This mess is a place. (Pobody's nerfect) [Open]
(Takes place a few days after this)
Discarded items stream constantly into the sewers, generally in the form of rubbish, creating small isles of filth that build up to block pipes and decay and erode away by pieces. The underground's citizens pay little attention to anything that isn't edible, and the rest is nothing more than landscape. It is not ( Read more... )
Discarded items stream constantly into the sewers, generally in the form of rubbish, creating small isles of filth that build up to block pipes and decay and erode away by pieces. The underground's citizens pay little attention to anything that isn't edible, and the rest is nothing more than landscape. It is not ( Read more... )
"Sometimes," is the answer to his question. "She had this one special on TV where the stage was set up like a Sunday School, and she did all her jokes with a completely deadpan delivery. There was this big guy up on the stage dressed up in little kids' clothes in this tiiiiny desk. She was talking to the audience the whole time, so she mostly ignored him, except that every time he started to laugh at the end of a joke, she'd come back over to him and smack his knuckles with the ruler; WHAP! As the show goes on, he gets more and more pissed, I mean it's like an hour and a half of getting hit on the knuckles, I'd get pissed too. At the very end of the show he draws fang on her, tries to get up to bite her-- and of course he's stuck in the desk, and her ruler's made of wood, so she stakes him with it." She can't help but chuckle. "My Family hated that one but it gets me every time."
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"... wait, she stakes him? As in what people do to vampires staking?"
Cause that is a little coincidental.
Or maybe it isn't. Vampires are a big part of pop culture in this universe. Craziness. He was happy to get away from their overpopulation of Sunnydale.
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"Yeah, but it was totally fake. A regular wood ruler can't break through the sternum, even with nun strength. Plus she'd have to cut off his head and burn him to be sure. But you can't do that on TV. That guy got in a lot of trouble later; they called him an Uncle Fester."
She realizes that she's basically giving herself away as being from "out of town," but this guy and his burger seem harmless enough and also he looks like he'd be good to hide behind if that cop continues to come after her. So she'll keep him entertained for a while. If things get weird, she'll say she's from Canada. That usually seems to work.
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"Ah, okay. It was for entertainment purposes. Well, TV is for entertaining, but I don't find vampires entertaining. I know most people in this... place seem too," Xander says, and he is almost at the end of his hamburger.
It is too bad. He misses it already.
He almost said universe instead of place, but he's used to talking to wanderers or people who know that he is a wanderer. Xander doesn't have any way of telling if she's from another universe or not even if the references she's making are ones that he doesn't recognize.
"You can't do that on TV, but it would make a good movie," he says thoughtfully. "I'm gonna move right on by the Uncle Fester comment. I'm guessing it's something that I never want to be called but also don't really want to know what it is. Just a wild... stab in the dark."
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He asked her not to explain, but he's going to get an explanation anyway. "An Uncle Fester is like an Uncle Tom-- you know-- except for vampires." With a shrug she slows her steps just enough to drop behind him and casually glance in the direction she came from. The need to know whether or not she's being followed has been itching between her shoulderblades ever since she turned her back on that alley. Nothing yet.
She picks her pace and the conversation back up like nothing happened. "It's probably the worst thing you can call a vampire in showbiz. But they deserve it, for dulling the mighty fang of the species and all..." She cuts her own fanatical rant short. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure you're not a Hollywood vampire, unless things are a lot different here so I wouldn't worry about it." Though, things are a lot different here now that she thinks about it, and so she gives him a scrutinizing once-over, in case she missed anything dark or otherworldly about him. No, he's still just a regular dude walking around in the daytime and everything and she's even seen him eat. She's almost disappointed.
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Most people like to be sincere and real about things. What is that about anyway? It's much easier to deflect his emotions and not deal with what he's feeling.
"...oh. Well then. Thanks for that... explanation." He slows with her, looking around too. He opens his mouth to ask what's wrong when she starts walking again like nothing has changed.
"No, I'm not a Hollywood vampire. I'm not a vampire at all. I never will be. I... hope," Xander says, and he is thinking he should really knock on some damn wood, maybe a damn wooden stake. "I've had experiences with vampires before, but... that's awkward to say to someone you just met off the street. Right. You seem to believe in them too though so you're either a wanderer or you know... about the weird stuff in this city, right? I didn't just accidentally expose myself to the CLF, did I?"
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"The terrorist guys? Hell no, I'm not with them. And I might be a wanderer but I'm not afraid of them, either," she says with some measure of contempt. "I'm not afraid of anything, but especially them." This is a huge lie, but she's said it often enough to almost believe it.
"Of course I believe in vampires, just haven't seen any here yet but-" She stops her sentence abruptly, stares at him intensely as if it's the first time she's seeing him. "You said you had experience with them, so I gotta ask, and gosh darn it guy this is really important, are they here?" She resists the urge to grab him by the shirt and shake the answer out of him-- instead her fists clench and tremble at her sides.
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