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The Watchers are being much more polite to Tamara nowadays. They've never precisely been rude to her, but they are very good at being quietly, politely and oh-so-Britishly unwelcoming. Irritating, but she can live with it if it means she can be a part of the Council. But now their normal tactics have scared off their precious Slayer, and Tamara's the one who convinced her not to bolt; Tamara is now their lead to the Slayer and as such, she's being treated like she's made of glass.
She finds that mildly irritating for a whole different set of reasons, but it's such an improvement over the alternative that she lets it be. She's very careful not to seem as though she's taking advantage of her new-found position. She demands nothing, and makes only a few careful, diffident suggestions. This will not last forever; no need to burn bridges.
And of course, whenever she receives an email from the Slayer, she responds promptly.
older_and_wiser
cross_and_bow
"Magic's more my style than violence," Bella says, "is the thing. In roughly the same way shooting at stuff is more my style than getting in close and punching it, but by an even wider margin. I like my superpowers, I will absolutely take them over not having them, I am even glad to take them over some other, randomly chosen girl who wanted to be an accountant when she grew up getting them. But I'd have rather gotten witchy blessings. I can't - I can't make any of it work, and it drives me nuts, but Soph can make me magic stuff to use, and Alli shares doses of potions, and it makes me more flexible, less one-note. Means a little less psychological maintenance if I am not just Hitting Things, Occasionally Tactics, style of superhero."
older_and_wiser
Tamara looks like she can't decide if she approves of this approach or not. "Well. Why don't we at least consider alternatives, the next time you're inclined towards magic? I'll be the first to admit it's useful, but it's best to be cautious with magic. For your sister's sake, if nothing else."
cross_and_bow
"Yeah, she's rationing her practice since she heard it could be addictive. No danger signs yet that we've picked up on, she can go a week and change casting nothing and be totally indifferent and only hasn't done longer because there keep being useful things to magic at. Things like my shell knife are one-time castings for something I can keep indefinitely, though."
older_and_wiser
"From what I know of you, I'm inclined to agree. Was there anything else? Would you like to stay for supper?"
older_and_wiser
"We have plenty. Call away, I'll go fetch the munchkin."
In short order Tamara is back, Kevin in tow.
In short order Tamara is back, Kevin in tow.
cross_and_bow
Bella's on the phone. "- pizza, as long as you freeze some for me. Yeah, it's fine. Mm-hm. No, we can cross that neighborhood this weekend instead. Yes, you may require ice skating of me, but my free time's going to shrink soon, so enjoy it while it lasts. Love you too."
She hangs up.
She hangs up.
older_and_wiser
"All set? Lots of family bonding planned?" Tamara asks with a smile. "Kevin, we have a guest, good table manners please. Fine beans are eaten with a fork."
Kevin reluctantly returns his string bean to its plate and picks up his silverware.
Kevin reluctantly returns his string bean to its plate and picks up his silverware.
cross_and_bow
"Ice skating counts. Crossing neighborhoods doesn't really seem bonding-like to me. ...I've been systematically decorating the entire town with unobtrusive painted and scratched crosses to make it unpleasant vampire habitat, on top of visiting the morgue and putting little splinters of wood in the corpses' hearts now and then."
older_and_wiser
Tamara laughs. "I stand by my assessment of your sense," she says approvingly. "Would my presence be helpful at all?"
older_and_wiser
"I don't see why not. A little bit of time for an improved vampire detection system. Everyone wins. I'll let you know my schedule once it's settled at work?"
older_and_wiser
That arranged, they finish up dinner and Tamara shows Bella out. As she's convincing Kevin to go get ready for bed, the phone rings. Tamara picks up distractedly, mostly focused on getting Kevin into his pajamas.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
Huh. Wrong number maybe? Or someone looking for the previous owner? She shrugs, hangs up the phone, and refocuses on her son. It's bedtime.
"Hello?"
"Hello? Is anyone there?"
Huh. Wrong number maybe? Or someone looking for the previous owner? She shrugs, hangs up the phone, and refocuses on her son. It's bedtime.
cross_and_bow
Bella goes home. Bella goes about her business. Tamara is involved in said business when her schedule permits.
Bella receives an advertisement about the prom. She'd been thinking she'd skip it, mostly out of habit and lack of prospective dates, but the flyer is extremely suspicious.
She brings it to Tamara and points out the all-caps warning about appearing only with a date and not breaking up with said date during prom itself. "Does this look like our brand of weird to you?"
Bella receives an advertisement about the prom. She'd been thinking she'd skip it, mostly out of habit and lack of prospective dates, but the flyer is extremely suspicious.
She brings it to Tamara and points out the all-caps warning about appearing only with a date and not breaking up with said date during prom itself. "Does this look like our brand of weird to you?"
older_and_wiser
"That does rather look compellingly likely to be 'our brand of weird'. How much do you know about the prom?"
cross_and_bow
"Not a thing. I've never been in town this time of year before. I was thinking I'd track down the person who wrote the flyer, but I'd give decent odds that they don't know either and just have a feeling, not sure what the next investigative avenue is after that. Look at old newspaper articles, maybe? But that seems like less of a one-person job."
older_and_wiser
"Reading through boring newspaper articles is precisely why people like me exist. I'll look into it. Unless you pressingly desire to help me search, I suppose, but I imagine your patrols are more productive."
cross_and_bow
"I do not have a pressing desire like that. Newspapering is all yours. I'll find who wrote the flyer tomorrow."
So the next day, Bella finds who wrote the flyer, and texts Tamara about it: She doesn't know anything that adds up to more than "check newspapers for suspicious prom-related deaths". Should I be looking for a prom date? I can probably sneak in without one even if they're trying to enforce the rule, and I want to find whatever it is that's going after the dateless, but let me know if you think I ought to track down accompaniment.
So the next day, Bella finds who wrote the flyer, and texts Tamara about it: She doesn't know anything that adds up to more than "check newspapers for suspicious prom-related deaths". Should I be looking for a prom date? I can probably sneak in without one even if they're trying to enforce the rule, and I want to find whatever it is that's going after the dateless, but let me know if you think I ought to track down accompaniment.
older_and_wiser
Tamara has spent the day (from quite early in the morning, actually, Kevin is a very effective alarm clock) working on the puzzle in a nearby coffee shop. She has set up something of a work station; she has a pile of old newspapers, a notebook, and quite a lot of index cards. She's quite pleased with her work area overall, though the one time she left her table she came back to find someone had left a dying iris on her table, leaving her to clean up the petals. But with her work setup in place she's found a number of related articles- not the source, not yet, but at least enough to answer Bella's message.
If you can get in either way, your accompaniment is entirely up to you. Of course, if you do bring a date, just make sure to stage a public fight in the centre of the room. All the cases I've found are very clear about that; you must be plausibly single for an accident to happen.
If you can get in either way, your accompaniment is entirely up to you. Of course, if you do bring a date, just make sure to stage a public fight in the centre of the room. All the cases I've found are very clear about that; you must be plausibly single for an accident to happen.
cross_and_bow
The accidents do, I hope, look like something I can maybe Slay my way out of, rather than sudden mysterious heart attacks or whatever?
older_and_wiser
All the articles I've found specify either strangulation or drowning. The presence of a physical attacker is, if not guaranteed, at least heavily suggested. And attackers can be fended off. You have your first fighting class this weekend, don't you?
cross_and_bow
Yeah. So I suppose I'll see if I can start on dealing with strangulation-type attacks - drowning seems more general. Drowned where, in a sink or something?