(no subject)

[sunnydalealum]

It's early January, and warm for this time of year in these latitudes.

Wells is inside the building, in one of the interminable Council meetings.

Spoon is outdoors, which is probably better for everyone.

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[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Aw, shite. This is awkward. "Right, then. I won't." Spoon is striving for a subtle way to start talking about his impending marriage and six year old daughter.

Spoon is running into the wall of has no subtlety.

[sunnydalealum]

Jordie's hair falls forward to cover most of her face from profile view.

"Thanks."

She's leaning against him, just a little.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"You're welcome, lass." Lass. Because she's, what, half his age? (He's going to ignore the fact that Ace is closer to eighty than to thirty, 'k?)

[sunnydalealum]

"I didn't mean to, to cry in front of you."

One of her hands cautiously ventures onto his arm.

"But I'm not sorry I did."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Glad for that." Spoon allows, "Trying to be a brother to you girls." He's trying! He is! Oh, man, he sucks doesn't he? "Crazy older brother. Hope that you'll be comfortable with me, I do. About...things. Like grief, and boy problems, and shite like that."

[sunnydalealum]

His arm's gone tense under her fingers. And he's said the word brother twice.

She slowly pulls her hand away, feeling the dull burn in her face again.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

He's a thirty-six year old somewhat psychotic werewolf. Seriously. Even if there wasn't the whole, you know, madly-in-love-with-someone thing he'd be very, very wrong for a Slayer.

Especially one of Jordie's age.

"Have I shown you pictures of my daughter?" We're just going to pretend that NOTHING IS WRONG. There is no scent, no flush, no. Nothing. Nope.

[sunnydalealum]

Her head comes up sharply.



"I didn't know you h-had a daughter."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Six years old." Spoon says, "Adopted her a couple months ago." he pulls his wallet out and flips to pictures of Cora, "Cora Wells Witherspoon."

[sunnydalealum]

Adopted.

That's different, then, isn't it?

Jordie leans in a little closer to look. "She's pretty," she says softly.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." Spoon says, incredibly proud, "She's fuckin' adorable, isn't she? Learning English a treat, when I found her she spoke nothing but canine. Raised by wolves. Real wolves, not things like me."

[sunnydalealum]

"...raised by wolves? Seriously?"

Jordie gives him an uncertain look. "I always thought that was just a figure of speech."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Seriously." Spoon says, contently, "When I found her she was all over dirt, hair down to her knees all tangled up, and spoke not a word of English. Got her milking goats, and she's able to carry on full conversations now. Had to cut some of her hair off, though."

[sunnydalealum]

"That's amazing." It's softly said, with a touch of what might be awe.

She looks up from the picture. "You could never be a monster," she says, with quiet and absolute certainty. "You care so much. About everyone."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"I work hard on it." Spoon says, "On caring, that is. It's...not easy. I can be a monster. I just...work on not being one. She's got a lot in common with me hunt-sister Christine."

[sunnydalealum]

"Who's she?"

Jordie has her chin pillowed on her upraised hand, now, watching him steadily.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

There's some more flipping, until he gets to Christine's picture.

That'd be the Blooded Hunter Cre'hktdi, really. Actually it's the expression that suits Cora. She and the yautja have the same "What in the world are you doing, crazy man?" expression.

"She's the person who got me into the hunting culture that I've used to stay sane."

[sunnydalealum]

Jordie starts back at the picture.

"So, uh." Pause. "Is she a demon?"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Nah. Alien. Race is called yautja. As are members of the culture, so I'm also yautja. She likes strawberries, and hanging from things by her feet." Spoon takes that in stride. He knows his friends are weird. He loves them anyway. "Christine isn't really her name, it's just that Cre'hktdi requires my level of shapeshifting or mandibles to say."

[sunnydalealum]

She tries to pronounce the name a couple of times, and then gives up ruefully and goes back to looking at the picture.

"She looks tough." It's said approvingly.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"She is." Spoon says proudly, "We head off on hunting trips whenever we can. Right now she's taking care of her orphaned nephew. His mum mis-judged sommat and got herself killed. Christine was closest, so she's watching the boy until her mum gets there."

[sunnydalealum]

"Cool."

A pause.

"I haven't got any family pictures to show you," she says, half-apologetically.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Not everyone is as much of a shutter bug as I am." Spoon says with a shake of his head, "I've got pictures of bloody near everyone from home, trophies, everything."

He loves his family.

[sunnydalealum]

She's quiet.

"You can carry them with you, that way," she says after a moment. "The people you care about."

The ones who stop you from becoming a monster.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"That's a part of it." he agrees, "The other part is...harder to talk about." but he will, because she's Jordie. "When I was...captive. And being tortured. It took a lot from me. Including the faces of people. My birth parents, my fiancee, my friends, even myself. They...didn't care so much about what I could see. A man with night vision goggles can see in the dark like I can. But smell? That's what they trained me for. To smell things...people...out.

"Humans don't think of each other by smell. They think of the faces. So it's a way I can connect with humanity."