All's still quiet on the Wilkins' front, as far as I can tell, although I think Riley and Giles are still trying to dig up dirt on him. I'm not sure if Willow found anything else out--she's been kind of busy getting Dawn's boyfriend back in the land of the coherent. And we've all been busy with the kittens, especially Tara--Miss Kitty's litter is just adorable. But I'm terrified I'm gonna squash one of them some day when I'm not watching, they seem to pop up all over the house. And I'm kind of wondering what we're going to do with them when they start getting bigger. I should take them to visit London when they get a little bigger, I bet she'd be thrilled.

Anya got back from L.A. and did her usual inspection of the Magic Box like she'd expected us to blow it up while she was gone. Sheesh, it's been a really long time since the place got trashed by demons, why can't she just have a little faith in us?

At the last minute, I sucked it up and registered for part time classes. Criminal psychology, 'cause it sounded interesting and possibly applicable to slayage, and an upper level writing class. I swear, if another apocalypse comes along and screws me out of finishing them, that's it, I'm going to resign myself to working retail the rest of my life. Not that I know exactly what my degree will be good for. It's kinda fun being on campus again, anyway--gotta keep tabs on the weird so Dawn and her friends don't get into trouble.

[Open to Amanda, Dawn, or anyone else on campus who wants to run into her.]

Current Mood: cheerful

So, I found out Dawn has a boyfriend. In the most roundabout way possible--she took off with him last weekend because some magic plant was making him sick or crazy. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she picked a guy who's not exactly Mr. Normal, and I can't complain, considering her last boyfriend was a vampire. It's not like I don't see the attraction, the guy is gorgeous. But I'm a little worried, I guess he's telepathic and hearing extra voices or something, and Dawn looked so worried and upset about it. Willow's looking into some way of helping him, but I had to patrol so I didn't catch everything she found out about it.

I'm starting to wonder if I should check the basement on a regular basis. It seems Avasa was sleeping down there for a few nights. I swear, I don't know how I survived this long when I miss this stuff going on right under my nose. Dawn's been seeing the guy for months and I had no clue. Makes me wonder what else I've been missing.

She finally got off to college, though, and the house seems really empty without her. The self-defense classes have become a little hit or miss now that the girls are in classes, although Amanda keeps coming regularly. She has some funky new throwing spikes she wants me to help her learn to use. And I have enough to keep me busy, between watching the Magic Box again while Anya's in LA helping Cordy research something, and doing my regular patrols with London. Although, the vamp population sure has seemed to have thinned out the last week.

Willow tested Wilkins' snot and declared it 100% human, so I guess there's not much I can do on that situation, except do an occasional run by his place to watch for anything odd. I'm kinda thinking Giles is pretty frustrated by that.

Current Mood: surprised

Willow's gonna check into what she can find out from Wilkins' hanky. I have faith she can find something out. Giles still seems awful skeptical about Wilkins being reformed, and so does Riley--although I managed to get him calmed down about the me eating the cookie issue. I mentioned what Wilkins said to me about Giles and Wes, and Giles got all grave looking, but he didn't tell me what was up with that. Maybe he doesn't know...or did something happen in the past and he just doesn't want to say?

Willow and Tara got it in their heads to get London a puppy. I dunno, I'm amazed how London keeps managing to win people over, in spite of her happy bone ripping ways. Not that I mentioned that to either of them.

In the meantime, it's Labor Day weekend and Dawn's supposed to be moving into the dorm, except we never got the shopping trip thing done. So I figure we could make a quick trip to the mall today, only when I knocked on her room, there was this note on the bed. Saying she's spending the night at Sophie's and she's not sure when she'll be back, but she'd call. Great. First off, they're about to be roomies fulltime--what, they couldn't wait a couple nights? But secondly, I haven't heard from her yet, and we are totally running out of time for the shopping trip. Janice called to talk to her and didn't seem to know anything about a slumber party at first, and then conveniently remembered. Sounds a little hinky to me...

Open for Dawn

Current Mood: confused

Well, I checked out Wilkin's apartment. The inside of it, which I wasn't really expecting. I bet he's got surveillance cameras in the hall--I really wasn't being loud or anything. And while I didn't get to do a thorough search of the place, I didn't find anything too weird going on in there, or interrupt any big meeting of bad guys. Riley didn't report anything weird outside, either. And I didn't come away empty-handed. I'm not sure that's a good thing, ewww.

But hey, one hanky with ex-evil-mayor snot can't be any grosser than demon guts, right? And maybe we can do some tests on it. DNA, maybe, to determine if he's human or demon. Or maybe a magical test, see if there's any residual left from whatever spell brought him back from the dead. Or any other more recent magic. I'll ask Willow about it.

Because I am pretty sure he's the real deal after talking to him. I mean, I just don't think anyone could do that good a job at impersonating his 1950s TV Dad act. Or be that annoying.

Anyway, I guess, pending testing of the potentially evil snot, I'm thinking we should keep an eye on him, but he really doesn't seem to be preparing to bring imminent doom down on Sunnydale. Hell, maybe his big evil plan is giving Martha Stewart a run for her money and making a fortune off the cookies--they were really yummy. I should talk to Giles about the comment he made about him and Wes somehow being responsible for him being here, though.

I guess it's back to the usual patrol--I should check up on London. And getting Dawn ready for college, which means shopping! Yay for a little normal. I hope she doesn't really get stuck listening to Wilkins give some long, boring speech her first day. *Shudder*

(Open to any scooby types.)

Current Mood: satisfied

Willow and Tara came home last night, finally. I figured they were only gonna be gone a couple of days, not the whole week. Will didn't say a lot about what they did, but she did mention Angel said hi, so she must have talked to him a little. Guess that's progress. I went around to check on London--I've really missed having her around to patrol with me all week. She was all bummed out about having to come back and leave Mel--that slayer from the future. Guess they really hit it off.

Hopefully now that everyone's back we can do that shopping trip to get the rest of the stuff Dawnie's gonna need for the dorm. I'm glad she's rooming with one of her friends, it'll be so much nicer for her than my first roomie encounter was.

We haven't heard word one about what Wilkins might be up to. Even Giles hasn't found anything, and I'm sure he's been digging as hard as he can to find something evil on the guy. Riley's mostly found personal stuff, but again, nothing we can pin on him. So I've decided to go in incognito and see if I can hear anything--well, dressed up and wearing dark glasses, anyway. I'm not going so far as to go all Alias in a wig or anything. Riley said he'd keep an eye on the perimeter and let me know if anyone was coming. So here's me, acting all casual.

*Slips into the lobby of the apartment building and wanders around for a few minutes, watching the elevator to the penthouse, before getting bored, going over and taking it up.*

Current Mood: working

So, I sucked it up and went in to register for classes today. Just half time, I decided. That way, maybe I stand half a chance of keeping up if an apocalypse happens. All I ask is that it avoids exam weeks. Is that so much?

Meanwhile, I've been patrolling around Wilkin's neighborhood on and off all week and have seen exactly nothing suspicious. No vamp minions, not even a limo or anything mildly official or evil or anything. I'm waiting to see what Riley digs up before I try to get any closer--really not liking the idea of going in totally blind. Giles has been quiet on the subject so far, at least, but that could just mean he's planning something.

I was a little nervous the other night when Dawn went out walking with a friend, but...I really need to start giving her her space. I mean, when she's at school I'm not gonna be able to keep an eye on her. And she's sensible and hasn't gotten kidnapped in ages, and she's doing really well with the self-defense. And that's what all of that is about, trusting her to be an adult and not do anything stupid. Yeah, I think I need to work on that one a little, or else find somewhere that's not right in front of the living room window to pace. Can't afford new carpeting right now.

Current Mood: anxious

Had the first good talk with Willow since she got back from time tripping. I guess she's worked through the trauma some, even if it seems like she'll never trust Angel again. I guess seeing him as Angelus again in the past had to be freaky, after everything else he did to her. I dunno, I still see them as two different people, I guess.

Anyway, she decided she wants to take London with her to LA to see what's up with her possibly evil boss, I think to kind of distract Angel, which I'm sure she will. Especially if she keeps doing her Spike impression with the buggers and bollocks and stuff. God, it makes me giggle when she does that. And Tara's going too, meaning Dawnie and I actually have the house all to ourselves for a couple days, woo hoo. We need to do sister stuff, just not the college shopping 'cause Tara and Will wanna go, too. Wouldn't be the worst time for Riley to get romantic, either.

Of course, now he's all riled up because of the meeting Giles called about the so-called Richard Wilkins III appearance. He found some news articles that claim that he's the real deal, had just been off recuperating somewhere. Yeah, right, we all saw him turn into a snake and get blown sky high. So did a whole bunch of other people, so I don't know why they're even trying to pull that one.

Giles wanted to go after him right away--kinda thinking his brush with him in the past is fueling some of that--and Spike seems to be right behind him. Which, let me tell you, is weird to witness, the two of them agreeing on anything. Xander was pretty quiet and had some of the same problems I did with it, like if he's human, isn't that going to cause some major legal headaches. Willow asked a whole bunch of pertinent questions like exactly how did he come back from the dead--I'm hoping maybe she can detect some sort of magical energy, if he did.

I dunno, I'm still not convinced it's not someone posing as him. I mean, think of the automatic prestige he's gotten? Plus there's a whole bunch of unanswered questions, like is he human or demon, or possibly invulnerable like he was for a while there? Cooler heads prevailed (although I'm gonna keep an eye on Giles, he's been known to go after the bad guys solo before, and I don't want him getting himself killed).

I think Riley's gonna do a little super-covert recon of some kind, and I'm gonna see if I can check out his apartment. Which, can you believe it, happens to be Glory's old place! Yeah, not really itching to see the inside of that place again, but a slayer's gotta do what a slayer's gotta do.

Current Mood: cynical
Current Music: Barenaked Ladies - The Old Apartment

Aww. Just when you think your guy has been swallowed whole by the army, he gets all attentive again. Riley sent a beautiful bunch of flowers, pink roses and daisies, and some purpley something. With the sweetest note ever attached to it saying how sorry he is that he hasn't had much time for us lately. Makes a girl all gooey in the knees. And kinda wish he'd get over here and save me from patrolling some night. Not that London's not great company and all.

Of course, that's one conversation I'm not looking forward to. Angel understood about her, after meeting her. But Riley? Is not gonna be happy I've adopted a crazy vamp bad-thing killer and patrol with her. He's got such an issue with vamps...or maybe me and vamps. At least London's a she, that'll help some, I guess.

Tara offered to go with when I take Dawnie college shopping. I want to ask her friends along, but after the major tension between Janice and Sophie, I was thinking it wasn't the best of ideas. But hey, if the angel vibes'll calm them down, maybe it can work. And it didn't seem to be quite so tense this last weekend. I'm still impressed as hell with Amanda's abilities, and I really want to talk to Giles about stuff. Her, and the mayor's doppelganger, or whatever he is, in the paper, and just...stuff.

Like, are there any really ominous dates coming up in the next four months, or should I chance it and attempt to register for college myself? Two or three semesters left, on the part time schedule. I could actually graduate some day, barring apocalypse. Er, if I could decide on a major. *Sigh*

Current Mood: happy

I'm not sure if Giles was convinced that Amanda is one of those potential types, but I kinda am. I mean, I really don't think I'm so rusty that a perfectly ordinary girl could disarm me like that. I suppose there could be some other reason for it, some sort of magic something-or-other. She didn't really seem at home with the other weapons we checked out, but I'm sure she'll improve with time and practice. And hey, it'll be kind of a relief to know she'll be on campus with Dawn and the others this fall. I can't be everywhere all the time, and god knows, weird stuff happens there.

I still have to get it together to take Dawnie shopping for college stuff. She has orientation this week, so it's starting to get down to the wire. I'll have more time now that Anya and Cordy are back and I'm not at the shop full time. I still have to talk to Anya about working out a deal for using the gym behind the shop for my classes the rest of the summer. Maybe I can catch her in a generous mood.

Current Mood: chipper

The first class went well, all in all. The girls seemed pretty eager to learn...well
Dawn was kind of late, but everyone else showed up on time. Seemed to be a little tension between Janice and Sophie, no clue what that was about, but it cleared up when Amanda showed up. Who knows, maybe she's like a natural leader or something? One of those qualities making for a good slayer?

So I went over some basic stuff--punches, kicks, how to stand for maximum leverage, the best places to strike, etc. They seemed really eager to check it all out, might need to recruit someone to be the equivalent of puffy Xander so they can try it on something that moves. Not that he could ever move well in that suit, hmm.

Amanda stayed over to get in a little sword practice. I think she seemed kinda impressed by the weapons in the back, think I'll offer to show her how to use some of them if she wants. Wonder if Giles is gonna stop in like he said he would?

Current Mood: accomplished