+ Wanted to get it real home-like... +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE!
Where: EVERYWHERE!
When: ANYT-- Friday, February 20 to Monday, February 23
Rating: An average PG-13? (Consider warning for explicit sexual or violent content in your thread's subject line)
Summary:
For the duration of this event each character will discover that their room has been replaced with one of their own memories, one that they find themselves particularly happy or "at home" in. More information can be found here.

This log is an opportunity for your characters to describe the memory playing in their room, so that other characters might visit, and watch the scene unfold. To help browse the collection better, please include your character's name, and their room number in the subject line (e.g. Seta Souji - 100, 6th floor) of your top-level comment.

Rooms/Comments may be locked to certain people, or be available for all to see & visit. Log participation is completely and entirely voluntary.

Have fun!

Comments

[therapize]

"Wow. So just so we're clear, are you going to make everything I say a vampire joke?" Bad enough that it feels like 99% of what she says is about vampires anyway. Still, she's not actually annoyed or insulted or anything. She just wants to be prepared for an onslaught of supernatural-related puns in the future. "And sure, more beer sounds great, right up until there's some really important class or meeting or something to go to. Funny thing about graduate professors: they don't tend to be impressed when students show up drunk."

Not that Cami's made that mistake, thank God. But she's willing to work with the general assumption that sobriety around people who will one day judge her thesis is the better life choice.

He starts to reach for her, a movement Cami notices just out of the corner of her eye, but then Spike seems to think better of it. She doesn't get why at first, not until she too remembers the last time he tried. But the circumstances had been completely different then, and she offers him a wan smile. "It's okay. No one's killed me in the past few days, so I'm not as skittish as the last time you saw me."

But that he does consider it, decides to withdraw rather than push past where he should go? Cami appreciates it.

Kind of like the advice he gives. He's not a therapist, but someone doesn't have to have schooling to be insightful. While she doesn't believe Wonderland or the people running it have so noble an intention as Spike suggests, the core of it is good. Choosing to focus on better memories, when the people she'd loved had been themselves. And he isn't wrong at all to think that their situations are similiar--moreso than he can realize.

"It's eaiser with my brother. I wasn't there when he was hexed, and it happened quickly." Then Cami only had news reports, clippings from the paper--graffiti scrawled across her brother's grave. "But with my uncle, I saw it all. I tried to help him fight it for as long as I could. He was on a half-dozen medications, but it didn't stop him from losing his mind. I even nearly killed him trying ECT."

It's not the worst of it though. Not even close, and Cami brushes back a stray lock of hair, looking down as she forces herself to say the rest.

"Nothing worked. But I just couldn't let him die that way. So I had him turned into a vampire."

[formerlydangerous]

He laughs and smirks. "Bad jokes, demon slaying, and saying what everyone else is thinking is what I do. Wouldn't be Spike without the vampire jokes. But he mellows out a bit and gives her a thoughtful look. "I can try to keep them to myself if they make you uncomfortable." Would Old Spike have cared? Nope. "Then it's a damn good thing I don't have to worry about all that rubbish. But, I think you'll have enough bloody experience here t' out-shrink the best of 'em."

He liked her. It was honestly more than just because she listened at this point. She was kind, she seemed to truly care and she was fun. The listening bit was a bonus. The fact that she understood was an even bigger bonus. So the next words out of his mouth were instinctive. "If they know what's good for 'em, no one else'll hurt you again." He'd lost Fred. He wouldn't lose Cami, too. "If you get into trouble, you message me. I'll tear apart any ghoulie that tries to hurt you again."

He looks away when she says she tried everything, even turning him. Yep, all too similar. "Magic can be tricky. Did turning him stop it or was he just madder than a March hare and hungry?" He knows he died, but whether it was staked because he was a soulless vampire, or because he was magic'd to go batty, he wasn't completely sure.

[therapize]

It's a sweet offer, especially considering that bluntness is part of his sense of self-identity. Cami shakes her head, however. "Thanks, but it's not necessary. If I can't handle jokes about vampires, then I'm definitely hanging out with the wrong people." And for better or worse, she actually does like most of the crowd she tends to spend time with in Wonderland--present company included. Old Spike might not have cared, but it's clear that with his soul he does. He listens and understands, and he's encouraging on top of that.

And yeah, maybe she likes his sense of humor too.

She's a little surprised at his offer of protection, but when Cami thinks about it, she realizes she shouldn't be. Spike sacrificed himself for Buffy, and lost a dear friend just before his return to Wonderland. He's probably more than a little tired of seeing the people he cares about getting hurt. "I'll keep it in mind, but as a general rule? I'm not really for revenge killing--particularly not in a place that encourages endless cycles of violence since people don't end up staying dead." She definitely doesn't want someone walking down an endless path of violence and destruction for her, no matter how well-intentioned.

She leans back against a wall, easily able to agree that magic is a difficult thing to predict. Even with her limited knowledge that much has been made clear to Cami. "A little of both. Vampires are different in my world than they are in yours. I mean, there's the hunger for blood that's universal, and some of the weaknesses. But they don't lose their souls in mine. From what I've been told, they actually become more of who they are, with heightened emotions and senses."

Cami isn't defending her choice, not really. She just wants Spike to understand as much of what happened as possible. "And the other thing is that there's a choice. If a person dies with vampire blood in their system, they enter what's called transition. If they feed on human blood, then they turn. If they don't, they die permanently. I knew my uncle wouldn't go through with it--he was a priest, a good man. Maybe the only good member of the Human Faction in New Orleans. But I couldn't let him die as a monster.

"And at first, it worked. The curse condemned him to lose his mind and die, so when he did, it seemed like it had been lifted. I got to say goodbye to the man he'd been." She swallows then, the words increasingly difficult to say. It's been months since her uncle's death, but talking about this part of it, the mistakes she made--that isn't something Cami's done since the night Marcel was allowed back in to comfort her. The next breath she takes can easily be heard, and even before she continues, Spike might be able to guess the rest.

"But the hex was too strong, and the hunger. So he came after me--he was going to kill me, before a friend of mine stopped him."

[formerlydangerous]

Spike waves a hand as if to dismiss the subject, or the claim to it, anyway. "Revenge killin's all in good fun, but you're right. Here it's sorta useless if the killer doesn't stay killed. ...feels like home. No, I was gonna settle things with Angelus. Was gonna stake him or make him broody again, but seems like Cordy and the wicked witch--not the... green one... apparently there's more than one? Well, this is a witch that's kind of a bitch, helped solve that problem while I was gone. Now he's just borin' ol' Angel again."

He listens to her explain about vampires where she's from and seems intrigued. "Not the bad guys where you're from like they are where I'm from? Not sure I could deal with heightened emotions. Got enough trouble containin' the ones I already got." Guilt being a major one of them. "Good old Sunnydale sat on a Hellmouth, yeah? Most places back home, you gotta feed 'em your blood and drain them almost dry. Euphoric feelin'... anyway, certain places like the Hellmouth, people die unrelated t' supernatural creepy crawlies and they still turn. Not sure who designed that pain in the ass rule. Got 'em poppin' out of the dirt left and right. No transition there. Not even safe to die in a car wreck."

He was careful not to speak until she'd finished, already guessing the ending to that story. It wasn't fair. "That wasn't him, luv. He would never hurt you." He didn't know the man, but he just had a feeling. She wouldn't be so torn over it if he'd been a real jerk. "You got to say goodbye and that's what counts. And your friend didn't let him hurt you, so his soul has no guilt. He would've wanted to be stopped." She seriously needed a hug. ...or a beer. Probably something stronger. "You gonna be alright, pet?"

[therapize]

She grins when Spike decides to tell her just who he'd had in mind to make suffer. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure someone beat you to the punch--or tried to. There's this guy here I know from my world, Klaus. He's got a hell of a temper, and he's protective of me." To put it mildly. But they've already gotten into some deep topics without adding that into the mix.

"Not all of them are, no." Mikael stands as a notable exception to that rule, yet every vampire she's encountered back home otherwise had been working for either Klaus or Marcel--none of them had come after her directly. She's not naive enough to think that stands as a universal truth, but it's still a far better scenario than the one she imagines in Spike's world. No souls, probably limited loyalties, and from the sounds of it, places where even the typical rules don't apply. "The ones from my world who are here--well. They've done horrible things, but they're all inherently good people."

Even Klaus, who so often makes the worst choices of them all.

Spike goes on to say the truth Cami already knows, and she can't help but grin a bit. "You ever think about being a therapist? You might be good at it." It's half a joke; Spike might be a bit too honest to actually succeed at the work. But she's glad for that trait in him, along with his insight. "In my head, I know that everything you've said is right. It's just--I don't know. I guess this whole thing with the rooms playing our memories has me feeling guilty. And lonely."

That sense of needing companionship is one she hasn't quite managed to shake.

"But I'll be fine. Especially with a good distraction." She pushes herself up off the wall, favoring Spike with a smile. "So I think I'm going to play customer at the bar rather than tender. There's probably two seats next to each other, if you're interested."

Although he may not be; Cami once more glances towards the bed, the scene that's been playing in the background this whole time. She gets why Spike might not want to leave it just yet. "Or I can hang a tie on the door on my way out. Your choice."

[formerlydangerous]

"Got yourself a guardian angel, then. Guessin' not human if he went after Angelus. Hope Klaus roughed him up good. Don't blame him for bein' protective."

"Inherently good, huh? I doubt there's a vampire that's been around for half a century or so that hasn't done some horrible things. Comes with the territory, I think." He offered, but it honestly wasn't a very good excuse for the things he's done or the things they've probably done. But if they weren't threats now, he didn't have much of a problem with them.

He laughs, looking off to the side. "Don't got the bedside manner." He joked then moves right on. "I get that; the feelin' lonely. The guilt too. If you don't let it go, you'll end up with more wrinkles than Angel, and he's an ageless vampire. Still looks like he's gettin' old, though." What fourth wall?

Her offer is tempting and he does stop to think about it. His gaze drifts to the memory again. He'd just finished his little speech.

"Spike... could you--stay here?"

He looks down, a gentle smile giving his lips a slight upturn. Then he addresses the memory, though she doesn't actually hear him. "Kills me to admit it, but you don't need me anymore, Buff." He pauses, watching her curl up in that bed one more time before tearing his eyes away, back to Cami. "I'm sure I can strong-arm us a couple chairs if not." He actually looks very content. "Let the past stay in the past. Gotta move on forward." He says and steps towards the door, opening it, and motioning for 'Ladies First'.

[therapize]

"Clearly you don't know him, or you'd never call him that." Guardian, okay, yes. But angel? The thought is enough to make her chuckle, although the rest of Spike's assumptions are bit closer to the mark. "Not even close; Klaus is a hybrid: a werewolf and a vampire. Even more than that, he's one of the Original vampires in my world." The family that all other vampires were sired by, either directly or by extension.

Spike's outlook on vampires isn't exactly optimistic--but Cami doesn't think he's necessarily wrong, either. She's had a couple of talks with Rebekah now, about humanity and how those traits seem to vanish over time. Mix that in with a near insatiable desire to feed on human blood, and Cami could easily see how things would spiral out of control for a person.

The warning is far enough, but Cami smirks over at him. "You know, I might actually have a reason to be proud of my wrinkles. The world I live in, the life I lead: getting old would be something worth bragging about. You're right though. He definitely has some crow's feet going on." There is no fourth wall when it comes to mocking Angel.

He needs a second to decide whether or not he wants to leave, and wouldn't it figure, the memory plays right into her question. It's almost funny, except Cami's way too sober to appreciate the timing. Whatever choice he makes, she won't at all hold it against him. But as he's advised her, he opts to forgo the past in favor of the present. "Or you could ask nicely and impress me with your self-restraint rather than fail to do so with violence."

But it is very nice of him to let her leave the room first.

[formerlydangerous]

Spike seems surprised by that and maybe just a bit impressed. "Got yourself a bloody powerful guardian angel, seems like. Bloke don't got to be a saint t' be a guardian angel, luv. Someone lookin' after you--someone that cares 's all it takes."

The smirk is met with one of his own when she speaks. "Fair enough." Then a laugh because yeah, he really does, doesn't he?

"Oi, I'm the picture of self restraint!" He closes the door behind them and starts them off down the hall. "But," He gives in and the smile softens. "I suppose I can ask. Not sure I'm capable of 'nice' though. I'm the bad guy, remember?" Yeah, you're not fooling anyone, Spike. You're not the bad guy anymore.

[therapize]

“If that’s the case, then I guess he qualifies.” Given that at least half the mansion and all of New Orleans might burst into laughter at anyone suggesting Klaus might come anywhere close to qualifying for sainthood, Cami’s very aware that Spike’s exception is the only way the term “angel” could possibly apply to the hybrid. But he is right to assume that Klaus would look after her, and she smiles a bit less out of humor and a bit more out of contentment at the thought.

Not for too long though. Not when they can agree on Angel’s wrinkles, and when Spike laughs the way he does.

“Oh, sure you are. Speaking of people who aren’t saints.” Or maybe she should say monks? Either way, Spike strikes her as one who is much more likely to indulge rather than not, which isn’t always a bad thing. When it comes to random violent urges, however, Cami’s pretty much always going to vote in favor of holding off. “Although I would go calling you a bad guy either. More like an antihero.”