etudes

[dorksrcool]

This is how I know any smutty sexiness you write will be damn good;

Tara giggled as Willow’s yawn tickled at the baby-fine hairs at the nape of her neck. She pulled the bed sheet over them as they mutually molded themselves into a Willow-spooning-Tara position, wordlessly signaling sleep rather than the half-drape Willow-blanket that signaled something else, though Willow wrapped her limbs around Tara, which left the door open for more.

This part is just so damn sexy and they're just cuddling in bed. If you can make cuddling that hot....damn!

This part made me laugh really hard;

Not that it was that funny to begin with, but Anya’s literal-mindedness made all humor based on metaphor doubly doomed to failure.

Pretty much sums Anya up I think.

I really like the conversation with Buffy.

“Because it would’ve broken Will’s heart.” Buffy said quietly

Careful though, I'm kinda starting to like her.

Her fingers interlaced with Willow’s just underneath her breast. She raised the delicate hand to her lips to kiss Willow’s fingertips then guided it back down beneath her breast, then further down to her waist. She stopped there, wondering if they should go further tonight. She was suddenly not feeling so tired after all. “Willow?” she whispered.

Hmmm, I think Tara wants a "happy." If I were Willow, I'd get less sleepy real quick.

[dorksrcool]

I have been having problems posting lately. Sorry for the double post.

[spells42]

Binky
Just wanted to let you know how much I've enjoyed your vignettes. I love the insights into their inner selves, and the richness of the stories you give us to fill the gaps in between canon.
Thanks... more power to your pen, um fingers... no that doesn't come out right either... I hope you continue to write.
Anne

[FineyMcFine]

binky, I really liked this one - a wonderful exploration of what happened the night of Tara's birthday. I liked hearing all the talks that Willow's friends made sure to have with Tara, whether intended or not (I guess Buffy's was intended). And I was glad to see Tara standing up for Dawn - people are so mean to Dawnie! Glad to see you're continuing with the series.

[binky]

Willow~Rosenberg – This was probably the least fun chapter to write what with all the exposition and not so much W/T. Not that I don’t like writing Buffy and Xander—first time I tried to write the X-man, actually—but we saw so much of them on the show already even if it was hardly ever in relation to Tara, part of me thought that this chapter was largely redundant. I felt the B/T conversation needed to be done, though, but I have to admit I had to force myself to finish it. So thank you. Feedback sure makes the frustration easier to handle.

Becca – I may never be the Queen of Smut (I think there’d be a riot in here if anyone tried to claim that title), but I wouldn’t mind being a handmaiden, so actually, I honestly felt complimented. Thank you very much for saying my writing inspires naughty thoughts. I think that’s more my speed, rather than the blow-by-blow stuff. So to speak. There it goes again. Sorry. I guess I have a naturally dirty mind. Anyway, I was planning on at least one more Adults Only chapter, so maybe I’ll still earn my stripes on that score.

dorksrcool - So help me, Tara will get her Big O, even if Willow has to get on her hands and knees to do it! Ahem. Seriously, thanks for feeding the writer. About Buffy – I’ve always been a little ambivalent about her character, but I mostly like her. I get the feeling that’s not universal. Not exactly sure why. Season 2 angsty Buffy annoyed me often. Seasons 3, 4, but especially 5, I liked her character a lot. I absolutely pitied her for what ME did to her character (and pretty much everyone else’s) in season 6. No anger, just sympathy. By season 7, she didn’t even seem like the same character, the same with season 7 Willow. But yeah, season 5 Buffy’s my favorite version, without a doubt.

Anne – thank you. :0) I think I might be getting my second wind [knock on wood]. Regardless, the well-wishes are very much appreciated.

SallyMcFine – Thanks much, ma’am. I have to say, though, I’m mostly with Buffy on the Dawn = annoying part. But kid siblings—can’t live with ‘em, can’t sacrifice ‘em to save the whole entire world, jeez. (hey, just kidding there, Dawn-philes)

binky

[lottagay]

Don't be sorry about a naturally dirty mind I have one two so you aren't alone on that. Will be looking foreward to the next chapter. Becca

[beanie]

Binky,

You are HILARIOUS! And kudos on the whole, putting words together into a cohesive story. I mean, the way the letters were all one after another and grouped into words . . . But, I'm afraid this fb will have to be just a taste of a longer and more elaborate fb that I will write to you later in life. To summarize, though: You are fantabulous. Yum. In. My. Tum.

See ya 'round. Promise to type more later!

-beanie

[binky]

beanie – aw, thanks. That is some high praise. I hope these last installments don’t disappoint.

On that note, continuing with this series of season 5 missing or extended scenes, Plenty of Magic, here's another chapter:

5.6.X – Happy Birthday – posted a few weeks ago
5.10.X – Escalating Apparatus – posted last August
5.15.X – CUPS (THIS CHAPTER)
5.19.X – Homo Triste – posted last August
5.22.X – Requiem and Return (in a few weeks)

I archived the most polished versions of the older vignettes/scene-studies on my webpage. If you don’t want to browse through the previous posts of this thread to find one; click here.

Notes/Disclaimers for Cups:
- This story is rated R for some sexual language and implied sexual situations.
- Summary: Set just after “I Was Made to Love You” (the Warren and April-bot episode). It’s W/T’s one-year anniversary, and the two are having some private conversation.
- A hearty thank you to Amy for the betaing and the ego-boosting. It’s like I have my very own Giles of fanfiction! Oooo, pretty crystal, Amy…

b...

[binky]

Fanfic based on Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara and Willow are property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I am not making nor will I accept any money from this fiction. All hail Joss!

Title: Cups
Author: binky
Genre: behind the scenes
Rating: Teen/Mature, for sexual language and implied sexual situations
Setting/background: Tara’s dorm, shortly after the April-bot and Warren episode, “I Was Made To Love You"
Summary: Some one-year anniversary pillow talk.
Spoilers: up to and including "I Was Made To Love You"
Acknowledgements: Beta-ed by Amy. Thanks, Amy!
Notes: Emphasis in italics. Strong emphasis/raised voice in ALLCAPS.
Feedback: Hell, no! Well, okay. Does anyone pay mind to this part, anyway?


CUPS

Tara got back to her dorm room a little after 6PM Thursday, leaving her with less than an hour to prepare for Willow’s arrival for their dinner date that evening. They had spent the morning at Mr. Giles’ apartment as the gang went through the debriefing of Buffy’s confrontation with Warren and the steps still needed for the disposal of April’s body. After a late pizza lunch, they parted company. Willow left for her afternoon classes after securing Giles’ promise that April would not be done away with before she had a chance to inspect Warren’s creation more closely, while Tara went to the library to spend a few hours working on a research paper for a history of science elective. She made good progress on it and, her coursework satisfied for the time being, she was at last free to enjoy the much-anticipated date tonight. A quiet dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant and an early turn-in hopefully uninterrupted by either demon, sexbot, or Slayer-needing-witchy-help was the extent of the night’s planned agenda. If they even made it to the restaurant. Her body was already humming, thinking of Willow.

Just before 7, there was a knock on her door. Tara didn’t think it would be her girlfriend. Willow and she had passed the point of knocking before entering each other’s dorm rooms long ago. But when she opened the door, it was indeed her Willow…

…And her annoying floor mate Eileen, nattering on and on about hubs and bridges and Ethernets and uplink ports and addresses as Willow stood, her beautiful mouth slightly open, eyebrows furrowed, apparently in shock that she had met someone who could actually out-babble her on a topic she had been born to babble on. Knocking had been a desperation move to see if she could get a little help here from Tara, who perhaps was familiar with this strange personage and knew how to turn her off without using a spell, as Willow was sorely tempted to do. She knew Tara would probably frown upon that and so refrained as she was on her best behavior tonight, though her fingers were twitching with the self-restraint.

Tara put two and two together. It seemed as if her techie girlfriend had walked into the ambush of Eileen in full swing of bemoaning her latest woes, her busted PC blues. Eileen subscribed to the slightly modified adage, “[my] misery loves company” and had made known her need for assistance far and wide to her unsympathetic floor mates and the overworked, surly university IT team. At last, wishing out loud for someone with the technical smarts to take her complaint seriously so she could finally download the absolute tons of email she, one of the more popular girls on campus, was sure to have been sent the past few days alone worked, as just out of the blue, here was Tara’s computer geek girlfriend to rescue her from an overflowing inbox. It was like magic.

Tara frowned. Willow was not on a service call tonight. Not for Eileen, anyway. The girl needed to get a clue, like Willow’s enhanced appearance—the beautiful curl of her copper, shoulder-length hair, the carefully applied touch of makeup that further emphasized her big green eyes and the dips and swells of her kissable lips, the black jeans that hugged at her squeezable, tight bottom, the white stretch blouse that was unbuttoned at the top two buttons, framing the inverted triangle of pale, freckled skin that naturally led one’s eyes downward to perfect, modest cleavage… Or even a clue like the bunch of pink and red roses and the crookedly gift-wrapped box tucked under Willow’s arm.

“Oh hey, Tara, I was just asking Willow here about my computer problem, you know, the one I told you about? And she was just…” Tara’s eyes hadn’t left Willow. In fact, the girl seemed transfixed, her normally bright blue eyes half-lidded and dark to an almost alarming degree. Eileen turned to Willow, to see if this was normal.

Perhaps it was, because the redhead seemed to be in a similar state. Though her eyes were wide open, they had also deepened to an emerald green and had not let go of the sight of Tara in her long skirt and deep red blouse fitted close to her frame and her full chest. Tara’s hair was done up, with loose blond tendrils falling on either side of her face. She wore no makeup. Her Mona Lisa smile and raised eyebrow were all the embellishment she needed. Without a word, Tara reached out to take Willow by the elbow, and pulled her inside.

“I should really just get a Mac, huh?”

Willow did not have the wherewithal to nod as the door closed behind her.

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“You don’t mind the change of plans?”

“Um, nope. I’m finey-mcfine with the, you know, eating in.”

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“Willow? Sweetie? Are you done with your cup?”

“…heheh…what a funny phrase…”

“Hon? Did you want some more wine? Willow…? WILL!”

“Wha—?”

“Sweetie, I called you like five times. Where were you?”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Tara. Was just thinking.”

“Really? I never would’ve guessed. Is it safe to ask about what?”

“Oh, sure. You know that phrase, ‘drinking someone’?”

“Oh? Oh. Really? You were thinking about that? And what about that phrase had that magnificent brain of yours working overtime again? Or maybe that’s not quite right. Here, just put your cup down and let me see. Was it another part of you it was working?”

“T-Tara, that tickles!”

“Then I’m not doing this right because I’m definitely not trying to make you laugh.”

“Oooohh…”

“Better. Hmmm, is it this part, maybe? Or was it this part?”

“T-T-Tara!”

“Or, maybe… here?”

“Oh god…”

“Although… You’re really not wet enough to qualify.”

“Just… keep doing… that and… I will be!… H-hey! What’s with the stopping? With the sexy mouth all frowny, and the hand… Where’d Tarahand go?”

“Will, exactly who’s drinking who in this daydream of yours?”

“What? Daydream? N-No daydream! I wasn’t… I was… just thinking about… Angel.”

“Angel.”

“A-And Buffy. When Angel had to drink Buffy after Faith shot him with the poison arrow and…”

“Willow…”

“And maybe we can call him. And he can help us out here with our little hellgod problem? I mean, if we’re gonna have a vampire around helping, I’d rather it be Angel than Spike. Angel—a little more predictable, what with him all soul-having, though he’s not 100% there yet. Perfect happiness is surprisingly attainable in this day and age. Lucky I can do the ensouling curse in my sleep. The hard part would be just getting Anya to sell us an Orb of Thesulah at a reasonable price.”

“Willow…”

“Plus, he’s got minions! Okay, well, they’re his team of mostly human demon-fighters, and he pays them, so technically not minions. I guess I just like calling Cordelia a minion.”

“Willow, we need to talk.”

“Talk? About what?”

“About tonight. We need to establish some guidelines for tonight.”

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“I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“That’s just it. I’m always sorry. About something, some stupid or insensitive thing I’ve done or said. And here you always are, ready with the forgiveness and understanding. How do you do it?”

“Oh sweetie, it’s easy when it’s about us. And if I remember right, I’ve made my share of mistakes. Family secrets, demon attack, Magic Box, lives in danger, not that long ago. Ring any bells?”

“Yeah, but that was something huge and scary and overwhelming and you’d been living with it for twenty years. I don’t blame you at all for being too scared to tell me about that. Plus your family? Not the friendliest or most supportive bunch, if you don’t mind me saying—which, uh, I probably shouldn’t have brought up, since you didn’t first.”

“Will, it’s okay—”

“I’m sorry, baby—now see? That’s more what I meant. It’s the daily foot-in-mouth syndrome. I don’t know how you can be so patient, being with someone whose mouth tastes like feet all the time.”

“Will, your mouth doesn’t… Um, I guess that wasn’t your point. Why don’t we just say that we’ve both made mistakes and accept the fact that we’re bound to make more? The important thing is that we’ve been able to work through them to get to where we are now. I know you always mean the best, even if things don’t go or come out the way they should. And I love that you care enough about my feelings to say something when that happens. Okay?”

“Well, okay. That’s good. That you feel that way, I mean. Because you’re right. Your feelings are the most important thing in the world to me. But that’s just it, you know? I shouldn’t even be upsetting you at all. Then I wouldn’t need to apologize all the time.”

“Well, you know part of it is me giving you a hard time. But the making up is fun.”

“Oh, the making up is very fun. That’s not even up for debate. But aren’t you a little tired of me messing up all the time to begin with? For example, take April… Well, not take take April, because that would just completely invalidate my point…”

“April? Is this about April? Because if it is, I’m not upset, really, Will.”

“It’s just… I mean… I’d never… No other woman… I just don’t want you to think…”

“I don’t.”

“I mean… with the… and the… It just makes you wonder, you know? But that’s all it would be—just wondering. But really, how realistic could he have made her?”

“Willow…”

“Okay, shutting up now. Sorry.”

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“Talk to me, Willow…”

“Oh god, Tara… that is just… Oooooooh… pfffff… How did you…? Pfffff… How… did you know…? That… oh, mmmnuh… baby… Just… Pfffff…”

“Sweetie? Should I keep doing it this way, or—?”

“Nnnguh… Oh god… ffffuh… That feels… Just… Mmmmmnuh…”

“Okay.”

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“Hey Tare, baby? Have you thought any more about next year, and the housing situation? I mean I know it’s kind of early, but I kind of want to get it out of the way.”

“Um, well, what about Buffy? I mean, since Joyce is getting better, she’ll probably be staying on campus again next semester, don’t you think?”

“I’d guess so. I mean, she could keep staying at home and just commute, I guess. It is only five miles. But hey, this is Buffy we’re talking about, and we don’t really want her out on the streets driving, do we?”

“Sweetie, you’re making fun of her driving again.”

“Oh yeah. I have to stop doing that. She really has gotten better. She hardly ever runs curbs anymore. Now why are we talking about Buffy again?”

“We were talking about housing next year?”

“Um, yeah…?”

“I just thought, if Buffy’s going to be back on campus by next semester, that you two would be getting another double again? Maybe you should ask her about her plans?”

“Maybe. Or, I could just make my own plans. Or our own plans? I don’t mean me, making plans for the two of us, ‘cause that would be—presume much? But you and me, we, make our own plans? What do you think?”

“W-well, sure. We-we could.”

“You don’t think we’re ready? I know it’s only been a year, but what a year, you know? I mean, if anyone had asked me a year ago, before I met you—like, that right there, how strange does that sound? ‘Before I met you,’ that doesn’t sound right at all. But yeah, of course, barring time traveling aliens or-or demons messing with the timeline, or some otherwise really powerful mojo—which, okay, Hellmouth under us, so more likely here than a non-convergence of mystical energy, but NO! No Tara would mean empty Willow. Not even weepy Willow—just… empty…”

“Hush, baby, the year did happen. And we are here, together, okay?”

“O-okay.”

“So, um… you and Buffy…?”

“Huh? Me and Buffy—?”

“You and Buffy, to double or not to double? When she moves back on campus? Assuming Gl-Glory’s no longer in the picture—”

“Hey there, missy! I thought we agreed, it’s our anniversary, no shop talk tonight.”
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[binky]

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“I really liked the anniversary present, I mean… really liked it. But I wish you’d told me we were doing presents. I would’ve liked to get you something special, too.”

“Baby, my present was seeing you wear your present. And taking it off you. Oh! And shopping for it. That was kinda fun, too. You should’ve seen Xander in the shop. Some of the stuff we looked at had his face so red I was afraid he’d pass out. Though he brought up a good question. What exactly is the point of crotchless underwear?”

“You brought Xander with you to Kitten Things?”

“Well, yeah. I sort of needed a second opinion about what to get you, and you know, it’s kind of his specialty. What with all the special lingerie editions he gets with his Playboy subscription.”

“And you’d know about that, how?”

“Er…”

“Never mind. So, you brought Xander with you. How did that work out, you bringing your first crush with you to pick out a negligee for your girlfriend?”

“Surprisingly well. Xander makes a more than competent wingman with this kind of thing. Wingman… Is that the right word? It isn’t gal pal, is it? No, that doesn’t sound right…”

“Um, I don’t think there is a euphemism for what Xander is. You two are, um, pretty unique, I think.”

“Well whatever you’d call him, he did surprisingly well. In fact, he was almost suave. Except for all the giggling. We almost made it out of the store without incident.”

“Almost?”

“I guess shopping together, the clerk thought he was buying it for me at first. She was one of those people who could size you by looking at you? She took one look at me, double-checked the tag, casually mentioned the store policy against returning undergarments, and asked if I wanted to be measured before I bought it.”

“Oh sweetie, I’m sorry.”

“Aw, no biggie. I just told her, ‘it’s not for me, it’s for my girlfriend. My gay, LESBIAN-type girlfriend!’ It’s funny, how that gets easier to say every time. But the really funny-haha part was when Xander panicked and told her, ‘and her ladies can fill those 36C cups just fine.’”

“Oh Goddess…”

“She rang us up without another word.”

“…Hmm.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

“No, really, what?”

“Um, I guess… It’s just that, well…”

“You can tell me anything, baby. Ask anything.”

“Um, do you and Xander talk about me and Anya a lot?”

“Anya? Ew!”

“Willow…”

“I don’t mean ew ew about Anya if I saw her without knowing her. But I do, so, ew! It’s like, Buffy, ew, Anya, ew. Or not exactly the same, but, like… ew!”

“Okay, Will, I get it. A firm ‘no’ to you entertaining thoughts of Anya. But Xander…?”

“Huh? What about Xander now?”

“It’s just… what you two have is very, uh, unique, and thinking of him helping you with this is just a little, um, weird, maybe? I mean, Xander was picturing me in all kinds of lacy underthings.”

“Well, it’s nothing he wouldn’t have been doing before.”

“Maybe not, but before it was Xander picturing both you and me, together. Now it was him and you, picturing me.”

“Again with the huh?”

“It’s-It’s not that I don’t trust you, because I do. I’d trust you with my life. It’s just that…”

“Oh… Oh… I think I get it. I guess it did sound… but hey, Tara, it wasn’t anything like that. I mean… it’s Xander. My bestest bud since I was knee-high to a grasshopper’s baby. And I’d trust him with my life. Which I guess means I’d trust him with your life. And I think I would, if anything happened to me, and I couldn’t—”

“Goddess, Willow, don’t say that!”

“But you know what I mean, about Xander? Is that okay?”

“It’s okay, Willow, it’s more than okay. I know Xander is great. He’s wonderful. He’s the sweetest guy I’ve ever met…”

“But he’s still a guy. And guys talk. And now when I’m with him something strange happens and I talk too?”

“Well, um… Would you think I was nagging if I said yes?”

“No. I get it. I guess I’m still trying too hard with him, with the whole falling out and drifting apart thing last year… It’s still so weird, you know? All of a sudden, he and I have this new thing in common we can reconnect on, but he’s been doing it way longer than me, and he’s better at it than me. And Xander’s never been better than me at anything.”

“I would definitely not jump to the conclusion that he’s better at it than you.”

“You know what I mean. And I still feel kinda bad that I didn’t go to him first after I figured myself out with the whole lusting-for-you thing. Looking back at it now, he really should’ve been the first to know. Even before Buffy. And I know it hurt him more than he let on that he wasn’t. So now, we’re back, we’re trying again, and it’s almost like old times, except for the whole, you know, shopping-for-sexy-lingerie-for-my-girlfriend thing, cause, hello, gay now.”

“Will, you don’t have to say any more. I trust you. Both. And I know it’s very important that you two keep spend time together, without Anya or me there distracting you.”

“You’re really okay with it?”

“I am. I really am. And, um, it’s good to know that he’d be here for you, too, you know? If something were to happen to me—?”

“Hey, that will never happen! I would die before I let anything happen to you… Anyway, let’s not start in on the doomsday talk, okay? I’d rather think about something pleasant, like my girl, wearing sexy underwear. Or maybe even lose the underwear. The sexy all-over blush will do just fine.”

“Willow…”

“Sorry. Can’t take that back, Face facts, Tara. You’re a hottie and can inspire naughty thoughts without even trying. If I were a guy, you’d be able to see how true that is.”

“Oh Goddess, Willow, disturbing visual!”

“But I’m not, so you’ll only be able to tell by feel.”

“W-Well, that was a good recovery…”

“Thanks! I think I’m getting better at the spicy talk.”

“Ummm… Willow…”

“Did I mention before? I really like your present.”

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“It’s fine, Will, really. Not even a bump. See?”

“Are you sure? Because I have first-hand knowledge about these things. Head injuries—nothing to sneeze at unless you have a naturally thick skull like Xander. Just look at Giles.”

“No, I’m okay. It just threw me a little, you know? We’ve never went that high before, or that fast. Coming up for air, and I hit my head on the ceiling? I’m more embarrassed than anything.”

“Nothing to be embarrassed about, baby. Darn low ceilings! Someone should talk to the building code office about this before someone really gets hurt.”

“Um somehow, I don’t think clearance for people levitating off their beds was an allowance they put into the building code. We just need to be more careful. Maybe we should start doing our control exercises again? In fact, we probably shouldn’t have stopped. Why did we stop, anyway?”

“Probably because listening to Giles rant against computers is more exciting?”

“What?”

“Nothing, baby.”

“You think meditating with me is boring?”

“No! Absolutely not! One-hundred-percent NO!”

“Is that no spelled y-e-s?”

“No. It’s n-o no. Or… maybe half n-o. It’s just the n. The n for the ‘with you’ part. The meditating? Kinda y-e-s?”

“Willow…”

“Well, why is it such a big deal?”

“Willow, it’s a big deal because magic can be dangerous, especially for someone who has as m-much raw power as you. W-We need to be able to control that power, keep the balance, especially those times w-we’re most out of control, like when w-we’re angry, or w-when w-we’re making love?”

“You sound like Giles.”

“Maybe because Giles is right about this?”

“Or maybe ‘cause he’s not twenty years old.”

“Well, I am, and I feel the same way.”

“Hey, Tare, I’ve got an idea. Let’s mark this as shop business and talk about it tomorrow, okay? For now, we can work around it.”

“Work around it?”

“Rope?”

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“Sleepy now, sweetie?”

“Mmmm…”

“I love you.”

“Mmm…”

“Always remember, someone loves you.”

“Mm…”

“So be careful when you go out saving the world, and always come home.”

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“I so do not!”

“Willow, you do. You did. I’ve been lying next to you for the past 30 minutes watching you, and I can tell you that you very clearly did.”

“No way. I can’t be that… I mean that’s…”

“Willow, it’s nothing to feel embarrassed about.”

“I’m not embarrassed!”

“Good, because you shouldn’t be. In fact, I think it’s kind of cute.”

“You do?”

“Yes. It’s just another one of those quirky things you do in your sleep. Like how you talk about computers and monkeys, all in the same breath. Strange, but adorable.”

“Well, if you put it that way… Hey, wait. Did you say you were watching me sleep for 30 minutes?”

“Um, yeah?”

“Wow…Isn’t that like, really boring?”

“It’s the most thrilling thing in the whole world.”

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“…Oh, well, you know how it goes. With Oz, we kept bumping into each other. It just seemed like the gods kept throwing us together. Then when we finally really met, it turned out he was also some kind of technical genius, which I guess makes sense cause he’s a musician, and was always wiring speakers and stuff, but with him it was kind of a zen thing. He was just so… cool at it, you know? He was just… Oz. So anyway, we sorta had this thing in common. Then, you know, it was kinda because he, uh, went first.”

“Went first?”

“You know, asked me out.”

“All he had to do was ask you out?”

“Well, he was all cool and stuff when he did.”

“Goddess, you’re easy.”

“Oh, that’s a nice thing to say to your girlfriend.”

“Okay. Sorry, I take it back. You’re just a dork.”

“But I’m your dork.”

“Yes… You’re my dork. And I’m your spaz… Oh yeah. Right there.”

“Not here?”

“Okay. There, too.”

“Now who’s easy?”

“I am. Now less talking, more rubbing.”

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“Tara… Love you.”

“I love you, too, Willow.”

“Want you, baby.”

“Mmmnnuh! Oh God, Willow…”

“So much.”

You… have me… Right there!”

“You taste really good.”

“Oh Will…mmmnnnn…”

“Every part of you.”

“Will!”

“Say that again…”

“Mmmmnn…”

“Say my name again, like that, Tara please…”

“Mmmnn… Will…”

“God, I love you.”

“Will!”

“You’re so—”

“Will!”

“—so beautiful…”

“WILL!”

“…And I love you so very much.”

“Mm…”

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“Pleasepleaseplease, Tara! Just one, baby, then I can go to sleep!”

“Really? Because that would be a first.”

“Ooo! I know which one I want to hear!”

“Okay. Which one do you want to hear?”

“I wanna hear… MAGICAL WILLY-THE-POOH AND THE GODDESS OF HONEY-POTS!”

“Uh, unless you somehow wrote an epilogue you didn’t tell me about, the purpose of that story is not to put you to sleep…”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“There was that time, I would’ve thought that me and Buffy would always be doing everything together—well, everything two women who aren’t gay… together can do, uh, together, without crossing some very important and necessary personal boundaries. But now… I was kind of thinking there’s a different blonde I really want to shack up with instead. Make it official? I mean, your floor-mates already think I live here, anyway…”

“Willow… Really?”

“Really. Tara, I am so ready. If you are. So, what do you think?”

“I think we start looking into our options tomorrow. But right now… I think you just need to be kissing me right now.”

“Kissing you?”

“And licking.”

“Licking, huh?”

“And some sucking. Teasing—not too much, but some. Enough to feel good. And rubbing. And there definitely should be some mounting.”

“Huh? Mountains? Like these?”

“Those’ll do, but what I really meant was mounting. The action verb. Synonym for straddling. And riding.”

“Urp.”

“Don’t think of horses, Willow.”

“No horsies.”

“Just us.”

“Us only.”

“That’s the way. Where were we?”

“We were riding.”

“Riding, yes, riding. Hard, long, fast, at first, then slow.”

“Slow? Like a canter, or just a trot.”

“Either. Both.”

“And afterward, we’ll be tired?”

“But not exhausted. We’ll be hungry. We’ll have to eat. And drink…”

“Thirsty now.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tara was full for Willow. The night turned into their one-year-plus-one-day anniversary before their celebratory cups were drained dry.


END DRAFT

Endnotes:

- I work off 3 Dell laptops (1 at home, 1 to travel, 1 at work) and a desktop at home myself. It’s been relatively pain-free. Then again, I just use my computer as a glorified typewriter.
- If you’re wondering, no, this was not the chapter where Tara has her needs taken care of. That’s yet to come. Cum. Come.

b...

[wilgen]

Hi,

I just want to say that I love your stories so so soooo much. You're doing a really great job. Please keep going.

Thanks, wilgen.

[the hero factor]

Happy Birthday - I love fics in which Tara has significant interaction with characters other than Willow, so I really like this one.

“What’s that, Miss I-was-a-teenage-dominatrix-vampire-in-a-parallel-universe-who-couldn’t-keep-my-teeth-out-of-any-bared-neck-I-saw-during-my-brief-visit-of-this-one?”

Hee!

Tara hadn’t looked up. An old adage came to mind. “‘You can’t choose your family.’”

“Why not?” Buffy asked, in all seriousness.

That was my favorite part. My absolute favorite thing about the series, period, is the season five theme of the Scoobies as family. And I love that right here, Buffy obviously gets it. Lovely.

Xander and Mr.-Muscles-football-player-guy in the background was very funny. As was Anya being the one to get the guy to back down.

Cups - Love the pillow talk.

I mean, if we’re gonna have a vampire around helping, I’d rather it be Angel than Spike.

Ah, Willow. A woman after my own heart.

I guess I just like calling Cordelia a minion.

Hee! Although, I must admit that unlike Willow, I love Cordy.

But the really funny-haha part was when Xander panicked and told her, ‘and her ladies can fill those 36C cups just fine.’

That Xander, such a spaz.

And I still feel kinda bad that I didn’t go to him first after I figured myself out with the whole lusting-for-you thing. Looking back at it now, he really should’ve been the first to know. Even before Buffy.

Thank you for that part. I've never liked how that was handled in canon. Xander didn't necessarily have to find out before Buffy, she's Willow's friend and really important to her also, but that he found out by Willow shouting it at Buffy during an argument sucks. And I know it's probably because the writers didn't have much interest in Xander post s3, but as someone who is a big fan of the Xander/Willow friendship, it bugs. At least we have fic writers to make things right.

Great job, and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[watty]

I owe you 3 feedbacks. Gah!

Meet the Rosenbergs

There aren't enough s4 coming out / meet the parents fics around at all, so I thank you for making this vignette available. You've struck a balance between laugh-out-loud humor and the seriousness of getting to seeing the parents of the most important person in your life for the first time.

Spank me and make me take my shower alone, will ya?

Oh, and naughtiness too.

Interesting to read Tara's perspective when experiencing the Rosenberg home for the first time. Comparisons with her own family, the comments about the furniture, the Dingoes poster. You have her voice and insecurities and uncertainties (about the demon) just right. Willow and her parents are well portrayed too. Nice one.

*****

Happy Birthday

Much has happened on Tara's birthday. And apart from a off-the ground floating hug, we never got to know what they talked about that night, at the Bronze and afterwards. Strong dialogue throughout, it flowed effortlessly from Scooby to Scooby. Bantering aside, they really are a family, aren't they? Glad of Tara's interactions with people other than Willow, they do care about her.

Things like the party tonight were about one’s relationships with others, and how those relationships define an individual. Each person was, when you got down to it, just the juncture of several relationships. The more interstices that bound one to others, the richer the life.

That's kinda deep, meaningful. Well observed.

*****

Cups

This is one piece with a very vignette-y feel about it, moving from the annoying encounter with the floormate to the various, um, activities they got up to that night. I'm amused that they can get up to so much naughtiness, and yet talk about serious stuff like housing next year and whether W & X talk about T &A and controlling magic powers. If it were me, I'd be clapped out all the time, well ... in between the naughtiness anyway. I really like the way you've written the smut ... there is no actual smut, but I can well use my imagination.

Oh well, it gets more explicit later on,

“I think we start looking into our options tomorrow. But right now… I think you just need to be kissing me right now.”

“Kissing you?”

“And licking.”

“Licking, huh?”

“And some sucking. Teasing—not too much, but some. Enough to feel good. And rubbing. And there definitely should be some mounting.”

Heehee. That I like too.

Finally to something totally unrelated,

“I should really just get a Mac, huh?”

Yes, everyone should just get a mac, our lives will be so much simpler and better. And yes, I have a dell too. And 2 Macs, of which one has a crippled hard disk and the other only sporadically connects to the internet. It is 3 years old though. I'm getting a macbook.
[br]

[FineyMcFine]

I really liked Cups - I liked how it was mostly dialogue but I could picture what was going on from the dialogue and didn't need any description. Very sweet interactions they're having. Willow and the shop talk - I can sympathize, being a shop talk offender myself sometimes. Hopefully not in bed, though. That's something that she will divest herself of sooner rather than later, one hopes (and probably Tara hopes as well). Great job.

[spells42]

Enjoyed CUPS. thanks. Short of time for replying, sorry.

I think I want to hear MAGICAL WILLY-THE-POOH AND THE GODDESS OF HONEY-POTS! I think it might be a story I could get into.



Anne

[binky]

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it muchly.

wilgen – Thank you. Hearing that people are reading and being entertained by something I wrote is so nice to hear. I’ve got at least 2 more I’d like to finish and post, eventually, though they’ll probably be pretty different, a bit more serious than this one. I hope you’ll like them. :0)

the hero factor – thanks. I always liked the XBW relationship and don’t quite get fans who profess to loathe one or two of the three. I mean, with one exception, all three were in every single episode. Kind of hard to avoid that character if he or she really irritates you. I managed to keep liking Xander, even when he had very little to do on the show, or when he had to play the jerk to move the story along. Being the last to know about Tara was just a continuation of the former I guess. Poor guy. I still don’t completely get Willow’s motivation for keeping Tara a secret so long, I mean, okay, you’re switching teams, but you know your friends are good people who’ve made some unusual choices in the romance department themselves, and you’re closer than blood kin, why the secrecy? It drives me nuts. I’m waiting for a fanfic that will explain that one, myself.

watson! I missed your thoughtful and insightful feedback. Thanks for dropping by.

I forgot to post it at the time, so thank you for reminding me. This is a repro of the Dingoes poster referred to in the Rosenbergs story. It was packaged in a little Buffy toy I picked up a few months ago (from the now defunct Palisades Toys):

DINGOES POSTER

I didn’t remember the details correctly when I described it in the story. I think this is the same poster Willow hung up in their dorm room when she moved in with Buffy after the demonic soul-sucking roommate episode. Just a little graphic to help paint the picture.

Now what’s this again about me writing smut? By my reckoning, I’m still at the blushing furiously and making adolescent cracks stage (heehee—I said cracks) that I believe you completely blasted to smithereens with your last posted story for Fruitcake, completely resetting your previous benchmark for number of occasions and generosity with detail in one posting. So behave, missy!

Cups was a catch-up chapter so I used it to just throw in lots of different stuff that wasn’t addressed on air. Like, hello, you’ve got Angel a couple hours away in LA. Why not ask him to return one of the, like, 5 different favors he owes you guys? Sheesh. On a related note, the AI team should just donate $50 a piece to keep as a buy-Willow-a-ticket-to-the-redeye fund for When Things Go Bad. They should also have 5 orbs of Thesulah handy, just in case.

Anyway, thanks, watson. I hope you’ll find time for the last one/two/three as well.

SallyMcfine – thanks, Sally. Of the 13 conversations, I only intentionally wrote 1 qua flagrante delicto. The others I wanted to vague up enough to be open to interpretation. Hoo boy. I thought I had a dirty mind. Never underestimate the creative capacity of smut-craving kittens.

Hi Anne. Yeah, that’s another one of those things from the show that just had to be fixed, one way or another. It gets easier to watch with subsequent viewings, but my fingers still twitch on the FF button on the DVD remote when I get to that scene. You know the one. Half-camels? Huh? Are they kidding? What kind of lame stories do they entertain each other with? The real stories probably just weren’t appropriate for network TV: “Oh, dear! Oh, dear, oh, dearie, dearie, dear! Pooh’s tongue is stuck in the hunny pot again!” Please don’t sue me, Disney.

Ooookay. The next chapter, titled Requiem and Return, is drafted and currently in editing, so there is definitely at least one more chapter. In fact, probably two, possibly three. But that’d be all. R and R will be up in a week or two. I hope to see you then.

b…

[binky]

This chapter will close out season 5, Plenty of Magic. In my grand scheme of things, after Cups (the anniversary chapter), Homo Triste (the post-brain-suck vignette) follows, then this chapter, which is set during the summer hiatus between season 5 and 6. Buffy died about a month ago. They're still sorting the aftermath out.

5.6.X – Happy Birthday – posted a few weeks ago
5.10.X – Escalating Apparatus – posted last August
5.15.X – Cups – posted a few weeks ago
5.19.X – Homo Triste – posted last August
5.22.X – REQUIEM AND RETURN – THIS CHAPTER

You can go to my website if you want to re-read the older vignettes/scene-studies and you don’t want to browse through the previous posts of this thread to find one. CLICK HERE.

Notes/Disclaimers for R and R:
- I wouldn’t even be posting this if it hadn’t been beta’d so thank you Amy and Trom for that favor.
- Story is rated NC17 for sex.
- Summary: W/T are on the last day of a Phoenix vacation before returning to Sunnydale to officially move into Buffy’s house to take care of Dawn.

binky

[binky]

Fanfic based on Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tara and Willow are property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I am not making nor will I accept any money from this fiction. All hail Joss!

Title: Requiem and Return
Author: binky
Genre: behind the scenes
Rating: AO (Adults Only), for explicit sexual situations
Setting/background: A bed-and-breakfast in Phoenix, Arizona. A late July day between season 5 and season 6.
Summary: Tara and Willow make plans following Buffy’s death.
Spoilers: up to and including "The Gift"
Acknowledgements: Beta-ed by Trom and Amy. Thank you both.
Notes: Emphasis in italics. Strong emphasis/raised voice in ALLCAPS.
Feedback: “Yes!... Yes!!... Yes!!!... YES!”



REQUIEM AND RETURN
5.22.x

“Tara, did you pack my yellow sweater in your suitcase?”

Tara looked up from her duffel bag where she had just stuffed Willow’s baggied toothbrush and paste in next to their matching dark blue bath towels. Her girlfriend was conversely emptying out the contents of her luggage back onto the queen-sized bed of the room they’d rented for their week-long stay in Phoenix. This was their last day, and checkout from the bed-and-breakfast was in thirty-five minutes. “No, sweetie. Check the drawers again. I think I left it in the top drawer on the right.”

Willow did so as Tara began returning her clothes to her bag. It was early afternoon in the late July day and the sun was high in a cloudless sky. The air was almost sharp in their mouths. The window was open, but no desert breeze blew in to their second-storey room. Sure enough, the yellow button-up sweater with embroidered red and blue flowers was in the otherwise empty top drawer as Tara had suggested. Tara had set it aside for her for the trip home. Willow picked it up but almost dropped it as a feeling of déjà vu filled her. Hadn’t she done something similar recently?

Yes. The day after Joyce had died.

Tara turned and saw Willow sitting on the edge of the bed, looking pensively down at the garment on her lap. After several moments, Willow set the sweater aside and started stuffing her clothes back into her case. Tara turned back to her own packing.

“Oh, fuck.”

Tara turned just in time to see Willow abruptly stop her packing once more, this time to dive across the bed for her laptop case. She sat up on the edge of the bed, the case in her lap. With shaking hands, she pulled the zipper open and began setting up her Powerbook.

“Baby, what are you—?”

“I’m sorry, Tara, I just remembered, I forgot to call the housing office and cancel our double before we left. I could have sworn I wrote it down on my first list of stuff to do, but I must’ve missed it when I was transcribing it onto my travel list. God, I’m so stupid…”

Tara watched, her stomach sinking, as Willow attached her modem line, her hands beginning to tremble so badly she struggled to make the connection. Tara put down the garments she had been packing, and quietly maneuvered next to Willow on the bed as she finally got the cord sorted and pressed the power button. Willow bit her bottom lip as she waited impatiently for the machine to boot.

“Do you remember what the deadline was for changing the option? I can’t remember. I think it’s the end of the month, so maybe we still have some time to switch you back to a single without a fee.” Willow sniffled and hastily rubbed her eyes. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Will…” Tara said softly. She put her arm around Willow’s shoulders, which also had begun to shake. “Willow, baby…”

“It-It’ll just take a second… I just need to find the number again.” She brought up a web browser. Her fingers drummed on the case just under the spacebar as the UC Sunnydale homepage loaded slowly. “I-I should have called after we decided we couldn’t… not after…”

“Sweetie…”

“But it was Saturday, and no one was at the office. Then after I just forgot… Stupid!”

“I-I’m sure it’ll be alright, Willow. W-We just need to explain that—” that she died, and it changed everything. Tara cleared her throat. “—you need to stay with Dawn, instead…” instead of with me. Tara immediately scolded herself for being so selfish.

She was still having nightmares. They were less frequent now, and not as intense. Not nearly as bad as the ones she had just after that awful night when Willow brought her back from her personal hell and the present one they all shared began. But she was still having them. They were of different things, various scenarios. The last one was a fairly common one. Doctors had cut her skull open and extracted her brain. It was local anesthesia, so she could watch, numb but aware, as she had been for the weeks she had been insane. As it lay in the surgical pan, she could see that the ridges and valleys forming the surfaces of the organ were made not by the wrinkles of tissue to expand the surface area of her mentality, but by fat, pale worms, writhing sickly in oozing pale ichor. The surgeon was cutting away at the rotting tissue. Even behind his mask, she could tell his face was screwed up at the odor the mass was exuding. He first halved the quivering ball of grey matter. Then halved one half again. It was not enough, however, and the remaining quarter was reduced to an eighth. Still, diseased tissue remained, and it was halved again. The scalpel flashed. And again. And again…

But Tara knew that these dreams were nothing compared to Dawn’s. She didn’t complain. When her own whimpers were enough to wake Willow the nights following the disaster at Lunatics’ Tower, her lover would wake her and hold her until her trembling stopped. But more often than not, these days, it was Dawn’s cries that would wake either or both of them and send them to the younger girl’s room to check on her. She wondered how Giles was doing with the Dawn-vigil duties. He had sounded tired when they had called yesterday, relief at their impending return evident in his voice.

“Damnit! Why the frilly heck do they put all this crap no one gives a damn about on the front page like this? Whoever designed this web page needs to be taken out and shot! Or forced to sit through all these lame animations all day long. Look at all this!”

“Will…”

“Sorry. It’s just… frustrating.”

“I know it is, Willow.”

Willow navigated the pages without another word. She maneuvered through the site, clicking the appropriate links in search of the housing office’s contacts page. They waited in silence as the page they needed finally came up. Willow wrote down the phone number on the stationary provided by the inn. Then she saw the notice of office hours during the summertime. “What the—How the hell can they be closed on Fridays?”

“Willow, it’s alright, come on, honey. Don’t get mad…” Tara grabbed hold of Willow’s hand before her flustered girlfriend could slam her notebook shut, possibly damaging it and causing herself more grief. “We’ll call them the first thing Monday, okay?”

Willow relented, knowing she was behaving childishly. It was her own fault, anyway. She took a cleansing breath and let Tara take her precious computer from her hands and place it behind them on the bed. She would wait until Monday. If worse came to worst and the deadline had passed, she could always find a spell or hack into the university’s records to fix it. She tore the note from the pad and stuffed the phone number into her jeans pocket.

Tara turned back to Willow, brushed her bangs behind her ear. “Your hair’s getting long again,” she murmured. “It keeps falling in your face.”

“I-I know, I’ve got to get it cut.”

Tara ran her hand down the back of Willow’s head to her neck. “Or you could let it grow out. It looks good longer.”

“I don’t know. It hasn’t been long since I was in high school. I don’t think I ever want to go back there again.” She pulled herself away from Tara, feeling guilty once more.

Tara flinched as Willow turned. Stupid, stupid cow. She’s barely touched you all week, what makes you think she’ll want to do something more now, with everything happening, right before we have to leave and go back, and her all tense and worried?

Willow retrieved her case and started repacking her laptop wordlessly.

She probably didn’t even know what you were doing. She’s used to doing all the work initiating things that way, too… Great, Tara. Real smooth. Play with her hair…

Willow was still re-bundling the cord when she started to talk, softly. “Sometimes… I wonder… what happened to her soul? I know we buried her body and had the services for her. But holding them in secret, with hardly anyone there… I mean, how many people did she save? And none of them know? Something didn’t feel right. It still doesn’t. Like maybe it’s not really finished? What if she’s… Maybe she’s in a hell dimension somewhere, like where Angel went? Do you think that’s possible? What if… what if it’s not over for her? I mean, why wasn’t another slayer called, unless it’s because she’s not really gone? Maybe she’s still out there, trapped, in some kind of hell, in pain, wondering why I haven’t come to get her? If only I hadn’t—I mean, I could’ve…”

Without a thought, Tara switched modes. “Willow, Willow, Will, baby, honey, sweetheart, what else could you have done? There wasn’t anything more—”

“Don’t say that, Tara! There were lots of other things I could’ve done! I could’ve gotten Spike up there faster! So that freak couldn’t have cut Dawn and started it all! So she wouldn’t have needed to… I could’ve teleported him the way I did—”

“Will—”

“If I hadn’t been too weak…” Willow stopped, realizing where that train of thought led. She bit her lip, looked away from Tara to hide her face so she wouldn’t slip and let her secret out. She knew, deep inside, that she would do it again. Even knowing what would come. She would do it all the same way again. She was ashamed at being so selfish.

But Tara was already on that train. It had pulled out of the station, taking her away from Willow. Because you’d used up too much to get me back. You feel guilty, regretful. It’s why you need to stay in her house and take care of Dawn. Why we can’t begin our life together just yet. So you can live her life. Make it up to her. I understand.

Willow could feel Tara shrinking from her, though her body was still there beside her. The feeling was acute—Tara’s absence. She panicked and turned. Tara was crying quietly, and she realized what had just happened. “Goddess. I’m stupid.”

Tara looked at her quickly. She was sad and confused and became angry at Willow berating herself, all at once. The tears on her face became hot. “You are not stupid, Willow!”

“I am. I’m the stupidest smart person in the whole world. Probably would be on a whole lot of other ones, too.”

“Willow, stop saying those things!”

“I’m a dummy. An idiot. You know what I mean, Tara? A complete and utter maroon—not the color. The Bugs Bunny kind. A nimrod—not the ancient Mesopotamian king who founded the Assyrian capital Nineveh. But a true dumb bunny with a genius IQ. Do you get what I’m trying to say, baby?”

Willow’s voice had grown softer and softer with each slur.

Tara wiped at her eyes. Willow was smiling sadly. “You’re a m-moron?”

“A real spaz.”

“A-A social retard?”

“That would be me.” Willow placed her hands on Tara’s shoulders and turned her lover to her. She pulled Tara close, lifting herself a bit to meet her, reckoned the angles, and moved in to kiss her. They did, for a few moments, their lips just rubbing against each other, slightly parted, occasionally puckering to vary or prolong the contact. They slid backward back onto the bed, Tara underneath. Willow pulled back a little, rubbed at the tears still on Tara’s cheeks. Tara sniffled. Her face was still a little splotchy, her nose red and her normally clear blue eyes clouded, tired and puffy. “You’re beautiful, Tara,” Willow said. She dipped down to kiss the tip of Tara’s nose. “It’s not every day a beautiful woman offers herself to me.”

She knew. “I-I w-would hope not.”

“Only a complete idiot would say no.”

“O-or someone w-with important things to do.”

“There’s nothing more important.”

“Dawn… Taking care of Dawn.”

“Okay, yeah, pretty important. But not any more important.” Willow closed her eyes, licking her lips. “I wish we could have babies together.”

Tara’s breath hitched.

Willow’s eyes opened. They were a very dark green. “But the motions are still very worth going through, anyway.” She pushed her hips forward slightly, into Tara’s. “So… do you still wanna…?”

Tara’s breathing had become heavy. Willow’s thrust had made her hot and damp and achy under her skirt, between her legs. She couldn’t stop the moan that rose from her throat.

Willow took it as tacit permission to press her lips against Tara’s throat. She kissed and licked her way down, feeling Tara swallow against her lips on her way to the V of Tara’s collarbone. Another moan, this one against the tip of her tongue. Willow felt like growling, Tara’s moans were so sexy. She reached between them to fumble with the fly of her jeans but had trouble with the fastener. Great! Why do I always have to be wearing jeans when…? Oh… travel day… Shit.

Tara remembered, too. “Willow… I… I don’t know if w-we have enough time…” She managed to will her hand from the skin at the small of Willow’s back where it had snaked under Willow’s blouse to bring her wrist close to her face. “Checkout is in fifteen m-minutes…” Stupid watch. It has to be running fast. Even five minutes fast. Please be fast!

I can be fast! “I can be fast!” Willow had gotten her zipper down and was working on hitching Tara’s skirt up enough to get to her lover’s panties. “Uh, normally, that’s not something I would brag about, but we might have even less time when we get back to Sunnydale, and I get the feeling it’ll be a long drive back if we don’t get this done first. I mean, I guess we could go check out now and use the back seat of Xander’s car before we hit the road. I’m sure he and Anya have done worse stuff in it, but there’s something really disturbing about what I just said, and to be honest I don’t know if I can even last that long anyway, y’know?”

Tara knew. Oh Goddess, she knew. She was already pretty close herself, what with Willow fumbling around with her panties and hips underneath her skirt. Her own hands had found the waistband of Willow’s jeans and underwear and had managed to work the clothing down past the swells of Willow’s buttocks, to the top of her girlfriend’s thighs. At least she’s wearing soft denim… A little easier to work with. They both had begun to breathe heavily. “N-No, I understand. All… All kinds of… motions are valid, depending on the situation… Oh Goddess!” Willow’s hand was in her panties, caressing between her legs. She spread her thighs wider to give Willow as much room as the confines of her skirt allowed.

“Oh God, Tara, you’re so wet.” Willow had no trouble easing two fingers into her lover. She started a gentle rhythm, rubbing Tara’s slippery clit with her thumb. “Did you come already? Oh. Never mind.”

Tara clamped down on Willow’s fingers as her back arched, pushing her breasts, still discreetly covered and demure behind the cotton fabric of her pullover sweater, into Willow’s face and lifting her girlfriend with her as she came. Her eyes were closed tightly as she crested her orgasm.

Willow helped her through the aftershocks, using the additional moisture like a salve on Tara’s swollen lips and clit as she continued to massage and caress her. She didn’t leave as she pulled herself the little way back up to Tara’s face. With her free hand, she brushed at the strands of hair sticking to Tara’s sweaty forehead and cheeks so she could kiss at the other woman’s parted lips. She imagined what it must look like under her lover’s skirt, everything coated with Tara’s cum, her fingers, the folds and hood of Tara’s sex, the little blond hairs covering her mound, her panties and thighs… Her mouth watered and she swallowed hard.

Tara noticed as they continued to kiss through her slowing pants and Willow’s quickening ones. She had her strength back so she gently pushed Willow from her by the shoulders. Her girlfriend let herself be rolled over onto her back as Tara scooted backward on her knees toward Willow’s feet, already in their Keds, and pulled the jeans and underwear down to her ankles. They had less than ten minutes to spare, so Tara did not bother completely removing Willow’s sneakers or clothing. Instead, she directed Willow to bend her knees just that way. “Spread?” Tara implored. Willow obediently complied and she fell open before Tara’s eyes. Unlike the dark copper locks framing her face, Willow had kept the auburn curls on her sex neatly trimmed as part of her normal monthly routine. It somehow put everything into sharp and precise focus. Tara bent down to the familiar scent.

The lack of preamble made Willow dizzy. With Tara pinning her thighs down with her hands while her lips and tongue nipped and stroked at Willow’s clit, she tightened helplessly. Tara’s mouth quickly worked her ever tighter, strummed and pressed and entreated, from the bottom then back to her tip, at her trigger, relentless and confident and loving until… TWANG.

Willow clutched at the coverlet to keep her hands out of Tara’s hair so she wouldn’t hurt her lover as Tara continued to lap at her as she climbed down from her climax. Her weak groan was Tara’s cue to relent. She climbed back up to Willow’s side as the younger woman struggled through her shudders to get her jeans and underwear back up her shaking legs. They only had a few minutes to spare to get themselves together, clean up as much as possible, and hand their keys in at the front desk.

“Here, let me,” Tara said, licking her lips as she sat up, “seeing as how you’re still kind of spastic.”

Willow groaned in protest, but neither the will nor the wit to quip back was there yet. They managed to get her clothing back into the correct place, though the troublesome zipper was going to have to wait.

“Actually, while I’m here…” Tara reached across Willow’s hips, eliciting another groan. “You can give me the phone number for the housing office.” She went into Willow’s jean pockets herself, causing Willow to whimper, then giggle, to fish out the wad of notepaper. “I’ll call them Monday. One less thing for you to do, and I should be doing these kinds of things for myself, anyway, since, um, not crazy anymore.” Her lopsided smile turned into a grin. She pushed her fingers through her disheveled hair.

Willow caught her breath. Tara was so beautiful. Oh Goddess, she was beautiful. She sighed, feeling the regret fill her again. But the resolve had become a hard thing in her, too. “I wish—” this time she caught herself using those dangerous words, and frowned. Her face turned thoughtful and she continued. “I wish we could live together, like we planned. Waking up every morning next to you. Making breakfast. Leaving for the day bearable, ‘cause I know I’d see you when I got home. Having dinner, talking about the day, making love. Falling asleep breathing the same air, dreaming the same dream. Just you and me, all the time, always, home.”

“You and me and Dawn, then?” Tara frowned. “Um, not the parts from the making love to the waking up, ‘cause that would still be just us, obviously.” They both fell into silence as they each tried to work the edits into the mental pictures as quickly as possible.

Willow finished hers quickly, giving her an extra moment to go back to Tara’s original statement. “Huh?”

Tara finished rearranging her own thoughts and looked at her girlfriend’s still perplexed face. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in that adorable way Tara loved. She realized that this time, she had jumped ahead of her brainy girlfriend. Lover. Partner. Other half. It happened occasionally. Tara knew that as far as logical thinking and scientific knowledge went, Willow blew her and pretty much everyone else they knew out of the water. In the area of common sense, however, Tara usually was queen. She leaned forward and kissed above the bridge of Willow’s nose where her eyebrows were trying to meet. It smoothened under the pressure of her lips. She pulled back, smiling crookedly. “I might have to keep a room on-campus to keep my scholarship, but it doesn’t mean I have to use it.” A horrible thought intruded, an old insecurity. “Th-That is, if y-you think Buffy w-wouldn’t have minded?”

Willow ignored the pain in her heart when Tara said Buffy’s name. “Oh god, Tara, you mean…?”

“We can use the room in case either of us needs to be alone—”

“That’ll never happen!”

“Or I’ll keep my art things in there…”

Willow squeezed her eyes shut, her heart threatening to burst. She opened her eyes quickly, not wanting to let Tara out of her sight.

“W-We should talk it over with Dawn, though, make sure she would be okay with it…?”

“We definitely need to talk it over with Dawnie when we get home, but I can’t see any reason why not. And I-I think… I think it’s what Buffy would’ve wanted, too.”

“So…?”

“We have a lot of stuff to do. Let’s go home, baby.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
END DRAFT

[watty]

I hope you’ll find time for the last one/two/three as well.

I do too will find time. And I call dibs.

ETA: I read an article a long time ago, can't remember any details except one. It was by a woman who was describing what she went through after the death of a loved one. The detail that struck me was that she talked about shoes. That on the day of the funeral she had an inexplicable obsession to clean the shoes of her children, husband and everyone. Because they simply couldn't go to the funeral in grubby shoes.

My point, and I will get to it eventually, is that people react to death in different ways. The after effects are lingering, and may manifest in stages. I could see W and T going on vacation after Buffy's death. I can even imagine it was T who insisted to take W away. W's episode with the housing office is heartwrenching ... it's an obsessive moment, there won't be an difference calling the office after the weekend, and half an hour before they're due to check out of their hotel isn't the best timing.

What if she’s… Maybe she’s in a hell dimension somewhere, like where Angel went? Do you think that’s possible? What if… what if it’s not over for her? I mean, why wasn’t another slayer called, unless it’s because she’s not really gone? Maybe she’s still out there, trapped, in some kind of hell, in pain, wondering why I haven’t come to get her?

This is one of the best explanation of why W did what she did to bring B back. She genuinely thought she was helping her best friend. In her current frame of mind, it must have been difficult to imagine heaven. Add to that the guilt that she focused too much on Tara, and I can see W trying to find the Big Rescue.

She’s barely touched you all week, what makes you think she’ll want to do something more now, with everything happening

I don't feel any discord between them, though there is tension, it feels like tension with the outside world and everything that's happened.

She knew.

And that's why. Sex heals, at least that's what I've been told.

The lack of preamble made Willow dizzy.

A fifteen-minute "quickie" or a allnighter ... with the right person both can be fulfilling in their own right. I like how you describe the sex, I can feel how much they both needed and relished it. Very nicely done.
[br]

[mole]

Hi Binky,

Wow, you really gave us a ride on the rollercoaster of human emotions in this one. I think my head my still be catching up with my stomach, or something like that.

The distance between Willow and Tara in the first part of this vignette is just so painful. To have been as close as they were and then not be able to find their way back to each other after Glory and Buffy's death, when they need each other the most, is just heart-wrenching. Your word choice and tone really carries that feeling.

Tara flinched as Willow turned. Stupid, stupid cow. She’s barely touched you all week, what makes you think she’ll want to do something more now, with everything happening, right before we have to leave and go back, and her all tense and worried?

Tara's insecurity about being unattractive to Willow; all I can say is ouch. Feeling unwanted by your lover and not knowing how to get back to her, you feel so lost and alone. One of the hardest places to be, in my humble opinion.

It's hard to see Willow so distracted and scattered. I mean, we're used to her hyperkinetic behavior but she always seems on top of things. But now, Buffy's death and Tara's return to sanity and the responsibility of caring for Dawn just seems too much. Latching on to the need to rearrange housing to the point of missing the subtle (or not so subtle) flirtation of her lover describes Willow's scatteredness very, very well.

But boy, when the clue-by-four hits, Willow doesn't waste any time. Again, your word choice and pacing help bring home the point of their attraction to each other and their urgent need to reconnect physically.

Nice job Binky. Looking forward to your take on season 6.
Michelle

[beanie]

Greetings binky!

I have to admit, when I saw the rating (Adults Only) this exact thought ran through my mind: GOODIE!!! And then you put in the angst warning. I love how you drew so many parallels to Willow's behavior and actions after Joyce's death. It just made the entire situation a lot easier to picture and to really feel since we already experienced a smidgen of those emotions with the actual episode. But one aspect of mourning that you really drew upon which made this "etude" all the more real was the completely random moods that occured so quickly, one after another.

The torrent of emotions that washed through both characters, not just Willow made them all the more real. And of course, binky dear, you did not fail to bring in humor into such a serious story. The

I can be fast!

bit was quite cute. In the end they find solace in one another.

There also a certain fluidity to your writing that truly makes this story so form equals content-y. One mood leads into another and your story keeps us going. It's like you move the story even while taking your time. Truly skillful. Love it as always (even if I don't say anything)

-beanie

[FineyMcFine]

binky, this HAS to be my favorite one so far, and not even at all because of the rating or the sex. It just seems like this is so well-written, so flow-y, so right on in capturing what's in their heads and how it matches up with what they say or don't say. And wonderful hints about Willow's soon-to-grow over-reliance on magic and the pressure and responsibility she feels. There's just the right amount of description about their surroundings and themselves balanced perfectly with the action. And the "action." SUPER!

[binky]

Thank you for the very nice feedback. I’m going to try to respond in kind, so verbosity alert...

Hi watson - I hope you haven’t minded my failure to really address things you bring up in your feedback. I always think to myself when I read what you wrote, yeah, watson gets it, so my mind wanders off on another tangent. It’s a thing. But I really am grateful for you verbalizing your responses. It’s like sonar. I know I’m in the general area I wanted to be, or not.

This one was a no-brainer to write in lots of ways. We know something significant happened that summer, for all that Willow became more or less the team leader rather than Giles (which annoys me about his character no end, and is something I’ve never quite gotten over thereafter), and Tara started joining them on patrol while Buffy was dead. But as W/T were rarely the show’s focus, without seeing how things got to that point, I thought the magic-junkie mind-rape scenario was too rushed and clumsily presented, even if the clues were there. Thus, some more back story, which, I guess, is the point of behind-the-scenes. Hopefully people don’t find they cross over into fan-wankery.

This one, though, I do think enough clues were there, so much so that this one almost wrote itself. I can well imagine the disappointment the couple would feel when their plans for the future fell through. The alignment was right for W to become a true egotistical control-freak, and for T to be so insecure that it relaxed her ethical belief system to the point she would be unable to stop W’s slide. But yeah, I agree, their problems for the most part didn’t start from between them, their natural insecurities (Boystown, etc) being fairly trivial IMO, but from external circumstances playing on their internal weaknesses and some horrifically bad luck.

Of course, all this could’ve been avoided by Buffy not being so selfish and stubborn and just tossing Dawn into the cosmic gate thingy instead--Now, now, I’m just kidding, noble-Buffy and Dawn fans. Really.

Anyway, thanks, watson. That was a very reassuring PING!

mole and beanie – Your encouraging words are very sweet.

Michelle, hi. Thank you. You described precisely what I was trying to do.

One consistent thing about this couple, they really look right together, don’t they? Another no-brainer. Like I said in my response to watty, I think that it is really mostly external pressures that initiated the conflicts in their couple-ness. Then personal weaknesses and some outrageously bad luck and a little thing like an argument over a long-ago stay in Boystown becomes a big thing like inflicted lunacy and sacrificing everything for loyalty to a dead friend. But I don’t think they’re really ever far apart from each other on a metaphysical level. For a separation caused by that, to me it’s plain as day: sex really does heal. It being a quickie was important, too, so it conveyed the urgency and the ease of the reconnect. Thanks again, Michelle. Another PING!

beanie, kiddo, you are really making me blush. Stop it! Okay, don’t stop.

Humor—really necessary every once in a while, and not always a bad thing in bed, either (context, context, context).

I’m very grateful for your comments about my writing. Balancing pacing versus detail throughout, but especially during the quickie—that was really the most challenging part of writing this chapter.

And I really wanted to try to write another sex scene before I closed the book on this project, specifically a quickie. And I wanted to make it good, hot even, even though it was brief. I hope I pulled it off. The first draft on this, W’s catching was a little too clinical, as my betas can attest. I tweaked it (or twanged it, as it were), and I think it’s definitely better, even if it’s not as quick and frantic as the original. But yay, another chance to say it—thanks, Trom and Amy! I love having my work beta’ed.

SallyMcFine – Wow. Thanks. This one was relatively pain-free to write. It’s very gratifying to hear that you liked it that much. Writing that is not masochistic? I’d like to try it more often. Though for some ominous reason, the following classic scene keeps replaying in my head:

Bugs: That’s terrrrrific, Daffy, they love it! They want more!
Duffy (as he floats up to heaven): I know, I know. But I can only do it once.

But we’ll see.

Thanks again, guys. Until next time,

b…

[caz]

I don't think that I have left you fb before. I love story's that fill in the gaps. The T.V. series was never long enough for me. I could have watched Willow & Tara constantly.

Can't wait to read more.

Caz

[Guppy]

Ok, so I don't think I've actually read any of these before. I just went through the whole series you have up so far and holy sh*! I love them all. Cups, the style was fantastic. I love the random moments you share with us. Homo Triste, I actually cried reading this. My heart ached with Willow and Buffy both. You captured the helplessness so completely. Requiem and Return, again, wow. Such details. I'm in awe. Meet the Rosenbergs was very amusing. Gay Now and Demon Lover rocked too. Ok, fine. They all were awesome. Nails has now permanently tied manicures directly to sex. You've ruined me binky. And I've tried so hard to keep my mind out of the gutter.

[dorksrcool]

Instead, they sat silently, before Tara reached up to push Willow’s bangs from her forehead.

Hey binky, I was re-reading your little fics because I love 'em and it just made me realize how freakin' beautiful and sexy "Nails" is. It's such a uniquely lesbian themed story, something that my straight female friends from Wyoming would question 'cause they just don't get it...."Why would you need a manicure if you're a lesbian?" I'm glad Tara thinks those girl/girl porn nails are disturbing too.

And I really love how you write about Tara pushing Willow's bangs off of her forehead (like in RnR too) because it's so sexy and intimate and coupley. It's a little thing but it's something I enjoy picturing in my head. Thank you for the image.

Looking forward to more as always, you rock!


amy

[Tues]

Binky -

I recall reading this once upon a time when I was but a lurker... long ago and far away I enjoyed and still do. You mistakenly thought it would generate little interest.

Now, I'm catching back up to your stories, because I thought you had stopped with the initial six! Silly me, but it's a good and bad thing. Certainly good, this is an entertaining and great read. But bad, because it distracts me from my own wacky endeavor. Speaking of which, you mentioned your anti-Willow kick as in "a familiarity breeds contempt kind of aversion". I'm amazed, it certainly doesn't show in your work.

Anyway, again still enjoying your etudes. These vignettes with expanded Willow and Tara story lines are wonderful. I can't even list favorites, I like them all and I await more.

Cheers,
TuesBlu

[binky]

Caz, Guppy, TuesBlu - From someone who is perpetually late for pretty much everything, welcome!

Caz, – It’s never too late to join a thread. At least I hope not. There are about four stories that I keep intending to leave fb for myself, that I still have to get to. So thanks for taking the time to comment.

Guppy – Gee, thanks. I always had a secret desire to be a corruptor of innocents. I’m glad you’ve dropped by. I hope you enjoy the remaining chapters. One should be up in a little while.

amy – hiya! Are you outing yourself as my beta, or did I just do that now? The lovely and talented with a whip Amy, people! All bow down and tremble! Of course, I’m just kidding about the whip and tremble part. :-P although my smuttastic ambitions for this second set of vignettes were ramped up by your encouragement on that score, so thanks, Amy.

Nails was the very first fanfic story I wrote. I’d been toying with the idea of trying to write my own stuff for a few weeks after just discovering Buffy fan fiction. I have to say, when I watch a show with a lesbian character, the first thing I look at is her hands. Same thing when someone sets off my lesbidar. Of course, since writing it, I’ve seen the episodes a number of times and have noticed that they went for the chewed up mangled look for T and W’s are often longer in s5 and later than they were when the character was in h.s. I mean, a little nail is nice, light scratching and pinching and all, but anything beyond 1/16th is too much of a stretch on credibility to me. Either that or I’m an incredible wimp. Jeez, I can’t believe I’m typing all this out. Anyway, it was a good premise for a story, and not from the typical catalogue of traditional queer lit moments so I’m proud of that, though I have nothing against those kinds of stories. I ended up using those moments for later chapters—coming out to your self/friends/family, approach someone you want, the first time you kiss a girl, have sex with a woman, etc gave me a way to organize the first part of their story arc after I decided I wanted to write more after Nails. Naturally, season 5 and 6 chapters followed that and were less personal and had more to do with more complicated and social (I mean public) stuff like dealing with stereotypes, getting into a serious relationship, sticking with it, etc.

Approaching all the vignettes that way, though, had the effect of making them as a whole about sex and sexuality. I just now realized (okay, I can be a little dense) that pretty much all but the first of the 13 vignettes have at least a brief sexual moment embedded into them so I guess that’s where the comments about my writing a lot of smut or erotica come from. That did take me by surprise, that I’m considered a smutty writer, cause you know, I really count myself in the camp of people who have a helluva hard frickin’ time writing sex scenes. I’ve just about finished another AO chapter, but I’m still hung up on finishing off the sex and it’s keeping me from shooting the draft off for betaing.

Huh, I guess a lot of this could go into the Beta section about sex scenes. Another thread I wanted to post to but haven’t. I really have to try to catch up this weekend.

Anyhoo, thanks, Amy.

TuesBlu – Not that I’m ungrateful for you stopping by, but why the frilly heck are you reading when you should be writing? What? Do we have to chain you to your desk?

Seriously, thanks for dropping a comment. I know it’s really hard to take a break when you’re in a writing groove to comment on other people’s fics. Plus I think you mentioned that you don’t want to be unduly influenced by reading what other people are writing, which I get cause I feel the same way sometimes. In my case, I'm feeling okay about reading because this series is winding down, I’m in a down-time and feeling lazy, plus I’m schizophrenic enough that I’m actually normally motivated when I read something really good to do as well in what I’m doing. An example of this is ReallyBigPineapple’s Butterfly. There are some sex scenes in that story that when I read them, I was like, I HAVE to write a sex scene as good as this (or actually, these)! I don’t mind crediting your story, either, in reminding me of the Willow that first got me hooked on Buffy. Then there were the uh-oh after-the-fact oopsies like Sassette’s Vignettes, though those are going to be unavoidable and you just have to grit your teeth and hope people don’t think you’re derivative or even worse, a plagiarist. Unless you’re not going to enjoy what other writers have done, it’s pointless to deny yourself the pleasure of reading when you’re on down time. Let’s face facts. You’ll always come across something that someone’s done better or even just before you. There’s really very little that hasn’t been done, even in a fairly young genre like fanfic.

Aaaaand, on that note, back to the writing grind.

For those of you keeping me to my word about Tara and her Big O, I admit this one was kind of quick and there was no actual divesting of clothing, but I hope you found it satisfying nonetheless. If not, I am planning a season 6 chapter with something slightly more elaborate, but then—it’ll be season 6, and probably a little more angsty as a result.

In fact, I have started drafting it, but it is set late in season 6, around episode 16. My sense of proportion tells me I need another season 6 chapter that would logically be placed sometime around episode 5 or 6. So I’m brainstorming right now. I know it’s been done before, but I’m thinking of writing my version of the ‘what’s for dinner?’ duet for that one, scored and all. Now I have never written song lyrics or music before so it’ll be an adventure. It might also take me a while to conclude that it was dumb of me to even think I could write something like that and try something else or scrap that chapter altogether. The other possibility I’m thinking of is a comic-style short fic—again, not really something I’ve done before, though I was a comic-book geek growing up (Uncanny X-Men mostly). We’ll see. I might even lose patience and post the late season 6 chapter first. I also do want to catch up on reading and get up to date on some stories and fb the next few days. The short of it is, I don’t have a clear idea when the next chapter will be up, but expect one, possibly two season 6 fictions eventually, which will fit into the group title, Where the Heart Is.

6.6 – Breathe (working title)
6.11 – The Departure of Wicca’d Red (posted last September)
6.16 – Endgame (drafting right now)
6.19 – Coming Home (posted last September)

So see you later, if you’re still so inclined.

b

[binky]

As a reminder, I archived the most polished versions of the older vignettes/scene-studies at my webpage. If you don’t want to browse through the previous posts of this thread to find one, click here. Okay, on we go to…

…Season 6, Where the Heart Is

There’s a new chapter lineup for this last set, due to the fact that I had to correct the episode numbers for continuity, and, I couldn’t decide between doing the illustrated short story or the musical theater duet. So I’m going to try both. Or, more accurately, the comic’s 85% done (65% finished, the other 35% just need some touchup work and lettering—see last note below.). Its posting schedule should give me enough time to decide if I really want to go ahead and try the songfic. But either way, there’s a plain old scene study with just words that will round out the set and put a big ole DONE! stamp on this whole etude project, early to mid-May.

6.2.x – Glamour (begins posting today)
6.6.x – Breathe (tentative title – may or may not get written)
6.12.x - The Departure of Wicca’d Red (posted last September)
6.13.x – Endgame (finished, will be posted late April/early May)
6.18.x – Coming Home (posted last September)

Angst, ahoy! These chapters are set in season six. They get a bit dark at moments. Willow and even Tara to a lesser extent are not shown in their best light. But, obviously, there is a reunion in canon by episode 18, “Entropy,” after which, we all know, the show went off the air. The last chapter I wrote for this series is set within “Entropy.” If you read the new chapters and you find them too dark and depressing, please go on to read (or even re-read) Coming Home, which is actually my own favorite chapter even if it’s not technically the best one I wrote. It’s pretty much the one I re-read the most and say smugly to myself, “bink, you did an okay job with this!” (yeah, I know, not just a little bit creepy, but it’s one of the things that makes me special).

Okay, on with the chapter. This one is in comic book/story board format. It’s meant to be part of the missing-scenes series, plus there’s a fair amount of dialogue in it, so I'll be posting the script here in Pens but providing a link to the graphic story on my website. My plan is to upload 5 or 6 pages to my website while posting the script here 3 times over 2 weeks days, starting today with the cover and pages 1-5. The total number of pages with the cover is 17. All pages should be uploaded by April 21. I’d prefer any feedback be left here on the KB in the appropriate board thread rather than email. The uploading schedule I will follow barring the oxymoronic normal unforeseen delays is:
1. April 7 (today): cover, pages 1-5
2. April 14: pages 6-11
3. April 21: pages 12-16

binky

[binky]

Notes/Disclaimers for Glamour:
- This story is rated R for some mild violence, profanity, and sexual situations.
- Summary: Set a little after “Bargaining.” The gang is relaxing at The Bronze after a night of slaying when the mood is spoiled by a homophobe confronting Willow.
- Dark Willow alert.
- Thanks to Trom for providing feedback on the script prior to production.
- WARNING FOR LOW BANDWIDTH USERS - large graphics files
- I gave up on inking/coloring after many frustrating days trying to learn how to do it and ended up Photoshopping the pencils to a quasi-comic book style. That’s why the first few pages aren’t quite the same style throughout. If anyone would like to have a go at inking/coloring, let me know and I’ll email high-res jpegs of the pencils.

CLICK HERE to begin reading Glamour, the illustrated short story. Otherwise, continue for the script only.



SCRIPT FOR PAGES 1-5

COVER

***

PAGE 1 – Summary: Patrol in the cemetery. Grace, a new vampire, awakens in her grave. She erupts, surrounded by Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara, Buffy, and Spike. As B is about to stake her…

PANEL 1 – G’s eyes, closed
Text: Grace Jonson, 26, wife of Daniel, mother of Ronald, 5, and Rodney, 3, victim of an unknown wild animal attack Sunday, September 5, 2000.
PANEL 2 – G’s eyes, opened wide
PANEL 3 – G as vampire’s eyes, narrowed
PANEL 4 – Tombstone, partial fist holding stake, top of S’s head, G’s hands emerging from ground
Dialogue:
X (off-panel): This is the third fledge tonight. We should—
S: Shut up. Just shut up. That’s what you should do. Hell, between sweet thing taking its time making its grand debut and me having to listen to all your mindless patter—
B: Shut up, Spike. All of you, be quiet!
PANEL 5 – Back of tombstone, G rising. She is surrounded by silhouettes of X, A, W, T, S, and B in the front.
Dialogue:
X: All I’m saying is we should be getting the Evil Undead siring all these things, instead of waiting for them to come back.
T: Be a little proactive, Xander?
X: Exactly! See? Tara gets what I'm saying
S: I'd be worried about your bird if I were you, Red. She can get what Xander's saying
A: Which is fine by me as Xander's girlfriend, since Tara's notoriously lesbian.
B: Do you guys not know what the meaning of Be Quiet is?

***

PAGE 2 – Summary: Willow incinerates the vampire with a spell. The gang start arguing. Other vampires, alerted by the noise, take off, suspending the argument.

PANEL 1 – G, covered in dirt, in game face
Dialogue:
W (off-panel): Huh. It looks kinda scared. It's growling like a puppy. Stand back, Buff. I've been waiting for a chance to...
PANEL 2 - G, turning red, bursting into flames
Dialogue:
W (off-panel): Flame on!
PANEL 3 – G, turning to dust
Dialogue (all off-panel):
X: Well, that was twenty minutes of pretty dull leading up to a big helping of kind of anti-climatic.
A: This is boring!
X: Yeah, Ahn, that's what I just said.
T: "Flame on?"
W: I was getting bored with "Incendere!"
PANEL 4 - W, T, X, A, B, S
Dialogue:
A: We could've had sex twice in that twenty minutes, Xander!
X: Uh, we really couldn't, hon.
W: Latin is so stuffy British librarian, doncha think?
S: S’too bad. She was a bit of a looker, too. Nice ridges.
PANEL 5 – S, B, X, W
Dialogue:
B: "Nice ridges?"
S: What? You expect us to use the same beauty standards as you pathetic humans?
X: Jeez, Wills. Leave some for the rest of us. Or at least let Buffy get hers in. We gotta get her some practice, get all the rust off.
W: K-I-S-S, Xan. Better safe than sorry. No need for Buffy to get vamp dust all over her nice new jacket when a good long-distance spell will do just fine.
PANEL 5 – A, worried look
Dialogue:
A: Sorry to interrupt the snappy banter, but it looks like the loud talking and Willow's big flaming poof scared the rest of our soulless prey. They're making a break for it!
PANEL 6 – A couple of vampires running away.
W (off-panel): Big flaming poof?!
T (off-panel): I'm sure she didn't mean it that way, honey...

***

PAGE 3 – Summary: Down-time at The Bronze
PANEL 1 – exterior shot of neon Bronze sign
PANEL 2 – wide distance shot of dance floor and balcony. Inset: Spike
PANEL 3 – wide mid shot of stage, dance floor, and bar in foreground
PANEL 4 – X, A on dance floor
PANEL 5 – W, T drinking
PANEL 6 – B at table, alone

***

PAGE 4 – Summary: Same as last
PANEL 1 – distance shot of B at table, alone
Dialogue:
X: I mean, look at her, Will—
W: I know, Xander, I know.
PANEL 2 – X, W, T discussing B’s progress
Dialogue:
T: All we can really do is just let her know we’re here for her.
W: Tara’s right, Xander. It’ll just take time.
PANEL 3 – B at table, drinking
Dialogue:
W: We just have to give her a little more time.
PANEL 4 – W takes T’s hand and leads her to dance floor
Dialogue:
W: C’mon, baby. It was a good patrol. Seven kills, no boo-boos. We’ll be back to code orange in no time. Now, I wanna dance.
PANEL 5 – W & T dancing
PANEL 6 – W & T holding hands
PANEL 7 – W & T kissing

***

PAGE 5 – Summary: W goes to women’s room. She passes Jack, leaning against the wall. J calls W a faggot. Confrontation.
PANEL 1 – W & T, heads close
Dialogue:
W: Beer—worse than coffee. I gotta go to the little witches’ room.
T: Hurry back.
PANEL 2 – W at door of W’s room in background. J in foreground, sneering.
Dialogue:
J: Goddamn faggots. They’re all over the freakin’ place.
PANEL 3 – W turning.
Dialogue:
W: What’d you say?
PANEL 4 – same as P2, W turned at door in background, J still sneering in foreground
J: I’m sure you heard me just fine.
PANEL 5 – W, closeup, eyes narrowed
Dialogue:
W: Let’s say I’m a little deaf.
PANEL 6 – J, closeup
J: I called you a fucking dyke.

***

TBC