![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonyphoenix) wrote2015-03-15 07:32 pm
Fic: Shanshu 22 - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Fandom: BtVS
Taming Prompt: 452 - Scullion
Rating: PG
Summary: Part 21 of Shanshu
Word Count: 909
Mona looked past the sign reading Jenkin's School for Girls to the three students engaged in what looked like an animated conversation. They kept walking around the campus, showing up at regular intervals, which suggested they were patrolling, but they were chatting amiably and, besides, they were teenage girls. They probably just couldn't sleep and were walking the campus because it was safe.
As the target came into view, Mona lifted her binoculars. Wells stopped to chat with the girls. From what she could see, he wasn't at all bothered that they were roaming campus in the wee hours of the morning. In fact he seemed to be encouraging them to join him in whatever he was up to. They shook their heads but it seemed to be a friendly no. Wells waved to them as he continued on his way. “That's him,” Mona said as she lowered the binoculars. Comparing the map to the set of buildings before them, she added, “He's heading to, uh, a building listed as Milliways. It seems to be the campus cafeteria.”
Rico's laugh always reminded her of a gravel avalanche even though Mona had never seen, or heard, a real avalanche in her life. A big bear of a man, he towered over her five-foot-eight-inch frame. While Mona generally appreciated big men, there was something off about Rico. No glint of human kindness ever reached his eyes. She'd never shared that thought with anyone though. It sounded far too odd. “It's geek humor,” he told her, “from those Hitchhiker books.”
“Ah.” Well, it wasn't stranger than anything else she'd seen about the school.
“Are you sure he's a wizard?” Rico asked.
She shook her head as Wells entered Milliways. “I'm not sure of anything except that the guys who attacked me were real ugly in the face, to the point of being deformed, and that magics are your gig. Oh, but the school's website lists Wells at the Grand Jedi Master if that means anything.”
Rico scanned the school's grounds. “You were right to call for backup,” he said. “You would have been pegged as soon as you'd crossed onto the campus. It's surrounded by magical shields, but those shields weren't raised by Wells.”
“So he's not a wizard?”
Rico shook his head. “Can't tell from this far off. To be on the safe side, we'll treat him as one until we know either way.” Rico did something, with herbs and rocks. It didn't make sense to Mona but the magical stuff never did. “Right then, let's get him.”
The cafeteria was dark but light came through the half-wall that led to the kitchen where Wells was loading dishes into a washer. Mona felt her jaw drop. In addition to rubber gloves and an apron, Wells was wearing a white cap, the kind you'd see a maid wearing in a Merchant Ivory flick. “Of course not, Mr. Giles,” Wells was muttering to himself. “We don't need cleaners on campus. The girls will be happy to clean up after themselves just like you did when you were a lad at Watcher's U. Except they don't, do they, and I'm stuck with the scullion work.”
Rico pointed to Mona and the closest door to the kitchen, and then to himself and a door that was at the back of the kitchen, one that obviously led outside. He then held up five fingers. “Five minutes,” Mona mouthed rather than whispered.
And then Rico was gone, leaving her alone to keep an eye on Wells who was scrubbing the last of the dishes before putting them into the washer. “They could at least soak the bowls. I tell them, time and time again, dried-on food sticks. The dishwasher won't get it out, but do they ever listen.” Watching him shaking his head as he spoke, Mona was reminded of her grandmother. The old biddy had never thought anyone else could do anything right.
Wells pulled off the gloves with a snap and set them out to dry by the sink. The apron and cap he hung in a pantry. “After four already?” Wells glanced at the dishwasher before walking over to a whiteboard and staring to write: Unload dishwasher before using. I mean it. Don't just pull dishes out to use and then put them back dirty before taking out the clean ones. I'm serious this time.
Mona looked toward the back door. Rico wasn't there. She'd have to stall. Stepping into the kitchen, she said, “There you are Mr. Wells” as if it weren't at all unusual for her to show up on his campus unannounced just hours before dawn.
He stared as if he didn't recognize her. At least he wasn't sounding an alarm. “Do I know you? Are you one of the new Slayers? Because that rule about no snacks after midnight? That's a real rule and not a suggestion, I mean unless you've been out patrolling really late in which case, I mean, you could make yourself a snack but I'm going to have to insist that you clean up after …”
Wells fell to the floor. Rico's cudgel, the one he'd struck Wells with, vanished into a pocket.
“Did you have to knock him out?”
“Trust me. If he is a mage, this is safer.” Draped across Rico's shoulder, Wells looked like a rag doll being dragged around by a bear. “Come on,” Rico added. “Let's find out what he knows.”
no subject
I enjoyed Andrew ranting!
no subject
Thanks. Andrew rants are always fun.
no subject
Gabrielle
no subject
no subject
Unrelated note - I just remembered, that thanks to Andrew there was an actual scene of Faith fighting Spock (https://youtu.be/tUUSUDYqpQw). I forgot how much I loved it.
no subject
And I have no idea how Andrew's interrogation will go. Won't know until I write it but I think we're getting into the "this would have been a lot less disorganized if I'd plotted it out beforehand" section of the story. ;-)