Start From Zero; Enjoy the Sky {Mordred}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

For the second time since her arrival Lorelei stared at Mordred's door. She could see the nick where her dagger had dug into the wood. Her hand went up to it, tracing it for a moment, feeling the impression in the wood. She'd been so convinced that what she'd done was necessary, and, well, she still pretty much was. Yeah, parts of it had sucked: her side still twinged and her left hand was still in a brace (though a much more flexible and workable one). But it had gotten Mom to show up and, well, be Mom. It had gotten Meredith to talk to Lorelei about Mordred. It had given Mordred that gentle touch.

And it put Lorelei here, now.

She took a breath, shaking herself out. She'd focused on her dress, again wearing a combo of her mom and dad's colors: silver and light blue threaded throughout.This time fairly simple: a light blue skirt with black leggings, a loose silver sleeveless top with added on sleeves for both arms, threaded in the colors. Her hair had been twisted back into a tight tail. And she dug her phone out of her pocket, checking. No, not yet: she needed to get started.

She knocked.

"Mordred!" she called, certain he was there (have we mentioned that Lorelei is a stalker? She's a stalker. There, mentioned). "You're taking me to lunch! I hope your decent, 'cuz I'm coming in," and she mumbled a quick spell to make sure the door was unlocked (praying that Mordred or whoever else he lived with didn't boobytrap it), and then moved to open.

[Mordred Le Fey]

Gwen's visit had entirely thrown Mordred - the second he read his summons all sorts of scenarios had run through his head, none of which ended in Gwen treating his cut and talking to him with a kindness and compassion he had never felt that he deserved. It had thrown him - which given the state he had been in up to that moment, had only been a good thing. Combined with Aiden and Costin's concern and care, Mordred had returned home in a different state of mind; he had a long way to go, but things had started to take a turn. And he was grateful. His cheek was finally beginning to heal, although he knew that it was going to leave one hell of a scar.

On the day that Lorelei decided he was taking her for lunch, he had spent the morning cleaning the house - given his wallowing in his own filth for the last week, the place had become pretty disgusting, and it needed it. He had also spent about an hour in the shower - he may have cried, but at least there wasn't anyone there to see it this time.

He had just cleared the last of the empty bottles from under his bed, and was making his way down the stairs when he heard the knock and the shout. He froze on the stairs, staring at the door. He was making progress, sure, but he wasn't sure he was ready for this. Things were still... raw. He was considering heading back up the stairs and hiding in his room, pretending he wasn't in, when he heard the lock click - who the hell gave her a key?

The door opened, and Mordred, still somewhat in shock, continued down the stairs and pulled the door fully open, dropping the full bin bag in the kitchen doorway.

"You were taught that you can't just let yourself into people's houses, right? Magic or no magic..."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Uh, yeah, princess, remember?" said Lorelei, pointing at herself in a quick gesture. "Oh hey, you showered! That's a much better look for you. But, like, I figured there was only like, a fifty fifty shot that you'd actually open the door for me, so I should probably just let myself in." She bobbed her head a few more times, looking around. Clearly Mordred had actually started cleaning the place, which was probably good, though Lorelei had to wonder how long he'd put that off. Wasn't like he was the one with the broken wrist (well, not broken any more, but the point remains).

She looked back up at him, smiling. "Now c'mon, we're going to lunch," she reiterated. For a moment, she seemed almost Gwen-like as she waved at him. "So go get dressed. I promise we won't be heading anywhere too fancy. There's this eatery in town I'm totally dying to check out, and you're taking me, because." She was tempted to hold up her still wrapped hand or to admit to having a plan (because Lorelei), or... "because I'm Meredith's best friend, and you know that, and i know that, and we both know that we both know that. So go get ready. I can wait."

She waved for him to go off again, grinning wildly.

[Mordred Le Fey]

He was back to that rabbit in headlights look again - it was becoming a little too frequent and people blindsiding him was getting somewhat irritating. He was not used to being constantly on the back foot, and now his mind was a little less foggy he was making a mental note to change that, and stop being caught off guard.

He stared at Lorelei as she talked a mile a minute, still not really understanding why she was at his house. She was acting like nothing had happened, and while Mordred had spent most of his time recently wishing nothing had happened, the fact remained that it had, and he was still processing. But apparently Lorelei was fine now, and that meant spending time with the guy who'd stabbed her a short while ago.

He was so confused.

She instructed him upstairs to change, and he turned and started to make his way without questioning her, too confused and blindsided to argue. He was halfway upstairs when he stopped and turned to look at her. "Wait... number one, never let yourself into my house again. That's not cool. Plus if Aiden sees you - well, she's still not hugely impressed with the whole mermaid-penguin princess thing." He came back down a couple of steps. "And number two, I..." He paused, not sure what to say. He wasn't sure taking the girl he'd recently almost killed out for lunch was a good idea, but he still wasn't feeling completely himself, and he wasn't sure he had the energy to argue with anyone, but especially someone with as much energy as Lorelei. He shrugged, turning and heading back up the stairs. "Never mind."

In his room, the changed from his sweats into clean, navy jeans and a black shirt, throwing on a jacket before heading back downstairs. He found Lorelei waiting for him and dug his hands in his pockets, sighing with an air of resignation. "Why are you doing this, again?" He asked as he ushered her outside and locked the door behind them.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Part of Lorelei really wanted to throw up. Despite herself, she kept getting pangs whenever she looked at Mordred. She couldn't help but remember the way his face had twisted as his sword had slid into her stomach. Or, by the same token, how he'd all but crumpled when Mom had caressed him, showing him that he was, in fact, quite well loved. Weird how that had turned out, huh?

"Aiden lives with you?" asked Lorelei. "That explains why she was at the duel! Does she have a special tank for when she goes into her full mermaid form? And is her room, like, super cold--" Lorelei paused for a moment, realizing that Mordred had (fortunately for him) already gone off to get changed. She entertained herself by rocking in the hall, finally pulling out her phone.

By the time Mordred came back, Lorelei had finished fiddling, and she grinned up at him. "Because my best friend's in love with you, and if I don't check you out, then I'm definitely not being a good friend. Plus everyone still thinks we hate each other, and that's so not going to help you and Meredith at all."

Lorelei nodded and started walking. She was pretty sure that was enough to get Mordred to follow her. She'd better hope so.

[Mordred Le Fey]

He stopped in his tracks, staring after her. Her best friend was... what?! But wasn't her best friend... Mordred stared as she walked away, half of him wanting to turn and walk straight back into the house and barricade the door. This was too weird. The fact that Lorelei was here in the first place was hard enough to comprehend - Mordred still saw her lying on the floor, blood blossoming on her clothes - every time he closed his eyes, but now she was telling him something he couldn't possible believe to be true.

After a minute or two of stunned silence, he started after her, speeding up to catch with her and matching her pace. He walked in silence for a while, trying to work out how on earth he was supposed to respond to that revelation. He wanted a drink, but he contented himself with pulling out a packet of cigarettes and lighting one, taking a long drag and exhaling slowly.

"I never hated you." He said quietly as he walked alongside her. He wasn't quite ready to address the whole love revelation just yet.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

While Mordred caught up, possibly caught flatfooted by Lorelei's comment, Lorelei took the opportunity to fiddle with phone, shooting off another text message. He'd caught up, and Lorelei looked over to him, noting the cigarette. "Do you do that too--" she started, only to stop as he spoke instead. The quiet words had her actually falling silent, and she looked straight ahead while they walked.

"Yeah you did,' she said, her own voice low and quiet. "For a few moments there, when I was talking and you were thinking I was right, you totally hated me. It's alright though," she reached up to brush back some hair. "There are times when I kinda hate myself too you know?" Lorelei shrugged, glad that for once she wasn't wincing. She nodded and pointed. "I don't think the cafe you're taking me to is that far from where you live. Leela and i were talking about it over tea this one time, and I figured it would be a good place to check out. Apparently lots of the students eat there. Kinda a good mix of homey and cheap." Like they needed to worry about cheap.

[Mordred Le Fey]

He glanced sideways at her as she started asking him something, wondering what she was going to say but not wanting to ask. If he was going to sort his life out, he needed a vice, and he didn't want to hear the judgemental comments he expected she'd be likely to come out with. He wondered what she kept doing on her phone, but his mind was buzzing too much with the things she'd already said for him to have room to contemplate that too long as well.

"I didn't hate you, exactly." Mordred said, knowing this was going to be almost impossible to articulate. "The things you were saying, they got to me, yes, but..." He ran a hand through his hair and took another drag on the cigarette. "I didn't see you, I didn't see Lorelei Summer-Lac. I just saw... I don't know." He sighed, shaking his head. "It's complicated." He glanced at her again, understanding her words better than she could probably imagine. "I know. Believe me, I know." He said quietly, taking another drag and blowing the smoke out in front of him.

He wasn't sure about this - especially if the place she wanted to go was popular. Did they really want to be seen by half the student population? "Wouldn't you rather go somewhere quieter?" He asked hopefully. "Don't you think we've been the centre of enough campus gossip recently?"

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei looked over Mordred as he stumbled his way through, seeing his expression and knowing pretty well what he was thinking there. She still had to wrinkle her nose at the smoke though. "Maybe all the stuff that's been eating at you lately? Like, all that stuff that Mom said, you know... "Lorelei trailed off there, not sure what else she could say. She reached into her pocket, fingering her phone for a few moments.

"Oh, it's still pretty quiet and stuff. Like, I know I said it was popular, but, it's more, like, it's sort of the secret place that all the cool kids are going to, yeah. It's definitely, like, a good place. And you totally don't have to worry about the gossip. Like, at all," she licked her lips, trying to figure out how she could send another text without really making it obvious. An idea hit, and she quickly flicked her phone's sound on and off.

"A text!" Lorelei said. "It's probably nothing. Let me just..." she began quickly pounding out a message, selecting someone near the top of her contact list, "there we go! No big deal! Just told them I'm busy and stuff. It's right up here,' she pointed, walking the way she pointed, moving ahead in a hurry (which actually would have been a good time to send a text, now that she stopped to think about it).

[Mordred Le Fey]

"Yeah... maybe." He didn't really want to talk about the things Gwen had said. It was another thing he was trying to process - but the issues Gwen had touched on were even more deep rooted than the other stuff, and it was going to take him a while to even come close to believing the things she had said to him. He was also dealing with the fact that she'd said in front of the entire Summer clan; it wasn't really helping his already damaged reputation.

He continued to walk, an incredulous on his face at her assurances about the cafe. The closer they got, the more he began to think that this was a really bad idea. What could they possibly have to talk about for the length of an entire lunch?

This was surreal. And this girl was really attached to her phone. He received a text himself as he thought that, checking his phone and replying quickly to Aiden's message. Why had Lorelei texted her? This was the strangest situation Mordred had found himself in in a very long time. He was glad when she said it was just ahead - he was starting to realise the toll his self-destructive spiral had had on him, feeling tired from the short walk and slightly queasy.

Although the nausea could well have been related to the situation he was currently in.

The reached the cafe, and taking a deep breath, he held the door open for her. "After you." He muttered, making a sweeping motion into the cafe with his free hand.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei was nearly humming to herself, already looking around. She didn't see anyone she recognized, which was probably for the best. She didn't want anyone showing up until they were comfortable and all that. Even then, if no one showed up, her plan would still mostly work. She could already feel her phone buzzing: turns out that people responded when you almost randomly texted them out of no where. So she slid it away as Mordred opened it.

"Thank you, m'lord," She said, bobbing for a moment as she entered the cafe. The delicious smell hit her almost immediately, causing her to stop midstep. It smelt utterly delectable, and it reminded Lorelei that she'd been so excited that she actually hadn't eaten much today and had mostly been running around getting stuff together. There was just that homey smell in there, and it nearly made Lorelei light headed.

"Doesn't that smell amazing?" she asked, grinning as she twisted to look at Mordred. "This is going to taste so good! I wasn't sure, but everyone was all you've got to try this place!" She let out a little squeal, and felt her phone buzzing again. Rolling her eyes, she shot another too quick text out.... or two...

"Sorry my phone keeps going off!" Lorelei said, shrugging. "I kinda just figured out texting, and I think I got some updates on it or something. It totally won't interrupt our meal though, I swear."

[Mordred Le Fey]

Rolling his eyes as Lorelei passed him, he followed her inside and let the door drop behind him, muttering. "I'm not a lord..."

He had to agree that this place did smell amazing, although his nausea hadn't quite subsided. He wasn't sure he'd be able to manage to eat, but other than the half a cake he'd eaten at Gwen's tea he had barely eaten anything in the last week. He'd have been pleased at the weight loss, except he hadn't done any exercise either, so he was just looking a little wasted and gaunt.

She was texting again, and having received that message from Aiden he began to get a little suspicious. He wondered if she was planning some kind of embarrassing story involving him, or inviting people for another ambush. He wasn't sure he could handle another one so soon after the first. Not that the first had turned out so terribly. He still felt a little emotional when he thought back to the way Gwen had cared for him, the way she had held him and offered him the love he'd always wanted from his own mother, always been jealous of Tristian and the rest of her brood had received from her. But apparently it had been there for him all the time, he'd just been too wrapped up in his own pain and resentment to see it. It was going to take some time to get his head around that and adjust.

"It's fine," he muttered as he ushered her to a table in a corner, having scanned the place and deciding this was the least obtrusive place they could sit. As they reached the table, he hesitated for a moment before deciding in for a penny, in for a pound, and pulling out a chair for Lorelei, digging back to those courtly manners he'd had drummed into him growing up in Camelot. Plus, her wrist was still wrapped up, and every time he looked at it he felt a fresh stab of guilt. He should do everything he could to help her.

He sat down opposite her and pulled a menu in front of him, staring at it without really seeing the options. He tapped a finger nervously on the table - he hadn't had a drink in around 20 hours and he wasn't feeling too good. But he'd come this far. A server approached them for a drinks order and he hesitated for a minute before sighing. "Just water."

He couldn't hold back any longer and he looked at Lorelei, his heart beating a little faster in his chest. "So, erm..." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That thing you said back at the house... want to elaborate on that at all?"

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "It's a term of respect, Mordred, used for people who do the right thing," she explained. She left those loaded words, the very same ones that had set her against this guy with a sword in her hand, to dangle for a bit while she inhaled the delicious smelling food. Each breath made her hungrier, and her stomach had started to audibly growl. She all but skipped to the table Mordred picked out, pausing only for the next set of twins. She was finishing up on her phone as she slid into the seat opposite Mordred.

The phone went to the side and she scanned the menu. "Water sounds good," she agreed, nodding. She was already pretty sure she knew what she wanted: Lorelei could speed-read with the best of them, so she set her menu aside, looking to and focusing on Mordred. Of course this meant ignoring the phone buzzing to her side as everyone started replying to Lorelei's barrage of text.

"Right, see, I'm Meredith's best friend. Just in case you didn't know. It's a super important responsibility that I Take super seriously. But you kinda figured that out first hand," her eyes flicked to his cheek, then to her wrist, and she found her right hand going to gently massage it for a moment. She was mostly healed, and while she may be acting mostly like regular Lorelei, there was still a part of her that felt jagged and out of place. "So, like, obviously my role in this isn't to actually fall in love with anybody, which kinda sucks, but there it is," she shrugged, and her mind flashed to some poetry she'd red, which had her going pink. "But, uh, yeah, so..." She paused. "Wait, were you asking about the fact that Meredith's in love with you? Isn't that, like, super obvious by now?"

[Mordred Le Fey]

The right thing... Mordred wasn't sure he even knew what that was anymore. It definitely wasn't stabbing your best friend's sister, or the love of your life's best friend. Since that, things had been a little bit harder to define for him.

He glanced at her phone as it almost began to dance across the table, buzzing with a surprising amount of messages. "Are you sure you don't want to get those?" He asked, ignoring his menu as Lorelei put hers aside. Nothing looked particularly appetising right now.

He listened as she spoke, his leg bouncing under the table. His eyes dropped to the table as her eyes flicked to their various wounds, the shame hitting him again. He couldn't help but be somewhat impressed at her loyalty to Meredith, and reluctantly thought to himself that there were some similarities between them. He'd have done whatever was necessary to protect or defend Tristian, and generally he'd jump to the most extreme option without considering other avenues as well, just as Lorelei had. He wanted to say something as she spoke about not falling in love, wanted to argue with her, to tell her that was stupid, but he didn't have the words. This was way too awkward and strange.

And then she addressed the big issue. He looked back up at her, disbelief etched onto his face. "Not so obvious no. Not after the way I treated her. And after all this..." he gestured at Lorelei's wrist and stomach, "she won't want anything to do with me. I don't blame her."

The server returned with their water, and he took a few deep gulps, grateful for the momentary distraction.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Pretty sure, yeah," said Lorelei. She was tempted to send out some more texts; she hadn't exactly told Meredith what she was doing just yet (or given Meredith the heads up for the fanfiction that was waiting to be uploaded on Lorelei's computer; that thing was a masterpiece). But she really needed to focus on Mordred for the moment, which meant pretty well ignoring her phone, even as it kept making noises and all but begging to be picked up and attended to.

The similarities kept stretching between the two people who loved Meredith the most (perhaps beyond her parents). Odd, awkward children in their own ways, born with magic and laden with strange destinies, twisting paths down different roads. Now the scrawny one looked at her brawnier stabber, giving him another smile and rolling her eyes.

"Well, she does, though she's not thrilled about," she gestured at herself. Then she paused, considering. "Not, like, me. She's fine with me. We're buds. I mean, like, everything that happened," Lorelei paused for the waiter. "We'll have the fried catfish and fried chicken combo platter," she said almost offhand, flashing a smile at the server and nodding.

She looked back to Mordred. "You are so helping me eat that. It's supposed to be super delicious, and you don't look like you've been eating enough lately,' her eyes followed the server as they drifted away, before coming back to Mordred. "And you stabbed me, not her. That's nothing that we can't fix," she gave him a hopeful smile, even reaching out with her still braced left hand, palm up and facing toward him.