[action] & [audio]

[slaying]

[Early, early Sunday morning, Buffy is at Giles' apartment and unshackling her chained prisoners. She is morose, guilt-ridden, and fairly worn out after these last two weeks. Her everything seems to hurt and she cannot figure out whether it's from stress or all the fights she has been getting into. Or maybe it had something to do with suddenly no

Comments

audio;

[univalent]

Least I didn't do it this time.

[ ...spike. while that wasn't needed, it's rather appropriately you. ]

audio;

[slaying]

That might have been the straw that broke camel-Buffy's back. Three vamps were more than enough to deal with.

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[univalent]

Maybe so, but you handled them as well as you could. Not like you could just stake 'em and get it over with, given that pesky not staying dead thing this place has going for it.

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[slaying]

Oh, God. There was one staking.

[CAN YOU HEAR THE GUILT, SPIKE? Should she turn it up to eleven?]

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[univalent]

Who? Was it Rupert?

[ is that excitement in his voice, hope? nope. ...at least, if asked, he'll deny, deny, deny. ]

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[slaying]

No. Not Giles.

[She takes a moment to filter this conversation. She's learning.] Nearly-Seventeen Me didn't know Andrew.

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[univalent]

You staked Andrew?

[ later, he will deny sounding the least bit angry about this. however, andrew's the closest thing he has to a friend and as much as he hates to acknowledge that fact, it's there, and spike would rather keep the kid around. at least he makes for interesting conversation. sometimes. ]

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[slaying]

I'm not exactly throwing a party over it, myself.

[Which is Buffy for this guilt is tearing me apart and because he's not actually a vampire does this mean I'm a murderer.]

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[univalent]

[ and once spike's taken a moment to drag himself out of his own irritation, he realizes that. he knows buffy well enough to get it. he was there, after all, when warren tricked her into thinking she'd killed that girl. the guilt, the blood of a human that she'd thought was on her hands - he couldn't lie and say he didn't enjoy seeing her like that then, but he hadn't had a soul and the pain had been amusing, even if that part of him that had protested it motivated him into helping. a slayer down, who throws herself into a room with bars and away from the world is one he can't bicker with or fight anymore. ]

It's not your fault, you know.

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[slaying]

That's what I've been telling Giles and Willow. Not their fault.

[And what she would be telling Andrew, too. If he was still here. Deep down, Buffy realized that there was little else she could have done. It's a marvel that only one of the three ended up dust.]

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[univalent]

Maybe a tad bit Rupert's fault. None Red's, though.

[ what? spike isn't giles' biggest fan, okay. the pot shot opportunity was there and he took it, shamelessly. spike doesn't need to censor himself around her, after all. she knows how he is. ]

He'll be back, love. People don't stay dead here, remember? Kid'll understand.

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[slaying]

[Here follows the silence of the long-suffering. She won't say anything about the shot at Giles -- why should she? She knew it was mostly harmless. Just like her shots at him.]

And I guess it's about time I own up and apologize for the week of bad hair-dos and mini-dresses.

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[univalent]

[ a scoff. ] You weren't that bad. It was more amusing than it was annoying. A little endearing.

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[slaying]

Yeah, it was real endearing the way I tried to stake you and you disarmed me in like three seconds. Training in Luceti? Apparently not a valid substitute for a good old fashioned Sunnydale Slaying Seminar.

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[univalent]

I've also got a few years of experience when it comes to training with you and fighting you. Made things a bit easier. Stop bein' so hard on yourself.

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[slaying]

Well, I'm glad the week ended with only one staking.