By the time dinner had come around, predictably, Dawn had returned, and as soon as she entered the house, she was nagging for information. The excited "Yes!" and bouncing had amused everyone else, and surprised Nataunia no end, before the girl had turned red and run upstairs to 'change for dinner'. Buffy's comments had been along the lines of it making sense, as her sister obviously had a thing for Faith, and the pair could practically be sisters, if not twins. Other than Nataunia protesting Faith's adoption of the nickname "Mini-me" for her, dinner had gone well. It was only delivery, but the girl found herself in an almost easy camaraderie with them, when she wasn't spazzing internally over the fact that she was really having dinner with the women she'd been a huge fan of for the past six years.
As the evening ended, and Willow instructed the girl to be back at some point the next day to set up her 'records' for Sunnydale High, Nataunia had to heave a sigh at what was, honestly, the best night of her life so far. Not only was she somewhere that was, frankly, more welcoming and comfortable than she'd ever experienced, and she was to have daily involvement with superheroes she'd gushed over all of her teen years, but she also had a mentor and beginnings of real friends. She went to sleep in the ratty little motel room happier than she could ever remember being.
"So, what was the last school you went to, and your full name?" Willow asked, perched at her computer with a smile, cracking her knuckles in an exaggerated motion to signify she was ready to get down to business. Nataunia paled, and remained quiet, unable to really think of anything, at all, to say. Willow waited, still looking at the screen and ready to type, for about a minute before she realized that no information was going to be forthcoming. Looking up, she quirked a brow. "I won't be transferring all of your records, but it's easier to have something to start with." Nataunia still looked panicked, unable to meet her eyes. "Maybe just your full name, then?"
"Um…" She blushed and mumbled inaudibly, fidgeting in place in a way that did, indeed, remind the redhead of Faith. Perhaps Buffy had been on to something there. "I… need to use the bathroom! I'll be right back." Nataunia jerked and shot out of the room, eyes wide, and Willow nearly flinched at the slamming of the bathroom door. She could have sworn that the girl had been doing her best not to rub at the large scar on the inside of her arm, but wasn't quite sure.
As she flipped the lock behind her, Nataunia huffed, nearly hyperventilating. Shit… she's going to figure it out. I can't tell her… I mean… he said not to tell her the truth so I can't tell her what's really happening. If I give her my name, nothing will happen. She won't find anything. There'll be a big old nothing… or it'll be someone else, that's still currently somewhere else, and they'll know that something's up and then they'll think that I'm evil or something and I'll lose all of this! She was fairly sure that she was going to pass out again, and wanted to hit herself for the fact that she had basically become a pierced, modern version of a swooning lady.
"It'd help if you calmed down and breathed a bit smoother, yeah?" The voice behind her nearly made the girl shriek as she spun to stare at the man standing in… well… the bathtub. Not the most common, or least comical, of locations for him to appear. She swallowed the yelp of surprise and stared at him, pushing away the desire to giggle almost hysterically at the situation. "Guardian guiding spirit thingy at your service. That's somewhat like what you called me yesterday, right kid? Smooth move then… not so much now. Look at you, bad as Angel was almost. Sad really."
"The fuck am I supposed to say?" She hissed, ignoring the fact that he was speaking loud enough to easily be heard by anyone passing by. If, somehow, he had weird rules about being seen or heard because of his… condition, whatever it was… she was not going to have them thinking she was completely bonkers.
"Start with name, continue with hesitation, finish with insistence that you're fine." He shrugged nonchalantly, bending to pick up and sniff at some of the shampoo in the tub, still not coming out. She wanted to smack the thing out of his hands. "Or you're goin' by Taunie now, ain't ya? Start with Nataunia Laurant, continue with hesitation, finish with insistence that you're fine. Which one do ya think uses this one? It's vanilla and cranberry."
"I don't care." She hissed, rubbing her face. "You said I'm from another place, right? How the hell am I supposed to be able to be found in there?"
"Nataunia Laurant of this world had a similar experience to yours in her school out in Indiana. Only thing in her records is her grades, which are passable," he paused to sniff something else, cringe, and put it back, before looking at her again, "and that she was found in the bathroom, having broken a mirror and attempting to introduce its glass to her arm. She exited the hospital a bit after, and ran away. Hasn't shown up since." He sighed sadly at the flinch it caused in the girl. "Her parents died in a car accident when she was just a kid, was jumping from foster place to foster place. A vampire got ahold of her about two months back, when her stitches tore and the blood attracted it to where she was living, homeless. She's one of those rare few we intervened with, to make sure that she wasn't found until she 'rose'… which happened to be about a minute before sunrise got her. Your picture has been replaced with hers… so as far as the legal system is concerned, you're her."
"That's a really big damn coincidence." Nataunia whispered, shaking a little at the memory, and truly rubbing her scar this time. "Why did she…"
"She had a… um… run-in with a boy that didn't end well for her." He provided not-quite-delicately. "And if I remember well, yours wasn't a mirror."
"Bad luck to break one." She mumbled, still looking awkward and unhappy and rubbing at the ugly scar. "We done?"
"Sorry kid. Ain't nothing I can do to change the past, but I'm still sorry all that happened to ya." He said, looking softer, and saddened, as he started to disappear again. "Don't let it weigh ya down too much… you're here now."
She looked up at where he had been, and shivered. With an effort, she pressed back her memories again, finding it easier to blunt their edges now that she was, indeed, in an entirely different world and reality. Letting out a ragged breath, she splashed some water on her face, and then went out to where Willow was still sitting, looking concerned. "Sorry… collected now. Ya wanted… a name?" She paused and Willow nodded, putting her hands on the keyboard again. "You're… not gonna turn me down when you see my records? Or insist to know a whole bunch of stuff?"
Willow frowned, but let out a breath. "We've all made some mistakes, Taunie. As long as you haven't made a habit of hurting people, and never made up for it, I think we're pretty safe to say that it's not going to change my mind." She paused again and tilted her head. "I am very curious now, though…"
"Um… Taunie's for short. My name is, um… Nataunia Laurant." She swallowed and turned. "Indiana. I was in… um… Indiana… I'm gonna go get a drink now. Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty. We could do with drinks. Yes, water's good. I'll go get us some water bottles… you don't think Buffy would mind, do you?"
"I'm sure she'd be fine with… it…" Willow stared after the girl as she rushed from the room again, this time holding tightly to her arm where the scar was. She had tactfully not said anything about it, nor had either of the Slayers, though she knew they'd noticed. Luckily, Dawn had remained oblivious to the scar, as far as she could tell. With determination, Willow turned to her computer, and quickly began working at the records of Indiana State's school system.
Thirty minutes later, her erstwhile apprentice still hadn't come back up with the proposed water bottles, and Willow was staring at the recently opened records. There wasn't much: her records as a ward of the state, the sketchy details of what foster parents she'd been with – mostly incomplete in their records due to negligence on the part of her case-worker – and her school and medical records. The school and medical records she'd started going through after she'd discovered what she could of the surprising information that the girl was an orphan. She had wondered, a little, where the girl's parents were, that she could just show up in Sunnydale when a 'spirit guide' told her to, but she hadn't expected to find that. Within a few weeks, maybe just a month or two, the girl would be eighteen, and thus no longer ward of the state anyway, so there was a minimum of effort being put to find her. When Willow saw the records for the school, and hospital, and how she'd ended up no longer attending, her worry grew.
"Oh Taunie…" The words were soft, and worried, and the redhead swallowed. No wonder the girl hadn't wanted to tell her anything. "Damnit… I'll take care of the transfer later."
Willow found Nataunia sitting at the dining room table, two bottles of water in front of her. One of them had been opened, but seemed to be pretty much untouched otherwise. The girl was just sitting there, staring down at her arm, and Willow frowned at having pulled out memories that caused the girl pain. "I'm okay, Willow." The words made the redheaded Wicca squeak in surprise, and Nataunia still didn't look up. "I'm just, trying to push y thoughts away. Are you done?"
"I wanted to check on my water." Willow offered lightly, happy when a wry smirk tugged at the girl's lips. "I guess you don't want to talk about it?" A snort answered her. "Alright. Well, I'll take my water then… and go finish enrolling you. I'm going to talk to Principal Wood, and see if we can get you tested out of junior year."
"Doubt it." Nataunia sighed and finally shook her head, looking away from her arm. She was glad of the distraction that Willow provided, especially as she was able to concentrate on the amazingness of being where she was, in the new situation she was in. "I don't think I could pass the tests anyway. A lot of the classes are… um… fuzzy now."
"Well, you should have enough credits that you'll only need to re-take the major things anyway." Willow said with a smirk. "I can see to that at least. I need you to promise to not tell Dawn I fudged a bit for you, though."
"Lips are zipped, Red." Nataunia winked, making Willow blush and huff at the name.
"Not you too." Willow groaned, and then reached to pull Nataunia up the stairs with her, careful to take the arm that didn't hold a scar. "Be careful or I'll make you memorize all of the uses of mugwart as your first lesson."
"Powers forefend." Nataunia teased back, smiling now, and tried to suppress the desire to hug the witch for helping her to forget for the moment. "So where is Faith, anyway?"
"It's still afternoon, so she's probably helping Buffy to make Dawn make up for missing her training yesterday." Willow smiled back at her and gestured her bed for Nataunia to sit on, returning to her computer and carefully minimizing the folders with information on what the girl had done to herself. "They're working on her cardio endurance."
"So they're runnin' her ragged and calling it teaching her to run away?" Nataunia asked with a broad smile. Willow laughed lightly. "Remind me to never miss any of my training… from any of you. You're probably as bad as the Slayers."
"Worse." Willow smiled at her mischievously, and Nataunia gave a fake shiver, making the redhead laugh again. "Now, Principal Wood knows what all of us are… mostly… and is aware of special circumstances for most of us. Since I don't know where you're at right now," she turned to eye Nataunia suspiciously, but received no clarification, "I had to put down our address as your home and emergency contact. If he says anything, that's probably why. You don't have to explain anything to him, he won't know about your past more than your grades, and doesn't have to know anything about why you're with us now."
"I don't intend to tell him anything." It came out as almost a growl, and Nataunia felt a slight tingle start at her hands and back, as if she were going to manifest her energy appendages without effort. Willow looked back at her, and the girl made herself calm down. It wasn't like she could tell the redhead that she knew what Wood had done, and she had no real reason, herself, for animosity toward him. "Thanks for letting me use this address."
"Mhmm." Willow eyed her a bit more, the turned to finish typing. "I'm going to try to see if I can find anything useful that will help with your… ah… special ability… before we start your lessons. We won't get into that immediately, as you need to learn the basics and rules first, but it may help me know what I'm working with as far as abilities are concerned. For all I know, most of the Power that I feel may be from the fact that your wings etc aren't fully manifested yet, but are capable of it… or you may just be magically powerful and need coven work once you've got your basics covered. We'll concentrate mostly on control and understanding at first, of course." Nataunia simply leaned back a little, listening to Willow babble about the lessons with a smile, all thought of her past gone for the moment.
The weekend had passed, mostly without interruption. She'd gone Saturday for the stressful computer-hookup to assure she could attend school, and had done dinner again when the Slayers got home with an exhausted and frustrated Dawn. Sunday had been uneventful, though Willow had insisted she come back for dinner again, much to the youngest Summers's delight and the Slayers' amusement. Now, Monday morning, she stood just inside of the principal's office, sling bag over one shoulder and helmet held in her hand. She'd have to get a real backpack eventually, if she intended to ever bring any of her books home, but hadn't bothered to yet. The man that was still smiling at her, and gesturing a seat didn't set off any bad vibes, and honestly, if she hadn't known about what he'd tried, she probably would have been overjoyed at his enthusiasm.
As it was, she wondered if he was trustworthy at all. "Please, Nataunia, have a seat. I'd like to discuss your class schedule with you." He was still smiling, and gesturing the seat she hadn't taken when he first offered it. She approached and set her things down in it, but remained standing, leaning on the chair back, and watching him suspiciously.
"I go by Taunie now." She was surprised that she hadn't growled it out, and sounded so ambivalent. Maybe that was why he was still smiling; she had probably managed to control her glare enough to not completely offend him. "What's there to discuss? Was there a problem?"
"Well, no, not really, but I understand you live at the Summers house." He was still smiling, and she felt her eyebrows draw together in a frown finally.
"What does that have to do with my schedule?" His smile faltered slightly.
"I had assumed it was due to your association with Buffy Summers." He finally said, folding his hands on the desk and attempting to look pleasant.
"It's because I didn't pass school last year due to unforeseen circumstances. I don't qualify for senior year." She waited for him to say anything, and when he didn't, let her frown ease and quirked a brow at him. "Can I go now?"
"Please feel free to drop by my office if you have any problems, Miss Laurant. I like to think that I'm available to anything my students need of me, and Miss Summers is one of my favorite employees. I like to think of her as a friend, and would like to think that of you too." His smile had returned full force, and Nataunia openly snorted as she picked her things up again, this time with the paper of her schedule added to her possessions.
"Sure thing." In your dreams, dirtbag. Spike died saving Dawn, and your ass was determined to dust him. She turned and headed to the door. "Bye."
"And please find a clear retainer for your piercings. We have a dress code at this school." He added, still in a pleasant voice, as she closed the door behind her. Like that was going to happen unless Buffy or Willow made her. Dawn waited just outside of the office for her, near where Buffy's cubicle was, to show her around, and seemed a little nervous as she stood, fidgeting.
"Dickweed." Nataunia grumbled beneath her breath at the door, much as she'd done in her old life when people tormented or ignored her too often. Dawn giggled, overhearing, and she tried to not look embarrassed at being caught. "Hey. So here's my sentence. Lead on warden."
Dawn giggled again, blushing slightly, and moved to exit the office. "What did he want to talk about?"
"He wanted to welcome me to the school, and said something stupid about being friends because of Buffy." Nataunia rolled her eyes dramatically, barely noticing Dawn's frown at the words. "And some other stupid shit I didn't want to listen to about coming to talk to him anytime. Major fuckin' creeper. Where's my locker? I wanneda drop of the helmet before I was subjected to intellectual torture."
"Right… um… this way." Dawn was smiling again, her eyes alight with excitement. "The combination's on this paper. So… um… do you want to eat lunch with my friends and me? If you… well… Buffy comes by sometimes to say hi."
Nataunia raised her pierced brow before she turned, having reached the locker, to try the combination and struggle with the latch when it stuck. "Maybe another time. I was gonna hop off campus for food today."
Dawn looked at the schedule dejectedly, trying to find something to look like she was doing so that it wasn't so obvious that she was disappointed. "Oh… right… you don't have anything after lunch until last period." Her voice was low, and Nataunia tried not to flinch. The girl sounded really put down.
"I'll eat with ya another time, kiddo. How about I give you a ride home after school… you won't have to catch a ride with you're sister and her crazy driving." Nataunia offered, offering the brightest, most charming smile she could manage. Dawn looked up excitedly. "Just don't tell her I called her driving crazy, yanno? Don't wanna get Slayer-pummeled."
"Sure thing!" Dawn smiled brightly, and then led the girl to the first class of the day, despite the both of them being very obviously late. "I'll… um… see you later?"
"Ugh, yeah, if I don't die of boredom." Nataunia took a deep breath, as if in preparation, and ducked into the classroom. It was a bit melodramatic, but she felt she needed the extra breath to calm herself. She had to go through this whole high-school thing here, even if her memories of such a place were less than pleasant.
Nataunia had, almost predictably, skipped her last class of the day. It wasn't so much that she'd really intended to, but she was so used to not really keeping track of the time that she'd forgotten to get back to school early enough to actually make it into the classroom. The last period was almost halfway over by the time she'd parked her bike again, and she'd given up the class as a bust for the day, instead deciding to explore the school a bit. The library was… interesting. Despite knowing that it was a completely different, rebuilt school, she'd half-expected for the same set of stacks and table, and book cage, to exist. It was disappointing really, considering how much of the show had taken place there. She'd wanted to see it in person, impossible as that was.
As the bell finally rang, dismissing the students for the day, she moved back toward the parking lot, and hopefully a waiting Dawn, so that they could finally get away from the damn place. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be, really. The students were almost overly-friendly, especially a few of the jocks that she'd wanted to smack a couple of times. More than a couple of the girls had eagerly tried to make friends too, which if she didn't have to worry about them possibly finding out about her secrets, or those of the Slayers, she probably would have been overjoyed at. No one seemed to recoil from her, and the worst comments were only from boys that didn't seem to know the meaning of gentlemanly behavior.
"Yo, squirt!" She saw the youngest Summers chatting nervously with a few of her friends, looking around too often to not be conspicuous. Both of her friends stared a little as she walked up, flinging an arm over Dawn's shoulders and around her neck, to drag her off. "Let's get rollin!"
"Told you! Bye guys!" Dawn said haughtily, making a face at the two that were left gaping, staring after them. As they neared the bike, she struggled out of Nataunia's partial headlock, fussing at her hair and glaring at her in slight embarrassment. "Don't call me squirt; it's bad enough with Faith."
"Awe, don't you like that she's got a pet name for you?" Nataunia teased, smiling broadly and slipping onto the bike, then gesturing for Dawn to get on behind her. "It's better than Mini-me. I feel like I'm in an Austin Powers movie over here."
"A what?" Dawn asked cluelessly, and Nataunia cringed a little. Probably different movies and media here, considering that in her old world Buffy had just been a show. She had to keep that in mind. To keep from answering, Nataunia started the bike and shot out of the parking lot. Halfway back to the house, she paused at a stop-sign, and pulled off her helmet. "Is something wrong?"
"I didn't make ya wear it because your friends were watching, but if Buffy or Willow see me drive up wearing the helmet, instead of you… I won't need to worry about witchy-lessons anymore." Nataunia grumbled, smiling wryly, and shoving the helmet at the other girl. "Should fit you fine. No complaining." Dawn wasn't smiling when she put it on, but she didn't say anything either.
"Givin' out rides, Mini-me?" The comment from Faith was almost predictable as the bike slowly quieted and turned off, Dawn reluctantly getting off before returning the helmet. "Wouldn't mind a wild ride."
Nataunia blushed lightly, refusing to look at the brunette Slayer, and took the helmet back. "Um… just a ride home. Is Willow here?"
"Don't tell Buffy how you got here, Squirt. She'd kill my little clone there." Faith laughed, opening the door for them and bowing for the girls to enter ahead of her. "She's grabbing some things from the Magic Box, I think. Should be back soon, she left a while ago."
"You can come see my room while you wait." Dawn offered excitedly, and dragged Nataunia upstairs before Faith could get another word in edgewise. Both of them heard the faint chuckling from the brunette Slayer drifting behind them as Taunie was pulled into the teenager's room. She was a little surprised to note the differences from what she remembered from the show, but then again, she also supposed that the small details would have to differ from the show… it wasn't like she'd become a new character in the most recent season, and there were already larger differences she'd been made aware of.
"It's nice, Dawn. Cute." She glanced around at a couple of posters for bands she didn't recognize, and pictures of the Summers family both before and after the death of their mother. Tactfully, she didn't say anything about those, simply looking around and poking at a couple of different things. Though it wasn't the same as the show, it still pretty much looked like a teenager's room, if a little neater than hers had ever been.
"Cute?" Dawn's question finally brought her attention back to the other girl, and she noticed the frustrated blush.
"Yeah. It's cute." Nataunia smiled indulgently, trying to make it seem more like a compliment, so that the youngest Summers wouldn't feel offended. "It's nice. A lot more… comfortable… and welcoming… than mine was." Her eyes drifted to the family pictures again, and she barely noticed Dawn's expression soften.
"Hey guys!" The front door closing, and Willow's voice, drifted up the stairs to them, and seemed to break the somewhat awkward silence. Dawn's brows drew together in another frustrated frown, though, at their time hanging out getting cut short. "Is that Taunie's bike in the driveway?"
"We're up here!" Dawn finally called, leading the redhead into her room where the both of them were still standing. "Hi Wills."
"Hey girls. Taunie how was your first day?" Willow's eyes sparkled happily as she shuffled through the mail, occasionally glancing up at them. "Have fun?"
"Right… school… fun…" Nataunia smirked, making Dawn giggle, and Willow looked up at her curiously. "Eh… um… people were friendly. Really friendly. I gotta say that it was weird." She sighed and shrugged then and shook her head. "Weird but good. I didn't mind too much, other than a few of the jerks being too friendly… but yeah, not bad."
"So I'm to take it as things being 'friendly' there." Willow's smile was slightly mocking, and Nataunia blushed slightly, rolling her eyes at the teasing. Dawn giggled again. "I'll probably end up eatin' with Dawn tomorrow…"
"Really?" Dawn nearly squeaked, and Taunie snickered slightly, nodding.
"Well, let's go ahead and get started. I still haven't found much on… well… what you're supposed to be able to do, but we can go ahead with the basics. Basics are… basic, and everything. Control and basics will help with what you'll do, because…"
"they're basic," Nataunia finished for Willow, smiling, and the redhead nodded with a matching smile, obviously excited and nervous about the first lesson with her student.
"Why don't you go see what Faith's up to, Dawnie?" Willow gestured Nataunia out ahead of her, making the younger Summers pout, and winked. "I think she's sharpening stakes again."
"Oh! Okay!" The excited reaction was, to say the least, amusing, and sent Dawn careening out of the room, in search of the darker Slayer.
"She's got a little crush on Faith." Willow smiled and shrugged as they walked into her room, Nataunia taking a comfortable seat on the bed. "Sometimes it can make things a little tense… but usually it's kind of useful to distract her."
"Buffy said something like that the other day… not about the useful, just the crush." Nataunia smiled and sighed. "So basics… how basic are we talking here? Like, ground and center basic, or spinning a pencil basic?"
"Let's start with what you know, and work from there basic." Willow offered with a quirk of her eyebrow. As the redhead took a seat as well, leaning comfortably against the headboard and looking at her, she nodded. "Tell me all that you know, or think you know, about magic. From there, I can tell you what's right, what's kind of right, and what's way off."
"Well… um… magic is composed of energy, like my wings and stuff… and thus if you can control or manipulate, or even create, that energy to any extent, you have power over magic to some degree, depending there upon how and how much." Nataunia hazarded, and Willow looked a bit impressed. "From what I've gathered trying to learn to manifest my wings, control, creation, and manipulation of that magical energy comes from a different awareness within the body and mind, which I'm assuming is one's 'Center'. Grounding is sort of like steadying yourself, also a guess, and helping to brace both for control, and to keep your awareness rooted in your Self, so that it doesn't go wandering off. Another guess, on my part. Other things… um…" she rubbed the back of her neck, knowing, and playing off of, that she sounded less intellectual now. "… calling on another power, such as the Goddess, or a demon, or some other force, incorporates a portion of their energy and ability into the spell or magical work that you're doing… different objects can house, focus, etc the energy, thus changing aspects of a magical work… random guesses like that. So far all I've got is guess work and inference."
Willow smiled at the girl's sigh and shrug, nodding. "It sounds like a good start off point, better than a lot of people really…"
"Oh!" Nataunia's eyes got wide and excited and she nodded, interrupting the redhead slightly. "Oh! And- and- and that a bad potion goes poof! Or boom, if you really mess it up."
Willow couldn't help laughing at the girl's broad smile and joke, nodding. "Alright, that's good enough. Let's start with how to find your Center, and how to Ground properly. After that, we'll talk principal, theory, and both the rules of magic, and the rules of magic while working with me…"
TBC