❖ 020 // [Action | Voice]

[crisis_rain]

[As it's a lovely, sunny afternoon Raven has finally decided to start growing the seeds he received from Flonne last week. He's been out in the garden behind house 12 for the past two hours digging up the dirt, placing the seeds, watering the ground and generally making sure he's planting them in an area where they aren't going to be destroyed

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[slaying]

[Buffy seems to walk around a lot. Sometimes, the decides to follow the river. So, today, she comes across Raven with a rather friendly smile on her face. Howdy, neighbour.]

Oh--Raven! What's up?

[crisis_rain]

I kicked a waterin' can onto my journal and I'm startin' to see ghosts.

[He waves it over in her direction. It's pretty damn wet.]

[slaying]

We've been seeing ghosts, I think. [Buffy shrugs, but comes to a nice solid stop near Raven.]

Shame about your journal, though.

[crisis_rain]

[He stands up and walks over towards Buffy, leaving the journal in the sun to dry.]

Oh? So you've been seein' ghosts around too? Anythin' interesting?

[slaying]

This and that. Sounds, sights...poltergeist cemeteries. [Horrors weren't new for her.] More annoying than interesting.

[crisis_rain]

Hmm more than me then. That's the first phantom-thingie I've seen and I'm hopin' it's the last.

[slaying]

Something from home? [Her curoiosity is probably overbearing. An interest in others--to the exclusion and downplay of herself--is a way to cope with the humiliation of the festival. Buffy, the Warrior Princess and an over-abundance of rum. It didn't end prettily.]

[crisis_rain]

[Oh good god how did I miss that thread?!]

An old friend... nothin' else to it. She wasn't a vampire or a dragon or anythin', normal human being.

[slaying]

[It ended with Buffy almost-but-not-quite going home with a pirate. And then being taken to task by Spike. Oh, the stress of trying to reject someone kindly.]

Sometimes, they can be the scariest.

[crisis_rain]

[I need to read this when this thread dies down enough.]

Yeah, the normal ones are the ones that hurt.

[slaying]

[The Xena costume is also exactly why Buffy is now coping by wearing a full on long-sleeve top, despite the season. Coping mechanism.]

This person--seeing them was painful?

[crisis_rain]

[Probably a wise idea, I don't think there's enough blood in Raven's body to cope with the nosebleed a Xena outfit would cause.]

She was... an old friend who died several years ago. Way too young ta die like that.

[slaying]

[Buffy's just going to hope that very few people actually saw or recognized her at the party. Regret city, right here.]

Oh. [She reaches sympathetically for Raven's elbow.] Sorry. That really...jeez. That really sucks.

[crisis_rain]

[He jerks his arm away. You think he'd like being touched by a hot chick, but not while she's on his mind.]

Sorry. Sucking isn't the word I'd use, I kinda wished she had been there for real ya know?

[slaying]

[She pulls back, as though burned. A confused expression creases her face for just a moment. She regrets the flip language but...but it was hard to really access those more accurate, truthful words. It brought way too much empathy along.]

Think about it, Raven. Would you ever really want to make a friend go through this place? Dead, or not?

[crisis_rain]

[He didn't mean to burn you like that Buffy. It's a sensitive topic for him.]

I know how selfish it is, trust me I lectured Emil about the same thing before. But if this place could give her the chance ta live for a while longer and experience all the things she never got ta do, then it can't be that bad or that cruel right?