Starring:
Summary: Tamara gives Xander clues, but Xander remains clueless. At least today.
Date It Happened: May 4, 2007
Paper and Holes
JFK Airport, Queens, NYC
May 4th, 2007, and he's back. Alexander Weston Marx has returned to the United States from Britain. He had been there for a month due to his mother having died, and decided he need himself a bit of a vacation to sort things out. Having been allowed one, Xander took his time before making his way back to the US. The plane ride wasn't particularly thrilling, considering his claustrophobia and the bathroom in the plane, but he coped, if barely.
So he's back, pulling at a single suitcase through the terminal of JFK, and speaking on his telephone not long after landing. "Yes, I'm back, and have landed, and I'm making my way through the terminal now… Listen, I'll deal with it when I get to the office, alright? The trip was awful, and I'd rather I rested a bit first…"
There are always people in the terminal - waiting for this plane or the other, loitering to meet friends or family. Tamara isn't usually one of them, though. She's made the effort to look presentable, or at least less unkempt than usual; her dark blonde hair is only a little mussed. The teen holds an untouched frappuccino, idly rolling it back and forth between her palms. She hovers behind most of the others, watching them and various passersby distractedly. After a bit, her gaze settles on Xander, watching him approach from the terminal with a faint smile.
Xander is rolling his eyes a little as he makes his way through the terminal, still on the phone and unaware that he has anyone's attention, speaking into the phone, "I'm aware, that case is one of my highest priorities…" BEfore a sigh, and replying, "Fine, I'll be there by eleven… Bye then…" He then flips his phone shut and grumbles, taking a moment to breath as he shoves his phone into his pocket, while nearby lights flicker for a while due to a bit of a minor control issue in relation to his powers, and makes to head out, still unaware of Tamara.
He'll know soon enough. Tamara waits until the phone is headed for his pocket, paying no attention to the flickering lights - they'll stop soon enough - and steps over to walk alongside Xander as he moves by. "Hello," she greets cheerily, holding out the drink for him to take. With, apparently, every expectation that he will despite Xander being a complete stranger. In fact, her attitude suggests she may've been waiting for him all along.
Xander is, for reasons obvious to Tamara, a little caught off guard by the girl suddenly decided to speak to him right after he got off his conversation on the phone, and understandable blinks and doubletakes at her. He blinks for a moment, having stopped his walk, as he puts on a bit of a smile, in order to not seem unfriendly, "Ah, Hello… Is there something I can help you with?" Not quite aware that the Frappe that was being held out was for him.
"Maybe," the teen allows, smiling at Xander. She stops as he does. "Maybe the question is inside-out. Here," she continues, holding the drink out a little further and pointing at him with it. "This is yours." You just don't know it yet. Then Tamara tips her head in the direction of the doors. Let's walk, the gesture says.
Xander continues to blink for a moment as the holds the drink for him, before shaking his head a little, and says, "I don't quite understand your meaning, miss, but I can't accept that…" Because he didn't pay for it. "But I'm in a bit of a hurry, so, I think it would be best if I went my way… Excuse me." With his crisp London Accent, he tries to make his way around Tamara, unaware of what she knows.
It's a simple matter for Tamara to predict Xander's action and catch his arm. Her grip doesn't attempt to restrain; if he wants to go, he can. She just wants to keep his attention for a bit longer. Dark eyes look up at Xander, pupils dilating enough to shadow the blue irises. "Time is money, except you can't make more of it. It was a fair trade," the girl says quietly, hearing what protest he could make. "Hurry fast enough, and everything passes you by," she adds, tone faintly disapproving - or maybe it's more a warning. Letting go of Xander, Tamara steps back, lifting one hand. It's up to him.
The Lawyer finds his arm caught, and stops in his tracks for the moment, and turns to face her, ready to express his annoyance, before being informed that the Frappe is part of an exchange that hasn't happened yet. After a moment of listening to Tamara's riddles, he bites his lip for a second, before reaching to take the beverage from her, and tells her, "Thank you… I've been needing some coffee, after the plane…" He shudders a bit… Hates the planes sometimes. Alright, you have my attention. What can I do for you?" And then he takes a sip from the drink. Mmm, coffee.
Tamara shakes her head a bit, grinning lightly as he repeats the earlier question. Properly, it should be the other way around. But this time, she just leaves it as-is without any attempt to correct. "Listen," she replies. Now the girl starts walking, setting an unhurried pace for the doors and the outside world. Expecting Xander to come with, clearly. "I like listening to stories," Tamara continues after a few moments. "Hearing them talk. The best ones were mostly real. Just a little wrong." She tips her head, looking sidelong at Xander. "Like people. Flaws in the glass don't hurt the mirror much. Nothing was ever perfect. But sometimes cracks look just the same. And those weren't okay."
Xander simply has no idea what Tamara is going on about at the moment, but he listens as he follows her out the doorway. The city had gotten warmer in the month he was out of New York. "Flaws in the mirror, hmm? I imagine this is some sort of metaphor." He really doesn't have all that much time to guess, so he humors the girl, by asking, "What do you mean by that?"
Maybe not now, but hopefully later it'll start to make sense to him. She can hope so, at any rate. Tamara regards Xander for a moment before continuing on. "The paper over the hole is the most believable part. Until you start peeling. The paper isn't the real story. It just sounds right."
"Sorry to have to be blunt, but I really don't know what you're going on about, Miss…" Xander says, as he takes a sip of his Frappe. He doesn't know where the girl was going with this, but he was pretty much going to stick with her until he was finished with his drink. "Paper over the whole, cracked mirrors, it doesn't really mean much to me."
The girl's response to Xander is a rueful smile. "I know," she states. "But it did. You just needed to sleep on it," Tamara adds with a confident nod. "Don't worry. It applied." The clues are there; the airport lot just isn't the proper context for understanding them. Given an office, a stack of papers, and a troublesome alibi… if he remembers the odd conversation, it should prove more useful then. The teen pulls her lower lip in between her teeth, brow furrowing slightly. "Two agree too easily; they can put the line anywhere they want. You needed three."
The lawyer listens to this for a while more, before shaking his head. This just wasn't making much sense to him at the moment. Xander rubs his temple for a moment as he sips on the remains of the Frappeccino, as it goes pretty quick, and tosses the cup into the trash. "Of course I do… Three, I'll take that into consideration." With shakes his head, and takes a glance to his wrist watch, and tells her, "Listen, thank you for the Frappe, but I really must be going…" So he makes to move once more, with intent to catch a cab to the DA's office, and he wasn't going to pause, unless the girl had something important to tell him.
This time, Tamara lets him go. Though there are plenty of other things she could say, none are important (or immediate) enough to warrant the trouble of trying to communicate them. She watches Xander retreat towards the street, then departs herself in another direction, presumably off to bewilder someone else.