Third Thoughts

Disclaimer: Rowling is the queen of the HPverse. Joss is the master of the Buffyverse. I am title-less.

And finally, the plot struggles to develop thickness...


*

As if rehearsing for a horror movie spotlight moment, the fading putrid-green door swung inward...one..creak...inch..at a...

"KRIBBS!"

The door flew open, cracking harshly against the wall as a stooping man emerged from the far end of the hall. "Mister Ing? You called?"

Mister Ather Inglisman strolled indoors, straightening his jacket. "Yes, I did, Kribbs. Do you think it will be on the news tomorrow, like that funny owl from right NEXT TO THIS HOUSE?!"

Kribbs sighed, shuffling back to the lighted room. "People like their owls, Ing. It wasn't one of our own, though." Inside the room, Kribbs finally stood upright, and smoothed down the sides of the bulky vest he was wearing.

"I thought you said they were coming today," Kribbs accused, turning.

Ing settled himself onto a lumpy stained couch, innocently draped with a dark velvet cover that tripled its at-a-glance worth. "Couldn't make it. Toady bastards. Hardly surprising, but I'd thought they'd make an exception for--you know. Make me some tea, will you?"

Kribbs sat down on another covered seat across from him. "I'm not your fugging butler, Ing. Tea's running out anyway, and if by the time your WCS people show we can't even bring 'em some tea, they'll know in half a second we haven't got the money."

"And that's not changing until they do their thing," Ing said. "They still owe me. They owe Gwen. If her wand hadn't been confiscated like that--"

Kribbs stood abruptly. "Don't you dare start crying again, Ingy. Come on. I'll change and we can head out to that little pub you found. No reason to hang around this hole."


Even as Kribbs tried nudging Ing to his feet, a buzzer rang at their door.

* * *

As Remus headed toward the main doors, new keys to his latest purchase of a minimally battered car ready in his hand, the doors to the main office swung open, and Buffy hurried out of them.

On impulse, Remus hurried to catch up. "Buffy! Wait a moment!"

Buffy, surprised, spun around. "Oh! Uh--Remus, hey."

They smiled awkwardly and fell in step.

"Held up with paperwork?" Remus asked, stepping ahead to hold open a door.

"Sort of. Mysteries of the teenage mind. I get why Giles was always giving us the funny eyeballs."

"Sorry?"

Buffy smirked. "Sorry, keep forgetting you're one of them. Old British book people."

"I beg y--" Remus looked at Buffy, incredulously. He barked out a laugh when she began to snigger.

Buffy, grinning, shrugged. "I guess I should take that back though. You're like, one-tenth Giles' age, and less with the..."

She pantomimed rubbing glasses.

Remus squinted. "Ironing?"

"Being blind," Buffy replied sweetly, beating him to the main door and holding it open.

Remus raised a brow, but said nothing. Buffy was already scanning the outside as she continued speaking. "So, what about you? No offense, but I can't imagine working in the library calls for lots of overtime."

Then Buffy frowned, a thought striking her. "That is, unless you've got some secret night job that requires high school literature."

Remus laughed. "No, nothing like that. I just got caught up in a book, what with the lack of disturbances through the day."

"Ooh. What book?" Buffy distractedly peered at a clump of rustling bushes, discreetly slipping a hand toward her concealed stake.

Remus looked over, also alert. "Is something there?"

Buffy, startled, looked at him uneasily. "Oh, uh, I don't...uh, why? Did you hear something?"

"No, I just thought--"

"Look out!"

Buffy shoved Remus to the ground even as the bush exploded outward, leaves scattering as some chittering creature fled. Buffy and Remus looked up in time to see a large owl swoop down in pursuit.

Buffy jumped up and offered a hand, but Remus was already brushing himself off.

"Sorry."

Remus frowned. "For what?"

Buffy frowned back. "I just went all flying-tackle on you. And now you're all dusty and unattacked, because I was paranoid and subjected you to a death snuggle."

"A..whuh?" Remus was starting to develop a permanent crinkle above his nose, looking more perplexed with each new phrase Buffy cheerfully invented.

Buffy sighed. "Never mind. I'm just kind of jumpy. This town has...gangs. At night."

"So tackling me would have saved me from a...gang member?"

Buffy bit her lip. "Mm...yes? 'Cause there's this one...gang...that's like, the Flying Knives Gang? And they...throw stuff at you? And ambush people! Bush people. They're like bush people. They're everywhere."

"Right. I'll keep an eye on those bushes," Remus said, smirking.

Buffy looked affronted. "I'm serious! Bushes of the world...they're very dangerous."

"What with the brambles and all. Of course."

Buffy pouted. Then pointed ahead to a nearly empty parking lot. "That your car?"

"Oh, right." Remus knelt and scooped up the keys that had fallen post-tackle, and moved ahead. "It's not much, but I have the feeling I won't need to drive much around here, anyway."

Buffy nodded. "Yup. I just walk everywhere."

As they reached his car, Buffy leaned against it and Remus moved to the other side. "I'm considering doing more walking too. The one thing I can't argue with is that the weather here is brilliant."

"Sure, y--wait, no, walking is bad," Buffy amended hastily.

"What? Why?" Door unlocked, Remus came back around, leaning against the opposite edge of the car. "More killer bushes?"

"No! Yes! The gangs. There's really actually gangs," Buffy said earnestly, "Sunnydale at night really isn't something to mess with."

"But you and Anya can walk around at night just fine?" Remus shot back, suddenly remembering his conversation, and 'friendly cautions' Anya had mentioned.

Buffy was taken aback. "Woah...Anya? When'd you...how do you know Anya?"

"The young woman running the magic store? I passed by her when I went to pick up groceries. She mentioned you, I think, and some of your friends. But that's beside the point. Why would you brave the 'horrors' of dark sidewalks? What makes you immune to these 'gangs'?"

Buffy made a mental note to check in on the Anya situation, before putting some rapid thought into how to answer Remus.

"Look..." Buffy said finally, "Anya and I have both lived here since high school. We have sort of a sixth sense...which days to avoid certain paths, where the police lookouts are. And I never leave the house without something to defend myself with, and some way to contact for help. It works, too, because I've never been seriously injured on a walk home."

Buffy wasn't even sure if that last was a lie; the walking-everywhere and separate patrols were just a mesh of unmemorable vamp dustings and demon beheadings. Six years of scuffles and victims and cemeteries was a blur, except for the occasional flash of memory. Thinking about it, she suddenly recalled an oozing, slug-like demon that had ambushed her. From in a bush? Behind a grave? Tree? Buffy couldn't remember. It had probably been years ago, anyway. She couldn't recall any other details, except that it'd been an easy kill. Messy, but easy. Maybe that's when she developed a paranoia of bushes? No, that wasn't right.

"Buffy? You alright?"

Buffy snapped back to the present. "Oh! Sure. I just spaced out. Hey, uh, see you later then. Got people waiting."

She pushed off the car and waved as she walked away, even as Remus bid her farewell, looking concerned.

*


A/N: Feedback always helps! My goal is to have another chapter up (hopefully for all my stories) before rhymer-review day, since I plan to do much rhyme-reviewing myself. :)