welcome to the hellmouth

[trenchcoatbrigade]

The locating spell pulls at his hip uncomfortably. The sensation was really grating at his nerves. He'd been following it for nearly two hours and his hangover wasn't making things easier.

The neighborhood around him was... nice. A bit too domestic for his tastes, really, but some people went for that sort of thing, he guessed.

Finally, finally, the magical pulling sensation grows to near painful levels, telling him that he was really bloody close. John pulls the taxi to the side of the road and gets out.

He was in Sunnydale. Great. Home of the bloody Hellmouth. Just a well that he would find the Slayer here. Just. His. Luck.

He walks over to the closest house and is rewarded with a sharp stab to his hip. Yup. Slayer was here.

John throws his smoke down on the perfectly manicured lawn and walks up to the door.

He knocks.

Comments

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"Don't rightly know. Just always been that way. The Chosen One. When one Slayer dies, another is called.

"Well, normal people, they're not strong enough to protect themselves, and they would distract the Slayer from her job. It's right mess, don't recommend it."

[superego_medico]

Ezra's narrow eyes develops a small tick on his left one, which John might not appreciate as being the same as his mom.

"Why a Chosen One? Why not a Chosen Multiple? A Chosen Army. Or a Voluntary Army? Who decided all that stuff?"

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"Mysterious higher beings who do not like to tell us mere mortals their reasonings."

[superego_medico]

"This kind of thing only makes me more inclined to tell my mom, or go to the police and tell them myself... wait, do they know? How that entire mess is kept hidden? Why is kept hidden?"

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"Doubt telling the cops will help much. Places like this, places steeped in dark magic, tend to have a strange effect on people like them. They like their ignorance an' go a long way to keep it. It also won't help your sister, she has a job to do an' people getting in her way, trying to help, they make her job harder in the end."

[superego_medico]

Ezra looks at John, like he grew a second head. He turns to Arya, some kind of quiet communication happens and then storms out.

[abodyinmotion]

Arya watches him go with a pained expression.

"Sorry about him," Arya says "he isn't the glass half-empty type... more like. The glass should be full and there is no excuse not trying filling it... Do you need to talk anything more. Ezra will keep it a secret, but I need to talk to him at some point."

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"He mentioned he was having dreams. I'll need to know about them eventually, they might have important information. For now, I'll need you to report to me every day, here's my mobile number." He hands her a card.

"We'll need to start your combat training, in preparation for a nightly patrol of the town. What time you free in the afternoons?"

[abodyinmotion]

"He totally wrote them down. Even before believing them," Arya accepts the card and then writes one of her own "Here is my number. School is usually out around 2:30. I was going to start some kind of martial art but haven't got around to signing up for anything. I suppose your training fits that."

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"It does at that. Suppose I have to phone up the Watchers Council an' tell them the good news." John looks pained. "Give me a couple days to settle in, an' I'll give you a call when I have a place for you to train."

He takes out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. "Right then, unless there's anythin' else?"

[abodyinmotion]

"I think Ezra is going to collaborate either way, but it will be much more smoothly if you give him something more productive to do. Bribe him with books that teach protection magic, specially mental protection and he might even enjoy this whole mess."

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"Think I can work something out. I know a bloke that's interested in that sort of stuff, he owes me a couple. There's no reason we can't all get along."

[abodyinmotion]

"Great, I think that is all... Oh, wait. I want ask something from Ezra's dreams that really spooked him... The soul thing about vampires, it is true?"

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"Vamps don't have souls, if that's what you mean."

[abodyinmotion]

"Oh, hell. Ezra is going to be veeery upset about that, but it shouldn't really impact you. Thanks for coming."

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"An' why would that bother him?"

[abodyinmotion]

"It is just a personal fear, the notion of your mind losing something and then you get a undead monsters that looks like you and has your memories," she shrugs "it is hard to explain. I can't fully grasp it myself."

[trenchcoatbrigade]

"I get it. It's a scary thought." He opens the door and steps outside. "Remember to be inside before sunset, no tellin' what sort of creepy crawlies are running 'bout in this town. An' with you without any sort of combat experience, it wont be pretty."

[abodyinmotion]

"I promise that will try not to slay anything bigger than my head until I get more training. Bye!"

[trenchcoatbrigade]

John raises an eyebrow and laughs. "Right then."

He leaves.

[abodyinmotion]

Arya closes the door and then goes upstairs to have a nice conversation with her twin, who now shares a tragic magical destiny with her. Life couldn't get any better.