[action]

[slaying]

[ it is about time to try and smile on through the difficulties. there is a christmas day to be celebrated and gifts to be opened and given. so buffy puts on her bravest of brave social faces and is out making her christmas gift rounds.

at home, there will be gifts under the beautifully decorated tree for bones, willow, emony and scottyaround

Comments

action;

[thirdhost]

[ while this is emony's second christmas in luceti, she doesn't quite understand the tradition, but she can appreciate how happy it seems to make everyone and respect that it's a big part of earth's culture. the trill have their own big holidays of choice, but emony doesn't pay much mind to them, because celebrating them without her family and away from her homeworld doesn't quite feel right. to each their own, and she can't deny how lovely the tree looks and how the festive cheer has made luceti feel less like a prison and more like a community, a home. ]

...does that one have my name on it?

[ she bends down a bit, bracing her hands on her thighs and squints at the present. yup, that is definitely her name. ]

action;

[slaying]

Mmhm! Why -- I didn't go an spell it wrong or anything, did I?

[ a moment of social panic hits her. she is already on edge about the gift, having been relatively uncertain about what the trill would most appreciate. in the end buffy settled on a fairly practical, typical friendly gift. this is a small gift box which includes a scarf, gloves, and hat set as well as a pamper-yourself bath bomb set filled with delicious christmas-themed bath treats.]

action;

[thirdhost]

[ emony laughs and waves the unnecessary worry off. ]

No, no. It's the right spelling. That's how you spell it with English characters, anyway.

action;

[slaying]

Oh, good. Of course -- that does beg the question of what the non-English characters look like.

action;

[thirdhost]

[ emony holds up a finger to indicate 'one second', then disappears into the bedroom she shares with the good doctor, only to return moments later with a pen and a pad of paper. she writes her name down in trill script, then holds it out for buffy to see. ]

action;

[slaying]

O-oh, wow. And you can read that? Well, of course you can. That's a stupid question.

action;

[thirdhost]

[ again, she laughs. while there's always been that air of tired experience surrounding the girl, emony is forever charmed by her innocence and obvious (at least, to her) youth. ]

Most species in the Alpha Quadrant who work with the Federation or humans in general make a point to learn English. It's the standard and a translator's not always available.

action;

[slaying]

That's gotta suck for you. And others. Y'know...always having to learn English -- it's tough and all. I should know, I had to take the classes.

[ kinda. ]

action;

[thirdhost]

Oh, but it goes both ways. The humans who work on other worlds or are stationed on outposts in those systems have to learn their tongues, too.

action;

[slaying]

Well, it's probably the ultra-deluxe-schmancy Malnosso translator talking here but...your English is fab. Probably better than mine.

action;

[thirdhost]

That credit lies with Tobin, my previous host. I wasn't as fluent until after I was joined; but thank you.

action;

[slaying]

So...you even get to absorb things like languages? Wow.

action;

[thirdhost]

I absorb everything that I previously experienced. All my the memories of my previous hosts are kept by the symbiont. Part of your duty as a host to a symbiont is to let them explore the world in a way that they haven't before. I try to look at Luceti as Dax being exposed to a new angle.

action;

[slaying]

That's...that's a totally positive outlook, Emony. Kudos to you.

action;

[thirdhost]

And how do you view being here?

[ it occurs to emony that she's never asked the slayer her opinion of this place before. ]

action;

[slaying]

Oh, a toughie. See -- I'm kinda between minds at the moment. Had a little game-changer, recently. [giles' letter. she sighs. ]

I gotta get us out of here.