chikaidestroyer | ∞ 87: Rooftops [action]

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∞ 87: Rooftops [action]

[Around mid-morning, Albert can be seen picking up small things in the plaza -- nails, pens, groceries. He doesn't often do this, but it's been a week since he gave Caesar the task of repairing the stable, so he finds himself inspecting and repairing the amateurish work. That requires a few extra building supplies. Might as well take advantage of how calm everything is with the New Feathers coming in, right?

Albert spends the afternoon pulling out half-bent nails and readjusting crooked wooden slats. He can't say that he's disappointed, since Caesar actually tried to rebuild the stable's roof, but he can have the opinion that did a really shabby job. Silverbergs were apparently not very good roof-builders.

In the evening, after dinner, he'll be found up on house 42's roof, having climbed up through the skylight. It's something he's never really taken advantage of, and yet there's something familiar about it. He remains out there for a good while, almost meditating.]

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She's nineteen. Kinda. [A hiss through her teeth.] It's a little complicated. She only really became my sister about four years ago. Before that she was--uhm--a bunch of mystical energy?

[That's definitely a new one.]

You magically came into possession of a sister?

Some monks needed to protect a supernatural...key, of sorts. So they figured what better fail-safe than create a little sis for the Slayer and give her some fake memories so she'll feel uberprotective over it. Her.

[Buffy shrugs.] She's real, though. And the memories feel as real as they can. I love her, and she's my sister.

[This is perhaps the first time he's heard of one's mind being manipulated and someone being accepting of the change. He carefully climbs down the ladder.]

You must have developed quite a bond if you can overlook the facts like that.

She never asked for this to happen to her. It's...kinda tough, to see your little sister go all slicetastic on her own skin with a knife just 'cause she doesn't believe she's real. We...adapted, y'know?

[Buffy did so much more than overlook the facts.] She's the one I died for.

[Self-mutilation. He frowns, however, when he hears Buffy admit just how important this "sister" was.]

You were very emotionally invested in her well-being. Was the outcome worth it?

A Hellgoddess was trying to use her to open a portal that would swallow the world. She was a key, after all. Her blood opened the portal. But her blood also closed it.

[Buffy hugs herself with her arms, unsure of what else to do with them.] But the monks? They made her into my sister, entirely. Which means our blood? Summers' blood. But the portal had opened so wide...I wasn't going to let Dawn take that dive. I was already living on borrowed time.

So you made the decision as you were already dying. [A situation like that would make the decision an easy one. One casualty where there could have been two.]

What? N-no, I mean...borrowed time because I'd died before. Four years before that.

[A half smile.] My life's way too complicated.

[He snorts. It's a very cynical kind of amusement.]

I certainly don't envy you your complex problems, Buffy.

Dawnie, though? After the whole portal issue? We just went back to being a family. Well, a family minus mom and me kinda fresh from the grave. But the blood thing just proved it. No matter how it happened? She's my sister.

I suppose she would give you stability after events like that. [But he wonders if the positives outweigh the negatives.] And another reason to want to return home.

But you've got your sibling right here. Is that nice?

It has its pros and cons. We do not often see each other, so Luceti is different in that regard.

So, you're not normally close?

There are no communication devices to bridge the distance between us in our world. [And that can be taken so many ways.]

Not even letters? Kind of a shame when good old snail-mail can't even be counted on.

Caesar was traveling fairly constantly for his studies. I suppose he could have sent me letters. [If Caesar felt like writing one. And if he felt like reading it.]

Or you could have sent him some.

Perhaps if I knew where he was. [Perhaps.]

Is it tough? Being apart, I mean.

Luceti makes it difficult. In our world, it was more of a necessity. Going away for schooling, seeking a career.

[He pauses.] That isn't the case in your world?

After mom died, I was all the family that Dawn had. She wasn't even out of middle school. [Another shrug.] It was my turn to play head Summers of the household.

And you were not quite an adult yourself, either. I'm sorry.

It's no big. [She pushes forward with a smile.] We managed.

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chikaidestroyer - 2010-09-10 10:10 (UTC) - Expand

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herotypical - 2010-09-10 13:05 (UTC) - Expand

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