ɢᴀʟᴇ (traps) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-20 11:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, buffy summers, gale hawthorne |
who buffy & gale
what catching up over pizza
where his casa by the beach
when 8/1, evening!
warnings dream talk from them entails badness per their fandoms!
status complete on posting~
Things had been characteristically awry while she’d been off gallivanting through Europe. She had been wise to lay low off the network, otherwise there would have been a dark smear through the adventures. She hadn’t known Lina well, but had counted her as a dear friend. Buffy felt like she understood her when the going had gotten rough, much harder than she thought she could handle. Lina had believed in her, now she was gone. So, she’d taken some time to herself to deal with that quietly. Being there for her friends was a priority to her now, which meant she was going to bottle things up again. Some people made it difficult to do that, and now she was off to see one in particular with a tupperware full of freshly cut lettuce and an extra bag with drinks, plus one surprise. She hadn’t forgotten him in her European adventures. She came armed with some genuine Guinness, none of that less rich American stuff, and a couple of other things from the famous storehouse. She turned up on his doorstep, smile eager because it had been awhile since she’d last seen him. In fact, she was pretty sure the last time consisted of her having a much needed breakdown over having died. Maybe their lives weren’t perfect, especially when the drinks were involved, but at least total crazy had taken a backseat for now. From the last round, anyway. With a loud enough knock, she hung back a step to glance over her shoulder at the view. Her smile turned wistful. She was lucky to even be there, and maybe acknowledging that wasn’t so bad. The knock on the door brought along a galloping, overly excited chocolate lab with a lolling tongue, floppy ears, and just-grown-out-of-the-puppy-stage limbs all gangly and flailing. Bella Nutella jumped and barked, eager to see who had come for a visit, until Gale’s giant human self followed behind her in a few strides and told her to calm down. The pizza had already been delivered, so it wasn’t that - Gale checked just briefly (of course) and saw it was who he was expecting, none other than Shinobi Summers herself. “Hey, come on in,” he opened the door with a chuckle, gently scooting Tella back so he could actually let Buffy into the house. Modest, and clean, blue with a yellow door and the salted beach breeze wafting their way, it was just him and his dog - though there were touches of Leliana around, if one were to look close enough. A bed he’d set up for the nugs in one corner, a couple of her hair ribbons elsewhere, and her toothbrush was in the bathroom. None of it Gale really noticed, it just was. He was glad to see Buffy now. If anyone knew about bottling things up, it was Gale - but he was trying not to do that, since it’d make him a giant hypocrite if he did. Maybe his dreams were trickling in more than he liked, Panem felt like poison leached into his veins and tasted like ash, blood, sorrow, and grief, but that didn’t mean he’d turn into who he had been there. No. Right? “Pizza’s out on the patio, I figured we could eat there if that’s cool?” It was small too, but faced the shore, and the furniture was all wood pieces he’d picked up from a thrift store and had Jack paint so it actually looked kind of decent - plus he had his grill out there, a real manly space. With the repeated losses in her life, Buffy had grown cynical. She didn’t see the point of opening up about the things that dragged her down. Open up to someone, and they bail on you. It had become a silent motto for her, though she had yet to dream of day when the same could be said of her alternate self. Dreaming of being younger hadn’t helped her in that regard, she felt. It set everything off balance, caused her to feel less like an adult and more like a wayward teenager. It was strange and if not for Caroline’s intervention, Buffy doubted she would still have a job. That was lucky, since she needed to support Dawn. If she had her way, Dawn would be getting the hell out of the OC, but she had an inkling the university her sister eventually chose would be the exact antithesis to Buffy’s hopes. She didn’t pay much mind to her surroundings short of the dog. She was quick to pet Bella while nodding to him as he spoke. “‘Course it’s cool. Who’d miss that killer view? Lead the way, big guy!” Bella Nutella was all set to essentially roll over and beg for belly rubs (she loved getting all sorts of pets and attention from guests), but then Gale shooed her out, telling her to grab her ball. He could play fetch with her on the patio while they ate, he didn’t mind. He’d set plates and napkins out there but didn’t have time to do much else where Buffy arrived, so he stopped in the kitchen first to grab other things - whatever was needed for the veggies she’d so diligently chopped, and he resisted snatching a beer from the fridge (it really was all he had in there, besides a jug of water, so good thing she’d brought drinks too). “So, the European adventure?” he started, opening the pizza box once they were outside with the waves crashing onto the sand as their backdrop soundtrack. If there was one thing he appreciated about the OC, settling into this house and the civilian life, it was the serenity that being near the water brought. He actually sort of liked it. “Start at the beginning, and end with ‘and then they lived happily ever after,’ or something.” Settling down on a seat, legs promptly crossed together atop it, she helped herself to a slice of pizza. Not before setting out the salad, of course. She’d made a nice one filled with all the pertinent vegetables, had possibly even gone a bit overboard. After all the fried stuff she’d eaten in Europe, she’d say she would start watching her diet, but that would be a lie. She wasn’t about to give up pizza. Laughing at him, Buffy shook her head. “No happily ever afters,” she said as the laughter died down, but sadness didn’t take root. “It was good though. I saw Paris and Prague, the UK. It was like being in a bubble, y’know, one that didn’t get pelted with craziness. It was nice pretending everything was okay. Also? The coffee is to die for.” With a nibble here and there at the pizza, she side-eyed him. “It was really tempting to go full-on gypsy while I… oh!” Immediately distracted, she leaned over to rifle through the bag and produced a six pack of Guinness. Sliding it over to him with a grin, she pointed at it. “The perks of having a vampire bff, got this through customs no questions asked. I dunno if it goes well with pizza, but y’know. It’s all yours, big guy.” “Oh, hey, niiiice,” Gale praised, examining the beer from all angles. He didn’t know why the hell you’d drink it warm but it was good at room temperature, which was what it seemed to be now - so he immediately cracked one open, to have with his pizza. Half cheese, half meat lovers - as a soldier, he had no choice about watching his diet but that was all going out the window right now. Just for one night. Bring on the carbs. “This is awesome, thanks.” He took a long, satisfying drink. It was so rich, it kind of tasted like coffee and chocolate to him - and was fucking delicious, really. “But I know what you mean about being away in kind of a bubble. I think it was necessary anyway, since shit’s really been crazy lately.” They all needed a break on occasion - no one could constantly function with any semblance of normalcy in a county where crap was constantly hitting the fan without taking some distance and time to regroup. “I don’t miss dropping everything to leave, but I do kind of miss traveling a little,” he shrugged, tossing the ball for Tella. Off she went! “Sure thing. I’d say I hope it’s not gross, but it tastes pretty rank to me,” she laughed. The face she had made when given her free pint had been awfully dramatic. People had given her looks, it had been a whole ordeal that left her apologizing. Not that she’d meant it, because Guinness was definitely an acquired taste as far as Buffy was concerned. Life had been crazy. In the short span of a few months, Buffy felt like her whole life had been turned upside down. She was dreaming of a whole new life that had her mother alive and well, but no sister in existence. Then, there was him, the man who’d left her for her own good. It almost made sense that he was a vampire. Angel hardly suited him as a moniker, though dream Buffy would valiantly defend him to the end. “I’d never been traveling before,” she admitted, fiddling with the crust of a pizza slice. “It was nice. The not-dreaming part was the best, not even gonna lie. Oh, wait. The coffee was the best, not dreaming was definitely a close second. Speaking of… see what I did there? Dream segue! What’s going on with yours?” Smooth dream segue there, Buffy. Wanting to compensate somewhat for devouring pizza, Gale took a heaping portion of the salad she brought while Tella amused herself, chasing her own tail, bringing the ball back only to have it be thrown again. The chocolate lab was full of energy she needed to burn off - she’d be conked out in her doggie bed later, and snoring. “Mostly a lot of crap?” he offered truthfully, poking here and there in the salad with his fork - finally choosing to spear a tomato slice and pop it into his mouth. “Everyone has a role to play in the war against the Capitol. Mine’s kind of...strategist meets weapons designer. I’m trained to fight too, obviously, but my true ‘passion’ I guess you could call it, lies with designing weapons.” His expression darkened a little. “This state of the art bomb I designed? It was used as the turning point. Victory for the rebels, right? But Katniss’s sister got caught in the crossfire. I feel like she’s always going to blame me for that. Like I would ever...like I’m some person who would - “ Gale shook his head, grey eyes stormy. “I don’t know what happened to us. Or to me.” Obvious segues were her forte. Her intentions were pure, or so she’d insist! After coming back to the grim news of a friend being gone, she didn’t want to waste a minute being there somehow for the ones she had left. She’d known Gale long enough that it didn’t make her into a crazy person that pawed at him for sharing his thoughts, but she was certain that she’d been less proactive in the aftermath of her own death. It was nice changing her outlook on life one baby step at a time. It wasn’t doing her any favors in the relationship department, but Buffy figured she was fairly doomed in that regard at birth. Her thoughts were far from those issues as she listened to him explain the latest run of dreams to her. She knew that look. It caused a frown to cross her own features. She couldn’t entirely fault Katniss. Buffy didn’t know what she’d do if something similar happened to Dawn, but blaming him for what happened would accomplish nothing. She didn’t see any fault on his end--”How could you have known that would happen?” Buffy blurted out, ever ready to defend her friends even from dream land grudges. “You’re not a person that would,” she said insistently. “Anyone who knows you would say that in a heartbeat, Gale. Things happen that just… suck beyond the telling of it, dreams being a case in point. Not only that, but it’s war. It’s not pretty. Or easy. It’s hard. I’m sorry that it came to that.” “I didn’t,” Gale insisted, sounding a touch anguished because he was telling the truth. Of course he wouldn’t have authorized dropping a bomb on a pen full of Capitol children, and then the second detonating (that was the trip - you lulled people into a false sense of security, drew them closer for what they thought would be aid, and then let it go) so that it killed the rebel medics who had been called in to help. Of course he wasn’t someone who would have personally had his finger on the button either - he didn’t have that fucking authority anyway. “I was in the Capitol with her, storming the President’s mansion, I took a couple bullets during the whole thing, I didn’t do it,” he barreled on, hands clenching in his lap, as he forced himself to relax a little. And come back to the present. Deep breath. In, out. He rubbed his forehead, eyes downcast, stormy skies, so grey and ashen and desolate. Just like his old home. “But like I told her, she’ll always be thinking of it. Because I designed the bomb. I mean, she understood why. I was fighting for her, for all of us. We had to be ruthless if we wanted to win and take our freedom back.” Buffy didn’t have to be a part of his dream world to believe him. She trusted him at his word, something she didn’t often do. Gale had never let her down, and no matter what he may have done in this life or the dreams, nothing would spoil that. So, she listened to his tale, wholly biased to him and wearing a sympathetic face. She had seen dark things in her dreams, but war had never occurred. Considering what he’d gone through overseas, it felt like overkill to make him dream of similar experiences all over again. “I’m sorry,” she said, then reached over to touch his shoulder in a reassuring fashion, giving it a squeeze. “For what it’s worth, I believe you.” In an effort to breach the heavier air, she pulled back with a quirked smile. “Dreams are so fun. But hey, occasional craziness aside, at least reality’s mostly kinda better, right?” It wasn’t easy for her to be that optimistic, but for the sake of a good friend? She’d always find a way. It meant a lot, that Buffy believed him without question. That she trusted him at his word. Gale managed a smile, a small quirk of one, and he nodded - being out here, near the beach where everything was calmer and so open, he couldn’t help but let the muscles uncoil a little. “Yeah,” he agreed, and he sounded like he’d even come to terms with it himself. “It is. A lot better.” He had friends, and family, and support - people who understood. That was enough. But hey, back to the pizza n'greens. He still had to hear about the rest of her trip, and that was far more preferable to anything else. |