we have found our solace here in this unexpected place

[herotypical]

Who: slaying & lists_to_port
What: there is a tradition that needs to be upheld on the eves of horrors.
When: sunday night.
Where: good spirits, at first. then elsewhere.
Summary: debriefing and de-traumaing and all kinds of good stuff.
Rating: danger danger high voltage -- things get r-ratedish. fair warning!

Back on Friday, Buffy had scribbled a tense little note to Captain Jack Sparrow:

Need some time. Don't worry. Mission accomplished -- no deaths. Just gotta look after me for a bit. Good Spirits on Sunday night?

-- Buffy

After returning to the village, Buffy had wanted nothing more than to find the pirate and curl up next to him. But the fight with Derek had been harder than she would care to admit and she wanted to scrub as much of that from herself before rejoining the rest of Luceti. She had Giles to look after and she had her own mind to tend to and she spent hours focusing on those meditation crystals -- begging for peace. Peace was so far away.

But on Sunday, Buffy took a long long bath. She put loose, fashionable curls in her hair and she took the luxury of all the time in the world to dip into her make-up drawer and line her eyes and mascara her lashes and pick a natural, light lip gloss. The aim was to look healthy if she couldn't look happy.

She walked into Good Spirits with apprehension in her step and looked around for the man she had asked to meet with her there.

Comments

[herotypical]

"I am not terrified."

[all7seas]

"So terrified."

[herotypical]

Buffy should have known this day would eventually come. The day when Captain Jack Sparrow fully realized the power of calling her dauntlessness into question and how easily such a move could be used to encourage her in even the most unexpected directions. Buffy Summers didn't like being told what she was incapable of or afraid of. She didn't like having things decided for her. The pirate held fast to freedom on the waves and she clung to choices. Never mind that it wasn't much of a choice when someone was deliberately winding her up to it.

"Just you wait -- then you'll see how very not terrified I am. In fact? That curry can just go ahead and be terrified of me, instead."

[all7seas]

"Don't worry, love; I'm certain the curry is positively shaking."

Uh oh. If the curry does not taste good, he reminded himself, I must act like it is the best curry I have ever had. Ever.

[herotypical]

"...And they're not normally supposed to shake, right?"

Because she had no idea and she had better clear this up right now in case he wasn't just making a joke. "Just -- just checking. I don't know what kind of curries you're used to."

This was a disaster just waiting to happen.

that tag earns this icon.

[all7seas]

"Darling? The curry I want to be used to is your curry, savvy?"

And just to remind her to not worry quite so much about curries and the making of them when she was still in bed with Captain Jack Sparrow, he once again captured the longest of long red feathers between his fingers and twisted it very lightly.

...that poor monkey. i can now never disassociate it in that icon from buffy. it's scary.

[herotypical]

"H-hey." Her protest softened and a shiver shook her shoulders. That wasn't playing fair. Surely, it wasn't. But he was the pirate and she could hardly expect him to play fair. She was even beginning to suspect she didn't even want him to.

Muahahahaha

[all7seas]

Jack relaxed his hold on her and instead stroked down through the soft feathers, caressing rather than teasing.

"YOUR curry. However much it.....manages to shake or not shake."

[herotypical]

"Assuming I'm even ever going to make one -- 'cause I might not, you know. Why would I? Slayer, not a chef."

Well, now she was simply being obvious. But maintaining any kind of face seemed irrelevant when presented with those touches. She got comfortable again.

[all7seas]

"Beautiful slayer," the pirate amended. The title drew his thoughts down different avenues--particularly down one that Buffy often thought he did not want to talk about, ever: business.

The truth was, he was more curious about that than anything else, in spite of himself. It represented so many of his interests, none of which he felt he had complete control over. And this bothered him.

"That new vampire you were so worried about: what became of that business?"

[herotypical]

"...Katherine?"

She sighed; no leads. No nothing. And Derek's situation had consumed her so. "Kinda tough to track a thing I can't feel. But I at least know what she looks like. I'm guessing she's hiding out but I've had amped up patrols ever since."

It was no small piece of frustration that she couldn't locate this vampire. Worse yet, that it was beginning to sound like a kind of vampire she would sincerely have trouble defeating. "I'm sick and tired of vamps with hypno-powers. They all seem to get it standard -- other world vamps, I mean. Back home there were a lot less with that ability. I'd only ever met two."

And one had killed a Slayer and the other had been one of her bite-scars.

[all7seas]

"Yet another reason we shouldn't make much of a public show of...anything. After what happened with Derek and all..."

[herotypical]

"Not to mention another reason to work harder at the meditation."

Mental fortitude had always been her weak point. Easily manipulated, easily hypnotized. Her willpower was fantastic but it required her to realize she was being influenced. "You know -- brain training."

[all7seas]

"Right. With your Watcher." Jack rolled over again and sat up. He straightened out his hair, pushing the bandanna back into place.

[herotypical]

"No, actually." Giles had given her the crystals but she hadn't asked him to help her. This was probably a bad idea -- she needed him. "Alone."

[all7seas]

The pirate spent a few moments searching over the side of the bed for his trousers before realizing they weren't there. He'd been led here in a sheet, after all.

"Alone? Hm. You know, Annie...just a thought and all...but perhaps that's not a very wonderful idea. There's plenty of meditating types here who could help you."

[herotypical]

Someone else's help wouldn't do. It left her too vulnerable. Giles had, after all, been able to inject her with a suppressant thanks to crystal meditation. And yet, he'd be the one she'd trust. Best not to explain that one.

"What are you looking for?" And the best way not to explain that one was to simply not engage.

[all7seas]

"My clothes."

Jack had already decided and for continuity's sake into the AU that they'd be safer--better off---not staying the night in this place. Talk of Katherine had made him uneasy.

[herotypical]

"Bathroom," she offered. Disappointed? A little. But she could understand. Buffy tugged the quilt aside and looked for her previously discarded tank top. "You left them there before the bath."

[all7seas]

He watched her search for her clothing for a moment before pulling the still-wet sheet around his waist and heading to the bathroom to find the still-salt-encrusted clothing. It would not be fun to put back on.

There would be other nights, he decided, that they could spend together. All the time in the world. Tonight he would return to Cullen House and work until his fingers were raw or he fell asleep on the floor, trying to get the last of the stains out.

[herotypical]

She perched on the edge of the bed -- alone in the room, now -- and tugged her tank back on. Had the room been this cold, before? Buffy smoothed the wrinkled top over her torso. Before continuing her own clothing search, she had to make sure the shoulder strap wouldn't touch and ruin her shoulder-sparrow.

Somewhere post-underwear but pre-jeans, she was distracted by recollecting her makeup bits and bobs. A tube of lip gloss might actually be lost to the world. Oh well. Buffy finger-combed her hair and used an elastic from her purse to tie it back.

[all7seas]

When Jack reentered the room, he was dressed and tugging his coat on. "Buffy?"

[herotypical]

"Mmhm?"

She was hopping one-footedly, fighting with the first pant-leg. Who invented skinny jeans and allowed them to ever show up in Luceti?

[all7seas]

"Erm---it's very unlike me to say this, but could you use a bit of help getting those trousers on?"

[herotypical]

"...I think I'll be okay."

Which was true enough, once her balance was recaptured.