A/N Hey, anonymous reviewer, I've told you before if you swear at me I won't post your reviews. You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine, but you don't have to be mean and nasty about it. : -)
Joyce's advice is not hypocritical, leaving aside the fact that Angel and Spike were vampires and Buffy was never meant to be involved with either of them and only was because Joss bowed to pressure from the audience and the network and regretted it, they were deliberately written to be as unlikeable as possible. Controlling, manipulative and abusive and Buffy wasn't happily in love with either of them. The character might well have loved them or believed she loved them but the relationships were unhealthy and caused Buffy an enormous amount of pain. It's one of the reasons I love the Xander/Cordelia relationship, after Valentine's Day and the love spell, it was a happy, healthy relationship. Until the network decided to make changes behind the scenes and broke Xander and Cordy up in a very unbelievable way. And until Willow started mind raping Tara, their relationship was also healthy. But If Willow had been given help with her own problems, it's unlikely the mind raping would have ever happened.
Unhealthy relationships make for great drama, but not happiness. Marti Noxon herself said it, they punished happiness.
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"We still need to observe Miss Summers in action." Quentin reminded Joyce and Charles. "In a scenario in which we can observe how she handles problems, solves what her group has been calling mysteries. Captain Howard and his men have arranged a set up in a warehouse here in Sunnydale. The plan is for Miss Summers to encounter an unknown demon while on patrol. It will not actually be a demon. Corrine MaCalister, a Magic user with the Council, scanned a demon while she was in Sunnydale investigating the Magic before we arrived. It's a solid state glamour. Means it feels real, but isn't and can't harm Miss Summers beyond bruising. She won't be told that she's going to encounter the hologram tonight. We need to see how she handles the discovery of a previously unknown demon. Will she attack first or will she seek information on it? Neutral demons exist, we're well aware of that fact and Sunnydale has a number of them from what we've observed."
Joyce and Charles glanced at each, Quentin noticed. "Ah, so you are aware of that fact as well. That makes sense actually, you don't want the police attacking a demon that isn't a threat to humans, in many ways those demons are similar to humans or animals, leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. Threaten them and they will defend themselves. Anyway, cameras have been placed around the area where the unknown demon will be deployed so we may observe Miss Summers' reaction. If there's a danger, Captain Howard and his men will be in unmarked truck down the block and can and will respond immediately to assist her. We won't allow her to be harmed as part of the test, it's purpose is to find and shore up any weaknesses she has to hopefully prevent her being harmed."
"Which means Charles and I can't warn her." Joyce tilted her head and eyed Quentin. "It's the Slayer equivalent of a Pop Quiz."
"Yes, it is." Quentin nodded. "If she takes the time to research it, she will discover it's a Polgara and not a neutral. It was the only one in town and Mr. Giles' reports didn't indicate she'd ever encountered one before, given they're rare, I'd have been surprised if she had. The demon equivalent of wild animals and they mostly avoid humans. Not enough meat on our bones to satisfy their hunger or they'd be eating a human every few hours. Corinne dispatched it after scanning it, so you don't need to worry it's consuming your citizens."
"Well, that's a relief." Charles stated. "Any idea though what did draw it to town? In case another shows up."
"Unknown, likely following an animal, possibly one it injured, but that escaped before it could consume it. The bigger, the better, bears mainly, I believe."
"We don't need an injured bear in town either." Charles grumbled.
"Anyway, if she takes the time to research it and track it, she'll find the glamour in a warehouse downtown and then we'll observe how she fights it."
"She won't be dealing with it alone you know." Joyce reminded him. "She patrols with Faith, Willow and them research and Alex and his friends will back her and Faith up."
"We're aware, we won't allow harm to come to them either. And they're part of her support anyway, so knowing how she works with them will also be helpful. Interpersonal conflicts can hinder a team, those need to be addressed as well."
"Good, as long as you're doing everything you can to make sure they're not hurt and understand they work together and not alone, I'm not hearing anything concerning." Charles told him. "But I'm going to be in that van too, on behalf of myself and Joyce, just to be sure." Charles narrowed his eyes slightly. None of the people from the Council or the Seals had smelled of deceit, but neither Charles nor Joyce were willing to take a chance that the kids could be hurt by all of this.
"We have no issues with that ourselves. I believe Miss Summers and Miss Lehaine were planning to begin their patrol in about an hour, so if you wish, you can go over with Caption Howard now."
"Ready when you are." Charles got up and followed the younger man out. "Captain."
"Yes, Sir."
"If in five years you decide to look Faith up, remember she has people who give a damn about her too."
Captain Marcus Howard understood the message loud and clear. Don't hurt her. He nodded and led Charles Chase to the van were they'd observe Buffy Summers' test.
Too bad no one bothered to inform anyone that another crazy human had decided to summon demons to the Hellmouth. An apocalypse cult known as the Sisterhood of Jhe.