1632 Revello Drive
Two – Days in Hellmouth
March 12, 1997 – Sunnydale, California
The hardware store where he'd worked for the last few years was a simple rectangular building with a sloped roof made of individual green tiles. Cornelius had come to hate the place in petty ways quickly. He had seen and experienced a lot of things in his life, but the sheer banality of some peoples complaints taught him exciting new ways to test his patience when it came to the concept of annoyance. The complaints of customers ranged from mismatched boards (not his job), to disagreeing with color decisions they themselves had made the day prior (also not his job). It was enough to drive a person mad, he remembered why he didn't work retail. At quitting time the old wizard clocked out for the last time, filed his resignation with his boss and left with a short wave. He would never do that again any time soon for damn sure.
The walk to his car was under twilight. A street lamp lit as he climbed behind the wheel of the antique. The Ford looked out of place surrounded by the more modern designs. A shiver ran down the wizard's spine as he pulled the car out of its parking spot. "What was that?" He wondered aloud as the vehicle started down the road…
He made it to a red light when something slammed into the antique and toppled it on its side. "Dam-!" He did not curse often and the word did not get to leave his mouth before the car finished its transition to the ground with a loud and painful crash.
The wizard fought through the fog of a concussion to climb out of his ruined vehicle to the sound of an intense fight. The sound of punches landed and kicks delivered to a body of flesh and bone with each successive sound squishier and squishier.
About the time he landed with a dull thud, another dull thud was heard prior to the softest of explosions imaginable. A dust cloud ensued.
"Hey! Hey! Are you alright!?" A voice called through the haze, he blinked once and tried to focus his vision. His violet eyes fell on a blonde girl. The wizard managed the briefest of nods before his vision blacked out entirely…
March 15, 1997 – Sunnydale, California
Cornelius woke with a start, it had been at least a century since anything had gotten the proverbial, or literal in this case, jump on him. "Where in the hell?" He muttered a question to the air.
"You're in the hospital, old man." Roland's voice brought him out of what remained of his waking grogginess. "Apparently I was written down as your emergency contact. Do you know how expensive it is to get a red-eye after you've been told your friend's been in an accident and rendered unconscious?"
"I'll reimburse you." Cornelius waved off the economic concerns of his comrade.
"So, what happened? Hospital staff here are either deeply incompetent or very good at lying." Roland sat up from the uncomfortable blue chair that sat against the window.
"Well let's see, I remember leaving a storefront I'd been working at,-" Cornelius held up a hand before Roland could interject, "and was at a stop light when my car was flipped on its side"
"Fun." His friend's sarcasm was dry and humorless.
"Yes, quite. I hit my head I'm fairly certain, managed to crawl out of the contraption and even get a look at my attacker, though I don't think it was deliberate."
"Huh, okay. Why so?" Roland crossed his fingers together and set his chin on top of his overlaid hands.
"Like I said, at this time I think it was an accident." The wizard reached forward toward the plastic tray that sat suspended over the hospital bed and picked up a paper cup filled with water. "Our erstwhile hero, a heroine about the same as your daughter from what I could see, but I was concussed."
"That's unsettling." Roland sounded legitimately shaken. "What kind of asshole has their daughter fight demons?"
"I'm not sure. From what little I saw while passing out she was good at it, though." Cornelius gave his friend a wry smile.
"That's not exactly heartening." Roland sighed and stood up. "For what it's worth the doc agreed that if you woke up you'd be discharged if you showed no signs of further damage."
"Me? Damage? Hardly." Cornelius laughed sardonically. "Nothing feels broken." The wizard flexed his limbs to prove the point. Legs and toes, arms and fingers were all in working order. "Headache's gone as well."
"I'll go retrieve the floor GP." Roland stood and left the room. He returned a minute later with a young man in a lab coat who introduced himself as Doctor Stephenson…
March 16, 1997 – Sunnydale, California
"So, how is Mary?" Cornelius exited the taxi after handing over the fare to the driver. His companion did so seconds before.
"From what the doctors tell me, living mostly. Nothing's finalized yet but it looks like I'm the one with permanent custody in regards to Gale." Roland was sedate, his tone depressed.
"Demonic possession leaves one less than suited for parenting, I imagine." Cornelius unlocked the door to his home and invited his friend in.
"Yeah... Mostly it just breaks a person." Roland's voice was quiet as he took his coat off and hung it next to the wizard's felt cap. "Get any use out of those yet?" He motioned to the staff and cloak.
"No, but until recently I haven't had reason to break out the heavy equipment." Cornelius walked down the entrance hallway into the kitchen. "Beer?"
"I quit drinking, can't have that stuff in the house with a teenager around." The red-haired man shot his wizened friend's eyebrows a wry smile. Neither of them expected that.
"Tea, then? I'd offer coffee but I don't actually keep any." The wizard closed the ice box before he moved to the counter and retrieved the tea kettle.
"Sure. I'm here for a few days, at least." Roland entered the kitchen himself and looked around. "How much did this cost you, again?"
"Oh, a few hundred thousand." Cornelius put the kettle on to boil.
"Dear God." Roland winced sympathetically.
"California, my friend. California. Do you want one? The change of scenery could do you some good." Cornelius questioned casually with a shrug.
"Let me think about it. The courts have to settle things back home first, and then I have to discuss it with my kid. I'd be asking her a lot, especially after all that's happened to her mom."
The two friends sat in an amicable silence until the whistle of the kettle brought them both out of thought. Cornelius went through the motions of preparing tea while Roland stirred the sugar bowl, a fragile ceramic thing that was barely full.
"Looks like you're low on stock." Roland mused as the wizard set a platter with the two steaming cups on the table.
"Eh?" Cornelius snapped his fingers and the bowl was refilled, just like that.
"Never mind."
"It came from a bag in the cupboard. Simple translocation." Cornelius dropped a single sugar into his own cup, Roland preferred two. "There are four rooms upstairs, one of them is a wash closet, the other three are bedrooms, the guest room is in the back and set up spartan."
"Thanks, I'll be back in a few hours, I need to grab my stuff from a motel." Roland set his empty tea cup down and headed for the door…