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Maxwell Wax leaves The Grotto. Not a bad coffee shop by any means, but it's not a fun environment late at night. The students at UC*D start showing up to down buckets of caffeine, cover the tables in textbooks, and study silently until they fall asleep. Nobody talking, nothing interesting to eavesdrop on. People get antsy about that old guy from the philosophy department staring at them, when they're not sufficiently distracted by their peers.
The University of California at Sunnydale is a quiet place at night. Rumors of violent crime going around the student body keep them from causing a ruckus on campus after sundown. Max couldn't be happier about this- his apartment has thin walls. It's good to be able to get some sleep. Not like back at UCLA, no sir.
Oh, wait. There's someone out here, actually. Approaching quickly. Approaching very quickly. Someone with a reALLY MESSED UP FACE GOOD LORD SLOW DOWN WHAT ARE YOU WHAM.
Max is on the ground, and a bodybuilder with a freakish, wrinkled face is crouched over him, growling. Max is not pleased by this situatioCHRIST OW OH GOD WHY WOULD SOMEONE BITE HIM WHAT THE
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unblinkered
unblinkered
"Your predecessor was- they-"
No, not the important part of that reply.
"Apocalyptic- nobody knows about this except you and the odd witch, there are more dimensions full of powerful demons than you can count, and the apocalypse hasn't happened yet?! There's got to be... are you not the only game in town? Either... either there's something you don't know about, or something you've got wrong, or... or we've been extremely lucky, have we?"
No, not the important part of that reply.
"Apocalyptic- nobody knows about this except you and the odd witch, there are more dimensions full of powerful demons than you can count, and the apocalypse hasn't happened yet?! There's got to be... are you not the only game in town? Either... either there's something you don't know about, or something you've got wrong, or... or we've been extremely lucky, have we?"
cross_and_bow
"I am pretty sure we've been extremely lucky. There may be other forces-for-non-apocalypse at work, goodness knows I don't have special powers that don't relate to punching things, it's pretty stupid."
unblinkered
Max's eyes widen. They're liable to explode out of their sockets, at this point.
"OKAY, we are on the clock, I need to find out if there are decent anti-apocalypse measures in place, I need to know about magic, and if the first thing comes up "no" then I need to use the second thing to make it "yes". I am going to the library RIGHT NOW."
He spins on his heel and heads for the door.
"OKAY, we are on the clock, I need to find out if there are decent anti-apocalypse measures in place, I need to know about magic, and if the first thing comes up "no" then I need to use the second thing to make it "yes". I am going to the library RIGHT NOW."
He spins on his heel and heads for the door.
cross_and_bow
"Do you wanna be, like, my support staff slash research assistant?" she calls. "Let me know if I need to go, uh, punch things?"
unblinkered
He turns around.
"Your support- you know what, yes, sure, that's fine, that's a good idea. Do you have a phone number, or an email or something?"
He gets out a memo pad and pen from his jacket pocket to take it down. And... nope, he's all out of old business cards. He jots down his cell number and tears out a page.
"Your support- you know what, yes, sure, that's fine, that's a good idea. Do you have a phone number, or an email or something?"
He gets out a memo pad and pen from his jacket pocket to take it down. And... nope, he's all out of old business cards. He jots down his cell number and tears out a page.
cross_and_bow
She gives him her cell number and takes his. "There. And yes, my support staff, I'm still Mystical Destiny Girl over here and you are a random dude who owes me his life, remember?"
unblinkered
"A Magical Destiny Girl who, by her own admission, doesn't have any special powers that don't relate to punching things. Who's young enough to be my daughter."
He gives her a look. "But... you do have job seniority in this workplace. So I said yes."
He gives her a look. "But... you do have job seniority in this workplace. So I said yes."
cross_and_bow
"I'm supposed to get prophetic dreams but those don't work on me either, I had to get informed of the mystical destiny business by a - thing."
unblinkered
Now that's not getting away from him again.
"A thing? No, yeah, you said earlier- a power that was... something, I forget. Who's Mr. or Mrs. Powerful, and can we get them on the horn?"
"A thing? No, yeah, you said earlier- a power that was... something, I forget. Who's Mr. or Mrs. Powerful, and can we get them on the horn?"
cross_and_bow
"I haven't been able to get it to show up again, although if you have novel suggestions besides 'wait for an apocalypse that it thinks I ought to hear about', I'd be happy to entertain them."
unblinkered
"Well, that's... does it typically do that? Do you think it's one of those anti-apocalypse forces, or something? Because if it does show up again, that's definitely something to ask it."
cross_and_bow
"The one time I saw it I thought I was dreaming for most of the interaction, unfortunately, so I wasn't very systematic about quizzing it. It's one of the Powers That Be and based on subsequent reading and what it did while it Was in my room, it's at least loosely white hat, if not particularly - effective about it."
unblinkered
"Well, keep an eye out for that, then. Next time you're dreaming, just know that you're not dreaming, and if you are then you don't have anything to lose by pretending it's real."
He walks back towards the door.
"Anything else? Anything to be wary of with the magic books I'll be reading?"
He walks back towards the door.
"Anything else? Anything to be wary of with the magic books I'll be reading?"
cross_and_bow
"Uh, some books can in and of themselves be dangerous, but I don't think any of the ones that are in English have that problem so - be careful if you start learning obscure demon languages?"
unblinkered
"Will do."
He grins bitterly and heads for his Volvo. And then turns around and walks back inside to ask another question.
"Uh, the books on magic- are they on the Dewey Decimal System, or on a shelf in the back... do I have to ask the librarian or something?"
He grins bitterly and heads for his Volvo. And then turns around and walks back inside to ask another question.
"Uh, the books on magic- are they on the Dewey Decimal System, or on a shelf in the back... do I have to ask the librarian or something?"
unblinkered
Oh. Good. Okay. He gives her a thumbs up and leaves the store.
Somewhere behind a pile of crystalline trinkets, the store's proprietor groans something about "another window-shopper."
Somewhere behind a pile of crystalline trinkets, the store's proprietor groans something about "another window-shopper."
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