Title: California Sunshine
Fandom: BtVS
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Giles.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 546
Setting: Pre-Season One.
Summary: Giles really isn’t impressed with the weather in California. All that sunshine…
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 387: Amnesty 64, using Challenge 67: Weather.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BtVS, or the characters.



Giles squinted through the window at the blue vault of the sky and the bright, hot sunlight. California was quite a shock to the system; obviously it was going to take him a while to grow accustomed to the wall-to-wall sunshine, possibly the rest of his life.

Up until now, he’d lived his whole life in various parts of England, with occasional trips abroad. Back home, green and rainy was the norm in summer, while the winters were grey, rainy, and frosty with occasional snow. England experienced a wide variety of weather; California apparently did not. It was quite tedious.

He’d been here hardly more than a week and already he was depressed. He missed the gentle showers and heavy downpours of home, the morning mists, the chill of autumn in the air, the occasional bright, sunny day when fleecy white clouds chased each other like flocks of sheep across skies the color of a robin’s egg. Here, the blue skies seemed hard and brittle, and the sun beat down relentlessly, making him feel unpleasantly warm and damp beneath his tweed suit, shirt, and tie. How did Californians stand it?

Turning from the window, sipping his breakfast tea, Giles sighed. He supposed people who had grown up here were used to the heat and the monotony of every day being the same, weatherwise. Americans seemed to accept everything without giving it much thought. Rain would probably throw them into confusion; did any of them even own umbrellas, or did they just assume the weather would remain hot and dry indefinitely?

Rinsing his teacup at the sink in his small but quite comfortable maisonette, which he supposed the Americans would call an apartment or some such, he dried his hands and put his jacket on, automatically straightening his tie. Today was the first day of the autumn term at Sunnydale High, or the fall semester, as it was termed here. It also happened to be his first day at his new job as school librarian. With any luck he’d have all his books in place and be accustomed to his new routine, if nothing else, by the time his Slayer’s transfer from her school in L.A. was accomplished.

Stepping out into the courtyard and locking the door, he made his way to his car, squinting once more against the dazzling brightness reflecting off glass, metal, and other surfaces, and wondering if perhaps he should invest in a good pair of sunglasses to keep from getting blinded. If it was this bright and hot now, what would it be like in midsummer? It didn't bear thinking about. If only he could return to England’s green and pleasant land…

This was where the Water’s Council had sent him, however, and it was an honour to be selected to train and guide an active Slayer. Few Watchers were granted such an opportunity, there being only one Slayer at any given time, all others merely being potentials. If fulfilling his obligations to the council meant he must endure this constant infernal sunshine, then so be it. The months, perhaps even years, ahead of him would be challenging to say the least. With Sunnydale being situated on a Hellmouth, the weather, or lack of it, might be the least of his problems.


The End