Title: A Change in Perspective 2/5
Author: Kim
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to
Joss, ME, Fox etc. Although I'm sure they have more fun in my world.
Feedback: Thanks, I'd love some! Please don't make me beg. I
would especially love constructive criticism. Anything to make the
final product better.
"Hey guys, you wouldn't believe what we learned in American History today."
"What, Dawnie?" Tara asked.
"Well, we're talking about early American history. And Mr. Larson informed us that the Salem witch trials were the result of mass hysteria and that there is no such thing as a witch." Dawn grinned as she relayed the tale. "Is he lame or what?"
"Idiot," Giles said. "While it's true that several of the women accused weren't witches, Watcher journals from that period, recorded numerous witches who were persecuted. What do they teach in that school of yours?"
Willow simply looked affronted. "No such thing as witches, why, why, we should go and show him no such thing as witches. We'll see what he has to say about that. Right?" she said, looking at Tara.
"Um, sweetie, I think it's a good thing that people don't believe in witches. Especially since they burned them at the stake in Salem. Let's not draw attention to ourselves."
"Oh," Willow looked crestfallen. "I suppose you're right."
"Guys, enough with the history lesson. We're trying to plan Halloween here," Buffy interrupted. "As I was getting ready to say, I think we should have everyone over to my house for a Halloween party. That way we'll all be together and safe. And so I don't have to worry about Dawn, she can be there too."
"Oh yeah, right. Like, what would I do, sneak out to meet some boy?"
"Knowing you, yes. And with your luck he'd turn out to be a vampire."
"You're the one who knows all about dating vampires, not me." Dawn shot back.
"So?" Buffy replied.
"So."
"So" Buffy was determined to get in the last word, however immature it was.
"Enough, both of you." Giles thundered, stepping in between the two. "You bicker like, like….."
"Sisters?" Buffy smirked at him.
"I was going to say children."
"Okay kids, let's settle down and get back to planning this party." Xander said.
"We're having a party?" Dawn asked. "For what?"
"For Halloween. The Buffster thinks we should have a party at your house."
"Oooh, that will be fun. We can bob for apples and tell scary stories."
"Or we could just rent scary movies and overdose on candy." Xander suggested.
"Yes, I vote for scary movies," Anya said, rejoining the conversation. "That leads to cuddling."
"We can definitely have scary movies, and candy," Buffy said, "and music, and maybe a little bit of dancing."
"Yay, dancing. Dancing is fun." Willow bounced excitedly. "We have to play Monster Mash. That's a Halloween classic."
"Okay, sounds like a plan. Xander, you're in charge of candy. Try not to eat all of it before you bring it over. Willow, you get the movies, and no Xander," Buffy said when she saw Xander open his mouth. "We are not going to rent Evil Dead again."
"But it's a necessity for any movie watching night."
"Well, let's branch out and try something new. We'll leave it up to Willow."
"I'll handle the music," Dawn volunteered.
"No," they all groaned in unison. "I don't think the rest of us want to spend the evening listening to the Backstreet Boys," Xander said.
"Speak for yourself," Anya said. "I happen to like the Backstreet Boys."
"I'm going to try to forget you said that because I love you."
"I'll bring the music," Tara volunteered.
"Now there's only one thing left to figure out," Buffy said. "Costumes."
Everyone looked thoughtful at that.
"We could all come as our favorite character from a Broadway show," Giles suggested.
"And we would want to do that why?" Dawn asked.
"Well, I do have a smashing costume from a production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I was in a production of it at University if you must know."
"Nope, don't need to know, especially if you're talking about that creepy guy in the corset and ripped fishnet. I definitely don't need to know." Dawn stated emphatically.
"We could do famous witches and warlocks." Willow suggested.
"No, I did that at a party at the Duke of York's in 1715," Anya said. "It was just a bunch of guys dressed up like Merlin and a bunch of women in their version of high priestess attire."
"How about we dress up however we want." Dawn suggested, thinking it would be a perfect opportunity to get Buffy to buy her the really short black skirt she had her eye on. She could claim she wanted to be a biker chick or some sort of Goth girl.
"Yeah, I could be an angel, all things considered." Buffy grinned.
At that, the smiles dropped off everyone's faces. Willow and Xander looked at the floor while Giles took his glasses off for another polish.
"Geez guys, you're really going to have to learn to lighten up about what happened. I'm okay, see I can joke about it."
"But we still feel bad, about pulling you out of, well you know." Willow said uncomfortably.
"Heaven, Willow, it's okay, you can say it. Really, I'm happy to be back here, to be with all of you. You're my family."
"Well, we're not renting costumes this year, that's for sure," Xander said to change the conversation. "Although, it would be fun to dress up as a pirate, then I could learn to sword fight. Assuming we turned into our costumes again, which of course we wouldn't want to do, that would be bad. Even though the rocket launcher did come in handy, if I do say so myself." "Wow," he said, turning to look at Willow, "I think I'm channeling my inner Willow with the babbling."
"That's it!" Buffy exclaimed, jumping up excitedly. "That's what we can dress up as."
"Huh?" Xander said. "You lost me."
"We can dress up as each other. We'll draw names out of a hat and you have to dress up like whoever you draw."
"I like it." Willow said, eyes shining. "I think we should have to act like each other too, not just dress up."
"We could make it a little more interesting," Anya suggested. "We should all chip in some money, and whoever does the best job of impersonating their person all night long without breaking character should win the pot. Money always makes things more interesting."
"That's a great idea. But I don't want to be Giles. I'm allergic to tweed you know," Buffy said with a saucy grin at her Watcher.
"Ha bloody ha," Giles replied. "Because I wear tweed so much these days, you know."
"Well, I think we should be able to dress up as the person from any point in our friendship," Xander said. "Not just how they happen to dress right now."
"And no helping each other with costumes. It has to be a surprise who you're going to show up as," Willow suggested.
"Now, we just have to draw names," Buffy said, reaching across the table for a pad of paper.
"There's just one problem," Tara said. "There are seven of us. It's an odd number."
At that exact moment, the door to the shop burst open and a figure, under a slightly smoking blanket, rushed in through the door.
"Blimey. I'll be glad when it gets dark earlier."
"Spike," Buffy's tone was welcoming, "You're just the person we wanted to see."
"He is?" Xander asked at the same time Spike said, "I am?"
"Spike makes eight," Buffy replied. "Besides, we don't really know anyone else to invite."
"Eight what?" Spike asked suspiciously.
Dawn quickly outlined the plan to him.
"Oi, because dressing up as one of you lot is just how I want to spend my Halloween."
"Do you have better plans?" Buffy asked.
"Course I do. Got lots of fun things planned, bit of trouble to get into." Faced with all of their skeptical expressions, Spike caved. "Fine, I bloody well don't have anything else planned."
"Come on Spike, it will be fun," Dawn pleaded.
"And you can win money," Anya said brightly.
"Oh, well in that case, count me in. Long as I don't have to dress up like the Poof."
"The Poof, I mean Angel, isn't invited to the party," Buffy replied. "Okay, lets draw names."
She quickly scribbled names on slips of paper, folded them, and put them into a silver chalice she grabbed from a nearby shelf. She walked around to each member letting them draw a name. "Remember, no sharing until Friday night."
Willow snickered when she looked at her name. Xander groaned, while Giles simply shook his head. It was going to be an interesting night.