Title: Laura's Letter Home

Author: Lawrence Payne

Timeline: 3 months after Chosen.

Setting: Main lobby of the Hyperion Hotel.

Disclaimer: Laura is not a regular member of the Buffyverse. She is a figment of my imagination. However, everyone she talks about, and the setting she is in, is. So let me firmly state that I do not own any of these characters or concepts; they are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Inc.

Archiving: If you want to, sure. Feel free. Please tell me if you do.

Comments: Constructive feedback is always appreciated. :)

Summary: Laura, One of the New Slayers writes a letter home.

BACKGROUND: After the Hellmouth battle, Buffy and the New Slayers move to L.A. and set up shop in Angels' old home, The Hyperion Hotel.

Authors Note #1:

This story is inspired by M. Scott Eiland 'Slayer Central' series. You don't need to read it to understand this story, but you should. You're missing out on some great writing if you haven't.

Authors Note #2:

I want to state at the top that I loved Season 7. But as much as I loved it, I did have one major problem with it. I got really tired of the, for lack of a better term, Charlie Brown Syndrome that seemed to dominate all of the characters thinking. The Potential's families and friends are never mentioned, or even thought about, throughout the season. These girls could have been hatched from pods in Buffy's backyard for all we know.

When Chloe died, Buffy acted as if she was the only person in the world who cared for/about her. Didn't Chloe have parents, or friends, or at least people who took cared of her before she arrived at Buffy's house? And what about the other girls who died? Were they orphans too? With the exception of Kennedy, whom we know from a single conversation is rich; we don't know anything about their lives before coming to Sunnydale. And if you think about it, Kennedy still might not have any living parents. They could be dead and she just inherited her mansion with many wings and the summer home in the Hamptons. This story is meant to be somewhat of an answer to that problem.

With that said, Happy Reading.

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Laura's Letter Home 1/1

Dear Mom and Dad:

How are things in Humboldt? Life here at the new school is great. I'm sitting inside the main lobby listening to the patter of the raindrops on the windows. Ever since Buffy and Mr. Giles decided to turn this place into a full-fledged school, things around here have been pretty busy. To the rest of the world, the newly established Hyperion Academy for Exceptional Young Women is an all-girls boarding school in the middle of Los Angles, but to those of us who live here, it goes by another name; Slayer High.

I don't know why we have to learn stuff like Geometry; it's not like you can use it to kill vampires. "Back you evil fiend! Or I'll spear you with my protractor!" I know! I know! As I was writing the words down I could hear Dad saying, "Education is the foundation of success. A young girl needs a good education if she wants to be successful at anything in life." But between classes, training, and patrols, I never have any free time.

Today is different. It rained all morning here in L.A., which is a little weird because I always thought it didn't rain in California. Anyway, classes and training sessions are done for the day and there are no patrols tonight on account of the storm, so I finally have some free time. I want to tell you all about this place.

This place is way cool! It feels more like a vacation spot than a school. The Hyperion Hotel is mondo huge! It has over 100 rooms, a giant library, a huge cafeteria, two lounges, a training and workout area, a brand new huge computer lab and a fully stocked weapons lab. Mr. Giles even sprang for over 100 new laptop computers for us to study with. There's even a cleaning and maintenance staff. We don't have to do anything except patrol and study! Way Cool!! There's even an indoor swimming pool and a spa! How - Wild - Is - That?!! The student lounge is especially cool. It's got a really great feel to it. It has these really soft hip-hugging leather chairs that rotate and a jukebox that plays all of the latest tunes. I haven't been in the other lounge. They keep the alcohol in that one, so it's adults only. No minors allowed. :(

Mr. Giles set the whole thing up for us. I overheard him telling Buffy that he used money from the old Watcher's Council accounts to pay for everything. He said he got the hotel from this Wolf-Man-with-a-Heart guy. Apparently, Wolf guy and Buffy use to friends, but something happened and they don't trust him anymore. He also asked Buffy not to see him again. Buffy agreed.

The entire hotel has been completely renovated. Mr. Giles also told us all about what happened here. He said a demon god-thing named Jasmine once lived here. She made people instantly fall in love with her. All of her followers stayed in the hotel so they could be close to her. He also said that she ate people whole. Uck!! Because everyone was all brainwashed and stuff, they donated all their time, energy, and money into fixing the place up so it would look nice for her. They even built the pool and the spa just for her. When everyone learned the truth, they all snapped out of it. Everybody just abandoned the place and when home. Sucks for them, but great new school for us!

As great as this place is, it's still a school, and just like in high school back home, the girls here have started running in packs. Five different 'clicks' have formed, each based around a single person.

The first up is the Watchgirls. With only twelve members they are the smallest click in the school. These girls are seriously into science and demonology. They spend all day working in the library with Mr. Giles translating and studying ancient text. They can be described in one word, geeks.

I know what you're gonna say Mom, "How can they be geeks? They're all super strong with enhanced reflexes." Well, just because a person has super strength doesn't mean they're not geeks. They may not wear pocket protectors, but you know what they say; you can take the pocket protector away from the geek, but you can't take the geek out of the pocket protector. Or something like that. They dress like they just came from a board meeting at IBM. Business style suits with a blue or black blazer and small-rimmed glasses are the norm. It's sort of a combination uniform and fashion statement rolled into one.

Don't get me wrong Mom and Dad; they're tough as nails. When we're training, they can hold their own with Buffy or Faith. And during patrols they are some of the best partners a girl could have. It's what they do when they're not fighting that makes them geeks. Geek Check Rule Number One: if you think reading ancient Sumerian is fun; you're a geek. The Senior Slayers say that Mr. Giles is grooming them to be future Watchers.

Which bring me to the next group, the Senior Slayers. Some of the girls call them the Thousand Yarders. These are the girls who fought in and, actually lived through, the big battle in Sunnydale. These girls have seen more combat than a battle-hardened Vietnam Vet. There are about twenty of them, but only twelve actually stay in the school full time. The rest, along with some of the surviving members of the old Watchers Council, set up a second headquarters in Cleveland. I remember someone saying there is a Hellmouth there too.

All of the Seniors hang together. They share a real bond. Something that is really special. Something that we newbies just can't touch. Take Rona, Vi, and Chao Ahn for example. Those three are practically inseparable. Someone once told me the story about how Vi saved Rona life after the big Sunnydale fight. It's a long story so I'll tell it to you next time I'm home.

The Seniors don't act or dress in any particular way, but they do have one thing in common, their eyes. Whenever I look at them I see something strange in their eyes. Something kind of? Well... dark is the only word I can think of to describe it. They have this look. Like they've seen something no one else has.

Buffy always puts them in charge of team patrols. These gals take patrol very seriously. I mentioned this one girl named Vi earlier, and before you ask, I have no idea what it means. I thought it was short for Vicki, or Veronica, or something like that, but Buffy told me that it's not short for anything. My roommate Ashley thinks that English people just like giving their kids really goofy names. Anyway, I made the mistake once of asking her about it during patrol. She got this I-Am-So-Gonna-Kick-Your-Ass look on her face. She's been kind of peeved at me ever since. I still don't know if she's mad because she felt insulted or if she's mad because I was talking during a patrol.

Kennedy is the only Thousand Yarder who doesn't hang out with the rest of them. She spends almost all of her free time with Willow. Rona says Willow and Kennedy have a Sapphic relationship. What is that? Does that mean they like opera music or something?

Willow brings me to the next click, The Wiccies. They call themselves the Coven of Roses (the Roses part of comes from Willows' last name Rosenberg), but everyone else calls them Wiccies. I've counted at least twenty-five girls in this click including Willow who is the High Priestess of their coven. Willow is also and the Science, Computer, and Chemistry teacher here at Slayer High.

Technically, the Wiccies are geeks too, but so far no one has actually called them that to their faces. They don't dress like you would think. You know the stereotype, long black dresses and Goth makeup. Actually, they dress pretty normal. Depending on the weather, they'll wear jeans and T-shirts or sundresses and sandals with minimal accessories. Nothing to provocative, but not quite sexy either. They're OK gals, but they're kind of a schizoid bunch. When they're not training or patrolling, they spend most of the daylight hours with their noises buried in a science books; but once the sun goes down, it's all spells and stuff. What's weird about it is, they don't even see the contraction. For them, science and magic are basically the same thing. Pour this into that. Do this; then do that; say a few words and poof, instant whatever. For them, the only difference between magic and chemistry is that with chemistry, you don't have to recite any magic words.

The opposite of both the Wiccies and the Watchgirls is the Fivers. They call themselves the Fivers because Faith, their role model, use to say the phrase "5 by 5" all the time. I asked Willow what it meant and she told me that it is an old HAM Radio operator term that means good communication and reception. But when Faith uses it, she means everything is OK.

They are the bad girls, the self-described tough chicks of Slayer High. They're also the second biggest click in the school. With more than thirty-eight members they are, as Dad would put it, "A force to be reckoned with." Remember that old musical movie that you and Dad love so much about hair gel. Well these girls would be that gang called the Greaser. Trade the black leather jackets and blue jeans for faded black denim jackets and leather pants and you've got these girls down to a tee. They blow off at least half of their classes and training time so they can hang out in the alley behind the school. They go there to smoke cigarettes and talk about how cool they think they are.

Justine is the unofficial leader of the Fivers. Why is she the leader you ask? Because before she became a Slayer, she once spent a week in juvenile hall in her hometown for shoplifting from the mall. Major accomplishment I know! But because Faith went to jail, they now think that jail is super cool. They say they don't follow anybody but that is a total lie. They totally copy Faith. Lisa and Kate were both natural blondes when they came here, but after they joined the Fivers, they dyed their hair black. They said it was to quote 'help us hide better during patrols' unquote, but the real reason is they want to look more like their hero. They even flirt with Principal Wood like crazy because they heard from one of the Thousand Yarders that he and Faith had a thing back in the Sunnydale days. Faith just ignores them. She acts like they don't exist. The thing is, when she does that, it just makes her seem even cooler in their eyes.

Lastly, there's the biggest click in the school. They don't really have a group name. At least nothing that they call themselves, and there are way too many of them to count. The Fivers call them Copy Bees, the Wiccies call them Buff-A-Bees, and the Watchgirls and the Thousand Yarders just think they're pathetic. What they are are groupies, Buffy groupies to be more precise. They practically idolize her. Every other word out of their mouths is 'Buffy this, Buffy that.' "Willow said that Buffy once fought Frankenstein's monster (or something just like it)." "I heard she killed not one, but two, giant snake creatures!" "Xander told me that she fought an actual demon god, and won!" Blah, blah, blah, and double blah.

These chicks copy everything about Buffy. Her clothes, the way she does her hair, her accessories, her fighting style, even the way she talks. One time a bunch of them shadowed her, Willow, and Dawn (she's Buffy's little sister) at the mall just to see which stores she shops at. Some of them have even gone so far as to try and get vampire boyfriends! They heard that Buffy has had a couple of boyfriends who were vampires, and now they want one too. As you can guess, this leads to nothing but trouble.

One of new girls named Cheryl was on patrol with Rona, Justine, and me last week. Cheryl is a die-hard Buff-A-Bee. We found a small nest of six vamps hiding out in this old abandoned warehouse. We dusted five of them. I got one all by my lonesome. It was my first real in combat kill. :) Anyway, Rona is about to turn teeth-boy number six into a Hoover Vac cleaning problem when Cheryl shouted, "No!! Don't kill him!" "Why not?" Rona asked. Cheryl said, "He's got the cutest eyes!" Needless to say, Rona staked him anyway.

As for me, I fall somewhere in the middle of the pack around here. I don't spend all of my free time studying. I don't speak a word of Sumerian. And I don't waste my time hanging out in alleys smoking. I guess you could call me a Buff-A-Bee, but I really don't fit in with those girls either. As much as I like Buffy, I just don't admire her like they do. She has always been real nice to me, but it's not like we're friends or anything. In fact, Buffy is always a little weird around me. When I first got here, I mentioned that I was from Iowa and she got real quiet. She seemed kind of sad. I said I was sorry even though I didn't do anything wrong. She smiled and said it wasn't my fault, but she has been kind of standoffish around me ever since. It's like the minute she sees me she starts thinking about something, or someone, that makes her sad.

From what I've heard, Buffy hasn't always been this nice to her fellow Slayers. I think it was Kennedy who told me that Buffy was a real bitch back in Sunnydale. Some of the other Seniors say that her change in attitude is because of us New Slayers. Now that she isn't the only one in the world with super powers, she's singing a different tune. I disagree with that. I think Buffy is just a happier person now. Back when she was the only Slayer in the world she had to bare the weight of the world alone. She had to fight the demons and stop the apocalypses all by herself. Now she has us. And hey, if you had 38 girls squatting in your 3-bedroom house with only one bathroom between all of you, you'd be bitchy too.

Clicks aside, there is a real sisterhood here. Everyone looks out for each here, especially during patrols. And as much as I may rag on these chicks, I still love'em. Like it or not they are family. They may be extended family, but they are family nonetheless. You know how it is with family Mom and Dad. You're never really sure if you love them because you want to or because you have to. Remember Uncle Sal, Dads goofy brother who drinks too much at every family get-together? Remember last year when he got drunk and broke both of the floor lamps in the living room? You and Dad didn't even think twice when you invited him to Christmas dinner this year. It's kind of like that here. They my borrow my best blouse without asking; or drop an axe on my last good pair of jeans. Justine even stool my dairy once and read to her all of her stupid Fiver friends! They may drive me crazy, but I love'em anyway. I could tell you and Dad not to worry, but I know it won't do any good. You'll just worry anyway. Things around here can be a little weird at times. But hey! Now that I'm a Slayer, weird is part of the job.

Lots of Love.

Your Daughter Laura

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Authors Notes #3: I know that groups of people are called "cliques" not "clicks", but Laura doesn't. Just like she doesn't know what Sapphic means. :)