(no subject)

[doyle]

I'm having a go at RPing over in pruegirl17's journal, all about Buffy and Tara and their college romance. It's fun and a new experience for me, RP-almost-virgin.

If anybody wanted to start a tig in the comments I'd play, cracktastic scenarios welcomed...

Comments

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

With trepidation, he allowed himself to be lead to the bar. A chaos demon, slime dripping from his antlers and pooling on the bar, gave Anya an interested leer. Giles glared him down, and was a little surprised at his own reaction. Anya was more than old enough to take care of herself, after all. Far more equipped to deal with this kind of environment than he was, in fact.

Still, he said, "Why don't you find us somewhere to sit, and I'll get the drinks? What would you like?"

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

"Something froofy and sweet," Anya said thoughtfully, telling Giles, "but one that will also make the room spin - but in a good way."

She then found a table beside the jukebox with two seats. Plotting herself down in the black metal seat, she waited for Giles to order.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"Scotch, neat," Giles said, passing the bartender a twenty dollar bill. "And something..." A look of pain crossed his face. "Something 'froofy and sweet'. Please."

Both the man's heads snorted. "Scotch for you, girly drink for the lady, coming up."

The glasses seemed clean, at least.

He joined her Anya at the table, keeping a watchful eye on their fellow drinkers, who didn't appear to be paying them a blind bit of notice. "I don't know what this is," he said, handing her the drink. A paper umbrella spun sadly in the glass. "Radium, judging by the colour."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya smiled, delighted that she was finally out and away from all the chaos at the house. She teased the paper umbrella with her fingertips and took a sip. Well, at least he didn't get her a White Russian - they might have taken his request literally.

"What did you get?"

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Just scotch." He swirled the glass. "Playing it safe, I suppose." He tucked his wallet back in his jacket, and his fingers brushed his mobile phone - Xander's phone, technically, on loan so he could stay in contact.

He fought the urge to ring and see how things were. It wasn't even dark yet.

Small talk, then.

"So," he said. "What have you been doing with yourself? Did you reopen the Magic Box?"

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

"You mean the store that got smashed to itty bitty pieces when Willow went on her murder rampage?" Anya stated sardonically, "No." She shook her head in reply.

"The place is beyond repairable, even with my funds and the ex that happens to be a carpender. Even with the insurance which happens to not cover psychotic witches or apocolyptic events."

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"We don't tend to think of things that way," Giles mused. "As irreperable. I always thought the Council would be there forever." He shook himself. "I'm sorry, Anya. Must be getting maudlin, I haven't drunk in a while." He hadn't drunk *still* - the glass was untouched. He drained it.

And while he was apologizing, there was one he'd owed her for a while. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. For the wedding."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya frowned. He had to mention her disasterous wedding, didn't he? Xander could save the world on a whim but when battling decoupage he ran scared. She removed the umbrella from the glass and took a large gulp.

"Does it matter anymore?" She asked, "You would have hated it. When the families weren't fighting with each other they were flirting. It was sickening." She paused, "It's not as if the wedding even went through, obviously."

She was still hurting inside about it. She knew that.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

She was twisting the umbrella, he noticed, the pink paper falling to shreds between her fingers. Anya-semaphore. They were approaching dangerous waters.

He took the safest route. Change the subject, steer them away from the difficult questions about why she wasn't currently calling herself Mrs. Harris.

With a wan smile he didn't feel, he said, "Do you come here often?"

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya discarded the ruined pink paper umbrella, sipping at her drink. She flashed him a smile. Thank god she could count on Giles not to press anymore on the wedding that could have been.

"Never," she replied.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"My friends and I used to visit a few demon bars when we were young. Thought we were being brave, I suppose. It's a wonder none of us were..." He trailed off, remembering Randall. "Still. It's good to get out of the house."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

"Well, that was the point." Anya nodded in agreement, stirring the drink with her straw briefly. "I mean, do you have any threads of patience left that the potentials haven't sucked up?"

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"I had one," he said thoughtfully. "I was keeping it for a special occasion. Then this morning, Molly wrote a telephone message on the frontispiece of the Mishnahoth Demon Field Guide. I could actually feel myself snap."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

"Figures," Anya sighed. "They have no respect. Absolutely none. Especially for things that might be worth anything."

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

For some reason, he thought again about the wedding.

All he said was, "Another drink?"

**

The glasses were breeding. It was the only possible explanation. Giles frowned at the ten - no, twelve of them on the table.

"We should really be heading back," he said, for the third time in two minutes.

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya had been giggling, almost obnoxiously, for the past ten minutes at anything and everything Giles had been saying. Finally, she actually paid some attention to what he had said.

"Going?" She stopped, "But we haven't even played pool yet." There was a plan to getting him drunk. Didn't he know?

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"You're drunk," Giles said severely. He was perfectly fine, of course. He'd only had four - five? - five drinks. Maybe six. He was nowhere near his tolerance.

He squinted at the floor. It seemed awfully far away.

"Well, then," he said, getting rather unsteadily to his feet and extending a hand across the table to her. "Let's play pool."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

She looked satisfied at this. Taking his hand, she managed to get up on her own feet which were decorated in stylish high heels. Not exactly a drinking shoe. They made their way over to the pool table.

She seperated from him to hand him a pool stick. He was drunk too. She was sober enough to know that.

"We're both drunk," Anya replied. "Solids or stripes?"

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

"My dear woman, I am completely..." He fumbled the cue. By the time he'd retrieved it from under the table, he'd forgotten what he completely was. "Right. Stripes."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya wore a content smirk on her face, sitting against the pool table, "Are you sure that you're competent enough to play pool?"

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

There was throwing down the gauntlet and then there was brazen cheek. Somebody was asking for her arse to be kicked.

Now, if only he could remember how to play.

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

Anya frowned through the first few shots. She was doing badly. (On purpose, of course.) She eyed a grin spreading on Giles' face, "Okay, so, you think you're good at this? How about upping the stakes? Loser does winner's chores for a week."

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Anya, Anya, Anya. That competitive streak would get her in trouble some day. He should really refuse, but it was a lesson she needed to learn. "Agreed."

[thiswholeflight.livejournal.com]

"Good." She replied, already triumphant. Anya couldn't help the grin that appeared on her face.

***

Anya was close to sinking the last ball into the corner pocket. Okay, so she was tricky. She didn't want to clean the bathroom any longer and soon enough Giles would have that job. She cleaned his arse within a few shots.

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

He watched, dumbfounded, as the last ball dropped. The universe had somehow realigned itself, and had come out in a way that made no sense: he'd been *winning*. She hadn't been any good.

Gloom settled over him as he realized he'd been hustled. "I think I need another drink."