20 Minutes with Andrew Challenge.
Can You See What I Can See?
By Rose Williams.
Rating: G.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all associated 'stuff' belong to Joss Whedon and all associated people (and organizations). His Dark Materials and all associated 'stuff' belong to Phillip Pullman and all associated people (and organizations).
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Andrew did know things; that Voldemort and Lex Luther were good names for bad guys; what ingredients made the best pizzas; and how to run away. He and Jonathon had made it all the way to Mexico, after all.
This time running away meant 'going for a walk' to the Village, catching the bus to the train station and getting off the train at Oxford. He got off there because he knew the name, and knew that Giles knew the area. In case he had to run from something again.
He walked straight out of the station into a harried looking woman. The bird on her shoulder squawked at him in protest.
"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry," he managed to say.
She stopped, turned, and narrowed her eyes at him. She'd probably been caught off guard by his accent, he thought. She didn't really deserve to have him run into her.
"Ah, nice bird," Andrew said, nodding to the creature, back on her shoulder under her ear.
She looked even more confused. She looked around for a moment, very dazed. She seemed to find what she was looking for next to Andrew right leg. Andrew shifted uncomfortably.
"You can see Raly?" she asked. "Not many people can do that."
"I have a gift for seeing things," Andrew said pompously. "Well, actually, I just got used to noticing things."
"Can you see animals near other people?" the woman asked.
Andrew took a mental step back. She was looking at him the way Giles sometimes looked at new book that arrived in the Library.
"I imagine them sometimes," he said. "Warren had a wolf. Dawn has a butterfly. I have an imaginary pet," he admitted.
She was looking at him strangely again.
"A white and tan terrier cross?" she asked, staring at his leg again.
Andrew looked down at the ground next to. There was the familiar and comforting sight of his dog. The dog looked up at him, annoyed again that Andrew didn't really know what was going on.
"His name's Narus," he said.
"My name is Mary," the woman said.
Raly launched himself from her shoulder and landed on the ground in front of Narus. Narus smelt the bird and wagged his tail. As the humans watched Narus very carefully touched Raly's beak.
"Andrew," Andrew told the woman. "Pleased to meet you," he added, holding out his hand.
Mary took it without looking at him. She understood that he trusted her, but was wary. And that he was curious, but unsure what to ask. Andrew didn't need to understand anything more than she would accept what he had to say.
"How long have you had him?" she asked, nodding at the dog.
"Since I was about twelve," Andrew said. "So, ten years."
Mary nodded.
"Can you see animals around all adults?"
"If I'm relaxed, and concentrate on thinking what the animals might be, then they seem to appear. There were a few of the young women in the house didn't have any, however hard I tried to see."
"Until a person matures, their animal can change shape. Part of growing up is you animal stops changing."
"Cool," Andrew said. "So it's like the totem animals that the tribes had?"
"Would you like to know more about it?" Mary asked. "You can come to my office. There are two people, closer to your age, who work with me. That is, if you don't have somewhere else to be?"
"Well, I will have to go back to Devon eventually," Andrew said. "But at the moment I'm running away."