because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

Comments

[bereavements]

Josie's thriving. Getting involved on campus, got us trapped once in a traveling exhibit, making friends.

( She watches her girlfriend laugh at something Ben says, like it's a joke, right, but then Josie's laugh tapers off as she realizes Ben is saying something literally and she sips from her drink politely. But, that's Josie. The more she finds herself, the more she fits in and she loves that for her girlfriend.

[blackstarred]

[Mia hears how much Josie is doing well. But she doesn't think that Josie is the thing that Hope pulled her to the side to talk about.]

But you not so much?

[bereavements]

I hold my own, I like the people Josie doesn't, and that balances. But, Josie has campus clubs - and - direction?

( Is that the word for it? )

I felt lame majoring in general studies before I got here, and I still feel lame now. What should a girl with the rest of her eternity ahead of her really be studying? I lost the first guy I thought was the love of my life. Nearly lost my family, like, five times, all because of who I am. College just seems so...

[blackstarred]

Trivial?

[Mia can see that. It was kind of that for her, and she's not effectively immortal. You get raised by a family of superheroes and there are always bigger problems than going to class.]

I get that. And one could argue that if you are immortal you could theoretically go back whenever you want, when you know what you actually do want.

[Hope should do whatever she wants to do. That's part of the fun of being young, for better or worse. At the same time:]

But what will you do if you drop out? Because sometimes having nothing to do can be worse than having only trivial things to do.

[bereavements]

I didn't say anything about dropping out. Could I? Drop out?

( She thinks about that, what that would even look like. )

I know it sounds trivial and I know it's also important to people. It's a rite of passage. But, I feel like I've had, like, five? First betrayal. First love. First big bad.

[blackstarred]

Rites of passage are different for different people. You don't have to hit all the same ones regular human eighteen year-old girls go through because to put it bluntly, you're not. Most of them don't have a big bad to contend with.

[For starters.]

I'm not advocating you should go one way or another on dropping out. Maybe it would be better if you shift up your course load for things you feel better about spending your time on. Maybe it would be easier if you found campus things that you really liked. But if none of that sounds appealing, you also don't have to stay. I'm sure your dad would appreciate saving the money.

[bereavements]

Or, their big bad is, like, their advisor. Or their absentee father. Which, I also had.

( She sips, again, resting an elbow on the bar. )

I'm sure my thousand year old father and his neverending coffers probably wouldn't blink. But, I don't know how he'd take it. Or, like you said, what I'd even do. Instead. ( She shrugs. ) I do like art. A lot. And I'm good. Maybe that's an avenue I can take. At least learn some real fundamentals.

[blackstarred]

Exactly. Follow your bliss. You don't need college for the practical reasons that most other people do, so might as well have fun with it.

[And if immersing herself in art is what she feels a good way to spend her time, then why not.]

[bereavements]

And if my bliss isn't in college?

( She has to hear the answer out loud, so she still asks. )

[blackstarred]

Then drop out. Do other stuff. Travel. It's your life, Hope.

[And it's a very, very long one, so do what you want with it.]

[bereavements]

It's also Josie's life.

( She should be a factor. )

[blackstarred]

[Mia pauses, because she knows how these kinds of relationships can feel. Josie's not her first, but she's a young, intense relationship between two people who have known each other their whole lives.

Mia had one of those herself, and while fate interfered and she's still sorting out all her feelings there, Josie and Hope could be heading towards their own crash and burn.]

And you feel like Josie is forever?

[Josie is not a vampire. That's something they'll eventually have to talk about.]

[bereavements]

( How is that a fair question. )

I want her to be for however long we have.

[blackstarred]

[Mia nods, because okay, that's fair. She's just gauging feelings, she actually hasn't spent that much time with Josie and Hope together.]

Then talk to her about it. Talk about your feelings. And trust her to help you figure out solutions together.

[Basically, be partners. Sometimes that's all you really can do.]

And if things get too real, don't trash your phone and fall off the map as a way of breaking up with her.

[Because she can poke a little fun at herself too.]

[bereavements]

If I did do that, I could crash, right? Just for twenty or thirty years.

( Full 100% up and down joke. )

[blackstarred]

Totally.

[Mia flashes her a grin.]

Star City has many hiding places.

[bereavements]

I was thinking, the Penthouse.

( Mia Queen has in's right? And money? )

Should we join everyone? Jed grows on you, but Ben says really interesting things on account of him being like a bajillion years old. I was secretly sipping every time he said something... old.

( Or, overly formal. )

[blackstarred]

Yeah. Oh, but before we do that.

[Better to get this ask out now before they head back to her friends.]

Are there some kind of rules for daylight rings? A vamp friend of mine was asking about them.

[bereavements]

Not any rules you don't already know about. Keep it on at all times in sunlight.

( She listens underneath her question, however. )

You mean, do I have rules for people I make daylight rings. Who's the vampire?

[blackstarred]

His name's Spike. His reputation before he got his soul back is pretty rough, but he has it now. He's a good guy.

[She's not sure if Mia's word is enough to balance against all the murdering Spike did for his first two hundred years of life, but she's willing to try.]

[bereavements]

( Spike's not a number one villain they study, but you don't go off the rails as a vampire and not hear about Spike and the disappointment he's become. She trusts Mia and that goes a long way. )

Let me guess, he's here in town? Do you trust him with a daylight ring? A lot of vampires who've been allergic to Vitamin D do weird things when they can get it anytime. If you can vouch he won't freak out on anyone, then, he can meet us tonight. I'm guessing there's a clock on him being here.

( Or, else why would she ask. )

[blackstarred]

I do trust him. And I do think he won't freak out. It will just make it way easier to get him on plane back to Star City when we go.

[Never mind spending time around her parents and extended family and such.]

And if it goes bad, I'll stake him and return the ring to you when I come back for Lindsay's wedding.

[That's probably more glib than it should be, but it is also ... the truth. If Spike starts chowing on people, she'll be the first to line up and take him down.]

[bereavements]

I agree.

( Hope doesn't want her newly rescued friend to be dust on a plane. But, she has to do her due diligence. She frowns, incredulous. )

I thought he was a friend of yours.

[blackstarred]

He is. But soulless vamps aren't like you guys when you flip your switch. You turn off your humanity, you can always turn it back on. They lose their soul, there's no coming back from that without an extensive magical ritual.

[And given that Mia is a Slayer, she has a feeling Spike would more likely try to kill her first if he lost his soul again.]

Spike also had a penchant for killing Slayers. He is my friend, but if he loses his soul, he's not my friend anymore and if it's me or him, I'm picking me.

[bereavements]

Okay. I will make him a ring. And then I'm going to do expensive vampire research. Do you know his vampire's origin?

( Just to get started. )