cuddlecity | colors spilling from night to day (ota)

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colors spilling from night to day (ota)

CHARACTERS: Claire Temple & Derek Hale; Claire Temple & you
LOCATIONS: Dinah's, the hospital, wherever you'd like
WARNINGS: None, as far as I know so far, will edit if required
SUMMARY: Claire goes on a breakfast date, and is here for any and all scratches. Come see her!!

i. closed to derek's; dinah's

[ The night was barely letting up, even as 6 am rolled out. Still in her scrubs, a comfortable hoodie thrown over them, Claire leaves the hospital under the night sky, despite her shift being over. Winter days always makes her feel like she should be staying longer, like her shift isn't finished until the sun is coming up.

It's also that shifts, in Cadelle, feel too long and too short all at the same time, because she finds herself with very little to do too often. It stretches the hours but also makes her feel like she's not doing enough. A weird dichotomy.

But this morning, she's ready for her work day to be done. She's starving, which makes her drive faster than she should to Dinah's for breakfast - not the fact that she's supposed to meet Derek there, no. The diner is empty when she makes it there anyway, the bell sounding loud in the quiet of the place as she walks in, gets herself situated in a small booth. She can wait for him anyway - at least that way she gets some coffee, to fight how cold her fingers feel.

When he does come in, she'll greet him with a little wave and a big smile, before going back to the menu in front of her. ]

ii. open; hospital

[ The more common accidents that happen in Cadelle are not the ones that Claire is the most used to dealing with. Here, there are no bullet wounds, no gang fights, no violence between men. Here, she helps with domestic accidents more than anything else - not that they can't be very bad themselves, but it is refreshing, in a way, for her to deal with accidents that have nothing to do with men hating other men.

And, more often than not, the hospital is quiet. So tonight, when you come in with your emergency, Claire is most probably rearranging the supplies locker for the umpteenth time, or maybe racing herself around the empty corridors, or dancing to the radio while cleaning up a bed (or the Christmas decorations she put up a few weeks ago). Whichever it is, she'll stop everything to help you out, of course. ]

iii. open; wildcard

[ Hmu with anything! Find me at

ellievolia if you'd like to plot something in particular! ]

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[ CriminALES is smokey dark when Claire walks in - her one day off of the week. She's been pushed by the strong need for a stiff drink and possibly some company, after the holidays making her maudlin and spending too much time alone. It's not necessarily a much better look to go drinking alone in a bar, but one must make some choices.

Besides, she's not alone for more than two seconds, before she spots Vasquez, sitting in a corner, himself unaccompanied. There's something about the look on his face - it worries Claire, and she's quick to order her usual drink, before walking over to his table. ]

Hey, [ Her tone is soft, although obviously concerned. ] Mind if I sit?

[He's been drinking for what feels like maybe only an hour, but the truth is, he's been here for probably most of the late morning and into the afternoon, losing time thanks to his seat away from the door and windows, not tracking how the sunlight is moving. Glancing up when he sees Claire, he gestures beside him.

He's not drunk. He's been very careful to keep drinking only enough to keep him somewhat tipsy, but he's not drunk.]

Sit if you want, but I'm not very good company today.

[ She sits, careful, the chair creaking under her weight anyway. Everything in this bar feels old-school, like it's been carefully crafted to look like just any old pub anywhere in the world. There's something kinda magical about it. ]

Do you want to talk about it?

[ She switches to Spanish immediately, just because she knows he's more comfortable in it, and that if he wants to talk, he can do so in his native tongue. They've proven they can talk about what's bothering them before, even if they were influenced by the weird rain thing that happened a month or so ago. ]

Even without the weird rain, I'm still willing to listen.

[Vasquez gives a snort as he looks at his bottle of liquor, sure as he ever is that talking about it won't do anything to help him feel better so much as it's just going to make him feel that he's bearing his soul. Then again, the look of appreciation on his face is clear when she switches to Spanish, because at least fewer people will understand him now.]

It's simple. I didn't understand that when you're here, it's not for good.

[He should have already figured that out when he stopped seeing Faraday around, but he'd taken the man's absence as a peace offering to not get in his way. When suddenly, it's Buffy not responding to his calls and messages, it's different.]

[ As usual, Derek's up by the break of dawn, even if it doesn't look like the sun is near rising yet. His body clock is pretty set in its ways and he's usually up with the sun for his morning run, because typically it's the most quiet and empty that time of day. He doesn't have to worry about running into anyone he doesn't want to run into when he's in wolf form out in the woods or being stopped on his way to or from said woods in human form, either. Derek likes his mornings silent and lonely because he uses them to reflect on the day previous. Recently, also on how to make the current day better than the last.

This morning, his run is shorter so that he can get back home and showered before he has to meet Claire. Talking to her on the OkCuddle is one thing, but he's interested in getting to know people in person. He'll use that thing now and again, but he's never really going to prefer it over meeting someone face to face.

He makes his way to Dinah's and lets himself in, a little surprised to see that she's beaten him there. He's usually the person who shows up somewhere first, if he can help it.

Derek returns her smile and nods to acknowledge the wave before making his way over and settling into the booth across from her. ]

Good morning. How was work?

[ For a moment, Claire just sits, her fingers wrapped around her glass. Vasquez' features are drawn, like he hasn't slept in a while. A part of her wants to reach out, but she doesn't, biting her lip. ]

Who left?

[ She's read her contract pretty thoroughly before signing it and agreeing to come to Cadelle, but considering how she and Vasquez had met, she isn't surprised that he didn't. Which doesn't make what he's going through any less shitty. ]

I'm sorry. This place... it's very temporary, I think, for most people. It isn't for you, is it.

Hmmm.

[ The sound is half a yawn, half a measure to express work was its typical self. She leans back into her seat, curling her hands into the sleeves of her hoodie by her sides as she takes a good look at Derek. For being so early in the morning, he looks perfectly awake and bright. Claire envies him, a little. ]

Pretty quiet. Which is good, but I also sit there for hours with nothing much to do besides finding new ways to reorganize everything. I'm going to run out soon, although I've thought about converting the Dewey system to hospital supplies, which would keep me busy a while, I guess.

[ She realizes she's suddenly rambling, and closes her mouth with another little noise, biting the inside of her lip. ]

Sorry. How was your night? You're hungry? It's -

[ She pauses again, this time smiling as she looks at Derek again. While she has no set idea on what this is exactly, she can't deny that looking at him is far from being a hardship. ]

It's nice to meet you in person.

Faraday. [ That's not the one that hurts, though. ] Buffy.

[ It feels strange to admit, because he didn't want to think that this was possible. He wanted to pretend that he could find a loophole or somehow escape the terms of being here, that people wouldn't always stay. Maybe he'd just figured he'd be the one to leave, but he's not. ]

If I go home, I'm a dead man. Better to be here, even if it's confusing and I don't understand it very well. It's not so good to be left, though.

[ Derek gives her a sympathetic look as he picks up his menu and starts to peruse the selection. He can't really imagine working the shift she works all the time. Granted, back home, when he was protecting Beacon Hills, it was usually under the night sky, but he could have given up if he'd gotten too tired; handed it off to another werewolf for a few hours to catch a nap. It wasn't like a real job. That sounds like a horrible shift, in his opinion, but if she likes it enough not to fight for another one, then he really can't fault her for it. ]

That makes the day drag, ouch.

[ He hates when it's slow at the bar. It can turn a seven or eight hour shift into something that feels like a lifetime. At least on the weekends, he can depend on it being pretty busy.

With a smile, he sets the menu down again to give her his full attention. ]

It's nice to meet you in person, too. And it was uneventful; I read for a while, went to bed. Woke up a few hours ago and took a run...

[ He smirks a little and shrugs. ]

I'm always hungry.

[ It's hard not to be when one's metabolism burns through all the calories ingested in such a short amount of time, but that's maybe another story for another day when she hasn't just come straight from work. ]

Got any recommendations?

[ Ah, shit. What she was worried about.

She stomps on the sudden, misplaced swell of hope that blooms in her chest, inwardly giving herself a stern talking to. She's not going to be that person, not to him, or anyone else; he needs a friend right now, not an opportunist. And she's not one to take advantage of anyone - it would make her just as bad as Fisk if she was, and the mere idea repulses her.

No. There are decent times for allowing these feelings, and now is not it. ]

Oh, Vasquez, I'm truly sorry. For what it's worth, I'm sure it wasn't a decision she took lightly. She may have very important things to look after, back home.

It does, but - someone's got to be around, though. You never know when an accident will happen.

[ She shrugs, picking at the corner of her menu. ] It's not so bad - I've been catching up on reading, at least. Got years worth of books to go through.

[ There's a part of her that's amazed that he's been awake for hours already without having to be at work - her days off she tends to spend lazing around, making the most of not having to be anywhere or put on any kind of front. And here he is, looking fresh as a daisy, back from a run. Damn. ]

You do that every day? I've been wanting to get into the habit of jogging, but I guess I do enough running around at the hospital.

[ She grins, a little crookedly, and then leans over the table, pointing down at the pancakes section of the menu. ]

You never go wrong for a fresh stack of pancakes. Never.

[He feels tired, honestly, but that just means that he hasn't had enough liquor, in his opinion. He wants to be so much more drunk than he is right now, annoyed with himself that the first time he tried to do something right and she ran away before he did.

Snorting, he gives Claire a disbelieving look.]

I don't give a shit the reasons she left, all that I know is it means that I was wrong about wanting to try and do something the right way.

[ Nodding, Derek reaches up to scratch idly at his jaw. ]

Yeah, I get that, but that doesn't take away from it being a little exhausting, so I feel for you.

[ Granted, a slow night at the bar is probably nothing compared to a slow night at the hospital, and the same is sure to be true of busy nights, so he imagines that the gap between slow and busy is far more significant to her than he can understand.

To her question, Derek smiles a little and nods. ]

Every day for the past twenty two years, yeah. I started back when I was five, with my mom, my uncle, and my big sister every morning. My uncle and I aren't close like we used to be and my sister and my mom aren't here anymore, but I just keep doing it. Habit, mostly.

[ Habit and it's nice to be able to run free in wolf form now that he has the ability to shift into it.

He laughs a little and nods appreciatively when she offers her suggestion. ]

Pancakes sound amazing right about now, now that you mention it. Is that what you're going to have?

[ If she's taken aback by the sudden anger in his voice and words, Claire doesn't let it show. She keeps her eyes on him, unflinching. ]

Why? Because it wasn't enough to keep her here?

[ If she didn't understand where he was coming from, her tone would probably be angrier. But she does get it - she's been on the sidelines before. She's been left behind, in a way, even if she likes to think the decision came from her. ]

I think it's very brave that you tried to go for a real relationship, and you shouldn't decide here and now that you won't anymore. But I wouldn't blame you for being wary, either.

[ She shrugs, a soft smile on her lips. ]

It's the job. It makes me feel like I have a purpose, so I don't mind, really. It's what I'm good at doing, and what I love doing - helping people, whenever and however I can.

[ There's something when he talks about his family, something in his tone, but she doesn't push, just noting the inflection and letting them move on. She just nods, grinning. ]

My family's idea of good times together is a lot of food, not going jogging together. Seems like a healthy habit.

[ Looking back down at her menu, she nods again, looking over the different toppings. ]

Hmm, yeah, think so. I'm starving. What do you think, classic with maple syrup and bacon, or strawberries and cream? Oh, you're not vegetarian or vegan, are you? Don't think you'll find much food for you here if you are.

Because there was no point to spending all my energies to do something in a modern, right way.

[ He'd thought that he understood, that he could be a gentleman and find some happiness out of it, but just like the rest of his life, it had been too short-lived and it had gone away. He never even really got a chance. ]

I think that I'm not going to do anything for a while, not like that. The way it goes, I think I will only see heartbreak again. Pass me that bottle? I could use the drinking.

That's admirable.

[ Mostly because he knows a nurse; he knows how big a chunk of their life they tend to give up for the cause. Derek thinks he's probably a little too selfish to do it himself. ]

Oh, we absolutely did the food thing, too. At least, we did on holidays when the extended family came into town.

[ Holidays, the wolf moon, and lunar eclipses, but who's counting? His family is sometimes a sensitive subject, but it depends on the context. Right now, they're talking about things that conjure happy memories for Derek, so as much as it saddens him that he can't create new memories in those veins, he doesn't mind talking about it; the sting has been numbed over the years, so there's a smile on his face and it reflects in his eyes when he looks back at her.

Derek shakes his head at the question. ]

Nah, I don't think I could stand going vegetarian and I'd almost definitely screw up being vegan. I'm good. That's a tough call, though, between bacon and syrup or strawberries and cream. I'll do one and you do the other; we can both split it and then we both get both?

Think you'd feel any better if you'd hurt her instead?

[ There's a hint of judgment in her voice, which she swallows down immediately. This isn't what he needs right now, not when he's in pain and processing. She isn't sure he's ever been brokenhearted before, but she is well acquainted with the feeling, and with how shitty it feels to be judged for the anger it brings.

She slides the bottle from the side of the table over to him, keeping her fingers loose around it for a moment. ]

Were I younger, I'd tell you that the heartbreak is worth it. But at this point, I kinda agree with you, here. This place... it's temporary for most people. So trying to get something lasting out of it seems pointless. I know it's not what I'm looking for, either.

Oh, did you do the whole extended family thing? Drunk uncles and kids climbing all over you?

[ Imagining Derek with children is - well, it's kinda nice. Because he's that kind of guy that's all tall and dark and handsome and mysterious looking, the kind that has a multitude of secrets in his eyes (aka, Claire's type, she needs help), but knowing he seems to be family oriented softens his sharp angles. ]

We didn't get to the extended family thing very often. Most of my mom's family still lives in Puerto Rico, and we didn't go much.

[ She doesn't sound sad - because she isn't. It's just the way it was. She loved her family life as it was, anyway.

Giving Derek a look, she grins as she raises a hand for the waitress. ]

Clever man. Sounds like a plan.

[ Derek laughs at that, shaking his head with amusement. ]

Well, you're half right, anyway. The kids climbing all over us older ones. Drunk uncles not so much. Which was lucky for me.

[ Not that he would put it past Peter to have been the drunk uncle if any of them could get drunk off the alcohol available back in Beacon Hills. ]

I can see how that would make the extended get togethers harder, yeah.

[ He grins a little at the comment and gives the waitress his attention when she comes over, waiting his turn to order the pancake meal that Claire doesn't. Then, as the waitress departs again, his attention goes back to Claire. ]

So tell me about yourself, Claire. Where are you from? What made you decide to go into one of the most important and simultaneously under-appreciated careers of all time?

[ One of. There are also teachers. ]

[ They order their food, coffee gets served, and Derek leans in, asking Claire about all these things that people tend to ask on first dates. She grins, looking out the window for a moment before focusing on him. ]

I was born and bred in New York. Mom and Dad owned this diner in Harlem, and I grew up with my sister running around in it.

[ She stirs sugar into her coffee as she looks at him, propping her chin up in her hand. ]

Honestly, when I think back on it, I wouldn't be able to say why I went into nursing. Part of it was a bit of teenage rebellion - dad wanted us to go to law school, or become doctors, something like that. Nursing seemed too bottom of the barrel, for him. But then I discovered just how much I could help, how much closer I could be to people compared to a doctor, and that - that's what I wanted to do. I didn't want distance between me and patients, I wanted to be right in the middle of it.

[ Pressing her lips together, she huffs out a small laugh, shrugging. ]

What about you? What do you do, back home?

[ He scowls, because she's right. He'd have felt worse if he'd hurt her, even unintentionally. The look on his face shows that and he slumps forward a little as he drinks, thinking that he's got a good plan to numb this away with tequila. ]

I know that we talked about this before, you, me, wanting things. I thought maybe because I was no longer an outlaw, I could do it differently, but if this is how the city works and no one stays permanently, then it's just the same as home.

[ He's not sure why he's so disappointed, but maybe, just maybe, a part of him had been hoping (deep down) that he could get over his fears and one day have something that his family had. ]

[ Claire downs her drink, reaching out for the bottle in his hands and pouring herself some, as well. It feels like the kind of conversation that requires it. ]

I think - the difference between home and Cadelle, for you, might not be in relationships. Thing is, here? You can be whoever you want to be. Here, you're not an outlaw. Here, you're safe and you don't have to kill or be killed. You don't have to steal to survive.

[ She points her glass in his direction. ] That's important. And I don't think no one but you plans on staying. Some people... they have nothing to go home to. Don't give up yet.

[ Derek's eyebrows lift with vague recognition. He's from California, but he knows Harlem a little. Very little, since he lived briefly in Brooklyn and they're what most people would consider close, but he used to meander around Manhattan when Laura would go out of town. There was more interesting things to see and do in Manhattan, if you asked his teenaged opinion. ]

Yeah? Which one? Can't say I hung out in Harlem much, but I've been a time or two. A while back, I lived briefly in Brooklyn, but sometimes my sister would go out of town and I'd head to Manhattan because there was more to do. At least, I thought so.

[ The likelihood of him knowing the place is low, but you never know. ]

I think that's really cool, actually. I always kind of find myself wondering if all nurses got into nursing for that base reason, that they want to be closer to the patients than a doctor can be.

[ He shrugs at her question, a little, because she sounds like the hard working type and Derek never had a job until he came here. ]

I...guess you could say I protected my town. I never really had a job back home. It was easier to be available to fight the good fight if I was living off my inheritance and the insurance payout from the fire.

Full disclosure, though, since this subject could lead into another pretty easily: I'm not technically human...does that...bother you?

[ He might as well get it out of the way. ]

[ He knows that he's not hunted and that he can have a job and a life. Maybe a part of him had also thought he could be the kind of man who had a girlfriend, someone who was his partner. He'd really enjoyed the time with Buffy, but then, there are others too.

Claire, for one. Reaching out to slide his fingers to twist up in hers, he absently, loosely, holds on. ]

Maybe for now, I just need some friendliness. I don't think I'm going to be so stupid to make my same mistakes for a while.

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colors spilling from night to day (ota)

[closed to vasquez]

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