[The adrenaline crashes and the blood loss catches up with him, and Stefan is unconscious almost as soon as he gets back to their bedroom. He should probably eat, but he sleeps first, giving his body a chance to reset before he wakes feeling ravenous.
He paces away briefly to get himself a blood bag, and after he downs it, moves to settle back into bed, curling up around Buffy and pressing a kiss against her shoulder.]
You're awake.
[He can tell by the way she holds tension - it's different when she's awake versus when she's asleep.]
( As madcap as their Scottish adventure became, Buffy never lost sight of the stakes. Ignoring the haphazard attempts and the bungling, Stefan was taken twice and almost immolated, all because a witch believed he was the key to helping her. No, not helping her. Protecting her. Because of his blood.
Stefan knows about Spike and Angel, especially what Spike meant to her. But, for Buffy, there are parts to her life that aren't just accessible, but, present. She comes at you at face value. She's an open book. She's only lived this one life but she's honest with it and about it.
Stefan has lived hundreds of years. Buffy was involved with Angel's history directly, Spike's history directly. She's only heard about Stefan's. Read more than she'd ever care to (Willow and Xander did the rest), but she has been there before, and she didn't see what she read, only whom she'd met, whom she'd come to know.
There are still pieces to him that are mysteries to her. She doesn't know if she wants to figure them out, or if they're even for her. She sleeps on and off throughout the night. When Stefan awakens, her eyes open. But, he leaves there bed and feeds - he needs to. He was weak. She doesn't begrudge him that. She knows he's a vampire. He returns, Buffy closing her eyes as his lips touch her shoulder.
He's okay.
She can't pretend she's not awake. If he can't feel it, he can certainly hear it. She turns, facing him, taking a moment to press her own, soft kiss to his lips. )
[And time has no meaning when your inching towards two hundred. He closes his eyes into the kiss, his hand finding her waist and brushing his thumb against his side.]
We didn't really get a chance to talk before I passed out.
( He was tired, she was running on pure adrenaline and worry. She came down, too. But her anxiousness was no match for a weak vampire. )
If you wanted to give blood, you should've just told me. The slayers hold a drive every few months. ( It's the least they can do for the local hospital and the surrounding areas. But, now that they're on the subject. ) Lorden Wallis went to an awful lot of trouble. Taking you, losing you, taking you again. I don't like that she'd rather burn you alive than have you living at all unless she got whatever it is she wanted. ( She waits a beat. ) What did she want, Stefan?
[He laughs at the blood drive comment, because that very much isn't what this is about, but he appreciates the levity for what it is. But instead, he decides that she's long overdue for this particular truth, and he nods.]
( Seeing as one best friend splintered into one and her other best friend had an alternate version of herself roll into town, Buffy has. Not to mention her decoys. )
More than I'd like. She thought you were someone else?
[She likely knew what she was getting with Stefan Salvatore.]
A long time ago a guy named Silas who looked like me decided he didn't want to live a mortal life like a sane person so he took an immortality spell. And since nature needs a way for everything to die, it started creating doppelgangers of him that could. And witches later found out that their blood has magical powers, even when you get turned into a vampire, so long as you're the last one.
It's usually a witch thing? Unless there's a hyper specific ritual to follow, but it doesn't make them more powerful, it just breaks the spell or the curse or whatever.
[But witches have to cast the spells all the same.]
And to be honest, it hasn't been a problem in a while. Elena's had it a lot worse.
[Technically Katherine too, but they're not talking about Katherine right now.]
[And for Stefan's sake, he hopes he stays that way.]
There was also a guy named Tom, but he's dead now too. There won't be another one of me for another couple hundred years, I think? But at the same time, there might not be another one at all, since the immortal causing the problem isn't immortal anymore and I'm not unkillable.
... Right. All I had was - well, I guess two replicas, one gross robot commissioned by I don't even want to tell you who, and active decoys from back when we were persona non grata with the government.
( But, she has the Slayage line going. Ancestors in her dreams. Girls born and called. Until she broke the convention itself. )
I'm sorry the other you's are dead.
( Her one decoy was killed, too, by the underground and a group of people who thought they had the real slayer. It was sad to hear. )
I mean, I'm sorry about Tom. He sounds like he was a good man who didn't deserve that. But Silas locked me in a safe and dumped me into a quarry where I drowned every day for three months straight so ... not sorry about him being dead for good.
And now neither am I. Every time you talk about Mystic Falls, it feels like so much happened in such a short period. And I thought I had it bad with my seven years with pretty spaced apart apocalypses.
( If she's getting her timeline right, she knows bits and pieces. But, considering a lot of that drama covered his fake high school career - that's only, what, two? Three years? )
It really was a time. But honestly, I learned a lot about myself.
[Not all of them good, and a lot of things he regrets, but he likes to think the end of his time in Mystic Falls resulted in a net-positive, rather than a net-negative.]
You're right. We don't need to spend our awake time trading stories of the unbelievable and the insane. We're together. You're alive. Ish. Let's focus on that.
( She nuzzles in closer. )
But, anytime you do want to talk. I'm always here.
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everyonelives2023-03-16 09:07 pm
no subject
He paces away briefly to get himself a blood bag, and after he downs it, moves to settle back into bed, curling up around Buffy and pressing a kiss against her shoulder.]
You're awake.
[He can tell by the way she holds tension - it's different when she's awake versus when she's asleep.]
no subject
Stefan knows about Spike and Angel, especially what Spike meant to her. But, for Buffy, there are parts to her life that aren't just accessible, but, present. She comes at you at face value. She's an open book. She's only lived this one life but she's honest with it and about it.
Stefan has lived hundreds of years. Buffy was involved with Angel's history directly, Spike's history directly. She's only heard about Stefan's. Read more than she'd ever care to (Willow and Xander did the rest), but she has been there before, and she didn't see what she read, only whom she'd met, whom she'd come to know.
There are still pieces to him that are mysteries to her. She doesn't know if she wants to figure them out, or if they're even for her. She sleeps on and off throughout the night. When Stefan awakens, her eyes open. But, he leaves there bed and feeds - he needs to. He was weak. She doesn't begrudge him that. She knows he's a vampire. He returns, Buffy closing her eyes as his lips touch her shoulder.
He's okay.
She can't pretend she's not awake. If he can't feel it, he can certainly hear it. She turns, facing him, taking a moment to press her own, soft kiss to his lips. )
Morning. I think.
no subject
[And time has no meaning when your inching towards two hundred. He closes his eyes into the kiss, his hand finding her waist and brushing his thumb against his side.]
We didn't really get a chance to talk before I passed out.
no subject
( He was tired, she was running on pure adrenaline and worry. She came down, too. But her anxiousness was no match for a weak vampire. )
If you wanted to give blood, you should've just told me. The slayers hold a drive every few months. ( It's the least they can do for the local hospital and the surrounding areas. But, now that they're on the subject. ) Lorden Wallis went to an awful lot of trouble. Taking you, losing you, taking you again. I don't like that she'd rather burn you alive than have you living at all unless she got whatever it is she wanted. ( She waits a beat. ) What did she want, Stefan?
no subject
You've heard of a doppelganger, right?
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More than I'd like. She thought you were someone else?
no subject
[She likely knew what she was getting with Stefan Salvatore.]
A long time ago a guy named Silas who looked like me decided he didn't want to live a mortal life like a sane person so he took an immortality spell. And since nature needs a way for everything to die, it started creating doppelgangers of him that could. And witches later found out that their blood has magical powers, even when you get turned into a vampire, so long as you're the last one.
no subject
( Buffy had decoys for a while. Not the same thing. )
Can anyone use your blood to become more powerful?
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[But witches have to cast the spells all the same.]
And to be honest, it hasn't been a problem in a while. Elena's had it a lot worse.
[Technically Katherine too, but they're not talking about Katherine right now.]
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( Which begs the question. )
Do you have a Katherine?
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[And for Stefan's sake, he hopes he stays that way.]
There was also a guy named Tom, but he's dead now too. There won't be another one of me for another couple hundred years, I think? But at the same time, there might not be another one at all, since the immortal causing the problem isn't immortal anymore and I'm not unkillable.
no subject
( But, she has the Slayage line going. Ancestors in her dreams. Girls born and called. Until she broke the convention itself. )
I'm sorry the other you's are dead.
( Her one decoy was killed, too, by the underground and a group of people who thought they had the real slayer. It was sad to hear. )
no subject
[He pauses because that's not entirely accurate.]
I mean, I'm sorry about Tom. He sounds like he was a good man who didn't deserve that. But Silas locked me in a safe and dumped me into a quarry where I drowned every day for three months straight so ... not sorry about him being dead for good.
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( If she's getting her timeline right, she knows bits and pieces. But, considering a lot of that drama covered his fake high school career - that's only, what, two? Three years? )
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[Not all of them good, and a lot of things he regrets, but he likes to think the end of his time in Mystic Falls resulted in a net-positive, rather than a net-negative.]
Especially because it got me here. With you.
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( She nuzzles in closer. )
But, anytime you do want to talk. I'm always here.
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[He doesn't particularly enjoy damseling, but he doesn't mind as much when it's her coming to save him.]
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( She jests. )
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[Because he isn't trying to. He leans in to kiss her softly.]
Breakfast? I thinking pancakes.
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( Picture trumpets and other fanfare. )
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[And with that, they will head out to have Stefan fix them a yummy breakfast.]