"Come in," said John Conner.
Friday opened the door and sauntered into the room.
"Friday, what can I do for you?"
"Two things," Friday replied. "First, I'm going to be joining the masses of slayers going on holidays."
"Oh? Going back to Australia, after all?"
"Nope. I've been in this country for almost a year, and haven't done any sightseeing. So that's what I'm going to do. Sight-see."
"By yourself?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hardly. Susie's coming with me. She still thinks she's my watcher. Kella's coming too, and Faith might be joining us."
"Very well. And the second?"
"About Tiffany."
"Yes?" John braced himself for a barrage of complaints, critisem and general bad mouthing.
"I set Tiffany up. See, I made her think I was more interesting in developing a new anti-telepath technique that Eron told me about. Well, I am, so that much is true, I guess, I just gave her the impression that it involved meditation, which it doesn't. Anyway, so I'm sitting on the ground pretending to meditate. Well, kinda. I did try practicing the new technique while I was at it, but that's not the point. The point is that I strategically chose that spot to stop because there were two vampires nearby. The idea was to make Tiffany think that I wasn't going to do any fighting, and if she didn't then we'd both die."
"I see," John frowned.
"Relax. If she got into trouble I had every intension of stepping in. I wouldn't really abandon her, even if she might think otherwise, no matter how tempting the idea is. Anyway, so the vampires show up right? And Tiffany tries to get me to respond, but of course, I don't. So the vampires go after Tiffany right? One of them goes right up to her and is about to bite her. Naturally, I'm rather ticked off that she's about to let this freak bite her, but I get out my sai-stake to throw at him. Except, then Tiffany goes off her brain. The vampire has gotten blood on her shirt. She freaks out about him staining her clothes and in ten seconds flat she's dusted both vampires. I barely had time to realise I didn't need to throw my sai after all," Friday shook her head. "And then Tiff tells me off for abandoning her and can't figure out why I'm staring at her."
"Indeed. When did this happen?"
"A couple of weeks ago."
"And you took this long to tell me?"
"There's more to the story," Friday replied with a glare. "Okay, so I remember this convo I had online a couple of days ago. I met a friend of a friend... of a friend of mine, who's a mutant with this power called 'bezerker'. He goes into this bezerker rage when he gets angry, although he's much better at controlling it now. Which I'm sure his friends and family are grateful for. Anyway, so I'm staring at Tiffany, and I'm remembering this power, and the thought crosses my mind: what if Tiffany is a slayer-bezerker? She only bothers to fight when she's angry?"
"Interesting theory."
"I thought so. And remember the dance earlier this year when all the demons came through the floor?"
"How could I forgot?"
"Yeah, well, remember that Tiffy-baby fell through the floor, broke bones and stuff, and was more upset about her broken fingernails?"
"Yes... You think she broke her nails first and that triggered a bezerker rage?"
"Yep," Friday nodded. "I remember being most surprised she even survived being down there. Anyway, with this in mind, I started setting up more tests. Y'know, to see if I could get her to duplicate her whirlwind fighting efforts."
Friday handed over a small pile of paper.
"I started a journal. Y'know, made notes and all that of all the things I tried and how she reacted, how many vampires we fought, yadda, yadda, yadda. So far I haven't found anything that argued against my theory, only supported it."
John glanced over the first page.
"I'm sure this will be very interesting reading," he said thoughtfully. "I'll have to talk to Willow and Giles about this, and possibly with the Watcher Academy heads. I haven't heard of a slayer-bezerker before, but then, until recently, there was only ever one slayer at a time."
"When everyone gets back from holidays - unless you've made other arragements - I'll continue to test and take notes of what she does while we're on patrol."
"I'd appreciate that," John sat back then, and took a long look at Friday. "So, about this new technique for dealing with telepaths?"
"Oh, well, it's something that the Order came up with. They're forever discussing and sharing strategics and tactics with each other. Anyway, what it involves is teaching your body to do all your thinking for you. Y'know, all that heat of battle fighting and strategising stuff. And in the meantime, your brain is thinking about something completely lame, like fudge or fuzzy bunnies. Eron figures that the more experienced fighters probably do the boby-thinking thing already, just because they are so experienced. It's just trying to co-ordinate body-thinking and brain-thinking about two completely different things that's the tricky part."
"Hmm, interesting," John paused for a moment, considering. "Eron, hmm?"
"The Fifteenth."
"You've been spending a lot of time with him?"
"Weekends, mainly," Friday replied. "We got to talking at church, and then he invited me over on a Saturday. They often hold strategy game competitions on Saturdays. They believe it helps to keep their minds, active, learning, and open to new tactics on the battlefield."
"And you particiapte?"
"Not at first. I just watched. But I have been lately," a rueful smile crossed Fridays' face. "They're all much better than me, but I plan on changing that."
"So, your relationship with Eron is what? Professional? Romantic?"
Friday gave John a dark look.
"Just because I go to an all girls school does not mean I'm going to throw myself at the first boy to go past, thank you very much. We're friends and that's it. And even if we were romantically interested in each other, that's none of your business."
"Friday, you attend a boarding school -"
"I'm almost 18 -"
"That is not of consequence. While you attend this school, we have a responsibility to your parents to -"
"If you say 'keep us safe', I'm going to whomp you. We're slayers. We're never going to be safe."
John was silent.
"What about sex? I don't want to see any pregnant slayers at this school."
"Slayers might not have a long life span. And perhaps they rarely have had children in the past," Friday replied quietly. "But things have changed. We patrol in groups now. We are able to protect each other. Additionally, I think that the reality of getting pregnant is more... is of more concern to us as slayers, than it is to other, normal girls. If you're so concerned about us dating, develop a dating policy. But you need not worry about myself and Eron. Our relationship is not like that. Frankly, he's not the only guy I'm friends with. Would you like a completely list?"
John shook his head as Friday's tone changed to false sweetness.
"That'll be all Friday," he said.
"Good. See you when school starts again."