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Nausicaa & co. try to survive the Buffyverse
Permalink Mark Unread

Nausicaa's throat's still bleeding and there's ash in her eyes, on her skin - a person

Her hands shake as she binds her injury and then Gaara's (she wants to take care of Gaara first but the sand demon refuses). Her legs shake as she climbs out of the crypt.

Her entire body shakes as she collapses, and maybe Gaara's calling Giles but Nausicaa can't really tell, this mission went to shit and Nausicaa killed two people and got another killed in front of her and nearly got her friend killed and - 

She can't breathe.

She's progressed to rocking back and forth, hyperventilating, by the time Giles arrives.

Her vision's going a bit funny.

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"Nausicaa," he says, softly, crouched on the ground next to her.  "Nausicaa, look at me.  You're okay.  It's okay."

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No it's really not.

The way she's breathing isn't helping her dizziness. Her throat feels wet, feels tight...

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"Just focus on breathing, all right?" he says.  His voice is calm, steady.  "Take deep breaths."

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She tries.

It pulls at the still seeping wound in her throat.

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"I'm going to put these bandages on you now, all right?" he says.  "Try to stay still for me."

He starts, slowly, ready to draw back at least for a moment if she startles.

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She doesn't startle. She's - kind of too out of it, to flinch.

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Wrap wrap.

"In through the nose, out through the mouth, all right?"

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Ragged, unsure breaths.

She doesn't really seem to be calming down, though. (Her mind's still in that crypt, replaying every horrible moment.)

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"Can you stand?  I can get you out of here."

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It's hard. She's shaking really badly. But she can lean on him, and be led.

She's not really responding otherwise.

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He looks over at Gaara - she sounded a lot more composed, on the phone, than Nausicaa looks now.  If that holds up he'll keep focusing on Nausicaa.

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Gaara's still dealing with a fairly serious back wound, but she doesn't seem perturbed, and her sand has stopped the bleeding entirely.

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"Do you need help, Gaara?  I have more bandages."

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"I'm alright. My sand is sufficient. Focus on Nausicaa."

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He nods, and leads Nausicaa toward his car, if she proves leadable.

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She's kind of stumbling along.

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"One foot at a time," he says quietly.  "You're safe now."

Soon they're at the car.

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She almost falls down when sitting.

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He moves to catch her, and helps her into her seat.

He gets in the car opposite her, in the driver's seat.

"Can you tell me if there's anything you need, other than getting out of here?" he asks gently.

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She just breathes, raggedly, choking on her sobs.

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"Okay," he says.  "Just look at me and breathe with me, all right?  In through the nose... and out through the mouth, like so.  In... out... in... out..."

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She slowly starts to breathe more regularly, following his rhythm. 

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Gaara starts talking to her, too, about where she is, what things look like, here not there - 

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It's been a while since he's done this.  If Gaara knows her stuff, if Nausicaa seems to be responding well, he's happy to let her take the lead from here.

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Nausicaa's down to the occasional shuddering hiccup by the time they're arrived.

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"We're at my house, now," he says.  "Would you like to come inside and rest?"

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She doesn't seem much like she wants to do anything, but she can be led.

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He'll take her inside, and bring her a glass of water.

After a few minutes, he'll ask again, softly, "Can you tell me if there's anything you need?"

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"I think. I just. Need to talk. To someone. Maybe - maybe Kaylee?"

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"All right," he says, "I'll see what I can do."

He shouldn't put that on Kaylee, maybe, but he shouldn't put this on Nausicaa either.  Who thought picking him for this was a good idea.

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There's a phone conversation.  Giles is quiet, and somber; Nausicaa can't hear the other side of the conversation, but he's silent for a while.  Maybe Kaylee and her parents are arguing.

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 Eventually, he thanks whoever he's talking to and hangs up.

"She's on her way," he says.  "Her parents - want to check on you, too, but... I don't have to let them in."

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"I think that's okay. I don't want - Kaylee to have trouble with them - "

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"As you prefer," he says.  "Do tell me if there's anything else at all I can do for you."

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"...I feel kind of... Woozy. I think I lost a lot of blood..."

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" - yes, that sounds likely - you should have some food.  I'll get you - "

He gets up, heads for his kitchen, returns with a cookie jar and a number of bottled drinks.

"Fluids," he says, "and salt and sugar."

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She's kind of nauseous but those sound good right now. The drinks especially. 

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He'll keep one eye on her, while the minutes pass quietly until Kaylee gets there.

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She curls up, miserable, and picks slowly at the food and drinks.

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Eventually there's a knock at the door.

Giles opens it, converses for a moment in murmurs with Kaylee's family.

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Kaylee's the first to enter the room - she rushes toward Nausicaa, then stops, looking like she's teetering on the edge of sprinting forward and tackle-hugging her, and says, "Nausicaa, are you - do you need a hug?"

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Sad nod.

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Hug hug hug!

"Giles said you said you needed someone to talk to," she says softly.

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Cling. "Yeah. We - did a raid. On the vampires. It... Didn't go the way I'd planned."

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"Are you okay?" she asks, her voice still tender.  "I mean - did anyone get hurt?"

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"Me and Gaara. And we killed three of the vampires."

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"Oh Nausicaa..."

She wishes she had a way to hug her more than she already is.  She squeezes, and pets Nausicaa's hair, instead.  "Having to kill somebody, even a vampire, I can't even imagine... Are you and Gaara going to be okay?"

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"Physically, I think. I. One of the vampires - Vanessa - she had her fangs in my neck -"

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Hug hug pet pet.

(She hasn't been through anything like Nausicaa just has, nothing even close, but - she's been in the place where everything in your head just keeps going around in circles - )

"I think," she says quietly, "you should try to just - tell me everything, okay?  The whole story, in order, just get it all out..."

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She nods, and, slowly, shakily, does so.

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Kaylee will keep hugging her, as long as she needs; and petting her hair for as long as it seems to help.

"It's over now," she says softly, because it was what her father said to her once, and because it's true.  "It was horrible, but it's over."

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So much leaning.

"It's - it's not going to stop, there's more - I'm a stupid little girl who doesn't know what she's doing - "

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" - Nausicaa, you did so much better than I would have done even if I had all your powers.  Maybe someone literally perfect at this could've taken them all alive, but - I think you acted defensibly.  They were trying to kill you.  They were trying really hard - and really systematically - to kill you, and you couldn't have gone to the police."

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"If I'd had more allies, and had been actually trying to recruit - "

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"Maybe," Kaylee says.  (Hug, pet.)  "I don't think you're ever gonna be able to look back at anything you do and not be able to say, maybe, if I'd had perfect prudence and foresight, I would've been able to do better than I did.  I don't think having to kill some of the people who were trying to assassinate you is something you have to feel guilty about."

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"I just - I was so arrogant - "

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"I don't think you were arrogant," Kaylee says softly.

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"I don't - don't even know how to do better next time - "

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"We'll figure it out, okay?"

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"I - I guess - "

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"You just got back from a really horrible experience," Kaylee says.  "You're still - processing.  I think it's okay to not have everything figured out yet."

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"Maybe. I don't know."

Shiver. More cuddles.

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At some point they shifted into a side-by-side position on the couch.  Kaylee strokes her shoulder, quietly.

"It has to take work, right?  Figuring out how to do better.  It's not something that just happens."

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"...Yeah."

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Cuddle.

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And, gradually, Nausicaa starts drifting off.

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"Mr. Giles?" Kaylee murmurs, once it seems Nausicaa is well and truly asleep.

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"She can have my bed," Giles says. He eases her up off the couch into a bridal carry, and makes for the stairs.

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(Something in the back of Kaylee's mind feels - cheated? - that she isn't the one to carry Nausicaa to bed. That doesn't make any sense though.)

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He lays her down in his bed, and pulls a blanket over her, gently, and returns to the living room.

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"We're staying here tonight," Helena says firmly. "We brought an overnight bag."

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Giles nods. "Right. If one of you would like the couch..."

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"We have sleeping bags," says Rob, "it's fine."

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"Kaylee?" he says.

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Kaylee shakes her head. "I think - I'd like to sit with Nausicaa," she says. "In case she wakes up."

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"All right," Giles says softly.

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She heads to Giles' room. Opens the door, pads inside softly. Finds a chair, and sits.

Watches Nausicaa sleep, worrying at her lip.

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In the living room:

"I'd like to hear what happened from you," Helena says.

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Giles recounts the events of the past couple days. The assassination attemps on Nausicaa, the moves and countermoves. Scouting out graveyards and vampire bars, tracking down Galbraith and then Vanessa herself.

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Helena nods along, frowning.

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"It's quite - " he begins, then stops.

"I would keep her out of it, if I could," he says. "If we did not identify and train Slayers, they would be in no less danger."

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"There must be people - who aren't children - " Rob says.

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"There are," Giles says grimly. "But, quite frankly, there aren't enough of them to go around. An ordinary human, well armed and well trained and informed of the nature of vampires, could perhaps be a match for one. They could not protect a Slayer from everything that wants to kill her, and that is powerful and intelligent enough to do so. And the options for... becoming extraordinary... are themselves quite unpalatable."

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Helena puts a hand on Rob's knee.

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"I am under no illusions that this state of affairs is - acceptable," he says. "But there is little we can do about it. And Nausicaa - is clearly not an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl."

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Rob nods reluctantly.

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"We should get ready for bed, I think," he says.

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The Whitlocks nod their agreement.

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Nausicaa drifts back out of sleep, eventually. She's groggy and dizzy, but normally she doesn't do that thing, normally she's awake or she's not - 

She starts pushing herself up.

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"Hey," Kaylee says quietly.

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"Kaylee? What happened? Why do I feel - "

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"Mr. Giles brought you to bed," Kaylee said.  "You had a rough night, you lost some blood - you might need - food or fluids.  How do you feel?"

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"Woozy. Sore."

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She nods.  "Stay in bed.  I'll have Mr. Giles bring you something, okay?"

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"Okay."

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She vanishes into the living room for a few moments, then returns bearing a tray with a glass of water, a plate of orange slices, and a banana.

"Here, let me..." She makes to put the tray on Nausicaa's lap.

"Mr. Giles says you need fluids, electrolytes, and iron," she says.  "Oranges and bananas for the potassium, and he's making bacon and eggs, and he has some sports drinks as well if you like those..."

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"I'm pretty ravenous, so - thanks. And horribly thirsty."

She goes for the water first.

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Tentative grin.  "Of course.  Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

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"I will. Thanks, Kaylee."

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"You're welcome."

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Giles arrives soon with two plates, one of bacon and eggs and one with a couple of thick, buttered pancakes.  "Here you are, Nausicaa," he says, adding them to her tray.

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"Thanks."

Wow, she's massively hungry. She's probably going to eat everything put before her - though she does also ask for more water. Or maybe juice? Those sports drinks sound good...

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He'll bring her anything she wants.

"How are you feeling?"

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"Not too good. Better, I guess. Brain doesn't feel all explode-y."

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"That's good to hear.  It would be best for you to stay in bed today, although you'll likely recover from your blood loss faster than an ordinary person."

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She nods, though she doesn't look happy about it.

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" - are you all right?"

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"Physically, I think so."

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He nods.  "I can leave you two alone.  Do send for me if you need anything."

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"Thanks."

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He departs.

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"Did, um, you want me to leave you alone too?" Kaylee asks.

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"No. Some company's nice..."

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"All right."

"We can talk about it, if you want.  Or - not talk about it."

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"I think talking may help me process it all..."

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"Okay," she says.  "I think I know the whole story, roughly..."

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"Yeah. I - don't really know where to start, picking it all apart."

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Tentatively: "If you're still feeling - guilty - I still think you did a pretty good job.  Considering."

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"I don't know that I did..."

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"You're alive, and Gaara's alive," Kaylee says.  "And Vanessa's - dealt with.  She can't hurt you now.  It could've gone a lot worse, right?"

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"I guess."

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Her friend had to kill someone, she is so out of her depth.

Well, one thing she's always good at -

"You look like you need a hug."

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"I think I do."

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She climbs into Giles' bed next to Nausicaa.  Hug.  Side hug.

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Cuddles.

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"You know," she says, into the silence, "I think it's okay to just... want to think about something else, for a little while."

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"...I don't know..."

Feeling miserable at least feels like she's not making light of someone dying.

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She rubs her shoulder.  "You can say whatever you're thinking, I won't - judge you.  If that helps to hear.  I think... I really think you didn't do anything wrong."

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"I think I did."

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"It was self-defense, wasn't it?"

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"I. I don't know."

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"They would've killed you."

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"I know. Just..."

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Hug hug.

"I think.  That.  Just because you can imagine a way everything could've gone perfectly, after the fact... that doesn't necessarily mean... that it's true, or even that you're a bad person for not being perfect.  And I think that - a lot lot more of the awfulness of what happened is located in the situation you're in, than in anything you did about it, if that makes sense."

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"...Maybe. I. That makes sense?" It's a hard thought to have, almost painful when she's this mad at herself.

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Tentative but encouraging smile.  "I'm glad."

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Tiny smile. Pensive cuddles.

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Breakfast passes, and lunch, in light conversation or pensive silence.

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That afternoon, there's a knock at their door.

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"Come in," Nausicaa calls.

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Giles eases the door open.  "I came to check on you.  How are you feeling?"

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"Better physically. Still working on emotionally."

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"As far as physically goes, I'm glad to hear it.  ...I think you and I should - debrief - soon.  It's wiser not to wait too long, and... it may help you."

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"...Maybe. Yeah. And we can figure out - what to do next time."

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"Indeed, that's one of the most important parts of a debrief.  Now... would you like Kaylee to stay, for... emotional support?"

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"Yeah. Thanks."

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Squeeze.

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"Very good.  Now, the purpose of a debrief is to review the events of a mission, or in this case a series of missions, so that we can examine what happened, what we can anticipate happening in the future because of it, what information we've gained that might be relevant to future missions, and, as you pointed out, any mistakes we may have made or opportunities we can find to do better on our next missions."

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She nods.

"So I should go slow, maybe, so we can go over each piece one at a time?"

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"Precisely.  And also so that we can both take notes."  He gestures with a pair of notebooks he brought with him.  "I'll also be going over my memories of the mission with you, since I was there for some of it, and we can compare to produce as accurate a reconstruction as we can."

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She takes a notebook and pencil. "That sounds good. Here?"

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"If you prefer.  If you feel well enough to move about - and as the Slayer I would not be surprised - we can relocate, if you like."

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"I think I'd like to stretch my legs some."

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"Very good."

He takes her to his study, which is smaller but not cramped, and in addition to a mahogany desk and a number of chairs and a soft incandescent light, has a chalkboard, which he wheels into place opposite Kaylee and Nausicaa.

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And she starts to talk.

"We followed Galbraith from the Line and Sinker. We decided to return later with supplies and backup. Gaara and I went in, found out it was just Galbraith's hideout, and fought and then talked to him. He talked a lot about how my pitch isn't very good against vampires, but did flip on Vanessa."

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He nods.  "It may be best to start from the very beginning, actually - from the first time you encountered one of Vanessa's agents."

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"...Yeah."

"I couldn't sleep one night, and I saw someone human-shaped hanging out in the shadows outside. I climbed out my window and went to wrestle with them, he was a vampire, I won. I questioned him, he said he hadn't known it was my house but his boss had sent him to check it out. I threatened him until he told me about Vanessa, and he lied about where she hangs out. I let him go, and he bolted. I haven't seen him since."

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He nods along, and scribbles notes, and then writes on the chalkboard:

Day 1: Nausicaa is harassed by one of Vanessa's scouts, learns Vanessa's name but is misled about her hideout; scout gets away; Vanessa learns Slayer's home address

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"I think the guy actually skipped town, instead of reporting back, but if Vanessa was telling them to go one place a night she would've seen whichever one didn't come back."

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"I still consider leaving town to be getting away, but it's a worthwhile distinction to note."  He adds in (leaves town) next to scout gets away.  "And, ah, you're right - the only scout who didn't return is likely to be the one who had a run-in with the Slayer."

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"Yeah. Probably my mistake there was reacting like I wasn't a normal person? But I didn't know he wasn't working on his own."

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He frowns, taps his chin pensively, paces.  "On reflection, it was unusual that a vampire was targeting a house, rather than someone out alone at night or a public building - they don't usually bother trying to be invited in, or to circumvent the need for an invitation, unless they absolutely must.  I may not have thought of it in the moment either, but - it should've been a hint that something strange was going on."

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"Especially since I'd done my first public Slayer thing pretty recently."

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"Indeed.  That is day one, then - the next day I believe we informed your foster parents of what was going on, and you all relocated to a motel?"

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"Yeah. They handled the information pretty well, and I don't think the vampires figured out where our motel was."

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He nods.

Day 2: Nausicaa informs and relocates her foster parents; no detected action from Vanessa

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"Next day we investigated - I think Sunnydale Memorial Park? I went out in the Spiderman costume for the first time. Met a different vampire, he hadn't heard of Vanessa, but he told me about the Line and Sinker."

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"As I understand it, the vampire you found in Sunnydale Memorial Park is still alive and in Sunnydale?"

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"Yeah, I think. Got him to say he wasn't going to hunt people any more."

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"...If it were me, I would not trust a vampire on that point."

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(Kaylee puts a hand on Nausicaa's shoulder.)

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"I can do check-ups. I'm not killing him. And I can talk to Galbraith about setting up alternatives."

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"What sort of alternatives, exactly?"

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"Animals? Blood banks? Feeding from humans who've consented? I'd have to figure a way to present that as evil but humans think a lot of silly things are evil, so."

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"Animals, perhaps, but - blood taken from blood banks is blood that cannot be used to save human lives.  There already isn't enough of it to go around.  And - I must object in the strongest possible terms against encouraging people to allow vampires to feed from them."

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"Point on blood banks. But what's wrong about people letting vampires feed on them?"

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"Interactions between vampires and humans - even and perhaps especially seemingly peaceful ones - give those vampires a vector by which they can influence those humans.  In principle there would be nothing wrong with a vampire feeding from a consenting human if that vampire could be trusted to act in good faith, but you cannot trust a vampire to act in good faith.  They exist to - torment and vex human beings.  People who seek them out would likely be easily misled or - charmed - by them, and would be their favorite candidates for transformation into new vampires - or induction into malevolent cults, or witch's covens."

"And..." he hesitates.

"...Vampires are capable of making the experience of being fed from, ah, pleasurable.  Sometimes to the point of addiction.  And none of them would hesitate to addict a human to being bitten, at which point the relationship could not fairly be called consensual."

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"Does the addiction wear off? Could I just rate-limit people?"

"And there's plenty of asshole humans. Humans aren't - sheep who're entirely weak to the first charming asshole to walk by."

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"There are.  But we warn people about dangerous humans, and tell them to stay away; we don't let them hand out addictive drugs to anyone who's interested.  And I think that - the suggestion that a person has to be weak to be taken in by vampires is doing their victims a disservice."

"As for rate-limiting people - perhaps you could, yes, if you had the resources to keep careful watch on all of the vampires in your employ.  But if you plan to regularly leave vampires alive, we will rapidly become overstretched."

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"I don't know! Maybe there's more blood demons who can just produce a whole bunch, maybe we can get that kind of infrastructure - playing Big Brother's evil, right? Get vampires to snitch on each other."

"And we can tell people the vampires aren't nice."

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"Vampires much prefer doing evil to humans to doing evil to each other.  They would recognize what you are doing as an attempt to keep them from your purpose, and see you as a common enemy, and you could not stop them from uniting against you to subvert your institution from the inside.  All vampires must be treated as - as bad-faith actors, and just as they would cooperate with you in bad faith to gain access to vulnerable humans, they would report on their companions' bad faith actions in bad faith in order to further secure that access."

"And if there are any magical sources of palatable human blood that we could access, vampires could access them too, and almost certainly already have."

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"There's lots of stuff in the world. Most people don't seem to know what kind of demon Gaara is. And maybe some vampire discovered a way to get blood without killing people, and decided it wasn't evil enough, or kept it all to himself - I'm not thinking vampires would spontaneously switch to good guy stuff, I'm thinking I can carrot and stick it enough to not have to kill people."

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"Perhaps for a while, but sooner or later there will be a vampire who is smarter than us, who will outwit us, and who will be able to do so because we left it alive.  Our comparative advantage is not in being able to outthink them or outmaneuver them, it is in being able to kill them.  And - "

He rubs his forehead.

"Even if your scheme goes as well as I could possibly imagine it going, there will still be at least some vampires, or more powerful creatures, who refuse to fall in line behind you on principle.  It - is not fair, it is horrible, but any Slayer will eventually have to accustom herself to killing things.  I don't believe delaying it will make it any easier."

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She frowns and looks away.

"I think you're wrong. I think you tried, maybe, and you gave up - but that doesn't mean I have to."

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He doesn't say anything.  Just rubs his forehead again.

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"Um," says Kaylee.  She clasps her hands behind her back to stop herself wringing them together nervously.  (Here are two terribly impressive people who are dealing with things she isn't, things she can't imagine, and she just happens to know them, and it seems ridiculous to think she could have anything to say to them.  But.)  "I think.  Maybe.  We should just - stop for a few minutes.  It kind of seems like -" well, you're in this now, Kaylee, she thinks, and plows ahead - "you're both really angry, or, like, about to be really angry, and if you keep arguing and keep getting angrier - we're not gonna be able to do this right, that way."

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"I guess, yeah."

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He nods, slowly.  "I think you're right."

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She gets up and walks out.

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Kaylee - follows.

 

 

"I can - leave you alone, if you want?"  Once they're outside.

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"No. I - You're good."

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"Okay."

She should be saying something to make this okay but - what could she possibly say to make this okay - and her standing there being nervous trying to think of something to say is probably making it worse -

 

She doesn't say anything, she just halfway puts her arm around Nausicaa's shoulder, silently offering.

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She leans more fully into Kaylee, curling in a bit.

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She pets Nausicaa's shoulder.

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"Do you think I'm - being irrational?"

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“I don’t think so,” she says softly.  “I - still don’t know exactly what I think about vampires, whether it’s possible to talk to them or what, but - listening to what you were saying to him - I didn’t hear someone who was - being silly.”

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"Thanks."

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"You're welcome."  Pet pet.

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Snuggles!

"I want things to work for everyone, and I know that's not always possible, but..."

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"But it's a good thing to want."

"I think..." she says slowly.  "I think it's really easy to think that if someone's evil enough, it doesn't matter if things work for them.  Or - to act like it doesn't really matter even if you don't say it or - explicitly think it.  And I think you're really good at not doing that, and... I admire that about you."

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"Thanks. That - really means a lot."

"I know there's a lot of humans being hurt, and there's an argument that we should prioritize helping people who aren't causing trouble that maybe even makes sense, but - "

"Someone's gotta try. And I'm not the type of person who can just not. So maybe it's a really bad idea, but... I want humanity to be able to say, well, someone did their best. Someone reached out a hand, and if that was dangerous or bad or wrong - "

"There'll be another Slayer, if I'm wrong."

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"That's - really beautiful, Nausicaa.  I kind of want to - give you a hug about it."

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"I think I could use a hug."

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Hug.

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Cuddles!

"Thanks, Kaylee. I - think I'm feeling better, now."

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"I'm glad I could help."

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Hug. "You're a really good friend, and a great help with this."

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Pet.  "I do what I can."

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"It matters a lot to me."

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Grin.

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Then, softly: "Do you think we should - check on - Mr. Giles, soon?"

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"Probably, yeah."

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"Well," she says.  "Ready when you are."

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"Well... I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be, so." Stand?

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Stand.  Knock.

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Giles opens the door.  "Hello."

"I think... I am ready to resume, if you are."

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"Yeah. I think maybe I am."

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He stands aside to let them in.

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Nausicaa enters, and goes back to leaning on Kaylee once she's settled.

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He shuts the door.

"First of all," he says quietly, "I believe I owe you an apology.  I... have a great many different fears and worries, and I think I did not successfully sort them out from each other before I allowed them to push me into speaking sharply with you.  We have our disagreements, about important things, but I think it is important that we find a way to work together wherever we can, and I have not been doing my part to enable that."

He looks at her.  "If you have any other - grievances with my behavior today - I would encourage you to air them," he says sincerely.  "You've shown yourself to be - intelligent and reasonable, if more ambitious than me - and I want to make myself someone you can speak frankly with."

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"Thanks."

"It feels... Like you're not taking me seriously. Like you think I don't know what I'm talking about, or that I'm a little kid. I realize that trying to befriend vampires is unlikely to work and likely to get me killed someday. I know that, and I think it's worth it, anyways. I know the Slayer line won't end with me, and it's important to have someone who tried."

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"I see," he says.

He adjusts his glasses.

"I think it is... a fair accusation, that I... attributed to you a certain naive optimism that you do not possess.  For that, I also apologize."

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"Thanks. And... I'm sorry if it's seemed like I was ignoring you a lot."

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He nods.  "Thank you.  It is clear to me now that you aren't."

"I think... for now, we should return to the debriefing, and I will not raise the issue of whether it is ever wise to leave vampires alive."

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"Yeah."

Shaky smile.

"Where were we?"

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Grin.

"Sunnydale Memorial Park," he says, looking at his notes.  "You met a vampire and extracted from him the location of the Line and Sinker."

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"Right. So Gaara and I went there, kind of undercover? And we talked to some of the demons, found out about some of her lieutenants who were hanging around."

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He nods.  "This was the next day, yes?  As I recall you established a reusable cover story and established a - contact - with a regular patron?"

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"Yeah. Took us a bit of scoping out to get anything more. But in the meantime - I got noticed. Some shapeshifter came after me, tried to kill me. I won, found out I'd been conspicuous I guess? With being possibly powered."

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Day 3: Nausicaa investigates the Line and Sinker

Day 4: Nausicaa is attacked by ragdoll demon assassin

He puts a star by "Line and Sinker" and "ragdoll demon assassin."  "Both of those," he says, "we may have to address in the near future.  In particular, your assassin may be able to recognize you or identify you to other hostile actors.  But for now, let's continue."

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"Yeah."

"I think after that we decided to move on Galbraith?"

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He nods.  “So you started staking out the Line and Sinker.”

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"Yeah. Found him pretty fast, too. You drove me and Gaara after him, and we figured out where he was going at night. I don't super remember if we went straight after him then or if we waited..."

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"As I recall it was the next day - during the daylight to stop him from fleeing."

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"Maybe? I know me and Gaara moved on Vanessa that night, because he advised us she'd get suspicious as soon as he missed check-in..."

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"I seem to recall taking you home after tracking Galbraith to his hideout."

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She pauses, uncertain with her memory, but shakes her head.

"Confronting him in the hideout was the day after we tracked him, I think. But after the confrontation, you met us a few blocks away from Galbraith's crypt and drove us straight to the mausoleum."

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He nods.  "That sounds right."

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"Yeah."

"And then the - mess with the catacombs. Or do you want to go over Galbraith more?"

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"Can you tell me about the deal you made with him?"

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"I'd leave him alive. He'd tell me about Vanessa, about the hideout and who's there, and then he'd run the other way. I'd take her out - he seemed to have some grudge against her, wanted me to let her know he'd been the one who betrayed her, but I didn't manage that. I'm supposed to contact him once the dust settles to figure out where to go - he seemed at least willing to help me figure out vampire psychology..."

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He nods along and jots down notes.  "And that night, you and Gaara moved on the catacombs."

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She nods.

"Yeah. We picked the entrance with the prisoners to go in through first. Figured we didn't want the vampires taking hostages."

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"That makes sense.  You rescued all of them and had me take them to a safehouse..."

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"And we - locked - some of the vampires in the cells - "

"...What happened to them."

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“I - imagine they’re probably still there.”

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" - That's."

"Do vampires do as poorly - forgotten in a cell - as humans?"

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“ - I’ve never heard an account of a vampire traumatized by anything, but I don’t know how... unpleasant it is, in the moment.”

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"We shouldn't leave them there - "

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“I will not tell you what to do with them, but - do we have a place to keep prisoners?”

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"...I mean where they are? Until I can talk to them? But there's gotta be a - less assholeish way to do that?"

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"I ask because once it becomes clear that the Sterling-Blanc catacombs have been vacated, other vampires will almost certainly try to move in on them.  Do we have the means to secure a place to keep prisoners."

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"Dunno. If there's - organized - Gaara'd have trouble holding them, and we don't have a big group yet..."

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He nods.  "It's unclear exactly how organized the vampires in Sunnydale are, but... I doubt the Line and Sinker, for instance, is a solo project."

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"Yeah, and - more might try to organize, if there's a reason."

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Giles nods.

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"We, um," says Kaylee tentatively - "I think we should try to - treat them conscientiously while we figure out what to do about them, at least.  Whether it's hopeless to ever talk to vampires or not, whether we can keep them prisoner indefinitely or not - we can at least not lock them up and forget about them for however long we can hold onto the mausoleum, even if that's not very long.  Even serial killers get last meals, you know?"

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"Yeah. Even if they're irredeemable assholes - we have standards. Even assholes get equality under the law."

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He nods.  "I think you're right.  Can you, ah, countenance, finishing the debriefing before you leave to see to them?  I think it would be wise, but..."

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"I... Maybe quickly..."

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“What if we just - finish going over the fight, that should only take a minute, and then do the rest of the - analysis - after we take care of the prisoners?  - Nausicaa, are you feeling up to interacting with vampires who - might be angry or dangerous?”

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"I think so?"

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"Are you quite sure?" Giles says.  "Because if you're not fully recovered, then even with Gaara as backup, it would be wisest to wait until you are, I think."

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"And leave them possibly suffering?"

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He hesitates, touching his hand to his cheek pensively.

“I understand your urgency,” he says.  “Disregarding your own safety, even in pursuit of noble goals, can still be unwise - if you’re further injured or killed because you weren’t fully recovered, you may do less good overall, even if hesitation feels like a greater betrayal.  If you say that you understand this, and that you still wish to go today, I will believe you.”

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"...Yeah. If there was a fight, I'm - not sure I could do it, right now."

"We need more allies."

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“One thing Slayers almost always are is overstretched,” he says somberly.

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"Why don't more of them have a lot of allies?"

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"The best Slayers do," he says, "as I understand it.  But it never seems to be enough."

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"I think I need to find some way for - compounding allies? Allies who find allies, or - just. An organization. Maybe something I can pass on to the next Slayer, even."

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"To some extent that is what the Council is meant to be," he says, "but it is an - " he sighs.  "...imperfect organization."

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"I get the feeling it's not really the Slayer's organization, though."

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He shakes his head.  "The Council - usually sees it as the other way around, in my understanding."

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"The Slayer should have her own people, too."

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He sighs distantly.

"Yes," he says after a moment, "I rather think you should."

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"I think that's going to be something I'm good at."

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He smiles.

 

"We should get back to the debriefing."

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"Yeah. Uh... Where were we?"

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"You imprisoned some number of vampires inside the mausoleum, as I recall."

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"...Yeah. Did I cover fighting Vanessa? 'Cause that's most of what happened next."

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“You did not.  Are you comfortable recounting it?”

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She nods, and does so, hesitantly and slowly.

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(Kaylee offers shoulder-squeezes at regular intervals.)

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He nods along, takes notes.

"All told," he says softly, "I think you performed admirably."

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"What happened with the people we freed?"

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"My police contact is helping them.  Some of them have casefiles, and she's helping to close those cases without drawing supernatural attention to the police department or the victims.  Most of them were homeless and never reported missing.  They will most likely be remanded to homeless shelters."

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She nods, slowly.

"...There's a lot of people that need help."

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“There are.”

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Kaylee rubs her shoulder.

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"I - want to help everyone I can."

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"Well," he says, "the good news is we now have several places to start."

He turns, scans his eyes across the board, frowns interrogatively at his notes.  "We know now that there is a shapeshifting demonic hitman operating in Sunnydale, who has probably killed people before and will probably do so again," he says, "and we know that the Line and Sinker is selling human blood and flesh to vampires and expatriate demons.  Both of these sound like problems that could use a Slayer's attention."

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She nods. "Definitely." Separately she wants to find a, like, vat meat solution to human blood and meat for the cannibal demons. Relatedly? She's not sure. "Though - again, long term. If we just shut them down - demand still exists? The problem will just reoccur. Are there... I don't know, infinitely regenerating human flesh trees or something weird and creepy and horrory like that?"

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"Not on Earth, not so far as I know," he says.  "And it would be - unwise - to try too hard to look elsewhere.  You're right that eliminating suppliers will not eliminate demand, but I think in this case it's also important not to let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

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She nods, slowly. "There's - still people suffering, now. Why's it unwise to go looking?"

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"Magic to pass into - other realms of existence - is both the most disastrous if it goes wrong and the most dangerous to the user even in the best possible case.  A failed portal rarely just closes, and often opens to somewhere much worse than the intended destination."

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"...Yeah, that'd be bad."

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He nods.  "So - in the short term, tend to your prisoners as soon as possible, then start formulating a plan for further investigating and moving against the Line and Sinker and our assassin."

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Slow nod. "I think that's best, probably."

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"It's a plan."

"Now," he continues, "the next step is - can you think, in retrospect, of any mistakes either of us made?"

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"Drawing attention to myself as - possibly some kind of superhuman. The parkour was technically in human ability but I - shouldn't have figured people would know that."

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He nods.  "Yes, one of us should've thought of that."  He frowns pensively at the board, again, and rubs his chin.  "It also occurs to me that, from your description of the fight with Vanessa, punching vampires in the solar plexus doesn't seem to work nearly as well as it does on humans.  And looking back on the timeline of events... there are a few opportunities that I think Vanessa missed, which I wouldn't want to rely on the next master vampire missing as well.  She could've had her assassin or another daywalker ally stake out your house as soon as she knew where you lived - the ragdoll demon was clearly capable of avoiding your notice.  And we're fortunate that she didn't make any moves against you while you were staking out the Line and Sinker."

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"Yeah, definitely. I'm - not as familiar as I probably need to be with vampire anatomy, and Vanessa was - messing up a lot, too."

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He nods.  "Instinct and habit is as important as intellectual knowledge of vampire anatomy - I think we should also practice not going for the solar plexus and similar sensitive areas in sparring as well.  As for our strategic errors..."

He spends a moment turning over this next sentence in his mind.

"You can be careful not to be visibly near-peak human ability when you're out of costume, to avoid making it obvious that Nausicaa Uzun is the Slayer.  But it's also important to think about what... general strategic errors we were making, that, had we not made them, would have reliably allowed us to foresee mistakes like that.  Does that make sense?"

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"I think so?"

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“Do you have any thoughts in that direction?”

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Kaylee pipes up, for the first time in a while.  “Well - you talked about how you kept the parkour within what was possible for humans, but - even if something really athletic is possible for humans, if someone who knows about Slayers sees a teenage girl doing it, and she matches the description of the Slayer they already heard about - that’s going to be suggestive, you know?  So I think the - way to have thought of that in advance - is to think, if I’m a vampire, could this make me suspicious?  Not just whether it’s absolute proof.  If that makes sense.”

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"...I guess so, yeah. That's a good point, Kaylee, and - something I should be better at."

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"I recall you saying something similar, Kaylee, when we were trying to predict Vanessa's next moves," Giles says.  "In general I think we should all be quicker to think of - trying to see our actions through our enemies' eyes."

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"Yeah. I should talk to any vampires we - get any kind of cooperating with us, too, so I'm not assuming they're human-like psychologically."

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(She already knows how careful to be around vampires who seem to be cooperative, Rupert, reiterating it will not help anything.)  He nods.

"Well," he says, "all things considered, I think we've done good work today."

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"Yeah. Feel mentally wrung out, but."

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Grin.  "I'll let you rest."

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"Thanks, G-man. Though - we gotta figure out what to do with the vampires we've got captive, too. Maybe contact Galbraith, actually, he'll want to know Vanessa's down..."

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"Those shall be our first priorities when we return to the breach."

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"Yeah."

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She rests, as much as she's willing to allow herself (it isn't much), then calls Galbraith.

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He picks up.

There's a hesitation, then:

"Is she dead?"

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"Yes. Dust."

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" - did you tell her?"

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"Tried. It was kind of - chaos, though. Sorry."

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"It's fine.  What happened to the rest of her people?"

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"Dusted a few, trapped a few others in the cells they'd been using for humans - I'm actually unsure what to do with the trapped ones, now."

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“I doubt I’m gonna be able to get them onboard with our whatever-this-is,” he says.  “You might have to dust them too.”

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" - I really need to figure out how to present myself though, and they might be good tests for - me being the one doing the talking."

Even if having to dust them if they don't come around would be really horrible.

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“You’re the boss,” he says.  “I think those cells in Sterling-Blanc are rated for vampires even though we only ever used them for humans.  You could keep ‘em around at least for a bit if you want, if you had a source of blood to feed ‘em.”

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"Right. I think - I think I'm going to say I'm sick of the whole Slayer thing. Which I am. I don't like being told by some mystic fate thingy what to do, and I don't like saying 'well, we're humans, they're vampires, so we're enemies' - so I want to do everything I'm not supposed to, and shouldn't they want the same, right, humans and vampires at each others' throats is awfully convenient if you don't want the world to change much - "

"Though that risks - needing some specific scapegoat enemy..."

"And I don't think I have enough blood for a bunch of captive vampires, at least not yet, which really, really complicates trying to get them as allies, even, rather than just - test beds for my ability to pitch 'sunshine and rainbows and hugs are totally the vampire aesthetic.'"

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"It's not an aesthetic," he says, a bit sharply.  "Vampires do evil because we're supposed to do evil the same way humans are supposed to do good.  If you want them to pal around with humans you gotta convince them that they'll be corrupting humans or something, or else get them to not care about doing evil the same way you'd convince  a human to not care about not hurting people."

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"Yeah, I get that. Sorry. I'm kind of just - frazzled right now."

She frowns and presses the heel of her palm against her forehead. "I know how to convince humans not to care about hurting others - it's actually pretty easy? But, like, humans have self-interested reasons for doing evil stuff, and you can get them to override their empathy with - something in the general area of selfishness, especially if you're convincing them other humans deserve to be hurt, though I guess there'd be corresponding self-interested reasons for a vampire - sinking to the level of good."

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"Sounds like it comes back to having a steady supply of blood again," he says, "if you wanna bribe them with something."

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"Yeah. Enlightened self interest and all. Maybe throw in a cult of personality." She snorts, though doesn't sound happy. "Fascism, now in vampire."

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"Yeah," he says, and lapses into uncomfortable silence.

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"I think I have a lead on the blood thing, but - it's not gonna pan out fast enough for these guys."

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"If it makes you feel any better I didn't really like any of 'em," he says awkwardly.

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She laughs, dryly.

"If it makes you feel any better, killing prisoners is pretty evil by my moral system."

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He laughs, sounding surprised at himself, or at her, or at - something.

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"This is really not funny..." Still, she sounds amused.

The thought 'maybe we can race to see who corrupts the other first' flits across her mind, nonetheless.

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"Whatever you say," he says.  "Do.  Uh.  You want me to come meet you in town."

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"That seems like it'd help, yeah."

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"All right.  I'm not gonna try to make the trip while the sun's out, so I'm at least a day out.  See you soon."

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"See you!"

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Click.

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Dealing with the prisoners is a lot less enjoyable than talking to Galbraith.

Nausicaa handles it alone.

She's - shut down, for a bit, distant.

And then she recovers.

(She's always been able to forgive anyone; why wouldn't she forgive herself?)

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Kaylee - gives hugs.  There's not much else she can do.

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*

With Vanessa and her underlings dealt with, the school can be told that Nausicaa's flu has cleared up, and she can return to class.

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It's a bit of normalcy, at least.

She's quieter than she used to be, more serious. Focuses in class, and actually gets caught up to where she'd been (which was mostly 'just barely failing').

And she throws herself into researching demons and vampires and hell realms - languages are way easier than she'd thought, and she finds an audio cassette for learning Latin, starts reading some of the older works for herself.

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Tag welcomes her back with a firm nod and a slap-on-the-back sort of hug.  As things settle down, he wants to know if she's still sure that the smartest choice isn't running the other way from all of this.  "But if you say yes," he adds, seriously, "I'm not gonna argue."

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"I'm about as sure as I can be."

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"That's pretty damn sure.  Okay."

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"How've you been doing?" Kaylee asks.  "You seem pretty well decompressed, but, you know, if there's anything I can do that'd help you, let me know."

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"I think I just need - something normal? That isn't - " She waves a hand vaguely. "You know. All that."

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"You know," she says musingly, "you and me and Gaara were all gonna go to the Sunnydale Zoo, before everything started happening.  Does that still sound fun?"

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" - Yeah. Yeah, it does."

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Grin.  "You free this weekend?"

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"Yeah, I am."

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"Great!"  She glances between her and Tag.  "How would, uh, you two respectively, feel about Tag coming along?  It feels nice to have Team Spider back together."

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Tag looks at Nausicaa, inquiringly.

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"I don't mind."

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"Sounds like fun," Tag says.  "I can drive us all there if you like."

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"Oh, yeah, that'd be really good. Thanks."

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"No problem."

And so, that weekend finds Tag pulling up to Nausicaa's house with Kaylee in the backseat.

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She spent possibly a bit too long worrying over what to wear, but is dressed in a nicer and less worn orange blouse than usual, over dark blue sweatpants, her hair fiddled with until it's mostly in a ponytail, some strands escaping to frame her face in a way she hopes looks nice.

"Hey guys!" she calls, heading out and locking the door behind her.

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Tag beeps the horn amicably.

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Kaylee pops open the door opposite her and pats the seat invitingly.  "Hey Nausicaa!  You look nice!"

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She snorts at Tag, and then grins at Kaylee. "Hey Kaylee! Thanks!" She slides into the seat. "You look great, too."

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"Aw, thanks!"

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Tag pulls away from the curb.  "Hey Nausicaa.  Where are we meeting Gaara?"

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"She told me she'll meet us at the zoo entrance."

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“Sounds good to me,” he says.  “You guys wanna stop for burgers afterwards?  There’s a decent place not too far from the zoo.”

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"Sounds good, and probably cheaper than zoo food."

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Tag gives a thumbs-up.

It’s a short drive, ten or fifteen minutes, and there’s parking by the entrance.  The gang pile out of the car.

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Gaara joins them silently

"So where to first?" Nausicaa asks.

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“I figured we could go through everything in order, in a sort of circle,” she says, “but there’s a couple places - ”

She pulls out and unfolds a map from her backpack, with a few attractions and ambassador animals circled and labeled (“giraffe feeding!!”, “meet cute birds!!”).

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"Those all sound fun! I wanna feed a giraffe..."

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“Yeah, that one looked really fun,” she says, grinning.  She examines her map.  “We wanna head clockwise, to get there soonest, so to the left...”

Permalink Mark Unread

"Looks like that'll take us past the small mammals house, right? Maybe we can hit the giraffe thing then double back, it looks close..."

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“Sounds good!” Kaylee says, and she leads the way.

Giraffes are being fed just as they arrive, regarding the visitors with heavy-lidded eyes and snatching leaves and feed out of their hands with deft, black-and-pink tongues.  A zoo attendant is greeting guests and handing out food.

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Giraffes!!!

She definitely wants to feed them.

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Kaylee does too!  And it looks like they certainly want to be fed.

Attendant gives them each a couple giraffe-feed pellets.  Kaylee approaches the fence that divides the giraffe enclosure from the human enclosure and reeeeaches upward.

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Nausicaa is very short and not very good at reaching.

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A giraffe ambles over to them after a moment and mlems Kaylee's pellet out of her hand.

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She starts and giggles a little when the giraffe's tongue brushes her hand.

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It snorfs around a bit when Kaylee pulls her hand away, then discovers Nausicaa.  Mlem!

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That tickles! She keeps her hand steady, but she's giggling.

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Aww Nausicaa is adorable.  (Kaylee might be watching her with a big doofy grin on her face.)

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She starts talking to the giraffe. Mostly nonsense about how pretty it is.

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Cute people finding things cute is the cutest!  Recursively cute.  Kaylee scurries off to grab more giraffe feed.

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Nausicaa appreciates more giraffe feed, and shoots Kaylee a happy grin.

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They’ll pass a fun few more minutes feeding giraffes together.

”How long do you want to stick around?” Kaylee asks.  “I could do this all day,” giggle, “but there’s more stuff to see too...”

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"Let's head on after this round, how about?"

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“Okay.”  She tries to scritch the giraffe’s nose, on the next feeding, before it pulls away, but it’s having none of it.

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She laughs.

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Soon it's time to double back to the small mammal house.

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Which means fennec foxes!

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Fennec fox exhibit is less interactive than giraffe feeding but it makes up the difference in how adorable they are.  Kaylee is transfixed!

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Nausicaa is having trouble deciding between cooing at the animals and staring at Kaylee.

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She's resting her forehead against the glass and beaming at one particularly darling specimen that's curled up with its head resting on its fluffy tail.

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Everything here is very very adorable. There's a warm glow in Nausicaa's chest.

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Kaylee glances over at Nausicaa, and notices the look she's giving her, and blushes.

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Eeeeee.

Nausicaa giggles and glances away.

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Tag leans toward Gaara a little and murmurs, "Think we should leave these two alone?"

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"Possibly."

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They head a little farther along the route through the small mammal house, discreetly.

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"Come look," Kaylee says to Nausicaa, "he's sleepy."

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She comes to look and coo! Quietly. To not disturb any animal's sleep.

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She grins at her, and lets out a happy sigh.

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"Thanks for taking me here," she whispers, grinning back.

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"My pleasure."

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Heeeee.

"Still. It's - really good. Spending time with you."

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Blush.  "I like being with you too, Nausicaa."

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Her grin widens. "We should try to do stuff like this more often."

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"We should."

Kaylee's got a bit more spring in her step, as they move through the exhibits.

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So does Nausicaa!

The next stop is the monkeys and great apes - Nausicaa has a lot of fun with the howler monkeys - and then she spots a ferris wheel on one side of the zoo.

"Oh, that looks interesting," she says.

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"I could spare some money for a ride, if you want!"

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"Yeah! I think I'd like to."

She checks with Gaara, who definitely would like to keep her feet on the ground.

Tag?

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"I'm fine down here too," he says.  "You two have fun."

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"Then it's me and you, Kaylee," she says with a grin.

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"Looks like it!"

The line's not too long, and the tickets are cheap.  Before long they're strapped in.

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Nausicaa sits opposite Kaylee. She's not very good at sitting still so the thing doesn't rock, and every time she fidgets or twists around their knees brush.

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Kaylee's normally okay with heights but gosh, as the two of them go up together her heart sure is beating pretty fast for some reason.

The view's pretty nice.  A few of the exhibits are visible from above, from the top of the Ferris wheel.

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Nausicaa's enchanted.

"I almost never get up this high..." she says, breathless.

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"Well, we'll have to do this again, then," Kaylee says softly.

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"Sounds like a plan."

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She looks out over the view and sighs happily.  (She's done this once or twice before, with her parents, but being up here with Nausicaa makes it feel new again.)

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"You know, I haven't been to zoos too often. Especially not with friends."

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"I'm glad I could take you, then," Kaylee says.  "I've only ever been with my parents, really... it's really nice being here with you."

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"Thanks. This - is really special."

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Blushhhh.

Soon enough their seats start heading back down again.

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Nausicaa's bouncing when the ride ends.

"Where to next?"

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"There was supposed to be an ambassador bird exhibit today," she says.  "That looks fun."  She unfolds and frowns at her map.

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"Sounds it!"

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Kaylee leads the way to a flamingo pen with a line of people queued up by the entrance, grinning all the while.

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Heeee.

Flamingos! They're funky little dudes. Nausicaa bounces a bit impatiently.

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The line doesn't last for long, just until the next presentation starts, at which point everyone files in pretty quickly.  There's wooden benches around the inside of the fence for everyone to settle into.  (At the moment the flamingoes are all locked in an indoor section of the pen.)

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She sits next to Kaylee, of course, close enough their shoulders brush a bit.

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Kaylee bumps her shoulder, lightly, playfully.

A zoo attendant emerges from the indoor pen and outlines how the flamingo-feeding presentation works - you'll get a cup full of waterlogged flamingo feed and you'll sit on the benches and let them come to you.  She invites everyone to come grab a red Solo cup from a table opposite the indoor pen.

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Nausicaa heads up, and then tries to sit very still once it's time to release the flamingos.

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Lucky for Nausicaa they're not timid, marching slowly but confidently up to her and the rest of the patrons.  The presenter talks a bit about flamingo social behavior and habitats in the wild while the birds start snacking.  One approaches her and starts drinking out of her cup energetically, with an odd jittering motion of its head.

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Cute!

She glances over at Kaylee to see how she's doing.

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Kaylee's having the time of her life, looks like!  One of the flamingos nibbles curiously at her shoelaces, and she giggles.

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Heeeee.

Nausicaa keeps sneaking glances at Kaylee. The flamingos are awful cute though...

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As Kaylee's flamingo wanders away, she leans back a bit in her chair and puts her free hand down.  It winds up on top of Nausicaa's hand.  She starts a little when she realizes what she's done.

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She leans into Kaylee a bit, grinning at her.

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Well, okay!

Kaylee laces her fingers with Nausicaa's.

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Eeee!

Grin and small squeeze.

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She ducks her head even though she doesn't really know why, and smiles back.

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She leans against Kaylee until the flamingo event finishes.

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(Aaaaaa Nausicaa is leaning against her why is that so niiiice.)

After a little while the flamingoes are herded back into the pen.

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She doesn't let go of Kaylee's hand right away.

"Where to next?"

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"We could see some more birds!" she says.  The flamingo pen is indeed right by some more bird exhibits.

(Kaylee doesn't let go of Nausicaa's hand either.)

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She keeps holding hands, tugging Kaylee excitedly towards more birds. (They're so colorful! And there's so many different calls!)

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Kaylee giggles and allows herself to be tugged.  And looks at birds!  And looks at Nausicaa looking at birds!  Nausicaa is good and nice and cute and pretty and Kaylee is very lucky to get to be her friend and hold her hand and watch her be adorable about cute birds.

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The birds are so cute though.

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They are pretty cute birds.

 

 

Nausicaa's cuter though.

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Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

(Nausicaa's sneaking a lot of glances at Kaylee, too.)

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Kaylee is mostly oblivious, though every once in a while they'll catch each other looking and she'll look away bashfully and giggle.

(She doesn't... really know why that makes her bashful and giggly.  It's not weird for friends to look at each other, right?)

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Definitely not!

Eventually they wind their way over to somewhere they can get food.

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"Know a nice local burger place," Tag says, once they've all reconvened at his car.  "If you guys're up for that."

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"Sure!"

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Kaylee gives a thumbs up.

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And Tag sets off.

Tag's burger place is cramped, patties sizzling on a visible stovetop, with some sporting event playing on a little TV in an upper corner.  The cook seems to know him; they greet each other shortly but amicably.

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Nausicaa finds a seat somewhere she can people-watch.

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(Not many people to watch inside, but there's a big wide window with bar-style seats where they can watch the city go by.)

Tag collects everyone's orders.

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Nausicaa orders something adventurous.

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Kaylee gets something simple with extra fries.

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Tag asks for "his usual."

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Gaara gets something possibly inadvisably undercooked.

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Order's up - Tag brings their food to the window and starts in on his burger.

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Kaylee sits next to Nausicaa, and steals glances at her while they eat.

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Nausicaa grins at her.

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Oh no she did not realize she was being so obvious.  Oh no why is that embarrassing.  Blush.

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She grins more.

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She picks up her basket of extra fries and sets it down between them.  "Wanna - share?"

(Whyyyyyy is Nausicaa making her so shy and blushy...)

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"Oh, if you don't mind, I love fries..."

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"Not at all."

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Then she'll take a few fries, one at a time, hand often lingering near the basket between them.

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"So, you like - people-watching?" Kaylee says.

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"Yeah! It's fun."

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"I've never really tried it..."

She looks out the window.  "What do you - do?"

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She explains how she looks at people, cold reading them, guessing about their stories and personalities, watching how they relate to each other and the world. If they're angry or sad or happy.

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Kaylee... listens, looking a bit enraptured.  She leans her head toward Nausicaa's, without really thinking about it, so they can both see where she's pointing; and points toward a man in a business suit.  "So, him," he says, trying to follow her lead, "he looks very - businesslike and - crisp - and like he's in a real hurry to get somewhere..."

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"Yeah! He's leaning forward a bit as he walks, see? And his posture's - kinda frustrated. He's not running, I don't think he's late, but I think he's annoyed..."

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"Maybe he's coming from his big important business meeting, and he got some bad news."

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"Could be!"

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She keeps going, hopping from person to person and giggling.  If Nausicaa lets her get away with it she'll gradually build up a soap-operatic People-Watching Extended Universe.

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She helps!

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Hee!  Nausicaa's great.

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Kaylee's great.

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(Tag is quietly amused.)

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That one hundred percent does not stop Nausicaa from flirting with Kaylee.

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Kaylee is mostly oblivious to flirting per se, but she has a good time!

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Really the point, here.

Eventually, they finish their meal, of course.

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Tag gives them both a ride back to their respective houses.

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"I had a really good time tonight!" Kaylee says, as they reach Nausicaa's house.

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"I did too!" She grins. "Thanks so much for taking me."

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"Thanks for coming!" she says sunnily.  "We should do it again."

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"Definitely!" She unbuckles herself. "I'll see you at school?"

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"See you there," she says, and waves.

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She steps out, waving to Kaylee and walking up to her door.