tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; December 18th, Friday Night
Rating; Possible PG-13
Characters;

cuffyoutwice
Summary; Harry takes Kate out on a date.
Log Friday night at the zoo wasn't the most romantic date, but dragons, dinosaurs, and unicorns were pretty damn awesome and it was hard to beat that. Besides, he liked seeing people's reaction to seeing those things for the first time and he was willing to bet Kate would have a good reaction to them.

He waited for Detective Beckett outside building 6, slightly nervous about the prospect. He hadn't gone on a real, actual first date in the City for a long, long time. To make matters worse, he and Kate had already made out. Although it had been really good, so maybe that made matters better. Either way, matters had been made.

Also, he wasn't sure if he should bring flowers. Flowers were a good first date gift because they were pretty, smelled nice, and didn't last long. He thought that might be a bit formal though and maybe imply too much so he hadn't brought them.

"Hell's bells, get it together, Harry," he said, running his hands through his hair. "It's like you're 16 again."

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Funny thing, being plopped into a place with nothing but the gun at your hip: Kate had no clothes. This was not a normal circumstances wherein she had multiple options and couldn't decide -- Kate literally had to go shopping. Without assistance from another set of female eyes.

On top of that, she was having a hard time remembering exactly how this dating thing worked. Even with the pre-date makeout, she wasn't sure exactly where this was going. Kate had always been a terrible candidate for the formal dating scene when she was younger. Too intimidating, ones of the guys; all the bullshit she'd had to put up with through high school, and then the disaster that was her last relationship whirled around in her head until she noticed how late she was running.

The clock had said that she had about five minutes to decide between the two tops, a pencil skirt and dark denim, so the result when she finally exited into the lobby of her building was even a bit of a surprise to her. The jeans and red top, then, she saw in her reflection as she pushed through the doors to see Harry already waiting.

"Harry! Hey, sorry I didn't see you waiting out here." Beckett smiled and hurried to stand beside him, arms kind of lolling at her side purposelessly. "So..." Yeah, she was being that lame, she couldn't even believe it -- should she shake his hand or play some tonsil hockey? At this point, it was a toss up.

Well, she could have fooled Harry that she had just thrown on the outfit a moment before. Kate looked good. Very good. Good enough that he couldn't help but get a bit of a doofy smile on his face as he saw her. He had a momentary flash of panic of "wow, she's way better looking than me" but brushed it aside. Really, his strengths were more his personality and wit.

At that part a tiny part of his mind whispered to him."You are so screwed."

"It's okay, I just got here," he said, still smiling and sticking his hands in his pockets. He'd just play it casual, no expectations or anything like that. "And the zoo isn't very far from here anyways."

She nodded, then felt like she was staring at him so Kate took stock of her surroundings. She'd have to commit the area to memory, make sure that she'd notice changes and oh right she's on a date. As in off duty, in another world and going to see magical not real creatures doing whatever that type of beast did.

Which meant trying to not be a headcase and keep the one friend she'd made but no pressure there, really. "Oh, great, that sounds...good." Kate nodded again, and smiled a little. "Lead the way."

Harry walked on for a bit in what he felt was horribly, horribly awkward silence. Which he thought was pretty lame because damn it, he was an interesting guy and he was willing to be Kate was a really interesting woman. So there's no reason they shouldn't be engaged in really fantastic conversation.

"So I'm ridiculously nervous," Harry said, engaging his mouth before his brain had time to tell him what a stupid thing that was to say. "Because you're attractive and a great kisser. And it's stupid, because the last real first date I went on ended with me naked in the street fighting off a toad demon so..."

She couldn't help but smile up at him, because while she already knew that it was, he'd just called this a first date. Denoting of course that she was correct in dressing up a little and that there might be more to come.

Then she laughed, probably a little too hard to be appropriate but she didn't have much control over it at that point because seriously? He's nervous? It's absurd, but really it made this whole thing much better. "Well. Would it help if I said I'm just as nervous and for about the same reasons?" Her hand waved in the air momentarily. "Except the nudity and toad demon counts for the guy, of course."

"It really would have made things easier if yours last first date had at least involved a toad demon," he said, flashing her a lopsided grin. It did help that she was nervous too, that way he felt less like a loser.

"Because if this date totally bombs, at least I can tell myself, 'hey, at least I didn't have to fight a toad demon'," he said.

"I'm okay with that. It just means you have more at stake here than I do," she joked. When she was finished chuckling she waved a hand in the air.

"Seriously though, this isn't a huge deal. We'll go see things that shouldn't exist, you can help me drag my chin up off the ground and talk about normal small talk things. We've already kissed, so that's some of the anxiety gone, right?" If she was honest, she wasn't really all that sure. But if she couldn't at least try to convince herself that there wasn't anything to fear, she figured it probably would turn out badly.

"Hey, everything we're about to see exists in my world," Harry said in mock defensiveness. "It's just that most people don't ever get to see it. Well, okay, dinosaurs haven't been around in a long time, but I got to ride a zombie T-Rex once. Twice, actually, now that I think about it. Once back home and once here. Good times."

"God, am I going to talk that casually about this stuff eventually? Cause if so, I'm glad I live in my world with the extreme lack of all this crazy." She chewed at her lip a moment, taking a breath to say something and then letting it out.

Finally she gave in to her curiosity at the chance of being overly interested and a little naive. "Was it awesome? The T-Rex, I mean."

"It was seriously awesome," he said, looking over and grinning at her. That was always a good conversation starter. Even Alucard had like that one.

"Sue was fierce," he told her. "The other zombies didn't really have a chance. And she really liked the polka music too, I think."

"Sue!? Like, the Sue? How the hell'd you actually get to ride her?" All pretenses of indifference are gone now, okay? Kate is back to being 11 and wanting to be an archaeologist.

"Well, you need a body to raise a zombie from the dead," Harry explained, back to smiling at her excitement. "And I already happened to be in the museum at the time and I needed something to fight all the human zombies being thrown at me and I thought, 'Hey, go big or go home, right?'"

"So you can just do that kinda thing, as long as you creep around and don't get caught. There's no regulation? I mean, something like that, as impressive and crazy as it sounds, I can only picture lots of staring and destruction. Not in that order," she continued. Kate was curious about every aspect of how his world worked, a world with toad demons and explodey magic.

"No, there are rules," Harry said with a shake of his head. "Several rules. And the governing body of magic doesn't mess around when it comes to punishment. You break one of the rules and you're executed, simple as that."

It wasn't a policy that Harry really endorsed, especially since he had been nearly executed for breaking one of the rules before he knew they existed.

"There are seven laws; Thou shalt not kill a human by use of magic, Thou shalt not transform others, Thou shalt not invade the mind of another, Thou shalt not enthrall another, Thou shalt not swim against the Currents of Time, Thou shalt not seek beyond the Outer Gates, and Thou shalt not reach beyond the borders of life. The last one refers to necromancy, but so long as it's not a human you're bringing back to life, technically it's not against the law."

Kate liked the sound of a system being in place, but she sure didn't like how that system seemed to operate. She frowned as she listened to him describe it in what sounded like a Biblical and commandy way. They gave light to what Harry might be capable of, and more than a few of them scared the crap out of her.

Kate was mostly curious about the lack of justice system Harry described when it came to punishment. "You can do all that? Just-- just like that? And if you're suspected, you're just executed. No trial?"

"No, not at all that," he said with a shake of his head. Harry was strong with magic but he lacked the fine control for more complicated spells. "Some of it, yeah. Kill with magic is just as easy as killing without. Transformation, invading the mind, and enthralling are all fairly easy depending on where your skills lie."

Harry wasn't entirely comfortable with the judicial system either, especially since as a Warden, he was now part of it.

"And there are trials of course. You have to prove someone is guilty. But let's say for example you can do magic. You don't even necessarily know it's magic, but when you get angry sometimes things happy. And someone tries to mug you and your friend in an ally and you get really angry and the mugger catches on fire and dies. Then the next day you find out what you did was against the law, even though you had no idea these laws existed and didn't really mean to, and a scary person in a grey cloak shows up at your door and takes you to trial where you're found guilty and executed."

"I see. They're not interested in intent, just the result," she mused. She thought that maybe because they could achieve impossible things, maybe their system would match those impossibilities. Be better than the loop-holed one she had to work with on a daily basis.

Kate forced out a small smile and sighed. "I still think magic's pretty cool, though. As long as you don't accidentally set me on fire."

"Yes, unfortunately," he said, giving a bit of a shake of his head. "And even if you get off through some loophole, they watch you really closely. Reeeaaalllly closely."

Harry still remembered having Morgan on his ass all the time, watching his every move and how much of a pain that all was.

"Hey, I rarely accidentally set people on fire," he said.

"Oh, okay. Well, not any of my admittedly sparse possessions either then. Unless it's come alive and attacks me in my sleep or whatever crazy crap happens here." She was a little eager to drift the subject away to something a little lighte in an attempt to not be known as the nosy jerk who made Harry tell her all about the terrible consequences of magic misuse in his world.

"You know, sometimes they do talk," Harry said. When that happened they usually ended up saying rather embarrassing things too.

"Oh, hey, here's the zoo," he added, reaching into his pocket and putting some coins in the little guardhouse that was at the entrance. "I don't even know if you have to pay to get in, but I feel guilty going in if I don't leave something."

Kate chuckled at his actions, but really she'd have done the same thing; that was how it was supposed to work, no other argument about it.

"Part of me is glad that there's no attendant. I'm still not sure what I"m going to be faced with every time I turn around here," she admitted as they entered. Apprehensive, that would be the first word she'd describe what she felt about what she was going to see. Then again, it was exciting - an adventure. "I'm guessing tapping on the glass here is a really bad idea."

"You missed the sentient, singing cactus," Harry said, giving her a grin. "I think that's about the weirdest thing I can think of that was here. That little headhunter guy that hangs out around the Opera House kind of comes close though."

Harry shook his head, remembering just how strange the guy was. Even in a place full of different and strange people, some stuck out.

"And don't worry, we haven't had any animals escape from the zoo in a long time," he added.

"I'm starting to miss the crazy hobos in New York. That's definitely not something I ever thought I'd say," she joked. Really, she missed everything about New York.

Kate's eyes widened and she sighed. "You just jinxed the hell out of it. Now, they're all going to escape at once soon! And I'll definitely point my finger at you."

"And that would be exciting," Harry said, giving her a bit of crazy looking grin. Granted, Harry's idea of exciting might be a bit different than everyone elses.

"Don't tell me you haven't wanted to fight a dragon at some point."

Kate thought about it for a moment, unable to outright deny that statement. "Well. I'm more of a human catcher. Are we talking Smaug or Puff the Magic? Because it drastically changes my opinion on the fighting, depending."

"You really want to take out Puff The Magic Dragon?" Harry asked, teasing her a bit. "You want to take a beloved children's song character and kill it?"

"Oh, I'd leave Puff alone, he's awesome. Smaug though, he was a greedy bastard. We'd need a hobbit though. Or a small person with really hairy feet," she joked back. And then she saw the real thing - cue jaw dropping and sudden silence. There's really no other appropriate reaction, except to point and scream, and Kate's really not the screaming type.

"Frodo was here for a bit, actually," Harry said, smirking over as he saw Kate just stare at the dragon. "If I recall, there was a bit of an incident about some mushroom stew and some hallucinogenic properties it had..."

Leaning over, he bumped her shoulder a bit.

"Pretty amazing, aren't they?"

"Damn those hobbits and their casual drug use," she said idly. Kate couldn't stop, well, gaping at them. She blinked out of her daze at the bump and smiled at Harry before looking quickly back at them again.

"I...yeah. Makes you feel tiny."

"As a wise Drow once said, 'No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith. And that, I fear, for any reasoning, conscious being, would be the cruelest trick of all.'"

Harry wasn't sure if he hoped she would recognize the Drizzt quote or not. There was definitely no denying his geek-cred now though.

While she wasn't that much of a geek, Kate knew there was something she was missing, there. She gave Harry a bit of a scrutinizing look, bordering on confusion. "I hate to say it but as amazing as they are, I think I felt more comfortable in my non-dragon bubble."

"I don't blame you," he said with a shake of his head. "Real magic in general is pretty scary stuff to think about if it's not really already a part of your world view. Dragons are sort of the nuclear weapons of the magical world."

Kate nodded, silent for the moment. It was a lot to take in, sure. New city in a new world, with no one she knew. Different systems for everything, magic existed, and who knew what else was possible here? Fortunately, her experience with people wasn't changing.

"Thanks, Harry. Having a friend really helps. You know, get used to all this."

"Hey, no problem," he said, looking over at her and grinning. "I know this place is crazy, especially if you're not used to seeing anything extraordinary. I think you're handling it all really well though, Kate."

"I've got a pretty good handle on things," she admitted. "Though my poker face doesn't suck either."

"A lot of the time making sure no one knows how scared you really are is half the battle, isn't it?" Harry said, glancing over at her. For a moment he wondered just how well she was taking things and was a bit worried for her.

"Yeah and the other half's making yourself believe it." Even if he asked, she wouldn't tell. Sure, she trusted Harry - she was pretty sure she could talk to him about anything. Kate's just never really been one to ask for help.

"I always figured it was doing what needed to be done even if you are scared," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Unless you're a G.I. Joe fan, then knowing is half the battle."

Kate grinned at the joke and shook her head. "Well, that's just plain courage. Though, I wouldn't complain if the Joes had it right. I'd just spend my time in the library. Well, more than I do already."

"That's why we consultants are so very valuable," Harry said, beaming her a smile. "Police just can't know everything. So when you, say... get a case where someone had their heart exploded during sex, you call in a tall, handsome, good guy with a bit of danger mixed in kind of like a cowboy of the old west or a noir detective, wizard."

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Log; Ongoing

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