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Emma doesn't have to face Phil that night. She gets home well after he's asleep, and she's far too exhausted to wake him up. And since she doesn't have to be up early- she doesn't have another shift for two more days- she sleeps well past when he leaves for work the next morning.
This leaves her plenty of time that afternoon to get herself worked up. Should she tell him? That resolves fairly quickly to 'yes'. He's her husband, he's dealt with all her parents' Watcher nonsense so far. But how to tell him, she can't not tell him, but she doesn't want him to think she's going back to being a Watcher. Slayers consult with plenty of people when they're active, right? Witches and priests and any of the other Watchers with expertise their own Watcher is lacking. She's not going to leave the girl hanging if she can help, but she's a nurse now. She has to be clear about that.
Should she tell her parents? That causes a lot more debate. Her parents don't know where the Slayer is, and it's upsetting them. And Emma does know where the Slayer is, and she has no desire to be a Watcher herself, so she really should tell them where the Slayer is, so they can arrange for someone to come and step in. But... Emma's kind of upset with her parents, right now. Watcher training is not more important than your daughter, than your daughter's expressly stated plans she made with her husband. And what if her parents insist that she has to be the Watcher, when she has no intention of doing so? She goes back and forth on that one for a while, and decides to get Phil's opinion. (He's her husband, they share, they come up with plans that work for both of them. Wouldn't it be nice if her parents could do the same?)
She briefly comes up with "should she tell the Watcher's Council separately from her parents", but dismisses that one even faster. Same problems as her parents, but her parents would also be upset she went over their heads. If she tells someone, it should be her parents, not the fussy old British men she's only met a handful of times.
And what happens if something happens to the Slayer in the meantime, that having a Watcher could have fixed? Is she responsible?
Emma is very stressed by the time Phil's home from work.
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ipsam_custodem
ipsam_custodem
Crap crap crap crap crap crap- "Um, do you know what it was? What it looked like? Can you see a bite, is it- okay, where are you, I'll go get my car."
keyed_up
"We're - she's in the backseat of our car in our driveway, I can't carry her, she was conscious most of the way home and then - I don't think anything bit her, I think maybe she touched something or breathed something...? She's not bleeding except from like little cuts - but she didn't tell me exactly -" She rattles off the address. "I tried a spell and it didn't work but I don't know if that's because I'm not very good or - what."
ipsam_custodem
Of course the Slayer has a sister who's a witch, why am I even surprised- "Okay, stay put, I'll be there soon."
Emma grabs all the books she has on hand she thinks might be relevant- she didn't keep that many, she's not a Watcher, but not being a Watcher didn't mean demons stopped existing, she still has some- and heads for her car. She doesn't need to grab a first aid kit; she keeps one in the trunk.
After some questionably legal driving that only pretended to obey the speed limit, Emma's at the address provided. "Hello?" Drat, she didn't get the witch's name. "Little sister Swan?"
Emma grabs all the books she has on hand she thinks might be relevant- she didn't keep that many, she's not a Watcher, but not being a Watcher didn't mean demons stopped existing, she still has some- and heads for her car. She doesn't need to grab a first aid kit; she keeps one in the trunk.
After some questionably legal driving that only pretended to obey the speed limit, Emma's at the address provided. "Hello?" Drat, she didn't get the witch's name. "Little sister Swan?"
keyed_up
"Soph," says Soph, and she opens the backseat of the station wagon for Emma. "She's still breathing. Normally, even. I put her on her side? Is that what you're supposed to do?"
cross_and_bow
Bella is curled up on her side across the bench, hair in a ponytail, cross necklace on. There are some little scratches on her but no bites or claw marks. There's a messenger bag on the floor of the backseat, half-open, with a crossbow, a plastic bag full of water balloons, and a couple of stakes partly visible.
ipsam_custodem
"Emma," Emma replies somewhat distractedly. "Nice to meet you, other than the circumstances."
Emma pulls out her first aid kit and gets to examining. Firs things first- Bella might have been poisoned, so the gloves are going on. The larger of the scratches are dressed and bandaged, as long as she's here, but for the most part Bella's unscathed and she can focus on poison-searching. She snorts when she sees the water balloons, but otherwise mostly ignores the Slayer paraphernalia while she searches (except insofar as she has to maneuver around it). It's not like she's surprised Bella has a pile of stakes.
When she get to Bella's hands, she finds a slimy goo between her fingers and jerks backwards. "Okay, bad, bad bad bad. You-" she points at Soph- "no touching your sister. Just in case there's more of this."
She doesn't even remember the name of this particular demon, since they're not all that common, but they're common enough that there's a short note about them in one of her books. She pulls it out and finds the reference; the cure is complicated, but at least it exists.
"Okay, so, she's-" Emma rethinks her decision to explain any of this to a panicked younger(?) sister. 'Your sister will forever be a comatose vegetable without the cure' seems unnecessarily traumatizing. "-curable," she says instead. "It's a stupidly complicated cure, but it is a cure. I might need you to help brew it, though, I've never actually made it before."
Most of her work is nice and straightforward and the medicine already exists. There are, unfortunately, no stores in Sunnydale that stock demon antidotes, and brewing is not a heavily emphasized Watcher skill. At least she has a witch handy to help.
Emma pulls out her first aid kit and gets to examining. Firs things first- Bella might have been poisoned, so the gloves are going on. The larger of the scratches are dressed and bandaged, as long as she's here, but for the most part Bella's unscathed and she can focus on poison-searching. She snorts when she sees the water balloons, but otherwise mostly ignores the Slayer paraphernalia while she searches (except insofar as she has to maneuver around it). It's not like she's surprised Bella has a pile of stakes.
When she get to Bella's hands, she finds a slimy goo between her fingers and jerks backwards. "Okay, bad, bad bad bad. You-" she points at Soph- "no touching your sister. Just in case there's more of this."
She doesn't even remember the name of this particular demon, since they're not all that common, but they're common enough that there's a short note about them in one of her books. She pulls it out and finds the reference; the cure is complicated, but at least it exists.
"Okay, so, she's-" Emma rethinks her decision to explain any of this to a panicked younger(?) sister. 'Your sister will forever be a comatose vegetable without the cure' seems unnecessarily traumatizing. "-curable," she says instead. "It's a stupidly complicated cure, but it is a cure. I might need you to help brew it, though, I've never actually made it before."
Most of her work is nice and straightforward and the medicine already exists. There are, unfortunately, no stores in Sunnydale that stock demon antidotes, and brewing is not a heavily emphasized Watcher skill. At least she has a witch handy to help.
keyed_up
"I don't know potions - I have a witch friend who knows potions - I'll call her," says Soph, and she pulls her phone and dials Alli.
keyed_up
"Bella's been poisoned, nurse says there's a brewable antidote and you know brewing."
witch_perfect
"That is- wait, shit, what? Poisoned? By what, how- actually, no, potion recipe first, just because I have made potions does not mean I can make all potions but I will damn well try."
ipsam_custodem
More witches. Emma feels slightly like she has slipped into an alternate universe. Either from her childhood or her nightmares, she's not sure. Probably both. But she takes the phone. "Hi?"
witch_perfect
"Oookay, you're not a Soph. Whatever. Potion recipe, so I can figure out if the damn thing's even possible?"
ipsam_custodem
Emma rattles off a list of ingredients and instructions. "You'll have to make it here, it has to be served warm, and unless you know Aramaic I'll have to help for some of the incantations, but I, um. Don't think it's impossible?"
witch_perfect
"Damn, that is a list, that- okay, yeah, I can make it, I don't have all of that but I have a lot of it. One of you come get me? Plus a shopping detour. Magic Box and the grocery store both. And possibly also the hardware store if the grocery store is its usual level of shit."
ipsam_custodem
"I'll do it," Emma says immediately. Bella's car is not exactly available and it's really not clear to her that Soph is old enough for a license.
"Soph, here-" she digs out an extra set of gloves. "Don't move her if you can help it, but don't let her lie face down either, side or back are both fine. We've got some time, she's not going to decline quickly or anything." Emma gives it a couple of days give or take before she'd have to move Bella to a hospital, but the cure only takes about twelve hours to prepare, so that tidbit can wait until afterwards. "I'm going to get Alli, okay? Just- wait here. Call me if anything happens."
She extracts Alli's address from her and goes to play chauffeur.
"Soph, here-" she digs out an extra set of gloves. "Don't move her if you can help it, but don't let her lie face down either, side or back are both fine. We've got some time, she's not going to decline quickly or anything." Emma gives it a couple of days give or take before she'd have to move Bella to a hospital, but the cure only takes about twelve hours to prepare, so that tidbit can wait until afterwards. "I'm going to get Alli, okay? Just- wait here. Call me if anything happens."
She extracts Alli's address from her and goes to play chauffeur.
witch_perfect
Alli requires reminding of some of the recipe steps when Emma arrives, but she was mostly packed. Her mother makes some brief fluttery objections at the idea of Alli going off somewhere with a stranger late on a school night, but Emma manages to Responsible Adult their way out of it, Alli's not quite sure how but she appreciates it.
They do not wind up needing to go to the hardware store, but they stop for ingredients at both the grocery store and the Magic Box. The Magic Box is in the process of closing for the night, but a combination of Alli's regular customer status and Emma's continued Responsible Adult (Alli giggles a little to see that Emma's put on her ER nurse badge, even) and they're allowed to make their purchases anyway. And then they head for the Swans' house.
Alli promptly starts lugging bags out of the car. "Okay, Soph, potion making class is no longer optional," she tells the other witch. "I have like forty five damn ingredients to get chopped and measured and combined. Help. And! Also! Want to tell me what the hell happened? Because I am familiar with your curfew, dude, it is past your curfew, and what the hell got to your sister that I'm making a potion that's complicated as shit to fix it."
They do not wind up needing to go to the hardware store, but they stop for ingredients at both the grocery store and the Magic Box. The Magic Box is in the process of closing for the night, but a combination of Alli's regular customer status and Emma's continued Responsible Adult (Alli giggles a little to see that Emma's put on her ER nurse badge, even) and they're allowed to make their purchases anyway. And then they head for the Swans' house.
Alli promptly starts lugging bags out of the car. "Okay, Soph, potion making class is no longer optional," she tells the other witch. "I have like forty five damn ingredients to get chopped and measured and combined. Help. And! Also! Want to tell me what the hell happened? Because I am familiar with your curfew, dude, it is past your curfew, and what the hell got to your sister that I'm making a potion that's complicated as shit to fix it."
keyed_up
"She was going into a nest of - of things - she'd been going to wait until she knew more about them but a little kid wandered in. The kid's fine," says Soph, setting up to help chop.
witch_perfect
Alli provides Soph with some spices and the desired quantities thereof. She then gets to work mashing up some weirdly shaped mushrooms from the Magic Box. "Okay, I get the... the... save the kid syndrome shit. I think. But you said she was waiting. Why was she waiting? Why the hell was it Bella in there, she has a cop dad with a gun and a witch for a little sister!"
keyed_up
"She's, um." Sigh. "She's the Slayer? Also I can do like - four things, probably two under pressure?"
witch_perfect
"Aaaaaand a slayer is what? Other than 'person who slays things,' I get that."
ipsam_custodem
"The Slayer," Emma says, somewhat automatically (why hello, flashback to Watcher quizzes, how Emma didn't miss you), "is the girl, usually a teenager, who is imbued with mystical powers that help her kill evil creatures. Mostly vampires."
She finishes grinding up some spices in the mortar Alli gave her and starts measuring piles into a mixing bowl, chanting carefully as she combines them. When she's done, she continues. "Except this was not vampires, these were Sonoral Demons, and they happen to be extremely venomous. How she killed enough of them to get the kid out at all is something of a miracle, to be honest. They're hard to kill if you don't know what they are, and that's if they don't poison you first."
She finishes grinding up some spices in the mortar Alli gave her and starts measuring piles into a mixing bowl, chanting carefully as she combines them. When she's done, she continues. "Except this was not vampires, these were Sonoral Demons, and they happen to be extremely venomous. How she killed enough of them to get the kid out at all is something of a miracle, to be honest. They're hard to kill if you don't know what they are, and that's if they don't poison you first."
witch_perfect
Alli looks like she would facepalm if she wasn't occupied measuring potion ingredients. "Aaaand now I just have more questions. Soph, what the hell is going on. Vampires?!"
Also, who is this lady and how do you know her and how does she know any of this, but since at this point Alli is expecting to be asking questions until Doomsday, she can wait.
Also, who is this lady and how do you know her and how does she know any of this, but since at this point Alli is expecting to be asking questions until Doomsday, she can wait.
keyed_up
"I did the rose quartz blessing on her. I hope it helped, but - I don't know, she still got poisoned. Alli I barely know more than you do all I know is a couple weeks after we moved in she suddenly wasn't clumsy anymore and then a little later this thing showed up in our bedroom and asked why she hadn't been getting dreams from it and it was all, 'you are the Slayer', and from there it's been - books and me trying to witch it up or figure out why she can't - might as well ask, is that because of being the Slayer, Emma, can Slayers not do spells? - and there's vampires but there's a lot fewer of them now because we have a key to the morgue and just stake everybody who comes through preemptively with little slivers of wood -"
ipsam_custodem
Emma shakes her head. "Keys to the morgue and holy water balloons. You two are nothing if not resourceful, I have to give you that." She thinks for a moment. "The rose quartz protections aren't really designed for poisons, you'd probably need a different kind of quartz. Smoky quartz is for anti-magic protections and snow quartz is for mental protections, I think? I don't remember the rest."
At Soph's question, she blinks confusedly. "Um. A thing showed up in your bedroom? That's- I've never heard of that, what thing? Slayers as a rule don't become witches, but that's- that's because a lot of it's dark and it's horribly addictive, not because they can't, there are stories of Slayers who've cast spells."
At Soph's question, she blinks confusedly. "Um. A thing showed up in your bedroom? That's- I've never heard of that, what thing? Slayers as a rule don't become witches, but that's- that's because a lot of it's dark and it's horribly addictive, not because they can't, there are stories of Slayers who've cast spells."