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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
ego_custodiam
Eventually Phil nudges Bella. "Okay, enough pen time for now. Something something strangulation, right? Come on, up up up, time to actually break a sweat."
cross_and_bow
"Something something strangulation, yes. Also the indescribable vocabulary terms."
Behold! The Slayer in action, where "action" means "a lesson, with a fragile baseline human".
Behold! The Slayer in action, where "action" means "a lesson, with a fragile baseline human".
ego_custodiam
'Fragile baseline human' will be making copious use of helpful items such as punching mitts as necessary to protect himself. His wife is a nurse, not a miracle worker.
Once outside, he starts with their stated plan of anti-strangulation; analyzing her indescribable vocabulary is a stretch goal, not the objective. How to try and break a hold, with verbal footnotes about attacker height, weight, speed, or competence; failing that, ways to try to protect her windpipe as much as possible. A couple things he makes a point to emphasize that most people can't do and should be avoided in front of an audience. They will run out of time eventually, and Phil will be probably be more winded than Bella is, but progress will be made!
Once outside, he starts with their stated plan of anti-strangulation; analyzing her indescribable vocabulary is a stretch goal, not the objective. How to try and break a hold, with verbal footnotes about attacker height, weight, speed, or competence; failing that, ways to try to protect her windpipe as much as possible. A couple things he makes a point to emphasize that most people can't do and should be avoided in front of an audience. They will run out of time eventually, and Phil will be probably be more winded than Bella is, but progress will be made!
cross_and_bow
Bella's not particularly winded. They do after all keep pausing to tweak her form and allow verbal remarks, and she's not trying to move too fast for him to see. This was educational, not tiring. She makes notes about things gone over in the lesson and peers at them before she heads home.
older_and_wiser
Tamara did not feel compelled to stick around once the lesson got into full swing, but the pile of photocopied articles was left waiting for Bella next to her notebooks.
older_and_wiser
There's a note stuck to the top of the pile. The articles are in chronological order. The earliest relevant article I found is dated 1923. A girl named Minnie Huff was strangled and drowned by her boyfriend in the bathroom during prom. Students attending prom without dates have been dying of strangulation or drowning in the same bathroom ever since. There are a few possible causes- vengeance demons, some supernatural echoes, those sorts of things- but by far the most likely is a reasonably corporeal ghost. How are your witches on their ghost lore?
witch_perfect
"Only a little. I can hunt for books. Prom ghost, really? 'Friendly says boo' ghost? 'Avoid prom at all costs' ghost?"
cross_and_bow
"Going to prom seems to be safe if you have a date and don't break up with them during the dance. If I have anything to say about it, after this year it will also be safe under other conditions. It's likely to be somewhat corporeal, enough that it can drown people in sinks, but if there's something I can do besides have a wrestling match with it I'd like to know. Soph's looking too."
cross_and_bow
"If I'm going to forcefeed it a potion I will still have to win a wrestling contest. Grenade- or spray-style options that won't hurt me are to be preferred."
witch_perfect
"Hah! Those sound wicked. I hope they're a thing, so I can learn to make them."
"...noooo, I wouldn't run around school spraying people with potions. Nope. Not me."
"...noooo, I wouldn't run around school spraying people with potions. Nope. Not me."
cross_and_bow
"I'm going to choose this moment to remind you that evil witches were expressly listed in my job description."
witch_perfect
"Yeah, yeah, you know me. I would turn football players' hair pink, or something. Shit, I'd do it with non-magical hair dye if I thought I could find something pink enough."
cross_and_bow
"I consider it outside my purview - at least my job-descriptiony purview - if you prank people with box hair dye. If you start throwing potions around you're doing unethical testing of volatile substances. I'm not policing your sense of humor, here, just - watch yourself."
witch_perfect
"Yes, Mom," Alli laughs. "I'll be good and eat my vegetables. I'll get you a ghost report tomorrow, k?"
keyed_up
Soph texts her a bit later, wanting to make sure they're looking at different books and not duplicating research.