I Robot., You Jane
~Keysuna
A/N There's actually a story behind this. You see, a friend of mine said he was going to pick up the fist season of Buffy on DVD, so instead of reading through the entire manuscript for this episode (because I've never seen it) I decided to wait for him. Well, it took so long it finally ran on FX before he could pick it up. So you can blame my friend on the delay.
The excerpt about Malcolm X is from
~ ~ ~
She deserved it.
For longer then she was comfortable with she had been in no condition to patrol. Giles, Willow and Xander had had to cover for her, although Buffy knew that Angel had gone ahead of them as to fight off any demons that might come their way.
The last thing the Slayer could stand would be one of the scoobies getting hurt.
So when Giles had come to her with an assignment she couldn't bring herself to make up an excuse.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was scanning books.
"All right, guys, let's wrap it up for today." Mrs. Calendar said as Buffy finished scanning a piece of history text. Setting the book aside she yawned and gazed sleepily around the room. Willow was still hard at work, seemingly not having heard the teachers announcement. Occasional throughout the period she had stolen glances at Xander who had been flipping through the more perverse sections of the books he was supposed to scan.
Jesse had abandoned them long before, opting to spend the afternoon with his girlfriend rather then in the library. Buffy could tell that Xander, Willow and Jesse weren't half as close as they had been, and a lot of that had to do with her. Jesse just wasn't as in to the whole demonic aspect of life as his other life long friends were. The Slayer did blame herself for Jesse's withdrawal from the group, but she theorized that having him still alive was all that mattered.
She stood up to bring her stack of books to Giles so he could organize them in some proper British fashion. Her skirt had hiked up her legs and she knew exactly where Xander's gaze had diverted to. Quickly pulling the material down, she placed the books on Giles desk and waited for two friends to hurry up.
Flattering as it was, the constant attention Xander was paying her was getting a little out of hand. She couldn't exactly place if it had been this bad the first time around, but it had come to a point where she couldn't go just with him to the Bronze as it felt to much like a date. . .
She felt bad enough that she hadn't seen Angel in a few days and Willow was still head over heels for Mr. Harris.
Poor Willow.
Buffy wished she could somehow hook the red head up with Oz but knew that was ludicrous thinking. Willow had never really told her how the two had met up and the Slayer could do nothing to speed the process along. If things went according to plan Willow and Oz would be together through High School and Xander would hopefully find a somewhat loving relationship with Cordelia.
Buffy just hoped she didn't fuck things up to badly.
The Slayer noticed her friend lower her head quickly as to not be noticed by Xander at her admiration. Giles directed Buffy to take the books to his office and she complied with a nod. She was trying to work in her head if there was anyone in the school that would be suitable for Willow in this stage in life. Although the two other computer nerds shared the red head's love for technology, they weren't people Buffy wanted hanging around.
She searched in her mind for a name of someone that Willow might of mentioned their Softmore year. Leaning against the desk in the silence of Giles side office she ran through the list of male students, yet no one triggered her memory.
Sighing, she flipped through one of the books at her side and read the text.
MALCOLM X. Original name MALCOLM LITTLE, Muslim name EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ (b. May 19, 1925, Omaha, Neb., U.S.--d. Feb. 21, 1965, New York, N.Y.), black militant leader who articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story--The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)--made him an ideological hero, especially among black youth. . .
Malcolm, now why did the name sound so familiar?
Buffy jumped up as it suddenly hit her. She tore out of the adjacent office and grabbed the ancient scripture that Fritz had just picked up.
"Sorry." She apologized quickly and gave the shocked boy what she hoped was a great smile. "This book. . . it's not for scanning."
It was then she realized that everyone was staring at her.
Giles was cleaning his glasses out of obvious embarrassment. Ms. Calendar stood a little shocked at Buffy's sudden outburst. Willow was giving her friend a wry smile and a What-is-going-on-with-you look. Xander was just trying not to laugh.
Buffy nervously laughed. "This book. . . it's uh. . . it has bad material." She came up with lamely. "Giles, you might want to look at this."
The Watcher shook his head and followed his Slayer into the small office.
"Next time let's try being a little more oblivious." Giles told her sarcastically as she closed the door them.
"The book has a demon in it." Buffy ignored the Watcher and held it up to him. "You scan it into the computer it's unleashed onto the Internet."
The irritated look on Giles's face quickly melted to worry as he took the book from her hands and flipped through it. "Oh dear." He said, ashen. "That was, good thinking Buffy."
The Slayer smiled to herself but Giles quickly looked up and his eyes had gone back to agitation. "I'll have to come up with an explanation for Ms. Calendar on your ludicrous behavior." His voice was stern.
"Right. . ." Buffy sighed, and then suddenly realized where the sudden change in attitude had come from. "You like her already! Don't you?" She exclaimed excitedly.
Giles blushed from underneath his glasses. "I. . . it's nothing of the sort. She's a colleague, a respected member of his facility-"
"You two are going to date." Buffy cut him off with a plaintive smile.
"What, really?" The Watcher said, trying to hid the guilty glee with a shocked face.
Buffy nodded with large grin before it turned into a thoughtful gaze as she remembered the past. "You deserve to have more with her then you did."
Giles met her eyes as though trying to read in her gaze exactly what she meant but Buffy shook her head to clear it and returned with her usual bright facade. "Think I'm going to take Willow and Xander and get out of here." She waved to him and went to the door, stopping before opening it. "Burn the book."
The Watcher nodded his understanding and watched as the Slayer bounced out of the room. Instead of returning back out he flicked on the light and sat at the desk, beginning to look through the book. The language was one he was only vaguely familiar with and it took all his concentration to translate. Which was good, because it kept thoughts about the women standing the doorway from entering his mind.
"Rupert?" She asked after watching him for a brief while. He shot his head up and jumped at the sight of her, nearly falling at his chair. She hid a smile. "Is everything all right? Buffy, Willow and Xander left her in a hurry and I just wanted to know what happened."
"Oh." Giles said awkwardly, sliding a desk drawer open and placing the book in it. "Everything is fine. Buffy just needed to ask me something."
Jenny nodded and walked further into the room, closing the door behind her. Giles noticed that the other two boys had left as well. "I got that actually." She paused and looked around the small room as though gathering herself. "Is there something I could ask you?"
"Of course." The Watcher said as she picked up a miniature wood carving of a cult goddess and played with it to rest her nerves.
"I was looking through the books in the library. The ones of your. . . personal collection." She finally breathed out. "They aren't exactly what I'd call orthodox." She set the figurine down.
Giles felt his stomach sink as he realized what she was referring to. She must have seen the texts on demons and hell dimensions he had carelessly left in the open.
"I was wondering if I could borrow one of them?" She said before he could contemplate a lame excuse about the books.
He had half expected her to report him to the principal. "What would you want with matters of the occult?" His voice was shocked.
"I'm a Technopagan." She said plainly.
Giles gave her a quizzical look and she sighed before explaining.
"A technopagan, like a witch, except through wires and silicone. Think the divine only exist in books? Think again?"
The Watcher absorbed the information. "So you have power?"
Jenny gave a harsh bark. "No, no power. But what are you? A sorcerer?"
"No. . ." Giles trailed as she stood from the desk. "A Watcher."
The computer teachers astonishment was obvious. "Like for a Vampire Slayer? I had no idea that there were potentials in this school."
Giles silently cursed himself for letting Buffy's secrete slip so easily. He had a hard time articulating his thoughts around this women and he hadn't felt this way since meeting Olivia in Britain. His Slayer had made it seem as though Jenny was apart of this slowly growing group and she had already confessed to knowledge of the demonic world.
"A Slayer, to be precise." He sighed before telling her the whole truth. "Buffy's the vampire Slayer."
Ms. Calendar choked back laughter. "The pretty blonde in the skirt? The one Xander couldn't keep his eyes off of? She's the Chosen One?"
Giles gave a small grin at her disbelief. "She's more then she seems."
Jenny shook her head as though trying to grasp the information and then glanced at her watch. "Shoot." She said. "I got a meeting in five minutes, look, you mind if I take your book on seventeenth century vampires?"
"Feel free." Giles said as he moved forward to follow her out.
"Thanks." Jenny grinned as they left the room. He handed her the book which had been left on the tabletop and she smiled to him before leaving through the swinging doors.
~ ~ ~
Buffy was careful that night as she patrolled. Tiptoeing across graves of the lost and listening to the whispers carried on the wind. If she concentrated hard enough, sometimes she could feel the power running through the undead and into the ground beneath her. The power that was also connected to her.
But her thoughts were to distracted for that kind of commitment.
Images of tear stains against Willows cheeks and the trembling voice of Giles as he spoke of Jenny's death. The mocking laugh of Angelus as he watched their suffering. They all filled her mind and she couldn't chase them out.
And in contrast, she remembered what had expired before. The elated Giles who had just rekindles his passion with the computer teacher. Angels eyes as he leaned into kissed her, the ones that burned with love and compassion.
The ones that she turned to a hate filled gaze.
Her body was heavy guilt as she walked along the gravestones. It was her fault Ms. Calendar had been killed, brutally slaughtered by the hands of her lover. But she knew better this time around, knew exactly why the computer teacher had come to Sunnydale, and that sleeping with the ensould vampire would only result in the falling of an Angel.
Buffy knew all of this. Apart of her told her she should turn Ms. Calendar away and leave Angel. She had to protect these lives. But she also needed to know the Giles was happy, and he had never been more content then when he had been with Jenny.
And the Slayer couldn't bear the thought of leaving Angel. Not when everything was new for the second time. She could experience everything she wanted, she just had to know when to the draw the line.
Buffy had to teach herself self control if she wanted to play the game this way.
~Keysuna
A/N There's actually a story behind this. You see, a friend of mine said he was going to pick up the fist season of Buffy on DVD, so instead of reading through the entire manuscript for this episode (because I've never seen it) I decided to wait for him. Well, it took so long it finally ran on FX before he could pick it up. So you can blame my friend on the delay.
The excerpt about Malcolm X is from
~ ~ ~
She deserved it.
For longer then she was comfortable with she had been in no condition to patrol. Giles, Willow and Xander had had to cover for her, although Buffy knew that Angel had gone ahead of them as to fight off any demons that might come their way.
The last thing the Slayer could stand would be one of the scoobies getting hurt.
So when Giles had come to her with an assignment she couldn't bring herself to make up an excuse.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was scanning books.
"All right, guys, let's wrap it up for today." Mrs. Calendar said as Buffy finished scanning a piece of history text. Setting the book aside she yawned and gazed sleepily around the room. Willow was still hard at work, seemingly not having heard the teachers announcement. Occasional throughout the period she had stolen glances at Xander who had been flipping through the more perverse sections of the books he was supposed to scan.
Jesse had abandoned them long before, opting to spend the afternoon with his girlfriend rather then in the library. Buffy could tell that Xander, Willow and Jesse weren't half as close as they had been, and a lot of that had to do with her. Jesse just wasn't as in to the whole demonic aspect of life as his other life long friends were. The Slayer did blame herself for Jesse's withdrawal from the group, but she theorized that having him still alive was all that mattered.
She stood up to bring her stack of books to Giles so he could organize them in some proper British fashion. Her skirt had hiked up her legs and she knew exactly where Xander's gaze had diverted to. Quickly pulling the material down, she placed the books on Giles desk and waited for two friends to hurry up.
Flattering as it was, the constant attention Xander was paying her was getting a little out of hand. She couldn't exactly place if it had been this bad the first time around, but it had come to a point where she couldn't go just with him to the Bronze as it felt to much like a date. . .
She felt bad enough that she hadn't seen Angel in a few days and Willow was still head over heels for Mr. Harris.
Poor Willow.
Buffy wished she could somehow hook the red head up with Oz but knew that was ludicrous thinking. Willow had never really told her how the two had met up and the Slayer could do nothing to speed the process along. If things went according to plan Willow and Oz would be together through High School and Xander would hopefully find a somewhat loving relationship with Cordelia.
Buffy just hoped she didn't fuck things up to badly.
The Slayer noticed her friend lower her head quickly as to not be noticed by Xander at her admiration. Giles directed Buffy to take the books to his office and she complied with a nod. She was trying to work in her head if there was anyone in the school that would be suitable for Willow in this stage in life. Although the two other computer nerds shared the red head's love for technology, they weren't people Buffy wanted hanging around.
She searched in her mind for a name of someone that Willow might of mentioned their Softmore year. Leaning against the desk in the silence of Giles side office she ran through the list of male students, yet no one triggered her memory.
Sighing, she flipped through one of the books at her side and read the text.
MALCOLM X. Original name MALCOLM LITTLE, Muslim name EL-HAJJ MALIK EL-SHABAZZ (b. May 19, 1925, Omaha, Neb., U.S.--d. Feb. 21, 1965, New York, N.Y.), black militant leader who articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the early 1960s. After his assassination, the widespread distribution of his life story--The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)--made him an ideological hero, especially among black youth. . .
Malcolm, now why did the name sound so familiar?
Buffy jumped up as it suddenly hit her. She tore out of the adjacent office and grabbed the ancient scripture that Fritz had just picked up.
"Sorry." She apologized quickly and gave the shocked boy what she hoped was a great smile. "This book. . . it's not for scanning."
It was then she realized that everyone was staring at her.
Giles was cleaning his glasses out of obvious embarrassment. Ms. Calendar stood a little shocked at Buffy's sudden outburst. Willow was giving her friend a wry smile and a What-is-going-on-with-you look. Xander was just trying not to laugh.
Buffy nervously laughed. "This book. . . it's uh. . . it has bad material." She came up with lamely. "Giles, you might want to look at this."
The Watcher shook his head and followed his Slayer into the small office.
"Next time let's try being a little more oblivious." Giles told her sarcastically as she closed the door them.
"The book has a demon in it." Buffy ignored the Watcher and held it up to him. "You scan it into the computer it's unleashed onto the Internet."
The irritated look on Giles's face quickly melted to worry as he took the book from her hands and flipped through it. "Oh dear." He said, ashen. "That was, good thinking Buffy."
The Slayer smiled to herself but Giles quickly looked up and his eyes had gone back to agitation. "I'll have to come up with an explanation for Ms. Calendar on your ludicrous behavior." His voice was stern.
"Right. . ." Buffy sighed, and then suddenly realized where the sudden change in attitude had come from. "You like her already! Don't you?" She exclaimed excitedly.
Giles blushed from underneath his glasses. "I. . . it's nothing of the sort. She's a colleague, a respected member of his facility-"
"You two are going to date." Buffy cut him off with a plaintive smile.
"What, really?" The Watcher said, trying to hid the guilty glee with a shocked face.
Buffy nodded with large grin before it turned into a thoughtful gaze as she remembered the past. "You deserve to have more with her then you did."
Giles met her eyes as though trying to read in her gaze exactly what she meant but Buffy shook her head to clear it and returned with her usual bright facade. "Think I'm going to take Willow and Xander and get out of here." She waved to him and went to the door, stopping before opening it. "Burn the book."
The Watcher nodded his understanding and watched as the Slayer bounced out of the room. Instead of returning back out he flicked on the light and sat at the desk, beginning to look through the book. The language was one he was only vaguely familiar with and it took all his concentration to translate. Which was good, because it kept thoughts about the women standing the doorway from entering his mind.
"Rupert?" She asked after watching him for a brief while. He shot his head up and jumped at the sight of her, nearly falling at his chair. She hid a smile. "Is everything all right? Buffy, Willow and Xander left her in a hurry and I just wanted to know what happened."
"Oh." Giles said awkwardly, sliding a desk drawer open and placing the book in it. "Everything is fine. Buffy just needed to ask me something."
Jenny nodded and walked further into the room, closing the door behind her. Giles noticed that the other two boys had left as well. "I got that actually." She paused and looked around the small room as though gathering herself. "Is there something I could ask you?"
"Of course." The Watcher said as she picked up a miniature wood carving of a cult goddess and played with it to rest her nerves.
"I was looking through the books in the library. The ones of your. . . personal collection." She finally breathed out. "They aren't exactly what I'd call orthodox." She set the figurine down.
Giles felt his stomach sink as he realized what she was referring to. She must have seen the texts on demons and hell dimensions he had carelessly left in the open.
"I was wondering if I could borrow one of them?" She said before he could contemplate a lame excuse about the books.
He had half expected her to report him to the principal. "What would you want with matters of the occult?" His voice was shocked.
"I'm a Technopagan." She said plainly.
Giles gave her a quizzical look and she sighed before explaining.
"A technopagan, like a witch, except through wires and silicone. Think the divine only exist in books? Think again?"
The Watcher absorbed the information. "So you have power?"
Jenny gave a harsh bark. "No, no power. But what are you? A sorcerer?"
"No. . ." Giles trailed as she stood from the desk. "A Watcher."
The computer teachers astonishment was obvious. "Like for a Vampire Slayer? I had no idea that there were potentials in this school."
Giles silently cursed himself for letting Buffy's secrete slip so easily. He had a hard time articulating his thoughts around this women and he hadn't felt this way since meeting Olivia in Britain. His Slayer had made it seem as though Jenny was apart of this slowly growing group and she had already confessed to knowledge of the demonic world.
"A Slayer, to be precise." He sighed before telling her the whole truth. "Buffy's the vampire Slayer."
Ms. Calendar choked back laughter. "The pretty blonde in the skirt? The one Xander couldn't keep his eyes off of? She's the Chosen One?"
Giles gave a small grin at her disbelief. "She's more then she seems."
Jenny shook her head as though trying to grasp the information and then glanced at her watch. "Shoot." She said. "I got a meeting in five minutes, look, you mind if I take your book on seventeenth century vampires?"
"Feel free." Giles said as he moved forward to follow her out.
"Thanks." Jenny grinned as they left the room. He handed her the book which had been left on the tabletop and she smiled to him before leaving through the swinging doors.
~ ~ ~
Buffy was careful that night as she patrolled. Tiptoeing across graves of the lost and listening to the whispers carried on the wind. If she concentrated hard enough, sometimes she could feel the power running through the undead and into the ground beneath her. The power that was also connected to her.
But her thoughts were to distracted for that kind of commitment.
Images of tear stains against Willows cheeks and the trembling voice of Giles as he spoke of Jenny's death. The mocking laugh of Angelus as he watched their suffering. They all filled her mind and she couldn't chase them out.
And in contrast, she remembered what had expired before. The elated Giles who had just rekindles his passion with the computer teacher. Angels eyes as he leaned into kissed her, the ones that burned with love and compassion.
The ones that she turned to a hate filled gaze.
Her body was heavy guilt as she walked along the gravestones. It was her fault Ms. Calendar had been killed, brutally slaughtered by the hands of her lover. But she knew better this time around, knew exactly why the computer teacher had come to Sunnydale, and that sleeping with the ensould vampire would only result in the falling of an Angel.
Buffy knew all of this. Apart of her told her she should turn Ms. Calendar away and leave Angel. She had to protect these lives. But she also needed to know the Giles was happy, and he had never been more content then when he had been with Jenny.
And the Slayer couldn't bear the thought of leaving Angel. Not when everything was new for the second time. She could experience everything she wanted, she just had to know when to the draw the line.
Buffy had to teach herself self control if she wanted to play the game this way.