herotypical | voice + action ✪ there must be some way to bring the hero home

[ after a week of agonizing combat, buffy summers returns home with only exhaustion on her mind. despite all the excitement and crisis, there's little left to do other than collapse onto her bed and fall into a sleep fit for a weary, worn-out soul. morning sees her feeling no less -- shudder -- zombieish. the horror of the last week is bone-and-marrow deep and has yet to fully make itself known in her system. the slayer is running on auxillery humanity, stringing herself along from second to second until she can find a friendly face. find willow and...

and all she finds is an empty room. an empty closet. empty drawers. her best friend is gone. deported while she wasn't even looking. come the afternoon, after she's gotten the first onslaught of emotions out of her system, buffy sits alone on the empty bed. she addresses her journal: ]

Willow and I have this game we like to play. Willow Rosenberg. She was in town...but now she's not. [ a pause allows buffy to catch her breath. to stay strong. ] We call it 'Anywhere But Here' -- self-explanatory, really. Pick a fantasty-elsewhere to be and a fantasy-someone to share it with. I'm not talking about the obvious ones: home or family or anything even remotely whiffing of responsibility. I'm talking about fun. I'm talking about pure escapism. I'm talking Daniel Craig on the beach or Amy Yip at the waterpark.

I'll go first. Show you how it's done. [ but which escape route from reality should she take? ] The '88 Winter Olympics. The Saddledome. Calgary, of all places. Brian Boitano is taking the time to personally skate me through his gold medal routine. Perhaps there's hot chocolate involved. I, being made entirely of my own imagination, copy each move perfectly.

Got it? Good. Because now it's your turn.

[ when her broken little tribute to an absent friend is finished, she'll be searching out her injured pirate (wherever he may be convalescing) and it's off to good spirits, where she can be found working a shift behind the bar. ]

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I saw her in the film. The actress was rubbish, but the look worked for her. Pity I missed it.

...Nah. Not such a pity. There was also a full dose of psychological horror. It's kind of a Halloween tradition only...only this year...

[ it was all external from the town. the town, in fact, hadn't sounded so awful. ]

[He knows where this is going. So he cuts her off from dwelling on just how awful it had been.]

Bollocks, is what it was. I've always said a good Halloween? Best spent at home. Seems I was right. Again.

...What? Do you want a medal or something? A badge? An honourable mention?

[ she knows he's right. she wishes that righness had paid off, here. ]

Let me have my "I told you so". Hearing I'm right's about as much as a bloke can hope for.

...Fine. I concede. You can have it. This time. But only since I'm in such a charitable mood.

[ hah. they both knew that was a lie. ]

Just give me a moment to savor the moment, Buff.

When you're done savouring, can I ask a favour?

[ although -- since when did buffy ever ask for favours? ]

Favour? [He says in an authentic British accent where the u is relevant.] For what?

[When Buffy asked a favor from Spike, it usually was important. Or at least, he thought of them that way.]

Hmm. Hold on a tick.

[ a-actually? this deserved a filter. as good of one as she could muster without keeping him waiting. it isn't that she's ashamed...is it? no. but the subject is delicate. personal. ]

I want my mojo back. [ after all, it's spike who'd accused her of having lost it. ]

[... ah. Her mojo. Of course. There's a pause here and he almost makes a comment suggesting that maybe Fat Bastard stole it. But he doesn't. Because he didn't actually like Austin Powers that much.]

I want you to have it back too. But you might not like what it takes getting it back.

Please, Spike -- we both know I'm no stranger to steep prices. [ about the things she would give up if she had to. ] But for now, I just need something other than straw-filled dummies to hit. I need something that'll hit back.

[ and there isn't anyone else she can ask. those she trusts are more often than not too squishy to provide anything other than play-fighting. those who are looking for spar-partners for fun? they bother her and bore her and she isn't interested in them. and everyone else...? she either didn't trust that they wouldn't hold back or else suspected they might genuinely want to do her harm.

spike, though. spike. with a sick feeling in her stomach, she knew that he was the only one who knew just what she needed. ]

Lucky me. But getting to do a bit of sparring's far away from getting your mojo back. Whether you can take a punch or not isn't the problem.

[He was all too willing to do the whole sparring shebang. After doing the same thing with Illyria, working with Buffy would be downright relaxing.

He just felt there needed to be more, though even he wasn't sure what.]

I'm not saying it's the solution. Just -- just a step. Hopefully in the right direction. [ if you'll have me--- no, not that phrase. not for spike. ]

Yay or nay?

Yay. Of course, yay. Not like I'd say otherwise, would I?

That's just it. You could say otherwise -- if you wanted to. What's stopping you? You're not a tweed-wearer either. So you'd...

[ don't fight it, summers. not after he's just agreed. don't hobble your own racehorse. ]

Thank you.

[You don't need to thank me.]

Any time. We'll start tonight.

[But thanks for doing so.]

voice + action ✪ there must be some way to bring the hero home

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