Why yes, that'd be the return of e-mail. July 12th, 2001.
From: xharris@ucsd.edu
To: bridge.carson@fandomhigh.net, m.parker@fandomhigh.net, isabel.evans@fandomhigh.net
Date: July 12, 2001
Subject: SSDD
Sorry you guys get to be the dumping ground for round 96 of Sunnydale Sucks, Woe Is Us, but I don't know who else to, um. Dump on. Can't tell the Willow there; it might or might not be in her future. Really really can't tell Dawn, so if this makes it through please don't. I'll figure out some way, but I owe it to her to do it myself.
So you know the thing about telling people Buffy went to her dad's for the summer? It worked pretty well when Buffy actually *did* go to her dad's for the summer. And... not so bad the summer she actually ran away to L.A. Probably her having taken down a pretty badass vampire right before both of those kept the rest of them down to a dull roar for a while.
But when the Slayer goes from super-overcompensato-I-can't-do-anything-about-my-mom-and-I'm-worried-about-my-sister-so-I'll-just-channel-that-into-dusting-everything-in-sight mode to suddenly she's off to Barcelona and said mom and sister are wandering around town like the world just ended what with it kind of having and them not being the best actors ever? People get suspicious.
Which would be okay if it was just people, but the demons are starting to get the idea something's up too. We're keeping the town as safe as we can - even Dawn, because we really don't have a lot of room to be turning down help - and we're not exactly the clown patrol, but a handful of college kids, a middle-aged ex-Watcher and a high schooler who's definitely *not* a Slayer are... definitely not a Slayer.
Willow and Tara are doing their best with the magic end. Willow's still working on that ball-of-sunlight spell but she hasn't quite got it to the point where she could be sure it wouldn't take out Spike too, which -- and save this e-mail for future evidence when they have me committed and you want to say you told 'em so -- would be a bad thing. It'd be nice if Amy hadn't bailed after -- you know. It wasn't the world-endy stuff that freaked her out; it was Willow borrowing her for a jump-start without asking, which on one hand I get, but hi, she was trying to save somebody's life? Even if it didn't work.
We're holding our own, but I don't know how much longer before they figure out that we're *just* holding our own, and throw something bigger than we can handle at us.
Which is why we're about to do something really stupid, yay, which I'm feeling kind of don't-jinxy about so I'll tell you after if it turns out to be not the biggest mistake we ever made. Wish us luck? Or possibly brains.
love,
Xander
__
[OOC - which yes, this assumes Xander has at some point told Parker and Isabel that Buffy's dead - another angsty e-mail about it would just be a bit redundant to read, as well as possibly more than my wee brain could handle writing. Also yes, he's going off the same 'since these aren't going through anyway, might as well keep writing to alums at the school address, since if they were going through they'd get forwarded' logic with Parker as he does with Callisto.]
To: bridge.carson@fandomhigh.net, m.parker@fandomhigh.net, isabel.evans@fandomhigh.net
Date: July 12, 2001
Subject: SSDD
Sorry you guys get to be the dumping ground for round 96 of Sunnydale Sucks, Woe Is Us, but I don't know who else to, um. Dump on. Can't tell the Willow there; it might or might not be in her future. Really really can't tell Dawn, so if this makes it through please don't. I'll figure out some way, but I owe it to her to do it myself.
So you know the thing about telling people Buffy went to her dad's for the summer? It worked pretty well when Buffy actually *did* go to her dad's for the summer. And... not so bad the summer she actually ran away to L.A. Probably her having taken down a pretty badass vampire right before both of those kept the rest of them down to a dull roar for a while.
But when the Slayer goes from super-overcompensato-I-can't-do-anything-about-my-mom-and-I'm-worried-about-my-sister-so-I'll-just-channel-that-into-dusting-everything-in-sight mode to suddenly she's off to Barcelona and said mom and sister are wandering around town like the world just ended what with it kind of having and them not being the best actors ever? People get suspicious.
Which would be okay if it was just people, but the demons are starting to get the idea something's up too. We're keeping the town as safe as we can - even Dawn, because we really don't have a lot of room to be turning down help - and we're not exactly the clown patrol, but a handful of college kids, a middle-aged ex-Watcher and a high schooler who's definitely *not* a Slayer are... definitely not a Slayer.
Willow and Tara are doing their best with the magic end. Willow's still working on that ball-of-sunlight spell but she hasn't quite got it to the point where she could be sure it wouldn't take out Spike too, which -- and save this e-mail for future evidence when they have me committed and you want to say you told 'em so -- would be a bad thing. It'd be nice if Amy hadn't bailed after -- you know. It wasn't the world-endy stuff that freaked her out; it was Willow borrowing her for a jump-start without asking, which on one hand I get, but hi, she was trying to save somebody's life? Even if it didn't work.
We're holding our own, but I don't know how much longer before they figure out that we're *just* holding our own, and throw something bigger than we can handle at us.
Which is why we're about to do something really stupid, yay, which I'm feeling kind of don't-jinxy about so I'll tell you after if it turns out to be not the biggest mistake we ever made. Wish us luck? Or possibly brains.
love,
Xander
__
[OOC - which yes, this assumes Xander has at some point told Parker and Isabel that Buffy's dead - another angsty e-mail about it would just be a bit redundant to read, as well as possibly more than my wee brain could handle writing. Also yes, he's going off the same 'since these aren't going through anyway, might as well keep writing to alums at the school address, since if they were going through they'd get forwarded' logic with Parker as he does with Callisto.]