[Santo - Serenity]

[walk_ins]

[ master post]

This is where the magic happens.

Most people will come in through Milliways and exit out the cargo bay to go have some fun. But some might need to take detours. And of course, some people live here.

Some people work here, too -- especially if they're working on repairs.

Comments

[ofthatantet]

Far be it from Susannah Toren to peddle in influence or take advantage of her connections.

And yet, isn't it nice to know an Opener. (Whatever that is.)

As of yet, Rose has not gotten permission to leave the cargo bay, but she has a deeply-cherished belief that even her mother could not be so heartless and cruel as to bring her to THE FUTURE and then make her stand around in a large metal room all day.

She can't even get any bars in here. No texting. No one is this evil!

Probably she is just double-checking that Rose's outfit is future-appropriate.

Annnnny minute now. She sits on a crate and swings her feet.

[stillbecoming]

Buffy doesn't do a double take. She does about a 1.5 take, and then goes directly for a triple crown.

...Then she stands. Awkwardly.

One of the great injustices of the universe is that there's absolutely no way to say "hey, I know we haven't met, but I had a dream about you, how it's going and do you have superpowers?" without sounding either creepy or insane. Or both. Both is also an option.

[ofthatantet]

She glances over, then back again.

College girl. The one she left there.

(Time's up. Everybody out of the pool.)

She essays a smile and a wave, anyway.

[stillbecoming]

Buffy looks around to make sure the smile and wave aren't directed at somebody deceptively close to her. But unless Rose is politely greeting the stack of boxes behind her, she's been waved at.

She tentatively lifts a hand. It's the kind of wave you do when you don't want to look stupid if it turns out waving was the wrong thing to do.

Also: "Hi." That's just polite. You can say hi to people even if you haven't had weird precog-y dreams about them.

[ofthatantet]

Rose is not unawkward herself, right now; but it's nice to see the other girl is feeling awkward, too.

"Hey," she says. It's only one word, but there are overtones of warmth and familiarity. More Hey, I didn't think I'd ever see you again than hey, mysterious stranger.

[stillbecoming]

That decides her.

"Can I ask you kind of a, a weird question?"

[ofthatantet]

"Okay." She can't stop a smile from spilling out the edges; she kind of has a suspicion she knows where this is going.

[stillbecoming]

She takes a breath, fails entirely to figure out how to phrase her question, and lets it go.

Which is awkward enough in itself to make her laugh, and that breaks a fair amount of ice on her side of the pond. "I -- think I had a dream that you were in? Which, I know, very bizarre-sounding, but..." This is Rose's cue to signify that she does not in fact think that Buffy is a crazy person. Buffy waits hopefully.

[ofthatantet]

Rose's face brightens. "Yes! Oh my God!"

"Oh my God!"

Rose has seen a lot of strange things in the last few months; this is remarkable not for being strange, but for being strange and awesome.

"We were in the city!"

[stillbecoming]

Rush of relief -> sudden relaxing of nervous tension -> lots of giggling.

"Yes!" Buffy even waves her hands a little. Habits picked up from Willow are rarely dignity-increasing habits. "And the desert! There was desert, right? There was desert for me --"

[ofthatantet]

Buffy... is not alone in hand-waving, although the narration had left it out.

Spooky.

There is a sudden decrease in the handwaving levels, though, at that. "Yeah," Rose says. "Um. Were you okay? After I... bailed?"

[stillbecoming]

"Oh, yeah." She doesn't even remember the dream that well. "I mean, I might've gotten a dream sunburn, but those are the kind that don't peel."

[ofthatantet]

Rose laughs, and relaxes a little. (There's still a twist of tension in the pit of her stomach, though.)

"So I guess you hang out at the Milliways place, like, all the time?" Envy is clear, there.

[stillbecoming]

"Mi -- oh." Buffy doesn't actually shrug, but her expression holds a certain shruglike quality. "Not so much all of the time. In fact possibly not so much time at all, it's -- weird. How 'bout you?"

[ofthatantet]

"No, I can't go there," Rose says. "Like, it doesn't work. I don't know, it's weird."

She does not really want to say, 'But my mom does.' Really.

[stillbecoming]

"Bummer?" Buffy offers. She's not 100% sold on the truth of this, but Rose doesn't seem thrilled. A pause. "So...how do you know about it?"