we_bring_hell | (no subject)

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Harrow is having a slow-motion argument with the Bar over breakfast. She wants water and a little bread, and the Bar does not agree that this is a breakfast.

She has rejected an omelet, a breakfast sandwich, and biscuits and gravy. The Bar is trying a bowl of porridge on her and she's considering it. (She hasn't noticed it has raisins in it yet.)

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She blinks.

"That seems... undesirable. Why is it left open?"

"I don't think they can be closed? Unless the city on top of it is, like, totally swallowed up. That's what happened to Sunnydale. So there's no more hellmouth, but no more Sunnydale, either."

"I see," she says.

Well, what can she say? Sucks to live on your planet?

"That.... seems to be for the best?"

"I grew up in the shadow of a Tomb that holds an apocalyptic enemy of God," she offers.

"Oh," she says, brightening. "You get it, then! Most people have absolutely no clue when I try to explain it."

"The Ninth was built to guard the Tomb," she says. "It sounds like your Hellmouth had... gotten out of hand?"

"Oh for sure, but the whole 'ancient lurking dread' right where you live is similar."

Harrow nods.

"I hope your new home is less fraught?"

"Yes. It rains a lot, but it's really, really nice to not have to worry about vampires every time you go somewhere at night. Or demon apocalypses every few months."

She pauses.

"I mean, they still happen? Just not like right next door."

She shakes her head. "It's strange--vampires do not exist in my world. It is a name we are called by the people of foreign planets sometimes, but they are a myth."

"It's funny you say that, because in mine, vampires are also a myth. Except for how they're totally real and they kill people all the time. But the authorities say the deaths are caused by wild animal attacks or accidental barbecue fork stabbings. Then when you know, when you really know, you feel like you're crazy for believing in these 'myths' that are actually really real."

The Buffyverse does suck, doesn't it?

Harrow blinks. "Why the secrecy?"

"I have no idea. I think maybe people don't want to believe things sometimes?"

She shakes her head.

"No wonder you were not able to begin studying magic until late in life."

"It is kind of effed up, when you think about it. So, like, here, there are people who've known everything about everything and gone to school for magic forever, and I feel pretty dumb compared to them. Because I'm just starting, you know?"

But she can read a Tarot spread like no one's business.

"I am not sure I understand entirely what is meant by school," Harrow confesses.

"But yes--I took my first steps in necromancy at the same time as my first steps. It is... easier, in some ways, I must imagine. You are already learning how to control one skeleton with your mind. Not so difficult to add another."

Edited 2020-09-28 15:50 (UTC)

"You're really not missing out on anything. School is where you go as a kid to learn things with all the other kids, and get picked on for being weird or saying the wrong things or wearing the wrong clothes or liking the wrong people. If you were homeschooled, that's way better."

"There was only one other child on the Ninth," she says. "So it was hardly an issue."

Also, Harrow was the one doing the bullying. To be fair, she regrets it.

"Oh, were you lonely? I didn't have lots of friends, but my brother was always around, so it was kind of like just the two of us growing up. I have friends now, though. College is way better than school ever was."

She hesitates. "I was very busy," she says.

"From the time I was ten I had inherited much of the responsibility of leading our House. I was rarely alone."

"You were in charge when you were that little? That must have been really hard."

She frowns. "It was--necessary. When my parents died, I knew if I asked the other Houses for help... if anyone knew... it would be the end of the Ninth as an independent House. The only question was who would devour us."

She's hoping she means devour in a non-literal way, but Alyce grew up in Sunnydale, so she's not going to assume it's not literal.

"That really sucks," she says, and she is genuinely sincere.

When she was ten, their parents didn't even let the twins stay home alone yet.

"Yes," she admits. "But you will be amazed at what you can endure when there is no other choice."

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