strangetrip | [GP] All we can do is learn to swim

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[GP] All we can do is learn to swim

Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. - Vicki Harrison

"You're sure?" Regina already knew the answer but demanding that Sam tell her what she already knew satisfied something petty in her. Or maybe just something hurt that hoped he'd have a different answer than her locator spell had already provided.

"Yeah." Sam half-rolled his eyes at her as he leaned across the pink bar counter to grab bottles of beer from the Silver Bar ice bin -- probably the results of Rebekah's last work-effort at the Inn -- for himself and his newly arrived companion.

Briefly, Regina considered burning a hole in the seat of his jeans, but it wouldn't bring Rebekah or any of the absent ones back. Instead, she took refuge in straightening her A-line and walking around the stylish counter Sam lay across like he was surfing the waves of grief. She took down a bottle of pointlessly pricey champagne, and then found the precise cut-crystal glasses Rebekah and Miss Fisher had preferred for their afternoon indulgences. She poured herself a glass and one for the person who dared her openly bitter expression.

"So who all are we missing?" they both said at once, glared at each other and sighed. They both knew the answers, in their own way and for their own reasons. And neither of them wanted to say.

Rebekah Mikaelson. Henry Winchester. Jack Robinson. Phryne Fisher. Dorothy Williams. Angua von Uberwald. Jaime Vegas. Harry Dresden. Lydia Martin. Raleigh Becket. Yasmeen. Joanna Beauchamp. Constance Bonacieux D'Artagnan. Lindsey McDonald.

"Grief is like the ocean," Sam clearly quoted from some fucking where, and Regina tuned him out until he added, "All we can do is learn to swim. Rebekah told me that."

Now Regina rolled her eyes; they weren't friends. "Shut up, Sam."

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Buffy paused in her jogging as her 'spidey sense' was going off and she couldn't figure out why. There wasn't anyone around and as far as she knew, there weren't vampires nearby either. Plus daylight and everyone knew that vampires went poof in daylight. You never ignored the Slayer tingling, that was a fact that she'd learned the hard way, so she went back to jogging but in the direction that her instincts sent her.

When she got closer, she saw a girl in the distance, not much older than her yelling. When Buffy took a step closer she faltered with impact of the ground giving way. "Woah, so not of the good." Buffy's pace picked up, "uh hey, everything okay?"

Clearly it wasn't, Buffy wasn't stupid but she hoped the sound of her voice would distract - was that Molly? Oh man, really not of the good. They'd met a few times "patrolling" and around the hotel with Jane, but they weren't close. She had a respect for her magic and now Buffy had a respect with her temper.

The holes around her wasn't as satisfying as they had been. What she wouldn't have given for a good fire spell now, but that made her think of Harry and that made her more pissed off. Molly opened her mouth to give another spell when she unexpectedly heard a voice. It wasn't the voice that shocked her so much that it hadn't been preceded by a new feeling merging with hers. That told her how focused she'd been on her own anger and hurt and that scared the shit out of her. Not that she'd show that, her expression was almost painfully neutral when she turned toward - - Buffy?

"Just being pissed off at Fate kicking me in the teeth or biting me in the ass or both."

"yeah Fate does that a lot." Buffy had to agree with her. "On the plus side you haven't blown up your school with a mayor turned demon god, snake thingy." She would have added about sending boyfriends to hell but for all she knew Molly had so yeah, didn't touch that one.

It wasn't often that Molly was speechless. She could always easily come up with something to say but she had to admit that Buffy stumped her on that one. It had the effect of draining her anger, if only for a little while, with curiosity. "I'm almost afraid to ask, demon god, snake thingy?"

"Yeah our mayor wanted to turn into a god I think or mega demon or something bigger and badder and it looked like a snake." Buffy made a face, "or maybe it was supposed to be a dragon without wings or legs or yeah ... that's a snake. Anyway, I had to blow up the school to make sure he didn't become whatever it was he was turning into."

There was a stab of bittersweet humor as she listened to Buffy. If you ignored the babbling, it reminded her of Harry. "Okay, you got me beat. I never blew up my school. Felt like it a few times, but that's it." Molly's curiosity grew, "gotta ask, did you at least kill him?"

"I did." Buffy admitted, "with a lot of help from my friends. Well not the killing of the Mayor, that was me but with everything else so I could, definitely my friends." She puffed out a breath of air, "I came here about a month after that happened."

Buffy wondered how her friends were dealing with everything. She knew they could, they had before when she'd taken off to deal with what had happened with Angel.

"Damn and I thought my coming here after what I went through sucked." Molly whistled. "Hey." She was still distracted from Harry's disappearance with Buffy's tale to suddenly wonder, "You know, I never thought that maybe that's the common denominator. We each get plucked during something intense and we end up here." She'd learned that Harry was alive which was a very good thing, and she got a head's up about her possible future. But if that was the common denominator ... if there was one, why?

"Yeah I thought of that. Well not the my life sucks and I hope I could get away." Because mostly Buffy knew Vengeance Demons were around to hear you make a wish - hence her not saying wish right then. "But that there has to be a reason. I thought maybe we've got something extra or do something out of the norm and that's why. Kind of like a collection - but I couldn't narrow down what we all had in common."

While she didn't still think Ethan was behind it, she did think it wasn't a benevolent/good thing that they were all there.

"There's always a reason for something. I just can't figure it out." Molly blew out a breath, "didn't really care much before now. Sure I thought about it, who wouldn't, but I didn't think about it a lot." She glanced at the holes that she'd made, "now, I'm thinking about it more."

"Yeah, I wondered more about it when a friend left. Mostly I wondered why him and not me." Buffy admitted. "Not that I'm ready to go back yet, even if my miss my best friends. I kind of like not having a lot to do."

It's been a nice break." Molly had to admit that especially with Harry there - even grudgingly Carlos. She pointed down to the holes, "that's my why him and not me or why not me, too pissy response. Was it someone close to you that left?"

Buffy shook her head thinking of Dean. "No, not close, but he totally got my life back home. So close in that way and it's been hard not having someone that really gets it."

Sure she could talk to Sam who would get it, too but it would bring too many memories of Dean for him that Buffy didn't discuss it. Carlos got it, too in a different way than Dean so she did have an outlet. It just wasn't the same.

Molly was about to say that it was the same for her except it wasn't. Harry didn't truly understand her. If she were honest, he probably never did. He got her way more than her parents ever did, but even then she never truly showed him what she was like. The darkness that clawed at her sometimes. The only one that probably got her more than anyone was Regina.

"Yeah, it's good to have someone that really gets you like that. Someone that understands without having to say anything. Harry was like that, except not. I mean he got me more than most and in ways others didn't."

Buffy understood that probably more than Molly thought. "Yeah I do. My Watcher - uh kind of like a mentor - was like that. Giles understood me in so many ways, but in others he didn't get me at all." She sighed, "I miss Giles." Then she made a face. "Sorry. Not what you need to hear right now."

"No it's okay." Molly assured her. "It helps to know someone else knows what it's like." It was also a nice distraction from her pissy mood. "How did you meet your Watcher - Giles? Are you paired up or did he choose you, like Harry did?"

Not that Harry had much of a choice at the time, but Molly liked to think that it was inevitable, Fate, whatever rather than obligation to her father to keep her alive.

"We're paired up." Buffy said, though to be honest she didn't know how that happened. Maybe Giles did put in to be her Watcher on purpose because of the Hellmouth.

"So I got lucky with that. I've met other Watchers and Giles was the right one for me." He let her be her whereas the others she was sure would mold her into who they wanted her to be.

"God works in mysterious ways." Molly said with just a hint of humor but truthfully, she believed that. Not just because her dad had been the Fist of God or that she'd grown up going to Mass every Sunday of her life. Molly had seen too many people survive things that they shouldn't have survived.

"Harry is my dad's best friend. I've known him since I was little, but even with that, I don't think he would have been my mentor if he'd had a choice." It actually felt good to talk about Harry. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as intense as it was before.

Buffy made a snorting sound with Molly's comment about God. Buffy wasn't so sure they existed even with the Hellmouth - though that time with Angel and the snow.... Maybe.

"Why do you think that?" Buffy was truly curious. She hadn't thought about if Giles would have been her Watcher if he'd had a choice. Okay, that was a lie, she had thought about it right after Kendra and she'd gotten jealous.

"It wasn't personal to me. I don't think he'd want to be anyone's mentor. Harry had a bad experience with his first one." Molly thought about that for a moment and then added, "though I think if he did, it would have been reversed. I wouldn't want to pick him. Not from anything he did, but he meant so much to me, still does, that it's hard to see the disappointment, you know? Which is why I didn't tell him when I got my powers."

Which 20/20 hindsight - that was a stupid move on her part.

"I get it. There is nothing worse than the look of disappointment on Giles' face. It's way worse than anything he could say or do." Well maybe not do with the whole Slayer test thing, but they'd moved on.

"I didn't tell my mom until after I'd have my powers for two years. That was the hardest keeping it from her. Sometimes I wonder if I should have kept it from her, even though it's a lot easier now. It's hard to close that door after you opened it."

Molly knew what Buffy meant. Once you opened Pandora's Box you couldn't go back and once you exposed people to what was out there, they couldn't unsee it.

"I hid my magic from my parents for a long time. Dad even had a connection to the Supernatural but I still didn't tell them." Molly wasn't sure why she hadn't told them, thinking back on it, beyond she liked having the secret. "I kinda liked being different and them not knowing."

"Yeah, I kinda do, too." Buffy's smile reflected her agreement with being special. She always wanted to be a normal girl without the pressure, which she definitely gets at the Inn. Her ego was healthy enough that she missed a little bit being special in a place that had a lot of special people.

"It's fun having a secret that only you know, or your best friend because it's also fun to have a secret to share."

That made Molly think of Harry again and nodded. She didn't tell him everything, oh hell no, but it was nice that she could talk about things that she couldn't talk to her other friends about. It was ironic that the Winter Fae had stepped into that role after Harry. Or maybe not so ironic given what Harry had told her about her future.

"Yeah that's pretty good, too." She added with a soft sigh, Harry being in her thoughts again.

Buffy could tell that Molly was into thoughts of Harry leavings and she totally got it. She also knew that she'd probably want to be along, she definitely would if any of her friends had left.

"I should get going and let you get back to your..." She glanced down at the holes made by Molly earlier, with a little smile, "thoughts."

Re: Molly OTA

st_eampunk - 2017-11-08 01:42 (UTC) - Expand

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