Willow looked over to Tara and noticed the girl was visibly uncomfortable. Willow frowned slightly. Studying had gone fairly well all things considered and she figured it was only fair to show Tara the sights of the Sunnydale. The Bronze seemed like the most logical first step. Although, at present that seemed to have been an error in her usually impeccable judgment.
"Tara? Are you okay?" Willow asked, reaching out and touching Tara on the arm.
Tara jumped slightly at the unexpected hand on her shoulder. She looked at Willow and gave a very insecure smile.
"Y-Y-Yeah. I-I'm good." Tara lied right through her teeth.
"Are you sure?" Willow asked, frowning a bit more.
Tara nodded quickly and stared down at her feet. Yes, eyes always on her feet. Never on all the sinful people here dancing and gyrating. Just block out their devil music and their odd words. Just look right at your feet and….was that cigarette smoke? Her father would kill her for this if he found out where she was. Tara was lucky her long strands of dirty blonde hair hid her eyes; otherwise people may see them turning watery.
"Tara, we can go if you want?" Willow said to her.
"I-I d-don't want to be imp-p-polite. You're showing m-me around." Tara forced out, stuttering.
"You're not being impolite. If you're uncomfortable here we can leave." Willow said in a soft, reassuring voice.
"I d-don't want to be an in-inconve-ve-ve—"
"You're not. Trust me. We can go back to my house." Willow smiled, touching her shoulder again.
Tara looked up and smiled at little at that.
"Okay." She replied, feeling more relaxed already.
Willow stood up and Tara stood next to her, shaking like a leaf. This "Bronze" was like a whole new world to her. This just wasn't her kind of place. She'd rather be in her room at her new house doing a spell or reading from the book her mother left her last year before she…Tara closed her eyes and pushed the sadness back down into her soul.
"Are you ready?" Willow asked noting Tara's closed eyes.
Tara quickly opened them and gave Willow a quick smile and a nod, not speaking for fear that her voice may crack from the memories. With that they prepared to press through the sea of people at the Bronze and leave the establishment.
"Willow!"
But it was not to be so.
Jesse came walking towards the two girls. He was much taller than either of them, but very thin and somewhat gawky looking. Dark black hair cropped the top of his head and a few whiskers of black were visible on his face. He wore a simple pair of blue jeans and a red t-shirt.
"Hey Jesse, what's up?" Willow said noting her friend, "This is Tara, she just moved to Sunnydale."
"Oh. Hi." Jesse said to Tara, who merely nodded shyly, "Uh Wills, I need a word with you."
"Well, Tara and I were just leaving and—"
"I think Xander's doing something stupid." Jesse cut her off.
Willow's jaw dropped and her face registered shock for all of .0005 seconds (after all it was Xander they were talking about) before sighing exasperatedly and holding her forehead with her hand. She looked up at Jesse and then over at Tara.
"Tara, can you give me just a minute here?" Willow asked.
"S-Sure." Tara replied quietly.
"Okay, you just hang out here and I'll get you in just a minute and we'll leave okay?" Willow replied.
Tara nodded her head and looked to her feet again. Yep they were still there.
Jesse pulled Willow aside a few feet away. Willow was still sighing loudly at the very NOTION that Xander might be doing something stupid.
"What is it this time?" Willow groaned, "Tell me he didn't try and ride that motorcycle again."
"He didn't try to ride that motorcycle again." Jesse replied.
"Thank you." Willow sighed, "What IS he doing though?"
"Well, I'm not sure but he called earlier and told me he didn't make the football team." Jesse began.
"He didn't make it?" Willow said suddenly heart broken for her friend, before shaking that off and getting mad again, "If he had just practiced a little. What did he say exactly Jesse?"
"Well he started talking about how he wanted to make girls notice him by being a badass." Jesse went on, "And he said something about going to the Fish Tank. I thought I talked him out of it though. He said he was going to meet me here in a few but it's been an hour and he hasn't shown."
Willow's heart was shredded. There it was again. Xander was always trying to impress other girls and not once, not once did he ever look at her like that. She was just completely beneath his radar and it hurt so much. Just another scar on the heart of mousy little Willow Rosenberg though. Then the anger came back. He was off doing something stupid and she was going to kill him if he wasn't already dead. And if he was, she and Tara were going to find some incantation to bring him back so she could kill him herself. Then they were going to do it again. Then the love spell. Yes, the next day was going to be very interesting.
"Okay, here's what we need to do." Willow began as she closed her eyes, "I'm going to get Tara. Then you're going to call Buffy. We're going to get in your car and pick her up because we need at least SOMEONE who can handle themselves. We're going to go find Xander, and then we're going to murder him."
"Willow?" Jesse asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not finished. We're going to get a very sharp knife…"
"Willow?" Jesse asked again.
"..which I'm going to use the moment I find out where he is." Willow kept rambling onwards.
"He's on the dance floor.' Jesse sighed.
"Then we're going to slit him groin to sternum for being stupid enough to go into the…wha?"
Jesse merely pointed to the dance floor where an obviously insane Xander was dancing…if you could call that dancing. He was all smiles and even had a drink in his hand, sipping at it from time to time.
"Okay, so our job's easier. You want the arms or legs?" Willow asked.
"Legs." Jesse replied.
"Good."
Tara's feet were still on the ground. Yep. Firmly planted. She needed new shoes. These were scuffed up. Where was Willow? She said she just needed a minute. If her father caught the smell of cigarette smoke on her clothes, there's not telling how mad he'd be. Tara started to panic and closed her eyes.
She knew people were looking at her now; staring. They always did. Back home they did. They'd stare and make fun of her because of the clothes she wore or because she stuttered. It was so hard to make or even keep friends. She gritted her teeth to keep from crying right then and there.
"Hey? Are you alright?" a voice asked.
Tara opened her eyes and looked over. There was a boy there. He wasn't particularly good looking but he had a concerned look on his face. Despite her shyness Tara was somewhat relieved by that. Maybe it wasn't so hard to make friends after. She nodded and again looked down, though not as low as before.
"Good. My name's Tucker." The boy said extending his hand.
Hesitantly, Tara took it and shook it.
"T-Tara." She replied.
"You look kind of down. You want to talk? Maybe I can buy you a drink?" Tucker asked.
"No, I'm fine. T-Thanks." Tara said warmly.
"Oh come on, let me buy you a drink." Tucker replied with a somewhat pushy tone.
Tara smiled again and shook her head, "I'm g-good, but thanks."
"Come on. Let me buy you a drink. It'll loosen you up a little." Tucker smiled.
Tara was sure of one thing. She didn't like where this was going.
"I-I'm fine." Tara replied, fighting her stutter again. It always got worse when she was nervous. The Bronze hadn't helped it and neither was Tucker. She moved to the side, evading.
"Look, I just want to buy you a drink." Tucker sighed walking closer to her.
"Yeah and probably put something in it." A deep, confident voice said from behind Tara. She quickly turned and saw a broad chest. She had to look up to see the face of the newcomer. Tara lost her breath around the time Tucker lost his nerve and started to back away.
He was tall and very attractive and also very built. His hair was sandy blondish brown and was cut short at the sides and long at the top, with a few strands in his eyes. The eyes were narrowed and fixed on Tucker, who was slinking away slowly. His eyes were glued to the smaller man and his face was twisted into a scowl. Then he looked down to Tara and smiled when he was satisfied Tucker was gone.
"Sorry about all that." He said warmly.
Tara nodded and didn't realize her mouth was hanging open.
"He didn't bother you too much did he?" the man asked.
Tara shook her head, mouth still open.
"Can I get a word or two? Maybe just a syllable?" the man laughed light heartedly.
"S-Sorry. Thanks." Tara said to him.
"No problem. I just didn't want that to get ugly. Tucker's just a little out there, I'm afraid of what he'd do to get more than five seconds worth of attention from a girl. I'm Riley by the way." Riley Finn said holding out his hand.
"Tara." Tara replied taking it, extremely proud that she hadn't stuttered.
"Nice meeting you Tara." Riley replied, "Are you alone here?"
"N-N…No, I'm with friends." Tara stopped and started again to keep from stuttering, "Willow Rosenberg? You know her?"
"Oh yeah?! That's cool. Yeah I know Willow. We took computer class with Ms. Calendar together" Riley replied.
"Yeah, she's really smart and nice. I don't know where she went though. One of her friends came up and said something about Xander." Tara said.
"Yeah, well that explains it then. Whenever Xander's mentioned that girl goes to cloud nine." Riley laughed slightly.
"So I've heard." Tara smiled up at Riley.
"HEY FINN! GET OVER HERE!" a voice yelled from a table of football players.
Riley looked over to the table and nodded.
"I have to go." Riley said, "It was nice meeting you. Maybe I'll see you around sometime?"
Tara smiled and nodded, "Yeah. I think I'd like that."
Riley smiled and turned to walk away. Tara smiled and felt a lot better now.
"Plus his ass is more fun to look at than my feet." She thought.
Her eyes went wide and her cheeks went red.
"Where did that come from?" she mentally asked herself.
Xander smiled as he backed away from the girl on the dance floor, still dancing horribly. Why'd she have to have a boyfriend? Especially one that looked to be a caveman. This elicited memories of Encino Man and sent Xander into a fit of shits and giggles. Still he wondered how Spike would have handled that situation.
"Probably would have used a pipe or a wrench." Xander thought as he absentmindedly backed into Cordelia.
"Hey! Get your extreme oafishness off of my new shoes!" came the familiar shrill voice of the pride and joy of the Chase family. Kind of like the woman from Evil Dead when Xander thought about it. Still he wasn't really in the mood to spar. He was in too good a mood and was having a great time.
"Sorry."
"I should hope so. Now why don't you slide dance out of here before that girl's boyfriend beats you to paste." Cordelia sneered that rich bitch sneer.
"You saw that huh?" Xander blushed slightly.
"Yeah. Struck out again huh? Not that surprising." Cordelia rolled her eyes.
Still, what's a great time without tearing into Queen C?
"Yeah, I guess not." Xander began, slightly startling Cordy with his admission at striking out before smiling sweetly, "Say you know I don't buy what people are saying about you. That outfit doesn't make you look like a HOOKER."
Cordelia huffed, and puffed, but remarkably the Bronze was not blown away. Xander merely smirked and shimmied away after evening up the score between them. He was all smiles until he came face to face with Jesse and a resolve face wearing Willow. Xander's smile slowly eroded away as he turned and started dancing back the other way.
"Alexander Lavelle Harris." Willow growled out.
Escape from Sunnydale just wasn't happening tonight. Maybe if he had an eye patch…..
"Yeah?" Xander asked, wincing as he turned to Willow and Jesse.
"Did you go to the Fish Tank tonight because Jesse seems to have given me that impression?" Willow asked.
"Me go to the Fish Tank? No way. I'm not suicidal." Xander replied.
"You're aware we know that face you do when you lie right?" Jesse asked.
Xander raised his hand to retort, but then stopped and sighed.
"Yes." Xander sighed.
"Alright then." Willow stated sweetly, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! OR WERE YOU EVEN THINKING AT ALL?!!!"
"DUDE!" Jesse helped out.
Xander had to struggle to not be knocked off his feet by the gale force winds of his two best friends screams.
"Xander you could have been hurt there!" Willow ranted.
"Dude!" Jesse added.
"Well as a matter of fact…" Xander began.
"Did you want to get killed? Because if you believe the rumors that will happen there!" Willow went on.
"Dude!" Jesse added again.
"And you lied to Jesse! You said you wouldn't go there!" Willow went on, gathering attention from the people dancing at the Bronze.
"Dude!"
"STOP SAYING DUDE!" Xander screamed exasperatedly before composing himself and looking at Willow, "Look, yeah I went to the Fish Tank. I wanted to see the place. And I saw enough of it to last me a while. Hell Wills I experienced enough to keep me from going back until the mandatory five day waiting period for the handgun is up. Even then though, I'd probably get an Uzi pulled on me so I think I'll stay away from the Tank for a while. Least until I get an adamantium skeleton or heat vision or something."
Willow almost smiled. It was cute when he made little comic references to everyday life. You could see his eyes light up when he said things like….
"Gah! Don't do that!" Willow said.
"Do what?" Xander and Jesse both asked.
"That thing…that you….never mind." Willow sighed, "Look Xander, please don't go there again? For me? The resolve face is one. You've seen it."
To Xander's credit he stood toe to toe with the resolve face for the record time. Unfortunately, said time was all of like thirty seconds. Still, Xander felt proud. Clint Eastwood would flinch from that face. I crap you not.
"Okay." Xander sighed as he folded.
"Okay good." Willow smiled, "Look I'm here with Tara, but she wants to go. I'm going to walk her home, unless Jesse wants to drive us?"
"Sure thing Wills. Gives me a chance to pull some moves on your new friend." Jesse smirked, before the resolve face returned and crushed him like an insect, "Or I'll be a very polite and quiet gentleman."
"Better." Willow said turning from the two guys and went looking for Tara.
Xander watched Jesse for a few minutes.
"You mad at me?" Xander asked.
"Jesse smash." Jesse replied, "You shouldn't have lied to me dude."
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. You going to be mad at me for long?" Xander asked again.
Jesse nodded.
"Gimme an estimate?"
Jesse stood and thought about it.
"About two chokeslams and a diamond cutter." Jesse replied after much debate.
"Chokeslams I can handle, no diamond cutter. That hurts when you do it." Xander replied.
"Ah dude!" Jesse exclaimed, "That's the coin of exchange and you know it! If I got you mad, I'd let you do a wrestling move on me to earn your forgiveness!"
"The last time you did a diamond cutter on me, my nose bleed every time I took a shower for a week." Xander argued.
There was quiet for a few seconds.
"Rock Bottom okay?" Jesse asked.
"That'll do nicely." Xander replied.
"Okay then. Our business is concluded. Though until said moves are performed, you are scum." Jesse said before walking towards the doors of the club to meet Willow and Tara.
Xander stood there before looking to the Heavens (or the ceiling) and speaking to Almighty God.
"I have to have the most pathetic life in Sunnydale don't I?" Xander asked.
Buffy sighed as she sat in the graveyard. Now this was pathetic. She still felt the urge to go out at night and play Vampire Slayer, even with all of the pain it had caused her in just a few short years. Still, she hadn't actually played said game since L.A. Buffy was very thankful of that fact.
It started innocently. Her then boyfriend, Billy Fordham (Ford for short) had gotten her into it. It was just a role playing game that he and a few of his friends played. At a party at the start of freshman year, Ford had explained it to her. She nodded intently, not really caring for his explanation at all. She was more concerned with how to get him to go steady with her at the time.
The rules were simple, you design a character based on some sheets taken from the back of Ford's rule book (the Watcher's Guide it was called). Said character is usually a Vampire Slayer (though you could be a vampire, a werewolf, or just plain mortal). After creating a character the storyteller (here known as a Watcher and usually played by Ford) created a campaign for the players to follow. Buffy was relatively bored with the game at first; playing only to get closer to Ford, though after a while she began to like the game.
It helped her to flex creative muscles she never knew she had. And she was GOOD at it. Her character, Joan, was a very powerful and experienced Vampire Slayer. She was strong, smart, and witty. Kind of like Lara Croft, only not so slutty. She fought lots of vampires and demons throughout the course of her campaigns. There was the Judge, whose touch could disintegrate anyone with the "stench" of humanity. There was the violent warrior vampire called Kakistos, whom Joan managed to kill in Buffy's very first campaign! Joan even managed to stop an Ascension at one point. But her most persistent nemesis was the vampire lord, Lothos, who lived in a castle that very much resembled the high school gym. He hounded her and very near killed her on several occasions.
Soon, Vampire Slayer sessions consumed Buffy's schedule. Even when she spent time with Ford, they spent the majority of their time creating adventures for Joan. It was seriously starting to detract from anything else she had in life. Her grades slipped. She quit the cheerleading team. She spent less time with her parents and sister. The last thing that Buffy thought of at night and the first thing in the morning were adventures for Joan. She wanted to be Joan. Joan was everything she wasn't. She was so consumed with her campaigns that she didn't even notice Ford getting more pale or weak with every session.
One night she got a call. It was Ford's mother. She was calling to explain that something had happened. She talked to Buffy's parents first and Buffy wondered what was happening. Soon it was all explained to her. Ford had been sick for quite some time apparently. He had an inoperable brain tumor and he just didn't get up from his nap when his parents tried to wake him. Buffy was devastated. She remembered sliding down the wall in tears.
That's when Joan took over. Her Watcher was dead. It had to be a plan concocted by Lothos. He was striking at her through those people she cared about. And he was laughing back at that castle of his. He was laughing like a madman at her, mocking her pain. Joan wouldn't let him get away with it.
His castle was burning by morning.
"Laugh at me now you bastard." Joan had spat at the flaming building.
The burning of the school gymnasium started a chain reaction in Buffy/Joan's life. Buffy was taken into custody almost immediately. She was expelled from school before that. Her actions destroyed the marriage of her parents. It alienated any friends she had. Luckily, she didn't go on trial, having been found unfit for it. She was a clear case of temporary insanity. Though that did warrant a sixth month say in a mental hospital. She was eventually released into her mother's custody when she was convinced her delusions weren't real. She, her mother and sister moved to Sunnydale not long after that.
The former high school princess turned Slayer turned to an outcast when word of her past got out. She was shunned, but not by everyone. She had met Willow, Jesse, and Xander not long after moving to town. And she was happy again. Still there were nights like tonight when the urge to play Vampire Slayer was almost undeniable. It was in her blood, in her gut. It was like taking drugs and suddenly having a relapse.
"Well this certainly sucks." Buffy said sitting on the tombstone, looking about her. That's when it happened. If she hadn't looked up at just that moment, she would have missed it. There was a quick movement about the corner of the tomb. Her eyes widened and her mind screamed the first thing it could register.
"Vampire."
"No, that's stupid. There are no such things." Buffy said, closing her eyes tightly.
She opened them and saw a silhouette move out from behind the tomb in the moonlight. It was tall and took confidant strides as it walked along the fresh grass. It was still at least two hundred feet away and was turned in such a way that whoever it was, they hadn't noticed her. She thought.
The wind blew and the coat of the figure blew with it, flapping and dancing in the wind. The faint sound of wind chimes could be heard in the distance as the figure suddenly turned in the moonlight and looked right at her. Buffy swallowed.
"Then again…" she said before darting off. It was way past her bedtime.
The figure stood there and watched the girl run off quickly before shrugging and walking again. He stumbled and tripped over a headstone. He started laughing drunkenly.
"Oh yeah…that was a good…" he laughed, "That was positively fucking graceful Angel."
Then he passed out and slept.
Spike's vintage black Desoto roared to a stop across town. He quickly exited the car and walked down the stone steps into the apartment complex, bed begging to be used. Rough night, still he always did favor a spot of violence before bedtime. A good shag too. Jack helped with the first and Dru with the latter. Grinning sardonically, he dug into his duster pocket and produced his keys. He opened the door and closed it behind him as he entered the house. There was a light in the kitchen. There always was. He groaned and bloody well looked forward to this.
Spike began down the hall for his room, passing the kitchen.
"You're late again." A gruff voice came from the kitchen table.
Spike paused at the doorway and looked in on his uncle.
"Reckon I am."
"Are you going to attempt to go to school tomorrow?"
"Maybe." Spike lied.
"Did you get into any trouble?"
"A little. Still, way I hear, not anythin' more than you used to."
"Go to bed."
"On my way."
"Goodnight." The voice from the kitchen said.
Spike paused for a moment and then walked down the hall.
"'Night." He said.
In the kitchen, Rupert Giles sighed and poured himself another glass of scotch and wondered how in THE hell a smart woman like his sister could have ever married Ethan Rayne.