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Angel entered the gallery with Willow and Cordelia
at his side.
He quickly took in his surroundings and ascertained
that Buffy
and her new 'man' were standing at the otherside
of the room,
both seemingly engrossed in the pattern on the carpet.
He quickly
steered Cleopatra and the Bride of Dracula towards
a pillar that
provided some cover.
"I really don't want to talk to her right now."
He explained as Willow
looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
"What are they dressed as, anyway? I mean,
Robin Hood and Maid
Marion - been there, done that." Cordelia
sneaked another look at the
offending costumes.
"Okay." Willow offered a nervous smile, hoping
that Angel didn't begin
to get angry about his own costume again.
"Giles! Over here!"
"Ah. Hello. Nice to...ah...see you again."
Giles took in Angel's costume,
but other than a sideways glance at Willow, he didn't
comment.
"Any sign of the demon?" Angel asked rather sharply.
"No. From what Cordelia saw, I've been able
to ascertain that it is a chaos
demon who wants to disrupt life in Sunnydale.
It should be quite easy to defeat.
Buffy could have coped alone." Giles nodded
towards the Slayer, who was
attempting to stop Riley from walking around in
circles.
"If Cordelia has a vision, I have to be there."
Angel moved closer to Willow,
acknowledging to himself that she played a factor
in his short return to Sunnydale.
"Umm...does anybody think that Riley's being a bit...er...strange?"
Willow raised
the question that none of the others seemed to want
to.
"Oh? Yes, that. It seems he ate some
cake that had been...er... specially prepared."
Giles sounded quite nonchalant. "He should
be fine. It was quite a regular occurence
in the seventies."
"You mean...Oh! Why did Buffy bring him here,
then?" Willow was whispering now.
After all, it was illegal.
"Why do you think? She wouldn't show up alone
when Angel was coming." Cordelia cut
in with a typically shrewd observation.
"That's true. One question though - why is
Riley Maid Marion?"