Hi, i'm new in this forum (or any forum, been more honest), i just tend to lurk anonymously searching for W/T fics (i discover of the existance of fan fics just in december last year), so i found this site looking for the end of a fic post in fanfic.net, but also here (unfinished too :( .), and start to read awesome fics here and there on the site...then i had the most crappy week of mi work-life, but at the same time i found this vignette series and make all suddenly bearable...really, i enjoyed absolutely every one of them, are funny and sweet, your willow's babble and Tara's reveries are incredible wonderfull, you master the characterizatons and rections of each one and as a couple, and each vignette is original and fantastic, the Rose and Tara fics are lovelies, the pre NMR ones are amazingly thrilling, those set in the future are hearth-warming...but guess you heard that already (and better written, because i'm mexican and learned english reading D&D books and playing RPG,, so i'm not sure of my grammar and ortography, and dont even know if you are going to read all this...)...and now i just wanna thank you, 'cause every second reading was worth the crappy day, i owe thousand laughs, lots of sighs and 56 sappy stupid smiles that didnt leave me easy (wich is weird, i'm always scowling)...thanks for this (i'll read AD as soon as i have time, i must admit im intriged about that for ramdon comments in the vignettes replies), thanks a lot, and please, PLEASE, NEVER stop writing, best wishes and good luck... \m/-_-

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You know, sometimes when I’m stressed out, or feeling a little down, I plop down and read these vignettes because they always make me feel happy. Like, giddy, twitterpated happy. So, imagine my surprise when I realized that I NEVER LEFT FEEDBACK FOR #56. Oh man, poor form. In my defense... oh hell, I have no defense - sorry Sass!

On to the feedback. Love it. But then, I love all of the vignettes. The thing that really got me as this started was how many times Willow probably felt uncertain about how long was too long without Tara before checking in at the beginning of their relationship. 5, 10, 100? It seems like the threat of vampire attacks is a perfectly legit reason to keep tabs on someone you're crushing on. You know. For safety. So, that was super enjoyable. Next, the flouncing on the bed whilst sobbing; also awesome. I loved the ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’ hatred. I'm all about having ye olde heartstrings pulled by a good book, but animal death? Really? That's just such a low blow. I also loved Willow fessing up to her inner voice - so sweet, so perfect. /Sigh Great job again, Sass. Even though it's been... three years (?!) since the last vignette, they still feel completely fresh and natural every time I read them. Love your Willow and Tara, always and forever.

p.s. In addition to wanting to leave feedback because the vignette was awesome, I also wanted to see this collection on the first page of Pens because it’s just too awesome to be buried.

I can't believe I found updated vignettes and the read Sass this is so great. I love every vignette I used to read them all the time! I can't wait to read all the ones I haven't yet, which are the ones after # 39 YAY here goes! Oh and Sass...your writing is very much appreciated, thank you!

Series: Vignettes - #57
Title: Modern Technology
Author: Sassette
Feedback: Can be sent to pink_overalls@yahoo.com , or posted here.
Spoiler Warning: W/T are way gay, and in love. There – you’re spoiled.
Summary: The wonders – and horrors - of modern technology.
Disclaimer: I didn't create these characters. I’m just borrowing them, because it’s lots and lots of fun.
Rating: PG-13
Author’s Note: This vignette brought to you by What Would Willow and Tara Do? by dlline, damnyouautocorrect.com, and the number 8. Also, the keyboard mentioned in this vignette does exist. Also, Also, if you don’t know who Steve Wozniak is, you lose nerd points. I hate to do that to you, but it’s in the rules. You can get your points back by looking him up on Wikipedia.

Modern Technology
By Sassette

“Problem?” Willow asked innocently, looking up from where she was leaning against the wall in her office, reading her email on her phone, trying not to snicker at the poleaxed expression on Matt’s face as the PC Tech sat at her computer to install the new anti-virus and spam-filtering software.

Like she couldn’t do that herself, Willow internally grumbled. But there were >procedures<. Only PC Techs did installs, period.

Matt looked down at her keyboard – her >blank< keyboard – then looked back up at her with an expression that clearly said he had no idea what to do with this.

Willow smiled pleasantly, keeping a gently inquisitive expression on her face, then looked back down when her phone beeped.

T: Car

The one-word text-message from Tara told Willow that Tara was going somewhere. After Willow’s very bad texting-while-driving habit became apparent, they had instituted a rule: they would announce when they were getting in the car, so they wouldn’t receive any text messages from each other while they were driving.

And since Willow only checked her text-messages while she was driving on the off-chance it was Tara, that had solved the problem.

“Here,” Willow relented when she looked back up and saw that Matt’s confusion had morphed into distress.

Poor guy.

She pulled open a drawer of her desk and took out the company-issued keyboard – with letters – that she had replaced with the blank one.

She loved that keyboard. The fact that it was blank was a fun novelty, but what she really loved about it was the clickety-clackety noise of the keys.

And, she loved it because it had been a birthday gift from Tara - after Willow had circled it in a catalog using red ink with five stars and three smiley faces next to it, of course.

With quick, efficient movements, she swapped the keyboards out, moving the blank keyboard out of Matt’s way and handing him the one with letters on it.

“Thank you,” Matt said, letting out a relieved breath and getting to work.

Willow just nodded – she always felt a little bad that she found PC Tech reactions to her blank keyboard funny, and didn’t want to laugh at Matt - and leaned back against the wall, her fingers itching to text Tara to tell her that she was now up to three confounded PC Techs who couldn’t handle her blank keyboard.

It was funny, really, how much her life had changed as an adult. College first, and now here at her Grown-Up Job, she had all the respect and admiration she had so sorely lacked in high school.

She was, undoubtedly, Queen of the Nerds.

“So you actually use that? The blank one?” Matt asked as the install progress bar popped up on her monitor.

“Yup,” Willow said cheerfully. “You do realize they always send the new guy to do my installs because of that, right?”

T: Out of car. At gorilla store. Want anything?

Matt let out a bark of laughter, then shook his head. “Oh, man,” he chuckled. “No wonder they were all staring at me and whispering to each other when I got tagged to head over here. Glad it’s not just me.”

“Don’t be surprised if the wallpaper on your desktop has been replaced with a picture of you when you saw it,” Willow said as she typed out her reply to Tara’s text.

W: Where are we gonna’ put a gorilla?

“You took a picture?” Matt frowned.

Willow pushed off the wall and reached out to tap her web cam, where the light that indicated the web cam was on glowed. “The network guys – they can remote these, and they think they’re hilarious. But don’t worry about it,” Willow offered a reassuring smile. “You’ll get treated to pictures of the last two guys who did the exact same thing.”

T: Damn you auto-correct.

Willow snickered at Tara’s reply, then looked up at Matt with wide eyes. “I’m not laughing at you,” she said quickly, waving her phone. “Text from my wife. Auto-correct,” she said, then shrugged.

She didn’t have to say anything else, and that was another thing that had changed in her adult life. Sure, she went on long rambles sometimes when she was trying to explain something, but she didn’t really have to explain things very often anymore: her coworkers either took her word for it, or they understood what she was saying in the first place because they spoke nerd.

Matt chuckled, then turned back to the install, entering in settings and clicking through to the next progress bar.

T: GROCERY store.

“So, iPhone or Droid?” Matt said conversationally, his eyes trained on the slow crawl of the progress bar.

W: No, I don’t need anything from the grocery store. Kinda’ disappointed there will be no gorilla.

Willow wrinkled up her nose as she typed. “Old Moto-Q,” she said absently. “I hate touchscreens.”

Steve Jobs may have been a genius visionary who put together a beautiful, elegant electronic consumer product, but Willow was more of a Steve Wozniak kind of girl: she liked gadgets that let her go in and fiddle, not gadgets that assumed she was an idiot and had all the interesting bits locked down.

Matt chuckled. “Wow, that’s old-school,” he said, and he look impressed. “And, yeah, if you type on a blank keyboard, the touchscreen probably slows you down.”

“Exactly,” Willow looked up, and they shared an understanding smile of pure nerdery.

T: Where would we put a Godzilla? :)

T: Dammit. GORILLA. :(

“Also, I don’t have to deal with auto-correct,” Willow chuckled, giving that last text a fond smile. Tara would type "dammit" into a cell phone and send it as a text message, but she wouldn't >say< it. “My wife has an iPhone, though, so I get all the hilarity and none of the frustration. It’s a minor miracle when one of her texts actually goes through as intended.”

T: Hitting liberty, Magic Box and Galileo after gorilla store.

W: What did liberty ever do to you? And I think poor Galileo has been through enough. You can hit the Magic Box, though – I’m sure Anya deserves it. Willow typed back with a chuckle, her phone immediately beeping with another text from Tara.

“She’s not a techie?” Matt asked.

“No, she’s an art-buyer for a gallery downtown,” Willow said, reasonably certain that Tara’s itinerary for the day was library, Magic Box, and gallery.

T: Will be home late – 8ish?

Willow’s lips quirked ruefully. And that … was the terrible, awful downside of the life of a Grown-Up. Tara working late, Willow working late, both of them out half the night periodically doing Scooby Stuff.

T: LIBRARY, GALLERY

Willow chuckled. Tara always corrected her auto-correct errors with all-caps, and she could almost see Tara pouting.

Really, if it weren’t for Angry Birds, Willow was pretty sure Tara would have tossed her iPhone in a lake by now. Willow still preferred Tetris as her time-killer, on her indestructible old-school Moto-Q with the full qwerty keyboard.

W: 8-ish? :(

“That’s cool,” Matt nodded. “My girlfriend writes copy in the marketing department here. That’s how I found out about this job. I just finished up my degree.”

“Information Technology?” Willow asked.

“No, Computer Science,” Matt said.

“Really?” Willow asked, head tilting to the side. A Computer Science degree made him overqualified to be a PC Tech, but it was the standard entry-level position in the IT Department. “Interested in looking at a coding project?”

T: No later than 8. Buying whipper screams.

Willow blinked down at her phone.

“Really?” Matt asked, his face lighting up. “That would be so cool!”

“I can’t guarantee we’ll have a developer opening any time soon, and it’ll probably mean extra hours, but it would put you on the short-list if a dev spot opened and your code doesn’t suck,” Willow said as she typed her reply.

W: Okay, I can’t even make a joke about that one. Whipper screams?

“My code is awesome!” Matt said, his face shining with enthusiasm. “Thank you so much!”

“I’ll shoot you the specs in an email,” Willow said.

“This is so cool,” Matt breathed. “And … you’re all set – just needs a reboot, but I’ll let you handle that and get out of your hair,” he logged off her computer and stood up. “Thank you so much, Ms. Rosenberg,” he held out a hand.

“It’s Willow,” Willow shook his hand and smiled as he left, practically tripping all over himself.

T: WHIPPED CREAM. BUYING WHIPPED CREAM. HOME BY 8. BE SNAKES WHEN I GET THERE.

Willow squeaked as the air left her lungs and her throat closed up at the same time. Her free hand flailed for her door a few times, her eyes glued to that last text message, before she successfully swung it closed.

W: Please tell me “snakes” is auto-correct for “naked”, she typed furiously with her thumbs, happy visions dancing in her head.

T: Dammit NAKED. WTF Snakes!? There will be no skanks!

T: SNAKES. NO SNAKES, JUST NAKED WILLOW AND WHIPPED CREAM.

W: Baby, you know I’ll be your skank, Willow typed back, grinning widely. Tara's auto-correct issues, excellent evening plans, >and< Tara dropped a "WTF"? This was just ... she giggled. The very, very best day ever. Breathe, sweetheart, Willow immediately fired off another text. You know auto-correct messes with you more when you’re upset. I got the message. You, me, whipped cream, 8pm. It’s a date.

T: I love you.

W: I love you, too.

T: I hate auto-correct.

T: Remember: 8pm. SNAKES. This is manatee.

T: NAKED. MANDATORY.

T: I am never attempting the texting of spicy-talk again.

W: :(

T: See? Auto-correct didn’t mess with that one. It objects to our sex life. It is evil. Butter should slay it.

W: Apparently, auto-correct objects to Buffy, too.

T: Doesn’t Like Slayer. See? Evil. In car.

Willow put her phone down with a chuckle knowing there would be no further texts from Tara until she was at the library, and swapped her keyboard back out, sitting down at her desk and grinning like an idiot.

“My life? Much with the rockage,” Willow said happily, glancing at the clock and frowning for a moment when she saw it was only 3pm. “Well,” she decided, lips pressing together. “I’ll just have to get enough work done so I can come in late tomorrow.”

She wiggled her fingers briefly before she got to it, her fingers flying over the keyboard, code appearing on her screen, the rapid clickety-clackety noise of the keys filling her office.

Willow chuckled to herself. “Snakes,” she mumbled, shaking her head. Really, she was starting to wonder if there was some kind of … mystical/technical energy interference in regards to Tara being a hereditary witch and her constant difficulties with auto-correct.

And, from Tara’s end, today had been particularly difficult so far.

From Willow’s perspective, of course, it had just been hilarious.

Though, Willow mused, her fingers slowing, and then stilling completely – the last time Tara had such a bad day with auto-correct …

Well, there had been scowling, a rare but decidedly hot expression on Tara. And all that frustration and tension to work off, and … forcefulness … she was pretty sure the dent in the wall was still there.

“Bless you, auto-correct,” Willow whispered.

Bless you, Sass. You have no idea how much a) I've missed your fantastic writing and b) I needed this tonight. Squeal, clapping hands, squeal again, jump in the air, get frozen in the air, one hand raised high in the sky, big dopey smile on my face. Kudos on another fantastic vignette. It is so incredibly delightful to jump into your girls' world and get a little moment of time with them. It's always unexpected and fun.
I love Willow's confidence in this one. It is apparent in everything she does—from her delight in the tech's reaction to the blank keyboard (and the webcam bit and job offer) to the easy way she fires off the jokes in return to Tara's texting fails—she's just happy and settled, in the best way possible. It's also so normal and domestic. She knows what Tara's doing despite the wonky words because she knows Tara, her routine, how she organizes her day and errands. That's pretty perfect, both in short handing their relationship dynamic and in a very schmoopy 'aren't they good together' way. I appreciate the frustration she expresses about their jobs keeping them apart, too (giiiiiiirl, been there!), as well as the excitement about the spicy talk. Good times.
I especially loved the topic of auto-correcting. The wife and I have fallen victim many a time, and I've lost many a productive minute to reading damnyouautocorrect. So much fun. Love that Tara has to correct her fails (and in caps, no less!) and that Willow good-naturedly teases; it's wonderful and loving and expressed in the most modern of ways, and it shows sides of their characters in a really natural, non-contrived way.
The thing I loved the most though was the punctuation! Both Willow and Tara actually use punctuation in their texts—that's brilliant. First, because that's a pain in the ass on the iPhone if you're in a rush, so I imagined Tara sitting in her car really working on her texts then being absolutely incensed when she'd make a mistake/get autocorrected because, dammit, she spent time switching between keyboards adding the punctuation so how did everything else get effed up? And second, because there was actually an article recently about how language is evolving because of the use of texting, and that people who texted were starting to eschew punctuation in other formats (like email, etc) because of a new connotation in using punctuation that's come from the lack of punctuation usage in text. (Deep breath.) Like, if someone texts you and says, "Want to go to dinner?" and you text back, "sure" you're doing it right; "sure." is seen as passive aggressively snippy, like perhaps you'd love to go to dinner if it wasn't the same night the person inviting hadn't already promised to do something else very important like go see a friend's modern dance recital or something. I just think that's fascinating. I imagine Tara—who in canon was not a fan of internet spelling—would strive to be more... literate... in her texts, and I assume Willow mimics Tara so as to not irritate her wife. That neither one of them is put off or comments on the punctuation means that they're insulated from the new connotation, and that leads me to wonder if they text anyone else, or if they mostly just text each other so the punctuation connotation isn't a thing. And that's fun to wonder because my most frequent text buddy is my wife and our most frequent texts are "do you need anything at X store?" and "heading home/okay, drive safe." Anyway, just loved that bit.
So, to sum up, loved this entry, and loved to see you writing again. Happy, happy, happy Kitten tonight. Thank you and hope to see you around these parts more often.

Lmao!

This was so AWESOME. I totally DESPISE autocorrect and have sent some extremely unfortunate texts as a result to this techno monster!

Very funny, very light-hearted and very well done.

I really enjoyed this and look forward to many, MANY more.

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The kitten formerly known as SMGOVAN ~Official Head of Security for the Finey_McFine fan club. Ass whippings will be handed out liberally!

Hi Sassette,

It’s always a pleasure to see you back on the board. I often reread my favourites of your vignettes so it’s great to see a new one.

Like Tara I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to information technology. I am still attached to my qwerty keyboard, with the predictive text function firmly off. I also admit I’d not heard of Steve Wozniak, (though I dutifully looked him up.)

I confess I was a bit alarmed at the notion of a webcam under the remote control of the network guys. Not good idea to plant in my mind. My team are already convinced that IT are out to get us.

I enjoy your Tara and Willow in this story. They’re confident and funny but still feel realistic. It’s charming. I like stories which are grounded in the everyday rather than the whole destined to be soul-mates perfect love thing. The interference of work and malfunctioning technology serve as a nice contrast and highlight the fun romanticism of the story.

I’d love to read more vignettes. Thank you.

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Donegal Street * Home For Christmas * A Traditional New Year’s Eve

Hi Sass

Saw the new update and thought it would be fitting to go through and read them all again in one sitting. I love the way you write these, so much going on with so little words to tell but you manage convey so much. Bravo

Some of my faves are:
Willow/Tara Kissage - beautifully portrayed first kiss
A friendly little wager 1&2 - loved reading both scenarios of either of them winning the bet. Bless Xander and his love of shiny things!
Storms - that should have been the way Willow came out to Buffy and Xander in the show, I would have loved to see that it was so romantic
What a girls gotta do 1&2 - Tara....wet Tshirt....humina....what was I saying? Oh yeah both very funny and entertaining
Pride - loved the signs "I love my gay Willow"
Chess - strip chess is a new one to me but what a brilliant idea! You make chess sound sexy well done!
Revelations - flying squirrels and babble about paper toilet seat covers? Brilliant and hilarious
Interrogation - all I have to say is "shitstorm"
Getting to know you - you write Willowbabble so well. Belle was my favourite growing up too but after reading the story here on archives where Tara is Cinderella at Disneyworld, I now have a soft spot for Cinderella
Break - proposing marriage in a babblefest about coffee....so funny
Not a date - so sweet
Hybrids - such a Willow thing to do and beautiful analogy comparing relationships to roses
Panic - reminded me of when my girlfriend and her son cried at Hachi the movie then proceeded to call me a heartless bitch because I didn't lol
Modern technology - the autocorrect monster strikes again! I had a lot of explaining to do to the mrs after my iPhone decided to change Coke to C**k when I asked her to have one cold one ready when I got home from work on a particularly hot day

Can't wait for more!

Thanks
Kim

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"I don't want our first time to be a quickie. I want it to be, a longie." The redhead looked at the blonde and smiled sweetly. "I want all of you." ~ Willow to Tara in Neverland by EasierSaid
The most anticipated Chapter in the history of fanfiction everywhere!