The Tale of Two Mall-goers
Anyanka: Anya had been going stir crazy in her apartment and had decided to go for a walk. Why hadn't Xander come to see her...or at least called or something? Maybe he hadn't really meant it when he said he didn't want to come up for sex the other night, maybe she was supposed to do something or say something when he had declined. "Why is he playing mind games!?" she said aloud, earning a weird look from an old man who promptly crossed the street to get away from the rabid-looking Anyanka. "I know. I'll just march right over to his place and demand to know just why he hasn't bothered to speak to me. No, wait, that won't work...I don't know where he lives and D'Hoffryn's suspended me! GAH!" A woman pulled her child closer to her as they passed Anya. By the end of her walk, she found herself standing in the mall parking lot. Okay, when in doubt and feeling lousy, shopping was a suitable substitute.
Buffy: Buffy Summers was taking a coffee break, a VERY long coffee break, she had been avoiding Giles and home in general since the whole Kennedy thing and was happily immersing herself in work, what better way to forget your problems than to work yourself to death? For the moment, she was juggling folders, coffee, keys and a bag as she hurried through the mall parking lot and just when she thought her day couldn't get worse, she bumped straight into someone and things went everywhere.
Anyanka: Okay, that felt like nearly getting run over by a steamroller. And as though she didn't feel lousy enough, coffee on her favorite yellow dress?! "Hey! Why don't you watch where you're..." As Anya caught her footing, she looked up. "...Buffy?" she sounded mildly confused, and looked even moreso when she realized what she had said.
Buffy: Buffy had ducked down to gather her things after Anya had looked at her but blinked from her position on the ground, all hands and knees," ..Anya...hey.." She said slowly, was that recognition? It couldn't be, could it?
Anyanka: Anya gaped for a minute, as though trying to reorient herself. In a gesture quite unlike herself, she actually stooped down and helped Buffy collect her things. "...you're...Xander's friend, right? Is he alright?" she asked, handing Buffy a folder.
Buffy: " Uh yeah, he's fine." Buffy replied a little awkwardly, Anya sure as hell like to confuse her, one minute she didn't know who she was and was casting wishes on Xander and now cared about him?
Anyanka: "Oh. I thought that he might be mad at me or something...because I offered him sex the other night and he left anyway, and...was I supposed to say something to stop him?" Then a sudden thought struck her. "Is he a virgin? Because he told me that we've had sex, but since I can't remember and he knows I can't remember maybe he was just saying that...and...I'm suddenly remembering why I became a vengeance demon in the first place." And another thought. "Wait...you aren't like...his girlfriend or anything, right?" Wait. No. A memory just seemed to allude her. "He's too normal for you, isn't he?"
Buffy: " Okay EW!" Buffy exclaimed with an appalled expression on her face before one finger raised up and Buffy hissed," One I do NOT even want to imagine you and Xander having sex.." One more finger joined the first," Second, gross to the girlfriend, he's like my brother and.." Third finger raised and green eyes looked at Anya," What are you on? The last time I saw you, you were quite merely yanking Xander's spine from his body, of course not literally because if you had done that, I'd have killed you."
Buffy: merrily*
Anyanka: "I had a second wish to pay out to an old vampire named Angelu...wait, you know him...don't you? Anyway...he works for Wolfram and Hart, and he had these...books. And pictures and newspaper clippings and photographs and..." She looked a bit disappointed. "...all these things about an Anya Jenkins who was from the only place that I can recall of the past five years. And I can't even go back there to look for clues because it's just...."
Buffy: Oh the randomness of Anya, if it wasn't about herself, it didn't matter, Buffy had never been all that fond of Anya but Xander had loved her and that was enough for Buffy." How about this? You come round to my house at some point, not now, I have work and take a look through the things we have of that Anya Jenkins, if you really want to find yourself." If it would make Xander happy, then well Buffy was ...all for that, even if she felt jealous as her life was....lonely.
Anyanka: "You work? Aren't you too busy with that Slayer stuff?" Uh...where'd THAT come from? Change of subject, because she was now feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Okay...question though..." Anya hesitated a moment, did she really want to know? "...If I'm really this Anya girl then how come I went mortal, and how come I'm not now, and how come I'm still alive."
Buffy: There was NOT enough caffeine in her system for this talk," I work yes, Slaying doesn't pay the bills, though I wish it did sometimes, because then I'd be rich and I could have hunky man servants..." Buffy trailed off, blinking and blushing slightly," You were a part of our team that fought evil back in a place called Sunnydale. Only thing was, Sunnydale's Hellmouth opened up so we all had to fight to protect the world and you died in the effort, I guess somehow, someway, someone brought you back." She held up her hand to stop Anya from interjecting," And before you go on to talk about that sort of thing not happening, I know for a fact it does, I've been dead and I'm alive and kicking."
Anyanka: Anya crossed her arms in front of her. "I'm a demon. I've seen the dead rise up out of their graves and the living look like they were dead. WHY would I say that that sort of thing doesn't happen? I mean, in a parallel universe, you should be dead by now." Again the look of surprise, and she could faintly recall the contents of a wish that she had granted a long while ago.
Buffy: " Urgh.." Buffy muttered, turning on her heel to wander off towards her car, really didn't have enough coffee for this, and her chest was hurting. Wasn't this swell? The wonderful life of Buffy Summers," You're just the sort of person who argues everything just for the sake of arguing..." Buffy commented before pausing, turning her head and muttered." Fluffy bunnies."