VOICE ✪ LIGHTS WILL GUIDE YOU HOME & IGNITE YOUR BONES & I WILL TRY TO FIX YOU

[slaying]

[ the first thing she notices is cupcake mewing low and lonely in the hall. buffy clucks her tongue and stoops to spoil the cat, caressing the soft strip of short fur along the feline nose. a small smile and a few gentle words; from this angle, she can see that mccoy's door is open. ajar. was he home

Comments

[lists_to_port]

[When he hears this request--this command--Jack Sparrow takes off from Cullen House at a sprint. Buffy never has called him like this. Her tone of voice has sent chills right up his spine.

He makes the journey in a record time of twenty-seven minutes. For once, Jack enters Seven by the front door.]

Buffy?!

[slaying]

"...In here."

Her voice could be traced back to the doctor's bedroom. Still his room -- it was too fresh to think in any other terms. It would always be too fresh, she felt. Her journal sat a few feet off. Closed.

Buffy was cradling Cupcake in her arms and the two were sitting on the floor.

[lists_to_port]

"Buffy?" he said again, more quietly this time. There she was, huddled up on the floor with Cupcake. The first thing Jack could think was that something was wrong with Hector's mother. She was ill, or injured, and Buffy needed him to.....something. He didn't notice anything amiss about the state of things, so focused was he on Buffy's Emergency. Whatever it was.

"You're.....alright?"

[slaying]

"Jack." It took her a couple of tries to even say his name. "It's...Oh, God. I'm so sorry."

She tried very hard to push the misfortune away. To project it. This was a hard-sell when her eyes were already red.

[markofthewise]

[Man, isn't that like, Buffy's only house mate for like forever?]

... that's rough. But he's going back to like... space, right? So that's good. [For him. He never seemed very happy in Luceti.]

[slaying]

[ disease and danger.

hmm.

buffy takes a long time to answer. ] And his daughter.

[markofthewise]

She'll need her dad then. [Sure. Time doesn't pass here. But it did for McCoy an he knows how hard it was for his own dad to be away.]

oh my god masa i didn't get a notif for this.

[slaying]

...A dad like that? Of course she'll need him. He'll -- he'll be happy.

[action]

[tehoniongirl]

[when Jilly hears that unfiltered message, she abandons her studio, only taking enough time to drop her brushes into one of the open jars of turps before heading back home.

She doesn't rush, though. If Buffy was calling for help like that it wouldn't be good...but she'd probably need Jack first. Jack first, and then maybe others.

When she does reach the house, she enters quietly. She doesn't want to interrupt anything she shouldn't.]

[slaying]

[ she's in the kitchen. she feels sick but she also doesn't feel like moving. her feet feel cemented to the spot.

but careful, well-tuned ears hear the entrance. she looks up, almost expecting... ]

Bones? [ her voice is small. ]

[tehoniongirl]

[peeking into the room, her uncertain look automatically takes on an apologetic edge.]

...Just me.

[slaying]

Jilly.

[ there is a great weight of sadness behind the spoken name. an edge of apprehension she doesn't want to tell the girl...but she'd rather tell her then let her find out in the same way. ] Jilly. Jilly, come here.

[Action]

[consultmybooks]

[Of course, when Giles hears the message, a chill goes down his spine. Every nerve in his body goes tense. He knows that tone. That's...not a tone he was hoping to hear again, anytime soon.

But he waits. He stays back. If she needed Jack? Well, then the problem could probably be solved just with Jack. But still, he waits for further word, and does nothing else. And when that word comes half an hour later?

...Giles lets himself very, very quietly into the kitchen of House 7 long enough to place a quart of peanut butter fudge ice cream in the refrigerator. Trying not to be noticed. Then he goes outside and sits on the bottom step of the porch. A quick, filtered written message to Buffy is sent from there, just to let her know that he's around if she wants him and ready to leave if she doesn't.

He'll be there until sunset, or until someone talks to him. Whichever comes first.]

[slaying]

[ what comes first is a heavy hand on giles's shoulder. silently, buffy sits next to him.

she has the ice cream and two spoons in her other hand. ]

[consultmybooks]

[One spoon is taken. He opens the ice cream. Then, wordlessly, he motions for her to go first. Giles doesn't have much of an appetite right now, but...he'll pretend otherwise.]

[slaying]

[ one large scoop. ]

He arrived a month after me. [ her voice cracks. ]

[voice]

[noprevaricating]

[When Archie answers, he sounds hoarse.]

I'm coming over now. We brothers and sisters...

[No, that sounds silly. But it was true, even before Luceti Valley in some ways.]

[voice]

[slaying]

...We're here.

[ her voice is soft and uncertain. when she waits, she waits in the kitchen. jack is somewhere around the house but she hasn't seen him for a while.

space. and time. ]

[action]

[noprevaricating]

[Archie will come in without knocking. When he finds Buffy in the kitchen, he goes straight to her to hug her. If she looks at him, it's pretty clear he's cried a little already.]

[action]

[slaying]

[ no. hesitation. ]