It wasn't until the following morning that Willow had the opportunity to
have a proper reunion with Tara. It wasn't exactly surprising, since she
arrived home somewhere between two and three in the morning. After a quick
hug and a "missed you so much", Willow had gratefully collapsed in her bed.
Now at the ungodly hour of nine (she had wanted to sleep until noon, but
with the everything-ness needing doing she woke up waaay too early) Willow
could finally talk with Tara.
And there was much to discuss. Last week, she had been happily basking in her geekness at the tech conference. Then she had decided to do the right thing and visit a distant relation who happened to be in prison. And now she was technically a fugitive from the law and had to help stop a mini-apocalypse. Definite Need to Speak with Significant Other time.
Which was why she was sitting down with Tara with coffee. Lots of coffee.
"What really worries me is not the whole Sl'kanith thing, but my cousin. 'Cause I've dealt with demons before. Been fighting the good fight since sophomore year and all. But Erik or Magneto or whoever he is, I don't get him. I mean I think he's happy we're family and all, but there's this whole MUTANT thing he has going."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean whatever went down at Ellis Island. Which was obviously bad enough he got sent to prison. I mean, they built this way big expensive prison just for him. Really doesn't say 'I'm an all around good guy' does it?"
"Have you asked Erik about Ellis Island?"
"Um, no. But he hasn't brought it up, either! And when I was at their whole secret base thing, they were all 'stay with your guide' and 'don't wander around'. And I think his office/lair was full of not so legal stuff."
"Willow -"
"And when I told the Brotherhood I was a human, they got freaky about it. Like I was a lesser being or something. If I wasn't a witch I think they would've gone all scary on me. And these are like Erik's people! He's their leader, so what they say is what he would say, and Tara, I'm so confused!"
"You've been wanting to let that out for a while now, haven't you?"
Willow nodded emphatically. "It's kind of been me and the Brotherhood for the past few days. And so totally can't vent with them."
Tara sighed. From Willow's descriptions, it sounded as if Erik/Magneto was not a shining example of humanity. But it was in her nature to be as optimistic about people. And Willow obviously needed the Voice of Calm Reason.
"Willow, what do you know about the mutant situation?"
Willow looked down sheepishly. "Not so much. Sunnydale doesn't bother much with the outside world. If we have any mutants, like Marcie, it would be treated the same way we treat anything out of the ordinary."
"Ignore it."
"Yeah, basically."
Tara was a little amused about this. In so many things Willow was far more knowledgeable than her, but apparently in this she was light years ahead.
"You know that the rise of mutants has a lot of people concerned, right?"
"I know that much. But you and I both know that there's been people with funky powers a lot longer than that."
"And somewhere around the Middle Ages we stopped openly practicing and went into hiding for a couple centuries. Mutants don't have the same background of secrecy that witches and demons have, Willow; they want to part of the world and not hide."
"So?"
"So, the same reason the supernatural world went underground is the same reason why mutants are pretty scared of the unchanged humans. They're outnumbered by a group that has a bad history with dealing with the unknown and different. Just look at how hard it can be for you and I to be together."
"I know - It's just that Magneto's got this whole 'mutants are the future' attitude and it scares me."
"I'm not saying he's got the right way to go about it, Willow. Just try to remember where he's coming from."
Willow slumped in her chair. "Why'd you have to go and validate all my reasonable voices?"
"Because that's what I'm here for. The validation of reasonable voices."
"You know you're the best, don't you?"
Tara's eyes twinkled. "Of course."
***
Later that day the Scoobies and the Brotherhood assembled at Giles' place. The final round of introductions occurred, going uneventfully barring Anya's remark to Mystique, "You look like someone I once enacted vengeance for. Quite a creative wish. Do you know a Raven Darkholme?" Mystique did not reply, though Magneto got a faintly disturbed expression upon this revelation.
Once the formalities were out of the way, Giles quickly took control of the meeting.
"We've managed to determine the wisest course of action in dealing with the Sl'kanith demon. Thanks to the help provided by Magneto and the, Brotherhood, is it? we will be able to effectively patrol the town once the chaos begins."
Avalanche spoke up. "How come you need us to watch out for the straight genes, anyway? Isn't that what police are for?"
At the mention of the police all who knew Sunnydale gave Avalanche a Look. Buffy said dryly, "Just so you know, the police in Sunnydale are deeply stupid. Natural side effect of totally ignoring the demon population."
"About that," Giles broke in, "you should know that the likelihood of your more unique traits being noticed is quite low."
"Delusion, thy name is Sunnydale."
"Quite right, Xander. Now back to the Sl'kanith issue, we have five days before the dampening spell can be cast. Tara, I believe you have the spell with you?"
Tara looked up. She had rarely participated in deep Scoobiness beyond research, but now she had to talk? In front of people, strange people?
Willow gave her hand a quick squeeze.
"W-well, most of the ingredients are fairly basic. W-we'll need a focusing crystal, rose hips, monkshood, sage, a-and a cauldron containing copper, silver, and gold."
Giles nodded decisively. "Those are all easy enough to procure. Perhaps a visit to the Magic Shop later today?"
Tara blushed. "I'm n-not done. There's t-two more things on the list. A-a bag woven of s-siren hair and um," here her voice trailed off uncertainly.
"Yes, what else is it?" Magneto broke in impatiently. He was surprised at the lack of confidence Willow's lover displayed. The girl seemed so unsure of herself it was almost laughable. He thought Willow would choose someone more her equal in strength.
Tara flushed under his stare, as if she heard his thoughts.
"And the blood of a victim," she mumbled.
"Speak up!"
"The Blood of a Victim!" The girl almost sounded as if she had a backbone. Willow glared at him for being so rude to Tara. Magneto was not bothered at all. It wasn't his fault the girl was so nervous.
Giles frowned a little at the last ingredient. Spells requiring blood rarely tapped into the good sources of magic. It would be most unfortunate if their primary weapon in fighting the Sl'kanith involved the Black Arts.
"What is the blood for?"
"Ooh, I can answer that!" Anya broke in proudly. "You need the victim's blood to focus the spell on the demon, so that the demon can no longer create more victims. It's like a white magic version of a vengeance spell. That's why it doesn't, you know, kill the Sl'kanith."
So that meant using the blood was okay. And as Giles was well aware, despite their best efforts there would be blood shed before the spell could be cast.
"The blood will be way too easy to get." Buffy joined the conversation now. "But the siren hair thing? Doesn't exactly sound like an over the counter item."
Anya was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. "I know this one too! There's a siren who lives an hour away on the coast. She's a friend of mine from my vengeance days and was always saving her hair - siren hair grows so fast, of course." Everyone nodded as if they too knew "of course". "She usually wove it sell - Siren hair makes for an excellent secondary income, given how the market for wrecking ships went down with the invention of efficient tracking methods. Melly has a good understanding of the dollar. She'll sell."
"Yes, thank you, Anya. So a few of you will go speak with this Melly -"
"Only send women, Giles. Melly's mostly retired, but she still appreciates the destruction of the males of the species. I don't want to lose my Xander."
"Thank you for the warning, Anya, we will take note of that."
"Are we done now? Because Xander said that once we had a big meeting he would no longer be too worried to give me orgasms. So can we go now? I want my orgasms."
The Scoobies rolled their eyes at Anya, for being, well, Anya. The Brotherhood proceeded to do a group impression of a fish gasping for air. Anya rolled her eyes at the Brotherhood. Some people were so uptight.
Giles coughed and restrained the desire to clean his glasses. "Yes Anya, we are done for now."
"Good!"
"Willow and Tara, would you stop by the Magic Shop for the more easily obtained supplies?"
"Sure, Giles."
"Right then. Well, until tonight."
Everybody got up to do whatever business they thought needed doing. Anya grabbed Xander by the hand and practically dragged him out the door. Xander gave them all looks of apology as she pulled him along.
Once those two were safely out the door, the rest proceeded to leave in a more normal fashion.
"Magneto?"
The mutant turned towards the intellectual leader of these Scoobies. What was he called again? A Watcher?
"Might I have a word with you?"
Magneto paused, prepared to listen to whatever concerns this Giles had to bring up.
And there was much to discuss. Last week, she had been happily basking in her geekness at the tech conference. Then she had decided to do the right thing and visit a distant relation who happened to be in prison. And now she was technically a fugitive from the law and had to help stop a mini-apocalypse. Definite Need to Speak with Significant Other time.
Which was why she was sitting down with Tara with coffee. Lots of coffee.
"What really worries me is not the whole Sl'kanith thing, but my cousin. 'Cause I've dealt with demons before. Been fighting the good fight since sophomore year and all. But Erik or Magneto or whoever he is, I don't get him. I mean I think he's happy we're family and all, but there's this whole MUTANT thing he has going."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean whatever went down at Ellis Island. Which was obviously bad enough he got sent to prison. I mean, they built this way big expensive prison just for him. Really doesn't say 'I'm an all around good guy' does it?"
"Have you asked Erik about Ellis Island?"
"Um, no. But he hasn't brought it up, either! And when I was at their whole secret base thing, they were all 'stay with your guide' and 'don't wander around'. And I think his office/lair was full of not so legal stuff."
"Willow -"
"And when I told the Brotherhood I was a human, they got freaky about it. Like I was a lesser being or something. If I wasn't a witch I think they would've gone all scary on me. And these are like Erik's people! He's their leader, so what they say is what he would say, and Tara, I'm so confused!"
"You've been wanting to let that out for a while now, haven't you?"
Willow nodded emphatically. "It's kind of been me and the Brotherhood for the past few days. And so totally can't vent with them."
Tara sighed. From Willow's descriptions, it sounded as if Erik/Magneto was not a shining example of humanity. But it was in her nature to be as optimistic about people. And Willow obviously needed the Voice of Calm Reason.
"Willow, what do you know about the mutant situation?"
Willow looked down sheepishly. "Not so much. Sunnydale doesn't bother much with the outside world. If we have any mutants, like Marcie, it would be treated the same way we treat anything out of the ordinary."
"Ignore it."
"Yeah, basically."
Tara was a little amused about this. In so many things Willow was far more knowledgeable than her, but apparently in this she was light years ahead.
"You know that the rise of mutants has a lot of people concerned, right?"
"I know that much. But you and I both know that there's been people with funky powers a lot longer than that."
"And somewhere around the Middle Ages we stopped openly practicing and went into hiding for a couple centuries. Mutants don't have the same background of secrecy that witches and demons have, Willow; they want to part of the world and not hide."
"So?"
"So, the same reason the supernatural world went underground is the same reason why mutants are pretty scared of the unchanged humans. They're outnumbered by a group that has a bad history with dealing with the unknown and different. Just look at how hard it can be for you and I to be together."
"I know - It's just that Magneto's got this whole 'mutants are the future' attitude and it scares me."
"I'm not saying he's got the right way to go about it, Willow. Just try to remember where he's coming from."
Willow slumped in her chair. "Why'd you have to go and validate all my reasonable voices?"
"Because that's what I'm here for. The validation of reasonable voices."
"You know you're the best, don't you?"
Tara's eyes twinkled. "Of course."
***
Later that day the Scoobies and the Brotherhood assembled at Giles' place. The final round of introductions occurred, going uneventfully barring Anya's remark to Mystique, "You look like someone I once enacted vengeance for. Quite a creative wish. Do you know a Raven Darkholme?" Mystique did not reply, though Magneto got a faintly disturbed expression upon this revelation.
Once the formalities were out of the way, Giles quickly took control of the meeting.
"We've managed to determine the wisest course of action in dealing with the Sl'kanith demon. Thanks to the help provided by Magneto and the, Brotherhood, is it? we will be able to effectively patrol the town once the chaos begins."
Avalanche spoke up. "How come you need us to watch out for the straight genes, anyway? Isn't that what police are for?"
At the mention of the police all who knew Sunnydale gave Avalanche a Look. Buffy said dryly, "Just so you know, the police in Sunnydale are deeply stupid. Natural side effect of totally ignoring the demon population."
"About that," Giles broke in, "you should know that the likelihood of your more unique traits being noticed is quite low."
"Delusion, thy name is Sunnydale."
"Quite right, Xander. Now back to the Sl'kanith issue, we have five days before the dampening spell can be cast. Tara, I believe you have the spell with you?"
Tara looked up. She had rarely participated in deep Scoobiness beyond research, but now she had to talk? In front of people, strange people?
Willow gave her hand a quick squeeze.
"W-well, most of the ingredients are fairly basic. W-we'll need a focusing crystal, rose hips, monkshood, sage, a-and a cauldron containing copper, silver, and gold."
Giles nodded decisively. "Those are all easy enough to procure. Perhaps a visit to the Magic Shop later today?"
Tara blushed. "I'm n-not done. There's t-two more things on the list. A-a bag woven of s-siren hair and um," here her voice trailed off uncertainly.
"Yes, what else is it?" Magneto broke in impatiently. He was surprised at the lack of confidence Willow's lover displayed. The girl seemed so unsure of herself it was almost laughable. He thought Willow would choose someone more her equal in strength.
Tara flushed under his stare, as if she heard his thoughts.
"And the blood of a victim," she mumbled.
"Speak up!"
"The Blood of a Victim!" The girl almost sounded as if she had a backbone. Willow glared at him for being so rude to Tara. Magneto was not bothered at all. It wasn't his fault the girl was so nervous.
Giles frowned a little at the last ingredient. Spells requiring blood rarely tapped into the good sources of magic. It would be most unfortunate if their primary weapon in fighting the Sl'kanith involved the Black Arts.
"What is the blood for?"
"Ooh, I can answer that!" Anya broke in proudly. "You need the victim's blood to focus the spell on the demon, so that the demon can no longer create more victims. It's like a white magic version of a vengeance spell. That's why it doesn't, you know, kill the Sl'kanith."
So that meant using the blood was okay. And as Giles was well aware, despite their best efforts there would be blood shed before the spell could be cast.
"The blood will be way too easy to get." Buffy joined the conversation now. "But the siren hair thing? Doesn't exactly sound like an over the counter item."
Anya was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. "I know this one too! There's a siren who lives an hour away on the coast. She's a friend of mine from my vengeance days and was always saving her hair - siren hair grows so fast, of course." Everyone nodded as if they too knew "of course". "She usually wove it sell - Siren hair makes for an excellent secondary income, given how the market for wrecking ships went down with the invention of efficient tracking methods. Melly has a good understanding of the dollar. She'll sell."
"Yes, thank you, Anya. So a few of you will go speak with this Melly -"
"Only send women, Giles. Melly's mostly retired, but she still appreciates the destruction of the males of the species. I don't want to lose my Xander."
"Thank you for the warning, Anya, we will take note of that."
"Are we done now? Because Xander said that once we had a big meeting he would no longer be too worried to give me orgasms. So can we go now? I want my orgasms."
The Scoobies rolled their eyes at Anya, for being, well, Anya. The Brotherhood proceeded to do a group impression of a fish gasping for air. Anya rolled her eyes at the Brotherhood. Some people were so uptight.
Giles coughed and restrained the desire to clean his glasses. "Yes Anya, we are done for now."
"Good!"
"Willow and Tara, would you stop by the Magic Shop for the more easily obtained supplies?"
"Sure, Giles."
"Right then. Well, until tonight."
Everybody got up to do whatever business they thought needed doing. Anya grabbed Xander by the hand and practically dragged him out the door. Xander gave them all looks of apology as she pulled him along.
Once those two were safely out the door, the rest proceeded to leave in a more normal fashion.
"Magneto?"
The mutant turned towards the intellectual leader of these Scoobies. What was he called again? A Watcher?
"Might I have a word with you?"
Magneto paused, prepared to listen to whatever concerns this Giles had to bring up.