XXXVIII--video;

[breakmychest]

[The camera turns on to reveal a frail-looking old woman in Victorian garb. She seems rather confused by the contraption, but she does understand how it works thanks to the general Barge run-down she's received. When she notices that it's recording, she smiles and sits back. She's on a beaten up looking couch and trying to look as if she's not uncomfortable with how old it looks, or how very modern the room is. She partially succeeds.]

Hello, I am Mrs. Anne Pratt. I hear my son William is a Warden here. [She frowns for a moment.] Though I can hardly believe this is his room. He seems to have... adjusted. [Her face smooths over, and she smiles again.] I'm very proud of him, even if I--

[She stops and coughs into a handkerchief for several seconds.] Excuse me. [She sips from a glass of water, then continues.]

It's not the direction I'd have expected, but I am certain he's doing good work.

[She smiles again, then turns off the camera.]

Comments

[bigbad]

Oh, you do? How nice. Are you friends?

[She'd love it if her boy could make some real friends.]

[82prctmoremanly.livejournal.com]

[Andrew smiles. He likes Spike's mom. He fixes his hair a little as he speaks. Something about Mrs. Spike's Mom makes him want to look more presentable.]

Yeah! Yeah, we're friends. Spike--William's real cool. He's always got my back and stuff. We--we've even saved each other's lives a couple times, too! We're totally best friends.

[In his defense, this isn't necessarily a lie in Andrew's eyes.]

[bigbad]

[Unfortunately, this is less of a good thing than you might think.]

Oh, my, is this place that dangerous, then?

[82prctmoremanly.livejournal.com]

Oh! No, uh, not here. I mean, it is kinda dangerous here, or--it can be. But all that stuff was before we got here. It was probably more dangerous for us then there than it is here.

[Andrew doesn't even realize really what he's saying or what kind of affect it might have in this situation and just says it. And no one should be surprised.]

[bigbad]

You knew my son before he came here? He never mentioned you. [She frowns for a moment.] Are you a poet too? And London's hardly that dangerous, not for a smart boy like William.

[Somewhere, Spike is considering staking himself.]

[82prctmoremanly.livejournal.com]

Uhm, I've done... some poetry... [In Klingon.] But, uh, I was really talking about... uh, later. [How does he save himself in this without telling Mrs. Spike's Mom that her son becomes a vampire and kills a whole bunch of people and makes out with the Slayer? That would probably give her a heart attack... After all, nice Victorian lady like her, she'd probably look at Buffy and think she was some kind of prostitute.]

Like, uh, there's stuff in... your future. That's when I meet Sp--William. [That is HARD.] I'm from the future, basically!

[bigbad]

What is it you keep calling him? "Spike?" Is that... a future name? And your accent, it's American.

[82prctmoremanly.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I'm from America. And... uh... Spike is just a--a nickname. You know, like... Bill or Willy... Spike. I always call him that and not William, so I keep messing up. Sorry.

[bigbad]

[A bit mystified.] When did he go to America? Does everyone in America use such strange names?