From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (Buffyfic-digest) To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Buffyfic-digest V2 #52 Reply-To: buffyfic@xmission.com Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Buffyfic-digest Sunday, March 8 1998 Volume 02 : Number 052 In this issue: BUFFYFIC: Our Hearts Will Go On 2/? DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) Re: DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) BUFFYFIC: Hope (28/?) BUFFYFIC: Buffyfic: BETA readers needed Re: DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) BUFFYFIC: Buffyfic: help with episode synopsis? BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (1/7) See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the buffyfic or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 19:38:54 -0800 (PST) From: michele v Subject: BUFFYFIC: Our Hearts Will Go On 2/? TITLE: Our Hearts Will Go On 2/? AUTHOR: Michele V EMAIL ADDRESS: glynisgrl33@yahoo.com FEEDBACK: Definitely, especially since this is my first fic- but since it is, please don't be too harsh. SPOILERS: all episodes through What's My Line 1 & 2 RATING: PG SUMMARY: A Buffy/Angel story that takes place after "What's My Line 1 & 2", with some added Willow/Oz and Xander Cordelia. Also, Buffy and the gang find out about the return of the Master- in some form. DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters except for "The Elgradora" All of the other characters belong to Joss Whedon and the WB. No copywrite infringement intended. NOTE: I wrote this after "What's My Line 2," therefor without knowing that something similar would *sort of* happen in *Surprise* ********** PART 2 Buffy sat on top of a grave stone, staring down at the stake in her hands- and daydreaming about Angel. She snapped herself out of it when she sensed something behind her. "Sorry- I never did like or fall for those 'sneaking up behind me so that I won't notice you're there and you can kill me,' games," Buffy said as she spun around, raising her stake. No one was there. "Ok..I was never one for hide and seek either. Now show yourself." She looked all around and still saw no one. Then she felt a cool breeze behind her. "Who's there?!?" she yelled turning around again. But again, she saw nothing. Then she heard it. A faint whisper. "I'm coming, Buffy.....I'm coming soon," the ghostly woman's voice whispered. The breeze went away. Buffy knew what it was-it had to have been her- the spirit of the Master, warning her. "No!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, as she sprang up in Angel's bed. Breathing heavily, she looked around and noticed where she was. Angel immediately came to her side, wrapping his strong arms around her, and hugging her close to him. "Hey- it was just a dream. Everything's alright- you just had a bad dream," he whispered in her ear while rocking her slowly. She pulled away and ran her fingers through her hair in distress. "Hey-Are you alright?..you ok?" he asked her softly while putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, I uh, had this nightmare," she told him. Angel sat there staring at her, waiting for her to continue. "It was about this thing Giles told me about earlier today...I was- supposed to ask you about it but I guess I got a little distracted and forgot," she explained. A look of concern appeared on Angel's face. "What is it?" he asked her. "The Master- he's supposed to come back six months after he was killed , on the sixth day, at the 6th hour- and go after the person killed him..which, unfortunately would be me. Only it won't be the actual Master, it'll be its spirit and it'll be female. The spirit of the Master is always of the opposite sex," Buffy explained. "And this is what your dream was about?" he asked her. Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I was um, in the graveyard hunting vampires and I felt someone behind me-I thought it was a vampire- but when I turned around no one was there. Then I felt this breeze behind me and I turned around again but still didn't see anything but heard her voice, whispering to me," she explained. "What did she say to you?" "She told me that she's coming...soon. I figured it out with Giles and the Master's spirit is supposed to be coming in just three weeks." "And, you think that the voice you heard in the dream was the Master's spirit?" Angel asked her "It was- I know it was. In the dream, I could feel the Master's power, I could feel his presence-just like I could in the dreams I had about him killing me. It had to have been the spirit," Buffy told him. Angel sighed and looked down. "I take it- you know something about this thing." Angel looked back up at her. He nodded slightly. Buffy waited in silence for him to begin telling her about it. "It's known as The Elgradora," he finally started. "In other words, meaning?" Buffy asked, confused. " The Spirit of the Master" "Couldn't they just call it "Spirit of the Master," Angel went on. "It comes in spirit form of the opposite sex- to kill the person who was responsible for killing *it*" he continued. "So um, how exactly does it kill?" Buffy asked unsure of whether she really wanted to know. "It goes inside your body, without you knowing, and kills you internally. Once you're dead, the spirit takes over your body and uses your body as *it's* body until it's old body reforms over yours. Then, slowly but surely, it is restored back to its full strength, and begins to destroy all that it can. It also, assembles a team of all the vampires that are existing to help it in destroying everything and everyone before it is restored to its full strength." "If you can stop it from going inside you, or kill it somehow, then all the other bad stuff won't happen, right?" "Yes,but, since you're the Slayer, you'll still have to deal with the vampires. Every vampire in the world will be here- terrorizing Sunnydale." "Angel?" "Yeah?" "You can stop with the explanation now. It's really creeping me out," she told him with a look of fright on her face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you...I thought you needed to know." "I do but..I guess I just don't want to..unless there's ways of stopping it. Is there?" Angel looked down once again. "Angel?" He couldn't look at her. "There's no way...is there?" He finally looked up. "I don't know of any. I- read about it years ago but I can't remember anything about how it's been stopped in the past." "You mean you can't kill it, you can- only stop it?" "You can't kill it because it's already dead," he reminded her with a slight grin. "Oh...yeah...But you can make it go away maybe, right?" "Maybe..but there's no telling how. The only way to find out is to get a hold of the book that I read about it in." "So, I'm guessing that you don't still have a copy of it on your bookshelf, huh?" Angel shook his head. "I don't. I wish I could remember the name of the book but-," he stared. "Don't worry about now. We don't have to know it right now. I mean we have three weeks until it comes. I'm- sure we'll find out something else before then." He looked up at her, a sad look on his face. "Angel? What's wrong?" Is there something you're not telling me here?" she asked him, concerned. He looked away. *I don't have three weeks* he said to himself. He looked at the clock and noticed that it was 3:30 in the morning."You better get back to sleep, you have school tomorrow," he reminded Buffy, avoiding her question. Buffy sighed. "Oh..yeah..school. Well, at least tommorow's Thursday and the weekend's almost here," she said then laid back down on the bed. Angel got up and pulled the covers back up over her and kissed her forehead. "Sweet dreams," he whispered softly. "Hey, aren't you gonna sleep here next to me. You seemed to have evacuated the bed before- Why?" "Well I couldn't sleep, really. I- don't- normally go to sleep at that time. I'm usually up the whole night," he told her with a smile. "Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot about the vampire thing." Angel smiled down at her. "I will, though, if it'll help you sleep better," he said, climbing into bed next to her. She turned around to face him and smiled. He smiled back. Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep again. When Buffy woke up it was dark outside again. *Must've over slept big time* she thought. *Oh no, that means I missed school. Well I'll worry about that later. I better go save the world now* she thought as she got dressed. She put her jacket on, grabbed a stake and headed out the door. This time, she decided to hit Sunnydale Park. Buffy seated herself on a swing, stake in her hand, just waiting for a vampire to show. Time passed, and there was still no vampires in sight. Buffy sighed. She actually beginning to feel a little bored. All of a sudden, a gust of wind came, blowing the empty swing next to her so that it swung back and forth-as if someone was on it. Then she heard it again- The ghostly woman's voice, whispering to her. "I'm coming,Buffy....I'm coming soon...And when I do...you will die," the voice whispered to her. Then the gust of wind disappeared as did the voice and the swing next to her stopped swinging. "No!!! Please!!! No!!!" Buffy screamed as loud as she could. She turned to her side with a jerk, and opened her eyes. She was still in Angel's bed. Angel was awake next to her and slipped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. "Guess you had another bad dream, huh?" he asked her. Buffy nodded. "Was it about The Elgradora?" "Yes..this time, I was hunting in the park and this huge gust of wind came, causing the swing next to me to swing back and forth- I think she was sitting on it or something- but she warned me again-said she was coming soon-but this time, she said I would die...I'm scared, Angel. Last time I had a dream like this, it really did happen. I mean, I died once, I don't wanna do it again," Buffy told him, frightened. Angel hugged her even closer to him. "Don't worry-We'll get through this. You're not gonna die-I won't let it happen...We'll just have to find a way to stop it-somehow...I'll- call some people I know to find out if they know where I can get a copy of that book I told you about." Buffy smiled at him. Then she looked at the clock. Her eyes widened. "Oh my god. It's already 6:30-I have to get ready for school. Angel, you don't by any chance have a shower do you?" Angel smiled. "Yeah, right through that door," he said pointing to a door in the room. "Ok, thanks...I'll- be out in a few minutes." She gave him a quick kiss on the mouth and then made a dash to the shower. Buffy came out twenty minutes later, all dressed and ready for school. She caught sight of Angel in front of the fridge, feeding on a bag of blood. "Hi. I'm finished," Buffy greeted him. Angel was startled and very much embarrassed. Although he knew that she saw him, he hid the blood bag behind his back with one hand, and wiped any blood around his mouth with the other. "I was just, uh-" Angel began nervously. "Eating your breakfast?" Buffy suggested. Angel just stared at her. "It's- nothing to get all up-tight about. You know, a lot of people do it." Angel sighed. "They don't eat what I eat though." "Well- different people have different taste buds- eat different things. That's the way it goes," Buffy said grinning. She was trying her best to make him more comfortable about the situation. Angel managed a smile. He stuck the blood packet back into the refrigerator and walked over to her. His eyes traveled up and down the length of her body. Buffy blushed a little. "You look beautiful," Angel said softly. He leaned in and kissed her. Buffy wrapped her arms arms around his neck, running her fingers through his hair, as the kiss deepened. Buffy pulled away finally. "I better go to school. It's getting late," she told him. Angel nodded inn agreement. "I wish you could stay. It's so lonely without you," he admitted. "I know...believe me, I know. Sometimes- I find myself not being able to wait until it's dark out, so that I could be with you again," she told him. The two stared at each other in silence for awhile. "You better go," Angel finally spoke, a look of sadness across his face. "I should...but I just have to get something out first," she told him. "Ok..what is it?" Angel asked. "Well, it's kinda about what I was just saying. The days seem to go by so slowly-all I can do is count the hours until I'll see you- and then it's the night-and I see you-but it goes by so fast. It's like,that's all I wait for all day, and it's over as soon as it starts...I just wish our time together wasn't so limited.," she told him. She paused for a second and then continued on. "And then- there's the fear the I have-of- one of us going away...You-getting hurt by some other vampire and dying-or you- being exposed to sunlight and dying-or me-having to move again for whatever reason...And it scares me so much..For me to ever be without you, Angel...it's the scariest thing in the world." Buffy looked up at him to see his reaction. His head was down, and from what Buffy saw, it looked like he may have even been crying. "Angel?" she called him softly. Angel didn't look up. He couldn't. He couldn't let her know the reason why tears were streaming down his face. Not yet. Not then. He promised himself he'd tell her that night though. Buffy called his name again. When he didn't answer or look up, she walked over to him. She placed a hand under his chin and lifted his head to see his face. She realized that she was right- he was crying. Buffy never thought that she'd ever see Angel,"Mr. Cryptic Man,"-himself- actually crying. But there he was with tear stains down his cheeks. Buffy gently ran the back of her hand over his left cheek, wiping away the wetness. She did the same with the other. Angel still didn't make eye contact with her. His eyes were focussed off to the side. "Look at me Angel...Please," Buffy pleaded with him softly. He couldn't resist to that. He finally looked at her. When Angel's watery eyes stared in to Buffy's, her eyes began to get watery. "What's wrong, Angel?..Tell, me...Please." Buffy paused for a second. "Look, I know something's wrong. You've been acting weird ever since I came here last night. I saw it in you're eyes-And I see it now-You're hiding something...I wanna know what," she pleaded with him. Angel just stared at her. She begged him with her eyes-with the look on her face. "Please, Angel," she asked again. Tears began rolling down her beautiful face. When Angel saw this, his own tears began to fall again. Buffy continued to stare at him, waiting for him to tell her. Angel just shook his head. "I can't...I can't Buffy...Not right now." Buffy was understanding towards this. "Ok...Will you tell me later then?" Buffy asked, hopeful he'd say yes. Angel nodded. "I will," he promised. "I will." Buffy stared at him for a few more seconds then decided that she really had to go. "Well, I uh- have to go now. I guess I'll see you tonight," Angel nodded. Buffy grabbed her back-pack and jacket and walked to the door. "Bye, Angel," she said as she went out the door. "Bye, Buffy," Angel said, but she was already gone. SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL Buffy walked into the school library to find her two best friends sitting at a table talking with Giles. Giles looked up and noticed Buffy. "Buffy-you're late to school-We weren't sure you were coming today," Giles said as Buffy walked over to the table and took a seat. "Well, here I am," Buffy said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as she could. Willow looked closely at Buffy. She looked very upset. "Are you ok, Buffy?" Willow asked, concerned. "Yeah- It's just- I was talking to Angel and he was acting kind of strange," she told her friend. "Well, maybe that's because he *is* strange. I mean he's a vampire with a soul-that's just about as strange as you can get," Xander said trying to lighten the mood. Buffy didn't seem amused. "How do you mean-strange? You don't think he's changed over to a normal vampire, do you" Giles stepped in. "No, It's just- he was crying and I asked him what was wrong and he said he couldn't tell me-then," Buffy explained. "Angel-crying!?!?" Xander asked with a laugh. Buffy, Giles, and Willow looked at him, annoyed. "Sorry," Xander apologized."Guess I just couldn't picture deadboy crying." "I don't know, maybe it's nothing-but I've just never seen him so upset," Buffy told them."And this thing that he's not telling me-I don't understand-Why couldn't he tell me? Why does he have to wait until tonight?" "I wish I could help you, Buffy, but I'm afraid there's nothing you can do but wait until tonight" Giles said, trying to comfort her. "I guess," Buffy agreed. "But- in the mean time, were you able to find out from Angel, anything about the coming of the Master's spirit?" Giles asked changing the subject. "Wait a minute. The Master is going to grace us Sunydalers with the presence of his spirit? How come I wasn't informed of this?" Xander asked. "Sorry-I didn't want to scare you guys until I knew for sure what this thing was," Buffy told him. "Well you know now right? So it's time to do some sharing and scaring," Xander said. Buffy looked at Giles for approval. "We *do* have to know, Buffy. And if Xander and Willow are going to be involved then they should be aware of this too," Giles told her. Buffy agreed and explained everything she knew and found out from Angel to Giles and her two friends. "Were you able to find out any method of-preventing this from coming forth-somehow?" Giles asked after Buffy was finished explaining. "I was just about to ask the same thing...with less words," Xander said. "Angel once read something about it in a book but he couldn't remember.what it said. He's working on it,though. He said he's gonna try calling some people to get information on it," Buffy told them. "Does that mean we don't have to do any work?" Xander asked with hope. "For now, no. But- if he's unable to find anything soon, we will...You may go to class now," Giles told them. "Ok, thanks Giles. See ya," Buffy said as she walked out of the library with her two friends. Xander and Willow also said bye to him. "So, what do you two ladies want to do tonight?" Xander asked as they headed to their next class. "Buffy, aren't you doing something with Angel tonight..So he can tell you that thing?" Willow asked her friend. "Well we didn't exactly make plans do go anyplace or do anything but we could go someplace where he'd know that I might be," Buffy suggested. "Like, say, the Bronze?" Xander nodded. "The Bronze it is!" "Yeah, and maybe Oz will be there," Willow said hopefully. Buffy smiled. "By the way, how did it go last night with Oz?" she asked her friend. "Oh, it went...We talked," Willow told her. "Details?" Buffy asked wanting to hear more. "Well, I watched him play and then he came over to my table, asked me if I wanted a cappucino, I said yes, and he bought me one." Willow began. "Then we talked about this new computer that's coming out soon and told silly jokes about people or things that happened at school. Then he had to go so he said goodbye and left. Is that enough details for you?" Buffy smiled. "Aren't you gonna asked me how my night with Cordelia went?" Xander asked. "Uh, that I don't really need to know," Buffy told him. *bell rings* "Well we missed first period class, I better get to class early before I'm late for second," Willow said to her friends. "We have the same class so guess I'll be going with you," Xander told his friend. "We'll see you at lunch Buffy," Willow told her friend. "Actually, you won't. I have to go meet with Giles at the library during lunch. He says I need to start training more to prepare for all those vampires that'll be coming here soon," Buffy told them. "We'll see you after school then," Xander said. "And after school. I have to train after school now too," Buffy told them. "Ok then we'll see you at the Bronze tonight," Willow said. "Yeah..tonight," Buffy answered. She walked to her next class in a daze-thinking about that night. Thinking about what it could be that Angel had to tell her. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 21:56:35 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) I finally got a chance to read this story (OK, so I'm a little behind). It's hysterical!!! I've been in fandom a while, long enough to know and hate Mary Sues on sight. Thanks for a good laugh! Michelle Arthemise@geocities.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 23:13:50 -0600 (CST) From: Leah Michelle Biellicki Subject: Re: DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) On Sat, 7 Mar 1998, Michelle wrote: > I finally got a chance to read this story (OK, so I'm a little behind). It's > hysterical!!! I've been in fandom a while, long enough to know and hate Mary > Sues on sight. Thanks for a good laugh! > > Michelle > Arthemise@geocities.com > I also got a real kick out of this. "We'll have to disinfect." LoL! It cracked me up. Let us just pray, after last week, that we aren't writing this story about a certain maternal figure someday, hmm? - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 22:00:43 PST From: "Sara Barton" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Hope (28/?) Author: Sara B. Sara114@hotmail.com Rating: Varies...will be posted at beginning of each part. Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its characters, yada yada yada belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, WB, and Fox.... I’m just borrowing them, (although I wish Angel was mine!) Everything else belongs to me! Author’s note: This is your usual generic story. Angel is still good, so basically in my story surprise/innocence didn’t happen. Willow and Oz are together, and Xander and Cordy are still hiding their secret utility closet rondevu’s. This is going to be a long story, and will take some time so be patient with me. I’m not very good at story telling, so if this totally sucks and isn’t read-worthy, just let me know.Oh yeah, and I want feedback, feedback, and more feedback. I don’t care if it’s good or bad, just tell me what you thought of it. Part 28 Buffy, Hope, and Jenny trudged through the thick field. The Slayer stared into the vast emptiness of her surroundings. She bent down and picked a flower, smelling it. The aroma was so familiar. Buffy stopped walking as she stared at the flower. “Wait.” Her two friends paused and looked at her. “What’s wrong, Buffy?” Hope asked. Buffy’s eyes grew wide and her mouth gaped open as she realized why everything seemed so familiar to her. “The endless fields, the wild flowers, the trees. This is it. This is where I was.” Jenny looked around. “What do you mean, this is where you were?” “In my dream. I was here. I remember it all.” Buffy spun around, looking at everything. “Why didn’t I see this before?” “Are you sure this is where you were? It’s just a field.” Hope said. Buffy nodded earnestly. “Yes, I am sure. I know it and I can feel it...” her voice trailed off. Suddenly, without warning, the silence was shattered by a loud explosion. A blast of heat swarmed them as they turned and saw a fireball rise above the small grouping of trees. They watched it, shocked. The sky thundered and the wind gusted. "We are too late.” Buffy uttered. ******** Xander, Cordelia, Willow, and Giles sat in the Watchers car, waiting for a sign, waiting for Buffy to come and tell them everything was okay, waiting for danger. Willow sat, fidgeting with so much worry she was unable to keep still. “Do you think they are okay?” She managed to say. “I certainly hope so,” Giles answered. “No, no, I don’t think they are,” she said, shaking her head. “They ARE,” Cordelia said. “They have to be. Buffy is the Slayer, and she has Hope, and Ms. Calendar. They just have to be.” “Who are you trying to fool? Us, or yourself?” Xander said. “Both,” she whispered quietly. “Listen, I think we should go help Buffy. We can’t just sit here and wonder whether or not she is okay,” Xander said. When Giles didn’t respond, Xander yelled at him, anger filling his voice. “What are we waiting for? Her death notice?! Her lifeless body?! We HAVE to go help them!” “Calm yourself, Xander. We can’t just go barging in on an army of vampires.” Giles scolded him. “It is just too dangerous.” “Dangerous or not, I’m going to go help her!” Xander exclaimed, opening his car door. “Army or not, she needs me. She needs *all of us*.” He stepped outside. “Are you coming?” He turned to face the field. “I can still see them. They are--” he paused, “Oh my God.” “What? What’s wrong?!” Cordelia yelled. She got out of the car. “Wha--whoa!” Willow and Giles stared out the front window in astonishment as they watched a fireball emerege from the grove. “Holy Shit,” Willow said. “I don’t give a damn what you think right now, Giles. I am going to go help Buffy whether you go or not!” He said, and ran to Buffy. “Wait! Xander, come back!” Giles yelled. Xander slowed down and turned around. “What?” “Get in the car. We are all going to help her,” Giles told him. Xander came back to the car and got in. Giles turned the key in the ignition, and drove into the field toward Buffy. ******* Buffy choked back her tears. “We are too late.” Hearing the rumble of an engine, she spun around to see Giles old car barreling straight for them. Her Watcher came to a screeching halt inches in front of her. Her friend got out of the car and walked over to her. “Are you okay?” he asked, gently. She shook her head. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she assured him, and wiped her eyes. “What are we going to do? Angel is probably dead by now.” “Don’t say that. We don’t know what caused that fireball. He may not even be there,” Giles said. “Don’t try to make me feel better with false hope, Giles. He’s gone. I can feel it.” She shuddered. “There is always a chance. We can’t give up now,” Hope said. “Yeah, right. Whatever.” Buffy said. “So what? Your just going to give up now? No. I don’t think so,” Hope said, “I may have not known you for very long, but I do know that you’re not a quiter. You don’t give up easily in tough situations. You are the Slayer, and if you give up then your basically signing the death warrant for all of us. You have overcome so much. Don’t just throw that all away. Yes, this is a tough situation, and the pressure is on big time, but you can’t give up. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out there and FIGHT! Fight for yourself, fight for your family and your friends. But most of all, for Angel. He needs you. We all need you.” Everyone was shocked, especially Buffy. She got tears in her eyes, and gave Hope a big hug. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I dont know what came over me.” “It’s okay,” she whispered. They parted, and Buffy smiled. She turned to her friends. “She is right. We can do this. And we will. I will.” ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 17:20:05 +0800 From: Farrah Tahar Subject: BUFFYFIC: Buffyfic: BETA readers needed hi! i need people to help me read through my story and stuff and help me like make it more interesting, coz i'm not very good :) thanks!!! HUgz Farrah - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 10:13:30 EST From: JMHnoodles Subject: Re: DISCUSS: BUFFYFIC: "The Hellmouth's Greatest Threat" (1/1) (fwd) In a message dated 98-03-08 00:15:01 EST, you write: << Let us just pray, after last week, that we aren't writing this story about a certain maternal figure someday, hmm? >> You tryin' to give me nightmares? :-) We'll have to send a lynch mob out after Whedon... The story was hilarious, by the way! Jen - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 10:22:31 EST From: JMHnoodles Subject: BUFFYFIC: Buffyfic: help with episode synopsis? I have a friend who just started watching BtVS last week (I was falling all over myself trying convince her that it was a sucky ep), and she's a bit confused. Does anyone have or know where I could get some sort of synopsis of all the episodes so far? Any help would be greatly appreciated. You can email me directly at JMHnoodles.com; I don't want to clog up other people's mailboxes... thanx bunches! Jen (the noodlebrain) - - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Mar 1998 11:49:14 -0600 From: "Michelle" Subject: BUFFYFIC: Curious Goods (1/7) TITLE: Curious Goods AUTHOR: Michelle Benoit Walker (arthemise@geocities.com) SUMMARY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover with Friday the 13th: The Series. Wait, come back! You don't have to have ever seen the show to get the story since it's mostly Buffy anyway. But the cursed antiques involved in FTT:TS add an interesting twist. FTT:TS aired 1987-90 and has nothing to do with the movies of the same name or Jason (or whoever it is). The two horror series just seem to go together. Expect a sequel eventually. RATING: R. Buffy does things that are a little cruel--but to vampires. TIME PERIOD: After Bothered, Bewitched, and Bewildered. THANK-YOUS: To Ingrid Stanton for providing her excellent editing skills. FEEDBACK: Yes, please. DISTRIBUTION: Ask first. DISCLAIMER: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Friday the 13th: The Series are not mine. I'm just borrowing them for some fun. ************************************ CURIOUS GOODS Part 1 ************************************ "What a load of junk!" Buffy dusted off one of several boxes piled in Giles' storeroom and hefted the top one down to the floor. "Think any of these are books?" She looked up at Willow, who just grinned at her. "Silly me. This IS Giles we're talking about, Mr. Tweedy Bird himself. What else would he have in them except books?" Willow cracked open another box and pulled out several huge tomes at once. "But look on the bright side. If these were books he really needed, they'd be on the shelves. There might be a chance that they're actually--you know--something interesting." It was Willow's turn to stop and look up at her friend. "Silly me. What was I thinking?" Buffy read off a few titles. *Legends and Lore from the Middle East.* *The Occult Powers of the Mind.* *L'Homme en Colere.* Fun, happy stuff. As if it wasn't enough that she had to train and kill vampires every minute of her life. Now Giles expected her to help Willow with her research too. *A good Vampire Slayer knows her prey,* she could hear him reciting. And there certainly was a lot of prey out there. Willow had gotten the bright idea to catalog and scan all these ancient tomes into the computer. Her friend was great to have when it came to Internet searches, but this Database of the Occult was just too much. Like they had nothing better to do with their time! "Great, all text," Buffy grumped. Giles had acquired a scanner at Willow's request, and now the Slayerettes (plus one Slayer) were busily inputting these books that probably hadn't seen the light of day for years. There was a reason for that. No one but a bunch of vampire-killing freaks would be reading this stuff. All vampire-killing freaks raise their hands! Buffy was handling the text OCR scanning, and Willow was doing the more complicated illustration scanning and tweaking, copyright law be damned (if there still was a copyright on books centuries old). Then they would have a fully searchable database that they could quickly check when they ran into a crisis, rather than spending hours looking through books under a deadline. Instead they could spend hours now, before the crisis, while her social life died a death that wasn't quite lingering enough. But at least it kept her from thinking about Angel. Ow... See, that didn't hurt that much. Her throat tightened, and her heart clenched inside her, but the heartache wasn't the gut-wrenching agony it had been only a few weeks ago. Giles' therapy by work was having some effect, making her go on with her life and even spend time with her friends, when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball at the bottom of her closet. Eat, sleep, get over it. She picked at the heartache like a new sore that was just starting to heal over. It oozed, not quite healed enough to itch, but she would go on. She was the Slayer. Slayers couldn't give up. Yada yada yada. No room for self-pity when the fate of the world was in her hands. Yet there was a hole in her heart, a huge gaping one where Angel used to dwell. She forgot sometimes what was missing, groping after it like a ghost arm after it had been amputated. Only when she realized what was missing did she pull away and pretend it wasn't there. Her friends were handling it well, trying to make her not quite so miserable. They could be aggravating sometimes, especially since she didn't want to be not miserable, but she had to admit that she wouldn't have been able to handle it without them. From the day they had met, Willow had turned out to be a better friend than she had ever imagined. Even Cordelia of all people--the queen B herself--had turned into a friend. Not all the amazing occurrences were supenatural in nature. And Xander...well, Xander had proved that he wasn't as shallow as the muddle puddle she had first judged him. Speaking of which... "Our delivery boy is taking his time." Xander had made a mess out of everything, deleting a file it had taken Buffy a full half-day to scan in and clean up. Giles had dismissed him, and now he was making a soda run for the group. Guys were so good at getting out of real work. Buffy decided she would make him sort through these cobweb-crusted boxes himself. He wasn't getting off that easy. Maybe SHE should delete a file or two... Thinking of the hours she had already spent, she thought better of it. "Hey, what's this?" Willow's voice pulled her out of a decidedly extended grump. "Hey, it's a box full of junk!" "Wow, junk!" She helped Willow untape the massive cardboard box. "Giles's been holding out on us." "I hope it's something cool and ratty!" Only Willow could get that excited about a box of junk. But then after the hours they had logged today--Saturday hours at that--a box of junk even interested her. It had to be some good junk for Giles to have kept it around. Books he would tolerate, but not much of anything else. The light in Willow's eyes died, and Buffy knew that the junk trunk had been too good to be true. "Well, I'm not quite sure what it is." Buffy peeked into the box, past the tapy cardboard flaps. Inside was junk, i n the truest sense of the word. She couldn't even recognize most of it, but she picked out a few items: a twisted, tarnished goblet; a set of three knives, each smaller than the next, that didn't look like they could cut their way out of a paper bag; a bunch of books (yes, more books!) that looked like readers in languages she couldn't even recognize; and some old rope. She uncoiled the thick corded rope to get it out of the way; it smelled like mildew and old fish. Yum, what a winner, Giles! What, dating Mrs. Paul? "Ooh, a wooden box!" Willow cooed, trying to inject the moment with more excitement than it was worth. The box was pretty ornate, carved with mystic symbols and stained with red and peeling gold leaf. Ever the optimist, Willow handed the find to her. "If it's a book, I'm going to kill someone," Buffy told her skeptically. A lifted brow told her friend that, yes, she was the closest one within killing range. But it wasn't a book. But something almost as boring. "A wooden stake," Buffy deadpanned, holding it as if it were a present from her grandma on Christmas eve, and not the cool grandma either. "Like I don't have enough of THESE lying around..." "But it's got metal on it, like a handle-type thingy." Willow craned her head around to get a better look. "I think it's brass. It couldn't be gold." "Gold doesn't tarnish," Buffy lectured. "Brass tarnishes. I learned that one from Grandma Summers when she gave me a 'gold' chain one year." Still, the stake was fancier than her bought-at-Home-Depot-and-hacked-to-a-point-by-a-butcher-knife variety. It looked hard, harder than fresh wood, almost as if it had been stuck in a fire or rockified like the petrified wood she saw at the pet store. And it did have a handle, sort of, with a thick brass wire twisted around the base of it like a grip. "It's what all the Slayers are sporting this year," Buffy quipped, jerking the box up quickly so that the stake flew into the air and landed firmly in her fist, ready to attack. *** The bell to Curious Goods chimed cheerfully in a vain attempt to brighten the dusty, dingy store. Micki looked up from the wooden box she was unpacking. "If I have to unpack one more box of inventory..." she warned the newcomer. "Well, lucky you, here's some mail for you to go through." Johnny Ventura tossed several letters onto the check-out counter. "Looks like some potential hits. Want to check it out?" Micki looked back at the still-full box she was unpacking. "Ah, and I'll finish unpacking." The dark-haired young man grinned and dug in, true to his word. Micki pushed back long red hair from her sticky forehead with the back of her hand. "Deal." She shuffled quickly through the mail, separating the bills from the "other." While their store front Curious Goods gave them an excuse for dabbling into the occult and acquiring strange, ominous artifacts, it also gave them the resources to do their real job: tracking down items cursed by Old Scratch himself. She had been lucky enough to be the niece of Lewis Vendredi, the Devil's right-hand man. All the many long years her uncle had been in business for the dark side had given them a lot of nasty pieces of work to track down and tuck away into the vault hidden deep in the basement of the store. They had begun their quest of tracking down the cursed objects by sending out letters and making calls to those buyers so thoughtfully listed in her uncle's Manifest. "Here's a returned one." She examined the postmark. "Looks like they held on to it--oh--about a year before returning it. Guess the post office didn't notice. It says no longer at address." "Sounds suspicious," Johnny said as he hefted out a particularly gruesome African statue, which would probably sell within the week. "Want to give them a call? Maybe take a trip?" "I guess. I'll get the Manifest." A moment later she was paging through a huge tome that would have made even Rupert Giles envious. "Here it is. John Hyrman. Here's a new one: a wooden stake." She looked over at Johnny, who had almost cleared out the wooden box and was rummaging through wooden curls of packing material. "Any idea why anyone would want a wooden stake?" the redhead asked. Johnny wiped the sweat away from his forehead, much as Micki had done. He shook his head and looked at the junk he had unpacked. Why did anyone want ANY of the stuff sold at Curious Goods? Looking to the entry where Micki pointed, he verified: one wooden stake. He shook his head and shrugged. "A vampire hunter?" ************************************ END Part 1 ************************************ - - ------------------------------ End of Buffyfic-digest V2 #52 ***************************** To subscribe to buffyfic or buffyfic-digest, send the command subscribe buffyfic-digest or subscribe buffyfic to majordomo@xmission.com. You will need to go through a confirmation process, and the listowners have to manually approve your subscription request, so it may take some time. Back issues of this digest can be found at: ftp://ftp.xmission.com/pub/lists/buffyfic/archive/ Dalton Spence has also provided an index of the buffyfic archive at: http://www.hwcn.org/~ag775/BUFFYFIC.HTM For help, contact Jill Kirby (jtkirby@mcs.com) or sah (romana@mindspring.com)