I wasn't crying! Mayhaps it was your own crying you heard?
[ Immediate denial, never change. ]
I am sending a letter to the terrible angel higher-ups that keep doing this to us. I do this every week. I put terrible things in the bottle so they know I'm unhappy.
[He smiles, amused. Oh, Power, you adorable little goblin.]
You know what, you might be right. Must be another curse or something, just making me up and cry at everything.
[He looks at the hot tub.]
Not a bad idea, honestly. Though, when I last told an all-powerful entity what I thought of them and what I intended to do with them when I get my hands on 'em, bitch threw a sword at my stomach. So I'm thinking I'll just let the ways in which I'm going to dismember these angels be a surprise to 'em.
Might send a letter to Susato, though. I think she could use some clarification. [He lets out a sigh.] There's some stuff pertaining to you I gotta tell you about that little trip me, rich boy, Kim and Madame Cries-A-Lot, if you're up for hearing it now.
That's the spirit. It's what I like about you. You don't waste your time faffing about.
[Spike is not a good influence, she can be a little shit and he will like her more because he too is a little shit.]
Well... the trip we went on. I don't know if anyone's told you but it was to your... world? Or memories? Something like that, anyway. Met two of your co-workers, one of 'em a particularly dim shark and the other a really lazy guy named Angel.
Met your old boss and told her I'd kill her and eat her heart. She threw a sword at me. [He pulls out the little chainsaw dog plushie.] Recognize it?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume the real Pochita isn't a plush keychain, especially 'cuz I was carrying around a Pochita pillow too before your boss cut it to ribbons.
[Sorry Lowe, he doesn't understand your clarification as he can't see past the fourth wall. He isn't Lorne. That's a different Buffyverse character.]
[ Damn Spike where's your fourth wall breakage. It's okay I think it's funny. Power, meanwhile, stupid as she is, really needs that extra context clue push to actually correct him. ]
Nope, he's a little devil. A bit bigger than this too, I only saw him once and it was probably more like a dream, but, like. [ She gestures to around... basketball size, perhaps? ] This big?
You saw Makima? That's mean... she wouldn't cut up Pochita though, she wants him as far as I can tell.
[ Fortunately unfortunately she doesn't want to think about Makima so anyway! ] What kinda stuff did you see? Since it was my memories?
[He shrugs.] Assume it was Makima. She came out of the dark and shouted "Makima!", and then started fighting a chainsaw devil while we made our getaway.
...I think our own experiences bled into it too, a little. But we went to hell. Big empty place just full of fuckin' doors in the sky? Yeah, Santa Claus apparently sent us all there. But before that it was a mall.
Got pushed into our very own personal hells too. I think they were too personal to have been entirely made up of your memories, unless you know the Devil of Abandonment particularly well. If so, guy's dull as a table lamp, isn't he?
But sometimes, well. You know how the wavelength of devils tend to be off the walls, so strange that humans can't really understand her a lot of the time? The experience in Hell was that too, but almost in reverse -- an experience so horrifying for the devils that they'd rather ask permission to their human handlers to kill themselves than have to face whatever was coming, while the humans left confused but not quite traumatised beyond belief for days.
As for Power? Well, she just completely lost all sense and semblance of confidence for a few days. Even just the reminder is enough to make her falter. ]
'Tis only a memory! Just a memory... I have long since defeated the Devil of Darkness...
[ So she says!! You know, instead of experiencing momentary death or something. ]
[ SHE'S FINE. PROBABLY! But congratulations Spike on discovering maybe the only fear this girl has, ever -- and it's really strong. This is the light version, actually, by a long shot. ]
No! I am fine!
[ ...She sniffles and looks aside. Then back at Spike and just thrusts her arms out at him. ]
[ Covers him in snot. No I'm kidding. But despite everything she clings like a koala here, Pochita keychain plushie squished between them. A slight brush of her injured horn on Spike, though just because I want the Slight emotionshare component of this which --
Spike will feel a fleeting sense of fear, very light for him but evident that it goes quite deep, but not just the fear of the dark. Fear of being hated, fear of being alone, too. It's fleeting and not something that's usually present with Power, but -- however briefly it was, it is a real fear, too. ]
[Vampires have certain feelings that just grow when they lose their souls. Fear, for Spike, was one of them. Not his fear of other people, that was replaced by a cold hunger that allowed him to pillage his way through Europe without a shred of compassion for the lot of them.
But he understands the fear of being left in the dark. The fear of being hated and being alone. He understands it so well, blisteringly well, to the point where all his cruelties and slaughters and massacres were just a way to outrun that deep terror. So he just gently rubs circles in Power's back and holds her close.]
I've got your back, yeah? Doesn't matter what you need, you just gotta say the word. Just hope you know that.
Mhm. [ She says that through a sniff. She doesn't feel embarrassed or anything, probably one of the still few good things about being a devil -- showing weakness is unfavourable, obviously, but it's strictly for ego and survival reasons. She's not embarrassed, though; the one thing about Power is that she has, and as far as anyone knows, will always be truly and genuinely her. ]
'Tis not so scary. 'Tis still bright out. And it was a while ago.
[ Time heals all wounds? Most wounds? Eh. She pulls at his sleeve anyway, enough of the cold outside. ]
[He nods, gently. Keep being you, Power, it's what he likes most about you. Canonically, he likes it when people are just their horrible little selves with no filter.]
Yes, that does make her feel a bit better. She's immediately going to just crawl over him like the creature she is until she can kind of crawl her way on his back. ]
Inside, then. We shall have some hot chocolate and niceties before we leave this city for good.
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Who are you writing to?
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I wasn't crying! Mayhaps it was your own crying you heard?
[ Immediate denial, never change. ]
I am sending a letter to the terrible angel higher-ups that keep doing this to us. I do this every week. I put terrible things in the bottle so they know I'm unhappy.
no subject
You know what, you might be right. Must be another curse or something, just making me up and cry at everything.
[He looks at the hot tub.]
Not a bad idea, honestly. Though, when I last told an all-powerful entity what I thought of them and what I intended to do with them when I get my hands on 'em, bitch threw a sword at my stomach. So I'm thinking I'll just let the ways in which I'm going to dismember these angels be a surprise to 'em.
Might send a letter to Susato, though. I think she could use some clarification. [He lets out a sigh.] There's some stuff pertaining to you I gotta tell you about that little trip me, rich boy, Kim and Madame Cries-A-Lot, if you're up for hearing it now.
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I would never waste my time telling others exactly how I'm going to beat them up, I would sooner use that time making a big hammer to smash them!
[ As she's still trying to get this bottle to stay underwater... ]
What is it?
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[Spike is not a good influence, she can be a little shit and he will like her more because he too is a little shit.]
Well... the trip we went on. I don't know if anyone's told you but it was to your... world? Or memories? Something like that, anyway. Met two of your co-workers, one of 'em a particularly dim shark and the other a really lazy guy named Angel.
Met your old boss and told her I'd kill her and eat her heart. She threw a sword at me. [He pulls out the little chainsaw dog plushie.] Recognize it?
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Wait, really? That can happen? You're talking about the Shark Devil and Angel Devil.
[ ...And then she sees what he's holding! And she immediately stands up and patters over to grab at the him! ]
Pochita!
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Apparently. And yeah, those are the fuckers. [He tosses it to her.]
It's all yours.
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She holds up Pochita to the air a bit, and then just holds it close -- ponderous. Then up at Spike. ]
This is my friend. Or well, 'tis my friend's heart.
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He the Chainsaw Devil, or whatever?
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[ It's complicated and Power doesn't really know the logistics of it. At this point, she doesn't care -- all that matters is that that's her human. ]
This is Pochita. Denji thought of him as his companion before he became his heart. He helped me save Denji.
[ Lil plush squish. ]
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[Sorry Lowe, he doesn't understand your clarification as he can't see past the fourth wall. He isn't Lorne. That's a different Buffyverse character.]
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Nope, he's a little devil. A bit bigger than this too, I only saw him once and it was probably more like a dream, but, like. [ She gestures to around... basketball size, perhaps? ] This big?
You saw Makima? That's mean... she wouldn't cut up Pochita though, she wants him as far as I can tell.
[ Fortunately unfortunately she doesn't want to think about Makima so anyway! ] What kinda stuff did you see? Since it was my memories?
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...I think our own experiences bled into it too, a little. But we went to hell. Big empty place just full of fuckin' doors in the sky? Yeah, Santa Claus apparently sent us all there. But before that it was a mall.
Got pushed into our very own personal hells too. I think they were too personal to have been entirely made up of your memories, unless you know the Devil of Abandonment particularly well. If so, guy's dull as a table lamp, isn't he?
1/2
2/2
Oh. ]
Y-you went to...
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The humour leaves him too, though when he sees the fear in her face. And he nods.]
Yeah. Wherever that is.
...It was pretty horrific. [He gives a sympathetic look.] We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.
cw suicide implication/mention
But sometimes, well. You know how the wavelength of devils tend to be off the walls, so strange that humans can't really understand her a lot of the time? The experience in Hell was that too, but almost in reverse -- an experience so horrifying for the devils that they'd rather ask permission to their human handlers to kill themselves than have to face whatever was coming, while the humans left confused but not quite traumatised beyond belief for days.
As for Power? Well, she just completely lost all sense and semblance of confidence for a few days. Even just the reminder is enough to make her falter. ]
'Tis only a memory! Just a memory... I have long since defeated the Devil of Darkness...
[ So she says!! You know, instead of experiencing momentary death or something. ]
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...Yeah. Nothing that's gonna hurt you here, love.
[If it was, he would kill it or die trying.]
I can offer a hug, if you can point me to where it's bleeding so I don't risk triggering that shared memory?
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No! I am fine!
[ ...She sniffles and looks aside. Then back at Spike and just thrusts her arms out at him. ]
Okay, yes.
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Spike will feel a fleeting sense of fear, very light for him but evident that it goes quite deep, but not just the fear of the dark. Fear of being hated, fear of being alone, too. It's fleeting and not something that's usually present with Power, but -- however briefly it was, it is a real fear, too. ]
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But he understands the fear of being left in the dark. The fear of being hated and being alone. He understands it so well, blisteringly well, to the point where all his cruelties and slaughters and massacres were just a way to outrun that deep terror. So he just gently rubs circles in Power's back and holds her close.]
I've got your back, yeah? Doesn't matter what you need, you just gotta say the word. Just hope you know that.
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'Tis not so scary. 'Tis still bright out. And it was a while ago.
[ Time heals all wounds? Most wounds? Eh. She pulls at his sleeve anyway, enough of the cold outside. ]
I would like to go somewhere warm.
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Let's go inside then.
I can give you a piggyback ride, if you want it.
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Yes, that does make her feel a bit better. She's immediately going to just crawl over him like the creature she is until she can kind of crawl her way on his back. ]
Inside, then. We shall have some hot chocolate and niceties before we leave this city for good.
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