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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 12:24 am 
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6. Sassy Eggs
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Heather,

OMG! I don't know how I missed all these updates. My total bad. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Will post more fb after I get all caught up. So excited :)

Ok, just finished getting caught up. The First is so going down. I can't wait to see how you pull it off and what the girls will do. Four chapters left you say, I think I'm going to have to go back and re-read it from the beginning so I catch all the loose ends your fixing to tie up. Great job! Glad to see you posting again. :)

Lexi

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Last edited by True_Love on Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 4:32 am 
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Yay for excellent update-y goodness...

Big yay for another update... I really hope the final battle goes "better" for W/T and that they don't have to reincarnate...

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 11:24 pm 
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Fantastic update! I can't wait to read what happens next!!

:bounce

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 1:26 pm 
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Discovered this fic this past weekend and have been taking a reading run through it. I am enjoying the alternate version of course because Tara lived! Good gravy has Willow gone through the ringer in the past 18 months though. As far as the buildup to fighting the first I appreciate you dealing with some logistics. With everyone leaving town, using a different building to house all the potentials is a great idea. Practically speaking it just isn't possible to put that many people in a house as they did in the canon for any serious length of time. I'm going to take a guess that Marisol and Bunny are the final two members of the coven. Looking forward to seeing how having a coven headed by Willow and Tara will positively impact the fight. I think you have developed the characters quite well overall and I am looking forward to future updates.
-H.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:31 am 
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Heya, vampiregurl73! Delighted to see you're back up to warp speed with the writing and the update-y goodness. The ironically named Chastity is horrible :( If you could see your way for Tara to smack her in the chops, loosen a few teeth... Nobody messes with Tara's girl! The merging thing sounds ominous. Willow/Tara togetherness is of the good but not too together, you know? Anyways, great update :D

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Tue Jan 21, 2014 12:30 pm 
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9. Gay Now
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Location: Beyond the orbit of Mars and accelerating...
Incorporeal being that the Slayer can't punch?
Could be a problem.

Oh no, what's this?
Two witches who have their shit together?
A Scooby gang noticeably less broken and mopey?
Magical backup?

Yeah. The First is so fucked.

Seriously, the only reason it was even a threat was the fact that in season 7 everyone was walking wounded.
Later on there were Turok-Han, but even they proved manageable once everyone quit panicking.

Viva La Scoobies!

R

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How i Met Your Mother - By Ariel


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 Post subject: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 40 04/12/17
PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:55 pm 
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8. Vixen
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Chapter Forty

Pairing: W/T

Angst/Drama/Smut Rating: PG-13 and a good 7 on the drama-meter.

Setting: Sunnydale

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form own the characters or the occasional bits of dialogue that are being borrowed from BtVS; they’re owned by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy et al. All original characters are in no way connected to BtVS except by me in this forum. No money is involved; this is simply for my own pleasure, and hopefully that of the people reading too.

Email: riverwillows@me.com

Feedback: Please?

Author’s Notes: I’m not sure if anyone is still interested in this story at this point, and I had always planned on finishing it. Unfortunately, RL and a severe case of writer’s block had other ideas. However, I am taking advantage of while I can. I really only envision three or four more chapters before this is completed anyway. I don’t have a beta for this, so if you find anything glaring pm me and I’ll fix it. Music for this chapter is Alabama Shakes “Sound and Color”, Banks “The Alter”, Alicia Keys “Here” and Florence + The Machine “How Big, How Blue, How Beautifull”.




The Time Is Drawing Near




Bunny’s question hung in the air as the gears in Buffy’s head began to spin. She looked at Tara and Willow for several long moments, before taking a deep breath and smiling softly to herself.


“Reincarnation?” Buffy asked quietly she eased back in the chair and folded her hands together in her lap. “Do you actually know who I am?” She asked Bunny and Marisol.


Bunny and Marisol looked at each other before turning back to The Slayer, waiting for her to continue speaking.


“Let me ask you this. How many times have you died and been brought back?” Buffy asked seriously.


Bunny’s eyes widened and he looked at Marisol. Marisol stared owlishly at Buffy and shook her head in the negative.


“See, I’ve already died twice,” Buffy stated. “And it seems like I just can’t stay that way. Each time I come back, I come back as me, so I kinda feel like this whole gig is a little more like the mob, you know?” she looked around at everyone and did a very poor Al Pacino impersonation. “Just when I thought I was out; they keep pullin’ me back in.”


Willow snickered, “The Godfather, classic Xander…” Willow noticed the smirked on Buffy’s face. “Uhh, sorry, Buff.”


Buffy looked over at Willow and could tell by the look on her face what was going through her mind. She smiled at Willow and winked. “Coming back from the dead isn’t a walk in the park, and I should know! As for reincarnation… well, I’ve seen too much to say no outright, but I guess I just can’t let this life go.”


Buffy eased back in her chair, crossing her legs and while looking at Marisol and Bunny closely. The metaphysical tone of the conversation, volleying back and forth between Bunny and Buffy, much to the surprise of Willow and Tara. Neither had really talked much to Buffy about her thoughts on the afterlife and her lack of one to know honestly where their friend might stand or what she might actually believe in if anything.


As the flow of the conversation kept rolling around the room, Tara took a moment to slip out of the room and up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with Willow. Tara went to their closet and began pulling out the books she and Willow had brought back with them from Tucson. As she was leaving the bedroom she met Dana on the stairs.


“Just who I was looking for!” Dana said as she looked up at Tara from her spot on the stairs.


“Are you okay?” Tara asked.


“Yes, I think I found something,” Dana said as she and Tara began to make their way back down to the first floor.


Willow turned her head to watch them both make their way down the stairs, as Tara went directly back to her seat with Willow. Claude came through the front door heading directly for Dana, passing her what looked like a “Triple A” roadmap. “Excellent, Claude where did you find one?” she asked.


“Mr. Giles,” Claude replied with a smile. “Man, is he wound too tight!” she said laughing.


“That’s our Tweedy Englishman,” Buffy said with a fond smile. “Whatcha got there?” she asks Dana while pointing at the paper in her hands.


“I asked your Tweedy Englishman for a map of the area,” Dana said. “I think we can do a type of location spell because there is no way that the pretty, shiny, pointy toy doesn’t give off some sort of signature.”


“Like weapon-location, like bats?” Willow asked. “Bat’s use echolocation to get around and if we can weed out the natural hell-mouthy type vibes we might be able to locate Buffy’s new toy!”


“Wait, what do bats have to do with a map?” Claude asked a little confused.


“Willow knows a spell to locate and classify all the demon presences with the help of a map of Sunnydale,” Tara explained. “We can modify that spell and filter out other echoes that might intrude because most cemeteries are on consecrated ground that will help us narrow the echoes and compare to rule certain types of echo signatures out, like a bat using echolocation, right, sweetie?” Tara finished.


Willow grinned and moved to squeeze in next to Tara. “Bingo, baby,” Willow said then kissed Tara’s cheek sweetly. “Dana, why don’t you gather everyone and bring them up to speed? Tara and I can gather the ingredients for the spell and meet at The Magic Box.” Willow finished.


“Why The Magic Box?” Dana asked.


“We’ve warded the house with a potent spell and that might interfere with the sorting out of power, demons and other magick that we’ll be trying to filter – we don’t want to miss our signatures as well,” Tara answered.


“Plus, since we came back from The Grove Tara and I have made The Magic Box and “Club Slay” no-fly zones for the baddies.” She said smiling proudly. “I planned for Claude though, her magick is earth magick so we can use her energy to rule her out and it will be easier to see if we aren’t sitting right on top of it,” Willow added.


“No fly zone, Will?’ Buffy asked.


“Yup, given the circumstances and the potentials dying, Tara and I manage to cobble a couple spells together to basically make them disappear off any map used to try and find the Hellmouth. If you don’t know it’s there you can’t find “Club Slay” at all, it’s like a magical and energy dead zone.” Willow said taking a breath before finishing. “Combined with the alarm spell that will eject anyone it’s not already keyed to, it’s as safe as we could possibly make it. The Magic Box has a masking spell so that anything inside no longer broadcasts its presence to any of the many things that come to or out of the Hellmouth.” Willow explained.


“That really neat, Willow!” Claude said. “So that’s why you needed all my lemon verbena, right?”


Willow nodded. “That and all the white heather I could find,” Willow said with a sigh and a shrug. “Thought I’d cover as many repelling options as possible for the baby Slayers.”


“Gee, Will, I guess all the time you two spent in your room wasn’t just for witchy lovin’, you guys were actually busy!” Buffy teased.


Willow and Tara both flushed bright red. Willow raised her chin and said, “Trust me, there is plenty of lovin’,” she said flushing brighter still. “However, we do have our priorities.” She sniffed haughtily.


This garnered a round of laughter from everyone in the room. Tara kissed Willow’s cheek and gave her a sly wink.


Willow waited for the laughter to die down before looking at Marisol and Bunny for a moment, “You are both more than welcome to come along, I have a feeling there’s a reason you two, in particular, were sent here,” she said.


Marisol nodded, “Yes, I doubt Our Lady sent us here for the weather.”


Bunny stood gracefully. “Well, girls let’s get this show on the road. The humidity is bad for my hair.” He said as he patted his expertly coiffed head daintily.


“Do you need an escort, Will?” Buffy asked


Willow and Tara looked at one another. “Sure, Buff, but you‘ll have to stay at Club Slay with the rest of the Slayers so we can identify you all once the spell starts.”


“You keep calling it that, when did we decide on that name?” Buffy whined.


“Oh, Dios mío,” Bunny muttered, and Marisol swatted his arm.


“Play nice or I’ll send you home, hermanito,” Marisol scolded.


“And on that note, we should probably head out, right Will?” Tara said as she began to stand from the chair, pulling Willow with her.


“Magick waits for no one,” Willow said smiling. “Dana, we’ll see you and everyone else in about an hour. The sun should be setting by then too, so we can do this tonight.”


Dana nodded and she and Claude left going into the kitchen and out into the backyard. Willow and Tara were already heading for the door, Tara carrying the large book she had brought downstairs earlier.


“It’s going to be a long night, isn’t it?” Willow asked.


Tara nodded. “I think that might just be an understatement, sweet love.”


Willow opened the front door for Tara, with Marisol and Bunny following right behind Tara with Willow bringing up the rear. “Yay.” She said sarcastically.


The group casually walked down the street as if they didn’t have a care in the world. In less than twenty minutes they arrived at The Magick Box. Pushing open the door the bell above it tinkled in greeting.


“Hello and than – oh, it’s just you,” Anya said see Tara and Willow walk through the door.


“Good to see you too, Anya,” Willow snarked.


“And who is this?” Bunny asked as he held the door for his sister.


“Bunny this is Anya, Vengeance Demon Extraordinaire. Anya, this is Marisol and Bunny Campos,” Willow said indicating each to Anya who stuck out her hand in greeting. “I met them in Arizona, Marisol is part of the coven there and Bunny is her brother.”


“Aren’t you just fabulous, and very obviously gay,” Anya said with a wide smile, shaking Bunny’s hand excitedly. “I’ve heard all about you from Tara.”


Bunny shot Tara a look that said “What in the damn hell?!?!” and Tara just shrugged.


Anya moved over to Marisol and shook her hand with significantly less enthusiasm. “Nice to meet you. Hope you didn’t come here to die.”


“Die?” Marisol squeaked.


“You’re not going to die, Mari, don’t listen to her,” Bunny said giving his sister a wink.


“Well, now that we all know who we are, we need supplies for a spell,” Willow said and went to the shelves.


“You have to pay for that,” Anya said.


“Put it on my tab,” Tara said with a raised eyebrow.


“Fine,” Anya huffed and went back behind the counter. Watching Willow and Tara as they pulled jars down and began to mix the ingredients she made a list of everything they used.


“Are you two making up spells again?” Anya asked with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “I have no idea what you are trying to locate but you’re really throwing the net out there, aren’t you?”


“You have no idea,” Willow said smirking.



TBC…

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Heather aka vampyregurl73 aka Riverwillows73
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My stories:
"Dry Heat – In Progress (still)" "Penny Arcade - Completed"
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Last edited by vampyregurl73 on Tue Apr 16, 2019 8:12 pm, edited 11 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 10:59 pm 
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9. Gay Now
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WTF?!?!?

Dibs!

Gonna post something useful when i've read it :P

R :flower

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“All I feel is sunlight. All I hear is music.” Willow
How i Met Your Mother - By Ariel


My Story: Coming Home


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 39 01/17/14
PostPosted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:15 pm 
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Yay for excellent update-y Goodness!

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 40 04/12/17
PostPosted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:43 pm 
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Interesting.

Always nice to see Anya in fine form :)

Might have to go back and read more than one chapter to catch up :P

And nice to see you posting again.
Yay! :bounce

R :flower

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“All I feel is sunlight. All I hear is music.” Willow
How i Met Your Mother - By Ariel


My Story: Coming Home


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 40 04/12/17
PostPosted: Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:02 pm 
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Hey vampyregurl73. So........how about an update? I'm enjoying this immensely. The breadth and depth of creativity on the board never ceases to amaze me, with each story creating a unique little world, but always at the centre is the love and devotion of our girls to each other.

I love the setting that you have created at The Grove and you have made the original characters such as Dana, Lady Rowan, Bunny and Marisol rich in personality and nuance, with each adding something to the story. You describe the physical environment in such a way that I can visualise the landscape and taste the dry heat.

I really hope that you continue with this story as I am intrigued to see what 'Big Bad' and general level of peril you imagine, and how you will write this. So get your creative juices flowing girl, no excuses!


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 40 04/12/17
PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 10:25 pm 
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Ahem!

What time do you call this, young lady?
Taps foot.

I wanna see what happens to our girls.
Chop chop!

R :flower

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How i Met Your Mother - By Ariel


My Story: Coming Home


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/11/19
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:10 am 
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Chapter Forty-One

Pairing: W/T

Angst/Drama/Smut Rating: PG and a good 8 on the drama-meter.

Setting: Sunnydale

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form own the characters or the occasional bits of dialogue that are being borrowed from BtVS; they’re owned by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy et al. All original characters are in no way connected to BtVS except by me in this forum. No money is involved; this is simply for my own pleasure, and hopefully that of the people reading too.

Feedback: If you feel so inclined.

Author’s Notes: So this is my version of the episode “Touched”, season 7 episode 20, just to give you an idea of where in the canon timeline we are now at in my world. The chapter isn’t quite the whole episode only about two-thirds of it but that will be wrapped up in the next chapter. Other than that, I have none really. No excuse for the delays other than life getting in the way and sucking away most motivation to write for pleasure. Shit happens and I’m trying. Honestly, there are only a few more chapters left (I know, I keep saying that, but I mean it this time!) – three maybe four at most and then an epilogue that I may or may not use. No beta all mistakes are my own, please pm me anything glaring, and this may read horribly, but I thought it would be appropriate to upload the day before the anniversary of the last time I posted something! As this chapter also has a word count of over 2600, I hope it was worth the wait. No music for this chapter either, now on with the chapter.



I have a plan, And it’s a good plan!





Tara smirked as well at Willow’s reply and when she looked up, Anya was once again looking at her with a raised eyebrow. Although this time she looked more worried than curious now.


“What exactly are you looking for?” Anya asked quietly.


Willow stopped crushing the resin she had been working on using a mortar and pestle to crush the hard chunks into a fine powder and crossed to the shelves that lined the wall close to the front of the store full of dried herbs, resins and even questionable things floating in several shades of gross, semi-transparent viscous fluids.


“Honestly, Anya?” Willow asked as she looked up at Anya over the resin she had been crushing into powder.


With an exasperated sigh, Anya replied, “Of course honestly! If I know what you are trying to find maybe I could help!” Anya threw her arms up in the air in frustration. “Hello! Eleven hundred year old demon here!”


Willow rolled her eyes and looked at Tara, who just smiled at her.”You opened that door, you get to close it!”


“Gee, thanks,” Willow stage whispered to Tara.


“Everything,” Willow answered Anya vaguely.


Willow then carefully pulled several more armfuls of jars from various shelves around the shop while Tara gathered a dozen stacked clear quartz bowls. They had been tucked behind an unusually large clear glass bottle holding something that looked suspiciously like human eyeballs floating in a gelatinous, sickly yellow substance. Moving the large jar back into place after carefully removing the bowls, Tara began separating the bowls as she crossed back over to the large, circular table that normally held the books The Scoobies were using to research the latest “Big Bad”.


“Care to elaborate?” Anya sniped at Willow.


“I think with a few tweaks, I can use the same spell to Thespia that Tara and tried back when we were up against Adam and The Initiative,” Willow replied. “ I think with a few slight changes to the wording I can get the spell to show us all the energies in Sunnydale by type, human, demon, even and most hopefully, inanimate objects like weapons that have magical signatures too.” Willow smiled. “As long as Thespia is willing and likes our offering.”


While Tara and Willow were otherwise occupied, the rest of the members of the Coven began to arrive. Dana quietly whispered to Tara, and at her instruction began mixing the three oils that were waiting for preparation.


Tara continued crushing herbs and mixing in small amounts of the oils that Dana had prepared, putting her work neatly into several of the half-dozen quartz bowls she had lined up in front of her next to the ingredients. Willow had taken the rest of the bowls and was still mixing various roots into the powdered resins that were otherwise ready to boost the efficacy of the spell.


Bunny slowly wandered around the shop taking it all in as Marisol had immediately gravitated to the bookshelves. As she stood in front of the bookshelf closest to where Willow, Tara and now Dana were mixing ingredients for the location spell, Marisol practically drooled over the ancient tomes Giles had acquired in his tenure as Buffy’s Watcher and part owner of The Magic Box.


“Some of these titles I have only ever heard of, how do you have copies of them?” Marisol asked in an awed tone.


“Giles is Buffy’s Watcher so he has access to the Council’s extremely vast, and extremely old libraries when they aren’t being total bastards about everything. I also do a good bit of trade here in the store and I still have some contacts from my demon days that can always use a buck.” Anya replied with a wistful sigh. “And some of those aren’t copies, much less for sale, sweetheart, try o-r-i-g-i-n-a-l-s! With copies, things get diluted not so with originals written in virgin’s blood on human skin.”


“Can I read these?” Marisol asked holding an armful of books and a gleeful expression on her face.


“Since you are a friend of Tara’s, I’ll allow it, but if you spill anything on it, you bought it and frankly I don’t think you can afford even one of the titles you have your grubby little hands on,” Anya replied bluntly. “Be careful, Little Witchy-poo.” Anya slowly wiped the counter by the register down keeping a watchful eye on Marisol.


Marisol put a few of the books back on the shelf but kept three in her arms. She then spied little reading nook that had a bean bag in the corner between two of the larger bookshelves, and after getting seated she began to read. Bunny wandered over to the table to watch the three witches working away on a suitable offering and then the needed spell ingredients.


Almost an hour later the bell over the door sounded as Claude came in carrying three bags and gave one to Dana and a larger one to Tara. She was followed by the missing members of the Coven. Jo, Jake, Claude, and the twins moved quickly around the table. Dana cleared her throat loudly while looking pointedly at Marisol still nestled on the bean bag and looked to be reading two of the three books at the same time.


“You might want to join us, Sister,” Dana said just loud enough to get Marisol’s attention since the cough hadn’t worked.


“How many?” Bunny asked looking at Dana.


“How many? How many what?” She replied.


With a heavy sigh, Bunny answered, “How many books is she reading?” as he stood and started for the reading nook Marisol was ensconced in currently.


“Two,” She answered as Bunny floated by her in the direction of his sister.


Bunny waltzed over to his sister and promptly took both books from her hands and moving them behind his back out of her reach.


“You are being summoned, I’ll keep these safe for you,” Bunny replied smoothly moving back to the table where two bookmarks had appeared on the table in front of where he had been sitting. He shot a glance over at Anya who was carefully dusting the shelves of herbs.


“Thanks, dollface. She can take care of books, I promise,” He said with a smirk.


“Those are reference materials and not for sale, and she really doesn’t want to piss Giles off by spilling something on one of his favorites,” Anya turned around and replied simply. “It’s in my best interest to avoid that if I can and I can.” With a small shrug she turned back to the shelves she was dusting.


Bunny turned back around and to no one, in particular, said, “I like her, she’s a keeper.”


Tara smiled, “Me too.”


Willow just mumbled something and pounded the pestle a little harder on the chunk of resin she was currently working on and looked up, smiling sweetly at Tara. “Anya and I are… a work in progress.”


“That’s one way to put it,” Anya laughed. “Another way is, we hate each other, and maybe an even more honest answer is she is overprotective of her childhood best friend and I will never be good enough for him in her eyes… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop loving him.” Anya finished quietly and moving further towards the front of the store away from everyone else.


Tara started to go to Anya and Willow put a hand on her arm to stop Tara from going to offer comfort to her friend. Willow slid the mortar and pestle over to Jo and whispered instructions her. Then wiping her hands on her jeans, she walked over to stand just behind Anya.


“I don’t hate you, Anya,” Willow said softly and with a deep breath continued. “But you weren’t wrong about the overprotective part. Anya, you’ve put up with a lot from Xander over the years and well, me.” Willow put her hand on Anya’s shoulder urging her to turn around, she wanted to say this to Anya while looking in her eyes. “But if I am honest with you, and Xander, you are the best thing that has ever happened to him. You love him, faults and all and believe me I know his faults. You love him in a way I can’t and never have been able to because my heart was meant for another.” Willow turned to look at Tara over her shoulder and smiled as her lover smiled at her encouragingly. “You have to understand that for so long it was just he and I that kept it together for each other. Before Buffy, before Anyanka, before we knew what really goes on in Sunnydale, so it’s hard for me to admit that you can give him the things I can’t.” Willow looked down at her hands and took several more deep breathes. “I know that I can’t change the things in my past and how awful I have been to you, but I can do better in the future.” She looked at Anya. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel “less than” or “not good enough” for my best friend who I know is still mad about you after all this time and all his screw ups. I will try to be… kinder… to you because you deserve it. You have earned your place among the Scoobies just like Tara has. Actions speak louder than words. I told Tara once before that she was essential, not just to me but to all of us and so are you.”


Anya burst into tears and pulled Willow into an awkward hug. Willow tried to pat her back soothingly and managed to turn them so she could look helplessly at Tara. Tara quickly crossed over and simply put her arms around both of them which only made Anya cry harder.


Dana and the rest of the Coven finished up the last steps to prep for the spell. Everyone took one of the quartz bowls and carried them into the training room. Jake and Claude moved the mats from the floor to expose the concrete, and Dan started to draw a circle. Jake and the twins were placing candles at the cardinal points and Jo went behind them adding crystals.


Willow and Tara came in with the map Claude had given them and they spread it out neatly before them. Then the Coven went to the Slayer In Training’s rooming house that used to be a gym that was a short walk from the store. Jo pulled a plastic bag with a dozen bars of soap in it and handed it to Willow out of her backpack.


“I used your recipe for a cleansing soap because I like that you used lavender and sweetgrass for the scent and made some just to have and use when I wanted. I guess I knew we would need it,” Jo said with a wry smile.


“Excellent!” Willow chirped happily. “Sometimes it seems like the only way to wash a day off is to completely cleanse yourself. That why I chose those two scents, they just smell clean to me and they are mild enough to not overpower.”


Willow handed everyone a bar of soap and a towel and then the coven split off to the men’s and women’s locker rooms so everyone could take a cleaning bath before the spellwork to be done.


Forty-five minutes later everyone was gathered around the circle in the training room at The Magick Box. With a quick explanation from Willow of what they would be required of them during the spell. At Tara’s signal, Dana closed the circle and felt an almost electrical frisson along her skin as the magicks had already started to gather. With a wave of hand Willow lit all the candles around the circle and Tara began the spell.


With a flick of her wrist, Tara lit the offering to the right of the map. Willow picked up the bowl of mixed resins needed to blow over the map and took a handful. Passing the bowl to her left everyone took a handful and passed the bowl around the circle.


“Thespia, we walk in shadow, walk in blindness. You are the protector of the night. Thespia, goddess, ruler of all darkness - we implore you - open a window to the world of the magickal beings in Sunnydale. We beseech you on behalf of the Champion of The Powers That Be and aid her in their fight. With your knowledge, may we go in safety. With your grace, may we speak of your benevolence.”


After the count of three heartbeats, the Coven as one blew their handfuls over the map and waited to see what happened. At first, it seemed like the spell had failed but then a 3-d image of the map of Sunnydale appeared above all their heads. Slowly other colors began to reveal themselves. Reds for the average humans, blues for witches, greens for demons, periwinkle for fairies, a muddy red for vampires, pockets of black for magical dead zones and bright white for magical objects.


Based on the map they were standing in a “dead zone” reassured Willow and Tara that their masking spells were still holding. They found three locations, all in cemeteries, that were apparently housing magical artifacts. Restfield had the brightest light, but Sunnydale Cemetery and Evergreen Cemetery also had less bright white lights.


Willow and Tara looked and each other and smiled brightly, their idea had worked far better than they thought it might. And now they had a place to start in finding Buffy’s new toy, and from the brightness of its magical signature, it was going to a whopper!


Dana and Claude were looking in awe at the display of power they were seeing before them. Who would have thought to use that spell this way? Who would have thought it would work?!? They caught each other’s eyes as they both turned to look respectfully at the two young women leading their Coven.


If either had any doubts about the ability to lead and channel a Coven properly, they were now at rest. Neither had ever seen anything like these powerful women that hadn’t even reached their magical peak yet. What an exciting time to be a witch!


TBC…

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Last edited by vampyregurl73 on Tue Jul 21, 2020 3:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/12/19
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2019 1:28 am 
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Woohoo! :bounce

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/11/19
PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 12:57 am 
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Yay for excellent update-y goodness... :bounce

Can't wait for the rest of the story...

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/11/19
PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 5:45 am 
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another fic im kicking myself for not reading earlier. Please update soon ... im eagerly sitting on the edge of my seat for more.


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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/11/19
PostPosted: Fri Apr 12, 2019 11:10 pm 
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... and now that i've read it [i saved it for saturday]

Hmm, things are picking up.
Is that the Scythe they detected, or some other cool toy?

I look forward to finding out. :bounce

R :flower

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 41 04/11/19
PostPosted: Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:02 pm 
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How did I ever miss this story? It is fantastic!! I am glad the spell worked. Willows speech to Anya was touching, and true. Hope that your muse remains and we can read those promised three or four chapters. Thanks for writing!!
.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 42 05/28/2021
PostPosted: Fri May 28, 2021 3:05 pm 
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Chapter Forty-Two

Pairing: W/T

Angst/Drama/Smut Rating: PG, no smut to speak of and a little language but not a lot.

Setting: Sunnydale

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own the characters or the occasional bits of dialogue borrowed from BtVS; they’re held by Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy et al. original characters are in no way connected to BtVS except by me in this forum. No money is involved; this is simply for my own pleasure, and hopefully that of the people reading too.

Feedback: If you feel so inclined.

Author’s Notes: I am committed to finishing this story, as I have said many times. I apologize for the long delays between the later chapters, but RL likes to be a bitch to me regularly. There should only be 2-3 more chapters and potentially an epilogue left. Although I don’t think I will use the epilogue because that left it open for a sequel which I can pretty much guarantee won’t happen. So know the end is nigh!


Mists and Mysteries



Once the spell was concluded and Dana dispersed the circle's energy, the rest of the coven began to clean up. Willow and Tara had drifted back into the central part of The Magic Box. The rest of the core Scoobies gravitated over to them, along with Faith and a few older Potentials. Everyone sat around the large, round table as the rest hovered in the background, listening to Willow and Tara as they explained what they had found using their new spell.

As the information soaked into everyone present, Buffy turned to Faith, Willow, and Tara, and with a subtle nod, they followed her away from the rest of the group. The four women began to plan their next move quickly to recover all three magickal objects in each cemetery.

Times slipped by quickly as it was decided that there would be three small groups that went out to recover the items. A larger contingent of potentials would be staying behind with Dawn, Andrew, Jo, Bunny, the twins, and Anya either at The Summer's residence or the store to prepare for any potentially incoming injured.

The four rejoined the group again and began to go over their plan, covering who would be where and with whom and what the objective for recovering the objects. Since they had no idea what the items looked like, there would have to be a member or two of the coven with each group to help ferret out their prizes' locations.

The first group would include Buffy, Willow, Tara, and an older Potential named Coya, who had proven herself a formidable fighter when training with the other Potentials. The Second team would be headed up by Faith and Dana, taking Marisol, Vi, Tammy, and Lisa-Marie in their group. The third team would be headed up by Giles, Xander, Jake, Jo, and Mimi.

With a plan in place, everyone went on their separate ways to prepare themselves until they had to regroup after sunset at The Summers's home. Given that it was located at an equal distance from all three cemeteries, it made sense to base things there for the evening's events.

********

Several hours later, battered, bruised, and bloodied bodies slowly made their way back to 1630 Revello Drive. Some limped independently; others were carried gingerly to avoid any further trauma to an already damaged body, and an even smaller few were held with no less care for the now empty shell of who they had once been.

The severely wounded were being placed in the living room, with Anya tending to them as quickly as possible. Andrew, surprisingly enough, was quite a proficient triage nurse and worked well with Anya. He patched the minorly injured up, and for those injuries, he couldn't manage he, had Potentials help move the more seriously wounded into Anya for further care.

As Anya worked her way around the injured, the groups' team leaders met with Buffy, Willow, and Tara in the dining room around the large table. Three objects lay in the middle of the table for all to see. One appeared to be a Scythe that Buffy was loathed to let go of even to gauge Faith's reaction when handling it.

The following intriguing trinket was a necklace with a pimp-tastic stone in the center of an elaborate setting and gold chain. The Coven members who had handled the necklace quickly passed it along as it set their teeth on edge. The Potentials didn't suffer the same effects from the necklace, and currently, Jo was twirling it around her finger by the chain, watching the light refractions along the wall from the stone.

The last item was the least impressive on sight. It was a slim book with a garish purple cover that had no writing on the outside, and for all intents and purposes, appeared to have nothing inside it either. However, each page was dated as though it might have been a journal at one time that no one had bothered to use. The only exciting thing was the first page had Thursday, Ides, 1593, which Dana translated to Thursday, March 15, 1593.

Giles was practically drooling over the old journal and muttering about ways to test for ink and magic on it to see if perhaps it contained something more that might aid in the fight against The First. He kept flipping intently through the blank pages as if he were willing the pages to reveal any secrets they may have until Buffy reached over and placed her hand on the cover.

"Giles, you might want to pay attention here," Buffy said, smirking at him with a raised eyebrow.

Giles coughed, trying to cover his embarrassment. "Yes, of course. My apologies. Have we come to any new insights to go along with the items we know have in our possession?" He asked as he looked around the table.

Before anything else could be said, something odd happened. Faith was twirling the Scythe between her hands when of its own accord; the Scythe stopped mid-spin to hovered above Faith's hands. Everyone fell silent as they watched the scythe float in place. It then began to drift towards Willow, Tara, and Jo. As it got closer to the trio, it dropped quickly, impaling the table in front of Jo.

They all watched as Jo slowly reached for the Scythe. There was a musical sound when she touched it, like someone running their fingers over the strings of a harp, and the room filled with the scent of jasmine. Nervously, Jo looked at Willow and Tara as she waited to see what else would happen next.

Jo turned stiffly to Tara and said rather formally, "Please, High Priestess, take this weapon from me."

Willow and Tara looked at each other, and both reached for the Scythe. This time the sound of rolling thunder could be heard when the Scythe was passed over, and the room filled with the scent of rain. Willow and Tara turned to each other mechanically, and they both gently lifted from the floor and hovered in place, their heads titled back and eyes closed.

Dana quickly called the rest of the coven to form a ring along the room's outer edges, forming a circle. She looked at the coven and said, "Protection." And the coven began to chant a protection spell softly in an effort to potentially give Willow and Tara a buffer between them and everyone else in the house should something go wrong.

As the pair floated next to the table with their eyes closed, the Scythe began to glow. A low but audible hum seemed to take over the room as everyone watched. Willow and Tara gently touched back down to the ground and slowly opened their eyes. Tara looked for Buffy, and with a subtle nod, Buffy approached the pair.

Willow and Tara extended the Scythe towards Buffy, and she reached for the weapon. As soon as her hand touched the staff of the blade, all three women vanished with a pop like a champagne cork. The trio landed hard on their feet, everyone stumbling a bit, trying to keep their balance. The three looked around, trying to determine where exactly they landed.

Willow and Tara let go of the Scythe, leaving it in Buffy's capable hands.

Buffy turned in a circle; she couldn't smell the sea, though, and thought she knew where they were. "Is this Kingman's –"

"No," Willow cut her off. "There is no temple to Prosperexa that would be just over there. "She pointed to where the bluff started to rise towards the skyline." The power it emanates is not here; Tara and I wouldn't be able to miss it. Plus, the woods don't come so close," Willow observed as she looked around the area.

It looked almost like the bluffs that surrounded Sunnydale but without the sound and scent of the ocean. The hill was covered in dew on it as though they were in a much wetter climate. There were no animal sounds, no flowers perfuming the air. The area seemed to be untouched by humans or animals, and it didn't quite make sense.

Tara had been staring at the tree line. "Will, I think we need to go into the trees. There is something in there; I can feel it."

"Ok, then let's go into the woods," Willow said, trying to sound cheerful but not entirely pulling it off.


Tara led the other two towards the copse of trees stopping at the tree line just before entering. She looked at Willow and Buffy in turn. "Ok, Will, let's do a quick protection spell just in case we run into something." Willow took Tara's hands in her own, and they quickly cast the spell.

With a nod to Buffy, the three walked into the trees. And walked. And walked for what felt like hours, and by the time the trees started to thin out, they could smell the ocean again. They had talked about their next steps and started planning the next moves they would be taking to defeat The First. As they cleared the tree line, the trio realized they were back or still in Sunnydale from wherever the Scythe had dropped them.

None of what happened made any sense. No clues, no hints. They knew they were awake, and Willow raised her hand to her throat, feeling for a pulse that was there thrumming steadily. She took Tara's hand and pulled her to close, and checked for a pulse. Tara looked at her, a question in her eyes, but she remained quiet. Willow released her and turned to Buffy. She walked up to her and went to reach for Buffy's arm.

Willow's hand passed right through her arm, and in one quick motion of her hand, pulled the Scythe away from whatever being was holding the weapon. The image of Buffy hissed at her like an angered cat and vanished.

Willow turned to Tara, who reached out a hand that was taken without hesitation. Their connection and the sensation of their magicks swirling around them and the Scythe helped reassure each other they were not some sort of impostor or ghost and not whatever had been walking with them.

"Well, shit," Tara muttered as she looked at Willow, her eyes hardening. "I have a feeling we've been walking with The First, Will. We have disclosed some of our strategies, and this is not good in any way. We need to get back to the house."

"We're near the beach, but there is no quick way back into town," Willow said, thinking out loud. "I have an idea."

Willow sat down where she was standing and patted the sand in front of her so Tara would join her. "Concentrate on Dana; we are going to tell her what we know and where we think we are."

Moments later, back at The Summer's house, Dana passed out in the dining room and was barely caught by Faith before she hit the floor face first.

Faith caught Dana under the knees, moved upstairs to where Dana had been sleeping and laid her on her bed. Everyone flowed and huddled in the doorway. "This ain't good G-Man. What do we do now?"

Giles looked around owlishly for a moment, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. He cough to clear his throat. "Yes, well, let us take a few moments to gather ourselves. Dana may wake at any time."

"This was like when they all got blindsided by The First," Claude said quietly. "This can't be good." She looked at several of the other Coven members. "Let put a protective circle around her, anything we can do to help protect her and Willow and Tara, wherever they are."

Everyone else started to move away and back down the stairs. "Giles, we are going to need you too. We need all the power we can get right now." Claude said before Giles could leave.

"Yes, of course," He replied. "Did you have a specific spell in mind?"

Claude nods and waves them into the bedroom, and shuts the door. "Let's keep them safe."


TBC...

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 42 05/28/2021
PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2021 3:47 am 
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Yay update!

If you're taking suggestions - use the epilogue(or rework it) even if you're not doing a sequel - if it provides a conclusion to the story that isn't there without the epilogue. :)

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 42 05/28/2021
PostPosted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:31 am 
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More please! :bounce

R :flower

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 42 05/28/2021
PostPosted: Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:35 pm 
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I'm not very good with "the glib", so I'll just go with, MORE! MORE! Please and Thank you.

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 Post subject: Re: New Fic (AU/Slight Canon) Dry Heat Chapter 42 05/28/2021
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:31 pm 
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Hey Heather,

I was re-reading this fic again, and I realized that I never commented on it the first time that I read it. I really really love this story. I was born in Tucson and collectively spent about 13 years living there. You really have captured the feel of the town. I can imagine Bunny taking the girls down 4th Ave to IBTs for a drag show or some dancing. Or Willow getting addicted to the Ibarra chocolate mochas at this cute little coffee shop on Speedway near Alvernon. This fic makes me miss Tucson so much because of how much you capture its spirit.

When I started reading this story, I imagined that The Grove was out towards Kitt Peak. Is that close at all? Anyway, I love your writing. You are a wonderful storyteller and I really hope to see this fic finished. I'm gonna go and reread Penny Arcade and make sure I leave feedback this time around. Take care of yourself and update soon! Pretty Please?

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