Sunnydale, California, December 2002 (The Next Day/Tuesday Fandom Time)
None of her occasional attempts to get through to friends in Fandom were any more successful than they had been, unless you counted getting a busy signal once instead of the usual "We're sorry..." message as a success. Kennedy had at least managed to get a hold of her sister, though, which was some measure of relief. If nothing else, her family was safe. For now. Assuming the world didn't end.
On the other hand, she'd had to explain her whereabouts, which, coming on the heels of having to explain to her father why her apartment had been broken into, hadn't been the most fun phone call to make. It occurred to her, after she hung up, that with everything on his plate in everyday life, she'd never heard Dad sound that tired before. He'd more or less come to terms with her Potential-Slayer-ness a while ago, but this whole new level of reality had to be a hard thing to accept.
She kind of loved him a lot for accepting it, though... and for his heartfelt "I'm sorry about Constance, Ken-doll." Too bad about the continent between them right now; she really wanted to give him a hug.
So it was a fairly quiet and subdued Kennedy who put her phone back into her pocket and went out to sit on the back porch this afternoon, missing home, missing her friends, and trying to tell herself they'd figure this whole mess out.
Giles
The house being as crowded as it was, Giles had begun to take the occasional breather outside, which (this being Giles) mainly consisted of pacing around the house and rubbing his forehead. Today, he was in the middle of a particularly long break from the insanity when he spotted Kennedy. And for once, she wasn't mouthing off at someone.
Maybe she was sick.
"Is everything all right?" he asked, coming over to the porch.
Kennedy
"Why wouldn't it be?" Kennedy asked reflexively, although the question didn't have her usual spark and really, the fact that she wasn't mouthing off at anyone said plenty.
Which she seemed to realize; she shrugged her shoulders and kicked the heel of one boot lightly against the porch steps.
"I just talked to my dad. Sorta figured he should know what's going on."
Giles
Yeah, he totally wasn't getting his break today. Whatever.
Giles came around to the entrance to the back porch and took a seat beside her. (See, that was a chair. Watch him sit in it and not fall straight through it. Did that look incorporeal to you?)
"Was he... not receptive?" he asked gently.
Kennedy
"No, he was, actually." Kennedy wasn't sure if that made it better or worse; if he hadn't believed her, he might not be too worried, and she didn't even want to think about poor Jañe-- she'd ended up telling the kid the truth, too. "It was on the news, you know. My Watcher. They said it was a messed up burglary by escaped psychopaths, but..."
She snorted. "Dad's known my deal forever now. Don't think he would've believed it."
Giles
"Ah." Giles absorbed that in silence for a moment, leaning back. "And he was worried about where you were," he finally inferred. "Did he know you were on your way to see her?"
Kennedy
Kennedy nodded, but uncomfortably; talking about Constance brought back the memories of the whole horrible experience.
"Yeah, sort of. He was in Berlin, but my sister knew. I sort of--" There were the mental images again, and Kennedy closed her eyes. "God. I was supposed to be at her place by then, but I was running late. I could've saved her."
Or, you know, not.
Giles
"No," Giles said. He was very firm on that point. "No, you couldn't have. These Bringers, the things that did this -- they would've killed you as well without a moment's pause."
So cheerful. And people wondered why Buffy did all the pep talks instead of him.
Kennedy
"I could've tried," Kennedy insisted, but as headstrong and stupid as she was capable of being, it was hard to be that stubborn about it.
"...which I guess would've put us one step closer to screwed, huh."
That wasn't a question, just a miserably resigned statement of fact. Granted, one with more than a little self-importance attached to it, because she managed to make it sound like her being here made all the difference in the world.
She shrugged again. "Guess it's finally sinking in now." She ran over her last conversation with Constance in her mind and, frowning, looked up at Giles. "I was on the phone with her when they found her. She sounded like... like she knew what was about to happen. Did you guys know this was a possible thing?"
Giles
"Well, she wasn't the first Watcher targeted," Giles explained, keeping his voice more muted than his usual lecture-speak. That was in part because he had a headache, but mainly because he knew she was in pain. "For months now, there have been deaths. Henry Robson, a friend of mine -- he and his Potential were attacked. She was killed and he made it out safely, but since then, it's been clear what's been going on."
His voice softened, and he added, "Many Watchers have been -- taking precautious, so to speak. Going underground, taking positions elsewhere. If Ms. Aluko stayed by your side, she must have thought very highly of you indeed."
Or she thought Kennedy needed ALL THE TRAINING EVER and couldn't justify leaving her high and dry. One of the two.
Kennedy
Or possibly she'd thought that Kennedy needed someone to more or less sit on her and keep her from going off and doing anything completely crazy. And now Kennedy was wondering what all else Constance might have known, and hadn't told her.
Her smile was strained and a little bit shaky when she replied, "Thirteen years. Pretty impressive, huh? God, I could be pissed at her for not warning me, except it's kinda pointless now."
Giles
"Constance Aluko was a fine Watcher," Giles told her gently. "Anything she said or didn't say was, I'm sure, an attempt to protect you."
Kennedy
More than Kennedy realized, even.
"She put up with me that long. That sort of says a lot." Kennedy kicked at the porch steps again. "She didn't have to pull strings to get me sent to Fandom High, but she did. And I want to say I thanked her for it, but I'm not sure if I did, and..."
Ugh, that was stupid. She didn't do regrets, and yet.
"Well, I'm here. That's... something."
Giles
"It's not uncommon to have regrets about unsaid things after someone's passing," Giles pointed out, because it wasn't like anyone had ever heard that before or anything. "But I guarantee that she knew you appreciated her. She understood."
Mainly because it would be impossible to put up with Kennedy if that hadn't been the case.
"Fandom High -- that's the, ah, the high school located on the interdimensional nexus, isn't it?" he wondered. "I think I've heard of it in passing. That's where you went to school?"
Kennedy
True that, Giles. Very, very true.
"That's the one." If Kennedy looked a touch relieved that she didn't have to explain the place to him, she was. "Co-valedictorian of my class, even."
Yes, she was aware how ridiculous that probably sounded.
"Useful sorta place for this line of work and stuff. Sort of."
Giles
Completely ridiculous, thank you. Point to Sunnydale for academic rigor!
No offense, Kennedy.
"Oh?" Hmm. "How so?"
Kennedy
Considering the class offerings, yeah, Sunnydale had two legs up on the competition there.
"Oh, y'know." God, she missed the place right now. "Regular invasions... regular-ish. A big ol' crisis about once a semester. Sure as hell wasn't boring."
Though even the time with the tears in reality-- and she remembered Tara saying We saved the world, we can do anything after that was over-- seemed like playground games in the face of the First Evil. Which was weird, considering the nebulous noncorporeal aspect.
"I owe her big time for that."
Giles
"And now you'll have an opportunity to make good use of it," Giles said encouragingly. Or, you know. Tried to. Because wow, training first.
A pause.
"What, ah, what sort of crises did you mean?"
Kennedy
"Oh, you know. People getting sucked into other dimensions because something went out of whack and was ripping holes in reality, friends going evil, rescuing people from gangs of crazy werewolves..." See, Giles, she was totally prepared for this.
"My friends are, uh. Interesting. God, I really miss them right now."
Giles
"...I see."
Huh. If it walked like a Hellmouth and talked like a Hellmouth... well, then no wonder she was cocky about it.
"Have you tried calling them at all?" he asked, aiming for helpfulness. Not that he thought she was dumb or anything.
Kennedy
Just without the Hellmouth.
Oh, sure, Giles. Now look what you did-- that was actually a sort of wounded-puppy look on Kennedy's face.
"I've been trying. Haven't been able to get through at all." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gave it an accusatory glare. "Something's messing everything up."
Letting the phone drop to the porch beside her, she sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Guess at least that means the First can't go after them."
Giles
"How odd," Giles mused, looking over at her phone. "But you're able to contact your family at home? That's very strange."
Kennedy
"Must be the dimensional thing," Kennedy mumbled. Science: not any more her strong point today than it had been yesterday. "Damn shame, too. My friends are hardcore with the firepower. We could so use them."
Yeah, and that would be a mess.
Giles
"Oh?" He could only imagine what sorts of people from other dimensions would filter into a school like that. And he wasn't even imagining the really interesting ones. "People trained with weapons, that sort of thing?"
Ahahaha.
Kennedy
"Weapons, magic, some funky superhuman powers and no, that is so not me spending too much time around Andrew because I'm tuning him out, thanks." Kennedy snorted. "Pretty pointless wishing for it right now, anyway."
Giles
"...Interesting."
Side-eye. Side-eye so hard.
Kennedy
She deserved that, really.
"You have no idea." And neither did she, go figure. "God, I just hope they know I'm okay."
For now. Details.
Giles
"I'm sure eventually you'll be able to get ahold of them," Giles said optimistically. Sure. Nothing would stop her! I think I'm funny. "And perhaps until then, you and the others might concentrate on training."
Nudge, nudge.
Kennedy
Look, if Giles was going to give her those withering looks every now and then, Kennedy could try and return the favor. Just with a lot less Watcher-y Britishness. Sigh.
"Point taken," she sighed, getting to her feet again. Hey, it'd get her mind off things for a while. "This is me, reporting to the basement."
Giles
Sigh. Kennedy should've studied the Watcher-y Britishness back at Fandom when she had the chance. Too late now!
"Oh," he added, "and when you make the detour in Willow's room, would you make sure to bring her the books that are on the kitchen counter?"
HE WAS ONTO YOU, KENNEDY.
Kennedy
Oops. Busted. Oh, well; not like she had any shame about it.
"Books on the counter, check." Kennedy said. "And, uh... thanks, Giles."
That was enough of an unguarded moment right there, so she cleared her throat and hurried back into the house.
[[post 2 of 2, preplayed with the awesome wesleynotponcy as notagoodwatcher. screw your thirteen-episodes-to-develop-the-entire-plot limitations, canon, i'm tying up some loose ends here! nfi/nfb/ooc-okay, have a chocolate-covered caramel or something before i eat them all.]]
On the other hand, she'd had to explain her whereabouts, which, coming on the heels of having to explain to her father why her apartment had been broken into, hadn't been the most fun phone call to make. It occurred to her, after she hung up, that with everything on his plate in everyday life, she'd never heard Dad sound that tired before. He'd more or less come to terms with her Potential-Slayer-ness a while ago, but this whole new level of reality had to be a hard thing to accept.
She kind of loved him a lot for accepting it, though... and for his heartfelt "I'm sorry about Constance, Ken-doll." Too bad about the continent between them right now; she really wanted to give him a hug.
So it was a fairly quiet and subdued Kennedy who put her phone back into her pocket and went out to sit on the back porch this afternoon, missing home, missing her friends, and trying to tell herself they'd figure this whole mess out.
Giles
The house being as crowded as it was, Giles had begun to take the occasional breather outside, which (this being Giles) mainly consisted of pacing around the house and rubbing his forehead. Today, he was in the middle of a particularly long break from the insanity when he spotted Kennedy. And for once, she wasn't mouthing off at someone.
Maybe she was sick.
"Is everything all right?" he asked, coming over to the porch.
Kennedy
"Why wouldn't it be?" Kennedy asked reflexively, although the question didn't have her usual spark and really, the fact that she wasn't mouthing off at anyone said plenty.
Which she seemed to realize; she shrugged her shoulders and kicked the heel of one boot lightly against the porch steps.
"I just talked to my dad. Sorta figured he should know what's going on."
Giles
Yeah, he totally wasn't getting his break today. Whatever.
Giles came around to the entrance to the back porch and took a seat beside her. (See, that was a chair. Watch him sit in it and not fall straight through it. Did that look incorporeal to you?)
"Was he... not receptive?" he asked gently.
Kennedy
"No, he was, actually." Kennedy wasn't sure if that made it better or worse; if he hadn't believed her, he might not be too worried, and she didn't even want to think about poor Jañe-- she'd ended up telling the kid the truth, too. "It was on the news, you know. My Watcher. They said it was a messed up burglary by escaped psychopaths, but..."
She snorted. "Dad's known my deal forever now. Don't think he would've believed it."
Giles
"Ah." Giles absorbed that in silence for a moment, leaning back. "And he was worried about where you were," he finally inferred. "Did he know you were on your way to see her?"
Kennedy
Kennedy nodded, but uncomfortably; talking about Constance brought back the memories of the whole horrible experience.
"Yeah, sort of. He was in Berlin, but my sister knew. I sort of--" There were the mental images again, and Kennedy closed her eyes. "God. I was supposed to be at her place by then, but I was running late. I could've saved her."
Or, you know, not.
Giles
"No," Giles said. He was very firm on that point. "No, you couldn't have. These Bringers, the things that did this -- they would've killed you as well without a moment's pause."
So cheerful. And people wondered why Buffy did all the pep talks instead of him.
Kennedy
"I could've tried," Kennedy insisted, but as headstrong and stupid as she was capable of being, it was hard to be that stubborn about it.
"...which I guess would've put us one step closer to screwed, huh."
That wasn't a question, just a miserably resigned statement of fact. Granted, one with more than a little self-importance attached to it, because she managed to make it sound like her being here made all the difference in the world.
She shrugged again. "Guess it's finally sinking in now." She ran over her last conversation with Constance in her mind and, frowning, looked up at Giles. "I was on the phone with her when they found her. She sounded like... like she knew what was about to happen. Did you guys know this was a possible thing?"
Giles
"Well, she wasn't the first Watcher targeted," Giles explained, keeping his voice more muted than his usual lecture-speak. That was in part because he had a headache, but mainly because he knew she was in pain. "For months now, there have been deaths. Henry Robson, a friend of mine -- he and his Potential were attacked. She was killed and he made it out safely, but since then, it's been clear what's been going on."
His voice softened, and he added, "Many Watchers have been -- taking precautious, so to speak. Going underground, taking positions elsewhere. If Ms. Aluko stayed by your side, she must have thought very highly of you indeed."
Or she thought Kennedy needed ALL THE TRAINING EVER and couldn't justify leaving her high and dry. One of the two.
Kennedy
Or possibly she'd thought that Kennedy needed someone to more or less sit on her and keep her from going off and doing anything completely crazy. And now Kennedy was wondering what all else Constance might have known, and hadn't told her.
Her smile was strained and a little bit shaky when she replied, "Thirteen years. Pretty impressive, huh? God, I could be pissed at her for not warning me, except it's kinda pointless now."
Giles
"Constance Aluko was a fine Watcher," Giles told her gently. "Anything she said or didn't say was, I'm sure, an attempt to protect you."
Kennedy
More than Kennedy realized, even.
"She put up with me that long. That sort of says a lot." Kennedy kicked at the porch steps again. "She didn't have to pull strings to get me sent to Fandom High, but she did. And I want to say I thanked her for it, but I'm not sure if I did, and..."
Ugh, that was stupid. She didn't do regrets, and yet.
"Well, I'm here. That's... something."
Giles
"It's not uncommon to have regrets about unsaid things after someone's passing," Giles pointed out, because it wasn't like anyone had ever heard that before or anything. "But I guarantee that she knew you appreciated her. She understood."
Mainly because it would be impossible to put up with Kennedy if that hadn't been the case.
"Fandom High -- that's the, ah, the high school located on the interdimensional nexus, isn't it?" he wondered. "I think I've heard of it in passing. That's where you went to school?"
Kennedy
True that, Giles. Very, very true.
"That's the one." If Kennedy looked a touch relieved that she didn't have to explain the place to him, she was. "Co-valedictorian of my class, even."
Yes, she was aware how ridiculous that probably sounded.
"Useful sorta place for this line of work and stuff. Sort of."
Giles
Completely ridiculous, thank you. Point to Sunnydale for academic rigor!
No offense, Kennedy.
"Oh?" Hmm. "How so?"
Kennedy
Considering the class offerings, yeah, Sunnydale had two legs up on the competition there.
"Oh, y'know." God, she missed the place right now. "Regular invasions... regular-ish. A big ol' crisis about once a semester. Sure as hell wasn't boring."
Though even the time with the tears in reality-- and she remembered Tara saying We saved the world, we can do anything after that was over-- seemed like playground games in the face of the First Evil. Which was weird, considering the nebulous noncorporeal aspect.
"I owe her big time for that."
Giles
"And now you'll have an opportunity to make good use of it," Giles said encouragingly. Or, you know. Tried to. Because wow, training first.
A pause.
"What, ah, what sort of crises did you mean?"
Kennedy
"Oh, you know. People getting sucked into other dimensions because something went out of whack and was ripping holes in reality, friends going evil, rescuing people from gangs of crazy werewolves..." See, Giles, she was totally prepared for this.
"My friends are, uh. Interesting. God, I really miss them right now."
Giles
"...I see."
Huh. If it walked like a Hellmouth and talked like a Hellmouth... well, then no wonder she was cocky about it.
"Have you tried calling them at all?" he asked, aiming for helpfulness. Not that he thought she was dumb or anything.
Kennedy
Just without the Hellmouth.
Oh, sure, Giles. Now look what you did-- that was actually a sort of wounded-puppy look on Kennedy's face.
"I've been trying. Haven't been able to get through at all." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and gave it an accusatory glare. "Something's messing everything up."
Letting the phone drop to the porch beside her, she sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Guess at least that means the First can't go after them."
Giles
"How odd," Giles mused, looking over at her phone. "But you're able to contact your family at home? That's very strange."
Kennedy
"Must be the dimensional thing," Kennedy mumbled. Science: not any more her strong point today than it had been yesterday. "Damn shame, too. My friends are hardcore with the firepower. We could so use them."
Yeah, and that would be a mess.
Giles
"Oh?" He could only imagine what sorts of people from other dimensions would filter into a school like that. And he wasn't even imagining the really interesting ones. "People trained with weapons, that sort of thing?"
Ahahaha.
Kennedy
"Weapons, magic, some funky superhuman powers and no, that is so not me spending too much time around Andrew because I'm tuning him out, thanks." Kennedy snorted. "Pretty pointless wishing for it right now, anyway."
Giles
"...Interesting."
Side-eye. Side-eye so hard.
Kennedy
She deserved that, really.
"You have no idea." And neither did she, go figure. "God, I just hope they know I'm okay."
For now. Details.
Giles
"I'm sure eventually you'll be able to get ahold of them," Giles said optimistically. Sure. Nothing would stop her! I think I'm funny. "And perhaps until then, you and the others might concentrate on training."
Nudge, nudge.
Kennedy
Look, if Giles was going to give her those withering looks every now and then, Kennedy could try and return the favor. Just with a lot less Watcher-y Britishness. Sigh.
"Point taken," she sighed, getting to her feet again. Hey, it'd get her mind off things for a while. "This is me, reporting to the basement."
Giles
Sigh. Kennedy should've studied the Watcher-y Britishness back at Fandom when she had the chance. Too late now!
"Oh," he added, "and when you make the detour in Willow's room, would you make sure to bring her the books that are on the kitchen counter?"
HE WAS ONTO YOU, KENNEDY.
Kennedy
Oops. Busted. Oh, well; not like she had any shame about it.
"Books on the counter, check." Kennedy said. "And, uh... thanks, Giles."
That was enough of an unguarded moment right there, so she cleared her throat and hurried back into the house.
[[post 2 of 2, preplayed with the awesome wesleynotponcy as notagoodwatcher. screw your thirteen-episodes-to-develop-the-entire-plot limitations, canon, i'm tying up some loose ends here! nfi/nfb/ooc-okay, have a chocolate-covered caramel or something before i eat them all.]]