Fred is gone. She isn't coming back. Tucker is gone. He says he's coming back. But Kara knows that people always say that - and you can never believe them till they walk right back in that door.
It's Kara who is walking through the door now, though. The door to Spire and it seems Todd is already waiting.
If it wasn't for the collaborative sucker-punch of the (unrelated) exits of Fred and Tucker, Todd might be in trouble. But he isn't.
"Happy Birthday." She says to him. And hands him a gift. She bought it with some of the money she got from selling the bike on eBay.
The Immortal has been so wrapped up in hoping she won't be mad about the lateness for her birthday, that it hasn't occurred to him to expect anything for his.
"Why. . .thank you, Kara." He looks down at the box. Obviously a tie. A gift with the very appropriate filial flavor. And then he's glad his eyes are lowered, and he's not looking at her, because he's struck by the memory they entered in the villa that night. The memory of Lucy, his young slayer with the saucy curl to her mouth, the way she brushed crumbs off his shoulder and straightened his tie for dinner with the Watchers. "Thank you," he says, still not looking at her. "Do you want me to. . .here, or . . .?"
"Let's get the table first." He tries not to smile. There's no reason that the tough edge in her voice should be amusing. He knows perfectly well that Kara has braved a hard life and earned the right to that toughness, but somehow the harder she tries for that toughness, the more the vulnerable little girl shows through.
He nods to the maitre d', and a trendily black-clad waitperson -- part of the trendiness involves ambiguity of gender -- sweeps by to show them to the table.
Todd falls in step behind him/her, walking slowly to let Kara pull ahead. "Ties are nice. How much do you think I can get for it on Ebay?"
Todd whirls on Kara. "I take you out for your birthday, I'd think it was ONE TIME I didn't have to heard about Tucker Frigging Wells!" Conveniently forgetting that he's the one who brought up the T-word in the first place.
And Lawrence is talking over him, "I don't know any Tucker Wells, except the one that my son accused of. . ."
"Maybe I should have forgotten all about the fancy restaurant. . ."
". . .all those awful things and sent the tapes that. . ."
"and taken you to Slushies R' Us or maybe I could have summoned up some plague rats. . ."
". . .were the beginning of all of this insanity. . ."
". . .of course you know that Alan got bitten, he's sick, he might even DIE. . ."
". . .and that was the last normal vacation we ever spent with Connor."
And Kara suddenly doesn't care about the Riley's at all.
"Excuse me? Don't you start in on Tucker! Don't you dare! Not after the way you have behaved! You're dead lucky I am here at all after what you've done! You assualted him! You totally upset him! He's delicate! He has an ARTISTIC TEMPERMENT!"
A little like Kara Keating it would seem.
"I LOVE Tucker Wells. Love him. So don't you dare start in on him! Don't you dare!"
But Tucker wells is gone already. Gone, gone, gone.
"Anyway. You can be happy. Tucker's gone. He went away. Gone. He doesn't love me and her went away and we can all bet he wont be sitting around thinking about me like I am about him. So, happy? He's gone! You WIN!"
And she half hears him saying Alan could die. But... Tucker Wells is GONE!
And just when Kara has stopped caring about the Rileys, Todd stops caring about Tucker.
"You're Lawrence RILEY?" he demands. Kara is saying something, but it just kind of washes over him. "Is your wife here?"
Because the only thing he can think, now, is that Darla is supposed to meet him here, in the bar, after dinner. For all he knows, she's down there now. And Darla in the same room as Connor's adoptive parents can in no way, as far as the Immortal is concerned, add up to a good thing. "Look," he says to Lawrence. "I'll buy you two dinners. Somewhere else. Just. . .leave."
Lawrence straightens himself to his full height, which is greater than the Immortal's by quite a bit. "You don't have a right. . ." Colleen comes up behind him, "What is it, dear?"
Kara's still talking. Todd turns to her. "WHO'S gone? Since when were you so attached to Connor?"
"Oh. I just bet there were no minds involved." Kara says, quickly latching on to this tangent. "I just bet!"
All men are the same. Bastards.
"And why shouldn't I be a lawyer?" Inability to pass school aside. "I'm good for more than baking cakes and cutting hair and doing YOUR dirty work!"
And it is strange but she's genuinely hurt that all this time he's been hanging out with Piper. And not on Darla's behalf either. This hurt is all her own.
"Are you sure you don't want to save the diet coke for Piper?"
"No one should be a lawyer," he answers, calmly sipping his own drink, wishing he wasn't being a good example and could have some alcohol in it. "All the professions are soul-crushing scams. Granted, the world needs lawyers. And people like Alan need something to do to keep them from a life of crime. But for the most part, you sort of just wish they'd breed them in jars, like in Brave New World and not let them interact with anyone else. Certainly not let them date."
He sets the drink down. "I think there really is enough Diet Coke in the world to go around."
...somwhere at the bar of the restaurant...tm_darlaJuly 30 2005, 17:54:13 UTC
Somewhat later in the evening, as she has no intention to come across as either a mother hen to a teenager or desperate for the attention of an ex lover old aquaintance, Darla shows up in a stunning red dress, and in the company of an expendable male accessoire. (In fact one of the college students who do research at the museum; he has been asking her out for a drink for months.) A discreet glance tells her that the Immortal is indeed still here, but she tries not to check whether Kara still is, and at any rate does not look again.
Re: ...somwhere at the bar of the restaurant...suey_generisJuly 30 2005, 19:25:21 UTC
Kara is headed safely home, and the Immortal makes an effort to come into the bar from the back way, while Darla is distracted by . . . who the hell is that young guy, anyway? He looks like a fucking art student. He looks like he belongs here, unlike Darla, who's clearly too much of a classic beauty for this trendy place. Though of course, she adjusts, like she always does. She almost blends, but she's too good for this place, too good for that guy, and she knows it.
He waits for the Wannabe to go off after more drinks, then glides up behind Darla.
He's figured out by now that it's a corny line, but it still has some mileage, ironically speaking
What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?
Re: ...somwhere at the bar of the restaurant...tm_darlaJuly 30 2005, 20:35:56 UTC
She almost replies "maybe she's lonely", but then checks herself. This is an exchange that only belonges to her and Angel, even and especially in irony. Still, she can't help but feeling a disquieting amount of joy and satisfaction when hearing the Immortal speak. It's not sentimentality, she tells herself, just the good feeling a woman gets when a man has been sulking because she might have really done something to wrong him, but when she has managed to get him to make all the conciliatory overtures nonetheless. A strategic triumph, that's what it is. And a triumph allows one to be gracious. So she smiles, slightly leans her head back and murmurs, teasing
Comments 81
Fred is gone. She isn't coming back. Tucker is gone. He says he's coming back. But Kara knows that people always say that - and you can never believe them till they walk right back in that door.
It's Kara who is walking through the door now, though. The door to Spire and it seems Todd is already waiting.
If it wasn't for the collaborative sucker-punch of the (unrelated) exits of Fred and Tucker, Todd might be in trouble. But he isn't.
"Happy Birthday." She says to him. And hands him a gift. She bought it with some of the money she got from selling the bike on eBay.
Reply
"Why. . .thank you, Kara." He looks down at the box. Obviously a tie. A gift with the very appropriate filial flavor. And then he's glad his eyes are lowered, and he's not looking at her, because he's struck by the memory they entered in the villa that night. The memory of Lucy, his young slayer with the saucy curl to her mouth, the way she brushed crumbs off his shoulder and straightened his tie for dinner with the Watchers. "Thank you," he says, still not looking at her. "Do you want me to. . .here, or . . .?"
Reply
"Don't get excited." She tells him. "It's just a stupid tie. Do whatever you want."
And her voice sounds hard. Not angry, just hard.
But she made the card herself. And you should open the card before the present. That's ettiquette. Her mother AND her aunt taught her that.
Reply
He nods to the maitre d', and a trendily black-clad waitperson -- part of the trendiness involves ambiguity of gender -- sweeps by to show them to the table.
Todd falls in step behind him/her, walking slowly to let Kara pull ahead. "Ties are nice. How much do you think I can get for it on Ebay?"
Reply
Todd whirls on Kara. "I take you out for your birthday, I'd think it was ONE TIME I didn't have to heard about Tucker Frigging Wells!" Conveniently forgetting that he's the one who brought up the T-word in the first place.
And Lawrence is talking over him, "I don't know any Tucker Wells, except the one that my son accused of. . ."
"Maybe I should have forgotten all about the fancy restaurant. . ."
". . .all those awful things and sent the tapes that. . ."
"and taken you to Slushies R' Us or maybe I could have summoned up some plague rats. . ."
". . .were the beginning of all of this insanity. . ."
". . .of course you know that Alan got bitten, he's sick, he might even DIE. . ."
". . .and that was the last normal vacation we ever spent with Connor."
Reply
And Kara suddenly doesn't care about the Riley's at all.
"Excuse me? Don't you start in on Tucker! Don't you dare! Not after the way you have behaved! You're dead lucky I am here at all after what you've done! You assualted him! You totally upset him! He's delicate! He has an ARTISTIC TEMPERMENT!"
A little like Kara Keating it would seem.
"I LOVE Tucker Wells. Love him. So don't you dare start in on him! Don't you dare!"
But Tucker wells is gone already. Gone, gone, gone.
"Anyway. You can be happy. Tucker's gone. He went away. Gone. He doesn't love me and her went away and we can all bet he wont be sitting around thinking about me like I am about him. So, happy? He's gone! You WIN!"
And she half hears him saying Alan could die. But... Tucker Wells is GONE!
Reply
"You're Lawrence RILEY?" he demands. Kara is saying something, but it just kind of washes over him. "Is your wife here?"
Because the only thing he can think, now, is that Darla is supposed to meet him here, in the bar, after dinner. For all he knows, she's down there now. And Darla in the same room as Connor's adoptive parents can in no way, as far as the Immortal is concerned, add up to a good thing. "Look," he says to Lawrence. "I'll buy you two dinners. Somewhere else. Just. . .leave."
Lawrence straightens himself to his full height, which is greater than the Immortal's by quite a bit. "You don't have a right. . ." Colleen comes up behind him, "What is it, dear?"
Kara's still talking. Todd turns to her. "WHO'S gone? Since when were you so attached to Connor?"
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Kara sits back down and starts to cry. Very earnest and sincere tears.
"No one listens to me. You never listen to me."
Then she turns to the Rileys and says tearfully -
"I tell him important things and he ignores me."
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All men are the same. Bastards.
"And why shouldn't I be a lawyer?" Inability to pass school aside. "I'm good for more than baking cakes and cutting hair and doing YOUR dirty work!"
And it is strange but she's genuinely hurt that all this time he's been hanging out with Piper. And not on Darla's behalf either. This hurt is all her own.
"Are you sure you don't want to save the diet coke for Piper?"
Reply
He sets the drink down. "I think there really is enough Diet Coke in the world to go around."
Reply
"Tucker Wells ordered wine." She says, clearly comparing this dinner to the one Tucker took her out for.
And it is obvious which dinner she regards in the best favour.
"And he said I looked amazing."
She is pretty sure Todd neglected to say anything like that, too. She bets he always says it to Darla or Buffy or Piper.
Reply
Just maybe that's a save.
"Unlike some of your friends, I prefer not to be arrested."
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He waits for the Wannabe to go off after more drinks, then glides up behind Darla.
He's figured out by now that it's a corny line, but it still has some mileage, ironically speaking
What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?
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I didn't know there were any other girls like me.
Reply
There you have me, cara. Not a one.
He looks up to see the art school dork frowning at him.
Who is that guy? I don't like him.
Reply
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