Dresden: The J.J. VS. Inigo Heart to Heart Reconciliation Feels-a-thon 2017

This will be where we conduct the very emotional verbal communication between two brazen yet tastefully flawed people with horrible, horrible backstories.

Inigo stood before a door, hesitant to knock. He was in unfamiliar territory. Developing strategies, managing the Vanguard, fighting evil - all fairly old hat to him, but the prospect of reaching out to try and connect with a moody, hurt teenager? That was scary. Even though his life wasn't on the line for once, the stakes seemed higher than usual. After a brief moment's reluctance, he committed and knocked on the door.

Within the quiet of the neighborhood and lack of life to the house, the unmistakable voice of Juliet let go a distant yet still audible, "Fucking seriously!?"
What followed was a slow and lazy approach to the door; mixed in was an unrecognizable deep grumbling till she came within close proximity, "...but noooo, the moment you decide to chill a bit on a Sunday-", she cut herself off with a deep breath and a 'sigh'.
A second later, she opened the door just enough to reveal her head with a towel over her hair before expressing with a wide smile, "Hello-!" and then she noticed Inigo, "-uuuuuuuuuuuuh, Hi?"
Her face shifted into unsubtle confusion.

"Hi." Inigo replied, trying hard to mask his discomfort. "I think there are a few things I need to discuss with you in light of what happened with regards to Katherine. Do you mind if I step in for a little while?" He shifted slightly and was reminded of the absence of his swords from his sides. He'd brought them as much from habit as anything else, but decided to leave them hidden in his car considering the nature of the conversation he was expecting. Besides, even in the worst case scenario, he was positive that JJ wouldn't try to hurt him, and if something unexpected were to attack, with Juliette's shield, getting to the car shouldn't be a problem.

She heard the words, yet was still baffled. Inigo, whilst he knew her address, was not one to pay visits to her. The notion that he took the effort to show up in person, without calling in order to discuss something sensitive made Juliet contemplate the starting of a list entitled, 'Creepy things Inigo Has Done'.
Fighting yet failing to resist the urge to roll her eyes, she readjusted the door to make sure only her head peaked out, sniffling when she looked back at Inigo. The look in her eyes was clear that she took this 'gesture' as him violating her personal space. It was almost as if he wanted to just spring this whole thing on her in order to catch her off guard and unprepared... Then again, Nomei engaged in home invasion in order to have a dialogue; so, for all Juliet knew, this was a new fad.
"It's a Sunday..." she stated bluntly, wiping away water that had escaped the confines of the towel as it ran down the side of her face, "Fuck, did a warlock break your phone or something, or was 'U-F-2-T-?' too long to type?"

Inigo was taken aback. "U-F-2-T? I have no idea what that means. And why is the fact that it's Sunday important? I mean, you have school on weekdays, so I shouldn't come by then anyway, and yesterday was really busy..." He had the distinct feeling that things were getting away from him, but didn't know how to stop it from happening. "My phone got broken back in Camelot, during the ambush attempt on Arthur's life. I've been a bit busy over the last couple of days and haven't had the chance to get a new one let alone get Frederich to magic-proof it. And I misplaced my address book at home, which is the only paper copy I have of everyone's numbers. I have your addresses on file and I probably should add your phone numbers to it, but I haven't yet, so I rely on my address book when my phone isn't working, which, as I said is missing and rather than put things off to find it, I figured I should just come here. Of course, in retrospect, I guess I could have called Holland for your number or something like that, but..." He stopped and saw the towel on Juliet's head for the first time and found himself even less comfortable than a moment before. "Look, if this is a bad time, I can come back later, I guess. I just didn't want to leave things as they were, which is to say, kind of a mess.

A misunderstanding occurs when someone interprets the actions or words of another differently than how they were initially intended. Usually everyone carries on as per normal when the misunderstanding is cleared; however, in very few instances, a misunderstanding that's been resolved can change the way someone views another on a fundamental level.
As Juliet watched Inigo ramble on, seemingly having stopped talking to her and shifted his lecture to himself, she saw Inigo in a new light. Ideas that she would have considered common sense seemed to have just slipped Inigo's mind: Most people don't unexpectedly bother others on Sundays; Most prioritize a phone number over an address when it comes to contact info; and make use of landlines and/or the internet as a secondary form of communication, know how to use yellow pages and payphones(in the case of most wizards); and know what UF2T? means(In the case of most teenagers). Inigo didn't come here when he did in order to invade and catch her off guard, or even try to make feel uncomfortable. He just had something burning on his mind, and his presence here was not some calculated move. He looked like he wanted to talk and at this point... was just winging it.
She started thinking of ways to progress this conversation without winging it herself. Yes, it was a bad time, but it could very well be a worse time, "Kay, just... um," She started, looking down at her general lack of attire, then the clock, the hallway, kitchen, and back to Inigo, "just come inside, my step-parents ain't here for now so... um... I don't know, wait in the kitchen for now I guess."
She awkwardly fumbles with her hands as she opens the door to let Inigo in, revealing that she is, in fact, only wearing a damp towel over chest with her left hand the only thing securing it, "Just don't ogle."

Glad that things seemed to be getting back on track, Inigo felt himself relaxing slightly. Only slightly, because, while things were a little less off-the-rails, he was still anticipating a difficult conversation and a nearly naked teenage girl was standing in front of him. "I... wouldn't... won't. That's not really..." It occurred to Inigo that he had no idea if Juliet was honestly concerned that he might ogle her, or was just making the comment either for her own sake, or as an attempt at levity. As usual in such a situation, Inigo decided the best course of action was to treat everything in the most literal sense. She told him not to ogle her, so he acted as though she believed that was something he might do, and would continue to do so until he received evidence to the contrary.

Rather than defend himself (hopefully unnecessary), or reassure her (at best useless, at worst counter-productive), he decided instead to trail off and hope his statement was sufficient for her concerns at the moment. "I'll be in the kitchen. Thanks for letting me in."

Juliet quickly guided Inigo over to the kitchen, and began to slightly shiver as she slowly started to feel cold from the wet cloths. When she reached the entry way to the kitchen, she extended her arm to give the briefest of introductions to the most basic of kitchens. It had the standard line up of cabinets running along the walls to the appliances and a small island in the middle. It looked like it was cleaned properly about 2 weeks ago.
"Right, so..." she said, scanning the counters, "uh- coffee pot's there, full. Tea kettle's there, empty so if you really fucking want tea, you'll have to make it, bags are just beside it. Water, milk and juice in the fridge. Fruit just in the corner; dark chocolate, same. So yeah, grab a seat."
She dropped her arm and headed back past Inigo, "Imma go finish my make-up, get dressed n'shit. So yeah, you cool?"

Inigo scanned the room, as much from habit as anything else, before sitting down. "Yeah, I'm fine. Go do whatever you need to. I'm sorry my timing was inconvenient."

With a face very much expressing, 'yeah, no shit,' Juliet scampered off to go clean up.
Roughly fifteen minutes went by before she reappeared. She had tossed on a blue Henley with a deep grey jean jacket over top and was wearing cargo pants. Her face had a little colour added in, her hair tied back into a ponytail and capped her head with a black beanie. Over her shoulder was backpack and in her right hand a thermos which she took a sip from immediately upon entering the Kitchen.
"Do you like hiking?" she asked, wiping her mouth before leaning on the counter.

"Plenty." Inigo said, standing up from the kitchen table. "Shall we take things outdoors? I should probably grab my swords, then. We should be fine, but if something tries to kill me, it's often when I'm in the woods."

Despite knowing full well Inigo was just being his typical overtly overcautious self, that small thought in the back of her head made her consider the possibility that he was referring to her.
"Normally I go few times a week with my boyfriend but, y'know, school shit's in the way so I've been- like, going on my own... not as fun," Initially she regretted that statement; but then she considered that since he has never heard of Keen, as far as she knew, he probably didn't really care, "beside, I don't know when my step-parents get back and I don't want keep adding bullshit reasons for people who keep banging on my door looking for me... Fuck, anyway, there's a trail about twenty minutes from here."
She fully slung the backpack over her shoulder and headed to the door, grabbing her keys on the way.

As he walked to the door, Inigo spoke in a slightly wistful tone. "Oh yeah, I heard something about a boyfriend. What was his name? It started with a K, or a J, or something, right?"

"yeah," she said, her voice breathing it out. 'Fucking Lying Bitch!', was the repeating phrase in her head and the only person she could think of was Nomei. She tried to comfort herself with the reaffirmation that family was some fantasy bullshit, seeing as her "sister" may well have just done the one thing she said she wouldn't. Juliet opened the door and started towards the trail.
Juliet took a sip from her thermos. There was a sinking feeling in her. She saw this day as just a road-bump she would have to go over before everything smoothed out, but now, now she could see every excruciating pain she would have to endure in the looming future.

"Glad you've managed to find someone." Inigo said cheerily. "It can be hard when doing what we do to juggle a personal life along with everything else."

On the plus side, he either had no idea or was kindly acting; on the other hand, he was twisting around a knife he had no idea he was holding.
"Yeah man... It's great though, for the stress... you should try it sometime... the snuggling's a blast," She paused when she was a bit ahead, waiting for Inigo to gather his stuff so they could head off, "Makes those bullshit days worth it."

Inigo sighed slightly. "Yeah... Not for me. I just focus more on The Vanguard. That takes plenty of time anyway! You would not believe the logistics involved in what we do." He headed outside towards his car to collect his swords. "Way more upkeep than I anticipated, I'll tell you that."

"Yeah, I can imagine.. but burnout's a thing, it's been bout two years since Fredrick and I fucked up... Still got that shit in my head," She stopped for a moment as if wanting to complete a thought, "shit, still hard to wrap around the whole 'just last week' vibe everyone gets. My step-peeps weren't to on board accepting the whole, 'you look older and different,' thing. Hell, my boyfriend needed a moment. You get that?"

Inigo snorted in humour, a smirk across his face. "Yeah, I read you. Not so bad for me, mind. Most people I see on a daily basis either were there, or can be let in on what happened. Plus, twenty-five to twenty-six is not as big as seventeen to eighteen or nineteen." He stopped as he neared his car and paused for a moment. "I never talked to you about what happened that night with Frederich. Nomei said she talked to you and not to worry about it. I let it lie because... well, because I blamed myself for it and didn't want to deal with that guilt. Not the most healthy response, in retrospect. You okay with all that? I know it's been two years, but..."

"That depends, do you want me to be brutally honest, or make you feel better?" she spoke plainly and stood there, waiting patiently for Inigo.

Inigo turned to face Juliet, his eyebrows raised. "Make me feel better? Try again, kid, and this time lose the attitude."

'For you, not fucking likely,' was what she thought to herself.
She took another sip from her thermos. A subtle disappointment overcame her as she had hoped the heavy stuff could have been avoided till she had the comfort of forest ambiance around her; but, here she was, jumping head first into the deep end, "I hated you," good start, "n'shit, I still don't know how to think of you. Hind sight is twenty, twenty and all that. You clearly hit a limit then and, push come to shove, you chose not to handle it. I don't blame ya, I've just gotten used to getting pushed out when people see me as a problem. Easier to get rid of one than fix it, right? Thing is, Fixing others is stressful, eventually everyone makes exceptions."

Inigo shook his head gently. "That's not why. I'm sorry you think so little of me that you believe I would turn away when things get hard. I didn't push it, yes, in part, as I said, because I didn't want to deal with my part in what happened. That was not the only reason. It made it easy for me to stop looking, when perhaps I shouldn't have, but that's all. The truth is, I didn't know what to say that wouldn't have made the problem worse. Nomei said she'd handled things and not to worry too much. I trusted her then, and I still trust her when it comes to problems with people. That's never been my strength.

"I'm a fighter, a strategist, and a logistics person. I solve problems. That's how I work. People are not problems to solve, so I usually relied on other people to manage that. Again, maybe I shouldn't have then, but I didn't stop because I couldn't take it. I didn't push it because I barely knew you then. I'd spoken to your guardians briefly and you'd been around for, what, two months? I thought I'd give you some space and if you needed to talk to me, you'd come. You never came, so I thought the matter settled. I didn't doubt that until you spoke up just now. If I handled that problem incorrectly, then I apologise; would that I could do it again, but barring any other unforseen run-ins with time-magic, I don't see that happening."

"Regardless, that's all back then. I ain't looking for a do over, anyway; and I don't blame you for doing what you did then. We can't well tell our old selves 'ya dun fucked up' without breaking more laws," She was starting to feel this hike was never going to happen, "So are we, like, gonna stand out here on the street arguing or are we heading off- I mean it's a nice street and all..."