Buffy the Vampire Slayer ~ Addergoole

“Hey Giles.” Buffy strode into the library at Sunnydale High and dropped an envelope in front of her Watcher. “Got some weird mail. Figure you can do the research on it and get all Watcher-y or something.”

“I am certain I can be all… Watcher.. y.” Giles held the envelope by one corner and stared at it. “Buffy, if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to look at this in private.”

“Whatevs. Just let me know if something needs slayage. I’m going to go work on my tan.” She pivoted on her heel towards the door, only to stop inches short of the swinging door. “Ooor not. Hi, Will.”

“Oh, hi, Buffy.” Willow barely seemed to notice her. “Giles? I got some totally weird piece of mail, and I’m having concerns.” Willow stuck her head and one hand in the library door, displaying an envelope hanging in a plastic sheet protector. “I looked this place up, and their web site is totally legit, but it’s spooky, in the ‘maybe too legit’ sort of way, if you know what I mean, which I bet you totally don’t, but that’s okay, because… oh. Could you see if maybe I missed something?”

Giles frowned at the letters. ”Addergoole, Addergoole, where have I heard that before? Willow, could you hand me Anforth’s Red Pages, please?”

“Sounds like someone’s really creepy little black book.” Buffy perched on the edge of the table. ”So you’re totes gonna help me get out of this, right?”

“Mm. I’m certainly going to try.” He frowned at the large, reddish book that Willow handed him. ”Anforth was not, technically, a Watcher, but he certainly had interesting things to say about… well, just about everyone. And he wrote down quite a bit of it in these books.”

“Was? Past tense?” Buffy poked the book. “What happened to him?”

“He observed, ah, a demon rather more closely than he’d intended, or so the note from his assistant says. Talforth was not nearly as good a research as Anforth, but he certainly did try to follow. Yes, I’m going to need Talforth’s Beige Book please, Willow.”

“So what is this place? A Hellmouth? A cover for vampires? Some sort of demon recruiting scam? Government organization?”

Giles’ finger had settled on a name printed on a bland, beige page: Regine, called Lady of the Lake or Avonmorea, PhD, PhD, MD. ”I believe it is a school. Several other things as well, of course, but I do think it is a research facility with educational components.”

“I’m not liking that research bit.” Buffy frowned at the entry, picking out bits upside down. ”She’s a geneticist? Is that some sort of scientist? That never goes well. And what’s this bit here? It’s written in cuni-something.”

“Cuneiform? Let me see!” Willow crowded up against Giles’ side.

“Ah, actually…”

“This isn’t cuneiform! This is… I don’t know what this is.” Willow glared at Giles. ”You’ve been holding out.”

“Well, I am a Watcher, and there are some trade secrets we are required by oath to keep sacrosanct.”

“Hrrrmfh.” Willow mock-sulked at Giles before turning her attention back to buffy with a broader, more eager pout on her face. ”Besides, what’s wrong with research? I’m totally for the research. I am Research Girl. I can do the research. I love the research,”

“Not researching, Will, being the research. Think about it. They’re going to be all like “how come you can bench press a Volvo?’ and ‘where did you get those stylish and yet kickass boots?’ and ‘How are you dead and alive again?’” Buffy said the last in her Giles impression, a thick and stuffy-sounding faux-British accent.

“That is the concern, yes. I will do some research, but Buffy, Willow? We may end up needing to talk to your parents. Specifically, your mothers.”

“No way. Unh-uh. If my mother finds out a private school actually wants me, there’s going to be no turning back. I’ll be on the train before you can say ‘so what about the Hellmouth?’” Buffy shook her head adamantly.

“Well, I do understand the concern, but these people – if these are the people I think they are – are very concerned with formality.”

“Sounds like Watchers.” Willow tilted her head and read further down the page. ”This lady sounds like a Watcher for sure.”

“Not nearly that pleasant, I’m afraid.” Giles winced. ”She is, ah. She’s quite well-known in certain circles, but that is saying more about the circles than it is about her. Oh, dear. If she is involved, I might not be able to avoid…”

“If we have to go meet her, we go meet her.” Buffy smiled, an expression that was more predatory than friendly. ”Maybe if we explain everything all nice and in-person-like, she’ll get the picture. Since I’m not leaving Sunnydale. Hellmouth. Vampires. Major issues everywhere.”

“Well, why don’t you two go to class.” Giles looked back at Talforth’s Beige. ”I’ll see what I can dig up on this school – and on its principal.”

“At least this one hasn’t been eaten alive.” Willow shuddered theatrically.

“Class.” Buffy shook her head. ”And here I was going to tan.” She flounced out of the room, showing a sympathetic Willow her pale arms. “Look at me! I’m fading away!”

Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html

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