taxonomites | 035: [ location: castle summers ] / [ visual ] (accidental)

Taxon has not been fun lately. Granted, fun is probably a relative concept, but as fun goes, things have been lacking. After the everything with the Master that requires no elaboration or specifics, and now Xander being taken away, Buffy's pretty certain she hit rock bottom a while back and then just inexplicably kept going.

Of course, in these situations what she does is get violent. Not with the sky this time, thankfully. She's setting her sights decidedly lower, and beating the crap out of a punching bag in one of the training rooms in the castle. She could kick the thing through several walls if she wanted, but she's working on controlling the uberpowers for the sake of the structural integrity of her home. It's clear that she's been at this for a long time, because the room is practically in darkness - she didn't switch the lights on when the sun went down.

Her tablet is lying discarded on the floor, as she isn't particularly desirous of company right now, but these things have minds of their own, as we all know.

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"Deal." She smiles, even if it's somewhat subdued. It's an improvement on the darkness and solitude routine, at least.

"I think I can keep a lid on the aerodynamics for the evening."

[ the smile (and relief) are evident in her voice. ]

I'll see you in a few, then.

"Sure," she nods, relieved herself at the prospect of having Max around, even if she's not exactly in the most sociable of moods.

"Oh, the front door should open for you. I re-programmed it." And because that sounds laughable, even to her. "...by which I mean I pressed a few buttons."

[ she does laugh, a tiny bit. ] Cool. Be right there.

---

And she is right there, after the time it takes to get changed into workout-appropriate clothing and find the room where Buffy is. She knocks lightly at the door, giving her a small smile that's still slightly weak.

"Hey," she says softly, stepping a few feet inside.

"Hey," Buffy replies, returning the smile and looking less miserable now that the lights in the room are on, and she's no longer pounding the punching bag furiously.

"Thanks for coming." And because she's well aware that she's not the only one in this room who's been having problems lately, she asks: "How're you doing?"

She shrugs, looking to the side briefly before focusing back on Buffy.

"I'm okay. Better, I guess." She's obviously not at a hundred percent, but that has mainly to do with feeling guilty about not being around when Cordelia was kidnapped and Buffy was going through things than being sad about Peter at this point. "What about you?"

Edited 2010-06-07 08:01 (UTC)

If she knew Max was feeling guilty, she'd probably be tempted to smack her because the notion is stupid, but as she doesn't, she just sighs, wondering how to answer that question.

"Pretty much a black hole of bad," she answers honestly. "That whole thing with the Master, and now Xander's gone home and... Jim isn't talking to me and... wow, I really feel like punching things again, all of a sudden."

It's stupid, yes, but it's how Max's brain works. She sighs, too, and then removes her jacket, tossing it onto a convenient nearby bench.

"Is he still mad about whatever happened with Spike?" She doesn't know the specifics, but she did see the serenade that was broadcast over the tablets. "And when did Xander go home?"

"That's a big old affirmative." Buffy confirms, on the subject of Kirk, nodding glumly. She figures she should explain the situation a little more, so Max has an idea of the context. "But nothing happened. Well, almost nothing. I was upset and Spike was there, and... we were hugging and I guess he got the wrong idea, and then kissed me. I pulled away, told him I was seeing Jim, and then boom. That's when the song started."

As upset as she is about Kirk, however, her sadness about Xander's departure is a different thing altogether. "A few days ago. Dawn took it pretty hard." And that's a chronic understatement.

"Has he even listened to you explain that?" Max asks, an eyebrow raising as her hand goes to her hip, in that 'someone's gonna be in trouble for messing with my friend' stance. "Because if not, I can talk some sense into him." And she only kind of means 'kick his ass'.

The expression grows solemn as Buffy tells her the effect her friend's leaving has had on her and her sister. It's been a month since Peter and everyone else left, but she still remembers that ache and despair she felt when she found out they were gone.

"I'm sorry," she says, letting her hand fall back down. "How's she doing now?"

She also wants to know how Buffy's doing with the people dying making her stronger thing she mentioned a while back, but now's not quite the time for it.

"Yeah, but I think all he's hearing is 'you kissed somebody else'," she shakes her head, before smiling a little at Max's protectiveness. "And thank you, really, but... this is my fault. I should've told Spike right away that I was with Jim. Maybe I was leading him on, and... I honestly don't know why I did that." There's a pause in which she looks down at her feet, the smile gone now. She hasn't said this out loud to anyone else. "Maybe it was because deep down I wanted something to happen. When he kissed me, I didn't... I didn't pull back right away."

Admitting that makes her feel guilty and ashamed and she's still firmly looking down at the floor. She musters the courage to look up at Max though, when she answers on the subject of Dawn. "She's doing okay. As well as can be expected, I guess. She was - is in love with him. It's going to take time."

Max is quiet for a long time after that, unsure of what to say. She can understand keeping the truth from someone because it seems right at the time, can remember doing it with Logan and how Alec reacted when she told him that she'd included him in the lie. Buffy's situation isn't like that, not exactly, but she still feels for her friend, even if she understands why Jim would be upset.

"Oh," she finally says, quietly. There's no judgement there, she doesn't know the history between Buffy and Spike and won't pry unless she wants to talk about it. Instead she reaches out and takes one of Buffy's hands in one of hers, squeezing gently before moving on to the topic of Dawn.

"Yeah. It is," she says sadly, knowing all too well what Dawn must be going through. "Do you think she'd want to talk to someone?" Because she doesn't know Dawn as well as Buffy, but she likes her, and maybe it'll help her to talk to someone who's going through what she is.

035: [ location: castle summers ] / [ visual ] (accidental)

[ visual ]

[ voice ]

[ visual ]

[ voice ] // [ location: castle summers ]

[ location: castle summers ]

[ location: castle summers ] late's better than never, right? /fails

[ location: castle summers ] do not even worry about it, i am a failboat too

[ location: castle summers ] /makes us a flag to wave

[ location: castle summers ] /shakes pom poms

[ location: castle summers ] /dances in a miniskirt

[ location: castle summers ] /blows a trombone idek xD

[ location: castle summers ] gooooooooooooo failboat! XD