Trusting my soul to the ice cream assassin

[technicallyiam]

Andrew Wells, having come to terms with his newfound life as an OUTCAST IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE (in all caps like that), has taken to observing and recording (and narrating) life in the Main Gauche. So there is a young blonde kid with a video camera, prowling about the halls and (as far as anyone can tell) talking to himself in an overly cheerful

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[archangelet]

Tay is sitting in one of the sunrooms (though there's no sun, just a nice view of the oncoming storm) with a non-psychic journal, scribbling away. Her wings are out and folded back, and her hair's back in a ponytail. Andrew will probably be able to pick off some pretty loud thoughts off of her.

...it too paranoid to think they might have air support? Not many angels who could actually pull that off but they probably have a couple better mention that to him, we'll need to defend against that as well...

[archangelet]

Tay sighs and looks away. She could either tell him to fuck off or tell him the truth. Lying is too complicated and painful. Literally.

"I do," she says. "But I can't. Guardian can't go more than a few miles away from their ward. And I don't think my family would exactly appreciate me bringing a demon home."

Well, no, they'd appreciate the chance to kill a Neqa'el. Never mind it'd probably kill me in the process.

[hesourhostage]

Family is not really a concept Andrew has a lot of hold on- once he had Tucker and his own parents, but they pretty much fell off the face of the earth after awhile and that left him with Warren and Jonathan and then Warren and Jonathan died and that left him with Buffy and the Scoobies, and... Well, he's not one to get all angsty. That's why he hides behind his stories.

He lowers the camera (surprisingly) and gives her a sweet smile. "Well... Family's overrated, right?" Maybe it's true, maybe it's not.

He adds, almost as an afterthought. "Besides you have your own little family here. That's not so bad."

It's not anything he knows for certain- just a sense he can get from her mind, like background noise on a psychic channel. And it's probably not in the least bit helpful, but it's better than sticking that camera in her face and narrating at her.

[archangelet]

Tay snorts and rolls her eyes. "Yeah. I've got my ward, who's a Neqa'el, I've got a Behemoth who turns into a velociraptor, I have a First angel who wants my ward dead, I've got some incidental contact with a couple more sympathetic angels, and I've got Buffy. Real great family, there. Because I'm so close and so trusting of all of them." She trusts Buffy. She trusts Bianca. She trusts Vincent and Romana partially. She's starting to trust El and Malek, but not enough to really consider them any sort of "family".

She's pretty much alone in this whole thing, even if she's starting to form tenuous attachments.

It's lonely. She had a whole huge family that was extremely close, in Boston, and now... nothing.

[hesourhostage]

Yeah, try reacting to that, Andrew. Had he actually gotten to go down to that Seal and close it before he was taken, Buffy would have given him a valuable lesson about telling stories that he'd take to heart. Despite not getting that lecture, somehow he knows better than to try to say anything else.

Occasionally, Andrew realizes that he has the emotional maturity of a small child and doesn't prove it.

"If you, uh, need me for anything, I'll be around." He jerks his thumb at the door. "You can go back to... Whatever it was you were doing." He pauses awkwardly. "But, for the record? I'm here without anyone too, so I kinda get how that feels. I mean... Buffy's not even my Buffy. It's cool though. I don't mind." He realizes that he's still Not Helping.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go now." And he starts to head off, camera in hand, feeling more than a little sorry for her. That's the problem being a telepath- you get everything people aren't saying and it's bound to be a little upsetting.

[archangelet]

And occasionally, Tay realizes that she doesn't always have to be a walled-off, defensive, ice-queen bitch. Or whatever the fuck she is most of the time.

"Andrew, wait!" she calls, and gets to her feet. If Suzie were here, she'd see Tay's shadow suddenly merge with her again, like it does when she's running on pure Guardian instinct.

She smiles a little, kind of shyly, kind of awkwardly, kind of sheepishly. "Um. I'm just. Not good with people?" There's an unspoken Sorry in there. Really. "I swear I can actually answer questions without being a bitch."

[hesourhostage]

Andrew blinks at her for a few seconds, because... Well, it's Andrew. He's used to people being bitchy. He worships Anya who is bitchy in new and fun ways that defy human logic. Sometimes he knows when to back off and sometimes he keeps talking until someone slaps him.

"Me neither, as in I can't actually..." He flails for a second with his free hand, failing at the words. "I tell stories," he admits, shrugging in a way that suggests it's a thing and it's not really going away. "It's how I deal with everything and I know it's kinda annoying, but it's part of who I am. You're bitchy. That's how you cope. It's cool though. I don't mind."

He sheepishly holds up the camera to start this again. "Anything particular you want to say? About... Anything?"

[archangelet]

Tay shifts a little, and her wings rustle. She's not nervous being in front of the camera. Really. "Um... I'm not good at talking," she says with a hesitant smile. For this moment, she actually seems only barely sixteen.

It'll probably be quite the revelation for Andrew.

"Anyway, my family doesn't really do... talking. Like, actual feelings and shit. So... I dunno." Rock back on her heels. "I was supposed to be an Archangel, y'know. I think something went wrong when I got my wings 'cause I was sort of dying of some superflu that was going around."

Well. Random honesty. The narration is a bit surprised but not complaining.

[hesourhostage]

This is why Andrew stalks people with cameras, but then that gets creepy and unsettling and generally ends with him getting things thrown at his head.

And it is kinda weird how young she is- he's older, but she's more mature than he is. Not surprising, honestly, considering there are twelve-year-olds more mature than he is, but that's neither here nor there.

"You're warriors, not talkers. Fighting the forces of evil in stoic silence... Like Batman." Sometimes Andrew just says words and pretends they make sense. Get used to it, Tay. "You're gonna have to let me film you fighting... Maybe we can stage something. That would be awesome."

He's been mostly muttering to himself, but she gets all honest, he stops and just films. "What if it didn't go wrong?" He asks, all serious again, because... Hey! Real honesty. It makes good film. "How does that work anyway... The whole 'calling' thing?"

Because he's done his homework, in theory, but it's nothing like talking to the source itself.

[archangelet]

Tay screws up her face a little, her head tilted. "I don't know. It's... I think it depends on a lot of things. It's not just genetics, 'cause there's this geneticist who lives downstairs? She did most of the curing of the superflu thing, and she studied a lot of angelic DNA and said she can't find a... purely genetic cause for callings. But there'll be families of mostly one kind or another. All my family are archangels, except for my cousin's wife, she's an angel of knowledge, but she married in."

Tay's rocking back and forth on her feet, twisting a bit of hair around her finger absently. "My family'd probably say I turned out a guardian 'cause my mother was a human."

[hesourhostage]

"That's stupid," Andrew responds, for all the world sounding like he totally knows what he's talking about, which he doesn't. At all. "Why would that make any difference?"

Hey, if they keep this up, this part of the film can be all about angels and their quirks. Maybe he can find other angels and get them to give their opinions and...

And then that thought trails off, because he remembers that reality exists and he kinda needs to hear Tay's response to that question. Or wants to anyway.

[archangelet]

"Because my family doesn't... The last human in my ancestry on my dad's side? Was over eight hundred years ago. Barnams do not get involved with humans. Dilutes the bloodline or something."

She used to agree with them, it's obvious in her thoughts, but... not so much anymore.

[hesourhostage]

He gives her a smug grin. "Well, you happened to think that this particular human was strangely adorable, so maybe it's a new world order." He's teasing, really.

He frowns a little and adds, "You know, on top of the whole guardian angel-to-a-demon thing. Hey, maybe the universe has a sense of irony?"

Yes, Andrew. That explains all. And apparently the conversation was getting to heavy for his fragile, erratic psyche so he had to and bring humor to the table. The narration facepalms.

[archangelet]

Tay snorts a little. "Honestly? I think the universe is like a kid with a magnifying glass, and we're all ants praying for clouds." She shrugs. "Whatever."

She eyes Andrew and his camcorder for a moment, then moves with the speed only an angel (or demon) can have and snatches the camera out of his hands, turning it on him. "So, what about you? What would our fearless narrator like to tell his viewers?"