Why You Should Never Date Evil Warlocks, Part Deux
"Did you get all registered for classes yet?" Tamara asked Carmen
Gil was nursing a large hazelnut mocha and very obviously not doing homework.
"Yes." Carmen smiled "I only need one class. Somehow, I finished most credits last year."
Bill checked his watch, and glanced at the door.
"Oh, lucky you," Tamara said. "I wish I was so close to graduating."
"You will be soon." said Carmen "I was lucky, because I took extra classes when I could, and I read too much." She had, in fact, bought three books earlier
Faith headed into the cafe, trying not to look rushed, a big smile on her face. "Hey ... are you early, or am I late?" she asked, dropping into the chair across from him.
"You're fine." he said "Very nice smile." Bill tapped something else in to his PDA
"Thank you," Faith said, her smile widening a little. She recognized way too many people in the room. "So, what's the plan?"
"Well, you aren't dressed to go someplace nice. Would you like to have dinner here, and then, we'll decide what to do the rest of the night?" Bill looked up for a moment
"I was just complaining about books the other day, speaking of reading... textbooks are so expensive," Tamara said. "Ugh."
Faith feigned indignance, but she laughed. "Yeah, okay, that's true. We could do that."
Gerald patted Tamara on the arm. "Relax..."
"I'd offer you mine." said Carmen "But most professors change the edition each year, so that you have to buy more books."
"We're doing very well." Carmen smiled "He's very, very wonderful and perfect."
Gerald chuckled. "That's nice."
Tamara grinned. "Yeah, he's a pretty good guy, isn't he? When he's not being a pesty brother, I agree with you there. Where is he tonight, anyhow? Working?"
"Yes, he's working." said Carmen
"Bah. He works too hard, now that he got that promotion," Tamara said. "Poor Tony."
"You should get us something to eat," Bill said, taking out a wallet and peeling out several bills.
" ... okay," Faith said, blinking at the abundance of greenery. "What do you in the mood for?"
"I'm going to do something very nice for him when he has time off." said Carmen "We don't get as much timetogether."
"I'll take a double cafe americano, grilled eggplant on rye, and a blueberry muffin." said Bill
"All right," Faith said, and went up to the counter to order. Hey, if he was paying, getting up to place the order was the least she could do.
"Maybe you guys could come over for dinner one night, too? I don't cook as good as you do, but I'm not bad," Tamara said.
"Oh, that will be nice." Carmen smiled
Gil had seized on someone's discarded crossword and was picking away at it. He was almost feeling like he was ready to leave, but that could have been the caffeine, too.
Tamara sipped her drink, and eyed the counter-walker.
The girl made a 'mean' face, because she was mean. Really.
"Not much to tell," Faith said. "What you see is what you get. I've lived kind of all over, didn't spend much time in anywhere long enough to call it home. How about you? Where are you from?"
Gil chuckled. In his (admittedly not-very-vast) experience, the mean ones always crumbled in the face of cheeriness. So, he waved cheerily at the raincloud that had just passed him on her way to the counter.
"A town a lot like this one." said Bill "Which means, I've traveld a lot, only to end up in a place like this town."
The girl smiled and waved to GIl, then remembered that she was mean, so she frowned again
"Irony," Faith said. She had gotten herself a black coffee; she added some sugar and stirred it. "Where's your favorite place you lived?"
"Now there's someone having an identity crisis," Tamara said.
Gil grinned and tossed mean-face a jaunty salute.
"Boston." said Bill
"Constipation?" Gerald guessed.
Mean face wanted to smile, but instead she looked down as she got her food. She was mean, darnit.
"No shit," Faith said. "Boston kind of rocked. New Orleans was fun, but you can just lose yourself there."
Tamara giggled.
The girl glared at the Tamara table. No one could laugh while she was being mean!
Gil laughed aloud, then waved lazily to mean-face. "Yo! Raincloud! Come sit down and practice your glower later!"
"So, how do you like the west coast? DId you go to law school here?" Faith asked Bill.
"It's a lot of the same." said Bill "hundreds and hundreds of small towns like this... a few big cities. Nothing much at all."
Gil made room on the table, setting the crossword out of the way.
"I'm too mean to say thanks." said the girl, taking a seat "Hi."
"So, what do you like?" Faith asked him. "What are you into?"
Gil laughed again. "That's fine with me. I'm Gil. I can keep on calling you 'Raincloud" if you want. I think it's kinda catchy. Up to you, really!"
"I want to have some one day." said Carmen "But only if I was in another town, and if I was sure nothing would be passed on to them."
Gil nodded again, digesting this. "There's plenty of ways to do that, aren't there? Be really good at something, or dress like a streetwalker, or give lots of money to charity..."
"I don't like bullies." she said "So, I get a rep- either crazy, or mean.. and people will leave me alone."
"What can you show me that's new, that I haven't seen before?" Bill asked, amused.
"Probably a thing or two," Faith said with a smirk. "Nothing I can just lay out in front of you right now, but you'll know it when you see it."
"Yeah this is a crappy town to have kids in," Tamara agreed.
"Bullies suck, but you'll be all alone if you're just mean to everyone. That ain't cool." Gil frowned a little.
"And there's not much to tell. Military family, always on the go. I got away from that when I could." Faith shrugged when she said this.
"You were nice to me." said Tina "So, what kind of rep should I get? I could be crazy." she tried out her 'crazy' look
"Needs more cats, " Gil commented.
"My Grandma's allergic to cats." Tina frowned "Stuffed cats? I'll throw them at people."
"That'll do for a start. Work your way up to the real thing." Gill grinned, again. "Why not just be who you are?"
"That's why I try not to," Gerald commented.
"Fair enough. How's that going?" asked Gil, honestly curious.
"Very confusing." she said "It should all be easier."
"You shouldn't have any children, Gerald." said Carmen "We'd have to hide you from the public if you did."
Tamara giggled.
"You've done an excelent job of growing up." said Bill, to Faith "And you have lovely eyes."
Gil patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Once you get the hang of things around here, it'll be better."
"You have amazing eyes," Bill said.
"Thanks you," Faith said, leaning in a little. "Yours are pretty bitchin', too."
Bill smirked. "Thank you."
"You really a lawyer?" Faith asked.
"You go to Sunnydale High, right?" asked Tina "Because I don't think I want to go when school starts next week."
"Of course I am." said Bill "When my office is ready, I'll have you stop by."
Gerald nodded, "Exactly."
"What size dress do you wear?" asked Bill "Four?"
"That'd be cool," Faith said. "I'd love to. I guess I wear a four," she said. "I don't have a lot of use for dresses."
"Yeah, Sunnydale High. And, um..classes started *this* week. Maybe you can homeschool but otherwise I don't see anyway out of it." said Gil. "Didn't you get a schedule and stuff?"
"I want to take you out for dinner." said Bill "And you'll need to wear a dress. That's alright, isn't it? I'll have it sent to you."
"This week?" asked Tina, paling "Are you sure?"
Faith grinned. "Yeah, if you like, that'd be cool." It did cross her mind that that would require her giving him an address to ship it.
"I hope so, otherwise I've been struggling with math for no reason!" Gil said, chuckling. "You, ah, you really didn't know?"
"I had no idea." Tina said "We haven't checked mail in a while."
"Where should I send it?" asked Bill, tapping into his PDA
"I don't know what to tell you, then. I'm betting they'll start sending people around to your house to check on you, though." Gil frowned. "Man, what a way to start the year."
"Sutton Hall, Box Three Seventy One," Faith said.
Tamara had sadly reached the end of her beverage.
"Hm... refill, or have I had enough caffiene?"
A frantic Mere ran into the Espresso Pump, looking for someone...anyone that she knew to tell when evil bad supernatural shit happened to her. She noticed Tamara. "Hey! You! Tamara, right?"
"What time does it start?" asked TIna
"You should have even more," Gerald suggested.
Tamara looked up hearing her name. "Yeah- oh, hi - Meredith, right?"
Faith loooked around at Mere.
Bill typed the address in. "I'll be sure to get something that you look great in." he did look up at the frantic girl, however
Mere ran over to the table. She had tear streaks down her face and, while she looked fine physically, she looked like she feared for her life. "So, do I just blurt out that I think my now ex-boyfriend is an evil warlock or do I speak code?"
"Well... lower your voice a little and come sit," Tamara said. "Tell us what happened..."
Faith frowned and looked away. Whatever Mere was saying was sounding too much like work. "Drugs," she whispered, nodding wisely.
Tina glanced over. "Evil warlock? I could say I'm that."
"Right." Bill nodded "Hope he didn't get any of her blood."
Faith made a face, turned it into a smirk. "Why's that?"
Mere sat down at the table. She didn't even notice that she had attracted the attention of the entire restaurant. In all honestly, she feared for her life. "Okay," she said, trying to talk lower, "Well, I went by his house today. He's the ward of the Mayor now after his dad died, and he's always been a practicing warlock. Ever since I've known him. It's wasn't a big thing, though. However, he's been getting more and more into it this summer.
"It's messy and full of diseases." answered Bill
Gil made shushing motions. "Ixnay on the isteninglay!" "Uh, uh...homeroom is real early. It's ridiculous." Trying to follow his own example, Gil resolved to pay more attention to Tina instead of ..whatever that was back there.
"Now he's threatening people and just plain being scary as hell. I think he thinks he can control me or something, like mentally." "
"Hers, specfically," Faith asked, trying not to laugh, "or just in general?"
"In general" said Bill
"Sounds like a real winner," Gerald said.
"I'm evil if I wake up too early." said Tina "My head spins."
Carmen frowned.
"What did he do, exactly? What did he threaten to do?" Tamara said. "I need some exact details, so I can call this in..."
Faith reminded herself to meet him during daylight hours, next time. She didn't get vampire vibes from him, but still ... better safe than snack.
"Um...he said that everyone other than like, three people, which did include me, can burn. Is that threat-y enough for you?"
"He's just...a completely different person than he used to be. I don't know how to put it other than I'm afraid for my life." Mere put her face in her hands.
"Hooboy. As long as you don't vomit on everyone, spinnyhead is okay." Gil laughed.
"He's an asshole?" Gerald summed up.
"Okay, and his name is Ash - and you said he's the Mayor's ward? He should already be on file then, most likely - has he ever been involved in any sort of magic-related incidents before? Anything involving the supernatural?" Tamara asked.
Faith tried to look casual, and eyed Bill to see how he reacted to the weirdness.
"Um...I don't know. I know he tried to kill the little kid with the camera last year...umm...Andrew. So, he might have like, a police file. Does that help?" Mere had to admit that she didn't know much at all about Ash's magic. She tried to keep out of it until it thrust its ugly head her way.
Bill didn't seem affected by it. He was eavesdropping, but he could have just as easily been eavesdropping on everyday gossip
"Did he try to kill him with magic, or just beating-him-up?" Tamara asked. She dug her cell phone out of her purse.
"Beat him up. I think he's gotten stronger over the year, magically." Mere looked down at her feet. "His full name is Ashton Kowalski, by the way."
"Bottled is fine." said Tina "Easier to drink."
"Okay," Tamara said. "Just hold on a sec while I call my brother." She dialed Tony's cell, hoping he wasn't right in the middle of killing something.
Faith just sipped her coffee and eavesdropped, too; she'd have to phone this in to Hunter later.
Tony answered after a few moments. "Hello?"
"Uh, if you're evil, you wanna stay away from the holy substances, I'd think." Gil shrugged. "Oh well, do what you feel, sister."
"Hey bro- are you busy? We're down at the Espresso pump and there's a bit of a situation," Tamara said.
"Somewhat. How big of a situation?" Tony answered.
"I'm holy, and I'm evil." said Tina
"So in other words you don't know if you're coming or going? Yeah, that sounds about right." Gil nodded in agreement. "I wonder if I could use that excuse. I wonder how many other people have already used it."
"Warlocks gone wild, apparently," Tamara said.
"What did Michael do?" Tony inquired.
"No, no... not Michael," Tamara said. "Some kid named Ashton Kowalski - the Mayor's ward. I don't know if he has a file, but it sounds like he might. Threatened his ex-girlfriend and got all burn-the-town or whatever. Nothing concrete yet, but might be worth looking into."
"Hm. Alright. Do I need to come over immediately, or is this a passive threat?" Tony asked.
"Faith." said Bill "Take my phone number... do you have a cell phone? I want to always be able to reach you."
"I don't know." said Tina "But you can use it... if they don't believe you, I'll back you up."
"Passive threat from what I can tell, but the girl's pretty scared. Meredith- remember her? She got injured by friendly fire at the Bronze?" Tamara asked.
"The one the girl with the bad crossbow aim shot?" Tony had a good memory.
"Yep, that'd be her," Tamara said.
Tamara looked up to see if Gerald was bringing the tea-ly goodness.
"Yeah, okay. Maybe someday I'll try it out." Gil yawned, suddenly. "Argh, all that caffeine is gonna wipe me out, I can feel it."
"What time do I show up for the slaughter?" asked Tina "Since I've almost missed a week already"
"I guess the best thing to do is go straight to the office in the morning. They'll know what you need to do." Gil said.
"They might tell me that I'm too smart for school, and that I don't have to go." said Tine, even though she really wanted to go to school
Gil laughed. "They might, and wouldn't you be the lucky one?"
"Yeah. Cross your fingers for me."
"So," Faith said to Bill. "We should do this again, soon."
"We will." said Bill "Tomorrow, five."
"Seem pretty sure about that," Faith said, smirking.
Gerald was indeed.
"You'll be ready, right?" asked Bill
"Consider 'em crossed! Tina, this has been rad, but I am beat and I gotta go before i fall asleep." Gil checked around for anything he might have forgotten, then stood up.
"WIll I see you tomorrow?" asked Tina "No one else knows me."
"Of course," Faith said. "Until then ... "