rangerbecket | (no subject)

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Raleigh hasn't had a lot of practice in the dating department over the last several years and he's more than a little rusty but he thinks there's no way that he could go wrong with a trip to Disneyland. It's the happiest place on earth, right? He thinks that he and Buffy can have a good time being kids and eventually come back to the hotel when they're sick of carnival rides and bad food.

So when he shows up at her door, he's dressed casually and there is absolutely no stopping the grin on his face; he thinks that possibly he's going to get smacked for being too cheerful but it's a risk he's definitely willing to take. He knocks quickly and calls out for her, eager to go.

"Hey, Buffy? Are you ready for the most exciting date this side of Godzilla wrangling?" He's nothing if not in possession of a fine sense of humor.

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Raleigh needn't worry. Buffy's dating experiences have been more like cautionary tales. He's also right on the mark with Disneyland. She's a California girl who hasn't made it out to Disneyland since she was a very little girl.

Buffy is dressed casually as well and she's got a grin that's just about as bright as his, tempered with a few nerves. There will definitely be no smacking for cheerfulness. She's the epitome of bubbly blonde right now.

"Hmmmm, I don't know if I can handle that much excitement," she teases as she waffles at the door. She feels a little naked going without a stake, but at the same time, she wants to do the normal thing. She makes the final decision to leave the stake behind and steps out into the hallway.

"Okay. Okay. I'm ready for the excitement."

"We're going to the happiest place on earth," Raleigh tells her, beaming a smile. It's dumb and fun and something he doesn't get a lot of back home; he thinks Buffy can relate to him on that front.

"Hopefully you haven't been too many times? I only went once as a kid."

Her eyebrows lift, questioning as if to say 'where exactly'. That look of expectancy melts into a smile as big as his.

"No way! Really? I mean, no. I haven't. Been there. Not since I was...wait, we are talking about Disneyland, right? And we're going to take pictures with all the characters? You know, us and the three year olds."

"Get your autograph books and mouse ears ready," Raleigh says, laughing a little.

"We could even get them with our names on them but Raleigh's kind of a lot of letters. Still, I figured it'd be a chance to just...get away for a little while. I figured you could appreciate that more than anyone else around here."

"Surely we won't be the only adults there." Getting autographs and wearing mouse ears she means, but it's clear by the tone of her voice and the smile on her face she doesn't much care if they are or aren't.

"Mmmm, I see what you mean," she nods mock seriously about the number of letters in his name. That mocking expression turns back into a smile as she nods. "I can't think of a better place to escape to."

"Me either. I only got to come here once when I was a little kid. This was pre-Godzilla," Raleigh explains. It had been nice before the kaiju to spend a week away from Alaska enjoying the sun and splendor of southern California. Now Southern California is a waste zone and Alaska isn't much better. Anchorage's Shatterdome feels like home but that's not much of a home to claim.

"Seems weird vampires would like a place so...sunny. I would think they'd want somewhere damp and miserable."

"I'm assuming post Godzilla, there is no Disneyland?" That's a little disappointing to consider actually. Back home, she's sort of fighting for truth, justice and Disneyland, or something like that. She's struggling to make sure that there is a Disneyland and normal families to fill it up. She knows that her world and Raleigh's world aren't the same, but the same idea applies.

"Right? I think they like the food there." Said with a completely straight face. The only hint that she's making a joke in her eyes.

"No, no Disneyland. Damn shame, really," Raleigh says. He laughs a little when he picks up on what she says about vampires and their eating habits.

"They have...preferences? More or less?"

"Everyone needs some Minnie Mouse in their lives," Buffy agrees with a nod. "Who's your favorite though?" She pauses. "Or was."

She hesitates. "Spike, a vampire friend of mine, used to say that what someone ate mattered, what they did. All that sunshine people in California observe make them taste different. They usually avoid old people, fat people and kids...oddly enough. So basically, teenagers are their favorite. Maybe it's all the pizza."

"Huh. That's...not what I expected." Raleigh thinks for a minute and grins a little. "Well, you know that old movie, Pirates of the Caribbean? I used to love it, so I love that ride too. Jack Sparrow's my favorite."

She shrugs a little. "I don't think I'd ever had any expectations about that." A smile bursts over her face. "I love Jack Sparrow, but you realize it's a pretty new movie to me," she teases him.

She hesitates a moment watching him. "I like the Jungle ride. It's like you're somewhere else entirely."

"Oh yeah. I can always go for a jungle cruise," Raleigh says, smiling as he thinks about all his happy memories.

"So, where do we start? Ladies' choice."

She considers that a moment. "Frontier Land? We'll work out way around."

She doesn't want to start with the favorites. She'd rather put those somewhere in the middle and space them out a little.

"Sounds like a perfect start to me," Raleigh says, offering his arm to her. Maybe it's a little childish but he's feeling young today, younger than he's felt in a long time.

"So, other than hunting creatures of the night, what's life like? Family? Friends?"

It's not childish. It's charming and she takes his arm with a bright smile. There's nothing wrong with feeling young and happy. She's feeling it as well and she's got the impression that Raleigh deserves it as much as she does.

"I've got a sister. She's here with me and great friends. We live in San Francisco now. Mostly it's me and Dawn and her boyfriend, my best friend, Xander. Yes, that was weird for all of about fifteen minutes then I realized I don't have to threaten him. He already knows I'll rip his spine out through his belly button if he hurts her."

Colorful imagery for the win.

"Oh, and I'm a barista. Nothing as exciting as Godzilla Slayer."

"Sounds pretty exciting to me but, hey, I'm just a Godzilla slayer," he teases.

"I don't have any family anymore and you don't get to make a lot of friends when you're on call all the time. Mostly it's just me and the other rangers. I've got a few friends here, though, so it's nice to have the down time."

She laughs at that. "We can't all be baristas."

It's good, the teasing and back and forth banter. At least it's not awkward, and she had been worried about it simply because that would ruin a date.

"I'm sorry," she responds to the bit about family. "That's hard. I mean--the family thing." She simply assumes he lost them because of her own experiences and everyone has family at some point in their lives.

"That's one good thing about this place then."

"Yeah, it's kind of an escape, isn't it? From everything?"

Raleigh is no stranger to hiding from responsibility but he likes to think he's gotten a little better lately about owning up to what needs to be done.

Buffy nods in agreement. "Which is good. Hitting pause."

Buffy has always been pretty responsible. She had a snafu when she was sixteen, but she'd owned up to it. She'd always come back to responsibly when it mattered.

"So what do you usually do to hit pause? You know, besides go to Disneyland? I'm a shoe shopper."

"Pool, sometimes, with my brother," Raleigh says. "And mindless jobs. Been working construction for a while to just blank out and forget. Maybe working isn't the best way to spend your down time but it's nice to me, to have a routine. I think that's why I've been picking up odd jobs in the hotel too. I like the steadiness of it."

Buffy nods and tugs Raleigh toward one of the rides. There's a line, but it's not too terrible right now. "No. I get it. I can be all slay all the time girl when everything else is just...too much. It's monotonous and one thing that you can control. Or maybe I'm projecting. I do that sometimes."

"Well, if it's projecting, we've got the same damage," Raleigh assures her. "Because that sounds pretty much accurate. Having that one thing you can control when the whole world is going insane around you - it's sometimes the only thing you need."

"So I'm in good company," Buffy smiles at him, nodding a little. "I can kind of be a control freak."

Kind of is an understatement, but to be fair, she's had to be a leader, taking charge and saving the world since she was sixteen. It tends to make a girl a little OCD about control. To add to that, there's so much of her life that is out of control because she's the slayer, that she clings tightly to the things she can control.

"Well, today, we are not thinking about it. No decisions other than what color mouse ears you want," Raleigh says with a grin.

"Relaxation starts now."

Oh, he gets a smile out of her at that. "Now as in...you're ready to get on one of the rides now?"

She looks over to the ride closest at hand and lifts her eyebrows in a 'well?' sort of gesture.