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

[ voice ]

[wise_maiden]

That's...

[Only hours after she talked to Sheena about Presea. That feeling that things weren't done quiet yet. Carried over from all of the others who had disappeared recently. Goodbye-less.

But he had wanted to go, didn't he? He never thought he would. Leonard.]

I'm sorry, Buffy.

[And that would be it, wouldn't it? She wasn't even certain of their ritual anymore.]

[ voice ]

[slaying]

[ ...she was going to leave this one to jack. let him answer it. but then she uses her name and the slayer knows that all other issues must be set aside. at a time like this.

a time like this.

she clears her throat. ] M-me too. He -- I'm sorry, he didn't leave anything. [ she'd searched. twice. ]

[ voice ]

[wise_maiden]

[Raine wasn't contacting her to see if he had left anything.

In any case, there were a lot of other people who had known the Doctor, and many of them would be contacting Buffy tonight. She wouldn't want to be one more person on the line for all of that. It would be painful enough.

And she'd... surely be surrounded by the right people for it.]

... r-right, then. If there's anything ... you know how to reach me.

[ voice ]

[slaying]

C-come over?

[ the words come after a considerable silence. almost as if she might have given up on the conversation. but when they do come, they're fast and sad and a little desperate. ] I have...I could have...there's coffee. I have coffee. I think I have coffee.

voice;

[slaying]

Holding up like a strainer. O-or a colander. Which is the right word? [ she doesn't care.

oh well. that is, to say, badly. but she wreathes it in tough language just for tony stark. ]

voice;

[slaying]

...Probably had a member of staff just to stand there and strain things for your executive-class chef in your fancy-ass mansion kitchen.

[chikaidestroyer]

[He considers not saying anything at all. It would not be the first time that Buffy had announced the departure of a friend, and it almost certainly would not be the last.

But the doctor was more than simply a friend. He did not speak much to the man, but even he knew that.

So he speaks as he has before. Those same words.]

My condolences.

[slaying]

[ those same words. they shiver and shake her right to the core. it isn't so hard to forget the hold that had accompanied, them. ]

Appreciated, Albert.

[chikaidestroyer]

[And now that he has her attention, if but for a moment, he should probably say something else.]

You will likely have several coming to speak with you, but please be sure to get some rest.

[slaying]

...Check out Mister Pragmatism.

[ soft. ]

[ voice ]

[halftheduet]

Sent home.

[He hasn't really had the time to consider what that means. But he knows that tone of voice well enough.]

I'm sorry to hear that, my dear.

[ voice ]

[lists_to_port]

She's...

[There's a pause.]

She's just tending to some things now, Maturin. I'll give her your regards, eh?

[ voice ]

[halftheduet]

Of course, Sparrow. Take care. The both of you.

[ voice ]

[lists_to_port]

Take care of the both of us---a tall order. I'll do my level best, doctor. Very much obliged to you.

[A doctor without hyposprays. Laudanum, instead. Primitive. Damned primitive, McCoy would say.]

[ written ]

[seventeensir]

[Archie left to go see Buffy personally. Necessary, and he'd stayed behind for the same reason. He'd only known the doctor slightly, and to have gone along... would have been to intrude.

But he does write one message, his writing no doubt easy to distinguish by this point.]

If there is anything I can do, Miss Buffy, let me know.

[ written | private ]

[lists_to_port]

Hornblower:

It might be she'll have need of you yet. Yourself and Kennedy.

[Because what would happen if he should be taken? Who would look after her? Far be it from Jack to recognize that Buffy can very much look after herself. He doesn't want her to HAVE to, even though that is generally her preference.]

--Sparrow

[ written | private ]

[seventeensir]

I am her servant.

[A quaint expression, and it occurs to him to strike it the moment it's written. It dates him-- he's yet to hear anyone else use it here-- and no doubt Buffy would laugh if she read it.

...But it's the best way he knows to reassure that he will be there. So it remains.]

Hornblower

[ written | private ]

[lists_to_port]

[It's not dated to Sparrow. It fills him with relief. Brief; to the point:]

As am I. Always.