January 2007

Night.

Sunnydale, California

Sunnydale cemetery

Pan the camera around the cemetery.

It's spooky.  But quiet.  For now.

Next we see the exterior of Sunnydale's hottest night spot know as The Bronze.

Pan the camera closer.  Two girls exit The Bronze.  One is blonde, one is brunette.  Both are pretty.

"Can you believe Tori?! She was all over Scott.  I thought they were going to start doing it right there in the Bronze!"

"That girl is such a slut.  Come on, let's cut through the cemetery.  We'll get home quicker."

Both girls proceed into Sunnydale cemetery.

They are walking about two minutes when they hear a voice behind them.

"Good evening girls.  You shouldn't walk through the cemetery alone at night.  It's dangerous."

They turn around to see.....two vampires.  Both male.  Fangs.  Yellow eyes. Definitely vampires.

Both girls scream at the top of their lungs.  The screams are cut short as each vampire dashes over to them and sinks their teeth into the girls' necks.  The girls are dead within a minute.

The vampires finish drinking their blood then let the bodies drop to the ground.

"That was fun." said one vampire.

"Definitely was." said the other vampire. "It sure is a good time to be a vampire in Sunnydale.  With no Slayer in this town, it's like an all night buffet once the sun sets.  Come on, let's dispose of the bodies."


Each vampire picks up a dead girl and flings her over his shoulder.

As the camera pans up high, they walk off into the vast, seemingly endless cemetery.

Next morning

Sunnydale High

It's first thing in the morning.  First day back to school after New Year.

Students gather and socialize on the school lawn, waiting for the first bell of the day to ring.



OCC:You may now post.  Your character should arrive at school and hang around outside, talking to other students, until the first bell rings.

It was the first day back from Winter break.  Liam was a bit sad at the loss of total freedom with no responsibilities.  Sure, he had to do the obligatory trip to the relatives for Christmas Eve and hang out with the family for the holidays.  He got a new bike for Christmas which made his younger brother and sister jealous.

When he wasn't required to be somewhere he was gaming.  A couple of late-night roleplaying sessions really advanced their DnD campaign. His LARP group, the Barony of Avignon, met with two other groups and held a three-day tournament.  It was a blast to immerse into the time period.  Well, the hotel wasn't quite accurate for the era, but it allowed for a comfortable feast in the conference room.  Liam got to squire for Sir Max.  Max chose his name because of his German heritage, not because they were supposedly a French Barony.  Liam couldn't argue too much about the historical inaccuracies as their leader was Duke Roland.  He wondered why a Baronry was run by a Duke, but he was a kid, and those concerns were brushed aside with a simply "It's make believe."  Anyway, he got to dress in Olde English clothes and spar and talk with plenty of thee's and thou's.  He had been looking forward to it for months.

Liam was on the front lawn talking to Jimmy and Harry.  Harry on a family trip during the holiday break and had missed everything.  Liam and Jimmy took turns filling him in on the tournament.  The three misfits were like and island in a sea of other kids.

"Sir Max said I did a good job even though he lost the Grand Melee."  Liam mentioned.

"Someone even brought their dog.  You could toss table scraps down for it to eat!"  Jimmy chimed in.

"Awww man.  I missed it!  We had to go to New York to visit my Uncle."  Harry whined.

"New York sounds cool.  We don't get to travel like that."

"Yea, I guess.  But I wanted to do the tournament.  They did have this awesome Hobby store..."

First day back and Hopie woke up with a dance on her feet and a song in her heart.  This was the beginning of a term that would be filled to breaking point with study and hard work but if she put the two together, maybe she could contribute to getting a shot at a decent University, maybe Guadalajara or Columbia or maybe even somewhere in Spain.  Maybe she could even get a scholarship.

Whoah! Where did that come from.  Am I high?  Nope, don't think so, I just feel good.

She jumped out of bed and made her way to make her breakfast and Tia's and Tia's latest.  She even fed little Joey and the goats.  When she returned, Tia Rita was down, bleary eyed and dressing gowned as she called out, "Esperanza Glass, what have you done?  Don't think all this helpful fools me for una segunda."
"Nada Tia.  Just wanna be ready for school."
"Hmm.  Well don't you get up to nothing with Julie and Charles."

She loaded her books into her duffel bag and fair skipped to the yellow bus into school.  Storm Julie was there as usual, bumping fists and shaking her dreadlocks but Zero had moved schools.  "Yeah, I heard he'd moved back to Puerto Rico."
"Fer real Valley Girl?"
"Totes real my little Chickadee.  Except it was Oregon."

Once the bus reached Sunnydale High and began to regurgitate its cargo of children, Hopie found herself coming over all acrobatic, and cartwheeled into school.  She knew there was a reason she'd worn jeans today and not a skirt.

"Damn I feel GOOOD!"

School librarian Edward Hudson climbs out his car in the faculty/admin parking lot.

If this were a school in England, I'd likely have my own parking spot, but school librarians don't get that kind of respect here. he thought as he grabbed his briefcase, locked his car, and headed across the lot.

"Good morning.  Good morning.  Good morning." he says in quick succession to three different teachers.

Mr. Hudson has been the school librarian since the start of the 2006/2007 school year.  Most of the students are vaguely famiiliar with him.  Those who spend more time in the library know him even better.

But what no one in Sunnydale knows is he is also a watcher, the mentor to the Slayer.  One girl in all the world, a chosen one.  According to the Council, the new Slayer has been called just about this time right here in Sunnydale.  Now all I have to do is pinpoint her.
he thinks to himself.

Usually Mr. Hudson heads straight for the library in the morning.  But today, he took his time observing the students as they congregated on the lawn waiting for the first bell.

He watches a school bus arrive.  One girl practically leaps off the bus and does an impressive series of cartwheels.  Who is that?  I don't think she's spent a lot of time in the library.  Could she be the one?  Perhaps.  Or she could be a cheerleader or gymnast who does this all the time.he thought.

Mr. Hudson makes it a point to memorize the girl's face.  Just in case.

Billy hopped out of the car quickly when his dad stopped.  "Later, Dad."  He said brightly.  He jokingly stuck his tongue out at the back seat window, and the little sister that sat behind it.

He quickly cleared the parking lot and started saying hello to a variety of other students, making a few witty quips as he went.  He didn't really have a "group" he fit in with but he had a lot of acquaintances he got along with, since he'd been here forever.

When he saw Mr. Hudson come in, he didn't speak up or say, "hi."  He wasn't an idiot.  Any student who openly greeted a librarian in public was asking to half of lunch time cleaning and drying their hair.  The man kept a good library with some volumes he'd found useful and some others he'd like to get to peruse some day, so Billy met his eye and gave him a nod.

After a few moments he noted the librarian hadn't moved into the school like normal.  Curious, he thought and he filed it away to consider or bring up later.

He continued to make the rounds and greet other students.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 04:34, Sat 16 Apr 2022.

A group of four girls make their way through the crowd.

In the lead is an attractive blonde standing about 5 foot 5.  This is Malvina West.  Most popular girl in the sophmore class of Sunnydale High.  But not the nicest.  She can be quite vindictive.  But yet nearly every member of the class craves her attention and approval.

Next to her is something of a paradox.  A nerdy, homely looking girl wearing glasses.  She looks quite out of place among the three attractive, well dressed girls.  This is Piper "Weasel" West.  Malvina's cousin.  She's called Weasel for two reasons.  She pretty much has the face of a weasel and the personality to match.  Her speciality is spreading gossip and starting rumors about other students behind their back at Malvina's behest.

The other two girls are attractive and well dressed and two of the many members of Malvina's posse known as the Malettes.  It's estimated their are about 15 to 20 of them.

Several students shout out a "hi" or "good morning"  to Malvina.  She smiles and waves, like a princess giving the peasants some token attention.

Malvina glances over at Liam and his group of friends.  She says nothing, but makes a face like she stepped in dog poop, before moving on.

She passes by Billy, looks at him for about a second then moves on.  He's like wallpaper to her.

Billy's emotions soared for a moment as Malvina looked at him, then crashed as she looked away.  He frowned, then slightly smiled.  It wasn't positive notice but at least not the awful look she gave those other guys, either.  Neutral was good - it kept the Weasel, the jocks, and endless other potential complications from coming his way.

As the librarian continued to linger oddly, Billy called out to him, "Everything alright, Mr. Hudson?  Winter's not the usual season for ogling, you know."

Edward Hudson doesn't hear the voice next to him right away.  Then he breaks out of his focus zone and looks at Billy and registers what he just said.

"Oh yes, Billy.  Good morning!  Hope you had a joyous holiday season."

Oh crumbs.  Can't give anyone the wrong impression.  Especially since I'm relatively new here. Edward thinks.

"Well Billy, I was just noticing that young lady's impressive display of acrobatics."

He points at Hopie. "Do you know her?   Is she on the gymnastics or cheerleading team?"

Hopie stopped her display and caught Mr Hudson's eye.  He was kind of handsome in an understated way but Hopie was too young for crushes and besides, she thought she might prefer girls.  Still, if she wanted to go to a decent Spanish speaking University, she'd likely need his help.  She smiled and said, "Good morning Mr Hudson and happy new year.".

"Happy new year to you."

Edward approaches Hopie and extends his hand for a handshake.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced.  I'm Edward Hudson.  I"ve been the librarian here since August."

Edward then points to Billy.  "This is Billy Thomson.  Do you two know each other?"

He then turns his attention back Hopie.  "This was quite an impressive display of acrobatics. Have you been practicing gymnastics for several years?"

Hopie considers Billy for a moment and says,"Hey, I think we have a class by together.  Is it History? No Gym? Yeah it's gym isn't it?" She looks back to Mr Hudson and says, !"Cartwheels?  Cartwheels are easy Senor Hudson, but I haven't done one since I was nine. I feel so good this morning that it just felt right, si?

The trio paused and watched some new girl cartwheel across the lawn.

"Do you know who that is?"  Liam commented.  The others just shrugged.

"Must be new."

The Librarian was there.  Liam liked him.  He had history questions and Mr. Hudson had been gracious enough to answer them.  The great debate about Paris 1706 stood out in Liam's mind.  He had thought he knew something, but Mr. Hudson had directed him to a couple of other books that refuted events during that period.  The Librarian was someone he could talk to.

Billy was there as well.  They had gamed in the past but drifted their own directions.

Then Malvina walked by... Liam waved like so many others.  He turned to his friends.  "I think she looked right at me."  He mentioned in an excited tone.

"Not like you want."

It was going to be a great semester.

"Don't sell yourself short my dear."Edward says to Hopie.

"My cartwheels when I was younger were quite dreadful. You wouldn't want me as a wheel on your cart.  I'd be the broken wheel that leaves the cart immobilized."

Edward looks at his watch, then back to Hopie and Billy.  "If you young people will excuse me, I must get the library up and running. Have a good day."

Edward heads to the building, the gears in his mind turning.  It must be her.  The signs are there underlined by the fact that she feels so good this morning.  Most of the other students look like they wish they were still in bed.  Her powers must have activated last night.he thought to himself as he entered the building and headed for the library.

A man walks from the faculty parking lot onto the lawn, carrying two large heavy duffel bags.
He looks to be in his late forties to early fifties.  Rugged looking, grey hair.

This is Coach Keel.  Gym teacher and sports coach at Sunnydale High. He's also a retired army man.

He's well known to Hopie, Billy, and Liam.  He's their gym teacher.

The Coach approaches Hopie and Billy carrying his two large duffel bags.  He missed Hopie's acrobatic display and doesn't comment on it.

"Hey kids.  Happy new year!  Bet you put on some weight with all that holiday eating. Well, don't worry.  I've increased our exercise routine in class this week."

He focuses on Hopie.  "Hopie, be an angel and help me carry one of these bags to the gym.  Don't worry about being late for first period.  If the bell rings, I'll write you a hall pass."

Hopie has helped the coach carry large duffel bags before.  Nothing unusual about that.  What is unusual is when the coach passes her a bag, it feels nearly weightless to her.


The bag shakes like assorted sports equipment should.  But to Hopie it feels like the coach gave her bag full of pillows.

"Have a good day Thomson.  I'll see you later in class." the coach says to Billy as he leads Hopie through the crowd on the way to the gym.

The coach spots another of his 6th period students; Liam Roeker.

"Roeker! Happy new year!  Bet you put on some weight over the holidays!  You know I usually have you kids run five laps around the inside of the gym at the start of class!  Today you're all running ten laps!  Take that extra weight right off!" the coach shouts at Liam as he continues to lead Hopie to the gym.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:28, Sat 16 Apr 2022.

Hopie knows the way but she follows Coach Keel meekly while she tries to figure out his angle.  The bag seems almost weightless, the question is, does she call the coach out on his little joke or does she just carry on regardless as if she hadn't realised he'd given her the trick bag he usually carried.

On the other hand, the coach didn't seem to be struggling any more than usual.  So maybe there was something else going on.  She followed behind the coach almost in a daze, hardly even noticing the weight she was carrying.