Real Estate (or "A Unique Fixer-Upper")
By Cynamin (cynamin@hotmail.com ) & NutMeg (leighscott@hotmail.com )
Spoilers: Through "Who Am I"
Disclaimers: Nope, we don't own them. Well, except Cynamin and NutMeg, 'cause, well, they're us…sort of. And Kirshana owns herself. She let us include her – thank you dear!
Notes: The characters of Cynamin and Nutmeg (the characters, not the people) were invented for a massive crossover story we began years ago. If you want to read what was written, visit
http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg/ic-index.html These characters bear little/no resemblance to the authors. Really. We started this story when I started getting weepy over "I Will Remember You" stuff, got into a silly in character instant messenger conversation, and this was the resulting idea. We have no idea where this story is going to end up – you'll find out as we do. But it will be B/A, we promise! Plus fluff and some good natured Riley-bashing….
Distribution: The 3 sites I run, especially Cynamin and NutMeg's home of "Interstellar Conference." http://www.geocities.com/cynandmeg Anyone else, just ask us.
Unique Interdimensional Hideaway
Perfect for vacations from reality
Expands to fit your needs
Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power was crying.
Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power, known for her stern disposition and hidden emotions, was crying hard, deep sobs that her sister-goddess couldn't fail to hear.
Cynamin, intergalactic, inter-dimensional being of power, known for her stern disposition and hidden emotions, was crying hard, deep sobs that her sister-goddess couldn't fail to hear…over a television show.
This was getting ridiculous.
NutMeg stood in the doorway, looking at her elder sister cry with a mixture of disgust and sympathy. Sympathy won out, though, and she entered the room quietly. Cynamin heard her and turned, wiping her eyes hastily in an attempt to collect herself. She turned her back on the television as if nothing was wrong.
"What's going on?" NutMeg asked curiously.
"Nothing," Cynamin replied, nervously smoothing out her long white skirt. "I…was just catching up on some politics."
NutMeg was about to point out this lie for what it was when the television got to it first. "I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget." NutMeg couldn't see the screen, but the female voice was full of tears.
Cynamin got a very odd expression on her face as she fought back tears of her own. She failed, and her clothes changed rapidly in response to her turbulent emotions. *Well, that's it,* NutMeg thought. *That mental control she's so proud of has finally snapped. Serves her right for all the times she's lectured me on it.*
She didn't say that, though. Instead she sighed. "'I Will Remember You' again?"
Unique Interdimensional Hideaway
Perfect for vacations from reality
Some People Take It Too Seriously
Cynamin nodded, not trusting her voice yet enough to speak.
NutMeg sighed and shook her head. "I thought we talked about this. HOW can a TV show get to you like that?" she said, handing her normally composed sibling a tissue.
Cynamin sighed as she took the white square and blew her nose. Would her younger sister ever understand her obsession with the emotions of that one episode?
NutMeg grinned playfully. "Still gotta crush on the Dark Brooding One?" She ducked as a pillow leaped off the couch and whistled past her head. "I knew it!" she giggled. "Cynnie and Angel! What a couple!"
Cynamin sputtered for a second, trying to regain her composure after that comment. "Well, I... Oh... I would never and you know that!" she finally said defensively.
NutMeg just laughed at her sister's discomfiture. "Take Buffy out of the picture, and you *so* would in a heartbeat!"
"Yeah, well...maybe," Cynamin said softly, not willing to admit that NutMeg just might be right. "But so would you!" She sat down heavily. "It's just...don't these writers and such know that they're...creating realities with every story they tell? Would they be so...mean to him...them...if they knew?"
NutMeg sat down next to her. "I....I've got no clue. Mortals can be pretty mean to the things they KNOW they've created. Some of them anyway."
Cynamin blinked, startled at the semi-serious speech that had just come out of her never-serious sibling. It was true, lots of mortals were mean to their own children, and to pets they had CHOSEN to adopt. There was no way they could know about the realities they were creating. "We have to DO something about it!" she stated, a tear gleaming in one eye. "It's our duty!"
"What, to go around messing with people's lives?" NutMeg looked a bit taken aback by Cynamin's less-that-responsible comment.
"Don't you think some things are meant to be?" Cynamin asked in an almost dreamy tone of voice.
*That's it, she has totally lost her mind this time...* NutMeg looked at her seriously. This was a strange reversal of roles. "Don't you remember how much trouble we got into last time we meddled in the various realities? We almost got grounded for eternal life."
Cynamin looked back at her, startled. "This is different," she tried to explain.
"How so?"
"We wouldn't be causing the trouble. We'd be fixing it."
*Fixing It? And likely getting ourselves in a fix!* NutMeg thought. But then, when had she ever been one to keep out of mischief? Or stand in the way of true mush? "What's in it for me?" she asked.
Cynamin glared balefully at her. "Is that all you think about? What about true love, chivalry, and helping people?!"
NutMeg began to laugh. And laugh harder. Soon she was rolling on the floor. "You.." she gasped for air. "Listen to yourself!"
The usually-more-conservative goddess flushed pink. She sounded just like NutMeg on a normal day! *How embarrassing!*
The blonde goddess sat up finally, still grinning. "So, what's your plan?"
Cynamin's face went blank. She was completely off guard...she'd just been talking. Oh, she meant it, but she hadn't thought it through enough for her to actually *plan* anything. Of course she tried not to let that show. "Well, we have to get Buffy and Angel back in the same place somehow. And we have to do something about Riley."
She sounded very certain of herself, but there was no actual plan in that declaration. "How are you going to do that? Just walk up to them and say 'hi, you're dating the wrong people, get back together and be happy'?"
Cynamin frowned. "No, that wouldn't work," she agreed. "We'll have to be subtle...somehow."
"Disguises? I always enjoy pretending to be someone else," NutMeg replied quickly, getting into the whole idea now.
"That works," Cynamin replied, her mouth quirking into a grin. It only lasted a moment, though. "There's still one other problem in that comment you made."
"What?"
"The 'be happy' part."
Sunnydale, California
Perfect Place for a little Peace and Quiet
The Rumors about Demons are Just That, Honest
Behind her, she heard music. Or, more appropriately, humming. And the song was driving her crazy as the words ran through her mind...*Don't worry...be happy....* "Xander will you shut up?!" Buffy hissed at the lanky non-college boy behind her.
Xander shifted his grip on the crossbow she'd loaned him. "Relax, Buff. We haven't seen anything ghouly tonight yet."
"That's cause your choice of music is scaring them away," the Slayer sighed.
"And this is a bad thing because?" Xander asked, only being slightly sarcastic.
Buffy shook her head, and spun around to throw a steak right past his ear.
"Hey, what?!"
The vampire behind him turned to dust and floated away on the breeze.
"Oh, thanks," the dark-haired boy smiled sheepishly.
"Just keep an eye out," Buffy sighed and walked on through the graveyard. There had been a serious lack of demons, ghouls, and other creepy things going bump (or more accurately...crash, thump, slurp...) in the night lately, and Buffy was bored. She was also unhappy. She was unhappy because she had time to think....and her thoughts always turned to things that weren't shiny happy thoughts.
Tonight her thoughts drifted back to her date with Riley earlier that evening. They had gone for a drive up into the hills and shared a picnic supper of baloney sandwiches, potato salad, lemonade and Double Stuff Oreo cookies for dessert. It had been Riley's idea to watch the sun set and the stars come out. It was a sweet gesture, really. But Buffy hadn't had the heart to tell him she HATED Baloney and Potato Salad! And the conversation had been rather...mundane. He had avoided the subjects of demons, the Initiative, and her Slaying almost as one might avoid a plague, and stuck to things like the new Psych teacher -who was normal-, the Arlo Guthrey concert coming to town next week, and other innocent topics interspersed with compliments about her hair, eyes, strength. In short, it had been dull! What about all that nice stuff normalcy was supposed to be? Not that their relationship had ended up as normal as she'd hoped either.
Buffy sighed. What was she going to do?
/"I don't see a lot of Sunday picnics in the offing. I see skulking in the shadows, hiding from the sun."/
Buffy flinched inwardly at the sudden memory. Funny...well, not *funny* exactly...that the long dead mayor could still haunt her in her thoughts. Perhaps it was the recent incidents with Faith that made the mayor's words come to mind. The truth was, though, that it wasn't the fact that the mayor had said those words that made Buffy cringe. It was whom the words were spoken to. He hadn't been talking to her at all.
But Buffy wasn't going to be thinking about *him* now. No, definitely not.
"Oof!" Xander exclaimed as he ran into Buffy from behind. "Keep moving!"
Buffy hadn't even realized she'd stopped. Maybe *he* really was on her mind too much. It wasn't good to be distracted while on patrol. And she had been. Too much so. It was making her head hurt. No, that was a real headache. *Ouch, where'd this come from* Buffy thought, rubbing between her eyes. She was suddenly and inexplicably feeling rather....ill. "Uh...Xander. I don't think we're gonna find anything. Let's head back. You can make that date with Anya after all."
Xander looked confused, but nodded. Maybe he WOULD have time to get together with Anya. It was only midnight.
The Outskirts of Sunnydale
Our tourists tend to decide to live - and die - here
Hellmouth sweet Hellmouth
They could have arrived in the center of town. They could have made a grand entrance. They could have arrived in a flash of light, suddenly materialized...but they didn't. They chose a much more mundane means of travel.
They walked.
Neither of them realized just how far they were from blending in. No one walked the more deserted parts of Sunnydale in the middle of the night. Especially not two young women alone dressed in highly visible white. The two sisters, one red-haired, one blond, walking jauntily past the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign, were a very strange sight.
If there was anyone around to see them, of course. Which there wasn't.
"I still don't think we should be wearing WHITE here" NutMeg complained. "We stick out like a cat at an intergalactic mouse convention."
Cynamin shook her head. "No one's looking. Besides, around here anyone looking even remotely innocent is avoided!"
"Oh sure," NutMeg replied sarcastically, going into a high pitched 'little-girl' voice. "Hi, we're little angels. DON'T suck our blood, please." She sighed. "SOMEONE will come after us if only to find out what we're doing here. Unless your 'friends' aren't as diligent as you claim."
But that was exactly what Cynamin WANTED to happen. What better way to find the Slayer and her friends than by being unusual? Besides, if her plan was going properly -as it seemed to be- then Buffy would be at her dorm by now. She'd be easy to find there.
Somehow, though, at NutMeg's mention of 'blood' the night seemed darker, the shadows more oppressive. *Just your imagination,* Cynamin thought to herself, but it fell flat. *I mean, it's not that I have anything to worry about. Nothing here can hurt us.* They weren't the humans they appeared to be after all.
A couple of figures detached themselves for the surrounding shadows. For a moment Cynamin smiled in relief, but it was short lived. "Uh..."
"What is it *now?* My feet are killing me."
"We, umm..." Cynamin looked around, trying to figure out how to get out of this without giving themselves away. "I think we drew the wrong kind of attention.
"Would this be the wrong time to say 'I told you so'?"
Los Angeles, California
Home of Movie Stars, Rock Stars, and Rogue Demon Hunters
Don't say we didn't warn you
Cordelia Chase glanced at the clock as she entered Angel Investigations. 9:32am... she wasn't THAT late. It wasn't her fault traffic was bad! This was LA for God's sake! And they hadn't exactly gotten much sleep the night before. Not with a coven of witches in town conjuring up spells that were making demons go mad at random. It had taken them a week to track them down, and a long, gruesome battle to get rid of them.
The dark-haired actress slipped into Angel's private office, expecting to find at LEAST Wesley, maybe Angel with the curtains drawn, working on SOMETHING. Neither one was in sight.
*Well that's just great. I make the effort to get here CLOSE to on time, and those two are still snoring away,* she thought, fairly disgruntled at the idea. Sighing, she took the elevator down to Angel's apartment.
She was quite surprised to find both of them there. Not so much that both men were actually AT Angel's apartment...but that they appeared to have thrown an office party without her. Angel was asleep in the armchair and Wesley was sprawled across the couch. The TV was on....Turner Classic Movies of course....and there was an empty bowl with potato chip crumbs in it on the coffee table. Several empty bottles of IBC Root Beer littered the floor and tabletops. With their brown glass they looked extremely like regular beer bottles.
The fight had taken a lot out of them. Wesley's arm was bandaged and in a sling from having it broken in two places, and he had a Band-Aid across the bridge of his nose. Angel didn't LOOK as injured -not with his super-fast Vamp healing- but Cordelia knew he was exhausted. She had learned to tell, even though he DIDN'T breathe. She had escaped with only a twisted ankle, which twinged as she thought about it.
Looking at them, passed out and looking for all the world like a silly parody of college boys after a frat party, Cordelia decided to let them sleep and slipped back upstairs. She could be compassionate sometimes after all!
She had just begun typing up the report of the previous night's events when she felt someone watching her. She looked up and stopped, stunned.
"Hello," said the dark haired woman in the strange medieval-looking black garment. "I'm looking for Angel."
Part Two
The Road into Sunnydale
Demons make up a large part of our tourist population
And you wonder why the houses are so cheap?
The vampires approached stealthily, but they were in the open now. NutMeg was *not* happy with this situation. Fixing up torn romances was one thing. Fighting vampires? Definitely not what she's signed up for. She clutched a piece of sharpened wood in one hand and waited for the vampires to advance.
Cynamin stood calmly, her hands at her sides...but inside she was panicking. This wasn't what she'd had in mind, either. Still, the vampires couldn't hurt them.
Right?
With that thought came a realization - maybe the vampires couldn't hurt them, but they could certainly hurt the vampires. No weapons needed, either. Just a little flexing of power, and...
Nothing happened.
"NutMeg?"
"What?!" her sister snapped, clutching the stake so hard her knuckles were white.
"I just tried to...teleport the vampires...and it didn't work."
NutMeg cursed in some alien language.
Cynamin's eyebrows went up, but this wasn't the time to scold her on that. "We're not alone here. One of our family must be involved - we can't go up directly against one of our own." She was tempted to curse as well.
NutMeg sighed. "I'll give you two guesses as to who it is."
"I don't need two guesses. One will suffice." The vampires were less than ten meters away now. "Seeing as how we can't fight them, running would be good."
So they ran. The vampires gave chase for a while, intent that these would be easy prey. The sisters were agile, and with a bit of thought managed to cloak their appearance. They didn't stop running, though, even when they no longer heard any pursuit.
They didn't stop running until something stopped them.
Someone. In army gear. "Are you two alright?"
Cynamin groaned inwardly. Out of the entire population of Sunnydale, why did it have to be 'I've-killed-17-hostiles' Riley Finn?
NutMeg grinned. Perfect! Who better to help them get to Buffy than her current...and soon to be ex if she and Cynamin did this right...boyfriend?! The ironic twist was too amusing. She put on her best innocent-little-woman-in-trouble face, which worked well with her traditional blond curls and deep blue eyes, and -jumping into character- grabbed his arm. "Some--THINGS are behind us!" She gasped vacuously. "They had funny-looking faces and ratty clothes." She glanced over her shoulder the way they had come, as if in fear, but really so she could make eye contact with her sister. She glared at her and mouthed *Play along.*
Cynamin glared back at her. She was fuming inside, but couldn't say anything without making a scene or ruining what disguise they had. So she sighed, put on her best valley girl impression, and ... played along.
Riley looked with a smile at the two girls frightened and out of breath in front of him and smiled reassuringly. "No one's there now. It was probably just some local gang. They sometimes put on masks to scare people."
It was hard for Cynamin to stay in character. *Just a gang. Sure. Whatever you say.* Instead she smiled and let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Well, it worked, she said. "I've never been so terrified in my life."
NutMeg nodded along. "Thank you so much...uh..."
"Riley."
"Right, Riley." She put on her best flirtatious smile. "Say, you look like you could maybe help us get where we're going. See, we just got into town, and we'd *hate* to run into another of those gangs."
Riley smiled. "Where are you going?"
He seemed to have forgotten Cynamin was there, what with being NutMeg's hero. Silently Cynamin praised this turn of events. *Sister, I'll have to thank you later.* "Stevenson Hall," she spoke up. "I have an old friend who goes to U.C. Sunnydale." She thought quickly. "Willow Rosenberg."
Riley blinked. "Really? Where do you know her from?"
NutMeg thought quickly..."Summer camp! We were in the same cabin."
"Aha. I'm sorry," the blond guy in military get-up said, "I didn't get your names."
"Oh," NutMeg almost lost the adoring smile on her face. "I'm...Nu-alisha Winters."
"Nalisha?" Riley said, obviously making sure he'd pronounced it right.
"Uh..yeah." *I can't believe he didn't catch that!* NutMeg thought as she simpered up at him.
"Very pretty," he smiled back. "And you...miss?" he looked at Cynamin.
Cynamin stared back and forth between Riley - looking at her expectantly, and NutMeg - trying to urge her on with her eyes. She looked back at Riley again, smiled vacantly, and replied, "Sylvana."
Riley nodded at that. "Nice to meet you both." He began to lead them into the heart of Sunnydale.
NutMeg elbowed Cynamin sharply. "Sylvana?" she asked under her breath. "You just came up with that on the spot?"
"Umm, no," Cynamin whispered. "Ginger called me that once. I don't know why. But I like the name."
"Huh. She always was partial to names other than the ones our parents gave us. Figures." NutMeg sighed and moved back up to stand next to Riley. "So what do you do? Are you military?" *Not like it isn't painfully obvious in the camo.*
The semi-good looking blond smiled. "Uh, yeah. I'm army."
*Which doesn't explain why you're in uniform in the middle of the night running around in the dark. BOY are you stupid!* "That's so cool! You must be very brave," she gushed. "So, how do YOU know Willow?"
Riley's slightly mushy smile made her want to gag. "I'm dating her roommate."
"Really?" NutMeg pretended to look disappointed, glanced back over her shoulder and made a gagging face in Cynamin's direction. Her sister covered her mouth to hide her chuckles. "That's nice." She moved a little closer to him. She could tell he was responding to her closeness, even if he was trying to deny it within himself. She was a goddess, she could tell these things. *If only Buffy could see how he's responding....* She wondered what Cynamin was thinking.
Cynamin was both pleased and dismayed. Pleased that riley was so quickly falling into a position where they could justly undo his relationship with Buffy, dismayed that it was so easy. *Does Buffy have /any/ clue what a looser she's dating?*
Now if only it was as easy to bring relationships together as it was to tear them apart.
Downtown Los Angeles
Home to the starving artists of the US
The city of angels...and devils
Angel moaned as he awoke, sure that his entire body was going to break at any moment. Fighting witches was completely different from fighting demons. It left anything with an element of demon with a deep-seated exhaustion, caused by the magic used against them. Witch spells cast against a demon would also retard their healing abilities. In other words, Angel was in serious pain.
When they had gotten back and Cordelia had left, Wesley had obviously been far too exhausted, and injured, to make it home on his own, so Angel had invited him to stay. While both men could have used a good stiff shot - or three - of something seriously alcoholic, the only things in Angel's apartment had been some chips and a *lot* of root beer. The carbonation, caffeine, and about a quart of blood - Angel's choice, not Wesley's - had been enough to make the exhausted vampire *feel* like he'd been drinking a good malt whiskey.
Stretching stiffly, Angel yawned, opened his eyes--and nearly fell out of the chair at the sight of the dark-goddess standing above him with a predatory gleam in her eye. He was startled that he hadn't felt the presence of such a strong magic user the moment she had entered. "Who are you?" he asked.
The goddess chuckled darkly and sat down on the foot stool. "Is it really that important? Very well, I am called Kirshana."
"What do you want?" Angel wriggled into a more upright position, glad he had only removed his shirt before crashing in the chair the night -well, early morning- before.
"Cordelia let me in," the dark haired goddess said matter-of-factly. "Actually, she didn't *let* me in. I'm not sure if she'll remember that she saw me at all. It's been a while since I performed that particular trick."
Angel did not move from his seat, even though he wanted to get away from this strange...being. She made him feel decidedly uncomfortable, and he had the horrible feeling that her visit forebode terrible events to come. And what had she done to Cordelia? "You're not...human. Or demon," he said with certainly.
She did not reply. Kirshana looked at him, gazing up and down and staring at his chest for a moment. She smiled, and Angel cringed inwardly. "I can see why she's so taken with you," she said. "Of course, she'd never admit as much. She's...much too prissy."
*She who?* Angel thought. *She can't mean Cordelia...and Buffy's not 'prissy.'* The vampire was utterly confused. *I should definitely find some good whiskey when I get out of this,* he sighed. "Just WHO are you referring to? Some of us can't read minds you know."
Kirshana smiled, flashing perfectly white teeth that, while not pointed, somehow made the vampire just as uneasy as he might have if she were.
Angel had a feeling a stake through the heart or banishment spell would do no good here.
Suddenly the woman laughed, but where some laughs could warm an entire room, this one was somehow cold. "Who am I? What do I want? What am I? Who am I talking about? You're just full of questions, aren't you?"
"Well, it would be polite to answer, considering you did enter my home and woke me up," Angel replied a tad belligerently.
"And you know all about politeness, don't you?" she said, smiling indulgently. "Alright, I'll...answer your questions."
Somehow, that didn't make Angel feel any better.
"My name, as I said, is Kirshana," the woman began, sitting in the chair across from him. "I am...a goddess. At least, that is the closest word you would understand. As for what I want, I was just checking on you...seeing how my work was going."
This situation seemed to be getting worse by the second. "Your...work?"
"You're fascinating, I must admit, if a bit pathetic," the goddess said. "All this moping around in the dark when there is so much else you could be doing. It caught my sister's - yes, that's who I was referring to before - eye as well. And she went and roped in our youngest sister into *her* plan, which I must say has made this *much* more interesting."
"Plan?" Being a pawn between three goddesses could *not* be a good thing.
"Oh, don't worry, Angel. We won't harm you. We just want you to be...happy." Seeing Angel cringe, she laughed very lightly. "You have nothing to fear from me. After all, I've already been around for months. I can't say the same for them, though.
"You see, we have different ideas...plans for you. So, yes, I was checking on you. And passing on this warning."
"Oh?" Angel asked, trying to mask how this whole situation made him nervous.
"Avoid my sisters, Angel. Stay away from Sunnydale."
Part Three
U.C.Sunnydale
Institution of Higher Learning and Way-lower Government Work
The men in Camoflage are just a figment of the school food
NutMeg was about ready to strangle Riley by the time they got to the University campus. She had gotten him talking about home in Iowa, and he just went ON and ON....
Cynamin would have been thinking the same thing, but she was too busy coming up with a plan for when they got to the dorm and Riley found out that neither Willow nor Buffy knew them.
Sighing, NutMeg -Nalisha?- glanced back at Cynamin, and came to the same realization her sibling had. She grinned back at her sister, and with a quick thought and a bit of goddess-powered magic, put her plan into action.
Stevenson Hall,
Home to cheerleaders, basketball stars, and Slayers
We love new students!
Willow sat crosslegged on her bed intently reading a passage out of an old book she had found on Giles' bookshelves. It was an ancient text about goddess-magic and helping spells. An odd combination, or so the red-head thought. She took a sip of the strawberry-banana snapple on the bedside table and flipped the page.
There was something completely different on the other side. It appeared to be a prophesy.....but addressed to someone specific. It read: *When appears two, one gold, one red, accompanied by green, remember friends from long ago, whom you have never seen. Worry not, oh budding witch, for help we hope to give. Just a chance is all we ask, and one who's dead might live.*
Willow was thoroughly confused. Gold and Red and Green? One who's dead might live? Well, SHE was a "budding witch." Did it mean ANY new witch? Or one specifically? One who's dead. Demons were dead...sort of. Vampires were dead. Angel? Could these two whatevers make Angel alive again?! "Nah, it'll never happen," she sighed. No use getting hopes up over an obscure looking prophesy. Of course, it LOOKED new, the words were less faded than the rest, and in a more modern script. *Remember friends from long ago, whom you have never seen?* What did it mean by THAT cryptic remark?
The door opened and Willow jumped, jolted out of her thoughts. she relaxed again though, when she saw that it was Buffy in the doorway. She'd almost been expecting...she didn't know who she was expecting. Gold, red, and green perhaps? *I'm letting this book get to me.* "Hey, Buffy. How was patrol?"
Buffy muttered something unintelligible and flopped down on her bed.
"Are you okay?"
Buffy looked at her roommate, her brow creased with pain. "I just have a headache, Will," she said. The phone rang then, and Buffy winced.
Willow smiled apologetically and answered the phone before it could ring again. "Hello?"
"Hey, Willow. It's Riley."
"Oh, Riley!" Buffy began frantically mouthing no. "Buffy's not feeling well," she began to explain.
"Actually, I'm not here to visit. I was just walking some friends of yours who just got into town. Care to come let them into the dorm?"
Willow glanced at Buffy, who was lying face down in her pillow. What friends? She had the strangest feeling something WEIRD was going on. "Who are they?" she asked, out of curiosity if nothing else. "I wasn't expecting anyone."
"Nalisha Winters and Sylvana..." Riley's said, sounding a little confused. "From summer camp."
*Summer camp? I was five the last time I went to a camp!* The witch thought. But there was that NAGGING feeling that she should do something. So she made her voice sound sincere as she said "Oh! Great! It's been forever! I'll be right down."
Outside Cynamin and NutMeg could barely hear Willow's voice through the outside phone. They looked at each other. She thought she knew them?
NutMeg grinned. *She must have read the prophesy I planted.*
Upstairs Willow pulled on shoes and headed for the door "Buffy, we're gonna have company."
"Unnnggh? What?" The Slayer looked up through a mask of golden ringlets. "Guests? Who?"
"Umm...an old friend of mine," Willow hated lying, but she had the feeling these people were safe. "And her friend."
"Oh, okay," Buffy nodded and dropped her head back on the pillow.
Willow quickly headed downstairs, around the corner, and down the hall to the doors. She nearly froze when she saw who was standing there. *Ohmygosh! Gold, Red, and Green.*
Willow's eyes went very wide. "It's great to see you!" she said, entirely for Riley's benifit. "Thanks, Riley, for getting them here. You know...Sunnydale, night...."
Riley nodded. "They had some trouble."
"Oh?" Willow put the sound of slight worry in her voice.
"A rather blood-thirsty gang on the edge of town," Riley replied.
"Ah, Thanks," she replied. She turned to the two...women. She could practically TOUCH the magic coming from them. "Come on in." Riley started to follow. "Ummm...Riley. Now's not a good time. Buffy's got a headache and..."
The blonde male frowned worried. "Is she alright?"
"She'll be fine," Willow assured him. *He can NOT be here for...whatever's about to happen!* "I'll have her call you when she feels better."
"Oh...okay. Ladies," he nodded at the two beautiful women he had just met, and headed back to the house.
Left alone with the two women, Willow led them upstairs. As they entered she glanced at Buffy's bed. The slayer was asleep. Turning to her *old friends whom you have never seen* she said quietly. "Can I get you anything?"
Cynamin shook her head, but NutMeg smiled. "Sure, do you have any iced tea?"
"Um, I don't think..." Willow was speechless when she opened the fridge. Starting back at her was never-before-seen bottle of AriZona Iced Tea. She closed the fridge, handed Nalisha the tea and said. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
NutMeg and Cynamin looked back and forth at each other for a moment, debating what to tell her. How mush breaking of the rules would be too much? Still, they'd already gotten Willow's attention as being...unusual and unexpected. Perhaps if they got her to trust them, working with everyone else would be easier.
"Do you believe in parallel realities?" Cynamin asked just as softly.
Willow nodded, remembering her own vampire evil twin. "Yes, I do."
"Don't you remember?" NutMeg asked Cynamin with enthusiasm. "That was one of my favorite...." Willow and Cynamin were staring at her, Willow in confusion, Cynamin in warning. "Yeah, right. Uh...we're from a parallel reality....sort of?"
Cynamin sighed. It was going to be a LONG night.
Angel Investigations
Los Angeles, California
Doesn't every business come with an entrance to the sewers?
Angel sat in silence in the darkness of his apartment long after the strange goddess had disappeared. Not left, *disappeared.* One moment she was there, and the next she wasn't, as if she had never been there at all. Angel knew she'd been there though, and her parting warning echoed in his mind.
Staying away from Sunnydale was not really a problem. He hadn't been planning on returning anytime soon. Not after the *last* time. But Kirshana's warning about her sisters made him think not of his own danger, but danger to...others.
He dialed the phone almost without thinking about it.
"Giles? It's Angel...."
Stevenson Hall
For the truly unique dormitory experience
Just try not to interrupt the spells being cast in the bathroom
"So you must understand," Cynamin said at length, "that you can not tell Buffy about any of this. Or about who we are. Not until we know what it is we are going to do."
Willow looked back and forth between the two sisters. "This has something to do with Angel, doesn't it?"
Cynamin started in surprise. "Why do you think that?"
"It's...this prophecy I found. It...seemed to pretty clearly be talking about your arrival. And there was this line, 'one who's dead might live.' That does refer to Angel, doesn't it?"
Cynamin's eyes went very wide, then she turned to look at her sister. NutMeg just grinned slightly with a shrug.
Cynamin sighed. "I really can't say anymore right now. We must go. We shall speak to you again tomorrow?"
"Of course," Willow agreed. She stood then and, slightly dazed from everything she had learned, opened the door for the two helpful goddesses.
Just when she was out the door, NutMeg turned around again. "Hey," she said to Willow. "Give this to Buffy. It just might make her feel better." With that she presented the witch with a container of cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip ice cream and hurried down the hall to catch up with her sister.
Giles' apartment
Fully furnished with library
hope you read Demon!
"So what did this...being...tell him?" Buffy asked Giles. The Scooby Gang was once again gathered in the former Watcher's house for one of their regular emergency meetings. Xander and Anya were cuddled on the couch, Giles stood leaning against the doorjamb between the living room and the kitchen, and Willow was on her way.
"This *goddess* warned him to stay away from Sunnydale and to avoid her sisters," the Brit replied.
"And he believed she was a goddess?"
"Apparently," Giles responded. "He could sense her power."
"Oh," the Slayer began pacing. "So these Sisters could hurt Angel? Are they coming to Sunnydale? Can we stop them? HOW do we stop them!"
"Now, Calm down, Buffy," Giles cut her off. "I'm sure we'll come up with something."
"Yeah, Relax, Buff," Xander grinned. "The Scooby Gang is on the case. We defeated the mayor, SURE we can stop two little goddesses."
Buffy smiled at his sort-of-comforting words. The door slammed and she turned to look as Willow entered the house, followed by two unfamiliar women. Her smile faded. "Hey, Will."
"Hi, everybody," Willow smiled, suddenly nervous at the stunned glares she was receiving. "What's wrong? Oh, this is Nalisha and Sylvana. Two...umm...old friends of mine."
Buffy's Slayer senses were screaming something else. Those were NOT two ordinary girls. "Will, can we talk...ALONE?" She grabbed her friend by the hand and dragged her past Giles and halfway up the stairs where no one could see or hear. "Do you have any idea who those two girls are?!"
Willow looked confused. "Of course I do, I just TOLD you..."
"They're goddesses, Will. Or something. Angel was visited by one of them...a different one. And she warned him to stay away from her sisters." Buffy whispered frantically.
"No, they're here to HELP Angel," Willow replied. She should have known things wouldn't be so easy. "They said--"
"They said...and you believe them?" Buffy was incredulous. "How can you be sure? They could be planning something awful."
"And how do you know the one that visited Angel was right?" The red-head shot back. "She could have been some evil-goddess or something like that who wants him to be suspicious!" She nodded her head. "That's it. Maybe SHE'S the bad one."
"And you don't think Angel can tell the difference?" Buffy nearly shouted.
"And *I* can't?" Willow glared at her, obviously hurt. "I can feel their magic...though it's different from the kind of spells I can do. Besides, they KNOW things."
"Like what?" Buffy asked, still not believing that her friend couldn't tell what was going on.
"Well, there was the prophesy in the book I was reading. I can show it to you. And the ice cream...they knew your favorite. And they knew about you and Angel, and about me and Oz, and the fight with the mayor, and..."
"Enough," Buffy cut her off with a sigh. "We have to find out what's really going on. Let's go meet these "friends" of yours."
Willow nodded and they both headed back downstairs. They were stopped short by the sight before them of the two goddess-magic-beings-whatever-they-were chatting with Giles, Xander, and Anya.
Anya glanced up as they entered. "Hey! You didn't tell me you had such great friends! I've known these two since I was a beginner revenge demon!"
Buffy and Willow glanced at each other. Buffy shrugged. "Who knew?"
Of the two odd 'friends' of Willow's, the red haired woman paled at this comment and sighed in dismay. The blond one on the other hand grinned broadly and chuckled. "So much for disguises, huh?"
Anya looked at her oddly. "You're supposed to be in disguise?"
"Apparently not very good ones," Xander muttered.
Buffy looked at the two girls seriously. They appeared normal enough, but the sense she got coming from them was one of enormous power. She didn't get any sense of ill will from them, but you could never tell.... "I assume you are the sisters Angel was speaking of?"
NutMeg glanced at Cynamin. There was nothing really left to hide as to who they were, was there? When her older sibling nodded she smiled at Buffy. "That would be us. The "dark-goddess" he's referring to is actually our sister, Kirshana. Well, actually Ginger, but she hates it so she goes by Kirshana..."
"And she's a bit of a troublemaker," Cynamin cut off her rambling sister. "This isn't the first time she's caused us problems."
"And the other times WERE?" Xander asked.
Cynamin thought mentioning the other-worlds they'd been to -and times- would not be the best idea. "Other times when we've tried to help people."
"But whose side were you ON?" the non-college boy wanted to know.
"The forces of good and truth of course!" NutMeg piped up. "There's nothing more fun than kicking baddy-butt!"
*Baddy-butt?!* Cynamin sighed inside her head. But the enthusiasm seemed to do the trick. The group began to loose their tense feeling.
Buffy seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. "Right then. Let's get to work on a plan."
Frat Row
Land of Greeks who think Homer is one of the Simpsons
After Dark: Wild Parties and Weird Happenings
Riley was just crawling into bed when there was a knock on his door. *What's Buffy doing here so late?* he wondered...then grinned. "Come on in."
The beautiful woman who entered...wasn't Buffy. She was a little taller than Buffy, darker skin, soft black hair, deep dark eyes, and dressed in black denim pants, black, heeled boots, and an amazingly complex cut blouse that was really an extremely dark purple.
"Who--"
The woman raised her hand, and suddenly his tongue stuck in his mouth. "I don't have time to chat," she smirked. "I'm here to tell you that Buffy's in danger."
Riley's eyes widened. *From what?*
"My two evil sisters are here to destroy her," the woman continued, as if hearing his thoughts. "They are here already. And YOU'RE the one who led them to her.
He nearly chocked. *Those two innocent girls?*
The dark-enchantress laughed. "Innocent! That's a laugh. They're dangerous. How could you not realize that they're HOSTILES?!"
Riley felt faint. He was in serious trouble now. He HAD to get to Buffy.
The woman leaned down in front of him and held his eyes with a glare. "You WILL protect Buffy from the evil-goddesses at all costs." It was a statement. A command. Riley felt his brain go fuzzy.
*I will protect Buffy from the evil-goddesses at all costs.*
"Good," the beautiful creature smiled devilishly. "Now go to bed, and in the morning all you will remember is my command. You will forget I came here, and that I even exist."
Riley nodded, rolled over, and fell asleep.
As Kirshana walked out of the frat house she smiled at Forrest and the other boys, whose eyes followed her jealously. Wishing she had come to visit them and not Riley. Tomorrow, they would remember nothing. Only a dream of a beautiful woman. And each would look different.
Outside she chuckled to herself. *This is turning out to be more fun than I thought.*