The Universe's Mixer

The Library seemed the best place to go. Surely, it would have something there about the leprechauns. They reminded Fred of Lucky, but the language she heard some of them use, the way they drank, and the bawdy gestures they made certainly did not seem very Lucky the Leprechaun like. Not one bit. So, with the need for information, and not knowing what to do once the leprechauns had left, she led the way to the Library.

Of course, the City was being difficult in letting them get there, and she'd had to explain, even if Sam didn't need it, that the City could move places. It didn't seem to be held by the normal laws of physics, or even the abnormal ones. In fact, she even when she thought she had finally figured out how the world, the City actually, worked, it went and did something that went completely against what she'd finally figured out. There were days she felt as if she were some Fred shaped rat in a very confusing maze, and she wasn't even getting a piece of cheese for all her troubles. At least it wasn't the pleasure button; Fred had a feeling many people would have died by now if that were the case.

She sighed as they turned a corner she had promised for the umpteenth time to be the right one, but then she smiled. Well, if they couldn't go to the Library, maybe the Library could come to them.

"It's the office. Angel Investigations. Maybe Angel will be there. He's another hero type. He was a vampire, but he isn't anymore. He went to some place really bad. Hell, maybe, I didn't really ask much, or if I did I am going to pretend like I didn't. Because the two of you are really odd when it comes to the feelings thing. He knows about..." The phsycist gave him the once over. "You know. Emonday loodbay." Just a quick smile and a motion for him to join.

"Who knows. Wesley may be in. Oh, you have to meet Wesley again. He's smart, really smart. He knows all sorts of things about demons, and I hope you ..the other you, the you before you you, put up the books Angel said you could borrow. Probably did." She nodded and started walking again. The office was in a small hole in the wall kind of place, or seemed to be, and it was in so many shades of green, Fred hoped Angel wasn't around. He probably would not have liked it.

Mel ducked.

"This is like that time with Urkonn," she said, crouching lower. "And the girders."

She made a face at her Watcher. "Why do you all have to throw things at me?!"

She swept her leg out and kicked away her attacker--a newly-risen vampire--while something else whizzed by her left ear. She kicked again, harder, and the vampire fell back, shaking its head to clear it.

"Seriously." Kick. "Wes." Kick. "Thought you'd be..." Twirl of scythe. "I don't know." Vampire charge. "More..." Slice, slash, stake.

"Creative. Or something."

She smiled. And ducked again.

{After this and this}

There were papers scattered across the reception desk of Angel, Inc. These papers were laying on top of and underneath a few ancient books and one New Age frou-frou paperback on potions.

Wesley had been staring at the same page for over an hour, his brows furrowed.

He had cause to suspect he had been put under a spell, but something (maybe even said spell) didn't want to think so. He (it?) wanted to think that a beautiful woman could really be interested in him and appreciate his interest as well. It's not like he'd never had an attractive girlfriend or lover, you know. ( The ladies love Wes. )

[Open]

What had happened?

He remembered meeting Deb, walking in the park, discussing their pasts and maybe their future. It had all been so pleasant. He hadn't even thought about Xanadu, the lovely woman who had so bewitched him just days before. For sure, he had not worried about Fred and her growing attachment to this Sam character who she seemed to think was an American version of him. What was wrong with the British version?

Bloody hell.

Somehow, he ended up alone again. Sitting by himself on a bench in the park, wondering what had happened to his life.

He needed a drink. And a hug. Maybe both at the same time.

Wes had been resisting the urge to visit Madame Xanadu's shop again. He didn't want to bother her day in and day out, but he had this uncontrollable need to see her. He always wanted to be assured she was all right, she didn't need anything, she didn't hate him and so on. He should have found it annoying, but he was glad to do it.

He was so focused on getting to the shop that he wouldn't have noticed if a train derailed itself in the middle of the street, got hit by a falling plane and exploded pinatas all over the City. He sure didn't notice the onset of immediate lust and love taking place on the very streets he traversed.

His focus wavered as he caught sight of a brown-haired strong woman. He kept trying to walk through the crowd towards where he thought the shop was, but his head kept turning towards the elusive woman. He bumped into people left and right, trying to get another glimpse of her face.

"Sorry, excuse me, I....well, why don't you two just get a room?"

Wes had heard there were magic stores, tiny used book stores and psychic shops scattered throughout the City. He had managed to stumble his way into one or two of the book stores during his tenure in the City, picking up some wonderful copies of alchemy texts from he 15th century as well as current books on physics and astronomy. Who knew when inspiration would strike, a connection would be made, facts would fall into place until something finally made sense? Plus, he had picked up a book or two for Fred he thought she would like.

The snow was still falling, at least as hard as it had been when he and Fred had been at Angel Investigations. Still, he had needed to get out a bit. He was still not sure how this Sam person worked into the equation of their relationship. An American Wesley? Perish the thought. There was only one Wesley, and he was distinctly British. If he wasn't, then he would never have been a Watcher, never have had the intensive training that he had undergone his entire life. He would....never have been quite so awkward or hesitant about expressing his feelings for Fred. Damn this Sam, who obviously had no such compunctions. Well, they would see what would happen. Maybe this Fred wasn't ready for a relationship with Wes, maybe the time in the City led her in a different path, maybe, maybe. Too many maybes.

Daydreaming about Fred and memories he had that she did not share, he didn't notice when the streets changed and led him to a new area of town. He couldn't miss the shop that looked like Giles's old base in Sunnydale, yet wasn't. The sign and name had changed, so presumptively so had the inhabitants. But still, there was something supernaturally linked about this shop and he was duty-bound to explore its contents. Or curiosity-bound. Whatever.

He pushed open the door and barely heard the light tinkle of the bell hanging from the ceiling. He was busy scanning the interior for any objects that might prove useful to him, whether in his work at Angel Investigations or for......personal usage.

Raven was not the sort of girl who sat helplessly, waiting for someone else to solve her problems for her. She'd done some digging, but after about a week and a half in the City, she had yet to come across an answer that satisfied her. She’d somehow been transported out of her bed and into a strange place. There were no exits, and no one knew exactly how it had happened. Everyone she’d met had blamed the place itself, or had been without an answer altogether. It was weird. And, while Raven had a lot of experience with weird, ( she just couldn’t get behind the idea of a sentient, all-powerful geographic location. )

To say that Fred was a little unsure about this was an understatement. She hadn't really thought he'd agree to the job offer, and she knew well she didn't exactly have the right to offer a job to anyone. But, she also knew that Sam needed to do something, and that Angel understood that need. Heroes were heroes, and Sam and Angel had that much in common.

Now, not wanting to send either male into the fray, because she had a bad feeling there would be something of a fray, or at least a fracas, she decided that she should be there, at least to make introductions anyway. She was even pleased that she didn't have to bring Angel all the way to the Hospital - Sam got permission to leave not long after the coffee. Maybe it was magic coffee, or maybe the time dilation that occurred in the City were enough to create a better environment for quick healing - she was leaning to the second theory.

So, there she was with Sam, looking for Angel.

"Angel?" She didn't see the new receptionist, but that didn't mean the woman wasn't around somewhere. "Angel? I have someone I'd like you to meet?"

She mumbled much softer, "Someone you already met, but now he's alive and can talk fine..." Hopefully human Angel didn't hear that, and Sam was too tall to catch it.

The little black feline apparently was dropped into the deep snow, becoming completely lost amongst the white, frigged blanket. Sitting up as much as he could muster, JiJi barely was able to see over the drift, let alone figure out where he was. The last he remembered, he was hopping down from the roof to the attic room that he and Kiki shared, fully intent on waking the young witch before the sun rose too high in the sky; Falling into a snow drift was not something he had been expecting however.

Crouching down, the black streak popped up out of the snow only to be deposited into yet another deep pile not too far away. And this continued until the ebony feline finally found a more trodden path that had been worn down by human foot traffic. Currently he was a black and white cat thanks to the fluffy white bits sticking to his fur, which were easily removed by a good shake.

"Kiki? Hey Kiki is this some of of joke? Did you learn weather magic or something last night?" white, wide eyes glanced around, finally noticing that he didn't smell the scent of the sea at all. Actually, it didn't smell anything like the little port side town they had been calling home during the little witch's one year of training away from home.

"Hey... this isn't home..."

You have a camel. You have a regular sewing needle. Try to thread the needle with the camel. The hair doesn't count.

This place was weird. There was no better word for it, and Harley had come up with a few. Several creative euphemisms later, she returned to the fact that this place was weird. She still wasn’t exactly certain where she was at, so she was going to go with what Doc H had told her. It was the City.

( Well, the City was weird. )

Not very long now, all is almost complete.

I walk slowly now, keeping to the shadows, going undetected. He seems distracted or perhaps just doesn't notice. Longer legs catch up to him, tracking him, moving behind.

No gun for this one, it didn't feel right. He was smart, but a fighter of late. Not to be triffled with? But then who among them was.

"Nice night for it, don't you think?"

I was close now, the knife out, my other hand grabbing him and pulling him close.

"Well it was."

Liz wandered the streets of the Fae Market. She’d been on a case for the B.P.R.D., but she couldn’t find Roger or Abe. That made no sense, the market wasn’t THAT large. She was getting frustrated. None of her equipment was working and she didn’t like the fact that she was no longer in touch with her team mates.

She tried to fiddle with her comm unit, but she got no response. Again.
“Dammit Abe, answer me.” She spoke into the non-responsive speaker.

No response.

She could feel the anger light the fire within her. Breathing slowly she leaned against the wall. She would not loose control.

She heard the footstep behind her, but she didn’t have time to turn around before she fell into unconsciousness and felt nothing more.

--------

When she woke up it was to a pounding headache and the smell of the outside.
Rising slowly she put her hand through her hair and felt the bump. She swore at the tenderness, and then focused on the fact that she was no longer underground.

She looked around, but she was just outside on a street.
No one was around. It was in the wee hours of the morning, she could tell that much.

Confused and with her head pounding she walked up the street a little. She didn’t recognize anything and she desperately wanted a cigarette.

Jack, was drunk.  Or he was trying and well on his way.

This place was weird enough and then some lunatic fringe starts killing everyone.  Two of the Jacks were already gone and he couldn't find word of the third.  Whether that was good or bad he didn't know but if he went too, what would keep the crackpot from coming after him?  Not that Jack feared death, not in the way most people would. 

But then again, not just the Jacks were dead either.  All manner of folks were being knocked off so to speak.

And what better way that to spend the start of chaos and the possibility of the end of everything?  Sex and Drinking.    And Captain Jack Harkness had come across the bar first.  He sat there and toyed with his glass, the third of many he hoped.  Rum and Coke, always a good choice and even better when made a double.   Jack smiled and talked to the bartender, some would say flirted, Jack would say there's a difference?

Jack missed the aliens, and the Weevils, and pizza delivery.

Yes indeed, Captain, Jack was well on his way to being drunk.

Jesse sat before Fray and the man named Wes.

He had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask, but wasn't sure if now was the right time. They might be things he should talk to just her about, later. Like why was it that this guy who was supposed to be protecting her had put her in a situation with three vampires when she seemingly had no access to her powers.

And what was with that, too?

He'd been fairly silent since they'd left the scene, and was silent now, still. They were sitting at a table in front of a small coffee shop. He hadn't ordered anything, and didn't really feel like it. There was much on his mind.

Like what might have happened to Mel if he hadn't shown up when he did. Would this guy have even helped her? Was he even capable of helping her? He didn't really seem like it. Not when they were so outnumbered.

Maybe he was being too overprotective. Maybe this was something that Slayers went through all the time.

Carefully, Jesse edged his cigarette pack out of his pocket. Played with it a minute, and then finally slid one of the smokes out and between his lips.

Wes completed his spell over the talisman and stood up, wiping his hands together. He checked to make sure the bleeding from his hand had stopped before walking over to Fray.

"Just one last training exercise, and then you can go home."

If she passed it. Of course she would. She was a Slayer. Right?

He checked his watch, frowning. From all he'd read, the spell should have attracted a vampire within seconds. Although, that was in his original dimension, where vampires roamed free like the buffalo. Ok, bad example, since nowadays buffalo were kept on farms...which was not a bad idea for vampires...but why would you need to farm them? Or milk them, so to speak? Thought tangent...Anyways, maybe because there were fewer vampires here and not all from 'home', the spell might take longer to work

A rustling in the bushes alerted him to an approaching...something. He checked his watch again. 2 minutes. He'd have to make a note of it in his notebook when he had a chance.

Wes checked his watch and sighed. It still wasn't working correctly. By his calculations (granted, based on what things looked like when he woke up, which might not be accurate considering his hotel was in black and white TV-land), it should be mid-afternoon. But his watch was saying 12:31 pm.

Only one thing to do then.

********

After walking out of the closest-thing-to-Panera-the-City-could-come-up-with, he walked over to the park and sat on the bench. The backpack he dropped on the ground besides him clunked hollowly, as if it was bigger inside than it looked and contained far more items in the interior than seemed possible. Of course, those things were true. Small magics made life easier. Large magics, however.....they usually tended to screw things up.

That was one of the things his new Slayer would have to learn. If she would ever show up.

(Continued from here and here)

"Here." Harry wasn't getting a choice. The Chinese place appeared out of the blue, which oddly didn't comfort the ex-first mate much; she was getting that "this is a set up" feeling.

It seemed like a popular place, or at least there were other people entering. Zoe caught sight of them as they slipped inside, thinking that that pair were either very good actors or they were walking into a very dangerous situation. Either way, Zoe supposed that living up to her Big Damn Hero self-title was one way to get back into the swing of things.

"Tung-Ching?" There was a soft sound as she thought of the name. "That's if you'd rather have something else. I know they've got a place that's supposed to be from the future - it's not, just supposed to be."

Zoe shrugged, stepping up to catch the door. She had no problem with men opening doors for her, but she was closer so why wait for chivalry? Zoe tended to be the knight in well-used armor rather than the silly damsel in distress; waiting for a knight took too long.

Fred had expected another "normal" day in the City. She'd meant to go to the library, check up on Cassie, do a little research, something that would mean she was in action. She'd meant to be out and about, but when the City gave something of a heave, Fred soon found herself curled up in the corner of her room with a blanket pulled tightly about her head to wait it out. She had to fight with herself to keep from jabbering, to keep from writing on the walls. She had to fight to keep it together - she'd changed, and she wasn't going back.

It was probably a few hours after the last reality twist when Fred climbed out of her one blanket fort and crawled to the window to peek out. It had all settled again; the City was back to its normal paces. Fred turned to look at the walls, imagining how great they would be covered in equations. She'd even gone so far as to find a marker in a drawer. But, she opted for shoving it in her back pocket for later. Right now she'd go with pulling on a jacket and heading out. She knew where she'd find the support she needed.

Her steps were determined as she made her way down the sidewalk to where she believed her current support system lived. She didn't get there as directly as she would have liked, but Fred got to the Bates Motel just the same. She wasn't sure what room he was in, and she the whole black/white bit was slightly off putting even for her; she didn't mind getting lost in shades of gray on occasion, but this was ridiculous.

With a setting of shoulders and an audible swallow, Fred headed to the main office - they'd know where Wesley was, surely.