They ended up stopping near a couple farmhouses after a something that was roughly the size of a deer but a distinctly blue color darted across the road in front of them, nearly causing them to wreck the bike. Mort was trying to keep them from disaster as Faith stared at the still shaking weeds where it had gone.
"What was that thing?" Her question was filled with curiosity, frustration, and a sense of tiredness.
"Not really sure. It moved like a deer, but that color… I'm going to make a blind guess that it was either a mutant deer, or some sort of demony thing." Mort's words reminded Faith that he was still new to the whole demon and vampire Slaying thing.
Of course, Faith had really only considered one of those options before. Still watching the weeds where the blue thing had gone, the question emerged. "Are there any mutant deer? I mean, I've never really heard anything about mutants that weren't human. Or human parents, anyhow, there's a lot of fuss over that."
Mort made a small noise. "Beyond the whole thing where albino animals are supposed to be some sort of mutation, and a couple things about two headed snakes in Arizona, I haven't heard anything definite about mutant animals. But if it can happen to humans, why not to animals? And since most human mutants have pretty much the same sort of diet as normal humans, and deer are plant eaters, that sounds good to me. Just a big, blue deer that won't attack us."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense." Faith smiled, relaxing a bit from the whole surprise of the thing. "But do you really think it's that simple?"
"It would be nice. But somehow, I'm getting the feeling that you want us to go traipsing through fields and trees looking for it, just in case its not a deer." He shook his head, looking at the bike. "We should find somewhere to stay, I want to make sure we didn't stress something a bit too much trying not to hit that maybe-deer."
Faith sighed, part of her frustrated by the idea of being held up by mechanical trouble, and another part too busy worrying about the possible things that the blue creature could be if it wasn't a mutant deer. Something that size, well it would be bad if it was some sort of carnivore. "Right, a place to stay. That could be tricky, might as well start looking for temporary farm labor or something. Do people even still do that?"
"You know, I'm not really sure about that. If it comes down to it, an out of the way barn would work. Of course, that assumes that nothing's already set up residence in it…" He let the words trail off, clearly remembering that pair of lizard demons.
"That is a pretty important factor. I just can't deal with a roomie that's going to put me on the lunch menu." Faith grinned, hoping that things wouldn't be too much trouble.
Mort laughed, kicking the bike to life again. "Now, while I might have a few odd things that I'll eat, you're just a bit too big to swallow. How about a movie instead?"
Faith blinked, staring at the back of his shoulders for a moment before resting her cheek against his back again. That hadn't sounded entirely like a joke, it had actually sounded… well, almost like he was asking her out. Closing her eyes, she decided to try to imagine that, to see how the idea made her feel. Her body relaxed as she leaned against him, and she could feel herself smiling. Her and Mort… it could work. "Remind me next time we hit somewhere with a theatre. It sounds pretty good to me."
Mort laughed, a sound of happiness and relief. "Sure thing. I'll hold you to that idea. And I think I see a maybe spot. That house."
Faith looked at the house that he had to mean. There were quite a few tire marks in the yard, as if it had been used as temporary parking. Siding had been ripped off, and there was a pallet of roofing shingles near the house. A section of the roof had been covered by a tarp. "Yeah, that place looks like they might be able to use a little help."
Mort pulled in to the driveway, and let the bike shudder to a stop near a short apple tree. It wasn't nearly big enough for anything large to be hiding in it, but they still parked a good ten feet away. Small things could still be dangerous. "Well, here goes."
Faith walked to the door, feeling all sorts of worries go through her. What if this turned out to be a really bad idea? What if the house belonged to some prejudiced jerk, or a scary psycho like something from a horror movie? What if it was some leering slime bag? What if it was a house full of monsters? Granted, they could deal with any of those possibilities if they had to, but… She still worried.
She pushed the button for the doorbell, waiting for some sort of response, or even a sign that the doorbell actually worked. Hearing nothing, she closed her eyes, counting to five before knocking on the door. Maybe there just wasn't a working doorbell.
There was a short delay, and then she could hear the soft noise of footsteps. There was the sound of a chain rattling, and then the door was opened just a few inches. Those few inches revealed a single light blue eye, and a couple wisps of dark blond hair falling around a slightly freckled and nervous face. She looked maybe twenty five, and sort of pretty in a casual sort of way. "Who… I'm sorry, but Elijah Miller doesn't live here any longer. Is there something that you were looking for?"
Faith offered what she hoped was a harmless smile. Her stomach growled at the scent of beef and bread that emerged through the narrow opening. "Actually… we were sort of hoping for maybe some temporary work and a place to stay?"
The woman frowned slightly, and then looked past Faith to Mort. She looked a bit surprised, and murmured "Oh, my. A mutant. Did your family throw you out for having a mutant boyfriend?"
Faith could feel herself blushing at the idea of Mort as her boyfriend, and a good part of it was because the idea sounded pretty good. She floundered for words, feeling flustered and suddenly overly warm. "I… it's… um."
Mort came to the rescue with his words, and he did it in such a way that neither confirmed nor denied the woman's idea that they were dating. "There are a lot of people who don't like mutants."
"Well, I'm not one of them. By any chance do either of you know anything about construction? Roofing, siding, plumbing?" She had a little smile as she spoke.
"Not really, although I can put in a good deal of effort." Faith shrugged a little, feeling a bit of hope.
"Actually, yeah." Mort shrugged at Faith's raised eyebrow. "I'm good at putting things together. All sorts of things. I can even do electrical wiring."
"Thank God for that. I can offer room and board for a while. I just… my uncle recently passed away, and left me this house. Honestly, it really needs a lot of work." The door opened the rest of the way, revealing a perfectly unremarkable woman in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, with bare feet. Most of her hair was caught in a pony tail. "I'm Tanya Miller. Who are the two of you?"
Something seemed to relax at the woman's calm welcome. Although the fact that she hadn't quite given a verbal invitation was interesting, it wasn't quite enough to raise questions. "I'm Faith, and this is Mort."
The woman nodded, moving out of the entry room. "Well, I made stew and biscuits, you're welcome to have some."
"Thanks, ma'am." Mort's smile made it look like Faith wasn't the only one looking for a bit of that stew.
"Just Tanya is fine." She chuckled a little. "Ma'am sounds so formal. There really isn't much call for formality here."
Faith smiled as she followed the woman. A place to stay, food, and someone who wouldn't freak out over her or Mort. Yeah, things were looking up.
End part 12.
It wasn't until after they'd both had seconds of the hearty stew, thick with beef and vegetables, the gravy sopped up with slightly odd shaped but tasty biscuits that Mort asked the question that had been dancing in both of their minds.
"So, why are you okay with mutants? Not that I mind, but…" Mort had shrugged, as if to say that it was just a bit different than he was used to people reacting.
Something like old pain flickered rapidly across Tanya's face. "Partly because of my uncle. He tried to judge people based on their actions, not their faces. The rest of it came from my brother."
Faith had the feeling that Tanya didn't want to say very much. Something about her brother was painful. "Did he know a mutant?"
"You could say that." Tanya sighed, moving her spoon around in her bowl. "My brother… let's just say that he took the idea of human mutant co-existence very seriously. And he believed in doing as well as saying. He… he's dead now."
Faith considered those words, as well as Tanya's assumption that she and Mort were dating, with parents that had freaked. If her brother had been involved with a mutant, and things had gone… well, they'd already seen one lynch mob, another wouldn't be too far fetched to believe. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Tanya gave a weak smile, her eyes a little bright, as if she was trying not to cry. "It's… well, there's nothing that can be done about it now. I'm afraid the two of you will have to share a room, not that that should be too difficult. A lot of the house isn't really livable right now. I'm still trying to sort out what I want to keep, what's trash, and what I want to sell or give away. My uncle had… well, stuff. Some of it was sort of odd, like a stuffed albatross."
"Why on earth would anyone but a museum or maybe a biology teacher have a stuffed albatross?" Mort's question was almost too low to hear.
"A very good question. And I have no idea why my uncle had it." The smile was a bit bigger now. "But that's just one example of what I meant. He had… stuff. Now, I get to sort through the stuff, and get the roof fixed, and some of the plumbing and wiring, and replace the bad siding, and… I have the feeling I'll find more things that need done."
Faith giggled a bit, having heard about places like that before. "Well, one thing that I can do is haul stuff to a trash heap."
"Chances are that there will be plenty of that. I'd like to get the roof done first, if possible. That way, I won't keep getting water inside when it rains." Tanya had a sort of distant look, as if her mind wasn't on things in the kitchen. "Once I have a solid roof and the outside walls… plumbing, wiring, and new paint. Yeah… I can make this place work."
"Did your uncle have any technical books? Things on electrical wiring, or machinery?" Mort spoke softly, his eyes looking hopeful.
"My uncle's library is… strange. It has some old historical looking books, things in German and Latin and some other languages that I can't recognize. A lot of stuff that seems like really dry horror novels. I don't think there were any books on wiring, but…" Tanya gave a small shrug, but she looked as if she knew more than what she was telling.
Something stirred, a sort of half formed suspicion. "Can we see the library? Maybe there will be something useful…"
"Well, I don't see how it could hurt anything. Just put the dishes in the sink, and follow me." Tanya stood up, a faint look of puzzlement on her face.
She made her way up a narrow flight of stairs, nibbling a bit at her lip. "Careful, the banister wobbles. Yet another thing on the 'needs repaired' list for this house… there's another set of stairs, but the wiring over there is bad, and the lights aren't reliable."
Just a few feet from the narrow stairs was the library. Dark wood shelves were filled with leather bound books. The scent reminded Faith almost painfully of her time with Mellie. Moving into the room, she touched one of the books, part of her mind walking through her memories. Looking at the shelves in front of her, Faith expected her dreams to be chased away by things like Frankenstein, Dracula, and old dead poets. Instead, she found herself staring at a copy of 'Whitmore's Compendium of Woodland Demons.'
"My God, your uncle was a Watcher." The words slipped out in a stunned whisper. Faith could think of no other explanation for these books.
"Should I be worried that you know what a Watcher is? I only know a few things about all of it, enough to make me worry." Tanya's voice was soft, filled with grief and a hint of anger. "It was his whole life, and the Council back in England that gave him his orders just sort of… abandoned him."
"Yeah, the Council's good at abandoning people." Faith didn't have any way or reason to argue that idea. As far as she was concerned, the Council sucked, but individual Watchers might be alright. Mellie had been, and the same could be said about Giles. But the Council hadn't been there for Mellie, or for Giles over the Hellmouth, and they certainly hadn't been there for her.
"So, you've had an encounter or two with them." Tanya seemed to relax a little. "Do you have any idea what view the Council has on mutants? If they even have one…"
"Not a clue. Umm… I think I might be looking at some of these later, if that's okay." Faith tried to curb her emotions. This was sort of an opportunity, and sort of a risk. There were the books, compendiums of demons and threats, probably a few volumes of prophecy. Everything that a Slayer could need to figure out what nasty things lurked. But… but how would Tanya react if she knew?
"Of course, go right ahead. I can't even read most of them anyhow." Tanya made a little waving motion towards the books. "You might as well follow me, the only other usable bedroom's just down this hallway."
End part 13.
"What was that thing?" Her question was filled with curiosity, frustration, and a sense of tiredness.
"Not really sure. It moved like a deer, but that color… I'm going to make a blind guess that it was either a mutant deer, or some sort of demony thing." Mort's words reminded Faith that he was still new to the whole demon and vampire Slaying thing.
Of course, Faith had really only considered one of those options before. Still watching the weeds where the blue thing had gone, the question emerged. "Are there any mutant deer? I mean, I've never really heard anything about mutants that weren't human. Or human parents, anyhow, there's a lot of fuss over that."
Mort made a small noise. "Beyond the whole thing where albino animals are supposed to be some sort of mutation, and a couple things about two headed snakes in Arizona, I haven't heard anything definite about mutant animals. But if it can happen to humans, why not to animals? And since most human mutants have pretty much the same sort of diet as normal humans, and deer are plant eaters, that sounds good to me. Just a big, blue deer that won't attack us."
"When you put it that way, it makes sense." Faith smiled, relaxing a bit from the whole surprise of the thing. "But do you really think it's that simple?"
"It would be nice. But somehow, I'm getting the feeling that you want us to go traipsing through fields and trees looking for it, just in case its not a deer." He shook his head, looking at the bike. "We should find somewhere to stay, I want to make sure we didn't stress something a bit too much trying not to hit that maybe-deer."
Faith sighed, part of her frustrated by the idea of being held up by mechanical trouble, and another part too busy worrying about the possible things that the blue creature could be if it wasn't a mutant deer. Something that size, well it would be bad if it was some sort of carnivore. "Right, a place to stay. That could be tricky, might as well start looking for temporary farm labor or something. Do people even still do that?"
"You know, I'm not really sure about that. If it comes down to it, an out of the way barn would work. Of course, that assumes that nothing's already set up residence in it…" He let the words trail off, clearly remembering that pair of lizard demons.
"That is a pretty important factor. I just can't deal with a roomie that's going to put me on the lunch menu." Faith grinned, hoping that things wouldn't be too much trouble.
Mort laughed, kicking the bike to life again. "Now, while I might have a few odd things that I'll eat, you're just a bit too big to swallow. How about a movie instead?"
Faith blinked, staring at the back of his shoulders for a moment before resting her cheek against his back again. That hadn't sounded entirely like a joke, it had actually sounded… well, almost like he was asking her out. Closing her eyes, she decided to try to imagine that, to see how the idea made her feel. Her body relaxed as she leaned against him, and she could feel herself smiling. Her and Mort… it could work. "Remind me next time we hit somewhere with a theatre. It sounds pretty good to me."
Mort laughed, a sound of happiness and relief. "Sure thing. I'll hold you to that idea. And I think I see a maybe spot. That house."
Faith looked at the house that he had to mean. There were quite a few tire marks in the yard, as if it had been used as temporary parking. Siding had been ripped off, and there was a pallet of roofing shingles near the house. A section of the roof had been covered by a tarp. "Yeah, that place looks like they might be able to use a little help."
Mort pulled in to the driveway, and let the bike shudder to a stop near a short apple tree. It wasn't nearly big enough for anything large to be hiding in it, but they still parked a good ten feet away. Small things could still be dangerous. "Well, here goes."
Faith walked to the door, feeling all sorts of worries go through her. What if this turned out to be a really bad idea? What if the house belonged to some prejudiced jerk, or a scary psycho like something from a horror movie? What if it was some leering slime bag? What if it was a house full of monsters? Granted, they could deal with any of those possibilities if they had to, but… She still worried.
She pushed the button for the doorbell, waiting for some sort of response, or even a sign that the doorbell actually worked. Hearing nothing, she closed her eyes, counting to five before knocking on the door. Maybe there just wasn't a working doorbell.
There was a short delay, and then she could hear the soft noise of footsteps. There was the sound of a chain rattling, and then the door was opened just a few inches. Those few inches revealed a single light blue eye, and a couple wisps of dark blond hair falling around a slightly freckled and nervous face. She looked maybe twenty five, and sort of pretty in a casual sort of way. "Who… I'm sorry, but Elijah Miller doesn't live here any longer. Is there something that you were looking for?"
Faith offered what she hoped was a harmless smile. Her stomach growled at the scent of beef and bread that emerged through the narrow opening. "Actually… we were sort of hoping for maybe some temporary work and a place to stay?"
The woman frowned slightly, and then looked past Faith to Mort. She looked a bit surprised, and murmured "Oh, my. A mutant. Did your family throw you out for having a mutant boyfriend?"
Faith could feel herself blushing at the idea of Mort as her boyfriend, and a good part of it was because the idea sounded pretty good. She floundered for words, feeling flustered and suddenly overly warm. "I… it's… um."
Mort came to the rescue with his words, and he did it in such a way that neither confirmed nor denied the woman's idea that they were dating. "There are a lot of people who don't like mutants."
"Well, I'm not one of them. By any chance do either of you know anything about construction? Roofing, siding, plumbing?" She had a little smile as she spoke.
"Not really, although I can put in a good deal of effort." Faith shrugged a little, feeling a bit of hope.
"Actually, yeah." Mort shrugged at Faith's raised eyebrow. "I'm good at putting things together. All sorts of things. I can even do electrical wiring."
"Thank God for that. I can offer room and board for a while. I just… my uncle recently passed away, and left me this house. Honestly, it really needs a lot of work." The door opened the rest of the way, revealing a perfectly unremarkable woman in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt, with bare feet. Most of her hair was caught in a pony tail. "I'm Tanya Miller. Who are the two of you?"
Something seemed to relax at the woman's calm welcome. Although the fact that she hadn't quite given a verbal invitation was interesting, it wasn't quite enough to raise questions. "I'm Faith, and this is Mort."
The woman nodded, moving out of the entry room. "Well, I made stew and biscuits, you're welcome to have some."
"Thanks, ma'am." Mort's smile made it look like Faith wasn't the only one looking for a bit of that stew.
"Just Tanya is fine." She chuckled a little. "Ma'am sounds so formal. There really isn't much call for formality here."
Faith smiled as she followed the woman. A place to stay, food, and someone who wouldn't freak out over her or Mort. Yeah, things were looking up.
End part 12.
It wasn't until after they'd both had seconds of the hearty stew, thick with beef and vegetables, the gravy sopped up with slightly odd shaped but tasty biscuits that Mort asked the question that had been dancing in both of their minds.
"So, why are you okay with mutants? Not that I mind, but…" Mort had shrugged, as if to say that it was just a bit different than he was used to people reacting.
Something like old pain flickered rapidly across Tanya's face. "Partly because of my uncle. He tried to judge people based on their actions, not their faces. The rest of it came from my brother."
Faith had the feeling that Tanya didn't want to say very much. Something about her brother was painful. "Did he know a mutant?"
"You could say that." Tanya sighed, moving her spoon around in her bowl. "My brother… let's just say that he took the idea of human mutant co-existence very seriously. And he believed in doing as well as saying. He… he's dead now."
Faith considered those words, as well as Tanya's assumption that she and Mort were dating, with parents that had freaked. If her brother had been involved with a mutant, and things had gone… well, they'd already seen one lynch mob, another wouldn't be too far fetched to believe. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Tanya gave a weak smile, her eyes a little bright, as if she was trying not to cry. "It's… well, there's nothing that can be done about it now. I'm afraid the two of you will have to share a room, not that that should be too difficult. A lot of the house isn't really livable right now. I'm still trying to sort out what I want to keep, what's trash, and what I want to sell or give away. My uncle had… well, stuff. Some of it was sort of odd, like a stuffed albatross."
"Why on earth would anyone but a museum or maybe a biology teacher have a stuffed albatross?" Mort's question was almost too low to hear.
"A very good question. And I have no idea why my uncle had it." The smile was a bit bigger now. "But that's just one example of what I meant. He had… stuff. Now, I get to sort through the stuff, and get the roof fixed, and some of the plumbing and wiring, and replace the bad siding, and… I have the feeling I'll find more things that need done."
Faith giggled a bit, having heard about places like that before. "Well, one thing that I can do is haul stuff to a trash heap."
"Chances are that there will be plenty of that. I'd like to get the roof done first, if possible. That way, I won't keep getting water inside when it rains." Tanya had a sort of distant look, as if her mind wasn't on things in the kitchen. "Once I have a solid roof and the outside walls… plumbing, wiring, and new paint. Yeah… I can make this place work."
"Did your uncle have any technical books? Things on electrical wiring, or machinery?" Mort spoke softly, his eyes looking hopeful.
"My uncle's library is… strange. It has some old historical looking books, things in German and Latin and some other languages that I can't recognize. A lot of stuff that seems like really dry horror novels. I don't think there were any books on wiring, but…" Tanya gave a small shrug, but she looked as if she knew more than what she was telling.
Something stirred, a sort of half formed suspicion. "Can we see the library? Maybe there will be something useful…"
"Well, I don't see how it could hurt anything. Just put the dishes in the sink, and follow me." Tanya stood up, a faint look of puzzlement on her face.
She made her way up a narrow flight of stairs, nibbling a bit at her lip. "Careful, the banister wobbles. Yet another thing on the 'needs repaired' list for this house… there's another set of stairs, but the wiring over there is bad, and the lights aren't reliable."
Just a few feet from the narrow stairs was the library. Dark wood shelves were filled with leather bound books. The scent reminded Faith almost painfully of her time with Mellie. Moving into the room, she touched one of the books, part of her mind walking through her memories. Looking at the shelves in front of her, Faith expected her dreams to be chased away by things like Frankenstein, Dracula, and old dead poets. Instead, she found herself staring at a copy of 'Whitmore's Compendium of Woodland Demons.'
"My God, your uncle was a Watcher." The words slipped out in a stunned whisper. Faith could think of no other explanation for these books.
"Should I be worried that you know what a Watcher is? I only know a few things about all of it, enough to make me worry." Tanya's voice was soft, filled with grief and a hint of anger. "It was his whole life, and the Council back in England that gave him his orders just sort of… abandoned him."
"Yeah, the Council's good at abandoning people." Faith didn't have any way or reason to argue that idea. As far as she was concerned, the Council sucked, but individual Watchers might be alright. Mellie had been, and the same could be said about Giles. But the Council hadn't been there for Mellie, or for Giles over the Hellmouth, and they certainly hadn't been there for her.
"So, you've had an encounter or two with them." Tanya seemed to relax a little. "Do you have any idea what view the Council has on mutants? If they even have one…"
"Not a clue. Umm… I think I might be looking at some of these later, if that's okay." Faith tried to curb her emotions. This was sort of an opportunity, and sort of a risk. There were the books, compendiums of demons and threats, probably a few volumes of prophecy. Everything that a Slayer could need to figure out what nasty things lurked. But… but how would Tanya react if she knew?
"Of course, go right ahead. I can't even read most of them anyhow." Tanya made a little waving motion towards the books. "You might as well follow me, the only other usable bedroom's just down this hallway."
End part 13.