you know enough to know the way

[goodlording]

It's late afternoon when Rupert Giles steps out of the library closest to the Kashtta with a pile of books in his arms. As far as he's concerned, his first day in Chicago has, thus far, been completely successful.

Ten months ago, Giles was in Sunnydale. It was the year 2000.

He's still not exactly sure how it happened-no one ever is, according to

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[isaywe_party]

At first, Buffy thinks the Rift is playing a trick on her.

It's been so long since she's seen her Watcher. Even before she arrived in Chicago, it has been a long, long time since she and Giles have been in the same place, and when she sees her Watcher, walking towards the Kashtta with his arms full of books, there's really only one reaction she has.

"Giles?"

That's about all the warning he gets before he gets an armful of Slayer. She is aiming for a hug, but this is going to end in a nice hard tackle. Just ... because.

[goodlording]

He manages the first syllable of her name and a wide-eyed stare before he and the books go tumbling.

It's a very good thing that he's used to injury-by-Buffy.

With the books out of the way, he wraps his arms around her and gives her a tight (possibly too tight-if she weren't the Slayer) hug. He'd pull away to make sure it's her, but he doesn't need to. He knows.

"Buffy."

[isaywe_party]

There are no words. Only hugging.

Buffy doesn't know if she trusts herself to find the words right now. Right now she just wants to burrow into that tight hug and pretend that she hasn't been in Chicago for months, cut off from a lot of familiar things. This is home, in one way or another.

"I missed you," she murmurs, closing her eyes as she leans into him.

[goodlording]

"And I missed you," he replies, pressing a hand to the back of her head. "Of all the people I ever hoped I'd see here..."

Buffy was always on the top of that list.

"If I'd have known you were in Chicago-" He trails off and frowns over her shoulder, squeezing her to his chest.

[archangelet]

Tay is not watching where she's going, being more concerned with what's going on with the cellphone she's holding. Were she your average girl, this might not be too dangerous, but she's solid, six feet tall, and walks fast.

She decided, you see, that she was going to get ahold of a cell (which she did) and call Buffy's number from back home. Just on the off chance that the Buffy who'd known her here was still out there, and had the same number.

A lot of ringing later got a rather impersonal voice mail automatic announcement, which Tay doesn't know what to think of, so she leaves a message. Just in case.

"Um, hey. It's Tay. Not your Tay, I'm... I fell through the rift. And... we were friends back home, and I heard we were friends here, too. So... I guess if you want to, come back to Chicago. I miss you. Oh, and if this isn't Buffy--" And that's when she runs into a man carrying a stack of books.

Oops.

[goodlording]

Giles would be lying if he said he didn't see that coming. He heard Tay talking as she approached and he could have easily moved out of the way, but 'Buffy' is not a common name and then his feet stopped cooperating.

He didn't expect the impact to knock the books out of his arms, but there you go.

Immediately: "Sorry. I didn't... see you there."

Okay, so he sometimes lies.

[archangelet]

"Fuck!" That'll probably be the last sound on the voicemail, if it's really Buffy's, if Buffy ever gets it. Tay grimaces and scoops up a couple books. "Sorry. You okay?"

Never let it be said that Tay couldn't be taught to interact with the masses.

[goodlording]

"Yes," he says, adjusting his glasses. "I'm fine. Are you? Here, let me take those-"

Giles takes the books from Tay and sets them back in his arms, rearranging them so they're in the order they were before.

Much better.

[xandtheman3]

Xander Harris has not seen Giles for over a year. When he last saw him, it was Xander's senior year and it was when everyone was trying to shun him out of the latest Sunnyhell happening. He kicked serious zombie ass all on his own and then-- then he walked into the Rift with a fire axe in his hand.

He misses Sunnydale. Mostly for the people, but there's been Buffy. There's been three Buffys, and one Willow that disappeared along with one of the Buffys. However, there has never been a Giles.

However, there he is. In his unmistakable, tweed glory.

"G-man?" Xander freezes on the sidewalk. For once, he doesn't have food with him which is good as it would end up on the sidewalk right now. From the books and the specs and the tweed, I'd say... Yes."

[goodlording]

For a moment, Giles is certain he's hallucinating.

But then he realizes that if he were, it would likely be a hallucination of Buffy. No offense, Xander.

He blinks and very nearly drops his books. "Xander."

You know what, Xan? You're gonna get a hug. Just as soon as Giles puts these books down.

...okay. Awkward hug time.

[xandtheman3]

Xander takes no offense at all to this.

If he were to hallucinate someone, it would also be Buffy more than it would be Giles.

"Yes, there is the British speak to go along with all those things. If it looks like a Giles, sounds like a Giles, it must... be a Giles."

And awkward!sauce forever is Xander.

But there is definite awkward hugging right back, okay/ He missed Giles. Totally wished he'd had a more Giles-like figure for a father. "Hey, man. It's... uh, really, really of the good to see you." Expressing things other than wit or sarcasm is hard. "How long have you been here?"

[goodlording]

"It's-" Absolutely wonderful to see Xander, but instead of saying that, Giles merely clears his throat, pulls away from the hug, and says, "Yes. It's really good to see you, too."

We are all manly men here.

"About ten months or so, give or take a week. Not here, though-I've been in Britain. I came through the rift in Rome. I only meant to come to Chicago for research, bur now..." He trails off, then stares at Xander. "Is Buffy here?"

[physics_magic]

Spencer is trying to make it a point to get out of the Tower at least once a week. Somehow, at one point or another, he came to the realization that he had stopped doing that and, in an attempt to actually get better, he decided to start trying

[goodlording]

Giles is actually thankful for Spencer's arrival. He's pretty good with the balance thing, but as coincidence would have it, he's been teetering for the past few seconds.

Stairs are not his friends right now.

"Actually," he says, making a face as his glasses slide down his nose, "a hand would be very appreciated, if you have a moment."

[physics_magic]

"Absolutely." He moves to relieve Giles of a few of the books and settling them into his arms. Really, he is very familiar with the whole practice, so it would be wrong of him not to help out.

"Were you headed far?" He can't imagine that he was, considering how much he was carrying but he figures it's polite to ask.

[goodlording]

"Not terribly far," he says, nodding in the direction of the Kashtta and readjusting to handle the lightened load. "Just back to the Kashtta. I'm staying there temporarily."

Or so he thinks.

[doctorofdeath]

Maura's a scientist, she has an inherent proclivity for gathering as much information as she can, no matter the situation. When she accompanies her colleagues into the field to observe a dead body, she's always adamantly opposed to making even the most vague hypothesis before collecting as much evidence as she can. That's why she's been reclusive these last few days, since arriving; there's no denying that she's far from home, and there's no obvious way out of here. There's very little she has control over, but she can control the amount of knowledge she acquires, and is therefore interested in whatever she can obtain.

Of course, Maura is more reclusive by nature anyway, and that's a product of her environment, her past. She's the outsider, the "alien," the cyborg, "Doctor Death." She's the one who looks human, but does and says things sometimes to raise enough reasonable doubt about that

[goodlording]

Giles notices her approach from the corner of his eye. He's observant enough that little passes by him without him noticing-more so at night than in the daytime, but that's an adapted behavior. And so he greets Maura with a thankful smile and a little nod.

"A little bit of both, to be quite honest. Mostly research."

Should Maura peek at some of the titles, they're mostly history books on Chicago with a few special interest titles (things about angels and demons and others) sitting at the bottom of the pile. "But yes, I could use a hand. Thank you."

[doctorofdeath]

She does manage to peek at a few of the books as she takes some of the pile into her arms. The selection seems appropriate, given what little she knows already. And in fact, she's interested in poking at his brain for any information he might have.

"Research on our surroundings," she states, drawing the conclusion given the evidence before her. "And the beings we find ourselves cohabiting with. The concept of angels and demons walking amongst us is fallacious to me."

[goodlording]

Giles's brain is very good for the poking. Metaphorically, of course.

Luckily, the demons in this world seem far less interested in literally poking his brain than the ones back home did. It's nice.

He chuckles a little at her remark. "You must come from a world that's fairly normal, then. And you also must be new to this one." He presses his lips together and looks at her. "Assuming you're a Wanderer, of course. It sounds like you are, but I apologize if my assumption was incorrect."