J,GoB, Monday Afternoon

[brat_inslayage]

Freaking finally-- two weeks ago was the last she'd heard from Portalocity about the state of the network in her dimension, but when Kennedy got the call yesterday that they were up and running she'd wasted no time booking that complimentary priority portal they promised her. Luckily it was a slow week, Slayage-wise. Nothing Willow couldn't handle if it came up-- which was about the gist of the pep talk Kennedy'd given her before leaving. Anyway, a couple of the Sunnydale vets (they called themselves, like they were Just That Qualified Already) were reasonably close to New York in case something came up.

Ergo portal, Fandom, visit, because she'd been itching to come back for weeks now. She barely waited until she'd stepped out onto the causeway to start making calls to friends; the last half year had done nothing to make her a more patient person, sadly.

And okay, maybe it had been a long time, or maybe it was the Slayer metabolism, or both, because she'd forgotten how hungry portal travel made her, so after checking into a hotel room (she was so making the most of this visit) she headed right for J,GoB and proceeded to order... oh, about two of everything. Hey, she figured that way she could share.

She was grinning as she leaned back in her chair by the window, scarfing a muffin in between gulps of coffee. Damn, she'd missed this place.

[[so, so open. feel free to mod a call/text if you want, or, you know, public place.

eta: it's probably worth noting, as a warning, that all threads contain at least some reference to kennedy's recent canon catchup, so there is mention of violence. also, kennedy's conversation with tara(for the sake of my brain let's say that one's last) contains in-depth discussion of death and is kind of heavy, so consider that a content warning.]]

Comments

[longislandiceme]

When Bobby had woken up this morning with memories of some other-him (again), to say he'd felt 'unsettled' was... well. An understatement.

But unsettled or not, he'd gotten a voicemail that did a pretty good job of lifting his spirts. And so beware, Kennedy, incoming Bobby-tacklehug in 5, 4, 3...

[brat_inslayage]

...2, 1? At least her reflexes were good enough now (this had not yet stopped being totally awesome) to move away from her table in time to avoid coffee-spillage.

"Boy Scout!"

Look out, Bobby, reciprocating catch-hug!

...possibly a lot stronger than you might remember, too. Oops?

[longislandiceme]

"Who needs those ribs, jeez," Bobby complained good-naturedly.

[brat_inslayage]

"Oh, right, sorry," Kennedy said sheepishly, easing up on the hug but not exactly letting him go yet. "God, Bobby, it's like you haven't seen me in a while or something."

[longislandiceme]

"Try like over half a year, Kennedy, jeez," Bobby maneuvered one arm so that he could give her a smack on the shoulder.

Never mind that a couple of those contactless months- on his end, anyway- were because he'd gone home and been contactless (and Nothinged), too.

[life_inshadow]

It was a weird, weird, weird day for Tara already, between getting over being a vampire and the fact a little black fox that was normally Loki kept following her around, so why not toss an ex-girlfriend into the mix?

It was in that vaguely hysterical state of mind Tara walked into the coffee shop, wrapped box tucked into her jacket pocket.

"Oh wow," she said, going over to the table. "Hi! It really is you."

She sounded happy, but still sort of stunned.

[brat_inslayage]

So this was...

Kennedy thought she'd been ready for this, but there was, apparently, a bigger gap than she'd realized between expecting to see Tara here and finally resigning herself to the idea that it was never going to happen in her own world.

"Oh my god, it's really you," she replied, nearly knocking her chair over when she leaped up and went for a hug. For her part, she sounded more stunned than happy, although there was definite happiness there too.

[life_inshadow]

"Ribs!" Tara protested, through a bleat of laughter. "Wow, hi, I forgot about slayer hugs."

Not that she wasn't squeezing back.

[brat_inslayage]

"Oh, god, sorry! Still getting used to it," Kennedy admitted, easing up. She'd been trying to remember that no one here was going to know to expect that, but, well. "Would kinda suck if my big welcome-back present was breaking you, huh?"

Okay, definite corporeal-ness verified, but she didn't really want to let go yet. Besides, she'd promised to deliver hugs from Dawn, and even if Willow hadn't outright asked she got representation too.

"Holy shit, it is so fucking good to see you." Alive, and she didn't say that part but there was a catch in her voice when she trailed off.

[life_inshadow]

"It's fantastic to see you, too," Tara said, going to step back. Not that she minded touching Kennedy, it was just that breathing was a good thing, and besides, she already knew she was alive and corporeal. "And ... I like not being broken. Wow."

She was saying that a lot. It still seemed to apply.

She gave Kennedy the once-over, trying to spot any changes. "So you ... finally yelled at Portalocity enough?"

[trigons_child]

Hope you didn't need to breathe, Kennedy, because there was an empath teleporting in 1.5 seconds after reading the text message, and a tacklehug was imminent.

[brat_inslayage]

Eh, tacklehugs might be a bit of a theme today, but she was totally game for returning them.

"God, Raven," Kennedy got out, laughing as she hugged Raven back.

Hard.

Careful there, Kennedy.

[trigons_child]

"Oh, Azar, it is good to see you," Raven said. "We have been so worried about you."

She wasn't going to complain about a tight hug, not for someone who enjoyed affection as much as she did. Except when it started to become hard to breathe. "...you are much stronger," she noted.

[brat_inslayage]

"Right back at you. Been worried about you, too." God, Raven.

"Oh, yeah, I, uh." At least she eased up on the hug? "Sort of might be a Slayer now?"

The attempt to sound modest might not fool anyone. Kennedy still thought it was the best thing ever.

[trigons_child]

Please, Raven could feel the Pride. Mmm, Pride.

"A Slayer?" Not the Slayer? "How?" Raven said, puzzled.

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

At least Sookie gave a little warning when she rushed in, still in her Merlotte's uniform. Her, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" at least probably gave Kennedy a heads up that there would be tacklehugging.

She was helpful and considerate.

[brat_inslayage]

And a totally, totally welcome sight, so Kennedy would've been fine without the warning. Hey, at least this way she was prepared to hug right back?

"Oh my god, tell me you didn't blow off work just for this?" she asked, laughing. Also hugging. A little more carefully this time.

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"Eh, the lunch rush was over and Sam's an old friend," Sookie assured her, hugging her tightly. "If you don't call in favors with your boss for this kind of thing, what do you call 'em in for?"

Don't answer that too quick, there, Sookie.

[brat_inslayage]

"You really want an answer to that question?" Kennedy asked mischievously. "'cause I was gonna say booty calls, but I don't wanna get smacked."

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"I'd never hear the end of it," Sookie said, rolling her eyes. Particularly because Sam would know immediately, but she didn't quite know that, yet. "Oh, god, I missed you."

[solo_sword]

On her way back to the hotel from lunch, Jaina had stopped in just to get something to take back with her to drink. Blame Meekus for all the coffee drinking.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Jaina greeted her.

[brat_inslayage]

"Yeah, no kidding," Kennedy replied with a quick grin. "I got kinda stuck in my home dimension for a while, only just got a chance to make it back today. Pretty cool to see you again, what were the odds?"

[solo_sword]

"Considering how often I'm here, pretty good, actually," she said with a lopsided grin of her own. "How long were you stuck for?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Lucky you, then," Kennedy retorted mildly. "God, since December? It's June for me, now, so seven months. Portalocity took its sweet-ass time getting my dimension fixed."

She still sounded amazingly put-out by that, as if it was perfectly reasonable to expect the Portalocity techs to dive eagerly into fixing multidimensional infrastructure when the First Evil was hanging around. What did you mean, it wasn't?

[solo_sword]

Jaina's eyes went a little wide. "It took them that long? Have you kicked their asses yet?"