[video; a few locks]

[idolstolemylook]

[Locked to Cho]
Cho, love. Gonna be away a fair bit for the next few.

[He looks tight and tense, his worry poorly hidden under restless anger.]You're, ah... you can use the place as much as you want. Just don't move my records. Got 'em all orderly. But remember what I said about tall, dark and stupidhair--he's been seen in the graveyard an' I don'

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Spike ]

[huntersdaughter]

What happened with Buffy? [she's been... up to her elbows in varnish.]

[huntersdaughter]

[That actually gets her to smirk at him. Why so drama class, Spike?]

Alright, well, the best thing to do in a situation like this is to start a plan. You want to take him down, right?

[She'll grab her notebook and a pencil, flipping to the next empty page, and joins him in the booth.]

Let's start with the basics. We've got the city. It's penchant for making trouble. [She's gonna start to jot down notes and just get everything she can on paper so that it doesn't seem quite so dramatic]

Other than following you around, and apparently an affinity for blondes, what else is there that makes this Angelus guy a threat?

Oh, and the vampire part.

[idolstolemylook]

[Spike stares at her. She's got a bloody notepad.]

What are you, some sort of... evil-hunting secretary? Think you can catch the Scourge of Europe or whatever they're callin' him with bits of paper?

[huntersdaughter]

[Every single case she's ever built started with a notepad.]

Secretary? No, but before I was the girl that actually went out and killed the things that went bump in the night, I was the one that got the files ready so that whoever happened to be able to kill the things that go bump in the night that they were as prepared as they could be.

He's not from here, Spike. The few people that do know him aren't going to be enough to take him down -- especially if they've already been trying.

You can go ahead and drink, but I'm going to try and do what I can to help.

[idolstolemylook]

[He's still confused. Buffy never needed files.]

Buffy never needed files. An' you can't go up against this one, pet. Not like me. Do all sorts of terrible things. [He blinks.] Well, so have I, but that's then.

[huntersdaughter]

So... Buffy just heads to hunt down vampires and wendigos and handle possessions... just by heading out her front door and looking for things? [NO WONDER SHE GOT PUT IN A COMA!!]

Look, I'm not going to go after him. I don't have time and I've already had more than my fair share of hospital stays this year. I do know people though, people who might be able to help and if I can give them information, I'm going to. So you can either help and tell me everything you know about Angelus or you can keep drinking.

Or [she smirks and lifts an eyebrow as she moves to jot down another note] You could do both.

[idolstolemylook]

[He's in the middle of another long swallow as he sees her write something else down.]

What'd you write down? You've got he has stupid hair, right? And he's stupid. And you know what? That accent's not even real! He's Irish, of all things.

[huntersdaughter]

[She smirks over at him, an amused look on her features]

Irish is good, fake accent is fine - I'm not sure if stupid hair is going to be the tipping point though.

I wrote down to check with the town hall and see if they have maps of the sewers and tunnel systems in the city. It'd help to have those in the file so that if he's not topside, someone doesn't get lost trying to see if he's below the surface.

[idolstolemylook]

[Spike waves a hand.]

Doubt he's down there. Always had a sense of... grandeur, I guess. Might be hidin' down there, but more likely he's got some mansion or loft or somethin' spacious and gothic. Always a big statement, y'know?

[huntersdaughter]

Alright, so we put red exes in the boxes for showmanship, ego, and pride.

That usually goes along with a giant case of envy and I take it Buffy is the thing he wants?

He might go off book, but if he's really as big into himself as you say he is then he's already considering that as our option. I can see about empty buildings, real estate listings that have been up for too long. That'll be easy to add in. It'll narrow the area to a few blocks around the buildings.

[idolstolemylook]

[Spike waves a hand.]

You do that. You're all kinds of organized, aren't you? Guess he wants Buffy. Not so sure it's the way he did.

[He takes a long swallow.]

See, thing of it is, they had this... epic, undyin' passion. When he had a soul. An' without one, he's a fuckin' pansy. Can't stand the thought of rollin' over for the Slayer, so it's all turned the other way.

[He snorts into his bottle.]

Idiot.

[huntersdaughter]

[She makes a few notes, here and there, just taking out what he says out of those little remarks, the things that are actually important -- that might help out someone else. The soul-no-soul thing was interesting. Probably something to talk more about.]

So it's like soul-on and he's nicer than currently advertised, because now he doesn't have a soul? What exactly changes that?

[idolstolemylook]

[Spike snorts.]

Never nice. More like... all tortured and guilt-having. Bloody pointless, you ask me. Got cursed with one by some gypsies, after violating one of their own. Broke the curse when he got down with the Slayer for the first time, so I heard. An' then Buffy's little witch pal shoved it back in, he went to Hell, came back, an' kept on with the self-righteous and broody.

[He shrugs.]

Dunno why it's gone now. Least with one he's just... boring.

[huntersdaughter]

[Gypsies. Cursed. All those words and a few more got written down. The good thing was that this city seemed to be rife with magic and people who knew the dark alley black magic tricks. Not that Jo was fond of them, but it was nice to know witches might come in handy for once.]

Why hasn't anyone chopped his head off yet?

[idolstolemylook]

Huh.

[That is a good question.]

Dunno. Had him tortured, that one time. Didn't seem much fun to just kill him outright. As it is, though, if he's after Buffy... [Spike grumbles for a moment. He should be able to take Angelus down, if he could do for two Slayers. When he speaks, it's in a low, strung-together set of syllables.] He's old an' strong and bloody irritating.

[huntersdaughter]

Right, but if he's a danger .... someone should just lob his head off.

Set him on fire.

Something that'll at least give everyone some time to recover without him being in the way.

Even if he comes back, that's still another advantage to being able to prepare.