Owner	Pose
Buffy Summers	It was the end of shift at the Magic Box. All the customers were gone. Doors were closed and locked, at least to the public. Scoobies were always welcome. Buffy had gotten the place straightened up, though thankfully most of their customers never really moved much around outside the books. Dusting completed and that left just sweeping up. Which she didn't really have to do because Giles had invested in one itty bitty bit of technology for that. She pushed the button for the Roomba to start doing its thing as she moved to the back room for a bit of prep time before heading out on patrol. Buffy had found herself traveling a bit more burdened with weapons than she usually did. If she did end up meeting Dracula again, and if he changed his mind on that whole waiting until she was a worthy challenge for a fight thing, she wanted to be ready. Thus, she opened the cabinet that stored a lot of the weapons and started picking out various items. Her eyes strayed to the new weapon, the fancy weird one that they had pulled from the stone. It was not something she was carrying or using yet because, honestly, she felt like it was special. As in it shouldn't be used for just anything. It should be something really major to pull that bad boy out. Course, wouldn't anyone think Dracula was something major? She continued taking out holy water, a couple of crosses, multiple stakes, as she considered.
Willow Rosenberg	Willow wasn't on the schedule. In fact, she had arranged that she was on for this whole week. Still, tonight, she wandered in at closing time, with two large cups of coffee. "Hey Buffy?" At least she hoped it was her - rather than a switch with someone else. That would have been a pain! "I thought after you closed the store down we could do something? I brought coffee. A large one! No danishes though. They were all out at closing time."
Buffy Summers	"Coffee for the win!" Buffy immediately forgot all about weapons and moved over to meet her bestie, taking one of the cups of coffee and breathing in the lovely aroma. "You are a lifesaver. And it's okay on the danishes. I just appreciate you thought about this." She took a cautious sip but thankfully it had cooled enough down from molten lava level on the walk over from the shop. Thus she was able to take a bigger drink. Still warm but not so hot that it was scalding her tongue. She let out a satisfied aaahhh after that sip. She was dressed in her more serious gear. The leather pants and jacket. The courier bag slung cross body and containing lots of weapons. All the hidden spots in the jacket loaded for bear. Or vampires to be more precise. This was /not/ her normal hunting gear, more something she put on when she was going after a big bad. She picked up a hand axe, that had been a gift from the god of war, and tucked it into the bag as well. "I was hoping to see you. You got my message? Hopefully you figured it out. Didn't want to type it out but Dracula is in town. He talked about you and some of the other Scoobies. Some he's apparently even met." Casual talk but a brief glance over at Willow before she continued. "You he mentioned several times so I was worried he's watching you or something."
Willow Rosenberg	"Oh." Willow had wondered. Frankly she had hoped to miss the event. After all, she was still playing both sides.. Although if push came to shove, she would have to side with Buffy. What that would mean? Willow didn't know. "Oh." Again. "He kind of was seducing me long ago now. I met him at the park. That was after he and Spike had a talk. I think he think I was just.. you know.. the usual witch. Not worth it to really sink his fangs in." Of course, she jokes about his fangs. Dracula probably thinks of everyone as a free meal. "What's happening with him?"
Buffy Summers	"Seducing you?!" And now she had Buffy's full attention which she probably didn't mean to. "Like ..y'know...?" She waved her hand in the air as though that explained fully what she was trying to say. "Or like just trying to sway you to his side? Cause he pulled that with me. Kept talking about light and dark, wanting me to let him teach me to tap into my full potential as a Slayer. He said I don't tap into that dark side of my powers and I was like duh! But he had me second guessing myself so I figure he might do that to everyone." She paused and pointed a finger, not really at Willow but to punctuate her point. "And I think he has some of that mind mojo. On top of powers we haven't seen before. Turning into bats, mist. Creepy as hell how he can do that."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow giggles. "No, he didn't even try. I was sort of miffed that I was worth it. Though, it was years ago. And Spike had told him what for. We talked though. I can't remember what. Think it was about Lilith. You know, Adam's first wife?
Buffy Summers	Buffy had to frown a bit. "She's real too? So that means Adam was real which means..." And she shook her head, taking a moment to tie her hair back into a ponytail. "Nevermind. Not even going to think about that stuff. I'll just go crazy if I try. Focus on the now. Which is learning how to take out Dracula." She looked over at the new weapon a moment then shook her head again and focused on Willow. "Any idea what might work? I mean I read the book when I was in school but didn't take notes or anything. And who knows how much they got right. Seen the movies and same thing there. So many different interpretations so which things are real and which aren't. I saw the bats. I saw the mist. He even talked while he was mist which how do you do that without substance but he did. I did ask him why he wanted me to tap into my potential when then I'd just be trying to kill him cause he is what he is." A little wrinkling of the nose in distaste. "He said that he wanted a challenge when we fought so he wanted me to have all my abilities. Do you think I have more than I know? Or is he messing with my head?"
Willow Rosenberg	Taking a seat upon a seat, Willow scowls as she thinks. "He is probably not easy to kill. He is the first vampire, after all. You would probably be happy if you sent him into torpur. I think has to regenerate in his own soil. But, I am not sure if they mean the homeland, or some put into a casket and brought here." She takes a swallow of her own coffee. "I'm not really certain was would work on him. I imagine crosses and holy water would just make him cross? Like an annoying kid. Which we are comparatively. And we talked about Lilith as a figure of Bible lore, and as the actual demon she was. He was actually quite knowledgeable for what he was. I almost forgot he was Dracula, you know?"
Buffy Summers	"Yeah. That. He seems to have that effect. Sort of reminds me of Lothos and the Master." A little moment of silence even thinking of that last figure since he had actually managed to kill her. Lothos too weighed heavily as he had managed to kill her first Watcher, before she got sent to Sunnydale. And now she was facing THE Dracula. "Made you feel at ease. Good conversation. I didn't feel like he was lying to me, since he admitted he wanted to help me with my potential just to make the conflict more fun for him." She frowned a little again and settled down to take a sip of her coffee again, relaxing before heading out for patrol for a bit longer. Or was she stalling? "I left a message for Giles to see if he has more information in those old books of his. I figure he has more of them in England than he had here and that's saying something." She thought back to the conversation. "He mentioned the warriors that fought with the Dark Slayer. You. Thomas. And Faith. He even said he had bitten Faith. You know anything about that?"
Willow Rosenberg	"I didn't fight him. But I guess I could be grouped with Faith. I think she was alone with him. We had to make sure she wasn't infected. Harry has something that you rub on a bite. It stings, and smells horrible. I needed it when I wasn't careful enough at the graveyard and we were fighting a coven - not Dracula - and one almost bit me. But that was before Faith talking to Dracula," Willow pulls a face. "Thomas made me so angry." She minces up her voice, "Everyone know we listens to Harry for magic. I'll massage your ego later Willow. ugh. I could almost hear the patpat as he said it to me. Grr."
Buffy Summers	"Guessing it was when my cellphone was broken." Which is as close as Buffy is going to come to saying why didn't anyone let her know. But she leaves it at that and frowns a little as the story unfolds. "I'm glad you weren't hurt. But good to know that Harry has something to help with bites, if someone isn't drained completely. Dracula mentioned something about that. Said unlike others, he only has to taste and doesn't have to drain someone to feed. I guess that's a plus?" Seemed an odd thing to consider a positive. "But doesn't entirely say he isn't bad cause he killed a woman and turned her just so he'd have bait, to try to lure Faith to the cemetery so he could bite her again. But he got me instead. Apparently he didn't realize there were two of us." When she explained about Thomas' words and how they had upset her, Buffy frowned anew. "I get that he goes to Harry for everything magic related but I go to you and Giles. And you are a member of the Justice League, having earned your spot there back when you were training with Constantine. So pardon my French but eff Thomas and his opinion. It shouldn't matter."
Willow Rosenberg	"But it does! I mean, so what if they really turn to Harry, It was the massage thing that got me. Just, it hurt. And Either I am as powerful as Harry thinks, or I'm not. But nobody gives me a chance. I opened a portal to Acropolis, and all that the Scoobies need me for is warding. Nick was fighting with his magic. And me? That's right. Warding." Willow sighs.
Buffy Summers	"Who cares what Thomas thinks?" Buffy's words are perhaps a bit more harsh than she meant them to be. It may be she is protective of her bestie. She's not even sure herself. It isn't like she has any animosity toward the man. "And I don't know what Scoobies you are talking about but I come to you for a lot more than warding. And don't get me wrong, warding is important. Like crazy important in our lives with the threats we face. So don't downplay that either. But yes, you are a formidable witch and you have come so far from when you first started to learn. You are good enough that Constantine wanted to train you and he's a grouchy old man who we haven't seen training anyone else, so he saw something in you. You're a member of the Justice League, monitoring the planet for threats. What is Thomas? A guy running a club." Then she blinks as something occurs to her. "He's a farmer. Or a cattle rancher. Basically he has a place where he sets the atmosphere and 'stock' in the form of humans with the emotions he wants to feed off. He may like it and stuff, may enjoy the music, but that's what it boils down to. "Right now, I'm talking to you about Dracula. I didn't talk to Harry or Nick or anyone else we know that knows magic first. You."
Willow Rosenberg	*grumble grumble* "But, for the longest time, you didn't. You were exactly like Thomas. You preferred Nick. Don't you see?" Willow sighs. "Forget it. It shouldn't bother me." But it does. Willow switches topics then. "So, what are we going to do about Dracula? When I met him, long ago, he was polite? But I guess that was part of his plans. What did you happen to see when you met him? Maybe we can compare notes. Give us a point to work off of."
Buffy Summers	"And I've said I'm sorry for that. I literally do not remember it. Have no idea why I acted that way. But I still apologized for it, even though I don't remember it or why I did it." Then Buffy leaves it at that as she focuses back on Dracula. "There was a new grave so was staying there just in case they decided to come back out. And the woman dug her way out. Was saying something about the master and a dark haired woman and I had no idea what but tried asking some questions. Didn't get anything really. When I dusted her, suddenly he showed up. Then introduced himself. I didn't believe him at first. But he then turned into bats and that was pretty convincing." She sipped her drink then continued. "He apparently set it up as a trap cause he watned to bite Faith. Again. He didn't realize there were two Slayers. SO he got a little surprise. But then it was all about light and dark and I haven't tapped my full potential and how he's met my friends and how friends can be used against someone by his kind and blah blah blah." A wave of a hand to dismiss the rest. "He turned into bats. He turned into mist. I think he did some mind mojo but not sure cause he got real close to me and I don't usually let that happen. Wants me to learn to tap into my dark side, what made the first Slayer, and reach my full potential. But then admitted he wanted me to because he wanted me to be a better fight when he and I fight."
Willow Rosenberg	Figures. He had talked to Willow about letting Buffy taste him.. or was letting her experience a bite? He definitely wanted to bite Willow. With the idea she could taste him. To Willow she was still up in arms. If she was as powerful as he tried to convince her.. why who she let him bite her? That didn't entirely make sense to her. Still.. "He said that you had tasted his blood. That it enhanced your powers for a time. I figured he was full if it. " But what if he was telling the truth? She paused, and sighed. "Buffy, I know you can't remember. It still hurts a little bit. Especially when the others continue the same way. They only let me come with them because of Harry. And I don't know what changed his mind to give me a chance. I mean, before began to date me, he took me on as a student. I think Bob put the idea in his head? I don't know." "I'm still confused. Half of them believe I am powerful. And the other half believe, like Thomas says, he can massage my ego once Harry is through. It makes no sense." Especially now that Dracula added his voice to the power side. Dracula was the epitome of lies and deception. Wouldn't he lie about that?
Buffy Summers	"At first I thought he was just using the words to manipulate me. But I think he was telling the truth," Buffy said as she worked through it. "He wants me to learn my powers so that I can fight him. And he can beat me. I think it'll feed his ego or something." A roll of the eyes. "As if he needs a bigger ego." She looked over at Willow, not realizing where her friend's thoughts were going. "He mentioned you several times. Which I think is bad. That means he is paying attention to you and I think he's drawn to power. People that will be useful to him. So I suspect he might try to manipulate you or something." She sighed. "He commented about friends being a liability too. I dunno. I'm just confused."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow thinks, and then nods. "He has said as much to me too. Trying to convince to taste his blood to embrace my powers faster. He's.. intrigued by me." "Do you think he wants to fight you? On an open field of power? That is kind of intriguing. I mean he runs the risk of pushing your power to a point where he can not see what you will become. It is a very dangerous play if he wants to try. He must be very certain of his place in the spectrum of power between the Slayers and the Supernatural."
Buffy Summers	"I..." And this is a moment where Willow sees something Buffy rarely lets anyone ever see. Especially since she is very aware of what she is and what she's supposed to do. "I think he believes he would win. He is the Lord of Vampires. Presumably the most powerful of his kind." She'd already died once. She didn't want to do it again. If he was more powerful than The Master... She looks over at Willow. "He talked about your power and your beauty. Don't trust him. If you have spells that help with mind mojo, use them. Or learn them. Or something." She sighed. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I need to tap into my full potential. He says I have a lot of light in me and Faith has more darkness. Says that appeals but I'm just like...I don't know, Will."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow puts her cup down, and gets off of the counter she was sitting on, and approaches Buffy. "Did you listen to what you said about me? Buffy, he is trying to get inside of your brain. He leaves enough truth there to rope you in. He doesn't want you to tap into your full potential - that is just the prize that he dangles. It's like at the fair - everyone believes they can knock off the milk cartons, but they can't. The barkers know the tricks to make it look easy. And by the time you realize that there is no way, they have all your money, and you still want to try it again." "For all you know, tasting Dracula's blood will leave you in a state that you will forever be beholden to him. Maybe not so far as a lesser vampire, but still beneath him. and without recourse to break free." If allowed, she holds Buffy's hands.
Buffy Summers	Buffy does allow it. She turns her hands up to her friend's and grips them tightly. Willow is one of the only people who will ever seen her vulnerable. Perhaps Xander to a lesser extent. Giles and Angel had witnessed it but Willow was always her rock and the one she relied on to help her through. She wouldn't know what to do if she didn't have Willow in her life. it wasn't romance or anything of that sort. It was just that closeness of a best friend, a person that she knew she would need to have around her for the rest of her life. However long that might be. Being a Slayer? She suspected she was already living on borrowed time. But something that Willow said there confused her. "Tasted his blood? He didn't even mention that would be needed, just dangled the idea of my potential being reached. But he said I wouldn't do it. That I wouldn't even take that step to tap into that Darkness given to the First Slayer, even to save my friends."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow grips Buffy hands. "Either he plans on biting you, or letting you taste his blood. I don't think he would try to turn you, but that I am not sure of." At least when he had spoken to Willow he offered the choice. Mentioned that Buffy had tasted his blood - though she didn't really believe that about Buffy, Then again, which Buffy missing years? She could have? "He's all about giving you the choice.. Like you said, the Darkness. Where would you find it? Of course, with him. He probably would entice you with some cockamamy story about how he could give you just a taste to know what you were avoiding. And how you would be more open because of it. Like drawing with shading as opposed to a kindergartener's picture of the same thing."
Buffy Summers	"Tasted? Unless it happened during my missing years, I doubt that. Though that's a scary thought." She really needed to find a way to recover her missing years. But that had to take a backseat right now to the crisis that was Dracula in Sunnydale. As Willow continued, she listened. And that made sense. Which is why Buffy squeezed her hands again lightly. "You're right. I'm just letting him mess with my head. I have the power I need to stop him. That's what the Slayer does, right? Created to fight the monsters of the world and I figure there were some doozies back in the day." Then a little grin. "But I'll have you with me. With your brains and magic and my brawn and ...Slayerness? We can't be beat."