#something bugging you

Kiran sped down the road in his old truck and pulled up outside the location that Irene had told him to meet him where Dark Score turns into Denton. He felt mildly apprehensive about the whole incident but in a good way, at least he was getting to see her again. Pulling up on the hand brake he skid to a stop and threw open the door, leaning out and smiling at her he gestured at her. "Get in." he said grinning gently and waiting for her to slide into the car.

Irene Irene made her way to the aforementioned corner, slipping out of Pen's house without telling anyone. She should have been training, but everyone was off doing something or other to prepare for this assault, and Irene needed a break. She was exhausted, and as much as she tried not to let it show, there was only so much to be done. The dark circles until her eyes only served to make her irises look even lighter--almost clear and lifeless. Her posture wasn't as straight and proud as it typically was, making her look even shorter than usual. She got to the corner and waited, staring out at the lake and trying not to hallucinate as to the many threats that may have swam beneath its surface. Threats were ​everywhere​ now, even if they were nowhere, and she honestly wondered if it was a good idea to meet with a guy she really liked in this state. ​Fuck it​ she thought. ​If I going to die in the sewers like a rat, I deserve some happiness first.​ Kiran pulled up after a few minutes, opening the passenger door for her and inviting her into the vehicle. She gave him an exhausted smile and climbed in, immediately buckling the seatbelt.

Kiran looked at Irene and could not help but notice how tired she looked, there was a slump in the way she stood, when they had met originally she had stood tall and straight and proud. But there was more to it than that, there were dark circles around her eyes, her eyes looked exhausted and he didn't know what was wrong. Turning round he looked at her briefly, quirking an eyebrow at her before accelerating away. "Are you okay Irene?" he asked with a gentle frown, slightly confused at what was wrong. "You look like you're exhausted, is something up?" he asked with a frown as he took a turn and began to drive back the way that he had come, back tracking. It was strange, everyone was going a bit insane at the moment, first the wild life and domesticated animals in the local vicinity, and now apparently the people that lived here too. He was starting to worry that everyone would not be okay, and when it came to Irene that was a fact that he wasn't sure he'd be able to stomach. He instinctively wanted to get some hair, or blood, or even saliva and burn it with some Rosemary, he wanted to cast every protection spell he knew over her so that nothing could happen. So that he could protect her.

Irene was staring out the window at the lake when he spoke, and after a moment's delay, she replied, looking a little startled. "I am tired," she nodded, her eyes drifting closed for a moment before shooting open again. "Cannot sleep. I'm...bad dreams. Everything is going to hell, have you noticed?" She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves and leaned back in the seat, practically melting into it. "This is turning into that shitty remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street," she groaned, reaching a hand up to rub at her forehead. She let her hand fall back into her lap, limp and lethargic, and looked over at him with glazed eyes. "How have you been? Have you had any troubles lately?" She hoped not, but it seemed a lot to hope for. She was worried for everyone, but he had somehow earned a special place in her overstressed heart.

Kiran looked at her and sighed with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry to hear that." he said simply as they sped towards the farm, "What are these bad dreams about?" he asked curiously. "Oh I have noticed about everything going to hell, this place is really going down the drain, it is actually starting to get out of hand." he shook his head gently tossing his hair back and forth, pulling it out of his eyes he took a left onto the main road and towards the farm. Not long now. "Well I sincerely hope that it gets better." he said taking his hand off the steering wheel to compassionately rub her arm. He shrugged. "I've been fine." he said with a smile. "Dealing with a couple of tough things at the moment. Like crazy animals." he said with a shake of his head. "But it will all be fine, these things have a way of working themselves out."

Irene brayed a hoarse, almost bitter laugh at his use of the phrase ​down the drain​. "You are not wrong about that," she noted, "Though it seems to be coming ​up​ the drain, to be more accurate." The contact felt unexpectedly nice--on top of her exhaustion and growing paranoia, she'd been training herself into the ground under Penelope's guidance, and muscles she didn't even know she ​had​ were sore. She made a soft, reflexive sound, like a murmur of contentment, letting her eyes close again. "I'm glad you're okay," she mumbled, managing to pry her eyes open and look at him again. She wasn't sure she could believe everything was going to work out just fine, but when he said it, so casually convinced, she had a feeling he had seen similar catastrophes, and he--as well as the town in general--had come out of them intact. It lit a small flicker of hope in her dread-infested mind. "Yes, we will find a way through it," she agreed, finding her determination, at least for the moment. "Now, you do not really need me to teach you to bake, hm?"

Kiran looked at her and raised an eyebrow, he didn't expect that this was the time to laugh, but her laugh was still cute, which was weird to think about in a time like this. At the contact of his hand on her body she seemed to perk up a little bit and that made him feel slightly better. There seemed to be more to her exhaustion than just not sleeping though, but he didn't push it, if she didn't want to tell him then he didn't want to force her. Not just yet anyway, he needed to let her grow into that in her own time. "Me too, about you, you know being ok." he said with a faint smile as he turned the steering wheel and over took a slow tractor in the middle of the road. He took a right and began to drive down a gravel track to the farmhouse. "Not really, unless you want to, I just needed an excuse to get you out and back to my house, honestly I just wanted to spend some time with you." he said with a shrug. "So unless you want to bake then I don't really mind." he said smiling gently.

Irene noticed they seemed to be on the very edge of town--maybe that was why he'd been spared the worst of these freakish occurrences. She was grateful for one less thing to worry about, though his relative safety didn't totally exempt him from her concern. Seeing them pull onto a gravel-rutted drive, she looked up to find a barn, stables, a cozy-looking house. "You live on a farm?" she looked over at him with as much surprise as her tired eyes could muster. "I...have to say, I had not imagined that. Not sure what I did imagine, but..." she bit her lip, then grinned a bit. She felt her lips crack and sting a bit, unused to the curve of it. It had been a few days since she'd really smiled. "I love animals," she nodded, then her smile evaporated. "I cannot imagine they are behaving normally though, hm?"

Kiran nodded gently as he pulled the car up in front of the house. "Did I not mention that?" he asked with a frown, "I probably should have started with that, but yeah I live here, Robinson Farm." he said with a smile. "We specialize in horses but work with other animals too." he said with a shrug. "I guess you just didn't imagine this?" he asked with a shrug and a smile. "Don't worry I understand." he said with a smile. "Well if you want we can go and meet them." he said with a raised eyebrow. "They're not, we had a crazy cow the other day..." he paused to hear a horse screaming and whining loudly. "And apparently they aren't behaving normally now." he said opening the door and closing it behind him, he'd normally have grabbed Irene's door and opened it for her, but he could see the horse completely freaking out and he was starting to get concerned.

Irene was a little lost in looking around the place. It was spacious, and well-kept and charming, but that wasn't remotely a surprise given Kiran probably tended to it often. If he took care of the farm like he clearly took care of himself, it only made sense she would find a charm to the place. She nodded briskly at his offer to meet the horses. "I have never...met a horse," she said with a note of excitement in her raspier-than-usual voice. But the sharp sound of one of the horses in distress raised a huge, bright red flag in her head and it was all she could do not to throw the damn door off its hinges as she scrambled out of the truck. Not only did she hate to see an animal in pain, but it sounded like an attack, and if she could catch whatever was attacking it, maybe she could get her team more valuable information about just what it was they were up against. A sense of urgency overrode her rational thought and she sprinted out toward the source of the sound. Of course, her version of 'sprinting' was really more like 'an Olympic dash', and she made it out there more ahead of Kiran than was probably explicable given her obvious exhaustion. Still too late, though--the horse was grounded, breathing swallow and weak, and whatever had spooked it was obviously gone. She looked back to where Kiran was still approaching with sorrow in her eyes. "Can we help it...?"

As ​Kiran​ leaped over a fence he saw Irene overtake him, she was much faster than he was and frankly at that moment in time he didn't care why, but by the time that they had arrived the horse was on its side. He slid across the ground and stopped in front of the horse, thick blood was pouring out of a deep gash in the horses side and he couldn't tell how it had gotten that way, it was a white stallion, he thought for a moment before remembering its name. Asya had called it Zippy when they had bought it two years ago. Looking around he saw that the rest of the horses were fine. ​"Can we help it...?"​ he heard Irene say and he nodded. "I can help it, but I'm going to say sorry first." he said with a sigh and a shake of his head. "I didn't want you to find out like this, I should have told you sooner, don't hate me for this but I don't really like to advertise this." he said with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry." He took a deep breath and held his hand out, placing it on the wound, they were lucky that this had just happened, every minute counts when it comes to healing, closing his eyes he began to mentally probe the wound before he began whispering a healing spell, his hands lit up, gold light gushing out of his palms as the horses' flesh began to knit back together and mend.

Irene had no idea what to think when he started speaking of apologies and explanations, but it was difficult to ignore the sense of dread that seemed to have its way with her lately. He put his hand to the tear in the horse's flesh, and closed his eyes. Irene held her breath. Oh, god, what was she about to ​see?​ When his hand started generating some sort of warm gold light, and the horse's hide mended itself, her eyes were clear icy saucers. Reflex seized her, and in her moment of panic, she slipped her hand into her leather jacket and wrapped her fingers around her dagger, curling them tight as if it was her only hope. "Kiran...what was that? What are ​you...?​" Of ​course​. Of course she goes on a date with a guy 6 damn years after she went on her last date, only to find it a repeat. If she had had her faculties, she would have considered that whatever he'd just done quite possibly saved his horse's ​life​, but with the shape she was in, it completely escaped her attention. "Be truthful. I...don't want to...to make a mistake, here..." She took a step back, and her legs were trembling, weak and wobbly.

Kiran tried not to think about what was happening to Irene, what she must think about him now, how she was taking this betrayal. Once he had finished healing Zippy, he took a step back once he had finished healing the horse, "Irene." he said in a low voice that was deadly serious. "I'm not going to hurt you, I wouldn't ever think of doing that." he said, his voice deadly serious, the tone of it begging, pleading that she believe him, he cursed himself, but he did not know how else he'd have told her. "I am a Warlock, like a Witch except I am a guy." he smiled at her, trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to hurt her. "I swear to every and any god that you can think of, I'd never hurt you, hell I don't know how I would hurt you, that isn't the type of magic that I specialize in at all." he said with a gentle shake of his head, he notice that she was trembling, and he worried that he might have to catch her if she fell.

Irene tried to fix her stare at Kiran, but it wasn't very sharp, her tired eyes lacking their usual focus. He showed no signs of anything weird at any point, but she could be ​missing​ something, and that would be the mistake that would get her killed. He went on and on about how he'd never hurt her, he didn't even know ​how​ to hurt her, that wasn't his kind of ​magic​, but it was just words, words, words, and if she bought them that easily, she deserved to be killed by a cute boy. "Y-you're not going to h-hurt me?" She stammered out, her accent painfully thick as her tongue tripped over her English. "​Prove it!​" she cried, the words half-choked in her throat as she pulled out the dagger, the blade flashing as her hand shook holding it out.

Kiran watched her, she was all but in hysterics now and suddenly there was a dagger in his hand, throwing up his hands he took a step forward towards her, a kind look in his eyes, trying to convince her that he wasn't going to hurt her. "I don't know what I can do to prove to you that I mean nothing wrong with this. But I really wouldn't hurt you." he was about to step forward again when he felt a nip at his calf, jumping away from it he saw part of his trousers tear away and a bloody scratch develop on his leg, "What the actual fuck?" he cried shocked and surprised by what had just happened.

Irene was verging on tears, confused and conflicted and she grit her teeth to hold the blade steadier, higher toward his throat as he approached, the sorrow in her eyes hardening to grey steel. Then, there was a distinct tear of fabric, and Kiran yelped, and she looked down to see he was bleeding. "Oh, son of a ​bitch!​" she growled, and in an instant, the knife flashed in her hand and soared straight into the ground right next to Kiran's ankle. There was a shrill noise, and Irene did not hesitate to reach back into her jacket, pulling out an improvised flamethrower cobbled together out of axe body spray, two nails and a band securing a zippo into place. She flicked on the flame, pointed toward the noise, and sprayed. the fire catching invisibly on seemingly-thin air. A foul smell, a ghastly sound, and the flame dissolved. Irene looked over at Kiran, no longer bothering to regard him with suspicion in light of this development. "Into the house," she commanded, immediately setting off that way.

Kiran winced out of the way, jumping a little as the knife flew towards his ankle spearing some strange creature, then the flamethrower came out and he really dodged out of the way. "You don't have to tell me twice." he said throwing up a magical barrier around the pair of them, he didn't bother stopping the barrier from glittering and glowing with a strange golden light to it. "We will be safe in here, but the faster we get in the house the better." he said shaking his head as he followed after her, although he could not help but limp slightly from the cut on his calf, he could already feel blood pouring into his shoe.

Irene booked it up to the house with some urgency, and realized about halfway there that she was going to leave Kiran behind. There was this...odd shimmering in the air, and Irene had been shocked into enough sense to recognize it as a barrier. She turned back and saw the blood swiftly soaking the bottom of his pant leg, wincing sharply. "You're bleeding bad," she noted, silently noting his unbalanced weight. "You shouldn't be walking with that. Here." She moved forward, into his personal space, and scooped him up into her arms, picking him up with ease. Without a word of explanation, she carried on toward the house, giving him a glance in the midst of her adrenaline-driven focus. "If you can heal that, do it now," she demanded, not liking the sight of that wound, especially not on him. Conflicted though she was, she still...cared for him more than she probably should have.

Kiran groaned as she picked him up, thank god no one was there to see that. It wasn't the fact that Irene was the one saving him, it was more the fact that he wasn't able to be independent. It really got to him. "I'm fine." he muttered as he pressed a glowing palm to his calf and healed the wound. "See." he said brightly, still focusing on keeping the barrier up and around them. As soon as they arrived at the house he flipped through his keys and opened the door, ushering her inside and closing it behind him. "There is a sanctorum spell on the house. So that should stop them from trying to get too violent." he said as he took a seat on one of the sofas in the front room that they had just walked into. "Thanks." he said smiling at her. "You probably saved my life from whatever that was."

Irene just shook her head at his insistence, he seemed oddly bothered by her help. She still gasped at the surge of gold light--would she ever get used to that? It ​was​ a pretty light, strangely comforting. When it stopped, the leg looked fine, so she quickly put him down and kept moving. "Yeah, I see," she replied, maybe a bit harshly, her arms folded as she stood on the porch and waited for him to let them into the house. "And what exactly is a 'sanctorum spell'?" she asked, doubt tinging her voice as she moved into the house. "Am I supposed to feel safe with a guy who clearly is more than just some attractive, charming theatrical type?" She swallowed her indignation, trying to convince herself he was still harmless, like he promised, as she took a seat on a separate sofa, trying to breathe right again. "I...was so...Kiran, for a minute I thought I would have to..." She bit her lip, and the exhaustion was quickly catching up with her. "You should stay away from me," she groaned, clearly miserable about the idea. "I am a danger magnet. And I'm not...I do not think I'm even in my right mind from all this."

Kiran looked at her and sighed gently, running his hands through his hair and tying it up with a spare hair band that was just on his wrist, that was where he usually kept them. "A sanctorum spell is a spell that prevents violence once inside of the area of the spell, I've got a pretty small one over this place, just enough to cover the whole house." he said feeling weary from all the use of spells, it wasn't tiring as such, but there was a small dull ache in his bones from the magic and how much it had exerted from him. He looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know how you feel, and I can't tell you how to feel. But I think it is a little unfair to tell me that I'm the only one keeping secrets, besides I couldn't just tell you who I was right off the bat, you'd go running for the hills thinking that I was a lunatic." he said with a sigh. "But now it is your turn, what are you?" he asked with a smile. "Don't worry, I warned you that you'd never get hurt at my hands." he said with a shake of his head, "and if you're a danger magnet then it is a good think that I am such an expert on protection spells, I'll be able to keep you from getting hurt, and healing you if you needed it."

Irene listened to his story, chewing her lip and mulling it over, right up until the part where he came upon Irene's secrets. She sighed and leaned forward to hold her head in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. God, it was ​pounding​... but he was right. It wasn't fair for her to be getting mad at him if she was technically guilty of the same thing. "I am a slayer," she finally admitted, lifting her eyes to him to measure his reaction. "Like Buffy, you know?" she cracked a smile, even managed a small, breathless laugh. "Not much of a slayer right now, though. I...the nightmares I have been having, I can't sleep. I'm...seeing things. And when you asked me over, I almost said no, because I was afraid...I would hurt you." The soft laugh she loosed this time was decidedly bitter. "I guess I almost did, hm?"

Kiran looked at her and raised an eyebrow gently at her. He had expected something like that, although he hadn't been completely sure that she had not been human, but he wasn't completely surprised by the 'revelation'. He smiled and looked at her. "I always knew that you were kick ass." he said smiling at her with a smile. "Though I think you are probably a fuck load more bad ass than Buffy. But you know I'm a little biased." he said with a sigh. He raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged. "I thought that you did a pretty good job of kicking ass then." he said with a shrug. "I don't think that I'd still be here if you hadn't done such a good job of being a slayer." he said with a smile. "But I know you would never hurt me, you're far too good a person to do that." he said. "I have complete faith in you."

Irene wheezed a tired, but genuine laugh at his response. Well, he certainly handled her secret better than she had his. "I am pretty bad ass," she replied, nodding faintly. "And well, you know me, while Buffy is a character, so I figure you might be inclined to say such a thing." But his show of faith, both in her skills and her purity of purpose, got to her. She'd brandished a knife at him--he had more of a right to think she was going to murder him than the other way around, but he simply shrugged it off and kept talking to her like she was important to him. He was positively certain, she could see it in his eyes, that she would not have done it. That she ​never​ would. She still didn't know what to think about the 'magic,' though. Nigel had told her to find warlocks, and he'd just said he was one, and it was a bit tough to deny something happening before your eyes, even if you couldn't explain it. But right now, she didn't have the energy for that conversation. Instead, she grinned over at him, a tired, silly giggle escaping her chafed lips. "Your magic is pretty," she murmured, remembering its gentle, disarming glow.

Looking over at her ​Kiran​ smiled gently and shrugged with a chuckle. "I am glad that you know you're a bad ass." he said with a laugh. "Because I wouldn't lie about something like that." he watched her carefully, wondering what was going through her mind. "You are better than any Buffy character." he said and that really meant a lot to him, he would not say that if he did not mean it. He wondered what she had been thinking, and though he knew that she wouldn't have done it in the end, he was in that moment a little terrified, but it had yet to change his opinion of her, everyone acted different out of fear. He doubted that Irene was any different. He smiled at her and offered her his hand before taking her upstairs. "You're pretty." he said in return with a smile before he led her up to his room. "You need sleep." he said simply, "and frankly I could do with some too." he shrugged. "If you want I'll take another room, but you need to get some shut eye."

Irene nodded, and so far as she knew, he wouldn't lie. He had no reason to, except about the warlock thing, and that was out at this point. Besides, in hindsight, she couldn't blame him for trying to hide it. He...he could heal things, though, and...barriers? He honestly sounded like he could be useful to this sewer mission, but she didn't want to mention it. It was dangerous, and he clearly did not have unlimited healing abilities. He looked beat, all of a sudden. She reached out and took his hand, following where he lead, stumbling a bit on the way up the stairs. She was too tired to even blush at the compliment, but her eyes slid away for a moment as she tried not to smile too wide. "Thank you," she replied quietly, quick to sit on the bed he'd brought her to. Was this...his room? She looked around, but there was no focus left in her to put the pieces together. She shook her head quick enough to make her dizzy when he mentioned sleeping in another room. After what attacked them? What if one of them...got ​eaten​ or ​worse​ while the other slept soundly in the next room? Safety in numbers. "No, no, this is fine...I think...we should stay together."

Kiran smiled as she sat down on the bed, though the house was entirely safe, protected by a plethora of mundane and magical barriers that would protect the house, he was confident that they'd be able to keep anything nasty out of the house while they slept, and with his mother away for the week and his twin busy until late that evening, there was really no need to stay in the same room. But that did not even really cross his mind. "It is my pleasure." he said simply before nodding at her. Kicking off his shoes he flopped onto the bed and sighed gently before wriggling up next to Irene and gently wrapping an arm around her, and putting an arm underneath his head. "You know, I'm really glad you're not trying to kill me." he said quietly as he felt his eyes droop gently.

Irene was so drained from that panic, that rush that was now draining from her and taking any energy she had left with it, she couldn't imagine even unlacing her boots. When she watched Kiran take off his shoes, she felt a pang of guilt at being a bad guest and possibly messing up his bed with her boots, but there wasn't much she could do about it. He would forgive her--he'd already forgiven her for threatening to kill him. This was going better than the incident with Harper, at least, she reflected tiredly as she let herself fall back onto his bed, sluggishly squirming into a comfortable position. She felt his arm slip around her and her heart leapt one final time before it mellowed back to a crawl, just as exhausted as the rest of her. "I am, too," she sighed, relaxing into his gentle hold as she gave in and let go of it all. Everything was fucked, that was for sure, but after that? She felt the safest she'd felt in days lying in his bed, knowing he would look after her, that he was so determined to keep her safe even though he was the one who just got hurt. "Huh...magic..." she mumbled, half asleep already as she nuzzled into a pillow.