cyteach: Thanks for the review! Though Tara would like to point out, Artie is 12. She's just small.
Chapter 5 (Showdown at Restful Groves and A Coffee not-a-Date)
Buffy and Faith stared.
"Kid, what are you wearing?"
Art looked down at her brown cargo shorts and dark green T-shirt, then back at the two older Slayers. "It's a late summer night in Southern California. What are you wearing?"
Buffy looked at her and Faith's leather/denim ensembles a bit guiltily. It was kinda hot. "Um, let's get started, shall we? Tara and Giles wanted us to see how well we worked with each other."
There was no way this kid was a Slayer. No way.
When she had heard that the new Slayer was a kid, Faith had been a little excited. A little person who could potentially be as awesome as herself, right? Now though, as she watched Art amble her way through the graveyard, weaponless, there was absolutely no way.
Amble.
Mosey.
Meander.
Whatever. The point was, the kid walked like a puppy who had yet to grow into its paws, a far cry from Faith's own Slayer prowl or Buffy's confident stride.
The only sound was that of footwear rustling through the grass, until Buffy spoke up. "Sooo…Sunnydale Junior High? My sister Dawn goes there."
Art seemed to perk at this. "Dawn's your sister?"
"Yeah! You know her?"
"She helped me to the nurse's office the other day. She's cool."
Faith scowled from the gravestone she was leaning on. "You two realize you're shouting from opposite sides of the 'yard, right?"
And then it happened.
Years later, when they recounted it, they would say it happened in slow motion. Well, they would also gesticulate wildly and make exaggerated facial expressions, but mostly that they could've sworn it was in slow-mo.
Art walked right into an extremely panicked, previously unnoticed demon.
Well, not so much 'walked into' as much as she had 'tripped over a rock and pitched herself headfirst into its flailing arms'.
This demon was of the 'short, squat, red, and spiky' ilk, and blinked owlishly down at Art as she fell on her ass.
Artie stared back up at it.
The demon's chest heaved, its earlier panic forgotten as it assessed this potential threat.
"What are you doing?" Buffy shrieked from several yards away. "Slay it!"
The demon let out a roar, revealing rows and rows of pointy, needle teeth. Art stood up, fists clenched. She was ready. She was a Slayer, dammit! Time to slay. She cocked her fist, ready to throw a punch.
-and was promptly picked up and chucked into the nearest open grave.
Buffy's jaw dropped, and Faith's hands flew to her hair. "What. The. Fuck."
They both rushed over, Faith to kick ass and Buffy to check on the kid, and were promptly shoved aside.
Buffy gasped as the creature tried to shoulder past them a second time. "Oof! For a short thing, he sure is pushy!"
"Puns? Now? Really, B?" Faith dodged a flailing arm, ramming her elbow into the demon's own with some rather ineffective results. She leapt out of the way as the demon's pin-wheeling arms propelled him further down the gravel path.
"Gotta get out gotta get out gotta get out-"
"I think he's saying something," Buffy wheezed as she was shoved roughly into a cross shaped gravestone, the marble digging into her gut painfully.
"-not safe here…not safe here..gotta get out gotta get out-" the red, flailing demon ranted.
"Damn straight you aren't safe here," Faith snarled, planting her hands on the gravestone of one Daphne Jones and performing a palm spin, Slayer speed and balance kicking in to turn the flashy move into one extremely devastating blow to the head.
The demon grunted, but continued its mission down the gravel path and out into the street. "The First…the Deceiver," he rambled. "Crows will pick our bones…the Wicked!"
"Gee, I bet you wooed all the ladies with those poems," Buffy heckled.
"The walls are coming down…gotta leave the Hellmouth…"
"You mean your walls are coming down!" Buffy took a running start and launched herself over Velma Rogers' grave with a Kong vault that would make David Belle proud.
Sadly, it only resulted in her colliding with her dark haired counterpart, who at the same time had been aiming an axe kick to the demon's head. The two hit the ground with a grunt. Between her accident from two weeks previous, to the apparent failure of tonight, Faith felt her temper explode.
"You complete clown-shoes dumbass!" Buffy scowled, ready to spit back a retort when a small voice cut them off.
"Someone say my name?" There was Artie, bruised and dirty, but alive and clutching a sword that Buffy was sure she didn't have on her earlier. She still didn't look much like a Slayer, more like a small child playing hero in the dirt. Faith still couldn't see it.
"Crows will pick our bones…the Wicked will destroy…the deceiver, the First-"
"Oh shut up!" The girl stabbed, twisting her blade as it slid in and tried not to feel satisfied at the sound of cleaving bond and wet flesh. She held the demon by the shoulder, Slayer strength utilized as she eased the dying demon to the ground.
'Oh,' Faith thought. 'There it is.'
Artie frowned at the older two Slayers, all little girl now. "Do you guys know why its last words were 'Gay vampire'?"
At the Espresso Pump
"You think they're okay?"
Willow looked up from where she had been staring awkwardly into her mocha. "I'm sorry?"
"Artie and your friends. Do you think they're okay?"
While Buffy and Faith had agreed to take out the youngest Slayer for patrol, Willow had met up with Tara at the coffee shop for a quick date while they waited.
'Well, it was actually to work out that schedule,' the redhead frowned. 'But baby steps, Willow. You can't just go flinging yourself at hotties.'
"Y-you're frowning." The young Watcher's eyes were wide, and she looked like she was ready to bolt out the door at any moment and rescue her Slayer.
"Oh! Sorry, yeah. They'll be fine. Buffy and Faith are totally responsible."
'Liar!'
Tara took a sip of her frappuccino. "You probably think I'm insane. It's just," she sighed and sat up. "This'll be her first patrol without me."
Willow giggled and winked. "I'd say quirky."
Tara snorted, and soon collapsed into a helpless fit of giggles, Willow joining her. "So we're both insane?"
"I said quirky!"
"I assumed quirky was a euphemism for insane!"
Willow snorted. "And what would you know about euphemisms, Watcher-girl?" she leered.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Tara purred.
Willow's eyes bulged. 'Oh. Wow.'
'That came out far more suggestive than planned,' Tara scolded herself. 'She's a hot-smart girl, and now she'll think you're a slut!'
"So…"
"Yeahh…"
"Schedule?" Tara squeaked.
"Oh, yeah!" Willow shoved her hand into her bag and pulled out a sheet of paper, sliding it onto the table. "Look here. It's mostly a modified version of the one I made before. You can look it over and see if it's good."
Tara lifted the paper, analyzing it. Mondays through Fridays, Artie would patrol for three hours, starting from sundown. Faith and Buffy alternated on who took which the last two shifts, and on weekends they all patrolled as a group.
"I put Art on first since she's the youngest."
Tara nodded. "Growing girl needs her sleep."
"See, pink ink is Buffy, silver is Faith, and I just used a black pen for Art since I didn't know her favorite color."
Tara smiled. "It's purple."
"Ah, okay!" The redhead waved her hand over the paper, and right before Tara's eyes, the black ink changed to bright purple. She gaped.
"You're magic too?"
At Restful Groves Cemetery
"Ta' is gonna kill me," Art was perched on Fredrick Jones' grave. Her green T-shirt, dirty as it was, had been removed and the pre-teen was now clad in a grey tank top. The poor shirt was now being used to wipe the blood off her blade.
"Where'd the sword come from?" Buffy was staring at the blade, wide eyed with curiosity.
"Huh?"
"C'mon!" Faith was grinning. "You've got like, seven pockets in those shorts, but I'm pretty sure you didn't carry it in those."
The kid held up the rapier. It wasn't adorned like most rapiers the two had seen. It was unremarkable in appearance, much like a cougar next to a tiger, though it didn't take away from its efficiency. It was a weapon made for killing, and that was that. The only thing of interest was the bright green skin that covered the grip.
"Naga demon skin. It's enchanted, so the sword shows up whenever I need it."
Buffy blinked. "Naga?"
"It's like," Artie paused. "Big, magic snake-person. This was months ago, before I got Called."
"And you killed and skinned it?" Faith prompted. Baby Slayer was a badass.
The child shook her head. "Nononono! Me without powers? Against a giant, magic snake-person? No way! Ta' did it."
The two Slayers' eyes widened. Well, Faith's did. Buffy's were already there. "Your Watcher?"
Okay then. Watcher-girl Tara was the badass. That was still cool. With badass Watcher and kick-ass Faith around, the kid could still grow into a fuckawesome Slayer.
"Yup!" She lifted the blade, admiration for her Watcher evident on her face. "Saga Vasuki ain't got shit on Tara."