Appointments

[chikaidestroyer]

Got a reason to get in touch with Albert? Use this post to send a voiced or written message over the journal, or as a place to set up an action thread. These short messages or action threads can lead to journal entries, longer action posts, or logs.

Use the subject line to specify the date and method of contact, such as the following examples:

[action, March 24]
[written, July 10]
[voice, December 20]

Comments

[chikaidestroyer]

I have two -- the ones to the northwestern corner of the house. The larger window faces the forest to the north.

[These questions. Did she truly intend to come over?]

[herotypical]

I know it's cold -- but leave the littler one open. Just a crack.

[ she scribbles this from an odd angle while picking up the coat she'd only so recently shed. she thinks it's too late for front doors. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

I can always wear a jacket.

[That's all he writes before he sets down his pen, glancing over at a large, filled burlap sack he had set next to the shelf.

He should prepare.]

[herotypical]

I won't be long. See you soon--

[ and she nudges the book shut. it isn't fifteen minutes later and she's prying at his smaller winder with chilled fingertips. levering it open. letting herself in. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Albert is standing by the larger window, looking somewhat amused as he watches Buffy enter his room.]

Ah, I seem to have a room invader.

[But he is smiling faintly.] Why the smaller window?

[herotypical]

[ she hauls herself up with strong arms and throws a leg astride the sill before slipping smoothly down to the floor. buffy reaches behind her to close the window again with a gentle thud. ]

Because I knew I'd fit. Because it seemed...[ she blows out a sigh ] sneakier, I suppose.

[chikaidestroyer]

I should have told you the larger window would work just as well. [He gestures to the window, which also has latches to open and shut it, before walking over to properly greet her.]

I am surprised that you actually came.

[herotypical]

[ and when he walks over, she takes advantage; she reaches out an arm and rests its wrist on his shoulder, propping herself up as she lifted first one foot and then the other. buffy removes her boots and tucks them under the window so as to not track old snow and detritus deeper into the room. ]

Of course I came. [ though she herself is not sure what makes her arrival so damned self-evident. ] How could I pass up a chance to show off my very advanced breaking and entering skills?

[chikaidestroyer]

[He can't quite fight back the faint smile at her joke, remaining still as Buffy pulls her boots off; his hand reaches up to her wrist on his shoulder, as if meant to steady her, before he even realizes he has done so.]

I see. So does opening the window make me an accomplice to a crime?

[herotypical]

...That's the beauty of the whole plan -- [ she speaks breathlessly, as if well aware of the subtext bubbling forth from these very words. ] You can't tell on me without telling on yourself. Consider yourself outsmarted, Mister Silverberg.

[ her hand lingers under his well after the footwear was gone, but then she seems to come to her senses and twists free. buffy makes up for her cowardice by staking a bold claim on the corner of his bed. she uses it as a perch. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

What a shame. I am not so sure if I can concede being outsmarted so easily. [Though he doesn't laugh, there is a wry amusement to his voice.] Perhaps I will just say that I brought a stray patroller out from the cold.

[herotypical]

The Good Samaritan, bringing the Slayer in from the wild wild wilderness. What a service to humanity; what a hero. [ she plants her palms on the mattress and leans back, supporting herself on straight arms. ]

So. Pay up. What are you doing?

[chikaidestroyer]

What am I doing. [He muses how to answer, glancing over at the window he had been standing at just awhile ago.] Would you believe you are not the only visitor I am expecting tonight?

[herotypical]

[ she sports a playful pout to hide her otherwise sincere...jealousy?

wow. buffy isn't used to feeling jealous over albert's personal life. ]

Oh? Got a better offer, did you?

[chikaidestroyer]

[He gives Buffy the faintest tilt of the head at her pout, a quiet laugh on his lips as he replies.]

A continuous responsibility would be more accurate. You remember the owl I mentioned sometime back?

[herotypical]

...I remember. [ she watches him, still. buffy rarely takes her eyes off of a conversational partner to begin with, but this time? her eyes are so very intent. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

He comes over so I can see how he is doing.

[From outside, there's the noticeable sound of the treetops rustling -- even if there is no significant wind this evening. Albert takes this as his cue to walk over to the window again, peering outside.

The giant owl stands taller than the window, so it has to lean over to look inside and blink its large eyes at the humans.]

[herotypical]

That's a lot of dedication, y'know. Waiting up just for a bird.

[ even if it is such a large bird. buffy turns, but doesn't stand from her bed-edge seat. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

It helps that I have no obligations in the morning. [A small smile at that.

He opens the window and presses his hand against the owl's beak, as if that will actually shove the owl away; the owl, used to this routine by now, obliges by hopping backwards. This gives Albert room to take the sack he had waiting by the window and toss it outside to the waiting bird of prey.]

[herotypical]

Oh-ho. Does the clever and veteran-status'd Albert Silverberg like to sleep in?

[ she's suddenly charmed by the prospect of learning a bit of his morning routine. but not so charmed that she doesn't stop watching the owl. it's monstrous, really. in another time and place, buffy likely wouldn't have thought twice about ending it. oversized animals were never a good sign. ]

[chikaidestroyer]

[Oversized animals are definitely a big thing in Albert's world, so while the owl itself had taken some getting used to, its actual size was nothing in comparison to ... say, a dragon.]

As much as one can sleep in, I suppose. [He doesn't shut the window entirely, watching the giant owl pick at the bag to get to the meat inside.] I'm still up 'early' enough to open the tea shop in the morning.

[Definitions would probably help as well. "Sleeping in" was getting in an extra thirty minutes after sunrise.]

[herotypical]

Weekends. Back in Sunnydale? Oh, God, I'd sleep until three in the afternoon, if mom let me.

[ not that she'd ever needed that much sleep. slayers could function on so very little. but it was the teenage experience, wasn't it? sleep in late. stay out all night. of course, patrolling had made that last part less a privilege and more a necessity. ]

Here, too. [ if jack does. ] But only on the weekends. How twisted is that?