Phillip arrived a bit before six, laden with thick, leather-bound books. Emma's staff escorted him to the study that was slowly becoming the center for Slayer or demon related research, and left him to settle in. They'd also promised him a nice pot of tea. He waved a polite greeting towards Dawn, who was attempting to wait quietly, grinning the whole time, even as she did call out, "Hello goblin Watcher."
Joyce, Emma and Buffy arrived at almost the same time, caught up in a discussion about the widespread use and relative merits of the metric measuring system, with tangents onto European sizing for clothing and shoes.
"I do hope that your day has been tolerably pleasant?" Phillip offered. "I brought some material that may offer clues for those disturbances near the mausoleums that you mentioned."
Joyce smiled at Emma, wondering if Dawn's teasing greeting counted or not. "My day involved setting up an art display. Quite enjoyable, except for the traffic."
"Guess what? It's time for you to meet my back-up, so you know who else to ask all those questions about the color, size and stink of things." Buffy flashed a smile towards Phillip.
"We're here, and ready to meet the book-guy," Ash called.
Jem bounced on in, her pink hair sparkling and showing up against her dark purple shirt. "If Emma isn't insisting on a salon that costs more than most people make in a week, my sister Erica does hair."
"Jem, Ash, I want you to meet Phillip the book-guy," Buffy gestured. "Book-guy, the guy is Ash, and our pink singer over here is Jem."
"Wow… you remind me of the babe," Jem murmured, her eyes wide and focused on Phillip.
Buffy blinked, "Are you flirting with my new Watcher?"
"What…?" Phillip shook his head, "A babe?"
"Babe with the power… and the books," Jem was grinning.
"Power? He's a guy with creepy old books," Buffy wrinkled her nose. "What power?"
Dawn started to snicker, glancing from Jem to Phillip. "Voodoo?"
"Eeewww, isn't that the one with little dolls and big pins?" Buffy asked. "And if not, who-do with the voodoo? Do they teach Watchers that in Watcher-school?"
"Do what now?" Ash was looking from Jem to Buffy to Dawn, his expression rather bewildered.
Jem started to hum something different, her lips curving into a smirk. Dawn started to giggle.
"Seriously…" Phillip began, looking at them. "This joke is starting to lose the appeal."
"Remind me of the babe," Jem chirped, grinning at Phillip. "Care to sing along?"
"Unfortunately, singing isn't one of my talents… or powers," Phillip sighed. "Yet again, I do not have goblin minions, and I am not the goblin king."
"Too bad," Jem teased. "I always thought he was hot."
Emma chuckled, and sent a thought to Joyce – I do believe she's flirting with him. Not only were you right about who started it, she was only about fifteen seconds into being in the same room. Quite the record.
Joyce felt herself smiling. It was just too bad that now was a bad time to dwell on blindfolds, whipped cream, and her beautiful girlfriend. Focusing the thought towards Emma, Joyce thought that there were times when it didn't take a telepath's mind-reading to know what someone would do and who was most likely to do things. Less focused, she wondered if there might be a chance for romance between Jem and Phillip, or if Jem would keep flirting while he stammered and danced around the issue of feelings. Either way, it might be interesting to watch.
Jem is a far more appropriate person for him to be following and contemplating in locker rooms and private locations than Claybourne's habit of spying on Buffy. They do consider each other attractive, which helps, and they won't have to try to hide the demon-hunting and her mutation… Emma's thought drifted into Joyce's mind.
Joyce tried not to nod her head in response to Emma's comment that nobody else would have heard. Mutual appreciation of good looks wasn't enough to start a relationship, though not having to hide such big secrets might help. She would let them sort it out or dance around it on their own – it wasn't her place to meddle unless it endangered Buffy. But she'd definitely be watching to see what happened.
"Jem and Ash patrol with Buffy. They might have useful details about threats that are encountered, and will need to know any unusual attacks or defenses that a demon may possess, and will need to know the appropriate means of dealing with specific threats. As an added benefit," Emma paused to give Buffy a bemused smirk, "neither of them are also attempting to attend high school, with the attendant academic challenges and the perils of being a teenager."
"You say that like it's a bad thing to be a teenager," Buffy muttered.
Phillip just arched an eyebrow, "I am relieved that some of the people reporting will have a more seasoned approach to life. I can only imagine the frustrations that would follow if the entirety of her support team were also struggling through adolescence."
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't a nice thing to say," Buffy muttered.
"Would you rather have a couple students from your school here with you instead?" Ash countered.
"Ummm…" Buffy's eyes were wide as she considered that. Her face paled and she looked from the books to the crossbow that she'd brought in earlier and back to the books. "umm… a couple of Walter's other students might be okay on patrols… and Akita's got a scary good memory, which could be good with the research…"
Emma lifted one eyebrow.
Dawn began humming the theme song for that unrealistic cartoon that she watched, with the group of mystically empowered schoolgirls in short skirts 'fighting' with gymnastics and flashes of light and catchy music.
Buffy crossed her arms and glared at Emma, "Fine. Trying to bring in some of the other students would suck. They'd have to be attacked or see something awful before they'd stop thinking the whole thing sounded crazy, and getting attacked could mean getting dead or horribly injured, which would also suck. Akita thinks that I'm a scatterbrained twit, which sounds like a really British type insult, and Walter would have a fit about us trying to take his other students out to fight vampires."
"I am supposed to try to prevent students from endangering themselves if possible," Emma observed.
"Is it my fault that the whole Chosen Slayer thing didn't wait until I was older?" Buffy tried to growl. "I didn't ask to be the youngest one out there doing this."
"I could…" Dawn began.
"No you can't," Joyce interrupted. "You're too young, not skilled enough at fighting, and do not have useful mutant powers to make up for the lack of skill. There will be no hunting vampires for you."
Jem was trying not to grin as she followed Joyce's near-tirade, "It really isn't as safe as the cartoons make it look. But we appreciate the offer."
"You were right, Buffy. Scatterbrained twit is an insult, and the twit part is more likely to be heard from a Brit than an American. Scatter-brained is like calling you a ditz or a flake. Twit is… a bit rude but still something that can be said in front of children," Ash offered.
"Moving away from adolescent drama and the reminder that Miss… that Dawn is too young, can we attend to patrol plans now?" Phillip asked.
"What's the plan?" Buffy asked.
Phillip unfolded a city map and spread it over the table. "I've marked the active cemeteries, that is, the ones where people are still being buried. I've also marked areas that have multiple abandoned warehouses or other large buildings, both of which may be used as lairs for demons and vampires. If you could indicate where you plan to patrol tonight?"
"Why mark the empty buildings?" Ash leaned over the map.
"Just because they are supposed to be empty doesn't mean that they are empty. If we can acquire information on questionable bodies being found, and where they were discovered, then compare those locations to the map, it can help us determine which areas we should focus on when searching for a lair. Such information could also help identify possible new vampires, enabling them to be dealt with as they rise, rather than waiting until they can be found hunting. I have a separate map that indicates shops for herbal or magical items, and showing irregularities in the magical background. While it does not appear that you have a practitioner or even a dabbler in the magical arts among your group – unless Ms. Frost is concealing such a person from me at this time – there are on occasion problems that a magical person can be of great assistance in handling."
"Magic?" Ash raised one eyebrow and snorted. "Sleight of hand, wire tricks, and marked cards."
"Magic. Every bit as real as vampires and mutants. What you disparage sounds like prestidigitation and showmanship, which while occasionally useful and impressive, are not true magic. True magic can be utilized in a variety of ways, which I suspect you don't particularly want to hear about at the moment. Suffice it to say that it is a highly versatile and useful tool, and often makes certain problems much easier to solve," Phillip countered.
"Is that covered in Watcher training?" Joyce asked. "Magic, I mean."
"All Watchers are taught a few ways to identify true magic from trickery, as well as a little bit about some of the more commonly encountered magical traditions. You might compare it to a term class on comparative religion. It gives us enough to hopefully recognize and not mortally offend someone, and not enough that we feel like we can handle such matters on our own. Many Watchers are taught a few very minor magical tricks, and some show enough aptitude that they are given more advanced training," he replied.
"How 'bout you? Did you have an attitude for magic?" Buffy asked.
"Aptitude, meaning skill or talent, not attitude," Phillip corrected. "And no, I did not have an aptitude for the Council's magic. One might even say that I have a counter-aptitude for the Council's magic in that my mere presence makes it more difficult for those methods to work correctly. I can light or extinguish a candle, identify if an object is enchanted, and determine if a piece of writing has been forged or altered. Those are the only Council-taught magical tricks that I can accomplish."
"So no stealing people away, goblin minions, dreams in peaches, or dancing crystal balls?" Jem shook her head. "Where's the fun in that?"
"So sorry, but I need to actually use my hands to juggle crystal balls," the dry sarcasm suggested that this was far from the first time he'd heard such comments.
"I suppose it could be worse. You actually get some pop culture references," Buffy added. "Though minions would be pretty cool."
"I have money, I have minions. Though they generally prefer the term employees," Emma observed.
"Quite true, shall we get on with planning this patrol, please?"
End part 41.