Inkhibitions a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfic
DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Buffyverse!
Beta Note: Inspired, Betaed, and at some point partially WRITTEN by Buggycas. The Superbeta is at it again! (I wrote Spike and his new buddies)
Xander walked into the library on his free period and waved at Giles, "What's the what G-Man?"
"Xander, must you butcher the English language that way?" Giles asked.
"I'm a teenager so yes I must," Xander replied. "A cheerleader asked Buffy out in class today. I'm telling you because aside from being weirdly public it's made Buffy depressed because she thinks she's sending the wrong signals and that Angel will think she's gay," He shrugged, "Maybe you can help. If not be extra careful when sparring with her or she may take it out on you."
Giles frowned, "That's disturbing for more reasons that Buffy going overboard in training. There's been more than that one incident. I think we may be dealing with some outside influence. Has there been some recent change you are aware of in the cheerleading team? They seem to be the only ones affected. So far at least."
Xander blinked and thought for a few minutes, "Actually I do have an idea. Cordelia told me about all the cheerleaders including her going to get a tattoo just before all this started. Can a tattoo be enchanted or cursed?"
"Indeed it can Xander," Giles said. "Is there any way you can get Cordelia here after lunch? As she seems least affected perhaps she'll allow me to examine her tattoo?"
Xander blinked then realized Giles didn't know where the tattoo was, "Ah Giles? I will try to get her here after lunch but I doubt you'll have much luck convincing her to let you study it."
"One can only try," Giles replied.
At lunch, Xander told Cordelia that the tattoos might be cursed.
"I might not have believed that a few days ago but just this morning I saw Aphrodesia hit on Buffy of all people and even Harmony is not usually as slutty as the others have been acting so okay I'll show up in the library on my next free to talk to Giles."
"Thank you," Xander said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Later that same day~~~~~~~~
"Okay Giles," Cordelia said after she dropped her bookbag on a library table. "What's up with the tattoos?"
"I think, that is, it seems," Giles started.
Xander broke in with, "We think your tattoo might be made with demonic or otherwise magical ink. Giles needs to study one to check out exactly what's wrong but he's worried about being sued, slapped, or at least getting a reputation as a dirty old man."
Cordelia nodded and marched to the library door, opened it and shouted, "Harmony! Get in here!"
Harmony walked in and asked, "What is it, Cordelia?"
"Show this man your ass!" Cordelia said and pointed to Giles.
"Actually ..." Giles starts but is drowned out by Harmony's screech of "What?"
Cordelia shouts back, "Who's the cheer captain here? Now do it!"
Harmony's shoulders slump and she grumbles, "Okay, okay, you don't have to yell." Then she walks behind the circulation desk that Giles is standing behind and reaches under her skirt. Giles again opens his mouth but is clearly at a loss for words as he watches Harmony remove her white thong, stick it in her purse, then bend over the desk and flip up the back of her skirt to reveal all of her ass and most of her tattoo.
Giles blushed a bit then shrugged and pushed the waistband of the skirt a little higher to show all of the tattoo. Then he grabbed a sketch pad and drew the general design. Looking up he said, "Do be still for a moment my dear girl," and picked up a magnifying lens to read the demonic script that was written small around the edge. As he leaned forward and started reading Buffy and Willow came in.
Buffy shouted, "Giles! what are you doing!"
Giles replied irritably, "I'm trying to read this tiny demonic script! And your interruption is not helping!"
"But ..." Buffy's voice trailed off, she blushed, and she ran back out of the library.
Willow just stood there staring at Harmony's bare butt with a slightly glazed expression until Xander snapped his fingers in front of her face, making her blush and turn away to examine a bookcase.
Shortly Giles said, "Done! Thank you Harmony you may feel free to compose yourself once again."
"What?" Harmony asked and looked at Cordelia.
Cordelia said, "He means you can stand up and drop your skirt back down."
"Oh, okay," she said and did exactly that. "What was all that for?" Harmony asked.
"Never mind," Cordelia said. "Just know it paid me back for that time with the two halfbacks."
"Good enough, I've got to run or I'll be late meeting Chad," Harmony smiled, leaving the library.
Cordelia turned to Giles, "So what is it? And how bad is it?"
"It's a method of attempting control of a human body from afar," Giles said, "If the proper ritual is done the mage who created the design could grab control of the bodies of anyone with the tattoo. Your mind would remain your own but you'd be unable to get free without magic of your own."
"Pretty bad then," Cordelia replied, "How do we stop it?"
"We find and stop the mage," Giles said, "I would suggest that you remove the tattoo when possible even if we succeed just to keep it from giving anyone else ideas."
Cordelia snorted, "Oh, I'm getting this lasered off as soon as I can schedule it I assure you."
"Good," Xander said, making a face he added, "Not that I care or anything but we don't need a mage controlling anyone."
"As if I care what you think peasant!" Cordelia sniffed, turning to Giles, "So how do we find him because I'm totally sure it's a him."
"It does seem likely yes. As for how we find him we should start at the parlour where you ladies received your art," Giles wrote something on a sheet of paper and handed it to her, "A note to excuse your absence for the rest of the day."
"Thank you. I don't know where Harmony learned of the place but I can take you there. It looks like we scared Buffy away so I guess you and dweeb boy here will have to protect me," Cordelia took the paper and then grabbed her purse and fished out her keys, "My car's right out front."
She drove to a place called "Hell's Rayne Tattoo Parlour". Giles took one look at the sign and said, "Bloody Ethan."
"Who?" Cordelia asked.
"The asshole responsible for Halloween," Xander said.
"He still owes me for the damage deposit on that cat costume!" Cordelia fumed and started for the door of the shop.
They followed her inside to find her poking the Ethan Rayne in the chest and shouting at him as she poked, "You owe me thirty dollars for the costume you ruined in October and my money back for this damn enchanted tattoo on my ass or I will kick you so hard you sing soprano! Got it?"
Ethan saw Giles and Xander enter and grinned, "Oh, of course, she's with you two." He turned back to Cordelia and said, "Fine, I will refund your purchase price and I will even pay your extortionate amount for damages from last time." Then he grinned, "But you'll never get it off. It'll take a more powerful mage than he is to remove it and do you know one you can trust?"
"I'm sure I could beat the knowledge out of you," Giles said.
"We could always just kill you," Xander said, "That will give us time to find a good way to remove the tattoos before some other asshole decides to take advantage of your work."
Giles shook his head, "If there is any killing to be done I will do it. And not until after I've gotten my anger out on him." He gave a nasty chuckle, "Cordelia, feel free to kick his bollocks as hard as you like though. The world can do without any children of his."
Ethan jumped away from Cordelia's kick and vanished through the door behind the counter.
The other three followed and saw that the door lead to stairs leading up. Climbing them lead to another door and this one was locked. Xander broke it open and was dragged inside immediately thereafter.
The other looked inside and saw Xander fighting two adult women while Ethan hastily packed in a corner. As Giles stepped inside one of the women moved to confront him.
"More victims Ethan?" Giles said.
"A combination harem and bodyguard," Ethan said as he shouldered the bag and headed for the back staircase.
Cordelia ran up to Giles opponent and stomped on his opponent's foot with her steel spiked heels, making the other woman scream in pain. "I'll deal with this bitch, you go after Ethan."
Giles nodded and took off after the other mage. He came back with the luggage Ethan had been packing so hastily, "I lost him but we have his notes, his ink, and his enchanted tattoo gun. From these, I feel sure I can figure how to reverse the effect."
"Well I can't say I'm happy he got away but at least he won't be doing it to anyone else," Cordelia said, frowning, "Can he still control us?"
"Not without the gear in these, fortunately," Giles said, "However before you get too enthused you should know that the, call it erosion of inhibitions, is on by default. The effect will continue until I can negate the magic entirely."
Cordelia sighed and nodded, "Understood, I'll consider it an exercise in willpower. In that case, let's get back so you can start figuring out how to fix this."
Giles nodded, "Quite so. Just leave the unconscious lady guards on the bed Xander. They will be free when they wake up and they are not to blame."
"Sure Giles," he said.
They left and Cordelia drove them back to the school. They got back just in time for the bell to ring signaling the end of the school day.
"Well it wasn't fun but it got done," Cordelia said to them. "I'm off to try and keep my minions from getting arrested or expelled or anything. When you figure out how to undo this send dweeb boy to get me." With that, she walked away.
Xander watched her walk away for a bit before following Giles back into the library.
A week later Giles had an answer for her, "I have figured out how to break the enchantment."
"Well that's good, right?" Cordelia responded. "So why do you look less than happy?"
"Because I do not have the power to do it," Giles replied. "We will need a strong mage who specializes in such things to go over it and alter it until it's harmless."
"Do you know one you can trust?" she asked. "Hopefully female but I'll take what I can get."
He nodded, "I have written to my superiors in the council and they will send someone trustworthy. Whether it will be a man or a woman I cannot say as yet. I will let you know when they arrive."
"I certainly hope so," she replied. "My broom closet sessions with Xander are getting," she stopped talking and blushed, "Forget you heard that and if you value your nuts don't tell Rosenberg or Buffy either! You get me?"
Giles carefully kept from smiling and nodded, "Yes, I understand and I agree completely. Nobody's business but your own."
She nodded, "Good." Then she walked out of the library.
After another week the council mage arrived. Unfortunately, he didn't arrive alone. Giles looked at the crowd of people exiting the chartered plane and called Quentin Travers, the head of the council.
Travers sighed and answered, "I must apologize Watcher Giles. When word got around, as it tends to do, a lot of busybodies wanted to go along. I squelched most of them but some are too well connected to squelch. Try not to let them get eaten by a demon and remind them they are supposed to be British gentlemen of quality. Although I must admit, if you send fewer back than you got through no fault of your own I won't mourn a bit. At least not privately. I know you'll do your best and the actual mage artist, Collins, is top notch." With that last word, Travers hung up. Giles sighed and turned to Xander to explain.
Xander said, "Well let's round them up. I hope they all fit in the limo."
They did all fit but just barely and Xander had to ride up with the driver. They were also rather cranky and fussy.
"I say does he have to manhandle my trunk that way?" one grumbled.
"It's too bloody Hot in this country," Another complained, adjusting his tweed jacket.
"Couldn't you have gotten a British limousine?" said another.
They complained about the road, the traffic, the skills of the driver and the lack of proper tea. When one complained about the limo's lack of jaffa cakes, Xander had to ask what that was, eliciting a gasp from some of the ones who had never left England.
Upon reaching their destination they complained about the lack of rooms. "I wasn't told all of you were coming. I only expected one," Giles stated. "If you're lucky I can get a few more rooms but you'll all have to share like you were back at Eton." That made them mutter as Giles approached the front desk. When he returned he said, "Unless the artist wants to share you'll be three to a room unless you want to get your own with your own money." He handed out room keys and said, "Follow the bellboy and get some rest. I'll be back in the morning. Don't leave the hotel. Sunnydale is quite dangerous at night."
"You think they took that hint?" Xander asked as they left.
"After listening to them on the way here I almost hope they don't," Giles replied. "Still they are members of the Watcher's Council. They should know what that means."
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you looked at it, two didn't listen to his warnings, one was a young man was eager to see his first demon, clutching a stake in one hand, hidden under his coat; the other was older and already soused from drinking on the plane and was looking to get properly pissed before they went to ogle the young ladies tomorrow.
Davies, the younger, looked around nervously, full of anxious energy, "I say, Smith, we'd best keep on our toes, you'll never know what you'll run into on the Hellmouth!" He grinned, following the larger man.
Smith, the older one, chuckled, "All I'm hoping to run into is a good pint, my good man," he said, looking around for the nearest bar, and grinning at one, Willy's, "This looks like a good place, let's see if this American beer is as bad as they say it is."
"If you get pissed I'm leaving you for whatever wants to eat you," Davies warned, following him anyway. One pint wouldn't hurt.
Once in the bar, Smith tried to order a pint, much to the confusion of the new bartender, fortunately, or unfortunately for them, a British voice spoke up. "Git 'em a glass each of the Guinness, Sod for brains."
"I dare say it's nice to hear a voice from Jolly Old," Smith said, turning to face the bleached blonde man who'd bought their drinks, "Jonathan Smith, and you are?"
"They call me Spike," Spike smirked, "Now what's tha bloody council doin' sending two virtuosos like you lot here?"
Davies paled as he looked around the bar room… "Smith… I say those are Fyarl demons."
Davies and Smith never made it back to the hotel but Spike did wait until they'd finished their pint.
The next morning was Saturday and Giles showed up to bring the artist and his assistant over to the school to examine the tattoos. Three of the council researchers managed to squeeze into the limo while they boarded and rather than make the likely futile attempt to evict them Giles just ignored them.
Cordelia eyed the five men as they entered, "Five of them?"
Giles shrugged, "I only asked for one. He brought an assistant but only one. The others are merely dirty old men." He gave a rather grim smile, "If it makes you feel better two of the perverts have already fallen prey to the usual Sunnydale hazards. Despite being warned."
The artist studied the drawings Giles had made of the enchanted tattoo and said, "I read the notes you sent and researched our archives. I'm certain I can, at the very least, alter them enough to make them harmless if I don't have enough power to remove it entirely." He looked up at Giles, "You say the enchanter is known to use rituals that call on ancient pagan gods?"
Giles nodded, "Those associated with chaos or change of one sort or another, yes."
"Then I'll need to see one before I can say," the mage/artist stated.
The assistant started setting up equipment and the three old voyeurs grinned and moved around to make sure they got a good view.
Cordelia stared at them, "You three! Leave now or I'll kick you where you live until you're singing soprano!"
Two of them left, the third scoffed at her until she proved she meant it with a first kick. Then he staggered out of the room bent over and clutching his groin.
Once he was gone Cordelia called out, "Harmony, you're up! Come over here and show this man your tattoo!"
Harmony looked like she wanted to argue but after seeing Cordelia's face she just shrugged and did it.
Collins looked it over then took out a jeweler's loop and used that for a few more minutes. Finally, he removed it and said, "Yes, a clear case of divine meddling at the behest of a pagan ritual mage. I cannot remove it entirely but I can alter it and make it useless for magical purposes. Shall I do that now?"
"Yes," Cordelia said. Then to Harmony, "Stay still Harm, he's going to fix your tattoo."
"Um, okay Cordy," Harmony answered.
The assistant handed Collins a tattoo gun as he lowered the jeweler's loop again. He started to work on the basic design then on the tiny runes around the edge. It took about twelve minutes before he was done. Then he studied it carefully and removed the loop again. He smiled, "You are free of the enchantment my dear."
Harmony straightened up and blushed, "OMG! I can't believe what I've been doing! I've like passed up big sales to have sex! And I have been forgetting my pills! OMG, I need a pregnancy test and more birth control now!" She rushed to grab her purse and headed out the door.
The assistant checked the tattoo gun and refilled the magical ink. The artist called out, "Next!"
Cordelia nodded and another cheerleader sighed and went over to him. After about an hour and many groans of embarrassed realization, it was Cordelia's turn. She sighed, "Well I'm the only one left and it seemed to work every other time so I guess I might as well assume the position." She moved around to in front of the mage and bent over to place her hands on her knees. Flipping up her skirt revealed that she wore no underwear.
"Don't worry, you'll soon be free," the artist said and started. Soon Cordelia was blushing and rushing home to put on less revealing clothes and underwear.
The assistant started putting everything away as the mage walked over to Giles, "I'm glad you caught this. It could have been bad. We have a team tracking the mage from hair samples he left. You should never be bothered by him again. Please take us back to the hotel. I want to rest now to recover my magical energies but I'll be ready to go back home tomorrow morning." He smiled, "And you can send all remaining busybody perverts back with me. Assuming the rest of them don't get eaten tonight."
Giles shook his hand, "Thank you very much. Would you like a cup of tea before you go? Perhaps I can show you a good bar if you're not too tired?"
The man smiled, "Well I don't normally drink during the day and I certainly won't drink at night here but I could go for a bit of steak and ale pie or toad in the hole if you know a place that can do it right."
Giles smiled, "I know a place that can do that properly and pour a good pint of Guinness if your assistant wants one."
"That sounds great," the man replied. "Let's invite both my assistant and yours." He turned to Xander, "Feel up to trying some authentic British food?"
Xander shrugged, "Why not? Giles has raved about it enough to get me curious."
The four of them left for dinner and a pint or two.
The End