-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry about the delay in posting, everybody. I know I said within the weeks end, but I've started a new job, and I've recently been getting intimately acquainted with my good friend 'Overtime'. Thus, any time that I happened to be home, I was in bed getting intimately reacquainted with my other good friend Sharon, Um I mean, 'Sleep' ::Glances around nervously:: Any way...
Authors Note: For those of you that had negative things to say about it; No, I'm not putting anything else that could remotely considered smut in. If anything in the last scene freaked you out, it was not meant like that. It was meant to be humor. Leave it be and I will. Moving on...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Eight
Pretzels, Crosses, and Sunny Days.
Buffy walked down the street (Well, technically it was the sidewalk) with Willow at her right side. Tara walked with her arm looped through Willows. The latter two seemed to be extremely happy. Though wether this was due to the fact that it was a pleasant sunny afternoon, the fact that they were on the road lined with pleasant little shops, or the slightly-more-than-pleasant activities they had occupied themselves with mere hours before, no one really ventured a guess.
About five or six steps behind them, Jay and Silent Bob followed, walking side-by-side, (Not, however, arm in arm) both with slightly pleased looks about them. Neither of them seemed to care about the sunniness of the day. They both seemed rather amused at the quaintness of the small town. After seeing the way Tara and Willow walked together, and remembering their activities the previous night (those that he'd witnessed), the look on Jay's face may well have been due to the slightly-more-than-pleasant activities that Willow and Tara had occupied themselves with mere hours before.
As they walked down the street, many of the little shops had set up displays or booths out in front. They started to pass a bakery when Willow looked over to Buffy speaking. "Can you remember anything special or odd about the vampires that attacked us?"
Buffy frowned in concentration, trying to regain any details from the previous night. Details other than Jason Biggs up on a kitchen counter... She shook her head. "I can't remember what any of them looked like. Not that it matters much now." She gestures back to Jay and Silent Bob. "But they were after a talisman. The talisman of... foremen?" She finished with a the voice going up at the end in a question.
A guy somewhat younger than her stood at a table in front of the bakery. On the table she saw a number of breads and the like. Apparently the man was giving out samples. "Afternoon miss." He said, amicably enough. "Would you like to try an Almond Brownie?"
She shook her head, smiling politely. The idea of chocolate, however appealing it normally was, somehow didn't feel right. She walked on with Willow, trying to remember any specific names or numbers from the night before.
Jay and Silent Bob followed. The baker looked to Jay and spoke in a cheerful voice. "Hello sir." He looked down at the various items on the table, then back up to Jay. "Say, would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?"
All that Buffy heard was what sounded like a slap, then the sound of the table being overturned, then Jay's voice shouting out. "Well fuck you too, ya little fuckin bake'n Basterd!" By the time she'd turned around, the table of baked goods was already overturned. The Baker was already backing away with his arms raised. Bob was holding Jay back, who was trying very hard to attack the poor man. "Come on, bread boy, I'll kick yo mother fuckin ass!"
Bob pulled Jay away in one hard throwing action, and motioned for Jay to move on. Jay looked indignantly at Bob, than threateningly at the Baker, than kept walking down the street. Buffy looked at Bob. "What happened?" Bob looked at her, opened his mouth to answer, and paused with his mouth open. A look of frustrated confusion came over his face, until he merely shook his head and waved a his hand in dismissal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Buffy was the first to enter the Magic Box. They'd made it the rest of the way to the shop without event. Willow entered after Buffy, then Tara. Jay and Silent Bob remained outside for a moment to finish off their cigarettes. Bob stood, leaning against a brick portion of the wall, as did Jay beside him. They both seemed to be squirming , attempting to find comfortable positions. After a few moments they looked to each other and shook their heads in silent agreement.
Buffy, Willow, and Tara walked into the store to find Xander sitting at the main table. They noticed a few customers walking about the store. They saw Anya behind the register looking at some piece of paper, and they saw that Giles was on the phone. Buffy overheard a few of his words.
"Like I told you every time you've called, every day for the past three weeks," Giles said in the annoyed voice that Buffy thought that she alone was capable of inspiring in him, "No. We do not sell 'Magic: The Gathering' cards here. This is a place of serious business. Not of games or of trick or anything of the like. Try a bleeding gaming store." He said, hanging up. He muttered to himself. "Bloody kids..."
"Hi Giles." Buffy said, catching his eye and moving towards the counter to meet him, while Tara and Willow moved to meet Xander.
"Buffy. How are you doing?" Giles asked.
"Not so great." Buffy said, which got a reaction of concern out of Giles. "We were attacked last night. Me, Tara, and Willow." Giles didn't look all that concerned anymore. After all, He was speaking with the Slayer. He'd seen her fight himself many times. That plus the fact that he was speaking to her here and she was obviously alright now.
"By whom?" He asked, taking off his glasses and wiping them, in what we are all sure, after six seasons, is a simple nervous habit. I mean, glasses don't fog up that much. Come on, man.
"Vampires." She answered, lowering her voice, as she noticed that a customer was nearing earshot. "Lots of them. Eight or nine." He looked at her with concern this time. He knew she could fight more than a few vampires with success, but not that many. "One troop too. And what's weird is, I didn't go after them, they were after me. And they knew I was the Slayer. Apparently they thought that I had some talisman that they wanted." She shifter her weight to lean against a counter and looked at Giles.
She looked into his eyes meaningfully. It was all that he needed to know. It told him that she had been outmatched, out manned, and outclassed. It told him that she had seen the force of this enemy, and she had known that she could not match it.
"That's why we came to day, to find out what this talisman is all about." She indicated Willow and Tara.
"But how did you manage with them last night?" Giles asked.
"It's freak'n amazing, I know," Buffy began, "But it was Jay and Silent Bob. They came across us in the woods, and they just tore the entire troop up. About eight to two. They really kicked butt." Buffy said. She looked up to Giles, and continued, "They had these... Weapons," She finally said, the word feeling as uncomfortable on the idea as a suit three sizes too small, "And they tore these guys up. I've never seen anything like it." She seemed amazed still, even though it had happened the previous night. "Well, outside of a George Lucas film." She added in an afterthought.
"I'm sorry, Whom?" Giles asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Um," Buffy was about to answer, but the timing of Giles's question was simply too great to allow her the chance. As soon as he had spoked, The front door opened, and Jay and Silent Bob entered. Jay spoke rather loudly. "Ladies, Ladies, Ladies: Jay and Silent Bob are in the Hiz-ills!" Giles looked at the two Boys, with a fare bit of disapproval in his eyes. He looked to Buffy, who was looking almost expectant ly at he two men as they walked over, and realized that they were 'Jay' and 'Bob'.
As the dubious duo joined Buffy and Giles, Buffy made introductions. "Guys, this is Giles."
"Whaddup? I'm Jay, and this is my hetero life mate, Silent Bob." Jay answered,
"So," Buffy began, Walking slowly over to Willow and Tara. "Where do we begin as far as researching this talisman goes?"
"Well," Willow answered, "A name would be nice."
Buffy gave willow a slightly annoyed look, while Willow smirked at her own humor. Buffy continued. "When the vampires attacked, their leader talked about it. The Talisman of..." She trailed off, seemingly muttering in an attempt to remember. "Frimem...Fremen...Friendly?" she spoke more to herself than anyone else, but was interrupted when Giles interjected.
"Frellen?" He asked.
"Yes! She said, snapping her fingers. "Frellen! Wait," she paused with that extremely blonde look of confusion on her face that We all know and hate on her. "How did you know that?"
Giles, not answering, walked back into his office. Everybody at the table adopted confused expressions, with two notable exceptions: Jay, who was frankly always in some state of confusion, was not paying any attention to the conversation, and was busy starring at the chest of a distant female customer, and Xander, who was busy staring at Anya in a similar fashion. When Giles returned, he was (surprise, surprise) carrying a book. It was open to a page, and his finger was running down the various texts.
He spoke, and it was not in his usual, erratic manor. Instead, he seemed quite precise, to an almost mechanical degree. "'Frellen, Cross Of', A talisman granting Vampiric entities increased physical capabilities, and immunity to vampire-selective harmful substances, such as sunlight, wood, crosses, and Holy water. Origin: Created by the demonic Archmage Getrovious Frellen, circa 382 B.C." He stopped reading, still looking at the page. He sensed the odd stares he was receiving from the local members of the group, and looked out the tops of his eyes. "What?" He asked.
"Um," Xander began, "What's with the weird little clip there? The Books are usually a whole lot more cryptic, and you wouldn't talk that way for the same reason."
Giles raised the book so that the others could see the cover. Where Buffy had expected to see a dark, dusty, cracked-leather bound volume of some ancient text, she instead saw a bright green and brown modern looking book, with bright gold typed labels. This was not some hand written text. This was obviously a printed book, and it looked new.
"Grenler's Encyclopedia Satanica: Artifacts and Devices edition." Giles said in an explaining tone of voice. "It's the 'Webster's' of the metaphysical world. Course I didn't even know they made these sorts of books until Willow showed me how to work the damned machine." He finished in an offhand manor, motioning to the computer.
Willow smirked a bit at this, and looked at Bob, who was standing a few feet away. She watched as he stared intently at something. She followed his line of sight, and found that he was looking at a rack, on which sat many plastic containers. In each of these containers sat a different type of herb, or some other magically useful substance. Bob seemed rather interested, and walked over to the rack.
The others stared blankly for a moment, before Xander spoke. "Well, that's a relief. Usually this research stuff takes hours and pots of coffee to finish." He finished with a laugh.
Giles looked at Xander with a bit of a grin. "Oh, well, That's not all there is to know about this in particular, Xander. I'm sure there will be something else in the books to find out."
"Ok," Buffy said, verbalizing her thoughts. "A vampire is bringing the thing of Frellen into town, is killed, and the troop he was bringing it to assumes I killed him." She finished, and a thought seems to barge into her head like an unwanted guest. "But I didn't kill him. So who did?" She asked rhetorically. "Well, what kind of vampire wouldn't want to kill a courier and steal his talisman, hence making him basically invincible." Her sarcastic answer to her own question.
Xander muttered under his breath. "Man, things are getting weird around here. Two Jersey boys constantly saving the day, Giles using the internet... Buffy saying 'Hence'." He looked at Buffy feeling once again that the obvious must be stated in a humorous and scathing manor. "Well, is a blonde blood-sucker springing to anyone elses' mind? He'd probably think this would cure his little twitch, if you know what I mean. It's not like he hasn't done this sort of thing before. Isn't this pretty much the same as that ring a while back, right?" He directed the question at the front to the group in general, and the question at the end to Giles.
"Well," Giles seemed unsure for a moment, looking back into his book, "It's classified as a semi-inert artifact. I'm pretty sure that that means there is a ceremony of some sort to activate it's abilities, where The Ring of Amada was an automatically active effect."
"Besides," Willow cut in, "it wouldn't do him any good." A few people shot her confused glances, and she explained. "Sure, it would make him stronger, and all that. And it would make him immune to the classic Vampire no-no's, but the chip isn't a classic anything. It's internal, and the talisman probably wouldn't help him."
"But it would level the field with us." Buffy said, in a slightly more cryptic tone than normal. Those slightly confused looks that had been focusing on Willow moments before now shifted to Buffy. She looked to the group and spoke solemnly. "Up til now, he's been at the disadvantage; We could hurt him, but he couldn't hurt us. Occasionally, we needed help, and he helped to keep us happy with him. He needed help sometimes too, and we repaid the favor. If he gets his hand on this, the game changes." She gave them all serious looks. "He can't hurt us, but we can't hurt him either. Which means we can't keep him from getting out of line, or from getting that chip out." They all stood there in silent contemplation for a moment, absorbing the words.
Until, of course Tara spoke. "Well, good thing it wasn't him."
This time, those confused stares moved to Tara. She spoke as if it was obvious. (Which, frankly, it was if you hadn't had as much to drink as they had the previous night) "He was here at the Magic box last night, and then with us at the Bronze. How could he have dusted this vampire if he was with us at te time it happened?"
'Oh' was the consensus among the group, with an occasional 'Duh', or 'Never mind' thrown in for flavor. Seeing as he was completely lost as to the contents of the conversation, and not at all interested, Jay began walking around the store.
Giles broke the silence. "Well, it shouldn't be too difficult to discern who is responsible."
Xander looked up at him. "Yeah, cause there aren't that many vampires in this town." The level of sarcasm in his words no doubt violated several health codes, and was probably a fire hazard.
"Yes," Giles continued, in that annoying voice he uses when he's about to explain a concept that requires in-depth thought. "But how many of them would have the experience, connections, or the ingenuity not only to discover this group of vampires plans, but to intercept their courier, and elude their warriors to the point where they assume it must have been the Slayer?" He paused to take a look at the look on Xanders' face as he was proven wrong. He went on to unnecessary explain himself, like he often does. "The average fledglings wouldn't hear about these sort of dealings, and would most certainly not be able to interfere to this degree. And even given that they would be able to obtain the Talisman, Only extremely powerful magically inclined persons would be able to do anything with it. These sorts of Items require detailed rituals. Which would be a good thing to research, by the way." He looked to Willow, Tara, and smirked at Xander at the last part.
"So whoever did this," Buffy began, standing and moving around the table, "Somebody probably heard about it. I'll look around tonight, try and see if there's any word about this."
Jay walked over to Bob, who was inspecting the various Jars and plastic bins. Jay looked into an interesting jar and muttered to Bob, "No wonder they seen monsters, bitch's're rockin the gonge." to which Bob merely nodded.
Jay continued muttering. "Man, I think there's somethin seriously fucked up with all these bastards. They think they're fight'n monsters and shit? There's somethin in they tap water, if you aks me. I mean, come on man," He said, smacking Bobs arm and sounding incredulous. "A chick with super powers goin around fightin vampires and demons an shit? Savin the world? Witches and Wizards? Fuck man, that sounds like somethin out of a bad T.V. show!"
For no apparent reason, both Jay and Silent Bob stopped what they were doing and stared off in the same direction for a moment, Bob seemingly giggled, while Jay shook his head. After a few seconds they continued looking around, muttering occasionally, and walking back to the group.
Buffy stood still, speaking in a more or less confident voice, "Alright then. So I'll go around tonight, try to find any information about this I can, while you guys research more about this talisman. We'll meet here tomorrow afternoon?" She received an assortment of smiles and nods, with which she continued. "Well, than I'm going to go home and get clean and get ready for tonight than." She began to leave, and saw Jay and Silent Bob standing nearby. "Um," She began, "I was headed back home. You guys wanna come with, or do you want to stay here with the guys maybe?"
Jay and Silent Bob looked at each other, and it was obvious to everyone who'd seen the way Bob acted recently which choice he would opt for. "I guess we'll go with you." Jay said, rather apathetic about it. "This place's got some mad crazy shit'n stuff."
Buffy suppressed a little smile unconsciously, the way any school girl would, and the three walked out together. Xander looked at Jay ans Silent Bob as they left and muttered to himself. "Oh, youz guys."
Anya moved away from Xander, to return to her duties, and Giles went to a bookshelf to retrieve a few volumes. As they stood within a few feet of each other, Giles spoke in an odd tone to Anya. "I still don't get that Double-Ya B joke."
Anya sighed sadly, and muttered, "Of, course you don't."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dawn sat down on the couch, her face still burning from embarrassment. She felt extremely foolish for having walked in on Jay, as she would feel if she had walked in on anybody. The big difference isn't who she saw, but what. After all, as far as her experience went, (which would be excruciatingly little in her opinion) Jay would have been her most... in-depth examination of the human form to date. Of course, she felt nothing towards him, she didn't go in for the Stoner type, which she (and she alone apparently) had recognized him as the moment he opened his mouth.
But then again, you don't have to be an art buff to appreciate a good painting, either.
She sat there, feeling ashamed of herself for her actions, on the couch of the living room, and all of a sudden, Suzanne plopped down on the seat beside her, looked Dawn in the eyes, and put an arm on her shoulders. Dawn looked at the primate in mild shock, and simply smiled.
"Let's get you something to eat, eh?" She spoke, humorously, and smiled even wider when Suzanne nodded vigorously. She picked up the ape, and headed to the kitchen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what do you think? Post, post damn you! ::looks at you in mock anger:: Aw, just kidding.
Sorry about that Xander quoting Jason Lee towards the end there, but haven't you ever noticed that looks like both Jason Lee (Brodie in Mallrats, Banky in Chasing Amy) and Ben Affleck (Holden in Chasing Amy, Bartleby in Dogma, Shannon Hamilton in Mallrats)? Like a cross between them, if you ask me.
By the way, sorry again about long delays, and I can't promise that the next posting will be much sooner. I'll try for next Wednesday, the next bit isn't too long.
In the mean time, Love and Snoochie Boochies!
Sorry about the delay in posting, everybody. I know I said within the weeks end, but I've started a new job, and I've recently been getting intimately acquainted with my good friend 'Overtime'. Thus, any time that I happened to be home, I was in bed getting intimately reacquainted with my other good friend Sharon, Um I mean, 'Sleep' ::Glances around nervously:: Any way...
Authors Note: For those of you that had negative things to say about it; No, I'm not putting anything else that could remotely considered smut in. If anything in the last scene freaked you out, it was not meant like that. It was meant to be humor. Leave it be and I will. Moving on...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Eight
Pretzels, Crosses, and Sunny Days.
Buffy walked down the street (Well, technically it was the sidewalk) with Willow at her right side. Tara walked with her arm looped through Willows. The latter two seemed to be extremely happy. Though wether this was due to the fact that it was a pleasant sunny afternoon, the fact that they were on the road lined with pleasant little shops, or the slightly-more-than-pleasant activities they had occupied themselves with mere hours before, no one really ventured a guess.
About five or six steps behind them, Jay and Silent Bob followed, walking side-by-side, (Not, however, arm in arm) both with slightly pleased looks about them. Neither of them seemed to care about the sunniness of the day. They both seemed rather amused at the quaintness of the small town. After seeing the way Tara and Willow walked together, and remembering their activities the previous night (those that he'd witnessed), the look on Jay's face may well have been due to the slightly-more-than-pleasant activities that Willow and Tara had occupied themselves with mere hours before.
As they walked down the street, many of the little shops had set up displays or booths out in front. They started to pass a bakery when Willow looked over to Buffy speaking. "Can you remember anything special or odd about the vampires that attacked us?"
Buffy frowned in concentration, trying to regain any details from the previous night. Details other than Jason Biggs up on a kitchen counter... She shook her head. "I can't remember what any of them looked like. Not that it matters much now." She gestures back to Jay and Silent Bob. "But they were after a talisman. The talisman of... foremen?" She finished with a the voice going up at the end in a question.
A guy somewhat younger than her stood at a table in front of the bakery. On the table she saw a number of breads and the like. Apparently the man was giving out samples. "Afternoon miss." He said, amicably enough. "Would you like to try an Almond Brownie?"
She shook her head, smiling politely. The idea of chocolate, however appealing it normally was, somehow didn't feel right. She walked on with Willow, trying to remember any specific names or numbers from the night before.
Jay and Silent Bob followed. The baker looked to Jay and spoke in a cheerful voice. "Hello sir." He looked down at the various items on the table, then back up to Jay. "Say, would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?"
All that Buffy heard was what sounded like a slap, then the sound of the table being overturned, then Jay's voice shouting out. "Well fuck you too, ya little fuckin bake'n Basterd!" By the time she'd turned around, the table of baked goods was already overturned. The Baker was already backing away with his arms raised. Bob was holding Jay back, who was trying very hard to attack the poor man. "Come on, bread boy, I'll kick yo mother fuckin ass!"
Bob pulled Jay away in one hard throwing action, and motioned for Jay to move on. Jay looked indignantly at Bob, than threateningly at the Baker, than kept walking down the street. Buffy looked at Bob. "What happened?" Bob looked at her, opened his mouth to answer, and paused with his mouth open. A look of frustrated confusion came over his face, until he merely shook his head and waved a his hand in dismissal.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Buffy was the first to enter the Magic Box. They'd made it the rest of the way to the shop without event. Willow entered after Buffy, then Tara. Jay and Silent Bob remained outside for a moment to finish off their cigarettes. Bob stood, leaning against a brick portion of the wall, as did Jay beside him. They both seemed to be squirming , attempting to find comfortable positions. After a few moments they looked to each other and shook their heads in silent agreement.
Buffy, Willow, and Tara walked into the store to find Xander sitting at the main table. They noticed a few customers walking about the store. They saw Anya behind the register looking at some piece of paper, and they saw that Giles was on the phone. Buffy overheard a few of his words.
"Like I told you every time you've called, every day for the past three weeks," Giles said in the annoyed voice that Buffy thought that she alone was capable of inspiring in him, "No. We do not sell 'Magic: The Gathering' cards here. This is a place of serious business. Not of games or of trick or anything of the like. Try a bleeding gaming store." He said, hanging up. He muttered to himself. "Bloody kids..."
"Hi Giles." Buffy said, catching his eye and moving towards the counter to meet him, while Tara and Willow moved to meet Xander.
"Buffy. How are you doing?" Giles asked.
"Not so great." Buffy said, which got a reaction of concern out of Giles. "We were attacked last night. Me, Tara, and Willow." Giles didn't look all that concerned anymore. After all, He was speaking with the Slayer. He'd seen her fight himself many times. That plus the fact that he was speaking to her here and she was obviously alright now.
"By whom?" He asked, taking off his glasses and wiping them, in what we are all sure, after six seasons, is a simple nervous habit. I mean, glasses don't fog up that much. Come on, man.
"Vampires." She answered, lowering her voice, as she noticed that a customer was nearing earshot. "Lots of them. Eight or nine." He looked at her with concern this time. He knew she could fight more than a few vampires with success, but not that many. "One troop too. And what's weird is, I didn't go after them, they were after me. And they knew I was the Slayer. Apparently they thought that I had some talisman that they wanted." She shifter her weight to lean against a counter and looked at Giles.
She looked into his eyes meaningfully. It was all that he needed to know. It told him that she had been outmatched, out manned, and outclassed. It told him that she had seen the force of this enemy, and she had known that she could not match it.
"That's why we came to day, to find out what this talisman is all about." She indicated Willow and Tara.
"But how did you manage with them last night?" Giles asked.
"It's freak'n amazing, I know," Buffy began, "But it was Jay and Silent Bob. They came across us in the woods, and they just tore the entire troop up. About eight to two. They really kicked butt." Buffy said. She looked up to Giles, and continued, "They had these... Weapons," She finally said, the word feeling as uncomfortable on the idea as a suit three sizes too small, "And they tore these guys up. I've never seen anything like it." She seemed amazed still, even though it had happened the previous night. "Well, outside of a George Lucas film." She added in an afterthought.
"I'm sorry, Whom?" Giles asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Um," Buffy was about to answer, but the timing of Giles's question was simply too great to allow her the chance. As soon as he had spoked, The front door opened, and Jay and Silent Bob entered. Jay spoke rather loudly. "Ladies, Ladies, Ladies: Jay and Silent Bob are in the Hiz-ills!" Giles looked at the two Boys, with a fare bit of disapproval in his eyes. He looked to Buffy, who was looking almost expectant ly at he two men as they walked over, and realized that they were 'Jay' and 'Bob'.
As the dubious duo joined Buffy and Giles, Buffy made introductions. "Guys, this is Giles."
"Whaddup? I'm Jay, and this is my hetero life mate, Silent Bob." Jay answered,
"So," Buffy began, Walking slowly over to Willow and Tara. "Where do we begin as far as researching this talisman goes?"
"Well," Willow answered, "A name would be nice."
Buffy gave willow a slightly annoyed look, while Willow smirked at her own humor. Buffy continued. "When the vampires attacked, their leader talked about it. The Talisman of..." She trailed off, seemingly muttering in an attempt to remember. "Frimem...Fremen...Friendly?" she spoke more to herself than anyone else, but was interrupted when Giles interjected.
"Frellen?" He asked.
"Yes! She said, snapping her fingers. "Frellen! Wait," she paused with that extremely blonde look of confusion on her face that We all know and hate on her. "How did you know that?"
Giles, not answering, walked back into his office. Everybody at the table adopted confused expressions, with two notable exceptions: Jay, who was frankly always in some state of confusion, was not paying any attention to the conversation, and was busy starring at the chest of a distant female customer, and Xander, who was busy staring at Anya in a similar fashion. When Giles returned, he was (surprise, surprise) carrying a book. It was open to a page, and his finger was running down the various texts.
He spoke, and it was not in his usual, erratic manor. Instead, he seemed quite precise, to an almost mechanical degree. "'Frellen, Cross Of', A talisman granting Vampiric entities increased physical capabilities, and immunity to vampire-selective harmful substances, such as sunlight, wood, crosses, and Holy water. Origin: Created by the demonic Archmage Getrovious Frellen, circa 382 B.C." He stopped reading, still looking at the page. He sensed the odd stares he was receiving from the local members of the group, and looked out the tops of his eyes. "What?" He asked.
"Um," Xander began, "What's with the weird little clip there? The Books are usually a whole lot more cryptic, and you wouldn't talk that way for the same reason."
Giles raised the book so that the others could see the cover. Where Buffy had expected to see a dark, dusty, cracked-leather bound volume of some ancient text, she instead saw a bright green and brown modern looking book, with bright gold typed labels. This was not some hand written text. This was obviously a printed book, and it looked new.
"Grenler's Encyclopedia Satanica: Artifacts and Devices edition." Giles said in an explaining tone of voice. "It's the 'Webster's' of the metaphysical world. Course I didn't even know they made these sorts of books until Willow showed me how to work the damned machine." He finished in an offhand manor, motioning to the computer.
Willow smirked a bit at this, and looked at Bob, who was standing a few feet away. She watched as he stared intently at something. She followed his line of sight, and found that he was looking at a rack, on which sat many plastic containers. In each of these containers sat a different type of herb, or some other magically useful substance. Bob seemed rather interested, and walked over to the rack.
The others stared blankly for a moment, before Xander spoke. "Well, that's a relief. Usually this research stuff takes hours and pots of coffee to finish." He finished with a laugh.
Giles looked at Xander with a bit of a grin. "Oh, well, That's not all there is to know about this in particular, Xander. I'm sure there will be something else in the books to find out."
"Ok," Buffy said, verbalizing her thoughts. "A vampire is bringing the thing of Frellen into town, is killed, and the troop he was bringing it to assumes I killed him." She finished, and a thought seems to barge into her head like an unwanted guest. "But I didn't kill him. So who did?" She asked rhetorically. "Well, what kind of vampire wouldn't want to kill a courier and steal his talisman, hence making him basically invincible." Her sarcastic answer to her own question.
Xander muttered under his breath. "Man, things are getting weird around here. Two Jersey boys constantly saving the day, Giles using the internet... Buffy saying 'Hence'." He looked at Buffy feeling once again that the obvious must be stated in a humorous and scathing manor. "Well, is a blonde blood-sucker springing to anyone elses' mind? He'd probably think this would cure his little twitch, if you know what I mean. It's not like he hasn't done this sort of thing before. Isn't this pretty much the same as that ring a while back, right?" He directed the question at the front to the group in general, and the question at the end to Giles.
"Well," Giles seemed unsure for a moment, looking back into his book, "It's classified as a semi-inert artifact. I'm pretty sure that that means there is a ceremony of some sort to activate it's abilities, where The Ring of Amada was an automatically active effect."
"Besides," Willow cut in, "it wouldn't do him any good." A few people shot her confused glances, and she explained. "Sure, it would make him stronger, and all that. And it would make him immune to the classic Vampire no-no's, but the chip isn't a classic anything. It's internal, and the talisman probably wouldn't help him."
"But it would level the field with us." Buffy said, in a slightly more cryptic tone than normal. Those slightly confused looks that had been focusing on Willow moments before now shifted to Buffy. She looked to the group and spoke solemnly. "Up til now, he's been at the disadvantage; We could hurt him, but he couldn't hurt us. Occasionally, we needed help, and he helped to keep us happy with him. He needed help sometimes too, and we repaid the favor. If he gets his hand on this, the game changes." She gave them all serious looks. "He can't hurt us, but we can't hurt him either. Which means we can't keep him from getting out of line, or from getting that chip out." They all stood there in silent contemplation for a moment, absorbing the words.
Until, of course Tara spoke. "Well, good thing it wasn't him."
This time, those confused stares moved to Tara. She spoke as if it was obvious. (Which, frankly, it was if you hadn't had as much to drink as they had the previous night) "He was here at the Magic box last night, and then with us at the Bronze. How could he have dusted this vampire if he was with us at te time it happened?"
'Oh' was the consensus among the group, with an occasional 'Duh', or 'Never mind' thrown in for flavor. Seeing as he was completely lost as to the contents of the conversation, and not at all interested, Jay began walking around the store.
Giles broke the silence. "Well, it shouldn't be too difficult to discern who is responsible."
Xander looked up at him. "Yeah, cause there aren't that many vampires in this town." The level of sarcasm in his words no doubt violated several health codes, and was probably a fire hazard.
"Yes," Giles continued, in that annoying voice he uses when he's about to explain a concept that requires in-depth thought. "But how many of them would have the experience, connections, or the ingenuity not only to discover this group of vampires plans, but to intercept their courier, and elude their warriors to the point where they assume it must have been the Slayer?" He paused to take a look at the look on Xanders' face as he was proven wrong. He went on to unnecessary explain himself, like he often does. "The average fledglings wouldn't hear about these sort of dealings, and would most certainly not be able to interfere to this degree. And even given that they would be able to obtain the Talisman, Only extremely powerful magically inclined persons would be able to do anything with it. These sorts of Items require detailed rituals. Which would be a good thing to research, by the way." He looked to Willow, Tara, and smirked at Xander at the last part.
"So whoever did this," Buffy began, standing and moving around the table, "Somebody probably heard about it. I'll look around tonight, try and see if there's any word about this."
Jay walked over to Bob, who was inspecting the various Jars and plastic bins. Jay looked into an interesting jar and muttered to Bob, "No wonder they seen monsters, bitch's're rockin the gonge." to which Bob merely nodded.
Jay continued muttering. "Man, I think there's somethin seriously fucked up with all these bastards. They think they're fight'n monsters and shit? There's somethin in they tap water, if you aks me. I mean, come on man," He said, smacking Bobs arm and sounding incredulous. "A chick with super powers goin around fightin vampires and demons an shit? Savin the world? Witches and Wizards? Fuck man, that sounds like somethin out of a bad T.V. show!"
For no apparent reason, both Jay and Silent Bob stopped what they were doing and stared off in the same direction for a moment, Bob seemingly giggled, while Jay shook his head. After a few seconds they continued looking around, muttering occasionally, and walking back to the group.
Buffy stood still, speaking in a more or less confident voice, "Alright then. So I'll go around tonight, try to find any information about this I can, while you guys research more about this talisman. We'll meet here tomorrow afternoon?" She received an assortment of smiles and nods, with which she continued. "Well, than I'm going to go home and get clean and get ready for tonight than." She began to leave, and saw Jay and Silent Bob standing nearby. "Um," She began, "I was headed back home. You guys wanna come with, or do you want to stay here with the guys maybe?"
Jay and Silent Bob looked at each other, and it was obvious to everyone who'd seen the way Bob acted recently which choice he would opt for. "I guess we'll go with you." Jay said, rather apathetic about it. "This place's got some mad crazy shit'n stuff."
Buffy suppressed a little smile unconsciously, the way any school girl would, and the three walked out together. Xander looked at Jay ans Silent Bob as they left and muttered to himself. "Oh, youz guys."
Anya moved away from Xander, to return to her duties, and Giles went to a bookshelf to retrieve a few volumes. As they stood within a few feet of each other, Giles spoke in an odd tone to Anya. "I still don't get that Double-Ya B joke."
Anya sighed sadly, and muttered, "Of, course you don't."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dawn sat down on the couch, her face still burning from embarrassment. She felt extremely foolish for having walked in on Jay, as she would feel if she had walked in on anybody. The big difference isn't who she saw, but what. After all, as far as her experience went, (which would be excruciatingly little in her opinion) Jay would have been her most... in-depth examination of the human form to date. Of course, she felt nothing towards him, she didn't go in for the Stoner type, which she (and she alone apparently) had recognized him as the moment he opened his mouth.
But then again, you don't have to be an art buff to appreciate a good painting, either.
She sat there, feeling ashamed of herself for her actions, on the couch of the living room, and all of a sudden, Suzanne plopped down on the seat beside her, looked Dawn in the eyes, and put an arm on her shoulders. Dawn looked at the primate in mild shock, and simply smiled.
"Let's get you something to eat, eh?" She spoke, humorously, and smiled even wider when Suzanne nodded vigorously. She picked up the ape, and headed to the kitchen.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So, what do you think? Post, post damn you! ::looks at you in mock anger:: Aw, just kidding.
Sorry about that Xander quoting Jason Lee towards the end there, but haven't you ever noticed that looks like both Jason Lee (Brodie in Mallrats, Banky in Chasing Amy) and Ben Affleck (Holden in Chasing Amy, Bartleby in Dogma, Shannon Hamilton in Mallrats)? Like a cross between them, if you ask me.
By the way, sorry again about long delays, and I can't promise that the next posting will be much sooner. I'll try for next Wednesday, the next bit isn't too long.
In the mean time, Love and Snoochie Boochies!