What Could Be Lurking In The Corner

[whole_bloody_business]

Something's killing the students. Again.

Cara didn't ask to be stationed right on top of the Hellmouth. She certainly didn't ask to put her extremely expensive education to use trying to convince a bunch of drooling American teenagers to pay attention to Latin verb conjugations. In fact, she'd strongly prefer to avoid demons, non-Slayer high school students, and other such unsavory creatures altogether. But, well, she's the one who decided to become a Watcher. She made her bed, she has to lie in it.

Of course, when she signed on, she didn't expect a missing Slayer.

The girl seems to have vanished off the face of the earth, which, of course, means demonic activity is skyrocketing. And, of course, Cara's the only one around with even the tiniest chance of keeping it in check. Which is why she's poking around in the boiler room during her lunch break instead of popping another aspirin and taking a nap on her desk.

Whoever this missing Slayer is, she'd better have a damn good explanation.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

There's somebody sitting on a park bench, stubbing out a cigarette. Bella has crossed this park, so they're pretty much guaranteed not to be a vampire.

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara would prefer not to have company, but the only other bench nearby appears to have been vomited on. It's a close call. She grunts noncommittally at the other person, then buries her head in her hands.

[alicornucopia]

"Rough day?" says company.

[whole_bloody_business]

"Brilliant observation," she snaps. "Pardon me, I didn't realize I was sitting next to bloody Sherlock Holmes."

[alicornucopia]

"Whoa there," says company. "Sounds like you've got something to unload, huh?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"What, do you have nothing better to do than sit around in parks and listen to people whinge at you?"

[alicornucopia]

"Finished my cig," says company. "Why not?"

[whole_bloody_business]

She weighs the need to unload her problems against the possibility that a human-shaped demon has escaped Bella's notice and is bothering her for nefarious reasons. She decides the latter possibility is unlikely. Still, she'll be vague.

"Here's what going to happen," she says. "You are going to sit there and listen to me. You are not going to butt in with personal anecdotes or unwanted advice. You are not going to tell me I sound like I'm insane, even though objectively, I am going to sound like I'm insane. You are not going to get your feelings all over me. For the purpose of the exercise, you are going to sit there like a wall that occasionally nods and says 'go on.' Come to think of it, I could just go home and yell at a wall..."

[alicornucopia]

"Go on," says company mildly.

[whole_bloody_business]

Eh. She's already here. Might as well.

"I'm working on a project. It's not going well. I've been trying to fix something that a bunch of deeply idiotic people screwed up a long time ago, and I'm not making any significant progress even though I'm working my ass off and this is what I'm supposed to be good at, research and problem-solving and boring minutiae that everyone else is too lazy to pay attention to. Not that anyone else is helping, either. I want to punch everyone I talk to in the face sometimes, even my...assistant. Don't get me wrong, my assistant's great, she's worth twenty of your average high school student, but she can't help me with this. I just wish I had a witch instead of a Slayer to help me make some progress, or at least make it so I didn't have to do all these mind-numbing spells by myself." (Too late, she realizes she name-dropped the Slayer. She doesn't call attention to it and hopes her company didn't notice).

[alicornucopia]

"Done," says company, smiling broadly.

And he disappears.

[whole_bloody_business]

A demon. That was a demon. Shit. Shit. Shitshitshitshit. Shit, she's supposed to be better than this, everyone who ever told her she was a fuckup was right...

Cara pulls herself together. She has to fix this.

She starts to walk back to her apartment. On the way there, she calls Bella.

[cross_and_bow]

"You have reached the Slayer, please rate your emergency on a scale of one to apocalypse?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Good, you're alive. I don't think it's an apocalypse, but I was talking to a person and I mentioned you and the person turned out to be a demon. Or possibly an evil witch. It disappeared ominously shortly afterwards, so be careful. Make sure everything's all right with your family. If it was a demon, I have some suspicions as to what kind of demon it was, and I'm going to research them."

[cross_and_bow]

"Dad's across the room, I'll call my mom in the morning, she's bound to be asleep by now - what happened?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"I was frustrated and ranting at a stranger in the park. I was being vague, but I mentioned that my "assistant" was the Slayer, and then he said "done" and disappeared. I don't know why that was enough for it to finish whatever it was doing. It may have had something to do with the way I phrased the sentence."

Her walk did not take her very far. She enters her apartment building and gets into the elevator.

[cross_and_bow]

"Which phrasing was what?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"The only sentence where I mentioned you or anything remotely magic related. Quote, 'I just wish I had a witch instead of a Slayer to help me make some progress, or at least make it so I didn't have to do all these mind-numbing spells by myself', unquote. Some demons grant wishes. They tend to backfire. You might have been un-Slayered. Check. If it was that kind of demon, whatever change it made to reality should have happened by now."

She fumbles around for her key for a bit, then enters her apartment

[cross_and_bow]

Pause. "I can still walk across the room without tripping. I'm gonna set down the phone for a second and try something more elaborate." Clunk.

[impetuous_force]

In Cara's apartment is: Bella. She's looking at Cara's books, frowning.

When the door opens she startles and falls on her ass.

[whole_bloody_business]

...Cara drops her phone, grabs at the heavy book nearest to her, and holds it like she's about to swat a fly. Her mind is racing.

"What are you and why do you look like Bella?"

[impetuous_force]

"Wh - how do you know my name? Where the hell am I?"

[whole_bloody_business]

Oh no. Cara's not going to be fooled twice in one day.

"Stay down, or you won't like the consequences," she says. She picks up her phone.

"Bella? Are you still there?"

[cross_and_bow]

Bella is not still there. Bella is checking on her Slayerishiness.

[impetuous_force]

"Are you threatening - look, I didn't mean to be here, is this your place, I swear I have no idea how I wound up here, I wasn't even casting anything!"