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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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.

"Yeah, I'm game," Raleigh says, following her over to what looks like spinning teacups. It's probably going to make him nauseated, sure, but it will hopefully be fun and a chance to let go for a little while.

"Think we can hack it?"

"Are you kidding? I totally bet we can hack it. I mean, it's not like a car which I don't usually drive because Buffy and cars are non-mixy things, but I have you making up the difference with the driving skills. Anyway, yes. I think we'll be okay."

She's so pleased by the idea of the tea cups. Her brow furrows after a moment. "You don't get motion sick right? I mean...I don't. At least I never have."

"Nope. Pretty sure you wash out of the Ranger program on first go if you can't hold your stomach on the teacups," Raleigh says. Being in a Jaeger is pretty damn disorienting and he's always been able to keep his head when it comes to things like that.

"Figures you would have an iron stomach, though. Do you have any weaknesses at all?"

"Sort of what I figured," Buffy grins as they approach the teacups.

Her eyes go wide at Raleigh's question and there's something like panic and an almost overwhelming desire to protest. "OH wow. Yeah...so many. Uhm...I sort of tend to hit first and ask questions later. I swear, I don't handle everything with violence, but it seems like sometimes. I'm kind of a control freak and if you ask my friends, I can get bitchy fast. I'm...bratty about some things and I want my cake and I want to eat too. I..." she stops and shrugs. "Physically, I'm supposed to be a weapon all by myself...and I am. Everything else about me is a mess."

Which is why sometimes she goes slaying to clear her head. At least it's one thing she gets right.

"Seems like we've got a lot in common," Raleigh says. "I tend to shoot first and ask questions later and I never really take orders as something that are set in stone. I figure you can just...bend the rules and ask for forgiveness later, right?"

Buffy grins at that. "I think we've got a lot in common." Which is nice. There aren't many people back home that she shares those things in common with, at least no one that doesn't want her dead. "I mean, that's kind of my motto and if the bending the rules thing works the way you want it to, you don't usually even have to ask forgiveness."

At least that's her experience. Once they're let through the gate, Buffy makes her way to one of the empty tea cups and sits down, hands going to the steering wheel thing.

"Now, how fast are we going to get this thing spinning?" Raleigh's like a kid when it comes to this stuff and everything about him says that he's going to have it going just as fast as humanly possible if he can help it.

That grin on Buffy's face? It's pretty wicked. "Oh, just how fast do you think you can handle, Robot Boy?" she asks him teasingly. Because one of them isn't human here and she can kind of lift a car and move faster than a human so....how does faster than inhumanly possible sound?

"I'm pretty sure I can take whatever you want to dish out," he challenges back. Buffy is the kind of fun that Raleigh hasn't had in a long time and it's nice to be able to just pursue that instead of feeling guilty about it.

"Show me what you've got, Blondie, and I'll see what I can give you back."

Nope, no guilt having here. There's nothing to feel guilty about, because they are just having fun and it's something that neither of them have done in a while so it's sorely needed. She laughs at the challenge.

"Deal." She's betting he can give back just about as good as he gets, human or otherwise.

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

Raleigh thinks it might still be worth it even if he gets sick because he hasn't cut loose like this in so long that he can't even remember.

"Nah, making you hurl would end the date and I like this date," she smiles at him brightly. Yeah, she just said she liked him in a round about way.

"However, getting you close to hurling will just mean we have soda and go shopping until you're ready to try another ride on the Buffy train." Her eyes go wide as she realizes a moment later what she said. "I mean...a ride Buffy--a ride with Buff--You know, with me. A ride. Not a ride. Do you think they make tea cups that eat you? Alice in Wonderland style. I'm just gonna--" she points to the steering wheel and starts spinning it with a good deal of enthusiasm.