[040] - action/voice

[slaying]

[It was a pretty average day. Still not strong--but feeling better--Buffy bustles around the house. In fact, she's made some soup for Kirk. After all, it was the tried and tested remedy for all ailments. And...after the state he was returned in. Well

Comments

[Voice]

[wise_maiden]

... I'm sorry, Buffy.

Would you mind if I stopped by?

[Voice]

[slaying]

[There's another strained sniffle and Buffy takes a moment to answer.]

I'd...really appreciate it, Raine. Big time.

[Voice]

[wise_maiden]

Then I'll be there as soon as I can. This time, I'll make the cocoa.

[Voice]

[slaying]

[There's a quiet noise of acceptance. Almost like a yes but more like a uh-huh.]

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

[It's a cold day, but that doesn't keep Raine from making her way to Buffy's house. It probably takes some time, but when she arrives, she knocks on the front door.]

[Action]

[slaying]

[After a moment, she answers the door. Her eyes are reddish and her complexion mostly splotchy from the effort of keeping things inside.]

Thanks for coming by--short notice and all.

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

[She definitely takes note of that, and gives her a small nod.]

It's no trouble at all.

[Action]

[slaying]

[She steps aside, making room for Raine.]

C'mon in.

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

Thank you. [Because it really is cold out there, so she'll step inside gladly.] This kind of situation... never really gets any easier.

[Action]

[slaying]

People keep leaving. [She shoulders the door shut.] With the ones from home? I knew I'd get the ticket someday, too. I'd see them again.

[The unsaid point of contention being that she doesn't expect to see Kirk again.]

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

... I know. With the others, there's always that bitterness, the one you don't really realize until it happens.

[It's the truth. A harsh truth, but they can't really cloak it.]

[Action]

[slaying]

[She looks long and hard at Raine, standing with her arms self-consciously crossed. She has a question she's gotta ask.]

Is it true that they forget? The people that go home?

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

[Why do they always have the questions that can't properly be answered.]

The only evidence on this matter that we have is determined by those who are sent back, only to get pulled back in. Those with the memories of being home and remember being here have said that they have forgotten Luceti in the time they were gone... there might have been one or two who recalled it as a far off dream, but even now, that's in question. And then there are the others, who are pulled back in with no memory of even having been here. Which ... also highly supports that statement's truth.

The only accounts we don't have the ability to verify are of those who are home, and have remained home. So there is always a possibility - but the odds aren't very favorable. At least ... not as things stand now. I'm sorry.

[Action]

[slaying]

[To be forgotten. Oh, it stung. It stung more than anything else because Buffy as at least able to realize that Kirk's return to his home and his ship was by any other measure a good thing.]

They--or, or whatever is doing this? Takes us here, makes us care and then rip us apart. It's cruel. It's unusual. It's cruel and unusual. I'll bet it goes against some kind of basic human right.

[The words come in a rush and smack of being a coping mechanism.]

[Action]

[wise_maiden]

[She's casually taking the lead here to make sure Buffy can get somewhere comfortable to sit down as they talk.]

It does. It is a vicious cycle.

[Action]

[slaying]

[She follows automatically, sitting down with her hands clumsily folded on her lap. It's like she doesn't know what to do with herself.]

It's just...he was good for me, Raine. Like he wouldn't cause me heart ache. [There's stunned silence as Buffy remembers the last time she said something like this.]