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

[cross_and_bow]

"Magic doesn't like me. It might have been trying to replace me outright and only got halfway. Still not especially cruel as that sort of thing goes, but more inconvenient than just picking you up and putting you in Cara's apartment."

[impetuous_force]

"Right, I'll take whatever you've got on vengeance demons and interdimensional travel."

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara gathers up a handful of books and presents them to Rune.

"I haven't got time for helpful annotation other than what's already there, but," she takes a few seconds to find some paper and scrawl some key pages and chapters she remembers off the top of her head, "here. These'll be more heavily skewed towards the 'vengeance demons' piece, I'll requisition books on interdimensional travel next time I get the chance. Let me know if you have any questions. I'd appreciate it if you were careful with that especially large book."

[impetuous_force]

"Thanks, will do."

[cross_and_bow]

"Speaking of money to put Rune up in a motel and whatnot, can you requisition some from the Watcher's Council? Expenses?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"I'll try. How much of a secret should this be? It tends to be hard for me to wring money out of them, and I'd have more of a chance if they knew what it was for, but I'm not sure we'll want them attempting to interfere."

[cross_and_bow]

"What's the worst case if they do interfere? They decide Rune's a demon and have her assassinated or something?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Potentially. It's likelier that the consequences will be more...bureaucratic in nature. For example, if we don't manage to convince them she's benign, they could completely cut off my access to their libraries and other resources. They'll take significantly more convincing than me, too. They're still a bit suspicious of you because of the 'missing Slayer' thing."

[cross_and_bow]

"I did not decide to be missing. Do you have an alternate source on books if they decide to shoot themselves in the foot like that?"

[impetuous_force]

"Witch shops often have demonology books but I don't know if the quality of witch shops is much like what I'm used to, here."

[whole_bloody_business]

"I can still get books, I'll just have to limit myself to local collections. I'm not sure what quality you're used to, Rune, but the local magic shop has a better selection than most. I can make do if you think asking for money is worth the risk."

[cross_and_bow]

"Ugh, they're so badly run. Slayer-subsidy should be standard. Do you have to tell them Rune's a me or can you just tell them we've recruited me witchy support staff but ought to pay her?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"You're right, going into too much detail will probably just complicate things. But I should warn you that in general, the Watchers' Council doesn't approve of Slayers having a non-Watcher support staff, especially if it includes witches. Some days, I think they wake up in the morning and think, 'Gosh, pitting one teenage girl against the forces of evil is a pretty inefficient system. How about we make it even worse for everyone involved?'" She rolls her eyes. "I'll try to appeal to the more reasonable members."

[cross_and_bow]

"Thank you. What exactly is the concern they have with the extra support?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Varies. The consensus seems to be that they don't want to put the Slayer's life in the hands of someone who they haven't personally vetted extensively, but I suspect it mostly stems from them being afraid of change."

[cross_and_bow]

"They'd rather kill me themselves when I turn eighteen, huh?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Well, they can't trust anyone else to do it properly," she says sarcastically.

[impetuous_force]

"I almost wonder if they value a high turnover rate for some reason," says Rune. "There are rumors that the last Slayer in my world was killed by a botched or interfered-with or even an according-to-plan-some-of-them-die Cruciamentum but I don't know if it's true."

[whole_bloody_business]

"Valuing a high turnover rate would explain...a lot of things, but I'm not sure why they would," Cara muses.

[cross_and_bow]

"Younger Slayers are easier to control. Keeps the demon population guessing about where the Slayer may during any given year be based," suggests Destiny.

[whole_bloody_business]

"True. They'd have to train new ones more frequently, but it's not as if they're losing money or irreplaceable resources by doing that, and if the Slayer's value is primarily based on reputation and not actual Slaying, a less-experienced Slayer isn't significantly less valuable than any other," she says. "Fuck."

[cross_and_bow]

"Okay, look, what valuable things would actually be lost if the Watcher's Council disappeared?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Resources. International coordination. Institutional power," she says automatically. "Fuck, I'm angry enough that I almost don't care."

[cross_and_bow]

"Can we potentially replace those things? Even partially."

[whole_bloody_business]

"The first two, yes, if we could get enough people on our side. The third would take longer." She rubs her temple. "I sense another project. And I wholeheartedly approve. But it'll take a lot of work."