Home From Australia
Well, I’m back from Down Under. Man, when they say it’s dry down there, they’re not kidding. Makes Southern California seem like England by comparison.
The mission, I’m happy to report, was a success. In fact, it was even more of a success than I’d hoped. I was sent to a small town on the southeast coast called Port Fairy. The town doesn’t seem like much if you just go by appearances, but, of course, appearances are often deceiving. The town actually has quite a lengthy history of unusual occurrences, most of it centering around a legend about the Tooth Fairy. I’ve got to hand it to the past leaders of that community; to take all of the disturbances and tragedies caused by various local demons, spin it into a legend about one woman’s curse, and then capitalize off of the tourist draw...well, that’s rather impressive, don’t you think?
Anyway, I was sent there to follow up on reports that seemed to indicate that there may be a Slayer in the area. After spending several nights patrolling the area, I finally found her, or rather, them. I spotted the two young ladies, Maggie and Patricia, as they were combating a Triglasic demon. Triglasic demons aren’t very big, but they are very fast. I intended to jump in and give the girls a hand, but it quickly became apparent that they didn’t need one. In a rather surprising show of speed herself, Maggie was able to behead the demon, and neither girl seemed to have acquired more than a few scrapes and bruises.
When I made my presence known, well, to say that their reaction was a bit cautious would be an understatement. Frankly, they thought I was a vampire. I can’t say that I blame them; who else would you expect to run into in the middle of the night under those circumstances? It took a bit of convincing but, fortunately, Patricia seemed to be very well educated on the matter of vampires, so it didn’t take too much effort to convince them that I was human.
As surprising as Maggie’s combat skills and Patricia’s knowledge were, that was nothing compared to the surprise I got from their reaction to my informing them about Slayers. They were both very much aware of the existence of Slayers and the duties of Slayers.
As it turns out, the two girls have been best friends since they were toddlers. When Patricia was 9, her parents were killed by vampires. She witnessed the whole thing, only surviving herself because her mother was able to shove her into their house before the vampires could reach her. Patricia reported what she saw to the authorities but, of course, they ignored her statements about monsters and chalked the whole thing up to a random mugging gone wrong. Patricia, however, would not be swayed. She knew what she saw.
She became somewhat obsessed after that. She spent all of her spare time researching vampire lore, trying to separate the fact from the fiction, and she never, ever changed her story about what she’d seen the night her parents were killed. As a result, she spent a great deal of time bouncing from foster home to foster home, until, at the age of 14, she finally gave up on the system and set out on her own. Luckily for both of them, Maggie remained true to their friendship throughout this time period and helped Patricia find food and places to sleep. More importantly, Maggie believed her friend’s story and encouraged her efforts to learn all she could on the subject. What neither girl could ever have possibly imagined was just how important these tragic events would become for them, that is, of course, until last May.
A little more than a week after the Sunnydale Hellmouth was closed for good, Maggie and Patricia began to notice that Maggie had undergone some pretty radical changes, namely an extreme increase in her strength, speed and stamina. They kept these changes a secret between the two of them for nearly a month, while Patricia performed more research and subjected Maggie to various tests that she believed would determine the “obviously supernatural” origin of Maggie’s new abilities. Patricia eventually came to the conclusion that Maggie had become a Slayer and, with a bit of convincing, started dragging Maggie out on nightly patrols.
Their first encounter with a vampire was all the convincing that Maggie needed. After that, the two of them started training together, mostly going off of instructional videos that Patricia had Maggie buy with her allowance. Patricia also managed to get Maggie to do some of her own research in order to familiarize herself with vampire abilities and weakness, and the two have since begun studying other demons common to their part of the world.
I can’t begin to convey how impressed I was with these two young women. To have gone through so much and accomplished so much all on their own, and all at the age of only 16. I told them about the events of last year that brought on Maggie’s activation as a Slayer and about the current efforts to round up these new Slayers so that they can be properly trained and deployed. Seeing the girls’ lack of enthusiasm at the news, I quickly went on to tell them about the Watcher’s Council and how it’s numbers had been severely diminished by the First’s acolytes, and how the need for new, and competent, Watcher’s was just as great as the need for Slayers. That got the response I was hoping for.
Using my credentials as an educative administrator, with a bit of creative enhancement courtesy of the Council, I was able to convince Maggie’s parents that Maggie had been granted a full scholarship for a renowned private school in England. Two days later I accompanied both girls to the new Council’s headquarters in London. They were a little surprised to see that I’d brought Patricia, but after several of the surviving members of the Council had spoken to her at length they were quite pleased to have her.
I have to say that, in spite of the jetlag from hell, I’m really glad that I took this assignment from Mr. Giles. It was an incredible experience and I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do something similar again in the future. I also hope that I will see Maggie and Patricia again. Those two girls managed to earn more respect from me in the last couple of weeks than most people manage to earn from me in a lifetime. Girls, if you are reading this, it was truly a pleasure meeting you. Oh, and Maggie, don’t forget to keep that left shoulder up. *grins*
The mission, I’m happy to report, was a success. In fact, it was even more of a success than I’d hoped. I was sent to a small town on the southeast coast called Port Fairy. The town doesn’t seem like much if you just go by appearances, but, of course, appearances are often deceiving. The town actually has quite a lengthy history of unusual occurrences, most of it centering around a legend about the Tooth Fairy. I’ve got to hand it to the past leaders of that community; to take all of the disturbances and tragedies caused by various local demons, spin it into a legend about one woman’s curse, and then capitalize off of the tourist draw...well, that’s rather impressive, don’t you think?
Anyway, I was sent there to follow up on reports that seemed to indicate that there may be a Slayer in the area. After spending several nights patrolling the area, I finally found her, or rather, them. I spotted the two young ladies, Maggie and Patricia, as they were combating a Triglasic demon. Triglasic demons aren’t very big, but they are very fast. I intended to jump in and give the girls a hand, but it quickly became apparent that they didn’t need one. In a rather surprising show of speed herself, Maggie was able to behead the demon, and neither girl seemed to have acquired more than a few scrapes and bruises.
When I made my presence known, well, to say that their reaction was a bit cautious would be an understatement. Frankly, they thought I was a vampire. I can’t say that I blame them; who else would you expect to run into in the middle of the night under those circumstances? It took a bit of convincing but, fortunately, Patricia seemed to be very well educated on the matter of vampires, so it didn’t take too much effort to convince them that I was human.
As surprising as Maggie’s combat skills and Patricia’s knowledge were, that was nothing compared to the surprise I got from their reaction to my informing them about Slayers. They were both very much aware of the existence of Slayers and the duties of Slayers.
As it turns out, the two girls have been best friends since they were toddlers. When Patricia was 9, her parents were killed by vampires. She witnessed the whole thing, only surviving herself because her mother was able to shove her into their house before the vampires could reach her. Patricia reported what she saw to the authorities but, of course, they ignored her statements about monsters and chalked the whole thing up to a random mugging gone wrong. Patricia, however, would not be swayed. She knew what she saw.
She became somewhat obsessed after that. She spent all of her spare time researching vampire lore, trying to separate the fact from the fiction, and she never, ever changed her story about what she’d seen the night her parents were killed. As a result, she spent a great deal of time bouncing from foster home to foster home, until, at the age of 14, she finally gave up on the system and set out on her own. Luckily for both of them, Maggie remained true to their friendship throughout this time period and helped Patricia find food and places to sleep. More importantly, Maggie believed her friend’s story and encouraged her efforts to learn all she could on the subject. What neither girl could ever have possibly imagined was just how important these tragic events would become for them, that is, of course, until last May.
A little more than a week after the Sunnydale Hellmouth was closed for good, Maggie and Patricia began to notice that Maggie had undergone some pretty radical changes, namely an extreme increase in her strength, speed and stamina. They kept these changes a secret between the two of them for nearly a month, while Patricia performed more research and subjected Maggie to various tests that she believed would determine the “obviously supernatural” origin of Maggie’s new abilities. Patricia eventually came to the conclusion that Maggie had become a Slayer and, with a bit of convincing, started dragging Maggie out on nightly patrols.
Their first encounter with a vampire was all the convincing that Maggie needed. After that, the two of them started training together, mostly going off of instructional videos that Patricia had Maggie buy with her allowance. Patricia also managed to get Maggie to do some of her own research in order to familiarize herself with vampire abilities and weakness, and the two have since begun studying other demons common to their part of the world.
I can’t begin to convey how impressed I was with these two young women. To have gone through so much and accomplished so much all on their own, and all at the age of only 16. I told them about the events of last year that brought on Maggie’s activation as a Slayer and about the current efforts to round up these new Slayers so that they can be properly trained and deployed. Seeing the girls’ lack of enthusiasm at the news, I quickly went on to tell them about the Watcher’s Council and how it’s numbers had been severely diminished by the First’s acolytes, and how the need for new, and competent, Watcher’s was just as great as the need for Slayers. That got the response I was hoping for.
Using my credentials as an educative administrator, with a bit of creative enhancement courtesy of the Council, I was able to convince Maggie’s parents that Maggie had been granted a full scholarship for a renowned private school in England. Two days later I accompanied both girls to the new Council’s headquarters in London. They were a little surprised to see that I’d brought Patricia, but after several of the surviving members of the Council had spoken to her at length they were quite pleased to have her.
I have to say that, in spite of the jetlag from hell, I’m really glad that I took this assignment from Mr. Giles. It was an incredible experience and I hope that I’ll have the opportunity to do something similar again in the future. I also hope that I will see Maggie and Patricia again. Those two girls managed to earn more respect from me in the last couple of weeks than most people manage to earn from me in a lifetime. Girls, if you are reading this, it was truly a pleasure meeting you. Oh, and Maggie, don’t forget to keep that left shoulder up. *grins*