(Untitled)

[stillbecoming]

Buffy is by the fireplace, attempting to toast marshmallows on a polearm.

It's going about as well as you'd expect.

Comments

[untiedtheknots]

Artemis does not have a polearm. Woe.

But she have something a bit more maneuverable.

"Mind company?" she asks, waving her arrow.

[stillbecoming]

Buffy looks up. "No, pull up a chair." She gestures with the polearm. (Carefully.) "There's plenty of marshmallows to go around."

As she speaks, the marshmallow she's toasting begins to glow a dull red, and then yellow; Buffy looks back, sighs, and plunges it into her glass of pineapple juice. "Honestly, the arrow might work better."

[untiedtheknots]

"We never know until we try."

Artemis skewers a marshmallow and holds it out over the fire.

"Although yours definitely has wow factor."

[stillbecoming]

"Doesn't it?" She looks at the polearm with pride. "I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's kind of like one of those dual-purpose kitchen gadgets. Except one of its purposes is armed combat."

[untiedtheknots]

"Which makes it way better than normal kitchen gadgets," Artemis adds.

"I mean, it's not like there's a 'defend from invaders' setting on a blender."

[stillbecoming]

"No, but in a pinch..."

She thinks better of that anecdote. "...Healthful smoothies build strong muscles. So how often do you defend from invaders, anyway?"

[untiedtheknots]

"Maybe if they were very small invaders," she muses, guessing at the rest of the anecdote.

She rotates the marshmallow for maximum golden-brown-ness.

"Oh, not for ages."

[stillbecoming]

Curiously: "What was the occasion ages ago?"

[untiedtheknots]

"War with Persia."

[stillbecoming]

Buffy nods slowly.

Deadpan: "It happens."

[untiedtheknots]

"Twice," she sighs.

"Still, we kicked their ass."

She draws the marshmallow closer and pokes it, checking for doneness.

[stillbecoming]

"So who's 'we'?" says Buffy, after deciding that this is a safer question than: when is we. Also more with the grammatical clarity.

[untiedtheknots]

"Greece."

The marshmallow needs a little more time.

"Well, the Greeks. Ancient Greeks. And my family."