True_love PB&J holds, for quite a few of us I suppose, a good deal of significance. Whether from the memories attached to it, or for the delicious sandwiches themselves. Me? Friends and I named our band PB&J. I wanted our girls to have similar good memories associated with it, too. So I’m definitely glad you liked it!
Azirahael Aaaargh, yes. The plight of us Kittens when trying to explain things to non-kitten friends. All my friends know is that I cry a lot because of BtVS. The accent thing was an issue I’d debated for quite a while, before deciding to do without. I suppose, given the years spent and amount of exposure she’s had, Tara’d would have some sort of accent. My personal head-canon for Sentinels is that she does pronounce her A’s a bit differently, but that’s all in my head. Though I always imaged Tara’s mom to have a bit of a mid-western American accent, and growing up, young!Tara would have made it into her and her mother’s ‘special thing’ and would have clung to it after her mother’s death. But, if you’d like to know, the other options for Sentinels!verse were: Celtic-accent!Tara, Welsh-accent!Tara, and Geordie-accent!Tara. Each had their own set of jokes, too.
Ariel You know how I have those weird mental blurbs that are never addressed in the actual story/fanfic, but make waaay too much sense in my head for it to NOT have happened? Both being Watchers’ kids, I totally believe that Tara and Wesley had to have had some awkward play dates as children.
fhiwda Yeah, writing awkward teenaged girls is sometimes weird, because if it gets too realistic/awkward, it hits a little too close to home and it gets uncomfortable for me to continue writing(see chpt 7, where I got terrified of my own opening paragraphs and refused to write at night) Glad you like it, though! That makes it worth it!
Bewitchedyke Welcome! Glad you’ve enjoyed it so far, and I can only hope you continue enjoying!
Finey_McFine Wacky spellcasting shenanigans are definitely the best kind of shenanigans! You’re questions concerning said WSS will be answered in this chapter, so read on my friend!
ashcrash71590 Cotton candy is nothing to take lightly. While being the epitome of sugary, stringy goodness, the limits placed upon it and its flavors have done nothing to advance the art. Sunnydale is home to rebels, those who dare defy the Blue and Pink rules! Ah, ahem. Sorry. I’m a crazy person XD
TALLY HO!
Title: Sentinels (Chapter 18)
Author: Starr, aka faolan228
Email:
faolan228@yahoo.comRating: R
Disclaimer: Starr does not own BtVS or any related works. Except for Artie. Only because no one else wanted her.
Feedback: Me gusta.
Summary: Season 1 happened as it did on the show, but everything after has been molded and reshaped to my lunacy. Moral ambiguity abounds. Lying is sometimes okay for the right reasons, and genocidal rage a perfectly normal thing for people to feel. AU W/T that may or may not be a comedy.
Special thanks: Ariel, because there is a scene here that is partially her fault. I mean, she’s guilty on account of
~inspiration~, but still. Shine on, you crazy diamond. Shine on.
Chapter 18: What’s Another Word For Gleaming? “Me.”
The little hamster in Willow’s brain fell of its wheel. “Come again?”
Tara smiled her shy little smile. “You heard me.”
“Yeah, but repeat that, because you made it sound like you wanted me to fling spells at you,” she paused. “That’s a bad idea, just to remind you.”
“No, no,” Tara nudged her teasingly. Then, she stood. “Here. I’ll pop into a quick glamour, and you try to find me and undo it.”
Willow took Tara’s hand and allowed herself to be pulled up. “So you won’t actually go invisible?”
“Heavens no,” she shook her head. “That’d be a disaster. Just a charm to make myself blend in with the surroundings.”
“And the incantation I need to use?”
Tara regarded her thoughtfully. “
Appareo should work.”
Willow giggled. “Latin for ‘appear’?”
“Gee, what clued you in?”
“I’m a clever girl!”
Tara grinned at Willow over her shoulder, sticking her tongue out and waggling her eyebrows. Willow returned the gesture, and with a muttered, “
Latesco,” the older girl was gone.
Willow’s hand shot out. “
Appareo!”
Nothing happened.
“Not quite,” she heard from her left. “Nice inflection, though.”
The redhead whirled around, hair whipping in the breeze. “
Appareo!” Nothing. “Oh, c’mon!”
“Now, now,” right behind her this time. “F-frustration is a cute look for you, but it isn’t gonna help when it comes to magic.”
Willow was panting, hands on her thighs as she hunched over. “This,” she wheezed. “This didn’t seem all that tiring a second ago.”
“Pace yourself,” Tara said firmly. “You’re throwing way more energy in a spell that doesn’t need all that much.”
Willow stood up straight again, not quite wheezing as much. “Too much energy?” Despite her questioning, her eyes flitted back in forth, still searching.
“Think of it this way: You’re dropping a whole house on a vampire when all you need is a piece of wood.”
Willow’s eyes fluttered closed as she sucked in another lungful of air. “So, I’m all Captain Overkill, huh?”
“Pretty much, but we can work on it some other time.” She was right in front of her now. “Also, I think we should stop. You look exhausted.”
“No, no, no!” Willow protested. “I got this.”
A warm chuckle. “Fine. Let’s make a deal?”
Willow nodded so furiously she began to resemble Elmo. “Deals are good!”
“I-if you manage to pull this off without expending too much energy, as in, you can stay on two feet when I walk you home, I’ll give you a reward.”
“Ooh, what kind?”
“…a kiss?”
“I dunno,” Willow teased, feeling brave and also a lot better. “I seem to be able to get those from you without much effort.”
There was a sound, as if Tara was toeing the ground shyly. “M-movie and dinner? Next weekend?”
“Mmm, movie and dinner?” She smiled. “Most people would’ve said ‘dinner and movie’.”
“I figured if we watched the movie first, we’d have something to talk about over dinner?”
“You seem awfully confident in my abilities, Tara. M’kay, you got yourself a deal! Shake on it?” She reached out to where the voice had been coming from, only to come in contact with nothing.
“Nice try.”
“Phooey!” Willow began stepping this way and that, moving around wherever she heard Tara’s voice. “If you don’t mind me asking, why the glamour? Why not do the full invisibility spell?”
“O-oh, um. It’s just one of my personal rules.”
Willow heard the voice from right by the tree. ‘
Bingo.’ Still, she tilted her head in the opposite direction, to make it seem as if she thought Tara was elsewhere. “And that rule is…?”
“Don’t go for complicated and flashy. The simplest spells are just as effective. It’s less draining that wa-”
Quick as a flash, Willow pivoted on her heel and grabbed Tara by what seemed to be shoulders, pressing her invisible body to the tree. Yes, definitely the shoulders, as it was a pair of warm breasts pressed against hers, a firm thigh pressed between her own, and luscious lips just barely a hair’s breadth from her own suddenly dry ones.
Tara had brought up her own hands to grip Willow by the shoulders as well.
“And another would be?” she husked, desperate to break the silence yet wanting to revel in it all the same.
“Don’t use magic if you can do it with your hands.”
Tara held. Willow trembled.
Tara’s spine tingled. Willow caressed.
“
Appareo,” she whispered, and the seemingly empty space between her and the tree seemed to trickle away, and a familiar form returned.
With it came the realization that Willow had missed those blue eyes in the past 15 minutes.
The feelings that realization filled her with were so intense, the only logical thing to do was pull the Watcher into a kiss not like any the two had shared before. Tara’s grip on her shoulders tightened, and a tentative tongue ran over her lower lip, pleading entrance.
‘
Mrn, steamy.’
15 minutes later, the two were seated back on the picnic blanket, blushing in the way young girls were wont to do.
The makeout session had lasted for quite a bit, involving the mussing of hair and quite a bit of tongue, much to the girls’ mutual delight. It had, however, come to a screeching standstill when Willow, in the throes of passion, eagerly bucked against Tara’s thigh, at which point the two girls decided together that’d it’d be best to just sit down and ‘cool off’.
‘
Good thing too,’ Willow thought.
‘What kind of crazy person would I be if I just pinned her to the tree and rode her thigh right here in broad daylight? With children around! Seriously, who the hell does that?’Color rose to her cheeks as the very scenario she just described to herself came to life in her mind’s eye.
“O-oh.”
Willow’s eyes widened, and she turned her attention away from the singular blade of grass she’d been fiddling with. “’Oh’? What ‘oh’?”
“That oh,” Tara said, pointing at a small group of people.
Willow followed. “Oh!” she nodded. “Homeless folk.”
“They,” Tara tilted her head. “They look so…together.”
Indeed they did. 3 men and a woman, and two children darting about amongst them. The shabby state of their dress did nothing to take away from the smiles on their faces, weary though they were.
“Yeah,” Willow murmured. “A lot of people think homeless people are all angry, crazy, or drunk all the time, but that isn’t true. People need people, no matter how or where you live.”
Tara observed as the four adults deposited what bags they had on a picnic table and sat down, watching as the two children were content to chase after butterflies a few yards away. “People are amazing.”
“Mrn?”
“Think about it,” blue eyes twinkled, and Tara rested her chin on her hand. “No matter how s-shitty the situation is, human beings always seem to find something that keeps them going.”
Willow returned her gaze to the group. “It’s a shame they’ll likely be dead this time tomorrow.”
Tara stared at her.
Willow clamped her hand over her own mouth. “Ohmygod that sounded awful! I’m sorry!” A deep breath, face red. “What I meant to say was, when demons can’t get into homes, they usually go for the most vulnerable.” She nodded to the children.
They sat quietly, Willow biting her lip and Tara worrying at the frayed edge of the blanket. Finally, she spoke.
“That sucks.”
Willow was stunned. That…that summed everything up perfectly. Turning to the young Watcher, she opened her mouth to speak, but fell short. Tara’s gaze was averted, and a pink hue settled on her cheeks.
‘She thinks she’s said something stupid.’ She lifted her hand, as if to brush a stray lock of hair behind Tara’s ear.
And then chickened out.
“You’re right,” she said, letting her arm flop back to her side. “It
does suck.” Tara flashed her a grateful smile, and Willow preened under its effulgence.
Willow blinked. ‘
Effulgence? What the hell?’“Artie and I can patrol here tonight, if Buffy or Faith don’t need us elsewhere.”
“I just wish I could do more to help, you know?”
Tara quirked her brow, and peered down at the picnic basket between them, filled to the brim with the mixed contents of Willow’s pantry.
“Oh.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“Shhhh,” Faith raised her hand, gesturing to the younger Slayer behind her. She flicked her wrist and twirled her finger, instructing Art to circle around.
“What does that mean?”
The leather-clad Slayer sighed. ‘
No point in hand signals now.’ She turned to the 12 year old. “Circle around. Don’t wanna have this one make a run for it.”
The alley, as it turned out, was one of the very few in Sunnydale that didn’t end in a dead end. With her on one end, and Art at the other, it’d be impossible for anything to get away.
It seemed that the crash had come from some falling boxes. Wait, scratch that. Shipping crates. Large, heavy, wooden crates. She maneuvered them easily. Artie, she noted with a bit of amusement, had to lift her legs higher in order to step over.
There was the sound of struggle, and vicious growls.
Faith took a split second to think of an awesome way to make an entrance, and leapt over the crates.
“Ah-yiyiyiyiyiyiyi-ai…aw man.”
“Oof!” Artie stumbled into her back. “Whassa matter?” She rubbed her nose and tried to peer over Faith’s shoulder to see what had the older Slayer disappointed.
‘Tried’ being the operative word. Too short to do so, she ducked down and peeked around Faith’s waist, instead.
“Oh,” she murmured. “That’s not a monster!”
The corner of Faith’s lip twitched as she took in the sight of what was, to put it simply, the biggest dog she’d ever seen. “Some folks would disagree with you, kid.”
The dog struggled again, snarling at the crate that had it pinned down, before letting it trail off into a high pitched whine.
Artie whined too. “Aw, Faith! He’s hurt!”
“’She’, actually.” The older Slayer was by the animal’s side already. “Big bitch, too. I’d say St. Bernard, maybe a Caucasian Shepherd.”
Art stared.
“Had a short dog walking gig back in Boston,” She pointed her finger at the little brunette warningly. “Don’t tell.”
“I-I won’t!”
She turned her attention back to the trapped animal, who looked like she’d much rather gnaw her own leg off, rather than accept help. “Yeah, yeah. Been there too,” she soothed.
“She’s pretty,” Art pointed out. “Why’s she all alone here on the streets.”
“Owner probably got eaten,” Faith said, bracing herself against the crate. “Hence,” she grunted. “The alone-ly state of our girl here.”
“And people just leave her alone?”
“Probably got off all her own. Homeless folk and stray animals? Free meal for any of the nasties in this town. You notice the lack of shelters in this town, for people or animals?”
With a final heave, the heavy wooden crate was off the dog. She stood up, gingerly applying weight on her hind paw. When she deemed it in good enough condition, she shook herself, and turned to Faith panting.
She stared.
Faith stared back.
She wagged her tail.
Faith could feel a smile coming on.
“Can we keep her?!!!!” Artie bellowed.
The magic was broken, and with a deep wuff, the dog bowled Faith to the ground. Bringing her hind legs up, she kicked off of the Slayer’s chest and was down the alley and around the corner before the young woman even had time to finish wheezing her, “Ow, my tits!”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
“That was really cool of you, Willow.”
The redhead stopped.
After they had passed out the sandwiches, the two witches had gaily(and how so!) chased each other back to the park entrance, giggling and running and occasionally one tugging the other along.
But now…
“’m not cool,” the redhead murmered.
“Come again?”
“I’m,” she blushed. “I’m not cool.”
Tara blinked. “Yeah you are.” She stated it plainly, like it was a fact to her.
Willow shook her head. “Noooope!” She turned her big, dewy eyes to the Watcher. “Tara, I’m…I’m not some uber witch monster fighter, I dress like a doofus, I’m a total nerd, and I babble like a moron!”
“Well yeah,” Tara shrugged. “Y-you’re not cool just because you’re a monster fighter.”
Willow looked down, a tiny frown on her lips.
“You’re a monster fighter
because you’re cool.”
“Huh?”
“You put your life on the line every night because why? Because you don’t your best friend doing this on her own and you want to make a difference?” Willow nodded. “I think t-that’s the coolest thing ever!”
“You…you mean that?”
“Yeah!” Tara nodded enthusiastically. “A-and the nerd thing? So what if you like to learn? More power to you! The babble I think is really cute, too.”
Willow blushed, and rose up on her tippy toes before lowering herself back down, the sudden burst of joy within causing to do a little bounce. She tugged at her orange-and-grey checkered skinny jeans. “And the dressing weird?”
“I like it,” it was that toothy version of her cute, lopsided smile. “If we were in a crowded room, I could find you, point right at you, and let people know that that’s my girl.”
Willow’s eyebrows nearly vanished into her hairline (in reality, her bangs were just getting shaggy, almost flopping into her eyes when she wasn’t careful). “Your girl?”
Tara’s eyes widened, and her face paled. “I-I m-mean if y-y-you-”
Willow grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her down for a kiss.
The shock that sizzled between their lips made it all the more perfect. Perhaps it was the magical connection between them, primal and ancient and forever as it was, or perhaps Willow’s fuzzy sweater had built up a sufficient static charge. Regardless of the source, it served as a perfect, physical representation of two souls, roaring ‘
Mine!’“I’m walking you home now,” Tara murmured, lips trailing over a silky smooth cheek.
Willow smiled dopily. “Cool.”
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– thank you for that!!!
Artie reminds me of myself at a young age. She is funny and adorable, probably one of my most favorite non-Buffy characters in any story on this board. I love the randomness of Faith moving in, interesting. I can't wait for more 
Okay, done with the jokes) Of course Deb is right, Willow could have ASKED Tara what she eats, but no, that is not the W/T way! Lovely job and just 
Love to see Faith retaliate if Artie tries to blackmail her with the story . . . then again, shouldn’t under-estimate Artie! 
