Characters of a Minor Sort (jesschars) wrote in btvsal, @ 2011-03-18 20:12:00 |
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Current location: | The Hyperion |
Current mood: | calm |
Entry tags: | gabriel burgess, melaka fray |
Making Friends
Who: Melaka and Gabriel
Where: The Hyperion
When: March 11, Afternoon
Maybe Gabriel had finally drunk it out of himself, or maybe he had finally beaten a punching bag half to death enough, but today Gabriel was doing a good bit better than he had been. When he ran into Kayla again, he was going to let her know that, if she was ready, they could continue their training like normal. It hadn't been that long since they had split up, but maybe he was just finally in an OK headspace. Today, instead of working out like a madman, he was flipping through one of the old Watcher's diaries. One thing that had helped him move on a little from Kayla? Reading the diary of other Watchers who had also fallen for their Slayers. It helped to see how others had gotten through their relationships, or lack there of. It made him feel like he at least wasn't alone.
Lately, Mel had gotten into the habit of just wandering around The Hyperion. She'd been told to talk to one of the Watchers about getting a new identity, or possibly a job, so she'd have to look into that at some point. She hated feeling like a mooch, and more than that, she hated standing still for any length of time. She smirked faintly when she spotted Gabriel and made her way over to him. "It occurs to me that I didn't get your name last time."
Gabriel looked up at her with a slight smile. "It's Gabriel," he said to her. He had actually heard about her name from some of the other Watchers and Slayers wandering around the place. "Amusingly enough, my mother named me after the archangel." Well, it had always made him laugh. He marked his place in the book and set it aside. "How are you doing today?"
Mel's mother had been religious. So, she got the reference. "It's a good name. Not as good as 'Melaka', though," she grinned. She couldn't remember why she'd been given that name, but she was proud of it, nevertheless. "I'm doing good. I got to go to Alaska last week, which was about 10 different kinds of awesome." She gradually made her way over and plopped down into a seat next to him. "What about you?"
"Not sure any name is as good as Melaka," he teased. It was an interesting name. He may ask her about it at some point when they got to know each other a little better. "Alaska? Did the Slayer that you and Faith went to see come back with you?" he asked. "And I'm doing OK today. Feeling a little calmer than when you last saw me."
"Nah. She's playing hard to get," Mel nodded, and since she wasn't the type to hold back, she added: "Pretty sure that she thought we wanted to have sex with her too, which was kinda funny. I'm guessing people being promiscuous is pretty standard here, huh?" She crossed one leg under her thigh to stop from fidgeting and looked him over. "You look calmer. I can tell 'cause you're not all," she made a cute little frowny face, "'grr'."
He actually couldn't help but laugh at her observation that people were promiscuous here. "Well, it seems to be pretty standard in LA," he admitted. "At least with the younger generation." Gabriel himself was starting to push forty. Not quite the same generation as Mel, even if she WAS from this time. "Yeah, not quite as 'grr' as before," he said, making the face back at her.
"If you'd seen half the men back home, you'd understand why that idea doesn't really appeal to me," she admitted, thinking of Kettie Rawls. Just looking at him turned her off completely. There was also the lack of hygiene thing that bothered her as well, but mercifully, she didn't go into detail. She giggled when he made that face, a surprisingly sweet sound for someone who appeared so tough. "That's cute. And good, I think. I mean, I don't mind aggression or anger, but it's nice to see you like this."
He nodded. "From what I'm told, the men here are a lot more attractive than in the rest of the country," he said. He really couldn't tell, for obvious reasons. "It's nice to be feeling a bit better, actually," he admitted with a chuckle.
"Well, things are looking up!" She chuckled, MOSTLY joking there. "Yeah. And there are a HELL of a lot worse things that you could have done instead of going to town on that punching bag," she pointed out. She'd certainly started a few bar fights when she was in a mood, after all.
"Yes, like trying to drink my liver completely into oblivion," he said with a slight smile. "I tried that a little, too. I'm lucky I have a good constitution."
"You... surprise me," she admitted. "My first Watcher set himself on fire and the... unofficial one killed my best friend, so you're like this new quantity that I can't figure out."
"Well...I have no intention of killing anyone or setting myself on fire, so I guess I'm full of surprises," he joked. "May I ask why your Watcher would have done such a thing?"
"He seemed to think that it would be a good motivator," Mel grumbled with a roll of her eyes. Sure, it got her to do the job, but that's not the point. "I wouldda done what I had to eventually, but he decided to kill a kid. In what world is that right?"
"That is...beyond freaky," he said, using a word that he had heard Kayla and the other Slayers use a lot. "I am fairly certain that Mr. Giles wouldn't let anyone in who did something like that now, though." He was pretty sure that he had them psychologically evaluated or something before being given a Slayer.
"That's something," she replied with a nod. Clearly it was a concern of hers that while in a different time and place, it was still able to happen HERE. "We should probably tell him that that's something that should be kept in check. Apparently you all go crazy down the line. Or... maybe things will be different now. I'm not sure how it works."
"Frankly, there are so many people from so many different time lines here now that it's hard to keep straight," he admitted. "We have a whole set of people who are...basically the children of *US*...not me exactly, but us in general..." It got confusing after a while. "I'll make sure to tell Mr. Giles that the Watcher line should have a major eye kept on it for immolators."
"Wow. Yeah. I can see how that can be a mind-fuck after a while," Mel said after a moment. She was quick to accept her new surroundings, mind you, but... that wasn't to say that people wouldn't have trouble accepting HER. "I'd appreciate that," she giggled. "It was the strangest rutting thing I've seen in my life, and frankly, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."
"Sadly, I'm almost used to it by now," he admitted. "People from a possible future have almost because just another supernatural type thing we deal with," he said, giving her a smile. "And that's something that no one should have to see."
Well, that was good to know. She still had a lot to learn about the supernatural, after all. She was willing and eager to learn more about being a Slayer... about different kinds of Demons and so on. Not just to fight against, interestingly. She liked to learn new things. "I suspect there isn't a dull moment here." Which was how she liked things, honestly. She slowly got to her feet, stretching out her tired limbs. "I'm starting to get hungry," she admitted. "Do you wanna come with? I'm sure we could find something decent."
"Honestly, there really isn't a dull moment around here much," he admitted. It was kind of tiring at times. He was getting used to it, though. He arched an eyebrow at her. "Sure. I wouldn't mind that at all."
"Rocketship," Mel replied with a grin. She liked him well enough, and hell, he was easy to talk to, right? Why wouldn't she want to spend more time with him? "You can tell me more about stuff. Not Slayer/Watcher stuff. Maybe everyday stuff?"
"Sure, I'll tell you about everyday stuff," he said to her with a smile, standing up from his seat. "I'm afraid I may be a little boring outside of Watcher stuff, though."
"Oh, I doubt that," she replied with a smile. It was hard to say whether she genuinely meant that or was just being nice, however. "You could always make observations... or I could bore you with my questions."
"I doubt that you would bore me with any questions," Gabriel said to her. It was actually quite hard to bore a person who spent almost all of their time reading books, after all.
"We'll see about that," she replied with a chuckle as they walked out of the Hyperion. Mel picked a random direction and kept on a'walkin', figuring something would interest her for lunch sooner or later.