Replacing the Zippo

Summer's End
With your first breakthrough into the supernatural world you felt you were good to take the rest of the summer to relax and spend time with your friends. You focused on getting Willow outside and not just studying. You looked at comics, and listened to her chat about robotics and magic, and about how insane life was now that magic was real. Willow really wanted to know more about this special world that Buffy had opened up to the two of you. Well, more her than you, but your situation was rather...unique. You tried not to dwell on it too much. You did run some patrols with Willow, but they were more something fun to do in the evening than anything serious.

You and Willow both called Buffy. She seemed extremely busy, and didn't linger on any of the calls. It seemed she was doing her best to push everything that had happened as far away as possible. Now that you thought about it, that was a pattern with Buffy. She would deny and run away from things that upset her as much as possible. Running away as Anne, pretending things were fine when Angel went off the rails, and pretending she was a normal girl and not the Slayer when she first moved to Sunnydale. She needed something better to deal with things than this.

[ ]Leave Buffy alone for it
[ ]Suggest dartboards with faces she hates to work things out
[ ]Suggest hug sessions after big events
[ ]Write-in

You did find a moment to talk to Giles and suggest that he let Marcie live with her since she couldn't return to a normal life but you didn't want her stuck in the school. Giles was rather surprised by the suggestion, and rather awkward about it, but he did make arrangements. He still wasn't particularly pleased with this being a group operation. He was very much wired to think of Buffy first and only. He was a good man though, and quickly offered a room to Marcie when it was brought to his attention.

Marcie was very quiet about the move. You had the sense she was relieved to be leaving the school, and yet worried about what living with Giles would be like. You joked that you'd get the chance to hang out more this way, reassuring Marcie that things wouldn't change that much. She would still be a friend.

The summer was coming to an end. You paid attention as the vampires began to grow more active. There was chatter there, you listened in as a vampire joked about how easily impressed fledglings were and how they were flocking around a child. There was a level of disgust there at what had become of the local vampire court. You knew that the child vampire would be working on a ritual to revive the Master that Buffy had slain. You also knew that Buffy would be taking out her trauma over what happened on everyone.

[ ]Dig up the bones before the vampires can, give them to Buffy to destroy
[ ]Tell Buffy about the bones when she arrives, but don't dig them up
[ ]Write-in
 
Vote closed
Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Dec 14, 2024 at 4:36 PM, finished with 13 posts and 3 votes.

  • [X] Suggest we try and pick up a creative group hobby besides monster slaying, beginning with maybe trying out playing music with Marcie's direction or maybe drawing/painting with Angel's.
    [X] Tell Giles that you've been spending time at a demon bar under the cover of wanting to create a monster movie in order to get information about what the supernatural world is up to BEFORE everything goes wrong. Recently, the local vampires have been talking about the newest vamps following a child vampire who wants to resurrect the Master with a ritual involving his bones.
    -[X] Check with Marcie beforehand about whether she wants her role revealed too.
    -[X] If Giles protests, point out that you've already made clear that you know that fighting against the supernatural is dangerous, but just living in Sunnydale is dangerous. You're fine with the increased danger if it means your friends are more likely to survive.
    [X] Bring up to Giles that you think one of the books said something about reviving things like the Master, press how confident is he that those bones are safely disposed of? Perhaps we should reconsider them?
 
Back to School Hellmouth
You headed over to Giles' a couple days before school was due to restart. Giles of course thought you were there for Marcie, and was surprised when you told him you were in fact there to see him.

"So, I've been going to a demon bar."

"Beg your pardon?"

"I've had a lot of time this summer, and I've done a lot of thinking. I thought it'd be good if we could be quicker on the beat about things. You've got your books, of course, and Buffy has her slayer senses, but that doesn't catch everything. So I thought I'd listen in, and see if I could get some info ahead of time."

"Xander, that's...that's incredibly dangerous."

"I know, but I really prefer knowing where the next hit is going to come from. We've been doing alright so far, but this is the Hellmouth. People die here, all the time. I'd rather not have someone in our group be next. And they're pretty chill about me being there. I've heard some good stories actually."

"Xander-I can't condone this."

"I'm not going to stop." You looked at him firmly. "I want to help, and you can't stop me from doing this. And I've learned something you might be interested in researching before Buffy gets back."

That got Giles' attention. "What is it?"

Internally you cheered. You did your best to remain serious. You needed Giles to listen to you, not write you off. "That kid vamp the Master turned before fighting Buffy? He's working on a way to bring him back."

Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them. "I see. This is, indeed, worth researching. I was sure that we had seen the last of him."

"Maybe we have." You shrugged. "Some of the vampires down at the bar aren't too impressed with this, so I don't know how it's gonna go. But they're gonna make the attempt, so we should try to stay ahead of it."

"Right." Giles turned to grab some of his books. "Don't think this means this is over," he warned you.

You had that down pat. Now you just needed to figure out how you'd get Willow and Buffy on board as well. You were less focused than usual the day before school when Buffy returned, interrupting a patrol you'd been running with Willow. As you'd expected she was swinging between pretending to be a perky normal girl and condescending edge over being the Slayer. The dance with Buffy in the Bronze was hot, enough to get you flustered and forget until she ditched you that she'd just been using you. You burned with shame and anger at that. You cared, and you deserved better than being treated like that. Willow deserved better. You'd say Angel deserved better, but you knew how he acted with lovers.

Buffy reacted just as angrily as before when Giles informed her that the vampires might be trying to resurrect the Master. At least Giles had more assurance to offer this time, and was able to talk with her about setting up watch where the bones were buried to catch them before they got too far.

[ ]Volunteer for helping to watch
[ ]Volunteer for snack duty
[ ]Focus on school
[ ]Write-in
 
Brick by Brick
You were quick to volunteer to help watch the bones. Buffy was mean about all of it of course, even Cordelia calling her out on her catty attitude. The watch itself was tense, and felt like it was doing a whole lot of nothing. Surprisingly it came out as a success. The vampires were caught before they could get the bones themselves. Things were halted before they had a chance to fully get started. These small changes you were creating felt good. You were changing what was happening. Sure you still weren't taken as seriously as you wished, but that was slowly starting to shift.

The next big event dealt with Frankenstein. Well, Frankenstein's brother at least. One of the science nerds, Chris, had successfully resurrected his beloved brother after he died. The Hellmouth was doing what it did best and twisting the brother up, corrupting him. Now Chris and the creeper Eric were going to make Frankenstein's girlfriend for his brother. Through all this, the science fair was up.

Unfortunately this wasn't something you could say you had stumbled across. It was one of the more isolated incidents in Sunnydale, where someone who didn't know about the Supernatural stumbled into effects from the Hellmouth like Marcie had. So you had to figure out what you would be doing for this. The science fair was coming up at this time after all, and you also knew Cordelia would be the target for the only living victim to complete the patchwork girlfriend.

[ ]Focus on the science fair
[ ]See if you can partner with Cordelia for the science fair
[ ]Focus on patrols
[ ]Hang out with your friends
[ ]Write-in
 
Vote closed New
Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Dec 24, 2024 at 10:48 AM, finished with 10 posts and 4 votes.

  • [X]Hang out with your friends
    -[X] Push the group creative hobby concept a bit more, be it music, art, or something else that the group is most interested in trying first.
    -[X] Make some "logic jumps" to the identities of those making the Frankenstein girl, and don't let Cordelia lose her head.
    [X]Focus on the science fair
    -[X]Tell Marcie about the upcoming Frankenstein bride, and ask her to keep an eye on Cordelia and/or Chris. Hopefully, she'll be able to find some evidence that you two will be able to take to the others.
 
Frankenstein Flames New
You decided to play up being intuitive on these things and drop hints about the Frankenstein girl instead of dealing with it directly. You were young again, why not focus on some of the fun things about life? It'd be good to get the group things to do together that weren't all about fighting evil too. The group would be healthier. Plus it was always more fun to do things with others.

You suggested to the group that you work on designing a game together. You just needed to decide what kind of game it was, and do some art and stuff. It'd be fun! Your friends were surprised by the suggestion and immediately questioned why you had come up with such a crazy idea. You felt like you were tripping over yourself trying to explain that you thought it'd be something fun you could all do together and contribute do. Thankfully Willow ended up backing you up for it, and everyone agreed to give it a go. You likely should have suggested something simpler, but everyone was at least trying.

You had forgotten that Mrs Calendar and Giles had ended up flirting together and started dating during the entire thing with the Frankenstein resurrection. That was something you could joke with everyone with at least. It was so weird seeing Giles flirt. You might know he's a person, but your brain still labeled him as your teacher, and that was just so weird.

Buffy seemed more interested in goofing off than anything with the game, so you had to quietly scratch that off as something for her to use to relax. At least when you did drop hints Cordelia got safe, and she was very happy to not have her head almost removed. It felt terrible watching Chris' brother go up in flames. His resurrection should have never happened, he had been suffering, but his soul had been returned to his corpse. He was alive. You could only hope he found a type of peace when he died once more.

Parent Teacher Night was coming up, so Buffy was extra stressing. You actually felt fairly relaxed. Both you and Marcie didn't have to worry about this, as neither of you had involved parents. Marcie was actually doing pretty well with her home schooling, she wasn't in danger of being left behind. The big thing was this would mark Spike and Drusilla's arrival into Sunnydale. You wondered if Drusilla would See you.

[ ]Prepare to fight Spike on Parent Teacher Night
[ ]Focus on school stuff
[ ]Try and find something else for the group to do
[ ]Write-in
 
Vote closed New
Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Jan 5, 2025 at 2:00 PM, finished with 10 posts and 4 votes.

  • [X] While it would be a bad idea to seek Spike out, Druscilla is a Seer who might be able to See you. Improving your fighting skills would be a good idea in case things go off-script from canon. It might also help with having your friends take you seriously, given how taken aback everyone was by the game idea.
 
Sight Un/Seen New
You were nervous about Drusilla's arrival. Spike loved fighting, and he certainly had no qualms about snacking on humans, but it was Drusilla that lead him to burn down an orphanage, and Angelus' words that had him hunting Slayers. It was with love that he committed the worst crimes of violence imaginable, all to make Drusilla smile. Currently she was weak, and without a proper cure drawn from Angel she would die, but even then you worried about what Drusilla might ask Spike for while here. Or what she might say. Spike was far too good at translating her visions.

So you were prepped out as anti vampire as you could be, and told Marcie that you suspected there would be a bad attack at Parent Teacher Conference. Giles was certainly willing to take such a threat seriously, but Willow and Buffy were both more interested in the mundane side of life and the worries of academia and their parents. Willow at least seemed to approve of watching you work on self defense.

The Parent Teacher Conference passed with more ease than it had in canon. Having Principle Flutey still alive and caring helped a lot. Buffy wasn't being sabotaged simply for being who she was. It wasn't fantastic, but her mother was willing to overlook things and take the olive branch since things were going smoothly with school. Spike at least didn't seem to have any undue interest in you, though whether or not that was because Drusilla hadn't Seen you or because he was more focused on fixing her up health wise you didn't know.

At least it left you to think about what to do about the Incan mummy. Should you try and stop her from ever waking in the first place? Or try to destroy her entirely, so she's no longer conscious and aware, trapped in her own corpse? Or you could try and care for her, for the brief time she would live for, even with the deaths that would come.

[ ]Try to prevent the mummy from ever waking up
[ ]Destroy the mummy
[ ]Let it pass as canon
[ ]Write-in
 
Vote closed New
Scheduled vote count started by Blacksheep on Jan 9, 2025 at 8:14 PM, finished with 13 posts and 3 votes.

  • [X]Try to prevent the mummy from ever waking up
    [x]Plan: Less skeevy than it looks at first glance
    -[x]Look for ways to share life force, such that several people can donate at once to her initially, before breaking the connection.
    -[x]In the likely event that such an option doesn't exist or is unachievable, plan to restrain her. Something like strapping her to a table with steel bands.
    -[x]Make it so that a person can kiss her, a third person can break the connection, and she herself can't force the connection to continue.
    -[x]Explain knowledge of this as coming from gossip at the bar about non-vampire immortals.
 
Back
Top