[015] [voice + action]

[thesun_itburns]

[Over the journals, you'll hear a sudden crash, then a sharp sizzling noise. This is followed by a sharp curse word, the identity of which is not quite audible over the sounds of what appears to be scrambling. Then, deep breathing as if he'd just stopped running, the faint sizzle still there

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[slaying]

[Buffy has been avoiding the rest of the household after her title match with Angel under the stars. Mostly--and currently--she hides in her room or wanders the village, choosing to always enter and leave by her window. But upon hearing the racket, she forgets her vow to give the cold shoulder and rushes towards the room formerly known as Spike's. Buffy pops her head in first, surveying the scene. She notices the window, frowning at what she can only assume to be the source of the crashing noise. Wasn't that supposed to be boarded up...?

She now steps fully into the room, calling uncertainly into it:]

Angel? Is that you? I thought I heard your voice...

[thesun_itburns]

[All you're going to get is a noncommittal grunt-ish noise from under the bed, Buffy. Not only is he sorely missing his dignity, but he can't shift back from his vamp face until at least the sizzling stops. Which, after that face-full of sun, might take a bit.]

[slaying]

[You can probably see her feet, socked and shuffling around the room. And there's rustling, while presumably she pulls the bedclothes off of the bed. More noises, a few grunts of effort and the heavy thuds of something hitting something else. She has doubled up a sheet and used one of the fallen boards to hold it up, knocking its nails back into the wall in order to anchor the sheet into place. A gauzy shadow covers the room once again.]

You can come out, now. That should hold.

[thesun_itburns]

[And there's a long pause. Then he decides his dignity is dead either way, so he might as well come out. And he's sliding out now. He's kinda sideways-eyeing the sheet in the window, and then Buffy. He doesn't like to go vamp in front of Buffy, not since his last Angelus episode, but then again, this might help solidify the whole 'potentially evil' concept in her mind.]

...Thanks.

[slaying]

[She watches with near defiance, identifying some piece of his motive in allowed her to see his game face. Although she has the heavy assumption of what the face means to him, she's kissed it, in the past. It's something that she has long accepted. But far more important to her now are the burns that she can see. Biting her bottom lip, she doesn't have the guts to invade his personal space. Not after their last conversation. So instead, she steps out of the path between him and the door.]

You, err, might want to get cleaned up. Looks like someone tried to stuff a summer afternoon down your throat.

[thesun_itburns]

[Despite himself, he cringes a little. It feels like that too. So he's heading past her into the nearest bathroom, not bothering to close the door behind him as he looks over the burns on his face and neck. Looks more like a run-in with acid than a regular sunburn. And frankly, he has no idea what to do with it. One thing he can do now, though, is shift back to his regular face.]

[slaying]

[She stands at the bathroom's doorway, arms crossed across her chest.]

It'll take time, won't it? If I remember correctly, sun-wounds do that. I'd say you should clean them out, or something but...infections probably aren't high on your list of things to get worried about.

[Buffy taps an elbow with three of her fingers. Feel free to notice that she is heaps of hesitant.]

I-I can go out. If you want? And get some aloe or something resembling Polysporin.

[thesun_itburns]

[And he shoots her a quick glance of gratitude, since he can tell she's trying.]

Thanks, but... Like you said, time.

[slaying]

Right. Time. [And that feels like a key word, like she's talking about more than just his face.]

So...He's really gone? [She's talking about Spike, gesturing lamely back towards the vacant room.] That's how this place works?

[thesun_itburns]

He went back to the time I that I left. [Here, you'll have probably the only regret he'll ever show for any misfortune that falls on Spike.]

Not only does he not remember this place, but by now he's probably dust anyway.

...Yeah. That's how this place works.

[slaying]

[Dust? She doesn't try to hide her moment of grief--a tight frown, a momentary narrowing of the eyes. It was all more horrible after having grieved for him the first time.]

Lousy way for it to work, if you ask me. To give him--you--this great long moment before the last only to forget it when you get back. Lousier than lousy.

[thesun_itburns]

It's not so bad, once it's over. You don't know what you're missing. [He's careful to keep the 'you' meaning 'the person affected' rather than Buffy specifically, even though he's got Buffy in mind.]

[slaying]

[And there it is, a heavy tone in her voice, betraying envy. Lots of it.]

Yeah, I suppose. It would be easier, not knowing what you could be missing.

[thesun_itburns]

Yeah... It would be. [He's half thinking about what he knows she's missing, half wondering what she wishes she were missing.]

[slaying]

But, then again. If when you go back...if you are...[She can't bring herself to say 'dusted'.]

If that, then I'm sorry you'll forget all of this.

Do you know what will happen to your soul? If that, I mean.

[thesun_itburns]

I don't know. This mess throws off the entire balance of the world, as far as the Senior Partners and their apocalypse are concerned, so it's impossible to say.