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]

"Does the Watcher's Council supply Slayer funding? That seems like a valid purpose for a Watcher's council. I blew my allowance for a good long while on my crossbow."

[whole_bloody_business]

"On occasion, but we're not a particularly rich secret organization. I'd be willing to delve into my income to pay for something like that if it seems like it'd be useful. I could live off instant ramen. It'll be like the university all over again."

[cross_and_bow]

"A council that periodically murders Slayers for the ostensible greater good is merely evil. A council that obliges its Slayers to eventually get day jobs to support themselves is also stupid. It's hard enough to juggle with school, which I can blow off without starving to death if I have to. But hopefully we can nudge along without you having to resort to too much ramen. Yummy though it occasionally is."

[whole_bloody_business]

"I would also prefer to keep my lifestyle mostly ramen-free," she says. "I'll think of some less expensive ideas." She hesitates.

"And I know the Watcher's Council is a bit evil. But it's fixable. It has to be. I wouldn't be here if it weren't." She sounds almost like she's trying to convince herself.

[cross_and_bow]

"What, here teaching Latin?"

[whole_bloody_business]

She starts to say something, then thinks better of it. Instead, she smiles.

"Do you really think being a teacher is anyone's first career choice? No, if I thought the Council was beyond repair, I would have long since embarked on my glamorous career as an estate tax attorney. Instead, I'm here trying to convince high schoolers that the Aeneid is relevant to their lives. Speaking of which, I know you're new, I know I've seen you before, but for the life of me I cannot remember your name."

[cross_and_bow]

"Bella Swan. I doubt I'm the talk of the teacher's lounge for anything but novelty; Slaying has displaced homework in my life priorities list."

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara sighs. "At least you have a good reason. Your after-school activity saves lives. Would you be interested in transferring to Latin so that we can disguise your Slayer training as private tutoring sessions?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Yeah, I was thinking about that because of some of the books in the library being various languages which, whatever their virtues, are not Spanish. Have you got an intro-level section meeting fifth period or will this call for more elaborate shuffling?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"As a matter of fact, I do. Convenient. Shouldn't be too hard to put in for a transfer," she says. "Also, you're quite right, Latin is a helpful language to know for anyone trying to learn about demons."

[cross_and_bow]

"Okay. Can you paperwork that or do I need to do things to swap?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"I think you have to get a signature from your Spanish teacher," she says. "You can get the form at the front office. And then we can start planning our not-at-all-suspicious student-teacher trip to San Francisco or wherever."

[cross_and_bow]

"What's in San Francisco?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"A large vampire population. I was just naming a random city you may want to use as Slaying grounds. There are other places we could go if you prefer."

[cross_and_bow]

"I'm not picky about where I do my Slaying, really. L.A.'s closer, though. I'll get Señora Hawthorn to sign the form tomorrow."

[whole_bloody_business]

"L.A. it is. Now, you should probably eat something, and I should probably mop up all this blood. See you in a few days, fifth period?"

[cross_and_bow]

"Sure thing."

Off goes the Slayer.

She turns up with her transfer form the following Thursday ready to attempt to integrate midstream into Latin.

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara makes it a point to mention that she is available for tutoring after school.

[cross_and_bow]

"Cool, that should help me catch up!" chirps Bella The Studious Student Interested In Studenting.

And after the last bell, here she is.

[whole_bloody_business]

No one else is taking advantage of the tutoring hours, it seems! (Mrs. MacMoran has a reputation, and it does not include the words "patient" or "understanding").

"I told the Council about your existence last night," she says. "I also told them you were not interested in interacting with them further than you had to. They took the news with the expected amount of squawking."

[cross_and_bow]

"But did they take the news with a well-behaved amount of acquiescence?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"After the grumbling died down, yes," says Cara. "You don't need to worry about them for the time being so long as you continue Slaying regularly."

[cross_and_bow]

"Good. I don't need more things to worry about right now. Hey, maybe you can answer a question. I've been assuming that the reason vampires and demons and such are not common knowledge despite not being particularly well-hidden is that vampires are motivated to avoid having people organize large-scale, well-informed hunts for them, and everybody who knows vampires exist would like them to continue to have that motivation rather than descending in packs on large groups of Broadway viewers or whatever. Is that about right or is there something more elaborate going on?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Unless there's something going on that the Council isn't telling me, yes, that's about right."

[cross_and_bow]

"So there isn't any reason to avoid, say, informing people with access to morgues of my Vampire Planned Parenthood deal, if there's a concise way to convince them?"