And here's the next flashback section, aka exposition cunningly disguised as a conversation. Enjoy!
Thanks and adoration to my beta readers, Fab and Erica Olson.
Blinky the Tree Frog
homepages.ihug.com.au/~syntax4/
Disclaimer:
The Buffyverse belongs to Mutant Enemy as far as I'm aware. No money being made, no infringement intended.
Spoilers for Season Seven up to at least Episode 12 (Potential). It's set right after.
Change
Flashback Two: Four months ago and ten years in the future...
"...So then he ran up the side of the building, the lizard going straight after him the whole way. Got to the top, did this little flip, and went totally gymnastic..."
"Really?" Jessica, the council house's resident secretary, nodded encouragingly at Dawn. Technically there were papers she should be dealing with; but a bit of girl's talk never hurt anyone.
"Yeah. But I'm guessing it was mostly CGI; no one does those kinds of stunts anymore. Their poor actors are far too precious." She leaned on the reception desk and absentmindedly pulled at her shoe strap. "Anyway, that's Spiderman number six for you. It was surprisingly good. I mean, you seriously wouldn't think they could keep the quality up, but I really liked it. And damn, Toby Maguire's aged well."
Jessica nodded in agreement. "I guess I'll take up Trish's offer to see it with her Thursday then. It sounds like fun."
"It was, yeah." Dawn nodded, and then broke into a grin as the council house door opened. "And speaking of incredibly geeky things, look what the night dragged in!"
Andrew smiled at her as he and Dust wearily entered, wiped their feet on the house's incredibly ornate doormat and walked up to the reception desk. "Hey Dawn."
"Hey back." She gave him a chastising look. "Where the heck have you two been? I haven't even got a message in three months! You didn't get completely stuck in another dimension again, did you?"
Dust looked rueful. "Not another dimension, no. We did spend a lot amount of time wandering the outback, though. It gets really hot there."
She grinned again and raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. "Well colour me shocked. So what brings you back to the council house? Trouble?"
Dawn blanched as Andrew's face took on a look of faint apology. "Oh god, it is trouble. Oh well, guess it'll give me an excuse to exercise my Watcherly duties. It's been slow lately."
Andrew looked amused. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Well sure, if you're going to put it in the terms of the good of humanity and stuff..."
"Which, y'know, most people tend to do."
"I think I've been in this game too long. It's getting that I'm almost nostalgic for the good old apocalyi we had way back then."
Dust frowned. "Apocalyi?"
"I've officially decided that's the plural of Apocalypse. I really have been in this game too long."
"Ever since you were a shiny glowing ball of energy, in fact", said Andrew helpfully.
She snorted and shook her head slightly in amusement. "So what is it?"
"What is...?"
"Trouble?"
"Oh. Right. That would be my brother."
"Mr Hellhound?"
"That brother, yes. He's actually my only brother, as a point of fact..."
Dust butted in helpfully. "He's gone evil, insane and powerful. Little help here?"
Dawn blinked. "He's..."
"Gone evil, insane and powerful." Andrew looked glum. "What he said, essentially."
"Okay, how...?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story, but it can be condensed a little."
Dust pulled himself onto the reception desk to sit, oblivious to Jessica's annoyed glance. "I'll do the condensed version. Andrew doesn't get the whole 'make it shorter' thing."
"It's just way too hard!"
"Guys? Focus?"
"Right, sure." Dust pulled himself together. "Okay, well the whole problem started a couple of months ago in Australia. We'd just helped out a bunch of Aborigines with this demon and we scored a cool whirly thing which, incidentally, I have now been informed is actually called a bull roarer..."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the shorter version."
Dust gave Andrew a look. "Oh shut it. Anyway, that night Mr Sarcasm over there had this weird kind of psychic flash thing of Tucker sitting in Ohio, having eaten something. Since he doesn't normally have weird psychic flashes, we thought it was a little strange, but it didn't seem that serious at the time so we left it.
Andrew nodded. "Except then it happened again."
"And again, and again, and so on. He kept seeing Tucker in different places and had this bizarre sense that he'd eaten someone or something."
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "You're right, that is bizarre."
"We decided at this point to find out what the hell was going on, so we started using the flashes to trace him. Since this is the condensed version I'll just say we found him eventually."
"Hooray!"
He glared at his companion. "We found him, and he was really... well..."
Andrew sighed. "Nuts."
"Nuts pretty much sums it up. We talked to him... he was pretty incoherent but between the ravings about how powerful he was, the threats about how he was going to tear all his old enemies apart, and some deluded screaming about the local hotel's ice cream, we managed to get the basic story."
"And I can really see I'm going to love this," said Dawn.
Andrew nodded. "It gets better."
"Apparently he managed to summon this demon according to some bizarre ritual and the demon granted him powers. And not just any powers either, powers that allow him to keep getting more powerful. He eats demons."
"He eats demons?"
"Not exactly literally. Well, I mean, sort of literally... He kind of grabs them and sort of... inhales them into his mouth. These huge demons, as big as him, and he just swallows them like they're those squishy little jelly bear things they sell at the store down on the corner!"
"Ewww." Jessica wrinkled her nose.
"That's about it. It's sooo disturbing to see. Anyway, he does this whole swallowing thing that looks like it shouldn't even be possible, then he actually pulls bits of the demon into himself."
"Bits?"
"Powers. Talents. Extra attachments. Whatever he wants. He takes the bits he wants and leaves the bits he doesn't, and then he spits out this desiccated demon corpse on the ground."
"Unless it's a vampire, which just turns to dust," Andrew added.
"Whatever! The point being, he keeps eating more of these things and he keeps getting more powerful! We tried to reason with him, and that didn't work. Then we started tracking him with Andrew's flashes to see what he was doing and it was mainly crazy wandering, like he was testing out a new toy he'd got. Until..."
"He tried to kill people. Not just demons, people."
Dawn looked alarmed. "He eats people?"
Andrew shook his head. "No. That's the point. He didn't try to kill them for any real purpose, he tried to kill them because one of them accidentally bumped into him and he tripped over. There wasn't any reason, just lashing out. No restraint. He's... he's really and truly lost it. Whatever he did... I can't even see my brother there anymore, Dawn. It's madness."
Dust nodded. "Just insanity. When we managed to get the poor people away all we could think was 'we have to get him off the streets'. So we tried..."
Dawn cut in, looking exasperated. "You didn't think of contacting us straight away?"
They looked uncomfortable. Andrew made a face. "Well, y'know. We thought maybe we could deal with it there and then."
"And that obviously worked well."
"It almost did! Andrew summoned this Terepi... Terapi..."
"Teraepi."
"Teraepi demon, and we cornered him, but then Tucker got the upper hand and...well... he kinda..."
Dawn sighed. "Let me guess. He ate it and got more powerful?"
Dust looked sheepish. "Err... yes."
"You sent a demon after someone who eats demons. Well done, guys."
Andrew had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "We thought we could take him by surprise before he got the upper hand."
Dust was rueful. "We were wrong, basically. So we ran away like the pansies we are and decided to come get help. Since we weren't all that far from here..."
"We took the next bus."
"Oh, and also, Andrew told him about how he can track him and now he wants to kill us with extreme prejudice."
Dawn's eyes widened. "You told him?"
Now Andrew was practically cringing. "It kinda slipped out. I mean, I was trying to be intimidating. You know? You can't stop us, we'll always find you..."
Dust raised a hand. "I'd just like to say that I had nothing to do with this particular stuff up. Many other hideous mistakes may be attributed to me, but this one was all him."
"Thanks so much, faithful companion."
"No problem, oh great summoner."
Dawn took a deep breath. "Oookay. First of all: what's with these psychic flashing things? Any ideas?"
"Nothing certain," Andrew replied. "Best guess is that whatever the demon did to him is so weird and powerful it sometimes reverbs through me because I'm sensitive to demony things and I'm connected to him by blood."
She frowned. "It's always got to be blood."
Andrew shrugged. "Blood's a powerful thing. That's why it gets used in so many rituals, actually, but that's kind of irrelevant, so..."
"Right." Dawn started to pace as she thought the situation through. "We have a crazy powerful monster thing which is just going to get more powerful the longer it gets left. You can track him. He knows this, and wants to kill you. I think Slayer escort is the way to go. I'll get someone to travel with you and you can corner him again with someone he isn't going to eat. We'll... try to be non-lethal if possible, okay? You think he's still take-downable with one Slayer, or do you need more?"
"One should do. He hasn't eaten anything since we ran away from him, I would know."
"Okay. So let me see." She bit her lip. "Abby's on a job, and Erica's still recovering from getting thrown through a glass door last night, right Jess?"
Jessica pulled up files on her computer. "That's right. She'll be a day or two. You could try Emma, but she might not be ready for something like this. Oh, wait a second, we could just use..."
"Chao Ahn!" Dawn smiled as the woman in question walked into the reception area and looked startled.
"Dawn? Why do I have the feeling I will not like what you're going to ask?"
Dust grinned. "Hi Chao! You transferred back here again!"
The Asian Slayer smiled. "I am not here permanent, just staying for a few months. I was... restless where I was. I fear I am beginning to like changing scenery as much as you two."
"Cool!"
"And you always come back here too, it seems." She nodded respectfully to Andrew and smiled. "Hello Storyteller."
He nodded back gracefully. "Hello Slayer."
Dawn looked apologetic. "I know you're just settling in here, but Andrew and Dust have a bit of a problem that could do with some butt kicking. You up for it?"
Chao Ahn gave her an understanding look and nodded. "I would," she said, "be happy to help."
***************
Thanks and adoration to my beta readers, Fab and Erica Olson.
Blinky the Tree Frog
homepages.ihug.com.au/~syntax4/
Disclaimer:
The Buffyverse belongs to Mutant Enemy as far as I'm aware. No money being made, no infringement intended.
Spoilers for Season Seven up to at least Episode 12 (Potential). It's set right after.
Change
Flashback Two: Four months ago and ten years in the future...
"...So then he ran up the side of the building, the lizard going straight after him the whole way. Got to the top, did this little flip, and went totally gymnastic..."
"Really?" Jessica, the council house's resident secretary, nodded encouragingly at Dawn. Technically there were papers she should be dealing with; but a bit of girl's talk never hurt anyone.
"Yeah. But I'm guessing it was mostly CGI; no one does those kinds of stunts anymore. Their poor actors are far too precious." She leaned on the reception desk and absentmindedly pulled at her shoe strap. "Anyway, that's Spiderman number six for you. It was surprisingly good. I mean, you seriously wouldn't think they could keep the quality up, but I really liked it. And damn, Toby Maguire's aged well."
Jessica nodded in agreement. "I guess I'll take up Trish's offer to see it with her Thursday then. It sounds like fun."
"It was, yeah." Dawn nodded, and then broke into a grin as the council house door opened. "And speaking of incredibly geeky things, look what the night dragged in!"
Andrew smiled at her as he and Dust wearily entered, wiped their feet on the house's incredibly ornate doormat and walked up to the reception desk. "Hey Dawn."
"Hey back." She gave him a chastising look. "Where the heck have you two been? I haven't even got a message in three months! You didn't get completely stuck in another dimension again, did you?"
Dust looked rueful. "Not another dimension, no. We did spend a lot amount of time wandering the outback, though. It gets really hot there."
She grinned again and raised an eyebrow in mock surprise. "Well colour me shocked. So what brings you back to the council house? Trouble?"
Dawn blanched as Andrew's face took on a look of faint apology. "Oh god, it is trouble. Oh well, guess it'll give me an excuse to exercise my Watcherly duties. It's been slow lately."
Andrew looked amused. "Isn't that a good thing?"
"Well sure, if you're going to put it in the terms of the good of humanity and stuff..."
"Which, y'know, most people tend to do."
"I think I've been in this game too long. It's getting that I'm almost nostalgic for the good old apocalyi we had way back then."
Dust frowned. "Apocalyi?"
"I've officially decided that's the plural of Apocalypse. I really have been in this game too long."
"Ever since you were a shiny glowing ball of energy, in fact", said Andrew helpfully.
She snorted and shook her head slightly in amusement. "So what is it?"
"What is...?"
"Trouble?"
"Oh. Right. That would be my brother."
"Mr Hellhound?"
"That brother, yes. He's actually my only brother, as a point of fact..."
Dust butted in helpfully. "He's gone evil, insane and powerful. Little help here?"
Dawn blinked. "He's..."
"Gone evil, insane and powerful." Andrew looked glum. "What he said, essentially."
"Okay, how...?"
"Well, it's kind of a long story, but it can be condensed a little."
Dust pulled himself onto the reception desk to sit, oblivious to Jessica's annoyed glance. "I'll do the condensed version. Andrew doesn't get the whole 'make it shorter' thing."
"It's just way too hard!"
"Guys? Focus?"
"Right, sure." Dust pulled himself together. "Okay, well the whole problem started a couple of months ago in Australia. We'd just helped out a bunch of Aborigines with this demon and we scored a cool whirly thing which, incidentally, I have now been informed is actually called a bull roarer..."
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the shorter version."
Dust gave Andrew a look. "Oh shut it. Anyway, that night Mr Sarcasm over there had this weird kind of psychic flash thing of Tucker sitting in Ohio, having eaten something. Since he doesn't normally have weird psychic flashes, we thought it was a little strange, but it didn't seem that serious at the time so we left it.
Andrew nodded. "Except then it happened again."
"And again, and again, and so on. He kept seeing Tucker in different places and had this bizarre sense that he'd eaten someone or something."
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "You're right, that is bizarre."
"We decided at this point to find out what the hell was going on, so we started using the flashes to trace him. Since this is the condensed version I'll just say we found him eventually."
"Hooray!"
He glared at his companion. "We found him, and he was really... well..."
Andrew sighed. "Nuts."
"Nuts pretty much sums it up. We talked to him... he was pretty incoherent but between the ravings about how powerful he was, the threats about how he was going to tear all his old enemies apart, and some deluded screaming about the local hotel's ice cream, we managed to get the basic story."
"And I can really see I'm going to love this," said Dawn.
Andrew nodded. "It gets better."
"Apparently he managed to summon this demon according to some bizarre ritual and the demon granted him powers. And not just any powers either, powers that allow him to keep getting more powerful. He eats demons."
"He eats demons?"
"Not exactly literally. Well, I mean, sort of literally... He kind of grabs them and sort of... inhales them into his mouth. These huge demons, as big as him, and he just swallows them like they're those squishy little jelly bear things they sell at the store down on the corner!"
"Ewww." Jessica wrinkled her nose.
"That's about it. It's sooo disturbing to see. Anyway, he does this whole swallowing thing that looks like it shouldn't even be possible, then he actually pulls bits of the demon into himself."
"Bits?"
"Powers. Talents. Extra attachments. Whatever he wants. He takes the bits he wants and leaves the bits he doesn't, and then he spits out this desiccated demon corpse on the ground."
"Unless it's a vampire, which just turns to dust," Andrew added.
"Whatever! The point being, he keeps eating more of these things and he keeps getting more powerful! We tried to reason with him, and that didn't work. Then we started tracking him with Andrew's flashes to see what he was doing and it was mainly crazy wandering, like he was testing out a new toy he'd got. Until..."
"He tried to kill people. Not just demons, people."
Dawn looked alarmed. "He eats people?"
Andrew shook his head. "No. That's the point. He didn't try to kill them for any real purpose, he tried to kill them because one of them accidentally bumped into him and he tripped over. There wasn't any reason, just lashing out. No restraint. He's... he's really and truly lost it. Whatever he did... I can't even see my brother there anymore, Dawn. It's madness."
Dust nodded. "Just insanity. When we managed to get the poor people away all we could think was 'we have to get him off the streets'. So we tried..."
Dawn cut in, looking exasperated. "You didn't think of contacting us straight away?"
They looked uncomfortable. Andrew made a face. "Well, y'know. We thought maybe we could deal with it there and then."
"And that obviously worked well."
"It almost did! Andrew summoned this Terepi... Terapi..."
"Teraepi."
"Teraepi demon, and we cornered him, but then Tucker got the upper hand and...well... he kinda..."
Dawn sighed. "Let me guess. He ate it and got more powerful?"
Dust looked sheepish. "Err... yes."
"You sent a demon after someone who eats demons. Well done, guys."
Andrew had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "We thought we could take him by surprise before he got the upper hand."
Dust was rueful. "We were wrong, basically. So we ran away like the pansies we are and decided to come get help. Since we weren't all that far from here..."
"We took the next bus."
"Oh, and also, Andrew told him about how he can track him and now he wants to kill us with extreme prejudice."
Dawn's eyes widened. "You told him?"
Now Andrew was practically cringing. "It kinda slipped out. I mean, I was trying to be intimidating. You know? You can't stop us, we'll always find you..."
Dust raised a hand. "I'd just like to say that I had nothing to do with this particular stuff up. Many other hideous mistakes may be attributed to me, but this one was all him."
"Thanks so much, faithful companion."
"No problem, oh great summoner."
Dawn took a deep breath. "Oookay. First of all: what's with these psychic flashing things? Any ideas?"
"Nothing certain," Andrew replied. "Best guess is that whatever the demon did to him is so weird and powerful it sometimes reverbs through me because I'm sensitive to demony things and I'm connected to him by blood."
She frowned. "It's always got to be blood."
Andrew shrugged. "Blood's a powerful thing. That's why it gets used in so many rituals, actually, but that's kind of irrelevant, so..."
"Right." Dawn started to pace as she thought the situation through. "We have a crazy powerful monster thing which is just going to get more powerful the longer it gets left. You can track him. He knows this, and wants to kill you. I think Slayer escort is the way to go. I'll get someone to travel with you and you can corner him again with someone he isn't going to eat. We'll... try to be non-lethal if possible, okay? You think he's still take-downable with one Slayer, or do you need more?"
"One should do. He hasn't eaten anything since we ran away from him, I would know."
"Okay. So let me see." She bit her lip. "Abby's on a job, and Erica's still recovering from getting thrown through a glass door last night, right Jess?"
Jessica pulled up files on her computer. "That's right. She'll be a day or two. You could try Emma, but she might not be ready for something like this. Oh, wait a second, we could just use..."
"Chao Ahn!" Dawn smiled as the woman in question walked into the reception area and looked startled.
"Dawn? Why do I have the feeling I will not like what you're going to ask?"
Dust grinned. "Hi Chao! You transferred back here again!"
The Asian Slayer smiled. "I am not here permanent, just staying for a few months. I was... restless where I was. I fear I am beginning to like changing scenery as much as you two."
"Cool!"
"And you always come back here too, it seems." She nodded respectfully to Andrew and smiled. "Hello Storyteller."
He nodded back gracefully. "Hello Slayer."
Dawn looked apologetic. "I know you're just settling in here, but Andrew and Dust have a bit of a problem that could do with some butt kicking. You up for it?"
Chao Ahn gave her an understanding look and nodded. "I would," she said, "be happy to help."
***************
