Chapter 12: August 13, 2015 – Modern Convenience
Chapter Summary: Buffy's assistant needs at least one convenience to run the school.
Crossover: Harry Potter, Charmed, SG1
Challenge: for the livejournal 2015 August Fic-a-Day Challenge
Timeline: Storywise – Within a week of Buffy hiring Walter Harriman as her administrative assistant.
A/N: While this is set in 1981, the level of technology available is for the most recent fandoms (Criminal Minds, Leverage, etc.)
Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.
Buffy's office
November 1981
"What I think we should do next is-" *THUD* Cole was interrupted by a sound in the outer office.
"You okay out there, Walter?" Buffy called.
"Doing great!" he called back.
Buffy and Cole shared a look before deciding to get back to their staffing plans.
"Like I was saying, the next class we should-" Cole managed to get out before he was stopped by the sound *CLACK-CLACK-CLAK*.
Buffy was just about a decade too young to recognize the sound right away. While they weren't obsolete by the time she was in high school, they weren't all that common, either. She apologized to Cole and got up to see what was going on with her assistant.
"What's the what?" she quipped over his shoulder, seeing a typewriter on his desk.
It was probably due to his tenure with Col. O'Neill that Walter wasn't confused by her words. They were different, but still very much the same. "Since I can't bring a computer here, I figured that my next best option would be a typewriter."
"See, that's why I count on you," Buffy praised him. "I didn't think of an alternative to the no-computer issue."
Cole interjected, "We could also open a floo to a house where there's an office set-up, complete with a computer, printer, fax…the whole package. We could have non-magical mail sent to that location and brought through to the school."
"I love being surrounded by smart men!" Buffy gushed. "I wonder if they'll let me give you raises this soon. Maybe we could talk to some of the non-magical parents; let them be part of planning this off-site location? I don't know this region that well, so I'd probably end up picking a place in the most expensive part of the area."
"I also thought it could be useful to teach typing to the students," Walter proposed. "While it isn't exactly the same as keyboarding for a computer, it's pretty close. The students who live in the non-magical world could benefit…and if we could get the professors to accept typed homework, all the students could benefit."
"How expensive is it to get a bunch of these?" Buffy asked.
"It was about $150 for this model. We'd have to get more ribbon on a regular basis, but that isn't too bad. If we made it optional, I bet it wouldn't take too long before a significant portion of the students picked this over handwriting their assignments with a quill. The professors would have to give instructions for both methods, since a foot of typed is far more work than a foot of handwritten."
"We'll have to see how a silencing spell affects it 'cause I think the clacking will get on my nerves pretty fast if we can't make it quieter," Buffy suggested.
OMAKE:
Running into one of the pureblood parents in Diagon Alley, Buffy wasn't quite prepared when they asked about the supply list…and how she managed to get her writing so small, evenly spaced and identically written.
A/N: With the floo connection, Walter might not need the typewriter that much at the school, but then again, who knows if he trusts Buffy to survive all day without him.