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Buffy has been here long enough to settle in, to come up with some sort of routine. She considered getting a job at the coffee shop for a while, but ultimately has decided to treat this like the semi-vacation she's never actually gotten to take. She sleeps in, cleans house then spends her afternoons wandering around the town.

Today, she's doing some shopping, going into the many stores Itinere provides and coming out laden with shopping bags. Mid-afternoon, she stops by the cafe, grabs a cup of a coffee and a crossiant then sits in the sun to do some people watching. Despite being settled and hopeful about this place, she hasn't figured it out. There has to be a catch because there is always a catch. Once she's done with her coffee, she carries her bags back to the Summers house, drops everything off and spends a little time with the others living there.

Once evening has fallen and has officially become 'late' night, Buffy grabs her scythe and goes out to patrol. She doesn't expect to find anything out of the ordinary. She doesn't expect to slay anything at all, but years of conditioning and soemthing in her slayer makeup drives her out there anyway. She gets restless if she doesn't patrol. Besides, if anything did happen, she'd feel guilty for not patrolling.

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Buffy makes a 'pshaw' sort of sound. "They're not that dirty." She holds her hand out to shake his.

Hey, at least he's still trying to get out there and meet new people despite the embarrassments. That's a good thing.

She nods a little at that. "I think there are a lot of people like that. I'm not good at not doing certain things either, even if it's not necessary." Oh Adam. She can understand it though.

The word 'boyfriend' doesn't get so much as a blink from her. After all, Willow. She's long become accustomed to the idea of live and let love. She smiles at his offer. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. I tend to malfunction machines and I don't like using wish magic so I'm sure you'll be seeing me in a professional sense soon enough."

With the deflection and the offered hand, Adam only hesitates a heartbeat before he takes her hand to shake. It's a middle of the road sort of handshake, firm but not too firm. He gives her a hint of a smile of gratitude that never really becomes a full one and then pulls his hand back.

"Certain things like what?" He only thinks that maybe he shouldn't have asked in hindsight. After all, she could have elaborated if she'd wanted to and she hadn't. Maybe now he prying into something he shouldn't be, but Adam's natural curiosity had won out without much thought put into it - which is strange, since Adam is usually so very thoughtful.

It's nice that the word boyfriend doesn't bother her. Adam is still getting used to admitting he has a boyfriend to other people. He's still learning that most people don't care as he knows his father would and does. It's a very long lesson for Adam Parrish to learn.

"I don't like relying on the wish magic either." Adam commiserates. There are a lot of people who use the wish magic liberally. Adam can't. He wants to work for what he has. He wants to rely on himself, and maybe sometimes Ronan on the rare occasion. Plus, his boyfriend is basically wish magic all on his own. "Most people just... trust it, I guess. I'm guessing that someday there will be a catch and I don't wanna know what it is. Nothing is free, right?"

Buffy is just glad that Adam goes along with it. She doesn't know Adam, but she doesn't see any reason for Adam to be embarrassed because of his hands.

"I'd make a horrible spy and I'm bad at blending in. I can't cook and even microwaving things is dicey. I'm not very handy and I'm bad at taking orders or even doing the things I ought to do." She doesn't mind talking about the things she can't do. Buffy is talented in a lot of areas and some of that has to do with her slayerness, but some of it is just her.

It's good that he's learning to accept who he is. It took Buffy a long time to do that so he's ahead of her on that.

It's not so much that Buffy wants to work for what she has, but she knows wish magic can backfire. In her experience, it always backfires. Buffy wrinkles her nose a little. "I'm the same way. Back home, there were a few people and objects that sort of did wish magic. There was always a catch so..." she shrugs. "I did wish my house here. Accidentally, but still."

"Okay, I didn't... I didn't mean to make you talk about what you can't do." It feels too much like she's bad mouthing herself, something that Adam does on a regular basis in regards to himself. He knows it doesn't feel good, much less do any good for a person psychologically speaking. At least, that's his personal experience. He's a self-depreciating professional, to be honest.

For this reason he tries to reverse course and initiate a do-over. "Sorry. So, what would you do if you weren't in vacation mode? I mean, what do you do well?"

It sounds like she's familiar with magic outside of this place just like he is. And the mention of wish magic feels so very close to home for him that he feels he would be remiss not to explore it further. Ronan would want to know. So would Gansey. He has to ask. "Wish magic? What kind of people and objects? What was the catch?"

"It's okay," Buffy assures him. "I'm good at lots of things too so..." she shrugs a little. Buffy is reasonably well adjusted when it comes to her self-esteem. It's something that took years for her to attain.

She ponders that question a moment. She can be honest or she can go with something that has less depth. "Save the world? Slay vampires? I don't know. There's not much opportunity for any of that here. I guess I could be a bomb barista or open a self-defense class."

She is an it's nice to be able to talk to people about things like this. She considers that a moment, nipping at her bottom lip. "Demons. There's a particular kind that can grant wishes if you ask, but they're always of the 'be careful what you wish for' sort. Someone wishes I'd never moved to Sunnydale and vampires end up making the place a wasteland. There are also objects that can grant wishes: necklaces mostly, I think. Those are...safer? But still kind of dangerous." She tilts her head a little at Adam. "What about in your world?"

She reminds him of Ronan in that way, although Ronan has always had a pretty healthy self esteem aside from less than a handful of areas, mostly revolving around his father's death. Adam envies Ronan. He envies Buffy. Something in the back of his mind, thanks to his boyfriend, reminds him that envy is a sin. In some ways, Adam is not always a good person.

"Vampires? Demons?" It isn't entirely beyond the realm of possibility. He's seen amazing things. He's encountered amazing things. Adam talks to ghosts, after all. But vampires seem on an entirely different level. "It sounds like your life isn't boring."

He briefly wonders if she's been in the woods here, woods filled with strange creatures just because of Itinere being Itinere, and made magical because of the Greywaren having brought something akin to Cabeswater here. Adam can listen to Cabeswater talk to him even now. There are certainly things to... slay... in the woods. Adam has to be careful each time he goes into them to repair a ley line.

"Wish magic can happen in my world too. Magic in general can happen. It's just rare, unless you know where to look, like a veil being lifted once you let yourself see it." He tries to explain without giving any secrets away that aren't his to share. "Magic always comes with a price though. It's imperfect, two sides to a coin - light and dark."

Really, he shouldn't envy her. Yeah, she has a decent amount of self-esteem, but she's 28 and just not starting (she thinks) to get her life together. Buffy is a mess; she's just a mess with self-esteem.

"Yup and lots more, but those are the most common." She grins a bit. "You have no idea. Some days I wish for boring." It's kind of nice to have it here.

She has not, but she needs to put it on her to-do list. She's mainly stuck to the areas that are populated in the interest of protecting that population. However, if people are wandering into the woods then maybe she ought to do so as well, at least from time to time. It wouldn't hurt to familiarize herself with the things in the woods so that if she has to fight them here in town.

She smiles at that, tucking her hair behind her ear. "It's pretty common in my world, but people still have to be willing to see it. They explain far too much away with ridiculous excuses because they dont' want to admit magic is real." That last bit has Buffy agreeing whole-heartedly with him. "I keep telling people that! Like...everyone I've talked to swears the wish magic is safe, but there's got to be a price eventually." She pauses. "Or maybe the things like the ghosts and the harpies are the price? I don't know. Maybe wishing brings them too, like a tag-along."

She's just spitballing ideas.

"Boring is overrated. People... let things happen when they're bored that they wouldn't otherwise." They turn a blind eye. They give in to their baser instincts. They forget to fight the battles that need to be fought in the everyday business of living. Or maybe Adam is the only one who fights battles like that.

He shrugs. "I think I'd prefer to be useful, to grow and learn and be... more. When I'm bored things aren't good." He gets lost in his head, in the past, in dark places where he shouldn't let himself linger because he has good things now. To get bored is to let those good things slip through his fingers and fade away.

Adam listens to her and smirks sarcastically. "Yeah, people only see what makes their lives easier. You can explain anything away if you look at the world like that, even magic."

His brow furrows. He's never thought of the occasional monsters attacking as the price paid for life being easy most of the time. "Maybe you're right. I've never thought of that before. Maybe they're connected, the more people wish the more the bad builds up until we have danger knocking on our doorstep. How do you get people to stop wishing though?"

"Maybe that's all part of the nefarious plan," Buffy says cryptically. "Not that I think there's a plan. Nefarious or otherwise. I'm just...you know, talking and it's always good to remind people not to let their guard down totally." Adam probably definitely isn't the only one that fights battles like that. Everyone has their own battles to fight in everyday life. Some just hide it better than others.

Buffy smiles a little at that. "You should meet my sister. She's all about the learning. I get the useful thing though. It's nice to know that you're needed and to make a difference." Oh, Adam. You poor thing.

"Exactly. If it scares them or challenges their world view they want to shove it under the rug and pretend they don't see it." Buffy is completely unable to see how people can deny the things that happened in Sunnydale, but she knows that they did.

Buffy lifts one shoulder in a sort of shrug. "I mean, I don't know that, but it sort of makes sense." She purses her lips, pondering Adam's theory. "That's a good theory. Like you said, magic has a price and I'd assume this sort of wish magic has a big one. I'm not sure you can get people to stop wishing, especially since some of the wishes aren't things that people even wish for consciously." She's thinking of her sister right now and of the house they live in, one that is likely there because Buffy got homesick for something familiar and safe.

"There's always a plan." Adam says with amusement and a shake of his head. Whether that plan is their own doing or not, whether they know the plan or not, it's always there, uncontrollable and frustrating. Adam has a feeling that the plan here is very much not their own doing and very out of their control.

"We just have to focus on what we can control." He adds, the two thoughts seemingly unconnected to one another unless someone were to really give it some serious thought.

Adam studies Buffy for a moment before asking. "You have family here?" That's disconcerting. Adam has to remind himself that not all families are like his, or even like Ronan and his brothers, or Gansey and his sister. Every family is different. Maybe it's a good thing that Buffy has her sister here. He's never heard of anyone having family here before though, and Adam has been here a long time.

The fact that they were brought here without prior permission makes Buffy think that they're not in control as well. She doesn't like that feeling (she's a bit of a control freak) but she does think she could like this place and that's an odd feeling for her.

She smiles at Adam, sensing a kindred sort of spirit in him. "So that's how you survive this place." She hesitates and drops her voice a bit. "I'm a little bit freaked out by the lack of control."

"I do," she says with a fond smile. It's obvious that she adores her sister. "I've got friends too. I'm lucky." She tilts her head a little. "What about you?"

If Adam were given the choice to go home or stay here, he would choose to stay here. Things are so much easier here than they are back home, at least for him they are. There are other variables that could make him change his mind, most of them revolving around one Ronan Lynch, but if Ronan is here and happy, then Adam is very much the same. He wouldn't exchange all the growth between himself and Ronan for anything, not without a very good reason to do so.

"I have some friends from home. Three of them." Adam answers her, growing somewhat melancholy as he thinks of Noah and the hand he played, or didn't play, in Noah's death. "There was four of us. He died and didn't resurrect like people usually do here when things get that bad."

Adam shakes his head. "I haven't been able to figure out why some people come back after death and others don't. And maybe that's the point: you never know and you're not supposed to know."

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