Vacation Day (for Myra)

[evillurks]

The appointment has been set for very early in the morning, a reminder that he keeps all hours, not just the late ones. The coordinates he's sent Myra land her somewhere that the very first and overwhelming impression is one of fog. In her day and age, only a daring pilot would dream of taking off in it, but this is a modern airport with a very small, if often unmanned control tower, from which it's already clear this is simply a low-lying and temporary blanket of mist that will burn off quickly once the sun is truly up. Already a watery light is filtering through.
The building at her back is a shabby hangar, and is no different from any she's seen in her own time, if just a little more weathered. On a private airfield, not much changes but the planes.

The Shadow, dressed in a button-down shirt, light jacket, and jeans, is holding two thermoses. It should be easy to guess the contents, but he looks fairly alert already. "Morning." He has either slept a little better, or is simply covering for it well. Possibly there is some combination of the two.

Comments

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra gives an amused glance at his statement.

"Of course, but then, you cheated on that issue when I arrived."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow watches the sky, but while the rest of his face remains impassive, the lines about his eyes and particularly at the corners are deeply creased. His truest smiles tend to show there, where no scarf can conceal them. "Technically that's not true, I recruited you decades ago, it was merely resumed."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"Technically I don't work for you, but an alternate. Even so, an agent is always an agent, even across dimensions, and time differences." Myra smoothed a small wrinkle in her jeans. They felt a little awkward, but she had to admit, they were comfortable. "Besides, my service hasn't been that long, my hair isn't turning gray yet." She ran a hand through her hair teasingly.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

"There's nothing wrong with grey hair." His own is the silver that comes of hair already grey going paler towards white.
"But there you are, you recruited yourself, in a sense. Not to mention the latest case was my helping you, even if it would have likely come around to make trouble in my world eventually." As traumatic as that final battle was, he's enjoyed working with her again, and in an earlier age.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra laughed brightly as an idea struck her.

"If you look at it from another angle, someone could almost say that I recruited you." She shakes her head at the thought, amused. "At the very least I think I brought you officially out of 'semi-retirement'."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

A whispery chuckle shivers off the walls, just over the hum of the engines. "One could. And that is a joke, isn't it... I should know better than to try curtailing my own activities, it's never worked before."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"The day you actually retire is the day I settle down and take a secretarial job." Myra closed her thermos and held it between her knees as she took another look at the map and glanced out the window, using the landscape to pinpoint their progress.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow gives a slow shake of his head. "I made that mistake once. I'm never retiring again." He refrains from alluding to the alternative, this time. That the job will someday kill him seems inevitable, and yet he's made it this long.
The mountains are already a bumpy blue line, the contours beginning to show on the horizon, but they still have a while to get there. He'd forgive her if she dozes off in her seat. The last comment has left him in a contemplative mood.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

For as much talking as she can do, Myra enjoys the drone of the engines as the plane moves towards the horizon. She prefers not to doze, although the sounds of flight do make her lids feel heavy, she keeps herself awake by watching in studied silence. She notes the dials, the scenery, even the corrections to the plane's path made by the Shadow as she remains aware, but little more than the silent observer. She is also taking the opportunity to reflect on things, and to relax.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

His stores of small talk exhausted, The Shadow sits silent and thoughtful, sparing enough attention from his private ruminations to keep the plane safely on course. On the horizon the line of blue thickens, slowly rising and darkening into separate mountains of green. The morning fog is long gone by the time they are over the rolling hills that skirt the Catskills. As the plane begins a slow descent, the mountains seem to grow until they are first level, then rising above to one side of the plane. The view out her side is breathtaking, while to the pilot's side the land sweeps away lower and gentler, back the way they came. What he is angling down to is not precisely an airfield so much as an abandoned strip that only private pilots in the area even know exists. There is no tower, not even a hangar, simply a long strip of dirt and an empty shack that seems on the verge of collapse.
The landing is gentle but swift, the mountains grown from fuzzy shapes to gaze down upon to looming giants in a matter of minutes. The Shadow taxies the Beechcraft to a wide swathe of dirt at one end of the strip, and rolls to a slightly bumpy halt.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra watches out the window in awed silence, remaining silent as the Shadow lands the plane and brings it to a stop. She's still staring out of the window at the scenery, her eyes wide and a smile playing faintly on her face as she tries to keep her natural excitement in check.

"Wow." She whispers, leaning in her seat to get a better view out of the window. To a vague extent, it almost reminds her of the mountains back home.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

These are nowhere near the mountains she's familiar with in height. In Tibet, these would be considered mere foothills. All the same they are an impressive sight when you're up close to them, dwarfed by the sheer mass of earth.
The Shadow flips switches and cuts the engines, unstrapping as the propellers slow to a lazy whirl. "The only bad part about flying is sitting still for so long." It's the first thing he's said in roughly an hour, but his tone is as casual as if they've just been talking. "Time to stretch our legs."

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"I'm all for that." Myra stretches briefly before grabbing her bag and stepping out of the plane onto the packed dirt. She reaches for the sky, glad to be able to stand fully, and then wonders just how cramped the Shadow feels. He is, after all, much taller than she.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

She is likely not familiar enough with airplanes to have noticed, but there are subtle modifications to the Beechcraft, accomodations for a tall pilot among them. Longer flights would be uncomfortable indeed without a seat that moves further back than normal.
He pulls out his own pack and steps out, dodging a prop and checking to make certain the wheels are locked. A few pieces of wood are quickly fetched to serve as blocks, and he locks the plane door. It seems unlikely anyone will come around to bother the craft, but it pays to be more careful in this day and age.

All these preparations done, The Shadow gives a long stretch and a yawn, studying the tree-covered mountain that looms beside them. There are rocky paths between the trees, and apart from the little spot he's parked the plane, the place looks utterly wild.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra watches him and then turns towards the trees, but doesn't move.

"Lead the way? Unless we're making a total adventure of this, and I have no clue where any path could bring us."

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

The Shadow joins her, breathing deeply and looking content with the mountain air. "I don't either. I have a compass, and there are trails. I thought it was an adventure." He flashes her a smile and starts off for a slight gap in the trees that may be a trail head, expecting her to follow and keep up with his long strides. While he has been hiking here before, it's been several years and time and weather has a way of altering the paths.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

"Exactly." She smiles, she had hoped for an impromptu hike, and this was exactly what she was getting. With a smile, she started a quick jog to catch up with the Shadow, and once she caught up, it nearly took her double the pace to keep up with him, but she never once asked him to slow his pace. She wasn't having any trouble keeping up, so there was no reason to.

While certainly not nearly as skilled as the Shadow at keeping her steps quiet, she does make an effective effort to keep her walking quiet so as to not disturb the woods. Deer are not an uncommon companion along these kinds of trails, and in these areas, secluded from man, they thrive in abundance. That doesn't make them the only creatures present however.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Once they are truly under the trees he slows his pace, and the occasional low overhanging tree branch will give him pause. There's no reason to hurry, and the birdsong and sunlight through leaves are more easily appreciated without sweeping along up the trail at top speed.

There are certainly more birds than any other creature, but there are also squirrels and chipmunks, the soft hum of insects, and definite signs that deer have passed this way. The tracks of raccoons and other creatures are harder to spot in the thick underbrush. It is at once both very peaceful and very alive.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Now that he's slowed down, Myra changes her pace to keep a few feet behind him, her smaller stature almost an advantage as she finds herself ducking not nearly as much to avoid low branches. She picks up a calm rhythm that easily adjusts to changes in terrain, or small obstacles, her breathing regulated and calm. She's found her walking meditation and calmly watches her surroundings, her mind for once, clear of all the concerns of an agent always on the watch, and yet still aware of her surroundings.

The sun peeks through the leaves here and there, and the temperature is perfect with the faintest hint of a breeze to keep the air from being stagnant as they work their way along the trail.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

Before long, The Shadow slides off his pack to remove the jacket and stuffs it inside, but he does not break stride to do so. In the early morning fog it was needed, but now that they're moving under the dappled sunlight it's a little warm for the extra layer. They move in near-silence together along a narrow trail for a while, each lost in their private observations. The light shines silver on his hair, and brings out the brown highlights in hers.

They have been walking for some time when The Shadow pauses and kneels, touching a hand to the ground. By the time she's reached him, a matter of seconds, he is rising again and gives a nod to the tracks in the soft dirt, the double cleft of deer prints. These are hardly the first they've seen, but this time they're very recent, and he moves quietly off the trail, slipping through ferns with slow care and following the subtle hints of the deer's passing.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Myra replies with the Shadow's deviation in path with nothing more than a smile as she follows him, working to keep her boots from crushing the leaf litter that covers the ground. She keeps low to the ground and it doesn't take very long before they are within easy sight of the small group of deer. One of them is keeping sentry, but Myra has paused and crouched low, keeping absolutely still.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

As they draw within sight and stop a short distance away, The Shadow slowly drops into a crouch beside her, the movement slow enough not to draw attention. His face is expressionless as a mask, except for his eyes. He watches the deer with calm respect, glad for the sight.

The deer, for their part, are aware of the human presence through smell. A few nostrils are flared in their direction, but as there are no sudden movements or gunpowder smells, they quickly resume their browsing. It's a small group, a few females and one young male with antlers too small to be worth any game hunter's attention, but as they watch there's a sudden flurry in the underbrush around the deer, and a pair of fawns are revealed as they clumsily chase each other, oblivious to any onlooking eyes.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

Having spent her childhood abroad, her idea of deer is different, and these animals are larger than the small water deer she saw back home.

The deer she's had most exposure to are the ones she's seen at zoos. Some have at times called her a hopeless city girl for her lack of exposure to the wilds of North America.

Myra's face cracks into a broad grin, probably one of the widest she's ever given in front of the Shadow. The fawns prance and play as she watches.

[evillurks.livejournal.com]

These are not tiny creatures, and a kick from one of the adults could do some damage to the unwary predator. Fortunately they are fairly relaxed now, and not entirely unnacustomed to humans. Some of the local area is parkland and resorts, and there are as many people inclined to try feeding the deer as hunting them.

The Shadow's slowly growing smile is mild, a far less deliberate expression than the kind of grin he sometimes displays. He catches hers in his peripheral vision and looks amused by it, content to sit in the underbrush and let her watch until the deer wander off for fresh greens. They have all day, after all.

[myra-reldon.livejournal.com]

After a little while the fawns calm down, content to wander, nibbling at whatever their parents are. With a nod, Myra very quietly starts to back up in the brush, returning to the path that they had left.

Once they reach the spot, Myra nods a silent thanks. There's no need to spoil the silence, as she carefully starts along the path, slowly, uncertain in some spots now where it leads, as it grows less defined.