Author: mkcrl120
Disclaimer: All the characters mentioned in this story belong to Joss Whedon or Mutant Enemy or some other people. I own nothing and wrote this just to get it out of my system.
Summary: I'm writing some of these, as I've come up with ideas that I honestly don't know what I'll be doing when the Ultimate series gets that far. In the meantime, these won't go away from my brain unless I do something with them. Warning: It may be a standalone it may be spoilers for something later; only time will tell.
Rating: 15 probably… mainly for language.
Setting: Season 3 - I think you'll recognise when.
What The Hell(mouth) Happened?? - Chapter 27
Giles Residence.
"And..?" Jenny asked waiting for him to sit down and start on the meal she'd prepared.
"What do you mean, 'And..?'" Giles replied, continuing the pacing in front of her. "The Council is quite unhelpful regarding this situation. I really expect more from them, it goes against the grain of our every tradition."
"Rupe, it's really not that big a deal." She sighed.
"Not that big a deal..?" He countered loudly, throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief. "For centuries, Watchers have produced hand-written reports concerning all the information they believe to be relevant to the Slayer Lore... it is our method of ensuring that future Slayers have the best chance of survival, while continuing to look after the Slayer currently in their care."
"They're not actually trying to stop you doing any of that."
"They want me to send my reports in via computer... by computer of all things."
"The report is still essentially the same." Jenny tried to explain. "The contents are what you enter... all that's changed is you'd be using a keyboard instead of a pen."
"It's not the same... reading through previous Watcher diaries, I was quite able to distinguish between various Watchers by the penmanship... the style... the flow with which they added each new piece of information into the existing document."
"So you're worried they'll blend in..?" She asked confused.
"Yes..." He stated, believing she'd got it now. "If I was looking for the last time a Slayer faced more than one Pengric demon in a single instant... then I'd remember my studies and I could picture the few times they'd been mentioned and..." He paused, seeing if there was any sign or recognition in Jenny's eyes. "... and recognise the handwriting and I'd immediately know where to start looking." He explained.
"Okay... so I could see how that could be useful." She commented, trying to hold back the smirk. "Whereas if it was on a computer then all you could actually do, was do a search for Pengric and get any document that contained a reference to that demon."
"Arghhh..." He shouted, striding forcefully out of the room. A few moments passed before he returned. "You know... not even Ms Post was doing that.. and she was evil."
"She did all the work on computer." Jenny informed him. "She simply printed off documents and sent them. Which would make sense as it means she could obtain multiple copies quite quickly."
"I could do that using a photocopier." Giles answered.
"You sure it wouldn't be quicker to get some young students to write it out themselves... making their best efforts at copying the handwriting..?" She stated in a sarcastic tone. "They're trying to join the twentieth century... you know... before it ends."
"I don't see why..." Giles replied, "These procedures have been passed down for many centuries... and they've always faired well enough in the past."
"That's not exactly true is it..?" Jenny countered, an evil smile growing on her face. "I'm sure that fountain pens were looked upon as witchcraft once upon a time, I mean how could they hope to replace the quill with that kind of new-fangled technology."
Looking up to meet his glare, she held back the giggle that threatened to escape from her throat before continuing. "And I think I once even saw you using a biro."
"I hardly think that is the same thi..." He answered before getting interrupted.
"Wouldn't all documents have had to be hand delivered... either by the Watcher or some Junior assigned to them... it was probably decades before the Watchers chose to trust the post office." She stated, unable to stop the initial laugh from escaping when she saw his face.
As he strode up the stairs, she laughingly shouted after him. "And that paper idea... what's that all about... pure evil, that's what it is... there's no way anything that flimsy could hope to ever replace the stone tablet."
The barely audible "Hummph." came from their bedroom, as she sat down and using a fork took a mouthful of lasagne. Still grinning as she did so.
The Old Master's Lair.
"Hey." Jonathan said, as he pushed the curtained divider to Trick's cavernous room. "Stephen said you hadn't got the electrics done yet."
Trick had moved as soon as he'd heard the sound, moving to intercept Jonathan before he entered the room. "I've been busy."
Jonathan held his hands up in a non-threatening gesture. "Anything I need to know about."
"You'll know more before daybreak tomorrow." Trick answered.
"Okay." Jonathan replied, accepting that Trick may have a few plans in the works. "So... you need the boys again tonight..?"
"Nah..."
"Cos I was gonna take a few and try and find this cable woman that Stephen knows... gonna get the tv sorted." Jonathan explained.
"Sounds good." Trick replied disinterested. "I'll probably get Stephen to kit me out in a day or so."
"He's moving down to Spike's old place tomorrow." Jonathan informed him. "If you want him to do your room before he makes a start on that then just say the word."
"It's okay." Trick answered. "I'll get it done soon enough."
"Don't really understand the delay." Jonathan admitted, "But it's your room."
Trick sighed. "I wasn't going to show you this yet." He stated, lifting the makeshift curtain aside to allow Jonathan to see into the room.
"Is that..?" Jonathan replied, eyes going wide. Continuing once Trick nodded, "But why..?"
"This room..?" Trick finished for him. "Well, it's kinda like this..."
Bronze.
That Night.
"I've never seen her stay seated for that long." Willow mumbled into her boyfriend's shoulder as they danced to a slow number. "I thought she was genetically unable to do so."
"Hmmm...." Jesse muttered back, eyes flicked over to where Faith was seated with some of the others. Xander and Scott got up and moved over to the bar to fetch drinks, leaving Faith sitting with Cordelia, Buffy and Pete.
"Especially the crazy dance one." Willow commented, lifting her head so she could see his facial expressions. "I was watching her while you and Xander did that... thing... you did. What was that by the way?"
"Dunno." He responded, looking down to meet her gaze. "Think Xander was trying to embarrass Buffy with some really weird moves."
"So you just copied him on the other side of her..? It was the fact you were about a second behind that was freaking me out."
"You try having to second guess a Xander Harris dance move... it's impossible." Jesse explained.
"It couldn't even been referred to as choreography. It was more like one person having a fit and their unco-ordinated shadow trying to replicate it."
"Really... cos that was exactly how it felt too." Jesse teased back. "We embarrassed Buffy so I guess we succeeded."
"It wasn't Buffy I was watching it was the others." Willow confessed. "Cordy monitored Scott's reactions to ensure he was enjoying himself, which he did seem to be. Pete just looked confused then watched Faith... Faith looked like she was kinda pining to be involved."
Jesse shrugged, "She probably was. Like you said, girl doesn't sit still for that long."
"I kinda feel sorry for Pete though." Willow stated. "I know I couldn't do anything like that... so when you join in, I'm glad to be left out of it... But I think Pete wanted Faith to enjoy herself... and wasn't sure how to tell her to. And if he couldn't do that sort of thing himself without dying of embarrassment..." She drifted off.
"Hey, no-one's gonna force him to do anything he doesn't want to." Jesse leaned in to gently kiss her nose. "We don't expect you to do anything you're not comfortable with. Pete'll just have to learn to fit in where he can."
"But I think he really likes her... and it seems that she really likes him. I just have a good feeling about this you know."
Meanwhile.
At The Bar.
"So Scott, what do you do..? I can't say I've seen you much around school." Xander asked bluntly while they waited to be served.
"I'm at school..." Scott answered in a 'duh' tone, before grinning back to show he was joking. "Seriously though, not that much. If you went to your social history lessons then you would have seen me in there."
"I take social history..?" Xander asked, "Wow, you learn something new every day."
Scott grinned. "Well... I only noticed you were missing this afternoon... I can't say I've looked for you before." He shrugged, confessing "You were neither someone I knew, nor a hot girl."
"Alas, that is my life in summary." Xander joked.
"I knew enough to know that I never really pictured you hanging aroud Cordelia though." Scott commented.
"A truer word was never spoken... until last week... when those words kinda became a lie." Xander mused out loud.
"So what changed..?" Scott asked interested.
"Ermmm..." Xander thought, wondering how to answer that one. "I guess, she did."
"I had noticed a change myself." Scott confessed. "Hanging out with her other friends far less... I always thought she could be someone interesting... once you managed to get her past the school's social structure."
"Gotta confess..." Xander stated, "This is a far superior Cordelia than the one I knew."
"Wonder what happened to her?" Scott pondered.
"And on that note, what were the drinks again..?" Xander gratefully changed topic as the barman arrived to take their order.
Sunnydale Town Centre.
Maria Locans knocked on the door again. The place looked completely empty, not a light was on in the building. "Damn students..." She muttered to herself, as she rechecked her clipboard.
"Yep, here it is..." She commented aloud, "Bunch of students from UCSD moved off campus." Looking up, she sighed satisfied this was just the type of cheap accomodation some students would pick out as a 'cool' place to live.
Knocking again, she looked up at the various windows. The building was three stories high and she had no idea how many of the floors the students had rented. "Might not be able to hear me... course they could just be out... or stoned or something." She mumbled, continuing to curse about people who weren't in when they were expected to be. For a split second she thought she saw movement on the rooftop.
Checking the name on the clipboard she continued to mutter. "Dammit..." Taking a few steps back, she tried to get a better angle to see if there had been anyone on the roof or if her eyes were simply playing tricks on her.
"Mr Levinson... is that you..?" She shouted upwards and into the night.
End chapter twenty seven