Funnier in Latin

“Well that’s a relief,” she laughed with him, hoping the humor would defuse his obvious nerves at least a little. Whatever it was he was about to tell her was clearly important and she wanted to treat it as such. Except when he said ‘shapeshifter’ her initial thought was Sam is a pyramid and she barely contained the snort that followed. Slapping her hands over her mouth to physically contain any more giggles, she quickly apologized, “sorry, triangles is all I had in my head and while that would be interestin’, I take it you don’t turn into actual shapes and it’s far less literal than that?” Fred started going through her internal rolodex of things mystical and mysterious to pinpoint if she’d heard of anything like what he’d said, “if you meant werewolf would you have said werewolf? Or is that not okay to say, is that derogatory?”

Fred jumped slightly as his voice pierced the night er -- early morning air. She’d been staring up at the clear sky, keeping a close eye on the stars when he’d spooked her to attention. Catching her breath, she turned to look at him but only slightly as she kept one eye on the sky, “there’s a meteor shower...or well, there’s supposed to be. At least that’s what I read and while I don’t know how many people would fake a meteor shower on an internet forum as a prank here I am at 4am.” She looked at him properly, an apologetic smile on her lips, “I didn’t wake you, did I? I accidentally slammed my door on my way out but I was tryin’ to be quiet - I do actually try.”

Fred grinned brightly, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet - only refraining as to not make too much extra noise, “I’m so glad you want to stay! It’s been so good havin’ you around and well, while I don’t mind a simple conversation with myself and I, I do enjoy the company you provide. Also you’ve got some great ideas for this place,” she gestured around them at the treehouse, “it could always do with more fortification but otherwise she’s a masterpiece to be shared.”

“Of course! You know what they say about feeding the strays,” she joked, made obvious by the laugh and snort that followed before she corrected, “I’m kidding, about the stray thing not the stayin’ here. I mean, it’s been nice having someone to talk to that wasn’t just in my head and you didn’t try to to kill me which is also a nice plus.”

Fred looked back up at him, gaining courage from his words that weren’t turning her away. “I don’t know, Sam, I told you I was once a vessel for the return of a God who carved me out and I somehow manifested again and you took that in stride,” she pushed her glasses up her nose a bit, eyeing him curiously, “I also lived in a hell dimension for a while, I’d wager I’m pretty well versed in a lot of things most others might call insane. Like, you’re not eatin’ people, are you?” Her brow furrowed, Angel didn’t drink blood but Spike did, though to her knowledge it was only ever pig’s blood when she knew them save for a few soulless events, “I suppose that’s not even that much of a dealbreaker, I mean I guess if they offered? Willin’ and all..”

She looked down at their connected hands before looking back at him, not pulling her hand away from his but her free one definitely continued to fiddle with one of the spare screws, “I thought maybe you might’ve liked me like that, like the kind of like that involves kissin’ and carin’ about one another.” The blush returned and she glanced back down at their hands, “if it’s just the carin’ bit, that’s fine. I just thought that maybe it felt different, maybe I was readin’ into it, or maybe I’ve gone and gotten all weak in the knees for someone who was just bein’ nice again. It wouldn’t be the first time someone’s had to let me down easy, I promise, I’ll bounce back just as chipper.” It wouldn’t stop the embarrassment from rolling in hard, however.

“Well why would you have?” Fred pointed out, stomach dropping a bit as worry started to creep in. He’d kiss her back but what if it was just out of shock and surprise? “I try sometimes to internalize my thinkin’ so I don’t just go chatterin’ in the background when it’s socially unfair to fill the air with workin’ stuff out for myself. I-I was, have been thinkin’ about things lately and I just thought that maybe..” she shook her head, feeling like she was back in that clueless place again. Dopey Fred, could be smart about smart things but when it came to matters of the heart, of course she wasn’t. “It’s fine, I probably should’ve asked permission or somethin’ first,” she smiled at him before moving to distract herself with the tools on the counter.

Fred pressed her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to cover the blushing, nevermind the fact that by doing so she was actually drawing more attention to them. “If it explodes, I apologize in advance but I’m pretty sure nothing’s changed with the electrical current,” she rattled off a bit, moving her hands from her cheeks to play with the ends of her hair as she tried to manage the nervous energy coursing through her body. Her gaze snapped to his, her head shaking before any words came out but they quickly followed, “no, no, of course I --” Fred caught herself, narrowing her eyes at him and smiling a little, “see? You’ve got me goin’ again. My brain turns to jelly and I can’t remember how to speak but you still look at me like I’m not talkin nonsense.”

Sometimes it felt like she had absolutely no control over her body when her mind got away with itself. One second she was excitedly hopping over a minuscule success, something anyone else would’ve seen as tedious and been bored by, but she was proud of the breakthrough she’d made - they’d made. The next second, she’d kissed him, turning bright red in the process but sinking further as he didn’t push her away but instead returned the favor. She melted. Then her mind caught up and she panicked, hoping she hadn’t made a complete fool out of herself. Oh Fred, not again. “Sorry! I--” she shook her head, backtracking already, “not that I’m sorry for--” again, she backtracked, “it was nice- good- er I mean, that was wonderful, but I didn’t mean to uh-” she blushed harder, her words scrambled in her brain, “I-- I told you I could fix the toaster.” After multiple tries. Kissing him might’ve given her away.

“Uh–” Fred froze mid action and stared at Rick, trying to come up with the right words to describe what had been happening. “The dragon was attacking the keep?” She dropped her hands from their claw position and glanced over at Judith, who’d been enjoying story time until it had stopped at least, “sorry if we were gettin’ a little loud.”

Fred looked up suddenly from her work, the voice of her friend drawing her from her deep thoughts of prophecies and runes. It was possible Erin had said more than just the one thing but Fred could sometimes get stuck in her own head and miss on many things. “Oh?” her stomach grumbled and she looked over at the enchanted clock in the room, it didn’t tell the time but a soft wheezing voice came from it and told her ‘well passed dinner time, dearest.’ Blushing, she looked back to Erin, “thank you, I guess I might’ve forgotten again.”

"It's not exactly the same but it feels a lot like a place a friend of mine used to own," Fred thought about Lorne, his bar, "I think you might've gotten along business owner to business owner." Her gaze lingered on Sam for a moment before she looked away back to the decorations and how festive Merlotte's was looking, "What's not to love? It's got character, if walls could talk I'm sure they'd have about a million stories to share--" she giggled again, "I'm guessing some of those stories are ones you'd prefer that stay untold."

"For me it's not always an action as much as it's an idea that needs to get done. I once got so caught up trying to build a card castle that I stayed up for two days and that was just me tryin' to wind down after finals," she laughed, "sometimes it's easier for me to let whatever thoughts I have come out, however they want to come out, wherever they want to come out. It gets crowded up here," Fred tapped the side of her head, "like a party I didn't plan." A soft blush found its way back onto her cheeks again and she looked back at the decorations, “I like it here.”