Belle of the Ball (OPEN)

[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She laughed at the comment about her predecessors. “Yeah, vampire slayers are an okay group I guess.” She stated, shrugging her shoulders. Really she couldn’t’ say whether or not they were since the only slayers she knew other than the ones she was training were Faith, Kendra, herself and the first slayer which tried to kill her in her sleep…so really what could she say to that? She had heard about Wood’s mother but he never really went into much detail about her since he still wasn’t thrilled with the fact that his mother’s killer was a good friend of hers.

“They tend to be a bit of a hard headed bunch but you know, a lot of people are like that so all in all, not a bad group of girls.” She stated, thinking about the potentials in her house at the moment and how most of them were more stubborn than anyone she had ever met. Granted she should have realized this was a slayer trait since she and Faith were two of the most stubborn individuals ever as far as she was concerned, but it had never really occurred to her until she had met some of the other girls back in Sunnydale that it might not be a coincidence so much as a trait that one must have in order to be a slayer.

Her laughter rang out at the thought of tequila making someone ski. "I can't imagine trying to ski sober let alone trying to ski drunk...that would be a scary sight." She said through her laughter, trying not to think of how many ways she could hurt herself or someone else, drunk, on a pair of skis. “Luckily for me tequila doesn’t really do anything to me, beer on the other hand tends to make me lose my mind…tequila just gets me drunk.” She answered honestly, refusing to think about her one million years B.C. beer trip.

Thank god none of her friends had a camera in those days which meant there had never been any black mail photos around.

She smiled sadly and shook her head. “I’m not like most slayers. A lot of them are stake first, ask questions later…but that’s not me.” She answered honestly. “I’m not exactly what you would call conventional. My best friend is a witch, another friend of mine is a vampire, hell the love of my life is a vampire…so trust me when I say, I’m not a trigger happy slayer so to speak. As long as I don’t catch you trying to kill someone or hurt someone, you won’t have any problems with me.” She answered.

Word Count:: 455
Tag:: Jacob!
Outfit:: Click here for Buffy’s Outfit!
Note:: -----------

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[jacob]

All of the possible ploys that this could have been ran around in his head. Maybe she had known the entire time that he was a demon, and this had been some ruse for him to follow, and she was actually here to string him up by his ankles in public to make an example of him. Of course, he had to remind himself that they didn't do that kind of thing anymore... Oddly enough, for all the advances made in the world, the acceptance of the supernatural seemed to be something that was losing ground. Make when he was a kid, everyone knew about the ghosts that haunted the plains and the demons that lurked at crossroads. People believed in holy water and crosses without a doubt. Back in his day, someone like Buffy would be heralded as somewhat of a local hero, at least. The age of skepticism was doing nothing to protect people against the paranormal.

To add to everything, when it came to auras or general feelings or the like, Buffy was definately "bigger than him." It was like what happens when a bird looks down on a spider. Sure, the spider can put up a good fight, and might be able to even land a good blow on the bird, but at the end of the day, if that bird really wanted to eat the spider, there was nothing the spider could do about it. Jacob was nothing but a servitor demon who had been able to escape being a butt monkey for the last few decades. God (*flinch*) forgive that someone ever tried to use his powers for the general bad will of mankind again...

When Buffy said that she was not like other Slayers, Jacob was relieved. He was lucky enough to have never come across one such as her in his life, but stories spread. The boogeyman legend for demon. "Eat all your vegetables, little Timmy, or the Slayer will come and get you!" If half of the things he heard were half true, this woman could wrap him around a telephone pole like a bow. His shoulders relaxed instantly, though it was clear that his nerves were still a little shot.

A pile of coasters sitting off to the side had been found by his wandering hands subconsciously. It was a nervous tick, and usually this would be at the mercy of a deck of cards, but these were right here. His hands needing something to do, he started turning a coaster in his fingers, upwards, and under, and over and down. It twisted, almost in the way that a street magician would in a close card trick. Really, it was something for his fingers to do. "Let me tell you, I am so relieved to heard you say that. I thought I was looking death in the face there for a moment!

"I don't want no trouble, honestly, ma'am. I'm not gonna run my sob story by you if you don't wanna hear it, but I try to be one of the good guys, I really do..." Their orders arrived, but Jacob did little to touch his drink, though the salt and the lime were a siren song for his head. Jacob didn't mind getting drunk, if only it didn't take so much work to do it these days. It seemed like the older he got, the more resilient he got. Ah, well... Probably that "power with age and wisdom" that the shamans had spoken so highly about.

"...But maybe you're the answer to my prayers then, yeah? I really want to... help. Make a difference." Ever since he had tried to stop that clear exploitation of the woman in the bar some nights ago, the one that earned him toss into a bar mirror, Jacob had felt the need to not just stand by and let things happen anymore, but to really try to do something. But short of being a masked vigilante in the streets of Mystic Falls, he didn't know what to do. "Got a need for a demon sidekick?" he asked, grin large, joking about the phrasing, but not about his want for involvement.

::stop:: Recruit me? *grin*
::look:: 709 word count
::listen:: Fireplace
::you're it:: Buffy, OPEN
::the credit:: Jess <3

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She noted his hands going to a set of coasters and it reminded her of something that someone would do with a deck of cards. She guessed it was a nervous habit, to which she knew all to well. Her fingers were always twiddling with a stake and if she didn’t have one available she would mess with her necklace, no matter which one she had on. She understood nervous habits quite well, for even if she didn’t have anything to fiddle with, she’d mess with her hands. She smiled at the gesture and looked around for a moment to see if she could find a deck of cards, though found none.

She set out a pout on her beautiful face, though it was clearly joking. “Are you saying my face looks like death? Maybe I should go powder my nose.” She stated, her voice taking on a mock prissy sound at the end of it before letting out a giggle, something she rarely did these days. It seemed her life had gone from one thing to the other recently so it was nice to simply relax before heading home and dealing with god only knew what when she got there.

She nodded respectfully at his statement about his sob story. “I’m a good listener but I also won’t pry if you don’t want to tell me.” She stated honestly. “Like I said, I’m perfectly fine with the good guys as long as they are truly the good guys, no matter what species they are.” Before grinning. “However if you call me ma’am one more time I might change my tune.” She told him with a wink.

His question about a demon sidekick made her laugh, which sounded loud to her but after looking around she noted no one was paying them attention so assumed it wasn’t as loud as it sounded in her head. It wasn’t the wording that was funny, more the picture that accompanied the words in her mind. She briefly thought of herself in a black leotard with an ‘S’ on the front of it while Jacob, who was matching her by the way had a ‘D’ on it. Yeah, her mind was a scary place to be sometimes, she would be the first to admit that.

“I’m not sure about the side kick thing as my friend’s might get jealous of being replaced, though I would never call any of them my sidekick. However I do work for an organization who trains girls like me to protect themselves and I am always looking for people to help me with that. Like I said I have a couple vampires who help out in order to teach them how to fight against vampires, instead of just fighting against each other. However I don’t have a demon to work with me. Think you’re up to it?”

Word Count:: 491
Tag:: Jacob!
Outfit:: Click here for Buffy’s Outfit!
Note:: -----------

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[jacob]

The comment about being a sidekick was a genuine one. Jacob really didn't see himself as much of a hero. In fact, he couldn't recall a single time in his life where he charged in, head first, for the daring actions that Champions were so well known for. Scuffles didn't count. He was talking about the big life changing events that the world offered up. He was never really present for them, unless you counted the oodles of tornados that just loved to follow him around...

The fact that Buffy seemed to be leaning towards actually letting him help was a bit of a surprise. He wasn't used to people trusting him... not when it seemed to be happening so often lately. Granted, there had been Anya, and while he left her with one of his blessings, he felt that she was somehow disconnected from him, like she was not willing to be genuine. Then there had been that vampire, Kol... Jacob certainly hoped that he was still stinging from the curse he laid on him. He did not know what he thought of Katherine... She had looked so concerned and hurt, but was still willing to kill those people. Still, he had been in the same position. Life was rough for demons at the bottom of the totem pole.

But then there was Orion. So wonderful, so willing to be open, even if it hurt him. It almost seemed like he was actually willing to love him, if only the amount of time they knew each other didn't make the "L" word a scary thing. It would be too quick to say that kind of thing after knowing each other so long, right? Right? And then there was Buffy, and while he felt nothing romantic and tantric of the Slayer, he did feel a warmness in the way she treated him. It was trust.

"R-Really?" he balked. "You'd... trust me like that? I mean, yes! I wanna help! As far as fighting is concerned, I'm good in a brawl. Not so much super strong or fast, but.. well, you can see I can take a hitting and keep on licking! And I have some weakness that people might be able to exploit. I can be a great punching bag!" He smiled, realizing that he was coming out a little too eager for someone who was being offer to be wailed on by a punch of girls training to take down those of his kin. He wasn't like those demons, though. Sure he sold his soul... but he didn't want to be damned through lack of action.

::stop:: YAY! Sign me up, boss!
::look:: 449 word count
::listen:: The Other Side, by Bruno Mars featuring Cee Lo Green and B.O.B.
::you're it:: Buffy, OPEN
::the credit:: Jess <3

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[Buffy Anne Summers]

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She grinned a genuine grin when Jacob seemed to be surprised at her approval for him to help her. “Jacob, I’ve got a pretty good sense about people…and I feel like you’re genuine. Besides, like I said, my best friend’s a witch, and the man that I would die for is a vampire with a soul…and I’m a twice resurrected vampire slayer. I have no place to judge.” She stated with a grin. “Besides, we could always use a really good punching bag. I’ve broken more than one in the past couple of months and the girls tend to get annoyed when they can’t hit things.” She followed up with a wink.

She looked down at her cell phone when she felt it vibrate and groaned when she realized it was her alarm. She was supposed to meet Angel and Willow in twenty minutes to go over a bunch of random crap that she knew she wouldn’t understand…however since she was the one who had to execute most of it she had to be there. She really had enjoyed her time with Jacob and didn’t want to leave, but unfortunately the life of a slayer was always on the run.

Sliding her cell phone back in her pocket she took out the twenty that Jacob had put somehow in her pocket and slapped it on the bar. “Listen, I have to get going. My friends are meeting me and we’ve got sort of a time sensitive issue that I’ve got to deal with.” She told him, not going into the details as there were too many ears around and she didn’t need anything getting back to Glory. Pulling out her card from her pocket (she had them made for times like these as she had gotten mighty sick of having to write her cell number and address down on a piece of paper. “This is my number and my address. Give me a call sometime this week and we can get together and talk about you being a human punching bag.” She told him with a grin, hoping he knew she was just kidding.
Well, sort of.

Downing the rest of her drink she picked up her jacket and gave the demon a friendly wave before disappearing within the crowd. Things had gotten intense over the past few days and it had been nice to relax with someone who wasn’t in the thick of things. She had also made a new ally and hopefully a new friend.

Which she could always use more of both.

Word Count:: 490

Tag:: Jacob!
Outfit:: Click here for Buffy’s Outfit!
Note:: I figured we could end the thread here and then when Buffy comes back to life again we could have them meet up. It would be a great story for Buffy to tell Jacob . Let me know if you want to post once more or if you’re cool with me closing it.

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[ADMIN ASHLEY]