6. things you said under the stars and in the grass
Faith was never a fan of certainty before she met Tara. Placing your trust in the concept of someone always being there for you wasn’t something she completely understood, nor was it something she really wanted to understand. Somehow, certainty seemed more of a risky gamble than a comfort to her.
“I think when we get our own place,” Tara’s saying, “I might paint glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. Maybe add one of those magic charms so that the stars are always in alignment with the night sky? My friend Penny has a charm like that and her ceiling is really something lovely.”
Faith cards her fingers absently through Tara’s hair, lying back in the grass and looking up at the night sky. She doesn’t know a single one of the constellations, but Tara’s the first person she’s met who makes her want to remember at least a few. “We could have our ceiling be sunny during the day, maybe,” she says, “cut back on electricity a little,” and kisses Tara’s temple without really thinking about it.
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u can't leave the beginning bits of a fic in the tags of my edits and not complete that shit cori
yeah, yeah, alright(tagging @kathubs and linking to the post for reference)
~~~
“I’m starting to understand why I was sent back here.”
Startled, Buffy’s head whips around in the direction of the voice. It takes her a second, but her eyes finally land on Tara, perched atop a nearby mausoleum with her legs crossed and her yellow eyes glinting in the darkness. A picture of nonchalance.
“What the–”
She doesn’t get the chance to finish because the vamp she’d been pummeling decides to use her distraction as an opportunity to kick Buffy in the face.
She flies backward, her back slamming into a headstone. Just as the vampire’s heel is about to connect with her nose, though, Buffy tucks and rolls out of the way.
Shards of the crumbling headstone get into her eyes and leave tiny cuts on her cheeks, but she doesn’t have time to care about that. The vamp, having not expected the headstone to give, has landed in the splits on top of the rubble. Buffy pops to her feet, grabs a handful of the vampire’s hair, and stakes it.
Though she’s distracted trying to dig bits of gravestone out of her eyes, Buffy still hears the soft thud of Tara landing in the grass a few feet away.
“I don’t want to fight you,” Buffy says, turning slowly.
Tara hums in acknowledgement and starts to pace lazy half-circles around Buffy. “How strange it is that I do.”
“Want to fight?”
Tara licks her lips and the moonlight catches one of her gleaming fangs. Buffy shudders, but she refuses to show enough weakness to ask if Tara’ll drop the vamp face.
“Want to kill.”
“…Oh.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the smell of fear,” Tara says, and Buffy closes her eyes, trying to focus on the words. Trying to see Tara’s human face – her clear, blue eyes – as she listens. “I’ve felt the essence of fear since I started practicing witchcraft. I’d gotten used to the way it presses, nagging, right between your eyebrows. But the smell. It stings the back of my throat, heady and bitter and enticing…You’re afraid right now.”
Buffy squeezes her eyes tighter. “Yes.”
“Afraid of me?”
“No,” she says, opening her eyes.
Tara stops and tilts her head. Her hair swings down from where it’d been piled on her shoulder and is ruffled by the light breeze that filters through the cemetery. The action is so familiar that it creates an ache deep in Buffy’s chest. She almost loses her balance.
“If we fight, I’ll win,” she finally explains.
A grin spreads across Tara’s face. She’s clearly amused, but there’s just enough menace in the bearing of her teeth that Buffy feels her pulse spike.
“You’re not as quick as you once were, are you?” Tara asks, resuming her pacing.
“Uh…is that a trick question?”
“You’ve been searching for me,” Tara says, once again jumping the conversational track and leaving Buffy feeling a little dizzy. “For weeks now.”
“So?”
Tara gets a little closer to her, the half-circle of her movement becoming tighter. “So the Buffy from a couple years ago would have found me. I’d have never gotten the jump on her.”
“There’s a lot going on right now,” Buffy says, feeling a little wounded at the slight.
“Mmm.”
“There is!” Buffy says, rolling her shoulders back. “Besides, how do I know you didn’t make with the magics and do some kind of cloaking spell? Or…are you even still a witch? You’d think if vampires had access to magic, they’d take advantage of that more often.”
“You’re not asking the right questions,” Tara says, clucking her tongue as if she’s a teacher and Buffy’s a very dull child she’s been trying to impart wisdom to for weeks now.
“If I did, would you answer them?”
Tara throws her head back in laughter and Buffy gulps, watching the way her throat pulses with the joy of it.
“I’m gonna take that as a no,” she grumbles.
“I’m not here to fight you,” Tara finally says, mirth laced through her voice.
“No?”
“No. Though I could…and I’d enjoy it, too.”
Buffy narrows her eyes and reaches for the stake tucked into the waistband of her jeans. “How do I know you’re even Tara?”
Her pacing has finally brought her within inches of Buffy. The vampire stops right in front of her and raises one eyebrow. “Why do you ask now? Because Tara was a delicate flower? Tara would never enjoy violence?”
“I–”
“You know as well as I that vampire traits don’t come out of nowhere. I’m as much the product of ancient forces of evil as I am the meek, angry human girl that was Tara Maclay. You know who I am, Buffy. You’re not that out of touch.”
“Tara w-wasn’t angry,” Buffy says, gripping the stake so tight, her fingers carve out indentations in the wood.
“Wasn’t she?” Vampire Tara asks, circling Buffy and pulling her every nerve ending to sharp attention. “Here’s the funny thing about human anger, though – it’s futile. It has nowhere to go, so it destroys from within. The anger of a vampire…now that’s a different story. That can produce tangible results.”
Heat pricks at the back of Buffy’s neck. “What do you mean?”
“Isn’t it obvious? As human, I did little more than resent my father. Now, I could crush his throat with one hand. I could paint murals on the walls with his blood. I could bleed him out slowly…use the long hours of his death to make sure he feels the pain of his mistreatment tenfold.”
Buffy can barely breathe the air surrounding them, charged as it is. “You didn’t.”
“No,” Tara says, and there’s a hint of regret in her soft, familiar voice. “But, god, I want to.” Buffy feels her step in close so she can whisper the rest in her ear and trembles. “I crave it more than your blood.”
Though her movements are quick and controlled, Tara still catches Buffy’s wrist before she can drive the stake into her heart.
“Now, Buffy,” Tara says, finally dropping vamp face so she can look into those chilling blue eyes. “This is hardly the time. You’ll need me later.”
“Wha-”
Buffy doesn’t get to finish asking the question before Tara winks and runs off, disappearing into the shimmering moonlight.
listen, dog, pal, if you could ever, like, draw lil tara & faith prochillin together, i'd be forever in ur debt, because i adore your lil btvs series and i.... need things okay
Faith: Tara is the best! She’s super shy though, she used to only talk to Willow but now she talks to me, too! Oh, and Buffy and Dawn.
hey babe just stopping by to say that i love you a lot and that your edits are always so consistently good. i'm lowkey jealous of your abilities to, like, make grainy horrible screencaps of btvs into beautiful works of graphic art. we're lucky to have you out here, keepin' the fandom alive all on your own and i'm.... really happy you're my friend. this is the dorkiest ask i've ever sent but uh. i was. thinkin' 'bout you and. i had to. ya know *finger guns*
Oh… man. I love you Jess… that hit me right in the fucking feels.
Thank you so much for giving me that Sweet Validation and for your sweet not-at-all dorky words. It means so much to me that…like… you even though of me? at some point in your day? like what? that’s amazing, i love that!
I think it’s also important to note that right now you’re the main reason I push to make content and keep the fandom alive. Messages like this are my fuel so … your soft gerbil loving ass is my inspiration! look at you go *finger guns*
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GREAT i love these emo girls• insists that they are an awesome dancer even though they’re terribletaras a terrible dancer but has no illusions about it lmao faith is a GREAT dancer though• likes to watch reality tvfaith....shes definitely into yelling at the tv• refuses to wear pants when they’re home alonefaith absolutely! taras more civilized• is the jealous / protective onefaith is more in your face about it & gets protective way quicker but tara usually assumes the best• goes all out on the holidaysTARA she loooooves all that corny stuff. faith pretends to be annoyed but they both know she thinks taras adorable • cries over booksboth of them but faith reads way less & likes to pretend that she isnt at all• is terrible with kidsfaith lmao shes so bad with them!! but tara gets nervous around them as well• drinks too much caffeinefaith .• could sleep for twenty-four hours straightneither faith sleeps really lightly and tara likes getting up really early!• never wears matching sockstara because she thinks its an interesting accessory. faith only owns black socks• punches a tree when they’re angryfaith but shed rather go slaying• gets scared by the toastertara adjsjfjskdh
you're my mom, you'd marry darla in two seconds flat (so i guess she'd be my mom too? cool), and you sort of consistently have a+ hair like... i'm jealous
Hell yes, (imagine if Darla and I were your moms omg yes), and right now my hair looks like garbage from swimming in a lake 😭 I need to dye (lol get it)
