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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Take Two

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Mini Golf
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    • You aren't close to Buffy. You owe her one, cause she saved you, but Willow's the one that listens to Buffy when she talks. Still, when Buffy talks about being uneasy around Ted, you decide to stick close by. If it's nothing, you might get more tips on how to up your game. Cordelia has certainly been looking at you differently since Halloween. If it is something, you will be there to support and back Buffy up in whatever's going on. Buffy may have experience with supernatural evil, but you have plenty of experience with the more mundane kind.

    You're more than happy to insert yourself in when Buffy reveals that Ted wants to take her and her mom mini golfing so they can bond together. Willow follows along with you. Amy, also not close to Buffy, decides she's fine not following. You can tell her about what happens after. And at first, it's good. Ted is charming, and funny, and mini golf in general is really fun. You are shocked to see Buffy get so frustrated that she cheats, and then Ted takes her aside to talk to her. Buffy comes back quiet and unsettled.

    "What did he do," you muttered angrily. You glared at Ted, your tolerance for the man instantly gone at seeing the usually cheerful girl unsettled. Buffy carries a lot of weight, and sure she has her problems, but you ignite cold seeing someone she shouldn't have feared managing to unsettle her.

    "He threatened to slap me," Buffy said quietly.

    "We have to tell your mom."

    You went with Buffy to talk to her mom after mini golf. "Mom, there's something I have to tell you about Ted," Buffy said.

    "He's wonderful, isn't he?" Mrs Summers said warmly.

    "He's not. He said he'd slap me," Buffy said angrily.

    "What? He wouldn't! He thinks the world of you Buffy." Mrs Summers frowned. "Are you really that upset that I've found someone?"

    "Buffy may not like you dating, but she wouldn't lie about someone threatening to hit her," you said immediately.

    Mrs Summers faltered. "He's a really kind guy."

    "People like that can seem kind at first, Mrs Summers," you said.

    "You're sure it's not a misunderstanding?" she pleaded.

    "I'm sure," Buffy said firmly.

    "I wouldn't back Buffy up on a lie like this," you threw in.

    Mrs Summers looked down. "I'll have to think about this.

    "Mom, you can't go out with him again," Buffy pleaded.

    "Buffy, give her some time," you said. You watched Buffy's mom head upstairs.

    "We should investigate Ted further," Buffy finally said.

    "What? Why?"

    "He was off. He could be a supernatural evil. We should make sure he gets no one else."

    "Buffy...some people are just like that."

    "He came after my mom Xander! I have to make sure."

    [ ]Help research Ted
    [ ]Be supportive, but let her search on her own, it's weird
    [ ]Write-in
     
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    • Eeesh, skincrawling vibes just like the original episode.

    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?
     
    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?
     
    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?
     
    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?

    I like this. We aren't being a pushover but still supportive.
     
    I didn't expect Xander to think that Ted was a normal evil person, but it makes a lot of sense. It's also surprising to me that Amy isn't close to Buffy, but I guess we haven't done a lot of group hangouts this school year. Is Buffy's only close friend Willow? That's kind of sad. I guess she has Angel too, for as long as he has a soul anyway.

    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?

    This looks pretty good.
     
    Mount. Elements said:
    It's also surprising to me that Amy isn't close to Buffy, but I guess we haven't done a lot of group hangouts this school year. Is Buffy's only close friend Willow? That's kind of sad. I guess she has Angel too, for as long as he has a soul anyway.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'm a bit surprised too, though I suppose she has a lot more history and common interests with Willow to bond over than with Buffy. Amy's probably also picked up on the fact Buffy's not been treating Xander great and while we aren't dating anymore I think Amy probably does consider Xander a bit of a personal knight.

    It's a tad sad for Buffy, but it is largely her own decisions that led to it. Canon Buffy has the same serious problem with dropping everything in her life and somewhat mistreating or ignoring her friends when she falls in love with a guy. It's not that uncommon in real life either, depressing, but understandable.

    The issue here is that the divide is exacerbated because Angel is not friends with any of her friends and lives a very different lifestyle - along with being hilariously socially awkward, so if she's making a choice with her limited time to hang out with Angel then she can't also be hanging out with her friends at the same time.

    Though naturally the duties of a Slayer and the psychological alienation (that she feels is there anyway) play a part in distancing her from "normal people" unless both sides make an effort to get past it. She distanced from her friends -and Xander in particular- numerous times because she insisted they wouldn't "get it", didn't talk about things with them, and wanted to keep them safer or "better off" by not being friends with her.
     
    Last edited:
    [X]Help research Ted
    -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
    --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?
     
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Nov 29, 2022 at 7:22 PM, finished with 8 posts and 7 votes.
    • [X]Help research Ted
      -[X]Make it clear to Buffy that having a soul and being human doesn't make you a good person, but she also can't cross lines investigating this because -scum or not- he could get her in trouble with the police.
      --[X]Ask Giles what normally happens if Slayers run across killers or evil humans in their work, does the Council do anything?
      [X]Help research Ted
    Click to expand...
     
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    • For Emergencies Only
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    • Ok, so you were doing this. You were going to help Buffy out. You did try and tell Buffy that Ted might just be a wiggy human, but she seemed to interpret that as Ted maybe being like the cult guys who summon demons. You went to go ask Giles for advice while Buffy went to Ted's "work" to see if she could find any evidence that Ted wasn't what he claimed to be.

    "So, Giles. What happens when a slayer encounters normal crime?"

    "Generally they're adviced to ignore it. It's hard enough to keep the vampires in check without chasing after pickpockets," Giles said absently filing away some books.

    "Right. Great. But what about bigger crimes than that? Like, say, murder?"

    Giles paused. "Xander, why are you asking me this?"

    "Well, there might be a chance that Buffy's mom's boyfriend isn't great. And I think he might just be a normal douchebag, and not a supernatural one for Buffy to punch."

    "Good grief." Giles immediately started to clean his glasses. "Well, there-normally, evidence would be given to police."

    You fingergunned at Giles. "Great! And what do you do in Sunnydale?"

    "...there is a, a special crew, that the Watchers train, that-that are meant to clean up certain kinds of, of messes. Slayers don't do well when they face human opponents. Something about the nature of what they are as protectors of humanity, it leaves them-well, it doesn't go well. So the Watchers have a crew, to take care of that side of things when it's really necessary." Giles looked at you. "But Xander, that is not something I ever want to have to call in."

    You nodded, a sinking pit of a feeling in your stomach. "Alright. So what do we do if someone normal is targeting Buffy's mom?"

    "...I'll take care of it," Giles promised.

    Buffy came back from checking out Ted's work to report that he had a photo of her mom on his desk, with Buffy folded out of the picture, and had recently told his coworkers he was engaged. That was definitely enough red flags. The only question was how to get Buffy's mom out of this safely.

    Buffy's mom cancelled the dinner when Buffy talked to her, and when Ted showed up she told him they were over. That's when things went wrong. Ted tried to force his way in, and Buffy fought back. It wasn't much, just a punch, but Buffy must have miscalculated. Ted was knocked out on the ground.

    You got the Summers family inside their house, Buffy having gone numb, and called Giles. Giles showed up like he'd promised, and took Ted away. A phone call for Buffy a couple hours later gave her relief: she had been right, Ted hadn't been human. He had been some kind of robot.

    You didn't think the haunting way Buffy had reacted to how she'd hit Ted was going to fade anytime soon though.

    [ ]Set up a game night with everyone to distract Buffy
    [ ]Suggest Buffy talks to her mom about it
    [ ]Leave Giles and Buffy's mom to help her through it
    [ ]Write-in
     
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    • Huh. Well, I'm glad that Giles was willing to handle things and that Joyce put her daughter ahead of romance, but now Buffy isn't doing well. I'm not sure whether to suggest that she talks to her mom or try to distract her. On one hand, it would be better for her to talk things out and build up her relationship with her mother. On the other hand, I'm not sure that she'll actually do it, and I don't want her pulling away from all of the "normal" people in her life to hang with Angel even more. Xander and Giles were there for Buffy when she needed it, but that'll probably be outweighed by her fears that she'll hurt someone.
     
    [X]Suggest Buffy talks to her mom about it

    I tried to figure out what the "best" choice is, but when it comes down to it, we voted to control Xander, not Buffy. I want Buffy to talk things out with her mom and NOT repress everything, but Xander can only suggest it. Hopefully, the act of suggesting it along with all of the help against Ted before this will get across that Xander is there for Buffy (as a friend) if she needs it.
     
    Well that was a great AU resolution of things. I'm surprised there wasn't more of a "WTF?" focus on robots existing - especially ones that can mimic humans so well. I'd think all the Scoobies down to Giles would be interested in that.

    Though it did unfortunately lead to Joyce not finding out he was a robot and probably being worried he's still out there with a grudge against her and her daughter, because as far as I know she just thinks Buffy knocked him unconscious.

    I have no idea what the better choice is here, but there's been good points raised that we can't control what Buffy does and multiple times she's shown to be incredibly reluctant to get her mother involved in the supernatural.

    Of course she's also shown that she's not that close to Xander anymore and might well want to talk about this with someone, so him organising a game night she's somewhat forced to participate in out of kindness might also be a bad idea.

    It's 4-to-3 in favour of game night right now, so unless I want to dead-lock things (again), my vote is swayed towards game night. I just hope Buffy appreciates it in the spirit we intended, instead of both her and Xander taking it as "it's okay to sweep feelings under the rug and distract yourself from it".

    [X] Set up a game night with everyone to distract Buffy

    I'm assuming this hypothetical game night would be at Buffy's or maybe Giles'. Are we inviting people beyond the main crew of Willow and Amy, like Cordelia or Giles? Will Joyce be around for it too? Because that might make things a bit awkward in needing to dance around supernatural topics and references.
     
    Parental Eggs
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    • You set up a game night. It was the first time in a while everyone had met outside of school. For one reason or another one of you had been missing from gatherings recently. You had all missed it, and decided to try and make it so you met up for this more regularly. Maybe once every couple weeks? You'd try weekly, but Buffy made it pretty clear she didn't think she could put that much time aside with her patrols. And maybe next time you'd invite Cordelia. You might be enjoying the passive aggressive flirting in school, but you really wanted to take the next step. Maybe ask her to dance at the Bronze.

    [ ]Ask Cordelia to dance with you at the Bronze
    [ ]Ask Cordelia to partner with you on a school project
    [ ]Ask Cordelia to hang out with you and the girls after school
    [ ]Write-in

    In Home Economics everyone was given an egg to care for an assigned a partner to work with for "parenting" the egg for a week. How exactly you were supposed to do that, you weren't really sure. You were assigned to be partners with Michael, a quiet goth kid in class. Neither of you were particularly enthused by the assignment. How exactly were you supposed to parent an egg? Carry it with you places? Make up an imaginary schedule to hand into the teacher? Willow certainly seemed ready to set up an entire spread sheet to parent her egg.

    [ ]Spend time with Michael to talk about the eggs assignment
    [ ]Meet up with Michael, write a paper, never talk about it again
    [ ]Boil the eggs so you can't break them and carry them around as proof
    [ ]Write-in
     
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    • [X]Ask Cordelia to dance with you at the Bronze
    [X]Write-in: Ask the teacher how the assignment will be graded and then meet up with Michael to discuss the assignment.

    Asking Cordelia out in public seems like a recipe for embarrassment, but I don't want to really want to make Willow and Buffy deal with Cordelia if they don't want to. I'm guessing that Cordy can play off a single dance much better than a school assignment when Xander isn't great at school.

    As for the write-in, I'm not sure that it's in character for Xander, but I'm hoping that we can play it off as Xander thinking that he doesn't want to waste his time or take the hit to his grades unnecessarily. Thus, he's realizing that he can work smarter instead of harder.
     
    [X]Ask Cordelia to dance with you at the Bronze
    [X]Write-in: Ask the teacher how the assignment will be graded and then meet up with Michael to discuss the assignment.
     
    [X]Ask Cordelia to dance with you at the Bronze
    [X]Write-in: Ask the teacher how the assignment will be graded and then meet up with Michael to discuss the assignment.
     
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