Rating: NC-17 overall (some entries as mild as a G)
Disclaimer: While I have taken the liberty of adding a few characters of my own creation, all of the original BtVS characters and their world belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and The WB. All are used without permission (I'll return them all unharmed) and no copyright infringement is intended (like most who post, I'm broke, so please don't sue).
Summary: It's the year 2047 and Aishling Rosenberg has recently discovered that her grandmother left behind a vast collection of letters, stories, research notes, etc.
Distribution: You want it, it's yours, just let me know where it's going to be living.
Feedback: Beggars can't be choosey, and I'm begging, so. . .
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Entry No. 1 Archivist’s Introduction
I really can not tell you what purpose this collection was originally intended to serve. The one who started the compilation is gone. I can only hope that my sharing it with you would not have displeased her.
My grandmother was the one who created this vast cache of letters, stories, notes, drawings, etc. I came into possession of it only recently and in keeping with what I believe to be her wishes, I have begun to organize it and to make additions as I see fit.
She passed away almost a year ago. However, it took me almost six months to work-up enough nerve to go through all the material effects she left behind. My grandmother was a pack rat. A very organized pack rat, but a pack rat all the same. And some of the stuff she held on to . . . well, let’s just say "ewww".
Imagine my surprise when I discovered the deed to a parcel land and its adjoining cottage located in Ireland, of all places. I am quite certain she never spoke of it. I don’t recall its existence ever being mentioned, not even in passing. Grandmother would occasionally discuss such morbid things as the location of her will, her burial wishes, etc. Those discussions always gave me the wiggins, to coin one of Aunt Buffy’s old phrases. I would surely have remembered her talking about owning land in Ireland since I would always use whatever little tidbit of superfluous data that I could latch onto in an attempt to redirect the focus of those horrid talks. Ireland was most definitely never brought up.
Not only did she own the land, but she had lived there for nearly two years and continued to visit there annually throughout her life. My grandmother, the great keeper of secrets! Oh, and what secrets she has kept!
Angel was the one who told me about my grandmother’s time in Ireland. He’s one of the few people I could turn to who might have had any information for me. With the passing of my grandmother, all of my blood relations are gone. My parents died when I was very young. I was raised by my grandmother and all the other people who make up our strange extended family, and I do mean strange in the truest sense of the word.
Ah, but Angel was there from the beginning (and -his God and my Goddess willing- he shall still be here *long* after I’m gone). Within him now is housed a deep well of information, full of both fact and fancy, if you know how to draw from it. Which of course I do, having been taught by a master. . . my grandmother. Angel is, however, quite an accomplished cryptic conversationalist and in being so he provided me with just enough information to pique my curiosity, then he sent me on my way to Ireland. (Okay, so maybe I need to work on my data extraction techniques, especially where Angel is concerned.)
I had asked Angel to join me, but he declined, mumbling as usual about demons coming forth, vampire activity on the rise, prophecies, yada yada yada. So, it was his wife, Aoífe, who joined me on my fact finding mission. As it turns out, facts were not all we found.
Just the trip to Ireland was a thrill in and of itself. I am only 21 and aside from a brief visit to England when I was a little girl, I’d not traveled overseas. But having grown-up listening to Angel and Aoífe tell stories about their homeland, Ireland was a place I’d always longed to see. I was not disappointed. Of course, having a tour guide who’s roamed the Emerald Isle, on and off, for over 1100 years does add a certain “something” to the whole experience.
Grandmother’s cottage is on the west coast of Clare. It can be found just outside the small village of Doonbeg, which is about 12km northeast of Kilkee. It’s exact location is somewhat isolated, and quite serene, but it’ s not far to civilization. Of course nothing is “far” in a country that you can cross by car in a matter of hours as opposed to days. Bit of a shock for a girl who has lived her entire life in the Big Ol’ USofA. I had just always assumed that “countries” as a whole, were big places. I know, like Angel pointed out, all I really had to do was glance at a map and I'd see just how small Ireland is compared to the United States or a vast number of other countries for that matter. I am not a stupid person. I do in fact grasp the concept of relative size. It was just the actually application of that concept that I had a small problem with. I guess I'm just used to "living large".
The parcel of land itself abuts the sea. The cottage was very new, by Irish standards. It was build back in 2004 and was situated just far enough back from the beach to ensure that it would not be washed away during a large storm. I learned from Aoífe that the land had originally been left to Angel by his mother. It had been part of her dowery. But since Angel’s father had married her for love, not money, he refused to claim the land as his own, urging her instead to bequeath it to their first born heir, which equated to first born male in those days. She obviously followed his advice, because Angel did in fact inherit the land. Not that the whole first born male thing would have mattered much since Angel annihilated his family when he first became a vampire.. He would have been the heir apparent, regardless of birth order. He was, in fact, the only one left. But that’s really not relevant to what I’m trying to tell you here. And you must please forgive me if at times I seem a bit too blunt. It’s a side effect of the exposure I’ve had to the women in my family. Let’s just say that they are and/or were, at times, painfully honest. Actually, “brutally honest” is the term that first came to mind, but it seemed a bit harsh. Another adverse side-effect to having been raised among such a unique clan, is that I tend to stray off my original topic and to ramble on for quite some time before catching myself . . . see, I’m doing it even now!
Anyway, it seems that Angel gave the land to my grandmother as a gift in honor of her 21st birthday. And what an odd coincidence that I inherited same said land during my 21st year. But let’s not read too much into that. Please! The people around me are always looking for strange coincidences and trying to see if they can turn them into portents or work them into prophecies or just simply make more out of them then what’s really there. It does at times get to be a bit nerve wracking, to say the least.
So, let’s see, we have the land by the sea, the cottage on the land, and, oh yes, the trunk in the cottage! That’s were I uncovered all of the items you will find in this archive. with the exception of the notes I myself have added. My grandmother had carefully stored the treasures in a beautiful wooden chest. It turns out that Angel himself had built the trunk to be used for that very purpose. He told me this when he finally joined us in Ireland. It seems that when it comes to visiting his homeland, Angel always follows a few weeks behind his wife.
As I’ve already said, I don’t really know what reasons my grandmother had for starting this archive in the first place. What prompted her to ask her questions and then to work her wiles on the likes of such creatures as Angelus, Aoífe, Whistler, et. al. in order to secure their responses?
Perhaps it was just her never ending love affair with fact gathering. She was known in her younger days by such nicknames as “NetGirl” and “The Queen of Research”. Later in life, her ability to track down even the most arcane references made her second, in the eyes of all who knew them, only to Mr. Giles. And when it came to her natural ease with the use of all modern research techniques, she had him beat hands down from day one! The acquisition and interpretation of all materials dealing with the supernatural became her life’s work and her passion. It’s what led her to apply for a position among the Watcher’s Council. She was an active and highly respected member of the Council until the day she died. And now, with the addition of this collection to their already vast archives, her contributions will not soon be forgotten.
So, now it is that I have taken up my grandmother’s duties as archivist of our “Family History”. Perhaps someday, I too shall be a member of the Watcher's Council. I will surely petition them when I feel the time is right. Until then, I have much here to keep me busy.
My ”family”, such as it is, has a very rich history. It is "unique", to say the very least. And, I suppose, you could apply the term “unique” to both the family and its history. Many of the earlier facts/events have already been recorded by Mr. Giles, Aunt Buffy, Grandma Willow, and others within the Council. I shall not take the time to retell any of those stories, unless I find it necessary to do so. Contained here in are tales which I don't believe you have heard before, but which my grandmother obviously felt should be told at some point in time. I feel that time is now . . .
Aishling A. Rosenberg 01 December, 2047
End
Entry One