Acquaintances

Katrina Kenyon

Post Kenzi Scale 3x06

Bo flopped down on her lumpy couch and released a heavy sigh. The day was finally over and Kenzi was safely tucked into her bed upstairs. She was glad everything was back to normal. Well, as normal as things can be in the fae world. Still, the events that occurred today didn't sit well with her. Having everyone lose faith in her and think she was going all dark had left a bitter taste in her mouth. Even Lauren, her sweet dorky girlfriend, hadn't believed her.

She clawed at the battered upholstery of her couch in frustration, accidentally tearing a hole into the already frayed fabric. She didn't even know how it was possible to have so many conflicting feeling trapped inside of her.

She loved Lauren, but she was disappointed in her. Lauren, of all people, should have believed in her right away, but she hadn't. Bo had seen that look. Lauren had been afraid of her and that hurt, but part of her understood. Bo had always suspected that she was a monster; despite was others might have told her.

And to top off her already craptacular day, there was the Dawning. What the fuck was that was all about? As if her life wasn't hard enough, now she had to add freakin' fae puberty to the list. Couldn't they cut her some slack every once and a while?

Well someone had today. Tamsin. She had no idea what the deal was with Tamsin and also, holy crap. Valkyrie powers. Can you say intense? And her chi? Wow. Like fireworks in your mouth, wow. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel about Tamsin. She was this arrogant, overly confident, rude…enigma. She wanted to hate her. She should hate her.

But that heartbreaking look of longing on the valkyrie's face after they saved Kenzi had torn her to pieces. Is it weird that she had wanted to give Tamsin a hug then? Seriously, she looked like the saddest kicked puppy in the world. Tamsin looked so utterly alone and she had this deep blue sadness surrounding her that even Bo could feel. Bo knew what she should do and it was probably a really stupid idea, but the valkyrie looked like she could do with a few friends.

This would probably end up being a big mistake, but Bo knew exactly how it felt to be that lonely, to have no one to turn to, to have no tether to this world. She wasn't going to let another person or fae go through that, if she could help it.

She sat up for a minute to kick off her boots, which were caked with layers of clay and mud. She wrinkled her nose at smell and then lay back down. She was in desperate need of sleep, so she closed her eyes and lay still. She drifted off listening to the moans and groans of her house, lovingly dubbed the crack shack.

The creak of her front door opening followed by the sound of heavy footsteps had her up and in high alert within seconds. She scrambled off the couch, less gracefully than she would have liked, and grabbed the closest thing she could find, a vodka bottle. Most likely kenzi's.

Tamsin came into view with her arms up in surrender. The valkyrie was still in the same outfit she had been wearing earlier today. Her blue leather jacket was zipped all the way up and there was still dirt clinging to the knees of her pants. Her hair, however, was back up in a bun.

"Whoa there, hot pants. Calm down. I just came here to give you your dagger back. You left it in a dead guy."

The valkyrie strolled across the room and deposited herself carelessly onto the couch.

Bo rolled her eyes and put the bottle down. "Tamsin. How nice of you to come into my home. Uninvited."

Tamsin shrugged. "Whatever. I knocked, alright? You didn't answer."

The valkyrie gave her house a cursory glance before staring back at her in disbelief. Apparently, Tamsin was not impressed with what she saw. One day she would put up real walls and maybe take down the boards on the windows.

"So… is your goth friend okay?" Tamsin asked, not bothering to look at her while speaking.

"Yeah, she's just tired. Thanks, by the way. If it weren't for you, she'd still be fox food."

The valkyrie just rolled eyes and then reached into her jacket pocket to pull out a dagger. She took the offered dagger back and placed it on the coffee table next to the bottle.

"Don't think this is going to be a thing now," Tamsin said suddenly. "I helped you just this once and only because your happy sunshine gang couldn't pull their heads out of their asses long enough to see what was right in front of them."

Bo didn't buy that at all. Tamsin liked them and maybe it was only a little bit, but that was better than nothing. She had a feeling that Tamsin was going to be part of their little 'gang' someday.

"Okay," she said, trying not to smile.

"I mean it, succubus. This doesn't make us friends or anything."

"Sure," she said, this time not bothering to hide the smile. Secretly, or maybe not so secretly, she was enjoying how perturbed she was making the valkyrie.

Tamsin scowled. "For fucks sake, why are you smiling like that?"

She shrugged and Tamsin huffed and stood up from the couch. "Whatever, I'm about to bounce. Catch you later. Or not."

Bo reached out and grabbed the valkyrie's forearm, keeping her in place. "Tamsin, wait."

Tamsin sighed. "I've got places to be, you know. Some of us actually work for a living."

"Look, I know what it's like." She paused and Tamsin gave her a confused look complete with, though she hated to admit it, a pretty adorable nose scrunch. She shook her head and continued. "I know what it's like to be on your own. Before I knew I was actually fae I had no friends, no one to trust. It sucks and I'm not really crazy about letting anyone else go through that."

Tamsin arched a pale eyebrow. "You're not really asking to be friends with me, are you?"

She tried for another angle. "I mean you work with Dyson and he's my friend, so maybe we could just try to be friends?"

The valkyrie just stared at her.

"Acquaintances?"

Tamsin chewed on her lower lip and then looked down at her through slitted eyes.

"Maybe."

"Well, that's not a no, so I'm going to take that as a good sign," she said happily.

The valkyrie shook off her hand and headed towards the door. "Sure. Try not to wet yourself with excitement. See you later…" Tamsin paused and rolled her eyes. "Acquaintance."

Bo grinned and watched Tamsin walk away. If she had been able to see the Tamsin's face, she would have seen the valkyrie smile.