I hate to admit my ignorance, but what was the band in the second part?

more V!Giles

Tara's eyes popped open, but she managed not to leap out of bed with a chipper "Hello, world!" Some mornings were like this, she woke up with boundless energy and a song in her heart. The first time Willow had seen it, she'd suspected demonic possession and had nearly finished Giles' phone number before Tara could stop her.

Her mother had laughed and called her "wood sprite" on such mornings. Even that melancholy memory couldn't dim her mood. She sent a thought of love out into the air, certain her mother would get it, wherever she was, then Tara rolled over carefully.

Willow was bundled up in her share of the covers, snoring sweetly. Miss Kitty was curled up on her hip, tail over nose. Tara smiled and eased closer.

"Good morning, gorgeous," she whispered into Willow's ear. Willow muttered something but showed no other signs of awareness. Tara pouted. She'd learned that waking an exhausted Willow in interesting ways was frequently fun, but resulted in a tired and cranky Willow. Best to let her sleep.

"Piffle. Might as well get up, then."

She slipped out of bed and looked around the room. No homework during break; the only think on TV at this hour on a Sunday morning were informercials and televangelists who weren't quite laughable enough. And how many times could one watch Suzanne Somers demonstrating exercise equipment?

She bounced restlessly on her feet, and a certain draft reminded her of a chore that desperately needed doing. Laundry!

As she gathered clothes, she found one of Willow's skirts and a blouse in a pile near the door with her shoes. They certainly hadn't been there the night before. Shrugging, she added them to the basket.

She sang her mother's favorite gospel songs down in the basement laundry room as she loaded the machines, enjoying the sound bouncing off the cinder block walls. Her mother had told her to ignore some of the people who sang these song, because a song of joy was a song of joy. And darn good tunes, as well.

She limited herself to humming on the way back to the room. Not everyone appreciated cheerful moods in the morning. Opening the door a crack, she peered in.

Willow raised her head. "There you are," she said blearily. "Why are you up?"

"It's one of *those* mornings. I've started the laundry already."

Willow leaned towards Miss Kitty. "Oh, no, Kitty, it's happened. The pod people have come and taken Tara away and replaced her with one of their evil alien spawn doubles."

Miss Kitty yawned and resettled herself.

Tara came over and bounced on the bed. "Well, this evil alien spawn double loves you, and she's going to kiss you." Which she proceeded to do, but Willow's response was a little vague. She pulled back and studied her lover worriedly. "Did you have a bad night?"

"Huh? No, it was fine. Why?"

"I found your clothes by the door. Where did you go?"

"Oh! That. Um, I woke up with a case of the munchies. I went down to the lobby and they didn't have anything I wanted, so I went vending machine hunting over at Campbell Hall."

Tara frowned. "You went out in the middle of the night alone?"

Willow looked affronted. "Hey, one of the original Scoobies, here. I pity the fool vampire that messes with me."

"You need more gold chains for that to work."

They giggled and snuggled for a while, then Tara saw Willow trying to keep her eyes open. "Get some more sleep, sweetheart," she said.

"No . . . I'm fine."

Tara rested her forehead on Willow's. "There are bags under your eyes." She looked closer. "I think they say Samsonite. Or maybe Louis Vuitton."

"Where did you learn about Louis Vuitton?" Willow grinned.

"Remedial consumer awareness 101, taught by Professor Dawn Summers. She dragged me to the mall and tried to explain why a suitcase was worth five hundred dollars."

"That's our girl." She fought back a yawn. "Are you sure you don't mind . . ."

"Go to sleep. I have to go back down to the laundry room and make sure Creepy Charlie didn't stay over break."

Willow grimaced "I had to threaten him with boils to make him stop looking through our underwear in the drier. He said they were nicer when they were warm."

They shared a shudder, then Tara kissed Willow and crawled out of bed. "You sleep yourself out. I'll be fine."

"OK. Night night. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Tara tucked the covers around Willow and quietly left the room.

In the lobby, she paused, then went to the line of vending machines. They must have just been filled. Every snack Willow liked was present, from the healthy sunflower seeds and granola mixes to the quasi-food things like Twinkies and genuine artificial-fruit-flavor filled, pre-hardened pastries. Guiltily, Tara told herself it was nothing to worry about, and she continued down to the laundry room. But vaguely uneasy thoughtfulness competed for space with the guilt.

VICTOR!

(dying with delight over here)

And nice work all around, by everyone. I love the concept of some sort of "Sunnydale Refugee" secret handshake...

I hate to admit my ignorance, but what was the band in the second part?

A band called the High Numbers, both previously and later known as the Who.

(dying with delight over here)

Thanks.

I love the concept of some sort of "Sunnydale Refugee" secret handshake...

Oh, yes.

How much does Victor rock?

Victor, you ought to do a challenge. I have one percolating for Spike, Dru and Sid Vicious/Nancy Spungeon....

Victor, you ought to do a challenge. I have one percolating for Spike, Dru and Sid Vicious/Nancy Spungeon....

Sure, and I'd love to see it, but I'm actually working an arc here. (Luckilly, I can skip that piece of music history--although I'm thinking about using Sid from an earlier era.)

BTW, what's the proper netiquette for isuing a challenge?

Anne, replied, babe.

KAY Kay POV...The Fledgling AKA The Never-ending story. There was no doubt what the trouble was as frantic shoppers ran from the growl of a hairy thing, bipedal, about my height, but wide, reaching out to several children. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. No wonder they keep their prices so low. Who goes in first? Neither of us took the call.”

”Just chill, Scully. You’ll get your chance. No way L.A.’s gonna run out of this demon shit. I’ll take it.” Gunn said.
“This isn’t some kind of woman thing, is it? Cause I was fighting stuff off while you were in the sandbox, huh?”

“That’s where you’re wrong, “ Gunn said, opening the door. “No sandboxes in my neighborhood.”

With the door open, I was conscious of the worst smell I’d ever smelled. And that’s saying something, I’m telling you. It was bad enough to knock a buzzard off a shitwagon, if you’ll pardon my French. “Ok, this time, I’ll be the secondary.”

But I might as well have saved my breath. He was already trying to get the thing away from the shoppers.I hoped he wouldn’t pick someplace too closed off, because he could get cornered, but he was faster and better with his hands than I expected. And the shit I would get from Munch, if he heard that. You can really get to miss anything, it’s true.

At first it seemed like it would be an easy one, with Gunn holding all the advantage, but the thing got a burst of strength from somewhere, and knocked my partner(thinking that felt like cheating on Felton, huh?) flat. As I was wondering what I could bring to the party, and thinking maybe Wes was right, that I didn’t pay enough attention to this demon jazz, a little pencil-neck on a bike comes up to the car.
“Ma’am, you can’t park there.”

“I know you’re not talking to me. Not while me and my bunky are dealing with your little pest-control problem, you’re not. Come back in fifteen, huh? One law-enforcement type to another.”

”This lot is clearly designated “Employees Only.” Pencil-neck said.

“Which was probably a huge relief as they ran screaming for their lives, huh?” I got out and waved my finger in his face, wishing we were in Balmer so I could give him the full treatment.

“Look, I don’t know what time of the month it is, but you’re still gonna have to move.”

“Ok, that’s it...” I never thought I’d be glad to see that funky demon, but it wouldn’t have played right if Gee heard I went Dirty Harriet on some little geek.

It roared, and its breath straightened my hair. “Hey, short, dark, and gruesome,” I told it. I didn’t trust myself with the new, mystical-style piece, and there were too many people for my gun.I had to go back to the first ever self-defense I ever learned. Dear Diary, today was the day I kicked a demon in the nuts.