fandomtownies | Aereopagitica, 30 November

Current Music: "Wolcom Yule," Anonymous 4

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$book haven

Aereopagitica, 30 November

Wow. Giles is actually decorating the store for the holidays.

Evergreen garlands and candles abound. Along with sales of A Christmas Carol and O. Henry collections...

[ooc: Going out soon for a few hours, but will be around tonight after 7.]

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Giles seems to be rooting around in the storeroom..

*crash*

*tinkle*

Yes, those seem to have been the glass Christmas balls...

"Need a broom, Giles?" Dawn yelled, hearing the crash as she walked in. "Or an ice pack? Do I need to call the clinic?"

Giles voice floated from the store room a bit distantly.

"Yes, yes, a broom would definitely be a good idea."

Giles walked into the store brushing dust off of the front of his pants.

"I, on the other hand, seem to have escaped unscathed. But thank you for your concern." Giles moved to the counter, apparently expecting Dawn to take care of the mess in the storeroom. Let's hear it for underlings.

"And how are you doing? How was Las Vegas?"

Dawn sighed, but grabbed a broom and a dustpan and headed off to the storeroom.

"I'm good," thankfully she was in another room and Giles couldn't see her grinning dopily again, "and Vegas was way too much fun to not have a connection to hell somewhere, and Dean killed some vampires and I missed it, but Sam and I had way too much fun and Lavender and I went shopping--can you believe she'd never owned jeans before?--and everything was amazing and I ate tons of swanky food."

She swept up the glass and rolled her eyes. Only Giles. "And what was that about a mini apocalypse? Should I be worried?"

"We almost lost Guam, which would have, you know, upset the Guam..ese?" He shook his head briefly, as though clearing it. "But other than that, it went along swimmingly. I ate poi." His brain processed the fact that Dawn had confessed to "too much fun" not once, but twice, and then immediately dismissed it to his hindbrain. If Dawn was admitting to that much enjoyment, there were probably mental images there he really didn't want to pursue.

He seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh, and Las Vegas does have a connection to hell. Three, in fact."

"Guam?" Dawn dumped the glass into the garbage and left the broom and dustpan in there, figuring Giles would need it later. "Do I want to know? And what is poi, anyway?"

"See, this is maybe something you should have told me before I left," she scowled and leaned against the counter, arms folded.

"Cranky volcano god. Turns out he was the one diety who didn't like virgins. Long story." He stopped and thought for a second. "I think I saw on Food Network that poi is made of some sort of root. I'm not sure."

Giles blinked. "I didn't remember until just now. Anyway, the portals aren't anywhere dangerous. I think one is located under some sort of police department. Anyway they're sealed."

Giles started piling new stock on the counter for Dawn to catalog and shelve. "How are Sam and Dean?" His forehead wrinkled in vague confusion. "Which one is your roommate and which one is your boyfriend again?"

Dawn snickered a lot. "Seems like that deity would have a lot more people to choose from. Smart one."

"They're fine," Dawn traced little designs that weren't hearts at all, really, into the glass of the display case with her finger, "and, um, Sam's both."

The furrows on Giles's forehead deepened.

"I'm nearly certain that wasn't the situation when I met them this summer."

Oh, hey, were those ceiling tiles? Fascinating. Dawn cleared her throat and waited for a handy bolt of lightning to show up.

Darn that clear blue sky. No lightning bolts.

"Dawn? I know, technically, it's none of my business, but is everything all right? Did something happen?"

Doing a quick edit/revision of events, Dawn said, "I broke things off with Dean, then Sam broke up with Buffy, and Sam and I went to Homecoming together and we've been dating ever since. So, um, yes, something happened, but nothing bad?"

"Oh. All right then. That's good." Giles gave what he hoped was a supportive smile.

"So where did Sam move to?"

"Move?"

Right. Of course. A bar was definitely going to be in order later tonight. It was going to take a fair amount of whiskey to blot out the mental images.

At least he knew better than to try to get parental with her. Because that tack had worked so well with her sister.

"Dawn," Giles said, painfully, "just...be careful, all right? If...something...should, you know, happen...we don't know..." His words petered out, and he looked at Dawn, begging her to understand what he was saying without actually making him use the words.

"Giiiiiiiles," Dawn pouted, "How stupid do you think I am? Of course we would be careful. If we did anything, which we totally didn't, er, wouldn't. I have plans that don't involve being a mom yet. Plus, he's not a vampire, so world endage is so not an issue. Not that we would do anything. Because we wouldn't."

Giles managed to parse the sentence in classic teenagerese.

"Well, good. And, for the record, I'm far less worried about an apocolypse than I am about a toddler wandering about with the ability to wield the power of the Key."

"Apocalypse?" Dawn stared at him, blinked twice, then said very, very quietly, "And a baby Key? Like...portals?"

Giles adjusted his glasses as he slid into lecture mode.

"Well, yes. Maybe. Or no. See, that's the point. We have no idea what would happen if you became pregnant. Not to mention the fact that you are technically dimensionally displaced. A two-year-old with the ability to open a portal at will is only one of countless possibilities."

"So I won't get pregnant," Dawn said, already making plans to go to the clinic, just in case. "Easy."

Giles put on his blandest face. "Good plan."

"Relax, Giles," Dawn snickered, waiting to see how much longer it would take for him to polish his glasses, "I'm still offensive to your Guamish volcano deity."

Giles immediately started cleaning his glasses.

"I believe we have entered the territory which the current vernacular terms 'TMI.'"

"Yay, I win!" Dawn beamed at him. "Xander won over Thanksgiving, and he was just describing a ritual he saw while he was in Africa. Anything else you want me to do around here, so you don't get broken?"

Giles thought about asking, "Won what?" but decided he was probably happier not knowing.

"I just got new stock in," he nodded over at the crates on and around the counter. "I'd like your help cataloging and shelving them."

"Alphabetical, geographical, lingual, or ritual?" Dawn asked.

"Er, Dewey Decimal?"

"Oh, sure," she grumbled, logging the books as she pulled them out of the boxes, "take all the adventure out of it."

"Not quite," Giles smirked. "Don't forget to check the insides of the books, and give a shout if something doesn't look right. I had a book on demonic symbology bound in a kitten picture book cover this summer."

"Why..." Dawn shook her head. "Nevermind."

Giles answered Dawn's unspoken question. "The better to hide it. For good or ill, I never found out."

Giles stood next to Dawn and helped her sort and catalog. It felt good. Nearly like old times.

You know, without the vengeful Hell goddesses and frequent apocalypses.

Ah, the store is starting to smell like pine...

Giles seems to be reading A Christmas Carol and an old Watcher's journal in tandem.

And he's snickering.

Going to look at a house this evening...*cross fingers*

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Aereopagitica, 30 November

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OOC