Categories > TV > Buffy the Vampire Slayer > Season 8
Buffy’s Rules
As Buffy watched the girls file into her hotel room and sit down on various pieces of furniture, she realized that she didn’t even know all their names. She felt bad about that, but at least they were all alive. When everyone had sat down she nodded to Faith and Dawn. The two then began to hand out two sheets of paper to all the girls.
“Alright guys, listen up.” she began. “Most of you know that before The First came after us, it went after the Watchers Council. For those that don’t know, the Council was destroyed. Giles is in the process of setting up a new Council and to that end, needs information from all of you.
“The first sheet, the one Dawn is giving you,” she motioned to Dawn as she spoke, “is that information. Fill it out now and give it back to her.” There was a general rustle of finding pens and the scratch of pen-on-paper for a few minutes then Buffy continued.
“You’ll notice that the first question is your Watchers name, and I’ll bet most of you don’t know who that is yet. Well neither do we. The old system was to appoint a watcher to each potential slayer as soon as she was recognized, and he or she would train her. The Slayer had no choice in the matter. Well we’re going to do it a little differently. We want you to have a voice in this, to that end put the name and contact information of someone you trust, preferably someone older like a parent or mentor. We will get in touch with them, and then help them help you.
“Make sure that the person can handle the responsibility. Not everyone can. I would love to tell you that your friends will still like you and that your parents will be supportive, but I can’t do that. Becoming a Watcher is a big responsibility. It opens your eyes to the evils of this world. Not everyone is capable of coping with that, so choose your Watcher carefully. If you can’t think of someone, then leave it blank and we will help you in any way we can.”
There was a longer pause as the girls thought over what Buffy had said, before one of the girls hands went into the air. Seeing it Buffy said, “Yes Rona?”
“Do they have to be older? My brother, Marc, is the only person I know that could handle something like this. He’s 17.”
Buffy thought for a moment, “Put him down and will talk to him, if he can deal with the responsibility then that’s fine. In fact, if you’re having the same problem, the only one you can trust is still really young also, go ahead and put them down and we’ll try them out. Make sure you put the person’s age and their relationship to you in with the contact info.”
When the papers had all been filled out and returned, Dawn left to give them to Giles so he could begin to get in contact with each one. Buffy brought everyone’s attention back to her. “Ok, you’re all slayers now; and as such, there are rules you have to abide by.”
There was a general groan that went through the group at this announcement. “Relax guys, I hate rules too. I can’t tell you how many I’ve broken.”
“Like falling in love with a vampire” remarked Faith smugly.
“That was different. Anyway these rules are short and sweet. But before we get to them, does anyone have an idea of what it means to be the Slayer?”
“It means being dead on the inside. Cutting yourself off from everyone and everything. Not even taking time to learn our names.” Rona spoke mockingly.
“I cut myself off because I knew we would loose some of you. I moved to Sunnydale because I got expelled from my old school for burning down the gym. Never mind that the gym was full of vampires. When I got to Sunnydale, I thought I could start over and leave the Slayer behind, I couldn’t. In my first week at Sunnydale I lost friend because I was so busy trying to fit in that I wasn’t paying attention. Another friend, a sister Slayer, told me that being the Slayer isn’t something you did, it’s who you are. I lost that friend too. Another friend said that this job was all about having fun. I almost lost her.”
Faith snorted and everyone’s attention turned to her. Buffy picked up a pillow and through it at Faith. Faith caught it in mid air.
“The point is we’ve both buried more people than we care to think about. Being the Slayer does make you hard; you have to deal with death everyday. But that is why you have friends. They can share your pain and make you feel loved. Otherwise you forget what you’re fighting to save.”
“Being the Slayer means ‘you’re it’”, Vi chimed in. “It means you are the last front, you protect those that can’t or won’t protect themselves. It means sacrifice; being a silent hero. You save the world every day and can never tell anyone who you are.”
“Exactly, and that brings us to the first rule, which is written on the other sheet of paper you were given. We’ll go over them then you guys and get outta here.
“Rule #1. The fact that you’re a Slayer is a secret, so don’t tell anyone. This rule has a little leeway. You will notice that I have a small group of friends that not only know my secret but also fight with me. We want you to have the same thing, so you can tell one or two people of your choice, within reason.”
“But Buffy,” interrupted Kennedy, “when we were at your house I found your high school year book. They called you the Class Protector. So they all knew who you were. Why can’t we tell everyone?”
“No, no one there knew I was the slayer. I saved a lot of them and had a reputation for fighting. They knew that when things got bad I would help get them out of it, but most just though I was a weirdo that knew a bunch of weirdoes and liked to help people. Anyway, a lot of weird stuff happened to us, going to school on the hellmouth. ”
“Things like what, happened?” Vi asked.
“Oh like people turning invisible, nightmares coming to life, eggs that try to kill people, the swim team turned into the creature from deep, hell dogs attacked the prom. Just about anything you can think of.”
“Oh and don’t forget about the Mayor turning into a giant snake.” Added Faith.
At the shocked look on the girls faces both Buffy and Faith said, “Trust us, it happened.”
“Ok, Rule #2. Welcome to life as a Superhero. You are stronger and faster than normal people; use that against evil only. I’m not saying don’t stick up for yourself, but use good judgment. You are not allowed to hurt normal, innocent people. Faith, wanna tell them why not?”
Buffy shifted her attention to Faith, who flicked her off before saying “Cause Buffy’ll hunt you down and stick a knife in your gut, which putting ya in a coma for a year.”
Buffy’s response was, “Not what I was going for, but I guess that was what I did last time.” At the girls horrified looks she hurried on. “Right, Rule #3. Always follow you instincts, running is not always a bad thing. Which leads into Rule #4, Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Remember that you are not alone. If the fight is too big there are many others that will come help you. Look around, I doubt that anyone here would refuse you if you called them for help.
“Rule #5. Keep in touch with us. We want to know what’s going on. If you meet something you can’t kill, we can find out how. If you hear a rumor, let’s say you hear a demon is alive that everyone knows to be dead, let us know. It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened. Even if you can handle it alone, we would like to hear from you at least once a month. If you go 3 months without checking in we will send someone to find out why.
“Rule #6. Any other Slayers you happen to run into please send to us.” Buffy paused in her spiel to look each one in the eye. “And the Cardinal Rule, the most important of all, if you only remember one of my rules, let it be this one. The Cardinal Rule of a Slayer is DON’T DIE. After all, we can’t all be brought back twice.” There were a few chuckles and smiles through the room. Buffy picked up a box from the table and tossed it to Rona. “You’ll need these.” Faith tossed the remaining boxes to each of the girls. Inside was a simple silver cross, much like the one Buffy was wearing. The one Angel had given Buffy on their first meeting.
“Any questions,” Buffy asked.
“Yeah,” Rona said. “When did you fall in love with a vampire, who was he and did you kill him?”
“Eight years ago, Angel, and yes.”
“Wait, the Angel we met?”
Buffy and Faith exchanged a look and said, “It’s a long story.”
As Buffy watched the girls file into her hotel room and sit down on various pieces of furniture, she realized that she didn’t even know all their names. She felt bad about that, but at least they were all alive. When everyone had sat down she nodded to Faith and Dawn. The two then began to hand out two sheets of paper to all the girls.
“Alright guys, listen up.” she began. “Most of you know that before The First came after us, it went after the Watchers Council. For those that don’t know, the Council was destroyed. Giles is in the process of setting up a new Council and to that end, needs information from all of you.
“The first sheet, the one Dawn is giving you,” she motioned to Dawn as she spoke, “is that information. Fill it out now and give it back to her.” There was a general rustle of finding pens and the scratch of pen-on-paper for a few minutes then Buffy continued.
“You’ll notice that the first question is your Watchers name, and I’ll bet most of you don’t know who that is yet. Well neither do we. The old system was to appoint a watcher to each potential slayer as soon as she was recognized, and he or she would train her. The Slayer had no choice in the matter. Well we’re going to do it a little differently. We want you to have a voice in this, to that end put the name and contact information of someone you trust, preferably someone older like a parent or mentor. We will get in touch with them, and then help them help you.
“Make sure that the person can handle the responsibility. Not everyone can. I would love to tell you that your friends will still like you and that your parents will be supportive, but I can’t do that. Becoming a Watcher is a big responsibility. It opens your eyes to the evils of this world. Not everyone is capable of coping with that, so choose your Watcher carefully. If you can’t think of someone, then leave it blank and we will help you in any way we can.”
There was a longer pause as the girls thought over what Buffy had said, before one of the girls hands went into the air. Seeing it Buffy said, “Yes Rona?”
“Do they have to be older? My brother, Marc, is the only person I know that could handle something like this. He’s 17.”
Buffy thought for a moment, “Put him down and will talk to him, if he can deal with the responsibility then that’s fine. In fact, if you’re having the same problem, the only one you can trust is still really young also, go ahead and put them down and we’ll try them out. Make sure you put the person’s age and their relationship to you in with the contact info.”
When the papers had all been filled out and returned, Dawn left to give them to Giles so he could begin to get in contact with each one. Buffy brought everyone’s attention back to her. “Ok, you’re all slayers now; and as such, there are rules you have to abide by.”
There was a general groan that went through the group at this announcement. “Relax guys, I hate rules too. I can’t tell you how many I’ve broken.”
“Like falling in love with a vampire” remarked Faith smugly.
“That was different. Anyway these rules are short and sweet. But before we get to them, does anyone have an idea of what it means to be the Slayer?”
“It means being dead on the inside. Cutting yourself off from everyone and everything. Not even taking time to learn our names.” Rona spoke mockingly.
“I cut myself off because I knew we would loose some of you. I moved to Sunnydale because I got expelled from my old school for burning down the gym. Never mind that the gym was full of vampires. When I got to Sunnydale, I thought I could start over and leave the Slayer behind, I couldn’t. In my first week at Sunnydale I lost friend because I was so busy trying to fit in that I wasn’t paying attention. Another friend, a sister Slayer, told me that being the Slayer isn’t something you did, it’s who you are. I lost that friend too. Another friend said that this job was all about having fun. I almost lost her.”
Faith snorted and everyone’s attention turned to her. Buffy picked up a pillow and through it at Faith. Faith caught it in mid air.
“The point is we’ve both buried more people than we care to think about. Being the Slayer does make you hard; you have to deal with death everyday. But that is why you have friends. They can share your pain and make you feel loved. Otherwise you forget what you’re fighting to save.”
“Being the Slayer means ‘you’re it’”, Vi chimed in. “It means you are the last front, you protect those that can’t or won’t protect themselves. It means sacrifice; being a silent hero. You save the world every day and can never tell anyone who you are.”
“Exactly, and that brings us to the first rule, which is written on the other sheet of paper you were given. We’ll go over them then you guys and get outta here.
“Rule #1. The fact that you’re a Slayer is a secret, so don’t tell anyone. This rule has a little leeway. You will notice that I have a small group of friends that not only know my secret but also fight with me. We want you to have the same thing, so you can tell one or two people of your choice, within reason.”
“But Buffy,” interrupted Kennedy, “when we were at your house I found your high school year book. They called you the Class Protector. So they all knew who you were. Why can’t we tell everyone?”
“No, no one there knew I was the slayer. I saved a lot of them and had a reputation for fighting. They knew that when things got bad I would help get them out of it, but most just though I was a weirdo that knew a bunch of weirdoes and liked to help people. Anyway, a lot of weird stuff happened to us, going to school on the hellmouth. ”
“Things like what, happened?” Vi asked.
“Oh like people turning invisible, nightmares coming to life, eggs that try to kill people, the swim team turned into the creature from deep, hell dogs attacked the prom. Just about anything you can think of.”
“Oh and don’t forget about the Mayor turning into a giant snake.” Added Faith.
At the shocked look on the girls faces both Buffy and Faith said, “Trust us, it happened.”
“Ok, Rule #2. Welcome to life as a Superhero. You are stronger and faster than normal people; use that against evil only. I’m not saying don’t stick up for yourself, but use good judgment. You are not allowed to hurt normal, innocent people. Faith, wanna tell them why not?”
Buffy shifted her attention to Faith, who flicked her off before saying “Cause Buffy’ll hunt you down and stick a knife in your gut, which putting ya in a coma for a year.”
Buffy’s response was, “Not what I was going for, but I guess that was what I did last time.” At the girls horrified looks she hurried on. “Right, Rule #3. Always follow you instincts, running is not always a bad thing. Which leads into Rule #4, Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Remember that you are not alone. If the fight is too big there are many others that will come help you. Look around, I doubt that anyone here would refuse you if you called them for help.
“Rule #5. Keep in touch with us. We want to know what’s going on. If you meet something you can’t kill, we can find out how. If you hear a rumor, let’s say you hear a demon is alive that everyone knows to be dead, let us know. It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened. Even if you can handle it alone, we would like to hear from you at least once a month. If you go 3 months without checking in we will send someone to find out why.
“Rule #6. Any other Slayers you happen to run into please send to us.” Buffy paused in her spiel to look each one in the eye. “And the Cardinal Rule, the most important of all, if you only remember one of my rules, let it be this one. The Cardinal Rule of a Slayer is DON’T DIE. After all, we can’t all be brought back twice.” There were a few chuckles and smiles through the room. Buffy picked up a box from the table and tossed it to Rona. “You’ll need these.” Faith tossed the remaining boxes to each of the girls. Inside was a simple silver cross, much like the one Buffy was wearing. The one Angel had given Buffy on their first meeting.
“Any questions,” Buffy asked.
“Yeah,” Rona said. “When did you fall in love with a vampire, who was he and did you kill him?”
“Eight years ago, Angel, and yes.”
“Wait, the Angel we met?”
Buffy and Faith exchanged a look and said, “It’s a long story.”
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