fandomhigh | Home Ec [first period, Tuesday]

Today, it wasn't Emma Frost standing at the front of the room - it was a different, much more clothed and tired-looking blonde.

"Um, hi," she said with a nervous little wave. "My name's Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham. You can just call me Hannelore. Ms. Frost isn't feeling too swift, so she ~~handwavey~~ asked me to sub for her. Um. I've never done this before, so here's hoping I don't suck too badly."

"So, um," she continued, "she just left us a couple notes. We're going over cleaning and tidying and vacuuming and...." Hannelore gave a happy little sigh. "Okay, this is something I'm really good at. We're going to clean the classroom. There are vacuum cleaners, and just a few cleaning products in the back."

Hannelore pointed, where there was a plethora of vacuums, mops, Swiffers, sponges, and a seemingly-endless supply of cleaning fluids. Best not to ask how many of those came from Hannelore's apartment.

"All right, I brought you guys some stuff," she said, pulling out a huge box of HazMat suits and gasmasks. "I didn't bring all my supplies, but I don't want you guys to get sick!"

Not that they'd actually become ill cleaning the classroom.

"You can pick what you want to do. Oh, and this is Winslow," Hannelore said, pointing to an oversized iPod sitting on the desk. Winslow waved. "He's here to help me."

Hannelore kind of waved at the group. "Okay. Go. I'll be around and stuff if you need me." She then dug a set of suction cups out of her bag, strapped a belt equipped with several cleaning products around her waist, and climbed onto a table. Then with a little hop, she was on the ceiling, where she began to scrub.

[Wait for OCD, please]

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"She's not so much like this one," Dawn explained, "but she's been through a lot. She's serious and grounded, and doesn't talk about cheerleading, but still likes magazines and clothes. She's much sadder than this Buffy, but she's getting better."

River nodded, both listening to Dawn's words and to her thoughts. She could see her Buffy turn into Dawn's Buffy, but guessed it would be a painful process. Her face turned sad.

"She does get better," Dawn promised, seeing the look on River's face, "but there was a lot of bad stuff that happened, and she got very tired and worn down. Being the Chosen one isn't easy."

"No, not easy." River could understand that. Still, the strength and happiness of her Buffy was something that made River herself feel stronger. Knowing it would very likely fade, even for a while, was painful to think about.

It wasn't an overly cheerful thought for Dawn either, and she'd seen it happen. "I like seeing Buffy like this again, though. Even if it's strange being older, she's more fun this way."

River managed a smile. "She is fun," she said.

Dawn would have hugged River, but she wasn't sure she knew the other girl well enough. "And maybe, since she's got us, she won't turn into the other girl?"

Picking up on Dawn's thoughts, River gave her a quick hug. Hugs were good, Blair had taught her that. And Dawn's comment was uplifting. "Have to protect her from taking on too much," River agreed.

"It'll help that Mel's here," Dawn pointed out.

River relaxed a little, only now noticing that worrying about Buffy had made her tense. "Mel." She nodded. "Two Slayers are better than one."

"Usually," she nodded, trying not to think of Faith and how wrong that had gone. Even Faith was getting better now, though.

River got that, and just smiled back. "Life's unpredictable."

"Especially around here."

"On Serenity too," River noted.

"What's Serenity like?" Dawn asked, curling her feet under her.

"Firefly vessel. Odd collection of people on board. A home, for a while." She smiled. "Should visit soon."

Firefly vessel meant nothing to Dawn, but she knew all about an odd collection of people that could make a place a home. "Do you miss them?"

River nodded. "Yes. But home is here, for now."

Dawn nodded. "Yep. For me, too."

Home Ec [first period, Tuesday]

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