this is the correlation of salvation and love

[justsookie]

While Sookie wasn't precisely the sort who believed that perfect attendance was necessary in order to do well in school, careful coaching from gran had taught her to respect those who took the time out of their day to impart their knowledge, especially when teachers seemed to get a lot less of a dollar value for the amount of effort that they put in. Combined with the fact that her teacher was one Buffy Summers, and Sookie had managed to make every effort to attend the biweekly martial arts courses, scheduling her shifts at the Winchester around them, always begging off a day early if she was somehow ill. But that week, she had missed the Wednesday lesson. No prior notice. No rushed explanation on the day after, no knocking on Buffy's door, none of that.

Because, quite simply, she'd forgotten. Spitting out pseudo-curses, Sookie quickly rustled through the clothes box, finding a pale yellow and pink striped jumpsuit, relatively innocuous until she realized the 'KISS ME' splayed over her behind in white block letters. Groaning, Sookie rushed off to the classroom regardless, tying her hair up in a high ponytail as she went, scampering up flights of stairs and hoping that she was early enough to catch Buffy before all the other students filed in. Once she arrived at the door, however, she wondered how exactly she was going to explain.

My boyfriend and I were unexpectedly busy?

Getting ass takes precedence over kicking ass?

Mitchell and I were having dance lessons?

Slapping both of her cheeks, Sookie decided just to wing it, pushing through the door and predictably finding Buffy there, laying out the materials that they would be working with that day. "Hey," Sookie greeted, expression slightly hesitant. "Need a hand?"

Comments

[chose.livejournal.com]

It must state somewhere in the Watcher's Handbook that preparation is key. Both Merrick and Giles made it a point to stress it — always be prepared, Buffy, never be caught off guard (The difference being that Giles eventually realized the futility of his efforts, while Merrick never had the chance.) It isn't that she prefers to be unprepared, but a life of looking over her shoulder has never appealed to Buffy, and she would almost prefer surprise to that perpetual state of paranoia. Still, just because it's almost impossible to always be prepared and lead a normal life doesn't mean that's the end. In her experience, quick thinking and a little creativity go a long way in the face of sudden danger, which brings her to today's lesson.

Spread out across the class space are household objects of varying shapes and sizes, from coat hanger to broomstick to plastic fork. Every one of these objects can become a weapon if needed, which is what she intends to teach her class today. Maybe it's a bit unorthodox, but that's always been Buffy's slayer motto, and it's worked well for her so far. She's testing the swing velocity of a hardcover book when Sookie first speaks, and what should be a small, barely noticeable jump sends the volume hurling across the room. With a startled laugh, Buffy turns toward the door, mouth still agape (albeit with more amusement than embarrassment). "It looks like I might," she admits, waving hello. "What's up? Didn't anyone tell you that showing up early to class is a social faux pas? Not that I'm complaining, but I happen to be a huge supporter of sleeping in as long as possible."

[justsookie]

Blinking as the volume flies across the room, the first thought that crosses Sookie's mind is how impressive it really is that Buffy can still manage to hurl something heavy so far when all of her Slayer-borne strength and agility have been removed by the island. Maybe she's been practicing, Sookie thinks, with Giles or Angel being the most likely options for overseers. It really goes to show that there are some elements of one's life that can't be too hard to retain on a place like Tabula Rasa. The thing that all of them seem to have in abundance is time, after all.

Eying the array of items on the floor, Sookie carefully steps around all of them and toward the fallen book, carefully picking it up and cradling it in her arms, checking for any damage. "Sorry, I didn't mean to catch you right in the middle of work and all," she apologizes with a slight wince. "It's just that I wanted to come and tell you that I'm so sorry for missin' our last lesson, I just... got caught up in some stuff and it was kind of last minute, but I didn't know if you checked your mail so I couldn't just leave a letter there. I wanted to make sure you didn't think I was one of those people who'd flake off a lot and waste your time."

[chose.livejournal.com]

"What? No, no way," Buffy's objection comes at once, her expression more than incredulous, though Sookie can't be blamed for that. It's the teacher thing again. She may be used to the whole responsibility thing, but it doesn't make her any better at it. She still defaults to the student mentality at times, wondering if she can't just skip a class here or there. Then she recalls that she's the one in charge and that there was no homework, and no chance of detention for being late or falling asleep during a boring history lesson. Each time, the realization is equal parts awesome, relieving, and a little bit mortifying.

"If you only knew how many times I've been in your place before," she laughs, shaking her head slightly. "I was the queen of skipping class in my day, had a crown and a sash and all, a — and okay, that probably doesn't make me look too good but... What I'm trying to say is that it's fine. Really. I'm just glad to have you back."

[justsookie]

There's such a temptation to just blurt out the fact that she knows, that Buffy's skipped a whole bunch of things back in the day for the sake of Angel, then Riley, and also just for all of the responsibility that falls on her shoulders as a result of being the Slayer. Sookie's wanted to blurt it out for some time already, wants Buffy to get all the credit that she deserves now that she's been let into an early retirement. But she bites it all back, afraid that it'll garner the same type of response that Angel had, not wanting to upend Buffy's mood pointlessly by pointing out something which might have a perfectly logical explanation. Like alternate universe.

Something like that.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm really enjoyin' this class," Sookie replies as she shifts her weight onto one foot, the knee of her other leg bending as she juts her hip to the side. "I just... well, some personal stuff came up? And it demanded a lot of my attention, but I'm gonna make sure I manage my time better from now on."

[chose.livejournal.com]

"Really," insists Buffy, "it's okay. I mean, what's the point of being stuck on Suckula Rasa if we don't get to enjoy the fact that real world rules don't apply?" Barring a small snort of laughter at her own terrible joke and the fact that "Suckula" sounds almost like "Dracula," she means it all. It might be wrong to play favorites, but Buffy never set out to do the whole teaching thing right, just well, and Sookie is easily one of her favorite students.

"So, hey, we have some time before class officially starts. How about a crash course on what you missed?"

[justsookie]

"Kinda funny," Sookie remarks, raising an eyebrow with an expression that wavers between a wince and wry amusement, even though she laughs at Buffy's pun as well. "With the way things work around here, you'd think that it's the exact opposite. Everyone here's human, now. Not psychic, or telepathic, not able to change into a wolf or havin' to drink blood. It's like this island decided that it doesn't like it when anyone's special."

There's a part of her that's grateful for that simplicity, unspeakably glad for the fact that she can now enjoy the things that so many others took for granted. On the other hand, though, she wishes she could see people as they are meant to be. In their element, as they were before Tabula Rasa grounded them. It's a thought that she brushes off, though, not wanting to be so sobered right when Buffy's offering some training that she has absolutely no obligation to.

"But a crash course sounds great," she adds, perky. "As long as it doesn't actually involve me crashin' anywhere."

[chose.livejournal.com]

"That's sort of my favorite thing about it," Buffy admits, both voice and head lowered as she does so, as if it's something to be embarrassed about. She'd like to think that she's been good about accepting her destiny, but then, she can distinctly remember searching for an out on more than one occasion. "Did you have that stuff in your world, too? Blood-sucking telepathic wolf people, I mean? Though hopefully not all in one; that isn't even fair."

[justsookie]

"Me too, most of the time," Sookie replies, trying her best to keep everything positive, not to have Buffy doubt herself in the way Sookie suspects that she already is. She doesn't really know of people with destinies, isn't really sure if she believes that it exists in her world, but in fiction, it's always those with destinies who feel guilty about taking a detour. Who feel like they're letting someone down by just taking a coffee break. "My world... yeah, it had that sort of stuff, and it just got pretty overwhelming at times, though I thought it was cool at first. My boyfriend was the blood-sucker, my boss wasn't a wolf but he was a shifter who could turn into one, and I was the telepath. So not all in one, but all within a ten mile radius."

[chose.livejournal.com]

"Seriously?" It may not be the most dignified of reactions, but Buffy can't help it any more than she can keep her jaw from dropping (just slightly) and her eyes from widening. Even in Sunnydale, it wasn't every day that she met someone else — someone not already a friend or ally, that is — who knew of the supernatural world. "Mine too. My boyfriend, I mean, he's a — was a vampire. And I was a telepath for all of two or three days before it nearly drove me crazy, which brings me to wow and all the way back to seriously? How did you deal with it? Can I ask that? Is that an okay thing to ask?"

[justsookie]

The episode Buffy refers to suddenly pops back up in Sookie's mind, as much as she hates to have that happen. Whatever amount of joy Sookie derives from having her childhood hero on the island isn't going to fade, but there's always that sense that she's peeking somewhere she shouldn't be, that she knows things she has no right knowing at all. It's pretty similar, in a lot of ways, to how Sookie's felt about most people in Bon Temps at all, their business just filtering through Sookie's skull altogether until sometimes she gets a full cinematic experience depicting Jane Boathouse and her latest attempt at getting herself properly hitched. The least that she can do, though, is tell Buffy all of the details from her own life, try her best to even a score.

"Yeah, I'm... datin' another guy, here, and turns out he was also a vampire before arrivin' on the island, go figure. Though I guess I sorta have an excuse, or had one back home, 'cause vampires were some of the only people whose thoughts I couldn't read. Somethin' about them being dead and not actually having brain waves?" Sookie shrugs with a hopeless smile. "But... bein' a telepath was definitely not fun, though it's totally okay to ask. I guess I just got used to it, since I've been telepathic as long as I can remember. I'd sort of learned how to turn it off when I really needed to, too, it just doesn't work when I'm stressed. In other words, when I need peace and quiet the most."

[chose.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that brain wave thing makes a lot more sense than what Angel -- my, uh, boyfriend? -- what he told me. Something about thoughts being like reflections in the mirror? I don't know, sometimes he speaks in riddles." Though mostly to herself, Buffy can't help but smile at the idea of Sookie dating someone on the island only to discover he, too, was a vampire. It's the exact kind of thing she would expect to happen to herself, if she'd somehow settled before Angel came around.

"Hey," starts Buffy, the word slightly muffled as she reaches toward the sky, then behind her back, despite having stretched already. She learned the hard way (via more than a few painful sprains) that one is never as relaxed as she thinks. "Where you come from, was it by any chance close to or sitting directly on the mouth of Hell? I only ask 'cause you said you had all these things within a ten mile radius, and so did Sunnydale, but that was because we had our own personal Hellmouth."

[justsookie]

Following suit, Sookie starts to stretch as well, trying to relax her muscles and joints as she does some warm-up exercises. It suddenly strikes her as interesting, hearing the mention of Angel, that the vampire has kept everything secret from Buffy after all, the fact that a great deal of people have probably seen the lives of the two on television. She can't entirely blame him for it, being able to imagine how Buffy might take to the knowledge, and yet it continues to nag at Sookie inside, knowing that she would have preferred to know if her life was being used as entertainment for others.

"I... don't think Bon Temps was really near much of anythin'," Sookie replies, brow furrowing and wondering indeed why so much seems to happen around where she lives. "And it's not like vampires and werewolves are actually from hell. But there's an a-hole of a vampire sheriff near where I live, so I guess a lot of crap happened because of that. Vampire politics is kinda complicated and all."