chicago ♔ subscribe me not to darkness

[principal]

♬ To Darkness - Mumford and Sons

WHO || Buffy Summers, Sam Winchester, Robin Wood [closed]
WHAT || Buffy accompanies Sam to Chicago, seeking answers about Dean's past... and the fate of the version of Sam from this world
WHERE || Chicago, USA
WHEN || Late-October [back-dated]
HOW || Actionspam

Sam Winchester has not a very easy time of this world.  

Most of the reasons for which, it seems, can be traced back to the fact that there was another Sam Winchester native to this dimension.  One who somehow managed to alienate his brother Dean to the point where he almost murdered Sam on sight, and it's been a very slow, uphill battle ever since to get Dean to say more than two non-hostile words in a row to him.

An uphill battle that's going too slowly for Sam's taste.  

Upon googling his own name and doing some research in hunter circles, he learned more and more disturbing facts - including the fact that he and Dean from this world were held responsible for the deaths of Jo & Ellen Harvelle, and Bobby Singer.  Distraught by what he'd learned, he shared the facts with his new friend, Buffy, who agreed to travel with him to Chicago tracing down one of the only leads they have on finding out more about what happened, since Dean doesn't seem inclined to share.

And so off they go to Chicago - home to some of Buffy's own demons - to check out the Hunter's bar run by Robin Wood.

Comments

[principal]

[ he listens to all that, eyebrows climbing up his face, and doesn't answer for a moment, mouth opening and then clamping shut before finally he just nods once. ] ... Ok.

[slay]

You—

[ Pause. ]

... Okay? Just like that? I just told you Sam Winchester is some double from a parallel universe and all you have to say is "okay"?

[principal]

[ he chuckles a bit ] I think you're underestimating the amount of weird Sunnydale had to throw at us.

[ he gets more serious a bit, looking at her dead-on ] But beyond that... Buffy, you're the Slayer for a reason.

Whatever else has changed, I can't imagine you'd go around making up stories about something like this.

[slay]

[ All the quirkiness and snappy comebacks, all the sharp edges and intensity, they drain away and leave Buffy stunned and speechless in the face of Robin's certainty. He makes it sound so simple, unquestionable. Like he can't imagine how else he could react to something that she's saying but to believe her—to believe in her. ]

Nobody's ever just trusted me like that before.

[ At every turn, at least one of her friends is questioning her. Questioning her motives, her control, her power, her decision-making. And she doesn't blame them—most of the time, she questions herself well before they step in, but she has to make a call. She has to be firm, or at least, something in the back of her mind tells her she does. (The Slayer tells her she does.) Even Des, bastion of support for Buffy Summers, tries to pin her.

She thinks of Spike, snapping about trying to pull Thomas out of the prison. How she'd almost gotten people killed. And then, how Thomas might still be alive if they'd raided that prison when they had the chance. ]

[principal]

[ that reaction clearly startles him, unsettles him, even, and he takes a cautious step forward, studying her, trying not to push too hard, but...

looking concerned. ] Buffy. [ his voice is gentler, quieter. ] What exactly have you been doing all this time?

[slay]

Fighting.

[ What else does she do? Every time they think it might be over, there's another fight waiting. Her shoulders slump heavily, a sudden weight on them because she doesn't deserve that faith. She finally hears it, finally gets what she didn't even know she'd been missing, and she doesn't deserve it.

She's not the Slayer; she's a murderer. She'd torn through bodies in Sarandis' castle like they were nothing. Straw. Diced them into tiny pieces and soldiered on drenched in their blood and she can feel it thick on her skin even now. ]

How did you know me? Not about the Slayer, not because of your mother. Me. What was I to you?

[ What was she that he could have that kind of unwavering belief? ]

[principal]

[ her emotional reaction throws him enough that his answer isn't well thought out, really. just the very thing that pops into his head. ]

... Your sister's high school principal, at first.

[slay]

[ Confusion cuts through her distress. Her brow furrows, but she dismisses the obvious question: how does a principal turn into a bartender? ]

And then?

[principal]

Well, then your boss. I think the date came after that.

[slay]

[ crickets. ]

I ... dated my boss?

[principal]

[ he chuckles in spite of himself ] It's... not what you're thinking.

Probably.

I think you thought I was evil.

[slay]

… I dated my evil boss?

[ !!! ]

I'm sorry, is this supposed to be making it better? Because—

Wait. Was it because you were evil? [ She holds up her hands. ] Rephrase. To stop the evil, or … [ Her speech tapers off because like how do you even verbalize 'actually that makes sense I have a type.' ]

[principal]

Pretty sure, you were hoping for not-evil when you agreed.

When you found out about me, who I was, what I knew, we... worked together. [ beat ] In a non-school capacity. Allies.

That's... probably what you were asking, the first time.

[slay]

Allies.

Allies, but not … ?

[ Awkward. ]

I mean, because you said "the" date. So is that like a "the one and only date" the or a … "the one that started it all" the because I should mentioned that I'm — Well, I'm not exactly seeing. I— It's complicated. I'm complicated. Bad, bad complicated, and— [ She breathes finally, her speech tapering off like a deflating balloon. ] On second though, it's probably a "wow, Buffy, just keep running your mouth because I don't think your foot's quite in there yet" the.

[principal]

[ instead of answering right away he elects

to be a smart-ass ] Seeing someone, huh?

Shame I left my dueling pistols in the other dimension.

[slay]

[ Yeah her sense motive was 19 without mods so she's onto his sass unfortunately. ]

Believe me, it's probably better that way.

[ Ahahahahahah dueling pistols. Of all things. ]

And I'm not.

[principal]

Maybe for the best. [ ur taste in men, gurl. jk. ] But no, we kept things... professional, don't worry.

I'm just glad to see you.

[slay]

Well, I'm glad that you're glad to see me.

[ A smile quirks her lips, but she follows up after a beat with clarification: ] Professionally.

[principal]

Speaking of which, maybe I can help you with this Winchester problem. Or at least try to answer a few questions. Like I said, I keep an ear to the ground. And Dean used to come by here semi-regularly for awhile.

[slay]

Yeah right. I saw him at the party. Semi-regularly seems like an understatement.

[ She scoffs, but then quickly composes herself like wow let's not shit talk Robin's friend. ]

I mean, uh. G-Good! Because he's really pissed, and unfortunately, not quite as Buffy-friendly as you in the faith department. [ Not to be confused with Faith department. ] We're just trying to figure out … why. I mean, the Sam in this world ... was he really that bad?

[principal]

... I don't know all the details, but from what I hear--

Things got pretty heavy, at least. [ he paces a few steps, considering how to put this ] Lots of rumors, but going off from what I heard and saw myself, I'd say they got real bad.

Some of this... might sound a little crazy. So I'm gonna ask you to remember how well I took you dumping that whole doppelganger/parallel universe thing on me a few moments back.

[slay]

[ Buffy seems to buckle in, folding her arms under her chest and tilting her head up, a universal nod that she's listening. ]

No judgment. Or … very little judgment, reserved until the very end. Believe me, I've … seen some weird.

[principal]

Well, there's weird, and then there's ... this.

The Winchesters started out as a hunter family, came out of Kansas, traveled with their father, John. Way I hear it, a demon killed his wife, Mary, when the boys were pretty young, and it... stuck with him. [ his jaw hardens a bit, b/c ahahaha overidentifying much ] He had what they call the Sight... and it turns out the boys did too.

[slay]

The Sight.

[ Quick intuition fills that in for her, since she's seen it so much. ]

They could see demons?

[principal]

Bingo. I'm going to jump to assume you do too - considering, Slayer and all. They're not the same as they were back home, exactly. But they go down the same as anything.