[Voice/Action]

[flickerflash]

[This is a very comfy forest, really.  The sunlight's warm, and Katie curls up near a fallen branch and near faceplants into a patch of new spring flowers and waits for Snow White to maybe come dancing through her dreams, or Bambi, or maybe a couple rebel fighters on an awesome speeder bike chase that she can help with.  Ewoks, even.  Look, it's her dream, okay.   She'll will one of these things into existence if she can manage it.

It takes her a long while to realise she's not actually sleeping, and that's ... a little concerning.  Because to her knowledge she doesn't make a habit of going to sleep anywhere other than her very cozy bed, and she doesn't remember why she'd be out here. 

Sleepwalking.  All the way out here?  Kidnapped.  Her parents aren't rich.  By aliens.  That's a little better, but still kind of worrying.  There's a distinct level of nervous settling over her now because she's entirely alone in the middle of a place she doesn't recognise, and she's just not adventurous enough to want to be out here without any obvious way of getting home.

It's not her fault, is it?   She can't get into trouble if it's not her fault.  (Is today a school day?)

It's when she staggers upright, still yawning, that her foot catches on the edge of something and she thumps back down to earth with a startled sound, turning to glare at whatever she'd touched (why are her feet bare?), and stares at the journal lying in the grass with her name stencilled on the front.  And Katie reaches for it, because if it has her name maybe it has an explanation, and... the sight of it touches off muzzy memories of its own.  Familiar, somehow.

So she opens it.

Oh.  She knows what this is.]

[Voice]

...hello?

Comments

[herotypical]

[ and later that day, buffy is climbing the stairs up to the little attic room -- knocking friendly-like on the wall before she steps inside. ]

[flickerflash]

[Katie is running her fingers over some of the chalk drawings on her wall with a look that's not quite disturbed, but... more uneasily curious than anything else. But at least now she has changed out of the horrid white dress and back into her more comfortable clothing.

She glances up when Buffy steps into the attic and smiles.]

Hello again. You came earlier than I expected.

[She's more than okay with this.]

[herotypical]

I wanted to get the visit in before I left for patrol. It's a whole pre-sunset thing.

[ she smiles back and tosses a snickers bar in the girl's direction. she'd left another downstairs for her pirate. ] How are you feeling?

[flickerflash]

So you go out every ni-- [Her curiosity is sidelined by the snickers bar, and Katie catches it with an appreciative and greedy look.] Thank you!

Um. I'm fine. I feel fine.

[But her eyes shift to the walls again.]

[herotypical]

Every night -- [ she finishes the sentence for her. ] There's a vamp on the loose. When you went missing, we thought...well -- no matter. I'll keep an eye on the sitch.

[flickerflash]

[Katie's hands go up to her neck as if feeling for fang marks, in childish paranoia. But she frowns.] Don't vampires suck blood? And they kill you, or they make you another vampire, or something?

[herotypical]

[ she taps her own neck. fang-marks on display. ]

Both. Either or.

[flickerflash]

[Eep. She takes a step back in sudden shock, but it's rather clear Buffy isn't a vampire.]

What happened?

[herotypical]

I think I've shared one terrible story too many already, today. Just know that there's a serious baddie out there and you should be careful. Or at least travel with a wooden stake.

[ she doesn't mean that last bit seriously. just...a joke. don't go out alone with just a stake please katie. ]

[flickerflash]

[NO PROMISES.]

...they don't make you lose memories, do they?

[herotypical]

...Not by biting you, no.

[flickerflash]

Oh. [She looks relieved.] Then it probably wasn't a vampire, then.

[herotypical]

Wait. You mean it wasn't a kidnapping?

[flickerflash]

I don't know. [She looks uneasy, for once.] I can't remember.

[herotypical]

Well...[ buffy steps closer, leaning her shoulder against a skylight casing on the sloped attic roof. ] We don't need to talk about it, then. No worries.

[flickerflash]

Does that often happen here? [She sits on the edge of the bed, looking thoughtful.] Nobody is surprised when I say I can't remember. They just say it'll come back.

[herotypical]

...During my very first kidnapping, they took a lot of memories from me. It happens.

[flickerflash]

Did you get them all back?

[herotypical]

Eventually. Good thing, too. They were important to me.

But you seem to be remembering quite a few things. Like living here, for one.

[flickerflash]

[She nods vigorously. Never mind the fact it took speaking to Jack to remind her. Oh, but that makes sense.] I bet I'll remember everything if I just get told about it.

[herotypical]

W-well...

[ she sits next to katie. ] Is there anything you wanna know? Wanna ask about?

[flickerflash]

[...

...she points at the murals on the walls.]

Did I draw those?

[herotypical]

I think so, yeah. At least...they were never here before you moved in.

[flickerflash]

Mmm. [Her nose wrinkles as she stares around the room. Some people she recognises, and others... and monsters and weird floating things, too. It's not ringing any bells.]

Maybe I had some very strange dreams.

[herotypical]

I have some pretty strange dreams sometimes, too. They're not always not-real, though.

[ buffy reaches out and touches a line of chalk. ] Are any of them familiar?