cuddletalk | 001. text; un: buffy

Well, it's still somewhat hopeful. And I get that they want us alive but that doesn't always mean there aren't, um, different levels of alive. And since someone would need to keep it in check I just wanted to make sure before I started acting like I was on a long overdue vacation. Nothing worse than partying prematurely.

Nothing wrong at all with cautious optimism.

First time for everything. Not sure I've ever felt that before. It's either all or nothing.

I think it would be beneficial if you gave it a try. Think about it, you're free to enjoy the moment as it stands knowing that it lacks permanence. Sure it will have it's share of agony but assuming the very best and being disappointed or assuming the absolute worst and denying any chance of contentment isn't great either.

Pretty sure you only get to say that because you have the voice that you do. And you phase it so... perfectly. I mean, how am I supposed to argue with that and not have it look like I'm some miserable jerk who wants to see the worst? Because I actually don't. I'd like to believe I've done my part and now I get to party. But yeah, totally used to the other shoe constantly dropping and raining on my parade.

Sorry. That's a force of habit. I'm a lawyer.

And honestly, it's easier to say than practice. I'm used to catastrophic results too. You're not a jerk.

Hey, it's a respectable profession. And one that probably won't get you the side eye like mine with needing to ask about graveyards.

Thanks, that's oddly reassuring. Not the catastrophic results! That's bad, and I'm really sorry you have to get them too. At least I knew what I was signing up for.

I don't tin it's fair for me to ask what your profession is without knowing your name, I'm Matt Murdock.

[And he isn't sure if she's a mortician or what.]

I think that's the risk we take being a live. The good with the bad. That does really lead us to look at things in extremes to begin with.

To be honest, I'm still getting used to the idea that I can just tell people without keeping it a secret. Since there seems to be no secret to keep. I'm Buffy Summers... vampire slayer.

[ Mortician really should have been what she went with, but the lying was never easy for her. Best to just embrace the chance to be honest. ]

You have no idea. But my town was just a mecca for bad.

Nice to make your acquaintance, Buffy.

[The rest kind of strikes him speechless. There's no reason why she can't be a vampire slayer. There are so many people and so many worlds colliding here. And there she goes, just letting it out with who she is.]

That must have been something to try and hide.

[Fuck he feels like a hypocrite.]

Where are you from?

Same here, Matt.

[ Even if she's always waiting to see how people react after she tells them. It's never an easy thing to explain if you're not caught the act of dusting a vamp or killing a demon. ]

There's an understatement. Especially while also trying to deal with the whole growing up and going to high school thing. And the college thing. And just trying to pretend that you can totally handle a normal life on top of being the Chosen One.

It's kinda liberating not having to worry about it. I guess it also helped that when I came here I'd already decided to... um, "retire".

[ Really, Buffy. It's okay to not tell people absolutely everything from the beginning. She's a talker.

At least he had a mask. ]

Sunnydale, California. You?

That really is timing there. I hope you'll get the chance to enjoy it.

[No matter how she manages to. He really, really is fighting to keep his mouth shut because it's unethical and unfair that it's something you do in youth. Jesus.

Matt has been keeping his heightened senses a secret since he was nine. It took him a good twenty years to use it to help other people. A mask really is what liberates him and compartmentalizes his life. What if he didn't?]

Hell's Kitchen, New York. I...really would have thought vampires would be somewhere darker... maybe in Europe.

Edited 2017-08-31 22:47 (UTC)

You and me both. There's maybe only a few parts I'll miss.

[ Don't even get her started. Maybe one day they can have a nice, long chat on the ethics of the whole thing because she has an even stronger opinion now that she understands where her powers come from.

No one could blame him for wanting that, and once upon a time Buffy had tried and failed to do the same. Now she just understands that the Slayer and the girl are the same person. They don't have to be seperate. It's all Buffy. ]

Oh! Cool. I'll be honest, I haven't made it out of California much, but I do know another coast exists. [ There's a quiet laugh at her own stupid joke. ] And they're everywhere. Maybe not in your everywhere, but definitely in my everywhere. Vampires don't discriminate places. Plus Sunnydale was built on a Hellmouth. So think of it as like the Statue of Liberty for evil kind.

No one said you can't miss anything.

[He cuts himself short because maybe they're not all human. That is rather inconsiderate otherwise. Well. The sentiment is there.

Matt would like to believe that everyone would accept him as who and what he truly is. The whole come to Jesus with Foggy all those months ago did give him a tiny peek in a possibility. Yeah, he'll stick with the way things are. For now.]

I've never had a chance to go on vacations either. Just... not a traveler I guess.

[And there's a laugh on his end but for another reason. Matt Murdock, leaving the city? It's like a fish out of water.]

Christ, that does not sound good at all. No place is perfect but undead....

[Verses aliens, evil government organizations, crime lords. There is no winning.]

I know, but still trying to wrap my head around the idea that this is an actual chance at not being the slayer. I'll get there.

[ For a while she even had the fun at trying to hide it from her own mother. Wasn't that all kinds of fun when work life and home life started to bleed into one another. ]

Well, congratulations. Consider yourself travelled. You are officially out of Hell's Kitchen. There was never anywhere else you wanted to go?

[ He really doesn't get a choice now. She doesn't know much, but she knows this isn't New York. ]

Mmhmm... all kinds of whacky fun to be had and things to slay and a world to save. Hence the lack of rest for quite a few years.

[ Every city had it's dark spots. Even in a city of literal monsters it didn't always make it easy to see the bad guys. ]

I can only imagine.

[And it now strikes him how terrifically personal this truth is. Hopefully she is feeling liberated when the guilt lets up.]

Oh, yeah. I just have never had the money or the chance. Sometimes it's easier to stay where you are too, you know? There's sort of a taste of everywhere in New York.

[One place he knows top to bottom without surprise or without fail. Familiarity is also what has kept Matt in Hell's Kitchen.]

And now we're here. It is... very different.

[ She'll make it up to him somehow. Maybe by being terrifically vague the next time. ]

Oh yeah, I get that. All of it. Even when your city gives you grief you still love it. I have heard that about New York. LA isn't quite the same. We have the weather, though.

[ And duty kept Buffy in Sunnydale, but now they're both out of their comfort zones. ]

Agreed. Definitely agreed. Are you coping, or do you need like a New York withdrawal patch. Not sure what that would look like... I could bump into you and curse a lot?

[Fabulous. He'll just keep her in the absolute dark as long as possible. It's The Murdock Way.]

That's it exactly. It really has been hard the past few years after The Incident but it's my home. The city made me who I am.

[And it's motivated Matt to help determine what kind of identity New York will take from there on out.]

I've been going through a little bout of homesickness. I need someone to yell at me and to smell more sewege.

"The Incident"? I can believe it in a city like New York. How could it not influence you? Sunnydale's influence was not always good.

[ Buffy cleared her throat and tried to put on her ~~best~~ worst New York accent. ]

Hey! Get out the way, I'm walking here! The sewege I'm really not about to help with. You're on your own with that one.

That's what they call it where I'm from. The sky opened up and an other worldly army just... invited themselves in and crushed my neighborhood seven years ago. The aliens didn't succeed. That's the good part. No magic hammers or special shields could restore Hell's Kitchen neatly so it's been in a state of restoration.

[At least after knowing she puts down vampires for a living it all doesn't sound like nonsense laid out.

Give him a second because he's laughing.]

Thank you.

Wow, just when I thought I had the weirdness factor cornered. I'm sorry about your city. Happy they didn't succeed, but I can imagine what it's like to have to deal with the aftermath day in and day out.

[ Honestly it's a relief to hear that it's not just her town that drew the short straw, As harsh as it seems. ]

Forget about it. I mean, I'm only going with what I've seen in movies so I feel like I should apologise.

Lots of noise. Lots of disaster relief. And of course a lot of people taking advantage of the situation. It is getting better.

[Slowly but surely.]

Hey, it's not too far off. It's the thought that counts. I don't know what I can do to help you feel less home sick, uh... Dude. Or would that be bro?

I'm trying to picture if that would ever even happen in Sunnydale. Like if something got so insanely bad and whether or not the town would pitch in and help get it back up... But I just think sometimes that people's ability to live in denial of what's happening can be way too strong.

[ Okay, she really did laugh now. ]

Dude is fine, I've hard worse. And it does kinda help a little. Although if you really want to help, feel free to just mangle my name at any point. Turn it into witty variations. My best friend used to do that to me all the time.

Everyone has their own agenda and reason to have the city at large on it's feet again. There's a reputation to uphold too. Being a hell of a town and all. I'm sure that Sunnydale would find its way.

[Matt's faith in people is showing through again, no matter what.]

Ah. Let me see.

[He's thinking!]

I'm not going to make any promises that it would be anything of quality, Arianna Buffington.

[ It's sweet, really. And something she's tried to uphold herself; to always believe in people. She wouldn't have exactly kept on being the slayer if she didn't see something in humanity worth saving.

She let out a low whistle of appreciation. ]

Nice, and completely original. I can honestly say I have never been called that before. I appreciate the fact that you even tried.

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