simplestgift | Eight Bells: [Action/Written]

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Eight Bells: [Action/Written]

[Luceti, Jack Sparrow now has drapes. They are lovely drapes, made of something like spiderweb silk and dyed a nice, neutral, manlyish color. The furniture and silver are both polished. There is even a new rug on the living room floor. Everything looks very home-ish.

Jack's clothes, on the other hand, are strewn all over the place, and every drop of dairy is badly curdled. Missing is a pair of trousers and Jack's Jolly Roger t-shirt.

Archie Kennedy comes dashing into town from the Cullen House wearing a pair of trousers and a Jolly Roger t-shirt. He'll make his way as quickly as is possible to his own apartment to get dressed properly so no one will suspect he spent the week with Jack--least of all Jack. He can be run into at any point.

After all this is accomplished and he's eaten something at Seventh Heaven that does not include porridge, honey, or cream, he will sit down to write this note.]

May I speak with a tailor in this town?

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[ she lifts and dunks the tea-bag, considering it. she supposes they are pretty useful. ]

I never even drank much tea before living here, to be honest.

[He puts down his cup.] Well, I wanted to ask you something.

[ she takes a sip, eying him over the mug. ] Sure. What is it?

[He begins, like he's gone over it in his head so as to put it as delicately as possible.]

Dawn once told me she thought the gowns of my era were beautiful, so I thought I'd have someone make her one. As a gift.

Oh. Really? Uhm -- wow.

[ a little between mystified and impressed. ]

[Here's the hard part. Deep breath.]

If I'm to do it, I'd need her measurements to give to the dressmaker.

[ buffy pauses for a moment before she nods. ]

So you thought you'd ask big sister. Okay. I think I can handle this. [ after all, dresses from his era had to be all modest and covering, right? right. awesome. ]

[Color him relieved that she isn't calling him a pervert.] I-I don't know what measurements are needed. I don't even know who to ask about this. But I found a book that had pictures, and...well. I hope it's enough.

[ 'pervert' would come into play if buffy thought for a second this was entering the realm of naughty underwear. ]

I'll take her to see Shiki -- she's got my digits on record and makes pretty much my whole wardrobe to order. Dawn won't suspect a thing, she'll just be expecting a super cute jacket or something from the village's best designer.

Are you certain? [He's picking up a book and turning to a specific dog-eared page.] You can show her this?

[He holds out the book to the page with this picture.]

[ she touches the image. ] She'll know exactly what measurements to take. Can I borrow this? And show her?

Yes! [He closes the book and hands it to her.] I can't begin to thank you, Buffy.

You already have, Archie.

[ seeing dawnie happy? it means an awful lot to the slayer. ]

[Well, it's not just for Dawn's sake. He really, really wants to see her in this dress.]

Then you think she'll like it?

[ and that's the part we can all conveniently leave out of big sis's understanding. ]

She'd be crazy not to. I mean...I got over the ye olde gowns thing ages ago. [ blame a bad halloween night and some enchanted costumes. ] But she loves this kind of thing.

[He's glad to hear it.] I was thinking in blue. A very lightweight linen. [He's a tad embarrassed to point out Dawn would have to wear a shift underneath, but surely she or the dressmaker would figure this out.]

[ buffy closes the book and adds it to her pile of things to take elsewhere. ]

It's very thoughtful.

[What to say to that? He loves romancing Dawn. It makes up for other stuff he fails at.] Thank you.

[ watching all this romancing from a spectator's position has been...interesting, to say the least. buffy has tried to meddle only when invited to. like now. ]

Probably bet not to tell her you involved me at all, by the way.

I won't, then. But won't she wonder?

Just let her figure it out on her own. She's smart. She'll do it -- and then she'll deal with that information how she wants to.

[He nods.] All right, then. [He picks up his cup of tea and sips. He won't ask her about being a robot. He doesn't generally ask questions about things that bother people he cares about.] I hope she made it through the week just fine.

As far as I know? Fit as a fiddle...except for -- well...Spike's gone.

[Surprise takes over his face.] Spike...

Xander, then Willow, and now Spike. Poor girl.

[Poor Buffy, but saying that to her face feels wrong.]

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