✿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

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[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

You know, pastries fill me with the spirit to do almost anything. Come on, there has to be something I can do to help you.

[Maybe he is a masochist. Why, Xander, why.]

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[redstringed]

...if you insist. I will not dirty my own hands; I have no taste for manual labor.

Do you really think you can handle my roses without so much as hurting a single stalk?

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[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

There aren't any no-stalk-hurting guarantees in the contract, but I think I can handle it.

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[redstringed]

Nonetheless, I will hold you fully accountable for any damage.

You may proceed.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Proceed with what? I don't think I can give them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Well, I could, but it would be gross, and they don't have mouths.

...Uh, "accountable" how exactly? Your people speak sternly to my people?

[redstringed]

Plant them. Surely that can't be so hard to understand?

I shall think of a suitable punishment for failure.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Okay, that wasn't terrifying or anything. Uh. I think I'm going to need a shovel or something...

[redstringed]

If it sets your mind at ease, I won't kill you.

There is a trowel nearby, and that will simply have to suffice.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

Hey, who said kill me? I never said kill me. [He picks up the trowel, gets down on his knees, and starts in.]

So why bother with this, anyway?

[redstringed]

That is what mortals find most terrifying, is it not?

...I simply enjoy the company of roses. I have quite the magnificent garden at my estate - here, I suppose I must settle for less.

[steadfastest.livejournal.com]

And by the look of them, they LOVE your company, too. [He's digging into the dirt, trying to make the soil flower-ready.]

....You've got an estate, huh?

[redstringed]

They thrive magnificently back at my home, so my presence has nothing to do with this.

And yes, I do. Is it so surprising?

[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.