Magical Me
Magical Me
Who: Tara and Willow to start, then whomever wanted to be involved in the aforetalkedabout plot.
What: The news they've been waiting for- they get to leave the motel!
When: Saturday, right after the message
Why: Because we like you! role playing, role reversal, and plot furtherance.
Tara
Tara and Willow were busy. They barely noticed the first chirp buried beneath shirts and bags, but when the blondes' phone jittered across the laquered, particle-board nightstand they couldn't help but stop and look over. Tara sighed. "You think it's important? It can't be that important. Not more important than this..." Her hands got lost in red hair and she gently pulled Willow towards her, exposing her lovers' neck and placing a series of small kisses behind her ear. She pulled back and their eyes locked. "You think I should look, huh? They did call both of us." Willow didn't need to say anything- Tara knew that it wasn't her girlfriend insisting that she look, it was her own silly conscience nagging her. She pulled Willow in for another kiss, their bodies pressed against each other, and she fumbled to her side with her left hand. The metal felt cool against her hand as she pressed it on and flipped to the text messaging window, quickly reading Buffy's message. "We got the house!", she said, sitting up and pulling the sheet over her. "No more fake wood panelling! No more leaky toilets, no more listening to... well, whatever that guy does next door..." She shuddered, remembering the weird slapping sounds they had heard the night before.
She sat up straighter. "What if we end up next to Buffy and Spike? Spike looks like someone who'd slap." She scrunched up her nose at the thought. "I'd like a room near the library. Didn't Buffy say there'd be a library?" Willow giggled. "I'm sure we'll get it worked out, sweetie", the redhead said, smiling brightly. Tara shrugged and locked her fingers with Willow's. "I'm just glad that... well, this got worked out, you know? I can't imagine how awkward it'd be if you were still dating Kennedy and we had to live in the same house together."
At the mention of Willows' ex's name, Tara swore the lights dimmed. She couldn't look at Willow as she talked about the slayer. Neither of them had seen her for weeks, and the blonde couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for her disappearance. Willow gave a mock-furrowed brow. "None of that, missy. No blaming. This is a happy time, full of happy thoughts, and happy action..." she leaned into Tara again. The blonde smiled, and interrupted. "...And that happy cute babbling you do when you're naked."
A few hours later
"Winterton Manor, right?", Tara asked as she dug in her purse for her phone. Willow nodded, gazing down the road. "I think it's that one at the end," Tara said, taking Willows hand as they wheeled their small suitcases up the cracked sidewalk. "This is certainly an improvement to the Sunrise Motel", Tara said, giggling. "So, do we just go in?", she wondered, peeking in a curtained window by the door. She turned around and checked for pedestrians on the street. "Well, now that we know where we need to be, we can bring the rest of our stuff." She concentrated on the boxes of books they'd left in their room and said a few low words in Latin. The bushes to the side of them rustled as the box slammed down from a few feet in the air.
"Damn", she pouted. "I was hoping they'd end up on the doorstep. I hope none of them got hurt." She hurried to the plant and rummaged around, coming out with a pile of books. She brushed them off, flipping through a few that had leaves sticking out of them. "They look okay. Whew!" She looked up at Willow. "Was there anything else you needed back there? This'll be much easier than making a bunch of trips."
Willow
Willow hadn't exactly wanted to get up. Actually she hadn't wanted to do much of anything, ignoring the text message seemed like a very good plan. Specially when it meant babbling with the one she loved. She skipped right over the whole Kennedy comment; it wasn't that it hadn't gone well, but it hadn't gone well.
Now they were at the new place. It was very very big. It had such potential for the creepiness, and the fun. She stared up at it, knowing what was waiting in the bushes. Well, what they had put in the bushes anyway. She didn't have much in the way of things, but there had been Tara's - the red head would have to go back and get her own things. Someone had to go back, right? Or maybe not. Willow had found a spell that might transport her in a very nice fashion, but she wasn't sure they were up to it.
Her brows lifted slightly at the quick box move, but she smiled at the blond. Her Tara. It felt good to see her using her abilities. It was good to see the blond doing things she should have done a long time ago. There was only a hint of a wince as the books fell with a crash, or a book box hitting cement.
"Yeah, but what about all my things in Cleveland? I guess we could call them, but that could be a little weird. Wanna try it?" Willow wondered if the blond would be interested in it. The lock was still in place, but a soft word and a flick of a wrist, Willow had the door swinging inwards.
"So, what room should we get?" She gave a small bounce as she stepped up to the threshold; they were going to be in a room together.
Tara
Tara grinned at Willow as the door swung open. "That was easier than I thought it'd be." She gave a quick "come here" motion with her finger and the box moved from its' place on the grass to a heeling position behind her, hovering slightly above the floor. "I'm sure we could do it," she said, referring to Willow's question about their belongings Cleveland. "It's not that far. Something in the Sunnydale crater, though? We might need some candles or bird feet for that kind of move."
They stepped into the foyer and looked around. "I sort of feel like people on The Real World, y'know? Like we're the first here and we should be running around and jumping on beds and stuff." She raised an eyebrow and smiled slyly. "Or, I'm sure there'd be other ways to test the springs."
They peeked their heads in the kitchen and the living room, giggling and talking about decorations and generally enjoying the quiet that wouldn't return once an army was living there. Tara was just flicking on the stove to make sure it worked when a loud thump came from outside the house. She turned to her redheaded partner in crime. "Did you hear that?", she asked, brushing the curtains that covered a small window over the sink aside and peering out into the darkness. She sighed. "Please don't tell me that some random baddie already knows we're here. We haven't even sent out change of address cards yet."
Willow
Willow didn't mention that there was a keypad box by the door. Actually, she wasn't sure how they were doing much of anything; it was like the time she was floating on a certain ceiling, but this couldn't be bad like that - she was with Tara, and Tara didn't do bad things. Well, nothing magically bad anyway.
The red head moved what she had with her manually, magically well, seemed a little overkillish at the moment. Then again, they were alone. She followed Tara around, switching on lights. Wow, they already had electricity? And, gas? Was that gas?
"Buffy's coming I think." Willow held up the phone Kennedy had brought for her. Or was it Tara's? It really didn't matter. The pair would be together forever now. Well, as close to forever as anything go for any of them.
"It's probably just her. Though why she'd be thumping around, I don't know. Maybe she's becoming a thumper?" Willow took Tara's hand and tugged for her to follow. They would do a little more looking around, their few things settled by the door which was probably open.
Buffy
Buffy had decided to hop on over to see the two witches. She didn't know if they were together, dating, but this seemed like a pretty good sign. That made Buffy happy - well, if they were happy, she'd be happy.
When Buffy tried the door, it opened. She didn't bother with the code - it might or might not still work.
Buffy appeared from behind the duo. "Who's thumping?" she asked. She was so glad to see the pair, she smiled brightly. "Wow, it's not as awful as I had imagined it might be with Giles picking it out. By the way - don't repeat that to him." She craned her neck up to look around. It was a really nice place. "It's actually..not bad at all. Did you know there's a pool somewhere here? Or at least, there is unless Giles thought he was being funny making jokes." She tried to sniff the air for chlorine. "It's probably not filled," she said, waving her hand in the air.
Little did she know, the pool had been recently re-filled for the selling of the Manor, but there were doors that sealed it off to keep the smell out of the rest of the Manor.
"Maybe we can dig a swamp in the backyard," she said with a little laugh. "This place is pretty woodsy. That's got perks," she said as she walked over to a window, peering outside. "No palm trees, of course, but I'm warming up to these types of trees."
Tara
Tara whirled around at the sound of Buffy's voice, hands alert in case she needed something electric to fly out of them. She laughed and shook her head, lowering her hand back to Willow's. "I thought I heard a thumping. Probably just my imagination. I've been kind of on edge recently."
Her eyebrows rose at the thought of taking a dip. "There's a pool?! We hadn't really gotten very far." She wondered if there was a hot tub too. Then, her mind went to Willow in a two-piece...
"Palm trees!", she exclaimed, realizing no one had said anything for a second and she must have had a funny look on her face, because the other two were staring at her. Willow narrowed her eyes and gave a small smirk, obviously knowing what had been running through Tara's head. The blonde witch gave her a playful elbow to the side and shook her head a bit, her hair falling in front of her face. "I've been learning a lot about nature, Buffy. I might be able to sprout a palm tree or two for you. It might look a little weird, but they're all connected. It's almost like a big game of telephone. Trees here are connected to trees to the west, which are connected to trees further west and so on. I can harness the energy of that connection and call a tree here." Her eyes lit up at the idea. "Isn't that cool?!"
Buffy
"On edge? Well, a thousand year old uber demon can do that to you," she said, referring to Phenex. "It's one of their skills they don't even know they have. I wouldn't advertise that fact to Illyria. Who, oy -" A hand went up to her head in annoyance. "I didn't text about the Manor, cause um, does she even have a phone? I have no clue. Oh well..." She shrugged it off. Not like she was super-super eager for a demon to be in-house.
"Maybe it's a rabbit. Their tails thump, right? I've never had one. Mom and Dad said they smelled. And then we had Dawn, who was just like a pet anyway." At least those were the super-imposed memories she had of Dawn being a part of her childhood.
Tara was talking about trees. Which seemed perfect to Buffy because Tara had always seemed so earthly and about nature...even Willow had become that way in more recent years. They really were perfect for each other. "Hmm...as much as I'd love some...I'm painfully afraid of drawing any attention to us that lets people know we're not exactly normal...." She paused. "Maybe just a small one?" She smiled.
"That is really cool, you're right. Gosh, you guys are being all great with magic. Giles was worried you two and Avery would be affected by the Phenex stuff. But he's always worrying..." By now she'd wandered over to the pantry. "Darn, this thing should have come pre-stocked."
Willow
Willow just listened. Two of her favorite girls were right there with her, and they were about to move into a big house and be happily ever after. Too bad she wasn't feeling the warm fuzzies for it all. Tara's little blab about trees and their connections caught Willow as a little..odd. Sure, she was all for the nature and stuff, but this was just...
"Maybe we can get one and plant it inside? They have them smaller palms at hardware stores, maybe. Wouldn't want to create mutant trees that look like palms, but really just try to eat people or something." Willow smiled a little, feeling even stranger when she was the one suggesting a more mundane way of handling the world.
She watched Buffy go for the food that wasn't.
"It's okay. We'll get something...." There was the thump again. "Uhm. I don't think that's a bunny."
Buffy
"A fake palm? Eh..." Buffy said, a little defeated. She'd liked the idea of real ones more. "Come on," she pressed to Willow. "What are the chances of us accidentally creating mutant trees that eat people?" A pause. Willow said nothing. "Oh. Good point."She fiddled with her hair. "It's not like I couldn't kill a tree."
She rose her head when she heard the thump, seconds before Willow spoke about it, having heard it as well. "If it is...doesn't sound like a very friendly one," she added. Her face was growing more curious. "Maybe there's a trapped squirrel in here or something. That's possible."
Even so, she looked around for a weapon. Just as Giles had said, the Manor was stocked with lots of furniture already. And this seemed to include a couple cast iron pans that were sitting pretty on the stovetop. She picked one up as though it were made of paper, and started walking out of the kitchen. She wasn't taking any chances.
Gunn
Gunn was glad to be gettin' out of that goddamn hotel. It was gettin' on his nerves. Sure, Wes had found this cute lill house that just screamed 'British and lovin' it!' It was probably haunted anyway, Gunn figured. Cordelia was about to claim a room there soon, he was sure about that too. It wasn't that he didn't love his friends, he very much did. But their constant bickering had always, and still was, drivin' him buggo!
Seriously, if he didn't know no better, he'd say they was married. They sure as Hell were actin' like an old married couple. Add the way Cordy was hoverving over Max all Momma bear mode and he couldn't blame anyone for thinkin' that too.
Luckily, he'd gotten a message from the little blond slay girl Angel used to mack on. Seems the rest of them had found an old mansion - which was either very British again, or very doom and gloom. Angel would love the latter no doubt - and were movin' in. There was even room at the inn for a handsome demon hunter like himself.
Good for him. Right on.
So he packed up his stuff, which was mostly movin' the boxes from the hotel room back into his truck. Mostly clothes, weapons, some personal items. Okay, mostly it were weapons, including his trusty axe, Rockcalibor. What? Yeah, he knew literature too! And yeah, he had named his axe. Not like anyone knew. Except Fred but...
As he drove over to this mansion, following the direction he'd printed out at the motel computer, he blinked when the building loomed up in front of him. "No need for friggen directions," he muttered to himself, "building stands out like a flag on a mud boat."
He parked the car, got out, running his hand over his newly shaven head and stomped through the open door. "Yo! Handsome demon hunter in da house!" he called out, noticing three girls standin' a bit further inside. He knew one of em, the redhead, Willow. So one of the blondes must be Buffy, he assumed. No clue who the other one was. Not like he kept up to date on their Sunnydale counterparts.
"There's squirrels in here?" he asked, eyes dartin' around the place. "Damn, this place looks so old, I'm surprised there aint moss growin' on the walls." He peered closer at the walls and frowned, "that aint moss is it? Say that aint moss." Nature boy he was not. Gunn was very much a city boy.
Tara
Tara glanced up at the guy with the bald head and shook hers. "No, it's not squirrels. We're not sure what it is, but I'd know if it was a squirrel." She opened her mouth to explain that she'd be able to sense the critters fear if it was trapped and then realized how nutty she would've sounded and closed it again.
She turned to Buffy. "We can make you a real palm tree. I'm sure it'd be fine. I would hate to plant it inside though. Trees want to be free and stretch their arms. I know I'd hate to be stuck in a pot for my whole life." She squeezed Willows' hand and mentally reassured her that everything was going to to be fine. Buffy was right. It was just a tree, and lately Tara had been feeling every bit of the world around her. She knew she could control it.
She realised that she'd never seen the guy who walked in before, but Willow had recognition in her eyes so she assumed it was okay. She stretched out a hand and said, "I'm Tara, by the way. I don't think we've met." She tried to reassure him again. "Oh, and it's not moss. I'm not sure what it is", she added, smiling brightly, "but it's not alive. I can tell you that much."
There went the thump again. "That's the 'not-squirrel' we were discussing when you walked in," she explained to the man. She gave a cautious glance to the floor above them.
Who: Tara and Willow to start, then whomever wanted to be involved in the aforetalkedabout plot.
What: The news they've been waiting for- they get to leave the motel!
When: Saturday, right after the message
Why: Because we like you! role playing, role reversal, and plot furtherance.
Tara
Tara and Willow were busy. They barely noticed the first chirp buried beneath shirts and bags, but when the blondes' phone jittered across the laquered, particle-board nightstand they couldn't help but stop and look over. Tara sighed. "You think it's important? It can't be that important. Not more important than this..." Her hands got lost in red hair and she gently pulled Willow towards her, exposing her lovers' neck and placing a series of small kisses behind her ear. She pulled back and their eyes locked. "You think I should look, huh? They did call both of us." Willow didn't need to say anything- Tara knew that it wasn't her girlfriend insisting that she look, it was her own silly conscience nagging her. She pulled Willow in for another kiss, their bodies pressed against each other, and she fumbled to her side with her left hand. The metal felt cool against her hand as she pressed it on and flipped to the text messaging window, quickly reading Buffy's message. "We got the house!", she said, sitting up and pulling the sheet over her. "No more fake wood panelling! No more leaky toilets, no more listening to... well, whatever that guy does next door..." She shuddered, remembering the weird slapping sounds they had heard the night before.
She sat up straighter. "What if we end up next to Buffy and Spike? Spike looks like someone who'd slap." She scrunched up her nose at the thought. "I'd like a room near the library. Didn't Buffy say there'd be a library?" Willow giggled. "I'm sure we'll get it worked out, sweetie", the redhead said, smiling brightly. Tara shrugged and locked her fingers with Willow's. "I'm just glad that... well, this got worked out, you know? I can't imagine how awkward it'd be if you were still dating Kennedy and we had to live in the same house together."
At the mention of Willows' ex's name, Tara swore the lights dimmed. She couldn't look at Willow as she talked about the slayer. Neither of them had seen her for weeks, and the blonde couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for her disappearance. Willow gave a mock-furrowed brow. "None of that, missy. No blaming. This is a happy time, full of happy thoughts, and happy action..." she leaned into Tara again. The blonde smiled, and interrupted. "...And that happy cute babbling you do when you're naked."
A few hours later
"Winterton Manor, right?", Tara asked as she dug in her purse for her phone. Willow nodded, gazing down the road. "I think it's that one at the end," Tara said, taking Willows hand as they wheeled their small suitcases up the cracked sidewalk. "This is certainly an improvement to the Sunrise Motel", Tara said, giggling. "So, do we just go in?", she wondered, peeking in a curtained window by the door. She turned around and checked for pedestrians on the street. "Well, now that we know where we need to be, we can bring the rest of our stuff." She concentrated on the boxes of books they'd left in their room and said a few low words in Latin. The bushes to the side of them rustled as the box slammed down from a few feet in the air.
"Damn", she pouted. "I was hoping they'd end up on the doorstep. I hope none of them got hurt." She hurried to the plant and rummaged around, coming out with a pile of books. She brushed them off, flipping through a few that had leaves sticking out of them. "They look okay. Whew!" She looked up at Willow. "Was there anything else you needed back there? This'll be much easier than making a bunch of trips."
Willow
Willow hadn't exactly wanted to get up. Actually she hadn't wanted to do much of anything, ignoring the text message seemed like a very good plan. Specially when it meant babbling with the one she loved. She skipped right over the whole Kennedy comment; it wasn't that it hadn't gone well, but it hadn't gone well.
Now they were at the new place. It was very very big. It had such potential for the creepiness, and the fun. She stared up at it, knowing what was waiting in the bushes. Well, what they had put in the bushes anyway. She didn't have much in the way of things, but there had been Tara's - the red head would have to go back and get her own things. Someone had to go back, right? Or maybe not. Willow had found a spell that might transport her in a very nice fashion, but she wasn't sure they were up to it.
Her brows lifted slightly at the quick box move, but she smiled at the blond. Her Tara. It felt good to see her using her abilities. It was good to see the blond doing things she should have done a long time ago. There was only a hint of a wince as the books fell with a crash, or a book box hitting cement.
"Yeah, but what about all my things in Cleveland? I guess we could call them, but that could be a little weird. Wanna try it?" Willow wondered if the blond would be interested in it. The lock was still in place, but a soft word and a flick of a wrist, Willow had the door swinging inwards.
"So, what room should we get?" She gave a small bounce as she stepped up to the threshold; they were going to be in a room together.
Tara
Tara grinned at Willow as the door swung open. "That was easier than I thought it'd be." She gave a quick "come here" motion with her finger and the box moved from its' place on the grass to a heeling position behind her, hovering slightly above the floor. "I'm sure we could do it," she said, referring to Willow's question about their belongings Cleveland. "It's not that far. Something in the Sunnydale crater, though? We might need some candles or bird feet for that kind of move."
They stepped into the foyer and looked around. "I sort of feel like people on The Real World, y'know? Like we're the first here and we should be running around and jumping on beds and stuff." She raised an eyebrow and smiled slyly. "Or, I'm sure there'd be other ways to test the springs."
They peeked their heads in the kitchen and the living room, giggling and talking about decorations and generally enjoying the quiet that wouldn't return once an army was living there. Tara was just flicking on the stove to make sure it worked when a loud thump came from outside the house. She turned to her redheaded partner in crime. "Did you hear that?", she asked, brushing the curtains that covered a small window over the sink aside and peering out into the darkness. She sighed. "Please don't tell me that some random baddie already knows we're here. We haven't even sent out change of address cards yet."
Willow
Willow didn't mention that there was a keypad box by the door. Actually, she wasn't sure how they were doing much of anything; it was like the time she was floating on a certain ceiling, but this couldn't be bad like that - she was with Tara, and Tara didn't do bad things. Well, nothing magically bad anyway.
The red head moved what she had with her manually, magically well, seemed a little overkillish at the moment. Then again, they were alone. She followed Tara around, switching on lights. Wow, they already had electricity? And, gas? Was that gas?
"Buffy's coming I think." Willow held up the phone Kennedy had brought for her. Or was it Tara's? It really didn't matter. The pair would be together forever now. Well, as close to forever as anything go for any of them.
"It's probably just her. Though why she'd be thumping around, I don't know. Maybe she's becoming a thumper?" Willow took Tara's hand and tugged for her to follow. They would do a little more looking around, their few things settled by the door which was probably open.
Buffy
Buffy had decided to hop on over to see the two witches. She didn't know if they were together, dating, but this seemed like a pretty good sign. That made Buffy happy - well, if they were happy, she'd be happy.
When Buffy tried the door, it opened. She didn't bother with the code - it might or might not still work.
Buffy appeared from behind the duo. "Who's thumping?" she asked. She was so glad to see the pair, she smiled brightly. "Wow, it's not as awful as I had imagined it might be with Giles picking it out. By the way - don't repeat that to him." She craned her neck up to look around. It was a really nice place. "It's actually..not bad at all. Did you know there's a pool somewhere here? Or at least, there is unless Giles thought he was being funny making jokes." She tried to sniff the air for chlorine. "It's probably not filled," she said, waving her hand in the air.
Little did she know, the pool had been recently re-filled for the selling of the Manor, but there were doors that sealed it off to keep the smell out of the rest of the Manor.
"Maybe we can dig a swamp in the backyard," she said with a little laugh. "This place is pretty woodsy. That's got perks," she said as she walked over to a window, peering outside. "No palm trees, of course, but I'm warming up to these types of trees."
Tara
Tara whirled around at the sound of Buffy's voice, hands alert in case she needed something electric to fly out of them. She laughed and shook her head, lowering her hand back to Willow's. "I thought I heard a thumping. Probably just my imagination. I've been kind of on edge recently."
Her eyebrows rose at the thought of taking a dip. "There's a pool?! We hadn't really gotten very far." She wondered if there was a hot tub too. Then, her mind went to Willow in a two-piece...
"Palm trees!", she exclaimed, realizing no one had said anything for a second and she must have had a funny look on her face, because the other two were staring at her. Willow narrowed her eyes and gave a small smirk, obviously knowing what had been running through Tara's head. The blonde witch gave her a playful elbow to the side and shook her head a bit, her hair falling in front of her face. "I've been learning a lot about nature, Buffy. I might be able to sprout a palm tree or two for you. It might look a little weird, but they're all connected. It's almost like a big game of telephone. Trees here are connected to trees to the west, which are connected to trees further west and so on. I can harness the energy of that connection and call a tree here." Her eyes lit up at the idea. "Isn't that cool?!"
Buffy
"On edge? Well, a thousand year old uber demon can do that to you," she said, referring to Phenex. "It's one of their skills they don't even know they have. I wouldn't advertise that fact to Illyria. Who, oy -" A hand went up to her head in annoyance. "I didn't text about the Manor, cause um, does she even have a phone? I have no clue. Oh well..." She shrugged it off. Not like she was super-super eager for a demon to be in-house.
"Maybe it's a rabbit. Their tails thump, right? I've never had one. Mom and Dad said they smelled. And then we had Dawn, who was just like a pet anyway." At least those were the super-imposed memories she had of Dawn being a part of her childhood.
Tara was talking about trees. Which seemed perfect to Buffy because Tara had always seemed so earthly and about nature...even Willow had become that way in more recent years. They really were perfect for each other. "Hmm...as much as I'd love some...I'm painfully afraid of drawing any attention to us that lets people know we're not exactly normal...." She paused. "Maybe just a small one?" She smiled.
"That is really cool, you're right. Gosh, you guys are being all great with magic. Giles was worried you two and Avery would be affected by the Phenex stuff. But he's always worrying..." By now she'd wandered over to the pantry. "Darn, this thing should have come pre-stocked."
Willow
Willow just listened. Two of her favorite girls were right there with her, and they were about to move into a big house and be happily ever after. Too bad she wasn't feeling the warm fuzzies for it all. Tara's little blab about trees and their connections caught Willow as a little..odd. Sure, she was all for the nature and stuff, but this was just...
"Maybe we can get one and plant it inside? They have them smaller palms at hardware stores, maybe. Wouldn't want to create mutant trees that look like palms, but really just try to eat people or something." Willow smiled a little, feeling even stranger when she was the one suggesting a more mundane way of handling the world.
She watched Buffy go for the food that wasn't.
"It's okay. We'll get something...." There was the thump again. "Uhm. I don't think that's a bunny."
Buffy
"A fake palm? Eh..." Buffy said, a little defeated. She'd liked the idea of real ones more. "Come on," she pressed to Willow. "What are the chances of us accidentally creating mutant trees that eat people?" A pause. Willow said nothing. "Oh. Good point."She fiddled with her hair. "It's not like I couldn't kill a tree."
She rose her head when she heard the thump, seconds before Willow spoke about it, having heard it as well. "If it is...doesn't sound like a very friendly one," she added. Her face was growing more curious. "Maybe there's a trapped squirrel in here or something. That's possible."
Even so, she looked around for a weapon. Just as Giles had said, the Manor was stocked with lots of furniture already. And this seemed to include a couple cast iron pans that were sitting pretty on the stovetop. She picked one up as though it were made of paper, and started walking out of the kitchen. She wasn't taking any chances.
Gunn
Gunn was glad to be gettin' out of that goddamn hotel. It was gettin' on his nerves. Sure, Wes had found this cute lill house that just screamed 'British and lovin' it!' It was probably haunted anyway, Gunn figured. Cordelia was about to claim a room there soon, he was sure about that too. It wasn't that he didn't love his friends, he very much did. But their constant bickering had always, and still was, drivin' him buggo!
Seriously, if he didn't know no better, he'd say they was married. They sure as Hell were actin' like an old married couple. Add the way Cordy was hoverving over Max all Momma bear mode and he couldn't blame anyone for thinkin' that too.
Luckily, he'd gotten a message from the little blond slay girl Angel used to mack on. Seems the rest of them had found an old mansion - which was either very British again, or very doom and gloom. Angel would love the latter no doubt - and were movin' in. There was even room at the inn for a handsome demon hunter like himself.
Good for him. Right on.
So he packed up his stuff, which was mostly movin' the boxes from the hotel room back into his truck. Mostly clothes, weapons, some personal items. Okay, mostly it were weapons, including his trusty axe, Rockcalibor. What? Yeah, he knew literature too! And yeah, he had named his axe. Not like anyone knew. Except Fred but...
As he drove over to this mansion, following the direction he'd printed out at the motel computer, he blinked when the building loomed up in front of him. "No need for friggen directions," he muttered to himself, "building stands out like a flag on a mud boat."
He parked the car, got out, running his hand over his newly shaven head and stomped through the open door. "Yo! Handsome demon hunter in da house!" he called out, noticing three girls standin' a bit further inside. He knew one of em, the redhead, Willow. So one of the blondes must be Buffy, he assumed. No clue who the other one was. Not like he kept up to date on their Sunnydale counterparts.
"There's squirrels in here?" he asked, eyes dartin' around the place. "Damn, this place looks so old, I'm surprised there aint moss growin' on the walls." He peered closer at the walls and frowned, "that aint moss is it? Say that aint moss." Nature boy he was not. Gunn was very much a city boy.
Tara
Tara glanced up at the guy with the bald head and shook hers. "No, it's not squirrels. We're not sure what it is, but I'd know if it was a squirrel." She opened her mouth to explain that she'd be able to sense the critters fear if it was trapped and then realized how nutty she would've sounded and closed it again.
She turned to Buffy. "We can make you a real palm tree. I'm sure it'd be fine. I would hate to plant it inside though. Trees want to be free and stretch their arms. I know I'd hate to be stuck in a pot for my whole life." She squeezed Willows' hand and mentally reassured her that everything was going to to be fine. Buffy was right. It was just a tree, and lately Tara had been feeling every bit of the world around her. She knew she could control it.
She realised that she'd never seen the guy who walked in before, but Willow had recognition in her eyes so she assumed it was okay. She stretched out a hand and said, "I'm Tara, by the way. I don't think we've met." She tried to reassure him again. "Oh, and it's not moss. I'm not sure what it is", she added, smiling brightly, "but it's not alive. I can tell you that much."
There went the thump again. "That's the 'not-squirrel' we were discussing when you walked in," she explained to the man. She gave a cautious glance to the floor above them.