"Hey, Xander." Cordelia said, when they had materialized in a new reality. "It looks like it's Halloween here. We could have some fun. Maybe get costumes and just enjoy ourselves for a little while."
"That's a good idea and it's just for a couple of hours. Where do you think we are anyway?"
"Los Angeles, you know how I know? Turn around, I can see the Hollywood sign from here."
Xander glanced over his shoulder and grinned when he saw it. "Well, let's find a costume shop. Kind of weird to be celebrating Halloween after Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it's not like we land in the same time from one reality to the next anyway."
"There's a newspaper vending machine over there, should be some listings in there." Cordelia pointed and the two of the walked over to it and Xander dropped some coins in and pulled one out.
"Check it out, there's a temp one opened for Halloween called Ripper's Costume Shop." Xander showed Cordelia the listing. "Neat, that's Giles' nickname from his wild and crazy days. Which were so wild and crazy, they included demon summoning. So not a Giles I would ever like to meet. Oh and look, the city's throwing a family friendly Halloween party in a variety of different parks. Costumes encouraged and prizes for the best ones in several categories. We could go to one. Let's get a cab."
Once the two arrived at the shop, they quickly entered.
"Make sure your dog is on a leash." The clerk called out. "And clean up any mess it makes."
"No problem." Cordelia called back.
"Hey Cordy, look at this. You'd look so hot in this." Xander pointed at a white minidress, crown and sword ensemble.
"What's it for?" Cordelia asked.
"It's from a cartoon. He-man, Masters of the Universe. He-man is Prince Adam. This is for He-man's twin sister, Adora. She's She-ra, Princess of Power. That's her main weapon, The Sword of Protection. As She-ra, she can talk to animals, she's super strong, fast and nearly indestructible, plus she can heal people. Six year old me had a crush on her. I've liked unapologetic kickass bitch Queens my whole life. As a baby she was kidnapped by her parents enemy and raised by him. Once she found out the truth, she joined the war against him."
"Okay, the outfit's sexy and I like the backstory. I'll get it. See anything you like?"
"None that don't require me to wear tights or spandex. Which is one of the reasons I went as a soldier for that Halloween in Sunnydale. I'll find something. Give me a minute. Ah, I see something. Hawkeye, extraordinarily good archer and he wears a sensible outfit instead of spandex, at least in the movie, which this costume is based on. Okay, let's get these and then go find a place to set up our house so Baby, and have you come up with an actual name for him yet, has a place to hang out while we're at the party at the park."
"Yes, I have actually. David Alistair Chase McCleod."
"Alistair?"
"It's Scottish and a variant of Alexander. Means the same thing too."
"I like it. What do you think, Baby? Are you David Alistair Chase McCleod?"
Baby gave a sort of hiccuping sound and Xander and Cordelia laughed and decided that meant he was accepting of the name. They bought their costumes and went looking for a place to set up their little house. They found it in an abandoned lot and Xander cast the notice me not spell Duncan had taught him.
"First time I've ever used it." He commented. "I'd almost forgotten I know it. It should keep Baby, sorry, David and the house hidden for awhile. The nearest park holding a party is only about ten blocks from here, so we can walk there and back easily. And you really do look hot as She-ra."
"Thank you, you look pretty good as Hawkeye yourself."
Several hours later they dragged themselves back to the little house.
"How the Hell can Giles be this reality's version of Ethan fucking Rayne?!" Cordelia fumed. "And unoriginal at that! He turned half the city into their costumes, Xander! Including us! I spent half the night trying to keep innocents safe, find Skeletor, because I was certain he was responsible for that mess out there, wondered where He-man was and zapped monsters with my sword, which by the way, has not switched back!"
"I pretty much spent the night doing the same thing. And I'm now an expert archer, with really great combat skills. And I thought Duncan was good. Clint Barton could definitely give him a run for his money."
"Xander, people got hurt tonight. Because of Giles. I'm trying to wrap my head around that. I mean people got hurt because Giles didn't do his job in other realities, but that was benign neglect, not outright callousness. That any Giles could be capable of this!"
"Makes me wonder about something else. We didn't intend to end up in another reality similar to our own. But what might be happening in our counterparts lives if Giles isn't the Watcher to the current Slayer? Is Buffy or Faith or someone else the Slayer? The people we became tonight tried to help people, but we ourselves haven't helped anyone on this jump. Maybe we should do some checking. See for ourselves what's going on in their lives, minus Giles."
"Might be a good idea. Oh, David needs to be walked, he's starting to get a little anxious about it."
"How do you know? He's just sitting there."
"Because apparently I can still communicate with animals. You retained everything from soldier boy, while Buffy had to be tutored through French, even though she could speak it that Halloween. Makes me wonder if we'll keep everything we now know or not."
"Well, I'll take David for a walk. Tomorrow we'll go to Sunnydale and check up on things there. While trying to forget the sight of Ripper Giles gloating over his handiwork. That might just be a nightmare image that stays with me no matter how hard I try to forget."
"I'm afraid you might be right. He must be awfully powerful if he could project his image bigger then the Hollywood sign like that. Too bad he'd cleared out of that shop of his by the time we got there. I had a thing or two I wanted to say to him."