makeitquick | 4th Dusting

A long dead girl who lives...[ huh. how to explain this without sounding corny? ] I still see her, Melaka. I saw her in my first dream and I've seen her in nightmares. I've seen her on spirit quests. The first girl. I stood where she stood -- where they did that to her.

They tried to turn her into a tool, Melaka. Turn all of us into their own weapons. [ a beat. ] But they failed.

Seeing as how the Watcher in my time was a needs, failed bad.

They haven't...always failed, though. Over time. Some've been sneakier than others. Some have been better than others. Sure. The diaries are informative and all but...the dreams?

[ a pause. ] That's through their eyes. The girls. Not their Watchers.

[Nod. That's what's been bugging her - the point of view issue]

If I'm going to tell you about them -- the ones I've seen? Then I'm not going to hold back on any of the details. And their lives were rarely pretty. [ their deaths even less so.

buffy is nervous. she has never committed herself to giving someone else so many details about the dreams. normally, it's something she wants to skirt past. ]

...Summers, been a warrens girl since I was born. I can handle some fug.

[Without shifting too much. She senses the other's nervousness, but doesn't know what to make of it]

[ she picks at the arm of the chair. ]

There's one Slayer. In the Middle Ages. I-I don't know her name but I've kinda given her one. She shows up a lot. Beautiful white dress. When you see her, you can't help but get the impression that she's very...pure. Very righteous. She didn't accept the calling, at first.

[Nod. "what's a middle ages" comes to mind, but she dismisses that]

...There was a town. Her town. It was under siege by a pretty big time vamp, for her era. Saint Just. I'm sure the name was pure irony.

[She has no idea how that is ironic, but decides not to press the point right now. she just nods]

...I don't know what it's like in the future but -- this Slayer? She comes from a time when it was even tougher to be a woman with power. She kept who she was hidden from the village until Saint Just attacked. Would've brought the whole city to its knees except she stepped out of her secret identity and she saved the place. Every. Last. Villager.

She should've been a hero, right? That what I would have called her.

[And given you're tellin' me this, she didn't

But she nods]

...The girls of the town got a little too inspired, I guess. The village elders didn't take kindly to having their pretty little patriarchy subverted by one Slayer. They burned her at the stake, for it.

How?

They took her in her sleep. Tied her tight -- more ropes than they'd need for any non-Slayer. And then they lit the whole thing like some kind of twisted bonfire.

[ and then her voice seems to hit upon...a rhythm. recitation: ] But she was strong, so very strong. She burned up wide awake.

So why not rip outa the rope? Couldn't do it?

I...I don't get the deets. Just flashes. Just feelings. Like being a girl too strong to pass out from smoke inhalation before the flames got too hot.

...Sucks.

[She twitches, lightly. that would hurt]

Very. It sucks to the amount of very. Our line is filled with sacrifice and suffering -- and those things are important to remember -- but they're not the be all and end all of us.

[ hypocrite. buffy breaths self-sacrifice. ]

Jesu, I hope not. Don't plan on dying here.

[ dear lord, why is she smiling? ]

No one plans to die, Mel.

[ oh. that'd be why. smiling 'cause she's lying. ]

[Which is met with an uneasy sort of glare thing. But whatever, she nods]

Of course, if you do? Die here? You'll come back.

Heard, don't wanna test. [A beat] Got another tale?

I'm guessing you probably want something a little less...dreary?

4th Dusting

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