Ezra's Place to Tranquil Ocean Day Spa, Tuesday

[spin_kick_snap]

Jar of kimchi, festooned with a bow and in a cute gift bag? Check.

Pair of tickets for a day spa? Also check.

Super-modest bathing suit bought explicitly for this occasion? Triple check.

Look, between their sort-of fight, his trip with Dante, the trouble with Zeke after prom, and his upcoming exhibition, Kathy was betting that Ez was feeling a little frayed around the edges. And, well, sometimes the best cure for that was a little bit of pampering.

Here was hoping Ez felt the same way.

Knock knock.

[For him in the post!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Besides, Kathy very much knew that. She was just working very hard not to think about it.

"And our portal's due in a few minutes," she said, nodding. "The spa is in Boston, but on the other side of the city from the bar."

Just to be safe. She'd taken his warning to heart.

...Eventually.

[smilestopscars]

"... We're taking a portal to Boston?"

Ezra looked incredulous for two reasons.

One, that was a drive he took routinely and taking a portal seemed ridiculous. (As much as it did appeal to his lazy side.)

And two... Yeah, he really should've taken a closer look at where that brochure said the spa was.

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"I didn't want to volunteer you to drive!" Kathy protested. "That seemed rude. And I wanted it close enough that you could go without me. If that's what you wanted to do."

[smilestopscars]

"Kathy..."

He inhaled deeply, then rubbed a hand over his face. "I wish you'd chosen somewhere else." Though, maybe that wasn't the most accurate way to put it. "Better yet, I wish you'd asked."

Because it wasn't as if he was trying to outlaw Boston for her, or that he thought it was an inherently unsafe place for her - he was inviting people out so see his showcase in Boston soon, anyway.

But the difference was that that was his choice.

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Kathy's eyebrows went to her hairline then came right back down. "I have to ask before I venture into a major American city now?" she said. "I respect your ban on Purgatory. I respect your ban on that entire section of the city. That's why I ended up looking up places as far from it as possible. I hadn't realized that there was an interdiction on the entire goddamn city."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra bit back several unhelpful responses. Including one that he was particularly fond of which had to do with how it was just one Boston out of the entire multiverse, so that whole 'major American city line' was -- anyway.

He forced his tone into a neutral.

"No, I'm asking you to care about what's comfortable to me."

[spin_kick_snap]

Yes, but she'd chosen this one so that he could go to it whenever he wanted. She'd been trying to be helpful.

As it was, he'd given her pretty much the one argument guaranteed to take the wind out of her sails. "You're right," she said quietly. "I hadn't realized that it would make you this uncomfortable." She reached into her purse and pulled out the tickets and offered them up to him. "Here. They're not in any one person's name. Hell, you don't even have to use them both on the same day. So you can either bring a friend or go twice."

She hadn't been sure he'd want to go with her at all. Just for different reasons.

[smilestopscars]

Ezra didn't reach for them.

"I don't want to take your tickets, I want to know you understand why Boston is complicated for me."

Because this, right here, had some vague similarities to what had been his issues with Dante lately. And Ezra didn't enjoy it any more from her than he did from her boyfriend.

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Kathy sat back down, putting the tickets on the table. "This is why I'm always asking for boundaries," she said. "So I don't run face first into them."

But everyone was always 'I don't have any!' or 'whatever's good for you is fine for me' and then, surprise, it turned out to be not true at all.

"So, no. I don't understand. I would like you to please explain so I do."

[smilestopscars]

To the best of his memory, Ezra had never claimed not to have boundaries when it came to this.

"Boston is Coterie country," he said, though he was sure she knew that much. "And yes, because Alistair keeps his headquarters at the Inferno, like Venus before him --" Which, by the way, he still couldn't fathom because if he'd been in Alistair's shoes, he would've probably asked Ava to burn that place to the ground. "-- so that's obviously the riskiest part of the city for anyone wanting to stay under the Coterie's radar. But it's not that simple, it doesn't feel that simple to me."

He looked down. Flexed the fingers on one hand.

"All I want is to keep you safe, and that means keeping you off the radar, and that means I need to feel in control of things that have to do with Boston. Having it sprung up on me with minutes on the clock does not feel like control."

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Kathy nodded slowly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't realize that it extended that far. I didn't intend to trespass here and make you feel...powerless. I thought I had found a good balance of 'close enough to be convenient' and 'far enough to be safe.' I was wrong and I'm sorry."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra wanted to soothe her with an 'it's okay'. But that would've been a lie, and he didn't feel like lying.

So. "Just don't spring it on me again," he said, a little more softly again. "Please."

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"How far does this interdiction extend?" Kathy asked. She wasn't trying to be snide, she wanted it laid out exactly so she wouldn't make that mistake again. "All of Boston? The Boston metro area, like Cambridge and Somerville? Massachusetts?"

[smilestopscars]

"Please stop calling it that, no one here is in the military," Ezra replied with a sigh. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And it's not about distance." Not entirely. "It's about it going through me because I know what's low on Coterie activity and what's not."

And that made him feel better.

"But if you need an area, then it's just Boston." Why the hell she would even find reason to be outside of it in his particular world, he didn't know. He was just trying to work with her.

[spin_kick_snap]

That's all she was asking. A specific boundary and designation so that she knew what was okay and what wasn't. Didn't matter if she never had a reason to go anywhere else. She still wanted to know.

"Okay," she said. "I won't. I promise."

[smilestopscars]

"Good," Ezra said.

Of course, he wasn't sure where that left them now.

[spin_kick_snap]

Only one way to find out.

"If we go today, will you be able to relax and enjoy the pampering?" Kathy asked. "Or will you be on your guard and still feeling...however you're feeling?"

She didn't want to put a name to it on the not-so-off-chance she picked the wrong one.

[smilestopscars]

There wasn't a good name for it, anyway. Except perhaps 'off-balance'.

"I'm not sure." He wished he'd been more sure. "Could still be worth a shot."

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"It's your city, so you call the shots," Kathy said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "We can go and see what happens. Or you can save them. Go another time. Maybe bring Ada." She shrugged. "I got them because I wanted you to have a chance to relax over the shitshow the past..." She shrugged. "Year, basically? Has been? So it's up to you on what will make you feel better."

[smilestopscars]

"I guess we can see what happens."

He was reserving the right to cut it short, though. Not that he felt like spelling that out for her.

[spin_kick_snap]

He didn't have to. At this point, Kathy wasn't entirely sure how long she'd stay. If she didn't need a massage after that conversation, she might have bowed out anyway.

"Sounds like fun," she said lightly, checking her watch. "We should head out to the portal."

[smilestopscars]

Ezra wasn't even likely to go for a massage. Too on edge to relax into strangers' touches quite like that.

Luckily facials and other treatments were things that existed.

He shrugged his bag further up his shoulder, nodded towards the door, and replied, just as lightly, "And no more portals to Boston after this one, darling. I like driving."

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Kathy opened her mouth to explain her reasoning - and then closed it, choosing to just nod. "I admire your willingness to drive in Boston. I looked at some street maps and they're mad."

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"I've been driving there ever since I got my license," Ezra pointed out as he headed for the door. Although truth be told, he'd been driving in Boston a little bit before he should've legally been doing it, but that was Coterie stuff and didn't need getting into right now. "It's practically second nature."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll keep that in mind for next time," Kathy said. "And will try not to say 'I told you so' if we leave and you're half-melted from relaxation."