Chapter 11
Music was blaring all through the house. Giggling voices were heard from all directions. The place seemed to be fairly lively and there was a contented air that was hard to miss as Kyle stepped through the front door.
It was weird for him. He had spent so much time with just his friends, in really close quarters, that he was even more nervous about meeting his new roommates and coworkers. Forget the fact that he was stepping into a whole new world, with people who were famous in it. He was really starting to regret agreeing to this. On the job training as a watcher sounded cool to him in the abstract, but living here and interacting with slayers on a daily basis…..
A teenage girl rand across the foyer and past him before she turned, looked at him, and yelled, "Hey guys, he's here!"
Buffy rolled her eyes as she came down the stairs. "Gee, thanks Gwen."
She took the time to look the new guy over. He was tall and athletic, with dark hair and eyes. He seemed nervous, which she understood, but he looked happy to be here. That was good. The last thing they needed was someone who was just there to get paid.
"Hi," she said, "I'm Buffy Summers. I'm one of the watchers who will be training you. I'm Head Slayer of the council, but I function mostly as a watcher these days."
He smiled. "Hi. I'm Kyle Brooks, and I have no idea why I'm here."
"Really?"
"Well, my family got a tip to go and see your sister a couple of months ago, to help Maria with a whole magic thing, and the Council sort of just took us in. I'm not sure they even asked. It was like, 'you have cool powers and are used to living in close quarters with a motley group of teenagers? Follow the watch and count backwards from ten.' And now we're like part of the team."
Buffy laughed as she grabbed a bag off the floor and led Kyle up to his room. "We're very big on recruitment these days. So, what are these 'cool powers' you have? Are you a mage of some sort?"
Kyle was quiet for a moment. He really hated lying about the source of his powers, but 'aliens did it' wasn't really a reasonably smart thing to reveal. "Well, I see auras, sort of. It's like a bio-magnetic field thing. I can't see mystical things, but I can sense physical things. I can see the difference between vampires and humans and demons, and I can tell if there is something majorly wrong with a person. Like if they have a terminal illness. I've only been able to do that for a couple of years, so I'm still learning how to read what certain looks mean. Um….limited telekinesis and I can affect matter. I can change the color of something with my mind, or change the shape of some things. It's really useful when the car breaks down. I'm actually better at that because I used to be a mechanic, and I know what things are supposed to be like and how to fix them. Not the coolest powers and not the most useful in this line of work either."
By now they were in Kyle's room. It was a nice sized room, with its own bathroom and comfortable furniture. It was one of the two rooms designated for the watchers and had been redone when the house was purchased to have thicker walls than the slayer rooms. It was a bit unfair, but the girls didn't mind, since the thicker walls wouldn't do much good for slayer hearing anyway.
"This is your room. We had been letting the girls take turns in here, away from shared bathrooms and roommates, as a reward system, but they have other things for rewards, so it's no big deal. Bathroom is through there, no sharing. Closet is there, there is a trunk on the floor in there that you can put anything you want to keep private in. The girls are good, but they are nosey too. They won't open the trunk though; it's got a slayer repellant charm on it. I'm the only slayer who could possibly open one of those trunks, and I wouldn't. There is a desk in the office for you. Technically it's mine, but I only ever go in there to hide from the kids. Xander will do the whole 'these are your responsibilities' thing with you when he gets back with groceries. I'm pretty sure that's one of the things he's going to pawn off on you."
She grabbed his arm and started leading him through the house, pointing to rooms that they passed. "The aura thing will be useful on patrols actually. – this is the girls' bathroom, stay away for your own sanity – That's not the real reason you're here anyway. Dawn doesn't pick people for powers, she picks them for strength of character. – that's mine and Xander's room, if we're in there don't knock unless it's the end of the world - I hope you can cook. That's been one of the only things we can't get worked out; none of us can cook worth a damn. – library - We'll teach you everything you need to know. Don't worry about looking silly. Most of us learned the hard way ourselves and we're very open to teaching you. – office- Ignore the music if you can. They tend to play whatever matches their collective mood most of the time. You know you're in trouble when they break out the My Chemical Romance. – kitchen, dining room, basement training room through that door- If you have any trouble dealing with the slayers, feel free to come to us and we'll tell you how to deal with them yourself. If you don't, they will have no respect for you at all. – here's the living room- Just relax until Xander gets home and he'll help you with whatever you need. I've got to go check on chores."
And with that she was gone, and Kyle was left sitting on the couch with a stunned look on his face.
