oneofthelost | First - [ written ]

First - [ written ]

Okay. If this book isn't lying to me? There are a few things I'm going to need. Things I needed yesterday.

Necessary supplies:
housing
clothes
food
bow and arrows
therapist

Anyone got any leads on these things?

Thanks.

[A few moments' pause, then:]

My name's Alex, by the way.

[Okay, so Alex isn't quite as calm, cool, and collected as the writing would make it seem. That's why she wrote in the first place, rather than trying to talk.

She's somewhere very cold and dark and doesn't know where she is, but she found this Journal and read it because... Well. Books with her name written on them don't happen every day. She knows it's daylight out wherever the sky can be seen, but that doesn't really give her much of a time frame to go on.

So, basic idea of Luceti, down. The rest? Is taking its time to settle. She'll have a proper freak out later, when she knows it's not a matter of life and death. For now, she's focusing on just breathing. And really hoping for that therapist.]

(Alex appeared in the tunnel, just before it goes under the mountains. She'll have some work figuring out where she is, but someone who wants to help her out would be great!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Alex grins.]

Twenty-four. Recent college-- university, if you ask him-- grad. He's... sort of boyfriend material but not official yet kind of thing? Little flirting. Date or two. At least... I think they've been dates?

[And then there's Will... who still confuses her. But so does Victor.]

Almost nineteen. Twenty-four. I'd say I'd ground my little sister for that kind of gap, but her last honey was my age.

[ a tight smile. there's a vague, pale light up ahead. ] Wait, though, you don't know if they're dates or not? How do you not know?

Yeah. My mom's... not totally happy, but she likes Victor. [She grins, embarrassed, at the question.]

Well. There's a bit of a language barrier sometimes. And he's European, so. I don't know if he's being friendly? Or flirting? And... I don't know. It's weird. I'm used to just hanging out with guys, so I don't know what counts as a date.

European! [ more laughter. but it's warm. ] That's always tricky. The cheek-kiss thing gets me every time. A good old American lad does that and you can pretty much assume he's trying to sneak a peek down your decolletage.

But Europeans? [ a shrug. ] Okay. Most of them try and do the same, too.

Have you gone for coffee? And has he picked up the bill?

Yeah. He's Swiss. So, you've got Italian, French, German and Swiss influences all at once, and that will throw a girl for a loop.

[She paused, thinking about it.]

He has. But I've also picked it up when we've gone out. Sort of a... trade off kind of thing.

[ buffy is now all up in your business forever, alex. be grateful.

or terrified. ]

Nuts. Okay. Lessee. What sorta things have you done? Movies? Dinner? Just coffee? Picnics? Picnics are usually date-worthy.

Movies, coffee. Nothing really fancy.

But he's staying with my mom and me. Grad school, international student kind of thing. So it could be a sort of "wanting to show gratitude" sort of thing.

[And the whole "he helps me hunt vampires" thing. Not mentioning that one.]

....Huh. [ she shades her eyes from the washed-out winter sun as they step from the tunnel's mouth. ] Cohabitation certainly those a wrench in those works.

[Alex shuts her eyes and holds her hand up to shield them when she does begin to open them again.]

Yeah. Definitely makes it kind of hard to tell, y'know?

Well -- on the plus side? What's a frustrating lack of clarity back home might be a refreshing source of freedom here. Not that I'm suggesting you should run out and put yourself on the market. Dating, here, is kinda complicated. And I'm getting way ahead of myself in even mentioning it.

After all, it's only your first day. Welcome to Luceti.

[ and with a sweep of her hand, she presents the quaint foot-path that leads down from the mountains towards a nestled little village. ]

Hey, I don't have a lot of experience dating. So. Might be fun to sort of do it around here. Not a lot and not right away.

[She smiles, following Buffy as her eyes adjust to the light.]

Atta girl. And if you do get any advances? Bring their names to me. I'll let you know just how far you can trust'em. See? Those are the perks of befriending a Luceti veteran from the get-go.

Sounds great. [She's grinning now, a lightness to her step. She can deal with this, after everything else she's adjusted to. Besides, if a veteran's not warning her about vampires? Which would be a major thing to warn the newbie about? She'll take the break. And deal with the rest of it later.]

Thanks.

[ fortunately, there aren't any left to worry about. or unfortunately, maybe. buffy misses spike -- and all this talk of too-old-too-european men makes her miss him a little more.

she kinda hates herself for missing him. ]

So. The guide. Did you have any questions?

A lot.

...And none coming to mind.

It's a lot to take in. Sometimes, it takes a while to register. The panic isn't always immediate. But don't worry -- when it happens? It's perfectly natural.

Yeah. I have a feeling the freak out's going to come later.

Those journals also work like phones. Feel free to ring me, if you wanna talk. I've been here for almost four years. I don't think there's a thing this place can throw at a person that I haven't at the very least witnessed, if not experienced.

Awesome. I'll get in touch, definitely. Figure I'm going to need some help getting used to this place once I actually start settling in.

In some ways? It's a lot like any other part of the world. There are people and some you get along with and some you don't. There are hangouts, and some are cool -- like Good Spirits -- and some are totally lame -- like everywhere else.

And then in other ways, it's a lot like nowhere. [ except maybe sunnydale. ] Experiments, wars, people from all walks of life with all kinds of weirdness in their backgrounds. But we -- people, I mean -- are adaptable. We're beautiful like that.

[... ... ...
Then, she chuckles.]

You sound like you made a great counselor.

I'd like to think I did...[ for a woman who was hired not because she had any credentials at all but because the principal's mother had been a slayer too and he wanted to keep his eye on the current one. ] Until the school exploded. Whiiiich seems to happen a lot, in my life.

Huh.

...The school exploded?

The whole town did, actually. The second time. The first time? I was a student and it was definitely just the school.

I lived in a volatile neighbourhood. [ a little lamely. ]

Wow. That... sounds pretty intense. So, this place... probably a cake walk, huh?

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