Thank you everybody for your votes!Red Jassy...Welcome to the thread I'm glad to have another addict...I mean... another viewer... for the poles...I mean...for the polls!
some dark thing... LOL a pen name to write NC-17 fics! I hadn't thought of that....Maybe I will...but I'd choose a name that better suits the mood... Lala Sexihotmama maybe.
And...now....The first of three:
Channel 7
The Futopia Channel
"Fear the Light" Everything seemed to be back in full swing as Winna led Taryn down the corridor and back onto the dance floor.
No...
Winna had to take that back....
Not EVERYTHING was back in full swing...though it APPEARED to be.
Even though they were dancing and making non-committal chit-chat, everyone in the room, vampire and non, seemed to be overtly aware of Winna's charge.
Sure they wouldn't chance direct looks at them at this point...because they were ALSO keenly aware that Winna had drawn her gun into the hand that wasn't holding Taryn's. It was low, and close to her thigh, non intrusive....and yet oddly more dangerous than if she had been waving it around in the air above her head.
Anyone who had ever heard of Winna Gunn was also highly aware of her reputation with that gun.
Generally, if Winna unharnessed that monster, it was slated to destroy something before it went back on the leash.
She was all business now, her expression set in a grim line, though she was
distinctly aware of Taryn's fingers interlaced in hers.
Is it just you....or does this feel really good, Gunn?...More than good...this feels RIGHT...and that makes you nervous, doesn't it? Come on if you can't admit to anyone out loud...you could at least admit it to yourself...
Winna didn't have the time she needed to wade through this confusing mix of emotions, because she spotted her target sitting at one of the lounge tables in the farthest...darkest section of the club.
Bizzy was nothing if not noticeable...even when she didn't mean to be.
" Watch my six." Winna said over her shoulder. Making sure Ryder got the message. She instead saw Taryn following her closely, looking perplexed.
" Oh come on, Gunn...I don't need to watch it, I'm sure she'll do it the honors." Ryder said from her balcony position into Winna's ear. Winna tossed a look up at the young woman who found herself to be so amusing. " Besides, I think she's been adequately watching your six since you met her."
Winna turned back around to maneuver them through the crowd towards Bizzy's table.
" Oh my god. There it is folks...Get a look now...Winna Gunn CAN blush." Ryder's radio announcer voice came through in Winna's ear. For once, Winna couldn't pull a single comeback out of her mental files.
" Are you done?" She said through her teeth.
" What? Me....hell no. But I will wait until you're done pistol whipping our old gal pal down there." Came Ryder's smug voice.
" You're a peach. Now watch our backs will you? I don't want any more surprises."
" Kay-Oh."
Winna came to a stop in front a small table where Bizzy Summers seemed preoccupied with the curve of some girl's throat at her table. She stroked the spot just over the pulse using the backs of her fingers, with the tenderness of a child with a kitten. Winna kept Taryn behind her, out of potential harm's way... still holding her hand.
She cleared her throat.
" I'm eating." Bizzy said with mild annoyance, not looking up.
Winna lifted her gun up and leveled it off over the table. She thumbed off the safety with the tell tale .
" Well... I'm bored. And I really HATE to be bored... So I think I win." Winna said, watching Bizzy's expression drop from annoyance to a shocked smile.
" Heyyyy....Gunn...(looking into the muzzle of the pistol)and Gunn's gun...long time no see."
" We need to have a word." Winna said, without a smile.
" Hell. Can't you see I'm trying to have a little conference here? " Bizzy indicated the girl seated beside her...not taking her eyes off Winna's gun...not that she could, with the scary end so close the slayer-vamp could read the serial numbers.
" Send your dinner back to the kitchen, Elizabeth." Winna said. Bizzy looked forlorn from the steady sight of Winna's gun to her table guest, sighed, and called over one of the waiters.
" I'll have this one to go." She said waiting until her dinner had slid out and followed the waiter away before looking up past the gun to Winna's face.
" Sit down...let's catch up." She said chagrined. Winna sat in the booth first, then Taryn slid in after her. Bizzy's brow raised in mild interest.
" You BROUGHT me dinner...how sweet." Bizzy purred.
" THIS is the Vampire Slayer?" Taryn asked...a little taken aback. " She seems a little sleazy..."
" THIS is the demon that squats in the former Slayer." Winna offered.
" That used to kill vamps in the house that Jack built." Bizzy snickered. " Actually it's a real honor to be the demon that inhabits the Slayer's body...it's like...movin' on up to a dee-lux apartment in the sky..."
" Well...right now I need some information from you...from the Slayer part of you...so tone it down...or your 'dee-lux apartment' is going to get one hell of a renovation." Winna dropped the gun under the table and nudged the demon in the ribs.
" Ow...all right...no need to get crabby." Bizzy pouted. " We're all friends here...aren't we, Love?" Bizzy winked at Taryn...who blanched slightly. Winna gave her an extra surly nudge.
" There's a vamp killing high bloods before they've been marked." Winna said point blank. Bizzy looked genuinely confused.
" Who would...??? Well that's just jackassed! No one in their right mind bites the hand that feeds you...literally...." Bizzy said.
" Well then there's a vamp out there who's not in their right mind. I need to know who would benefit from killing a high blood."
" No one that I know...I'm a staunch supporter of the High Bloods. Yeah High Bloods...see?" She said, realizing how serious this conversation had turned...and that she no longer wanted to be a part of anything that had to do with killing High Bloods. " Bad news...Bad...bad news...killing High Bloods" She muttered.
" Yeah...well it's about to get worse. I'm the first of a whole lot of people wanting answers. You know what'll happen to this place once the cops get a hold of it...shake it down...? You'll be spending your nights drinking your girlfriends behind seedy donut shops in the Valley. You're life...or unlife...is going to read like a bad daytime soap.
" Oh holy hell..." Bizzy muttered.
" Yeah. So I need you to keep your ears open for ANY talk." Winna realized she hadn't let Taryn's hand go. She slipped her fingers loose and reached into her jacket. She handed her a small half card. " Call me if you hear anything. There's a phone in the corridor in the back..."
" Evil doesn't use pay phones." Bizzy said offended.
" Bizzy..." Winna warned.
" True Evil likes to talk on cell phones and drive SUV's...." She said stuffing the number away.
" Whatever. I'll be expecting your call." Winna motioned for Taryn to scootch out.
" That's it? You come over...bust up my dinner party... stuff a gun in my gut...ask a couple of questions...and leave me hangin?"
" That's it. " Winna said curtly. Bizzy thought about this a moment.
" That's so...BAAAD it's good....You sure you're working for the right side?" Winna didn't grace her with a reply. She took Taryn's hand again. They made their way to the balcony steps.
" You were so quiet back there..." Winna said. Taryn looked over her shoulder. Bizzy was watching them with a casual smirk. She twinkled her fingers at Taryn.
" That was our last, best hope against the vampires, and now she's one of them." Taryn said. Winna took a glance back at the blond vamp who quickly stopped twinkling, and continued to ascend.
" There's more where she came from...don't worry...her successor is a real gung-ho gal...I'd introduce you some time but we don't see eye to eye about some things...well...the pun wasn't intended but I'll take credit for..."
" Old Ex?" Taryn asked, feigning innocence. Winna's head whipped around so fast that he red hair fanned to one side.
" Wha...what makes you think...THAT???" She asked...losing only an iota of her coolness for a second.
" Well if there is a tough, gung-ho gal in town...I'm sure you dated her."
Winna took a few seconds to recuperate. She gathered her coolness about her like she was adjusting a long duster jacket.
" You're a tough, gung-ho gal..." She said smoothly. A wry smile tracing her lips.
" You have no idea...how gung-ho I am." Taryn said with a slow, cryptic, smile.
" Uhm...if you two are going to banter and flirt and make barely cloaked sexual innuendoes...could you at least turn off your headset...this is getting me all wigged out. Winna likes Taryn and Taryn likes Winna...I GET it... hell the whole club gets it...can we go now? It's getting kind of early." Ryder said into Winna's ear.
" What time is it?" Winna asked...still distracted by Taryn.
" Sunrise in a half hour. Time flies when you're in a kitchen with a hot chick and I'm up here all alone drinking virgin margaritas and fending off every bad pick up line in the book.... " Ryder said as they came up to the landing where she was.
" Okay...let's go. " Winna said, and let Ryder lead the way.
" Thank heavens. I was about to let one of these suckers bite me and then stake myself just to put me out of my boredom." Ryder muttered, pushing open the doors to the club, and tromped down the steps. The sky outside had taken on a dark blue hue that meant dawn would not be far behind.
" Yeah? Well at least you didn't come here as just bait..." Taryn said. Ryder chuckled.
" Point made...but it certainly is fun to see the worm on the hook kick some fish ass? That was incredible by the way..."
" Thanks."
" Can we talk about this at home? When the SUN isn't about to come up?" Winna said, and pulled out her remote. " Sweetie...open up and let's go."
The car rumbled to life quickly as the doors came open.
Once they were in, and the doors were shut, Ryder leaned in from the back seat.
" Hey Winna, It's really getting early... can Taryn sleep over?" She teased.
" Ryder... Do you want to walk back?" Winna said...in the dim light of the car, Ryder could see her boss's cheeks were rouged. She chortled. It wasn't often she got to have this kind of fun at Winna's expense. Winna never brought home any overnight guests. EVER. Winna had once remarked that it was because she didn't want to compromise the anonymity of her home...but Ryder figured it was because she just hadn't met the right woman. And here this one almost dropped into her lap by Thurman.
It made Ryder happy...overjoyed even to think that maybe Winna had finally met someone that piqued her interest...even made her...for want of a better word to describe Winna Gunn....girlishly giddy...
Taryn...A.K.A. Mrs. Right...looked out the strange windshield in silence... Her long blond hair obscuring her expression.
Ryder leaned back in her seat with a smile she couldn't help. It stretched across her face without her consent...
Things were finally looking promising in the House of Gunn.
TBC...
"Do you seriously expect me to tell the President that an alien has landed, assumed the identity of a dead housepainter from Madison, Wisconsin and is presently tooling around the countryside in a hopped up orange and black 1977 Mustang?" - Starman
Edited by: Pippa at: 5/12/03 8:47:16 am
heh. my apologies. 
Oh boy, need to work on those early-morning social skills... --Nora 
your fics are very addictive.. its like getting a drop of it and your there.. begging for more.
Oh well...
S.) 
. She's just a perfect sidekick, d'ya know that? You know what can be funny though - if you kept this fic up long enough there would be people writing fanfinc about it. Then there could be like a Ryder fandom, since she IS a sidekick (just like Willow...). You see where I'm headed with this? We could have the Ryder's posting board and argue on Futopia subtext. For example, there could be a thread for Winna/Ryder shippers, like there are those dreaded Buffy/Willow things.
. That's a beautiful song. Plus, the first time I heard it was Sinead O'Connor singing, so hello subtext! 
, Oh, yes loved the programming today! So good to see winna blush and get flustered and good old ryder not cutting her any slack.
Somehow I really don't feel Kendra would really be the type to have a history hanging 'round Winna and get herself that rough-rider, gung-ho gal rep thing going. Doesn't really seem like her style, y'know - seeing how she's as dumb as a ROCK and all.
