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Tara comes downstairs and goes over to the bar, sitting at one end.

"Could I get a cup of tea with milk and sugar please, sweetness?"

The tea arrives and she sips it, glancing around the bar. She kind of wants to talk to Isabel again, and is torn between wanting to talk to Warren and wanting to leave the poor boy alone.

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"That doesn't sound so bad, especially since controlling your magic is important... you don't look as though you eat six square meals a day, though."

She's unsure if this means she looks underweight, but decides it's a compliment. She's never had a compliment before, so isn't certain.

"Well, I don't attend all the dinners. There's a limited amount of quaffing I can take, and wizards aren't all that interesting when they're filling their bellies."

She giggles. "I can imagine not. And, um, sorry if that was a bit blunt before, I just meant you don't look as if you eat that much. You're not too thin, but you're really not overweight."

"Oh that's OK, don't worry about it." She giggles along with her.

"So, you did go to University then? Was it a secret one? I've heard of at least one on another world so far... can't remember its name though."

"I went to Sunnydale University, but it's not a magical one or anything... it was over the Initiative base for a while, until that kinda got closed down. But no magic."

"A non magical University?" The concept confuses her. A lot. "What do you learn there, then? And what's an initiative base?"

"Well, all sorts of things. It's like a school, except at a higher level of education. Science and religion and arts and stuff. And the Initiative was an organisation who hunted and studied demons, and their base was under the college, until it closed down."

"Science - I met someone earlier who told me about that. It's like... wizarding without the magic, if I'm right. Religion: well, we have temples who take on acolytes and such. I guess that's like University."

She brightens. "Oh, demonologists. They're all a bit wierd, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are. Only these ones were also involved in the army, I think, which just made them weirder really. And my friend Buffy dated one for a while, which is how we got involved with the whole Initiative thing - well, not 'we', I was never really a Scooby, but -- I'm babbling again, aren't I? Sorry."

"That's fine. Babbling is good," she laughs, softly.

"But I definitely think that, although demonologists shouldn't really mix with anyone, they should definitely stay away from soldiers. That's just asking for trouble.

"I'm sorry, though. I have no idea what a Buffy or a Scooby is, either." She looks sad and apologetic: there's so many new things to absorb.

She touches Esk's wrist, looking concerned. "Oh, hey, don't be sorry; Buffy's my friend, and the Scoobies are what her group of friends used to call each other. I liked them, and they liked me, but I wasn't one of the 'inner circle', so, not a Scooby."

She glances at Tara's fingers on her wrist, but doesn't say anything for fear she might move them, so looks back up.

"Still, it's got to be good to have friends. It's a pain to be the only woman at an all male institution," she hurries onward before Tara can be more concerned - which she doesn't want: "it's not a big deal, though. There are wizards my age I get on with, but a lot of them are leaving the University now."

"It was nice, yes. And it must be annoying to be the only woman there. Still, there're lots of girls here, and you're lovely, you'll make friends easily. Can you come here whenever you like? I know some people can, and some people are Bound here, like me."

She smiles gratefully.

"Thank you, everyone here seems easy to make friends with.

"Yes, I seem to be able to come here whenever I want. I just really wanted a good drink the other day, and here I am. It's great to be able to get out of the University.

"How do you mean Bound? You can't leave at all? What about all your friends?" She looks concerned herself now.

"See, that's useful for you. And being Bound means I can't leave, no. See, I... I kind of died, back in my world."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she reacts to Tara's tone of voice rather than the news. "I met someone earlier who was dead. I didn't really think about it, though, because he sort of dropped it on me at the end of the conversation, along with the news that I'm not the only person from Ankh Morpork here.

"So... are you really dead, or undead? Because we've got quite a few zombies back home, and they seem to get on OK."

"Oh, I'm really dead. I got shot. It means I have to stay in the abr, but I don't mind that, really, it's a nice place, and there're interesting people. And we've got undead back where I come from, I can pretty much guarantee I'm not one of them."

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend, it's just... well, you're wondering around and all that. I guess this is partly an afterlife dimension."

"Oh, I'm not offended." She giggles again. "I can't really see me as a vampire or anything, that's all. I don't really do 'grr!' very well."

She realises she's still got her hand on Esk's wrist and moves it, picking up her tea and sipping again.

Esk rubs her wirst unconsciously, and giggles.

"Well, I don't think I've ever seen a zombie go grr! Although they definitely lurch more than you do. And no, I wasn't thinking vampire, either. You don't strike me as someone who goes for the formal look."

Tara laughs. "Oh, you have vampires who do the whole formal-wear-and-pale-makeup thing? Ours normally don't, unless they're the dramatic type."

She laughs right back. "Formal wear, pale makeup, a tendency towards the melodramatic, it's all part of the vampire package. Not that we have that many in Ankh-Morpork, though, but there's a few wandering around."

"Oh, dear, they sound dreadful. A lot easier to spot than our vampires, though - with them, you can't tell that they're vampires until they go 'grrr-face' and by then they're usually biting you."

She laughs at the actions accompanying the 'grr-face'.

"Sounds very annoying. I'm sorry you had to deal with them. Ours are... not a problem, as I said. A little garlic, some water blessed by the deity of your choice, and of course, get them in the daytime. I'd hate to think there were any wandering around pretending to be alive." She looks around nervously.

"Oh, not all vampires are bad. But a lot of the ones we dealt with were. Kind of easy to deal with, though, a stake through the heart and they'd go poof. Sunlight makes them burn, and all that. I don't think we're supposed to hunt vampires here, though, which is a relief. I wasn't very good at it, I was better at the research-and-spells thing."