Fourteen Below part 10
So I had this whole plan to write one part and post one part per day. Then RL started throwing up road blocks shaped like entire days spent at a temp job stuffing envelopes, friends coming back into town, and holidays.
But I still hope to keep up a similar schedule. I'm planning, once I'm done with the sucker, to go back and re-edit the thing to make sure it makes sense and all, but to just write it bit by bit in a sort of stream-of-my-consciousness-anyway style.
So. I give you the next part. And tomorrow, perhaps, the part after that.
Previous parts are here
It took Xander two hours get the basic idea of what a slayer was across. This was sort of strange, as he had a lot of experience trying to tell girls who didn't speak a lot of English about their calling, but in Africa he usually had an interpreter on hand, and a lot of the girls had actually heard the slayer legend before. Apparently, since Africa was where the slayer originated, the story was still one of those ancient myth/bed time stories that most kids heard from a young age. Like, the headless horseman, or Paul Bunyan. Only female. And real. Not that most kids in Africa BELIEVED the legend.
On the other hand, it was entirely possible that the headless horseman was real. Paul Bunyan, not so much, but Xander could totally see a headless guy riding around a quiet New England town back in the day. Possibly even STILL.
He shook his head. He was getting mentally off track, and his newest slayer recruit was staring at him like he was a crazy person.
"You are saying me," Alice shifted a little on the hospital bed. She was already getting back most of her coloring, and the frostbite on her cheeks and hands was fading. "I am Superman?"
Xander grinned. "Close enough for now."
"And you are man who says Superman what to do."
"Yeeeeeah."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "I know Superman. Superman has no man says what to do."
Xander ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not the one who came up with the Superman metaphor. Slayers do have man says what to do." He shut his eye. "Do have men who tell them what they need to know to kill the bad things."
"And I am slayer."
"Yes."
"And you are watcher."
"Yes."
Alice let out a long breath and shifted again. "Okay, Watcher, say me why I am slayer."
Xander groaned. He hefted the Czech-English dictionary in one hand. "Because if you are not the slayer then I'm going to beat you about the head and neck with this damned dictionary." He made the appropriate gestures to make sure he got his point across.
Alice smiled. An actual expression of real amusement. "Okay, I be slayer. But not when you have no dictionary."
Xander's retort was cut off by the doctor coming into the room. Xander nodded to the older man and stepped just out into the hall while Alice got her check up. He wasn't looking to restart the argument he'd had with the doctor and several nurses over whether or not he would be allowed to stay with the girl. They'd agreed to let him until Alice's parents or other relatives could be contacted.
If they could be contacted. One of the few pieces of documentation Alice had had on her when he brought her in was a grimy, laminated ID card about the size of a closed passport, but that was apparently enough to get the search started. If Alice's parents were around for contacting, they should have been able to contact them by now. It seemed like everyone and their dog had a cell phone in the Czech Republic (and the dogs were usually hanging out with all the people in all the public places), and if her parents weren't answering theirs, or were refusing to come, then Xander wasn't going to let Alice go with them, anyway.
Which just might get him arrested.
He leaned back against the door frame and tuned half an ear to the velvet and velcro sounds of Alice speaking with her doctor. He couldn't understand most of it, but he could pick up the rhythm. Doctor asks Alice a question. Alice answers the question. Doctor asks another. Doctor's tone gets more and more skeptical with each answer.
Fortunately, the doctor also spoke English, so if it came down to a case of severe disbelief, Xander could possibly concoct a story weird enough to explain everything. Or he could bring this doctor over to the side of the angels, slayers, and watchers, and tell him what was really going on.
Maybe the doctor could help explain it to Alice?
The doctor asked Alice another question in a very serious tone. Alice, sounding rather depressed, answered.
"Fuck?" said the doctor.
"Fuck you," answered Alice.
Xander smacked himself in the head. They weren't saying ‘fuck'. He didn't know what they were saying, but it wasn't that. Which sort of explained a lot without really explaining anything.
He wrapped his hand around his cell phone in his pocket. He wished he could turn it on, but that was a no-no in most hospitals. It would have been much easier to explain things to Alice if he'd been able to access his new universal translator program. Fat lot that did him just now. He'd have to wait until Alice was pronounced well enough to leave and then--
//Xander!//
"Woah hey!" Xander lurched upright from the doorframe, drawing the attention of a passing nurse. He smiled at the guy, giving off a slight laugh. "Remembered I forgot something."
The nurse stared at him blankly, then seemed to decide he had better things to worry about than crazy Americans in the hallway and scuttled off. Xander leaned back against the wall.
//Willow. You scared the bejeezus out of me.//
//Well, you'd better just stuff that bejeezus right back in, mister. Where are you?//
//At the hospital?//
//Omigod! What happened?! Are you okay? Oh, I should never have let the coven talk me into staying in Brazil longer. I'll never--//
//Wills.//
//Yeah?//
//You haven't contacted Giles yet, have you?//
//When I finished the thingy I got on the first flight. I've been doing airport things for more than a whole day. I just got to the pension, and your stuff is here, but you're not, and they don't know when you left or if you're coming back but the room was paid for so they left it alone and no, I haven't talked to Giles yet.// A mental sigh echoed in Xander's head. //Our vacation is getting ruined again, isn't it.//
//Seems that way. I'm in Usti nad Orlici. With a new slayer.//
//I'll be on the next train out.// Willow "hung up" the mental connection, and Xander allowed himself a small smile. Knowing Willow, she was half-fluent in Czech when she stepped off her plane, and had a spell all set up to go that would let her understand the stuff she didn't know yet. Having her here would make the whole operation that much easier. He half-turned and spotted the doctor waving him into the room.
He was just getting through the door when Willow blasted back across his brain, making him miss a step and fall to one knee.
//Where is Usti nad Orlici?//
Xander rolled his eye and levered himself back to his feet. //Near the Polish border.//
//Gotcha.// Willow "hung up" again. The doctor looked at him with a frown. Alice peered at him through her upper eye-lashes.
And called him a saffron port-key.
-----
And in other news, The Mercy Seat is nominated for round six of the Lie to Me Awards
But I still hope to keep up a similar schedule. I'm planning, once I'm done with the sucker, to go back and re-edit the thing to make sure it makes sense and all, but to just write it bit by bit in a sort of stream-of-my-consciousness-anyway style.
So. I give you the next part. And tomorrow, perhaps, the part after that.
Previous parts are here
It took Xander two hours get the basic idea of what a slayer was across. This was sort of strange, as he had a lot of experience trying to tell girls who didn't speak a lot of English about their calling, but in Africa he usually had an interpreter on hand, and a lot of the girls had actually heard the slayer legend before. Apparently, since Africa was where the slayer originated, the story was still one of those ancient myth/bed time stories that most kids heard from a young age. Like, the headless horseman, or Paul Bunyan. Only female. And real. Not that most kids in Africa BELIEVED the legend.
On the other hand, it was entirely possible that the headless horseman was real. Paul Bunyan, not so much, but Xander could totally see a headless guy riding around a quiet New England town back in the day. Possibly even STILL.
He shook his head. He was getting mentally off track, and his newest slayer recruit was staring at him like he was a crazy person.
"You are saying me," Alice shifted a little on the hospital bed. She was already getting back most of her coloring, and the frostbite on her cheeks and hands was fading. "I am Superman?"
Xander grinned. "Close enough for now."
"And you are man who says Superman what to do."
"Yeeeeeah."
Alice narrowed her eyes. "I know Superman. Superman has no man says what to do."
Xander ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not the one who came up with the Superman metaphor. Slayers do have man says what to do." He shut his eye. "Do have men who tell them what they need to know to kill the bad things."
"And I am slayer."
"Yes."
"And you are watcher."
"Yes."
Alice let out a long breath and shifted again. "Okay, Watcher, say me why I am slayer."
Xander groaned. He hefted the Czech-English dictionary in one hand. "Because if you are not the slayer then I'm going to beat you about the head and neck with this damned dictionary." He made the appropriate gestures to make sure he got his point across.
Alice smiled. An actual expression of real amusement. "Okay, I be slayer. But not when you have no dictionary."
Xander's retort was cut off by the doctor coming into the room. Xander nodded to the older man and stepped just out into the hall while Alice got her check up. He wasn't looking to restart the argument he'd had with the doctor and several nurses over whether or not he would be allowed to stay with the girl. They'd agreed to let him until Alice's parents or other relatives could be contacted.
If they could be contacted. One of the few pieces of documentation Alice had had on her when he brought her in was a grimy, laminated ID card about the size of a closed passport, but that was apparently enough to get the search started. If Alice's parents were around for contacting, they should have been able to contact them by now. It seemed like everyone and their dog had a cell phone in the Czech Republic (and the dogs were usually hanging out with all the people in all the public places), and if her parents weren't answering theirs, or were refusing to come, then Xander wasn't going to let Alice go with them, anyway.
Which just might get him arrested.
He leaned back against the door frame and tuned half an ear to the velvet and velcro sounds of Alice speaking with her doctor. He couldn't understand most of it, but he could pick up the rhythm. Doctor asks Alice a question. Alice answers the question. Doctor asks another. Doctor's tone gets more and more skeptical with each answer.
Fortunately, the doctor also spoke English, so if it came down to a case of severe disbelief, Xander could possibly concoct a story weird enough to explain everything. Or he could bring this doctor over to the side of the angels, slayers, and watchers, and tell him what was really going on.
Maybe the doctor could help explain it to Alice?
The doctor asked Alice another question in a very serious tone. Alice, sounding rather depressed, answered.
"Fuck?" said the doctor.
"Fuck you," answered Alice.
Xander smacked himself in the head. They weren't saying ‘fuck'. He didn't know what they were saying, but it wasn't that. Which sort of explained a lot without really explaining anything.
He wrapped his hand around his cell phone in his pocket. He wished he could turn it on, but that was a no-no in most hospitals. It would have been much easier to explain things to Alice if he'd been able to access his new universal translator program. Fat lot that did him just now. He'd have to wait until Alice was pronounced well enough to leave and then--
//Xander!//
"Woah hey!" Xander lurched upright from the doorframe, drawing the attention of a passing nurse. He smiled at the guy, giving off a slight laugh. "Remembered I forgot something."
The nurse stared at him blankly, then seemed to decide he had better things to worry about than crazy Americans in the hallway and scuttled off. Xander leaned back against the wall.
//Willow. You scared the bejeezus out of me.//
//Well, you'd better just stuff that bejeezus right back in, mister. Where are you?//
//At the hospital?//
//Omigod! What happened?! Are you okay? Oh, I should never have let the coven talk me into staying in Brazil longer. I'll never--//
//Wills.//
//Yeah?//
//You haven't contacted Giles yet, have you?//
//When I finished the thingy I got on the first flight. I've been doing airport things for more than a whole day. I just got to the pension, and your stuff is here, but you're not, and they don't know when you left or if you're coming back but the room was paid for so they left it alone and no, I haven't talked to Giles yet.// A mental sigh echoed in Xander's head. //Our vacation is getting ruined again, isn't it.//
//Seems that way. I'm in Usti nad Orlici. With a new slayer.//
//I'll be on the next train out.// Willow "hung up" the mental connection, and Xander allowed himself a small smile. Knowing Willow, she was half-fluent in Czech when she stepped off her plane, and had a spell all set up to go that would let her understand the stuff she didn't know yet. Having her here would make the whole operation that much easier. He half-turned and spotted the doctor waving him into the room.
He was just getting through the door when Willow blasted back across his brain, making him miss a step and fall to one knee.
//Where is Usti nad Orlici?//
Xander rolled his eye and levered himself back to his feet. //Near the Polish border.//
//Gotcha.// Willow "hung up" again. The doctor looked at him with a frown. Alice peered at him through her upper eye-lashes.
And called him a saffron port-key.
-----
And in other news, The Mercy Seat is nominated for round six of the Lie to Me Awards