Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html
Part IX: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html
Part X: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1155478.html
Part XI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1164418.html
Part XII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1173922.html
Part XIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1178885.html

Willow frowned at Magnolia, her best glower — which wasn’t very good, maybe, but it was the best she had. “You really wanted to scare us?”

“Everyone gets scared. It’s not like, like you were sayin’, with people dyin’ and real horrible fear, or anything. It’s just, we, well, the way we are, a little fear can jump-start the systems.”

“If anything I had was gonna be jumpstarted by fear, it would’ve been jumpstarted long ago. My engines are dead, dead,” Xander quipped. “Nothing to jump here. Just plain ol’ Xander.”

“Well, there was that one time you turned into…. oh, never mind. Buffy!” Buffy’s whole body language had changed as she slipped down the hall. She was stalking something. Willow could see her reaching for a weapon, looking for something, eying the wood panelling. “Buffy, what are you doing?” She dropped her voice to a whisper.

“Willow, give me a stake. I know you have one hidden somewhere, and I’m not judging or anything, just give it to me.”

“Well, I really would, but, well, Giles said not to.” Willow slunk closer to her friend, clutching her bag closer to herself.

“Giles said not to ‘punch’ anyone. I’m not going to ‘punch’ anyone.” Buffy made the p sounds hard and aggressive. “I’m just going to stake the vampire. Will, come on.”

“Oh, Buff, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Wait. Staking. Vampire? Oh, no, no, darlin, you don’t want to do that.” Magnolia hurried after them.

“You know, I think I really do,”Buffy snarled. She stomped forward down the hallway. “You see, you have your things that you do. I have mine. And one of mine just happens to be, oh, I don’t know… staking vampires”

“All right, all right. So the monsters you were fighting back home, they were vampire-like…”

“No.” Xander’s voice was harsh and raspy. “Not vampire-like. Not like that cute girl in the hot tub was demon-like. We’re talking full-on vampires–”

“Should we be?” Willow cut in nervously. “Talking, I mean. Should we be anything?”

“Ah’m saying, I’m not sure there’s anything here that is that vampire-like as to need staking. Our demons are… well, oh, shit.” Magnolia shook her hair out like an 80’s shampoo commercial. Unbelievably, the scent of flowers seemed to follow the gesture. “Could you just come with me before you stake someone? I’m not sure just how well they’d survive that, you see, and I don’t think you want to be expelled before you even start classes.”

“You have no idea how bad I want to be expelled,” Buffy countered.

“Oh, but, ah, expelling from Addergoole isn’t like ordinary schools. They don’t just kick you out and put a mark on your permanent record.”

“Do they send you to a hell dimension?” Xander offered. “Because I’m pretty sure that’s what our principal would do if he could, but he can’t even manage to expel us.”

“Me.” Buffy had slowed down but not yet stopped. “They weren’t trying to expel you two, Xander, just me.”

“Let’s be honest, Principal Flootie probably would have expelled me after the whole hyena thing, if he hadn’t gotten eaten.”

“I don’t think that anyone gets sent to a hell dimension here, but then again…” Magnolia’s voice had slowed, too, and she was frowning. “The one that I know about, nobody’s heard from him since he, ah, left.”

“Ah, left?” Willow wanted to be worried, but the smell of flowers was heavier and heavier in the air, and she was having trouble getting too worked up. “What sort of ‘ah, left.'”

“Well, the reason I don’t want your friend to go staking someone… aw, heck, ain’t gonna be nothing you three don’t know when you finally get here. Just don’t tell no-one I told you, all right? I don’t want all the upperclassmen getting sore at me.”

“Just explain.” Even Buffy sounded less testy. “We’ll keep the fact that you’re acting like a decent human being a secret, just just… tell us.”

“As far as we can tell, the one way you can get ‘expelled’ from Addergoole is by killin’ another student,” Magnolia answered in a whisper.

“…Not by burning down the gym?”

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1186127.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1182860.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html
Part IX: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html
Part X: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1155478.html
Part XI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1164418.html
Part XII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1173922.html

Magnolia was spending a lot of time staring at them as if they were cheating. Buffy gave the girl her best vapid smile and waited to see what came out this time.

“Y’all are just totally ringers, ain’tcha?” she asked slowly. Her accent thickened the more stressed she was. “Ah mean, you study demons, you have a Mentor…”

“So we know a few things.” WIllow had her stubborn face on. “WHat’s wrong with that? This is a school, right? Learning is important.”

“Learning is important,” Magnolia repeated slowly, like the words were foreign to her. Buffy wondered — not for the first time — if she was a demon, too. “Yeah. But you’re ruinin’ all the fun. Ah mean,” she twisted her lips up. “Well, I suppose if you’re used to demons…”

“You know,” Xander cut in, “we get that. I mean, there’s always that fun moment where you get to watch the new person’s mind break.”

“Exactly!” She looked pleased. Buffy waited. That wasn’t Xander’s friendly tone.

“Yeah, like, Buffy came to town, and you know, somehow Will and Jesse and I had never questioned —”

“Jesse?”

“I’m not there yet. So Will and Jesse and me, we knew a lot of people died. Gangs on PCP, wild animal attacks, barbeque fork accidents — our school paper has an obituary section, you know, and we just never questioned it.”

“…What?” The tall girl was lost, and, more than that, she was worried.

“…And then all of a sudden, the monsters have Jesse. And there we are, trying to figure out what’s wrong with the world while our best friend is dead. Tons of fun, right, for Buff? Showing us the real world?”

Buffy almost felt sorry for Magnolia. Almost. “There was certainly that entertaining look of shock and horror on your faces. And then the way you nearly got yourselves killed.”

“Oh, oh, and then there was that thing where…” Willow trailed off.

“Oh, no, Will, she wants fun, that’s a good place to start.” Buffy waved her hands in encouragement. “Please. Tell her how much fun we’ve had, dealing with the real world.”

“…That time your boyfriend lost his soul and tried to kill us all,” Willow continued, in a much smaller voice. “And—”

Xander took over. “And you did the awful, horrible right thing and killed him. I’m sure that was loads of fun. Right, Buffster? So much fun…”

“…I freaked out and pretended that the fun world didn’t exist for a while, yeah.” Buffy managed something that could have pretended to be a smile once, in a pageant or something. “Loads of fun.”

Magnolia held up her hands. “Ah surrender, ah surrender. Ah’ll even owe you a favor for that one… mebbe one each. By all that’s holy and the Lord’s dirty laundry, you three don’ need this school and it might not survive you.”

“But the thing is,” and all of a sudden Willow was in earnest-research-mode, “don’t you see? You know entirely different sets of information than we do. We look at your friend with the bat wings and we don’t know what sort of demon she is. But I’m betting you, you look at her and think — well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? We don’t know what you think.”

“Ah beg your pardon?” At this point, Magnolia looked lost, confused, and a little bit offended. It was Willow’s turn to hold up her hands.

“Not like that! Well, all right, I’m not sure exactly what you were thinking there, but that’s sort of the point. The point is, you look at your friend, and you’re not seeing demon. So the thing is, there’s a lot we can learn from what you do see when you look at her. And if you’re thinking that people are called demons that aren’t — well, there’s a lot of world we haven’t seen yet. Maybe things are different in Sunnydale. I mean, hellmouth, mouth-into-another-dimension…”

“Breathe, Will.” Xander patted her again. “What Willow’s trying to say is that there’s probably something we could learn here, with sexy naked girls with wings, far from the Hellmouth. Buffy?”

“…We can’t leave the Hellmouth.” It was a weak protest, and, besides, she wasn’t really paying attention anymore. Something had caught her attention, the way that normally only vampires and the occasional demon did. “Well, I can’t leave the Hellmouth.”

“You can and have,” Xander pointed out.

“You know that was an awful idea.” Buffy strode down the hall, chasing the feeling.

“What’s she lookin’ for? Hey, Buffy, where’re you goin’, sweetheart?”

next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1182860.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1178885.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html
Part IX: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html
Part X: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1155478.html
Part XI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1164418.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for 11 and this one!

Their guide was looking at Buffy as if she had grown a second head.

“Ah just wanted to have a little fun.” She spoke slowly, as if talking to a dangerous animal. That, Xander considered, was probably pretty accurate. “This place, I mean, people are only the new folks once, and if someone spooks ‘em bad, well, that’s not fun. I figured Ivette and Anwell in the hot tub—”

“And Ardell,” Xander interjected, although he couldn’t have told anyone why, “don’t forget Ardell.”

“Yes, but Ardell don’t look like nothing except handsome.”

“..I wasn’t looking that closely,” Xander admitted. “The, uh, wings, yeah, those were a bit of a hang-up.”

“…That’s it, you see, I figured that would be, well, shocking without being terrifying. But y’all ain’t shocked. You ain’t surprised. You’re barely upset at all. Are y’all ringers?”

“Ringers?” Buffy frowned. “Like, bell-ringers? No, we don’t do that, although once I hit a—”

Willow coughed loudly.

“Ah mean,” Magnolia continued, with exaggerated patience, “did y’all know about this stuff before you came here?”

“Well, now,” Xander babbled, “that depends on what you mean by ‘know’ and of course by ‘stuff’ and then there’s ‘before’ and ‘you’… and ‘y’all’…”

“What Xander means to say,” Willow cut him off, “is that there’s a lot of stuff to know about. And it might not be all that related to, ah, demon girls doing — things, doing things — in the hot tub, which ew, unsanitary — and we’re not in the habit of sharing the things we do know with people, and certainly not to see if they freak out!”

“Ah’m sorry, ah’m sorry.” Magnolia ducked her head and offered a smile that she probably meant to be contrite. Xander didn’t buy it, and yet, he rather thought he ought to… anyway. “So you knew about… something here. Demons, hrrm. Usually when we hear people shout ‘demon’, they’re a little less clinical about the whole thing.”

“Well,” Willow explained, “you have to know what sort of demon you’re dealing with. I mean, the difference between little black wings and big blue wings, it can be the difference between—”

“Succubus or Mara?” Magnolia offered.

“What? Succubi are a — oh, I should really stop saying things are myths, shouldn’t I?” Willow’s brow wrinkled worriedly. “And mara, oh, hrrm, those are… Buddhist demons, we haven’t encountered any of those, but they look very dangerous.”

“I’d be careful,” Magnolia said, suddenly looking serious, “about that word, ‘demon.’ I’m not sure what you’re used to, but around here, calling, hrrm, mara demons could get you with some upset people.”

Willow’s frown deepened. “I’ve never heard of a demon that minded being called a demon, I mean, among the sort of demons you can have a conversation with. Oh, dear, is this a school for demons? Because we’re not, you know. We’re — maybe a little strange, but we’re not demons, no…”

“You know,” Magnolia answered slowly, “I’m beginnin’ to think that you three and I have a different definition of the word ‘demon.’ You’re talking like these are, say, people on the street calling themselves demons?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly say people, not about most of them at all,” Xander put in.

“Not helping, Xander,” Buffy frowned. “So, you’re talking about people that look like demons and don’t call themselves that. We’re talking about — oh, man, Giles is gonna kill me, but he knew, didn’t he?” She turned to Willow, who made a sympathetic face. “He had to have known, that’s why with all the lectures on not… ‘punching’ people and all that. Okay.” She turned back to Magnolia. “This is supposed to be totally of the secret, but I’m talking about things from actual different dimensions, most of whom are not fuzzy wuzzy cute girls. Well, some of them are, but they like to eat teenaged boys, too.”

“That was only once!”

“Different dimensions?” Magnolia barely spared Xander a glance. “Oh, this is above my pay grade,” she complained. “Luke didn’t tell me — oh, but I bet he didn’t know, or he’d have put you with a cy’Solomon or something, not little ol’ cy’Linden me…” The despairing face she made was almost certainly fake, but Xander couldn’t help but wonder about the actual distress she’d started the sentence with. “All right, so you know demons. Different demons. Now this is quite interesting — but it’s going to make this whole tour a bit complicated, unfortunately.

“Can we settle for a little uncomplication first?” Xander put in. “I mean, not to distract from the mouth-of-hell problems and the demons, cute and not, but what’s a, um, kie-Solomon?”

“Oh, now, that’s easy.” She relaxed, leaning against the wall. Xander found he liked the way she looked relaxed, all smiling and — he mentally shook himself. “We all have Mentors. They’re teachers who, well, teach you specific stuff outside of classes and help you work out what you’re going to do with school.”

“Oh, kind of like an Advisor in college,” Willow perked up.

“Kind of,” Magnolia agreed. “And a group of students under the same Mentor is called a cy’ree. So, cy’Linden, Student of VanderLInden.”

“Oh!” Buffy smiled brightly. “So, like, we’re all cy’Giles.”

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1178885.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1173922.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html
Part IX: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html
Part X: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1155478.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for 10 and this one!

Luke made a deep growling noise in the back of his throat. “Magnolia, what did I tell you about scaring guests?”

Magnolia made an innocent expression that was ruined by the mischief in her eyes. “Wait until someone else had scared ‘em first?”

“That’s a good start,” he admitted. “Play nice, don’t feed them to any other upperclassmen, and have them back to my office in two hours. Got it.”

“Feed us?” Xander whispered. “Buff, are you…”

Buffy frowned. “Not sure. Things feel hinkey here.”

“Ah, Buffy,” Giles cleared his throat. “Please remember — things here may seem strange in ways that seem familiar. If you are in absolute need of, ah, punching someone, please do come get me before you do anything rash.”

“Got it. No punching without asking the… Librarian first.”

“Oh, ah should introduce you to our librarian. I’m sure she’d like you.” Magnolia’s smile was broad and playful.

“Magnolia,” Luke warned.

“All right, all right. Ah’ll be good. Come on, now, do you want to see the store, the pool, or the arcade first?”

She raised her answers as they all replied at once — with different answers.

“All right, so, we’ll do this in order. Pool is this way, I suppose that means you win, darlin’.” She winked at Xander, who blushed and looked away.

“Would’ve thought you’d had enough of pools,” Willow muttered.

“Hey! I resemble that remark. But, all things considered, I find I like a dip in the water as much as any red-blooded young man…” Xander trailed off to catch up with Magnolia, who was sashaying away. “Hey!”

Buffy had no problem catching up, but trailed a few feet behind to make sure Willow wasn’t getting lost. “Come on, Wills, pay no attention to Xander chasing another demon. I mean, except we probably should pay attention, in case we have to stake someone and why did Giles tell me not to ‘punch’ things? What are we going to run into down here that he had to warn me not once but twice?”

“Well, considering the wards, maybe there’s something down here that’s going to make your … s-girl senses go all wonky,” Willow offered. “And if they already know something’s amiss, maybe they know about… people like, um, like Kendra?” She flailed her hands.

“I don’t like that.” Buffy frowned. “I don’t like being underground to start with, and if I’m underground with a bunch of creepy people who might just know what I can do…” She stopped, because Xander had stopped in the middle of a doorway and was trying to back up, right into them. “Already? Xander, what—”

“D-d-devil,” he muttered, taking another step backwards, dragging Magnolia with him. She, in turn, had an amused smile on her lips and her hand wrapped around Xander’s bicep.

“Come now, that’s no way to talk about Ivette — unless you’ve slept with her.”

“Woah, woah, none of the sleeping with.” Xander put his free hand up in a “stop” gesture. “No matter what anyone’s told you, I’m not the sort of guy to—”

“Oh, come on, Xander, sometimes you are.” Buffy slid between him and the doorway, moving under his upraised arm. “Now what’s this about… oh.” There were a pair of bat wings clearly in her vision; they belonged to someone not wearing anything else, in a tub of people wearing the same thing. “Pardon us…” she slipped right back out, covering her face with her hand. It did nothing to help with the images now seared into her brain. “Was that… Were those…”

“That’s Ivette,” Magnolia purred, “with the wings. And that was Ardell and Anwell with her.” Her voice turned concerned. “That’s nothin’ strange for Addergoole, just some people having fun. The wings don’t bother you, do they?”

“It’s just that,” Buffy blinked a few times. “Okay, sorry, one moment. Wills: black-and-red batlike wings, cute ones, though, not big enough to do much. LIttle devil tail, little horns, same color.”

Willow was flipping through her notebook before Buffy stopped talking. “Skin color?”

“Freckles. White skin.”

Magnolia was looking back and forth between them in bemusement. “Y’all Grigori types or what? No-one else’s ever seen a cy’Linden party and gone ‘what type of wings did she have?’”

“Oh, hey, guys, it’s a party, maybe we should go in.” Xander pivoted and turned towards the door. He made it about half a step before Willow and Buffy grabbed him.

“Xander, Anwell and Ardell were, uh, male. quite male… Oh. Oh, the one had scales on his back, Willow.”

“Nope, nope.” Xander backed off. “Done with scales.”

“…Y’all have an interesting life, don’t you?” Magnolia frowned.

Buffy pointed a glare at her. “You knew they were there, didn’t you? And you wanted to see what we did when we saw — when we saw her wings. And maybe scale-boy’s scales.”

“Well, where did you think I was before I came to show y’all around?” she smirked. “And you should thank me. When you come here, you’ll be a leg up on the rest of ‘em if you’ve already seen it. Most people don’t get a tour.”

“All right.” Buffy paced in front of the pool door. “Wings. The girl had wings. And you were trying to see if we’d freak out.”

“GIles said not to freak, Buffy,” Willow reminded her. “So Giles knows something is going on here.”

“Oh, well, that’s no fun,” Magnolia pouted. “Not even over wings?”

“Not the first winged demon I’ve seen. I mean, usually Xander finds the pretty ones, not me, but that’s about it.” Buffy shrugged. “So you wanted to spook us. Why?”

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1173922.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1164418.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html
Part IX: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for 8, 9, and this one!

“So the whole school is underground?” Xander was the last down the narrow staircase, and he was taking his time, looking around as if the old barn would suddenly reveal something more exciting than a concrete stairway hidden under a trap door. “Doesn’t that get a little, oh, I don’t know, crypt-like? Grave-y? Dank and claustrophobic?”

“Spend a lot of time in crypts?” Luke shot a look over his shoulder at the three of them.

“Of course not,” Willow offered brightly. “It’s just that the whole underground thing is a bit — well, it’s a bit creepy, you have to admit. No offense, I mean, some people like creepy; it’s a valid decorating style, I’m sure, but…”

“But it’s still a bit strange.”

“Being underground lets us spread out more,” Luke offered. “And gives us privacy.”

“Oh, good. Privacy.” Xander swallowed. “Not selling me on the crypt-school here, man.”

“It grows on you.” The lights came on as Luke led them down into a broad room, warehouse shelves flanking a wide receiving area and a big Jeep on some sort of lift. “Through this way is the school. There’s some students here over the summer. Magnolia’ll show you around. You want to talk to Regine, right?” He nodded at Giles.

“I need to impress on her the oddities of our situation — ah, yes.” Giles coughed. “Yes, I need to explain to her, that is —”

“You said ‘yes’, Giles, it’s fine.” Buffy patted him on the shoulder. “I think he got that part without all the extra yesses.”

“Thank you very much for that, Buffy.” Giles frowned at her. “And this tour, I assume it will be of the grounds and accommodations and…”

“All down here.” The warehouse opened out into a wood-panelled hallway, the carpet lush and soft underfoot and the light hidden somewhere in the ceiling. “Greenhouse and dorm rooms, Store and Arcade and the pool and the weight room—”

“You have a greenhouse? Underground? The ‘green’ part isn’t supposed to be mold, is it?”

“Store? Are there shoes? What?” Buffy looked around, although only Giles was really sighing. “I was promised shoes for this trip, and then I broke a nice one when we were in — wherever we were. Also, what about the nightlife? Clubs? That sort of thing?”

“Students with suites throw a lot of parties, and there are dances every other Friday.” Luke didn’t sound all that thrilled about it. “It’s a small school. There’s plenty of chance to get to know everyone.”

“And what about computer classes? Don’t huff, Giles,” Willow scolded. “It’s just that I have a need to keep learning, and if this place is going to challenge me even less than Sunnydale High…” she shrugged. A gesture around the place suggested she didn’t think much of the decor. “Old-fashioned law firm look doesn’t mean challenging teachers.”

Luke cleared his throat. “You could come up with an independent study program with your Mentor. I’m sure there are a couple teachers here who could help you with that, although we’re kind of… old-fashioned here.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Giles muttered.

“Mmph.” Luke shot Giles a look.
Buffy sighed. “More tweed? More old men hiding in rooms and reading books?”

“Nothing lik — more?”

“I have a very interesting life, but it involves way too much tweed,” Buffy explained. “Right, Giles?”

“Ahem. Well, there is quite a bit of tweed, that is, as Buffy says. There are a number of scholars who are less than useful in a difficult situation and who have, ah, insinuated themselves into Buffy’s life. This is all going to come out in the meeting I should have with the Administration, of course, and that would include you, wouldn’t it, Mr. Hunting-Hawk?”

“What… yeah. Yeah, it would.” He rolled his shoulders. “I guess I oughta… Magnolia!” He waved down the hall. “These are the visitors.”

“Oh, I was wonderin’ when they’d show up.” The voice came first, a warm southern drawl. A moment later, they could see the girl around Luke’s shoulder — tall, taller than Xander, with dark tan skin and black curly hair twisted up into a sloppy chignon. She was wearing a halter top and shorts with heeled sandals that made her even taller. “Oh, aren’t y’all cute!”

“Tell me she’s not a demon,” Xander whispered. “Tell me she’s not a demon… ow!” He rubbed his arm where Buffy had punched him.

That left Willow to step forward and offer a cautious hand. “I, um, hi. Willow, that is, I’m Willow, this is Buffy, Xander, and Giles, our, um, our Librarian.”

The tall girl shook Willow’s hand. “Ah’m Magnolia. And the only people that call me a demon are the ones ah’m sleepin’ with, so take that as you may.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1155478.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html
Part VIII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for all 8!

“Are you sure we’re going the right way, Giles? I mean, yeah, massive wards of wardiness seem to say something about ‘here be strange things’ but the scenery…” Willow looked out the window at wheat that seemed to go on forever. “There’s nothing here.”

“No shoe stores,” Buffy sulked.

“Buffy, you bought three new pairs of shoes in the last city. In between making a scene of yourself.” Giles ‘ tut-tutting had very little heat; perhaps, like the other two, he was trying desperately to draw attention away from Xander’s confusion. “And yes, Willow. The Addergoole School is quite isolated. I’m told it helps focus attention on one’s studies, which shouldn’t be a problem for you, but may prove difficult for some others.”

“Hey, I went to almost every class last week!” Buffy glared with mock indignation.

“Indeed. Well, and here we are.” Giles turned a corner in the road that seemed to exist for no reason at all, and in front of them was a barn. “Ah, this is what the instructions said, at least….” He drove up to the barn and honked twice.

“This isn’t creepy at all.” Xander looked from one window to the other. “Next, there were lill these creepy children coming out of the corn, talking all at the same time and their eyes glowing blue…”

“I think you might be mixing movies, Xander.” Willow tutted, but her heart wasn’t in it. “I think the glowing blue eyes — Ah!”

“Relax, Willow,” Buffy teased, “it’s a guy. A… rather… handsome… guy. Scowly, too.”

Giles cleared his throat. “And likely with hearing as good as yours, Buffy, if not better. Hello, sir. Might you be Luca Hunting-Hawk?”

“I am.” He was short, although taller than Buffy, with short-cropped black hair and an impressive scowl; his t-shirt was practically bulging around his biceps, and his jeans looked old, worn in, and as if they covered just as much muscle. “You’re the ones coming to visit?”

“Yes, ah, that is. I am Rupert Giles, called Ripper, and these are my students, Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg, and Alexander Harris.”

“Your Students? Interesting.”

“I believe you will find that interesting does not begin to cover the situation where these three are concerned.” Giles coughed. “Which is in large part why we are here now. It’s not just to tour the school, although I’m certain they are all interested. It is because these three come with certain… special circumstances which I am not certain your administration is aware of.”

“Let’s talk, then.” Luke frowned. “Their mothers did not come along?”

“Just ‘mothers’, did you notice?” Xander whispered loudly. Willow and Buffy shushed him.

“Their mothers… ahem. Well, let us just say that I am standing in loco parentis for the moment, as far as the law is concerned, and the rest we can save for our meeting.”

“Loco what?” Buffy whispered. Willow and Xander shushed her.

“Hrrm.” Luke rolled his shoulders. “You weren’t joking about ‘interesting’, were you?”

“No. Not at all. Now, I haven’t been able to find out much about this school…”

“You wouldn’t have. It’s only in its fourth year, and we prefer to fly below the radar. It’s an unusual school…”

“These three are unusual students.” Giles’ voice was dangerously mild. “I wonder if it’s the same sort of ‘unusual.’”

“Hey, now, Buffy’s Buffy and Willow’s, well, Willow, but I’m pretty usual,” Xander complained. “I think I got my invitation by mistake.”

“Ha.” Luke snorted at him. “Regine doesn’t make that sort of mistake.”

“Well, I mean, all sorts of people make mistakes about me. That’s just, you know, I’m mistake boy.”

“Come on in, son. Ladies. Ripper.” Luke turned back towards the barn.

“Ah, if you don’t mine, Rupert or Giles in front of the children…”

“We’re not exactly babies, ‘Ripper’,” Buffy complained.

“Be that as it may, I’d rather that I remain Giles to you three. Now let’s not keep the gentleman waiting any longer, shall we?”

Luke snorted once again and swung open the barn door. “Down this way. We’ll come back and get your stuff later.”

“Creepy much?” Buffy muttered.

“Ah, Buffy. It may be that things are going to seem especially ‘creepy’ here at Addergoole. Please… react with more thought than is normally needed.”

“What? It’s not like I… okay. Move slowly and don’t… punch people too often. Got it.” Buffy nodded sharply. “This is going to be fun,” she added in a quiet mutter.

Although Luke had his back to the three teens, Giles had a perfect view of the short man’s sudden smile. “Know someone who’s gonna like her,” he muttered softly. “She’s sharp.”

“You have no idea,” Giles sighed. “You have absolutely no idea.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1146552.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html
Part VII: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for all 8!

Giles pulled the car to a stop on the side of the barely-paved road, very slowly put the car in park, and twisted in his seat to stare at Xander.

Willow and Buffy had already turn to do the same.

“Xander!” Willow broke what was threatening to become an unpleasant silence. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Indeed.” Giles coughed. “The time for this information would have been several days ago, Xander. What if we hadn’t brought you along?”

“Look, guys, it’s no big, okay? So some fancy school wants me — for whatever reason, probably a glitch in their system anyway…”

“From what I have heard of Regine Avonmorea, nothing in her presence would dare to do something like ‘glitch’.”

“Yeah, Giles’ books says she’s a real hardcore accuracy nut. Got in some arguments with some other scientists… I mean. If I had been reading Giles’ books or anything.”

“When we return home, Willow, we will have some conversations about your propensity for breaking into places uninvited.” Giles cleared his throat. “Regardless. Xander…?”

“Hey, no need to bring it back to me yet, I mean, Buffy might still want to get her kicks in, right, Buff? Your turn to yell at me?”

Buffy shook her head slowly. “I got nothing.”

“Come on, Buffster, surely you want to yell at me a little? I mean, I’ve been yelling at you since you got back. Just a little scream? Some witty quips? Anything?”

“Sorry, Xander, you’re just gonna have to answer the question.”

“You don’t look sorry. Does she look sorry to you, Willow?”

Willow tried her best to frown at Xander. “You’re on your own here, buster.”

“Darnit. Maybe I could just…”

“Xander.” Giles’ voice was uncharacteristically harsh. “Now.”

“Aw man… look. Fancy school. Fancy, expensive school. There’s no way my parents can pay for something like that, and I’m a horrible student anyway.”

“You’re not that bad,” Willow offered loyally. “You just don’t really care.”

“Yeah, well, why should a fancy school waste time on ‘doesn’t care’ me? So I threw the invitation out.”

“Xander!” Willow glared at him. “And you didn’t say anything?”

“Look, Will. Two things. One, you really need to get out of Sunnydale. Two, Buffy could use a break. But someone has to stay home and clean up the mess, right? And really, I’m not that good at school, and… no way to pay.”

Giles cleared his throat and cleaned his glasses for a moment. “Well. We will discuss scholarships when we get there… if we can come to an arrangement. I do believe this is something that we are going to need to wait on a decision for, until I can speak to Dr. Avonmorea in person.” He straightened up. “Be that as it may, Xander, if you receive any more mysterious letters or invitations, do tell me straightaway. And it would likely be kind to inform your friends as well.”

“Right. Tell everyone about my junk mail. Do you want to know about my credit card applications, too? Because I just may qualify for a low, low rate.”

“Xander…” Willow set her hand on his leg cautiously. Xander jerked away.

“No, Wills, you’re all mad at me, and it’s just ‘cause you’re not thinking. Yay, you got into a fancy school. Good. You should go. I’ll miss you, hell, yeah, I will, but… let’s not pretend, all right? That just makes the whole thing worse.”

Giles pulled the car back on the road. “I think you’re making several assumptions, Xander, and that — not an unhealthy interest in your junk mail — is why I wish to know things like this. There is information available to you which may change your decisions, especially if it turns out that Willow — and, yes, possibly Buffy — end up attending this Addergoole school.”

“Such as?” Xander glowered. “It’s private school, Giles. They don’t do private school for losers.”

“Xander!” Willow glared at him. One more time, Xander shrugged it off.

“It’s just the truth, Will, and I don’t see why everyone is all worked up about it.”

“Secrets,” Buffy pointed out darkly.

“Yeah, well, we all have those, don’t we?” Xander flopped back in his seat. “It was a mistake. That’s all.”

“Xander.” Giles’ voice may have been soft, but it was firm. “Two things. First, from what I know from my research — as I’m sure Willow can attest — this is not the sort of place that makes mistakes, certainly not in admission. Secondly, the school is free; indeed, they appear to pay for college for their graduates.”

Xander swallowed. “Oh.” It sounded small and a little lost. He coughed and managed a lopsided smiled. “Oh, well, why didn’t you say so?”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html. You can comment here or there.

Part I: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1096503.html
Part II: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1100922.html
Part III: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1104619.html#cutid1
Part IV: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1108537.html
Part V: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1112216.html
Part VI: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1124762.html

Help! I’d like clever individual titles for these chapters as well – now taking suggestions for all 7!

“It’s some big, nasty, anti… anti-us ward?” Willow frowned both with effort and confusion.

“Very good, Willow.” Giles spoke through gritted teeth. “I did tell them we were coming…oh, bollocks.” He fell silent, gripping the wheel.

Xander’s fists were clenched. “Maybe they don’t want us?” he managed, although he was looking a bit nauseous. “Maybe this was all a big mistake and we should… what?” Everyone in the car had turned to look at him.

“Interesting,” Giles managed. “You are feeling…”

“Like a giant force-field is trying to push my out the back of the car? Yeah. I mean, I’ve felt worse…”

“I believe we’ve all ‘felt worse’,” Giles murmured. “And yet still…”

“No still, no nothing, man. Why are you going faster? Why are you not turning around?”

“I’m irked,” Giles snapped, “and I want them to be quite aware of this.”

“Well, um, Giles old buddy,” Xander gulped, “I get that, and everyone in the car is very aware that you’re, uh, irked, but you’re driving headlong into certain danger and that’s normally my job. So, um, maybe slow down just a little bit?”

And just like that, Giles let off the gas as the sense of danger and doom lifted from them. He brought the car down to a sedate pace and turned in his seat to look at Xander.

Xander swallowed. “What?”

“Tell me, Xander,” Giles’ voice was level and terrifyingly calm, “were you that frightened of my driving…?”

“What? No. No! It was just — it felt like the world was ganging up on us. You know, Apocalypse season?”

“I do wish you wouldn’t say that.” Giles sighed. “Well, that is quite interesting. It may be a very good thing indeed that you came along.”

“Well, duh, I mean, I provide much needed humor. But why… Why in specific?”

“Giles, I want to know, too.” Willow leaned forward. “I mean, we were all affected by the wards. Why is it interesting that Xander was?”

“Well, you and BUffy were invited. And I, uh… oh, dear.” Giles sighed. “I was hoping to put this off, but I suppose it can’t be helped. From what I can determine, Addergoole is an academy for a specific subset of very, mm, special students, which is why Willow and Buffy were invited.”

Xander swallowed. “Will and Buff are special, yep, we already knew that. Will’s got these magical witch powers and Buffy’s the Chosen One. Special.”

“Yes, well. There is special, and then there are, um. Other kinds of special.”

“Giles, just spit it out,” Buffy complained. “Is it ‘cause I’m dumb?”

“No way, Buffs, you’re way smarter than me, and I got in…” Xander put both hands over his mouth. “Just pretend I didn’t say that, okay?”

Next: http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1139412.html

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/1134781.html. You can comment here or there.