buffy; i'm like a superhero or something! (superherolike) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-03-27 16:23:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, buffy summers, caroline forbes |
who buffy & caroline
what catching up!
where around UCI campus
when thursday, lunch!
warnings mentions of vampire-related shenanigans
status complete upon posting!
Work kept Buffy very busy, so much so that she often lost track of how long it had been since she’d seen her friends. Having history with Caroline kept her in the clear, she knew, but hated taking advantage of that. Lately, things had become tremendously more complicated with dreams woefully becoming true, and Buffy wanted to be there for her friend.
Then, she’d started having dreams of her own. First, it had been a childhood parallel to her own. It had been such a strange sequence of them, but this week had been different. She’d noticed a change in herself, something like this dream version of herself that had begun on Monday. Caroline was the only one she knew she could tell given what they’d been through already.
Keeping that on the backburner, she looked forward to catching up with her. Finding her friend on campus for lunch--Buffy had taken an extended lunch break just to make time for commuting--she found Caroline waiting for her and greeted her with a much needed hug.
“Care!” She practically sighed as she drew back. “I need like ten more of those before I gotta bail, just as a heads up… but you! How are you?”
Buffy wasn’t the only one with a busy schedule, between work, classes and cheer Caroline barely even had time for a social life anymore. It had been way too long since the last time she saw Buffy though and that definitely needed to be fixed. So much had happened for her in the past like week. She was in serious need of some Buffy time. Thankfully her friend was able to make it out to meet her for lunch on campus.
“Buffy!” Caroline couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice as she eagerly returned the hug. “I think I can manage ten more,” she added with a small smirk, taking a seat in one of the cafe’s on campus. “But wait, is it just because you missed me? Or is something up?” Either way Buffy could have all the hugs she wanted.
“I’ve been good,” for the most part at least. The whole almost getting staked thing hadn’t been so fun but she certainly wasn’t going to lead with that. “Just busy with well everything. But how are you? I miss you!”
Following her to a table, Buffy tossed her purse into the empty seat. It felt like she’d been on the run all day, and the day hardly gotten started. Attributing some of that to her dreams, she tried to set that baggage aside so as to focus on her friend. If there was one thing Buffy specialized in, it was deflecting. She didn’t want people to worry about her. Still, Caroline was one of her best friends and she wanted to be honest with her.
“Both?” She said with half a cringe. “With everything going on, bombs and fires, things have been pretty crazy.”
Nodding along in agreement of being busy, she waved a hand around. “I hear that. Say no more, seriously. Bees would be exhausted to watch how busy we’ve been, I bet. I’m good! Mostly. Yeah. Good! Kinda seeing Roy a little more often, and… short of locking Dawn in a closet and being deemed a crazy person for being overprotective, I’m good. Missed you though! It’s been, like, way too long, Care! What have you been up to?”
“Ugh, tell me about it,” Caroline wasn’t really worried for herself. There were only a few ways to kill her and she doubted whoever the hell all these criminals were knew anything about vampires. However the majority of her friends were human and she didn’t know what she would do if anything happened to them. “I am so worried about you and any of my friends getting hurt. All this stuff needs to just stop already.”
Caroline couldn’t help but laugh, leave it to Buffy to compare them to bees. “Oh god, what has Dawn been up to now?” she decided to ask about family first before getting to the more juicy stuff. “So you and Roy, huh? Is it like getting serious?” she raised an eyebrow at her friend.
The waiter came by and Caroline placed an order for iced tea and a grilled cheese sandwich, vampire or not sometimes she still had the tastebuds of a kid. She waited for Buffy to order before filling her in on what she had been up too. “Just the usual, classes, cheer, work. My friend’s wife just passed away so I have been helping babysit his kids a lot lately. And then trying to keep up a social life it’s nuts.”
On the same page as her friend, the majority of Buffy’s worries rested on her sister’s well-being. Her friends were essentially family, and so she worried about them in equal amount, no doubt. But, Dawn--she’d die before she let anything befall her sister.
“Total agreeage,” she nodded. “Just wish there was something we could do to… I dunno, stop it somehow,” but what could she do? What could any of them do, really?
“Dawn’s not up to much ‘cause… y’know, haven’t exactly been letting her go out on her own,” she admitted. “I’m pretty sure she’s reread Harry Potter like eighty billion times.” As for Roy, she flushed a little and looked down at the table. “I dunno… maybe? Think it’s too early to say, but he’s nice. I like him.”
Ordering a salad and latte for herself, she turned her attention back to Caroline. Immediately her eyes widened at the news. “Oh god, Care, I’m so sorry about your friend. Is there anything I can do to help out or anything?”
“Same here,” Caroline agreed with a sigh. “I just wish it would end already. I don’t get why all the sudden we have this huge surge in crime. It’s probably related to someone’s dreams.”
Keeping Dawn locked up seemed like the best course of action with everything going on. “I bet she loves you for that.” She felt bad for her friend sometimes, having to kind of take on the mother role for her little sister. It couldn’t be easy. She smirked, noticing Buffy’s cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. “Nice is good. You better keep me posted!”
Of course Buffy would want to help out, Caroline was lucky to have a friend like her. “Thanks. I never met her they were separated when I met him, but I just feel bad for the kids you know? I’m doing what I can to help out, but I’m sure Sev wouldn’t mind having another babysitter.”
“Probably,” she agreed. It didn’t settle well with Buffy that so many had to suffer because of dreams. It should have seemed crazy, too, and yet there they were chatting about it like it was an everyday occurrence.
Cracking a grin at her comment, Buffy inclined her head. “Yeah, she’s the prez of my fan club now.” It was the only thing she could think to do. Her sister was all she had left, what with her father not bothering to look after either of them in the wake of her mother’s death.
“Another sitter, huh?” She said with a smile. “Sure, Dawnie could use the extra company, too. Might give her something to do instead of pestering me about when it’s finally safe to go out or the worst--Roy questions.” Given her own track record with boyfriends, Dawn certainly didn’t want her sister to get involved with anyone who would hurt her again. She appreciated the concern, and so she remained very mum in the direction the relationship with Roy was going.
It would be pretty awesome if Buffy could help her out a bit. Not that she minded watching Daisy and David much, especially Daisy, but it would be nice to have some help. See Buffy more or have some more free time or both. She was already thinking about giving up cheer in order to have more time to study. “Great I’ll let him know! Maybe you can come with Friday afternoon? You’ll love Daisy, she’s four. David is like less than a year old but he’s precious.”
The food came and Caroline popped a few chips in her mouth. “You mentioned both though, have you had any dreams?” she asked taking a sip of her tea.
Thoughts steered back to her recent array of dreams, Buffy curled her hands around her drink uncertainly. She knew Caroline’s had been hard on her. Troubling others with the things that weighed on her mind had never been Buffy’s strongest suit either. Keeping much from her was out of the question though, so she resolved herself to say something.
The only problem was the subject matter.
“I’ve… yeah,” she exhaled uneasily. “I’ve been dreaming about… vampires,” Buffy paused to look reluctantly at her friend. “And not as in me being one or anything like that. But, like… slaying them. A whole sacred duty kinda thing.”
Caroline paused mid bite. One of her best friends dreaming about slaying vampires. Of course that would happen. Just her luck. She took her time chewing her food, contemplating just how to reply to that. "Has it like carried over?" She couldn't help but ask.
Of course she kind of doubted it considering Buffy was sitting across from her, not trying to kill her, but then a few days ago she never thought Jeremy would try to kill her either and he had almost staked her. "I don't hurt people," Buffy already knew that but Caroline suddenly felt like she needed to defend herself. Remind her friend that she was still a good person, still Caroline, not a monster.
“What? No!” She leaned back in her chair momentarily appalled, but found no fault in Caroline for asking. Why wouldn’t she be wary? It didn’t matter to Buffy that she was one, because she’d grown up with Caroline. All that mattered was that she was a good person, and if anyone tried to hurt her because she was a vampire? They’d have to go through Buffy.
“I mean, yeah I can kind of sense your… y’know, vampness,” she said, gesturing to her. “But, it’s not instilling any crush-kill-destroy feelings. I promise. “It’s just like… I dunno, it’s kind of ridic, don’t you think? There’s this whole… one girl in all the world, a chosen one shtick and this old British guy is telling me that I’ve got the gig, and wow… hearing this out loud? Yeah, kinda makes me feel like I should be seeing a shrink.”
Buffy could sense her vampness? “So like if you didn’t already know what I was you would be able to tell?” she couldn’t help but be curious about the whole thing, especially after being attacked by Jeremy. “So wait, you are like the only one? There are no other hunters in you dreams?” her eyes widened as all the information sunk in. “Wow, that’s.. a lot.” It had to be a ton of pressure for dream Buffy.
“We have stuff like that in mine. Vampire hunters,” she wasn’t sure if it was the same thing but it sounded similar at least. “There are more than one though. But they like get this hatred for all vampires and I guess that transferred over from the dreams because one almost staked me a few days ago.” Might as well fill Buffy in and hope one of her best friends didn’t grow that same hatred towards her. “So I don’t think you are crazy, these dreams are.”
Nodding at her question as she sipped on her drink, Buffy tried to give her an apologetic smile over the straw. “Well, I’m supposed to,” she amended. “I kinda suck at it apparently.” It was a work in progress, though most of her behavior appeared to be that way to the Watcher/Librarian man in her dreams.
It was difficult facing that responsibility in her dreams. She hadn’t taken well to it at all. Having dreamed in fragments, too, didn’t help. It was easy to determine in what order things happened, but not the measure of time between incidents. Luckily, she hadn’t dreamed of drowning yet or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. There was a whole world of pain in store for her, she’d only seen the icing thus far.
“Yeah, it’s not fun,” she grimaced as though she were talking about homework or taxes, not carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, such was her way.
Nearly spitting her drink out over the fact that someone had nearly staked her, Buffy leaned over the table with wide eyes. “What? Who? Not cool! You’re okay, right? I mean obviously you’re okay, but the other hunter or whatever--just. Sorry,” she tried to reign in her emotions. “Just, is everything okay now?”
All this hunter stuff hurt her head. It was more complicated than the whole vampire thing. She just hoped that Buffy wouldn’t turn into someone that hated her like Jeremy had. Not that it was his fault, but still. That was already bad enough, she wasn’t sure if she could handle it if her best friend wanted to kill her too.
“I’m okay. It was Jeremy,” she admitted. “He’s okay though. Nik showed up just in time. Pulled Jer off of me before he staked me.” She didn’t want to think about what would have happened if Nik had showed up a second later.
“What is wrong with our lives? Shouldn’t we be talking about boys and complaining about school and work?” the things this place did to you.
“Jeremy!?” She exclaimed, shocked and rattled on her best friend’s behalf. Poor Caroline--she couldn’t begin to imagine what that felt like. At least Klaus had been there for her, but it was hard not to worry about her in spite of the fact. Her mind was already here, wondering what would have become of either of them had someone not managed to intervene.
Shifting into a seat next to her friend for the moment, Buffy put her hand on Caroline’s shoulder. “Listen, I’m betting I’m capped on slayerness from my dreams, and I’ve got zero impulse to go Van Helsing on you. And if anyone ever does try it on you? They get to deal with a very cranky Buffy who apparently knows how to use… probably any weapon you put in front of her. Yay me?”
She tried to offer her an encouraging smile. “Basically, I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Caroline couldn’t help but smile at Buffy’s sudden little outburst of protectiveness. “No one wants a cranky Buffy,” she laughed giving her a hug, because well she needed it. “Same goes for you, you know,” she added releasing her friend. “Now that you have this whole slayer thing, if any vampires come after you or just any bad people/things in general they will have to deal with a very pissed off me.” Really she was just relieved Buffy didn’t seem to have the ‘I hate all vampire’ mentality that Jeremy seemed to. Caroline wasn’t sure she could handle that.
“I should probably get going soon though. Class.” Ugh stupid school ruined everything. That definitely brought a frown to her face.
It was disappointing to part ways, but responsibility called. She returned the hug tight as can be, then withdrew from her friend. “It’s all good,” Buffy reassured. “We gotta make this a regular thing, I swear.” It was difficult to do so with their respective schedules, but Buffy was confident they could make something work somehow!
Once in awhile would have to do. So, she made sure to give her bestie one more hug before they had to really get back to regular life and made a mental note to pester her with renewed vigor!