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The school year ends. Bella's routine goes from wake - morgue - school - Giles - school - Giles - Sherlock - sleep to a version of same without the "school" parts, although she mostly keeps up with Giles via brainphone instead of in-person visits except when she needs to swap out stacks of books, and she hangs out studying and playing with fire in the house that is Jarvis a fair amount even during the day while Sherlock's sleeping. (Her schedule, unanchored by regular attendance at Sunnydale High and enticed by Sherlock's necessary nocturnality, shifts a few hours later, and Charlie has calmed down about the curfew issue; as long as she calls before eleven to report on her whereabouts and usually sleeps in her own bed, all is well.)
Long-term experimentation shows that, at least as long as she's not getting bloodily injured in regular fights with Los Angeles's demon population (and she can generally make it through unscathed, and now every supernatural creature in this hemisphere knows that the Slayer can set you on fire with her mind and some demons keel over with no visible injuries if she just looks at them), she can operate in fine and suitably Slayery condition while being nibbled on most days. It would probably not be a wise exercise for Sherlock to attempt to subsist solely on her, though, so the brick house does acquire a fridge and a microwave thanks to Sherlock's slightly stolen inheritance.
This afternoon, Bella is sitting in an armchair in the house that is Jarvis, reading about some neutral demon species and taking dutiful notes.
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[No...] He trails off. [I'll try to look it up.]
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[Anything else I should try specially to get a look at for help with referencing? Damn, this thing is fast -] She's been jogging, and it hasn't taken notice of her so far; she breaks into a run.
[Facial features or lack thereof,] he says. [Number of digits, presence or absence of claws.]
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[Haven't seen its face yet, but the way the rest of it looks I wouldn't be surprised if it was a case of lack thereof. Got - three fingers and a thumb on that hand - not grossly asymmetrical otherwise so probably the other matches but I didn't see - no claws, hands or feet either - four toes to a foot -] She's drawing nearer. [And it's paying no attention to me even though I'm gaining on it.]
[That's not ringing any bells,] he says. [Which worries me. I'm checking indices as fast as I can.]
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[I won't engage till you know what it is, it engages first, or it starts attacking people,] Bella assures him, and she conferences in Sherlock to keep him up to date on the matter.
[You are very wise,] says Giles, and then he shuts up for a bit.
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[Doesn't have ears, at least,] says Bella as she gets a little closer to the loping demonic creature. She's not really thrilled about all this running. She has just come out of several consecutive hours of physical activity - albeit diverse sorts - and it's almost her bedtime and she's missing a half-pint of blood that hasn't had time to be replaced yet. But she is still the Slayer and she is not going to give up chasing this unidentified and probably hostile creature as it runs through her town.
[It might not be white. It could've been painted. You got anything that's like this and nonwhite?]
[It might not be white. It could've been painted. You got anything that's like this and nonwhite?]
[Still looking.]
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Since it doesn't seem inclined to take notice of Bella, she digs through her messenger bag and slips on her mask; she will have to fight this thing if it stops harmlessly jogging down the sidewalk and tries to break into a house, and people in Sunnydale could identify her if they saw her brawling with a giant white demon in their living room.
[Where is it going?] she wonders aloud to Sherlock.
[Where is it going?] she wonders aloud to Sherlock.
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[Oh, great. Maybe there's a nest of them in the library or something camping out on the Hellmouth.]
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[Not really. This creature doesn't care that the Slayer is chasing it. I'm not looking forward to meeting twelve of it.]
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[Giles,] says Bella, when it's clear that this is in fact where the creature is going, [it's headed for the school. Probably the Hellmouth.]
[If only that narrowed it down.]
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[Have you been in the library lately or do you take summers completely off - do we know how long a nest of 'em could have been sitting there?]
[I don't abandon it - if they're all human-sized, they would've had to move in since sundown.]
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[Okay. Considering tackling it before it gets there, so I can see how tough one is alone instead of seeing how tough twelve of it is.]
[Do you have a reason to expect twelve of it?]
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[Not a strong reason. It just seems like it's in a hurry, and it's ignoring me, even though I'm right behind it - if I were it, I'd fight me, unless I was going someplace that was better ground for me to fight in.]
[I see your point.]
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[Sherlock, opinions on engaging it now before it introduces us to any friends it may have?]