Aug. 13th - A Step in the Right Direction (BtVS/TWD/GG)
Title: A Step in the Right Direction
Author: 3am_moonlight
Rating: Gen.
Crossover: The Walking Dead & Gilmore Girls
Characters/Pairing: Buffy Summers, Rory Gilmore, misc. TWD characters.
Disclaimer: Property of Joss and whoever owns TWD & GG.
Summary: Everyone needs to learn how to fight, but there are always those who disagree.
Word Count: 1932
Notes: Follows ' Same Old Brand New You'.
The day after the four of them followed Daryl back to the Quarry camp, four of the men of the group decided to return to Atlanta as apparently, they'd been stupid enough to leave one of their own behind, handcuffed to a pipe on a department store roof. The ones going back into the city were Rick, who had been saved by Glenn and several others the day before last; Glenn himself; a man who called himself T-Dog; and Daryl, their resident hunter. By the anger the latter displayed, and the general conversation, it quickly became obvious that the man left behind was Daryl's older brother.
Buffy and Faith had held a nonverbal conversation using their eyes only before Faith produced a coin and said, "Heads." Buffy had simply nodded her consent and the dark-haired Slayer flipped the coin. Catching it and slapping it down on the back of her left hand she showed it to her fellow Slayer. The side view of a man's face was clearly visible.
"Have fun in Atlanta and make sure you and everyone get back in one piece." Buffy wasn't happy, but one of them had to stay behind and protect the group. They'd failed with the small group they had been a part of before, mainly thanks to a group of men who were trying to capture all of the women for their own twisted desires. There were too many non-fighters in their new group, too many who seemed to think they were safe living in *tents*, which meant they had been really lucky and no herd had come across their camp so far, but it was only a matter of time.
That mentality had to go; *everyone* needed to learn how to fight, how to kill the walkers and living humans who wanted to harm them. They needed to learn how to hunt and prepare their catch, something the two Slayers needed to learn as well, and everyone needed to learn at least basic first aid. She sighed quietly so no one heard her, this would probably make her really unpopular with nearly everyone. At least Faith was on her side this time, and she'd help out. In the years since Sunnydale, the two of them had regularly spent time together, trying to balance each other out, and heal the fractured attempt at a friendship they'd had since their first meeting.
It had been slow going at first, there was a lot of bad history between them, but they'd persevered, and eventually, they'd formed a strong friendship. Not everyone had been happy about the turn of events, they'd seen it as Faith attempting to corrupt the Golden Slayer. In reality, she'd helped Buffy become more comfortable with her inner killer and had shown her how regularly blowing off steam was good for her, which in turn had made her a better Slayer. For Faith, it had meant a stabilizing influence, someone who was willing to defend her, fight for her and, more importantly, fight beside her. Together they were unstoppable and perfectly in sync. Which was a major reason why they were still alive while most of the other Scoobies and various other people they had worked with were now among the dead or the undead.
Giles, Willow, Xander, Kennedy, and eight of the other Sunnydale Slayers had been killed within the first month of the global outbreak, either by walkers or by scared or angry survivors. In the case of Giles and Xander, it had actually been the military, much to the others aggravation. The rest had followed in the next month. Thankfully none of them had kept any of their abilities after death, even if they were reanimated. By the time they reached Atlanta Buffy and Faith had been the only ones left, except for the small group of survivors they'd picked up along the way. As she thought about it, there was a chance Oz was still alive since he had been in Tibet at the monastery when the outbreak began. It was far enough away from most of the population that he was most likely still alive.
Dawn had been returned to her natural form of the Key two years prior after she'd started to get sick and no one was able to cure her. No magic and no doctors or medicine could do anything to alleviate her pain. In the end, it had been Dawn herself who had found an old and risky ritual which would shed her human skin and return her to her natural state. It had originally been crafted as a means to cure people who had been cursed permanently into an animal form. In between Dawn, Willow, and a few witches from a nearby coven they'd managed re-work the ritual and then perform it.
For a few moments after the ritual had been completed they'd been able to see a bright, green, swirly shimmer before it had disappeared leaving nothing of Dawn Summers behind. In remembrance of her only sister, Buffy and the Scoobies had spent the rest of the night partying, as per Dawn's last request. The grieving part of the process had followed, but they had all consoled themselves with the knowledge that Dawn was still out there, somewhere, even if she wasn't human anymore.
In the weeks following her sister's transformation, Buffy had noticed an increased knowledge in languages, demonic lore, and other subjects she knew Dawn had been proficient in. She'd also gotten knowledge of her friends and family she hadn't known before. After some time she'd come to the conclusion that since Dawn had been made out of her so Buffy would protect her, now everything that had once been Dawn had been returned to Buffy. Buffy herself already knew a lot more about those topics than she was willing to tell anyone, but the extra intelligence was both a painful reminder that her sister was gone and a good way to honor her memory.
&&&&&
As Buffy watched the van drive away she turned to Rory, who was standing beside her watching everything warily while still keeping half an eye on her sister, who was in the process of getting to know the other children in the camp.
"Has anyone taught you and Gigi how to fight?"
Rory blinked at her, a little startled. "Not really. My old group just made sure everyone knew to destroy the brain, and that everyone had either a gun or a knife or a baseball bat. Or some other weapon." A few moments later, after she had checked her sister was still in the same place, she added, "They just told Gigi to hide, or to get up high if she couldn't find a hiding place."
A worried frown marred the young woman's face, "Gigi doesn't have to learn how to fight, does she?" Her face told Buffy she already knew the answer to the question, but Buffy decided to reply regardless.
"Yes, Rory. Everyone needs to learn how to defend themselves, even the children." She gave Rory a sad smile. "You know how children are; they run off and get lost sometimes. Or they're at the wrong place at the wrong time. The walkers can be anywhere, hiding in the least likely places, and when Gigi or any of the other children suddenly run into them they need to be able to kill them, or at the very least disable them, because there isn't always an escape route. And there isn't always an adult around to save them from the bad things."
Buffy drew a breath before she continued, "Right now we're vulnerable. The camp is in the woods, most people are staying in tents on the ground, and there are hardly any defenses. No, the boxes on strings don't count." She saw Rory's face scrunch up in confusion at the last part, apparently, she hadn't seen those yet.
"She doesn't have to learn it today, but soon. I intend to begin teaching everyone self-defense today, and when Faith gets back she'll help out. Once everyone has gotten the basics we'll move on to weapons. Blades, guns, baseball bats, and then weapons of opportunity. The more everyone learns the better chance they have of survival."
They talked for a little while longer and Rory promised to attend if she could get someone to watch her sister. Buffy left her and went around the camp to see who would be willing to learn how to fight properly. By the time she had talked to everyone she'd gotten six positive replies, including Rory's. Two highly derisive and insulting replies, and a number of polite but negative responses. She kept her promise to Rory and didn't ask the children or their parents for permission to teach the young ones. A little show and tell would be needed in order to prove herself first.
In the end, the people who had chosen to attend were Rory Gilmore, Dale Horvath, Miranda Morales, Jacqui, and the Harrison sisters. It didn't escape her notice that Dale was the only man who had agreed to participate. No matter; Buffy knew she looked young and harmless to most people, it had been an excellent disguise/ruse before when she was out patrolling, but once they saw her fight they usually changed their mind. It was a pity that Lori and Carol chose to not join them, but it was their choice. At least it was Lori's choice. Buffy was pretty certain after only one look at Carol's husband when they had arrived the evening before that he would not have allowed his wife, or daughter, to learn any kind of fighting.
Buffy then spent the next couple of hours teaching her little class how to stand properly to keep their balance while utilizing their entire body, how to block and when, and where to hit to make the most impact. She'd skipped several steps, but who knew when they would need it. There would hopefully be time to fill in the missing lessons at a later point.
While the Slayer was busy teaching the women and Dale how to defend themselves, Ed Peletier was standing off to the side jeering and insulting them. Well, he was mostly insulting Buffy for supposedly wasting everyone's time for no reason, but the class got their share. Buffy simply stayed calm and told her little class to do the same, after all, he wanted a rise out of them, and the best way to deal with that kind of behavior was to ignore it as much as possible. It was also good practice on how to ignore the walkers and other distractions when they had to fight for real.
It lasted until Shane and Morales came back from wherever they'd gone and chased him off. He then went over to Carol and Lori who were washing clothes in the lake while looking after Carl, Sophia, Eliza, Louis, and Gigi. Buffy listened with half an ear to what they were saying but mostly ignored the useless idiot.
Later that evening they had a fry-up of fish caught by Andrea and Amy, much to Buffy's surprise. She hadn't thought either of the two women had any practical talents, but then again, what did she really know about them? Pretty much nothing that was what, and she'd fallen into the trap of judging them. Other than Buffy's little silent faux-pas they had a good time eating dinner and talking around a campfire.
At least until Buffy got a really bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen.
Author: 3am_moonlight
Rating: Gen.
Crossover: The Walking Dead & Gilmore Girls
Characters/Pairing: Buffy Summers, Rory Gilmore, misc. TWD characters.
Disclaimer: Property of Joss and whoever owns TWD & GG.
Summary: Everyone needs to learn how to fight, but there are always those who disagree.
Word Count: 1932
Notes: Follows ' Same Old Brand New You'.
The day after the four of them followed Daryl back to the Quarry camp, four of the men of the group decided to return to Atlanta as apparently, they'd been stupid enough to leave one of their own behind, handcuffed to a pipe on a department store roof. The ones going back into the city were Rick, who had been saved by Glenn and several others the day before last; Glenn himself; a man who called himself T-Dog; and Daryl, their resident hunter. By the anger the latter displayed, and the general conversation, it quickly became obvious that the man left behind was Daryl's older brother.
Buffy and Faith had held a nonverbal conversation using their eyes only before Faith produced a coin and said, "Heads." Buffy had simply nodded her consent and the dark-haired Slayer flipped the coin. Catching it and slapping it down on the back of her left hand she showed it to her fellow Slayer. The side view of a man's face was clearly visible.
"Have fun in Atlanta and make sure you and everyone get back in one piece." Buffy wasn't happy, but one of them had to stay behind and protect the group. They'd failed with the small group they had been a part of before, mainly thanks to a group of men who were trying to capture all of the women for their own twisted desires. There were too many non-fighters in their new group, too many who seemed to think they were safe living in *tents*, which meant they had been really lucky and no herd had come across their camp so far, but it was only a matter of time.
That mentality had to go; *everyone* needed to learn how to fight, how to kill the walkers and living humans who wanted to harm them. They needed to learn how to hunt and prepare their catch, something the two Slayers needed to learn as well, and everyone needed to learn at least basic first aid. She sighed quietly so no one heard her, this would probably make her really unpopular with nearly everyone. At least Faith was on her side this time, and she'd help out. In the years since Sunnydale, the two of them had regularly spent time together, trying to balance each other out, and heal the fractured attempt at a friendship they'd had since their first meeting.
It had been slow going at first, there was a lot of bad history between them, but they'd persevered, and eventually, they'd formed a strong friendship. Not everyone had been happy about the turn of events, they'd seen it as Faith attempting to corrupt the Golden Slayer. In reality, she'd helped Buffy become more comfortable with her inner killer and had shown her how regularly blowing off steam was good for her, which in turn had made her a better Slayer. For Faith, it had meant a stabilizing influence, someone who was willing to defend her, fight for her and, more importantly, fight beside her. Together they were unstoppable and perfectly in sync. Which was a major reason why they were still alive while most of the other Scoobies and various other people they had worked with were now among the dead or the undead.
Giles, Willow, Xander, Kennedy, and eight of the other Sunnydale Slayers had been killed within the first month of the global outbreak, either by walkers or by scared or angry survivors. In the case of Giles and Xander, it had actually been the military, much to the others aggravation. The rest had followed in the next month. Thankfully none of them had kept any of their abilities after death, even if they were reanimated. By the time they reached Atlanta Buffy and Faith had been the only ones left, except for the small group of survivors they'd picked up along the way. As she thought about it, there was a chance Oz was still alive since he had been in Tibet at the monastery when the outbreak began. It was far enough away from most of the population that he was most likely still alive.
Dawn had been returned to her natural form of the Key two years prior after she'd started to get sick and no one was able to cure her. No magic and no doctors or medicine could do anything to alleviate her pain. In the end, it had been Dawn herself who had found an old and risky ritual which would shed her human skin and return her to her natural state. It had originally been crafted as a means to cure people who had been cursed permanently into an animal form. In between Dawn, Willow, and a few witches from a nearby coven they'd managed re-work the ritual and then perform it.
For a few moments after the ritual had been completed they'd been able to see a bright, green, swirly shimmer before it had disappeared leaving nothing of Dawn Summers behind. In remembrance of her only sister, Buffy and the Scoobies had spent the rest of the night partying, as per Dawn's last request. The grieving part of the process had followed, but they had all consoled themselves with the knowledge that Dawn was still out there, somewhere, even if she wasn't human anymore.
In the weeks following her sister's transformation, Buffy had noticed an increased knowledge in languages, demonic lore, and other subjects she knew Dawn had been proficient in. She'd also gotten knowledge of her friends and family she hadn't known before. After some time she'd come to the conclusion that since Dawn had been made out of her so Buffy would protect her, now everything that had once been Dawn had been returned to Buffy. Buffy herself already knew a lot more about those topics than she was willing to tell anyone, but the extra intelligence was both a painful reminder that her sister was gone and a good way to honor her memory.
&&&&&
As Buffy watched the van drive away she turned to Rory, who was standing beside her watching everything warily while still keeping half an eye on her sister, who was in the process of getting to know the other children in the camp.
"Has anyone taught you and Gigi how to fight?"
Rory blinked at her, a little startled. "Not really. My old group just made sure everyone knew to destroy the brain, and that everyone had either a gun or a knife or a baseball bat. Or some other weapon." A few moments later, after she had checked her sister was still in the same place, she added, "They just told Gigi to hide, or to get up high if she couldn't find a hiding place."
A worried frown marred the young woman's face, "Gigi doesn't have to learn how to fight, does she?" Her face told Buffy she already knew the answer to the question, but Buffy decided to reply regardless.
"Yes, Rory. Everyone needs to learn how to defend themselves, even the children." She gave Rory a sad smile. "You know how children are; they run off and get lost sometimes. Or they're at the wrong place at the wrong time. The walkers can be anywhere, hiding in the least likely places, and when Gigi or any of the other children suddenly run into them they need to be able to kill them, or at the very least disable them, because there isn't always an escape route. And there isn't always an adult around to save them from the bad things."
Buffy drew a breath before she continued, "Right now we're vulnerable. The camp is in the woods, most people are staying in tents on the ground, and there are hardly any defenses. No, the boxes on strings don't count." She saw Rory's face scrunch up in confusion at the last part, apparently, she hadn't seen those yet.
"She doesn't have to learn it today, but soon. I intend to begin teaching everyone self-defense today, and when Faith gets back she'll help out. Once everyone has gotten the basics we'll move on to weapons. Blades, guns, baseball bats, and then weapons of opportunity. The more everyone learns the better chance they have of survival."
They talked for a little while longer and Rory promised to attend if she could get someone to watch her sister. Buffy left her and went around the camp to see who would be willing to learn how to fight properly. By the time she had talked to everyone she'd gotten six positive replies, including Rory's. Two highly derisive and insulting replies, and a number of polite but negative responses. She kept her promise to Rory and didn't ask the children or their parents for permission to teach the young ones. A little show and tell would be needed in order to prove herself first.
In the end, the people who had chosen to attend were Rory Gilmore, Dale Horvath, Miranda Morales, Jacqui, and the Harrison sisters. It didn't escape her notice that Dale was the only man who had agreed to participate. No matter; Buffy knew she looked young and harmless to most people, it had been an excellent disguise/ruse before when she was out patrolling, but once they saw her fight they usually changed their mind. It was a pity that Lori and Carol chose to not join them, but it was their choice. At least it was Lori's choice. Buffy was pretty certain after only one look at Carol's husband when they had arrived the evening before that he would not have allowed his wife, or daughter, to learn any kind of fighting.
Buffy then spent the next couple of hours teaching her little class how to stand properly to keep their balance while utilizing their entire body, how to block and when, and where to hit to make the most impact. She'd skipped several steps, but who knew when they would need it. There would hopefully be time to fill in the missing lessons at a later point.
While the Slayer was busy teaching the women and Dale how to defend themselves, Ed Peletier was standing off to the side jeering and insulting them. Well, he was mostly insulting Buffy for supposedly wasting everyone's time for no reason, but the class got their share. Buffy simply stayed calm and told her little class to do the same, after all, he wanted a rise out of them, and the best way to deal with that kind of behavior was to ignore it as much as possible. It was also good practice on how to ignore the walkers and other distractions when they had to fight for real.
It lasted until Shane and Morales came back from wherever they'd gone and chased him off. He then went over to Carol and Lori who were washing clothes in the lake while looking after Carl, Sophia, Eliza, Louis, and Gigi. Buffy listened with half an ear to what they were saying but mostly ignored the useless idiot.
Later that evening they had a fry-up of fish caught by Andrea and Amy, much to Buffy's surprise. She hadn't thought either of the two women had any practical talents, but then again, what did she really know about them? Pretty much nothing that was what, and she'd fallen into the trap of judging them. Other than Buffy's little silent faux-pas they had a good time eating dinner and talking around a campfire.
At least until Buffy got a really bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen.