Successor (BTVS)
- Thread starter DeAnno
- Start date
- Mature
So I am pretty sure that if left entirely to her own devices on how to do this confession Harmony will botch it a bit, and thus figure a couple of clarifiers might be essential to keep Harmony from getting punched in the mouth. I am thinking primarily about the ordering of things, because as is I expect Harmony to just explode it all over Buffy in a passionate disorganized mess.
I am tentatively leaning towards leading with talk about Harmony's feelings, because if Spike is the topic Harmony opens up with then it is going to be the main thing Buffy focuses on. If talking about feelings first goes poorly Harmony could always tell someone else about Spike and cry in the sewers. If talking about Spike first goes poorly Harmony might not have time to confess as Buffy zips off to deal with a serious problem, or she might think that Harmony was confessing her feelings at a really inappropriate time, and use that to disengage from the conversation.
Finally I think that Spike actually gave some really good and really bad advice. I think he was dead on about the danger issue, but that Harmony just trying to kiss Buffy after spilling her emotional guts is going to go really poorly. Honestly I can't help but think that a raging argument about how yes, Harmony does feel that way about Buffy and this isn't some dumb imprinting thing would probably work better for getting Buffy's blood up and not end with a punch in the face if things go wrong.
I haven't quite figured out how to turn all this into a writein I am happy with yet, but I hope people will at least consider tacking something onto their votes, because I don't trust Harmony to successfully go into this without a bit more guidance than the default options.
I am tentatively leaning towards leading with talk about Harmony's feelings, because if Spike is the topic Harmony opens up with then it is going to be the main thing Buffy focuses on. If talking about feelings first goes poorly Harmony could always tell someone else about Spike and cry in the sewers. If talking about Spike first goes poorly Harmony might not have time to confess as Buffy zips off to deal with a serious problem, or she might think that Harmony was confessing her feelings at a really inappropriate time, and use that to disengage from the conversation.
Finally I think that Spike actually gave some really good and really bad advice. I think he was dead on about the danger issue, but that Harmony just trying to kiss Buffy after spilling her emotional guts is going to go really poorly. Honestly I can't help but think that a raging argument about how yes, Harmony does feel that way about Buffy and this isn't some dumb imprinting thing would probably work better for getting Buffy's blood up and not end with a punch in the face if things go wrong.
I haven't quite figured out how to turn all this into a writein I am happy with yet, but I hope people will at least consider tacking something onto their votes, because I don't trust Harmony to successfully go into this without a bit more guidance than the default options.
- Location
- Vancouver
I get being worried, I am a bit too, but I also want to have faith (not the Slayer kind) in Harmony. I was worried about her at first, but she's been surprisingly competent. Not perfect, but still, pretty good.
See, those reasons are why I think we shouldn't mention the whole Spike thing. If we leave it aside, we don't have to worry about that stuff and can just focus on confessing to Buffy.
I kinda see that about the kiss, but I think it's important as well, just like holding Buffy's hands with Harmony's cold ones. Right now Buffy doesn't see the physical attraction to Harmony. Like Spike said though, the kiss could be a good way to get her to see past that. If that and the confession failed with all of Harmony's planning, well then she'd probably never manage it. If Buffy doesn't have that kiss, her first response will probably be to turn Harmony down gently, say she's straight, and break Harmony's heart worse than punching her ever could. Besides, Lorne's pretty good at what he does, I don't think he would have sent us there if it was destined to go badly or even give us partly faulty advice.
I get the worries, but I don't think that this is a 'trap' option where no combination of the regular voting options could be successful and a write in is our only hope (not saying it couldn't work, just saying that I think there's a chance here with the options already presented).
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
To clarify, you can use stunts to influence things like Harmony's order and emphasis of presentation. If there seems to be some disagreement or unclarity about that (to kiss or not to kiss, for example) I might have a short stunt referendum after the normal lock. Using stunts in this way doesn't invalidate the main tasks as long as the stunts stay within the bounds those tasks present.
Lab_Accident
A 2D 1D4
- Location
- Your dreams
This is the Buffyverse. I fully expect for things to catch fire, relationships to get strained for an episode or two, and then the timely intervention of an evil demon makes the characters confront their personal problems and by the end of the episode, the threat is slain and the drama resolved.
- Location
- Vancouver
Hmm, given that we can stunt and all, here might be a better vote
[X][URGENCY] Harmony absolutely needs to see Buffy right now. It'll be 5 AM when she gets back, she'll drive to her house and throw pebbles at her window.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][URGENCY] Harmony absolutely needs to see Buffy right now. It'll be 5 AM when she gets back, she'll drive to her house and throw pebbles at her window.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
- Location
- Tarn-Vedra
[X][URGENCY] Harmony has to play it cool and wait for the right opportunity to make things seem natural. She'll try to scope out the Warren problem as best she can too. She'll definitely see Buffy within the next few days.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony knows everyone wants her to spill but she just can't reveal her love yet. She'll mention Spike being active and what he was doing, but lie about why she went to LA in the first place. This will override the urgency option if chosen; Harmony will just share the information around as normal tomorrow.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony knows everyone wants her to spill but she just can't reveal her love yet. She'll mention Spike being active and what he was doing, but lie about why she went to LA in the first place. This will override the urgency option if chosen; Harmony will just share the information around as normal tomorrow.
- Location
- DC area
[X][URGENCY] Harmony can wait until tomorrow night, but she has to keep a handle on things. She'll call Buffy during the day and set something up.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
Ok, so observing the situation we have, some things want a bit more specification so we're going to extend the voting period into a second phase.
1) This part of the vote was decisive and it wins:
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
2) These two are tied:
[URGENCY] Harmony can wait until tomorrow night, but she has to keep a handle on things. She'll call Buffy during the day and set something up. (veekie gladiusone Ct613hulu Lost Egos mc2rpg Captain Carrot)
[X][URGENCY] Harmony absolutely needs to see Buffy right now. It'll be 5 AM when she gets back, she'll drive to her house and throw pebbles at her window. (Uvigz Magus Lab_Accident Artemis1992 Temes1066 Blueshift Nevill)
Because I want this next period to be mostly about planning and stunting, I'll say these two options are in sudden death. The next new vote or defecting vote that comes in on either will decide this option immediately.
This one has resolved. It'll be at 5 AM.
3) Kissing. The truth option chosen isn't too clear, in hindsight, and especially if this happens at 5AM there won't be narrative time for an additional vote. However the kissing subject could be pretty pivotal and I think it's worth having some more input. So we are going to decide if Harmony tries to swoop in for a kiss during this whole thing with a 24 hour referendum.
[][KISS] Kiss
[][KISS] No Kiss
4) Stunting. There has been a bit of stunting already, but people are free to discuss or suggest more stunts over the next 24 hours. For the 5 AM option this could be things like order of what to do or talk about and how to present it as we've seen already.
1) This part of the vote was decisive and it wins:
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
2) These two are tied:
[X][URGENCY] Harmony absolutely needs to see Buffy right now. It'll be 5 AM when she gets back, she'll drive to her house and throw pebbles at her window. (Uvigz Magus Lab_Accident Artemis1992 Temes1066 Blueshift Nevill)
Because I want this next period to be mostly about planning and stunting, I'll say these two options are in sudden death. The next new vote or defecting vote that comes in on either will decide this option immediately.
This one has resolved. It'll be at 5 AM.
3) Kissing. The truth option chosen isn't too clear, in hindsight, and especially if this happens at 5AM there won't be narrative time for an additional vote. However the kissing subject could be pretty pivotal and I think it's worth having some more input. So we are going to decide if Harmony tries to swoop in for a kiss during this whole thing with a 24 hour referendum.
[][KISS] Kiss
[][KISS] No Kiss
4) Stunting. There has been a bit of stunting already, but people are free to discuss or suggest more stunts over the next 24 hours. For the 5 AM option this could be things like order of what to do or talk about and how to present it as we've seen already.
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DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
5 AM has it, I will edit the threadmark
- Location
- DC area
Harmony should try for a kiss only if the conversation goes really well. If Buffy is just not shutting her down, that's no go. If there's something more positive, maybe. Bear in mind also that it seems iffy to kiss someone before going on a date, and their previous activities don't count as such.
- Location
- Vancouver
Alright, stunt plan time. I don't think we should try to over stunt here, part of the advantage in her going right away is that energy she's feeling right now. Still, there are some things we can focus on
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
Alright, that's the plan I got thus far. Obviously the stunt on the kiss won't happen if kiss doesn't get voted in, but overall, I think this is a good plan. However Harmony is going to word her confession is still all on her, but this should provide a few guidelines to use the advice we got to the best of our ability. What does everyone think?
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
Alright, that's the plan I got thus far. Obviously the stunt on the kiss won't happen if kiss doesn't get voted in, but overall, I think this is a good plan. However Harmony is going to word her confession is still all on her, but this should provide a few guidelines to use the advice we got to the best of our ability. What does everyone think?
Temes1066
To Defy Gravity you must Let It Go
- Location
- Coleraine
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordellia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
- Location
- DC area
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
S3.5E10: Teen Vampire: Harmony! IV
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
[X][URGENCY] Harmony absolutely needs to see Buffy right now. It'll be 5 AM when she gets back, she'll drive to her house and throw pebbles at her window.
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordelia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
Harmony pushed her Chrysler a little faster as she raced toward Revello Drive. There'd been a little snarl on the highway, and the traffic lights of Sunnydale weren't being kind. She was late.
Harmony was used to being late. She'd been late to school all the time, and late to individual classes even more often than that. But being too late to Buffy's house would be bad, because the annoying summer sun would be rising any minute now. She still had enough time though. She had to make it. This was her chance.
Something deep inside her told her that parking Buffy's mom in would be a bad plan; she had to park a little ways down the block and then ran over to the front of the house. Luckily, there were some pebbles in the dirt, and she started throwing them up at Buffy's window. They made little plink sounds like they did on TV, though Harmony thought with lame human hearing it might be hard to make them out. She hoped they would wake Buffy up.
She wasn't sure if it would be terribly romantic or terribly dumb to die immolated by the sun trying to wake up Buffy for her torrid confession. She didn't have a firm grasp on just how easy it was to burn because she'd been careful not to try it; all the Scoobies had regaled her with lots of tales of fledglings exploding at the slightest ray of sunlight and it wasn't something she wanted to experience. But it was too late now. Her car was no shelter, and after all this diving into a manhole and needing to wait for hours might be a fate worse than death. Harmony just kept throwing her little rocks.
And then the Sun rose. But Harmony didn't burst into flames, because it was her Sun, not the hateful yellow thing in the sky.
Buffy was at the window in her pajamas looking bleary-eyed and confused, which of course meant she was absolutely perfect in every way, her elegant figure dimly backlit from the room behind her. It wasn't that her clothing was particularly skimpy or slutty (and Harmony should know; a lot of hers was), but the way the thin white fabric fluttered with Buffy's golden hair in the morning breeze held Harmony hypnotized for a stretching moment, totally unable to respond.
"Harmony, what are you doing down there? Why didn't you just climb up?" Buffy broke the spell, and in hindsight that made a lot of sense.
"Oh, I kind of forgot I could." Harmony used the tree to shimmy up to the gable and moved over the slanted surface to Buffy's window.
"Why are you here? Isn't it almost sunrise?" Buffy looked up and down the street and the morning light was clearly showing, even though the sun wasn't visible yet.
"I, umm." Harmony reached for her, and the threshold of the window stopped her hand cold. She'd never been inside Buffy's place before, even though she'd come by or dropped her off a few times. "It's important." The overwhelmingly Buffy smell of her room was almost disorienting, even from outside it.
Buffy looked at her askance, but just did the cutest little shake of her head before saying, "Sure, fine, come in. It's not like sleeping is important too or anything." She turned from her and glided back to the bed, artfully collapsing onto it like some kind of priceless painting. The expression of actual trust wasn't shocking, considering the past two months, but Harmony felt the shock anyway. And when she landed, Buffy's pajamas ended up a little askew so that… Harmony forced herself back together with a titanic effort of will and shambled through the window, closing the blinds behind her to prevent herself getting accidentally incinerated.
Buffy's voice was like a silky Shadow rolling over her ears, "So, what's the what? New evil? Or worse, new massive budget expense? It must be really bad if you needed to tell me in person." Harmony blanched, trying to muster up the courage to say something. "Don't worry, just lay it on me; I won't stake the messenger."
She moved forward hesitantly and sat at the foot of the bed. Getting close was important. Almost automatically, she started 'adjusting' her bra; it was her go-to move in these situations. She didn't quite complete the action though, realizing that might not have the effect she was looking for here. Instead, she remembered what Cordelia had said about temperature, and took one of Buffy's hands in her own. She felt so hot.
Buffy was looking askance at her from her pillow now. "Harmony, did somebody-"
"Just, let me say it," Harmony interrupted. The presence of her was overwhelming, she almost didn't understand how she hadn't noticed when she was alive, how she'd mistaken it for anything else even after she was dead. This wasn't the quick pulse of training or the open space of a walk in the dark; the small room with them both perched on the bed was almost suffocating. In fact, Harmony noticed she'd stopped even aping breathing. It was an eerie self-awareness.
"I'm in love with you." Somehow, that had taken all her air, and she had to breathe again. "I, just… everything. You're everywhere." It was so hard to explain. Buffy was looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "You're strong and you're beautiful and you're dangerous. I didn't understand it at first, but I figured it out and I didn't know what to do."
"Harmony." Buffy's voice was uncertain, and her eyes slid to the radio sitting on her nightstand. "Can you tell me what you've been doing lately? Any strange occurrences? Weird potions? Magic spells?"
"It's not a spell." Harmony pouted. Words started coming out in a rush. "I've been hiding it for a month, and then Warren tonight, so I had to do something, and I went to LA and saw Cordelia, and we went to the psychic singing place." She needed to breathe again. "And other stuff. But no magic, just, people talking and saying stuff and I needed to do this right now because I wouldn't be brave enough if I waited another fourteen hours."
She still had Buffy's hand, but her face was going from uncertainty to shock and her nose was doing that cute flarey thing (focus Harmony.) "I… what? Harm. Umm. Are you sure there wasn't a spell? Not even one that didn't work?"
Harmony thought of the blood trick with the holy water, but this was a bad moment to bring that up. Soon.
Meanwhile, Buffy seemed to be grasping for something more to say. "I mean, Harm, before, like, there were boys. You and boys."
"Well, yeah," Harmony said, a little defensively. "But it's not the same. Everything's been so different ever since I died. Giles says vampires are like, different people. Maybe he's right?"
Buffy's hand twitched, and it seemed like she might be about to pull away. She knew she had to act now. If Spike was wrong about this she was going to find some way to kill him. She pulled back on Buffy's hand, softly (To Buffy, anything she could do was 'softly', pretty much. She was so strong.) She leaned down over her. She kissed her.
Harmony felt Buffy's pulse speed up and heard her heart rate spike and she smelled her scent change and for a second there was an intoxicating sense of power. Then Buffy pulled back, rolling out from under Harmony like liquid mercury and stopping in a standing position a few feet away from her, against her drawer. Harmony couldn't decipher her expression.
She was afraid. "Buffy, I-"
"I'm not angry," the words were calm, belying the chaos on her face. "I need time. Time to think."
"It isn't just a spell, it's-" Harmony had to make her understand.
"I know. I mean, maybe I should've. I don't know." Buffy opened the door, taking a handful of things quickly. Harmony felt bad that she was rushing her outfit, even though she'd obviously look good in anything. She'd kind of invaded her room.
Buffy moved to the door. She had her warhammer in one hand and her clothes over her other shoulder, like some kind of dreamtime valkyrie. "I'll talk to you soon? OK? I just, I need to go right now."
Harmony managed to remember there was a lot of other stuff she still needed to say. "Wait, I should tell you-"
"If it's not an emergency, it can wait. This is … it's this." She opened the door, then paused, coming back to put her radio in her pajama pocket. "The sun's practically up by now, you can stay here. Just don't freak out my mom." Then she left, the door closing behind her with a click. Harmony didn't move from Buffy's bed. She heard her footsteps, the frantic motions of her changing, more footsteps, doors. Silence.
It had happened. It had been amazing. Buffy had been… not horrified. Maybe. She didn't really know. None of her boyfriends had run away from her in a bedroom before.
It was probably creepy to stay in Buffy's bed. Even worse to get under the blanket. But Harmony was suddenly tired, and it smelled like Buffy. Too tempting.
Harmony wondered what soon meant. Was Buffy going to run around the block and then come back? Or maybe talk to one of her friends? Was Buffy going to talk to her tonight? Tomorrow night? This month? She could call Buffy now, and ask what soon meant. It was tempting, like getting under Buffy's blanket had been, but this time Harmony resisted. She did fish her radio off her belt and out of the covers, putting it on the nightstand, in easy reach. Just in case.
There was a loud knocking, and Harmony was confused. She was very comfortable though. She almost dismissed it and went back to sleep, but then there was also a voice. It was familiar, somehow.
"Buffy, don't you usually get in by noon on Saturdays? I know your patrolling goes late sometimes, but that's no excuse to be irresponsible."
Oh, right. This was Buffy's room. She must have fallen asleep. It was kind of embarrassing and kind of hot. But more pressingly, her mom was outside, and thought Buffy was inside. This could be a problem. Maybe if Harmony was very quiet, Buffy's mom would realize Buffy already went out, and use her radio to check. That made sense. Even if she didn't, Buffy was the mayor of Sunnydale, and the hero of a dozen impossible battles. Her mother would hardly just barge into her room uninvited.
Mrs. Summers then barged into the room, causing Harmony to panic and hide under the covers. "Buffy, come on, rise and shine. You have a real job now, I can't be getting you out of bed every day." Isn't that what she was doing right now though? Harmony wasn't sure what to do, but the situation immediately got worse when she heard the blinds opening and felt an unpleasant burning sensation through the blanket.
"Ahhh!" Harmony screamed and rolled off the bed and out of the light, dragging the blanket with her. She thumped on the floor and then frantically tried to get under the bed, but a huge pile of Buffy's stuff was kind of blocking the way.
"Buffy, do we really need these theatrics? You're eighteen now, for crying out loud!"
Harmony decided that it was best to give this up for a bad job. "Buffy went out. It's Harmony. Can you close the blinds?"
There was silence. After the standoff had gone on for a little while, Harmony spoke again. "Mrs. Summers? The blinds, please?"
"Oh, of course dear, I'm sorry." There were some of the squeaky noises blinds make when they don't want to go down, but eventually they fell and the room was darker. Harmony poked out her head, and Mrs. Summers was looking a little poleaxed.
Harmony decided some lying was in order. "I had to come over for a work thing. But then the sun rose, so I couldn't leave. And then Buffy left. To go to work."
"Of course." Mrs. Summers' voice wasn't… annoyed, but Harmony had been caught by parents in enough bedrooms to know when they were suspicious. This was a disaster. "Would you like to come down and have breakfast?" She spoke a little woodenly, and then left the room without looking to see if Harmony was coming.
"Sure. Thank you." Harmony wasn't sure if she heard, but didn't want to yell. Then she disentangled herself from the blanket (it didn't look singed, even though she could smell ozone in the room now) and followed her.
Maybe she could eat Buffy's mom. Then it wouldn't be awkward anymore. She did smell kind of tasty. Buffy would probably be pretty angry at her if she did, but maybe it would be for her own good? People barging into your room at all hours of the day really wasn't a great way to live.
Focusing on her neck as she followed her downstairs made her realize that she was kind of hot for an older woman, and wasn't that a weird thing to think? She hadn't really been attracted to people who weren't Buffy lately, or ever to girls who weren't Buffy at all. She hadn't really noticed Cordelia for example, who she knew was almost definitely prettier than Mrs. Summers. Buffy's mom just seemed to have… good features though? She didn't have a lot of experience thinking about how pretty girls were so it was hard to describe. In any case, Harmony's musings on murder and sex were interrupted when they got to the brightly lit kitchen, and she had to stop to avoid getting all sunny and burnt.
"Umm," Harmony said awkwardly. Instead of blocking the sun or making some kind of food, Joyce was pouring herself some wine.
"Oh, right," Mrs. Summers said, moving to darken the room. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now. Would you like something? Do Vampires have dietary restrictions?"
"I don't think so." Harmony said. Though really, if they did, how would've she found out? "But I've been dieting."
Mrs. Summers blinked, and then rubbed her eyes. "Does that work?"
"I'm not sure. But most things taste weird, so it's kind of easy." Angel had apparently never eaten much of anything, at least as far as Buffy saw, but it was nice to be able to do something with her hands and teeth. It made all the people around a little less tempting, and she was going to need to get better at that without the spell helpfully hanging over her.
"Maybe you could have some fruit?" Mrs. Summers speculated, looking in the fridge.
"That'd be nice, yeah." Fruit tasted sort of like tonic water to her now, which was better than some of the alternatives. Eating Buffy's mom was really probably an awful idea, and any distraction from that would be useful.
Mrs. Summers didn't get anything else for herself, and just sat down at the table with Harmony, sipping her wine. Her parents weren't exactly the most functional couple, but she hadn't seen either of them ever drinking before noon. Maybe it was a thing poor people did.
The quiet stretched for a while as Harmony worried at her orange slices. Maybe she could say something nice about Buffy? That could break the ice. "I guess Buffy didn't need to be woken up today after all, right?"
"I guess not," Mrs. Summers agreed. After another drink, she spoke again, "Wasn't she going to be seeing that nice Warren boy last night? I'd heard-"
"She did," Harmony answered. "I'm not sure how it went."
"I'm sure." She sighed. "Buffy never seemed to like the nice ones. I suppose I should've expected something like this."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about?" Harmony risked. If she'd known about the date thing with Warren, maybe she wasn't as sure of what had mostly not actually happened as Harmony thought she was before.
Mrs. Summers seemed uncertain. "It's nothing for you to worry yourself over, Harmony. I just hope Buffy's thinking about her future. She always seems so caught up in the present."
"Somebody has to be," Harmony said, a little annoyed at the slight.
Mrs. Summers sighed, and took another drink. "I know there always seems to be a big crisis that everyone needs to deal with. And that's important. But you can't live your life for next week, or next month, or even next year. I don't even know if she's going to take courses in the fall."
"Does she really need to go to college?" Harmony asked. "She's already the mayor. Sunnydale has like, tens of thousands of people in it and who knows how many demons."
"And how long is that going to last?" Mrs. Summers said. "Until the next big disaster comes and overturns her life again? Then where will she be?"
"Hopefully alive." Harmony had finished her fruit, and really wished she could go, but she was trapped in a house with Buffy's mom. She told herself again that murder was not going to help any of her long term goals, and would also maybe make her get fat. It was way less compelling than thinking human blood would burn her whole throat away, and Harmony wished she could forget the stupid spell was a fake.
"She keeps talking like that too. But I don't think that's really going to happen. She's very good at what she does, she's always very good at things when she applies herself." She sighed again. "I wish she had kept up with her skating. She really enjoyed that, and maybe she could've done it seriously now, what with the powers and all."
"Is that allowed? Like, it seems sort of like cheating?" Wait, Harmony didn't actually care. "Huh, maybe she should." Buffy would look amazing doing figure skating.
"You tell her that, she never listens to me anymore." Joyce had finished her drink, and looked like she was about to pour another, but she stopped and put it away instead. "I should go into the gallery. You're free to stay, of course. Make yourself at home."
"Thanks, Mrs. Summers." Well, that could've gone worse.
Harmony tried to busy herself watching TV. She even found a gameshow, and got to feel superior about how she was on a much harder and more dangerous one and still did better than all the idiots on the screen. She thought about calling someone else, but she still had the thing with Spike to report (and the spell, ugh) and she wanted Buffy to hear it from her. Talking to Xander or someone without saying anything about it would be weird too, so she decided just to avoid it. She'd tell Buffy next time they talked.
But when would that be? Buffy knew where she was, and it had been forever. She checked her watch, for what seemed like the hundredth time, and it said '2:24'. Not even five minutes since the last time she checked. The watch itself was even a reminder of Buffy, which was both good and bad at the moment. She stared at her radio accusingly, from where it mocked her silently on the coffee table, but it stubbornly kept its cool. No Buffy, and no Buffy call. It made her anxious.
Had Buffy liked the kiss? She'd certainly reacted to it, but what did it mean? What had she gone to do? What was there to think about, either it was good or it wasn't, right? Harmony knew that was kind of uncharitable, but she wasn't in a very charitable mood anymore, and besides, she was a soulless vampire. She was allowed to be a little selfish. But maybe not to Buffy? Buffy deserved better than that. It was confusing.
She'd said she wasn't angry, and Harmony had kind of been expecting and dreading that, so it had been an immediate relief. But it wasn't enough. What if she never got to kiss Buffy again? That would be horrible. What would she even do? She refused to think about it. Now that she knew what she was missing, the pining would be so much worse.
She could just call Buffy. That was what radios were for right? They dialed both ways, it was the whole theory of telephones, or something. Buffy had said she needed time, but there had been time. She said she'd talk to her, but that didn't mean Harmony couldn't call her, to like, start the talking. It had been a lot of hours. Maybe it was soon already? Buffy could be distracted, maybe she forgot, and just sort of needed a reminder from the vampire that was wildly in love with her.
No. No. No. Calling first is bad. Calling on the same day is worse. And in this situation? Suicidal. Harmony was going stir crazy, duh. She needed a distraction.
Vote (sort of meta-): Where did Buffy go this morning when she left? And what does Harmony do now? Voting is by task.
[][BUFFY] Buffy decided that work would be reassuringly distracting, and went into City Hall early.
[][BUFFY] Buffy went into the bad part of town looking for someone or something that needed a beating.
[][BUFFY] Buffy needs to talk about this and went to see Willow. It's a mortifying topic but she needs to talk to her best friend.
[][BUFFY] Buffy doesn't know anyone who wouldn't freak out about this except Anya. She went to find her, she knows about demons and sex and she isn't judgemental.
[][HARMONY] Write-In. What does Harmony do to distract herself in Buffy's empty house until sundown?
[X][TRUTH] Harmony will confess her love and tell Buffy pretty much everything that's happened. She doesn't want to lie, and Spike being around could be bad news.
[X] Stunt Plan: Follow Advice
-[X] Stunt: After getting up to Buffy's room, Harmony should move to hold her hands before beginning with her confession. Cordelia mentioned that cool skin contact was important, so keeping it up throughout the confession if possible is important
-[X] Stunt: After confessing move in to kiss her for a couple seconds and (assuming she doesn't violently reject her before or during) move back to see how she reacts
-[X] Stunt: Tell her about Spike and stuff after the confession
-[X] Stunt: Tell her most of everything. After the confession has been received, Harmony can tell Buffy about her trip to LA and casually mention finding Spike at museum, amidst the romantic advice she was given by Lorne and Cordelia. Buffy isn't going to care about her chat with Spike for the most part so Harmony will just... omit the romantic advice from Spike's part, leaving Buffy with any actionable intel and if pressed about the advice he gave, Harmony can just say it came from Lorne (it was him that caused her to go there and talk to him in the first place, so that's like the truth, right?)
[X][KISS] Kiss
Harmony pushed her Chrysler a little faster as she raced toward Revello Drive. There'd been a little snarl on the highway, and the traffic lights of Sunnydale weren't being kind. She was late.
Harmony was used to being late. She'd been late to school all the time, and late to individual classes even more often than that. But being too late to Buffy's house would be bad, because the annoying summer sun would be rising any minute now. She still had enough time though. She had to make it. This was her chance.
Something deep inside her told her that parking Buffy's mom in would be a bad plan; she had to park a little ways down the block and then ran over to the front of the house. Luckily, there were some pebbles in the dirt, and she started throwing them up at Buffy's window. They made little plink sounds like they did on TV, though Harmony thought with lame human hearing it might be hard to make them out. She hoped they would wake Buffy up.
She wasn't sure if it would be terribly romantic or terribly dumb to die immolated by the sun trying to wake up Buffy for her torrid confession. She didn't have a firm grasp on just how easy it was to burn because she'd been careful not to try it; all the Scoobies had regaled her with lots of tales of fledglings exploding at the slightest ray of sunlight and it wasn't something she wanted to experience. But it was too late now. Her car was no shelter, and after all this diving into a manhole and needing to wait for hours might be a fate worse than death. Harmony just kept throwing her little rocks.
And then the Sun rose. But Harmony didn't burst into flames, because it was her Sun, not the hateful yellow thing in the sky.
Buffy was at the window in her pajamas looking bleary-eyed and confused, which of course meant she was absolutely perfect in every way, her elegant figure dimly backlit from the room behind her. It wasn't that her clothing was particularly skimpy or slutty (and Harmony should know; a lot of hers was), but the way the thin white fabric fluttered with Buffy's golden hair in the morning breeze held Harmony hypnotized for a stretching moment, totally unable to respond.
"Harmony, what are you doing down there? Why didn't you just climb up?" Buffy broke the spell, and in hindsight that made a lot of sense.
"Oh, I kind of forgot I could." Harmony used the tree to shimmy up to the gable and moved over the slanted surface to Buffy's window.
"Why are you here? Isn't it almost sunrise?" Buffy looked up and down the street and the morning light was clearly showing, even though the sun wasn't visible yet.
"I, umm." Harmony reached for her, and the threshold of the window stopped her hand cold. She'd never been inside Buffy's place before, even though she'd come by or dropped her off a few times. "It's important." The overwhelmingly Buffy smell of her room was almost disorienting, even from outside it.
Buffy looked at her askance, but just did the cutest little shake of her head before saying, "Sure, fine, come in. It's not like sleeping is important too or anything." She turned from her and glided back to the bed, artfully collapsing onto it like some kind of priceless painting. The expression of actual trust wasn't shocking, considering the past two months, but Harmony felt the shock anyway. And when she landed, Buffy's pajamas ended up a little askew so that… Harmony forced herself back together with a titanic effort of will and shambled through the window, closing the blinds behind her to prevent herself getting accidentally incinerated.
Buffy's voice was like a silky Shadow rolling over her ears, "So, what's the what? New evil? Or worse, new massive budget expense? It must be really bad if you needed to tell me in person." Harmony blanched, trying to muster up the courage to say something. "Don't worry, just lay it on me; I won't stake the messenger."
She moved forward hesitantly and sat at the foot of the bed. Getting close was important. Almost automatically, she started 'adjusting' her bra; it was her go-to move in these situations. She didn't quite complete the action though, realizing that might not have the effect she was looking for here. Instead, she remembered what Cordelia had said about temperature, and took one of Buffy's hands in her own. She felt so hot.
Buffy was looking askance at her from her pillow now. "Harmony, did somebody-"
"Just, let me say it," Harmony interrupted. The presence of her was overwhelming, she almost didn't understand how she hadn't noticed when she was alive, how she'd mistaken it for anything else even after she was dead. This wasn't the quick pulse of training or the open space of a walk in the dark; the small room with them both perched on the bed was almost suffocating. In fact, Harmony noticed she'd stopped even aping breathing. It was an eerie self-awareness.
"I'm in love with you." Somehow, that had taken all her air, and she had to breathe again. "I, just… everything. You're everywhere." It was so hard to explain. Buffy was looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "You're strong and you're beautiful and you're dangerous. I didn't understand it at first, but I figured it out and I didn't know what to do."
"Harmony." Buffy's voice was uncertain, and her eyes slid to the radio sitting on her nightstand. "Can you tell me what you've been doing lately? Any strange occurrences? Weird potions? Magic spells?"
"It's not a spell." Harmony pouted. Words started coming out in a rush. "I've been hiding it for a month, and then Warren tonight, so I had to do something, and I went to LA and saw Cordelia, and we went to the psychic singing place." She needed to breathe again. "And other stuff. But no magic, just, people talking and saying stuff and I needed to do this right now because I wouldn't be brave enough if I waited another fourteen hours."
She still had Buffy's hand, but her face was going from uncertainty to shock and her nose was doing that cute flarey thing (focus Harmony.) "I… what? Harm. Umm. Are you sure there wasn't a spell? Not even one that didn't work?"
Harmony thought of the blood trick with the holy water, but this was a bad moment to bring that up. Soon.
Meanwhile, Buffy seemed to be grasping for something more to say. "I mean, Harm, before, like, there were boys. You and boys."
"Well, yeah," Harmony said, a little defensively. "But it's not the same. Everything's been so different ever since I died. Giles says vampires are like, different people. Maybe he's right?"
Buffy's hand twitched, and it seemed like she might be about to pull away. She knew she had to act now. If Spike was wrong about this she was going to find some way to kill him. She pulled back on Buffy's hand, softly (To Buffy, anything she could do was 'softly', pretty much. She was so strong.) She leaned down over her. She kissed her.
Harmony felt Buffy's pulse speed up and heard her heart rate spike and she smelled her scent change and for a second there was an intoxicating sense of power. Then Buffy pulled back, rolling out from under Harmony like liquid mercury and stopping in a standing position a few feet away from her, against her drawer. Harmony couldn't decipher her expression.
She was afraid. "Buffy, I-"
"I'm not angry," the words were calm, belying the chaos on her face. "I need time. Time to think."
"It isn't just a spell, it's-" Harmony had to make her understand.
"I know. I mean, maybe I should've. I don't know." Buffy opened the door, taking a handful of things quickly. Harmony felt bad that she was rushing her outfit, even though she'd obviously look good in anything. She'd kind of invaded her room.
Buffy moved to the door. She had her warhammer in one hand and her clothes over her other shoulder, like some kind of dreamtime valkyrie. "I'll talk to you soon? OK? I just, I need to go right now."
Harmony managed to remember there was a lot of other stuff she still needed to say. "Wait, I should tell you-"
"If it's not an emergency, it can wait. This is … it's this." She opened the door, then paused, coming back to put her radio in her pajama pocket. "The sun's practically up by now, you can stay here. Just don't freak out my mom." Then she left, the door closing behind her with a click. Harmony didn't move from Buffy's bed. She heard her footsteps, the frantic motions of her changing, more footsteps, doors. Silence.
It had happened. It had been amazing. Buffy had been… not horrified. Maybe. She didn't really know. None of her boyfriends had run away from her in a bedroom before.
It was probably creepy to stay in Buffy's bed. Even worse to get under the blanket. But Harmony was suddenly tired, and it smelled like Buffy. Too tempting.
Harmony wondered what soon meant. Was Buffy going to run around the block and then come back? Or maybe talk to one of her friends? Was Buffy going to talk to her tonight? Tomorrow night? This month? She could call Buffy now, and ask what soon meant. It was tempting, like getting under Buffy's blanket had been, but this time Harmony resisted. She did fish her radio off her belt and out of the covers, putting it on the nightstand, in easy reach. Just in case.
------------------------------------------------------------------
There was a loud knocking, and Harmony was confused. She was very comfortable though. She almost dismissed it and went back to sleep, but then there was also a voice. It was familiar, somehow.
"Buffy, don't you usually get in by noon on Saturdays? I know your patrolling goes late sometimes, but that's no excuse to be irresponsible."
Oh, right. This was Buffy's room. She must have fallen asleep. It was kind of embarrassing and kind of hot. But more pressingly, her mom was outside, and thought Buffy was inside. This could be a problem. Maybe if Harmony was very quiet, Buffy's mom would realize Buffy already went out, and use her radio to check. That made sense. Even if she didn't, Buffy was the mayor of Sunnydale, and the hero of a dozen impossible battles. Her mother would hardly just barge into her room uninvited.
Mrs. Summers then barged into the room, causing Harmony to panic and hide under the covers. "Buffy, come on, rise and shine. You have a real job now, I can't be getting you out of bed every day." Isn't that what she was doing right now though? Harmony wasn't sure what to do, but the situation immediately got worse when she heard the blinds opening and felt an unpleasant burning sensation through the blanket.
"Ahhh!" Harmony screamed and rolled off the bed and out of the light, dragging the blanket with her. She thumped on the floor and then frantically tried to get under the bed, but a huge pile of Buffy's stuff was kind of blocking the way.
"Buffy, do we really need these theatrics? You're eighteen now, for crying out loud!"
Harmony decided that it was best to give this up for a bad job. "Buffy went out. It's Harmony. Can you close the blinds?"
There was silence. After the standoff had gone on for a little while, Harmony spoke again. "Mrs. Summers? The blinds, please?"
"Oh, of course dear, I'm sorry." There were some of the squeaky noises blinds make when they don't want to go down, but eventually they fell and the room was darker. Harmony poked out her head, and Mrs. Summers was looking a little poleaxed.
Harmony decided some lying was in order. "I had to come over for a work thing. But then the sun rose, so I couldn't leave. And then Buffy left. To go to work."
"Of course." Mrs. Summers' voice wasn't… annoyed, but Harmony had been caught by parents in enough bedrooms to know when they were suspicious. This was a disaster. "Would you like to come down and have breakfast?" She spoke a little woodenly, and then left the room without looking to see if Harmony was coming.
"Sure. Thank you." Harmony wasn't sure if she heard, but didn't want to yell. Then she disentangled herself from the blanket (it didn't look singed, even though she could smell ozone in the room now) and followed her.
Maybe she could eat Buffy's mom. Then it wouldn't be awkward anymore. She did smell kind of tasty. Buffy would probably be pretty angry at her if she did, but maybe it would be for her own good? People barging into your room at all hours of the day really wasn't a great way to live.
Focusing on her neck as she followed her downstairs made her realize that she was kind of hot for an older woman, and wasn't that a weird thing to think? She hadn't really been attracted to people who weren't Buffy lately, or ever to girls who weren't Buffy at all. She hadn't really noticed Cordelia for example, who she knew was almost definitely prettier than Mrs. Summers. Buffy's mom just seemed to have… good features though? She didn't have a lot of experience thinking about how pretty girls were so it was hard to describe. In any case, Harmony's musings on murder and sex were interrupted when they got to the brightly lit kitchen, and she had to stop to avoid getting all sunny and burnt.
"Umm," Harmony said awkwardly. Instead of blocking the sun or making some kind of food, Joyce was pouring herself some wine.
"Oh, right," Mrs. Summers said, moving to darken the room. "You'd think I'd be used to this by now. Would you like something? Do Vampires have dietary restrictions?"
"I don't think so." Harmony said. Though really, if they did, how would've she found out? "But I've been dieting."
Mrs. Summers blinked, and then rubbed her eyes. "Does that work?"
"I'm not sure. But most things taste weird, so it's kind of easy." Angel had apparently never eaten much of anything, at least as far as Buffy saw, but it was nice to be able to do something with her hands and teeth. It made all the people around a little less tempting, and she was going to need to get better at that without the spell helpfully hanging over her.
"Maybe you could have some fruit?" Mrs. Summers speculated, looking in the fridge.
"That'd be nice, yeah." Fruit tasted sort of like tonic water to her now, which was better than some of the alternatives. Eating Buffy's mom was really probably an awful idea, and any distraction from that would be useful.
Mrs. Summers didn't get anything else for herself, and just sat down at the table with Harmony, sipping her wine. Her parents weren't exactly the most functional couple, but she hadn't seen either of them ever drinking before noon. Maybe it was a thing poor people did.
The quiet stretched for a while as Harmony worried at her orange slices. Maybe she could say something nice about Buffy? That could break the ice. "I guess Buffy didn't need to be woken up today after all, right?"
"I guess not," Mrs. Summers agreed. After another drink, she spoke again, "Wasn't she going to be seeing that nice Warren boy last night? I'd heard-"
"She did," Harmony answered. "I'm not sure how it went."
"I'm sure." She sighed. "Buffy never seemed to like the nice ones. I suppose I should've expected something like this."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about?" Harmony risked. If she'd known about the date thing with Warren, maybe she wasn't as sure of what had mostly not actually happened as Harmony thought she was before.
Mrs. Summers seemed uncertain. "It's nothing for you to worry yourself over, Harmony. I just hope Buffy's thinking about her future. She always seems so caught up in the present."
"Somebody has to be," Harmony said, a little annoyed at the slight.
Mrs. Summers sighed, and took another drink. "I know there always seems to be a big crisis that everyone needs to deal with. And that's important. But you can't live your life for next week, or next month, or even next year. I don't even know if she's going to take courses in the fall."
"Does she really need to go to college?" Harmony asked. "She's already the mayor. Sunnydale has like, tens of thousands of people in it and who knows how many demons."
"And how long is that going to last?" Mrs. Summers said. "Until the next big disaster comes and overturns her life again? Then where will she be?"
"Hopefully alive." Harmony had finished her fruit, and really wished she could go, but she was trapped in a house with Buffy's mom. She told herself again that murder was not going to help any of her long term goals, and would also maybe make her get fat. It was way less compelling than thinking human blood would burn her whole throat away, and Harmony wished she could forget the stupid spell was a fake.
"She keeps talking like that too. But I don't think that's really going to happen. She's very good at what she does, she's always very good at things when she applies herself." She sighed again. "I wish she had kept up with her skating. She really enjoyed that, and maybe she could've done it seriously now, what with the powers and all."
"Is that allowed? Like, it seems sort of like cheating?" Wait, Harmony didn't actually care. "Huh, maybe she should." Buffy would look amazing doing figure skating.
"You tell her that, she never listens to me anymore." Joyce had finished her drink, and looked like she was about to pour another, but she stopped and put it away instead. "I should go into the gallery. You're free to stay, of course. Make yourself at home."
"Thanks, Mrs. Summers." Well, that could've gone worse.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Harmony tried to busy herself watching TV. She even found a gameshow, and got to feel superior about how she was on a much harder and more dangerous one and still did better than all the idiots on the screen. She thought about calling someone else, but she still had the thing with Spike to report (and the spell, ugh) and she wanted Buffy to hear it from her. Talking to Xander or someone without saying anything about it would be weird too, so she decided just to avoid it. She'd tell Buffy next time they talked.
But when would that be? Buffy knew where she was, and it had been forever. She checked her watch, for what seemed like the hundredth time, and it said '2:24'. Not even five minutes since the last time she checked. The watch itself was even a reminder of Buffy, which was both good and bad at the moment. She stared at her radio accusingly, from where it mocked her silently on the coffee table, but it stubbornly kept its cool. No Buffy, and no Buffy call. It made her anxious.
Had Buffy liked the kiss? She'd certainly reacted to it, but what did it mean? What had she gone to do? What was there to think about, either it was good or it wasn't, right? Harmony knew that was kind of uncharitable, but she wasn't in a very charitable mood anymore, and besides, she was a soulless vampire. She was allowed to be a little selfish. But maybe not to Buffy? Buffy deserved better than that. It was confusing.
She'd said she wasn't angry, and Harmony had kind of been expecting and dreading that, so it had been an immediate relief. But it wasn't enough. What if she never got to kiss Buffy again? That would be horrible. What would she even do? She refused to think about it. Now that she knew what she was missing, the pining would be so much worse.
She could just call Buffy. That was what radios were for right? They dialed both ways, it was the whole theory of telephones, or something. Buffy had said she needed time, but there had been time. She said she'd talk to her, but that didn't mean Harmony couldn't call her, to like, start the talking. It had been a lot of hours. Maybe it was soon already? Buffy could be distracted, maybe she forgot, and just sort of needed a reminder from the vampire that was wildly in love with her.
No. No. No. Calling first is bad. Calling on the same day is worse. And in this situation? Suicidal. Harmony was going stir crazy, duh. She needed a distraction.
Vote (sort of meta-): Where did Buffy go this morning when she left? And what does Harmony do now? Voting is by task.
[][BUFFY] Buffy decided that work would be reassuringly distracting, and went into City Hall early.
[][BUFFY] Buffy went into the bad part of town looking for someone or something that needed a beating.
[][BUFFY] Buffy needs to talk about this and went to see Willow. It's a mortifying topic but she needs to talk to her best friend.
[][BUFFY] Buffy doesn't know anyone who wouldn't freak out about this except Anya. She went to find her, she knows about demons and sex and she isn't judgemental.
[][HARMONY] Write-In. What does Harmony do to distract herself in Buffy's empty house until sundown?
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