maiabrown

Monday after X-giving (Exs)

2007-07-07T03:20:57Z

We've decided to deal with Marjorie once and for all. We're set up at Gloria's house: she phones him to come over. Roland keeps her away - she's a prepared body and Marjory could possess her again. Stennit and Cam will do the spell. We've set up the salt circle in living room, along with the fire and candles. I'm to jump him from behind and inject him with the serum that will first suppress Marjory and then separate her from Justin. I'm really hoping Justin's in there, but...

He comes in, turns to the living room, I jump him. Get the serum injected. He starts to scream and Pen gags him. I say hello to Marjory and watch her startle: but that's all. When Justin recognizes us, I try to reassure him. Stennit executes the ceremony with Cam's help. At the end of it, we all exit the salt circle and, for a moment, the circle goes crystalline. Stennit stops the spell abruptly and the unreal crystal shatters.

We get Gloria back from the 'date' and she calls 911, because Justin is hyperventilated and collapsed. Officer Quintana shows up as well. We've mostly cleared out by the time they get there.

That night, Roland and Michael hide the crystal encasing Marjorie in the salt-filled PVC tube in a concrete pour. No more Marjorie.

And Gloria emails Micah (the rat) to say she had a wonderful time at the movie, with Roland. She really needs to be more careful!

Life just sucks

2007-02-12T02:26:06Z

So, we managed to save Brian. But he also got to watch me completel Slayer-esque: That damn vamp nearly got me right at the end, and I was right in front of Brian. He wigged out after that. I mean, you think that maybe your baby girl is a demon in disguise, and not only are you being held hostage by demons, but she's nearly gakked, right in front of you, and then walks away. I understand it---doesn't mean I have to like it.

I decided to say to hell with this trying to protect everyone's feeling stuff. It's not helping at all--and I really hate having Roland pissed at me. It's bad enought when it's for something I really did - but he was never angry with me about that. Now, when I'm trying to help him, he won't even talk to me. So I told Gloria about him. And she's got ANOTHER bloody dream. Who does she think she is, Chloe? Ulamanaxr, the most vicious of demon races, is coming closer. Well, that's just great. At any rate, she's not angry at me any more. On the other hand, she's nervous about Roland now. I mean, that's what I wanted, right? So why does it bug me? I know that Roland would never hurt her of his own will--it's just...I keep dreading how he'd look if the something happened to her and it was his fault. I mean, the way he looked in the woods when he had to tell me about him and Amanda---that was bad enough. And he doesn't even like Amanda. I won't let some monster do that to him.

Well, then I had to tell Roland about the dream. That didn't go well. I mean, at least he understands why I did what I did. I don't think he's pissed at me anymore, or at least, not as much. I didn't tell him that Gloria's nervous around him now, especially since she's just being stupid. What happened between me and him has nothing to do with her - he's not like that. It was just--sometimes, him and me, things are differet then they are with other people. I don't know - I just .... it's different. Anyway, the problem is, I told him in the truck, and he accidentally ran a stop sign. Buchanan saw it, and gave him the whole routine: hassling, pat-down, everything. I'd just love to stake that....extremely bad, but tragically non-vampiric, person, but everything I do seems to make Roland's life harder. What is it with these goons! And what's the good of being a Slayer when there's nothing you can do to help your friends when they really need it!

Anyway, after all that, I end up staking a vamp, right in front of Rona Tierney and Amanda. Now there's grief we really don't need--a troublemaking goth with Gloria and me on camera. I saw the tape - you can't tell that he dusted, but you can't quite see us, either, not well enough to identify. I hope.

I had to go talk to Amanda. When she came to the window, I didn't think she'd answer, or at least not in language fit for mixed (or even just human) company. When she pulled me in....I don't know. It's just, it was really nice just to be around her again, even if I was having to lie to her. Talking to her, without her being angry or hurt, that was so...I don't know, it felt good and it felt bad, you know. I want to be able to talk to her again, just to listen to her go off on someone. I hate that we're not talking. I miss her. I tried to tell her that, but I don't think it really did much good. She doesn't seem to be missing me much.

Brian hasn't been home since the vamps took him--he's still at the hospital. In a strange way, it's a relief. I mean, I know I can go home tonight and not have to worry what's going to happen. I wish I didn't have to feel that way. Honestly, I kind've wish I could just crash at the shop tonight. I've never told Michael that I did that last week--climbed out the window at home and slept in the chair up front at the shop. I just couldn't sleep at home. Not with the door bolted and Brian wandering up and down the hallway every fifteen minutes. I mean, he's always done that - gotten up when the insomnia hit and wandered around. It used to feel comforting - hearing him out there in the night. But now it feels like a threat.

At least Cam's lost the TV crew: that was strange, even for Hammer Falls.

Bad news

2006-12-03T05:54:33Z

Let's see. Gloria's had a prophetic dream telling her that some boy is going to fall in love with her, decide he hates her, and then kill her. And who's asking her out but Roland! I mean, Roland is a great guy at your back in a fight, but...he's had this dream girl in his head for years, a girl who he thinks of as Gloria. But given that, as far as I can tell, they'd exchanged about 5 words between 4th grade and when we all starting slaying together, I don't think it's really her. I think it's some fantasy of the perfect girl that he's made up with Gloria's face. I'm scared that if he ever realizes that she's not that girl; that she's just herself, he's going to flip out. I don't want her doing that to him. I mean, she wouldn't mean to, but you just know she'd do something and there he would be...watching PerfectGirl turn into someone else. Someone he might not think of as a friend, someone...maybe someone like Marjory or something. With everything going on in this blasted town, could anyone really blame him if he decided that, if she's not the Gloria he thinks of her as, that she's not Gloria at all. Blame him for doing what needs doing to things that walk around wearing someone else's face? I don't think...I really don't think that would be good.

Oh, and I think Roland's mad at me. He went storming off at the Kettle the other night - at least I could be sure that as long as Gloria was with Cassie and friends, he wasn't going to be near her. He and Lydia are not a good combination. Mind you, she's a bitch and I wouldn't mind seeing him knock her down, but probably not good for his continued tolerance by the police.

On top of that, we have vampires who are doing SOMETHING to me. God, if this is another thing like Vaydos (no, I guess that was actually Green) did to me, I don't know what I'm going to do. I just...I can't take that again, that feeling that they can shut me down at any time, that someone is playing with my fate. Last year was bad enough--not again. But maybe it really was just a thing to mark me for the demon. Maybe. It's moments like this when I wish I had Cam's faith - the ability to pray to a god for good fortune. But I know better - there is no good fortune to be had.

Brian's still acting weird. Maybe weirder. I haven't seen his psych since that first interview, but by now I think I would have gotten the gist of his warning, even if he hadn't given it. The way he watches me is creepy: must be the way I watch vamps. And he just won't leave me alone with Autumn anymore, not even for a second. I almost wish he'd explode - you know, throw a tantrum like Susan does. Yell at me, throw things, something! It'd be easier to get this whole thing out in the open where we could face it. But I guess that's not a good idea, not from the reading I've been doing. It's just the constant waiting, constant watching of where he is, what he's doing. It's just easier to stay away from home. And the really strange part is, Susan knows it. She's actually helping me stay away. She keeps agreeing to my "I've got to help Michael at the shop." excuses, even when they're running pretty thin. She even went along with me last week when I said that I had to be there to talk a call from someone in Japan at 3 am, so I was just going to sleep at the shop. I mean, that's waaaay beyond thin, and she just gave met this look, and then agreed. It's not a look like I'm used to getting from Susan. There was something tired and discouraged in it, something almost complicit. When I got back the next day - she'd changed out the hasp on my door again for something even sturdier. But she never said anything about it. She never says anything to me about Brian now. That's so not like her. She usually wants to talk everything over, a dozen time, understand your feelings, get into your motivations. But not this time. She's quieter these days, quieter and almost weary. I wish I could do more to help her, but right now, staying away seems to be all I can do - away from Brian which means away from Autumn.

I still don't know what to think about Jamie's death. I mean, I walked a vampire into the shop, you know? They'd had her for, I don't know, an hour or more while we dithered around trying to find her and I never once thought about checking if she was still herself. I just wanted to get in there and get her back. And now to have to lie to her aunt, to her own father, about what happened to her just feels wrong. If I were him, I'd want to go after Ruth, just like Jamie went after her because of what happened with her mother. But I can't let him do that. Cory's taken as much revenge as any of us can right now: now we have re-acquire Ruth, if anyone will give us time do so. But Jamie's gone, and I was just starting to know her.

I'm sure there's something we don't know about Ashley, but I don't know what to do about it. I mean, I could try to beat a confession out of her, but that's hardly the way to make friends, if she's someone on our side. But the way she moves, and the way she knows things - like about that demon - she's not the boy-mad ditz fashionista ditz she acts like. That girl can take care of herself and she moves like greased lightening. I know I shouldn't trust her until I know more--but it's hard not to trust someone who's gone into the fight with you, you know? Well, hard not to trust her, I guess I should say. Mica did more than just go into the fight with us - he's responsible for us still being alive after confronting Evangeline last spring. But I still don't trust him. There's just that little voice in the back of my head that keeps asking who actually summoned Lacey as a vengeance ghost? Was his car going off the road for real, or for cover? I totally believe that he was enamoured of Gloria, but that doesn't mean he wasn't involved in the Lacey thing. And is he the one the prophecy is about. It's nearly time for him to come home from school - what if I'm off base in suspecting Roland? But I've got to keep Gloria safe, and Roland. If he went off the rails enough to harm her, I don't think he'd ever get over that.

Well, at least Ms. Soros finally showed a human side. It was an angry vengeful human side, but it was human. I can understand grief and fear for a friend - it's better than being bitter and mean just because. And now Michael's at school. Not sure what I think about that. Now that he's a real Watcher, with the council and all, things are different. I mean, I know he's there for me 100%. I think that's good. But it's not just us and the crew anymore. It's us, and the crew, and 'that horrible woman' who turns out to be an old friend, and now even this Miss Lassiter who's goo-goo eyes at him. He's got responsibilities beyond me. After me, I guess, thought I don't much like thinking about that. He's not taking overwatch on patrol anymore, like he did last year. He says it's because I don't need that kind of support anymore, but I kind of miss it. Him staying at the shop just feels a bit too much like Carse. It's nice, though, actually doing some real work at the shop--not just slayer-y things. I like that I know some of the actual customers (the few that there are) and that I'm learning how the place is set up. I like the times when we're there, just the two of us, working on things like repairing book covers or the accounts--when it's not urgent or scary. I like how quiet he keeps the place--he doesn't put on music when we're just working. It's quiet and peaceful, and it seems to be the only place in my life that is anymore.

So, anyway. How're things? I'm being hunted by vampires, my friends are in danger, and I can't trust my family. Pretty much normal, I guess, for my life in Hammer Falls.