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

[herotypical]

[ 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. ]

Comments

[asthehawkflies]

Not one for vocals?

Maybe if we got to choose the background music... you could just throw the soundtrack to whatever movie you wanted on.

[herotypical]

I like vocals well enough but...for a show's opening? Please. You'll pigeon-hole yourself by the first season.

[asthehawkflies]

Huh, that's a good point. It is best to be flexible.

[herotypical]

...That's the way of the world. Be able to bend or be able not to break. There are no other options.

[asthehawkflies]

[It's a solemn thought, but he an't deny the truth in it.]

Well, I've been pretty good at being able to bend up until now. Think I'll keep up my winning streak.

[herotypical]

They can't last forever, you know. Winning streaks.

[asthehawkflies]

Something I came to terms to a long time ago. I wasn't really expecting to last this long.

[herotypical]

You too, huh? Why? When was your projected expiration date?

[asthehawkflies]

I dunno. Anytime between about seventeen and now.

[Maybe earlier. But that was when he'd really thrown himself deliberately into this kind of life.]

[herotypical]

Well. You certainly don't look like you've passed it. Not yet, at least. But you know what they say about the good and dying young, right?

[asthehawkflies]

Well, since I have no desire to die anytime soon, I guess I'l just have to be very bad then.

[herotypical]

...Good luck with that, buddy. Being bad here is a bit of a stumbling block for many.

[asthehawkflies]

Yeah, I've noticed. I think I did the bad part long before I ever got here so... besides. Steve would look so disappointed in me and I can't take that again.

[herotypical]

...Steve?

[ gentle curiousity. ]

[asthehawkflies]

Steve Rogers. He's here. He's kind of my... boss right now? Leader. Something like that.

[herotypical]

Him? [ she sounds neutral, at least. ] I think I've seen him around. We haven't...met formally or anything.

[asthehawkflies]

Yeah. Tall, blond, looks like he walked out of a comic book?

He's one of those people who really does make him being disappointed in you worse than getting punched.

[herotypical]

...I've known one or two people like that.

[ hell, she's certain she is one. ]

[asthehawkflies]

Yeah, me too. It's an effective deterrent, I'll give you that.

[herotypical]

So -- is he an archery guy too? Or what? Are you a team of archers?

[asthehawkflies]

No, god no. I'm the only archer in this particular band. We're... I don't know. A combat team, I guess. Couple of them are here. Steve, Stark.

[herotypical]

[ her eyes light up -- ever so slightly. ]

Tony, huh? Or are you talking about Daddy Stark? [ does this make this one of the avenger kids, she wonders? buffy watches clint with renewed interest. ]

[asthehawkflies]

[She knows him, huh? Friends, maybe. Clint nods.]

Yeha, Tony Stark. I have yet to run into his... father. That has to be weird.

[herotypical]

Weird is the name of the game, here. We used to have a gal that was my...hmm. [ how to put it? ] Successor. Two hundred years in the future. But--

Tony's been here for a while. Verging on an old friend, at this point.

[ they knew each others' secrets. it wasn't simple friendship; it was trust. and the slayer relaxes visibly to learn that this man was part of a team that also included iron man. ]

[asthehawkflies]

I'm getting that impression, yeah. I seem to come from a couple of weeks earlier than him and Steve though. And it's a two weeks that makes a hell of a difference.

...can't imagine what it'd feel like to be a couple of hundred years earlier than someone.

That's good to know.

[He can relax a little himself, if she's friends with Tony.]