3606/It's Never Sunny in Sunnydale

It's Never Sunny in Sunnydale
Date of Scene:	08 January 2018
Location:	Sunnydale
Synopsis:	There is a new private investigator in Sunnydale, one who isn't surprised at the supernatural.
Cast of Characters:	Loki, Buffy Summers

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Loki has posed:
    Nighttime in Sunnydale is not exactly what one would consider calm. Not quite as hectic in some ways as the larger cities, but it does tend to have a particular variety of nocturnal activity that is inordinately more prominent there than elsewhere. The eldritch energy of the world is strong there, not quite the convergence of ley lines as there seems to be in New York City and Gotham, nor even the heavy weight of historical mayhem as other places. But Sunnydale has its own prominence, its own flavor.
    And for the tall man in the long coat there tonight, it's enough to give him a moment of reflection.
    "Hm," He says to himself, walking along the rather so normal seeming sidewalk. The overly friendly smiles he receives from the people strolling along that he returns with a brilliant one of his own, those seem a touch out of place for some reason.
    Perhaps it's simply he's spent too much time in New York of lately. "Hm."
    Off the curb he hops, shoes clicking as he walks and he smiles with one hand lifting towards a car that has to apply its brakes a touch earlier than it'd like. "My apologies!" He says, perhaps just a little too loud. At first the man in the car seems annoyed, but then gosh darn it, something about that guy's manner. He smiles and waves to the jaywalker.
    Adjusting the hang of his scarf, tossing it over his shoulder as he wanders past the bits of snow still unmelted, the fellow in the long coat pauses and then kneels down beside one of those burn marks that seem to appear on the sidewalks now and then, roughly in the shape of a man. So strange, perhaps street art of some sort? A protest?
    But that man in the coat kneels there, hms again to himself, and then lightly touches a finger to the dust and takes a taste.

Buffy Summers has posed:
This is the time when the good people of the city are starting to head in for the evening. They will sit on their couches and turn on Netflix or have dinner at the table during the only time they are all turn off their electronic devices and sit in the same room. It is when decent people are settling in with their loved ones.

Then there's Buffy. She's never been one of the decent people. Well, not in recent years. She was at one point in her life. She was a cheerleader and popular. Now she's the one that's a little off at the school. It has to do with lack of sleep. That comes from spending her nights wandering in the shadows looking for monsters. Yeah, normal isn't her forte.

She's headed down the sidewalk, bundled up against the cold. Sweater, heavy jacket, scarf, gloves and a cute little hat to finish it all off. Her ever present messenger bag is slung across her torso, containing the tools of the trade for her night of hunting.

She sees the man stop and kneel as she's approaching, not thinking anything of it. Maybe he needs to tie his shoe. Or dropped a contact. No, he'd be flailing more and holding one eye shut. Then he touches the ground and lifts his hand back up to ... "OH gross! Did you serious just lick you finger after touching the ground?!"

Loki has posed:
    That man's brow is furrowed as his green eyes lift upwards, thoughtful, delving, searching even as his tongue digs into his cheek and he makes a small smacking sound and then pointedly says to himself, "Hm, vampire." Even as he rises up to his full height and then... without even looking at her he casually digs a hand into the pocket of his olive green coat and withdraws a small card that he almost disdainfully /flicks/ straight at her, as if that would serve to answer her questions.

OFFWORLD INVESTIGATIONS
Sam Gwydion, P.I.

    "Busy busy, dear." He tells her even as he turns and starts to walk down the sidewalk past her, the tread of his shoe smearing the outline of the dead vampire even as he walks down towards the alleyway... leaning forwards and looking wide-eyed and thoughtfully at the ground as if in search of something.
    Which he is.

Buffy Summers has posed:
"What?" Buffy is not one to hide her reactions well. It's rare she bothers trying. Vampire. She knows that is what was back there. She's not he one who did it though which catches her interest. She hasn't seen Faith for some time so she doesn't think it's the other Slayer. Perhaps Spike got adventurous. No, he would only do it if he thought Buffy would be there to watch. Or he was saving his own skin. Maybe that was it. He was attacked? They didn't usually pick main street though. Something odd here.

The most odd part is this man knows that is the remains of a vampire, a recent kill since the ashes haven't scattered to the four winds. How does he even known vampires exist? "Vampires don't exist. And they don't look like smudges on the ground if they do. They are all cloaks and bad accents," she says as she follows behind him. Where one vampire is, another might be. This guy might be walking into danger. She has to watch over him. "You shouldn't go poking in dark alleys. Didn't your momma teach you nothin'?"

Loki has posed:
    As she follows after him at first he doesn't seem to pay attention to her, but when she continues speaking he gets this sort of puzzled look, brow beetling and his hand in green gloved leather lifts as if to stay her. "Sssh. Shhh. Sh." He tilts his head to the side, as if listening. Then listening some more.
    "Hm," Again, then he looks back to her. "Most people read the card and walk away." He offers that observation as he moves further down the alleyway, strolling past the various metal bins and the old grungy windows with their bars. Past the skeletal remains of the Sports Authority, and past an old telephone store.
    Hands sliding into the deep pockets of his coat he walks backwards for a time, "My mother was knowledgeable of many things, hearth and home in main, but did she impart all her wisdom to me?" He pauses then adds, "I daresay no."
    After that admission he turns away. "If you insist on following me, you should understand that matters might turn dangerous. If I have to spend a portion of my evening explaining to law enforcement about your mangled corpse I'll be terribly annoyed."

Buffy Summers has posed:
"Funny, here I was thinking the same thing," Buffy mutters as she continues to doggedly follow him. She would never forgive herself if he ended up dead in an alley because she opted to leave him to his own devices. Or worse, had to face him as a vampire later. That would be her luck. He'd have that irritating tone and fangs. Good fashion sense though. So he'd be a well dressed vampire.

"You talk funny." Captain Obvious with a dash of Zero Tact, thy name is Buffy. "What has brought you to Sunnydale, Mr..." She consults the card. "Gwydion. Cause you aren't a local. I'd know if you were a local cause I'm out here on the steets all the time." She pauses then continues. "Not /on/ the streets like that way but out here walking around. Also not walking around /that/ way." Sometimes she would just be better off not talking at all. It would simpify things so much.

"Are you seriously thinking you are following a vampire?"

Loki has posed:
    Walking with his hands in his pockets, Sam looks around and upwards, his eyes wide with consideration while he wanders along that old alleyway. But then he stops in front of a long length of drainage pipe and then follows its length down to the ground where he'll make a small, "Hah." sound to himself before straightening.
    "Please, Sam to my friends." He says as he rest a hand on the side of the pipe and then looks to her, "Aren't you open to the exquisite and the intriguing in your life, miss?" He grabs that pipe and then starts to shimmy up it, rather decently quick as he plants a foot on the wall and then /vaults/ onto the roof of the old strip mall's largest building, the Bestest Buy. He leans over the side and waves at her, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio!"
    And then he disappears from view as he starts to walk along that rooftop, strolling around the whirling air conditioner fans and the myriad of antennas that are set to receive their signals. He lightly taps fingertips along the strut of a satellite dish as he looks around thoughtfully.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Things just got weirder. Buffy watches him scramble up that pipe with a lot more ease than he should ever have. Although there are lots of beings with lots of abilities in the world. Metahumans, aliens, mutants, Slayers, vampires, demons. The trick is which one is he. He hasn't set off her warning system so that tells her he isn't a monster. Not the typical kind at least.

Once he has disappeared, she catches that drainpipe and follows him up with ease, flipping over the edge of the roof to land in a crouch then standing as she straightens her little hat. Wouldn't do to have it amiss, even on a rooftop where no one else is ever going to see her. "Summers," she tells him as she watches him wander over to the satellite dish. "Buffy Summers. And my mind is gaping! Open, I mean." She shrugs and continues. "There are all sorts of things out there. But how do you know about them? Private dicks aren't usually big on the supernatural circuit."

Loki has posed:
    "Buffy." That seems to take him aback as he looks at her over his shoulder, eyebrow cocking with incredulity. "I wasn't under the impression people actually named their children that." He steps along the edge of the rooftop and then pauses there. He frowns to himself as he asks her, "Is it a nickname? Or is it a burden your family placed on you?" But even as that casually offered jibe is given he's kneeling again there at a particular place on the rooftop. He drags a fingertip along the slightly scuffed paint on the B of the overly large sign that hangs from the wall below and hms to himself.
    For a moment he lightly flares his fingers, starting to trace a small symbol in the air. But then he stops himself and grumbles, "Blast." Rising to his feet, "Blast and damnation."
    Turning around he walks towards her. "So you claim to know nothing of the vampiric in these areas, young lady?" Something in the way he phrases those words, as if he knew better but was giving her a suitable shovel with which to dig.

Buffy Summers has posed:
If he expected her to be intimidated by his approach, he's in for a surprise. Buffy remains where she is, watching him as he looms above her. At her height, most people loomed. It came with the lack of verticality. Her hands are out of her pockets though as he gets closer. Just in case. Not intimidated but not stupid either.

"I didn't claim that. Didn't claim I do either. I try to avoid claiming until I know who I'm dealing with. I'm trying to figure out your angle." She tilts her head to the side. "And as for my name, I like it. It's original and not boring like another Mary or Susan in the world. It lets everyone know I'm one of a kind." Well one of two but who's counting. "So what are you tracking or thinking you are tracking anyway?"

Loki has posed:
    "Well, I /was/ tracking the fate of our poor fanged friend here I'm afraid. Or thought I was. It's possible I might be mistaken." There's a pause as he looks back towards the place where he lost the tracks and then abruptly smiles back towards her and he says, "Isn't that lovely?"
    But then he turns around with a small snap of the theatric, his hands pushing back into the depths of his pockets as he digs into one for a tissue and withdraws it, blowing his nose into it for a moment and then tossing it aside. "I will have to take another angle to find out where the fellow originated from, whom his compatriots might be. If this were New York I would have contacts, people I could shake and roustabout for information. But here oh we'll have to toddle along."
    A fingertip comes up, pointing first at the sky, then at her. "Tell me, Buffy Summerchild. Is there a place here where the lowly and disaffected congregate? A place where they seek the company of their own?"

Buffy Summers has posed:
She needs to introduce this guy to Giles. They would have a good time trying to one-up each other with big words. She wouldn't to be there for it. Willow could fill her in later on who won. Buffy's money would be on Giles though.

"Summers,' she corrects automatically as she considers the question. "Well, there's the Bronze. It's a club that lots of people go to. Or Denny's although that's a different sort of crowd. Big Belly Burgers. Uhm...there's the high school but that's not really a place where the lowly and disaffected like to go, they are forced to by rules and stuff. Although that's not right. They became disaffected by being there. I think. What's disaffected mean?" she asks suddenly.

Loki has posed:
    She can see the distaste evident in his curled up lip and a slight widening to one eye as he listens to her description of each place. Fingertips tap upon his thigh from the inside of his coat as he seems to mull things over as to her respose, then shakes his head. "Unhappy with authority, a perfectly acceptable state of mind for anyone with two wits to rub against each other."
    He then nods to her, "Very well, to the Bronze. Lead on, Buffy." He slides his hands from his pockets and links them behind his back. "We shall see what there is to be seen." That having been said he starts to walk back towards the edge of the rooftop from which they came and proceeds to hop down, using the drain pipe to support his descent.