Twenty-one Bells: [ACTION/VOICE]

[noprevaricating]

[Archie has barely been around town lately, but he does appear in town this afternoon, dashing about to various shops and stores and picking up various one-use items and lots and lots of groceries. He seems to have one thing on his mind.

Later, he'll sit at the fountain and send out the voice message:]

This is Mr. Kennedy. If anyone is in need of me

Comments

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

[ it must be the end of the world. buffy is opting to write.

or more likely she's nervous about speaking and having jack hear her -- she doesn't know that he's not currently at the house. ]

How is he?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

You and Bones both said...[ and then something is scribbled out.

horribly. achingly. she carves out each letter like a scar: ] I wish Dawn was here.

[ she needs her sister. this is something she's realized. dawn -- such a catalyst for jack and buffy's relationship in the first place. urging buffy to seize that opportunity while she still could. ]

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

As do I. [But not for the same reason.] What do you mean to accomplish by making him wait?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

It's not making him wait that's the accomplishment, Archie. God -- I'd...

It's giving me time to think. Even if I don't want to.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

And what is it you're thinking?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

...About whether a tattoo hurts or not. Do you think it hurts? Do you have any, Archie?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

I do not have any, no, but I've seen it done.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

It probably hurts.

[ not that she should care -- her pain tolerance is the stuff of legends. but she might be projecting a different kind of pain onto the situation. ]

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

[He doesn't pick up on the subtlety.] It does hurt, but most men are great children when it comes to such pain.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

He has so many, already.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

I meant, they whimper about it at first, but only as a way of boasting about how much pain they can endure.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

Have you seen his? The new one -- not the one you...not the one the Shift. That's gone, now. I mean the one he redid.

Have you seen it?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

The one on his...yes, it doesn't even look as if it's healed.

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

It was different, before...Before he knew for sure it'd disappear. Before it disappeared.

[ tap tap tap. her fixation upon ink is not a non sequitur, in her mind. ]

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[noprevaricating]

What are you trying to say, Buffy?

[ written; filtered 70% ]

[slaying]

I'm trying to say that I've got four days left to figure out if I really want a tattoo, too.