✿5 [Action]

[redstringed]

*It's night-time, and outside of Building 6 there is a young-looking gothic lolita vampire and a bed of roses.

Rachel, in an attempt to not get dirty while planting a garden, has been attempting to do the entire thing with spatial manipulation - you might see the dirt itself shift around the roses if you looked long enough. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be going well for her, and the rose "garden" is lopsided and mismatched, and the roses don't look healthy. They're wilting a bit.

And because of this, Rachel is looking all the more irritated and frustrated.

Clearly this is the best time to bother her.*

Comments

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Nope. I'm not surprised at all. [Carefully he lowers one plant into the dirt and starts tamping down the soil.] You just seem like the type, you know?

[redstringed]

It has been in my family for centuries. It most certainly puts everything in this putrid place to shame.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't look at me. [He holds up two soil-darkened hands.] I'm pretty sure I'm one of the soiled peasants.

[redstringed]

Hmph. You're hardly alone in that. Most mortals are never even fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it, let alone see it for themselves.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

So I bet it's one big non-stop vampire party there, huh? [He moves on to the next plant, setting it in the soil by the first.]

[redstringed]

Certainly not. Even were my kin not rather rare, I do not invite others into my home so casually.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Ha! That's kind of ironic, because with vampires and the..."inviting" them in...and...yeah, I'm just gonna plant this next rose now. [And he does.]

So...What do you think about a vampire dating a non-vampire? I mean, romantically.

[redstringed]

It has nothing to do with our vampires and everything to do with my home, though your attempt at irony did not go unnoticed.

*And at that, she... pauses. A very long pause.* It does not happen in my world. Though you are not referring to my world or my kind, are you?

You are speaking of this Spike and the Slayer.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

.....Okay, you know about this? Was I really the last person to find out? [Give him a minute while he FUMES, briefly, a disbelieving smile on his face.]

[redstringed]

Have you gone mad, or are you simply in a particularly daft mood?

You were the one who told me that the Slayer had grown close to a particular cretin of a vampire from your world, and you mentioned the name Spike. I needed no more than simple deductive reasoning in this case. You ought to try it.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Fine. Deduction. I'm not good at math, okay? But I didn't realize...I sort of walked in on them. You know.

[Not really paying attention to the roses, he accidentally breaks off a bloom. And attempts to hide that from Rachel by shoving it down his shirt. Which is problematic because of the thorns. Maybe she'll just think he's really distressed about the "walking in" thing, which he IS by the way. Though he wants Buffy to think he's tolerant of it now.]

Nnnng.

[redstringed]

*Eyes narrow. She saw that.* And clearly, it has left such an impression that you are unable to focus.

Does it bother you for it being a human and a vampire, or is it because that man is an uncivilized lout?

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

This is the guy who kidnapped me and almost killed my ex-girlfriend. [Okay, so that last part was indirect, but still.] He tortured a good friend of mine, too. There isn't a good history there.

[redstringed]

And yet she forgives him this, and you cannot possibly understand why.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

 

[redstringed]

Close your mouth before you begin to attract flies. You wear your heart quite brazenly on your sleeve, you know.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

[He smashes a third plant into the ground and starts burying the roots.]

Is that a problem?

[redstringed]

I do not believe I offered judgment either way. Decide for yourself.

Would you like anyone who converses with you to know precisely how you feel about any given subject?

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

It's called "communication," and I do it. [He takes hold of the fourth plant, stabs his finger on a thorn, and sticks the injured skin in his mouth, dirt and all.] This is definitely the BEST idea I've had since coming to Luceti. I hope you feel honored in being a part of it.

[redstringed]

Communicating and being horribly transparent about one's feelings are two very different things. Are we not communicating right now?

I do not recall forcing you to do a thing.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Hey, I never said anything about you forcing me. This? This is a favor. [He sets the plant in the soil.]

[redstringed]

A favor, hm?

And what are you asking in return?

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Know what, Rachel? It says here on my sleeve that I'm a nice guy. So, no charge. That all right with you?

[redstringed]

Of course.

There is a very fine line between kindness and foolishness. You would do well to remember that.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Wait a minute---YOU'RE the one who writes those little fortune cookie papers, aren't you?