Twenty-two bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION]

[simplestgift]

[Filtered from known villains and Grell, 100% unhackable]

[The handwriting is disguised and the picture is obscured.]

For the benefit of the new feathers: if you feel unsafe somehow in your own home, you may go to the Welcome Center and be placed in a safe house until you can get back on your feet. There does not have to be a reason. Even if you have returned from a kidnapping and do not wish to be alone, this is available to you.

[/Filter]

[Later, another written message, without the picture obscured.]

To anyone who volunteered to help build the ship:

We will begin work on Monday, at eight o'clock in the morning.  We will meet at the fountain and walk from there.  It'll mostly be cutting and transporting lumber at first, I'm afraid, and that includes building a cart to transport the lumber in.

Thank you,

Lt. Kennedy

[Then, written more hastily a little while later:]

If anyone has stories about Dr. McCoy, I should like to hear them.

[Today, Kennedy is stopping at the grocery store and the smithy, hoping someone with experience at the forge will be up to the challenge he has in mind.

Tonight, he is back to work at Cloud Nine, mostly waiting tables and looking fairly miserable. It's his first night of work since Dr. McCoy left, and since he dislikes the job anyway, he's not doing great at it tonight.

Before he goes home, he will stop by house 7. He will be home late.]

Comments

[simplestgift]

Looks to me like they're doing a spectacular job. [That was sarcasm. He gestures to the boxes.] I brought sandwiches.

[herotypical]

...I was never any good at setting them up on my own. Giles knows this stuff better than I do.

[ she arranged the crystals back into their box and stood. ] What kinds?

[simplestgift]

A few different ones. Beef. Turkey. Ham. And one with something called hummus and avocados.

[herotypical]

Hmm. Archie?

[ she stretches -- grabbing one elbow and pressing her hand against the back of her neck. ] I'll have half of one beef sandwich and half of a hummus one.

[simplestgift]

[He pops open both boxes. These are restaurant sandwiches, so they're already cut in half, with toothpicks stuck through. He arranges the boxes so one is holding both requested halves, then hands it to Buffy.]

[herotypical]

[ buffy reaches for each half and then falls to her knees again -- this time by the coffee table. she swaps one side of the beef sandwich for one side of the hummus and avocado. in effect, this creates a beef-and-hummus-and-avocado sandwich.

she takes an experimental bite. ]

[simplestgift]

[She's eating. That's the important thing.]

What is hummus and avocado?

[herotypical]

Deliciousness. That's all you need to know. [ she might have just spoken with a full mouth of food. but she gestures at the remaining half of the meatless sandwich. ] Try it. Then you can try a bite of this one.

[simplestgift]

[Unsure, Archie picks up the half-sandwich and takes a bite.

It's not quite what he expected. It's very mushy, but it's actually...really tasty. Nothing like what he expected. It doesn't feel like a whole meal without meat, but it's surprisingly satisfying nonetheless.]

Hm.

[herotypical]

Now? This.

[ she holds out her frankenstein's monster of a sandwich. ]

[simplestgift]

[He takes the unwieldy thing, passes it between both hands once or twice to get a decent grip on it, and finally bites into it. As he chews, he makes a sound of great satisfaction. That was what it was missing.]

[herotypical]

[ an almost smile. no wonder dawn fell for him, she thinks. any man capable of stomaching a summers-concocted hodgepodge of things that shouldn't really be had together is a man worth falling for. ]

A Slayer can't function just on rabbit food alone.

[simplestgift]

[He hands the sandwich back to her.] It tastes much better than it looks.

[herotypical]

[ she takes it back with a slight nod. ]

Hummus? Yeah. It looks like it should taste like porridge. Thankfully, it doesn't.

[simplestgift]

[He gestures to the abandoned halves of the sandwiches.] Do you mind?

[herotypical]

Help yourself. You are, after all, the one who brought them. And I've learned long ago not to stand between a sailor and his sandwich.

[simplestgift]

[Archie flips the halves over on each other and shuffles the sandwich into his hands.]

Do you still have enough things from the bakery, or should I bring more in the morning?

[herotypical]

"...Don't sweat it." She waited, now, to talk between bites. "If Jack has any say in the matter? I'll eat enough muffins that I'll have to order a whole new wardrobe from Shiki. One size up. Looking at him, you'd swear all the world's problems could be fixed by blueberries."

A shrug. She sought solace in sweets just as much as the next person but she was a little worried about Jack's...proximity to going overboard.

[simplestgift]

He wants to help you, is all. It's easier to help others than yourself.

[herotypical]

Not for Jack, I don't think. Or not usually -- he's so different than what he used to be, I think. This place has changed him. It changed Bones, too. It's changing me.

[ and then she looks at archie. appraisingly. ]

[simplestgift]

[He was sinking into deep thought before he noticed the look she gave him. Now he looks at her, a little startled.]

...Yes?

[herotypical]

Just...nah. It's nothing.

[simplestgift]

Buffy.

[herotypical]

You must've been changing too. That's all.

[simplestgift]

...Nine months ago I'd never have spoken to an admiral the way I have to Norrington.