We're more than carbon and chemicals

[lucetimods]

Who: All Draftees
What: Fighting Third Party
When: 26th, 27th, 28th, 1st, and 2nd
Where: The Southern Farmlands
Summary: See here for overall details.
Rating: Probably gonna be gorey in places :|a

DOESN'T NEED A CUT. People should know how this works, if not, just follow other people's lead. I'm gonna set up some strategist threads at the top, for the four strategists to use if they want to, otherwise people should start their own threads.

((Mod Note: Since this has been asked a few times, just fyi, the livestock do not talk. Happy hunting!))

Comments

[herotypical]

[ that is not the image that alternative conjures to mind. buffy nods -- agreeing with what she's not sure she agrees with because what else should one do in this situation? it isn't as though she has been in this exact spot too many times before. angel had been a whirlwind of let's be friends failure but that was because both of them had so sorely wanted more. so he had left. she had denied riley more and he had left, too -- more cruelly than angel had.

no, this exact spot was much more like parker abrams. the boy whom she had been so thoroughly charmed by only to be told, days later, that they had just been two people passing in the night. convenient. has she just walked back into that trap? ]

Right. Because neither of us would want the alternative. [ buffy's own expression of disappointment is so close to her usual look during any kind of uncomfortable discussion. ]

[all7seas]

Fine. Good. I confess to you right now, Buffy Summers--the alternative is abhorrent to me in every way. I'd rather...I'd rather be exiled back to the desert than go on that way with you.

[It was a long speech for his injured throat to make, and he wipes a little blood from his mouth by the end.]

[herotypical]

Fantastic. And...and I'd rather be in a really, really dull place. [ she needs to one-up his rejection, clearly. ] Like at an opera! Or maybe a waiting room. Or maybe a waiting room where an opera's playing on those little televisions they hook up that are way too high to ever change the channel and you just know the rabbity old receptionist with blue hair is hiding the remote in her desk.

[ a deep breath -- it shudders just slightly at the apex. ] Because -- thinking of you like that? Bored to tears. Friendship's way more...interesting.

[ actually, the third party are missing out on a great show here. ]

[all7seas]

[This actually brightens Jack a bit---as well as a man can be brightened when his heart's been tossed out and he has sustained a heavy beating by a Third Party Elite to save the life of the woman he loves only to have his attentions compared to....something he didn't quite get.

At least she didn't want a cold business arrangement. At least he would have something of her.]

You don't regret it, do you? Our...the other night?

[herotypical]

No.

[ the truth is out before she stops to wonder just how desperate that must make her sound...pining for something she has (she thinks) now been told is not much better to jack than being exiled to a land of only sand and no ocean.

so she is quick to correct herself: ] I mean -- there was a thing and we were...and it stopped before that thing got too thingish. And that's a good thing. [ for all the things she is saying, just as many go unsaid. she continues forward with him and their close contact makes this all extra awkward but...but she doesn't care to leave him walking alone. ] So we can all sleep better at night knowing we dodged the alternative bullet. [ oh, buffy. you haven't been sleeping better at night at all. hell, she hasn't been sleeping. ]

[all7seas]

[So that was a yes, then. His heart drops further, lodging somewhere near the sole of his boot.]

Oh. [He fishes for some kind of comparison to make, trying to understand her feelings on it:] Like.......ships. Passing in the night.

[Sadness. O sadness, Jack Sparrow, who has been dreaming of those hours since she left that morning.]

[herotypical]

[ she flinches at those words. her fear, then, is becoming reality. this makes her truly grateful for applying the breaks that night...how much worse would this conversation had been had they -- ?

she isn't going to cry. ]

I guess you'd know all about that. Ships, passing. [ buffy doesn't get that he is trying to encapsulate what he think she is feeling; instead, she assumes this is his line. his version of parker's 'didn't you have fun?' ]

[all7seas]

[Jack stopped short, then. It was so cold of her. Callous. He'd never pegged her for being that way.]

If---if you ever change your mind about that...?

[Then what? "I'll be here? Down in the gutter?" That is where he feels he is at this moment, but not in a good way.]

[herotypical]

[ how could he even ask that? she focuses on the ground and on avoiding poor, unleveled patches of earth to guide him over. change her mind about being the consolation prize? because his newly found jilly must have rejected him -- she can glean that much from her conversation with the girl and from how the other night had progressed. unless...unless all that kissing and cuddling and singapore knife skills had been on the sly. buffy has a minor mental freak-out over the possibility of being the other woman. this is not going well.

she shakes her head. ] If I change my mind, I should go elsewhere. You've made that way beyond abundantly clear. No alternatives -- I'd hate to ruin this brand spanking new friendship with...y'know...business.

[ only she's not using that word like you might be thinking it, jack. ]

[all7seas]

[That catch in Jack's breathing--was it a groan of pain?--might just be a result of the injury to his knee, Buffy, along with the sudden staggering step.

Elsewhere...

Then something seems to click--something wrong with what she'd---]

HOW have I made that clear, again?

[herotypical]

Abhorrent. Your word, not mine. So I don't see what me changing my mind would do, anyway. Oh -- wait. Yes I do. Makes no difference.

[ sharp. hurt. frustrated with the fact that she really can't conceivably blame anyone other than herself for being late to the party. ]

[all7seas]

Buffy. [The pirate stops, shrugging off her help so he can turn to face her. Hold her hands. Anguished. He clears his throat again, tasting copper; trying to explain. ]

Not...Not what I meant.

[herotypical]

...It's not?

[ she freezes, too cautious to say anything else at this direct moment. ]

[all7seas]

[He works harder to get the words out, taxing his throat. For a moment he can just hold her hands, trying. I'm so in love with you.]

[herotypical]

Right. Your...the talking thing. [ she frowns. ] You can tell me later.

[ she clearly isn't happy about encouraging a delay but...but she saw the blood and concern for jack sparrow wins out against that usually indomitable curiousity.

quietly: ] Come on, let's go get you fixed up.

[all7seas]

[No. That's not okay. He needs to speak his piece now. Except he can't; his throat is too raw from being throttled and overusing it. He tugs one of her hands over his heart instead. Pressing it there. Hoping he won't fall over.]

[herotypical]

[ sure, buffy hopes she knows what he means by the gesture but she has been rendered just pessimistic enough to assume not. her fingers pull and bunch over his heart, tugging on the cloth. the trouble is that she knows what's on his arm just under that sleeve -- she cannot see it at the moment but it's right there in front of her. inked. a hundred times more permanent than a sparkling butterfly.

her eyes are wet but they haven't spilled over. she will fight tooth and nail for them not to. ] We have to get back before it's dark.

[all7seas]

[So Jack allows himself to be helped again. There's always later. There will be time to straighten this out, once his voice is healed and he can find some of those daisies that Dawn was talking about, because he has no idea how this went so horribly wrong.

Lots. Lots of daisies.]

[herotypical]

[ a clear benefit of being short is that she must be at the near-perfect height for playing crutch. she supports his injured side with her shoulder, wrapping her good arm around his back.

perhaps silence is best. she doesn't want to talk her way into another mess -- not until they manage to get out of this one. ]

[all7seas]

[Jack can't go that fast; can't talk. And after a while, it becomes clear that he needs to rest again.]

[herotypical]

[ then it's lucky there's yet another of those convenient little shed barn things nearby. she helps him inside when it's clear that he's flagging. ]

[all7seas]

[This time he manages to croak out:] Enough. Go, Annie.

[He has been out in the field for a while; he will surely be transported back soon. And walking is not anything he wants to do anymore.]

[herotypical]

No.

[ she doesn't say much else -- no reason to inspire him to talk further. instead, she helps him to a hay bale. ]

[all7seas]

Yes.

[He sits down, relieved. Why don't they take me out?]

[herotypical]

What? You're going to make me go with all your scary non-ability to walk or even argue without sounding like a chain-smoker with laryngitis?