Is everyone here very stoned? | Open Action

[badbadman]

[Action]

Spike had been here for days. He’d spent every single one of those days hiding in an abandoned building (something he realized there weren’t many of here). He spent his nights swaggering his way through town and trying to locate a source of blood that didn’t involve him killing someone for. He didn’t trust the clinic here enough to approach them, but he had found a butcher that would provide him animal blood. It wasn’t ideal, and he hated the taste of it, but it would do in a pinch. He wanted a little more information on this place before he started settling in.

At first, he thought that Bit had accidentally pulled them both into another dimension, but Dawn hadn’t walked through that door with him. Besides, he’d remember a big, glowing portal and the only thing he remembered was his bedroom door. This place definitely wasn’t his bedroom. Yes, he’d found the phone in his pocket, but he hadn’t paid much attention to it. He could use technology, but it wasn’t really his thing. He’d also found an electronic key and he understood that it belonged to an apartment that he was meant to stay in. That sounded like a trap to Spike, and until he was certain it wasn’t, he had no intention of stepping foot in this apartment.

That being said, he spends a great deal of time prowling around the town at night. It reminds him a bit of Sunnydale with fewer baddies. He can be found almost anywhere, but he actually prefers to frequent The Houndstooth. It’s a little high class for his liking, but they’d refused to take his money the first night and they had Jameson. He’s gotten by on much less before.

Comments

[the_dawnster]

Oh thank whoever that there's only one Spike. Dawn exhales a breath she hadn't meant to hold when she gets his text back. The last time she'd seen him they had kissed, for the first time, just last night. He'd promised to stay and when she woke up to get ready for school he'd been out. Of course, when she'd asked him to stay she'd forgotten that her curtains are sheer. The sun was coming right through them. Of course he'd had to go. She wonders how long he'd stayed after she fell asleep.

Distractions. She's thinking too much. It doesn't have to be awkward, right? Right. Hopefully. Maybe. Okay it might be awkward. Did she slobber all over him? Was he swimming in her...

"Okay, stop it Dawn. You're psyching yourself out." She's talking to herself. She does that a lot. "Texting... texting..."

I was leaving for class and ended up here. Never fear, I have laptop, Kindle and iPod. I mean, priorities, right? I'm in the middle of the street. I'll start looking for warehouses. Or should I stay in one place so I'm easier to find? Whatever, I'm walking and warehouse hunting.

[badbadman]

Despite the uncertainty they'd left Sunnydale with, Spike is incredibly glad to know that Dawn is here. He's glad that they didn't have to leave things the way they were. He'd enjoyed kissing Dawn and he'd stayed with her until the sun peeking through the sheer curtains had seared him awake. He'd scrambled from the bed and crawled out of the room to his own room with blackout drapes.

It might be a little awkward, but he'd rather have a little awkward than not see Dawn at all. She did not slobber all over him.

While she's talking to herself and texting, he's busy draping a blanket around himself and moving toward the door. He pauses just inside the door when he receives her text.

Walk. Be careful. Seems safe enough here,
but you never know. I'll come find you, Bit.

He tucks the phone in his pocket, pulls the blanket tighter around his head and body then steps out into the sun. He tries to stick to the shadows, pausing when he's in a particularly deep one to take a deep breath, scenting the air for Dawn. After a couple of minutes, he smells her on the air and moves toward the scent. "Dawn!" he calls out as he continues moving in that direction. He's starting to smoke a little.

[the_dawnster]

It's actually kind of nice that he doesn't tell her to stay put. She'd been told to stay behind so much in her early years that it had become pretty darn irritating. She's glad her sister finally realizes that she can help. (Hello, newly minted god-like powers) She's also glad that Spike, Willow and others quit seeing her as a kid. She's not a kid anymore. And technically, she never was.

Dawn is walking when she hears Spike call her name, probably not for the first time. She tries to head in that direction but her god-like powers don't extend to sniffing the air and super hearing, unfortunately. So it takes them a bit to meet in the middle.

When she does spot him, he's smoking even though he's covered with a blanket. Dawn runs over to him and grabs him around the waist, pulling him into the shade of the nearest alleyway. "Ohmigod are you okay? No flame-age? Cause... just no." She'd be so upset to lose Spike. Like, very, very upset. So her concern is probably over-the-top, but it's also genuine.

[badbadman]

Part of what Spike likes about Dawn is that she's strong willed and independent. He's a little more realistic about Dawn things than Buffy is. She's not a kid anymore and as long as Dawn is taking measures to be safe, she's got a life to live. She needs to live it.

No, definitely not the first time. It's probably a good thing that her god-like powers don't include super senses because Spike is pretty sure he doesn't smell fantastic right now.

Right now, he smells like burning flesh. Definitely not a pleasant aroma. He's more than happy to let her pull him into the shade of the alley. "Nothing I won't heal up from, Bit," he promises her, letting the blanket slip down over his head so he can get a good look at her. "You're okay too?"

[the_dawnster]

That's one of the things she's always loved about Spike, that he's seen past the kid that everyone tried to keep so sheltered for so long. Even when he hadn't been good, Spike had been the one she had run to for some reality. Spike has always been real with her even when others treated her with kid gloves.

"I'm okay." She doesn't really care that he smells like burning flesh. The minute she knows he's (basically) okay, she embraces him, her arms around his waist again and hugging him. "I'm glad you're only semi-crispy instead of all the way crispy. You should've let me come to you. And why were you in a warehouse anyway? You know they have apartments for us."

She leans back and looks up to him. "Which means you have to come too... even though I'm staying with Buffy."

[badbadman]

When Dawn puts her arms around his waist, Spike hugs her back, arms wrapping around her shoulders and pulling her close. "Key to some posh flat? Sounded like a trap to me."

Spike looks down at her, smirking a little. "Big Sister's here, huh?"

[the_dawnster]

She's just going to hold on for a bit. Dawn spent a lot of her younger years alone or being left behind, make-believe or not. Knowing that she has someone here who she trusts and who's on her side is a relief. It's a good thing. So forgive her for holding on for a hot minute.

Even when she speaks, she keeps holding on, only leaning her head back and craning her neck to look up at him with a quizzically arched brow. "See this is why I need you here. I just figured, roof over my head and working water and electricity. But so far it seems like a decent place... I mean I've only just checked it out. We can warehouse it if you want."

That smirk finally gets her to release her hold on him, slowly but surely as she pulls away and nods. "Yeah, she's here. Which, yay for our side. If there's a big bad here, Buffy's gonna kick it's... behind."

[badbadman]

Spike wouldn't have complained about her holding on to him even before the kiss. Now he's really not going to complain, but it also introduces some confusion. He's a bloody git and he ought to be beyond it (he pretends he is) but the way she holds onto him introduces a whole new host of questions like: is she holding onto him because she's particularly glad to see him? Or is it simply because she's glad to see anyone she knows? Or maybe it is because she's feeling more for him than the friendly thing they had been doing back home before he kissed her. He's way too old for this crap and he chides himself silently for being such a wanker.

"Haven't tried to lock you up or chain you down I'm guessin'. That's a good sign," he tells her. He dips his head and takes a big whiff of her neck. Totally responsible and valid thing he's doing here, not just getting his rocks off not just. "Don't smell like you've been poisoned." He hesitates a little. "Yeah, we'll check it out. I could use a shower anyway."

And now he's questioning that action from her. Maybe sh'es rethinking that whole kiss thing and how Big Sis is going to react. "Yeah, it'll regret bringin' us here," he agrees then hikes the blanket back over his head, preparing to dash out into the sun again. "Lead the way, Platelet."

[the_dawnster]

The kiss has complicated things on both ends, but Dawn wouldn't, not for one second, take it back. She kind of feels like her entire actual existence, the handful of years she's been in human form, have been a slow build up to that kiss. Or maybe that's just in her head because of how she's crushed on Spike (on and off) (or maybe always on because who is she kidding) for some time now. She'll take the complications and the awkward and she'll hope that Spike doesn't immediately go back to Buffy once he sees her again.

Once she's leaned back, Dawn grips the strap of her book bag resting crossways over her chest in both fists. "No locking me up or chaining or any of that Fifty Shades stuff, not that I've read it, because ew." She's totally read it and it was hot, okay? "But I figure showers are awesome and so is the whole strength in numbers thing - just in case. You know? Scooby Gang assemble? Like the Avengers but with less spandex and scientific experimentation."

The last bit is said as she's walking backward out of the alley, slowly, so Spike has time to bring his blanket up and shield himself from sunlight. She continues once they're on their way. "Buffy says she was in another universe than us, just before coming here. Weird, right? She was... super glad to see me, like more so than usual."

[badbadman]

Spike would only take it back if Dawn wanted to take it back. He can live with an awkwardness and with just being friends with Dawn, but it's important to him that he not ruin things between he and Dawn. Sure, he'd known that Dawn had crushed on him as a small thing, but he's assumed she'd outgrown it at least around the time she'd gotten together with that git, Xander. However, he's happy that she hadn't outgrown the crush. It works in his favor. He also has no intention of getting back together with Buffy. They've tried the romantic relationship thing and they're not good for each other.

Spike gives her an amused look. "S'not that bad, Bit." The whole chaining thing he means. He's totally read it too and ended up throwing the book at the wall for all the things they'd gotten wrong. He'd gone back to his heaving bosoms paperback romances. "Yeah, let's stay away from the scientific experimentation. Rather not be a lab rat again."

He moves pretty quickly, but not so quickly she can't keep up, once they're in the sun. "We just saw her yesterday," he says, aware that that doesn't rule out Buffy's story. "Some sorta big bad grab her?"

[the_dawnster]

When he says that the chaining is not that bad, Dawn's skin flushes fifty shades of pink. That's the thing about having pale porcelain skin as she does, you can't hide the blushing, which is usually okay except when you're discussing chaining someone up and it's in the hot sense rather than the creepy sense and Dawn sees very little that could be wrong with it. Strangely enough though, she's imagining chaining Spike up rather than the other way around.

She tries to shake off those thoughts but unfortunately, her mind is there and stays there even if she says nothing else after casting a wry and surprised glance in Spike's direction. Really, she shouldn't be surprised.

"Yeah I think so. A computer. And it took her to a place with bad food and bed fashion." She visibly cringes because Dawn likes both of those things to be better than bad. "But she seems okay for the most part. Maybe your super sniffy sense can see something I can't, but it's Buffy and she seems fine to me. She was surprised to hear you were here."

The later comment makes her look down to the ground, hurrying to get into the shade, her stomach ties up in knots and she decides to jog ahead and get the apartment door open so Spike can just run inside. It gives her a second to take a few breaths and calm herself down over everything. If Spike and Buffy get back together, it is what it is. She can't change that.

"But the apartment seems big enough for all of us. And I'd rather us stick together." She adds once they're inside. "You know?"

[badbadman]

As covered up at Spike is, he doesn't see that blush as much as he smells it: her blood rising closer to the surface of her skin. He glances over at her then, peering around the edge of the blanket so he can see her. It makes him smirk, smug with the knowledge that he's the reason for that blush and that he knows where her mind is, or at least he can guess. He is not adverse to the idea of being chained up by her.

No, she shouldn't be surprised. he's nearly two hundred years old.

Spike scowls a little. "Then she ended up here." It's a statement, not a question as he tries to puzzle out what the blood hell is going on. "There's gotta be a catch to this place. They don't offer up this sorta life without one." He's still thinking they're going to end up as lab rats.

He doesn't notice the awkwardness simply because he's concerned with the whole burning thing. The smell of burnt flesh is getting stronger and things are starting to sting a bit. He's grateful when Dawn opens the apartment door and he can dash inside. Once well away from the sunlight, he lets the blanket down around his shoulders, but keeping it at the ready in case he has to pull it up again. He has no intention of getting back together with Buffy. He spent a long while chasing her and he's tired of it. Whatever they were, they're better as friends, he thinks. However, he can't reassure Dawn of this because he's got no idea where her head is.

"Yeah. Safety in numbers and all that jazz," he agrees as they head toward the elevator.