Here comes the madness. . . and a few visitors! I own none of this, and I
am sorry to say I don't think I ever will. Would've been nice though.
Anyway, as always I am craving your reviews, but strangely enough I no
longer have a taste for salsa or cream cake. Enjoy, ~Anoron
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Reese, Malcolm and Dewey sat in a row on the couch, barely daring to breathe. Faith paced up and down in front of them, a calculated, intimidating swagger to her hips.
"Look guys, it's Friday afternoon and Mom and Dad have gone away until Monday morning. So whatever insane thing you've got planned, it had better be something that you are damn sure they'll never find out about, and you'd better make damn sure I don't have to deal with it. By that, I specifically mean that the house will be left standing, and it will be left standing where Mom and Dad left it. I can't afford to miss any more weeks out there on patrol. Got it?"
Gulping, the three boys nodded. It seemed Faith wasn't going to tolerate any disasters while their parents were on a last-minute romantic getaway before the baby came. Satisfied, Faith turned and stalked towards the kitchen. Before she had taken four steps, she was frozen on the spot by the sound of Malcolm's voice. "So, Reese, what time did you tell everyone the party started?"
The house filled up with rambunctious teens faster than any of them had expected. Reese and Malcolm were looking around them, identical grins of triumph plastered on their faces as they took note of the turn-out. Faith and Dewey were also taking note of the beings in their home, though they were already surveying the damage and with each new breakage, a new and satisfying thought for the torture of her middle brothers popped into Faith's mind.
She narrowed her eyes as she watched Reese talking to Francis' old partners in crime, three deadbeat guys Faith knew well from days of old. Circus, Justin and Richie seemed to be delighting Reese with a story of one of the many Car Wash Mascot heists they'd successfully pulled off over the years.
"This is not going to go well," Faith muttered. Beside her, Dewey nodded unhappily. Despite being safely huddled at his big sister's side, he looked small and lost in the large crowd, Professor Cuddles clutched to his chest protectively.
Malcolm, meanwhile, was still basking in the success of their party, despite being centre-circle of a ring of cowering and overstimulated Krelboynes.
Malcolm's Aside: "This is going *so* well! I really am a genius, this is the greatest party ever. Absolutely nothing has gone wrong!"
Almost in answer to his challenge, all around them windows and doors started imploding. Amidst the screaming of scores of out-of-control teens, Faith managed to scan the house for signs of the attackers.
She didn't have to look too hard. Zombie-like creatures were pouring in from every possible opening. They were snapping necks as they went, which only served to create more zombie allies for them. Without even thinking about it, Faith shoved Dewey out of sight under the table and shot accusatory glances at her two teenaged brothers.
"This is *your* fault!" she screamed at them, and launched into attack mode. She was unable to kill any of the zombies, being already dead, but Faith was a whirlwind of power and energy knocking every one of them within her range to the floor.
Richie looked over to Circus and Justin. The three of them were standing to the side of all the carnage, completely unimpressed. Richie shook his head. "Dudes, this party sucks. I think we're gonna have to liven it up ourselves."
Faith looked around. Malcolm and Reese, and a few of the other guests annoyed at having their fun interrupted had begun to beat on the zombies, but they were way too easily outnumbered. She hated to admit it, but she was outmatched by things she didn't know how to kill, her brothers were in mortal danger, and whether she survived this or not her mother was going kill her for trashing the house.
Suddenly, a figure blurred past Faith, hurling itself into the fray. Another, smaller figure had also entered the house, and was currently standing by the door, surveying the scene with cool composure.
"Hey! I thought I told you two to wait in the car!" A new voice growled at the figures, whose names were Connor and Dawn.
Faith whirled to face the figure in the doorway. "Hey, Angel. Could use a little help here."
"Hey, Faith," Angel shot back, his vocie dripping with sarcasm. "Could use an invite here."
"Oh right. C'mon in and kick some ass."
"Thought you'd never ask," Angel replied, swooping into the house and immediately dropping several zombies.
Malcolm looked up. He and Reese were double-teaming a zombie, but all of a sudden he found himself working alone. He tripped the zombie and looked to Reese to see what had happened to him.
"Dude, who is *that*?" Reese asked Malcolm, staring at Dawn.
Malcolm huffed. "What? I don't know! I think we have more important issues to deal with right now than some hot new girl-"
"I'm gonna go talk to her," Reese decided, cutting Malcolm off. Malcolm watched as Reese casually sauntered through the gore towards the girl. He couldn't help but laugh when, just as Reese reached her and opened his mouth to speak, the girl, who had been scanning the crowd the whole time and hadn't even noticed his approach, stalked off, making a beeline for the far corner of the room.
Dawn noticed the gothic girl in the far corner after a while. It wasn't the extreme black clothing and vampire-pale make-up that got her attention, it was the fact that the pendant that hung around her neck was glowing bright red. The girl herself didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Dawn stalked over to her and, before the gothic girl could react, she snatched the pendant from around her neck.
"Hey-" the girl began, but it was too late.
Dawn threw the pendant to the floor and stomped on it until she heard a satisfying crack. Faith and Angel, both mid-swing at the moment Dawn broke the pendant, spun out of control and fell to the floor when their fists connected with nothing but air.
They both scrambled to their feet, Faith pushing Connor off as he tried to help her, and took quick stock of the situation. The zombies were all gone, and all that was left in the room was a handful of confused kids and one pissed-off looking gothic chick.
"What-?" Faith began, still looking around to figure out exactly how the zombies had been defeated.
Dawn lifted her foot up, revealing the broken pendant beneath it. "Talisman. There's always a talisman," she informed them, repeating something Buffy had taught her what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"All right, kids, party's over!" Angel yelled, and waited for the house to empty.
Nobody moved. Connor and Dawn exchanged bemused looks. The entire house was silent for another few seconds, then a voice that Faith recognised as Richie's yelled out, "Food fight!"
Connor looked at Dawn. She hadn't taught him about this particular piece of American childhood culture yet. "What's a foo-?" he began to ask, but was cut off by a handful of chips hitting him squarely in the face.
Reese, Malcolm and Dawn were already in full swing by now, and Connor was very quickly catching on to the concept. With exasperated looks at one another, Faith and Angel hurried over to collar their charges.
"Right- the four of you! Sit your asses down on that couch and don't move!" Faith ordered in her scariest Lois impression. In less than a heartbeat, the four teens were sitting in a perfect row on the couch. A minute later, Dewey came out from hiding under the table and squashed in between Reese and Dawn with a big smile at the pretty new girl.
Malcolm leaned over to talk to Connor and Dawn. "So, what are you doing here?"
Connor shrugged by way of response. "My Dad said he was coming to visit Faith, and Dawn thought we should come too, since we'd never been. So we jumped in the trunk of the Plymouth when my Dad wasn't looking, and here we are! I'm Connor, by the way. This is Dawn."
"I'm Malcolm," he returned. "These are my brothers, Reese and Dewey."
Both the blonder brothers were grinning at Dawn, who smiled shyly back before dropping her head, a light blush staining her cheeks. She wasn't exactly used to this kind of attention. "Why did you want to come to Boston?" Reese had to know. He could think of a million other places in the world he'd head to before Boston, given half the chance.
Dawn looked up, smiling brightly. "Now I can say I've taken a ride in the trunk of a Plymouth *and* I've been to Boston!"
"Awesome," was the only thing Reese could think of to say.
Somehow, Faith and Angel had managed to get the food fight under control, though Faith had salsa splattered all over her face and Angel was left wondering who in the hell had brought the cream-cake he was now wearing to the party in the first place.
Faith caught sight of Richie, Circus and Justin giggling mindlessly at the havoc they had created and stormed over to them. "All right, you three have had your fun, now get lost," she snarled.
Richie pretended to be hurt. "Ouch. C'mon Faith, you used to be cool. What happened?"
"I spent a coupla years in a maximum security prison. Tends to slow a girl down," Faith shot back without hesitation. "Look are you guys going to leave or not?"
"Or not," Justin piped up.
With a sadistic smile, Faith rubbed her hands together. "I do love a challenge."
Angel's vampire hearing easily caught Faith's threats and he rushed over to the Slayer, praying he could diffuse the situation. "Let's not lose our tempers," he reminded Faith.
Faith pouted. "Not even just a little?"
"No! There's no point. These guys were just leaving, right?" Angel sent a pointed glare towards Francis' three old buddies, hoping they would take the hint.
"No," Richie responded lazily. His eyes roved over the scene and he caught sight of Dawn, jammed in between Dewey and Connor and chattering easily to Reese. "Hey, check out the underage hottie," he moved to approach Dawn, but a large, glowering vampire cut him off.
"Let's not check her out, ok?"
Faith leaned against the wall and watched with interest. She, like all the others in the room who knew of him, was dying to see if the vampire champion could take care of three not-so-juvenile anymore delinquents.
Circus and Justin swaggered up behind Richie. "Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?"
That was enough for both Faith and Angel. Faith stepped forward, cracking her knuckles in anticipation of the beating she was about to give the three, but before she could raise a hand, Angel had morphed into vamp- face and Francis' old buddies had run screaming into the night. The few remaining partygoers dispersed quickly afterwards.
* * * * *
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* * * * *
Reese, Malcolm and Dewey sat in a row on the couch, barely daring to breathe. Faith paced up and down in front of them, a calculated, intimidating swagger to her hips.
"Look guys, it's Friday afternoon and Mom and Dad have gone away until Monday morning. So whatever insane thing you've got planned, it had better be something that you are damn sure they'll never find out about, and you'd better make damn sure I don't have to deal with it. By that, I specifically mean that the house will be left standing, and it will be left standing where Mom and Dad left it. I can't afford to miss any more weeks out there on patrol. Got it?"
Gulping, the three boys nodded. It seemed Faith wasn't going to tolerate any disasters while their parents were on a last-minute romantic getaway before the baby came. Satisfied, Faith turned and stalked towards the kitchen. Before she had taken four steps, she was frozen on the spot by the sound of Malcolm's voice. "So, Reese, what time did you tell everyone the party started?"
The house filled up with rambunctious teens faster than any of them had expected. Reese and Malcolm were looking around them, identical grins of triumph plastered on their faces as they took note of the turn-out. Faith and Dewey were also taking note of the beings in their home, though they were already surveying the damage and with each new breakage, a new and satisfying thought for the torture of her middle brothers popped into Faith's mind.
She narrowed her eyes as she watched Reese talking to Francis' old partners in crime, three deadbeat guys Faith knew well from days of old. Circus, Justin and Richie seemed to be delighting Reese with a story of one of the many Car Wash Mascot heists they'd successfully pulled off over the years.
"This is not going to go well," Faith muttered. Beside her, Dewey nodded unhappily. Despite being safely huddled at his big sister's side, he looked small and lost in the large crowd, Professor Cuddles clutched to his chest protectively.
Malcolm, meanwhile, was still basking in the success of their party, despite being centre-circle of a ring of cowering and overstimulated Krelboynes.
Malcolm's Aside: "This is going *so* well! I really am a genius, this is the greatest party ever. Absolutely nothing has gone wrong!"
Almost in answer to his challenge, all around them windows and doors started imploding. Amidst the screaming of scores of out-of-control teens, Faith managed to scan the house for signs of the attackers.
She didn't have to look too hard. Zombie-like creatures were pouring in from every possible opening. They were snapping necks as they went, which only served to create more zombie allies for them. Without even thinking about it, Faith shoved Dewey out of sight under the table and shot accusatory glances at her two teenaged brothers.
"This is *your* fault!" she screamed at them, and launched into attack mode. She was unable to kill any of the zombies, being already dead, but Faith was a whirlwind of power and energy knocking every one of them within her range to the floor.
Richie looked over to Circus and Justin. The three of them were standing to the side of all the carnage, completely unimpressed. Richie shook his head. "Dudes, this party sucks. I think we're gonna have to liven it up ourselves."
Faith looked around. Malcolm and Reese, and a few of the other guests annoyed at having their fun interrupted had begun to beat on the zombies, but they were way too easily outnumbered. She hated to admit it, but she was outmatched by things she didn't know how to kill, her brothers were in mortal danger, and whether she survived this or not her mother was going kill her for trashing the house.
Suddenly, a figure blurred past Faith, hurling itself into the fray. Another, smaller figure had also entered the house, and was currently standing by the door, surveying the scene with cool composure.
"Hey! I thought I told you two to wait in the car!" A new voice growled at the figures, whose names were Connor and Dawn.
Faith whirled to face the figure in the doorway. "Hey, Angel. Could use a little help here."
"Hey, Faith," Angel shot back, his vocie dripping with sarcasm. "Could use an invite here."
"Oh right. C'mon in and kick some ass."
"Thought you'd never ask," Angel replied, swooping into the house and immediately dropping several zombies.
Malcolm looked up. He and Reese were double-teaming a zombie, but all of a sudden he found himself working alone. He tripped the zombie and looked to Reese to see what had happened to him.
"Dude, who is *that*?" Reese asked Malcolm, staring at Dawn.
Malcolm huffed. "What? I don't know! I think we have more important issues to deal with right now than some hot new girl-"
"I'm gonna go talk to her," Reese decided, cutting Malcolm off. Malcolm watched as Reese casually sauntered through the gore towards the girl. He couldn't help but laugh when, just as Reese reached her and opened his mouth to speak, the girl, who had been scanning the crowd the whole time and hadn't even noticed his approach, stalked off, making a beeline for the far corner of the room.
Dawn noticed the gothic girl in the far corner after a while. It wasn't the extreme black clothing and vampire-pale make-up that got her attention, it was the fact that the pendant that hung around her neck was glowing bright red. The girl herself didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Dawn stalked over to her and, before the gothic girl could react, she snatched the pendant from around her neck.
"Hey-" the girl began, but it was too late.
Dawn threw the pendant to the floor and stomped on it until she heard a satisfying crack. Faith and Angel, both mid-swing at the moment Dawn broke the pendant, spun out of control and fell to the floor when their fists connected with nothing but air.
They both scrambled to their feet, Faith pushing Connor off as he tried to help her, and took quick stock of the situation. The zombies were all gone, and all that was left in the room was a handful of confused kids and one pissed-off looking gothic chick.
"What-?" Faith began, still looking around to figure out exactly how the zombies had been defeated.
Dawn lifted her foot up, revealing the broken pendant beneath it. "Talisman. There's always a talisman," she informed them, repeating something Buffy had taught her what seemed like a lifetime ago.
"All right, kids, party's over!" Angel yelled, and waited for the house to empty.
Nobody moved. Connor and Dawn exchanged bemused looks. The entire house was silent for another few seconds, then a voice that Faith recognised as Richie's yelled out, "Food fight!"
Connor looked at Dawn. She hadn't taught him about this particular piece of American childhood culture yet. "What's a foo-?" he began to ask, but was cut off by a handful of chips hitting him squarely in the face.
Reese, Malcolm and Dawn were already in full swing by now, and Connor was very quickly catching on to the concept. With exasperated looks at one another, Faith and Angel hurried over to collar their charges.
"Right- the four of you! Sit your asses down on that couch and don't move!" Faith ordered in her scariest Lois impression. In less than a heartbeat, the four teens were sitting in a perfect row on the couch. A minute later, Dewey came out from hiding under the table and squashed in between Reese and Dawn with a big smile at the pretty new girl.
Malcolm leaned over to talk to Connor and Dawn. "So, what are you doing here?"
Connor shrugged by way of response. "My Dad said he was coming to visit Faith, and Dawn thought we should come too, since we'd never been. So we jumped in the trunk of the Plymouth when my Dad wasn't looking, and here we are! I'm Connor, by the way. This is Dawn."
"I'm Malcolm," he returned. "These are my brothers, Reese and Dewey."
Both the blonder brothers were grinning at Dawn, who smiled shyly back before dropping her head, a light blush staining her cheeks. She wasn't exactly used to this kind of attention. "Why did you want to come to Boston?" Reese had to know. He could think of a million other places in the world he'd head to before Boston, given half the chance.
Dawn looked up, smiling brightly. "Now I can say I've taken a ride in the trunk of a Plymouth *and* I've been to Boston!"
"Awesome," was the only thing Reese could think of to say.
Somehow, Faith and Angel had managed to get the food fight under control, though Faith had salsa splattered all over her face and Angel was left wondering who in the hell had brought the cream-cake he was now wearing to the party in the first place.
Faith caught sight of Richie, Circus and Justin giggling mindlessly at the havoc they had created and stormed over to them. "All right, you three have had your fun, now get lost," she snarled.
Richie pretended to be hurt. "Ouch. C'mon Faith, you used to be cool. What happened?"
"I spent a coupla years in a maximum security prison. Tends to slow a girl down," Faith shot back without hesitation. "Look are you guys going to leave or not?"
"Or not," Justin piped up.
With a sadistic smile, Faith rubbed her hands together. "I do love a challenge."
Angel's vampire hearing easily caught Faith's threats and he rushed over to the Slayer, praying he could diffuse the situation. "Let's not lose our tempers," he reminded Faith.
Faith pouted. "Not even just a little?"
"No! There's no point. These guys were just leaving, right?" Angel sent a pointed glare towards Francis' three old buddies, hoping they would take the hint.
"No," Richie responded lazily. His eyes roved over the scene and he caught sight of Dawn, jammed in between Dewey and Connor and chattering easily to Reese. "Hey, check out the underage hottie," he moved to approach Dawn, but a large, glowering vampire cut him off.
"Let's not check her out, ok?"
Faith leaned against the wall and watched with interest. She, like all the others in the room who knew of him, was dying to see if the vampire champion could take care of three not-so-juvenile anymore delinquents.
Circus and Justin swaggered up behind Richie. "Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it?"
That was enough for both Faith and Angel. Faith stepped forward, cracking her knuckles in anticipation of the beating she was about to give the three, but before she could raise a hand, Angel had morphed into vamp- face and Francis' old buddies had run screaming into the night. The few remaining partygoers dispersed quickly afterwards.
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