i know a place where you can get away;

[quip]

Who: Dolce (so_shik) and Gabbana (quip)
What: Brooding with coffee.
When: February 5, morning bordering noon.
Where: Seventh Heaven.
Summary: Shiki and Cordelia reflect on recent comings and goings of Luceti while brooding over lunch and fashion. Girl time!
Rating: PG.


They were definitely overdue for a coffee.

Cordelia could only take so much of the apartment before she had to get out with a friend. Being her own company, despite knowing how awesome she was, was becoming boring and tiresome. With the departure of Angel and the coming of Spike, Cordelia had been wrapped up in brooding when the bleached vampire wasn't around and fussing over him when he was. It was so easy to fall back into that home life with someone from Sunnydale. She had never been close to Spike in the way she thought they were in the future, but they fell into a rhythm that was familiar. It made her ache for Angel on most days.

Thankfully, Shiki and her had decided to go for a coffee. It was a good distraction, she thought. And as much as she'd like to have an alcoholic beverage to make the day blur and end quicker, a coffee was a much safer bet. The hangover wasn't exactly a killer, but it wasn't welcome, either.

She waited inside Seventh Heaven for Shiki, unsure of the other woman's preference for sitting. She was still incredibly new to Luceti, and despite being here once or twice before, she still felt out of place. Huddled in her jacket, she kept an eye on the door for that familiar and most welcomed face. She never really had a girlfriend like Shiki before. Or a girlfriend. (If Harmony and her desire to eat her didn't count.) And it was something she felt like a child on Christmas about. Being able to do something normal with someone who understood the nature of her life was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Comments

[so_shik]

"But at least in Luceti your hair looks fabulous every time I see you. That makes up for it, doesn't it?" She grinned, easily and willingly going with the shift in conversation. They were here to hang out, not share gruesome stories. However, she couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit.

"Oh come on. Are we thinking of the same Buffy here?" She was more curious about what Buffy was like in her own world, hearing the story from someone who hadn't been in love with the Slayer once. Shiki wouldn't have minded sharing her story someday, but for now? Her attention had already shifted.

[quip]

Cordelia laughed. Shiki was way too kind, sometimes.

She raised her eyebrows. "You don't believe me?" Of course, no one would. Buffy was different here. Even she saw that. But it didn't mean that Cordelia couldn't share a few stories about her. She could only imagine the sort of things Angel and Buffy - and Spike! - said about her to those they all had in common. "Buffy's the Slayer. The only one to die and come back to life. From the way I understand it, if a Slayer dies, another is activated. Hence Faith who, by the way, I'd steer clear of. She has some serious issues." Such as elbowing innocent bystanders in the face and trying to kill Wesley. Cordelia didn't think too highly of her. "Buffy kind of acted like she was superior."

[so_shik]

"Well I'm not saying that." She sort of was, but at least Shiki was willing to give the other woman a chance to elaborate. "I got that much out of her. We've sort of talked about it...but she never really told me that part. Not really, anyway. But wouldn't she have been a bit superior anyway? I mean she was the Slayer for longer so she'd know more. It sort of makes sense."

[quip]

Shiki needed to stop making really good points. The reason why Buffy came off so superior - besides the fact that Cordelia was given the impression the Slayer believed this - was the fact that Buffy was the Slayer. She was this big important person while Cordelia was a rich girl soon to be broke who struggled to even maintain her status as Queen C back in high school. "She likes to take charge. A lot. I remember I could've been off somewhere important but instead, I was stuck out in the cemetery with Xander to protect me." She wanted her tone to come off as unimpressed and detached, but instead, she sounded a bit nostalgic. She didn't realise it then, but those guys were her friends - even if they didn't like her as much.

"Jealousy aside," she waved her arm, "I get it now. When you've got this big burden of world saving on your shoulders, sometimes you have to act a little superior." She gave a bit of a shrug. "Didn't mean I had to like it. She's toned down over the years, it seems. The Buffy here is not so bad."

[so_shik]

She gets it a lot more than Cordelia might give her credit for. As a girl who also fell as a victim of jealousy, she knows it's not that easy to accept. After all, didn't she spend a good deal of her time being jealous of her best friend? Eri was always prettier, smarter, more popular...better at designing clothes...everything. She can't blame Cordelia, not really. She tilts her head a bit though, seeing how she's not entirely sure which one Xander is.

"World saving kind of changes people, yeah. The Buffy here has saved the village once or twice, but I don't think she's let it go to her head yet. Besides, who says you can't be the one saving the world here?"

[quip]

"Nice to know being here for three years doesn't take the Slayer out of a girl," she said, eyebrows raised. She knew Buffy had defeated a general - thanks to the guide - but to know she was still kicking ass and taking names ... It was a comfort and an annoyance, all at the same time. Cordelia couldn't help but always compare herself to Buffy. Xander could never shut up about her while they were together; it's become a complex for Cordelia.

She gave a shrug of the shoulder. Her saving the world was a joke. She wasn't made for it like Buffy and Angel. She was good at directing and ensuring the information got to the ones who needed it. "I don't think my shoulders could bear the weight. For one, I don't brood enough." She gave a grin.

[so_shik]

"Some things don't change, I guess." She just challenged that look with a similar one of her own. Shiki was determined to like both of the women on the same level. "Don't worry about it too much. Besides, brooding's not always required. I think Angel just took it for granted."

[quip]

Cordelia laughed. "Or he got away with it for a century." Of all the things she missed, she missed that. She found his brooding comforting. He hadn't changed over the years and she liked that one bit of consistency. The apartment felt very unbalanced with him gone.

With that in mind, she wondered how the come and go of this place worked. Was there a system? If you didn't fulfil this within five months, were you booted? She still grinned, though it felt a bit forced. "I wonder how long we're going to be here before we go home."

[so_shik]

"Nobody else would be able to. You know that, right?" But she shrugs it off because talking about lack of Angel is still a sad place to be. Not that her answer to Cordelia's next statement was any less depressing. "I've been here for years...what does that tell you?"

please excuse my tardiness 8(

[quip]

"Besides the fact that this place has good taste?" She grinned, though, she could sense that that statement wasn't one to be particularly proud of. Cordelia wasn't sure how Buffy took being here for years. Cordelia could barely handle the idea of being here for a few months. Was it something people took pride in, being here for what felt like an entire life?

"Does it mean anything, if you've been here for a decade?"

never excused 8| ...<333

[so_shik]

"...you know, I'm not sure." Shiki had never really thought about it, to be fair. "I think the longest any of us besides the Malnosso have been around is, like, half a decade. Does that count, I don't know. I'm sure it makes them older and wiser and more likely to be trusted here, but that's just about it. No sort of prize for being a long-time member."

CRIES INTO MY DESIGNER HANDKERCHIEF

[quip]

"That sucks. The Malnosso should probably change that. If there's a pot of gold at the end of a decade-long run, consider me a candidate." She hoped that that would be a massive pot of gold that she'd be able to take back home. Money wasn't much of an issue anymore, as family had taken priority in Cordelia's heart, but it never hurt to have a pocketful of coin.

Joking aside, Cordelia wanted to know if this was some kind of game to the Malnosso. See who was the best at surviving, see who took the longest to crack under the isolation and watching friends come and go. She wondered if Buffy ever would, or did, during her two or so years here. "It just makes me wonder, you know? Why would we be kept here for so long while our friends come and go?"

BUT NOW IT IS RUINED ;~;

[so_shik]

"You'd have a lot of competition in that case. Just remember that much." It was a nice thought though. How different would the attitudes of the people in Luceti be if there was a sort of prize?

She shrugged then at the second question. Even if it had been rhetorical, it was a question Shiki pondered time and time again. "Probably for the same reason they like to bring back the same people sometimes. That's what I don't understand. Why send someone home if you're just going to bring them back a few months later? I don't know if we'll ever get answers. We've been asking the same questions for way too long."