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]

"This may be a disingenuous question, but what exactly is the drawback of being addicted to magic besides needing to work regular opportunities for the practice of magic into your schedule?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Off the top of my head, you can die. It can also cause behavioral changes that I'd rather avoid."

[cross_and_bow]

"So it's not just addictive, it's poisonous and mind-altering, noted. Extreme caution warranted. But if somebody is selling enchanted things on eBay I can snap them up?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Sure. Shouldn't be a problem."

[cross_and_bow]

"Okay. Not that I can tell through the internet whether a magic thing is real or hippie woo of some kind. Does anybody know why it's poisonous and addictive and mind-altering?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"I don't think I can give you a definitive answer."

[cross_and_bow]

"Can you give me testable hypotheses?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Testable, probably not. I'd guess that it's because supernatural beings tend not to be friendly towards humans, and magic requires calling on supernatural beings. Also, in anticipation of your next question, non-humans don't normally have souls, meaning that they don't feel remorse, which is quite a significant barrier to the development of moral sensibilities."

[cross_and_bow]

"Do human sociopaths have souls?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Yes. Given the existence of sociopaths, it seems reasonable to assume that while the feeling of remorse originates from souls, it can be prevented by something other than the lack of a soul."

[cross_and_bow]

"Are there soulless creatures who do seem to experience remorse? Maybe souls are just a correlate."

[whole_bloody_business]

"It's possible. Neutral demon species do exist, but they're not friendly enough for us to find out whether or not they feel remorse. It's difficult to determine how souls work. You can't exactly take one out and poke it until it makes sense like you can with other body parts. All we have to go on is behavioral analysis. And on top of that, most behavioral analysis is done on the types of demons who kill people, so the information we do have is biased. If I were magically invulnerable somehow I would try to get better data, but the sad truth is that the vast majority of demons would eat my face as soon as look at me, which makes data-gathering difficult. I'm quite attached to my face, and most other parts of my body as well."

[cross_and_bow]

"That's usually how body parts work. I do appreciate the complications. I am curious about neutral demon species in general. Does Spouse Book know more?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Spouse Book does, in fact, know more. 'Neutral' generally means 'will not attempt to remove your face from your body without provocation' or 'does not generally interact with humans' as opposed to 'friendly', but neutral demons are fascinating all the same."

[cross_and_bow]

"Part of what I'm wondering is whether any of the neutral demons dislike any of the non-neutral demons."

[whole_bloody_business]

"If you're looking to recruit allies, it's a good idea, but most neutral demons strongly prefer to avoid conflict. I'd be happy to assist you in convincing them, but, again, tread carefully. Sometimes it's difficult to know what constitutes provocation."

[cross_and_bow]

"Fair enough. Man, who designed this system of Slayage, anyway?"

[whole_bloody_business]

"Lazy bastards with deeply confused moral sensibilities and absolutely no backbone."

[cross_and_bow]

"Can," Bella inquires, "anyone edit the system?"

[whole_bloody_business]

Cara grins.

"That's an idea," she says. "I don't know that anyone's ever tried, but I don't see what's stopping us."

[cross_and_bow]

"Well, my total inability to do magic, for one thing, for all I know one can only get root access to the involved apparatus if one is personally the Slayer. But it seems worth looking into. Several hundred volunteer background-checked Slayers! Who are maybe already out of high school!"

[whole_bloody_business]

"What? You mean trained volunteer adults tend to be better at doing important jobs than coerced and untrained teenagers? Someone alert the media," Cara jokes. "The magic issue could be a barrier, but even if it is, we can at least find out how a Slayer with magic would theoretically go about editing the system."

[cross_and_bow]

"And pass it on to my successor. Fun stuff. But maybe you can do it or some other witch can do it."

[whole_bloody_business]

"Yes, pass it on to your successor after you live to a healthy age," she says decisively. "You're right, though, it'll only be a problem if it's a spell only the Slayer can perform."

[cross_and_bow]

Bella smiles at her, and starts looking through Spouse Book, taking notes as she goes.

There follows considerable Slaying, mostly from safe-ish distances and indirectly via morgue stakings. There is a field trip to L.A. for dusting vamps, leaving ominous graffiti, and having confidential chats with a few morgue workers. Bella finishes crossing the town of Sunnydale. She reads more about demons, and manages to quell an infestation in the south side. She learns Latin. She doesn't do very well in most of her other classes, but she passes.