❖ 020 // [Action | Voice]

[crisisrain]

[As it's a lovely, sunny afternoon Raven has finally decided to start growing the seeds he received from Flonne last week. He's been out in the garden behind house 12 for the past two hours digging up the dirt, placing the seeds, watering the ground and generally making sure he's planting them in an area where they aren't going to be destroyed when Repede decides to do his doggy business. As he finishes the last of the seeds his attention is caught when he spots a woman disappearing around the side of the building.]

Casey...?

[He quickly darts onto his feet without hesitation. But as he begins his pursuit he accidently kicks over the full watering can onto his journal. Turning around to inspect what he'd just collided with he notices the soaking wet book lying open on the ground and begins to panic. He picks it up and starts desperately shaking it dry.]

Aaaaaah! Oh geez, is it broken?! I was havin' such a nice day gardenin' too, I didn't mean ta wreck the book! It'll dry out right?

[He continues shaking the pages for a few minutes before finally giving up and sitting on the dry part of the grass, unsure of whether he did actually see her pass by or if he was just going crazy. It couldn't just be a co-incidence that he sees her on the day he's planting her favourite flower could it? He doesn't know what to think about all of this, so he just hopes nobody heard him shout her name through the journal.]

Comments

[crisisrain]

[I need to read this when this thread dies down enough.]

Yeah, the normal ones are the ones that hurt.

[herotypical]

[The Xena costume is also exactly why Buffy is now coping by wearing a full on long-sleeve top, despite the season. Coping mechanism.]

This person--seeing them was painful?

[crisisrain]

[Probably a wise idea, I don't think there's enough blood in Raven's body to cope with the nosebleed a Xena outfit would cause.]

She was... an old friend who died several years ago. Way too young ta die like that.

[herotypical]

[Buffy's just going to hope that very few people actually saw or recognized her at the party. Regret city, right here.]

Oh. [She reaches sympathetically for Raven's elbow.] Sorry. That really...jeez. That really sucks.

[crisisrain]

[He jerks his arm away. You think he'd like being touched by a hot chick, but not while she's on his mind.]

Sorry. Sucking isn't the word I'd use, I kinda wished she had been there for real ya know?

[herotypical]

[She pulls back, as though burned. A confused expression creases her face for just a moment. She regrets the flip language but...but it was hard to really access those more accurate, truthful words. It brought way too much empathy along.]

Think about it, Raven. Would you ever really want to make a friend go through this place? Dead, or not?

[crisisrain]

[He didn't mean to burn you like that Buffy. It's a sensitive topic for him.]

I know how selfish it is, trust me I lectured Emil about the same thing before. But if this place could give her the chance ta live for a while longer and experience all the things she never got ta do, then it can't be that bad or that cruel right?

[herotypical]

If that was all it gave a person? Sure--yeah. Bring on the rookies. [Her tone hardens just a tad. Raven, meet the Slaymaster General. The one with the tougher moral lines and the set-in-stone interpretations.]

But here also gives people hurt and sadness and abductions and, now? War.

[crisisrain]

[That pisses him off hearing her say that, though he can't bring himself to be angry at Buffy as she honestly doesn't know.]

You're right, I know ya are. Sorry.

[herotypical]

Don't apologize. [She sighed, regret from a few days ago mixing with all the guilt from right now. She's on a losing streak when it comes to saying the right things.

Her shoulders slump.] I talk a big game but--honestly? They should rename me to Buffy Hypocrite Summers. There's a lot of people I wish I could see again.

[crisisrain]

Don't beat yerself up over it. It's sayin' the truth that keeps us from wantin' ta hurt the ones we love. Ya don't exactly know anythin' about her or me either, so I wouldn't expect ya to understand.

[He rubs the back of his neck, long story is long.]

Besides, she's been dead fer over ten years. She deserves ta rest.

[herotypical]

[She nodded, believing it to be true. She doesn't know either of them to the extent that she could lay down a verdict.]

Ten years. [Back to sympathy-land.] That's...a long time.

[crisisrain]

[Ahh youth.]

I can't say seein' her, even for a brief moment was a bad thing. She's been gone fer so long I was startin' to forget her smile.

[herotypical]

[sdf;as adorable.]

Sometimes, I get scared about forgetting the exact sound of mom's voice. [She offers. It had only been three years, not ten. But it had been the loss that she had felt most keenly.] I guess your world doesn't have photography, does it?

[crisisrain]

Oh it does, I just don't have any photos of her on hand. Seein' a picture isn't the same as seeing them in person either.

Sorry ta hear about yer mother. Mine passed away when I was younger, can't say I knew her though. Where ya close?

[herotypical]

Mmhm. It was just me and her for most of it. [Buffy pauses. It would be too hard to explain the suddenly I had a sister I never had before bit, so:] And my little sister.

[crisisrain]

I grew up with my dad, no siblings here. Is yer sis still alive? [Terrible question but considering the conversation...]

[herotypical]

[Buffy nods.] She was here for about month, actually. But then poof. Homeward bound for Dawnie.

[crisisrain]

See! That's a good thing! Means ya got to see them again and they got ta go home too so they weren't stuck 'ere forever!

[herotypical]

Spike. [She brought the name up, contextless.]

He's here, now. The last time I saw him before here? I watched him burn up and go kaboom to save the world.

[crisisrain]

That's...

I wish I could've died like that. That's an amazin' way ta go!

[herotypical]

[She smiles in a way that certainly betrays a bit of admiration. The kind she would never allow to slip out so freely around the vamp himself.]

It was pretty spectacular.

[crisisrain]

I'm kinda jealous now! I did the whole heroic sacrifice thing but I never exploded.

[herotypical]

At least you didn't take a whole town with you, then. [Pause.] Minus all its people, of course. They evacuated.

[crisisrain]

Well I was kinda jokin' about wanting to explode. But it's good ta hear nobody got caught up in that deathtrap!