Thanks to Kar for betaing this chapter for me :D


Tabula Rasa~
Etymology: Latin, smoothed or erased tablet
1: the mind in its hypothetical primary blank or empty state before receiving outside impressions
2: something existing in its original pristine state


“Blank Slate”



Realization dawned on them all- none of them knew who they were. The dark haired guy seemed to be taking it the hardest.

“Take it easy, guy. None of us look all hatchety murdery, so we should be okay here, wherever here is,” she speculated, attempting to calm him. The group discovered that they all had passed out in a magic shop. When the red-headed woman suggested that maybe something magical happened, the older man started saying all of these words that she didn’t quite get. He made the discovery that he was British and wore glasses. That’s when the platinum, sexy guy behind the display case started talking- well, insulting the older man for being British. Turns out he was British too.

“Oh god. I’m English,” he exclaimed with dismay.

“Welcome to the Nancy tribe,” the older Brit replied.

“You don’t suppose we’re related, do you?” he asked, walking closer to the man. They eyed each other somewhat warily.

“There is a ruggedly handsome resemblance,” the other young blonde woman said, looking appreciatively at the two. The older man looked almost bashful. Then he had a look of concentration.

“Well, you do bring on feelings of familiarity, and… disappointment? Older brother?” The younger Brit “pffted” at that, giving his older countryman a look of disdain.

“Father. God, how I must hate you.” Somehow, that made sense to the young, blonde Brit. Being related to the older man, his son no less, seemed to be right. Even though it somehow seemed to piss him off just a bit. Well, suppose it’s a typical feeling that way towards the old man, right? Daddy dearest... Probably resent him for leaving mum, whoever she is, for the young bint. Somehow, he figured that his dad hadn’t shown much love for him in the past. He had this niggling feeling in the back of his brain that his father just didn’t seem to care that much. Probably cause he’s feelin’ the effects of being middle aged. He became especially mad upon discovering that his father christened him Randy.

“I think our best bet is the hospital,” the young assertive blonde, now known as Joan said.

“Looks like Joan fancies herself the boss.” And somehow, that didn’t strike Randy as odd. In fact, it seemed to suit her- authority and power and all that. Looks damn sexy on her. Randy Randy…

“No worries. I’m sure Daddy has some sort of midlife crisis transport. Something red, shiny, shaped like a penis.” It was almost as if he couldn’t help himself from taking jibes at his old man. It seemed natural. And good ol’ Rupert didn’t seem to mind one bit. Just when things seemed to be looking up, well, as good as a whole bunch of amnesiacs trying to find a hospital went, they opened the door to find two demons blocking their way. After lots of yelling and slamming the door, and figuring out that they were indeed dealing with vampires, they tried to devise a plan of escape.

“They seem to want spikes,” Rupert said. Randy, looking as if a light bulb had went off in his head, went and retrieved what looked like wooden spikes.

“Let’s give ‘em these, then,” he proposed to the group.

“Good show,” his father said, pleased at his son’s cleverness.

“Slayer! Come out and play!” one of the vamps yelled from the outside.

“Slay her. That’s just what they said before! They- they’re gonna use the spikes to-" Tara started, but was then cut off by a now furious Joan.

“To slay someone. A female someone. Who do those jerks think they are?!” Joan could feel the fury rise within her. It almost felt as if… she should be doing something about those vampires out there, but she wasn’t sure what.

When Willow and Alexander returned, informing them of the trap door in the basement, they tried to sneak away. Of course, it’s never that easy, is it? The two vamps burst into the shop, all fists and fangs. One forcefully threw Randy against a glass cabinet, the other grabbing Joan- covering her mouth and her sudden stream of expletives.

“You owe us!” Randy didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Couldn’t the vamp see the utter confusion on Randy’s sweet face? Obviously not.

“Who?”

“The boss’s kittens.”

“Kittens?”

“Get your hands off me, you son of a-" Joan yelled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that the vampire was no longer talking to Randy, but was about to physically attack him. It was then that this multitude of bells and whistles went off in her head. It was like this cold fear gripped her when she saw that he was going to harm Randy. It was something in her subconscious that she couldn’t fight, so she went with it. Escaping the vampire’s strong grasp on her, she kicked him hard in the shins before running over to Randy’s aid.

“Hey! Stay away from Randy!” She roughly grabbed the evil vampire by his shoulder and turned him around. Before she even knew what she was doing, the wooden spike was embedded in the vamp’s chest. He turned to dust. Joan stood there in shock for a moment, perplexed as well as pleased at her actions.

“The boss ain’t gonna like this. I’ll be back!” The other vampire weakly threatened as he backed as quickly as possible [his knees still hurt] away from them and out the door. While the others merely stood looking stupefied at what just happened, it didn’t faze Randy at all. He was the only one with sense to close and lock the door and pull down the gate in front of the window. Somehow, Joan’s extraordinary abilities didn’t shock him. He somewhat expected it.

“I think I know why Joan’s the boss. I’m like a super hero or something,” she commented more to herself than the others, looking down at her stake. As they all looked at her in wonder, Alexander chose that second to faint. As the small group clustered around him to see if he was okay, Randy slowly approached a still astonished Joan.

“Hey uh, Joan. Thanks for what you did for me back there,” he said sheepishly while looking at his shoes and scratching the back of his neck. He had this strong urge for a cigarette then. Joan gave him a shy smile.

“Oh, it’s okay. Actually, I couldn’t help myself, really. It was like… I couldn’t let you be hurt. I had not only this… this instinct with the stabbing that vampire in the chest, but when it looked like he was going to hurt you… It felt personal, you know?” Randy looked at her and returned her smile.

“Yeah luv, know what you mean. Think we have some sort of connection as well?”

“I’m almost sure of it. What else could it be?” He got lost in her eyes then; he felt as if he were drowning in them.

“Oh god! It wasn’t some hellish nightmare!” Alexander exclaimed, breaking the moment. Shaking off the butterflies that Randy instilled within her, Joan then began to devise a plan. She came to the conclusion that she and Randy should lead the monsters away from the others to ensure their safety, since they only wanted him anyway. She was pretty sure she could protect him. After all, what just happened was like natural instinct.

“That’s your plan?” Randy asked, sounding very much skeptical.

“Yes,” she said forcefully, looking at him.

“Right,” he agreed. His subconscious was telling him to trust Joan. That and he was sure that he could never in a million years deny her of whatever she wanted.

“Randy- son. Come here,” his father gently commanded.

“Oh, right,” he said, giving the man an awkward hug goodbye.

“Right.”

“Good,” they said to each other. It was a lot simpler than a good bye. They were “stuffy, old Englishmen” after all.

“Ready Randy?”

"Ready Joan.” Joan couldn’t help the feeling of normalcy this brought within her- she and Randy going out against the monsters of the night. Then all of a sudden, her Randy “comfort zone” feelings were smashed to smithereens when she turned and saw that he was- one of them.

“Hey! I’m a super hero too!” With a look of abject horror, Joan gave a shriek of terror before running away. She was confused and scared. Randy didn’t give her any deep sense of fear, so how could she not have known that he was one of them? She didn’t bother to think about it, and decided to just flee instead.

“Hey, Joan, wait up!” Randy yelled after quickly incapacitating the vampires. Then he quickly ran after her. Not even realizing what he was doing, he sniffed out her scent to find out which direction she ran to for certain. Within a matter of minutes, he caught up with a now slowly walking Joan.

“Joan-" he said, gently touching her shoulder. Instead of turning around, she grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto the ground. She quickly straddled him, with the stake to his chest. Something in her head couldn’t shake the familiarity of the position in which they were in.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” he asked, his voice having this different sound to it as he spoke through his fangs. Joan noticed the ripples of his forehead, his sharp fangs, his yellow eyes, and found herself unafraid of this…demon.

“You don’t know who you are, do you?” she questioned. She thought it incredibly odd. I mean, if he’s a blood sucking vampire, shouldn’t he have some sort of basic instinct to hunt and kill, ask questions last? Even if he doesn’t know his own name? Memory loss doesn’t change who we are, it only changed what we used to know. Wait, that doesn’t make sense… Well, if I still have this basic instinct to- to slay, then shouldn’t he still have one to kill?

“None of us do, that’s why-"

“You’re a vampire.”

“What? I, me, a vampire? No.”

“Check the lumpies. And the teeth.” With a roll of his eyes, he did as she told him. After feeling the now very much unfamiliar contours of his face and pointy teeth, he checked for a pulse. He had none. She’s right.

“I kill your kind,” she said somberly.

“And I bite yours. So how come I don’t wanna bite you?” Joan had to admit that she didn’t want to kill him either. She wanted to do other things that she so was not going think about right then. Totally inappropriate.

“And why am I chasing other vampires?” They both held looks of confusion at his questions. It didn’t make sense. Sitting up a bit, he looked at her.

“I must be a newer kind of vampire. I must be a vampire with a soul.” He wasn’t sure where that idea had come from exactly, but somehow, it made sense. Even though he couldn’t remember it, he knew he had powerful feelings for the strong woman sitting atop him. But vampires were evil and soulless, and he wished no ill will towards Joan whatsoever. So he had to have a soul for those kinds of feelings, right? Maybe that’s why they had such a connection, and-

“A vampire with a soul? Oh my god, how lame is that?” It did sound totally lame. Joan was hoping more along the lines of that somehow he willingly chose to convert to the side of light for his father’s sake, and maybe for any potential feelings he may have had for her. She was sure she had some for him too, but because he had a soul? God, how shallow would I have to be to be with someone under a stipulation like that? I think that Randy would be okay even without a soul. I sure don’t think he has one…