Once upon a time, there was a girl...

[tehoniongirl]

Who: tehoniongirl, list_to_port, and anyone else who joins them later at House Seven.
What: Jack's searching pays off.
When: Early Friday evening
Where: The woods/marauding bridge, first. House Seven, later.
Summary: Jilly returns from her mallynap safe and sound...and slightly smaller.
Rating: K, for kittens and rainbows and anklebiters, oh my!

Comments

@ house seven -- buffy, jack, & jilly?

[slaying]

The house was too empty. Painfully, horribly empty. Without Bones and without Jilly and now with Jack out looking for the missing girl -- it left her feeling haunted. Horrible and haunted. The pirate would be back later and then Buffy would take her turn at careful, anxious patrolling. Her weapon was already set out and at the ready. Not that she thought she would need it; however, the scythe was a comfort. Reassurance. She was short on reassurance, these days

Anxiety rarely sat well on the Slayer and tonight was no exception. Buffy had tried three or four times to make a meager meal of crackers and peanut butter but she kept halting right before spreading the stuff. There was a sound at the door or an imagined voice over her left-open journal. Distractions kept getting in the way.

Once again -- for the final time that evening -- she stood in the kitchen with a peanut buttered knife hovering tentatively over a thin cracker. Why was it so hard?

[unlayered]

There was a peal of laughter at that, her hands clapping together in delight. At the sight of the kitten, all other fears were instantly banished.

[slaying]

Soon after, Buffy returned with two bowls balanced in her hands -- a spoon sticking somewhat triumphantly out of each. Like flags planted on conquered land. The ice-cream was pale, mint-green with little chocolaty flecks scattered throughout. It was no peanut butter fudge crunch but it was a light, soothing kind of flavour. Some people were connoisseurs of which fine spirits would ease pain or confusion; Buffy Summers was a self-made expert on which foods did the soul good and how. And why.

She slid Jilly's bowl onto the table in front of her but her eyes were still caught up on the sight of Jack Sparrow on the floor. Playing. Her smile grew and as she leaned forward to situate that bowl, she dropped her voice to a conspiratorial level: "You know what, Jilly? I'm pretty sure that tormenting and teasing cats might be the only reason he grew his hair out like that. It's just about the only useful thing I've seen him do with it."

[lists_to_port]

"Oi! It's useful for hiding things too, Annielove!" Jack said a bit indignantly. There was a small slender lockpick in one of the largest dreadlocks, after all. Hector continued to bat at the hair and the ornaments in it as he pulled himself into a cross-legged seat on the floor.

He proceeded to try to find out just how high Hector would jump to reach one of the beaded bangles. The answer was that Hector was pretty acrobatic, even for a cat. He leaped and flipped and swatted, but Jack was looking to Jilly for her reaction.

[unlayered]

She giggled with every jump. "He's gonna get you!" she insisted as Hector made a particularly impressive leap, kicking her feet against the rungs of the chair. Thankfully, the mud had dried, or else Buffy would have been cleaning scuff marks off her furniture.

As the ice cream was placed in front of her, her bright smile included Buffy. She looked absolutely delighted.

[slaying]

"What kind of two-bit pirate lets himself get caught by a kitten, huh?" Buffy sat across from the girl with her own heaped bowl of ice-cream. She sat on her knees -- allowing her just enough height to still manage eye contact with Jack and his position on the floor.

The answer was painfully obvious to Buffy Summers and she had to bury her sudden surge of affection in a spoonful of minty, creamy deliciousness. Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow was the kind of pirate who let himself get caught by a kitten or any other cute animal for the sake of getting those giggles out of a girl who must feel at least a little lost. Here. Memoryless of why she was here.

[lists_to_port]

"And he has vanquished me," Jack lamented, falling onto his back and playing dead. Hector, meanwhile, climbed onto the pirate's chest and began washing his face.

Each time Jilly laughed was like a little sparkling treasure of some kind. He didn't have to be frightened of her, he decided, or of how she reacted to him. He could just take care of her. He could take care of them both. One eye opened in the fake-death-mask, seeking out Buffy. Checking on her, now.

[unlayered]

As the pirate is "felled" by the kitten, Jilly dares to try her ice cream. It's tentative at first, stealing glimpses at Buffy and the Jack as she tries her first bites, and then faster as they both stay happy and seemingly unbothered by her devouring the treat.

[slaying]

Taking in the scene, Buffy had one elbow propped up on the table and her chin resting on an open palm. Her opposite hand stabbed at her ice cream but didn't take a second spoonful. Not yet. She was too busy catching Jack's eye and not daring to break their shared gaze -- except in a quick, energetic wink.

"Poor Jack Sparrow. Always so easily vanquished. You know, just last week I trounced him both heroically and soundly in a game of frisbee. I bet you could beat him too, Jilly."

[lists_to_port]

"Since a gentleman will allow a lady her fictions, I will not correct you on that account, Princess Buffy." Jack winked at Buffy before stretching out and letting the kitten settle into a little ball on his chest. The kitchen floor felt like as good a place as any, and the purrs felt nice and rumbly over his heart.

[unlayered]

The girl giggled around a spoonful of ice cream, grinning as the pirate remained sprawled on the floor.

[slaying]

"Oh? Is there a gentleman in the house? I must have missed him. Where's he hiding?" There was, of course, a bit of a look over the princessly title that Jack had given her.

Buffy ate another mouthful of ice-cream with a growing-harder-to-control smile. So what if she was tiny and young and probably going to be a handful? Jilly was home. Buffy found this incredibly uplifting.

[lists_to_port]

"There is one. And--" He scrambled to his feet, displacing Hector rather startlingly if the poor kitten's expression was any indication-- "and he must find this lovely child somethin' to wear for bed. And then he is going to tell her a story, once she's not so muddy."

He leaned over and kissed Buffy on the head. Happy. Uplifting wasn't nearly the word for it.

[unlayered]

"A fairy story?" The words were a bit muffled around her spoon, but her eyes are bright.

[slaying]

That kiss was countered with a reach and a light, affectionate squeeze on the pirate's arm. "I guess that puts me on de-muddying duty. What do you think, Jilly? Bubbles? I have the ones that smell kinda like a strawberry milkshake."

[lists_to_port]

"A fairy story," he confirmed. "With pirates in it."

Jack left them both for a few moments: there was Jilly's closet to go through, after all. He will paw through her clothing and search for something that might be comfortable and warm to sleep in. Everything will be far too big, of course, but eventually he comes upon a warm, soft, paint-spattered but clean sweatshirt. It will probably hang down to the girl's knees, and the sleeves will have to be rolled up, but it's something. A stopgap. A pair of warm socks which will ALSO be too big but will keep her feet and legs warm round out the outfit. Maybe he can find better things for her tomorrow.