AN: Chapter 2! Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having with these stories? Hope you're enjoying it! Let's here from our little firecracker, now, shall we?
Emily
Buffy and the G-man are still in a bit of a tiff. That's what made our arrival so awkward. He didn't even drive all the way up to the castle. He just dropped us off at the edge of the garden (the extremely large garden) and made us walk the long walk to the front doors. I wish I knew what was up with them. I may be one of the younger slayers around her but I know a thing or two about people.
I do suppose, though, that watching your friends die, and nearly dying yourself (in Buffy's case for the third time, now) can really put a damper on some relationships. I guess Buff is feeling the strain with Giles anyway. He finally cut her loose, made her look after herself, taught her some hard lessons, lessons that no one should ever have to learn. Hey, welcome to slayerhood, right? And Buff knows better than anyone.
We're making our way up the hill and I'm lagging behind due to my wandering thoughts and just enjoying the stroll. But then one minute Naomi is at the top of the hill; the next she's rolling towards me. She had reached the top and I had heard a startled 'Jesus Fucking Christ' before I was catching her from rolling the whole way down again. I look at her face and she's white as a sheet.
"Naomi? What's up? Are you ok? What's over there?" It's been a while since we've had a new recruit. I've sort of forgotten what actual fright looks like.
"G…g…g…" The penny drops and I let out a silent chuckle. Poor girl.
"Shit." I say, "I thought she would be inside. That's Dawn. She's supposed to be normal sized. The story's not long, but it's not mine to tell. The important part is, she's not actually a giant. She's Buffy's kid sister. She's not in the lake right now, is she?" I don't want to walk in on Dawn bathing again. Giant tits. That took a while to block out of my mind. Naomi shakes her head, still wide eyed and I actually find it to be the cutest thing ever.
"Come on." I say, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. We make it to Dawn in a couple of minutes and she's glaring at me.
"You're late." She says, coldly.
"Well get ready to be even more pissed at me because I'm not here for cards. Not yet. And it's not my fault. If Giles hadn't…"
"Giles?" Dawn interrupts, "You were with Giles?" I nod.
"Right Tosser he was being, today; dropped us off at the edge of the garden. Speaking of which, meet Naomi, new recruit from my neck." I have to fight the urge to laugh when I turn to Naomi and find her standing half behind me, still looking a bit spooked.
"Inexperienced, I see. She looks seriously freaked." Dawn says and I release a short, breathy laugh.
"Yeah, well, not a lot of giants in Bristol." I tell her, "Buff or Willow back yet?" I ask as an afterthought.
She shakes her head.
"Not that I know of." She tells me and I nod.
"Well, I'd better show Blondie here to her room." I say in an apologetic tone. Poor Dawnie, as big as a house and she still spends most of her time alone; She just nods, lightly before turning to Naomi.
"Come back with Em later and I'll tell you how I got like this. As long as you won't tell Buffy." She says.
Naomi shakes her hand rapidly as if to say 'I won't say a word.' Really, I think she'd do anything Dawn says at the moment.
And with that we walk the rest of the way to the castle. The cool thing about being with the original Scooby gang is that things sort of work in a hierarchy. Buff is the big boss, of course, followed by Willow and Xander. And then, beyond that, you earn your place based on two things: how long you've been here, and how good of a fighter you are. I've sort of earned a bit of a pedestal. I'm not the toughest kid on the playground but you wouldn't challenge me if I asked for your milk money.
"Hey" I call the attention of a girl passing by and she turns to me dutifully with a 'yes ma'am' stature. "Sorry if you're in the middle of something, but I need a favour. This is Naomi. She's just arrived." I say, gesturing to her. "We've got a lot of ground to cover today so it would be great if we could save some time. Could you take her bags up to my room, please?" She smiles sweetly at me.
"Yes Ma'am." She says.
"Hey. It's Emily, ok? I'm hardly a Ma'am yet." I'm only 16 for Christ's sakes.
"Yes Ma'… Emily." She smiles sheepishly at turns to Naomi. "Nice to meet you." She says and picks up the bags, scurrying away like a startled cat. I watch her, smiling, for a moment before turning back to Naomi.
"Adorable, isn't she?" I grin at her.
"Do they all, like, worship you like that?" She asks me and I shake my head.
"Just the newbies… Don't worry, though. You don't have to. You get a 'get out of jail, free card' for being so cute. Plus, if we're going to be sharing a room it would hardly be fair, would it?" Naomi's cheeks have now turned a deep crimson and I smirk at her. Just when I think she couldn't get any cuter, she does something that resets the whole scale. I've got to be honest, I'm smitten. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
We pause our stroll at a large wooden door and I take a moment to brief Naomi before plunging her into more weirdness.
"Ok, so time to meet Captain Fury." Her eyebrows ruffle adorably and I chuckle. "Ok, maybe I should say Captain Nerd-pants. Xander. He's pretty much Buffy's right hand man. He and Willow have been Buff's best friends since they were our age. You'll meet Buffy and Will later today. Anyways, before you think he's got some weird pirate fettish or something. Xander wears and eye patch, hence why he calls himself Captain Fury. There was this guy a few years ago, back when Buffy was the only slayer and we were all just girls, I'll tell you that story later, but there was this one big bad: twisted fucker who made friends with the first evil. This guy gouged his eye out so he's sorta stuck with the new look. Also, just a warning, this room looks like the inside of the TARDIS."
Naomi smiles at my reference to Doctor Who and I return it, we can geek out together later, though, it's all business, now.
"Wow. You weren't kidding." She says as I open the door. "And look, all six pilots." She adds with a smirk. We giggle and it alerts Xander of our presence.
"Little red!" he says, gleefully, before noticing the state of hilarity Naomi and I are in. "She's British, isn't she?" he asks and I nod, through my laughter. He shakes his head.
Naomi and I aren't the first Brits to join the ranks. Apparently every one of us who does finds the resemblance to the TARDIS both uncanny and hilarious.
"I just don't get you British folk." Xander says, "But hey, if you say I remind you of an alien in a blue box, who am I to argue? Welcome aboard." He says, speaking to Naomi, "I hear you eluded us for a while." She nods.
"Thought I was Spider-Man or something. Someone stole my telly." I chuckle at the vagueness of her explanation but Xander seems to accept it. There is a loud beep alerting an incoming transmission and Xander jumps into Commander mode.
"That's Buffy, got jet. Stay out of trouble, Little Red." He tells me and with that we leave the room.
"First rule around here," I tell Naomi, "Be ready for action. You need to train, obviously, but attacks come out of nowhere. If you can't fight, hide until it's over, the rest of us can handle it. Until you catch up, anyway. Just don't get dead. She swallows audibly.
"Got it." She says.
See you next time. :)