Greetings. More ignorant wicca references on my part. Don't have a cow; I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. Big Bad next chapter! Duh duh dunnnn... And everybody clap for me-- I think I passed my exam! Yay! Oh, sorry. Buffyland. Right. On w/ far~fetched fic....
~Star Mouse
@ @ @
A week later.
"So, if I add the basil, then the whole thing changes from a locating spell to a protection spell..."
"But if you add the mint..."
"It's a.... .trans..lat..or?"
"Correct. Now tip that jar into the mix. It should turn blue."
Marion watched from the blender as Dawn carefully dumped the ground basil into the plastic mixing bowl. She recited the couplet clearly and distinctly, then she and Willow peered into the bowl.
"It's not blue," Dawn said, after a moment. "It's sort of a grey~ish kind of browny color. Is that bad?"
"Uh, potentially." Willow flipped through the pages of the text they had --bought-- from Anya's newly refurbished Magic Box. One week had to be some kind of record for that much damage erasure, but Slayer~strength times two and severely guilt~tripped Marion and Giles had probably had something to do with it. This new book had been a part of the sparkly new stock the blonde demon had been getting in by the box load in the last few days. She had, of course, made Willow pay for it before it left the shop.
And it didn't really say anything about greyish brown.
"Hey, Marion? What do ya think this means? She said it right, I'm pretty sure."
Marion came over, carting the blender barrel, loaded with what was either a mystical salve of some kind or a herbal~enriched smoothie. Kinda green. Marion leaned over to look at the goop in the bowl, most definitely not blue.
"Huh. That's right odd, now isn't it? Are you sure you said it properly?"
"Yeah; 'Sandvo mielqae nochton screalloc dob.' and repeat."
The three women looked contemplatively at the bowl.
Willow's finger shot into the air. "Ooh! Ooh ooh!" She picked up the salt shaker and flicked several teaspoons into the mix. "We forgot to add the extra sodium when we substituted the camomile for the pinseed."
"Ohhhh." Marion took a sip of her --apparently-- smoothie, and flicked a hand through Willow's hair on her way back to the counter, mystery solved.
Dawn quickly said the couplet again, and squealed as the mix turned blue.
@ @ @
There was a knock on the door to Spike's crypt. The first in a week.
He took off his reading glasses and set down the book.
There it was again. Not a fluke, then.
He debated on whether to answer it or not. It didn't smell like Buffy, but he really didn't want to take a chance on that one. Couldn't risk a repeat of last week. That had just been ....weird. Utterly wrong and meaningless, but. It was just. And. Kind of. Shut the hell up, Spike. You're making an ass of yourself, and you're not even speaking.
He got up and answered the door.
"Hi!" Birdie chirped.
"Oh. Slayer the Second. How's that workin' out for you?"
"Great! I'm really liking the muscle tone thing. And the world save~age is good too, I hear."
"Here two months, and you're already talkin' like a bleedin' Scoobie. Come on in." He turned and headed back into the crypt. Now the door was open, and he could identify the smells, he could sense her following him at several feet. No sound, though. Good girl.
"Anything in particular you came for, or just a chat with the local undead liaison?"
"Just wanted to talk. You know, I've made all these new friends, all at once. I don't want to lose them right away." She played with the frayed back of the couch. "You haven't really been patrolling in the last week or so. I came to see what's up."
Spike figured he'd have some blood while he was off the couch. Test the chit's constitution.
"Nothing up, really. Just thought I'd back off and let you two Slayers have some fun." He pulled a bag out of the refrigerator --human, A neg-- and vamped his mouth out. He speared the plastic with his fangs.
Birdie nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that was nice of you. I admit, the extra practice I've been getting in is really good for me, at this point, does this have anything to do with Buffy?"
It took Spike a second to catch up with the seemingly random topic~shift. He swallowed the blood in his mouth and lost the toothy grin, so he wouldn't lisp. "Wha-?"
"It's just that she's acting pretty weird, and you aren't spending much in the way of quality time with the Scoobies, and it's obvious she really likes you, so I'm just guessing something happened." She sat down on the edge of the couch, looking straight at him and his bag of blood. "Do you want to talk about it?"
He took another pull. Maybe she'd go away. "Not particularly."
She glanced at the bag. "You're not grossing me out, you know."
"Huh?"
"The blood. You think you're grossing me out, but you're not." Birdie stood and strode over to where he was standing. She took the blood bag from his unresisting hand.
She was taller than Buffy. Her face was really close to his, and he could see all the tiny little scars within scars that made up the roadmap on her face. Lots of scars, all a silent but screaming testament to the pain she had endured. The pain she hadn't revealed to anyone. The pain that would bring with it a loss of innocence...
She put the blood~bag to her lips. There was a slurpy, sucky noise, and he watched the level drop for a minute, before he realized--
"Hey, that's my dinner you're drinking, there!" He snatched the bag away, splattering blood on the ground. "What kind of sicko are you, Slayer?"
"The worst kind. The kind that's made by people. Look, Spike: I've done --was forced to do-- a lot of things that disgusted me at the time. A lot that nearly killed me, and didn't make me stronger. Drinking blood is one of them." Birdie wiped the blacky~crimson liquid off her mouth and turned to go.
"If you ever want to talk-- about Buffy, about anything, I'll be glad to listen." She paused for a second, and then glanced over her shoulder. "Or talk. If you want to listen."
She left Spike standing there, one fist clenched over the top of the blood bag. He looked down at it.
"Ew."
@ @ @
Anya surveyed the Magic Box. Plywood, as yet unpainted, showed here and there. And the shelves were bare, but quickly filling. She unwrapped another mystic talisman and set it next to the others. Stood back. Tilted the piece a bit to the left. Much better.
She glanced back in the box. That was the last of that shipment. She was glad she had so many demonic connections. Restocking the store would have taken forever without them. And several speedy trips to the Asian subcontinent.
She cut open another box with a ceremonial copper blade. Shuffled through the packing peanuts, humming the theme from 'Star Wars.' Oh. These were the amulets from Guinea. She'd have to give them a new shelf of their very own.
The ring sounded above the door. Some idiot unnamed *coughcough*Xander*cough* had replaced that God~awful bell, first thing. Sweet, sentimental, stupid. She turned to see Dawn jog in.
"Hi, Anya. I need an amulet, silver at best, bronze okay. Like, right now, before it dries."
Anya didn't bother to ask what would dry. She grabbed the first amulet out of the packing and held it out to Dawn. The girl reached for it, but Anya pulled it back.
"$18.99."
"Oh, come on!" Dawn started to form an argument, but remembered who she was talking to. And the blessedly blue goop cooling on her counter. She sighed and fished in her pocket. Produced a twenty~note.
Anya made change with --appropriately-- inhuman speed, and put the amulet in a little baggie.
"Thank you. We appreciate your business. Have a nice evening."
Dawn rolled her eyes, grabbed the bag, and made tracks out the door.
Anya wrote out a quick but accurate receipt, and went back to unpacking the rest of the amulets.
@ @ @
Outside Spike's crypt, Birdie grimaced and licked her lips. Flossing was definitely in her future. She hated blood, but the point had needed making. Maybe now he would open up a little more.
She owed these people, Buffy, everything. For taking her in, for making her one of them. And if she had to play matchmaker to pay them back, then that's what she would do.
But any straight on 'double date, ooh, have you noticed how hot she is?' tactics would be wasted on people as stubborn as she had already realized these two were. If she didn't want to wedge them apart, she would have to be delicate, and, above all, subtle.
She slid a stake out of her sleeve --another handy spot. But first... She trekked into the cemetery, to seek out that which goes bump in the night-- and beat the glowing green snot out of it.
@ @ @
"It's a what?"
"A protection amulet. It'll, you know, protect you."
Buffy eyed the necklace with the look a mother might give the 'special pie' that her young child has made her. She looked up at Willow and Marion, who smiled and nodded encouragingly.
"'T's alright, Buffy," Marion offered. "I watched. The spell went very smoothly. There's no reason to be so leery."
Buffy cautiously took the necklace from Dawn's hand. Her sister was grinning the 'I did it myself, aren't you proud?' grin.
"Sorry, it's just ...we kind of have a weird history around here, with the magic stuff. It tends to ...go wrong."
Marion raised her eyebrows, and glanced at Willow. "Oh. I didn't realize. Of course, you don't need to wear it if you would rather not."
"Yes she does!" Dawn lowered her brows and thrust the talisman at Buffy. "I worked hard on this. It's my first training spell! C'mon, Buffy! It's totally harmless. That's the point!"
Buffy looked from the necklace to Willow. The redhead shrugged concession. Buffy looked back at the amulet, which did indeed look harmless, if a bit 'palm~reader' for her tastes.
She sighed and slipped it over her neck.
Dawn clapped. "Yay! Now that wasn't so hard."
@ @ @
"See? That wasn't so hard, now was it?" Birdie shook the dust out of her hair. Fledglings were simple. Hardly any of them knew karate.
@ @ @
Giles polished a glass and eavesdropped intently on a conversation going on at the other end of the bar. He was a bit rusty on his Mandarin, but he was getting the gist of it. Something about an army. Then nightclubs. Topic~shift. Blast. No doubt it would make sense when they were knee deep in it. Now he had that to worry about all night. Added to all the other half~rumors that made it to his ears, and he was a basket case in the making. Better write it down, before he forgot...
"G~man! How's it goin'?"
Giles set the glass down. "Ah, Xander. What will it be? Milk?"
"Hey! I'm a manly man. I don't order milk in a bar... He looked around at what some of the other beasties were drinking. Looked back at the Brit.
"Chocolate."
"But of course." Giles poured a glass and set it in front of the dark~haired young man. On a whim, he fished a novelty straw out from under the bar, and dropped it in the milk.
"Cool!--I, uh, mean, juvenile, Giles. Very cute."
"Was there something in particular, Xander, or shall I assist my other customers?"
"Yeah, there was something." Xander strove to be serious. "It's, uh, about the wedding...."
"Good lord, you're not going to retreat again, are you?"
"No! God, no. But, there's sort of a problem. Anya's really going all out on this one, and she hasn't even mentioned demons. At all. Like on the invitations, there aren't any ancient symbols or RSVPs out of this dimension or anything. And her bridesmaid dresses? Not a word about blood, larvae, or burlap."
"Mm." Giles didn't know exactly where this was going, and tried to spur the conversation along. He was running a business, here, after all.
"And I'm kinda thinking she's doing this to make me happy, or something. Since her demon part sort of broke us up, it's like she's trying to bury it to fit better with my plans."
Giles blinked. "Why, Xander. That was most profound."
Xander ducked his head. "Yeah. I want to show her that I've accepted her heritage. Ya'know? Like, some sort of grand gesture, or something. I figured you'd be the one to ask. All the big dusty books and eye~glass rubbing." He took a sip of the milk, watching it run through the loops in the straw tubing.
"Xander Harris." His head shot up, mouth still on the novelty straw. Giles smiled, and clapped a hand on the young man's shoulder.
"That is one of the most mature things I have heard from you in all our association. I am filled with a new hope for your generation. Yes, of course, I'll be glad to help."
@ @ @
Lala. Don't drink blood. I know it's gross, but I really needed to establish Birdie as a kind of unknown element. Not just some girl~next~door innocent that just happened to have patterned scars all over her face. I'll get to her full story in due time. Same w/ Marion Krumpht and Giles. (I just have to think of it first....)
And I'll try not to focus on the original characters too much, 'cause I know you guys hate them.
Blah blah blah, review, blah blah.
~Star Mouse