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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm afraid I just don't have the constitution necessary to swear off men. That's what made up my mind.

[...heh.]

Well, they are kind of... persistent.

Let's not forget gorgeous and entirely glance-worthy. On occasion.

[...heh.]

On occasion.

...I heard you went on a date, recently.

[Wait, what--]

Oh, you did?

...The continuing saga of Sokka's big mouth, really. How'd it go?

[Oh well, she hadn't told Sokka about Masaomi yet so it had to be--]

Oh, it was nice! I think we both had a good time.

Edited 2012-11-26 03:12 (UTC)

[ this and so little else brings a smile into her tone. ]

Good. It's good that your time was good. Of course, Sokka neglected to mention who...

Really? [Her tone turned wry.] Suddenly decided to protect my privacy?

Nah. More like he suddenly decided he was too freaked out by his little sister going on dates to talk about it. I told him it was a perfectly natural and good thing but -- alas.

Older siblings. We're always a pain.

Well, that's true. [Heh.] Though it's funny, I thought Sokka had decided it wasn't a date.

...Sounds like a coping mechanism to me.

...maybe. [He'd been pretty convinced, though.]

I don't mind talking with you about it, though, if you want to meet somewhere.

...It looks as though Ikki's inviting me over to take some candied apples off your hands. So I'll be in the neighbourhood, so to speak.

Well, we've sure got enough of them.

Then I'm even more pleased to be her candy charity case.

Then I guess I'll see you when you come by.

...Can I bring you anything? Extra toothbrushes, perhaps?

[Katara actually takes this offer seriously.]

Are you coming from town?

Well -- when it comes to getting to your place? I might as well walk through town as go the other way. They're about the same length.

[ don't worry she pretty much made the offer seriously. she likes being useful. ]

[Here, then. Have a list of groceries.]

Thanks, you're saving me the trip.

[And Katara knows that Buffy won't have any problem carrying a bag full of groceries to the house! So she's guilt-free.]

...With a warm farewell and a dutiful acknowledgement of the list, Buffy wasted little time in dispatching the task. After all, she was only glad to be able to do anything for Katara. Anything for anyone, really. Every little chore kept her mind in the present and the present was exactly what she felt she needed right now.

With the items tucked away under a cloth in a basket, Buffy was let into the house by Ikki. She even had a grand little conversation with Ikki before securing a promise of candied apples for when she left. But conversations with kids could only tide a girl over for so long, and soon she was knocking gently on Katara's bedroom door -- pointed there, of course, by the young girl.

"Hey. Katara? It's...me." Buffy said, her tone betraying just how mildly awkward the situation was. It wasn't everyday she marched in and started knocking on bedroom doors.

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

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