at the end of the world.

[first_summers]

PLACEHOLDER UNTIL I MAKE IT PRETTY

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before the end.

[first_summers]

[ She might be semi-retired, but she isn't dead. When Buffy gets word of a possible nest of nasty demons in the hills of Georgia, she packs up and heads out, declining the offer of taking along one of the Mini Slayers for a bit of on-the-job training. A few years of that have been more than enough for her, thanks very much. The scythe comes with her, though, tucked inside a soft guitar case she carries on her back as she trudges through the forest looking for signs of the particular demon species whose name she keeps butchering. The traditional Slayer weapon might technically belong to everyone in the Slayer line, but someone has yet to challenge her claim to it.

Her boots aren't exactly designed for hiking, but she's at least smart enough not to wear heels as she ventured out into the wild. She's a city girl, but she's not stupid. She is, however, anything but quiet to seasoned hunters, twigs cracking constantly under her feet and muttered curses slipping out under her breath while she tries not to slip herself when she heads off the path. The crumpled map in her pocket is useless now, and she's pretty sure the magical compass in her pocket is broken because it just keeps spinning uselessly.

Three hours later, she's been all over this damn forest with nothing to show for her effort except signs that something had been there and was now long gone. A lot of somethings, judging by the number of eggshells left behind — she'll have to follow their trail to the next spot if she ever makes it out of this forest alive. No less than six trees have tried to murder her, scraping her hands and face as she fell down a particularly steep incline, tearing her sweater and leaving one too many spiders in her hair. (Even one is too many.)

Needless to say, she is thoroughly Done with nature, and just wants a hot shower and clothes not covered in dirt and decomposing leaves. What she wouldn't give to be patrolling one of Sunnydale's twelve cemeteries, back when things were so much easier. ]

[gotmyownback]

[ Daryl hates it when tourists show up on the property. These city folk always think they know where they're going and then get hopelessly lost in the hills and he has to track them down and get them back out. They're always appreciative, but that doesn't stop it for ruining his entire day. At least he's already spotted this woman heading deeper into the woods, and it won't be difficult to follow her and make sure that she doesn't end up out here over night.

It's not that dangerous, especially not for someone like him, but it could be for someone that doesn't know what they're doing, or that doesn't have good night vision, or shelter. He doesn't know this girl, but he can only assume she won't be able to fend for herself after dark, none of them can.

So he follows her. He follows her all over the woods, as she goes deeper into the brush, as she comes back out again. She seems to be looking for something but all she finds is some big ass eggs that are way too big to have come from a gator. He knows every critter in the area and these shells didn't come from any of them. He wants to investigate further, but it's getting dark and she's no nearer to civilization than she had been a few hours ago, and if he doesn't help out, she'll be stuck out here after dark.

Startling her doesn't seem like a good idea, so Daryl instead just makes a bunch of noise from where he is, pretends that he's just stumbled on her instead of revealing that he's been tracking her for hours, and steps out in front of her. ]

You lost, girl?

[first_summers]

[ Part of the whole Slayer Package that Buffy has learned to rely on over the years is a built-in threat detector. It's helped keep her alive longer than any other Slayer in history (not counting the few deaths in between), so when she eventually senses something following her, she doesn't pay it any mind. Whoever or whatever it is isn't a threat, her spidey-senses aren't tingling enough for that, and so she continues on her hapless trek through the woods.

Until that something decides to make himself know. She hears him the second he starts making more noise, mentally tracking him as he moves closer, and even though her senses still aren't registering a threat, she still tenses slightly until a perfectly normal guy appears in front of her. Staring at him momentarily, she weighs her different response options before waving a hand in an exaggerated dismissal. ]

Nah, I just love wandering aimlessly through a slightly creepy forest. It's how I spend all my Tuesdays. [ It isn't Tuesday. ] But just for curiosity's sake, you wouldn't know the way back to civilization, would you?

[gotmyownback]

Ain't too far, I can get ya there, [ Daryl says, turning them around and heading the opposite direction that she'd been wandering. ] What are ya doin' out here? This is private property. [ He doesn't enforce it, since his daddy had been a mean old son of a bitch and he doesn't have any real attachments to the land now that he's gone, but still. She should know that she's trespassing. ]

You don't seem like the type to be out here for a hike. [ Those are the usual people that end up out here, outdoors enthusiasts that want to get in touch with the land, or some shit. Daryl doesn't get it. He only knows what he does because he needed to. It was a good escape from everything going on at home. ]