Round Nine: Leprechauns (Core Four) for punch_kicker15
Title: Leprechauns
Characters: Giles, Buffy, Willow, Xander
Rating: G
Words: 1,154
Recipient/Prompt: punch_kicker15
Three elements you'd like included: High school setting, an annoying apocalypse or supernatural thread, research session
Setting: Season 3
Summary: Buffy overhears some demons talking. Research ensues.
"Giles, I thought you said leprechauns didn't exist?"
Buffy entered the library, grateful her school day was over, with Willow and Xander trailing behind her.
"Why is that?" Xander mused, as he hopped on one of the tables. "Why is that all the scary monsters we grew up hearing about do exist, and the nice ones don't. I bet you unicorns don't exist either."
"Oh!" Willow popped up, sitting straighter in the chair she had just claimed. "Maybe it's just that since they're no threat, the Council doesn't care about them and thus isn't in the know. That’d be cool. We should go unicorn hunting!"
Giles came out of his office, and fixed Willow with a glare.
"Unicorns do not exist," he said, pointing the same glare to Xander, and then turned to Buffy. "Neither do leprechauns, as far as I know. Why are you asking?"
"There were these demons last night. Not all that big, kinda fluffy. They were talking to each other, and I heard one of them grumble about 'what do we do about that leprechaun infestation?' Before I could do more, though, four vamps with the worst timing in the world showed up."
She waved a hand to assuage the three identically concerned looks.
"I'm fine," she said. "Nothing I couldn't handle. But once they were dusted, the demons were gone. So. Leprechauns. What gives?"
Giles descended into thought, and went to retrieve some books. He handed them out to the three teenagers, who all grumbled, albeit some (Xander) with noticeably more feeling than others (Willow) who seemed to take the grumbling as obligatory but were secretly pleased.
"I presume there must be some kind of species out there whose name sounds a lot like leprechaun," he said.
"I know what I heard," Buffy muttered, and Giles put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not saying you don't," he said. "But a human brain isn't equipped to deal with words it doesn't know, so when you are provided with a word you don't recognize, your brain will substitute it with something it does know. I presume they're similar in pronunciation, but entirely different in spelling and meaning."
"I would recommend trying to voice the demon species out loud," he said, then hastily added: "In your head, I mean. You never know which demon will show up just because its name as mentioned. But see if you can find anything that sounds like leprechaun."
The three teenagers sighed, but set to work. Giles took a chair himself, and sat down with a Latin tome that he thought might contain the answer. He refused to believe there truly were leprechauns, so he was, for now, eschewing any and all books based on Welsh and Irish beliefs.
"I think I've found something!" Willow exclaimed, holding up her book for all to see. "'Livricons are small creatures with a spiked spine.' That sure sounds infestation-like to me! 'They travel in packs and mostly live in...' Oh. They live in cold climates, and cannot survive temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius. That's about 50 Fahrenheit, right Giles?"
"Correct," Giles replied. "They might survive a few winter nights here, but I don't think they could survive the Sunnydale summer."
"Poor things," Buffy said, shaking her head. "Never feeling the glorious sunshine on their faces, the warmth soaking up in their souls. Speaking of..."
She looked at Giles, silently imploring him to let her go taste some of the sunshine's rays.
"Sit and read," he said. "Before we know what we're dealing with, we won't know if it's an immediate threat or not."
Buffy rolled her eyes but went back to her book. She'd always hated research sessions, but this one was particularly annoying. Most likely the infestation wasn't even a threat to them, so why was Giles so hell bent on looking for it?
Xander had zoned out about a half hour before, and was currently daydreaming about how awesome it would be if unicorns were real.
Willow, on the other hand, had ploughed through two more books and was now on her fourth one. It was interesting; she kinda felt sad having to speed through them, because a lot of pages contained information she simply wanted to know.
Giles was steadily paging through his Latin book, trying to get the pronunciation of the names right in his head. Of course, there was no way of telling whether the demons Buffy had overheard had even known the right pronunciation. Maybe this was a waste of time and they should just...
"I've got it!" Willow said. "For real this time. 'Lepacorns are leporids similar to hares. However, instead of the long ears usually found on hares, they have horns on their head. These horns can be used as weapons, and Lepacorns able to shoot a target from 10 meters away with deadly accuracy. Droves of Lepacorns can usually be found around farms.' What would they be doing here?"
"Presumably the demons Buffy encountered brought them with them from wherever they came from," Giles said.
"That makes sense," Willow said, still scanning through the text. "It says here they can be domesticated."
"Bunnies?" Buffy asked incredulously, slamming the book she was reading closed. Giles winced; not as much at her tone, as at her handling of his precious book. The one she was holding was at least a hundred years old, and he could see the pages flaking beneath her hands.
"We spent the last three hours holed up in this library, only to end up with bunnies?"
"Technically, hares," Giles said. "Rabbits are actually..."
Buffy pinned him with a glare.
"We don't know how dangerous they are, Buffy. They might not sound like much, but-"
"Giles?" Willow interjected softly. "It says here that Lepacorns are not harmful to humans."
"Not harmful?" Xander exclaimed. "The can shoot horns. How can they not be harmful to humans?"
"Apparently they avoid us like, well, the plague, since the actual plague killed so much of their numbers that only the human-shy ones survived," Willow read.
"Okay, well, that settles it," Buffy said, standing up from the table. "I'm going home, I’m going to do my homework like a normal person, and finish the day off with a nice, demonless but vampire heavy patrol."
"What about the demons you saw, though?" Willow asked, but Buffy shook her head.
"Uh-huh, I'm not falling into this trap twice a day. Research is over. If they were a threat, they would have attacked me. They didn't. Goodbye."
Before any of them could protest her last statement, the library doors had swung shut behind her.
"I guess that's it for the day," Giles said, and Willow and Xander got up.
"Do you need any help tidying up?" Willow asked, hope colouring her voice, but Giles shook his head.
"I will take care of the books," he said. "Go home, get some rest. I will see you tomorrow."
Characters: Giles, Buffy, Willow, Xander
Rating: G
Words: 1,154
Recipient/Prompt: punch_kicker15
Three elements you'd like included: High school setting, an annoying apocalypse or supernatural thread, research session
Setting: Season 3
Summary: Buffy overhears some demons talking. Research ensues.
"Giles, I thought you said leprechauns didn't exist?"
Buffy entered the library, grateful her school day was over, with Willow and Xander trailing behind her.
"Why is that?" Xander mused, as he hopped on one of the tables. "Why is that all the scary monsters we grew up hearing about do exist, and the nice ones don't. I bet you unicorns don't exist either."
"Oh!" Willow popped up, sitting straighter in the chair she had just claimed. "Maybe it's just that since they're no threat, the Council doesn't care about them and thus isn't in the know. That’d be cool. We should go unicorn hunting!"
Giles came out of his office, and fixed Willow with a glare.
"Unicorns do not exist," he said, pointing the same glare to Xander, and then turned to Buffy. "Neither do leprechauns, as far as I know. Why are you asking?"
"There were these demons last night. Not all that big, kinda fluffy. They were talking to each other, and I heard one of them grumble about 'what do we do about that leprechaun infestation?' Before I could do more, though, four vamps with the worst timing in the world showed up."
She waved a hand to assuage the three identically concerned looks.
"I'm fine," she said. "Nothing I couldn't handle. But once they were dusted, the demons were gone. So. Leprechauns. What gives?"
Giles descended into thought, and went to retrieve some books. He handed them out to the three teenagers, who all grumbled, albeit some (Xander) with noticeably more feeling than others (Willow) who seemed to take the grumbling as obligatory but were secretly pleased.
"I presume there must be some kind of species out there whose name sounds a lot like leprechaun," he said.
"I know what I heard," Buffy muttered, and Giles put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I'm not saying you don't," he said. "But a human brain isn't equipped to deal with words it doesn't know, so when you are provided with a word you don't recognize, your brain will substitute it with something it does know. I presume they're similar in pronunciation, but entirely different in spelling and meaning."
"I would recommend trying to voice the demon species out loud," he said, then hastily added: "In your head, I mean. You never know which demon will show up just because its name as mentioned. But see if you can find anything that sounds like leprechaun."
The three teenagers sighed, but set to work. Giles took a chair himself, and sat down with a Latin tome that he thought might contain the answer. He refused to believe there truly were leprechauns, so he was, for now, eschewing any and all books based on Welsh and Irish beliefs.
"I think I've found something!" Willow exclaimed, holding up her book for all to see. "'Livricons are small creatures with a spiked spine.' That sure sounds infestation-like to me! 'They travel in packs and mostly live in...' Oh. They live in cold climates, and cannot survive temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius. That's about 50 Fahrenheit, right Giles?"
"Correct," Giles replied. "They might survive a few winter nights here, but I don't think they could survive the Sunnydale summer."
"Poor things," Buffy said, shaking her head. "Never feeling the glorious sunshine on their faces, the warmth soaking up in their souls. Speaking of..."
She looked at Giles, silently imploring him to let her go taste some of the sunshine's rays.
"Sit and read," he said. "Before we know what we're dealing with, we won't know if it's an immediate threat or not."
Buffy rolled her eyes but went back to her book. She'd always hated research sessions, but this one was particularly annoying. Most likely the infestation wasn't even a threat to them, so why was Giles so hell bent on looking for it?
Xander had zoned out about a half hour before, and was currently daydreaming about how awesome it would be if unicorns were real.
Willow, on the other hand, had ploughed through two more books and was now on her fourth one. It was interesting; she kinda felt sad having to speed through them, because a lot of pages contained information she simply wanted to know.
Giles was steadily paging through his Latin book, trying to get the pronunciation of the names right in his head. Of course, there was no way of telling whether the demons Buffy had overheard had even known the right pronunciation. Maybe this was a waste of time and they should just...
"I've got it!" Willow said. "For real this time. 'Lepacorns are leporids similar to hares. However, instead of the long ears usually found on hares, they have horns on their head. These horns can be used as weapons, and Lepacorns able to shoot a target from 10 meters away with deadly accuracy. Droves of Lepacorns can usually be found around farms.' What would they be doing here?"
"Presumably the demons Buffy encountered brought them with them from wherever they came from," Giles said.
"That makes sense," Willow said, still scanning through the text. "It says here they can be domesticated."
"Bunnies?" Buffy asked incredulously, slamming the book she was reading closed. Giles winced; not as much at her tone, as at her handling of his precious book. The one she was holding was at least a hundred years old, and he could see the pages flaking beneath her hands.
"We spent the last three hours holed up in this library, only to end up with bunnies?"
"Technically, hares," Giles said. "Rabbits are actually..."
Buffy pinned him with a glare.
"We don't know how dangerous they are, Buffy. They might not sound like much, but-"
"Giles?" Willow interjected softly. "It says here that Lepacorns are not harmful to humans."
"Not harmful?" Xander exclaimed. "The can shoot horns. How can they not be harmful to humans?"
"Apparently they avoid us like, well, the plague, since the actual plague killed so much of their numbers that only the human-shy ones survived," Willow read.
"Okay, well, that settles it," Buffy said, standing up from the table. "I'm going home, I’m going to do my homework like a normal person, and finish the day off with a nice, demonless but vampire heavy patrol."
"What about the demons you saw, though?" Willow asked, but Buffy shook her head.
"Uh-huh, I'm not falling into this trap twice a day. Research is over. If they were a threat, they would have attacked me. They didn't. Goodbye."
Before any of them could protest her last statement, the library doors had swung shut behind her.
"I guess that's it for the day," Giles said, and Willow and Xander got up.
"Do you need any help tidying up?" Willow asked, hope colouring her voice, but Giles shook his head.
"I will take care of the books," he said. "Go home, get some rest. I will see you tomorrow."