Walk with the Dead (OPEN)

[nora]

A bloated half-moon hung in the sky, still a few days away from being full, but it still made everything bright. Light glinted off some of the newer marble headstones, making them shine like they were wet with water. Her dark brown hair was pulled back off of her face with a scrap of lace from her notions bin, hoping that tonight wasn't going to be the same wash as on previous nights. This was really her first time in Richmond, she'd last been down in Mystic Falls but felt the desire for a slightly bigger town, almost a city at times but not quite.

The breeze that slipped through her tights was chilly, but the briskness reminded her of home.

Home... The word itself made her stomach clench with a slew of emotions, threatening to erupt. She squashed them down hard, slamming the lid down on them again, lest they distract her from her hunt. Tucked in a little custom leather pouch hanging off her belt, was the stake that Nora had begun to carve while her fingers itched with inactivity and her heart ached with loneliness. As she coaxed the shape from the wood with the sharp knife, Nora could almost hear her grandmother's voice going over her lessons.

"Always be quick and silent when on patrol. Always remember, vampires don't need to reach for their weapons..."

The remembered bit of advice made Nora flex her hand, making the leather of her custom silver claws creak slightly, even though it was well oiled. Nora felt the rolling ball of anger and hurt deep down in the pit of her stomach, the girl had no idea when she'd gotten Called, or How, but the important thing was that she had been. It was up to her to try to keep the world safe from things that would rend it to bits and dance on its ashes. It didn't matter who decided to bother her, Nora was ready.

The girl the Council forgot wanted to make them remember her. Even from beyond the grave.



::stop:: Emotional Potential has Rawr!
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: None
::you're it:: OPEN
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She looked in the mirror at the outfit she was wearing. She and Willow had gone around town a few days earlier checking out all the local shops. Had even gotten a recommendation on the bookstore from a blushing Dawn, though Buffy didn't pry about it. She had given up trying to tell her sister what to do. As long as she wasn’t running around with vampires (She knew she sounded like a hypocrite but oh well) or she wasn’t doing something that could get her hurt, she would let her make her own mistakes and make her own decisions.

She checked herself out once more. The jeans she had on were a favorite of hers, distressed, comfortable, and yet still stylish. She had brought them from Rome and actually had two pairs of them back in Rome, they were that comfortable. Her shirt was a brand new one she had picked up right before leaving Rome but hadn’t had a chance to wear it. It was white, with a black sash around it and fluttered sleeves. Her shoes weren’t anything special, a pair of black patent leather, open toed sling backs that she bought a few days prior when she had gone to the mall in Mid Rivers. A stake was tucked in her bag that she would grab before getting out of the car.

Her cross came next. It was the one she had secretly kept with her at all times no matter where she went. She didn’t always wear it, but it was her good luck charm of sorts. There were times she tucked it into her pocket, times she tucked it into her shoe, hell there had been a few times it had been tucked into her tank top. She kept it near her at all times to feel safe. She mourned momentarily for the loss of her beloved claddagh ring. She hadn’t had it long and hadn’t had it near her even longer but every time she looked at her finger she mourned its loss. She had tried several different rings, never having bought another one to replace it, but none of them looked the same. She knew realistically she could buy a new one, hell Scott Hope had tried to give her an almost identical one to signal ‘friendship’…and yet she didn’t.

The one she had been given on her seventeenth birthday meant something…if she would go buy another one to replace it then it wouldn’t mean anything.

She sighed as she walked out of the house, heading towards the cemetery. She knew her outfit wasn’t at all something she should patrol in, especially the shoes, but she was pressed for time and didn’t really have a choice. She had to do a quick patrol being that it was barely sunset and then head out to a faculty meeting at 8:00 that night. She briefly wondered what type of town had faculty meetings at 8 at night but didn’t dwell on it. If anyone understood late night hours it was her.

She stepped into the cemetery at last and noted a fresh grave. She quickly pulled out her cell phone, looking up the obituaries and noting that this particular grave was the final resting place of a teenage girl who had died in a car accident. She said a quick mental prayer for the 14 year old before walking on, weaving throughout the rows and rows of headstones, seemingly lost in thought.

Word Count:: 604
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: Sorry this was a bit rambly. Lol.

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[nora]

Everything on one side of the cemetery seemed quiet, but it was getting to the time where some of the older or at least more powerful Childer would be rising. Usually you had to wait at least two hours after sunset before you would get any of the newblets even considering rolling over in their coffins, let alone crawling through six plus feet of hard packed dirt with their bare hands. Personally, if there was a possibility of Nora coming back as a vampire, she'd ask to be buried with a shovel, but there were two distinct problems with that. One simple one being that that would be against the rules of being buried, as there were several vampiric groups that demanded that their newest inductees dig themselves out of their graves to prove their strength and drive of their afterlife. The Order of Aurelius was one such group; they believed it would cull the herd of the weak before they even needed to be dealt with above ground.

And if there was the potential to come back as a Vampire, unless there was a damned good reason for it, Nora would like to have a stake driven through her heart to keep her from rising. But that was neither here nor there.

A small Dum Dum lollipop hanging out of one corner of her mouth kept her tongue busy as she wandered along the rows of dead. Small heeled boots made little noise against the grass, she'd spent years trying to perfect being as silent a predator as those she'd been trained to hunt, but even then she was still learning. She'd only been practicing for a good nine years, that wasn't very long at all considering in that time her center of gravity had dropped as had the distribution of her weight and mass.

Her little skirt offered little coverage, but it also didn't restrict any of her movements unlike even some pants did. Dignity and weather demanded the tights, besides they were a good burst of color. Who said that Chosen Ones couldn't have a sense of fashion, there was documented evidence that this was just so.

Just as she bent to examine the date of death on a tomb that only looked as if it were a few days old when she heard a noise from the other side. Hoping it wasn't just a couple of teenagers looking for a private place to mack it, Nora pulled the stake from her side holster and palmed it. The smooth grain felt almost silky soft in her left hand as her right was covered in the leather contraption. Keeping on her feet, she swung out a little from around the grave marker, prepared for whatever was on the other side.



::stop:: Boo!
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: Moans of Pain
::you're it:: Buffy
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She could feel someone near, though it didn’t feel like a vampire. Her senses told her to be wary but that she wasn’t in danger. Her senses had definitely been refined over the years…especially since she had first started. She could still remember the shallow girl she was back in Los Angeles who wouldn’t have known danger if it came up to her and shook her hand, introducing itself as such. That same girl would have also never have given her life to save another’s…because she hadn’t known that she had it inside her. She was what people around her wanted her to be, which was one of the only reasons that the Watcher’s Council had been able to convince her that she was needed.

She could still remember the first time she had set out with Merrick in order for him to show her what a vampire looked like. He had asked her to try and sense it…and even though they were in a cemetery around a freshly dug grave, she still hadn’t known what he was talking about. She hadn’t understood what he meant until the vampire attacked her (yes, her back was to the freshly dug grave). Even after she had moved to Sunnydale, Giles had told her to sense them. She had used her keen observation for fashion to pick out a vampire trying to lure Willow into his grasp, not her senses as she had been told. Granted, it worked for her, but that hadn’t been what her new watcher had been talking about.

Now she had gotten better. She could sense when a vampire was near, and if she was close enough could even sometimes sense if they were new or old. During a fight it was plainly clear if a vampire was fairly new, or if they were older such as Angel and Spike. However sometimes one needed to sense that before a fight started so one could be better prepared, and that was what she had been working on recently.

She listened quietly, her footsteps becoming softer until she was almost walking silently. She turned quickly and stared into the face of a girl holding a stake. She quirked her eyebrow, her hands across her chest in a calm pose. She didn’t know this girl, so she wasn’t one of hers…and yet she was patrolling? Hm…something told her she didn’t know something and that always tended to annoy her. “Well, I’m seeing three options here. One…you are dressed for Halloween. Two, stakes really have become protection instead of mace…or Three, you know what goes on at night somehow. I’m going to guess option three, but you know, I was never very good at guessing games.” She stated, waiting to see how the girl would reply.

Word Count:: 479
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: None at the moment.

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[nora]

The woman didn't seem to pose any immediate threat, so Nora climbed to her feet, moving in a very long practiced ease in the small heels. Letting the stake drop a little, but not holstering it away she looked the woman standing before her up and down before replying, taking the time to remove the lollipop from her mouth and actually gesturing with it a little in the hand that was covered in the leather and claws, her right hand.

"Alright, then I'll take all of the guess work out of it. One at least I look good enough to be traipsing about in this like it's Halloween. Two, mace has become cliché, everyone's expecting it, no one's expecting pointy wooden stick. Three: I know a lot of things that go on at night. Drunken parties, piles of naughty debauchery and you know heaping helpings of evil and their minions scouring the darkness for their particular type of innocent to snack on or sacrifice." Nora smiled sweetly at the blond as she put the candy back between her lips, the pile of Welshie accent that issued from her mouth adding to that layer of snark.

Amethyst colored eyes flicked down the fashion ratty jeans and white top clear down to the heels that were actually taller and thinner then Nora's. Despite them it was obvious that, were they both flat foot, Nora would end up being a few inches taller then the woman. She was also giving off a particular twinge, it wasn't a demonic type twinge, but a twinge none the same.
"So who are you supposed to be exactly?"



::stop:: Notes
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: None
::you're it:: Buffy
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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The blonde slayer let out a small laugh when the girl took the lollipop out of her mouth, reminded clearly of the first day she was called as she had to do the same thing. She had learned her lesson the first few months after patrolling the cemeteries and almost choking on the more than a couple lollipops not to actually patrol with them in her mouth anymore. Clearly this girl hadn’t learned that lesson yet. It didn’t matter either way, but it was still something that made her laugh at the innocent reminder of her early days as the slayer.

“Number One, give you credit there. Number two, it's actually funny you should say that because in all actuality people are starting to expect pointy wooden sticks anymore. Now an axe, that's what they don't expect. Number three, you're forgetting about vandalism, kidnapping and illegal drag races...however I'll give you points for effort." She replied back with a smirk. She didn't know why but she had a feeling she was going to like this woman which was rare since she was not the type she would like. However the fact that she didn't immediately start stuttering or anything along those lines called to the blonde.

“As for who I am…” She stated, trailing off, trying to think about how she would answer that question. She knew how to keep her cover a lot better now than she did back in Sunnydale when she had first started. She knew that realistically this girl most likely knew what the slayer was since she was carrying around a stake…however that could easily be a really good disguise. She let her senses out, feeling nothing but a certain twinge that said she was of supernatural origin so to speak, yet she wasn’t a vampire or a demon. “I would have thought you would have guessed it by now…I’m the slayer.” She told her, not giving away the fact that there was more than one now. It wouldn’t have mattered either way since she still technically was ‘the slayer’ (along with Faith) but still…better to be safe than sorry…at least when it came to the untrained girls.

She tended not to trust anyone when it came to the younger potentials who it was her job to train. She wanted to make sure they were protected as much as possible, and that was why she kept them to herself. If this girl truly was one of them (though how that was possible she didn't know) then she would inform her of the changes when she knew she could trust her.

Word Count:: 470
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: Sorry this was such a short post. I all of a sudden got bombarded with them and need to get caught up.

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[nora]

She hadn't jumped immediately on the defensive but rather just shot back with a similar tone. Nice. This conversation was looking up.

"To be fair, you missed a couple too, but let's try to keep this conversation G-rated, hm?"While the smile and the tone were flirtatious, it was obvious that she wasn't actively flirting with the blond. "And if that's what everybody's doing now I'm just going to have to try and up the ante, won't I?" She asked, flexing the hand with it's metal claws a little, she hadn't been hiding it at all during this entire exchange. Nora waited patiently while the blond either made up her mind or a lie. At this point she was willing to guess either way. The claim of being the Slayer was not quite a shock, but the fact that that was all she'd called herself kept Nora on edge.

Not to mention the fact that Nora was sitting here on a very particular power boost herself that she could only equate to one thing, okay well two but she didn't remember making any deals with demons in order to garner greater strength, agility, regeneration, reflexes. Also the dreams of other girls through-out history barely out of their teens who were fighting monsters that echoed through her nightmares on bad nights, those were pretty distinctive as well.

"Name and Watcher or I'm calling on your bullshit."

The last thing that Nora was planning on doing was falling to her knees and fawning over some woman with an early on-set mid-life crisis who decided that she wanted to play supernatural superhero. Not that she was planning on dropping to her knees if she was telling the truth either, but still the word Watcher would let someone who was legit know that she knew what she was talking about, but she still kept it vague enough that someone who was just playing pretend wouldn't be able to keep up.

Rebecca had been a good Watcher for the time that she had her granddaughter. Nora had sat up late at night with a flashlight with her grandmother's copies of her diaries, reading herself to sleep with tales of girls who'd come before her. Girls who most's names had been completely lost to history and time. While she may have missed a few since the last time it had been updated, there had been whispers about a hiccup in the line that caused there to be two Slayers around the time her Grandmother had passed away.



::stop:: Kinda short, but I think this is going fast enough that it works!
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: None
::you're it:: Buffy!
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She laughed softly when the girl stated that they should keep the conversation G rated. It was true, she could have said a lot worse, but for all intents and purposes she was now an adult and had a feeling that there were times that she needed to act like it...and this was one of those times. Though if it would have been someone she knew she might have made a pun or two, however she kept them to herself. "I guess you'll have to get a bit more creative." She stated with a shrug. "Then again in a town like this having any fun takes creativity. Trust me, the town I came from before this was like that too." She told her, thinking of Sunnydale and how limited it was in all things 'fun'...unless you're type of fun was killing vampires...then you could never have enough.

Buffy quirked an eyebrow at the woman who asked her for her name and her watcher’s name. Hmm…seems she did know a thing or two about the way the world worked. She could have lied, could have easily given a fake name, but what was the point of that. The blonde slayer wasn’t afraid of the girl, no matter what she did or said…she knew she could take her. Buffy wasn’t someone who was usually cocky. She had been killed twice and beaten several times…but that didn’t mean she didn’t know her own strength. She knew that out of all the slayers, she was the strongest. The only one who came close was Faith and even then, the times that they had fought, the blonde had usually won. Faith may pack more power behind a punch, but she herself was more creative and most of the time that’s what got her out of the messes she got herself into.

“Buffy Summers.” She stated bluntly. “And while I truly haven’t had a fully instated watcher in the past two years being that I’m the oldest living slayer, my watcher’s name when I was called was Merrick, and after he was killed Rupert Giles took over. There was also a brief period where Wesley Wyndam-Pryce was my watcher but we clearly didn’t work out very well.” She told her with an innocent smile, though anyone who knew her could see that she was being a bit snotty.

“Now, let’s answer my questions shall we. Who the hell are you?” She asked, dropping all pretenses and getting down to business. She was usually the one asking the questions and she wanted that control back.

Word Count:: 460
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: Ugh, this was an even shorter post than my last one. Lol. Sorry, am trying to study for an exam.

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[nora]

Okay... it seemed as though she were starting to try to bond. Mutual understanding of childhood play areas... hate to burst her bubble...

"I'm not from around here. I'm just passing through." As if the accent wasn't a dead give away, but apparently it wasn't. But she seemed momentarily taken aback by the request of the Slayer equivalent of name, rank and serial number. Make sure you check out with HQ, too bad Watcher HQ was in many little pieces of bloody rubble. Both literally and figuratively. So really that was a waste except to help make sure that you weren't talking to an impostor.

But the name rang a bell, Buffy only mildly, she felt like maybe once upon a time she'd heard it mentioned. This was the hiccup Slayer. The one who'd died and come back several times and buggered everything up for those who came after her, like Kendra or even Faith Lehane who was the current reigning Slayer. But rather the name of several of her Watchers.

"My grandmother knew the grandmother of your Mr. Giles. She worked under her rule as head of the Council." She offered in lue of her earlier attempt at friendship, voice a little softer. It always was when discussing Rebecca, the woman had been Watcher, Mother and Grandmother all rolled into one for her and it still hurt that she'd been taken away so soon.

"My name is Anora James and I originally was training to be a future Potential." We'll see just what types of information she'll give with just that bait on the hook.

Had something happened to Faith? Is that why Nora'd been called? Had something happened to the Slayer? It seemed strange that something would happen to the current Slayer, but this woman was still up and about. Seemingly quite powerful considering how she held herself, almost as if nothing could touch her. Nora waited patiently for the woman to respond, however she was planning on responding.



::stop:: Notes
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: Stil the Rain
::you're it:: Buffy!
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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Her eyes widened a bit when the young woman stated that her grandmother had worked under Giles' grandmother. That was a bit odd because of the age difference but then again what wasn't odd in her life. She didn't make a comment but filed it away for further research later. She also mentally added the girl's name, Anora James, wanting to check in with Giles later and ask him if he could look at the Watcher's Council's old records to see if there was a woman with the last names James within the council. She knew it was a long shot because of how common the name 'James' was and because of marriage and last name changes, but she could still check. It made her feel better rather than do nothing.

Alright, something wasn't right here. If she had been training as a potential why hadn't the coven of seers brought her name forward before. Also why hadn't she been sent to Sunnydale while the first was attacking. She knew that realistically she hadn't gotten all the potential potentials because of bringers and the first trying to catch them, but she hadn't realized that there were a few that had been left uncalled. That annoyed her and gave her another reason to hate the former watcher's council. It also added Giles to her list of people she was annoyed at but tapped that down, noting that she would deal with it later.

"Alright so if you were training to be a future potential, why haven't we heard of you? We activated all the potentials about 9 months ago and have had a coven of seers attempting to find them all...so why haven't you been called yet?" She asked, explaining a bit about why she had received slayer powers and not even realizing she was doing it. She knew she was giving out a bit more information than necessary but she felt like in order to get the answers she craved she needed to give out a bit more than she was comfortable with.

Something wasn't right, something wasn't adding up. How this girl knew what was going on and yet had technically never been called...didn't make a lick of sense to her. It annoyed her not to have the answers and she wanted nothing more than to demand the answers she craved, but she knew she couldn't. She had made that mistake when she first met Faith and it had ended in disaster. She wouldn't make that mistake again.

So she waited oh so patiently, or pretended to at least, to see what the young girl would say.

Word Count:: 476
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: I’m going to stop apologizing for short posts. Lol. Since it’s all I can see to bust out the past week with how busy I’ve been.

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[nora]

As the information that she'd handed over processed through Buffy's mind, Nora waited patiently. This was it. This would answer all of her questions. They'd see just what tat Buffy would give for Nora's tit... That... didn't come out right. I'm so glad it didn't come out of my mouth!

Why hadn't they heard of her? There was never any indication which Potential would be called when one died. What a stupid questi-

It wasn't often that an actual thought was interrupted, but when Buffy finished speaking, Nora actually felt her brain screech to a grinding halt and a very strange knot form in the base of her stomach.

Activated...

Seers...

Not called...

Amethyst eyes stared at Buffy as if she'd just told her something a lot more dire then what the blond believed she had. The seamstress felt as though she'd been punched in the stomach. She hadn't expected them to have heard of her; if her file even had survived the attack on the Council she would have been no less then shocked. But this... No maybe she'd misunderstood her, that was all. There was no way someone would...

"A-activated? Wh-what do you mean, activated?" Her voice was very guarded, not angry, not yet.

While it was nothing but pain and blood and an automatic sentence of death in some horrible gruesome way usually within a very short period of time, being Called as the Slayer still meant something. It was still a bit of an honor even as it was the honor of dying for a cause. It was still more then most people even dreamed of having.

Laying in bed at night, one of her grandmother's diaries or text under her pillow, Nora had always believed that Slayers were a lot like stars. They suddenly appeared at the death of another, they burned really hot and really bright while supplying the world with just that little bit of extra light in the darkness, but almost as soon as anyone noticed that particular light, it had already been snuffed out and replaced with such a similar light that few even noticed was different then the last.

The thought of that little bit being taken away made Nora almost physically sick to her stomach. The thought of someone being so arrogant as to do something that took that decision out of the hands of the Powers that Be and raping the Destinies of hundreds, if not Thousands of girls; some young, some old, but all cheated out of something that was supposed to be such a huge deal and to have that type of power passed out like 'Everyone's a Winner' ribbons at a baseball game... it seemed wrong. There had to be some explanation, something that made this okay. Something.

"What did you do?"




::stop:: Notes
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: Playlist
::you're it:: Buffy
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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Clearly the young girl had no idea what was going on and she had a feeling that once she found out she was not going to be happy. “Starting about a year and a half ago the slayer line was targeted. A lot of potential slayers died; their watchers as well. Bringers, which are harbingers of The First were seeking them out and attacking them. Because of the fact that since they hadn’t been activated they didn’t have the strength that a slayer receives once being called they were no match for the bringers and they were slaughtered. No one realized what they were doing at first, though I’ll leave my opinions as to why for another time.” She stated, glaring at the ground at the thought of Quentin Travers and the other incompetent people who used to hold up the Watcher’s Council.

“Anyway, the bringers were attacking the potentials. Finally the Watcher’s Council seemed to realize this and started letting the watchers who were raising their potential slayers know about what was going on. Unfortunately they weren’t able to contact many of them before the Watcher’s Council itself was blown up while they were in session, effectively killing most of the council and destroying all of the council’s resources. “ She continued. “Luckily for us my watcher, Rupert Giles, or Giles as we call him, was also aware of the problem and had snuck into the council a few weeks before hand and had gotten out a few books that we needed before the council was blown up. We had come into contact with the brings and The First a few years prior so we knew a bit about what we were up against, though we were naive about how powerful it was at the time.”

She took a deep breath, trying to think of how much to explain. “Giles came to Sunnydale with three potentials, though more were slowly finding their way to us. The First otherwise known as The First Evil was trying to essentially end the slayer line. Kill all the potentials, the watcher’s council so they couldn’t make more, then Faith and then me. We tried to find as many potentials as we could to keep them safe but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. We ended up going to battle against The First and right before it stated my best friend who is an extremely powerful witch used a slayer artifact to activate all the living potentials, bestowing them with the same strength that each slayer has once they are activated. So essentially there are over a hundred slayers that were activated on that day, we just haven’t found them all yet.” She told her. “We are working on finding them and giving them a choice that none of the older slayers were ever offered. They are not forced into helping or fighting, they are given a choice. The same one I will give you though I have a feeling I know what you’re answer is going to be.” She explained, and waited for her reaction.

Word Count:: 548
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: I’m going to stop apologizing for short posts. Lol. Since it’s all I can see to bust out the past week with how busy I’ve been.

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[nora]

"The reason why is because the Council went to shit after Travers decided to get his hotshot ass involved in anything." Nora interrupted, needing to say something to cover up the fist-in-her-stomach feeling. Bringers, the First Evil, what the hell? They were stories; not even, they were whispers through the winds of legend. Let alone their actually coming to form and wreaking havoc on a Hellmouth? Hundreds of Potentials getting slaughtered, many even without knowing the possible route that their Destiny could take?

The completely calm way that Buffy was talking about all of this also made Nora feel very strange, these were her sisters, these were young girls or mothers or hell even old women who were being slaughtered like animals and Buffy spoke about it as though it were as worrisome as some troubling weather. Granted the possibility of this merely being a defence mechanism against horrors crossed Nora's mind, but the thought of being so cold, ever, so jaded in the world made the little Steampunk sick. Even though everything she'd been through in her own life, loosing her grandmother, having no where to belong and being beaten down, usually literally or just even being made fun of because she stood out against the dreary backdrop of a socially accepted 'normal' life was heartbreaking. She never wanted to be that.

Then came the part that Nora's purple colored eyes widened immensely as Buffy spoke, watching the woman as a snake watches a mongoose. Activated all of the potentials with a Slayer artifact? All of them? There were thousands of potentials the last time Nora had checked, even if many of them had gotten killed, there were still thousands. Ooops, guess we missed a couple? What what this?

"So what you're telling me," Nora's voice was low and careful, accent easily understandable with the deliberate way that she was speaking, "Is that you managed to simultaneously rape the Destinies and very souls of not a hundreds like you think, but much closer to thousands of women, not just girls. Just because you grow up doesn't make it that you aren't a Slayer any more. There is at least one Mother out there who managed to hurt her child because you decided to help just as she went to comfort them." Nora's hands started to clench, it was the only real sign of her fury, her tone was still very deliberate, but passionate.

"Instead of destroying the Slayer Line you made it almost worthless. You turned it into a weapon of your own design. There's a woman sitting in a nursing home right now who can't even remember her own name who can bend steel with her bare hands. And 'Ooops, we're still trying to find them'? Is that what you're telling me? You've made your own little Army now, does that make you happy?"

Nora had never felt more worthless then she did right this second. She actually let her eyes fall shut and took a deep breath, hoping that the cool air circulating into her body would settle the rolling burn of rage and nausea that decided to take up residence in her stomach. Everything she'd dreamt about, being the One was all null now. Of having purpose and meaning. Of well maybe something bad had happened to her foster father because she'd been called but at least she could make a difference, she could make up for the stain on her own soul by making things a little bit better in the world.

"Are you proud of yourself?"



::stop:: Notes
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: None
::you're it:: Buffy
::the credit:: Jess

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She couldn’t help it, she truly couldn’t, she knew it was really unlady like and really immature but she simply had to let it out. A large snort left her mouth before she busted up laughing. Her laughter was louder than it should have been being that it night time and in a graveyard, but she couldn’t help it. What she just said sounded exactly like something she herself had said many times before and for some reason it just made her day that someone else agreed that Quentin Travers was a dumbass who just was power mad.

“Okay, I think even after this insane meeting I’m going to like you.” She told the girl after her laughter had settled down and she wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Quentin was someone that I could never get along with, no matter how hard I tried. The man tried to kill me twice and has screwed a lot of my friends and my life itself up more times than I can count. He withheld information from me more times than I can count and it resulted in my boyfriend almost dying, my mother almost dying and my sister almost dying. Needless to say I don’t have the fondest memories of him. However with that being said he’s dead now so I guess I should let it go…but I still cannot say I miss him.” She stated, standing up straighter as her stomach finally stopped hurting from her laughter.

Okay, so maybe she had spoken too soon. She glared at the girl. "Actually no, that's not what I'm telling you. For one thing, we were only supposed to awaken those potential slayers who were trying to fight with us to give them a damn fighting chance. It wasn't our intention to awaken the whole slayer line. WITH THAT BEING SAID you need to remember something sweetheart... If I wouldn't have done this the world would have fucking ended...so do not act like you know what you are talking about. Now, if you'll chill out and listen to me then maybe you'll understand." She told her before taking a deep breath.

"I am not making my own army. If it was my choice I would have had all the potentials memories wiped and would have continued on doing the job myself Unfortunately even my best friend who is one of the most powerful witches in the world isn't that powerful. I give the girls a choice if they want to help or not. I explain what we are and what we do. If they want to help, I train them at the school. If they don't, they won't remember the conversation and they go on living their lives. And for your information I at least give them a damn choice, it was more than I ever got. I died twice for the world and have saved it more than you can ever imagine so don't tell me that I don't know what I'm doing." She told her, glaring at the young girl.

Word Count:: 531
Tag:: Anora James
Outfit:: Click for Buffy’s outfit
Note:: These two are going to kill each other. Lol

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[nora]

"Okay, I'll give you that you were doing your job, saving the world. Did you ever think to make it temporary? Add an extra line to your incantation? I'll admit, I lost a little bit of my temper just now, but that being said, thanks to your slip up, half a world away, I killed a man because of this whole nightmare. He might have been a complete dick and deserved to rot in jail playing bitch to a very large lifer; but that doesn't mean he deserved to die from his entire ribcage collapsing in and puncturing all of his organs." The little bi-polar attitude flip didn't bother her, she'd seen it coming. Nora was panting a little, realising the absurdity of how it looked with the pair of them at each other's throats in the middle of a cemetery,

"Wait, wait, wait... memories wiped? What kind of memory wipe? So their choices are either forget everything and spend all of their time trying to keep this kind of power under control and not knowing where it comes from? Or get shipped off to a school where it's really easy to get lost in the shuffle?" There was a boiling pit deep in Nora's stomach that she hadn't let lose, ever. She'd held tight to it and formed the heat and pressure into a diamond that at times ripped apart her insides if she paid it too much attention. But the diamond was cracking around the edges and Nora couldn't bring herself to care this time.

"I know your entire history up until my grandmother passed and I stopped being able to get updates, sure you've been the Slayer longer then anyone in the history of our Line. There are girls who only lasted a few minutes after being Called. You've done a great job, sure, I'll give you that. But I'm sorry, I've got a little bit of stock in this whole situation. I've dreamed of being the Slayer for my entire life. I'm well aware of statistically and realistically exactly how short my life would be and the chances of my actually making a difference, so don't bother trying to lecture or think that I'm just a child with rose-colored glasses a pipe-dream who doesn't understand how the 'real world' works. I've read the Line backwards and forwards, I've memoried Slayer histories the way that some girls my age memorized boy-band members." Nora paused, her breath coming out in short bursts now; remembering to breath through her lungs instead of her diaphragm because of the corset or she'd end up passing out.

"I get that you're doing the best you fucking can, alright? But forgive me for being a little pissed off at how these bones got thrown down."



::stop:: I'm so so so so sorry I'm late!!
::look:: Outfit
::listen:: Watching Angel
::you're it:: Buffy
::the credit:: Jess

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