“We’re fugitives, haunted by our past, tormented by a message we don’t understand.”
High school is probably one of the last places one expects a crazy riot... Well, okay, under bad circumstances, it’s the first place one expects a crazy riot. Teenagers are freakin’ scary when they get a mind to be and when you add a hyperfocused Hellmouth to the mix... Well, then you have a problem. A big problem. And in the midst of this riot, there is a vampire (with soul in), a Slayer, the school principal fighting the good fight and trying not to hurt anyone, because they're just students! Students possessed by the Hellmouth, yes, but students, nonetheless.
There is also a guy with a camcorder, hanging back and filming the whole scene while simultaneously trying not to panic or die... And, really, further reaffirming why he doesn’t want to be here. He observes and records! He doesn’t interfere... Except when Buffy threatens him because he’s the only one that anyone can think of currently who might have a chance of doing some serious fixing of that which he broke by killing his best friend and using his blood to open the seal that’s causing all this chaos.
Ah, life in Sunnydale. It’s complicated. You really don't need any more explanation than that.
"Oh God. Struck down before I achieve redemption." Yes, he’s doing well on the not panicking front. And meanwhile Buffy’s kicking ass and taking names and maybe... Just maybe he can get over here out of the way and get a few good shots of the action. Yes, that’s a good plan.
Or it was until everything shifts around him. His first instinct is to think that the Hellmouth did something really wonky to him, but somehow he’s not sure teleporting him away from the chaos-filled high school and into a construction site somewhere that is definitely not California is the sort of behavior the Hellmouth engages in. Not that he’s really an expert in all things Hellmouth, so, honestly, he’s not sure. For all he knows, this could be a new plot of The First or something.
He spins around a few times, still clutching the camcorder and makes a few incoherent whimpering noises. "Buffy... Spike... Principal Wood?"
Of course, they’re not here. They’re back at the high school and this has nothing to do with the Hellmouth and everything to do with stepping through a Rift into another world.
Andrew Wells, welcome to Chicago... Or well...Cicero, really, but whatever.