which Gabrielle would argue was still more of one than none at all, so there.

"Of course you can," she replied immediately, and in absolute earnest. "And I'm glad to know you wouldn't stop just because he isn't willing to work with you any more, and I hope that doesn't turn out to be the case."

She smiled and shifted both sai to her left hand so she could reach out and offer him a pat on the shoulder with her right. "That says a lot about your character, I think."

"Oh. Well, I don't know about that," Wesley said with a sheepish smile and a modest duck of his head. "But -- so long as I can help, I'm all right, I think. Even if the circumstances are... less than ideal."

Yes, Wes, she'd just said that.

"So, ah. Otherwise, apart from the, er, Caesar incident, how have you been?"

"Alive, and that counts for a lot right now," Gabrielle replied lightly. "Glad to be back here. Hoping our new friend doesn't drive Xena completely out of her mind . . ."

If you'd ever met Amarice you'd know this was a serious concern.

"Here's hoping," Wesley offered wryly. Then, more seriously: "How do you mean?"

"We picked up this Amazon," Gabrielle said with equal wryness and the faintest hint of an eyeroll. "She can't be more than fifteen or sixteen. Always hoping things end up in a fight, too impulsive for her own good, keeps telling us about the way they do things in her tribe . . ."

She trailed off and, looking vaguely surprised, concluded, "I like her, actually. She's . . . she grows on you, in her own special way."

Wesley immediately pictured a slightly older, more enthusiastic Dawn, and did his best to keep from shuddering at the visual.

"She certainly sounds... scrappy," he offered. "Maybe Xena will appreciate her enthusiasm?"

"Oh, sure," Gabrielle agreed with a smirk. "If Xena doesn't end up hog-tying her to keep her out from underfoot first."

Gabrielle, that wasn't fair.

". . . she's learning. I hope so."

That was... an oddly specific concern. Watch Wesley not ask.

"It's always a challenge, integrating oneself into a new team," he added, identifying juuust a touch. "With any luck, Xena will see that and not make it overly difficult for her."

And yet an entirely valid concern. ~~At least she wasn't a hyena.~~

"She seems to be trying harder lately," said the ever-optimistic Gabrielle. "Besides, she looks up to Xena too much to get too far out of line."

. . . that might be overly optimistic.

"Spoken," she noted, "like someone who knows what that's like."

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The Salle, Monday Midday

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