✿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]

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?

[redstringed]

Naturally. What better use have I of my time than to offer pedantic little platitudes?

*...she hides a yawn. She's starting to feel very tired, and she isn't about to let him see that weakness.*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

That's one boring eternity if you ask me. [He doesn't notice the yawn, because he's too busy digging around. Then a fifth plant goes in.]

Not that I mind doing this or anything, but it would be a lot easier for me to finish up in daylight.

[redstringed]

*She's sitting down now.* It is always excuses with your kind.

...do what you will.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

[Just for that? He is going to STAY and FINISH. Excuses!]

Hey, I'm day...turnal. Guy. I do patrol at night, but not so much with the gardening. [He glances over at her.] Comfy?

[redstringed]

Yes, quite.

*Hiding another yawn, that's very unladylike of her.* Patrolling for what, precisely?

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Patrolling for vampires and if I'm boring you I can get lost.

[redstringed]

Oh? I had been under the impression that you were told the vampires in this world were not to be hunted.

No more than usual. *She's just. Kind of anemic. It's what happens with the not-blood-drinking bit. :(*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Not here, back home. But it's kind of a habit now. [He digs quietly for a few minutes.]

[redstringed]

Hm. *That's all she says. Because as Xander digs silently...

...Rachel has fallen asleep.

She's much less mean when she's like this.*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

[Xander notices that his last statement did not garner a really mean, sardonic, or belittling remark. Strange. He glances over at Rachel and his brows go up.]

Rachel?

[redstringed]

*Nope. Still asleep. She's been tired lately.*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Uh....okaaayyyyy. Rachel? If you can hear me? I'm going to stomp on your flower bed. And then I'm going to...mess up your hair. A LOT.

[redstringed]

*Nada. A good thing, too. That wouldn't go over very well with her.*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

[In SPITE of himself, Xander is getting concerned now. He brushes his hands off on his shirt as best he can and approaches her side, kneeling down.]

So help me, if you're only doing this to prove a point about how awkward I am I'll...totally...not finish planting your flowers. Hey. [Now lifting a soil-crusted hand to pat the side of her cheek gently. What were you supposed to do with an unconscious vampire? They didn't breathe, had no pulse...But she couldn't just stay out here.]

[redstringed]

*Actually, Xander, you might find that her cheek is rather warm. She's certainly not dead in any sense of the word.

Unfortunately, however, the little pat on her cheek makes her wake up... to see Xander, with a (relatively) dirty hand right in front of her.

And red eyes go very, very wide in shock. This might not turn out well.*

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Whoa! HEY there. Yup. Proved your point alright. [He falls back like she's burned him. Warm cheek?]

[redstringed]

*And yet, she looks somewhere between horrified and livid, putting her hands to her cheek where he'd patted her.* You... you touched me with those dirt-covered paws-- how dare you even consider such a thing?!

*Wiping at her face now, as if to get the dirt off.* Eugh! I feel so ...unclean!

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the dirty touching! I mean---there was no dirty touching! Except for that one...