Replacing the Zippo

[Blacksheep]

You decided to spend the summer looking into Sunnydale's supernatural community. You knew it had to exist. There was Willy's Bar, for one, and the magic shop that you knew was heavily frequented. The only question was how to get in on that. You ended up bouncing ideas about where to look for people who knew the truth about Sunnydale with Marcie. You would have liked to do it with Willow, but you knew that she wouldn't be happy about you poking your nose into things while Buffy was out of town.

You ended up starting with Willy's Bar as a place that you knew you could visit relatively safely and find others in. The magic shop would be safer, but figuring out who was in the know and who wasn't would be a lot trickier. You looked around, noting the various beings populating the bar. You quickly hit a second realization: you had no idea how to tell who was safe to approach and who wasn't. You knew that demons that were relatively peaceful existed. You just didn't know how to identify them. You just kept on running into problems. It felt like things were going against you.

This was only the start of summer though, you weren't going to turn around and give up this fast.

[ ]Focus on magic users
[ ]Try to borrow books from Giles to identify demon species
[ ]Try to just strike up conversation
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

You headed into the library. It felt so weird entering school during the summer. Like you were breaking some kind of taboo and there would be terrible consequences. You did your best not to think about how likely something like that was in Sunnydale and looked around for Giles. Lucky for you, he was there, going through his books.

"Hey G-man!"

"Goodness! Xander, what brings you here?" Giles looked at you in confusion.

"Thought I'd ask if I could borrow some of your books. Catch up on my demons." You finger gunned at him. "I'm not great at research, so I thought I'd try and get it in ahead of time."

"While I appreciate the academic interest, this isn't a game."

"I thought I proved I was serious about this?"

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them. "Yes, but you are neither the Slayer, nor a Watcher. Enough to stay safe is all you require."

"I'm not going to stay safe, Giles." You stared at him determinedly. "Remember Marcie? Jesse? Sunnydale isn't safe, and I'm not going to stand back. Not even if...not even if it goes wrong." You swallowed silently. Yeah, you weren't going to walk away from the dangers.

Giles studied you carefully. "Hm. Well, you have been helpful in sorting through the books, and Buffy is away for now."

You pumped a fist. "Summer studies, got it! Thanks G-man." You beelined over to the books and started to dig through them.

You didn't really have a clue where to start, but you weren't going to let that stop you. You had to admit to being rather surprised when you found out that incubi and succubi did not, in fact, have to kill in order to feed, and could have symbiotic relationships, though there was a warning that more ambitious and powerful ones found power in killing as they fed. A cuclidus demon was an interesting one, it presented itself as a child and fed off the affection its hypnotized parental figures gave it. The real problem was it would only take a single target at a time, and they would exhaust themselves to death caring for it. Brachen demons were mentioned in the books, though you didn't think you had seen any at Willy's bar.

Armed with new knowledge you felt much more confident about picking out who to hang out with at Willy's.

[ ]Ask Willow to help you befriend people at Willy's. She is likely to balk, but Buffy's not here, so she'll give in
[ ]Ask Marcie to come along. You still want to include her, and invisible back up is useful
[ ]Go by yourself to see the demons. You feel better doing this on your own
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

Finding Marcie was a bit tricky. She was camping out in the school over the summer. You knew Willow was doing her best to help her out. You just hoped the occasional snacks you shared and dropping by to hang out helped too. You knocked on the wall in the area she was nesting in. Sunnydale High had way too many hidden nooks and crannies for a normal school. "Hey, you here Marsh?"

"Hey Xander." You felt Marcie cross over and brush against your side.

"I was going to go down to Willy's Bar. It's a supernatural hot spot, demons and vampires like to get drunk there. I thought we could check it out, and see if we can get some gossip from them. You know, it'd be useful for Buffy to have ears on the ground on that side of things," you explained awkwardly. "I know we can't really drink, but vampires and demons. I don't think they're gonna care, you know?"

Marcie brushed against your hand. "You think they'll have good gossip?"

"It's worth trying! I certainly don't have the Slayer strength or book brains for other stuff," you joked.

"Alright, let's go."

You entered the bar and looked around. Thankfully with your research you could identify a couple demons you were fairly sure wouldn't instantly kill you. The mischief demon, for example. They were more known for creating nuisances and situations where possible accidents could happen than outright killing. You headed over and took a seat.

"What's a boy like you doing here?" A vampire leered.

"Can't a guy like myself have a healthy interest in demons?" you quipped.

The demons and vampires laughed. "Here." The vampire ordered a drink of something you'd never heard of before. You gulped. Okay, time to go big or go home.

[ ]Coolly turn down the drink, insist you pay your own way
[ ]Down it, Marcie is there if it goes badly
[ ]Be polite turning it down
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

You shook your head and passed it to the mischief demon you were sitting beside. "If you think I can keep a clear head you've got the wrong guy. I'm here for tales to put on the screen. Can you imagine if I forgot the most important part of a good hunt from drinking?"

The group laughed. "You've got a point there," the vampire purred. "Still, ballsy of you to ask when you look scrumptious yourself."

You shrugged. "I'm just hoping I'm more charming as company when alive." Nods ran around.

"We'll give you a chance," the demon snickered. You grinned and settled in for stories.

All in all, it was a good evening. Marcie's presence was reassuring, bumping into her side occasionally to assure yourself that she was still there with you. Marcie traced a hand over your arm, thankfully alright with being your silent support. The stories told would have actually been pretty enjoyable, if you'd been able to forget they were based on real things. You didn't have to fake all of your laughter or interest.

You walked out with at least some ideas of the local climate. You made sure to talk to Marcie after and make sure she knew how thankful you'd been for her support. Marcie was quietly pleased with having been the one you'd asked to tag along, and told you she was happy to come along anytime.

You started a routine of dropping down by the bar once or twice a week. It was a good chance for getting out of the house. The clients seemed more than happy to tell tall tales to the ballsy human that had found his way into their midst. Willy even seemed fond of you, saying you reminded him of himself when he was younger. You hoped that was just him projecting and not the actual truth. It was very easy to learn the truth behind why vampires were less common during the summer. You had never heard so many complaints about how long summer days were before. You had to sit through more than one far too graphic description of what the vampires planned to get up to once the days started lengthening again.

[ ]See if you can find a job for some extra pay over the summer
[ ]Work more on self defense
[ ]Look for odd and end errands to do in the demon community
[ ]Relax and spend time with friends until Buffy gets back
[ ]Write-in

 

[Blacksheep]

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

 

[Blacksheep]

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

 

[Blacksheep]

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

 

[Blacksheep]

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

 

[Blacksheep]

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

 

[Blacksheep]

It was almost easy to keep the mummy from awakening. You even made sure that Giles knew to check on it, and he would be putting in some extra security after that. The exchange students coming in to Sunnydale High for some time were something else to reflect on. The exchange student Buffy was meant to host was, unfortunately, killed by vampires before she managed to pick him up. Perhaps he was just fated to not manage to make it back, as depressing as that thought was.

You had space to think for now. Without the Incan mummy awake there was time before the next minor disaster that would hit Sunnydale would arrive. There were many possibilities to reflect over. You could work at the bar more. You could see if you could get on top of what Spike and Drusilla would be dong before they attacked again. You could research more about the supernatural in Giles' library. You could try and see if you could get together an activity night for your friends. Perhaps watching bad movies would be a good choice, who wouldn't enjoy something cheesy you could yell at? There was school itself of course, but that was more on the back burner. And the fate of the mummy still tugged at you. Could you really keep leaving her like she was?

[ ]Set up a movie night with your friends
[ ]Research artifacts, spells, and other stuff in Giles' library
[ ]Learn more about the supernatural community at the bar
[ ]Look into Spike and Drusilla
[ ]Research about the Incan mummy, maybe you can do something...
[ ]Write-in