8x05: "Fringes"
(commentary by Jet Wolf and Ultrace)
[ Download All Clips :: 22MB ]

[ Download Clip #1 ]

Ultrace: I hereby decree you to hold the microphone.
Jet Wolf: Thank you. Ah, so here we are with another commentary. And this is Jet Wolf.
U: And this is Ultrace.
JW: And this is the commentary for "Fringes", which I don't think Ultrace knew that was the one we were doing. But ... that's the one that we're doing.
U: Oh. All right. Yay for "Fringes"!
JW: Uh, we chose to do this one, uhm ... based largely upon it being sort of uh, the first episode where we get, uhm, our bad guys introduced. And it's a pretty big episode with Buffy kinda coming back and her not really fitting in very well and sets up for Judith and all that. So we thought there was a lot of- a lot of things happened in this one that we could probably find something to talk about.
U: I'd have something more introspective to throw in here, but I was all prepared for the other one, so I got nothing.
JW: Oh, I see, blame that. Right.
U: Okay, well if I HAD been prepared for the other one, I might feel less prepared for this one.

Teaser

The dining room at the Scoobies' house was filled nearly to capacity. The long oak table in the center of the room was surrounded; Buffy and Giles sat across from each other at the ends of the table. Dawn sat to one side of Buffy with Xander on the other and Faith between him and Giles. Willow sat next to Dawn with Kennedy on her left. The meal was obviously winding to a close, most plates having been completely emptied.

Faith grabbed the wine bottle nearby and began filling her glass, glancing up when a Powerpuff Girls mug was suddenly thrust at her.

"Oo, more for me, too," Dawn insisted.

Shrugging, Faith reached out with the bottle. "Sure—" she began.

"No," came the immediate, simultaneous response from Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles.

Without missing a beat, Faith retracted the bottle smoothly and set it back down on the table. "Ooookay then," she responded, sipping her own glass.

[ Download Clip #2 ]

Jet Wolf: So I'm actually going to have to READ this episode <Ultrace laughs> because I remember next to nothing about it at this point.
Ultrace: The opening- The open— I remember the opening dialogue here is very, very amusing. You know, I started to feel kinda ... eh, as the family like started going at each others throats about what Buffy should do, but the whole bit with Dawn and Faith with the wine and the Powerpuff mug. It was very— It was amusing.
JW: This was an important scene because it was the first time we had everybody together. Uhm, Buffy just came back last episode, and uh, this is sort of the first indication we've had that they've, uh ... They- They're sort of sitting down and trying to get into something of a status quo for them, whatever the hell that is.
U: It was also kind of important or cool, I thought, to express that Faith was there with them. Uhm—
JW: Right.
U: At the table? I don't remember, is actually Kennedy...?
JW: Kennedy's there too. Kennedy's still living with them at this point.
U: Yeah. But I mean, that didn't mean that she wasn't like off patrolling or something that night.
JW: Well no, no. It was- It was meant to be a very, you know sort of dysfunctional family sort of situation. <Ultrace chuckles> It was important to have Faith there because ... whether she's kind of integrated as part of the family unit or not at this point, Faith IS a main part of the cast, of course. And kinda getting Faith into an area where she's gonna be as much of- of a Scooby as she's ever going to be, uh, being something of a goal. Uh, which, obviously, was not fulfilled in this season but, you know. This is why we have MULTIPLE seasons.
U: Heh heh heh.
JW: Uh, and having Kennedy there as well was important. Uhm, again part of- part of the main cast and we knew, obviously, Kennedy was gonna be ousted from the household. Or ... "Ousted" was the wrong word. Choose to LEAVE the household before everything was all said and done. But still, it's, you know, all the cast coming together for the first time.
U: Yeah.

Dawn huffed and heavily returned her mug to its original place next to her, just as Willow was ready to fill it to the brim with a much more appropriate beverage. "Growing girls need their milk," she explained cheerfully. "Lots of yummy calcium."

The dark look shooting from Dawn's eyes would have made lesser individuals cower in terror. Willow simply smiled indulgently as she finished topping off the mug.

"I'm, what? Technically several thousand years old? I think I'm done growing."

[ Download Clip #3 ]

Jet Wolf: I love throwing in references that Dawn makes to being the Key? That always just amuses me. That every now and again, she- she tries so hard to just be normal and, but whenever it suits her purposes, suddenly it's like, "Well I'm several thousand years old, so I should be able to do what I want!" But then the rest of the time it's all like, "But I'm seventeeeen, I don't wanna do this!" <Ultrace chuckles> This episode, if I remember correctly, gave me an awful lot of trouble. I—
U: Well ....... Okay, never mind. I was thinking of uhm, "Where the Heart is".
JW: No, that was just a BITCH.
U: I was gonna say, that one gave us BOTH a lot of trouble.
JW: It was just those frickin' zombies. Uhm, no, this one I remember I-I spent a lot of time— And this episode turned out drastically different from how it was originally planned. In- In almost all respects. Uh, but we can get into that a little bit more when we get to the- the bits that changed and were wrong.
U: But yes, this was a tricky episode. But I- I remember you actually being happy with the result until—
JW: Yeah.
U: Until somebody came along and said, you know, "Gee, I know immediately that it was, you know, Judith."
JW: Well that didn't actually ...... Obviously I wanted it to be more of a question but, I figured out much later— This episode contains one of my big regrets. Something that I wish I could differently would be with "Fringes". Uhm, again we'll discuss that more when we get to the relevant portion.
U: Sorry, I was jumping ahead of the gun there.
JW: No, that's all right. But this one was a bitch. I remember complaining quite vocally to anybody who would listen <Ultrace laughs> about how much trouble this episode was giving me. And I can't exactly remember why except for uh, it was in that kind of tricky ... tricky period where I was trying to do something very specific and— Like I don't always try and do something very specific, that's very stupid. Uhm, just trying to get more into the flow. Of course this is the fifth episode so ... Uhm, not quite in my rhythm. The one before it, which was "The Name of the Game", that one had a much greater flow for me. Probably because it was lot more dialogue-intensive, and I kind of had- had paired the characters off a little bit more. You know. I had Dawn and her friends, and that was very clear and set in my mind as where I was going with that. And then Giles, Xander, Wood and Andrew, and that was all just comic relief. Willow and Kennedy, I knew where I wanted them to go. This one was, because it had gone through so many different changes between what it was conceived to be and what it insisted on becoming when I was writing it, I think it gave me a lot of trouble because of that.
U: Sounds about right.

"Then you should worry about osteoporosis," replied Willow without hesitation. "Still needin' milk, still with the calcium," she added with a firm nod.

Across the table, Xander waggled his fork at Dawn. "Better drink up before she switches out your Flintstones vitamins for Centrum Silver."

Dawn pouted as only a maligned teenager could. She glanced to Faith, hoping for some modicum of sympathy, but the dark Slayer only toasted her before sipping the wine again. It was quite a feat, but somehow Dawn managed to pout even more; Willow and Xander were impressed.

"This is good," Buffy declared, breaking the budding tension. "With the food and the company and the food and the me not cleaning up and the food."

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say she enjoyed dinner," commented Kennedy, leaning over to Giles.

"Yes, that was my interpretation as well." Giles smiled across the table at Buffy, clearly pleased that the meal had gone over well. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm only sorry it took so long for us all to gather together."

Buffy shrugged nonchalantly before taking a long, dramatic sigh. "That's okay. I mean there was the bit where I cried at night, wailing to the unfeeling gods in my abandoned misery," she brightened considerably, "but then I remembered that being home meant cable, and all was well."

[ Download Clip #4 ]

Ultrace: I love that. "There was the bit where I cried at night, wailing to the unfeeling gods in my abandoned misery." Hee-hee. The actual punchline about home being cable, I dunno. It's a- It's a good line, but I loved her like little "wailing to the unfeeling gods".
Jet Wolf: That was all in there because uhm, I try and make every episode have a week elapse in between. Uhm, which is much like the show itself used to do, unless it very specifically gave you an indication, you could sort of assume, "Okay, it's been a week since we've seen us last, then it's been— a week has gone by since, you know, all this stuff happened." Well here we are, having our first family gathering, and yet Buffy's been back since the end of last episode. So that was kind of me trying to get around a reason why we're just now getting to see this. Despite the fact that it should have happened you know, six, seven days ago.

"You mean that was you?" queried Xander with surprise. "I thought it was—" He turned to behold Willow and Kennedy, both staring at him with matching flat, entirely unamused glares. Gulping audibly, he hastily corrected himself. "–a cat. I thought it was a cat." He sipped his water and managed to look absolutely everywhere but directly ahead.

Faith was less discerning and with an evil glint, opened her mouth to interject. Until she spied Dawn's doe-eyed expression and the 'speak your next words carefully as they may be your last' glare coming from Buffy. Grudgingly, Faith returned her attentions to the wine glass, muttering, "I had so much more fun when I didn't give a crap about getting along with you guys."

"So," Kennedy began, a bit too loudly, as she turned to Buffy, "now you're back, what're your plans?"

[ Download Clip #5 ]

Jet Wolf: Here we start to bring in also Kennedy sort of feeling that now Buffy's back, Kennedy herself is gonna be displaced from the Slayerness.
Ultrace: Yes.
JW: Which is very underplayed throughout the course of the season, but I think if you go back and look at all of Kennedy's interactions, particularly with Buffy, this kind of comes to the forefront. Kennedy very pleased with being, you know ... Number One, Number Two. Sharing the Number One spot, if you will, in Slayer Central. And yet, she knows that as soon as Buffy comes in she's gonna lose that and she's gonna be demoted – not- not OFFICIALLY, but in her own mind – will be demoted to, you know, a third-rate Slayer. And she's still one of the top ones there, but when you've got Buffy and you've got Faith, Kennedy is always gonna come in third. Uh, she might've— Because Faith herself so totally doesn't care most of the time, Kennedy could kind of surge to the forefront when it was just Faith around. But when Buffy's around, she knows that- that's not gonna happen. Buffy herself is a legend. It's- It's not gonna be easy. Which, like I say, sets up for the whole idea of her- her leaving to go to Europe for Season 9.
U: Yeah. You did a good job of actually explaining that during "Aid & Abet".
JW: Right.
U: But clearly it was being set up here, long distance. Cuz ... I don't think when we were writing this that we had decided that she WAS leaving, I think—
JW: Oh no, we did. <chuckles>
U: We did?
JW: That Kennedy was leaving?
U: You were- You were up in the air about it until like—
JW: No nono. I knew at— By the time I was writing this one, uhm ... Cuz remember I had Giles in the very first episode say, "Oh! We're setting up a European branch! It'll be ready by this time next year!" And that was- that was designed SPECIFICALLY to send Kennedy there.
U: Yes.
JW: Because I didn't wanna deal with her.
U: But you were still ...
JW: But not at this point. At this point she hadn't endeared herself to me at this point. It wasn't until later – and I don't remember exactly where this happened – but it was around "Inside Out", I think where I actually had her broken up with Willow and then I had to deal with her AWAY from Willow. And I had to— Cuz you know, sending Kennedy off, as I said, was always the plan. Uhm, but at this point when I was writing this, the character hadn't become real for me. She was still just this little hanger-on who irritated me when I watched the episodes. <Ultrace chuckles> Uhm, but when we got further on into the season, particularly when we got her away from Willow and I had to deal with Kennedy as her own character as opposed to simply someone who was hanging around and sleeping with Willow, uhm ... It's around that point that she- she began to take on a life of her own. So at THIS stage we knew we were sending her off. A-And I didn't care. But it wasn't until around the middle of the season where suddenly I'm like, "Hey, I-I'm kinda liking Kennedy, do I really wanna send her away?"
U: Yeah.
JW: And the answer obviously was "Yes" ultimately, but ah ... So yeah, so at this point she hadn't ... I was like, "Oh, she's going."

"Yeah, the whole 'bum' concept loses appeal when it's not in a foreign country," commented Xander confidently, as though speaking from great experience.

Buffy glanced from Kennedy to Xander, appearing lost for a moment before Willow exclaimed, "Oh!" like she'd just discovered the cure for cancer, the secret to world peace and innate knowledge of why there are five syllables in 'monosyllabic', all in that exact moment. "School!" she continued with the same level of enthusiasm. "With the learning! You never did get to go back, what with the Hellgod and the dying and the ..." Trailing off, finding the subject uncomfortable, the redhead quickly got back on track. "Bu-But now, there's money o' plenty a-and a very appreciated lack of big-haired, skanky evil to fight, so lots of free time to go back!"

Willow's 1000-watt smile threatened to blind everyone daring to look directly at it, but her enthusiasm was not infectious.

"IIII dunno, Will," Buffy drug out as she rubbed the back of her neck, clearly not buying into the idea. "It's way too late for registration this term, and the thought of auditing again does nothing but drudge up unpleasant memories of mummy hands and time loss."

"Evil lint," added Xander, nodding sagely.

Gesturing at the carpenter, Buffy presented Xander's words as final proof.

"Payin' for school," remarked Faith with a disbelieving shake of her head. "Just seems unnatural to me. An' why bother anyway? People go to college or whatever to get trainin' to get a job." Draining the remainder of wine, she reached for the bottle to refill it again, her eyes on Buffy. "Way I see it, B, you already got a sweet ride set up. All you gotta do is jump in an' hang on."

Xander frowned at Faith's word choice and swiveled in his chair to look at her directly. "It's a life choice, not a dune buggy."

At this, miniature conversations erupted almost simultaneously around the table, as it seemed that everyone had some sort of opinion and felt quite keenly that they should vocalize it.

Rankling at Xander's words, Faith scowled at him. "I know what life is, Harris, an' what to do with it." She appraised him critically, not appearing terribly impressed with what she saw. "Question is, do you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Xander defensively.

[ Download Clip #6 ]

Jet Wolf: Uhm, and we start of here too with some sort of uh- with some friction between Faith and Xander. That kinda came out a l— The original version of this actually had it a whole lot more bitter between the two of them. They were really going at each other. But then I realized that with that sort of level of animosity that I was creating – which wasn't necessarily something that I feel SHOULD happen, but something that just DID happen when I was writing it – it kinda was incongruous with them later on in the episode when their friendship begins to form. Which is, you know ... Cuz this doesn't happen too terribly long before they- they meet each other at the memorial later. So uhm, I kinda had to tone it down a little bit cuz ... they were just REALLY layin' into each other.
Ultrace: Yeah.
JW: And it kinda came out of nowhere and I didn't plan for it to be that way, it just ... <chuckles> Faith spat, and Xander spat back.

Buffy opened her mouth to try and divert the conversation before it could get ugly, but instead her focus was redirected as Kennedy jumped in first.

"When you say 'sweet ride'," she questioned Faith with a furrowed brow, "what do you mean exactly?"

Willow however had latched on to a completely different portion of Faith's feelings about Buffy's possible choices. "School's not just about degrees and- and career fairs," the redhead protested indignantly. "It's about learning! Knowledge for knowledge's sake! Buffy has the right to- to know stuff. And she's good at knowing stuff!" Willow added, gesturing at Buffy. The Slayer's face broke into a proud grin that persisted, even as the witch began to frown. "Okay, maybe not French so much," she amended in an afterthought as Buffy's face fell, "but other stuff!"

As though Willow hadn't spoken, Kennedy persisted. "Because we, you know, have trainers already ..."

"There's no denying we can always use another set of experienced hands with the new Slayers," Giles said thoughtfully, not seeing Kennedy's sharp look. He smiled across at the blonde Slayer. "Particularly Buffy's."

Her answering smile was weak and appeared to be more a grimace, but Xander's raised voice quickly attracted her full attention.

"Oh that's right, I forgot, you don't actually have the same kind of restraint we mere mortals do. And how's that workin' out for ya? Tried to kill any friends lately?"

"I cut way back, but I'm thinkin' about startin' up again," replied Faith pointedly.

"Then there's the on-campus activities," Willow continued, wrapped up in her own world somewhere far, far from this one. "Though I don't recommend environmental groups cuz, you know, scary. A-And, oh! History!" She whipped around toward Buffy with such enthusiasm that the Slayer actually jumped slightly. "The history department's one of the best. Plus, increased knowledge can only help broaden the quip material ..."

"Yeah, but, trainers." Kennedy was also locked in her own space, and from her expression, wasn't enjoying it anywhere near as much. "Sitting here. Training." Glancing from Faith to herself, she paused. "Or, well, not right now, but in a general sense ..."

Eyes darting from one person to the next, Buffy's expression becoming increasingly lost with each passing second. Dawn, the only one who hadn't said a word, casually leaned over to her sister to make herself heard above the din.

"Welcome home," she smiled pleasantly.

Buffy whimpered.

[ Download Clip #7 ]

Ultrace: Ahhh yes.
Jet Wolf: <chuckles> This, uh, this scene is our first appearance of Madrigan and The Shrouded Circle. Uhm ... This Madrigan, NOTHING like the first Madrigan. This entire scene <Ultrace laughs> was scrapped and rewritten. Uhm ...
Ultrace: <old man voice> You tell me about it ...
JW: He was TERRIBLE. I wrote the first scene and I- I actually – this is gonna sound so freaky. Uhm, when I first started doing this and I created Madrigan and Robespierre, uh, and Seneca ... Seneca wasn't even really in the picture at this point. I knew I was gonna HAVE him, but I don't even know if I got far enough to introduce him when I wrote this first scene. Uhm, but Robespierre, I had like this just WEIRD, totally different envisionment for Robespierre. And I don't think I— I hadn't— I couldn't have figured out the whole chaos and order thing that he had going, uhm, but my first- my first visions of Robespierre, he was like this totally effeminate, like you know, total ... ponce. He was just uhm ... Oh, I mean, you wouldn't recognize him. He was NOTHING like what he turned into. Uhm, but I hadn't actually written Robespierre at this point, so I just had Madrigan. So I wanted to contrast to that. So I had- I had Madrigan that I created and he was like this ... really like ominously powerful, you know uhm ... Kind of sepulfric voice and ...
U: But wasn't he old?
JW: Yeah, he was probably old. He wasn't- He wasn't young like this. But I mean, I don't know if I had him like this old wizened thing sitting there, you know. I don't think I'd take him to that level. But I think he was pretty old. But I- I wanted to create this sense of real power with Madrigan. Uhm, and so I wrote this scene and I did. I created this real, you know, ominous kind of looming figure. And I read it, and I'm like, "I am SO BORED." He just bored the shit of me. I'm like, "There is no way. I cannot have this guy and have to deal with him for as long as I'm gonna have to deal with Madrigan, I cannot have him like this, because I am just bored to tears." So completely scrapped him. I scrapped the whole scene and I just sat down and I thought. And I'm like, "Okay, what can I do?" And then I thought— Then that was the first thing that came to my mind, was when he shoots the guy. You know. Cuz obviously, the original Madrigan didn't do it in like a "Bang-bang, you're dead" kind of way. It was just kinda like, <makes noise> "You're dead."
U: It'd be all like Darth Vader with the Force.
JW: Yeah, very Darth Vaderish, I suppose really. Very Emperor Palpatine. You know. And uhm ... And then I just got the idea of him doing that, and actually shootin' the guy with a little magic bullet. And him exploding. And then the- then the voice popped into my head and said, "Excellent, this rocks." <Ultrace laughs> And I'm like, "Okay, that's Madrigan." Uhm, at this point. So, him completely different. I can't even imagine how the series would've turned out with the original Madrigan – the old, crotchety, BORING ASS son of a bitch that I had – and not this one. I adore Madrigan at this point but this- this character just ... He just walked in. He opened the door and said, "Hey, here I am!" You know. And uh, series would've been dramatically different had- had Madrigan not been this way. I think.
U: I think it's safe to say that the readers would prefer this Madrigan—
JW: Oh yes.
U: —to the crotchety old Madrigan. Although, it's interesting to think of what would've become of Seneca if you'd kept the crotchety old Madrigan. Because I think Seneca would've been your outlet. For a more interesting character.
JW: I don't think that the Madrigan I originally created would've tolerated it. I really don't. You know, a-a joking Seneca? I mean, to keep Seneca the same?
U: Not necessarily joking, but he would've had a- a different ... Maybe he wouldn't have even been more casual, because maybe the Madrigan you originally created wouldn't have—
JW: Right. I don't think they would've had that relationship. It was- It was gonna be— Not that I ever got far enough to write it, but just thinking about it? I think the original Madrigan, Seneca would've just totally been like a lacky. You know. Which ..... This Seneca, kinda has lacky tendencies, but only because it suits him.
U: Yeah.
JW: You know. Uhm, so this- this just ... I can't even conceive of that Madrigan in my mind at this point. This one has so completely taken over. I mean, he's just got this whole surfer dude thing going, you know. I love Madrigan. So I'm ... I was never happier with anything that I changed than I was about this. That first Madrigan just sucked ASS.

A similar large oak table was situated in the center of another location, however all similarities between the two settings ended there. Whereas Buffy's welcome home dinner was brightly lit and, degeneration into argument aside, a companionable event, the atmosphere at this meeting was all business.

Aside from the table, there were only two features in the room that were at all remarkable. The first, a giant pentagram drawn on the center of the floor, surrounded by runic markings and ornate symbols pulsating with a deep blue light. The second, its light throbbing in time with the other markings, was a stylized representation of an eye appearing to be affixed to the top of a long, strangely pointed stick or rod.

Eleven robed figures sat around the table, five on each side and one at its head. Power hummed from each individual, and yet all eyes remained riveted on the lone man, commanding the respect and attention afforded him by his seat of authority. No one spoke, and save for the constant buzz of energy in the air, there was no sound. Expectantly, patiently, they waited.

Eyes closed and lost deep in thought, the man at head of the table absently stroked the dirty blond stubble on his chin with the pad of his thumb. Closer examination revealed him to be young, no more than 25 or 26, an even greater contrast to the assembled men and women around the table, most of whom were graying and obviously advanced in years. Still though, they sat in silence, awaiting his words of infinite wisdom.

"Excellent. This rocks," he finally proclaimed with enthusiasm. His eyes opened and he focused upon the person sitting to his immediate right.

'Inhuman' would not have been an unfair adjective, despite the fact that the man appeared to be anything but. His irises, rather than blue or brown, were instead goldenrod, bright and almost ablaze in the darkness. At first glance, it seemed he had no pupil whatsoever, his eyes almost consumed by the strange color, but a pupil was indeed visible – only slightly larger than a pinprick of the deepest black directly in the center.

The figure, a elderly woman with streaks of dark brown still lingering amidst the gray, inclined her head, accepting his words as a compliment.

"The Sangerand?" the young man queried, his unblinking gaze never wavering.

[ Download Clip #8 ]

Ultrace: And the first mention of the Sangerand.
Jet Wolf: Yes, first mention of the Sangerand. Obviously you don't know a whole lot about the Sangerand. And I'm not going to tell it to you either!
U: Of course not.
JW: This is obviously a plot line that we'll be picking up at a later point. But yes, first mention of the Sangerand. Uhm .......
U: Can't really say much.
JW: Thinkin'. Tryin' to think of what else I can say about that.
U: Nope. You can't.
JW: Not comin' up with a whole lot. Except for you DO have clues, and if you think about them ... you might possibly be able to put something together already. Not saying you have or haven't, those of you who participate on the forums. However. <Ultrace chuckles>

She bowed her head again before answering. "Everything is falling into place," she assured him, her voice raspy and deferred. "We are expecting a report tomorrow evening. Once we have enough information about the organization, we can decide upon and proceed with the next phase."

The man nodded, pleased with her answer. "And they don't have a clue?"

"They are not in the least bit aware. They're trusting to the last."

He grinned broadly at this, displaying a set of perfectly even, straight teeth. Despite a somewhat scrawny appearance, he looked as though he might have stepped out of the cover of an Eddie Bauer catalog – were it not for his unnatural and disconcerting eyes.

"You know," he remarked conversationally, his cheerful spirits coming through bright and clear, "you have to appreciate their predictability."

Toward the end of the table, another figure leaned forward slightly, peering hesitantly around his neighbor and raising a tentative hand, like a timid first grader asking for the bathroom pass. "L-Lord Madrigan," he began, stuttering over his words, "the Assemblage of Merodach has been pressing for—"

[ Download Clip #9 ]

Jet Wolf: Uhm, the Assemblage of Merodach ... We didn't actually mention this group was called "The Shrouded Circle" until later on in the season. Uh, but the Assemblage of Merodach we did establish immediately and we did want to make it clear that the two groups were quite different. Uhm, although we didn't mention Madrigan's group by name just yet. And sort of set up already the animosity between Madrigan and Robespierre. Well not even animosity, I suppose. Madrigan just doesn't CARE about Robespierre at all. He's so completely inconsequential. He needs him for something very specific and as soon as that purpose is over and done with then he's just Madrigan's pawn. Uhm, and Madrigan just very secure in his own sense of self. He knows that he has complete control over EVERYTHING. And as a result he's able to be this sort of like- looks like he doesn't care.
Ultrace: Mm-hm.
JW: Which, you know, Robespierre completely can't tolerate.
U: Yeah.
JW: Just has no- no concept of this at all.
U: And of course they mention the prototype and ... I know when I originally read this, I ... I knew what our ultimate plan was, but still when I think of "prototype", the first thing I think of is a machine. An item, maybe an artifact.
JW: Mm-hm.
U: You know. I don't think of, "Oh, it's a monster or, you know, a Super Slayer girl."
JW: Yeah, it is the Super Slayer. He's saying he'll get the first Super Slayer when Madrigan is good and ready to give it to him.
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, and that prototype does eventually become the girl that we see in "Loves, Labor, Lost". That- That girl is the prototype. Uhm, and the second prototype – prototype 2.0 – is Judith.
U: Prototype Bad Ass.
JW: Also our first mention of the Antediluvian. That's right. We had a lot of stuff dropped in this episode. A lot— We had, like, a whole cup of plot just spilled all over you in this one.
U: Oh yeah. It's like, you know, "La di da, let's see." "The Name of the Game"— Or actually, hang on. It's like, you know, uh ... I can't actually remember the titles.
JW: Which one?
U: So and so, and so and so, "The Name of the Game", la di da, things are good, "OH MY GOD, there's evil afoot! Good lord! There's the Sangerand, the Antediluvian! They're ominous!"
JW: Hee. They all just spilled all over you on this episode. You're going along, thinking it's all about ouija boards and dryads, and suddenly, pssch! "Here you go."
U: Exactly.
JW: This kind of is being the first episode to sort of ... get set into our main plot. Giles makes hints about, you know, someone else harnessing the powers of the Slayers in the first episode, but this is the one where it really starts to kick in.
U: Oh yeah.
JW: I hadn't realized— Now someone did point out how my plot structure for Season 8 closely follows that of Season 5. Which wasn't intentional but doesn't surprise me since that was my favourite season, and particularly in terms of how the overall plot came about. So I'm not at all surprised. Of course, Season 5, Episode 5, is where Glory first shows up. So. I-I-It makes sense.
U: However there are some differences that relate it more to other things. Such as, you know, obviously Glory was THE main thing in Season 5.
JW: Mm-hm.
U: Glory didn't have any super powerful lackeys that she dispatched. I mean there was that snake thing in that one episode <JW chuckles>, but it's not like, for instance, Season 7 where you have the Ubervamp and then you had Caleb and then you had the swarm of Ubervamps. You know, or Season 3 where you had Mr. Trick and Faith and then the Mayor as a snake. Ours was kind of like, you know, you've got the first Super Slayer, then you've got the trio of them, then you've got the big thing. You know, it's not like ...
JW: I don't know if I necessarily— I'm really not sure where you're going with that parallel, first of all. <chuckles>
U: Well ...
JW: Are you saying "Yay" or...?
U: Season 5 showed you one basic villain throughout.
JW: Oh, uh-huh.
U: That was it. Here we've obviously established we've got Madrigan, we've got Robespierre, we've got the Super Slayers. There was a combination of factors. Whereas when I think of Season 5, all you think of in Season 5 was Glory.
JW: Yeah, no, I was talking more about uhm, just in terms of overall plot structure. Just HOW things got introduced. I mean, we've got Madrigan and Robespierre and gang coming in at Episode 5; Glory comes in at Episode 5. We've got your kind of, uhm, you know mid-season emotional climax which ... Season 5 didn't QUITE have that. It had Dawn realizing she's the Key and us finding out who Glory is right around the same time we have our Tara trilogy. That I think is a little more applicable to Season 2 where you have the whole Angelus gets turned. It's a major kind of turning point. This is a definitive break in the series at this stage. And then we have, you know, our last four episodes that all kind of gear up towards the end. And Season 5 had that as well. You know, with "Tough Love", "Weight of the World", "Spiral", all that. Kind of set together. Even Episode 21 of Season 5 is in Buffy's mind, and then Episode 21 of OUR season is in Willow and Tara's mind. It wasn't an intentional parallel, but it is there. Uhm, which like I said, I-I didn't mean for it to be that way, but it doesn't surprise me.
U: Well sure. But once you put all THAT stuff aside ... <JW laughs> What's the correlation between Season 5?
JW: Oh none. Nothing at all. No, I'm a COMPLETE original.
U: Our guys, fighting evil. You know.
JW: And they NEVER do THAT.
U: And overall good enjoyable readability versus watchability, so. There.
JW: No, I wasn't ... wasn't a criticism of myself.
U: I know.
JW: Just merely remarking that ah, whoever made that parallel – and I don't remember who that was. I think it was Oblique Reference. But whoever said that, they were correct. And we can see that here.

Instantly, Madrigan's jovial mood vanished, leaving behind no trace. The other man, despite being old enough to be Madrigan's father, cowered immediately beneath the fierce, threatening glare leveled at him. "Tell Robespierre he'll get his prototype when I'm ready and not a minute before."

Wishing he were anywhere else at all in the entire universe rather than the seat he currently inhabited, the man nodded his head so vigorously he nearly knocked himself unconscious. "O-Of course, Lord." Swallowing hard, the man dug deep and called upon whatever reserves he had left, fighting to keep his voice steady. "However if I might remind my Lord of The Antediluvian ..."

With an absent flick of his wrist, Madrigan tossed a stream of energy at the other man; deep, blood red in color laced with dark blue streaks. Even before the burst reached him, the man appeared frozen in terror, unable to run. When it hit, striking the center of his forehead first, he became rigid with agony. A terrifying, excruciating scream tore from the man's throat, but only for a moment as the energy bored into his body and spread, quickly reaching his mouth and blocking all sound. His body remained locked and trembling, but still he was unable to move, his face a fixed study in torment.

Around the table, nine heads never once turned, never once took their eyes from Madrigan. There were no signs of realization regarding what had transpired, let alone any feelings of sympathy for the suffering man.

Madrigan eyed his handiwork critically, like a sculptor surveying a new creation, before raising his hand, palm outward toward his victim. He folded his fingers, leaving only the thumb and forefinger extended, then rotated them until they were pointed at the man like a pistol. Tightly closing one eye, he cocked his head to one side and pretended to 'sight' down the 'gun', taking slow and deliberate aim at the still-twitching figure across the table. Sticking his tongue out between his lips, he made a show of concentrating very carefully, then whispered, "Bang," and slowly pulled his hand back in a mimicry of recoil.

The man shattered into a million frozen pieces.

Watching the fragments clatter to the ground, Madrigan sighed deeply. "I hate redundancy," he muttered to himself. "Seneca!"

A tall, perfectly toned man entered the room, also robed although his cowl was thrown back. He was at least six-foot of nearly solid muscle and looked as though he might have given Arnold Schwarzenegger more than a little competition. His stark white hair was expertly trimmed to best compliment his chiseled features. He glanced at Madrigan, saying nothing but raising an eyebrow expectantly.

[ Download Clip #10 ]

Ultrace: Then of course, in steps Seneca. I think he's pretty much been unchanged since the beginning.
Jet Wolf: Well we didn't really know much about what his personality was going to be? Uhm, and I certainly didn't plan for him to never talk.
U: Yeah. But I know you said— You said very early on that he'd be a person of few words.
JW: Yes.
U: But you didn't say he'd not speak at all.
JW: Yeah, he wouldn't be a person of NO words.
U: But we were actually, we were gonna have him speak very infrequently. But everything he said would be very, very poignant—
JW: Yeah, it would.
U: —and very, very powerful.
JW: It would. Seneca would be a man of few but important words. And I think maybe this was a cop-out on my part? <laughs> Because it's hard to come up with something that's poignant all the time. It's much easier to just have Madrigan make giant emoticons and play with teddy bears.
U: Hee-hee.
JW: But I like this Seneca a lot more.
U: Actually Seneca made the giant emoticon.
JW: Yes. Did I say Madrigan?
U: You said Madrigan.
JW: I meant Seneca. I meant Seneca. I don't know my guys.
U: <laugh> That's okay.
JW: Uhm, yeah Seneca, not speaking at all. That wasn't the plan. Not intentionally. I-I did plan for him to, as Mike said, be a man who didn't say many things, but when he did, you wanted to make sure you listened. Instead he says nothing. Uhm, and that was ... Every time he would show up, for the first few episodes anyway, I was thinking, "Okay, is he gonna speak in this episode?" <Ultrace laughs> "Is he gonna speak in THIS episode?" And he never wanted to say anything. I gave him plenty of opportunity, and he always played with Slinkies. So uhm, in the end now, it's just he doesn't speak. And at this point ... for the every day, I don't think I can have him talk. Because it's just going to seem so weird now.
U: It's gonna have to be something major.
JW: Exactly. If he says anything at all at any point, it's gonna have to be in, like, a major sort of situation.
U: Whether or not it's because he can't speak or whether it's because he WON'T speak, we don't know. We're not tellin'.
JW: Well no, you know, it's not something I've actually decided. You know, but I- I think it's because he chooses not to speak. I really do. I don't think— I think he CAN. But he doesn't wanna. He doesn't have to. It's just— I've got some weird shit goin' on in Seneca's mind. <laughs>
U: Well gee, you have a teddy bear and, you know ...
JW: And Slinkies!
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, yeah, so Seneca can speak, but he chooses not to. Though there's nothing in the series that says that, and I reserve the right to change my mind at any time I feel like. Uhm, as of right now, he- he could. But he doesn't.

The blond waved his hand at the general area where, just moments before, there had been a person. "You know I can't work in a mess," was all he said by way of explanation.

Seneca stood in place for a moment, a bemused smirk touching his lips, then motioned toward the now empty chair. The still-frozen remains of the deceased rose into the air, swirling over the chair and gathering. Madrigan watched intently, amused, but save himself and Seneca, no one else seemed to take notice of the fact that there were dancing pieces of a human being levitated mere feet from them.

Continuing to smirk, Seneca gestured with his fingers, and the fragments reformed into a not unimpressive facsimile of "The Thinker". He glanced at Madrigan, jerking his eyebrows at his creation.

Madrigan snorted a laugh. "Yeah, well, I think you're cleaning this up, therefore you are cleaning this up."

The smirk became a full-blown grin, and the image reformed into a giant " :P " emoticon. Still saying nothing, Seneca turned and strolled out of the room, the pieces trailed behind in a macabre game of follow-the-leader.

"I'm telling you, the Internet will be the death of human interaction as we know it," called Madrigan, despite the fact that the other man was well out of sight. The remaining particles began reforming into a rude gesture, causing the blond to burst into laughter. "Ass," he grinned.

[ Download Clip #11 ]

Jet Wolf: <laughing> Madrigan's channeling a friend of mine at this point.
Ultrace: What is that, with the "Well I THINK you're cleaning this up, therefore you ARE cleaning this up"?
JW: <laughing> No no no, where he calls him an ass.
U: Oh yes. Yes. Absolutely.
JW: Madrigan channels a friend of mine. Madrigan ... Madrigan's speech patterns come partly from out of this friend of mine and partly out of myself. I actually tend to speak a lot like Madrigan does. Uhm, but some of his more like kind of male ... You know, the things that he says that sounds like a guy, it's this friend of mine.
U: It's also funny that we did that again in uhm, possibly "The Inward Eye". Can't remember exactly which one. With Jeffreys and the glasses. When he's hanging out with his friends—
JW: Uh-huh.
U: —you very much channeled, you know, the other male influences like this particular friend.
JW: Yeah, uh-huh.
U: I believe you actually used the "Ass" thing there too.
JW: I might have. That just cracks me up. This— My friend Jason. Anyway, doesn't matter. Jason does this, so Madrigan did it cuz I think it's funny.
U: Big shout out to Jason!

Still chuckling with mirth, he turned to the others. "Right, so where were we? Ahh, yes, tomorrow night. We'll wait for the report to come in, and go from there. Everything's right on schedule." He sighed, deeply contended. "I do so love it when a plan comes together."

[ Download Clip #12 ]

Jet Wolf: And then just ominous, "I have plans!" Which, you know, becomes like Madrigan's signature. "I have plans! You won't know them, but I have them!"
Ultrace: <laughs> "You won't know them until I WANT you to know them."
JW: Exactly.
U: "And then, when you DO know them, it's because I wanted you to know them and I wanted you to do exactly what I did and blah blah blah."
JW: Madrigan's clever!
U: He is. He's a bright boy. <odd voice> He does so well in school.
JW: <laughing> What the hell kind of voice was that?
U: <laughing> I have no idea. That was supposed to be like the prim little mother. "Oh, he's such a good little boy."
JW: Was that what that was? Sounded like a school marm.
U: Well close enough! An approving school marm.

"Fringes"

Story by: Jet Wolf and Ultrace
Written by: Jet Wolf
Edited by: Novareinna
Original Airdate: Tuesday, 4 May 2004, 8pm EST

[ Download Clip #13 ]

Jet Wolf: So then we come to our opening poster. Important things to note on this one are: that is Madrigan in the background. And I kinda wish I hadn't made his eye quite so obvious when I coloured it.
Ultrace: Well actually it was- it was supposed to be kind of obvious. The only problem with that picture is, it looks like the eye is glowing actually. Instead of being normal-coloured. And his eyes don't necessarily glow. Though they may in the future if we so decide it. <JW laughs> I always liked this poster. For one thing, it always had a very good resonation. You got the black— The dark blue background with the black outfits, the blue font ... It doesn't really— The- The colours mesh up well and it flows very pleasingly to the eye. Uhm, my only- my only thing that I ever wished we could've done better about the poster was to get a better resolution picture of Madrigan.
JW: Mm-hm.
U: Cuz when— I believe, if I'm correct, that the picture that Madrigan comes from is about, uh, 80 pixels tall.
JW: Yeah, it's pretty tiny.
U: It's very, very tiny. So when you blow it up to the size for the poster ... You did a good job of cloaking it and he's in the background anyway, but i-it's noticeable if you look at it, that ... Especially if you consider the eye. The eye is very— The gold of the eye is very distinct and nice and crisp, and the rest of him's kinda fuzzy.
JW: Yeah, I ah ... I-I was just kinda starting with Photoshop. Well, not starting. I'd done four posters up to this point. But this was the first one that I did where I think I was really pretty proud of. In terms of how it- how it came together. I was just like learning about, you know, layers and doing this, that and the other. So it's one of the better of the earlier ones, in my opinion. The Circle's symbol—
U: Yes.
JW: —in the background there. Very, very important to get this somewhere visually. Uhm, because it becomes a very important symbol throughout the course of Season 8. You know, between seeing it on Judith and seeing it on Tara, uhm ... So we wanted to make sure that we put it somewhere to where you could see it. And the only place we have any room for anything like that is in these posters. So vitally important to get that in the background. And uh, I drew that, if I'm not mistaken.
U: You drew that. Uhm, there was much, much, much thought put into that. You originally asked me to come up with the symbol.
JW: Yeah.
U: And I drew about 20 different things and we decided we didn't like any of them.
JW: Mm-hm.
U: You know, the thoughts were, something to do with an eye, possibly to do with a key. And I had all these really, you know uhm ... grand eye-things. Like an eye with a sun coming out of it, or you know, an eye with little runes going around the edges of the lid. And we're like, "No, uh, no. Hm. This one ... no." You know, and it's just kinda like—
JW: Well the rune thing was cool, but it was so intricate that there was like no way that you— I needed something that could just be sort of, "Here it is. It's on Judith. It's on Tara." Something very specific to where you could just look at it in a glance and be like, "Oh, there it is." But to try and describe it in text, all these runes ...
U: Yeah.
JW: It would be very, very difficult.
U: And then uh, then you came up with the idea of having an eyeball with something coming out of it at the bottom. And possibly like a key. And then I tried to do that and that didn't work out. And then you sketched on the board, and we took that and we ... She did all the drawing, but I did help to offer ideas and suggestions. And we eventually pared it down to this image here.
JW: Uh-huh.
U: That you had on a white board. And then you had to redraw it on a piece of paper, actually.
JW: And then I had to scan it and then I had to—
U: Make it look cool.
JW: —colour it in Photoshop and I-I really wasn't very up on my Photoshop skills at that point. So this probably took me ... FAR longer to draw or colour in Photoshop than it really needed to.
U: But the result is very, very cool.
JW: Yeah, it looks neat.
U: It's a key, it's a staff, it's an eye. It's three, three, three things in one.
JW: <laughing> Thank you, Ron Popeil.
U: Now how much would you pay?
JW: I kinda wish I could redo it, because looking at it, the way it's drawn? I could do it better. Uhm, but I can't now, because it's— This is the symbol. So it has to always be that one. But it's a little lopsided and I'm not overly happy with it.
U: Actually, I think it's just fine. I don't see where the lopsidedness is coming from.
JW: Well you know me.
U: Well. Yeah, I think you're ...
JW: <laughing> I'm never happy.
U: I think you're seeing too much into it. But I think the symbol is very cool.
JW: Yeah. Thank you. Uhm, the picture of the Scoobies there, those are all— that's all them from "Chosen" at the very end, of course. And their clothes are just blackened. I didn't do that. I wish I could claim credit for that. But that came from a scan of one of the Buffy magazines, I think. It was a much longer picture. It had ... Giles, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Faith. Also had Dawn and Andrew, I think, of all people. So of course Andrew came out. Uhm ...
U: 'Course didn't help that Andrew was all bloody on the picture too.
JW: Well Andrew was kinda in the background, if I remember correctly. I haven't looked at the actual picture in a long time. And I think I like cut out Willow and Xander and moved them closer to Buffy and kinda smooshed everybody in. I think Faith was originally further in the background and I moved her up. And I wanted to have Dawn in there very much, but Dawn just wouldn't fit. Just not to keep it looking good.
U: Yeah.
JW: And uhm, and I-I didn't mean to leave her out necessarily, but I think the way everyone links together, she just didn't look right, so. So there it is.
U: There it is.

Act One

The door to Giles' office cautiously swung open as Judith stuck her head in, reluctant to disturb what sounded to be a thoroughly engaging and enjoyable conversation. Giles was sitting behind his desk, a broad smile on his face as he chatted with the bright-eyed new Slayer across from him. Her face was open and expressive, with light blue eyes and pale blonde hair to match the award-winning toothy grin that was echoing back to the Watcher.

He glanced up as Judith knocked on the open door and stepped into the room, motioning for the girl to enter fully.

"Asura said you wanted to see me?" she queried, taking in the new girl who was now beaming in her direction.

"Yes, thank you, Judith," replied Giles, rising to his feet to lead her fully into the room. He gestured at the blonde girl. "This is Sonja."

Sonja's smile turned up an impossible notch and she waved happily at Judith. Judith returned the greeting with a nod of her head, just a touch of disbelief on her face at the enthusiasm.

"Sonja just joined us from Sweden," he continued, hopefully offering a starting point for conversation to make both girls feel more at ease.

"Pleased to meet you," greeted Sonja.

[ Download Clip #14 ]

Jet Wolf: Ah yes, so uhm ... Here we have our big mislead for the episode. Which, depending upon your personal viewpoint, may or may not have been a mislead. But ah, we had Judith and uhm, and Sonja. And uhm, obviously what was SUPPOSED to happen was you were supposed to go through the episode and think that Sonja was the uhm, the- the traitor. The turncoat. Wasn't my best mislead ever. But ... looking on it, as I realized many, many months later, how I would fix this— If I could go back and change— If I could go back and rewrite any episode, I think I would rewrite this. I would have Judith leading around TWO Slayers. Two newbies. And one would be really bitchy and not nice, and then you'd have Sonja who would be so sweet and perfect. And uhm ... Those who take things at face value would think, "Okay, it's the bitchy Slayer who's the traitor." People who like to double-guess things would think, "Okay, Sonja's the nice one. SHE'S really the traitor." And all along, it's Judith who's the traitor. I think that would've worked a lot better. Probably the people who are sitting out there listening to it are going like, "No, we still would've known." But- But in my mind, it would've worked better.
Ultrace: You wouldn't have known. <JW chuckles> Not as easily. Some of you may have, but you know, you'd have a one in three chance. So you know, doesn't say much.
JW: Yeah! So- So there! Uhm, I didn't have anything particularly much in mind when I created Sonja. although she has developed her own little following of sorts.
U: Depending on your viewpoint, yeah, she's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
JW: I-I really just created Sonja to be as nice and sweet and unobtrusive as possible so that you would think it was her.
U: Yes.
JW: Who was being the traitor. Uhm, and that was really my goal. It was- It was just to make her as perfect as she could be. While still keeping her moderately human, of course.
U: She's a machine! She's a robot! And of course she meets up with Dawn, I believe.
JW: That's much later.
U: No, hang on.
JW: She's still talking to Judith.
U: Oh, is she? Okay.
JW: Yeah, they're introducing Judith. And just pretty much, of course Judith had to be the one walking around and- and showing her around, because all these reports, as we see here, are all, uhm, all coming from Judith to the Assemblage.

Judith's eyebrow twitched in surprise. "Wow, your English's good," she complimented.

"Thank you," the new Slayer replied graciously. "I've been studying since I was very small. My teachers believed strongly in a solid language background. Be prepared for any situation, and all," she added with a shrug of her shoulders, although her smile never once diminished.

"Good philosophy," nodded Judith. "Got lost somewhere in application for me, though. At my school, we were force fed just about enough Spanish to say 'El tejon es frio en mi tienda.'"

Frowning, Sonja tilted her head to one side, thinking for a moment. Finally, she regarded Judith with a smirk. "'The badger is cold in my store'?" she questioned with a laugh in her voice.

"Huh." The brunette considered this. "I guess that one has limited usage."

Sonja laughed easily, a tinkling sound that had both Judith and Giles smiling in response.

The Watcher was obviously delighted that that the two girls appeared to be hitting it off well as he turned to Judith. "I was hoping that you could perhaps give Sonja the grand tour? Spend today with her, help her get settled in?"

"Sure thing," she replied. "It's either that or worry about this badger thing for the rest of the day."

"Excellent, thank you." To the other girl, he stated, "We can meet again tomorrow morning, Sonja, and get your training and class schedules sorted, all right?"

The blonde practically bounced in her seat with excitement. "Okay, Mr. Giles," she replied sunnily. "I'm looking forward to getting started. This is all so exciting!" Sonja actually clapped her hands together, unable to fully contain herself. "There's so much to learn!"

Giles grinned and regarded the girl fondly, her mood contagious. "And we shall do our utmost to teach you."

Nodding, Sonja rose to her feet and followed Judith out of the office, the door closing quietly behind them. Giles remained standing for several seconds, staring at the door as his good cheer slowly evaporated. No trace of a smile remaining, he returned to his seat and moved aside a heavy book to reveal several pages that had been hidden from view. The topmost contained a detailed sketch of the Mogari. The Watcher picked up the phone receiver and dialed a number, studying the picture intently while he waited. When he finally heard a voice on the other end, he dropped the sketch next to the stack of pages and focused his attention on the conversation at hand.

"Bentley, good afternoon. This is Rupert Giles. I'm calling with regards to the blood sample I sent you last week. Do please tell me you've made some headway on it ..."

Half covered by the drawing was a long list of names and addresses. Almost every name had been scratched out.

[ Download Clip #15 ]

Jet Wolf: Still got the Mogari thing comin'. We stretched this one out.
<laughter>
Ultrace: Yeah.
JW: "We can't do it now, it has to be, like, the moons have to be aligned! Oh no, Willow got hurt!" Frickin' Mogari. <laughs> This was not our most well-constructed plot. I think most people forgot about the frickin' Mogari by the time we got to the end of the season. Completely forgot it was even there. Uhm, of course the Mogari created to give us some blood to give us something that Willow could cast so that we had a reason why Willow got hurt. <laughs> It was all a big convoluted mess.
U: And ... Well there was that, but I also created logically from the concept of, "How are they getting all these Slayers?" You can't really send a Slayer to attack another Slayer. You might not win, then the Slayer who escapes can reveal your secrets. So you send out a monster designed to so.
JW: I think we just could've tried and kind of tied it in a little better. Once- Once Willow casts the spell on the shirt, we like dropped the Mogari thing like- like just a hot potato. I-It— We never tied it in very well at all.
U: I'm guessing that once they cast they and he pretty much had his prototype, then you know, they were able to get whatever Slayers they wanted.
JW: No, I mean for the readers.
U: Oh, gotcha.
JW: You know, I had to actually go on the board and be like, "Here's where I was going with this, and if you didn't pick up on it, don't feel bad." I kinda was lax on that. But at this point, ah, the Mogari thing had only happened two episodes previous. So at this stage it wasn't getting ridiculously long and drug out.
U: Maybe as an extra we should've done a diagram.
JW: No, I think- I think it was made clear on the boards. You know. If anyone reads it. But yeah, we didn't do a very good job of tying this in for the reader. But that was- that was the plan, if you go to board, you can see that.

Report 0100.21 – Proditionis Traditum
The bulk of today was spent stuck in a pointless tour of the facility, however it did afford me the perfect opportunity for intense scrutiny of people and events that might have otherwise raised suspicion, and I took full advantage of that fact.

My contact with Rupert Giles was brief, but I was able to access his mood, and I feel confident in saying that he is at a complete loss with regards to our movements. I fail to believe that even he is ignorant that something is happening, but he is aware only of the symptoms. Of course, this also means that the entire Watcher's Council is operating in the dark. So much the better for us.

[ Download Clip #16 ]

Jet Wolf: Judith and her reports. I don't know what the number means. I was channeling Star Trek. The Pr— I can't even pronounce it. "Proditonious Tratedum."
Ultrace: <perfectly enunciated> "Proditionis Traditum".
JW: <cracking up> I SUCK!
U: BUT, I betcha you have a much better understanding of what it MEANS than I do. Cuz I have no idea.
JW: I can't remember. I can't even remember now. It's uhm ... "Report of Betrayal" or some shit? I don't even remember.
U: Oh, "Betrayer's Report". That's it.
JW: "Betrayer's Report", that was what it meant. Uhm, in Latin. I like all my words to mean something. It bothers me when you throw in foreign words and they mean nothing. So, every word as a meaning, every word has a place it comes from. I may not always remember what it meant, but at the time I did it, it had a particular meaning.
U: Yes.
JW: The idea of the reports was in the original concept of this episode. Which was not to have Judith showing Sonja around. It's original idea was to be, uhm, a look at the core- the core Scoobies, the core group, from an outsider's perspective. It was going to be about Judith and Hazel and this new girl ... Uhm, even Norg when he shows up later to kind of show the demons on the outside looking in. And it still kind of became about that, uhm, but it was more the bag guy's perspective. This was meant more to be more a look at all the other characters that kind of are in the universe that we've created now, in the Chosenverse, looking inside at the core group. Uhm ...
U: And it's interesting what they see, as a matter of fact.
JW: Yeah.
U: In many respects it's, uhm, it's interesting that Judith actually sees more about the Core Four than they see about themselves.
JW: Yeah.
U: You know. And honestly? Judith is not the brightest bulb in the house. She's not some genius.
JW: No. She's just looking and sees what's there. She listens. She pays attention. She listens to what's gone on before, she knows what's happened before, she's looking at things now, and she's making conclusions.
U: Yeah.
JW: What she's coming up with isn't really anything spectacular, it's just that, you know ... as is the traditional Scooby way, they don't see what's right in front of them.
U: Yeah.
JW: So yeah, that was the original concept for the episode. I think that's a really good concept and I- I ... kind of regret that it didn't go in that direction? But I think the story needs were better suited by how it did go.
U: If you recall, the original concept too was that she wasn't gonna be making reports.
JW: She was, like, writing home.
U: It was supposed to be a letter. And when the reader reads the letter, it was supposed to be ambiguous enough—
JW: That's right.
U: —or cleverly constructed so that as you're going along you're thinking, "Oh, this is sweet. She's so-and-so, and she's met so-and-so." And at the end, some critical turn of phrase would make you think, "Huh." And when you go back and read the letter, you'll see it's clear that she was reporting back vital information about the enemy.
JW: That's right.
U: And I think very early on, we decided we just, we couldn't do it. There was no way to make the letter- the letter and the circumstances ambiguous enough and yet poignant enough and make it believable. Or at least, we thought we couldn't do it at the time.
JW: Yeah. A- A failing on my part then, as the writer. Now you said that, I remember that. Uhm, I wasn't able to .... I-I wasn't confident in my ability to be able to- to do as Mike said. To create it ambiguous and make it look like a nice letter home to Mom and Dad, while at the same time being, uh ... Well in actuality, being this big informative report to the baddies. So I- I just dropped it and was like, "Okay. We'll just go with the idea that being a report." That's- That is- That is true. But yeah. Uhm, So that- that was the concept. And like I said, I do enjoy that. I like looking at uhm ... I think you can see a lot and learn about a lot of characters from different perspectives. Because you see it all the time from, you know ... How Xander sees Buffy, how Willow sees, you know, Giles. You get that sort of thing all the time. Getting an outsider's viewpoint can be invaluable to seeing how they really are. At least from someone else's perspective.
U: Exactly.

Judith walked into the large gymnasium that served as the main training room for the new Slayers, Sonja only one step behind. The blonde surveyed the room appreciatively, but her eye was soon drawn to the class being conducted at one side. She and Judith moved closer, standing toward the back of the assembled group of fifteen or twenty girls, content to observe for the moment.

In front of the class, Kennedy stood next to another, much taller girl with short dark brown hair highlighted with blonde streaks. She was standing to one side, arms crossed in front of her chest as she watched Kennedy pace back and forth while addressing the class.

"Fighting and kicking ass is great and all, no doubt, but what's really gonna win the battle in the end is knowledge," lectured Kennedy. She ticked examples off on her fingers. "How your opponent moves, what she's thinking, what she can do and what she thinks you can do. You can have all the strength in the world, but without knowledge and skill to back you up, you're just a midnight snack. Okay, so let's see some of that in action."

Kennedy gestured to the girl behind her. "Danielle's been part of my training classes for about a month and a half now." Moving to stand at Danielle's side, the Slayer glanced up at the taller girl. "Would you say you've got a pretty good handle on my fighting style by now?"

With just the slightest sneer, Danielle nodded. "Yeah, I think I got you pegged," she said confidently, bordering on cocky.

"Alright, let's put that to the test. We'll start off with—"

There was absolutely no warning whatsoever. One second Kennedy's hand was dangling at her side, the next it was retracting from where the heel had collided with Danielle's nose. The audience collectively winced in sympathy as the other girl cried out. Cupping her nose, she tried to stop the flow of blood running down her upper lip.

"See?" Kennedy pointed out to her class. "She should've been expecting that."

[ Download Clip #17 ]

Ultrace: Ah yes. And Kennedy's training methods continue to be ... Same as usual. "Get up here maggot, gimmie what you got. Okay, that ain't enough. You suck. Goodbye now."
Jet Wolf: Yeah. Uhm ...
U: <laughs> As much as I did not like Kennedy at this point, I loved it when she lashes out and punches the girl in the nose. <JW laughs> "See? She should've been expecting that."
JW: I was tryin' hard. To get more character with Kennedy at this point. I-I tried— My first real concerted effort was with the previous episode. Uhm, and she did begin to start endearing herself to me at that point. So I was trying here that uh ... trying to show different- different perspectives and styles. We never went quite as much into this as I was had planned at this stage of the game. Uhm, you know, with showing Buffy not really approving and Faith and Kennedy's more kind of hands-on approach. I-I-It kind of fizzled out. It wasn't what I was here to show, really. As with many things when it comes to- to the Slayers themselves — the outside Slayers, the new Slayers – they're not what I'm here to tell about.
U: Yeah.
JW: They're important and they have their place, but they really only are a part of the story that I want to tell as long as it pertains to the main characters. You could do a whole series in and of itself strictly on the newbie Slayers.
U: Honestly, you could.
JW: And that's not what I'm here to tell.
U: And we're not going to.
JW: No.

Danielle was in too much pain to agree or disagree. Impassively, Kennedy watched the Junior for a moment, then slightly rolled her eyes. "Okay, let's get you to the infirmary," she sighed, leading the girl away by her elbow. Over her shoulder, she told the class, "Think about it. I'll be right back."

With only a barely passable bedside manner, Kennedy tugged Danielle toward the left-hand entrance of the training room, navigating her through the various hazards along the way that the girl couldn't see due to her head being tilted all the way back. The moment they were out of sight, the class erupted into chatter. Wide-eyed, Sonja turned to Judith.

"Is that the norm?" she asked, her voice a mixture of awe and concern.

Judith shrugged, the exchange seeming to leave her completely unphased. "Oh no. Sometimes she's brutal."

Somehow, Sonja managed to widen her eyes further.

"For the most part, Kennedy and Faith are big believers in pain being a keen motivator," explained Judith, gesturing toward where Danielle and her bleeding nose had exited. "And I guess they have a point. I mean, a vamp's not gonna care much about your perfect nose alignment."

Observing the excited conversations around her, Sonja was puzzled. "And how does everyone else feel about that?" She gestured to encompass their fellow Slayers.

[ Download Clip #18 ]

Ultrace: I thought that was a good mislead there, when Sonja's like, "And how does everyone else feel about that?" You know. "Obviously, I'm pumping you for information."
Jet Wolf: Well I tried to make it that way, which is part of the reason why Sonja's so inquisitive.
U: Yeah.
JW: She's asking a lot of questions, which ... If the mislead WORKED for you, then that was probably part of the reason why, because she IS asking so much a-and asking for so many details. As it turns out, she just wants to know. Uhm, but yeah. So trying very hard to- to make it ... make it look like maybe she's the bad guy. Which is of course what you're supposed to think.

"Surprisingly, pretty cool about it," replied Judith, before leaning over to the blonde and lowering her voice. "Confidentially, I think hate's a pretty decent motivator too, and we've got some girls here who would dearly love to get one over on our beloved trainers." Sonja raised her eyebrows with interest at this as Judith straightened and continued in her regular tone of voice. "Keeps us on our toes though, you know? I mean actions speak louder than words, right?"

As if on cue, the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat cut through all conversations, and everyone turned to stare at the newcomer.

Buffy stood in front of the group. With her arms crossed and her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, she radiated business. Business and extreme disapproval. "Is this what passes for training these days?" she asked with a touch of sarcasm. "Standing around and gossiping?"

Nobody replied, unsure of what to say. A few girls leaned over to their neighbor whispering, "Who's that?" Most received nothing but shrugs and shaking heads.

"I may have been out of the loop for a while," Buffy began in a loud, clear voice as she started pacing, "but I'm pretty sure nobody ever saved the world by talking about who's dating who."

By now practically every head in the crowd was turning this way and that, seeking someone who could fill them in on just who this woman thought she was. Despite their ignorance, however, nobody questioned her right to speak to them, and there was no denying that she had every ounce of their attention.

"Now I've been watching how you guys act for a few days, and I gotta tell you – so not impressed." Buffy gazed out at her rapt audience, taking a moment, it seemed, to meet each girl's eyes before continuing. "I mean yeah, you're learning some important stuff ... What a stake is, the business end of a vampire, the fact that no amount of Tide is gonna get that bloodstain out. But when I look around at you, I'm not seeing Slayers." She stopped pacing and turned to face the group straight on, her tone becoming harsh. "I'm seeing little girls who think this is a game. And I think you're all in for a rude awakening."

[ Download Clip #19 ]

Jet Wolf: So here we come with our first big Buffy bump in the road. Where she's not ... she's not on board with the teaching methods and she's particularly not on board with the fact that they're just sort of standing around at this point. This is Buffy sort of coming in out of Season 7, where she's all about speeches and, you know, being sanctimonious and irritating. That's- That's how she left things, so that's how she's come back to things.
Ultrace: And it kind of worked in Season 7, because they were used to her already having been there and being "The Stuff". But when you go on vacation and you return that way ...
JW: Well that was part of the thing, was that you know ... Season 7 Buffy, uhm ... She was irritating as shit, we all can agree with that. But she kinda knew what she was talking about, too. I mean she was, until Faith showed up, she was the ONLY Slayer, you know. She's- She's the thing. She's, as you said, "The Stuff". But now at this point, she missed out on all of the forming- the forming of Slayer Central and getting these girls together and having any part at all in their lives. Uhm, Buffy went with the gang to Trillium, sort of set things up, and then she took off. So she was around for like, you know, three weeks or so, let's say. Before she decided, "I'm going. I'm not dealing with this stuff any more," and she left. That's not gonna earn you a whole lot of respect for the girls that are already there, and the ones that didn't even know you. They're like, "Who the hell are you?"
U: Yeah.
JW: So wanting to show that, but at the same time showing that Buffy's tactics are a lot different from Kennedy and Faith's, and creating that tension between Kennedy and Buffy, which comes out also in terms of Willow and uhm ... Just setting it up to show that Buffy isn't having a very easy time of integrating herself. Because she's so used to being ... The Voice. You know. "Mine is the way of doing it how I say, I know better than all of you." That's not the case any more.
U: <chuckles> Sorry. You were like, "Mine is the way, doing things how I say ..."
JW: I'm rhyming! And this just, Buffy's coming home and realizing, "Oh! This isn't gonna work any more." But yet at the same time showing that she does have connection to the girls and she CAN get through to them. Just that when she starts— We see it more in the next episode, when she starts ordering people around, they're like, "And you are?" <Ultrace chuckles>

The girls were riveted, having no idea how to react to this sort of speech and thoroughly entranced. Her eyes fixed on Buffy, Sonja leaned over to Judith. "Who is that?" she asked softly.

Judith adopted a similar position. "That must be Buffy. She's been away, only just got back. I haven't actually seen her before today. Something, huh?"

Nodding, Sonja frowned slightly as she continued to study the Senior Slayer. "That's certainly one way to describe her."

The infamous Buffy Summers graced one of the training classes with her presence today. From what I've been able to gather, she took off soon after the Council reformed. Once she had decided everything was settled, she left, and nobody really heard from her for months afterward. I doubt very much that her return now, after all this time, is a coincidence. Realizing who she was concerned me for a moment, but as I soon discovered, the friction caused by her return may be much more an aid to us than a hindrance.

Buffy resumed her pacing, speaking passionately as she did so. "You've each made a choice, to come here, to learn, and to keep the world safe. You realized your power and you grabbed it, taking—"

"What's going on?"

Kennedy, sans Danielle, strode toward the group, her face like thunder. She glared openly at Buffy, who had halted once more and again crossed her arms. The blonde's expression was guardedly neutral, and she gave no indication that she felt even remotely intimidated by Kennedy's outburst.

"Just talking," replied Buffy casually, gesturing at the group. "They seemed to be in need of some direction, and as I was passing through ..."

"You figured you'd take over my girls?" Kennedy accused, coming to a stop almost uncomfortably close to the object of her anger. Said girls shuffled nervously, many looking guilty as though they had somehow been caught cheating.

Almost too calmly, Buffy uncrossed her arms and placed her hands on her hips. She spoke very slowly, as though dealing with someone just a tiny bit challenged. "No, I was thinking I might try inspiring your 'girls' with something other than a fear of extended hospital visits."

"So you think you can teach them better than me, is that it?"

"Different. I didn't say better."

Kennedy frowned, and tilted her head as though in deep contemplation. "Cuz I'm here thinkin', what can you really teach them? Besides how to run away from responsibility."

A flash of anger crossed Buffy's features, though when she spoke it was still with an eerie calm. "I didn't say better. Doesn't mean I wasn't thinking it."

Clearly beyond angry now, Kennedy's instinct was to drop into a threatening stance and Buffy immediately responded with a defensive one. Noticing the changes, the assembled Slayers broke again into chatter, only this one was tinged with nervousness on top of an undeniable excitement. Buffy's eyes darted to the group, and inhaling deeply, she straightened. Though still tense and ready for anything, she made an obvious effort to prevent the situation from degenerating further.

"We probably don't want to go all War of the Roses with an audience," she stated, jerking her head toward the class.

It took a moment, but Kennedy blinked and then came back to herself. An expression of shame, quickly followed by one of renewed anger darted across her face as she too straightened and fought to regain composure.

Her gaze still locked on Buffy, Kennedy spoke to the class. "We'll pick this up on Friday," she dismissed, and the girls all turned to leave, splintering immediately into little discussion groups. Only Judith and Sonja remained, watching the drama unfold before them.

Neither Slayer was willing to back down, but Kennedy finally broke the deadlock and, with a parting glare that could have easily killed had it been physical, stomped out of the room. Buffy watched her go then sighed and shook her head in frustration, staring angrily at her shoes.

The two newer Slayers lingered for a moment longer, then Judith motioned for Sonja to follow and exited through the same door as Kennedy.

[ Download Clip #20 ]

Jet Wolf: So yeah, we have Buffy startin' off with one of her speeches. Which, I have complete sympathy for the Season 7 writers, because I HATE writing them. They are a PAIN in the ASS. Uh, which is why Kennedy comes in before I have to go too far on it. And like I say, just starting off tremendous tension between Kennedy and Buffy. Kennedy's got her stomping grounds and Buffy's ... you know, all up in it.
Ultrace: I was gonna say, to Kennedy's credit, Buffy did decide to come all in there and be all like, "Ha-ha! I'm gonna teach you while Kennedy's out. Lemme tell you how the world REALLY is."
JW: Oh yeah, no, I completely have sympathy for Kennedy here. I mean, Buffy is in the wrong.
U: Yeah.
JW: Now she's not ... she's not meaning to necessarily take over Kennedy's class. I don't think that was what her— Her intention was really just to come in and be like, "You're all just standing around, well I'm gonna teach you something." But of course Kennedy isn't gonna see it that way, and she's gonna immediately leap to conclusions. "Oh, you're coming in and you're taking over." Which, as I said earlier, is kind of Kennedy's fear. That she's gonna be pushed off to the sidelines. Now that Buffy's back. Which ah, she felt very much was the case in Season 7. And I think it was kind of RIGHT that she was in Season 7, BUT.
U: Yeah.
JW: You know uhm, still Kennedy thinking that she knows best an-and now Buffy, you know, she's got her place and Buffy's just totally infringing.
U: Heh. No pun intended.
JW: Indeed.

The complete lack of order here is unnerving to say the least. Those who have been charged with preparing their younger counterparts for the life they will lead seem incapable of agreeing on any method. I'm at a loss for how anything gets done. I can't even suggest that it's a case of too many chiefs. Instead, it seems more a lack of any one, singular individual strong enough to exert his or her will over the others. One gets the feeling that if we were to leave well enough alone, it would simply collapse internally. But then I suppose that is the nature of entropy.

It's ... difficult to be here amidst this chaos, but now more than ever, I'm convinced our path is the true one.

[ Download Clip #21 ]

Jet Wolf: Uh, this little speech that Judith is making here about lack of order and the chaos and the blah blah blah blah blah, that was me just saying more like, her buying into Robespierre's vision of things. Uh, sort of just setting up ahead of time the- the idea of the ... the order of Robespierre's idealistic world and the chaos in which everybody else actually exists.
Ultrace: I don't think we actually ... We didn't get much time to develop it obviously, we didn't go into the private lives of Robespierre and Judith, but you know, I don't think at this point we had established it. But as the series went on more and more, especially as we went into uhm, "Win, Lose or Draw", I began to think very much that Judith was like ... Judith was to Robespierre what Buffy was to Giles.
JW: Mm-hm, yeah. She kinda became his ...
U: Personal Slayer.
JW: Yeah, yeah. His like, pride and joy. The jewel of his crown, so to speak.
U: Yeah.
JW: So uhm, yeah. At this stage, I don't know if she necessarily would've had that sort of level of prestige with him? Uhm, but you know, the stuff that she goes through later and she is so fanatical about it. You know? Possibly because she's just a cruel person. <Ultrace chuckles> But yeah, like I said. Just here, trying to show ... To foreshadow what Robespierre's big goal is- is about. Just things are just so crazy, and particularly now in this kind of world where you had ... You know, before you had one Slayer and it was all fine and dandy. Now you've got ANY girl can be a Slayer. And it's like, "What the hell's this shit?"
U: Yeah.

The girls found Kennedy in one of the dorm rooms, similar in size to Faith's but with even less adornment. There was a very simple bed off to one side, appearing mostly unused, and the bulk of the floor space was taken up with exercise equipment. Hanging in one corner was a punching bag that Kennedy was doing her utmost to punish.

"Hey, you," greeted Judith.

[ Download Clip #22 ]

Ultrace: And of course establishing that Kennedy and Judith have a friendly relationship.
Jet Wolf: Yes.
U: Not, you know ... I think it may actually develop a little bit more after this, I'm not sure. But yeah, obviously they're- they're kinda pal-y. And I think that's because, pretty much, Judith is the outside observer and she knows how to play Kennedy.
JW: Yeah. She- She's totally playing Kennedy at this point. She knows that Kennedy is dissatisfied with a lot of things. Kennedy has a very specific view of how things should be, they aren't going that way. You know, her getting her Watcher, which ... you know, obviously as we all know, we dropped. But. You know, that part of contributing to Kennedy's sense of not being an equal.
U: Yes.
JW: When she feels very much that she should be an equal, if not a superior, even. But uhm, and Judith just totally buying into that. And it works because Kennedy is- is willing to talk about certain things, and Judith is of course MORE than willing to hear all about it.

Kennedy glanced up briefly, grunted noncommittally and renewed her attack. Hovering uncomfortably but watching with undisguised interest, Sonja lingered in the doorframe as Judith moved further into the room.

"Bad day?"

"Oh no," Kennedy replied with biting sarcasm, "every day Her High and Mightiness butts into my life is a carnival." She attacked the bag with renewed vigor.

Judith carefully stepped closer, making sure to stay well away from the pummeling fists. "I'm sure she didn't mean it ..." she began soothingly.

"Oh, she meant it," Kennedy spat. "Well, not as in she got up this morning and said 'How can I piss off Kennedy today? I know!', but she meant it. To her, I'm nothing but a fill-in, someone keepin' her spot warm while she runs off and does whatever the hell she feels like for months. Never mind the fact that I—" She drove her fist into the bag with a surge of anger. "–stuck around here and I—" Another fierce punch landed home. "–helped whip this place into shape. Where the hell was she? Now all the hard work's done, here she comes again to shove me back in line with everyone else." Kennedy pulled back and hit the bag so hard the hanging fixture vibrated. "I knew she was gonna do this!"

Casting a worried glance at the ceiling, Judith stepped backward. "I really didn't get that feeling from her, she just seemed to want to ... you know, help. It's just that her style's really different from yours and Faith's, but that doesn't mean it's better ..."

Kennedy snorted at Judith's attempts to be placating, and she punctuated her reply with renewed attacks. "You don't know her. I know her. It's all flowery speeches and declarations that she's the only one with any real power and poor Buffy, nobody understands her. You think that now she's back she's gonna be interested in what Faith and I have been doing to make this place run like it does? Hell no. An' what's worse is, everyone else is just gonna fall in line behind her like sheep and not even question it, because that's what they do."

[ Download Clip #23 ]

Jet Wolf: I'm also utilizing, in this episode and the next one to a degree, to sort of get everyone's venom excised about Buffy. <Ultrace chuckles> Because she doesn't end things in Season 7 on a very good note. At least not to my satisfaction. Uh, the way Season 7 progressed and developed, there should be a lot of bad blood for Buffy and the others. And uh, in order to get us to the point I wanted us to be, you really have to— You can't just sweep that stuff under the rug. That was one of the main things I hated about Season 7. You know, everyone like ... kinda ... Buffy gets thrown out of her house – whether she chooses to leave or the others force her into that situation is up for debate – but, she leaves the house. The others are like, "Okay fine, bye", and then she comes back the next episode and NO ONE says ANYTHING. No, "Oh, I'm sorry", no "Oh, you were right", no "Oh, YOU GUYS were right" ... none of that. They don't talk to each other about this at all, it just gets swept away. And that drives me INSANE.
Ultrace: But wait, there was that one person who asked "Are you back?" and she said, "I don't know."
JW: Oh yeah, that was resolution.
U: Yup.
JW: You know uh, so I- I really hate that they don't— The show was so good about making sure that when things happened, they were dealt with. And then you get to this HUGE event, and nobody says SHIT.
U: Heh. "Willow says, 'Kick his ass'." Uh, well, not always.
JW: But that was a different situation. They didn't all know about that. They didn't gang up on Buffy and say, "Let's lie to Buffy!" You know.
U: But uh, I must admit I always found it amusing ironic that the only one who really discussed the thing with Buffy after she came back was Faith. You know.
JW: Oh, with the...?
U: With the whole leadership and the whole— All that sort of stuff. Everybody else was all like, you know ...
JW: But even that. I mean that doesn't even deal with them doing what happened to Buffy. That doesn't have anything to do with Buffy getting tossed out.
U: True.
JW: Only thing that has to do with is, "Oh, I was a leader, and it sucked." You know. Uhm, but like, Buffy's closest friends, you know ... Ugh. I could go on for AN HOUR about that, so I won't.
U: Yeah.
JW: I'll just say it- it always bothered me that they never dealt with this sort of an issue, so I wanted to make it very clear, uhm, that we got to address some of this stuff. The problem was, was how far to go? Cuz you could really make a whole episode about nothing but them yelling at each other.
U: Yup.
JW: And I didn't wanna go there. Uhm, because we've all seen the episodes, we've all been through it, they lived through it ... Uhm, there's a lot of built-up tension and resentment, but- but how much is too much to talk about? So we have Kennedy here kind of going on about uh, you know, flowery speeches and declarations. You know, "poor Buffy, no one understands her". Just kinda getting her feelings about Buffy out in the forefront and just airing it here and now. The- The tension between Kennedy and Buffy, never really getting solved because I don't think it every really would. I don't think Kennedy ... likes Buffy very much. I don't think Buffy thinks a whole lot about Kennedy either. They may have respect for each others powers and what they can do, but Kennedy still thinks she's better than Buffy.
U: Yeah.
JW: And- And Buffy probably doesn't think much about Kennedy much one way or the other.

The Slayer threw a final punch at the bag, a disgusted 'get away from me' gesture. "Nah, screw that," she growled. "She won't listen to me, but I know someone she damn well better listen to."

With that, she stomped out of the room, not looking back. Sonja glanced at Judith and the brunette simply shrugged.

Dawn walked briskly through one of the hallways of Slayer Central with great purpose, rushing just enough to not pay much attention to where she was going. Consequently, she walked right into Judith who was rounding a corner. As they collided, Judith took only a step backwards, but Dawn stumbled and fell heavily to the ground in a generally undignified manner.

"Oh, geez, sorry!" exclaimed Judith as both she and Sonja went to either side of Dawn to help her up. Dawn just laughed as she shakily rose to her feet.

"And I thought height was supposed to give me some sort of grace or something too. I think I got gypped," she chuckled, rubbing her injured assets.

Convinced that she'd done no lasting damage, Judith stepped back and smirked. "At least you can reach the top shelf without crawling on the counter."

"This is true. And I have a distinct 'keep away' advantage." Brushing herself off, she glanced to Sonja, smiling her thanks for the girl's assistance. "Hey, I don't think I've seen you around before. Not that it's easy keeping track of everybody anymore, but ..." She shrugged. "Are you new?"

The blonde smiled broadly, and Dawn was compelled to respond in kind. "Yes, I just arrived. I'm Sonja."

"Dawn. Hey."

"Dawn's Buffy's little sister," explained Judith.

A small huff escaped and Dawn rolled her eyes slightly. "That's pretty much my full name!" the teenager stated with obviously forced cheerfulness.

[ Download Clip #24 ]

Ultrace: Obviously Dawn's venom towards Buffy is a different kind altogether.
Jet Wolf: Yeah. I think Dawn for the most part is— We didn't have a big confrontation between Dawn and Buffy because ... I don't think Dawn really holds it against her. That she- That she went off for a while. You know so i-it— Her thing with Buffy is really just the same thing it always is with Buffy. "You don't let me do what I want, you treat me like a kid, blah blah blah." I mean, just the regular sibling tension. I also like to think that, even if Buffy didn't go to great lengths to make it abundantly clear to Xander and Willow a-and possibly even Giles why she was leaving, I like to think she really did with Dawn.
U: Yeah.
JW: Before she left. That she sat down with her and they had a nice long talk before Buffy left to go to Europe. Uhm, about, you know – "Here's why I have to do this, here's how it doesn't affect you, this is nothing to do with you, this is about me ..." I like to think that they had that talk. And that's why Dawn isn't so aggressively angry at Buffy for having left."
U: And not only that, but I like to think that Dawn, having technically been there to grow up with Buffy and seeing all the stuff that Buffy went through as a Slayer, she might understand more than the others—
JW: Mm-hmm.
U: —how much Buffy has had to give up before even meeting them.
JW: Right. And plus, Dawn's situation is a lot different too from, like, Willow's and Xander's. Where they come into the fight and they always choose to stay. You know. And Dawn has lost a lot, there's no doubt about it, but they each lost something a little bit different that Dawn can't quite relate to in the same way, and ... and it's sort of like the sacrifices that Xander and Willow have made are parallel to Buffy, and yet they never HAD to do this. They chose to help Buffy because they love her, and yet she cuts out. Cuts and runs. Uhm, so the- the perspectives are going to be considerably different.

Judith was instantly sheepish. "Sorry," she apologized, but Dawn simply shrugged again, blowing it off.

"My issue," she dismissed. "So, Sonja, where are you from?"

"Karlstad, in Sweden," replied the Slayer, a fond expression appearing.

"Oh, cool," Dawn enthused as she checked her watch. "Listen, I've gotta be somewhere about five minutes ago, but maybe we can meet up later and you can make me insanely jealous some more?"

Laughing and nodding her head, Sonja agreed, "I'd like that. And you can teach me all I need to know to fit in America."

Dawn backed away, keeping the two Slayers in sight. "Develop an unhealthy love of money and McDonalds and you're halfway there. Catch you later." She waved at the other girl. "Bye, Judith!"

Both Judith and Sonja waved at Dawn's retreating back as she jogged down the hall.

After a brief discussion with the sister, I'm even more firmly convinced that Summers' return is far from the happy event one might expect. As observed, the sister constantly struggles to find her place, believing it to only be worthwhile if it's separate from Summers. Her failure to realize that her very connection to Summers is a source of great strength and power for the both of them not only works in our favor, but provides further proof of the short-sightedness indicative of the entire inner circle of this new Council.

[ Download Clip #25 ]

Jet Wolf: The little bit here about— I know there was some discussion, with uh, Judith recognizing there's a great amount of, you know, power between Dawn and Buffy. Now this isn't meant to be Judith saying "Dawn's the Key". Although you certainly could interpret it that way, it's not that— Am I saying Dawn or Judith? I don't know. I'm- I'm mixing up my names.
Ultrace: You were saying this isn't Judith saying Dawn is the Key.
JW: Okay, cool. Uh yeah, so this isn't Judith having some great insight into seeing that Dawn still has her Key powers, as we later reveal that she does. It's really just saying that Dawn can be a great support. Dawn as a PERSON can be a great source of strength and power. Not, Dawn as the Key.
U: Yeah.
JW: That was- That was a phrase that got latched onto for a while. Uh, Judith doesn't know ... As I said, Judith doesn't have some great powers, she has no great insight, other than just the ability to be very observant and to know her history.
U: Yeah.

"I'm here!" Dawn announced as she entered Giles' office. She practically glowed with eagerness and excitement as she closed the door behind her and stood in front of the desk. "I've squeegeed my brain of all those useless 'school' things, and am prepared to devote every single ounce of brainpower to whatever task you need." A frown crept across her face. "Unless it involves cleaning. I know nothing of cleaning."

"No, no cleaning," Giles assured, glancing up from the book he was reading. "It's research, actually."

Dawn glowed again and actually did a very tiny dance of joy with an excited, "Yay!" as Giles moved to her side carrying a handful of papers. She scooted closer to study at them.

"I've been focusing the bulk of my attention on that new creature Kennedy encountered last week," the Watcher explained, shuffling through the papers. "Its actions seem to support the idea that its attack was anything but random, and I'm hoping that if we can uncover its origins, we might shed some light on the missing Slayers."

Reaching out, Dawn took the sketch of the Mogari and examined it with some trepidation. "Is this it? Gyuhh," she shuddered. "They won't be making a Beanie Baby of this thing any time soon."

"Indeed," agreed Giles, bringing a laboratory report to the top of the stack. "Now an associate of mine is running some tests on the blood sample, but it could be a few more days before he has anything conclusive to tell us. In the meantime, I suggest that we continue our research into known demons and see if we can narrow down the type."

Giles placed the stack of papers on his desktop and turned to one of the shelves, hefting a stack of books and dropping them in Dawn's hastily outstretched arms. Nearly collapsing under the weight, Dawn staggered for a moment but regained her footing and peered around her tower at the Watcher. Giles collected another, smaller stack and opened the door.

Unsteadily, Dawn made her way out of the office, her head still tilted to one side so she could see where she was going. "Fun-time Saturday spent in the library!" she bubbled without a trace of sarcasm as Giles locked the door behind him and followed. A moment passed and Dawn considered her words. "God, I really couldn't be more of a dork if I tried, could I?"

The Watcher chuckled fondly and smirked at the young girl. "I expect that you could do with a spot of, erm, 'dork' for a time."

"You heard, huh?" Dawn winced, and not from the strain the books were putting on her arms.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover that the entire population of Trillium heard by the time Willow was done with you."

Somehow, Dawn managed to be indignant. "Oh, like it was my fault the ghost totally wrecked her X-Files DVDs." Her eyes darted to Giles, complete with flat stare, and she sighed reluctantly. "Okay, like it was only my fault," she corrected.

Giles said nothing, content to simply shake his head.

"How long do you think I'll have to grovel?" the teenager whined.

"Oh, I'd say at least until you graduate and move out," Giles replied kindly. "Possibly up until you're married and have your first-born child. Still, if you uncover anything at all about this creature, I'll put in a good word for you." He placed a restraining hand on Dawn's shoulder to keep her from running into a group of Slayers who were rounding the same corner where Dawn had collided earlier, then took a few of the topmost books from her stack so she could see more easily. The coast clear, they continued down the hall, passing several large windows that were streaming sunlight into the building.

Dawn shot Giles a pleading look. "Could you make it a whole sentence?" she nearly begged. "It kinda nailed Xena, too."

Unseen by either, they were being closely observed by something outside the building. It watched them intently as they passed by the windows, chatting amiably. Once they were out of sight, it let go of the windowsill where it had been holding itself up, landing solidly on the ground.

It was a small, not particularly attractive creature, even by demon standards. It was squat, like it had perhaps met with an unfortunate trash compactor accident at some point in the past, rendering it solid at about three and a half feet tall. Its complexion was an off-orangey color, akin to a pumpkin that had been left out in the sun for a little too long. The skin was stretched tightly across its face, rendering it almost featureless, and it had no nose to speak of – only two little holes where a nose might normally be. As though attempting to compensate, its pointy ears were twice as big as they should be and it was nearly hairless, save a tuft of black fuzz that could be called a goatee if one were feeling generous.

Quite in contrast to its natural appearance, the demon was immaculately dressed in a tiny black three-piece suit with a blue silk shirt and matching tie. He pulled a small notepad from inside one of the jacket pockets and scribbled something with a miniscule pen, glancing in the direction of Giles and Dawn. His notes complete, he grinned, very nearly from ear-to-ear, revealing an impossible number of razor sharp teeth.

[ Download Clip #26 ]

Jet Wolf: We have Norg in here. Uhm ... Upon reflection, it's really kind of silly that we went to such trouble <Ultrace laughs> to set up, like to- to foreshadow Norg and the Boss for "Hard Day's Night". I don't know what the hell. Uhm, except for—
Ultrace: It wasn't— It wasn't just ... Well ... We originally intended "Hard Day's Night" to be like later in the season too.
JW: No, no, "Hard Day's Night" was always where it was gonna be.
U: Really?
JW: Give or take.
U: I thought it was supposed to be around episode 16 at some point. Like there was—
JW: No.
U: —gonna be the occasional Norg popping up until ...
JW: Nonono. Cuz we knew- we knew that that was gonna be, like, a throw-away episode.
U: Fair enough.
JW: I think we were trying to go, at this point, for like a big mislead. Like maybe these are really the Big Bads or something? I don't even really remember what we were trying to do. Uh, except for the idea that Norg was here to be, again, part of the fringes. To be part of the outside looking in— Oh, I think I know why I had him here. I think I was hoping that it would go, like, as a mislead ... waaay back in outline form, not when I first started writing it. But that, like, the reports would be coming from him.
U: Ahh.
JW: I THINK I might've been going that route. But I knew when I wrote the reports, there was no way.
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm ... So I think- I think he kind of is in there just as sort of a— I think he got caught up in the outline and never got outed. Cuz yeah, cuz it's REALLY silly to have like this big <laughing> foreshadowing for our, you know, our big comedy silly episode. But ah.
U: Hee-hee.
JW: So yeah, he was probably there to- to be one of a number of things. Some, you know ... A mislead for the Big Bad, a mislead for the reporter. Uh, a guy on the outside looking in, which was the theme of the episode back in the beginning ... He became none of these things. But that's okay. Cuz he's cute.
U: He is cute. He is cute indeed.

Act Two

Sonja shook her head slowly, valiantly trying to comprehend what she had just observed. "I've never seen someone so passionate about baking before," she remarked with wonder.

"Talking with Andrew is quite the experience," a smirking Judith agreed.

[ Download Clip #27 ]

Jet Wolf: Andrew being talked about by proxy. We don't actually get to see him. Uh, already phasing Andrew out at this point.
Ultrace: Yeah. Plan was to have him pop up a lot more often than he actually did. And I think pretty much his shining moment was dancing against Kennedy, and I think it all went downhill from there.
JW: Andrew's just ... he's only got so many jokes you can tell with him. He's a very one-trick pony.
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, and there's a lot more you COULD do with him. I don't deny the potential in the character. But, as I've said many a time, he's not the story that I'm going to tell.
U: Yeah. I mean, pretty- pretty much the only way we could've used Andrew more was MAYBE if he'd got hit by the thing in "Fulcrum" instead of Xander. I mean wow, he could actually have DONE something then.
JW: Well like I said, the character has a lot of potential, you know. Why is he such a ... useless ... Anyway. <Ultrace laughs> You know. And his whole, his own personal quest for redemption. If you wanted to go there, you could. I just choose not to. He can stay being ... cook and prat fall.
U: Yeah.

"Did you see how agitated he got when you told him that only losers use Toll House?"

Giggling, Judith nodded her head, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen. "And I only barely know what Toll House is. But irritating Andrew is like our national pastime around here." A thought occurred to her, and she grabbed Sonja's upper arm excitedly. "Oh, you know what's really fun? Just casually mention how Darth Maul is so much cooler than Darth Vader. I swear, he'll turn colors."

"I think this is quite possibly the oddest gathering of people I've ever encountered," chuckled Sonja.

Judith smiled proudly. "Oddly gathered, that's us."

They walked by a large closed door, unremarkable save for the fact that it seemed more ornate than the others around it. And the fact that it was half-covered with signs, which the girls felt compelled to stop and examine closely.

The first ordered, in big red letters, "DO NOT DISTURB". A second piece of paper, taped to the bottom of the first, was bright pink fluorescent stationary that proudly declared itself to be from the desk of Dawn. In a purple pen, someone had written "Spells in progress!" and gone the extra mile to replace the dot over the "i" with a large smiley face. The third and final sign was a generic oversized post-it note. A broad, masculine scrawl warned "Caution: Might get SEXY!"

Glancing at each other, the Slayers erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Okay what...?" Sonja managed to ask, indicating the door.

"Willow's Sanctuary," replied Judith. Noting the other girl's puzzled expression, she elaborated. "Willow. She's this mega-witch. Seriously badass with the power. When you see her she doesn't look like much – a tiny, babbling redheaded bundle of nerves." Judith laughed, amazed. "Some days, it looks like a strong wind could tip her over. But hey, we wouldn't all be here today if not for her. Really makes you think."

Impressed but uncertain of what else to say, Sonja stuck to the basics. "Oh. Wow."

Judith leaned against the doorframe as she continued. "Though I've heard rumors that her spell casting isn't quite what it used to be. Or it's more than it used to be. Some control issues or something, too much power." She shrugged regretfully at Sonja's fascinated expression, unable to provide more information. "I dunno. Anyway, this is her room; she casts all sorts of spells and stuff in there."

Without even attempting to feign pretense, Sonja leaned toward the door and pressed her ear against it, closing her eyes as she strained to listen. Judith was right behind her. After several long moments, they both straightened, disappointment evident.

"That was anticlimactic," Sonja complained, crossing her arms and glaring angrily at the door like it had intentionally held back.

"Yeah," Judith grumpily agreed. "She probably cloaked it, she does that sometimes. Puts up some sort of sound-dampener around the room. She says it's because the spells can get a bit noisy, but ..." Glancing around to make sure they were alone, Judith beckoned for Sonja to come closer, which the blonde girl did eagerly. "We have a bet going around here about its real purpose," confided Judith, "but until someone manages to get Kennedy drunk enough to spill, we'll never know for sure."

She winked lasciviously. Sonja was confused for just a moment before blushing fiercely and giggling again.

"She and Kennedy...?"

"Oh yeah," confirmed the other Slayer, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "You know, standing around and gossiping about who's dating who may have never saved the world, but it sure saved me from some boring Saturday nights."

Using her shoulder to push away from the door, Judith continued walking down the hall, Sonja at her heels.

[ Download Clip #28 ]

Jet Wolf: This actually, uhm, the very first thing I ever wrote for The Chosen. Is this scene, the- the bottom part of this scene and, uh, the scene between Willow and Kennedy. Which I think actually is getting posted as a bonus feature. I think at the same time as this commentary, actually. So yeah, the very first thing that I wrote. I was— I-I do a lot of my- my thinking in the shower? Just ... go with it. Uh, and so I was in the shower and thinking about how we wanted to gear up for this, and this was the very first thing that came into my mind. This scene, and the one between Willow and Kennedy. So, wanting to get myself in the mood, I went ahead and I wrote it.
Ultrace: Cool. I did not remember that.
JW: Yeah. Came out, ah- Came out a bit different. Obviously Sonja, completely different from the person— the- the nameless person there at first. I think I called her "Nancy" or something, I don't remember. She may not have had a name. Uh, I think Judith was, in the original version, she was like "Turncoat" or something.
U: Yeah, "Turncoat".
JW: But uhm, you know, the whole thing with the signs ... "Spells in progress", "Might get sexy" kind of thing. That was all there. But you had Sonja, and she was very uhm, aggressive, because she wasn't Sonja at that point. And uhm ... This scene between Kennedy and Willow, actually is largely as much as it was when I first wrote it, way back when.
U: Yeah.
JW: I-I toned some things down, I pulled some things up. But, it's mostly the same.

Rosenberg cast a dampening field or something similar around her spell room, and unfortunately I wasn't able to tell what she was doing in there. I'm still at a loss for how to properly gauge her. It seems incongruous to have that much power in someone so apparently weak. From what I've been able to gather, she still suffers from a lack of control, although more in the sense of toning the power down. It begs the question, what would happen if her restraint slipped, even on the simplest of spells? What can one do in the face of all that raw power? And can we afford to find out?

"Kenn, sweetie, Buffy didn't mean it. She's not trying to take your place. Please try to calm down."

Kennedy paced the length of the Sanctuary, her dark hair bouncing in empathetic anger as she pivoted on her heel and stomped back toward the door again. Willow sat on the far side of a casting circle that dominated the center of the room, her head dutifully turning first one way and then the next, tracking the Slayer's ceaseless motions.

"Please?" Willow tried again, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards in a smirk. "I'm startin' to feel like I'm at Wimbledon here. Only, you know, without the tennis or the strawberries and cream or the pretension."

With a largely exaggerated sigh, Kennedy came to a halt outside of the circle, facing Willow. She huffed and crossed her arms. "She just drives me up the freakin' wall, y'know? I mean, here I am, working my well-toned and not unimpressive ass off to establish a rapport with these newbies—"

Willow barely stifled a laugh, and looked around the room innocently when Kennedy leveled a dark glare.

[ Download Clip #29 ]

Ultrace: It's funny. I think that when Willow laughs, isn't she laughing at the "well-toned and not unimpressive ass"? And then Kennedy's all like, you know, thinking she was laughing at the rapport? Or is ... Is- Is that my understanding? That...?
Jet Wolf: I don't even see it.
U: <chuckles> She says, "I mean, here I am working my well-toned and not unimpressive ass off to establish a rapport", and Willow stifles a laugh—
JW: No, actually, I had her laughing at the rapport.
U: Oh, okay.
JW: Just the idea of what Kennedy's idea of a rapport is.
U: Gotcha, okay.
JW: But if you wanna think it's the ass thing, feel free.

"What? Okay, so it's not a rapport filled with peach fuzz and sunshine, but it's a rapport, dammit!" Kennedy threw her hands up in the air and resumed her steady pacing, gesturing her arms around animatedly as she spoke. "They respect me, I don't kick their ass. That's a rapport. So we're good and gettin' in a routine, things're going smoothly. Oh, but wait!" She spun and stomped in the opposite direction. "Here comes the Slayers' answer to Tony Robbins, fresh from her two month break, ready to step in now all the hard work is done and take over my freakin' class!"

As Kennedy's fist raised and pulled back away from the nearest wall, Willow leapt to her feet. "Ah-ah-ah!" she exclaimed in a panicked tone, halting Kennedy's actions long enough to reach her girlfriend's side, careful to not scatter the fine white sand marking the boundary of the casting circle. "No punching! There will be no making with the violence!"

Willow held Kennedy's clenched fist between her hands, gently lowering it but not letting go. Absently, she ran her thumb over the Slayer's knuckles in a soothing gesture and gave Kennedy an admonishing look. "You and that temper of yours. It took me a whole week to cleanse this place of the bad vibes after you went all butch with the wall last time."

Kennedy stuck her lip out in a pout. "Richelle cheated," she said in her best little girl voice.

"It was air hockey, Kenn, what'd she do? Blow on the puck really hard?"

The Slayer's pout became a predatory grin and she leered at Willow. "She was wearing this really loose top, and you know Richelle – the balcony's pretty well filled to capacity. So when she leaned over the table it reminded me of that time when we were at the playground and you got up on the monkey bars and—"

Willow dropped Kennedy's hand and cleared her throat nervously, her face becoming as red as her hair. Kennedy showed no matching sign of discomfort, instead taking a moment to soak up Willow's flustered spluttering.

"Yeah, well, there's that a-and ... Yeah. Yeah, okay, so- so no punching in my sanctum. Okay?" Willow waved her hand in the general direction of the section of wall that had nearly met with a scrunchy end. "It leaves badness. No badness in my goodness."

"Yes ma'am," Kennedy smirked, before her mood darkened again. "But freakin' Buffy..."

With a small sigh, Willow returned to the casting circle, again stepping over the line and making sure not to disturb it. She resumed her position on the far side, sitting Indian style and placing her palms down on her knees before looking back to a scowling Kennedy. "You said she was just talking to them. That doesn't mean she's taking over your class, Kenn, it means she was having a conversation. Don't you think you're maybe over-reacting just a teensy bit...?"

A glare provided all the answer necessary. Willow inhaled deeply and tried once more. "Okay, maybe she stepped on your toes. But we have to give her some time. She just wants to help. And, you know, she's been away for a while so she's still lookin' for her place."

Kennedy resumed her cross-armed stance from earlier, but her anger was quickly burning off so it lacked some of its previous force. "You always take her side," she groused.

"I'm on your side. And her side. I'm multi-sided. I'm the triskaidecagon of this conflict." Kennedy threw a questioning look at Willow, but the redhead either didn't see it or chose to ignore it. "I just don't want two of the people that I care about ripping each other's throats out as soon as I get them both back again."

[ Download Clip #30 ]

Jet Wolf. Had to look that up. What the hell a ... uh, "triskaidecagon". Which is, actually ... It is an actual thing. It's a thirteen-sided polygon, I believe.

"All right," relented the Slayer after a pause. "But you'll talk to her, right? Make her understand that crap ain't gonna fly. If she wants to do the 'Ten Steps to a More Fulfilling Slay' seminar, she can do it on her own time."

"Absolutely," Willow assured, smiling comfortingly. "Now get rid of the rest of that nastiness you're givin' off and come in here."

Smirking, her rage finally dissipated, Kennedy stepped into the circle and adopted a similar position across from Willow. She took a deep, calming breath and focused on the witch, shifting a little uncomfortably in the unfamiliar environment. "So. What are we doing again?"

Willow's eyes shone and she leaned over excitedly toward Kennedy, clearly overjoyed with the idea of sharing this with her lover. "Well you remember when I cast the Slayer spell, right? You were my anchor, my connection to this world, so I couldn't get all swept up and lost in the magics."

"Like I could forget anything about that night," Kennedy said with a wistful smile.

"Right. Slayer birth and all that. So, we were able to pull that off, and it obviously worked because, hello, hundreds of Slayers all over the place. I know that was a one-time deal, and I was pretty much too terrified to really appreciate it, but through the abject terror, I remember thinking it was nice. To- to, you know, have an anchor. Again. I-I haven't had one since ..." Willow trailed off.

"Tara." The name hung there in the air like a tangible thing, causing the silence in the room that followed to become heavy and oppressive. The tension persisted just for a moment before Kennedy grinned and her typical self-confidence quickly masked anything else she might be feeling. "Hey, Will, it's cool. I mean, I know you two used to work the whole magic mojo. It was kinda your thing."

Willow had looked stricken, her previous enthusiasm having given way to mirror the discomfort that now permeated the room, but her face began to brighten at Kennedy's words and she visibly relaxed.

Reaching out through the space that separated them, Kennedy grabbed Willow's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm honored that you'd ask me to be part of something you two had. Really."

The smile she received in turn was beaming and full of affection. Willow gripped Kennedy's hand tightly for a moment in gratitude before pulling away. The space between them remained, but it was now open and comfortable.

"Well we did the thing with the scythe, which was great, but it was really more of a, you know, 'in the moment' thing. We made it work because we had to. The real test is to see if we can achieve that kind of connection in normal, every day, apocalypse-free conditions."

Kennedy shrugged nonchalantly, scooping a lock of hair from her eyes and tucking it behind her ear. "Should be pretty easy. Not sitting directly on top of a Hellmouth ready to spit a couple thousand übervamps in my face is pretty relaxing." She paused to consider this. "More boring, but relaxing."

"You'd think it'd be easier, but the idea of being ripped into several dozen pieces? Tends to push people above and beyond," replied Willow with a smirk. "Go figure."

The Slayer shifted her position on the floor, steeling herself as though she were preparing for battle. "All right, let's do this thing. What's the plan?"

Willow eyed Kennedy's posture critically. "Well you know that relaxing thing you were just talking about? Try that first." At the blank expression, Willow motioned toward Kennedy's tense demeanor. "You can't beat magic in the head until it listens to you, Kenn, you've got to ... to attune to it. Coax it. Entice it."

"Are you saying I'm not enticing enough?" Kennedy asked in a flirtatious voice.

The suggestive grin that appeared on Willow's face was instinctive, but she quickly replaced it with one that was sobering and entirely serious. "Kennedy..." she chastised with a definite warning tone.

Kennedy inhaled deeply, shook out her hands and rolled her head around in a full circle. "Okay. All relaxed now. I'm good."

"Good," echoed Willow, closing her eyes. Kennedy did the same. "We'll start off slow and simple. I'll cast my essence out, just a little ways, and we'll establish a connection. All you have to do is reach out to me. W-With your mind, not literally, cuz this is all about the not-physical. Just remember to breathe, stay focused, and come to me."

With another deep breath, Kennedy shrugged her shoulders a couple of times to work out some of the kinks, intent on relaxing. Her face was passive and tranquil for a minute or so until her forehead crinkled slightly. She breathed again, a small amount of irritation managing to make itself known, and fidgeted into a more comfortable position. A look of intense concentration appeared on her face, and her eyes twitched restlessly underneath their lids. Another few minutes of this passed, until Kennedy's eyes shot open and she let out a cry of frustration.

Across from her, Willow remained the picture of calm serenity for a moment, before her own eyes opened, forehead furrowed in concern. "What's wrong?" she asked, watching as Kennedy ran an agitated hand through her hair.

"Stupid magic's not working!"

Caught up in her own emotions, Kennedy missed the flash of hurt and anger that briefly danced across Willow's face, and it was soon replaced with one that was much softer. "So, nothing then?" queried Willow in a small yet still hopeful voice.

Kennedy got to her feet and stepped out of the casting circle. "Nada," she replied bitterly.

"Oh." The disappointment was evident, and Kennedy turned toward a crestfallen Willow.

"I'm really sorry, Will."

Willow shook her head. "No, no, i-i-it's not your fault. I mean, it was silly of me to, to think that we'd be able to connect, like that, the first time. Don't feel bad. It means a lot that you tried."

Kennedy quickly moved over to her girlfriend, squatting down behind her and resting her chin on top of Willow's head. Her arms draped casually over Willow's shoulders. "We'll try it again," she stated with conviction. "You know me, I don't take just sitting around too well. Besides, I'm way too stubborn to let this fairy tale crap win." She hugged Willow briefly but firmly, her position preventing her from seeing the look of sadness and loss on Willow's face. "We'll try it again."

"Yeah," replied Willow, trying but failing to recapture her earlier enthusiasm.

[ Download Clip #31 ]

Ultrace: Ahh yes, of course. And we have to establish Kennedy's stance on magic.
Jet Wolf. We actually didn't go, uhm ... We actually didn't go there. Our original idea we were gonna have was that, uh, Kennedy was gonna be very ... skeptical, almost, of magic. Which, you know, she kind of was to a point in the series itself. You know, I don't believe in magic fairy tale crap. Uhm ...
U: But once you get transformed into a Slayer as a result of that ...
JW: Yeah. We had a line, which I- I loved this line, but I could never work it in. Uh, where I had Kennedy talking to Faith at one point, I think it was in "Inside Out". Where Kennedy is saying, essentially, that she doesn't believe in magic. And- And Faith says something like, "Go outside and benchpress a Volvo and then tell me you don't believe in magic." Uhm, and I really liked that, but there was never a place to put it because the ... Kennedy's disbelief in magic didn't manifest. Because at this point, she SHOULD believe in it. And she does. And her saying "I don't believe in it" is really just stupid on her part. So instead, I turned it into her just not having an affinity for it. Which is something that Willow is- is feeling is lacking. She wants that kind of a greater connection. And it's- it's just one more thing that they don't have in common. But I didn't want to turn it into a big, you know, "I don't believe in magic, ergo I don't believe in you" kind of thing.
U: Yeah.
JW: That was going places I didn't really want to go with it. And this, I always thought was a really good thing for Kennedy too, where she's sort of like ... In her own way, accepting, "Okay, you know, you want this thing like you had with Tara, so I'm gonna try." You know. Kennedy wanting to- to be what Willow wants her to be. And just not being able to do it. She's just not that way inclined. She's the muscle, Willow's the magic.
U: And- And she TRIES, but it's not really a ... She gets frustrated very easily. She expects things to go just so.
JW: Well she's so used to being good at everything, I think is what that is.
U: Yeah.
JW: You know. Kennedy is used to, like, "I'm going to do this, and I'm gonna be good at it." And here it is, something that's very important, uhm, but she doesn't get it. She doesn't get this whole magic crap. Uhm, you know, in Kennedy's world, you've got her and you've got the thing to fight, the end. And magic is a level that she- she can't really cope with because she has no defense against it. And at this point she already feels very threatened and challenged by Buffy's return anyway, so the last thing she wants it something else she can't do.
U: And of course they talk about, uh, you know ... Willow casting out and Kennedy making a connection, and there's like multiple meanings to that obviously. Because they really don't have a connection.
JW: They don't have the connection that they both need. They- They do have one, but it's a very superficial kind of connection. And- And Kennedy trying and wanting to and just unable to- to do what they need. And would she ever? I really don't know. I don't think that Kennedy is really a magically-inclined kind of person. I mean, magic in the Buffyverse is a very subjective thing and obviously she's able to cast a spell later in "Inside Out" so, you know, it's sort of been proven that anybody can cast a spell. But like I have Giles explaining later, you know ... Anybody can bang on a piano and, you know ...
U: Make noise.
JW: Make noise. Every now and again you get someone who can play a concerto, but then you've got like, Mozart who comes along and he's a genius.
U: Which is really, uhm, now that I think about it, really in tune with what Amy was saying in Season 7, actually. She didn't say it quite as eloquently, certainly, but she's like, "Willow's all powerful and we're just struggling like retarded kids to, you know, on the short bus."
JW: Yeah. Willow- Willow has it so easy. "The rest of us try, and we're not even a fraction as good." Willow is obviously just a very natural kind of person. With magic. You know, but you see here where Kennedy's saying, you know, "We'll try it again. I'll give it another try, I'll keep doing this until I can get it." But Willow is just ... she knows it's not there and she's trying. Rather, she wants it to be there so much and she doesn't think it's going to be there.
U: Yeah.
JW: And it's sort of ... This is, in its own way, one of the final nails in the coffin. And like I said, it's less about the magic and just more about Willow wanting something that she can- she and Kennedy can- can do to- to kind of connect. Uhm ... I do think there are little traces of this- of her wanting it to be Tara in this. Because we did make it clear that she is in- she hasn't resolved those- those feelings. That feeling of loss. And Kennedy kind of being a sort of replacement at this point. Uhm, but of course, another reason why Kennedy is probably not good at magic is because Tara was. So, you know. Anti-Tara. But ah, she was willing to try. She was gonna keep trying until she got it, and I think that- that means a lot. That's a good thing for Kennedy. But Willow just ... It's not workin'.
U: Nope.

Judith leaned against the front steps of Slayer Central, her elbows helping to support her back from digging into the cement, and tilted her head upwards to enjoy the sun. Seated next to her, Sonja was sitting demurely with her legs crossed and her hands folded neatly in her lap, but she still basked in the warmth. Gazing around in wonder, no detail seemed to miss the blonde's keen eye.

"I'm really impressed by how much space there is," she remarked. "The complex itself is quite large, with the administrative offices and training rooms, plus the dormitories. But all that additional land in the back ..." Glancing toward the wide expanse of field to her right, Sonja was contemplative. "Do you know what they plan to do with it?"

Her eyes still closed against the bright sun, Judith shook her head. "Nope, not a clue. I was thinking maybe we could get our own major league football team to play back there for our amusement, but seriously? I've asked, and nobody seems to know. I don't think Giles and the Council know yet either. They're probably holding on to it for expansion or something."

[ Download Clip #32 ]

Ultrace: "I was thinking maybe we could get our own major league baseball team to play back there for our amusement". You know honestly, when you think about this? It's almost ludicrous when you think about how boring it would be to watch normal people play baseball when you're a Slayer. <JW laughs> It's like, "Ha ha, throw the ball! CRACK. Okay, that went about FIVE MILES."
Jet Wolf. It's like the X-Men playing baseball!
U: Exactly! We'll have to try and incorporate something like that in the future, some downtime stuff.
JW: Slayer- Slayer baseball?
U: Slayer VOLLEYBALL.
JW: You're just having like— You're on that "Dead or Alive" thing. "Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball". He rented that, so.
U: "Slayer Central Extreme Beach Volleyball".
JW: There you go.
U: There we go. A-And Willow can join in too. She's got the magic, she can be kind of like, you know ... Admit it readers. Admit it, MALE readers. <JW laughs> Buffy, Faith, Willow, bikinis. Come on. It's a winning combination.

Sonja leaned forward, propping her elbows on her knees and resting her chin in her hands, still focused on the distant foliage. "I'd love to go exploring some time. All those trees back there, I'm sure there are some beautiful spots."

"I don't doubt," Judith agreed amicably.

Noticing a figure moving at a lively pace toward the object of her attention, Sonja lifted her head and peered intently. "Who's that?" she asked, unable to recognize the person.

Judith cracked open an eye and cocked her head, squinting to make out the details. "Oh, that's Faith," she answered after a second. "She's like the number one Slayer-in-charge around here." Frowning, she added, "Or, was. Don't know how Buffy's return will change that."

"Huh. She seems sort of ... angry?"

"That's definitely Faith, then," chuckled Judith, her eyes closing again as she soaked up the rays.

Regarding Judith with interest for a moment, Sonja returned to watching the slowly disappearing shadow of the Senior Slayer. "Sort of a bad attitude, huh?" she probed.

"Well ... I'd say she's an original." Judith grinned. "You won't find anybody else quite like Faith."

I had no chance to interact with the rogue Slayer today, although I did spot her skulking alone from the facility. As I watched her move, I found myself wondering how she was taking this new life of hers, and if she felt that it was truly her calling. Faith has a unique understanding of what it's like to be on both sides of the fight, and while she has clearly cast her lot with this Council, I wonder if it's a permanent decision or a passing fad? I believe she tries, perhaps harder than anyone, to fit into this new life, yet ironically, she never allows herself to fully integrate with those around her. Does she honestly want to be with them? Or does she simply remain because she feels that she should?

[ Download Clip #33 ]

Jet Wolf: This of course setting up sort of Faith's, uhm, kind of- kind of mini-arc for the season. You know. The, "do I really belong here?" kind of a question. I was never entirely satisfied with how Faith's feelings of, you know, redemption never got resolved within Buffy or Angel. You know. I just don't think she learned a whole lot by sitting in jail for two years, four years, whatever it was. And then when she got out, you know, when she broke out to- to help out Angel, again, I never felt, you know, having seen those episodes now, I- I didn't feel it was properly resolved. Nor on Buffy. Uhm, but then, Faith wasn't really there on Buffy FOR that purpose.
Ultrace: You know, really it was more along the lines of, "Yeah, you- you learned some stuff in Angel" and then, "Oh hey, look you're out of jail, we could use your help. Come help us out."
JW: Yeah.
U: You know, it's not even a case of, "We trust you, we believe in you". It's like, "You're a Slayer, we could use one of them. Try not to kill the girls."

As Faith entered the clearing, she immediately spied Xander, resting against the large tree that dominated the area. He was serene, a ghost of a smile on his lips as he simply sat staring at the tiny sapling growing several feet away. Taking all this in, Faith turned to leave without a word, but Xander glanced up her briefly.

"Faith," he stated, his eyes soon returning to the sapling.

Pausing, Faith seemed to consider leaving anyway, but made no move to do so. "Hey. Sorry," she clipped. "Didn't know anyone was here. I'll come back later."

Again, the Slayer turned to leave, but Xander's voice brought her to a halt once more. "No." Taking a deep breath, he refocused his thoughts and appeared to return to himself. With a smile, he gave Faith his full attention. "No, please. Stay."

Scooting over, the carpenter made room for Faith next to him against the tree. She hesitated for a second before accepting his offer, sitting with a grace she usually reserved for battles. They both stared straight head, neither speaking for a time.

"I like to come out here," Xander began, talking softly, loud noises seeming to violate the peaceful area. "I think Will was on to something. Since she brought me here, it's been better. Not 100%, 'top o' the world, ma' better," grinning, he shrugged, "but it's gettin' there. I'm not sure if Anya's really here with me, but sometimes it feels like she's standing right over there," a wave of his hand indicated the sapling, "glaring at me for being such an idiot and gettin' all depressed about her."

Mulling this over, for a moment Xander fell silent. "Though between you an' me, I think she's mad I don't have a job. Or maybe it's that I didn't buy her an expensive tombstone, or that she has to share a memorial with a bunch of other ghosts. Or it could just be that she doesn't like my shirt. Anya had a whole bunch of glares for a variety of occasions, it's hard to narrow it down sometimes."

With a sideways glance at Faith, Xander paused, his silence inviting her to speak. She didn't take him up on his unspoken offer, choosing instead to simply stare straight ahead. The Slayer was nearly motionless, and save for the occasional blink and continual rise and fall of her chest as she breathed, she might have been a statue. Frowning at this, Xander studied Faith, and then decided to fill the silence himself.

"I play the 'what if?' game a lot. Like, 'What if I'd gone with Anya instead of Dawn?', or 'What if hadn't waited until my wedding day to grow a backbone?' Funnily enough, they all seem to end with me gettin' glared at. Although there is this one that ends with us riding elephants through the jungles of Bangladesh." Turning slightly toward Faith, Xander stuck out a finger to punctuate his comment. "Interestingly enough, that's not the strangest part. It starts gettin' really weird when I bring home some kiwi fruit, then—"

"My mom's dead."

[ Download Clip #34 ]

Jet Wolf: But this is a good scene, setting up the Faith and Xander friendship. As I mentioned earlier, wanting to make sure that we get Faith, throughout the course, as well integrated into the Scoobies as we can. Uh, she's not a part of them, she's never going to really fully feel like she fits in, uhm, but want Faith to be an integral part of the group. And there are little things that I did very consciously throughout the course of the season to make Faith more and more integrated with them. Which makes her sort of isolation at the end that much more impactful. Starting out here with Xander. Uh, the Faith and Buffy relationship gets more attention later in other episodes but they- they don't have as far to go. Because Faith and Buffy already kind of have an understanding going. They know each other very well. But I- I felt that if there was a way for Faith to kind of integrate properly with the main group, that it was going to be through Xander. Uh, Xander ... They have a connection!
Ultrace: Hee-hee.
JW: Xander- Xander understanding a-and WILLING to understand a lot more where Faith is coming from. And Faith feeling that Xander wouldn't necessarily judge her like the others would. So I'm- I was really pleased with how this scene came about, because it sort of sets things up. And it also shows us that Xander is himself, uhm, still working with the Anya thing. That we hadn't really specifically mentioned it since the second episode, but it's still there. And it still crops up, which I think is the way the real grief works. Uhm, it's not something that you automatically, you know, snap your fingers, wake up one day, and you're all better.
U: Yeah.
JW: You go along for a while and you're okay, but i-it's always on your mind and then you have days that are worse than others.
U: Sorry, I was reading the kiwi fruit. "Starts getting really weird when I bring home kiwi fruit, then—"
JW: But uhm, so that- so this was a scene that I was quite happy with. Faith's mom being dead – I couldn't remember if they said in the series that her mom was dead, thought I, having recently rewatched it, there IS a season three episode where she says, "You hit—" "You don't hit as hard as my dead mother." Uh, but knowing Faith at that point, I can pass that off as her just saying it just for the hell of it.
U: Yeah.
JW: So if I- I'm really hoping I didn't make a faux pas and her mom had actually died ages ago. I don't think so. But if I did, then I feel bad. But I can't fix it now, so there we are. Uh, so yeah, so Mom's- so her mom's dead. We revisit this about four episodes later. I think. When Faith goes to visit her mom's grave.

The words were delivered with no emotion. Faith might have said, "Clouds are neat" or "I like cheese" with the same disinterested tone, but they certainly wouldn't have had the same effect on Xander. He froze, mid-sentence, his finger pointing at the Slayer and his jaw dangling open. With an audible snap, his mouth closed and he slowly lowered his hand. "Geez, Faith, that's ... I'm sorry."

Faith absorbed this and then shrugged. "I'm not."

Sighing, the Slayer ran a hand through her hair, heavily as though it weighed forty pounds. Xander waited patiently, watching Faith closely but saying nothing. She elaborated eventually, her voice tired and flat. "Decided a little while back that I'd send her a letter, tell her where I was. Dunno why exactly," she admitted with a shrug. "She never much cared where I was when I was livin' with her, she cared even less when I left. But I figured hey, got the whole new life thing goin' here, can't hurt to try, right?"

Xander smiled and nodded, but Faith didn't pay the affirmations any attention. Remaining eerily still, her eyes fixated on the sapling as though it held the answer to some great mystery that could only be uncovered if she stared long enough, she continued in the same near monotone. "Got it back today, marked that she don't live there. So I call my Aunt, thinkin' maybe mom finally got her crap together, threw out the bottle and got on the wagon west to the land'a corn an' clean livin'. Nope. Turns out a month ago, she drunk herself in the ground instead."

He didn't know what to say. Several circuits of opening and closing his mouth passed with words almost coming out, only to be intercepted by Xander shaking his head. Once, he partially raised his arm as though to hug the women next to him, but thought better of it. The Slayer took all of this with the same apathy she had exhibited since sitting down.

"All I can think to say is 'Sorry'," the carpenter finally managed, "and I know damn well that doesn't make it a bit better."

"I meant what I said, I'm not sorry," Faith insisted, sounding almost bored. Off of Xander's confused expression, she attempted to explain. "I'm not ... anything. I keep thinkin' it's comin'. Any second now, it's gonna hit me like a sucker punch an' I'll just curl up like I'm three years old again an' bawl my eyes out." She paused, waiting expectantly, as though speaking the words would somehow trigger a reaction. Nothing happened. She sighed. "But it's not. I just don't care that she's gone."

Tearing her eyes away from the sapling for the first time since taking a seat, Faith reached out and tugged on a nearby blade of grass. She freed it from the earth easily, and slowly shredded it into strips as she spoke.

"For years it was pretty much just me an' my mom ... and her plaything of the week," she added with a touch of bitterness. "But the clearest memories I have of her are slappin' me for cryin' when my dad left, comin' home and findin' her passed out on the couch, and her tellin' me I couldn't have a puppy. It's the puppy one that still stings."

A mirthless laugh escaped and Faith tossed the remnants of the blade to the ground, pulling out another one and repeating the same actions. "I keep thinkin' about her, tryin' t' find somethin' to hold on to. An' I realized, all I really got're crappy memories." Flicking her fingers, the now naked stem went flying through the air. "Hell, I made enough crappy memories all on my own, don't need her help for that. But then ... What's that say about me? I seen enough touchy-feely Lifetime movies in the joint to know I'm supposed to have some big revelation, some breakthrough where I'm supposed to cry an' forgive an' move on. Only I ain't got the tears." For the first time, Faith turned to Xander, frowning in confusion. "Shouldn't I have tears?"

He smiled kindly as he answered, "Maybe you skipped steps one and two and went straight to moving on."

"I dunno. Ain't never been an overachiever before, doubt I'm startin' now." The Slayer had actually appeared amused for moment, but it was brief and she soon looked sad and just a little afraid. "You don't think I'm ..." Sighing, Faith shook her head and tried again. "What if I go back to ..." Again the words died in her throat, and she gritted her teeth in frustration.

But Xander somehow knew what she was trying to say, and he let that understanding fill his voice. "If you're wantin' to ask the question, I think you already know the answer." Faith deliberated on this, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, and Xander seized the opportunity to compose his thoughts.

"I can't speak for your situation exactly, but there is one thing I've come to realize about parents: A DNA contribution means squat. Without some connection, all you got are a couple'a old people who look sorta like you. An' I'm not gonna waste my energy on some thoughtless, emotionally crippled – albeit undoubtedly handsome – individuals."

That warranted a smirk and Faith eyed Xander critically. "'Undoubtedly handsome'? In your dreams, pal."

"Well I do have weird dreams," he admitted. "I'm tellin' you, kiwi fruit? Never. The same. Again."

The smirk became a smile, and this one actually seemed genuine. Bumping Xander's shoulder with her own, Faith declared, "Y'know what Harris? You're alright."

Looking every bit like a sheepish little boy, Xander grinned and shrugged. "It's a well-kept secret. Don't let it get out, or everyone'll want me." He considered this very carefully. "Oh god, please tell everyone."

Faith chuckled as a silence fell between them, but just for a few seconds. She glanced over to the carpenter. "Elephants in Bangladesh? Where the hell's Bangladesh?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "I'm thinkin' maybe near Nepal."

[ Download Clip #35 ]

Ultrace: This was a good scene.
Jet Wolf: Yeah, it is. It's a nice moment between Faith and ah, and Xander. Good- Good movement for Faith, too. We sort of get ... a greater insight that she isn't all just about being angry—
U: Yeah.
JW: —and being pissy and being funny sometimes.
U: And sometimes she wants to be more than that and just can't.
JW: Right. Faith hasn't found the way to be more than just the anger and the violence.
U: But the WANTING to be more says volumes right there.
JW: Well that's the important thing. You have to want it before you can do it.
U: And it's unfortunate that we uh ... I think we took it in a good direction with Hazel and Faith's relationship developing, but we never really got a chance to explore the, "You don't think I'm", "What if I go back to" line.
JW: Well no, well we kinda did, I thought. That was really more the point of the- of "Ex Post Facto". When Faith is going and she talks to Roxy.
U: Oh, yeah, that's a good point.
JW: And Roxy's all like, "Hey, you're happier over here where you don't have responsibilities and, you know, you can just run around and do whatever the hell you want to."
U: Yeah.
JW: And Faith realizing at the end, "Well I can follow you and I can live that life. Or, but hey, here's this, you know, girl that I have made a difference to and look at the good she's doing because of me. And this IS where I belong."
U: Yeah, okay.
JW: That's what was intended, anyway.

[ Download Clip #36 ]

Ultrace: "Little flushed from the warm sun outside". You know, every time I think about anything happening to Judith, I see the picture that you actually found for Judith, and she's rather ... dark skinned. She's well tanned. So it's hard for me to think of her getting flushed from the sun outside. She's not a— This isn't a complaint, I'm just making an observation. She's not a pale, dainty waif. You know, sort of thing.
Jet Wolf: Those are harder than you think? Cuz you're trying to establish, like, time of day and place?
U: Yeah.
JW: It's really hard to be like, "The sun was shining". " It was dark out". It's NOT an easy thing. So to try and come up with new ways to do that and yet say the time – you take the lighting guys for granted.
U: Yeah.
JW: You know, they just turn on a light outside, and oo! Suddenly it's day. You don't have that in words. You know, in- in text you've really gotta make an allusion to, "Here's the time of day". Cuz otherwise you have NO idea. It's VERY irritating.

A little flushed from the warm sun outside, Judith and Sonja walked through the heavy, over-sized doors that opened into the foyer of Slayer Central, laughing at something that had obviously amused them greatly. Not in any particular rush, they crossed the room and went to open the door leading to the left-hand section of the facility. Just as Judith reached for the knob, however, the door flew open. Startled, the two girls jumped back and away from the entrance, just as Willow stormed through, her face a mask of fury, Buffy right on her heels.

"Will, would you just calm down and listen to me?" Buffy implored, her own irritation evident.

"I think I heardja pretty good the first time," retorted Willow, coming to a stop in the center of the room and spinning on her heel to glare at the blonde. "I'm not a Slayer so I can't know what it's like. Knock knock, deja vu calling! Where've I heard that before?"

"I didn't mean it like—" spat Buffy before catching her tone. She took a quick breath, continuing in voice approximately 0.2 degrees less angry. "I just meant that ... when you have all this power—"

Willow's eyes widened in complete disbelief. "Oh, and hey, I wouldn't know anything about that either!" she exclaimed with utmost indignity. "I-It's not all about you all the time, Buffy. We've done a lot of good here, a-and worked really really hard to get this place running. And you just ... just come in here, all 'Hey, lookit me, Alpha Slayer on deck!', an-and you expect us to just jump to attention and salute or something, and it's not like that. We've got a ... a system. A training system. For training ... stuff." She frowned at herself. "And yeah, okay, maybe I don't know what that happens to be off-hand. But Kennedy does. She knows because she helped develop it." Willow crossed her arms and glared at Buffy accusingly. "You know, when you were busy being not here?"

[ Download Clip #37 ]

Jet Wolf: Oh, uhm, yeah. The big Willow and Buffy confrontation. This was a long time in comin'. Loved writing this. I got a lot of stuff out on this one.
Ultrace: Was this THE confrontation? They didn't have one in—
JW: They didn't really have in, ah—
U: —"Inside Out"?
JW: No, they didn't have one. Cuz remember, Willow's like, all hurt and isolated in "Inside Out". No this was like our big Buffy and Willow confrontation. I'm kind of of two minds? Uhm, on the one hand I kind of wish I'd made it longer? Uhm, and kind of drug it out. But on the other hand – I think I remember we were talking about this too – was, how long to make them going at each other.
U: Yeah.
JW: And we decided in the end to try and make it as succinct as we could. Because so much of this is SO old at this stage. You know. This is Season 8, Willow brought her back two years ago ... You know, there's gotta come a point where you say, "Okay, I'm gonna have to let this go." Uhm, a-and this doesn't become a huge issue, otherwise it's BORING. Really. You know, cuz it's like, well we, the readers, know what's going on, the characters know what's going on. How much can you— How many times can you bring up the same old stuff? But still the issues never got resolved. In a way that was satisfactory to me. So uh, a lot of this is sort of throwing things up, two years worth of crap getting dumped on both of them at this point. Uhm, a-and ... I really hope it didn't come off as being too easy. Because I didn't want it to be too easy, but you know ... It's really hard to figure out the proper line.

Flinching involuntarily, Buffy hissed through gritted teeth, "That is not fair."

"Fair? We were here teachin' a bunch of girls how to hug their gran'ma without snappin' a few ribs while you were off all 'Hills are Alive'. Gosh, and how is that they can break bones without even trying now?" The redhead looked off, pretending to be thinking hard, then snapped her fingers as the answer came to her. "Oh yeah, because you wanted 'em called!"

Judith and Sonja had been standing motionless by the door, gaping at the exchange. Casting a quick, nervous glance at each other, they beat a simultaneous, hasty retreat.

A clash between Summers and Rosenberg was, I suppose, inevitable. Summers seems unsure of, even reluctant to fulfill her role as leader and Rosenberg's own perpetual guilt and insecurities only feed off of Summers' uncertainty. The pet Slayer's bruised ego may have been the catalyst, but the truth of the matter is, two of the world's most powerful forces have no idea how to relate to each other. There's simply too much hurt and too much history between them at this point, and rather than use it to heal, they'd rather skirt issues and chip away at each other piece by piece.

The eyes of the Slayer were cold and harsh as she regarded her friend, who was just as angry but more wounded than detached. "I did what I had to," Buffy justified. "I did what I always do – I took on the bad guy and I won."

"We won," Willow quickly corrected.

"Yes, we won," she frustratedly agreed. "I'm just saying—" Taking a mental step back, Buffy sighed. When she again locked eyes with Willow, the coldness had evaporated. "There's more to slaying than just blocking a punch to the face," she explained calmly. "All we're doing is teaching them to fight, and all that's doing is making them think they're invulnerable. They've got to know there's more to life than fighting, Will, or that's all we can ever expect from them."

Willow truly wanted to hold on to her anger, but it simply wasn't possible and it washed away, leaving only the hurt. "Yeah, okay, I understand that," the witch conceded softly. "But you- you can't just walk in here like you own the place and start ... takin' over. Things aren't like they were before, Buffy. We're not just your generals, and they're not your troops."

"Generals?" repeated Buffy, almost whispering. "Is that what you think you are?"

Willow tilted her head to one side. "Aren't we?"

"No!" the Slayer immediately denied. "You're ... god, I thought you were my friends!"

"When's the last time you treated us like friends, Buffy?" Willow asked wearily. "Me, Xander, Giles ... For the past few years, you've treated us like a ... a habit you weren't in the mood to break."

Defensive was Buffy's first, instinctive reaction, and she spoke very slowly, clearly pronouncing each word. "Well, I'm sorry that I wasn't up for a video club after you pulled me—" Waving her hand, Buffy severed that line of conversation, making a very obvious choice to not go down that path. She glanced at Willow, taking note of the lingering sorrow and regret. "It's been a rough couple of years," she summed up after a deep breath.

"For all of us, Buffy," Willow gently reminded, "not just you."

The Slayer hung her head. "I know that."

Regarding her friend for several moments, Willow wasn't quite ready to let it all go. "This was our chance to start over, to rebuild. And what'd you do?" She shook her head disapprovingly. "You ran away. Again."

"I had to—"

"I know y'think you had to," interrupted the redhead. "Y'told me. But it doesn't change the fact that'cha left, Buffy. You chose to go off and find yourself, and that self you were lookin' for ..." Willow crossed her arms again, hugging herself. "It obviously wasn't with us."

"But I came back," offered Buffy.

"Why was that, exactly?"

Buffy opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Her face fell, and she glanced away, focusing on something across the room. "I just want things back how they were," she finally replied, a touch of need lacing her voice.

Willow nodded, her bottom lip quivering slightly. "Well that's what I want too."

The two women stood across from either other, both looking in opposite directions and neither saying a word. Buffy balled her hands into loose fists at her side, and Willow rubbed her arms for comfort.

"I'd also like very much to know how to do that."

Nodding again, Willow agreed, "Yeah, that'd be nifty."

Another long minute passed in silence. Glancing up, the Slayer raised an eyebrow at her friend. "And can I have a pony?"

The redhead met Buffy's eyes, the corner of her mouth twitched in a smile. "Ponies are evil," she stated matter-of-factly. "Maybe a hamster."

Buffy grinned slightly. "Okay."

The moment passed into renewed silence. This time, Willow spoke first. "So," she began, straightening up as Buffy did the same. "What now?"

They regarded each other, searching, but found no answer.

[ Download Clip #38 ]

Jet Wolf: I was very happy with this line though, where uh, Willow's saying, "We not just your generals and they're not your troops". "Generals, is that what you think you are?" "Aren't we?" That- That was- That was sort of me cathartic ... Releasing in a cathartic way my feelings on their relationship in Season 7. You know, and "When was the last time you treated us like friends? We're like a habit you can't be bothered to break." You know this was- this was me just lettin' off on Buffy about how I had felt in the previous couple of seasons.
Ultrace: And I think at this point, right on the heels of that, Buffy's like, you know, "I'm sorry I wasn't up for video club after you pulled me—" And- And I gotta think, you know, she waves her hand and something in her mind is saying, "Okay, at some point? Let it go."
JW: Yeah that- that's very much what's going on.
U: And it's funny that, you know, of all the things that they could've gotten over or resolved or anything like that, the only thing the show – that I'm immediately thinking of. I'm sure you can find bunches of instances now that I'm saying this – the only thing I can see where they really took a stand like that and said, you know, "It's time to let go," is when Xander tells Anya, "At some point that excuse stops working."
JW: Yeah.
U: If they'd only applied that logic to so many other things? You know? It's just ... Anyway.
JW: Yeah, no, I think- I think you're right. It does- It does come a point. But that is very much Buffy at that point. Where she's like, you know, "I've got this horrible thing" and then it's like, "never mind. I'm not gonna go there again. I've gone there—"
U: "You pulled me outta there ..."
JW: "You pulled me out of heaven". You know. "We're over and we're done with this now. Okay, fine. You did it, I'm gonna let it go. This isn't my issue now." Because like I said, it's really, really hard cuz ... You could just, you could make a whole episode with just Buffy and Willow yelling at each other for the past X number of years. And ...
U: Ooh, hey, didn't they do that in Season 6?
JW: I don't think they did, actually.
U: It was ... Dark Willow ...
JW: OH. They didn't address anywhere NEAR enough stuff on that one. It was just like you know, "Yay, I get to beat up on Buffy!" BAM!BAM!BAM! Uhm, so yeah, this was- this was hard but- but fun at the same time. And I— It's a very important scene. I think it's vital that they get some of this stuff out. Like I said, it's sort of like excising a wound. Get some of that- that ... infected matter out of the way to start the healing process. And this was what happens here. They begin, at this point, to- to move on. Move past things. But I was always a little bit concerned when we did the next episode, "Where the Heart is"? If you remember correctly, I was really paranoid about us making it too easy.
U: Yeah. Making it too easy, too easy at the end there, not enough tension in building up to it, and I remember, we discussed that at length. You know, we sat down and we discussed it, and the ultimate decision was, "If they make it long and drawn out, it's never going to happen." Some point, somebody just has to sit down and say, "Guys, let's just start with a clean slate. Let's just put the past in the past."
JW: Yeah.
U: And if you're good enough friends with somebody, you can do that. I mean obviously, you murder somebody's mother, you sleep with their girlfriend, then you try and bury them alive ... That's the sort of thing friends can't really get over. BUT. In a situation like this, if you're good enough friends, you can put it behind you and keep going.
JW: Mm-hm. And that was the group we were interested in doing. So we- we sort of set the sixth episode as sort of being like, "Okay, from this point forward, our gang is back together and the sins of the past are forgiven". Uh, cuz like Mike said, you've gotta come to a point where it's like, "I forgive you. It doesn't matter, I'm gonna let this go", a-and Buffy actually, if I remember correctly, actually goes to them and says ... "I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I don't wanna dwell in the past anymore. Let's just go forward from here."
U: Yup.
JW: And then they all agree to do that. Which was sort of our way of ... cheating, to a point, to sort of circumvent having to rehash everything that has happened for years and ... and what else can you really say?
U: And that would've been a powder keg conversation anyway. One wrong word would've incited them and blown everything all to pieces.
JW: Yeah. So uh, so hopefully for the readers that came off okay. Uh, I got no complaints, so I'm going to assume that was a "yes".
U: Well the end of that episode went over really well. Not only was that a good scene for them reuniting, but then it was all the fight scene, so it was kind of like ...
JW: Well yeah, but I mean, the Willow thing overshadowed that just a tiny bit obviously, but I meant just in terms of the gang getting back together. I think ... I'm not so sure that it was so much that it was well done? As perhaps the fact that everybody WANTED it so badly.
U: Yeah.
JW: That I think anybody who was invested in the characters at that point was like, "Oh god, PLEASE let us just move on." So I think people would've really pretty much accepted whatever we did at that point.
U: <chuckles> "We can be friends again, as long as one of us DIES." <JW chuckles> The readers are like, "Fine! We don't care! Just do it! Get them back!"
JW: No, you know what I mean.
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm ... You know, so I'm thinking ... It's hard for me to tell whether the lack of any dissention from the readers was because it was well done and believable, OR just because they were so excited to see it back together again that they were like, "Okay, fine. That's wonderful. Great." Uhm, I'm gonna hope it was the first. The former. But regardless, I-I liked this scene. I am very glad I didn't get out of it without having a big Willow and Buffy fight.
U: Yup.
JW: Cuz I- I ADORE their friendship so much. That relationship just ... one of my favourites on the entire show. And, I actually <laughs> love it when they're fighting and snarky.
U: Hee-hee.
JW: So uhm, so this- this was a good thing. They can hurt each other in so many ways so easily.

Act Three

Nathaniel, Kennedy and Faith were occupying one of the smaller, more private training rooms of Slayer Central, the latter playing spectator to a sparring match between the other two. There were several exercise implements, including a weight set and punching bag, but none was currently being used except for a lengthy floor mat.

[ Download Clip #39 ]

Ultrace: Ah-ha! It's Nate!
Jet Wolf: This may actually be the last time we SEE Nate.
U: It could quite possibly be. I can't actually remember the last time cuz ... that shows you how much of an impact he's made on us.
JW: Yeah.
U: Ahh, Nate. We ... really hardly knew you. Unfortunately it's kind of difficult working with Nate because ... it's kind of like, we already had two really good Watchers in Giles and Wesley, and it's kind of like— Well, Wesley may not have actually been a really good Watcher ...
JW: Yeah, I was gonna say. Wesley actually kind of SUCKED as a Watcher.
U: But he was very British and very much the, I don't know. He was very defined as a Watcher. I-It's kind of difficult to come up with something new that doesn't steal the show or anything like that.
JW: Well like I said, really it was just a case, for me, of where Kennedy just didn't want this storyline for herself, and she refused.
U: There is that.

The choice of weapon for today was a quarterstaff, which Kennedy and Nathaniel both wielded with no small amount of skill. Being a slayer provided Kennedy with a considerable advantage, however, and it was only through remarkable prowess that Nathaniel managed to hold his own, panting and nearly breathless.

Faith errantly tossed a twenty-pound hand dumbbell back and forth as she watched, occasionally applying a stylish spin or balancing it on the tip of her finger. A particularly fanciful pirouette coincided with an aggressive series of attacks from Kennedy that drove Nathaniel back, but he was able to block each strike.

He paused for a moment to gather his breath. "Very good. Now, let's work on your defense."

"Oh, I think I've had my fill of being defensive today," Kennedy responded, rolling her eyes which earned her an amused snort from Faith. "Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery."

Faith flashed what would probably pass in her world for an innocent look. "Who, me?" She grinned at the other Slayer's level glare and twirled the weight on her index finger by its axis.

Fully recovered and no longer content to wait, Nathaniel begun his attack. If he expected to catch Kennedy by surprise, he was sadly mistaken, as she deftly spun her staff sideways to deflect his thrust. Undaunted, he feinted a strike at her legs and, at the last moment, shifted upwards to her ribcage. This too was avoided.

"Man, what is it about Buffy that just punches all my buttons?" Kennedy questioned, turning to Faith. She continued to block, shift and otherwise evade attacks despite being unable to see them. The clacking of wood didn't impede having a conversation in the slightest.

Faith chuckled. "It's a gift she's got. This big ol' huge yap that don't know when to shut the hell up. They all got it, really. Been more than one time I've wanted to punch your honey right in the— Oh, wait, I did," she smiled somewhat fondly at the memory.

Kennedy raised an eyebrow while, at the same time, stopping an attack to her head.

"Still didn't shut her up," Faith admitted with a shrug.

"Her attitude drives me nuts!" Kennedy nearly growled. She noticed the expression from Faith. "Buffy's. I know she's all lost and everything, but I can see this goin' back to how it was before, with Buffy all shoutin' orders and the rest of us expected to just fall in line."

Faith had removed the four plates from the dumbbell and began juggling three of them, paying as little attention to them as Kennedy did with her attacker. "Maybe," she agreed. "But see, here's the thing with B. Sometimes it seems like she don't learn too quick, an' yeah, maybe she's so self-righteous it makes you wanna scream ... But at the end of the day? She tends to be right. So maybe we should hear her out, huh?"

[ Download Clip #40 ]

Jet Wolf: This scene is really what it looks like. It's pretty much just ah, further advancing a connection between Faith and Kennedy. Which I always thought was much more prevelent on the show than a connection between Kennedy and any other character. Ah, and sort of showing that Faith is a little bit more understanding of Buffy than Kennedy is. Which makes sense, because Faith knows Buffy quite well.
Ultrace: On the other hand, Faith is also more understanding of Kennedy than Buffy is.
JW: Yes.
U: Faith's kind of like the in-between, really.
JW: At this moment she certainly is.

"Don't tell me you're buying into all this Kodak Moment crap."

"Oh no," came the Slayer's quick reply. "But hey, if she wants to give my classes a ten-minute pep rally once a week, more power to her." Without missing a beat in her juggle, she picked up the fourth plate and added it to the mix. "I want my girls to keep breathin', an' if some fancy word games make that happen, I'm big enough to stand on the sidelines while she preaches."

Kennedy's use of the staff had been shifting from defensive to offensive, not merely parrying blows but making counterattacks. She now moved up another notch on the scale, causing Nathaniel to widen his eyes as he valiantly defended himself while being driven back.

"Great, that's just what we need," Kennedy grumbled, seemingly unaware of her tactical shift, "Buffy 2: The Sequel."

Faith glowered for a moment, but recomposed herself quickly with a small shrug. "Been there, done that, caused some trouble, got a complicated story for my shrink. I'm just smart enough now to know that no matter how much it cuts me up sometimes, B's got a handle on some stuff."

"I'm not letting her push me into the background."

Apparently bored with the mere juggling, Faith began to improvise, occasionally looping a weight under her leg like a basketball player or behind her back. "Fine. So you don't let her. But you gotta do it without throwin' a fit every time she walks in the room, or things're just gonna get worse."

"Yeah, I guess," Kennedy grudgingly agreed, as she finished off a particularly savage series of blows. She held up her staff, waiting for the next attack, but it didn't materialize. What she received instead was the image of Nathaniel on the ground, panting heavily and holding himself up only by his staff. "Oh. I guess we're done," she concluded, a little surprised.

Finishing up her juggling routine, Faith set the metal plates down, reaching out and snatching the staff from the air when Kennedy tossed it at her, catching it solidly in one hand. She glanced around but couldn't easily spot where the weapon was supposed to go. With a small shrug, she casually tossed it aside where it landed on the ground with a clatter.

Together, they headed for the exit. "Thanks for the workout, Nate," called Kennedy over her shoulder. "I feel I've grown as a person."

"Brat," Faith smirked.

Kennedy was nonchalant. "It's a defining characteristic."

They entered the hallway, paying no particular attention to Judith and Sonja who approached from the opposite direction. The two younger Slayers were very amused and excited by something.

[ Download Clip #41 ]

Jet Wolf: And we're also working here on, uhm ... The- The ... The idea was to have Judith and Sonja sort of make the transition between all the different scenes. They usually tend to lead us from one person to the next, either by their physical movements or through the reporting. Uhm, so this is why we have them sort of come in and interrupt the scene between Faith and Kennedy in a very ER sort of fashion <Ultrace laughs>, where you have the camera following one group, then it shoots off and follows the next group. That's sort of how I see it in my mind.
U: Hee-hee.

"When you're right, you're right," Sonja admitted. "I didn't even know there were that many shades of red in the entire spectrum."

Judith let out a small smile. "The lack of challenge is almost cruel. Is it wrong, having that much fun at a nerd's expense?"

The pair considered the question carefully for a moment, as though it were the age old puzzle of 'is it live or is it Memorex?' "Nahhh," they concluded in unison.

Arriving at a set of large double doors, decorated with delicate carving, Judith finally came to a halt. "This is a place that you'll probably find the most fascinating stop on our tour so far," she prefaced, waiting only a moment before continuing. "Or you'll fall instantly unconscious as soon as we walk in."

Judith threw open the doors and presented its contents dramatically.

"The library," she announced, bowing deeply.

Clearly no amount of effort had been spared in creating a gorgeous home for the countless volumes and resources belonging to the new Council. The room in which they were standing was itself only part of the entire library, a staircase trailing off in the back and leading toward rows upon rows of books. The girls had not seen its template before, but if they had, they would have noticed an uncanny resemblance to the library in the original Sunnydale High, complete with large skylight overhead. The Council's version was much larger, however and lacking in the necessities for a school, such as the book cage. At the center of the room was a line of long tables surrounded by chairs, and off to one side were several computer terminals. Along with the skylight, the huge windows dotting the two outside walls impressively lit the room, which was nearly empty save the two Junior Slayers, and Dawn.

Hunched over a book, Dawn was so thoroughly engrossed that she didn't glance up when they entered. Judging from the tall stacks surrounding her, she had a lot of work to do.

The brunette Slayer noted that her companion's jaw was practically dragging the ground in awe. "Ah, you're in the fascinated category," she observed. "Oh well, takes all kinds."

Wonder clearly etched on her face, Sonja all but glided to the nearest bookshelf, her hand reverently tracing the spines of the volumes housed there. "I've never seen so many interesting books ..." she stated breathlessly. "Mystical histories, demonologies, artifact appraisals ... It certainly beats my Judy Blume collection back home," she grinned. "I think I could spend weeks in here."

[ Download Clip #42 ]

Ultrace: "It certainly beats my Judy Blume collection back home." I didn't know that Sonja would be ... This is Sonja, I assume? I didn't know Judy Blume was popular in ... Sweden?
Jet Wolf: She is in my Sweden.
U: <laughs> "Superfudge"!
JW: Did you ever read Superfudge?
U: I don't think I've ever read a single Judy Blume book.
JW: You are missing out, my friend.
U: But I think it is ... I think that Superfudge is a Judy Blume book.
JW: Yes it is.
U: It's also that "Really good, no horrible bad day" or whatever? Is that also a Judy Blume book? Or am I thinking of something bad? Something—
JW: I don't know WHAT you're thinkin' of.
U: It was— There's some book. It's like, "The Really Good Terribly Bad No Fun Day" or ... I-It's a long title about a day that is not good, but there's so many adjectives to describe that it's not good, and it's a children's book.
JW: Are you there, god? It's me, Jet Wolf.

"I know when I have a research paper due it sure feels like weeks to me," Judith chuckled.

In a manner entirely unfit for the silence due a library, Giles burst into the room, a book under one arm and cell phone pinned to his ear. Even Dawn was pulled from her studies by the entrance, and she watched expectantly as he crossed to her, still talking on the phone. "That's— Yes, that's incredibly helpful. No, I never would have— Absolutely. Thank you," concluded the Watcher with utmost sincerity.

Decisively, Giles snapped the phone closed and tossed the book he was carrying on top of the one Dawn had been reading. She glanced up at him, alarmed but curious. Judith and Sonja hovered at one side of the room, content to remain unnoticed for the time being as they watched the events unfold with keen interest.

"It's magickal!" proclaimed Giles, clearly feeling this was all the information necessary.

"I agree my shirt's nice," Dawn responded, inspecting her garment appreciatively, "but I don't know that I'd go with magickal ..."

Rolling his eyes, Giles explained, "The creature, the one that Kennedy defeated. We've been looking in the wrong places," a sweep of his hand indicated the piles of books surrounding Dawn, "trying to locate a-a known demon with similar features or-or characteristics. But we're going about this all wrong." Giles shook his head at his own shortsightedness. "It's not demon. It's a mystical creature, one created by powerful magicks."

"Oh," commented Dawn very simply with a touch of surprise. Glancing at the legal pad in front of her, she smiled. "Well ... looking on the bright side, I now know everything – and I do mean everything – about the Dyar'on packs. So if we ever decide to break into the demon puppy business, I'm your girl," she grinned proudly before scanning her notes and pointing out a particular line she had written. "Apparently they really, really like Alpo ..."

But Giles was too engrossed in hurriedly gathering together a fresh armload of books from the shelves around him. Rising to help, Dawn took a few steps toward the Watcher, arriving just in time for him to dump another tower of volumes into her arms.

"That's it, you and me have gotta get a new shtick," decided Dawn, her voice muffled by the books toppling into her face as she fought to remain upright.

Lost in his own world, Giles didn't respond. "Come on," he urged, pulling more materials from the shelves, "we'll start cross-referencing these texts with my volumes on magickal constructs."

"You know, this would be so much easier if you'd let me get that database underway."

With a heavy sigh, the Watcher shot Dawn an expression of disapproval. "For the last time, you are not going through my spell books." Situating his burden so as to be more manageable, Giles headed for the exit with Dawn in tow. "Good lord," he muttered mostly to himself, "it's like you were made from Willow, not Buffy."

"Hey, maybe I was made from both of 'em," she supplied cheerfully. "Sort of a Witchy/Slayer love child and oh my god I've just scarred myself into ten more years of therapy."

It was a struggle, but they both finally made it through the library doors and out into the hall. Judith and Sonja watched them leave, then blinked at each other before Judith held up a thin paperback and grinned. "Hey, look. Superfudge."

The Watcher's discovery that the Mogari construct is magickal is undoubtedly a development we will need to keep a close eye on. While I have every confidence that the Circle will be able to block their attempts at tracing the creature's origins, the simple fact is that this creature is their strongest link to us. It was an unfortunate error that the construct tracked its target this close to the Council's headquarters.

The Junior duo continued their tour, passing through the foyer on their way to elsewhere. Had they looked outside, they would have seen Buffy sitting on the front steps, working herself into a Dawn-sized mope.

Xander saw her, however, and approached while eyeing his friend cautiously. There was no doubt that Buffy knew he was there, but she didn't lift her eyes or acknowledge him in any way. "Buff!" he announced happily. "You look like someone stole your Barbie. Someone not-me," the carpenter quickly added. "My Barbie-stealing days are long gone."

"If only it were that simple," Buffy lamented, squinting up at him. "A quick run to Toys R Us and everything would be fine again."

Taking a seat next to the Slayer, Xander sighed wistfully. "I used to think there was no problem on earth that couldn't be solved by Geoffrey." He shook his head with regret. "My world is all askew."

"'Askew'?" repeated Buffy, cocking an amused eyebrow.

"It's a fun word. I recommend using it as part of this balanced breakfast." He drew the word out, savoring each letter like a fine wine. "Assssskeeewwwww ..."

Buffy stared at Xander, seriously contemplating his mental faculties. "You are a very strange man," she concluded.

"Yes," a beaming Xander wholeheartedly agreed. He patted her knee affectionately. "Now we've established our relative sanity levels, tell crazy Uncle Xander what's wrong in Buffyland."

"Eh. I don't know," she dismissed, focusing on her shoes. "I'm not sure I wanna talk about it."

Xander poked her shoulder until she looked up. "Uh-uh, that doesn't work anymore. While you were out, we laid down some new Scooby rules. Rule #11: No More Not Talking. Whenever we don't talk, Bad Stuff Happens. And I, for one, am pretty tired of Bad Stuff Happening."

[ Download Clip #43 ]

Jet Wolf: This is pretty much Xander doing what Xander does best. Which is, essentially saying, you know, "Look, this is stupid. Stop." And I felt that was very important. The "No More Not Talking" rule. That seems to be the root of almost all their problems.

"I had a fight with Willow," confessed the Slayer. "It was horrible. Too much yelling."

"What about?"

Sighing, Buffy hooked her hands behind her neck and tilted her head back. "It started about Kennedy but I think I can safely say it soon became about a whole lot more."

With a nod, Xander's expression indicated her answer wasn't much of a surprise. "Will's been on this mission since we got here. She's pretty gung-ho about making everything run smoothly, gettin' back to basics, that sort of thing. You leaving kinda put a crimp in that plan. But you're back now," he smiled, "and that's really all that's important. Just give her a bit of time and she'll be okay. You know Will, she can't stay mad at you for more than a week, it's like something hard wired in her brain. She is Saint Willow of the Infinite Forgiveness."

At this the Slayer frowned. "And what is it she's forgiving me for, exactly?" she demanded, a twinge of defensiveness creeping in.

Xander continued in the same tone, refusing to rise to Buffy's mood. "I dunno," he shrugged broadly. "Your last Chanukah presents. Borrowing her shirt Freshman year and never giving it back. Not calling or writing for the past month ..."

Buffy deflated as she backed down. "Okay. Point taken," she grudgingly conceded. "Although it should be known I would never have borrowed anything from Will's wardrobe in Freshman year."

"Maybe not. But I think we could all do with a heaping spoonful of forgiveness for at least one thing or another in recent history, hm?" he asked pointedly.

Nodding, Buffy dropped her head, a little ashamed, but she never got the opportunity to wallow.

"Now, no more mopey face," Xander ordered, clapping his hands together as he rose to his feet. "I think you'll feel better after crazy Uncle Xander takes you to the toy store and buys you anything you want."

Tilting her head, the blonde regarded Xander hopefully. "Anything I want?"

"So long as it's under a dollar," he replied indulgently.

Buffy's lower lip jutted out. "Crazy Uncle Xander's cheap," she complained in her best pouty voice.

Jerking his head toward the building, Xander grinned. "How about we go put that pout to good use and see if we can't get stuffy Uncle Giles to give us the company credit card?"

"Yay!" exclaimed the Slayer, sounding all of three years old as she leapt to her feet. "You're the best, crazy Uncle Xander!"

She wrapped herself around the carpenter's arm and they headed inside together. "I've been upgraded from 'alright' to 'the best' and I'm goin' toy shopping," beamed Xander. "Today's lookin' up."

Hidden from view, the small orange demon poked his head around the corner of the building, gazing intently at the exact spot where Xander and Buffy had just been sitting. Ducking behind the line of hedges near the entrance, despite the fact even at full height he couldn't be seen, he made his way cautiously to the steps and sniffed the air, trying to catch a whiff of something.

After several seconds of intense concentration, he pulled out his notebook, scribbled some notes and then put it away. Scurrying back into the bushes, the demon emerged once more carrying a small briefcase; it was perfectly matched to his size and obviously custom made. He placed it on the ground and opened it, reaching in for a Palm Pilot that was obviously not, since the entire thing was almost as large as his head. Somehow, he managed to balance it in his hand while using an altogether unwieldy stylus, poking here and there and thoughtfully studying the display. Satisfied, he replaced it carefully back in the briefcase and extracted a cell phone. This, too, was a size or two too large, and the receiver end dangled near his chest. Despite this, he used the phone with some skill, calling up a number on speed dial and waiting for someone to pick up, looking every bit like the stereotypical businessman. A very small, very orange businessman.

Finally receiving an answer, he smiled. "Thir?" he questioned, speaking with a decided lisp due to his many, many teeth. "Thith ith Norg, thir. The thurveillanth ith going well. On your okay, we can protheed ath theduled. Yeth thir. Tonight it ith, then. Thank you, thir."

Norg clicked the phone shut, made another couple of entries in his notebook, then packed everything away before slinking into the bushes and disappearing from view.

[ Download Clip #44 ]

Ultrace: You laughing at Norg?
Jet Wolf: <chuckling> Yeah. I remember when I first wrote Norg, ah, I had the idea of him having the lisp, and I think ... I don't remember if it was you or if it was Nova who suggested writing him with the- with the lisp, in dialect.
U: Oh, yeah. That was me.
JW: Was it you? All I know was that it drove my spell checker CRAZY. Doin' "Hard Day's Night"? Such a bitch!
U: I'm like, "You can't- You can't not do the lisp." I mean, our work is such that you can't just describe something and then not show it. It'd be like, you know, Buffy saying, "Hello, how are you gentlemen today?" and then you write after it, "in her best California valley girl drawl". You know. The worlds don't match, so. My example is not good, but ... <laughs, then begins lisping terribly> "They're at Theventy Theven Thathafrath Threet."
<laughing>
JW: God, yeah. "Hard Day's Night", Mike had written this— For the address for the warehouse, I think it was, but Mike had given it like ... some just absurd, you know, very bad for a lisp kind of name.
U: I think it was something like "Seventy-Seven Sassafras Street".
JW: Yeah, it was just torturous, you know. And I read it the first time and I'm like, "What? What the hell is this?" And- And the fact that— What made us take it out was the fact that Faith immediately knew what he said. <Ultrace laughs> And I'm like, "There's no way, dude." I'm like, "She would be like producing a pen and paper and saying, 'You write that son of a bitch DOWN, cuz I got no clue'."
U: I think we eventually came up with something that had no 's's apart from the world "street".
JW: No, it had no 's's at all. I like— I think I was, I did it in the editing process, and I think I gave it like, you know ... I don't know. "Fifty-Three Fourth Avenue" or something.

The library was again almost devoid of patrons, save for one Willow Rosenberg. The redhead was hunched over a book in the exact same spot that Dawn had inhabited earlier. Whatever she was reading may have been quite gripping and suspenseful. Willow wouldn't know because she was too busy doing everything but reading, despite staring at the open pages.

Though agitated and fidgety, she doggedly persevered in the charade of focusing on the book. Settling down, Willow sighed and allowed her eyes to drift over the text for a second before frowning and flopping into another position to reread the exact same line. Many times it appeared as though she was giving up, ready to leave the room and do whatever it was that she obviously felt more like doing, but then her resolve face would return and that would be that. Thus the cycle continued for several long moments, until something snagged her attention and she jerked her head up, noticing Buffy standing there for the first time.

Clearly surprised, Willow gaped and then smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to do or what to say. Buffy returned the smile, but hers was full of excitement, leading the other woman to furrow her brow in confusion. The Slayer bounced on the balls of her feet, grinning like a girl half her age, and Willow noted that her friend's hands were behind her back. Confusion gave way to curiosity, and the witch raised an eyebrow.

Grin still firmly affixed as she thrust her hands forward, Buffy presented a stuffed animal – a plushy Pooh Bear hugged a small plushy Piglet that was hugging him back. An expression of rapt adoration appeared on Willow's face as she beheld the toy. Then Buffy grabbed Piglet and tugged him gently away from Pooh, revealing that Velcro held the two together. Smiling fondly, Buffy presented Piglet to Willow.

Beaming, Willow took Piglet, hugging him tightly as a delighted Buffy watched. The hug lasted for a second, then the redhead got other ideas. She frowned and pointed to Pooh, cradled in Buffy's arms. The Slayer rolled her eyes, but grinned as she handed Pooh to Willow and took the offered Piglet instead. Even more thrilled now, Willow leapt to her feet, a death grip on Pooh in one arm and a death grip around Buffy's neck in the other.

Both laughed as Xander bounded into view, holding up a plushy Tigger and grinning like a maniac. Then he held up a stuffed Owl, complete with spectacles, and indicated beyond the room with his head. Buffy and Willow wore expressions to match Xander's and nodded in absolute agreement.

[ Download Clip #45 ]

Jet Wolf: The little— The Pooh Bear plushie scene actually became ... for a while there, it was like a lot of people's favourite scene of all. <laughing> Probably up to the part where we beat the shit out of Willow. <Ultrace laughs> But anyway. Uhm, so for- for a brief moment there it clung at like the #1 spot and it was- it was thrown in literally, you know, just as an off the top page thing. I was rereading it in an editing process and was like, I need something else here. I need something more to kinda bridge the gap. And just the idea of them having actually gone to the toy store and buying this, I thought was really cute and created a very nice visual in my mind which, judging from reaction, was echoed. Ultrace: Yeah, it is.
JW: I just- just loved the idea. And the fact that Willow was like, not happy with Pooh and she wants Piglet instead ... or she has Piglet and she wants Pooh. I forget which one it is. But ah, and Buffy just being like, "God, whatever, here."
<chuckles>
JW: Of course, it doesn't make everything better and they're back to- they're back to some tension again in the next episode, but it's a start.
U: See, it sets the foundation for absolving it in the next episode, right before they beat the crap out of Willow.
JW: Yeah!
U: See it's kinda like, "You were happy for a moment? Now suffer."
JW: But that NEVER happens on Buffy.
U: "The cosmic scales must be balanced. You cracked a smile. Now you must die."
JW: <chuckling> No, "Your loved ones must die in a horrible, painful way ... AND YOU MUST KILL THEM. Such is the punishment for smiling."

By this time, Hazel had joined Judith and Sonja, and the three girls walked past the open doors of the library. Sonja appeared to be in some considerable discomfort, and her two companions focused the bulk of their attention on her as they continued down the hall.

"The money part I think I can handle," groaned Sonja, "but I don't see McDonalds becoming anything more than an unwise flirtation."

Judith patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I guess Big Macs are an acquired taste."

"Toldja you should've stuck with nuggets," noted Hazel not unkindly. "There are only so many ways you can mess up mulched chicken bits." All three scrunched up their face as they considered this, coming to a distasteful conclusion. "Other than calling it 'mulched chicken bits', that is," she amended with a sneer.

[ Download Clip #46 ]

Jet Wolf: Uh, we're just pulling up— <Ultrace laughs> ....some more laughter?
Ultrace: Sorry. "There are only so many ways you can mess up mulched chicken bits." Mmm. I know I want a chicken nugget right now.
JW: This was largely setting up more tension between Hazel and uh, Judith. Just showing that they're ... despite Hazel— Or, excuse me, despite Judith coming off fairly well in the last episode, there's still some sort of like <cat noise> between 'em.
U: Is the whole bubblegum thing in uh ... next episode?
JW: Previous episode.
U: Previous episode, okay.

Pulling a crinkly, half-empty packet out of her back pocket, Judith punched a fresh piece of gum free from its bubble package and popped it in her mouth. Hazel very emphatically rolled her eyes, but the others missed the gesture. With a deep sigh that bespoke of great personal sacrifice, Hazel managed to let the gum thing pass without comment, instead leaning past Judith to address Sonja.

"So, big ball of meat-fat and unknown sauce just lying in your stomach aside, how are you finding everything so far?" she asked amicably.

The blonde smiled with enthusiasm. "Oh, very exciting! Though I admit, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. Everything here is just so ..."

"Crazy?" Judith supplied.

"Yes! I'm trying so hard to learn all that I can about our methods and procedures, as well as get to know everyone, but it's so much! I think I'll need several brains to tap before I have everything mastered." Shaking her head, Sonja did indeed seem to be overwhelmed, and just a tad pathetic, rather like a puppy left out in the rain.

Hazel couldn't help but respond. "Well consider my brain constantly on-tap," she assured the other girl confidently.

I suppose they believe that they are simply being helpful, but I wonder if anyone in this organization fully understands that knowledge is power. Admittedly, the newer girls don’t have anything much to offer besides a way to gauge the general thoughts and feelings of the Slayers here, but a little effort goes a long way, and there’s plenty of opportunity for contact with those in the true positions of power. All you need is to see the ladder for the rungs.

"Just like beer," Judith commented with wonder. "So, is your brain less filling?" She laughed as Hazel took a swing at her, easily dancing out of the way and popping a bubble at her roommate as she did so.

"Speaking of crazy ..." Hazel grumbled to herself.

Judith stuck out her tongue, then sobered as she turned to the newest Slayer. "Seriously, Sonja, I know just how you feel. You can never have too much information, I say. And hey, maybe if we all learn just what the heck we're doing, we can straighten out the insane mess of the world, huh? An army of girls out to vanquish strife and disorder can't be a bad career choice."

Gaping at Judith with mock amazement, Hazel brought her hand up to touch her chest. "I didn't realize you knew so many big words."

"Don't worry, I have a supply of really short ones, just for you," Judith replied, dripping with sweetness.

The acerbic banter couldn't infringe on Sonja's mood in the slightest. She smiled at both girls, gratitude pouring off of her in waves. "Thank you both, very much. You've all been so helpful. I just can't wait to know as much as all of you so I can pass on my knowledge." She smiled, perhaps a little too wide. "I know others are anxious to receive it."

[ Download Clip #47 ]

Ultrace: Heh. "An army of girls out to vanquish strife and disorder can't be a bad career choice." <impersonates alarm>
Jet Wolf: But notice how I- I ended it very intentionally on like a uh, an ominous note for Sonja. You know, "Information is good, I KNOW OTHERS WANT TO RECEIVE IT."
U: I'm just like, "You said one of our ten buzzwords! 'Disorder'!" <JW laughs> "All you need now is 'chaos' and 'conquest', and you've got Bingo!"
JW: Hee-hee. I was actually just thinking that. Assemblage Bingo Night!

Act Four

The frantic clacking of an air hockey puck was the prevalent sound in the rec room as Judith attempted to introduce Sonja to the finer points of the game. The score coupled with the almost pained expression on the blonde's face didn't speak highly of Judith's success. The room was fairly well populated that night, with three Slayers playing pool at the nearby table and five occupying the couches and chairs that surrounded the TV.

[ Download Clip #48 ]

Jet Wolf: I just love air hockey, that's why there's air hockey around.
Ultrace: I too enjoy air hockey. It's a good game for the non-athlete among us. <JW chuckles> When you want a little more movement than a video game, but less movement than full-touch football.
JW: Those are my favourite kind of sports! The ones where you don't actually have to move!
U: You know, any sport where you can have a chair, if it was tall enough, where you could sit in and still play?

Willow and Kennedy walked in, mid-conversation. "I'll try," Kennedy relented, the effort put into the words indicating how little she was likely to output.

"She has a lot to offer," commented Willow helpfully.

The Slayer huffed. "I'll bet."

"Play nice."

"Hey, this is me bein' nice."

"You can be nicer."

Throwing Willow a sidelong glance, Kennedy sighed deeply, realizing she was fighting a losing battle. "You drive me crazy."

"That's not niiiicer ..." Willow sang with a cheerful grin.

Kennedy smiled broadly, not even trying to make it convincing.

The redhead patted her girlfriend's shoulder proudly. "There's my little trooper!" she exclaimed as though speaking to a very small child. Giving Kennedy's arm a shove, Willow grinned. "Now go woo me with your ability to propel plastic discs on jets of air."

"Well since you made it sound so sexy ..." the Slayer commented with a barely suppressed eye roll.

Willow smiled mischievously. "You should hear me talk about ping pong." Kennedy raised a very questioning eyebrow, but all she received in response was the enigmatic smile.

With a final odd look, Kennedy focused on the playing Juniors. "I got winner," she announced, just as Judith sank her final shot.

"A winner is me," declared Judith, smirking as Sonja glared at the scoreboard as though it were personally to blame for the totals it displayed.

Glancing at the nearby table, Sonja decided, "We'll play billiards next." She stared dejectedly at the paddle in her hand. "I play much better with a big stick."

"I've lost all ability to relate to you," remarked Kennedy, taking the paddle and moving into Sonja's now vacated position.

Willow moved slightly over Judith's shoulder to get the best view of the game. Or, perhaps more accurately, to get the best view of Kennedy playing the game. Sonja stood next to Willow as the match began.

Several heated minutes passed with only Kennedy managing to score once. The Senior Slayer was extremely enthusiastic about the game, bringing her typical competitiveness to even recreational activities. The goofy grin on Willow's face indicated that she in particular enjoyed Kennedy's enthusiasm. The witch was so wound up in her spectatorship that she didn't even notice Giles enter the room, and jumped slightly when he touched her shoulder.

[ Download Clip #49 ]

Ultrace: "Several HEATED minutes passed."
Jet Wolf: IIII didn't mean it that way.
U: "Only managing to SCORE once."
JW: Oh my god!
U: <laughing> Well! You're the one ...
JW: Perv! Hello!
U: Oh! Oh! Like your sentences before that didn't have to do with a "big stick" or anything.
JW: Whatever! Oh, I don't even know where you're going with that. They're speaking in euphemisms, I don't know what they do.

"Willow, if you're free, I very much need to see you," Giles said with an urgency that Willow completely missed.

"Oh! Giles!" she enthused. "We wanted to come up and see you earlier, but you were all locky with the door. Xander bought you the cutest—"

Sighing the long-suffering sigh that only he could pull off without seeming too insulting, Giles interrupted. "I'm sure he did, and I'll be delighted – and admittedly, mildly terrified – to see what Xander could have purchased for me that could be called 'cute'." The Watcher emphasized the word as though it were thoroughly distasteful. "However that will have to wait. We have a breakthrough on the creature that attacked Kennedy last week—"

At this, Kennedy immediately became interested, sticking her hand out to intercept the puck as she straightened and focused intently on the conversation taking place across the room. The game halted, Judith also listened in, turning slightly so she could hear better, despite the fact that the pair were only a few feet behind her. Sonja had the best view of all, and she too was blatantly eavesdropping.

"—and I believe that I have discovered a way for you to uncover who summoned it. Now, we just ..." Realizing for the first time that he had an audience, Giles trailed off, beholding the three keen faces he hadn't intended to include in the conversation. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Perhaps we'd be better served continuing this in my office...?" he directed to Willow, extending his arm expectantly to escort her out of the rec room.

[ Download Clip #50 ]

Ultrace: "Perhaps we'd be better served continuing this discussion of summoning creatures and us discovering it through your magical means in my office. Any of you who wish to join us in my office, feel free."
Jet Wolf: You know what? You can just write your own damn episodes. I quit.
U: She's just kidding.
JW: I— No, no, no. I'm dead serious. I'm not writin' anymore.
U: In that case, we should stop recording this right now.
JW: We should.
U: What's the point? You're OBVIOUSLY not worried about keeping your readership.
JW: I'm NOT.

With an apologetic glance at Kennedy, Willow mouthed "Sorry", but the Slayer shook her head to let the other woman know that it was okay. Willow smiled in gratitude and left quickly with Giles.

It wasn't until the end of my day that I fully began to appreciate just how resourceful this new Council can be. By and large I remain unimpressed with their overall lack of cohesion, however they have a tenacity about them that I grudgingly admire. Not long after receiving word of the Mogari's nature, the Watcher had tracked down a spell that he believes could in fact trace back its source. Again, I stress my firm belief in the Circle to immobilize any such probes, however as we are all aware, information is the best defense. I will do my utmost to gather the specifics of this spell and report back on my findings at the earliest opportunity.

[ Download Clip #51 ]

Jet Wolf: Oh, hey, we do have the Circle mentioned.
Ultrace: Huh. It's just the Circle, it's not the Shrouded Circle, but yeah. So obviously Judith is aware of the Circle working with ...
JW: Well yeah, I would imagine so.
U: I wouldn't, I don't know. I mean, if she's just a soldier, why would you reveal all the details of who your alliance is with an everything?
JW: Well if she's higher up, she's gotta go in there, she need to know what information she's looking for.
U: That is true. So many questions.
JW: So. Many. Questions.
U: I'm so surprised nobody's written an fanfic about the early days of Judith and Robespierre. It's like a really twisted version of Season 3 that's so icky nobody really WANTS to read it.
JW: The early days of Judith and Robespierre. <Ultrace laughs> Dude, you've just squicked ME.
U: I don't mean in THAT respect.
JW: It's still gross, no matter how you slice it.
U: "You'll be my TOP soldier—"
JW: Ewww ...
U: "—in my army of order."
JW: Oh my god, stop it!

Kennedy watched Willow leave, then turned back to the air hockey table. "Now, where were we?"

Also lingering at the rec room entrance, Judith tore her eyes away and returned to the game. "You were pretending you were gonna beat me," she smirked.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Kennedy nodded. "You were trapped in some strange delusion. It's all coming back to me."

Sonja was the last to look away from the door, as though staring at it long enough would somehow allow her to tag along. Still deep in thought, she moved to the side of the table, standing at the center between the two opponents. "That was all very mysterious," she finally mused, absently watching the puck speed across the surface of the table. "What do you think it was about?"

"Eh, it's Watcher stuff," came Kennedy's off-hand reply, her eyes never moving from the table even a fraction.

Kennedy shook her head. "Nope, not really. I'm more a hands-on kinda girl. I leave the wondering about what I fought to the brains, and they leave the killing of the next one to me. It's a beautiful partnership."

Considering this carefully, Sonja frowned at Kennedy for a moment, then looked to the other girl. "How about you, Judith?"

"Seemed pretty interesting to me," she agreed. Glancing up, Judith jerked her head at Kennedy. "Maybe you can find out from Willow what it was all about later? Fill us in. Enquiring minds wanna know."

This little distraction was all Kennedy needed, and she scored another goal. "How about you get more interested in giving me at least a tiny bit of competition here, huh?"

"A bet, then?" challenged Judith, recovering the puck and dropping it on the table in front of her. "I win, you get the dirt from Willow and share with those of us less fortunate."

Kennedy was intrigued. "And if I win?"

She was met with an evil, confident grin. "Not gonna be an issue. I haven't lost a game of air hockey yet."

"First time for everything," Kennedy replied, almost exactly mirroring the grin.

That was all the confirmation Judith needed. She threw all her might behind the paddle and sent the puck flying toward Kennedy. She was ready for it, however, and returned it to the other side of the table with equal force. The game continued in this fashion for several minutes, both girls thoroughly engrossed, aided by the fact that Sonja had decided to play cheerleader for Team Judith. So much speed and strength was behind each stroke that the puck became little more than a blur, only a constant, rhythmic clack reporting that any contact was being made with it at all.

As the puck sped toward Judith's goal, she shot out her paddle to intercept and clipped it. Deflected from its target, it careened off the table, aiming directly for Kennedy. The Senior Slayer ducked just in time as the puck zoomed overhead. The wall wasn't able to duck out of the way so well, however. Rather than bouncing off into areas unknown, the projectile traveled with such power that it became embedded. Next to three nearby puck-sized holes. The Slayers watching TV turned at the noise and regarded the damage, then returned to their program without a word.

"That doesn't count," stated Judith with conviction.

[ Download Clip #52 ]

Jet Wolf: Uh, the little scene with the puck going into the wall was just my thought about the hazards of physical recreational games with Slayers.
Ultrace: Oh yeah.
JW: And how much trouble that would be for poor Xander.
U: <chuckles> It's good to be useful. But yeah, we've gotta think that they're relatively thin walls. Some, you know ...
JW: Well I mean, you know, we've seen Buffy punch through, you know ... a stack of bricks before, so ...
U: Oh yeah, but her fist is not a flimsy little puck.
JW: No, no, that's true. But I mean ...a single strand of hay can be embedded into a wall in hurricane force winds, or whatever the hell it is.
U: Really? That'd be cool.
JW: Well apparently. I dunno. They always threatened me with that in, like, science classes.
U: To not take a bale of hay out in a hurricane?
JW: That's exactly that they threatened you to do. Cuz you know, you always carry hay around with you? So, you can never be too sure when a tornado is just gonna spring up out of nowhere, and then you've got flying lethal projectiles of hay.
U: Louisiana IS the hay capital of the world.
JW: Is it?
U: No.
JW: No it's not.
U: That was a joke! It's sarcasm! We were carrying this so well!
JW: MY sarcasm worked better than YOUR sarcasm, all right? Don't be sarcastic about things I don't KNOW.
U: <laughs> Okay, fine then. Maybe they should've warned you that Mardi Gras beads in a hurricane could—
JW: That woulda worked, see?
U: And admittedly, Louisiana is the Mardi Gras bead capital of the world.
JW: Yes it is. We're not in Louisiana, by the way.
U: We're not. Thankfully.

Giles strode quickly into his office, Willow a few paces behind. From her obviously comfortable position stretched out in Giles' chair, Dawn jerked her head up, surprised by their entrance. She had reclined the chair almost horizontally, her feet propped on the desk, and seeing the pair startled her so much that she nearly fell. Nevertheless, she succeeded in maintaining her balance and dignity, albeit barely, and flipped her feet off the desk. In what she hoped was a sneaky and covert manner, she brushed away any lingering traces of her boots from the polished surface. Giles was thoroughly absorbed, however, and missed everything, although Willow was perfectly aware and smirked a greeting at Dawn.

"We've pinned down that the creature must have been summoned using one of five conjuring spells, based upon its primary characteristics and apparent function," explained the Watcher, grabbing an open book from his desk and bringing it over to Willow.

"I'm thinkin' it's probably the akello recité," added Dawn, "what with the bloodlust and all."

[ Download Clip #53 ]

Ultrace: Huh. "Akello Recité."
Jet Wolf: Oh. Uhm ...... I'll be damned if I remember. Uhm ... Nope. I don't remember at all. I don't even remember what language it is.

Willow smiled wistfully at Dawn. "Lookit you, all with the bloodlust." Giving an exaggerated sniff, she wiped away a faux tear. "They grow up so fast."

Dawn rolled her eyes while Giles completely ignored the conversation altogether. "There's a spell that can be used to trace back the line of mystical energies used in powerful spells," he reported, lifting the book in his hands. "Its original purpose was for witches to police themselves against dangerous uses of dark magick, but I believe that with a little creative manipulation, it will suit our purposes just fine."

"The only sample we have of the thing is a week old bloodstain, though. Do you think that'll be enough?" Dawn asked Willow as she lazily swung Giles' chair from side to side.

Taking the offered book, Willow intently reviewed the text in front of her. "Wow, this spell isn't messin' around," she commented, impressed. Giles and Dawn watched the witch as she read. After a minute or so, she glanced up, talking to herself. "Hmm. If we substitute orris root and wait for the first day of the new moon, and with some cleansing rituals ..." She trailed off, still pondering, then focused on the others. "This won't be easy, a-and I can't just go do this, like, now. It's gonna take some serious preparation – we're talkin' a- a week or two. Maybe even three. But yeah. I think I can do it."

[ Download Clip #54 ]

Jet Wolf: <laughing> Oh yeah. Here's all my reasons why we can't do the spell right now. We have to wait for my plotting to come through, wait! I'm not ready for the spell now!
Ultrace: You know what the funny thing is? He's like, "There's a spell that could be used to trace back the mystical energies used in powerful spells. We can't do it yet, but mysteriously, Willow will be able to do it next episode when she finds some people that's talking!"<JW laughs> Only in reading this now do I realize ...
JW: No, nono no. I was— I-I think this is a different thing. I mean he's like, this is a long time past thing, and she's just like tracking back a line.
U: Gotcha.
JW: Like tapping a phone conversation is kind of how I saw that. But I mean, that's how magic works in the Buffyverse. I mean for christ's sake, why the hell Willow didn't telepathically communicate with everybody, every chance she got is beyond me.
U: Little bit invasive.
JW: But you know, still though.
U: It'd be cool.

Giles exhaled the breath he had been holding and relief flooded his features. "This is our only lead, and I'd rather not wait around until the next one of these decides to deliver itself to our doorstep. From the description, I doubt very much that it will be of much help in answering questions. However long it takes you to prepare and whatever you need, just let me know," insisted Giles. "It's crucial that this spell work. Everything hinges on getting this information."

Willow's face became etched with consternation. "So no pressure then," she whimpered.

With a slightly off-key clack, the puck screamed through the air, landing solidly in Kennedy's outstretched hand. Over her shoulder were now five long holes. The Senior Slayer was not amused. "That's gotta stop," she demanded. "Xander's gonna whine for a month if you destroy any more wall."

Opening her mouth to respond, Judith was interrupted by Faith's rather unusual entrance. Held out well in front of her was Norg, dangling several feet off the ground by the scruff of his well-tailor suit. The little demon had crossed his arms and was glaring at Faith, as though hoping to convey the very depths of his insult. If she was picking up on it, Faith clearly didn't care.

"Lookie what I found at the door," announced the Slayer, hoisting Norg higher and displaying him to the group. "Anyone order a single-serve demon to go?"

The assembled Slayers chuckled and Faith opened her hand, unceremoniously depositing her cargo on the floor. Landing with a thud, Norg hastily scrambled to his feet, readjusting his suit jacket and brushing himself off.

"Honethtly, I did thay I came in friendthip," he grumbled, the glare pinned at Faith never once wavering, not even when the room erupted into quiet giggles at his lisp.

"Which would be why the only thing hurt is your pride," she replied, nudging the demon with her toe. "Now spill."

All other forms of entertainment forgotten with the new arrival, the Slayers formed a half-circle around Faith and Norg. Some were wearing blank, vaguely hostile expressions, but most appeared to find the notion of a tiny demon in a tiny suit adorable beyond words and seemed uncomfortably close to "Awww!"ing. To these would-be admirers, Norg flashed his most charming smile, apparently heedless of the fact that the teeth somewhat ruined the cute angle. In short, he generally enjoyed the positive attention.

Puffing up to make himself more important, achieving mixed results at best, Norg began his narrative. "I wath out tonight, minding my own bithneth, when I heard thith terrible thrieking coming from a nearby alley. Being the community thervith-minded demon that I am," he ignored the obligatory eye rolls and doubtful glances, "I went to thee what I could pothibly do to render my athithtanth. I thaw a woman, crying that a monthter had just thtolen her baby. And indeed, there wath a horribly oafith-looking demon running away with the poor thing cradled in his armth. I followed him, and he appearth to have holed up in a warehouth on 10th and Cornell." Norg concluded his explanation with an expectant look at the gathered Slayers.

[ Download Clip #55 ]

Jet Wolf: This was your idea, I think, wasn't it?
Ultrace: What was my idea?
JW: This thing, with the uh ... With the baby and it was actually a doll or something? That was your idea?
U: Well see the thing of it was, we had to have them go after him and we had to somehow uhm, we had to somehow make it seem like he was evil and threatening, you know, until they beat him down. And if he like came at them, "Roooooar!", you know, then obviously he IS really evil and threatening. And it would be kind of bad if he was like, he came at them, "Roar", and then suddenly he was revealed to have a very simple childlike mind. You know. I-I'd feel bad about that. It'd be like in that movie in Alien: Resurrection where, you know, the ... <tearful voice> the child alien at the end gets sucked all out because it thinks Ripley's its mother!
<silence>
JW: Joss wrote that movie.
U: You know what? Joss is EVIL. I think we've pretty much discussed that and found out by now. But anyway, it's a very sad movie. It's a very touching, heartwarming story.
JW: The story of the evil, bloodthirsty, alien KILLER.
U: The one at the end! Wasn't— It was like a child! And it thought—
JW: It was a child KILLER!
U: It can't help what it is! And it thought Ripley was its MOTHER! SHE even cried!
<silence>
U: ANYWAY, that's how I would've felt if we had this big childlike demon who gets killed by them. As it turns out, he just happens to have ... a problem with dolls. <JW laughs> Which, while amusing in a sad way, still doesn't prevent him from being on the demon kill list.

"That's not too far from here," one Slayer said to her neighbors.

"We can be there in a few minutes," agreed another.

Faith and Kennedy, both with similar cross-armed stances, eyed each other skeptically.

"And we're believing you ... why now?" Kennedy asked the demon with a furrowed brow.

Craning his head up at the Slayer, doing his best to make eye contact, Norg replied smoothly, "Come on ladieth. I juth want to help you out, thave a life. It'th all very thelfleth," he assured her.

"Uh-huh," replied Faith dubiously. "Now try it again without lookin' like you're lyin' through your teeth."

"Okay, tho not thelfleth nethetharily," the demon admitted. "But hey, I figure thith can be the thtart of a beautiful relationthip. It may have pathed your notith, but I'm thomewhat vertically challenged." Norg held a hand over his head for unnecessary emphasis. "Believe it or not, little guyth like me, we don't have it tho eathy in the demon world."

[ Download Clip #56 ]

Jet Wolf: I gotta say, I can't even remember what this stuff added to this episode.
Ultrace: What this stuff added? What it was, was basically we were trying to set up Norg and have him infiltrate and get on their good sides.
<laughter>
JW: I guess I go back to what I said before. It just seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for one throwaway comedy episode.
U: I guess it's just showing the other side. The not-really-critical things that happen from day to day.
JW: <laughing> It doesn't work.
U: "Yo demon man, how's it hangin'?" "Oh, not too bad. Gonna kill me today?" "Nah, I figure I'll do that tomorrow."
JW: Yeah. No. It doesn't work very well.
U: No, it didn't. But Norg was fun.
JW: Yeah, I like Norg. I like Norg a lot. But uh. This is another one where I had the street thing. "10th and Cornell".
U: 10th and Cornell.
JW: I live off of Cornell! By the way.
U: "And we're believing you why now?"

Kennedy nodded at the demon's attire, still regarding him with the utmost suspicion. "That suit doesn't exactly scream 'hard times' to me."

"I do apprethiate the finer thingth, yeth," Norg said with an indulgent air as he smoothed the lapels of his suit. "But I get by uthing my brain. And my brain'th telling me, a town full of Thlayerth? That'th the thide you want to be on to enthure future enjoyment of thaid finer thingth."

Rolling his eyes at the two Senior Slayers who remained unconvinced, Norg threw his hands into the air with frustration. "Oh for— Look me up," he commanded. When all he received in response were blank stares, he sighed heavily and very carefully explained as though speaking to someone profoundly stupid. "Armod'th Demon Anthology, Volume 5. Page 315, if memory therveth. Do pleath tell me there'th at leatht one among you who can read?" he asked, seeming to half expect the answer 'no'.

Faith ignored the comment and pointed to one of the girls, jerking her head toward the library. The Slayer raced out of the room at top speed as the two Senior Slayers continued to glare suspiciously at Norg.

"The clock'th ticking down on that poor infant'th life, ladieth," he reminded them.

Kennedy took a threatening step forward, causing Norg to stumble backwards and his cool exterior to drop momentarily. "We find out you're lying to us, the baby's not the only one who's running out of time."

Book in hand, the girl ran back into the room and handed the volume to Faith. Casting a final glance at the demon, she opened the book and after several flips, arrived at the indicated page. She scanned through the text as Kennedy peered over her shoulder.

"'Quivel demon'," Faith read. "'Native to the Ohngard dimension. Usually found around potent energy convergences that attract strong forces, both positive and negative. Due to its diminutive size, it survives by making itself useful to whatever forces it perceives as giving it the most protection. Alone, the Quivel itself is ultimately harmless'." The book closed with a snap and all eyes returned to the demon.

[ Download Clip #57 ]

Ultrace: "Due to its diminutive size, it survives by making itself useful to whatever sources". Like one of those sucker fishes that you see on the sharks, picking off parasites.
Jet Wolf: EXACTLY like one of those. In fact if you look them up in that ... "Armod's Demon Anthology"? That's EXACTLY what it parallels them to.
U: Does it?
JW: It does!
U: Are you being serious or sarcastic?
JW: No, I'm being sarcastic.
U: Okay. Cuz he could've attached himself to a Slayer and like, you know ...
JW: Cleaned them? <laughing> As they fought?
U: Exactly.
JW: <laughing> That created a very odd visual.
U: <laughing> "Wheee!!" <JW cracks up> It would make cartwheeling all sorts of new fun.
<JW tries to say something, but is laughing too hard.>
U: <laughing> Okay, I'll stop laughing. Cuz I really wanna know what you're gonna say. <laughing continues> "Kids get to stick on for free"?
<giggle fit goes without end>
U: This is just like last night with the waters, you know. Okay. So.
JW: I think I have hiccups.
U: THAT'S gonna be great.
JW: No. I don't. I'm good.
U: So what about the kids?
JW: No, I was gonna— <starts laughing again> Shit! Never mind. I can't do it.
U: Kitten?
JW: Yes. I can't. It'll make me laugh.
U: Something about kittens?
JW: Yes.
U: Then type it up and I'LL read it.
<laughing>
JW: No. We will do it later.
U: Here! Write it down!
JW: <laughing> No!
<silence, then JW starts laughing again>
JW: Shit!
U: Now you can't get it out of your head, can you?
JW: No! No, I can't! It was a Futurama thing. You doing the "Whee!" made me think of Bender, and ...
U: <laughing> That's right!
JW: "Kittens give Morbo gas." <Ultrace laughs> That's what I was trying to say.
U: Ahh, that's great. I love Futurama.

"Not the motht glowing review ever written on uth, but thith hopefully allayth thome of your fearth...?" Norg queried pleasantly.

Kennedy ignored him and asked Faith, "What do you think? Can we trust him?"

"Probably not, but if some kid's life's at stake, we can't really afford not to check it out," answered Faith, the other Slayer nodding her agreement. "You stay here, keep an eye on him. I'll get some of the girls and we'll go make like heroes."

Unconcerned at the increased glare from Kennedy, Norg examined his fingernails.

Faith pointed to half the gathered girls, preparing herself for action. "Okay, you guys with me," she commanded. The selected Slayers began to file out of the door. "The rest of you stay here. Kennedy's in charge."

Reaching out, Kennedy caught Faith's arm just as the older woman turned away. "Think we should tell Giles or ... Buffy or something?"

"Nah, we can take care of it. But you don't hear from us in half an hour, tell Oxford."

As Kennedy nodded her understanding, Faith jogged out of the room after her team.

Flanked by half a dozen or so less-experienced Slayers, Faith stepped into the warehouse. To say it looked run-down would have been an insult to run-down warehouses everywhere. There appeared to be only one tiny light bulb in the entire place, but the illumination filtering in from outside was enough; the target's silhouette easily stood out across the building.

The demon was big. Even accounting for tricks of shadow, he was at least six and a half feet tall, with hulking arms and a solid-looking torso. They could make out the outline of his open maw, and the fangs that were revealed.

Totally dwarfed by comparison was the baby he was holding up with both arms. Slowly, he brought it closer to his mouth.

"Jesus!" one of the Slayers quietly gasped.

"Okay, no time for discussion," Faith instructed quietly but with an authoritative force. "Gina, Christi, you get the kid and get him out. Rest of us takes down Big Ugly."

The girls nodded their understanding, and Faith led the movement forward toward the demon. She moved stealthily just long enough to get within good range, then stood up to make herself more visible. "Yo!"

The demon whirled his head toward her, completely stunned by her appearance.

"You gonna just eat it dry like that? I hear they stick in your throat."

[ Download Clip #58 ]

Ultrace: Yes, this warehouse thing was very tricky to do.
Jet Wolf: I think you actually wrote this scene.
U: I did.
JW: And I- I gave you no credit in this episode.
U: That's quite all right. It wasn't my best scene, I'll be honest with you. You know, apart from some decent stuff between Faith and the demon, it was kinda like ... "How do I describe this warehouse without using the word 'crate' 27,000 times?'"
JW: That is always the tricky part.
U: Yes.
JW: I think Nova was just saying the other day about, with "Duality", how hard it is to try and find a new word for "mirror" and "reflection".
U: Yes. <laughs> However the, "You just gonna eat it dry like that? I hear they stick in your throat" – that's your line.
JW: Is it?
U: Yeah, it is. I wish I could take credit for that line.
JW: I don't remember that at all.
U: Yes.
JW: <laughing> That was very tasteless of me.
U: It is, but you know, I think I had something like, "You just gonna eat it like that?" or I may have mentioned something like, "Do you want some ketchup with that?" But you were like, "No." Basically you turned on your Joss and just totally, like, made it into a line that worked for it. It was great.

Clearly caught off-guard by this turn of events, the demon clumsily moved the arm holding the baby behind him. He spoke with a powerful, raspy voice despite his surprise. "What? Who? What are you—?"

"Put the kid down," Faith advised, advancing slowly. "Then we can chat, woman to ... thing."

The demon glanced behind him briefly as if he didn't know what was already there. Gina and Christi were spreading out from the rest of the group as he turned back to them, a mixture of fear and anger crossed his face. He set the baby down on a nearby crate. "You ... You saw ..."

"And boy do I wish I hadn't," Faith sneered, continuing to advance.

She slowed her approach only slightly to keep a defensible stance as the demon began lumbering toward her. As he fully stepped into what passed for light in the warehouse, the group could see that he looked much like a standard demon, except that he was really big and for some reason sported two sets of ears.

"I won't let you tell ... You can't tell anyone!" he snarled.

Faith held her hands up in a placating gesture. "Hey, no sweat. Your snack of choice – not quite the hot topic you'd think."

"You won't tell!" he bellowed, and sprung at her with surprising speed; she had enough time to prepare herself for his attack, and the Slayers around her moved out accordingly. Gina, followed by Christi, had arrived at the crate and gently picked up the baby.

[ Download Clip #59 ]

Ultrace: Writing the dialogue for this demon was very difficult. I mean, you wouldn't know it from the fact that all we saw was like five different words rearranged <JW laughs> five different ways. But—
Jet Wolf: He's the demon of five words.
U: He's a demon of few words. But I wanted it to be like— I didn't want him to come off as simple, obviously. I didn't want that whole parallel that we were just discussing. <laughing> You know, child alien thing.
JW: You made me spit up my water, dude. That's not cool.
U: You know, if you hadn't said that, they wouldn't know. But no, I didn't want that whole—
JW: When did you last see that movie? How is it that that scene is stuck in your head like this?
U: It was very traumatizing!
JW: Didn't we see that in the theater?
U: Yeah, we did! We saw it in the theater, on the BIG SCREEN! Right up in your face!
JW: And we haven't seen it since.
U: No, we haven't it since. I've never seen the scene since. It was very painful to watch!
JW: This just marred you.
U: It has! It has! I can never look at childlike murdering monsters again the same way! I'm all like, "Aww, they're so cute." And then they'll tear my throat out, and even still I'll be like, "But you think I'm your mother!" But I honestly didn't want him to come across as a simpleton. I just wanted him to come across as dumbfounded by the fact that they saw him with a ... baby.
JW: Baby doll.
U: Baby doll. Yup.

For the Slayers, the fight between Faith and the demon was something to behold. No amount of practice sparring in the training room or observing of Slayer-on-Slayer combat could compare to the sight of their toughest member going toe-to-toe with such a powerhouse. The two exchanged a few casual but escalating punches that were intended more for sizing up the competition than doing damage. The demon then upped the ante with a strong blow which struck Faith's jaw and sent her spinning.

Acting on instinct and utilizing her momentum, Faith turned her spin into a powerful backhand that caught the monster by surprise. As he stumbled back momentarily, she pounded him a few more times in the head and across the chest. It didn't accomplish much in the way of harm, but even so, his defense became slow, sloppy and weak. She stopped attacking and stood almost entirely upright.

"This is the big threat?" she asked herself in amazement.

Seconds later, the demon lunged into a football-style charge. The Slayer braced herself, but his sheer mass was such that she was pushed off balance and back until she collided with the wall. Before he could capitalize on his position, Faith delivered a one-two combination of knee thrust and groin kick. His bulk caused her kick to land in his stomach instead, but it successfully knocked the wind out of him all the same.

Using the wall for support, she was able to shove him back out to the center of the room with her legs. As she straightened, the demon doing likewise, she glanced at the intimidated Slayers around her, all of whom were giving him a wide berth.

Smirking, Faith crossed her arms and took a step back from the regrouping creature. "This ain't Sunday brunch, folks, step up. Time to put that training to some use."

For just a moment they hesitated, indecisive, until a girl with cropped blonde hair stepped forward to take her shot. Her foe had now regained his composure and the two proceeded to duke it out. The girl took a different tack on the fight than Faith, actually bothering to dodge the demon's swings, which were growing slower by the moment.

His durability wasn't lessening, however, and, seeming to realize she couldn't hurt him, he started to ignore her punches. A slow but lucky jab to the solar plexus left her all but paralyzed long enough for him to grab both her arms at the elbows and deliver a solid head-butt. The thud echoed throughout the warehouse.

A look of concern danced across Faith's face, but it was brief. "Teamwork, people!" she shouted, spurring the others into action.

Another Slayer, short with curly brown hair sprinted up to the demon and hit full-force with a spinning kick. It was enough to make him release his victim. Her savior didn't fair much better with attacks, but she improvised cleverly with a feint to his head that actually ended up as a kick directly on the kneecap. The demon fell heavily to one knee, howling in pain.

She seized his head, intending to twist, but he was too fast and grabbed her arms. However, he was unable to stop the third Slayer, a tall and lanky straight-haired brunette, from successfully snapping his neck and finishing the job.

As the demon collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap, the blonde stumbled to her feet, still a little dazed. "Holy crap. Are they all like that?"

Faith restrained a chuckle. "Sometimes. That was your first non-vamp, huh?"

"Yeah," the blonde admitted, ruefully rubbing her forehead.

"Not bad. You'll get better." Faith turned to the entire group as she spoke. "You did okay, but'cha can't just sit around on your butts like that. You ain't gonna run, then you gotta hit, an' hit fast. Remember to help each other out. You're all your best chance of survival."

The lesson at an end, she went to Gina and Christi. "You got the kid?"

Gina gave her a hesitant look. "Uh ... Sort of?"

"What do you mean, sort—" Faith began, her voice trailing away as she looked past the two to see what lay on the crate. It was a baby doll, immaculately dressed in a tiny pink frock patterned with little yellow daisies. Its eyes seemed to sparkle despite the dim lighting, and it even wore a diaper.

"Oh man," she groaned, sporting an unusual expression of distaste. "That's just twelve kinds'a wrong."

Norg all but skipped along the darkened street, swinging his briefcase and humming a tuneless melody. The little demon was clearly in good spirits, wrapped up in whatever happy world he was currently inhabiting, and consequently paying little attention to his surroundings. As he passed an alleyway, he failed to see the shadowy form, which watched him intently. Very few details could be discerned, but it was obvious that the figure, like Norg, was well dressed, slightly reddish, and quite probably not human.

"Norg," a voice called out as he strode by without a glance. The tone was refined, inspiring, and contained just a hint of malice. It brought Norg up short and he whirled toward it, startled, but quickly recovering and moving to stand in front of the owner's voice.

"Thir!" he exclaimed with a joy bordering on sycophantic. "I'm thurprithed to thee you. I wath heading back to make my report."

"My last meeting let out early, I thought I'd see how it went," the figure explained conversationally.

"Great," enthused Norg. "Fantathtic. Better than we'd hoped. The Thlayerth were thuthpithiouth at firtht, but I think I won them over." The last statement was tinged with pride, and the little demon puffed out his chest.

"And Marv?"

"Detheathed."

"Excellent." The statement was laced with approval. "He was a disgrace to us all."

Norg nodded emphatically, a beaming smile plastered to his face. "I couldn't agree more. Playing with dollth?" He snorted in disgust. "We do have a reputation to uphold."

"The Slayers are certainly more effective than a pink slip," mused the figure thoughtfully. "And no need for severance."

"It'th a fantathtic idea. But then, that'th why you're the bosth, Bosth."

"True," came the agreement, although there was no conceit in the word, simply a statement of fact. "How did the Slayers take finding out that it wasn't a baby at all?"

Shrugging, Norg waved a hand dismissively. "Angry at firtht, figuring I'd thet them up or thomething. But I thimply told them that, bathed on the human woman'th reaction and my own eyeth, I had no reathon to think it wath anything but genuine. Thinthe it wathn't a trap for them and they themthelveth believed it to be a real child, they didn't quethtion it much. They interrogated me a bit more, but finally dethided I wath harmleth and let me go."

The pale light from a nearby streetlamp glinted off the teeth of the taller demon as he smiled amid the shadows. "This has been a most productive day," he decided cheerfully. "So what do you think? Karaoke bar?"

Norg grinned and followed his boss into the darkness.

The new Council remains an interesting experiment, but it is clearly no more than that. Once we are at full strength, they will fall, and when they fall, the rest of the world's chaos will soon crumble after them. This simply isn't a question. Order must prevail.

[ Download Clip #60 ]

Jet Wolf: And this was the first appearance of Robespierre and the Assemblage. The intentional parallel there being, of course, in the first uh, in the teaser, you have the Scoobies at their table, and then you have Madrigan and his cronies at HIS table, and now here at the end you've got ah, Robspierre and all of his lackeys at his table as well.
Ultrace: It's so great. We went into all this detail about Robespierre looks like and his past and all this stuff that happens to him, and we didn't go into half of that stuff.
JW: No, we really didn't. There was never any time. Robespierre was gonna be a bit more uhm ... The- The final inevitable betrayal of Madrigan and uh— Or rather, of Robespierre by Madrigan was gonna be, in its concept phase, was going to be a big surprise. When Madrigan turned on Robespierre, it was gonna be like, "Gasp! Oh my gosh! How could he possibly do that? We are so shocked!" <laughs> And Madrigan was just like, "I ain't gonna play along with this shit, there ain't no way."
U: Yeah.
JW: Uhm, he made it pretty clear that- that he was in control, he KNEW he was in control, and he wanted everyone to know he was in control. So that- that got tossed out the window. So there was gonna be a bit more detail and background as to Robespierre. Like Robespierre got the scar, and how it was ...
U: It was a swordfight. It was a duel.
JW: Yeah, a duel. Uhm, like at the Council before he got thrown out.
U: It was like a duel to win some sort of thing and he lost ...
JW: Yeah, we had whole huge thing set up for Robespierre. None of it came out at all.
U: For a while we were gonna have that he lost the duel to Quentin Travers and ...
JW: Did we actually set down that? Or was that just a thought we had at one time?
U: That was just a thought we had at the time. Cuz we were like, "Who would it be?" Obviously it wouldn't be Giles.
JW: No, no, Giles was too young.
U: And we figured, it needed to be someone else we actually knew.
JW: Yeah, I can't remember.
U: You know. "Robespierre was scarred by this guy that we've never heard from since then ..."
JW: I just thought it was like something that they gave him when they threw him out the Council. Like kind of a, you know ... "You are disgraced!"
U: No. I always figured he got it during the duel.
JW: Yeah, no, I was saying one of the things that we thought.
U: I'm sorry. Yes, please.
JW: Uhm, yeah, but we had this thing where we were working on building up Robespierre's past and- and the scar playing into that. Plus I like to scar my villains. It's just a thing that I do. And uhm ...
U: Well it's even better for Robespierre, cuz he's all about order and uniformity, and then you've got one scar on one side of his face. You've gotta thing at some point in his past, did he think about marking up the other side, just so he'd match?
JW: <laughing> He might have, actually. So yeah, it didn't come out though because Robespierre ... We made it clear pretty early on that Robespierre was NOT the force that Robespierre liked to think that he was. And ah, and we let the reader in on that a lot earlier than we had originally intended to do. Like I say, it was gonna be a huge thing when Madrigan finally betrayed Robespierre. It was supposed to be a big, you know, "Oh my god! I can't believe that happened!" moment. And we gave up. We're just like— Madrigan just isn't gonna play the lapdog. I think it turned out better that way.
U: It did.
JW: We got a lot- We got a lot more characterization for Madrigan out of it.
U: Oh yeah. Totally.
JW: You know, by him totally knowing. A-And knowing YOU know and not minding if Robespierre was in on it too, so ...
U: Many of Madrigan's best scenes include him mocking Robespierrers, even subtly, and we just wouldn't have been able to have that if not for, you know?
JW: The- The ... Unfortunately the consequence of that was that NOBODY took Robespierre seriously at ANY point.
U: No. Even when he shot Faith in the back, they were kinda like, "Ha ha ha, he didn't possibly do that, he's just Robespierre!"
JW: Well I think they meant, like, you know, what he could do in that respect. But I don't think anyone was ever fooled into thinking that Robespierre was the big villain.
U: Yeah.
JW: Everyone knew it was Madrigan. But that- that was okay. So yeah, a lot of Robespierre backstory will never see the light of day now. But it existed.

A large, modern conference table was situated in the center of an otherwise unadorned room. Those seated around the table, twenty in total and all male, were impeccably groomed and dressed in a manner that would do any CEO proud. Only one was speaking, the others paying rapt attention to his words. He was reading from a paper-thin device, light gray in color, which gave the appearance of being highly technological. As the man spoke, lines of text traveled up the surface, seeming to appear by magic.

"I will continue to gather information and include all I can in forthcoming reports," the man continued reading.

At the head of the table, his fingers steepled before him and brow creased in thought, sat a man whose demeanor was the very personification of control. Every strand of graying brown hair was in place, his moustache trimmed to lengths that, had they been measured, would have been identical. Each movement he made, including every blink of his eye and every breath that he took, seemed calculated. This was a man devoted to order and there was no room in any aspect of his life for anything but.

Although his disfigurement would have been alarming enough on its own, the aura he radiated only served to draw further attention to the huge, perfectly straight scar on the left side of his face. The puckered skin was pale and shiny, as though the injury had occurred at some point in the man's distant past, but this in no way made the scar any less prevalent, a fact emphasized by the absence of his left earlobe. The elongated scar stretched from where his earlobe had once been, cutting a smooth swath across his cheek and culminating at the corner of his mouth, where the healed flesh had distorted the upper lip into a perpetual smirk. Despite this, however, he rarely appeared amused in the slightest.

Except for now. He smiled.

"Again, I thank the Assemblage for this opportunity to serve them."

The training room was dark, quiet and completely empty, save for one solitary figure standing before the rows of mirrors that composed one of the walls. Typically they were used for those working out on the weight machines to check their positioning, or practitioners of various martial arts to monitor their form. Tonight, however, one of the mirrors was glowing faintly, a rich blue that permeated the room and enveloped it in an ethereal light. The glow pulsated, breathing, it seemed, with a life of its own.

Her report complete, Judith waved a dark crystal in front of the mirror. The intensity of its glow increased for a moment, the crystal echoing the color and hue, before both fell dark and again appeared normal.

Judith remained standing in front of the mirror, regarding her image impartially. Clad only in a thin tank top and pair of boxers, it was apparent that she had recently gotten out of bed. She displayed no emotion whatsoever, nor did she pay any particular attention to the marking over her heart, barely visible beneath the top's strap, of an eye affixed upon an oddly shaped staff.

[ Download Clip #61 ]

Ultrace: And oh my god, it's Judith!
Jet Wolf: Yeah, which you may or may not have seen coming. Some where surprised so we- we did catch out some people. They didn't think it was her, they kinda followed the intentional mislead. But it would've worked soooo much better.
U: But you know what?
JW: If I'd just had that third person.
U: But even the people who weren't surprised here were surprised when we offed her next episode.
JW: Oh yeah, that got them. I remember actually getting some e-mail from somebody who was like, you know, "The whole Judith thing was really cool, but like, you should not have killed her so fast. You should've let her be around for a while." And I'm like, "Ahh well, never mind." Knowing full well that—
U: She'll be back.
JW: —the reason I had her revealed and then killed so quickly was intentionally to catch people off-guard, because everyone thinks, "Oh, Judith's the big bad!" "Oh, shit, she's gone!" And then knowing, of course at the same time, we were gonna bring her back ten episodes later.
U: I was gonna say, ten episodes later, Judith was like ... nobody even remembered her hardly.
JW: Oh no. I think they remembered her but there's no way. No one thought she wasn't dead. Everyone's like, "Judith was here and gone." So that was my big one-two punch. I don't think anyone saw that coming. So that-that gave me some sort of sense of satisfaction. But uh, but yeah so. Judith here at the end just saying, "Hi, I'm your bad guy."
U: <chuckles> "And I look forward to serving you in the future. Ack! Dead."
JW: Funnily enough, I found— I discovered before this- this season was over, that mirrors played a much greater part in this than I had intended. Than I had realized. You know, I think you actually pointed that out, didn't you?
U: During my— Yeah. During the "Magic Mirror" card.
JW: Yeah. Mirrors are EVERYWHERE in this season and I- I totally didn't mean for that to happen. But between "Duality", where it's all about mirrors, and you know ... mirrors for transportation, mirrors for conversation.
U: Well you know, throughout the course of Buffy, mirrors have gotten pretty much a bad rap. They've only like, you know. There's that one mirror that Buffy reflected that spell with in Season 1, and then there's like one or two references to Angelus not having a mirror, and then there's Faith looking into a mirror in "Who Are You?" That's pretty much it. Mirrors have pretty much been out of the picture. So this is our chance to stand up for mirrors everywhere.
JW: Mirrors rose up and demanded equal time.
U: "You will look at us! And you will be looking at yourself while you do it!"
JW: So uh, so yeah! There we go, that's the end of- of "Fringes". Hopefully not a bad commentary.
U: And hopefully you enjoyed the episode as well.
JW: Yes. Yup. If nothing else, I figure the reveal about Madrigan and his sordid beginnings might be worth the price of the download.
U: Oh yes.

"Where the Heart is"

Story by: Jet Wolf and Ultrace
Written by: Jet Wolf and Ultrace
Premiers: Tuesday, 11 May 2004, 8pm EST

Next week on an all-new episode of The Chosen...

There are many classic sayings about home...

There's no place like home...

Fade from black to a shot of Willow, Xander and Dawn laughing uproariously while Buffy looks on, completely and utterly lost.

You can't go home again...

Fade from black to a shot of Buffy watching dejectedly as Giles and Faith are deep in a training workout.

A man's home is his castle...

Fade from black to a shot of Buffy and Xander arguing while an exasperated Dawn stands on the sidelines.

Home sweet home...

Fade from black to a shot of a hand shooting out of the ground and grabbing Buffy's ankle as she is advanced on by zombies.

Quick dissolve with a flash of white to Buffy standing by a roadside at night, extremely peeved with her hands on her hips.

Buffy: You know, I hate the classics.

The Chosen: A Buffy Virtual Season 8. Because the story's not done yet.

[ Download Clip #62 ]

Jet Wolf: Do we wish to look at the promo?
Ultrace: Let's look at the promo for next week.
JW: The one with the frickin' zombies.
U: "Next week on Buffy: The Chosen!" Oh my god, her curtains are haunted!
JW: <laughs> The faces of those she's wronged float up before her. Very easy poster, that one.
U: But it looks cool.
JW: Yeah, I suppose so. Mike seems to be taken with this poster. I am not ... I'm neither thrilled nor unthrilled with it. Except for I was very excited, because I learned to like ... I learned a bit more how to ah, do layers on this one. So I was very excited. Thing I'm proudest of with this episo— with this poster? Is Xander's patch job.
U: Yes.
JW: It's so hard to patch Xander. If you haven't tried it? You have no idea. Patching Xander is a bitch. And practically every patch you ever seen Xander with in these – unless it actually comes from an episode itself – it's always the same eyepatch. Uhm, which comes from ... "End of Days". There's a scene of Xander that I- I captured the patch and then I painted out the background, and then whenever I used a patch – same patch. And I usually just resize it and fiddle with the perspective to make it look the same. Oh, wow, this is a short little teaser, isn't it?
U: Yeah. I think this is actually where I was still doing teasers.
JW: Was it? I don't remember. I thought you stopped doing teasers around number four or five. But I very well could be wrong.
U: Well this is episode five.
JW: But it's for six, though.
U: I gotcha. I don't know. I may or may not have done this one.
JW: Well it really doesn't matter.
U: Yeah, it doesn't.
JW: Uhm ... Yeah, no mention of zombies, I notice. <Ultrace laughs> Oh no, there's a zombie. Zombie hand.
U: Yeah. GOD I hate frickin' zombies.
JW: We made a pledge: We're never writing zombies again ever.
U: Absolutely not. Not unless they're like Jack O'Toole zombies.
JW: Yeah. Unless they're smart zombies. We're not writing dumb, mindless, brain-sucking zombies ever again ever. Cuz they SUCK.
U: They do.
JW: Suckiest villains ever.
U: And not just brains.
JW: No zombies. They have to speak. They have to be like people.
U: Exactly.
JW: We're not gonna be prejudiced against the dead. BUT. If you're gonna be dead, you better be articulate.
U: Yeah.
JW: So yeah, we hate zombies.
U: I remember how hard it was trying to come up with different home phrases that mattered.
JW: Oh maybe that was you then.
U: You know. There were tons of ones we threw out. Like, "Home is where you hang your hat", and you were like, "No. That's stupid. We're not using that crap." And we finally managed to come up with—
JW: Boy, I'm tactful, aren't I?
U: Well yeah, well something like that.
JW: "It's CRAP!"
U: It's not like I came up with the phrase, so I mean, you weren't insulting me particularly, just the guy who came up with it. But yet, it was very difficult coming up with even four of those.
JW: Yeah. Very uninspiring promo on that one, I must say. Especially later when like, I wouldn't shut the hell up. I'm like, "Here's the whole episode in promo form! Have a nice day!"
U: Well you know, the zombies were pretty uninspiring enemies, so <JW laughs> I guess- I guess maybe they sucked the brain out of us when were trying to do that, I don't know.
JW: We should've reworked this promo to be all about beating the shit out of Willow. <Ultrace laughs> "Next week, on an all-new episode of The Chosen! Willow! <punch sound effect>"
U: "There's no place like home". <punching sound effect> <JW laughs> "You can't go home again." "I'll break your leg!" You know, I mean ... "A man's home is his castle." She like throws her through the wall. "Home sweet home." <snapping sound effect>
<laughter>
JW: Cuz really, when you get down to it, it's all about the Scoobies makin' up and ten minutes later? Willow gettin' the crap beaten out of her.
U: Hee-hee.
JW: All right. Are we done?
U: I think we're done.
JW: All right. We're done. Enjoy.
U: Byyyye.
JW: Or, I guess it's kind of stupid to end with a commentary ON "Enjoy", isn't it?
U: Wheeee ....