[X] Buffy calls the Scoobies together and brings Harmony with her to face the music. They're her best friends, and she should tell them all properly, even if things might get a little fraught.
"Hi Xander. Sorry I'm bugging you on your night off," Buffy said into her radio. She'd let the throttle back on her bike a bit, to reduce the roar of the wind to something she could talk over.
There was a momentary pause, then Xander replied, "No problemo, Buffster. Me and Ahn were just, you know. Hanging out. But friends call each other on their nights off to do the chit and chat, and hanging out can and should be no obstacle to that."
Part of Buffy wanted to chicken out and just chit chat with her Xander, but the cat was already out of the bag, and she'd talked to Giles and Willow already anyway. "So, there's kind of something big."
"Big?" Xander asked. "Was it something to do with the whole Sour thing you were doing with your dad?"
"It's complicated," Buffy said. "I want to talk about it in person, with the gang. I was thinking at Giles' place tonight? He already agreed to it, but I know it's a little sudden."
"Uh, alright. That'd probably be for the best. But you should know I'm with-" Now that Xander mentioned it, she could hear someone talking in the background, but couldn't make it out very well.
"You can bring Anya, that's fine," Buffy answered before he finished. "I'm gonna need to have this discussion with everyone important sooner or later." She could use all the backup she could find, and she knew Anya approved of her dating Harmony.
"OK. Sure," Xander said hesitantly. "We'll be there soon."
"Great. Cya." She hung up. In hindsight, he and Anya might've been out of town. It was lucky they'd stayed in (Xander had been living at the Watch House for months now), but that did imply worrying things about what she might've interrupted. "Harmony, did you hear what was going on in the background there?"
"It's hard over the radio and with the wind," she said "I think it was Anya? She sounded pretty worked up about something."
"Do you think they were, umm. Did I interrupt?"
"Probably," Harmony said. "They do it a lot. I should know, I live there."
Buffy hadn't fully thought through the consequences of supersenses in an apartment setting. She was probably lucky that her hearing had been barely better than human normal when she was first called as the Slayer and her parents were still together. "That sounds awkward."
She felt Harmony shrug behind her, rubbing her chest into her back at angles, making some heat crawl up her spine. She wondered if the move was intentional or not. "It's not so bad, I can always tell when Xander's going to be in a chill mood. Unless this is an offer to move in together?"
It was exciting, but maybe not the best idea right now. Even though she had the money. "We should probably traumatize my mom one step at a time," She still had no idea how she'd take it.
"Sure, no rush." Harmony rubbed her cold lips up against Buffy's ear as she said that, and she couldn't help but lean into it. Definitely intentional.
"We can go to our spot on the beach after." Buffy said it in a lower voice, knowing Harmony could still hear.
"It'll be late enough for it by then, at least," Harmony said, a little irreverently.
"It's not going to be that bad," Buffy told Harmony, and also herself. "This isn't High School anymore. My friends trust me, so they'll trust you. In fact, I bet it'll be fine. We'll wonder why we worried so much about it."
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"Buffy," Giles smiled warmly, but didn't tell her to come in as he stepped to the side.
Buffy stepped in automatically, but she heard an "Ow, I always forget about that." from behind her as Harmony walked into the threshold.
"Harmony?" Giles sounded a little less pleased; he'd probably missed her presence behind the door. "I wasn't aware you were coming to this gathering."
"It wouldn't make much sense if I-"
"It's something she needs to hear too," Buffy said quickly, stopping her from blowing things too early. Ideally it could at least wait until everyone got here, and she'd arrived first. "Sorry, I didn't really think about the whole invite thing either, I was kind of busy when I got this set up."
Giles looked put upon, but just shook his head. "I suppose you can come in, Harmony, if only because relocating at this hour would lose me more sleep than any worries on your account."
"Great!" Harmony entered, and then her face twisted up a bit in a non-vampy way. "Hey, wait, should I be insulted?"
"I won't even pretend I can fathom what goes on in your mind," Giles said. As Buffy shut the door behind them, he continued, "Buffy, would you like some tea?"
"Sure, that sounds good," she said. It'd be a good delaying tactic, at least.
"What, I can't get tea?" Harmony asked.
Giles looked surprised now, and a little flustered. "I hadn't thought you'd care for it. As far as I was aware, your experiments with normal sustenance were limited to junk food."
"I've been branching out," Harmony said. "Things don't really taste as good in general, but a lot of it's just different than before too. I used to kind of hate tea, it's OK now."
"Fascinating," Giles said, totally distracted for now. Score? "Have you been finding this all out by experiment?"
"Trish snacks a ton, so she's had some suggestions. I don't always agree, but it's better than nothing," at Giles' opaque look, she explained, "Umm, Trish from the suck house."
"Oh, yes, of course," Giles said, wiping his glasses. "There still haven't been any mishaps, there, I'd hope?"
"I've been around a few times just to make sure they remember me, but Harmony mostly keeps 'em in line," Buffy said, patting her on the shoulder. Harmony gave her a naughty smile that Buffy hoped Giles didn't catch.
"We got it cleaned up really pretty," Harmony said. "Harper says they're the 'second nicest house of ill repute in town' now. And she should know."
"I was more concerned about the conduct of the vampires than the state of their facilities," Giles said.
"CyberWillow checks over the security videos now," Harmony said. "I don't think anyone could get something past her, she even notices when I get my makeup just a little bit wrong. It's like having a mirror again."
Her name invoked, CyberWillow commented from the radios in eerie surround sound, "I can confirm that there has been no evidence of rule-breaking at Gwen Readle's establishment, and I estimate a probability of only 3.26% that such activity has been concealed from me. Additionally, you may find it useful to know Willow Rosenberg and Daniel Osbourne will be at the door in approximately 17 seconds."
"Huh," Buffy said, going back to the door.
"I'll check on the kettle," Giles said.
Buffy opened the door and saw the empty courtyard which led into Giles' apartment. "17 seconds is kind of a long time, in retrospect."
"Noted," CyberWillow said.
Harmony slotted herself in behind her in the doorway. "Is Xander going to be here soon?"
"In five minutes and ten seconds," CyberWillow answered.
"This is pretty convenient," Harmony said.
"How we lived without Big Sister listening, I'll never know," Buffy quipped.
"Buffy, hi!" Willow said, appearing around the corner right ahead of Oz. "Also, Harmony, hi? Is this going to be a bigger meeting than I thought?"
"It's just us and Xander and Anya," Harmony said. "You know, all of Buffy's friends."
"Not that you shouldn't be here or anything," Willow said, a little between confused and apologetic. "For whatever here is going to be. But Giles' place is just a place with… limited size. And a threshold."
"What I need to talk about affects Harmony too," Buffy said.
"Makes sense," Oz said as he arrived. "Though I think I missed the part where we knew what that was."
"Xander's gonna be here in five minutes, or probably four by now," Buffy said. "So lets just wait on that until everyone's arrived. What's up with you two tonight?"
"How do you know when Xander's getting here?" Willow asked, ignoring Buffy's question.
Buffy gave her a look, "CyberWillow told me, she was tracking your location too. You didn't program that in or something?"
Willow entered the door and Oz followed her in. "It's the first I'm hearing about it. I've been busy getting Warren started with that Maze trap."
CyberWillow spoke through the radios again, "Earlier today, Chief Matthew Waters asked, possibly rhetorically, how long it would take two of his officers to arrive at the scene of a minor domestic dispute. I happened to have spare cycles to evaluate the request, and he seemed gratified by the information when I presented it."
"She's been helping out the police a lot in the past few weeks, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, I'm starting to think they like her more than me over at the station. A lot of their information infrastructure was pretty dated, she's done some big quality of life improvements. I guess this is just another one. Pretty convenient, if you ask me." Willow smiled.
"Is she keeping track of where all the radios are at once?" Oz asked.
"She doesn't really have the cycles for actually paying attention to it all at once, not right now, but she can always check, and the system keeps short term records too," Willow said.
Buffy focused on the 'right now', "She's getting an upgrade?"
"Well, she could," Willow said. "I've been thinking more about the spiderweb ritual, with all this Initiative stuff going on." Buffy vaguely remembered that; some kind of plan to use the Box of Gavrok to supercharge CyberWillow. It had seemed too dangerous before, and they'd dealt with the Wolfram and Hart threat proactively instead. They couldn't exactly deal with the Initiative by kicking their faces in though.
Willow mistook her pensiveness for worse news, "Oh, is that what this meeting's about? Did the Initiative do something terrible again? Have they been hassling you, Harmony?"
"Nope. And if they did, I could totally handle myself now, with all the cool training I've gotten," she replied confidently.
"This meeting isn't about the Initiative," Buffy said. She wasn't sure where to go from there without just spilling it, but luckily Giles saved her by arriving with tea and other british things on a tray.
"See, I can drink tea!" Harmony bragged to Giles, sipping with an exaggerated look of satisfaction. Buffy couldn't help but giggling, and that set everyone else off.
This was great. Everyone was having fun and Harmony was fitting in. Buffy was really starting to believe that everything would be fine.
As the laughs trailed off, "Xander Harris and his party will arrive in ten seconds." The phrasing was odd, and Buffy wasn't sure what it meant. Had Xander brought someone else besides Anya? Well, it wasn't like she'd said he couldn't. How bad could it really be?
As Buffy was thinking about the mystery guest and how they might complicate things, Willow ran up to open the door and wait for them. Buffy just barely heard some raised voices from outside, and her eyes swiveled to Harmony on instinct. She'd couldn't exactly get much paler, but she'd frozen, as if freaked out. Without wasting time to ask about the issue, Buffy was on her feet, out the door, and in front of a now-confused Willow.
Anya was shouting as she came around the corner, "How many vampires have you even known?"
"Why would I want to know any?" It wasn't Xander answering, but it was Kathy, getting out from the backseat. "They're dirty and stupid. I can understand using them for menial work, especially in conditions like you have here, but mating with one? It's completely depraved!"
KILL
Xander arrived last, looking harried. "Can we all just stay calm and not jump to-"
Buffy was apoleptic. "Kathy, what the hell are you doing here?" She was so angry it was an effort to not just attack her.
"I'm here because I care." She had an infuriatingly smug look on her face, and wasn't showing any of the damage from earlier. "I don't know what kind of crazy justifications you're going to try to use, but I can't let this go on. We're having an intervention!"
"Buffy, I keep telling her the facts again and again but she just won't listen to me! It's very distressing," Anya said.
"Kathy, you must have heard it wrong!" Willow said. "Angel had a human soul! It wasn't like he was just some normal vampire when Buffy was dating him!"
"Wait, what, this isn't even the first time?" Kathy said, utterly shocked. "Do you have like, an addiction? Is it some sick fetish or something?"
"Xander, why did you bring her here?" Buffy screamed.
He backed up a step from her, speaking more quietly than anyone else had. "I just wanted to get everything sorted out. Everyone was talking crazy, so I, being the experienced Sunnydaler I am, assumed something crazy was happening. It looks like I was right. So maybe just put down the murder hammer and we can all calmly discuss this until it makes sense."
Buffy noticed she was suddenly armed. Convenient, considering the unexpected company.
"I'm not talking crazy!" Anya said. "This isn't a big deal! Interspecies sex happens all the time, and you would know that, Kathy, if you weren't such a stuck-up shut-in brat!"
"I'm as cosmopolitan as anyone!" Kathy said. "Mog'tog'og sits at the height of culture! You're the nouveau-riche social climber!"
"Not to be a broken record, but can we please all be sane and say what we actually mean? Preferably in English?" Xander said. "Buffy, both Anya and Kathy somehow got convinced you're dating Harmony. They're not talking about whatever you think they are." A silence stretched out.
This was so not the way she'd wanted things to go. So of course, it was happening. She wanted to make a heartfelt explanation to Xander and everyone else. She wanted to run and hide and not see anyone again ever. She wanted, maybe more than those other two things, to smash Kathy's annoying face in, right here and right now. She was frozen in indecision, trapped in the ugly moment.
"It's true." Harmony said, looking afraid and hopeful, like a wary puppy. She and everyone else had heard the commotion and spilled out of the door.
"And this is the part where my polished detective skills tell me you're a girl, so that doesn't make any sense," Xander said.
"Xander, we've watched enough porn that you know that isn't true," Anya said.
"Not that there's anything wrong with liking girls," he continued. "I do it all the time, but Buffy isn't-"
"Just stop," Buffy said. "Everyone, stop. I'm dating Harmony. We've been together for over a month. There's no misunderstanding, or spell, or anything like that. It just is."
"Buffy…" Giles began, but he didn't seem to have words and trailed off.
"You didn't tell me? All this time?" Willow said.
"I wasn't sure what you'd think of me," Buffy said.
"Well, Anya knew! How long has she known?" Willow looked morose.
Buffy didn't say anything.
"Is she your new best friend? Am I not-"
"That's not it! I was just so confused, and Anya has, well, experience."
"OK, so you couldn't have told us both?"
"Maybe we should be focusing less on who got told when and more on the 'Buffy is gay dating a vampire' part?" Xander interrupted. "Because I'm still a little concerned that some of the wacky might be going on."
"Get off your high horse, Harris," Harmony said. "Is it really that weird? Anya's over a thousand years old, and you're with her. Frequently."
"It's different!" Xander said. "And Angel was different! Forget the gay part. But as much as I dislike the guy, Angel: soul. And Anya: soul. Harmony: no soul. Unless she secretly has a soul?"
"Eww, no. Not that there's anything wrong with having a soul," Harmony said, taking in the audience, "It's just not my thing."
"You don't only like me because of my soul do you?" Anya asked Xander worriedly.
"And what do you have instead?" Kathy said, ignoring Anya's tangent to focus on Harmony. "Vampires are spiritually twisted in the extreme. Their demons aren't like human souls, which are clean, if a little weak. They're fundamentally dirty inside and out, the most malformed creations imaginable."
"I've seen demon-you in the books Anya. It's not exactly the face I want to wake up next to," Xander said.
"My mistake, I could've sworn you were the most malformed creation imaginable," Buffy said. Kathy kept making things worse. She was never going to fix this with her here messing it up.
"What? Nothing's wrong with my demon face!" Anya said. "I mean, this one is great too, but my demonic visage has been called the gold standard in Vengeance! I've been on fashion magazines!"
"Excuse you!" Kathy said. "Lashing out isn't going to win you any arguments, Buffy."
"That came out wrong," Xander said. "You're pretty however you look. But it's what's on the inside that counts, and as a demon, wasn't that a big old ball of evil?"
"I see no reason we should be in an argument with you, Ms. Newman" Giles said. "Even accounting for your farcical role in the city government, you're in no position to be lecturing any of us about our personal lives."
"No!" Anya was rising in volume. "I improved lots of lives as a vengeance demon. Maybe I made some mistakes too, and I've moved on to a different stage of my life now, but that doesn't invalidate all my work. I made sacrifices for vengeance! I'm the Patron Saint of the Women Scorned!"
"The reason I need to be here is that I know better and you don't!" Kathy said. "This isn't just some backwater folksy dimension anymore, you can't do things like this in civilized society! It's one thing to have picturesque appeal and it's another to embrace the worst stereotypes about humans!"
"I wasn't aware that dating vampires was a human stereotype," Oz said.
"Well, we're the last to know about stuff, apparently," Willow replied. "Maybe it's the new trend."
"Anya, you cursed people's minds and exploded other people's entrails and I'm pretty sure you toppled a few governments. You've told me the stories, lots of times. Trust me, you were evil," Xander said.
"Everyone always said that humans are no better than scum like vampires!" Kathy ranted. "I knew they were wrong the whole time, that humans were cool! And I was right! All of you are proving it, even my dad is going to have to admit it! Humans are just as good as demons of pure blood, as if the Traf'tar had blessed them himself! But if she stays on the path she's on, Buffy is going to ruin everything!"
"Maybe she should start with your face!" Harmony said.
"Do you really still think it's that simple?" Anya screamed, "Maybe you should shack up with Kathy instead, if you see everything in black and white!"
"That's uncalled for," Xander said. "Anya, I-"
"Why is it that when I do anything suspect the good reasons I had for it don't matter, but when you kiss Buffy on the lips something as minor as a little lust projection absolves you of all the blame?"
"Well, that's a relief," Kathy said, pointing at the other conversation. "I was worried for a bit that you weren't even attracted to clean people,"
"If you call my girlfriend dirty one more time I will break your jaw to shut you up," Buffy said.
"Kill her, Buffy!" Harmony shouted.
"I've apologized again and again, Anya, but I wasn't in my right mind! Just like you weren't when you didn't have a soul. We can put it all behind us," Xander said.
"Are you too scared to fight your own battles?" Kathy taunted Harmony. "If you think you're as good as a pure demon, I'm right here. Come at me!"
"I'm not just some stupid cheerleader anymore! It's on!"
KILL
Harmony swung. Buffy could've stopped it, but she didn't see any reason to. If anyone deserved to get a lick on Kathy right now, it was her. Her form was perfect, and Kathy's nose cracked under her knuckles.
Kathy had been spoiling for this, but even so it was almost like she hadn't expected it to happen. Harmony took advantage of her shock to close in and jab at her, even as Kathy was backing up and trying to regain her composure.
"Go Harmony!" Anya said, distracted from her fight with Xander.
"I feel like I keep saying words and people keep getting more insane," Xander said glumly.
"Is this really the best venue for this?" Giles said, ignored by everyone else.
After taking a few more hits, Kathy finally got her act together and grabbed at Harmony, trying to use her superior strength. Harmony had learned her lessons well though, and dealt with it by slipping under her elbow and then tripping her. She went to the ground on top of Kathy and started really laying into her. Buffy had worried Harmony might be outmatched in power, but Kathy didn't seem like she knew how to fight.
"Buffy never taught me moves like that," Willow grumped.
"Did you actually want to learn fighting moves?" Oz said.
"Well, not really, but still," she replied.
Unfortunately, that was when things started to go wrong. Kathy's face looked terrible and her disguise had taken a pounding, but Harmony's efforts weren't actually hurting her very much. Finally realizing this, she struck back at her with a vicious headbutt that made a nasty sounding crack when it hit and jolted all the way down Harmony's neck.
"Vampires." She kneed Harmony low, shoving her upper body past her own head.
"Are." Then she punched her in the gut, sending her rolling off of her to the side.
"Weak." She grabbed her by the knee, and spun her over the low wall of the fountain that graced the center of the courtyard outside Giles' apartment. Harmony broke through the spraying part inside and water flew everywhere.
"I hope they don't bill me for that," Giles said with exasperation.
Buffy almost jumped in, but Harmony kept rolling and managed to recover to a knee, across the fountain from her opponent. Her outfit was soaked and she was finally in game face, but she didn't seem too bad off yet, and she wasn't running away or crying for help. Buffy held herself back, and even leaned her hammer against the wall. She wouldn't want her to interfere in this, it was a grudge match.
"Your face is weak!" Harmony screamed.
"Insolent bitch!" Kathy charged over the water at Harmony swinging wildly and Harmony dodged around the fountain in a circle. Everyone watching who hadn't already backed away to the outer ring of the courtyard to give them more space.
"Don't try to extend things, Mok'tagar never tire out!" Anya warned her.
"If you won't keep your fingers out of my job, at least keep them out of my fight!" Kathy growled. Her distraction cost her as Harmony attacked again, lashing out with a quick kick and then starting to box again.
"Harmony, you need to go for the joints more," Buffy suggested. She had a tendency to get distracted with body blows, and against a tougher opponent that didn't work that well.
"Giles, can you help me out here? Can you agree that none of this makes any sense?" Xander said, still in general denial.
"Now you understand my great burden," he answered.
Harmony listened to the advice and her next kick went for Kathy's knee. Kathy stumbled, but her knee held, and she was able to grab Harmony by the hair as she tried to retreat again. Harmony flailed wildly and they both ended up falling into one of the stands of plants. It was hard to see what happened inside, but when they rolled out Harmony had her teeth in Kathy's neck.
"Isn't that supposed to be against her rules?" Willow said.
"She's not human, it's fine," Anya said. "This is all being well supervised anyway. It's practically civil."
Kathy proved her right, hardly stunned by the blood loss. She ripped Harmony right off of her neck in a grisly shower that took what was left of her fake face off with it, and chucked her away and back into the fountain.
"Ugh! Who knows how diseased you are. The ritual purification is going to take hours!" Kathy complained.
That got Harmony mad enough to charge her again, but this time Kathy was expecting it. As Harmony stumbled her way out of the fountain, Kathy met her attack and knocked her down, this time getting on top herself. Harmony was much worse off pinned to the ground, and Kathy started wailing on her and didn't stop.
Buffy let Harmony try to struggle her way out a couple times, but pretty quickly it was clear that it was over. "Alright, stop. That's enough."
Kathy ignored her and kept hitting Harmony. "This may hurt now, but it's for your own good. It's the only way stupid mutts like you can learn their place." She took her neck in one hand, picked her up a bit, and then drove her head into the ground, knocking her unconscious.
"Kathy, chill," Buffy said. She moved to break up the fight, but when she tried to grab Kathy's arm this time, the demon retaliated with a backhand to the face. Kathy had some force behind her blows, but it was still more surprising than painful.
"She has to learn! Back off!" She kicked at Buffy's feet from the ground, and the fountain happened to be in just the wrong place; Buffy tripped over it and splashed down into the water herself.
Buffy pulled herself back up after a second, deciding that maybe Kathy needed to get fired and sent back home after all, but the sight that greeted her was terrifying.
The skin on the arm Buffy had damaged earlier had come off entirely, and Kathy's clawed hand was ripping into Harmony's neck. There was tons of blood, and everyone was shouting.
KILL
Vote:
[] Buffy attacks unreservedly, without holding back. (NOTE: Due to the effects of Buffy's Domain, votes for this option are weighted at double strength.)
[] Buffy tries to keep control of herself. Harmony's probably gonna be fine, right?
