kiss_evilgoodbye | unnamed } { but my heart told my head, this time no

It starts with a dead Slayer.

She had been off the reservation. Went AWOL on her squad, wandered into New Orleans and got in over her head. Maybe it was being unable to handle it, maybe she's looking for some kind of payback, but at the end of the day, a Slayer is dead and that is all that it takes to get Buffy's attention, whether she's welcome there or not. It isn't about trying to clean up the mess or getting revenge either. She just wants her Slayer back, so that her squad can say goodbye. It's the reason why she has to do it, because if those girls were to go into the Quarter as they were - upset, emotional and angry - then they'd just have an even bigger bloodbath on her hands. Buffy isn't in the mood to be the cause of a turf war either, which is why she goes in herself - especially after she hears that "the Originals" have resumed control of the city.

She's also supposed to leave once the deed is done, but for some reason, she can't quite bring herself to walk away yet.

She's not hiding. Any vampire who knows her face is going to notice her there - and a lot of them know her face, thanks a bunch, Harmony - and while she doesn't pick any fights or throw any fuel on the fire, she's definitely being watched. Where she goes, what she does, who she talks to, all of it being funneled back to a compound on the other side of town. She's gotten pretty good at tracing the flow of information and isn't surprised to find that the people watching her are vampires - not werewolves or witches. Vampire Slayer does tend to attract a specific kind of attention, especially if someone is worried about their relative peace being threatened.

She spends about a week minding her manners, not getting into any fights that weren't picked with her first, and generally being the picture of a perfect tourist. And when that week was up and her tails still hadn't gone away, she decides to attack the problem head-on. She's always been a confrontational kind of girl, anyway. She makes her way down to the Original compound, walks right through the front door into the courtyard, and pauses as she stands in the middle, letting out a low whistle as she does.

"What, I don't even get a welcoming committee?" She's speaking loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be obnoxious. "Don't tell me you didn't see this coming. You've been following me all week."

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When she announces herself, nothing surprises Elijah as Buffy's reputation precedes her. He had a feeling that, sooner or later, she would turn up directly in the compound. More importantly, she would walk in alone and while she wouldn't demand to be attended to, she wouldn't leave until she had been. If only because of that, Elijah is somewhat relieved that this has been left for him to manage. While neither of his siblings had the desires of younger vampires looking to kill a Slayer if only on principle, that wouldn't stop them from quickly escalating a situation that didn't need to be a situation in the first place.

Elijah abandons his work inside and appears on the balcony above her.

"Oh, I had every reason to believe you would come here the moment you set foot in the Quarter," Elijah says, pausing a moment to study her. "Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long."

She gives a bit of a nonchalant shrug as she does, eyes drawn towards the sound of Elijah's voice - which, it has to be Elijah. She has a feeling Klaus would have taken a more violent approach to an enemy in his territory. Or at least lobbed a few death threats.

And, obviously, he's lacking some very clear signs that would make him Rebekah.

"I've never been to New Orleans before. Nice city, but man do people love to pick fights." With her, to be more specific. "Almost could make a girl feel unwelcome."

"Well, when you come unannounced to anyone's home, it has a tendency to..." He pauses to select the right word. "Agitate the host."

It's more of a surprise that the direct attacks to her haven't been greater than they are. Klaus hadn't wanted to play it quite as safe, but Elijah pressed him to focus on the matters of the city. Just because Klaus conceded to Elijah's face didn't mean that he wasn't willing to work behind his back to give Buffy a rougher welcome. But it would seem that thankfully he was more distracted.

"I do apologize for some of the behavior though. I'm sure you're well-aware of the conflict here in the city. You picked a poor time to pay a visit." Elijah walks towards the top of the stairs.

She doesn't flinch at the way he refers to the entirety of New Orleans as his home. She used to do the same thing to Sunnydale. The Originals thought this was their city. She's not necessarily here to argue that, but if Slayers are going to keep turning up dead on their streets, they were going to have a much bigger problem.

"Funny. I would have thought the dead Slayer would have been a pretty good indicator that I was going to show."

But then again, that isn't as obvious to some of the older vamps. They're still used to the world where there's only one Chosen one, and once she's dead and gone another girl is called, possibly on the other side of the world. The thing is, now there's an army, and Buffy takes care of her own.

"Especially in the city of the Originals. That pretty much guarantees at least a brief appearance."

"And you have my condolences," Elijah says with a mild amount of honesty. He didn't know the girl who died personally any better than he knows Buffy. If anything, he knew her less. Not only that, but she was somewhat diametrically opposed to his species as a whole even if there was little to nothing she could do to directly harm him or his family. But she was still young. She was still human.

A loss of life is a loss of life and there is regret when it happens to one who had barely had a chance to live.

"But something tells me you're not satisfied with just condolences," he says as he walks down the stairs. "So what is it that you want?"

Buffy or not, Slayer or not, people simply don't turn up on Elijah's front step - or rather his courtyard - without wanting something and usually that something is important.

"I guess you can say my curiosity got the better of me."

Which is really a huge chunk of it. That, and she still doesn't know who actually killed her Slayer which may be why she's making with the tourist ruse. But really she just wants to find out what's going on in New Orleans. And whether or not she needs to be around to stop it.

"You hear all these rumors about the big bad Originals. Kind of makes you wonder how much of it is true."

"I would assume most of it if you're looking to err on the side of caution," Elijah replies. One way or another, the Originals do have a tendency to control most of what's said about them. They've managed to keep most of their dirty laundry to themselves. There are a few things that are a bit hyperbolic, but they won't do much to discourage it.

"I've never really been Caution Girl." She clasps her hands behind her back as she takes a few steps closer, not really feeling the intimidation that most probably would. She's the Slayer. She doesn't flinch. "And I don't put too much stock in what I hear either. I've been doing this long enough to know that stories tend to get ... distorted, the older they get. Second hand sources, all that."

Elijah tips his head slightly and watches her approach closer. If he's honest, his interest is mildly piqued. While he wouldn't expect most to exactly be shaking in their boots in a literal sense, most would be wary about getting so close even if they knew logically distance wouldn't matter. If Elijah wanted to end them, they would be dead. Though he has to wonder if some of this talk is only there because Buffy is dealing with Elijah and not Rebekah or Klaus. His siblings' tolerance for such talk is at a much lower threshold than Elijah.

"Are you challenging me?"

"Challenge is a strong word."

She's not looking for a fight, not unless he's intending to start one. And for the record, she'd probably be just as mouthy with Klaus or Rebekah there would just be a lot of punching and kicking in between. Her mouth doesn't really stay shut when there's an opportunity for witty banter.

"I would have gone more with 'observe.' I'm observing you."

Elijah would prefer to avoid a confrontation if it can be helped. There is enough fighting and bloodshed in the Quarter as it is and the situation is precarious enough without adding a full-on war between even more factions.

"And?"

Please, enlighten him with your keen powers of observation, Buffy. He is, at the very least, a little curious.

"Still assessing. But from what I can see? Things keep going the way they're going and you're going to have a pretty big problem on your hands."

Not that he doesn't already know that. The factions in New Orleans have been building for a while. Werewolves, vampires, witches - it's all swirling together and the only way that Buffy can see this ending is with a bang.

"I don't think you're going to get the peace you want."

unnamed } { but my heart told my head, this time no

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omg i am so hideously late/slow

it's all good <33

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