Chapter Six

Joe's Note: If you're wondering what happened with Buffy, to be honest, I really got tired of dealing with a select immature minority when it came to her subplot. Despite having an actual rape victim read it and reassure me that she didn't see it as such, I had a crop of Buffy fanbois - yes, males - who were telling me I didn't understand rape like they did. Then turned around and admitted it was because it was Buffy that they were pissed and even Willow or Cordelia wouldn't have annoyed them as much. Yeah. So, as much fun as letting a brief subplot totally derail my sense of fun was… if your choices are losing stripper!Buffy and losing the entire story, I think I can confidently say that you lot would rather lose Buffy, right?


November 1, 2003:


     The door opened with a soft click and Tara's eyes popped open. Even with one arm trapped under Willow, she did her best to spin around and evaluate the threat that was… "Cordelia? What are you doing? It's…" Looking around, she failed to find an alarm clock that she could see the face of, and settled for looking out the window. "…still dark out. Meaning it's really early. Or late."

     Cordelia snorted as she padded into the room, closing the door behind her and plunging the room back into near darkness. "I'm not the one curled up on the floor with two other girls in some weird nest of pillows and blankets. If anything, I should be asking what you're doing."

     "Sleeping. Or I was until someone was remarkably unstealthy while trying to sneak into the room and woke me up." Yawning widely, Tara slumped onto her back on the floor, wiggling the arm trapped under Willow to try and get the blood flowing back into it. The slim girl let out a little snort and rolled over, Tara's arm coming free as Willow snuggled in against Tara's side with her head resting on one of Tara's lekku. It was a better position for the girl, Tara decided; if her heartbeat or breathing changed, it would be much easier for Tara to detect. "So, are you going to tell me what's going on or am I have to get up and pin and bite you to get an answer?" Which, despite the very pleasant sensations that came with having Cordelia pressed against her body, wasn't something Tara was really in the mood to do. She'd proven her dominance. She shouldn't have to repeat the process endlessly, especially for such stupid things…

     Thankfully, Cordelia chose the path of least resistance for once. "I can't sleep. The bed didn't feel right and so I tried something like what you're doing, which is totally weird because I had to beg my parents for that new mattress and it's really expensive, but even that didn't help me fall asleep. And… I don't know, coming in here seemed like a good idea." Wringing her hands together, she sighed and turned away. "Never mind. It was stupid. I'll just go and you can go back to sleep."

     Tara rolled her eyes before wrapping her arm around Willow, feeling Harmony shift against her other side. Cordelia had the same knowledge as the rest of them, so why was she fighting it? "You're not going to be able to. Sleep without us, that is. We woke Willow up to change her for bed and she lasted about twenty minutes on the bed before coming down here and Harmony didn't even bother trying to sleep somewhere else. We're pack, Cordelia. You're stubborn enough that I thought maybe you'd be able to resist the call, but if you can't, is it really worth fighting just for the sake of it? All you get is a sleepless night."

     The silence dragged on to the point that Tara was about to slip back into Morpheus's grasp, and then the floor creaked. Opening her eyes, she watched a pair of red feet with well-manicured toes approach her. "Fine. But I'm only doing this because you don't want to know what I look like if I don't get my beauty sleep. And I'm not going to play snuggle bunny with geek girl. That's where I draw the line."

     "Well you can't curl up with me because I'm a bit sandwiched at the moment. So your choices are snuggle against Willow, curl up with Harmony, squish your way in between her and I and get stuck between my side and her front, or sprawl out across the top of us all and hope you don't squish anyone enough that they punch in their sleep." Hopefully, Tara mused, she'd choose the Harmony option. That Cordelia would reject the idea of keeping Willow's company was a no-brainer and… well… she wasn't sure she'd make it through the night without embarrassing herself if she and Cordelia ended up close together.

     Of course things wouldn't be that easy for her. A cold foot wiggled its way between Tara and Harmony, the former letting out a little squeak as the latter whined and rolled away from the tormentor. Gracefully hopping over Willow and Tara, Cordelia landed neatly in the newly cleared space and lowered herself to the floor. She muttered a bit before rolling over and pressing her chest into Tara's side in the same position Harmony had just occupied, hand coming to rest on the witch's stomach. "If you ever tell anyone about this, I will take that lightsaber of yours and shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

     Any inappropriate thoughts Tara had been entertaining disappeared at that and she scowled, pinching the back of Cordelia's hand. "If that's the way you feel, go back to your room. The rest of us are doing our best to deal with what the magic has done to us. You don't have the monopoly on freak out here; I definitely wasn't planning on turning into an alien from my favorite movie when I dressed up for Halloween and I'm pretty sure Willow wasn't either. It's not like either of us has some sort of experience with being magically transformed that we're drawing on to handle this. We're… or at least I'm… freaking too, but I'm dealing with it as best I can. And each time you pull this, my sympathy for you gets a little bit closer to disappearing."

     Behind them both, Harmony let out a groan, her hand reaching across to slap at both Tara and Cordelia's. "Some of us are attempting to rest peacefully. If you insist on continuing your argument, please do so silently."

     Cordelia let out a grunt before falling silent, wiggling a bit to get comfortable before finally coming to rest with her cheek resting on Tara's shoulder, staring across the smaller girl at where Willow was occupying a similar position. 'You're lucky you're disturbingly comfortable.'

     'Shush and go to sleep before you suddenly find yourself with first-hand experience as to what a telekinetic wedgie feels like.'

     'Bite me, Sabrina. Wait. I probably shouldn't say that anymore, huh?'

     'Depends.'

     'On?'

     'Whether you want me to or not.'

     '…I'm just going to cut my losses and go to sleep now.'

     'Smartest thing you've said yet.'

     'Mrow. Someone's quite the little tough girl when it's only in her he… oww, oww, okay! Shutting up! Holy shit. I didn't know you could even get a wedgie wearing boy shorts. Now I know how the guys who piss off the football team feel…'


     Elizabeth groaned and stirred, blinking her eyes slowly as she tried to figure out what had happened. She'd been standing on the corner in that strange place far away from home, and then… blackness. Had she been attacked? Then she opened her eyes fully and took in the blue eyes staring back at her from a face far too close to her own, and she screamed loudly.

     Or at least she did for a few seconds, until a mouth came crashing down on hers in a rough kiss.

     The realization that this person was not her husband was enough to make Elizabeth struggle against her molester, her thrashing gaining a new fervor when her frantic hands brushed against a breast. While only male homosexuality was outright illegal in England, she likewise knew that homosexuals of either gender faced torture or death for religious reasons and had no desire to find herself swinging from a rope because some insane woman decided to have her way with her.

     When the kiss finally broke and Elizabeth got a decent look at her attacker, she realized that she had far bigger problems than what might happen to her because of some overzealous Christians. The blue eyes had been replaced with a pair of golden, demonic irises that stared down at her from under a heavy, bumpy brow. "Demon!"

     "Dinner!" Giggling, the female demon grabbed Elizabeth's wrists and pinned them to the bed over her head before swinging one leg over her hips and straddling them. Leaning down, the demoness rubbed her cheek against Elizabeth's before pulling back and staring down at her quizzically. "I don't suppose you're a Gemini, are you, lovey?"

     Blinking at the seemingly random question, Elizabeth decided that answering was in her best interest because… well, this demon evidently wanted to eat her and the longer she kept it talking, the longer she'd remain in one piece. "Capricorn by a day, I'm afraid. I don't suppose that has any bearing on why you feel the need to eat me, does it?"

     The demoness shook her head. "No. At first, I thought you were someone else. Then maybe her sister. But if you're neither… hmm. I've heard that everyone in the world has a twin they're not related to. I wonder what mine is like. Maybe if I ask nicely later, the stars will tell me…" After a long moment of contemplation, the demoness shrugged. "At any rate, I do need to eat and… well, you have been dropped into my lap. It'd be rude to throw away a perfectly good meal. Oh, and do you mind if I keep your dress after I kill you? It's ever so lovely."

     "Are you certain you have to kill me at all?"

     "Yes."

     "Well, considering I have no idea where I am at the moment and how I came to be here, I doubt I'll be receiving a proper burial. And even then, they'd likely use a different dress. So I don't suppose there's any harm in passing on my favorite dress. Someone might as well get use out of it after I die." Inwardly, Elizabeth was surprised at how calm she was about the entire thing, but there really was no use arguing or fighting. The hands gripping her wrists were like manacles of iron; this hell spawn was quite clearly stronger than her and dead set - no pun intended - on her course of action. Ever since her husband had gone mad, Elizabeth's life had been a sea of humiliation and she decided that her last minutes weren't going to be spent in the same fashion. If she was going to die - if the Lord had decided it was her time to depart from the mortal coil - she'd do it with her head held high, not begging, screaming, or crying. "Is there some proper way to do this? I'd prefer not to beg or cry, but I could fight you if you'd like?"

     Tilting her head to one side, the demoness considered that before nodding. "I do like it when my food struggles a bit. It gets the blood pumping so deliciously… thump thump… thump thump…" She let her head rest against Elizabeth's chest for a moment, pulling back when the brunette began to thrash beneath her. "Lovely! Thank you."

     And then she lunged, burying her face in Elizabeth's neck.


     "Jaffa, kree!"

     Tara shifted slightly in her sleep.

     Bringing her lightsaber up, Tara deflected a bolt of bright orange plasma down into the ground, kicking up a small explosion of dirt and grass. A slight tap on her shoulder signaled her teammate was ready and she deflected one last staff blast before sidestepping to the left. Betsy slid into place in all her buxom, black armor-clad glory, raising a yard-long black rifle and peering through the scope. Sharp cracks sounded as she squeezed off single shots, the Jaffa dropping one after another as each bullet felled one of the enemy soldiers. A particularly heavy barrage of fire came from further down the battlefield, battering at Willow's dual-saber defense and forcing the girl back a step, and Betsy grinned viciously before squeezing a second, more forward-mounted trigger.

     Foomp! A puff of smoke heralded the departure of a grenade and Tara's eyes tracked the projectile downrange, idly batting away another staff blast sent her way. The grenade landed in the middle of the Jaffa's formation, sending up a cloud of smoke and a symphony of screams. Smirking, the Togruta opened the breach and tilted the gun back to let the spent grenade round drop the ground. "Anbaugranatwerfer 36: nine hundred and fifty dollars. M433: thirty dollars. The screams of dying Jaffa: priceless."

     Tara twitched.

     Sticking to the shadows, Tara watched as a diminutive Japanese girl with a stake in hand did her best to overcome her prey's longer reach, the dark-haired woman easily managing to keep her opponent at bay with a slim black metal rod. "So sorry, lovey, but playtime's over. I need to get back to work."

     The girl - who Tara was starting to assume was a Slayer based on her single-minded obsession with fighting an obviously superior foe - shouted something in Japanese that Tara didn't understand and, judging by the eye roll, the vampire didn't either. After dodging another attempt to stake her, the vampire sighed and opened a garish pink pouch on her belt, pulling out a slim cylinder that was the same color. "Fine then. I tried to be nice." Sticking the device in the Slayer's face, she depressed a button and unleashed a spray of orangish-red fluid. As the tiny girl collapsed, gagging and wheezing, the vampire smirked and tucked her pepper spray back into its holder before collapsing her baton. "In the words of my self-defense teacher, no means no."

     Twisting, Tara rolled onto her side, clutching Willow to her chest even as Cordelia compensated by snuggling up against her back.

     Tilting her head to one side, Tara watched as Willow and her redheaded companion stretched a tape measure across the stargate, capturing different measurements including the width at where the ramp plunged through the wormhole and the height from the ramp to the top. "Willow? Betsy? What are you two up to now?"

     Willow looked back over her shoulder and then spread her arms wide, gesturing at the gate. "Just want to get a sense for how big of a… something… you could push through the network. Without turning it into a needle-threader because that'd be a pain in the butt to evacuate back to Earth in the middle of combat."

     "…does this have anything to do with the whispers I've been hearing about you and Captain Carter arguing over who could make the best 'tricked out' MALP?"

     "Yes, ma'am."

     "Ah. Carry on…"

     Tucking her chin between Willow's montrals, Tara settled back down.

     A knock on the door made everyone look up and Jack O'Neill pushed his chair back from the table, wandering over to open the conference room door and poke his head out into the hall. After some hushed conversation, he pulled his head back into the room and grinned. "Great, Bob's back from temporary reassignment. Something new came out and since the entire mountain can't report for training, we send two or three out to learn, report back, and train the rest of us." Bob? Tara frowned. She hadn't outright said 'no men allowed' when discussing team building with her new leaders, but it had been heavily implied. Oh well. Between the four of them, they'd find a way to bounce him from the team and maybe the SGC would listen to her with their next offering. "Bob?"

     A buxom redhead in BDUs stepped through the doorway and Tara's jaw dropped. Scrambling for the folder she'd left alone up till now, wanting to judge her potential new teammate for herself instead of based on what others had said, she wrenched it open and scanned the first page. Betsy O'Brien… 'BOB'. Cute. Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, MOS 0351. Tara wracked her brain, trying to remember what that specialty code meant. Infantry Assaultman. So her new teammate liked to blow things up and, according to this, had spent her last deployment taking advantage of the proffered long-distance learning services to nab herself a bachelor's degree in… theoretical exobiology? A hot chick with a thing for explosives and aliens. Santa had definitely put her on the 'nice' list this year. "Lance Corporal O'Brien, reporting as ordered."

     Surprisingly enough, it was Cordelia who blurted out the first comment. "…oorah."


     As the Earth rotated slowly, sunrise drawing ever closer to the town he had been called upon to visit, Janus knew that his time affecting the mortal realm was drawing to a close. All that was left to do was restore the townspeople changed by his magic to their original forms… and decide what to do about a few special cases.

     One was the Slayer. Or rather a Slayer. Both Slayers? When he'd transformed the Slayer into her costumed persona of Lady Byron, Janus had been surprised to see the Slayer Spirit emerge from the girl and had just barely captured it before it wandered off into the ether. Also surprising was its state: ragged, torn, and incomplete. As the havoc in Sunnydale unfolded and fueled his powers, he'd reached out and located the second and equally ragged half on an island off the opposite coast of the continent. Now he had in his possession both halves of the Slayer Spirit - melded back together into a single being, even - but what to do with it? One of its hosts was dead now and the other… alive, but there was nothing saying he had to return the Spirit to her.

     No, he decided, the Slayer Spirit would not be returning to Kendra Young. At least not by his hand. What could possibly cause more chaos than one Slayer dying and the other losing her powers in one night, leaving the Watchers scrambling to try and find their new weapon? True, the Spirit might choose to return to Kendra… but with how many girls there were in the world in the appropriate age range, what were the odds?

     Releasing the Slayer Spirit to float off in search of a new home, Janus returned his focus to the town and its citizens, seeking out a specific quartet who'd caught his attention earlier that evening. He found them in a single house, in a single room, curled up together as a group. Interesting. He'd thought modern humans too prudish for that sort of thing. Perhaps they'd gotten in touch with their inner striped bipedal pack hunter creature?

     Prowling through the minds of the four girls, he chortled. They were far from friends: the closest relationship among them was a false friendship between two girls who participated in some bizarre activity that was a combination of mating display and athletic contest. The rest… the links between them varied from a teacher-student relationship to a burgeoning but still weak true friendship to outright hatred. Two were worried about how tonight might affect their future, the third was too out of it from her head injury to worry about much of anything, and the fourth wasn't but only because her true mind was too badly suppressed by the foreign presence to do much of anything.

     There was potential for even more chaos here, but the question was… how?

     The easiest and most obvious answer was to leave them transformed. Linked together, cut off from the rest of humanity… all sorts of interesting things could happen. Or he could return them to being human but leave their memories and powers. No, that would be far too simple and - dare he say it - boring. He wasn't the type to give freely without demanding compensation in return; Ethan Rayne's life had been forfeit the moment he'd invoked Janus, even if he hadn't known it. Where was the benefit in giving away powers? But to give them powers while causing major upheaval in their lives… there was chaos there. And therefore payment for services rendered.

     Yes, he liked that idea.

     Although he'd have to fix that one girl's mind. Right now, she was just too boring to be fun…


     "Okay, someone has five seconds to explain why I'm in some freaky dyke cuddle puddle and then I'm going to start kicking butt."

     Groaning, Tara rubbed her chin against the spot between Willow's montrals where it'd been resting comfortably since… whenever she shifted position in the night… and tried to ignore the familiar voice. "Harmony, shut the hell up and go back to sleep." As she tried to drift back off to sleep, something hit her and Tara's eyes popped open. Harmony was back to her old self? Did that mean the spell was broken? Reaching up, she tentatively poked at one of her own montrals. She could feel the touch of her finger against skin that hadn't been a part of her before the spell was cast. Her montral was still real, so obviously she was still a Togruta and, just as obviously, the spell was still in effect. So why had Harmony reverted, at least partially?

     "Oww oww oww! What the fuck?!" Even though she couldn't see it with her eyes, Tara's montrals painted a picture of what was going on behind her: Cordelia was warding off blows from Harmony before finally going on the offensive and managing to land a punch directly on the girl's nose, stunning her. "Okay, seriously, that is the worst fucking alarm clock ever. What the hell, Harm?"

     The commotion woke Willow and Tara allowed the sleepy girl to roll away onto her back, sitting up so she could keep an eye on Cordelia and Harmony. The second-in-command of the Cordettes leapt to her feet, looking around with wild eyes as she used one hand to cover her nose. "You tell me! The last thing I remember is being in the Bronze dancing near Rosenberg and then I wake up curled up with you, the dyke, and the geek on the floor of… are we at your house? I don't know where the hell I am, how I got here, why I'm here, why I'm wearing one of your shirts instead of my costume, or why I woke up with your hand on my butt! I am so totally allowed to be freaking out here!"

     Tara's eyes narrowed at Harmony for her renewed use of a homophobic slur but before she could act, Cordelia sat up and pantomimed a slap that her telekinesis delivered. With a sharp crack, Harmony's head whipped to one side and Cordelia stared at her hand for a moment before looking up at her friend. "What did I tell you about calling her that?"

     "Well I'm pretty sure it wasn't your idea to pull this shit and Rosenberg's never touched another person period." Scowling, Harmony's hand abandoned her nose to trace over her purpling cheek, and then she crossed her arms over her chest. "So either it was the dyke or…"

     Twisting, Cordelia's legs tangled with Harmony's and brought the ranting girl crashing to the floor, sending Tara scrambling for safety on the other side of Willow, who was now looking a good deal more awake than she had been a minute ago. The pair of cheerleaders rolled back and forth several times before Cordelia gained control, pinning Harmony beneath her as she straddled the other girl's waist. Leaning down, she pressed her forearm against her friend's neck and growled. "Behave or I'll make you behave."

     Harmony's head twisted back and forth, eyes wide as she looked from Cordelia to Tara and back. "You're not in charge. She is. You're her bitch. I saw you… wait, why do I remember her being all naughty with you in the Bronze all of a sudden?"

     "Yes, well, if I'm her bitch? Not saying that I am or anything, but being theoretical here… if I am her bitch? That's going to make you the bitch's bitch if I have to put you on a leash." Squirming, Harmony batted wildly at Cordelia's arm in an attempt to force her back. That just made Cordelia sigh and roll her eyes. "Fine. Be difficult then." Her free arm moved to press down on Harmony's chest, allowing her to remove the arm blocking Harmony's neck. Cordelia leaned down further, pressing her body against the smaller girl's as she mimicked Tara and went for Harmony's jugular.

     A soft snicker made Tara glance down at where Willow was staring at the pair of cheerleaders with wide eyes. "Have to agree about being the worst alarm clock ever, but the entertainment value is almost enough to make me forgive Cordelia for last night. Almost. Did I miss anything good?"

     Tara shook her head slightly at that. "Not really. You got knocked out, we raided Ethan's, Giles came up here to research with us, and then we broke up for the night. Woke you up, changed you, put you back to sleep." Turning back to the 'entertainment', as Willow had called it, Tara's lips quirked up. She could think of worse ways to spend her morning than watching two half-naked cheerleaders wrestling in front of her. Even if Harmony was back to her normal self mentally, she wasn't exactly hard on the eyes. "You know, I was kinda hoping Harmony would put up a bit more of a fight… stretch this out a bit longer."

     Alas, it wasn't to be. As they watched, Harmony went limp beneath Cordelia and turned her head to the side, glaring at them even as she submitted to Cordelia's power play. "This sucks, I hate you all, and I'm not a dy… err, lesbian."

     "None of us are happy about this, I hate you too, dear, and Tara's still the only one batting for that team last time I checked." Sitting up, Cordelia stretched and then cracked her neck. "What does that have to do with anything?"

     Harmony gestured to their touching bodies. "Um, if I'm not getting off on this and you're supposedly not getting off on being all rubbing up against me, can you find somewhere else to sit? Because this is really uncomfortable."

     Snorting, Cordelia slid off her perch on Harmony's stomach and moved to sit with her legs beneath her. "If you think that was bad, pray we can fix this before we have to sleep again. The reason we're all curled up together - or were, before you flipped out - was because it's impossible to sleep apart. Trust me. I tried everything."

     "Fix what? I still don't even know what's going on. What happened last night? Why do we need to sleep together? Why did I know what was happening and what to do when Cordelia went all pounce 'n bite on me? And why…" Trailing off, Harmony patted at her lekku before reaching up to likewise touch her montrals. "Why the hell can I feel it when I touch these? They're not real. They're rubber or latex or whatever the hell fake Hollywood alien parts are made of."

     Tara sighed. No, they weren't real. That's why Harmony could feel them and all. Idiot girl. Her eyes moved over to where Cordelia seemed just as disgusted with her friend's stupidity and something occurred to Tara. While she hadn't planned to create a more complicated social structure among their temporary pack than a sole alpha and three betas, if Cordelia wanted to further suppress Harmony and hold dominance over her… then she could deal with the whiny bimbo. 'Cordelia?' The girl's head twisted so fast, Tara was surprised she didn't get whiplash. 'I'm going to need your help. I'm going to send Willow home because her parents are gone and go home too. We'll shower, change, and meet you at the library at noon. Does Harmony have spare clothes here?'

     Nodding, Cordelia used telekinesis to slide the closet door open and summon a pair of jeans and a tank top. 'After last night, I think I can get her head through the tank top without too much difficulty.' Tara reached up, fingering at where they'd been forced to take a scissors to the neck hole of her new t-shirt, enlarging it so her oversized alien head could fit through. 'If she starts mouthing off, I'll just… handle her. And the fact that biting is the first thing that comes to mind is so wrong.'

     'You'll get used to it. Assuming we can't fix this. If we can, no problem, right?' Cordelia contemplated that for a second before nodding and Tara took a moment to catch Willow up on her plans before rising to her feet and returning her attention to Cordelia. 'Get Harmony showered, changed, and fed. Hopefully if she's happy, you can make her sit down and shut up long enough to explain everything. You know her better than I do, so you'll probably be better at getting things across than I'd be.'

     Cordelia batted at Harmony's hand as the other girl shook her, keeping her focus on their silent conversation. 'Great. Why am I the one stuck getting Harm up to speed? I mean, I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know how to tie shoes. And I'm so not exaggerating. She started wearing loafers in second grade because she got tired of being the only one who couldn't do it and feeling stupid, then switched to heels as soon as she could.'

     Staring at Harmony in disbelief, Tara shook her head. Maybe they'd been better off with smart, boring Harmony. 'Well, two reasons. One, she's your friend. And two, I'm the boss and I'm telling you to.' While she still wasn't entirely sure how she'd ended up the alpha of their group - the suspicions she'd voiced to Cordelia were nothing more - she wasn't going to argue it. Being in control was surprisingly fun, she was discovering, especially when her minions were so pretty.

     '…is it too late to try for alpha?'

     'Do you think you can take me, Cordelia?'

     'Grr. Fine. Time to start thinking in small words.'


     Even though the sun was fully up by the time she left, the combination of Sunnydale Syndrome and Force-assisted speed helped Willow navigate the streets of Sunnydale to Amapola Avenue and the safety of her house. Just as when she'd left for Tara's house the night before, there was only one car in the driveway… meaning either the other was still in the long-term lot at LAX or her parents had come and gone again. Either way, the net result was the same: an empty house that was safe to enter.

     Passing through the front door, Willow tossed her keys on the nearby table and quickly scampered up the stairs to her room. As good a night's sleep as the position had gotten her, Tara had been a veritable furnace and she'd sweated a whole bunch. At least they hadn't left her in her costume; she would have melted. Still, all she wanted now was a nice long shower, some lavender body wash to chase away the stink, and some clean clothes.

     Clean clothes turned out to be a bit problematic. She had sweaters a-plenty and lots of t-shirts… but not much else, at least for tops. Longer skirts, she had plenty of, and she owned plenty of jeans and corduroys. Digging through her wardrobe, she let a low growl of frustration. Maybe a pair of overalls and she could wrap a length of fabric around her chest and stomach to keep it from being too show-y? Or… well, she had jumpers that she usually wore a sweater under, but the second layer wasn't necessary. They'd cover enough and the zipper back and straps meant she wouldn't have problems getting it on.

     Wandering over to the closet, Willow went from jumper to jumper, but nothing seemed to call to her. They all seemed so bland… so boring. Nothing black, or even in dark colors. Which, Willow realized with a pause, was weird. Since when did she like those colors? What was wrong with bright or plaid or funky patterns with animals or flowers or whatever?

     Her gaze wandered over to her costume, which she'd stripped out of as soon as she'd entered her room and laid out on the bed to be washed.

     Oh. Since then.

     After considering her options for a few more seconds, Willow grabbed a dark red corduroy jumper and laid it over one arm before collecting clean underwear and heading off to the blissful embrace of Señor Water Heater.


     Entering the Spanish Colonial style house at 1877 Manuel Avenue, Tara paused at the base of the stairs and stared into the living room. A smaller figure, also possessing red skin, montrals, and lekku, was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal and some cartoons for company. "Deirdra?" Her younger sister didn't even deign to look back, just letting out a vaguely affirmative noise. "Are you actually stuck like that or are you just being weird?"

     Deirdra Baxter snorted and a tiny object floated upward before firing itself at Tara like a missile. The Jedi Shadow's hand snatched the object out of midair, examining the Cheerio for a moment before popping it into her mouth. Well, that answered that question.

     "Oh Goddess, you too?" Tara turned her attention back to the staircase, or rather to the figure standing at the top of them. Rebecca Baxter slowly descended the stairs, reaching up to gently brush her fingers against one of Tara's montrals. "I'll skip over the scolding for being out all night this once, because there are clearly bigger things to worry about here. Like my daughter turning into an alien clownfish."

     Giggles came from the living room and Tara shot her little sister a glare before her enhanced senses caught the odor rolling off her own body and she scrunched up her nose in disgust. "It's a long story. Can I at least have a shower first?"

     "Please do. And Deirdra, stop giggling. If she's an alien clownfish, what does that make you?"

     "Shutting up?"

     "Smart girl."