034: [ location : the sky ] the blues walked in and met me

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

It's not the first time Buffy's woken up with a shiny new set of memories, but the other times haven't been like this. The other times she hadn't found out that she's a monster. A vampire. A thing.

Losing her powers for two months, the ordeal with Angelus, losing Dean, going through that cruel glitch with Ethan, losing Giles for the second time... the combined weight of the past year spent in Taxon is finally beginning to take its toll on her, and in epic fashion.

Which is why she's decided to take matters into her own hands. Literally. Anyone looking up at the sky will see an odd, vaguely discernible blur, flying into an invisible barrier, impacting hard and then bouncing off again, only to repeat the action. Over and over. She's trying to break through the wall, and it isn't working.


[ooc: canon bump to issue #33, but before the big Twilight reveal. Gonna be slowtagging on this one due to hiatus, but there we go. ALSO she has her tablet with her, so is contactable.]

Comments

[Voice]

[bigbad]

[Spike doesn't immediately think of Buffy when he sees something crashing into the sky repeatedly, but he doesn't know anyone else with powers, so he figures he ought to check just in case.]

Buffy, love, are you in the sky crashing into something?

[Voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

[Buffy slows and then stops at the sound of Spike's voice, pulling out her tablet to answer him. She does not sound happy, unsurprisingly.]

Now isn't a good time, Spike.

[Voice]

[bigbad]

[The thing that is probably Buffy has stopped moving, and Buffy sounds unhappy. That's enough to answer his question.]

What's wrong?

[ location: castle summers ]

[tiberiuskirk.livejournal.com]

This morning was a morning like any other morning in Taxon since the chaos of a rabid vampire had died down and things had gone back to normal— well, as normal as they could be when one was trapped in an alien, underground city. And, like any other morning, Kirk slipped out of bed and made his way to a different floor in a different wing and to a door he didn't need to knock on before opening. What was different was that he found the room empty, completely devoid of Buffy's presence with the only sign of her having been in here recently being the open window.

Confused, he went to it and looked up (he knew better than to look down, Buffy didn't open windows to throw a bed sheet woven rope out of them and climb down) and was startled to see her slamming against the barrier over and over.

Forgetting that there were other people in the castle, possibly still sleeping, who would potentially hear him, Kirk leaned out the window as far as he could without toppling out of it and shouted, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

...tactful, Jim.

[ location: the sky ]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

Yes, very tactful. It might even be funny too, if not for the fact that Buffy's sort of... 'incandescent with rage' meets 'horribly depressed' meets 'planning on doing that to the sky until she's too exhausted to carry on'.

Thankfully, because her room is in one of the higher turrets of the castle, and because Taxon's sky isn't as high as the real sky would be, she hears Kirk.

"WHAT THE HELL DOES IT LOOK LIKE?" She yells back, before ramming herself super-speed into the barrier again.

[ voice ] / [ location: castle summers ]

[tiberiuskirk.livejournal.com]

Kirk realizes belatedly that shouting impulsively like that was not the best way to go about this, but when it comes to things that don't involve having a uniform on and following a set of rules and regulations, temerity tends to rule his being. The damage has already been done and he winces at it, backing away from the window for just a moment to pull his tablet off his wrist without taking a nasty fall out a very high window.

"It looks like you're trying to punch a hole in the barrier," he says into the tablet. And it didn't look like she was making much progress; in fact, he was willing to bet that she was doing more damage to herself than she was to it.

[ voice ]

[aregulargirl.livejournal.com]

Buffy? [ a pause as she hear her crash into the wall again. ] Buffy! What the hell is going on?

[ and then there's the sound of max running outside, trying to find her. ]

[ voice ]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

[ by this time Buffy has her tablet out, thanks to Spike's intervention. She does not sound happy. ]

Max, I just-- I don't want to talk right now.

[ voice ]

[aregulargirl.livejournal.com]

[ max is now standing underneath where buffy is attempting to crash through the barrier, eyes wide with horror as she watches what her friend is doing. ]

What are you - oh my God. What are you doing?!

[location: outside]/[voice]

[rude-not-ginger.livejournal.com]

The Doctor watches this object crash into the wall a few times, then plucks his tablet out and sets it to voice.

"Trying to be productive. I like that. Still, you might need a little help."

[location: sky]/[voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

The last thing I need is help from you.

[ Yes, she recognizes the Doctor's voice from such happy memories as 'when we were all getting blown up'. ]

[Visual]

[fireburned.livejournal.com]

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Harvestman is not one to be sky searching, especially during the day, but that little blonde blur is hard to ignore. His tablet, fortunately, is the best way he can think of to try to get her to stop. "Girl, calm down, you ain't helping yourself any!"

[voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

You. [Punch.] Don't. [Punch.] Know. [Punch.] That.

[Normally she's not this dramatic, but the new memories in her head are of the distinctly mindfuck variety.]

[voice]

[lionofolympus.livejournal.com]

If thou needst something to hit, I volunteer.

For at least then, I shall not fear for you breaking something.

[voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter. Nothing matters here.

[She really doesn't care if she breaks something. It'll just heal anyway, with these freak powers of hers. She punches the barrier once more, for good measure.]

[ voice ]

[biverbam.livejournal.com]

[This is said mostly for Dawn's sake than anything else. For the record.]

Don't break.

[ voice ]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

I-- [She'd snap at pretty much anyone else, but River is Dawn's friend, and a kick-ass rescuer too.]

I'm not going to. I'm going to break this stupid goddamn-- [There's the sound of another ineffectual smack to the barrier.]

[location | Buffy's room]

[aworldenchanted]

Whenever Buffy returns to her room, there is a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies waiting for her.

With them is a small note in Tara's handwriting. All it says is, If you need to talk.

Tara figures Buffy will have drawn enough attention. And she understands the need to grieve alone, now and then.

[location | Buffy's room] / [text]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

Much, much later on, when Buffy has had the chance to calm down after... whatever that was, the cookies are still untouched, but she's feeling less self-destructive and unbalanced, which is always a good thing. She picks up Tara's note, and then subsequently her tablet. Not really trusting her voice right now, she opts for text mode:

Thanks Tara. I'm okay now.

[Location: A Random Street]

[a-pretty-fire.livejournal.com]

Drusilla abandoned her playground and ran out into the street. Her vision had been obscured by the fringe of trees and the vampire knew that she couldn't afford to miss a moment of this.

She felt sick. She had been waiting for the Slayer to break for a very long time. She had been ready to spring in and fix her and make her part of her family forever. But she hadn't expected this. She hadn't expected this and she didn't know how to respond.

In her own world, she'd have held the Slayer and soothed her with soft words and - maybe, maybe - kisses. In Taxon, she couldn't do a thing.

Her hands bunched into fists.

"Stop," she whispered, over and over again, like a litany. As if repeating it could make it happen. "Stop."

[Location: sky]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately Buffy couldn't hear Drusilla's pleas from way up there, and she was still entirely hell-bent on punching her way through the barrier, though evidently she wasn't making any sort of headway. It was more a form of anger release than a serious escape attempt, however.

[Voice]

[eaturbreakfast.livejournal.com]

Buffy--

[He stops because he knows she's super powered...beyond the obvious]

Well...are you okay sounds stupid but is there some reason this will work now instead of earlier. I'm not discouraging just asking.

[Mostly because also, he'll get Ruby to pummeling if there's a reason it'll work. Not to mention the mass of Molotov cocktails he could make if that wall would come down]

[Voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

This time I'm extra pissed?

[...which translates to 'no, there is no reason', for the record.]

[voice]

[faderbroderson]

Slayer. Do you intend to damage the ceiling, or damage yourself? You only seem to be accomplishing one of those things.

[voice]

[likeajoan.livejournal.com]

Really not looking for a pep-talk right now, Godric.

[it's alarming how much she can sometimes sound like Faith, randomly.]