Allison doesn’t respond, because the moment that she sees that he’s in the courtyard, she’s already slipping on a hoodie since she’s just wearing shorts and a tank top, and heads downstairs. Her hair is down, and she probably looks ridiculous in pajama shorts and combat boots plus a hoodie, but Isaac means a lot to her. There’s no way she’s going to do this over text.
As she walks over to where he’s sitting, she makes sure to make some noise with her steps so that he can hear her coming; she doesn’t want to startle him, considering he doesn’t have his enhanced senses.
Once she gets to where he’s sitting, she offers a small smile before she sits next to him. “I’m sorry, Isaac. Is there anything I can do?”
Isaac turns toward the noise, but even the sound of it frustrates him. He misses the clarity, the awareness, that his abilities offered him. But seeing the sound is followed by Allison, he seems to relax a tiny bit. He wrings his hands in front of him, elbows propped on his knees as he looks out over the dimly lit area.
"I don't know how it happened," he says finally, wrestling with his words, with his emotions. "It's like someone stuffed a box on my head." And it almost feels claustrophobic in a way. His surroundings suddenly feel tighter, smaller, without the range of hearing and the depth of smell. He's re-learning how to view the world as a human being and not a werewolf.
"Uh, sorry if I woke you up. I just didn't know what to do."
She means it, too. Hell, she's glad that he reached out and that he's not sitting here by himself. Almost as if to say as much without necessarily saying so, she reaches over and gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"I noticed the network has been acting up, too. Maybe something like the thing with the memories is happening?" That had been a terrible introduction to this place, especially since that had been how Isaac had found out about Allison's existence in Eglaf, but at least it had been temporary. She can only hope that this will be that way, too. Allison has never been a werewolf, but she can only imagine how the shift back to normalcy has been for Isaac. She had chosen to be a werewolf for a reason, after all; it has become a part of him, and to suddenly not have it... She may not fully understand it, but it doesn't stop her from sympathizing with him.
"There's gotta be a way to switch you back. We'll figure it out, okay? I'm not sure how, but we'll figure it out."
Isaac raises his head when she squeezes his shoulder. She has a point, at the very least. The memories glitch hadn't lasted very long, but would this be the same? The hand on his shoulder grounds him, though, and calms him down.
"Maybe. It's been a while since that happened, so why now?"
This isn't anything like what they dealt with back home, and even then he was never much of the one to actually spearhead the problem solving. He wrings his hands together for a minute, knuckles white as he grips his fingers together. "I can't even fight," he laughs a little. "I had Derek give me the bite so I could be strong, and without that..."
It feels a little silly, when he says it out loud, and while the fear now isn't quite the same as the fear he felt facing his father, it's all rooted in the same place.
Her eyes look down towards the way he wrings his hands together, but it doesn’t last long before she turns back to him. She doesn’t take away her hand from his shoulder, because she wants him to know that he’s not alone. That this might be scary, but she won’t let him go through it without her.
“I don’t know,” she admits. “But, I mean. This place is odd enough, isn’t it? And we haven’t been here that long. Maybe something like this is ‘normal’ around here.”
Normal is such a loose term, anyway. They themselves have no experience in it and Eglaf is its own level of crazy. Less so than what she had experienced previously, but still.
She gives his shoulder another squeeze before leaning over so she can try to meet his eyes. “Isaac, I’ve known you for a while. Maybe not forever, but I feel like I know you pretty damn well. And I can assure you that, wolf or not, you’re pretty damn strong. I can’t imagine what it’s like to miss a chunk of who you are like this, but trust me. You’re one of the strongest people I know. And you know me, I don’t say that to just anyone.”
A small smile pulls at her lips. “It’s normal to freak out. I would be, too. But, wolf or not, you’re still you. A different you, I guess,” she adds with a smile, nudging her shoulder with his. “But still a pretty valuable one.”
The hope that this might be temporary is there, but the fear that it might be permanent is stronger. He's been human before, after all; he was human before Derek turned him. But there's a vulnerability that comes with it, that follows closely on the coattails of weakness and that's the part that worries him. But he raises his head, meeting her eyes.
"That means a lot. Especially coming from a girl who's stabbed me a hundred times," he teases weakly, giving her shoulder a nudge with his own. They might be from different times, different places, but this is still Allison, and there's a comfort in sitting here with her, a familiarity that he's sorely needed.
"It's just fucking weird," he says and runs a hand back through unkempt curls. "Like I took the bite so I wouldn't be weak again. So I wouldn't have to worry about this shit. Now it's like I can see, hear, and smell and breathe but... not. So yeah, I mean I guess I'm just a different me. Last time I was like this, I was with my dad, so. You know, really happy stuff."
The memory sharing glitch hadn't been a fun one, no less when people really got to see everything through his eyes. He can only hope that this whole power swap thing fades just as quickly.
Allison lets out a small chuckle at the tease, giving him a look even if it’s more playful than anything else.
She sobers up when he says how all this is weird, and nods slightly in understanding. She may not know exactly what he’s experiencing, but she can imagine and she feels for him.
“You’re not the same person you were back then, Isaac,” she reminds him gently, but there’s a reassurance in her voice. “Hell, you’re not even the same werewolf that you were when you first got turned. You’ve gone through too much.” She pauses, but only for a moment. “And, for the record, you were never weak before, Isaac. You were made to feel that way, but you’ve always been stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
She nudges him gently with her shoulder again, but this time she stays leaning against him for a moment. “And if you don’t believe it, then trust me. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.” A beat. “I wouldn’t have fallen for you how I did if you weren’t.”
So much has happened since then and he's definitely learned a lot about himself in that time, werewolf or not. While it doesn't ease the uncertainty, the idea of the unknown ahead of him, it does make him feel a little less lost in it all.
He looks up when he nudges him again, but he finds the weight of her against his side so familiar and comforting that the tension in his shoulders fades completely. He's kept his distance lately, diving into work or the rescue efforts, and that was more out of self preservation than anything else. But he's missed her, and he's missed her since the day he watched her die back home. Maybe she's not the Allison he saw last, but that doesn't change anything for him, not at the root of it.
Isaac believes her wholeheartedly. Allison doesn't waste her breath if it's not worth something, and he knows that. But he can't help the huff of a laugh that comes out of his chest. Now that he's human, his face actually flushes, but he's grateful it's dark outside.
"Those were just the werewolf muscles," he jokes, giving her a little nudge back, but nothing to actually dislodge her from his side as he turns to look at her. "Just got weak, puny human muscles. Just don't stab me this time because I can't heal."
“You guess?” It’s said teasingly, with a small fake gasp. “I’ll have to find a way to remind you I’m always right about these things.”
Isaac isn’t the only one that has been keeping his distance; Allison has more or less been doing the same. For his sake, for her own. Things between them was never finished, not properly, and the fact that they’re from different timelines makes it harder. She spent a full year away, having dealt with her death and processing what she left behind. Isaac hadn’t, he was fresh from watching her die, and it felt unfair to hang around him if it caused him any sort of pain for something she wasn’t sure was there anymore.
But, nothing can change the fact that she will always care about him. Nothing will change the fact that she has missed him, that she’ll forever miss him. That he was an important part of her, that things were never resolved. She doesn’t know if they ever will, or what that looks like, but the unspoken language they’ve always had between them that has made them go in and out of each other’s lives with a fluidity that has always felt natural is still there. It’s both comforting and confusing, and it’s what makes her stay leaning against him like this, shoulder to shoulder.
Glancing towards him, she can’t quite hide the smile on her face that’s a little more relaxed now that he seems less on edge. “Those were nice, too, I guess,” she teases with a smirk. “But I guess this just means I get to show you how to protect yourself as a human, even if it’s temporary. It’s not so bad, I promise.”
A weight has lifted from his chest, though whether that weight holds the stress of being human or the pain and confusion from back home, he's not sure. But whatever doors had been shut, whatever locks engaged, are open now and there's an easy comfort that he remembers. It's like being home, really, even if when he goes back home, she won't be there anymore.
It's comforting and confusing— caught somewhere in between what they were and whatever this place has made them, even when what they were was as fluid and changing as it is now. But Allison's a steady constant, either way, and he's suddenly regretting not reaching out to her sooner. They've talked, like at the bonfire, or at the maze, but he's missed this.
"You could kick my ass as a werewolf, why do you think I want you to teach me anything as a human? I've done the whole eating concrete thing and I don't want to do that a thousand times for your fun. I'm not that stupid." His brows raise and he looks at her, almost accusingly, but there's a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He shakes his head, conceding.
"But yeah, fine. I guess I'll let you kick my ass while you still can. Who knows, might not be human forever. Get your cheap shots while you can, Argent."
Her smile widens, the comfort and easiness between them making whatever tension lingered within her disappear. She hates that he’s dealing with this, that he feels how he does now that the wolf in him is gone, but at least they’re able to reconnect like this again.
“Oh please, the point is to get you to kick ass, not to kick your ass. Not yet, anyway.” She winks at him before she leans her head against him for a moment. This is incredibly normal, just sitting out here like this, keeping each other company - but it’s so familiar, too.
She really has missed him.
“Do you want to do something incredibly boring and human like watching TV at my place? Peter and Lydia are in bed, I think, so I have the couch all to myself.”
"Fine, fine, I'll do it, alright? We can train." Isaac rolls his eyes. He knows how skilled Allison is back home, and with another year of another place under her belt, he has no doubts that he's in for a world of hurt when they train.
Everything feels so normal like this and that's such a relief. He's not really been able to find his footing since arriving, and to have some kind of solid ground back under his feet really makes a difference. He looks down at her, with her head leaned against him. He hesitates for a moment, but finally reaches for her hand, giving it a brief squeeze. "Um, thanks, by the way. For coming out here to talk to me. It means a lot."
It's easy for him to forget he doesn't have to go it all alone, and Allison has the straightforward, clear-headedness that he lacks. He snorts at her offer, though, and carefully moves to stand once he's sure her full weight isn't against him. "But boring, human TV sounds good. As long as it's not some like, bad chick flick or whatever."
“Good,” she answers, looking somewhat smug at his agreement to train, but she’s just more relieved that he seems better now than how he was when he first messaged her.
The way he reaches over and takes her hand makes her features soften, and she returns the squeeze. “Any time,” she promises. “Some things may have changed between us, but...some haven’t. I’ll always be here for you when you need me.”
She turns to look at him so he can see that she’s sincere, and she gives him a small, reassuring smile. It’s impossible to not wonder sometimes how life would have been if she hadn’t been killed, if she would have survived the fight with the Oni, and for a moment it’s as if her heart aches at what was cut so tragically short.
She hides it well, though, and she gives his hand another squeeze before she stands as well. She even lets out a small laugh at his suggestion of a chick flick. “You’re thinking of the wrong roommate, I don’t do those. Granted, I don’t know if this is much better; I was starting to watch the new Jumanji. Because apparently that’s a thing now?”
She rolls her eyes before she tugs him with her to her apartment. In the morning she’ll do what she can to look into this, even if she has no idea how to fix it. But, at the very least, she’ll be here for him as long as he needs her.
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As she walks over to where he’s sitting, she makes sure to make some noise with her steps so that he can hear her coming; she doesn’t want to startle him, considering he doesn’t have his enhanced senses.
Once she gets to where he’s sitting, she offers a small smile before she sits next to him. “I’m sorry, Isaac. Is there anything I can do?”
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"I don't know how it happened," he says finally, wrestling with his words, with his emotions. "It's like someone stuffed a box on my head." And it almost feels claustrophobic in a way. His surroundings suddenly feel tighter, smaller, without the range of hearing and the depth of smell. He's re-learning how to view the world as a human being and not a werewolf.
"Uh, sorry if I woke you up. I just didn't know what to do."
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She means it, too. Hell, she's glad that he reached out and that he's not sitting here by himself. Almost as if to say as much without necessarily saying so, she reaches over and gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"I noticed the network has been acting up, too. Maybe something like the thing with the memories is happening?" That had been a terrible introduction to this place, especially since that had been how Isaac had found out about Allison's existence in Eglaf, but at least it had been temporary. She can only hope that this will be that way, too. Allison has never been a werewolf, but she can only imagine how the shift back to normalcy has been for Isaac. She had chosen to be a werewolf for a reason, after all; it has become a part of him, and to suddenly not have it... She may not fully understand it, but it doesn't stop her from sympathizing with him.
"There's gotta be a way to switch you back. We'll figure it out, okay? I'm not sure how, but we'll figure it out."
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"Maybe. It's been a while since that happened, so why now?"
This isn't anything like what they dealt with back home, and even then he was never much of the one to actually spearhead the problem solving. He wrings his hands together for a minute, knuckles white as he grips his fingers together. "I can't even fight," he laughs a little. "I had Derek give me the bite so I could be strong, and without that..."
It feels a little silly, when he says it out loud, and while the fear now isn't quite the same as the fear he felt facing his father, it's all rooted in the same place.
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“I don’t know,” she admits. “But, I mean. This place is odd enough, isn’t it? And we haven’t been here that long. Maybe something like this is ‘normal’ around here.”
Normal is such a loose term, anyway. They themselves have no experience in it and Eglaf is its own level of crazy. Less so than what she had experienced previously, but still.
She gives his shoulder another squeeze before leaning over so she can try to meet his eyes. “Isaac, I’ve known you for a while. Maybe not forever, but I feel like I know you pretty damn well. And I can assure you that, wolf or not, you’re pretty damn strong. I can’t imagine what it’s like to miss a chunk of who you are like this, but trust me. You’re one of the strongest people I know. And you know me, I don’t say that to just anyone.”
A small smile pulls at her lips. “It’s normal to freak out. I would be, too. But, wolf or not, you’re still you. A different you, I guess,” she adds with a smile, nudging her shoulder with his. “But still a pretty valuable one.”
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"That means a lot. Especially coming from a girl who's stabbed me a hundred times," he teases weakly, giving her shoulder a nudge with his own. They might be from different times, different places, but this is still Allison, and there's a comfort in sitting here with her, a familiarity that he's sorely needed.
"It's just fucking weird," he says and runs a hand back through unkempt curls. "Like I took the bite so I wouldn't be weak again. So I wouldn't have to worry about this shit. Now it's like I can see, hear, and smell and breathe but... not. So yeah, I mean I guess I'm just a different me. Last time I was like this, I was with my dad, so. You know, really happy stuff."
The memory sharing glitch hadn't been a fun one, no less when people really got to see everything through his eyes. He can only hope that this whole power swap thing fades just as quickly.
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She sobers up when he says how all this is weird, and nods slightly in understanding. She may not know exactly what he’s experiencing, but she can imagine and she feels for him.
“You’re not the same person you were back then, Isaac,” she reminds him gently, but there’s a reassurance in her voice. “Hell, you’re not even the same werewolf that you were when you first got turned. You’ve gone through too much.” She pauses, but only for a moment. “And, for the record, you were never weak before, Isaac. You were made to feel that way, but you’ve always been stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
She nudges him gently with her shoulder again, but this time she stays leaning against him for a moment. “And if you don’t believe it, then trust me. I wouldn’t lie to you about that.” A beat. “I wouldn’t have fallen for you how I did if you weren’t.”
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So much has happened since then and he's definitely learned a lot about himself in that time, werewolf or not. While it doesn't ease the uncertainty, the idea of the unknown ahead of him, it does make him feel a little less lost in it all.
He looks up when he nudges him again, but he finds the weight of her against his side so familiar and comforting that the tension in his shoulders fades completely. He's kept his distance lately, diving into work or the rescue efforts, and that was more out of self preservation than anything else. But he's missed her, and he's missed her since the day he watched her die back home. Maybe she's not the Allison he saw last, but that doesn't change anything for him, not at the root of it.
Isaac believes her wholeheartedly. Allison doesn't waste her breath if it's not worth something, and he knows that. But he can't help the huff of a laugh that comes out of his chest. Now that he's human, his face actually flushes, but he's grateful it's dark outside.
"Those were just the werewolf muscles," he jokes, giving her a little nudge back, but nothing to actually dislodge her from his side as he turns to look at her. "Just got weak, puny human muscles. Just don't stab me this time because I can't heal."
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Isaac isn’t the only one that has been keeping his distance; Allison has more or less been doing the same. For his sake, for her own. Things between them was never finished, not properly, and the fact that they’re from different timelines makes it harder. She spent a full year away, having dealt with her death and processing what she left behind. Isaac hadn’t, he was fresh from watching her die, and it felt unfair to hang around him if it caused him any sort of pain for something she wasn’t sure was there anymore.
But, nothing can change the fact that she will always care about him. Nothing will change the fact that she has missed him, that she’ll forever miss him. That he was an important part of her, that things were never resolved. She doesn’t know if they ever will, or what that looks like, but the unspoken language they’ve always had between them that has made them go in and out of each other’s lives with a fluidity that has always felt natural is still there. It’s both comforting and confusing, and it’s what makes her stay leaning against him like this, shoulder to shoulder.
Glancing towards him, she can’t quite hide the smile on her face that’s a little more relaxed now that he seems less on edge. “Those were nice, too, I guess,” she teases with a smirk. “But I guess this just means I get to show you how to protect yourself as a human, even if it’s temporary. It’s not so bad, I promise.”
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It's comforting and confusing— caught somewhere in between what they were and whatever this place has made them, even when what they were was as fluid and changing as it is now. But Allison's a steady constant, either way, and he's suddenly regretting not reaching out to her sooner. They've talked, like at the bonfire, or at the maze, but he's missed this.
"You could kick my ass as a werewolf, why do you think I want you to teach me anything as a human? I've done the whole eating concrete thing and I don't want to do that a thousand times for your fun. I'm not that stupid." His brows raise and he looks at her, almost accusingly, but there's a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He shakes his head, conceding.
"But yeah, fine. I guess I'll let you kick my ass while you still can. Who knows, might not be human forever. Get your cheap shots while you can, Argent."
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“Oh please, the point is to get you to kick ass, not to kick your ass. Not yet, anyway.” She winks at him before she leans her head against him for a moment. This is incredibly normal, just sitting out here like this, keeping each other company - but it’s so familiar, too.
She really has missed him.
“Do you want to do something incredibly boring and human like watching TV at my place? Peter and Lydia are in bed, I think, so I have the couch all to myself.”
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Everything feels so normal like this and that's such a relief. He's not really been able to find his footing since arriving, and to have some kind of solid ground back under his feet really makes a difference. He looks down at her, with her head leaned against him. He hesitates for a moment, but finally reaches for her hand, giving it a brief squeeze. "Um, thanks, by the way. For coming out here to talk to me. It means a lot."
It's easy for him to forget he doesn't have to go it all alone, and Allison has the straightforward, clear-headedness that he lacks. He snorts at her offer, though, and carefully moves to stand once he's sure her full weight isn't against him. "But boring, human TV sounds good. As long as it's not some like, bad chick flick or whatever."
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The way he reaches over and takes her hand makes her features soften, and she returns the squeeze. “Any time,” she promises. “Some things may have changed between us, but...some haven’t. I’ll always be here for you when you need me.”
She turns to look at him so he can see that she’s sincere, and she gives him a small, reassuring smile. It’s impossible to not wonder sometimes how life would have been if she hadn’t been killed, if she would have survived the fight with the Oni, and for a moment it’s as if her heart aches at what was cut so tragically short.
She hides it well, though, and she gives his hand another squeeze before she stands as well. She even lets out a small laugh at his suggestion of a chick flick. “You’re thinking of the wrong roommate, I don’t do those. Granted, I don’t know if this is much better; I was starting to watch the new Jumanji. Because apparently that’s a thing now?”
She rolls her eyes before she tugs him with her to her apartment. In the morning she’ll do what she can to look into this, even if she has no idea how to fix it. But, at the very least, she’ll be here for him as long as he needs her.