TM Topic: Perception.

[the_dead_lady]

People perceive me for exactly what I am.

A vicious bitch, an evil bitch, a back stabbing traitorous bitch. We've been through the names before and I think we can all agree they weren't that imaginative.

But we get the point. I'm evil - although no matter how many times my many fans are at pains to remind me of this, they still keep knocking on

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[abetterlie]

Since Cordelia told him about her encounter with Lilah, Connor has been fighting the impulse to just barge into Wolfram and Hart's office in Boston. He's not eighteen anymore, so common sense prevails. Barely. He's been pondering ways to make Lilah talk, however, and came up with two ideas. One is the result of living with Harry Osborn for months, because it is financial in nature, and also has to do with the Connor Riley part of his nature. The other has to do with knowing that while Lilah is already dead and hence can't be killed, there are a couple of things, none of them pleasant, you can do to an immortal being, as Connor is in a position to know was well. Call it the Stephen Holtz idea

[the_dead_lady]

"I was wondering when you were going to come out of the shadows and play with the big boys and girls."

She says, not missing a beat. And, yet, inspite of the bravado, before she could stop herself she's stepped back, not held her ground, moved further away. Her hands slide into her pockets, removing them from the temptation of nervous gestures.

"Just look at you, Connor Riley or Stephen Holtz or is it Mr. Osborn now? I can't keep up with kids today, all their identity issues, it's just a new thing every week with your generation. But, just look at you. All grown up. Good to see you following in Daddy's fine tradition. You've taken up stalker duty, right where the old man left off."

Which old man, she doesn't say. Take your pick, Connor, you have so many to choose from.

[abetterlie]

The last time he saw her up close, she was a corpse, bleeding from her neck, and he told Wesley they'd have to decapitate her. Hearing her talk is different from exchanging written comments on the internet. Thankfully, what she says ensures that the odd moment passes and he's back remembering she and what she represents is dangerous. When she steps back, he follows up automatically.

"Why did she kill you?" Connor asks suddenly, instead of replying to her father comparisons, both because he wants to surprise her, further gain ground and demonstrate unpredictability, and because he is genuinenly curious. Besides, he needs to find out whether all of this business with Cordelia is perhaps less Wolfram and Hart and more Lilah's kind of revenge. "I always thought it was Angelus, but you said it wasn't in one of your posts. So why? You'd have loved her just like everyone else if you had still been alive."

[the_dead_lady]

"Why did she kill me?"

Lilah doesn't know she'll ever get used to the idea of talking about her death, of being dead. It isn't open for discussion.

The only defence is to be glib, brush right over it, move right along.

"She was on a homicidal rampage and I was in closest proximity. Life's a bitch, so is death now we get down to it. Put that on a t-shirt and why don't get to what you're doing here - because I know you're into older women, Connor, but you'll have to exercise those Mommy issues elsewhere... I might have all the time in the world, but who knows how much time that really is."