Episode Five:
Shot in the Dark
Shot in the Dark
Disclaimer: Oz does not belong to me, but everyone else does. I am making no profit from this, and am writing purely for my own amusement.
Mostly fluff.
Feedback: By all means, bring it on.
Previously, in Tales from the Monico:
David: "You don't want a job, do you?"
Oz (shrugs): "Okay."
Oz: "You do know that the theatre is haunted, right?"
Emma: "You're actually serious, aren't you?"
Oz, David and Emma conduct their DIY exorcism.
Elli: "You banished a shade? I'm so impressed? as far as I can tell, whatever was here is gone as banished. So you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done."
Elli: "Oh, look out: here come the M&Ms. Again."
David: "Who?"
Elli: "M and M: Mike and Mat. Ergo, the M&Ms. Honestly, I don't know how they ever get any work done. They're always in here."
Linda: "Are you Oz? ? The old man said you might be able to help, and I didn't know what else to do? The antique guy ? he's got a shop next door."
Oz: "Could really use a Slayer for a job like this."
Elli: "We don't have one any handy, I'm afraid? What harm could there be in going to take a look?"
Oz: "Potentially quite a lot, actually."
Elli (looking at the deserted school): "Perfect place for a vampire hideout."
Emma (looks around curiously): "They should be around here somewhere."
David (pointing to the old school): "Why on earth would they be in there?"
Elli: "There are vampires nesting here. We came to find out how many."
(Emma screams loudly as a vampire goes to bite her?At the last second, her attacker suddenly flies backward as though propelled by an invisible force. Her breath coming in short, sharp pants as she battles both fear and shock, Emma half-turns and to her amazement sees Charlie standing in the doorway, a large wooden cross around her neck.)
(After killing all the vampires, the five of them stand looking at one another in shock.)
Oz: "I'll go first. My name is Daniel Osbourne, and I'm a werewolf."
Elli: "My name is Eleris Talvalin, and? I don't actually come from this world at all."
Charlie: "Charlie Stafford ? I'm mostly just a perfectly normal person. Except that I can do, well, this." (She floats a table in the air.)
Oz: "They didn't kick us out on the spot, anyway."
Elli: "They're good people. Friends. Sooner or later ? I hope ? they'll realise that nothing's changed. Not really. I'm still the same person that I was this morning, and so are you. So's Charlie."
Elli shows Oz a newspaper report about a werewolf running loose in town.
Oz: "It wasn't me."
Elli: "I know that, idiot. I just thought you'd want to know."
*****
Prologue:
*****
Prologue:
*****
Learning about sword fighting was kind of like learning to dance. Not that Oz had ever put that much effort into learning to dance, but as far as he could tell the principle was about the same. It was all about footwork and timing, only you held onto a sword instead of a girl.
His reflections were rudely interrupted when Elli, with a flick of her wrist, twisted his sword right out of his hand and sent it clattering to the floor. If this had been a real fight, he guessed he'd be dead around about now.
"You know," she cheerfully told him. "If you actually cared about learning to fight, you could be pretty good at this."
Since he'd just been disarmed so comprehensively, Oz was unclear how exactly she'd reached this conclusion, and gave her a quizzical look.
"Well, you've got good balance," she explained. "And a low centre of gravity. Plus, you're observant, which is a huge help. In the thick of the fighting, being fully aware of what your opponent is doing as well as concentrating on your own moves is half the battle won."
Elli had moments when she sounded Englisher than Charlie, Oz noted. And this was one of them, the Australian twang that usually edged her voice slipping slightly as she talked sword-fighting techniques, a skill learned in her pre-Australia days. Exactly why she felt the need to keep up her training, and how much direct combat experience she had was something he had yet to find out. She tended to play her cards very close to her chest, and never gave a straight answer to any direct questions about her past.
"Well, I don't think I'll ever make Zorro," he remarked, bending to pick his sword up again.
"You shouldn't ever need to," Elli told him. "This is for me, for which, of course, I thank you profusely once again."
Oz sat down on one of the worktops that had been pushed to the side of her art studio to allow them room for the sparring session. "You never did explain why," he observed quizzically, knowing full well that she had no intention of doing so.
"No," said Elli raising an eyebrow and looking amused. "I didn't, did I?"
"And you're not going to, either."
Elli smiled, leaning against the table he was sitting on. "D'you want to call it a day now," she asked, changing the subject completely. "Or ??"
"What on earth are you two up to now?" David's voice interrupted her.
Startled, both of them turned to the door to see that David had come in unnoticed and was gazing at them in confusion.
"David," said Elli.
Bewilderment written all over his face, David came across and peered curiously at the sword in Oz's hand. "Are those things real?" he asked, bemused.
Oz lifted the sword slightly to let him get a better look, only for David to take a quick, nervous step backward away from both it and him. Oz sighed at the unconscious gesture of mistrust. Things still weren't quite right between them, and he was starting to wonder if they ever would be.
"Just when I think I've got you guys totally sussed out," David sighed.
"Oz is just helping me train," Elli told him calmly.
"Train for what?" David asked.
Elli shrugged. "For whatever," she replied, evasively.
Relaxing slightly, David came back over to the table and this time took the sword when Oz held it out to him. Feeling the weight, he hefted it like a child with a new toy, and Oz quickly ducked away from his inexpert wielding of it.
"Careful," Elli warned. "That isn't a toy."
"It's sharp," David realised.
"Well, yes," she said. "Obviously."
"Where'd you get them from?" he asked, still examining the sword in wonder. It was probably the first time he'd ever held anything like it, Oz realised.
"That one I picked up in Australia," Elli explained. "It was Stephen's."
"You can get swords in Australia?" said David, surprised.
"You can get hold of most things in most places, if you know where to look," she told him, lightly.
"What about the other one?"
Elli hesitated slightly before answering that question, which brought them into those murkier waters that both David and Emma were still struggling to come to terms with. "I brought it with me" she said. "From home."
"Home?" David was suddenly uneasy at this turn in the conversation. "Other world home?"
"That's the one," Elli confirmed, trying to sound casual.
David gave the sword back to Oz, and went over to take a closer look at Elli's. She let him look, but kept a firm hold on it.
"It's, uh, prettier, I guess, than the other one," David observed.
"You aren't supposed to describe swords as 'pretty'," Elli told him, amused. "But yes, it is. Older, too."
"Is it magic?" he asked, suddenly full of enthusiasm at the thought of a magical sword.
Elli rolled her eyes. "No," she said, firmly. "It's just a sword. But it is special to me because it belonged to my grandfather."
David sighed. "You guys are unbelievable. Absolutely crazy."
Turning to Oz, he became awkward once more. "So, uh, how's the, um, the, uh, werewolf search coming on?"
"It isn't," Oz admitted with a big sigh.
*****
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