| Date: 19 February 2008
Characters: Buffy Summers, Theta Sigma Location: a diner Link to IJ: thread #66996 |
 Buffy swung through the door from the kitchens with a serving of peach pie, and stopped dead. The diner had... changed. It was still a diner, but it wasn't her diner.
She stood there, staring round her, a faint frown on her face. "Huh." |
 "What?" Theta asked curiously, "Are you lost?" |
| Buffy swung round to look at him. "Uh, yeah. It's all... changed. The diner. It's different." |
| What's a diner?" |
| She squinted at him. "This is a diner. You don't know what a diner is?" |
| Theta shrugged, "I'm not really from around here. But then, no one is, I think." |
| "Guess I'm not in LA anymore, hey?" Buffy sighed, and looked down at the tray in her hands. "You want some pie?" |
| What's an LA?" Theta asked curiously before nodding hugely, "What's pie?" |
| Buffy's eyes widened. "Okay, I get that you're little and - er - British and you might not have heard of LA and diners, but surely they have pie in England?"
She put the plate on the table in front of him. "It's peach pie. Can't guarantee there's any peach in it, but it tastes okay." |
| What's an England?" he asked sweetly before continuing, "You're a human, aren't you?" |
| "Yes, I'm a human," she said, rolling her eyes. "Aren't you?"
She sat down in the seat opposite him and grinned at him. |
| No," he made a face, crossing his legs under him and poking at the pie, "What's a peach?" |
| "It's a fruit. You know what that is, right? Go on - try it." |
| He took a careful bite then beamed, "Delicious." |
| "Yeah, not bad, huh?" Buffy grinned at him, leaning forward, elbows on the table, chin in hands.
"What are you if you're not human?" |
| It's really good. We don't really get to have sweets at school. I'm Gallifreyian. What are you?" |
| "No sweets? Really?" She stared. "I think I'm glad I'm not Galli- whatever it was you just said." |
| Well, it's at school. We're meant to be Time Lords. So." |
| "Time Lords?" |
| ...Yes?" he looked at her confusedly. |
| "What's a Time Lord?" |
| ...What does it sound like?" |
| "Er - really pretentious?" |
| Theta looked shocked for a moment before bursting into laughter. |
| Buffy gave him a comical little frown. "So you're a Galilean at Time Lord school, in a diner somewhere that's not LA... Do you have any idea what's going on here?" |
| It's sort of a pocket." |
| "A pocket? What d'you mean, a pocket?" |
| In time and space." |
| "A pocket in time and space? You're really not making a lot of sense." |
| ...Don't you know anything about astrophysics?" |
| "Uh - no?" |
| He gave her an affectionate, patronizing look, "Then you probably won't understand." |
| Buffy pouted. "I wish Giles was here. He usually explains this sort of thing to me." |
| Who's Giles?" |
| "Giles is my Watcher. He's old and stuffy and understands difficult stuff." |
| Like a librarian?" Theta asked interested. "Dolemaniti- I can't remember the rest of his name watches the students and knows things. He's on his 13th regeneration though and he's so old." |
| "Yeah, exactly like that!" Buffy smiled triumphantly, pleased that they'd finally found something they both had in common. "Giles is a librarian! Well, sort of. He likes books, anyhow."
She frowned again. "I have no idea what a regeneration is though." |
| When you die and you make a new body," he said easily, "Like paper books?" he looked intrigued, "What are those like?" |
| "Hmm, we don't make new bodies when we die. We just die. Well, 'less you drown and someone does CPR on you and then you come back. That happened to me. But I didn't get a new body."
She tilted her head. "Paper books are... like books made of paper? What are your books made of?" |
| Do you have computers?" |
| She gave him a 'duh' look. "Yeah." |
| You don't know astrophysics! How am I supposed to know?" |
| "You're jolly condescending for a - how old are you?" Buffy asked, suddenly realising he might not be as young as he looked. She was used to a vampire who looked 26 when he was actually 241, after all. |
| 8. How old are you?" |
| "17. You study astrophysics at 8?" |
| Well, it is a beginning class." |
| "Huh. What else do you study?" |
| Maths. Languages. Do you go to school?" |
| Buffy made a face. "Yeah. We study those sorts of things too. And really hard things like history. I mean, what use is history, really?" |
| How will you know not to mess things up if you don't learn it?" |
| She stared at him, completely nonplussed. "What?" |
| ...What?" |
| "You can't mess up history. It's been and gone. Done. Finished. It's history!" |
| ...Time Lord," he repeated slowly. |
| Buffy narrowed her eyes. "You never explained what that was," she said, equally slowly.
She was starting to get annoyed by his patronising attitude. It was like being at school - with an 8 year-old for the teacher. |
| What does it sound like?" |
| "And now we're going round in circles." Her eyes went wide in sudden alarm. "This isn't a time loop, is it? I'm not going to be stuck here forever?" |
| I don't think so. There's a bunch of me here and well. Apparently we grew up. And alternate realities. |
| Buffy blinked slowly. "Okay. Alternate realities I can cope with. Growing up I can sort of cope with - most people do. The bunch of you... I can honestly say, that's scary."
She rolled her eyes. "And are you ever just going to answer the question?" |
| Time Lords can travel in time," he said simply, "If we have our license." |
| "Thank you," Buffy sighed gratefully, then spent a moment trying to take the answer in. "So you're a time-traveller? Right. That history thing makes sense now." She raised her eyebrows, amused. "You have licenses? Like for driving a car?"
And if he says, What's a car?, I'm going to hit him, she thought. |
| What's a car?" he asked promptly, "And we have to pass the piloting test." |
| Buffy rolled her eyes and hugged her arms in tight against her chest to stop herself hitting him. "A car is a thing with wheels that you sit in to go places that are too far to walk," she explained, not very well, she explained. "And you have to pass a test to drive them too." |
| Oh!" he said brightly, "That's interesting!" |
| She smiled. "How old do you have to be to take your time-travel test?" |
| One hundred and fifty-nine. How old do you have to be to take your car test?" |
| "16." Buffy pouted. "But only if your Mom will let you."
Her eyes widened as his answer sank in. "A hundred and fifty-nine? Wow. You've got a way to go then." |
| He shrugged, "It's pretty young really." |
| "Still a long way off for you. How long do you live?" |
| Depends really. My brother's only eight thousand." |
| Buffy's jaw dropped.
She sat and stared. Eventually, she realised she looked like an idiot, and she shut her mouth and blinked at Theta. "Oh, only eight thousand?" she said sarcastically. "Quite young, then." |
| Well." Thete shrugged, "He's not quite middle aged yet, is he?" |
| "So how old is old, for a Galileo?" |
| What's a Galileo?" |
| She frowned. "Isn't that what you said you were?" |
| ...Gallifreyian." |
| She waved a dismissive hand. "Whatever. How old is old?" |
| Twenty thousand sorta." |
| "Wow. That's old!" Buffy shook her head and looked round her a bit dazedly. "I can't believe I'm having this conversation. I bet I'm dreaing, really, aren't I?" |
| I don't know. Are you dreaming?" |
| "How am I supposed to tell? I've seen some pretty weird stuff. This could be real." |
| I think it's real." |
| "Well, you would say that, wouldn't you? Even if you are just a figment of my nocturnal imagination." |
| I'm not a figment!" |
| "Well, it must be real, then." She grinned. She didn't really care. At least this was more exciting than working in Helen's Kitchen and going home alone to her dreary little room. |
| Do you want ice cream?" |
| Buffy's eyes twinkled as she smiled. "Ice-cream is good." |
| He held his hand out for her. |
| She took it. "You know, I don't think I ever asked your name?" |
| Theta Sigma. What's yours?" |
| She was about to reply automatically with the name on the little name-tag on her uniform: 'Anne'.
Then she shrugged. If she really wasn't in LA anymore, she didn't have to pretend anymore. She could be Buffy again. She smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Theta Sigma. I'm Buffy." |