InsaneJournal

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Angel (broodysoul) wrote in somerealityrpg,
@ 2020-07-28 10:42:00

Entry tags:

active: angel

Log: Angel & Buffy
Who: Angel and Buffy
What: First meeting in Goodland
When: Today (7/28), early evening
Where: In the city
Warnings: TBD

In the short amount of time Angel had been in Goodland, the had been plenty of excitement going on with so many residents being aged up or down, not remembering any about why or how they were in such a strange place, and missing memories about themselves and others. As someone who had lived multiple lifetimes, Angel was thankful to have been spared since God only knew what personality would surface if his mind was sent into the past or even into the future. Since he was so new, the only real effect he'd felt from the spell or whatever it had been was Bonnie not remembering him for a few days. Still, they barely knew one another anyway, outside of their first meeting, so it wasn't that big of a deal all things considered.

In the week he'd been in Goodland, Angel kept to apartment. He didn't trust himself yet around people, and he was thankful for the small miracle that he'd been place in an apartment by himself for now. He was growing stronger and practicing meditation, and he'd managed to locate a butcher shop that would sell him blood and without asking too many questions. The last thing he needed was to go without blood around a group of strangers and slip up because he couldn't control his hunger. The one person he had spoken to was going through her own issues with the spell gone wrong, and the one person Angel did know from home, he was avoiding. Mostly.

Seeing Buffy again had brought up a wide range of varying emotions for varying reasons. Relief, guilt, happiness, longing, disgust, anger. She'd seemed happy during the few times he'd watched her. With the ability to be more or less a normal teenage girl, Angel almost felt selfish for wanting to insert himself into her life all over again. But, at the same time, he knew Bonnie had been right. If Buffy ever found out, and she would find out, that he was here and didn't reveal himself to her, she'd be hurt and would probably kill him all over again.

The problem with waiting until the spell had calmed down was that now, Angel didn't know how to approach her. He couldn't simply knock on her door and announce that he was here. He didn't want to jump out at her in surprise. The longer he waited, the harder it was going to be, but he knew he needed to tell her he was her. He wanted to tell her, to be able to see her without skulking in the shadows, but he had no idea what her life had been like here. What she'd been doing... or who she may have met.

He'd been able to find out where she'd been working at a clothing store, and once the sun had set, he left the apartment and waited for when she got off her shift. It wasn't long before he saw the flash of blonde hair exit the store. Angel stepped out from where he was standing and stopped on the sidewalk a few paces back from her, calling her name.

"Buffy."

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buff
2020-07-31 04:55 am UTC (link)

The age spell had brought back memories for her that she would've rather kept in the past. Having been the victim of the spell when it happened before and now knowing what she considered to be far too much about what happened in her life, the spell wreaking havoc again only brought her back to that place of returning to age eighteen - now with a whole lot of extra life experiences to deal with, one of them being dying. Again. Needless to say, she was glad to see it all end and go back to normal for the most part, feeling for the ones who had the awful luck to be affected by it this time - ones who aged up, in particular. It was a tricky thing to wrap your head around and Buffy knew that it had taken her a long while to come to terms with what she'd learned - and even then, probably not handling things the best.

That aside, she had made a decent life for herself in Goodland. She'd just graduated high school - something that even back home in Sunnydale, she wasn't entirely sure was going to happen - and that meant taking on more hours at the clothing store. Particularly in the midst of the spell, she'd taken on more hours there than usual in an attempt to distract herself - once again, not handling things the best possible way. She had talked to a few people about how she was feeling back then but nothing ever too in depth. After all, what were people supposed to say to it? She knew things now that she couldn't unknow. What was done was done. She was grateful for the friends she'd made here and for any chance to help out when things got sticky - and they often did; but more than that she was thankful for the chance to try and find herself, figure out who this Buffy was. No matter what she knew of the future, that wasn't her future now, was it? It felt like that Buffy and who she was now, in Goodland, were two completely different entities. At least, that's how she thought of it to make her brain hurt a little less.

Despite the weird things that happened around here, Buffy never found herself on edge - no looking over her shoulder, no carrying weapons around "just in case." When things went down, it was usually well known enough that she could prepare and become more aware of everything around her, grab that knife from the kitchen drawer. Which was why as she closed up the shop for the night, she didn't think to look behind her, didn't think to have anything hidden away to defend herself. If she were honest with herself, she'd admit that her skills had likely been dulled by being in Goodland - not training or having to do nightly patrols, getting any kind of action in; but being honest with herself had become a rarity, it seemed.

That was when she heard it. That familiar voice saying her name the same way it always had, making goosebumps rise on her skin and her heart leap up into her throat. Spinning around, she saw him there, still slightly cloaked in darkness. She didn't need him to be fully illuminated to know who it was. Buffy would know him anywhere. Standing still, her voice caught in her throat, she didn't know what to do. The way his voice sounded, it made her believe that he wasn't Angelus. Even when Angelus tried to be Angel, there was a hint of malice in his voice, an undertone of sarcasm and harshness that Angel simply didn't have. Where was he from, though? What point in time? Should she run to him or give him his space?

Finally finding her voice, she managed to get out, "Angel?" before swallowing hard, instinctively taking a step toward him. A horrible thought crossed her mind - what if this was another one of Goodland's tricks? What if he wasn't real? Worse yet - what if she had just finally lost it and was seeing and hearing things? Another step toward him. "Is it really you?" she asked, her voice cracking.

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broodysoul
2020-08-04 02:56 am UTC (link)

In the days he'd been here, Angel had caught glimpses of Buffy here and there, but they'd always been from afar; never up close. Seeing her now, face to face and within just a feet of each other, took him a little by surprise. She'd somehow always managed to have that effect on him to some degree or another. Even as Angelus, she'd had an effect on him. Not in the same way of course, but he'd still been obsessed with her in Angelus' sick and twisted mind.

He'd gone over this moment over the last couple of days, but now that he was here, he wasn't quite sure what to say. From what he'd been told so far, he knew that people could show up at any time and from any point in time. He didn't know if she'd ever had anyone else from home here before him or if she'd been here alone this whole time. She looked a little older than he last remembered, but not by a lot. It was hard to know if that was because she was further along than him or because of her time spent in Goodland.

"Yeah," he said finally. "It's me." Even in the short amount of time he'd been here so far, it was easy to see that this place played its tricks, and her questioning if he was real fit in with that. Then again, it was probably a question she'd asked herself many times in the first day or two that he'd come back and dropped in from hell to Sunnydale.

He took a small step towards her. "Are you... I showed up a few days ago during the middle of what looked like an age spell gone wrong. You weren't affected, were you? I mean.. you're okay?"

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buff
2020-08-04 05:03 am UTC (link)

The way he said, it's me gave her all the proof she needed to believe that it was truly him. Maybe she was just far too ready and willing to have it be him but that was something that could be dealt with when and if the time came. For right now, right this moment, she believed with all her heart that it was Angel - he was here, with her. Right in front of her, to be exact. She'd wondered how she missed him - it was a very Angel move to not post on the network but she should've felt...something. The fact that she didn't made her feel incredibly guilty right off the bat. Then again, she'd all but given up any hope of him or anyone else that she knew showing up here and staying. She hadn't been expecting it, had been caught off-guard.

With that single step towards her, her own urge to run into his arms grew. He wasn't scared of her, didn't hate her. That all boded pretty well, didn't it? It took her a second to register what he'd asked, her mind running a mile a minute with a million different possibilities and scenarios. "Not this time," she said, taking another more confident step in his direction. "Last time wasn't the most fun in the world." She paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side. "How have you been here a few days and you didn't --" Buffy shook her head, not wanting to be accusatory right off the bat. "It takes some time to settle in here. Get used to everything. I get it."

Her eyes glancing past him and toward the clothing store, she returned her gaze to him and smirked slightly, raising an eyebrow. "Sure did know where I work, though. Wonder how you managed that."

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broodysoul
2020-08-06 02:04 am UTC (link)

Angel knew as soon as he revealed he'd been here more than a day or two that she'd question or wonder why he hadn't reached out sooner. It was something Bonnie had mentioned too when he was putting off coming forward. The reasons he did, while still important in his mind, didn't seem to matter quite as much now that he was standing here in front of her. He hadn't wanted to upend her life here if she was happy, but he knew it would be impossible to stay away from her for too long.

"When I first got here, I wasn't..." He had no idea what she knew and didn't know -- or maybe what he did or didn't know. He would look the same no matter what time he came from, so she wouldn't know what his time was either. "I hadn't been back in Sunnydale long before I showed up here. Someone found me and helped me out at first. Then I thought it might be best to wait until the spell wore off." It was the truth, but it might not have been the full truth.

At the mention of knowing where she worked, he ducked his head and smiled just a little. "Yeah...I guess I managed to figure that one out." In hindsight, maybe it would have been a better choice not to say 'hi Buffy, guess who's here?' not even a block from the clothing store.

"I had to know you were okay." He paused for a short moment. "Even if I wasn't sure if I was ready or okay to see you." Or if she was okay to see him.

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buff
2020-09-02 03:34 am UTC (link)

Everything started to make a bit more sense once he told her where he had come from in their timeline. She remembered the Angel that she found then all too well - even if by now it felt like a lifetime ago. There was another twinge of guilt at the fact that she wasn't the one to help him this time. Someone else had stepped in and helped him become something...well, not as feral. The way her heart hurt at the thought of him needing someone and her not being that someone...it was incredibly selfish of her, she knew that. What mattered was that he was here and he was okay, was talking to her. That didn't exactly stop all those selfish feelings from existing, though.

"So you were..." she trailed off for a moment, not entirely sure how to breech the subject. He seemed stable enough but maybe even just the mention of what had happened would bring him back to that frightening place. "When you got here," she tried again, "you had just gotten back from..." Buffy made a face at herself, gesturing a little with her hand. "You know." She shook her head once more, dropping her hands to her sides with a sigh. "Sorry for vaguing it up, I just -- I don't know...you seem...good."

Swallowing hard, she nodded perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm not really sure there's a set...time period for being ready for this kind of thing." A small smile came across her face as she continued to look at him, longing to reach out but forcing her arms to stay at her sides - probably a solid plan considering where he came from. He likely still wouldn't be into bedtime cuddles so soon after --

She shook her head of the thoughts of what that after entailed. She always wanted to forget but now more than ever. "But...this. You doing this, that's..." Buffy paused, biting her lower lip slightly and shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "Are...you okay?"

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broodysoul
2020-09-06 10:33 pm UTC (link)

"Not right after," Angel tried to explain. "You'd already..." She was right. Even though they'd both lived it, it was easier to talk around instead of coming out and saying the words. "You'd already found me the first time in the woods, and then the.. thing at the school. I was back at the mansion maybe a couple of days later when I arrived here." He nodded. "I think keeping to myself for a few days when I first got here helped."

It helped that he wasn't around many people, at least not out in the open. Bonnie had come by several times to check on him, but she could take care of herself and knew her way around fragile vampires, apparently. She was right. When was it ever the right time to see one another again? Whether it was back home in Sunnydale or here in this fucked up place with uneven timelines and other worlds?

"More or less," He answered with the slightest tug of the side of his mouth into a smile. "It hurts... less." He'd been meditating a couple times each day and practicing control over his senses. Using the time that so many had been at different ages, Angel had been able to find a butcher that would give him blood without too many questions. A steady supply of blood had helped him more than anything, and it kept the temptations and smell of readily-available blood of the other people in the Villa at bay.

"I... it's good to see you, Buffy." You look happy. It was what he wanted to say but couldn't. She didn't have the stress of being the slayer here. They were surrounded by super beings of all kinds and minimal actual vampires and demons that needed slaying by the looks of things.

"I guess it had been longer for you." The way she'd talked about his death and hell made it sound like it wasn't as recent as it had been for him. "My coming back, I mean."

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buff
2020-09-17 06:05 am UTC (link)

All she could do was nod along with his explanation of his timeline, trying not to let the slight wave of relief she felt wash completely over her. It was a good thing that this wasn't the first time he was seeing her after everything that had happened but there was still a bit of a ways to go in terms of their relationship from where he came from. A thought crossed her mind then, one that made her furrow her brow despite herself. What did the two of them being here together mean? When she'd aged up before, she still had the memories of everything she'd experienced in those two and a half years - she still remembered him walking away, moving to Los Angeles.

Everything was different here, though...wasn't it? Okay, not everything - there were certainly still many of the same issues they'd always had but...Goodland was a magical place where anything could and would happen. Wasn't it possible for their story to not have such a tragic ending here? Wasn't there even the slightest possibility that they could actually be together?

The thought had been almost too much to bear on its own, then to hear him say that it hurt less...Buffy found herself fighting back tears, only able to nod once more. She couldn't help but laugh a little bit, using the moment to quickly lift her hand to her eyes and wipe them as nonchalantly as she could. "It's...really, really good to see you too, Angel. So good." She cursed the slight crack in her voice at the last two words, deciding to distract from it by closing the gap between them even more. With all the thoughts in her head and feelings in her heart, the space between made her ache too much.

Standing right in front of him now, she looked up at him and gave him a small smile, another nod. "Yeah. It has. Even when I came here, I was farther along...Just turned eighteen and had the Watcher's Council try to kill me, so...that was a fun thing that happened." Tilting her head to the side, she laughed slightly again. "The Buffy birthday curse is becoming a thing, I guess."

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broodysoul
2020-09-21 03:23 am UTC (link)

The shifting and differences in timelines was still something Angel was having to get used to every day. He'd seen it in action, especially with the recent spell that had caused people to age or de-age, but it was different experiencing it with someone from his own world - with Buffy of all people. Thankfully, the two of them weren't too far apart in time, but he wondered exactly what had happened in the weeks or months after he first showed back up in Sunnydale.

As she stepped closer, Angel felt his mouth go dry. It didn't matter what the difference in time was between them, if they were in another world, or all that had happened at home, she still had an effect on him. Angel could hear her heart beating in his ear, he smelled her familiar scent, and he could feel her. He could live another hundred years, and he knew that Buffy Summers would always have an effect on him one way or another. Even when he was evil, there was a reason he'd gone after her instead of getting out of town and causing havoc elsewhere. No, he was still obsessed with the slayer.

"It's good to see you too," he replied in return. He smiled a little more, about to make a quip of 'in person' since he'd seen her from afar for the last couple of weeks, but then what she said sunk in and he paused.

"The Council tried to kill you?" He asked, frowning. He knew what she meant about her birthday curses, but he wasn't going to touch that right now with a ten foot pole. "What happened? Did Giles know?" Because Angel couldn't imagine Giles being on board with whatever the Watcher's Council was doing that put Buffy's life in danger.

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buff
2020-09-28 11:16 pm UTC (link)

There was still a part of her that couldn't quite believe what was happening. Here she was, in Goodland with Angel, talking on the sidewalk. Despite herself and her desire to not scare him off or make him uncomfortable, she found herself reaching out, resting her hand on his chest. The part of her that was the most pessimistic about it all half-expected him to turn to dust right then and there. A cruel figment of her imagination or trick of the world they found themselves in. No, he was real. He was as solid as anything, standing before her.

After perhaps a bit too long of keeping her hand against his chest, she let it fall and swallowed hard, quickly bringing her hand to her side and focusing on the subject at hand. Maybe it wasn't a great sign that talking about the hell that had been her birthday seemed like a better idea than talking about...well, pretty much anything else at the moment. Hopefully both of them would be sticking around long enough to get those conversations in at some point...it was inevitable, wasn't it?

Buffy couldn't help the snort that came from her at the question of whether Giles knew or not, rolling her eyes slightly. "Oh, he knew. He was part of it. I mean..." She sighed, immediately feeling bad for throwing Giles under the bus. She had forgiven him for his role in it - how could she not? It ended up getting him canned; but the fact that it happened at all still stuck in her craw. "I guess it's some tradition. Eighteenth birthday, you give the Slayer some magic juice that takes away her abilities. Then you throw her to the wolves - in this case, a pretty powerful, very crazy vampire who also kidnapped my mother - see what she can do without her powers and if she survives, a round of applause. If not, eh, just another Slayer down the tubes."

She crossed her arms and shook her head, her foot tapping against the concrete. "Giles was the one that gave me the magic juice and didn't tell me. So I was completely freaking out, thinking I'd lost my powers forever. He came in and saved the day in the end and...because of that...he's not on the Council anymore." She paused and dropped her arms back to her sides. "But why would he even want to be? The whole point of a Watcher is to help and train a Slayer, right? Not purposely get her killed."

Buffy frowned, her brow furrowing as she continued to get more fired up about the situation, pointing her finger at Angel. "And another thing! You wanna test me? Oh, so avoiding, what - like an apocalypse a week wasn't enough? Give me a break." Looking up at Angel, she dropped her hand again and gave a sheepish smile, laughing awkwardly. "Sorry...tangent. I never really got to complain about it because then all..." She turned around, gesturing to the world around them with her hands. "This happened."

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