A Brief History of the TBE-Verse

By Jenn (Buffy-mun) and Kate (Rhiannon-mun)

A long, long time ago in a spiral galaxy far, far away, there was a little yellow sun in a solar system that was generally considered to be a sort of backwater area.  In this solar system, third orbit from the inside, circled a very small, blue planet with a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, seven continents, four major oceans, and a few billion bipedal carbon-based life forms running around on the surface.  On the western coast of one of those continents was a village: a tiny, idyllic little hamlet known to its inhabitants as Sunnydale.  In the earth below Sunnydale was a dimensional crack known to those who specialize in such things as a Hellmouth.  Residing in Sunnydale and laboring to keep its residents safe was a mystical warrior of unparalleled strength, grace and beauty, known to a very select few as Buffy.

But then, you already knew that.

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In the wake of the destruction of Sunnydale, Robin Wood and the newly activated Slayers trundled off to Cleveland, Ohio, to staff the Hellmouth there.  Buffy, her sister, and her Scoobies, however, spent a few weeks in Los Angeles, recuperating and thinking about the future.  After many hours of discussion and a few hours of alcohol-induced Charades, the small group rededicated itself to the good fight and  determined to set up a base somewhere, a central location from which to locate, gather and train new Slayers.  A consensus on location being unattainable, the matter was left in the hands of blind Fate.  A map was procured and young Dawn, the only sober member of the party, was pressed into service.  Blindfolded and turned about like a child playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Dawn was made to throw a dart at said map.  The dart stuck squarely in the city of New Orleans.

By the end of the summer, the Scoobies were comfortably ensconced in their new home.  Slayer Central was housed in a completely refurbished, eight-story warehouse on the southwest corner of Saint Louis and North Rampart streets in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  Geographical changes rarely alter personalities, however, and the enmity between Buffy and her fellow Slayer Kennedy did not abate with time.  Every cloud has its silver lining, though: in uniting against Kennedy, Buffy and Faith were able to regain the close friendship they’d once had.

The first concern that the Scoobies had was secrecy: how would they train their Slayers in secrecy without attracting the notice of the local populace (and authorities)?  The idea was formed that if the spacious (and empty) first floor of the warehouse were transformed into a public gymnasium, it would satisfy more than one requirement.  It could explain why girls would be in and out of the place constantly; it could explain the income of the warehouse residents, which otherwise would’ve been difficult to describe to an IRS auditor; and most of all, it would be a positive addition to the local neighborhood.  With the NOPD District Number One inconveniently located directly across the street, the Scoobies definitely wanted to be a positive addition to the local neighborhood.  They also laid the groundwork for Willow to falsify custody and identity records in the Orleans Parish computer network, in the event that girls should come to them needing such paperwork.

Even New Orleans has its share of the darkness, a fact which was driven home to the Scoobies early on, even as they congratulated themselves on success.  On the day the first Slayer trainee – Astrid Dichter, an Amish girl from Pennsylvania – arrived with her twin sister, a huge blowup occurred between Buffy and Kennedy.   Both of them fled the warehouse.  Giles went after Buffy, an action which resulted in a very long heart-to-heart conversation and mutual admissions of love.  Kennedy was not so fortunate, as she found only trouble in the person of Drusilla.  Kennedy was made a vampire.

The demon which was bound to create the first Slayer remained the undisputed ruler of its territory for untold millennia.  Bound as it was to fight vampires, it was not disposed to give over its pride of place within its host to one.  In the struggle which followed, the vampire was subsumed by the Slayer and the soul remained in the body of the vampire.  The vampire also retained an immunity to sunlight, holy water and religious objects.

Upon discovering that Kennedy was a vampire, a grief-stricken Willow – unaware of Kennedy’s special circumstances – attempted the soul-restoring curse.  Thus called upon, the spirits of the Interregnum searched the multiverse for the soul of a vampire Slayer.  They found it in the person of a Buffy Summers from a different dimension – one in which she’d been turned into a vampire by the Master.  She, suffering the grief of her own Giles’s recent death, elected to remain with the Scoobies.  She began going by Anne in order to avoid confusion.

Within the next few days, Willow got her first two magick students: Cadi Williams, with whom she’d been corresponding over the Internet; and Fiona Tesyrol, who was rescued by Willow and Buffy during patrol one night.  Soon after, Rhiannon Lee joined the ranks of Slayers.  With her arrival, Buffy was field-promoted to Watcher.  Days later, Ethan Rayne eased back into their lives.  And then tragedy struck on the Hellmouth: word came from Cleveland that Rona was dead.

Giles went to Cleveland as the Slayer Central representative.  While he was gone, Fiona, Astrid and Rhiannon caused a bit of innocent chaos and the warehouse denizens began to see that young Astrid might not be the complete innocent they had thought her to be.  Shortly after Giles’s return, Michelle Rymond became the newest Slayer, followed shortly thereafter by Noriko Kumi.  Meanwhile, Ethan tried to use his self-bound magicks to escape the warehouse, but succeeded only in turning himself invisible and causing everyone to forget that he was there.

Rhiannon took a job at a small bookshop in the Quarter and Buffy and Kennedy bonded over drinks at a strip club.  The twins were enrolled in school and Buffy and Giles moved in together.  Life, in other words, went on.  Ethan’s spell began to wear off and then was eventually removed completely by Giles; then Ethan revealed that old dogs apparently can learn new tricks: he wanted to reform, remain in the warehouse and work with the Slayers.  After a great deal of discussion, Buffy and Giles reluctantly decided to give him a chance.

Whistler got in touch with Giles about an artifact called the Light of Shen’Do, which opened a certain type of dimensional rift.  Giles delegated Cadi and her husband Tom to go to an estate sale and purchase the thing.  Shortly thereafter, Cadi fell ill.  Anne and Kennedy took off on a stress-relief trip to Disney World.  Michelle’s mother hacked into her LiveJournal and went nuclear, going so far as to arrange an “exorcism by torture” that Buffy, Giles and Rhiannon rescued her from.  Whistler contacted Giles about the Light of Shen’Do again.  He had learned what it would open, and what was secreted within the little pocket of methane: the Eye of Osiris, with the power to raise armies of the dead.

On their way back from Disney, Anne and Kennedy spent the night in Pensacola, where Anne met Naomi Jordan and her son Tommy.  A relationship was begun.  Buffy and Giles had their first fight, over Dawn’s new nose piercing.  After it was resolved, Giles presented Buffy with a promise ring, ensuring her that he had no intentions of leaving her ever again.

Noriko was welcomed to the fold with a semi-traditional Japanese tea ceremony.  Ethan crashed it and found himself subsequently agreeing to accompany Noriko home to gather her possessions.  Rhiannon lost her job when the bookshop closed but gained a new one when Fiona decided to reopen her late parents’ bookstore.  Cadi began to recover from her illness.  Rhiannon began flirting with a young tattoo artist named Hayden.  Then came the new moon.

The sundial opened the rift and Anne and Kennedy entered the methane world.  They found it to be an unpleasant place of mummies and zombies.  They found the Eye of Osiris hanging on the neck of what appeared to be a statue, but when they removed it, it attacked them and they were forced to flee.  In their escape, they left the methane pocket through a different rift, finding themselves in the middle of a cornfield not far from the home of Cassidy Carlisle, the next new Slayer.  Cassidy returned to New Orleans with them.

Keiji Saito, a blind seer of visions, came to New Orleans as well, led by his visions.  Rhiannon took her GED and began thinking about college.  Anne, Kennedy and Cassidy arrived in New Orleans just in time for Halloween which, amazingly enough, went off without a hitch. 

In November, a blind seer named Keiji Saito came to New Orleans, led by his visions.  Rhiannon took her GED and started thinking about college.  Willow and Kennedy took off to Scotland for some much-needed coupley time, but they hadn’t been gone three days when Cadi meditated herself right off into another dimension.   Unfortunately, she was such a quiet person that no one noticed she was gone right away.

Astrid and Dawn went shopping together in the French Quarter and bought voodoo masks at Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo.  Wesley’s younger sister Kimberly Wyndham-Pryce joined the group.  Buffy and Giles had a pregnancy scare.  The spirit living inside Dawn’s voodoo mask – a young girl murdered in the 1700s – began to possess her.  Xander made the acquaintance of a strange half-demon woman named Ahnaleasa.  Dawn met and began to date a young man named Jacob Kincaid.  In the wake of their pregnancy scare, Buffy and Giles got engaged.  Kennedy and Willow returned from Scotland under the thrall of a set of enchanted rings.

Lilah Morgan, resurrected by Wolfram and Hart ((as seen last season on Angel)), came to their New Orleans branch and set her sights on Slayer Central.  The Rhiannon/Hayden and Xander/Fiona relationships began to deepen.  Cadi was rescued from the alternate dimension and went to the Coven in Devon to heal and train with them.  The evil possessing Willow and Kennedy became stronger.  Three men in a black SUV accosted Whistler.  Ingrid began to study magick with Willow.  Then Xander and Fiona threw the warehouse into an uproar by eloping to Vegas in the middle of the night.  Kennedy began to train Michelle – in secret by Kennedy’s request.

Astrid, having been let off the farm, began to rebel against her upbringing in spectacular fashion, now getting into trouble at school.  At the same time, however, she began to notice – and comment on – the growing weirdness that was Willow and Kennedy.  Naomi transferred to Biloxi to be closer to Anne.  Giles and Kim began teaching Slayer History and Lore classes to the Slayers and to anyone else who wanted to come.  Noriko began to volunteer at a local Buddhist temple.  Kincaid ran away from home.  Fiona reopened her late parents’ bookstore under a new name: The Book Nook.  Rhiannon began to have little suspicions about Hayden.  Willow and Kennedy’s odd behavior became more and more marked by everyone around them.  Lilah and her superior, Thom LaVernes, began to flirt heavily.  Rhiannon discovered that Hayden had strange symbols tattooed on his back which translated into “Fate wills it.”  Anne was approached by Wolfram and Hart, who were seeking to corrupt some of the newbie Slayers.  Ingrid decided to go home permanently.  The spirit inside Dawn’s voodoo mask began to grow stronger.

Thanksgiving dinner was planned for Slayer Central.  Ahnaleasa began to teach a self-defense class in the gym.  Hayden was surprised to find himself in love with Rhiannon.  She, however, was beginning to suspect/fear his motives.  Astrid, taking Ingrid home, had troubles with her parents and had to run away from their house before Thanksgiving.  A new slayer arrived at the warehouse, an eleven-year-old runaway named McKenna.

Thanksgiving was a happy celebration all the way up until the mummy demon from the methane rift attacked the warehouse, trying to recover its Eye of Osiris.  The battle was bravely fought, and McKenna saved the day by accidentally lighting the thing on fire.  A few days later, Kincaid was initiated into the Slayer mysteries by being attacked by a vampire and rescued by Buffy And Co. while on patrol.  And on the last day of November, the evil possessing Kennedy brought tragedy to Slayer Central.  Under the influence of the evil rings, Kennedy first taunted and then attacked Rhiannon, threatening to kill her.  Rhiannon, defending herself and in fear of her life, staked Kennedy.  In the magickal backlash, Willow’s ring was destroyed and she lapsed into a sort of coma.  Dawn’s own possession began to worsen, causing her to become somnambulatory.  In the aftermath of Kennedy’s death, a memorial was set up in the garden and Michelle left the warehouse, choosing to strike out on her own.  Everyone was left in a state of shock and deep sadness.

Giles and Buffy began to prepare for a brief trip to London to arrange for the annulment of a marriage from his Ripper days – to Olivia! – and planned to take McKenna with them.  A new Watcher, Tristan Fletcher, arrived at the warehouse and immediately began to subtly cause trouble.  Buffy, Giles and McKenna left.  A new Slayer named Sasha arrived.  McKenna fell in love with London and Buffy and Giles fell in love with McKenna.

Whistler discovered that the black SUV men were following him and fled to New Orleans.  Rhiannon and Hayden grew closer despite Rhiannon’s misgivings.  Astrid continued to rebel.  The travelers returned from England.  A young man named Robert Blake turned up, looking for his missing sister, Bryn.  He innocently gave them enough information to deduce that Bryn was a Slayer.  A full search was launched.  Sasha acquired a stalker who thought she was a vampire.  Anne and Naomi broke up, got back together, and then broke up again.  A new vampire named Deanna, a friend of Whistler’s, arrived on the scene.

Dawn came clean about her somnambulism to Buffy and Giles, who immediately began working on a solution.  That same night, however, Buffy was hit by a truck while on patrol.  She spent two days in a coma in the hospital and woke up not knowing who she was. 

Kim got a job at Wolfram and Hart, working as a double agent for Giles.  Thom LaVernes arranged to have her and Cassidy kidnapped so that he could “rescue” them.  Sasha and Rhiannon broke into Hayden’s apartment ad learned that he was a member of a cult which worshipped Fate.  Rhiannon’s father and ex-boyfriend came to town to try and force her to return to Detroit with them.  She confronted Hayden, breaking a valuable piece of his altar during the argument.  Willow began to have strange dreams within her coma, then woke up.

The ruling council of the Brotherhood of Fate removed Hayden from his position because he got involved with Rhiannon.  Sasha bribed a demon to run off Rhiannon’s dad and ex.  Buffy came home from the hospital, slowly trying to piece together her life.  McKenna unexpectedly opened up to Ethan about the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of her foster father before running away and coming to New Orleans.  Astrid’s rebellion worsened.  Keiji moved into the warehouse.  Tristan identified himself in private entries as Giles’s son by Olivia, explaining that he believed that Giles had ignored him his entire life.

Tristan took advantage of Buffy’s memory loss to play mind games with her.  The cult began to plan its attack.  Ethan set out to obtain vengeance for McKenna against her foster father.  Hayden went on the run from the cult.  Willow continued to have strange dreams about Tara.

Buffy regained all of her memories except the implanted false memories of Dawn by accidentally dropping a box of Bisquick on her head.  McKenna broke her arm while out Christmas shopping with Willow and, in the hospital that afternoon, began to refer to Giles as “Dad.”  Whistler arrived in New Orleans, seeking sanctuary. Deanna made the acquaintance of Drusilla.  Another new Slayer, Kathryn, arrived.  Buffy began exhibiting renewed symptoms of depression and then on Christmas Eve became the victim of a body snatch perpetrated by Whistler.

In search of vengeance for McKenna, Ethan called in a favor from a demon who actually turned him into the child until he should obtain the necessary information.  Then he blew the guy up.  Christmas was otherwise festive and painless for everyone except Whistler, who took a severe beating once Buffy was returned to her own body.

After a heart-to-heart talk with Giles, Astrid sincerely began to mend her ways.  A new Slayer named Trinity arrived.  Anne met Deanna and Drusilla and failed to enjoy the experience.  Faith met Deanna and failed to recognize a vampire when she saw one.  The fate cult advanced their plans.  Giles hypnotized Dawn, causing the possessing spirit to take over her body so that it could tell its story.  Once the story was told, the spirit was able to move on.  A young vampire worshipper named Vicky arrived in New Orleans.  She met Sasha, who was having vampire identity issues, and was introduced to Drusilla.  Sasha had a “talk” with Anne about being a vampire, and was forcibly shown how undesirable vampirism could be as a life path.  Shortly thereafter, Anne gave in to her self-destructive tendencies and began cutting herself.  Faith found her and convinced her to stop.  Robert and Sasha developed a relationship.

Buffy, Giles, Dawn and McKenna went to Las Vegas for New Year’s.  Astrid met Trinity and brought her into the warehouse.  Tristan tipped his hand by accidentally forwarding some journal entries to Buffy which included several less-than-flattering observations of her.   Ethan was hospitalized after nearly blowing himself up along with McKenna’s foster father.  Rhiannon applied to UNO and Tulane.

Anne received intelligence that a demon in Kenner was holding a human captive – one that might be a Slayer.  Suspecting that the victim could be the lost Bryn Blake, she immediately went on reconnaissance.  She returned and gathered Astrid, Kim and Cassidy for a rescue mission.  Bryn was safely retrieved and reunited with her brother but turned out to be mentally unhinged by her ordeal.

Michelle left New Orleans as the fate cult finalized its plans.  Willow, getting word from the coven that Ethan had not arrived, began computer searching for him.  Rob moved into the warehouse to take care of Bryn.  Ethan, who was in the hospital pretending to be amnesiac (hey, it worked for Buffy, right?) was rescued and brought back to New Orleans by Giles and Buffy.  Rhiannon, having trouble dealing, threw herself into training to block things out.

Chaos reigned, however, when the fate cult made its move.  On 14 January, the cult made its move.  They worked a spell which stripped all the Slayers of their powers and placed all the powers into a vessel chosen by the Power Behind the Slayer: Tara.  Unfortunately, there is an unforeseen side effect: when the Slayerness is removed from Anne, all that is left is the demon.  And it is a demon more terrifying than Angelus ever thought about being… or is it?

At the same time, Dr. Nigel Mycroft, Ph. D., joined Slayer Central.  Though he was called in mostly for Bryn’s benefit, he found that his work was cut out for him with the others as well.

Astrid was attacked by two boys at school and the principal – also the boys’ uncle – suspended her.  At her request, Giles removed her from Easton High School and enrolled her in Sacred Heart Academy, the private school McKenna was attending.  Willow continued to have strange dreams.  After attacking Sasha, Anne was un-invited from the warehouse.  Kincaid moved in.  Ahnaleasa chased something fangy into the shadows and didn’t come back out.

Anne caught up first with Drusilla and then with Deanna, who had recently acquired a pet in the form of Victoria, a young vampire-worshipper.  Whistler sent another Slayer – Kris – to New Orleans.  Anne, in a moment of perversity, turned a small child into a vampire and then used her to taunt Giles.  Later, she had a run-in with Kim.  Willow obtained a new student, Gibb Tayler, who later moved into the warehouse and, all unknowing, was manipulated by Anne into inviting her in.  Gibb met Bryn, who was still hiding in her room, and the two began to slowly bond.

The fate cult began to plan its attack on Slayer Central even as the Slayers and witches researched a way to reverse their actions.  Anne and Deanna snacked on tourists.  Keiji had a vision that gave Giles and Willow the information they needed.  Victoria had trouble dealing with the carnage she saw as Deanna’s pet.

The day of the attack came, but Slayer Central was ready.  The cultists came, only to be successfully repulsed, and Tara found that she’d been lied to by the cultists and that she was fighting her friends.  She fled, leaving confused Scoobies behind.  In her wanderings and musings afterward, Willow found a bar called the Drunken Mongoose and met the bartender, a young woman named Trix.  Buffy found Tara at the Café du Monde and they talked, but Tara’s pain at her resurrection brought Buffy’s own back, and Buffy began to sink into a depression.  Concerned, Giles asked Dr. Mycroft to speak with Buffy.  A new, trained Watcher and M.D. named Hudson Quinten headed for New Orleans.

Tara contacted Buffy and they met again, catching up and re-bonding.  Afterward, Buffy talked to Willow about it and was then ambushed by Dr. Mycroft.  She suspected Giles and picked a fight with him about it.  He stormed out and Buffy wandered the warehouse in tears before running into Dr. Mycroft again and asking for his help this time. 

Anne made arrangements with Lilah to take possession of an amulet which would prevent the return of her soul.  Sasha cheated on Rob with Deanna; she and Rob broke up.  Gibb and Bryn continued to bond.  Willow began reteaching her magick classes, now teaching Fiona, Rob, Gibb and Kincaid.

Near the end of January, Ethan went to the Coven for a short period of magickal rehabilitation and Noriko returned to Japan, as her father had become very ill and she was needed to care for him.  Tara ran into Giles and he convinced her to come in and speak with Willow briefly.  She did so and things went well between them. 

Trinity went home to San Antonio for a couple of days when a friend was killed and was forced to Slay him while she was there.  Sasha and Rob began going to ‘couples therapy’ with Dr. Mycroft.  McKenna and Bryn spent some time together and bonded nicely.  Anne and Gibb continued to make friends, without Gibb knowing who Anne really was.  Buffy began going to regular sessions with Dr. Mycroft as well as taking antidepressants.  (They helped.)  Tara moved into the warehouse, though she got her own room.

Anne began to be less than enthralled with her little vampbaby.  Deanna put herself in debt to the Don in Chalmette.  (Not the smartest thing she could have done.)   Buffy and Giles went out to try and relieve some stress with a nice dinner and Anne snuck into the warehouse and snatched McKenna.

Deanna confessed to Faith that she was a vampire and Faith rejected her.  Anne and McKenna spend a strange and frightening day together which culminated in the staking of Anne’s vampbaby and McKenna’s eventual release.  At the Coven, Ethan began uncovering memories of his own dark childhood.

Giles and Tristan had a confrontation in which all was revealed: Tristan’s identity and the truth that Giles really didn’t know.  They moved towards a tentative reconciliation.  Kris met up with Hayden, at Rhiannon’s suggestion, for a tattoo.   Buffy and Giles began to talk seriously about children. 

Ethan returned from the coven.  Dawn had her seventeenth birthday.  Anne couldn’t understand why she kept feeling guilty for kidnapping McKenna, so she went to talk to Dr. Mycroft, who told her that just because she was soulless didn’t mean she had to be evil, which gave Anne a lot to think about.  Ethan started having nightmares and trouble sleeping.  Kincaid and Dawn began to grow apart, and he began to get interested in Rhiannon.  Xander and Fiona went off on vacation to the Bahamas.

Ethan and McKenna went to Dr. Mycroft together, which resulted in McKenna finding out that Ethan had somehow gained access to her memories when he was in her form at Christmastime.  She panicked and ran away, staying gone all night.  Giles found her the next day and brought her home, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with Ethan afterward.  A new Slayer, Jo Duncan, joined the group.  Rhiannon’s SAT scores came back, high enough to easily get her into Tulane’s art school.  Bryn ventured from her room on her own. 

Giles received a letter from an old friend, Father Gabriel Ramsey, heralding bad news from the Council’s ally of old, the Catholic Church.  Tara and Willow went off on a trip to re-bond.  Astrid began to feel useless and bored in New Orleans and Keiji began to feel led elsewhere by his visions; the two of them decided together to go to Cleveland to the Hellmouth.  Tristan decided to accompany them because, despite his reconciliation with his father, things were still strained and his leaving would make them better. 

Then tragedy struck again – while in the Bahamas, two days before Valentine’s Day, Fiona contracted a fever and died very suddenly.  In the aftermath of the news, Giles and Ethan went out and got drunk and got into a bar fight.  They were rescued from certain beatings and probable incarceration by the fortuitous arrival of Kris and Dr. Quinten.   Even with this news came the bombshell of Cordelia’s death in Los Angeles.  A new fellow named Nick Austin made an appearance at the warehouse, looking for a job.  Willow and Tara returned to Slayer Central as quickly as they could.  Ethan and McKenna reconciled.

The authorities would not allow Xander to bring Fiona’s body back to New Orleans, fearing an infectious disease similar to SARS, and so he was required to cremate her in the Bahamas before returning to the States.  As he was returning, Father Gabriel Ramsey was arriving in New Orleans, taking temporary quarters at the Cathedral in the French Quarter.  Buffy hired a young man named Nick Austin to work the counter in the gymnasium, inadvertently giving him the idea that she was running some sort of prostitution ring, much to McKenna’s later amusement.  Tristan, Keiji and Astrid settled in nicely in Cleveland.  

Thom got transferred back to Los Angeles, and Lilah took over the running of the New Orleans W&H branch.  Rhiannon, torn about Hayden, began to backslide into old behaviors.  Hayden, torn about Rhiannon, sought answers in the church.  Rob and Sasha continued their self-destructive relationship cycle, Rob now seeking out Deanna for revenge and ending up having his own sexual experience with her.  Trinity saw an old acquaintance with a rep for raising (literal) Hell.

Nick had a run-in with Sasha and began to slowly revise his opinions of the “girls” in the warehouse.  Bryn and Gibb consummated their relationship.  Dr. Mycroft was shot during a spate of random violence at one of the Mardi Gras parades which left another woman dead and sent several young men to jail.  He spent several days in the hospital, thanks to having been carried to the paramedics by… Deanna?

Some sort of sea monster took up residence in the Mississippi River.  Rob and Bryn were called away on a family emergency.  Gibb met Deanna and, shortly thereafter, Anne confessed her duplicity to Gibb.  As a peace offering, Anne gave up her protective talisman.  Gibb took the talisman to Buffy, who gave it to Giles. 

Buffy and Giles finally set a date for their wedding, as though they thought nothing was going to get in the way of that.  Rhiannon continued her backslide into drug use.  In the wake of his loss, Xander began to re-bond with his friends.  Nick had a run-in with Rhiannon that left him a little damaged.  Buffy, investigating, thought that perhaps Rhiannon was ill, and resolved herself to keep a closer eye on the young Slayer’s health.  Later that same afternoon, McKenna took it upon herself to play with Nick’s mind a little more. 

Anne came to Dr. Mycroft in the hospital to inform him of the unusual circumstances surrounding his rescue, to warn him that he was a target, and to bring information on rumors she was hearing about a possible new Big Bad in the area, which might or might not be somehow involved with the voodoo deity Papa Legba.  She also told him that she’d recently discovered that sunlight no longer burned her as it had in the first days after she lost her soul.  She then carried similar information (minus the sunlight part), as well as two protective talismans, to Kim.  Rhiannon made contact with her ex-boyfriend Nevin, a sometime user and a most-of-the-time dealer.  Anne, continuing her tradition of warning people, carried the news to Deanna that the demon world was beginning to look askance at her for her saving of Dr. Mycroft. 

Kincaid and Dawn broke up.  McKenna and Father Gabriel bonded over late-night snacks and childhood horrors.  Xander began to realize that he was just on-the-fringe Zeppo-guy and resolved to do something about it.  A new Watcher named Monica Reyes made contact with Buffy and came in from New Mexico.  Tara began helping a bit with the magick students.  Jo and Kris began to form a friendship. 

Anne’s increasing feelings of guilt over her actions led her to make contact with the warehouse inhabitants.  She gave Kim and McKenna protective talismans to make amends for kidnapping McKenna.  She came to believe that her soul may have been restored. 

The details of Fiona’s death remained shrouded in mystery.  Xander found a fertility statue amongst her things when unpacking from the trip.  He continued to grieve for her, and was comforted by Willow, Tara, and Buffy.  Anne became his surprising ally when she came to bring her own condolences.  He sensed that her soul may have been present and brought her back to the warehouse with him.  This later caused friction with Buffy, who battled between feelings of forgiveness and bitterness towards Anne.  As Anne and Xander became closer, McKenna showed her disdain and mistrust for the vampire. 

Meanwhile, a mysterious voodoo priest began to make his presence felt in The Big Easy.  A small child approached Giles during a Mardi Gras celebration and blew a strange, yellow powder in his face.  Giles began to suffer from horrible dreams about deadly rituals without identifying the cause.  Ethan and Xander noticed that Giles seemed to be out-of-sorts.

A new watcher named Monica appeared on the scene.  She became Sasha’s watcher.  Sasha and Rob continued trying to work through their relationship difficulties.  Father Gabriel, a trained watcher, came on board at the warehouse and rekindled old friendships with Nigel and Giles.  He extended his services to the warehouse occupants, becoming a trusted confidante.  Michael Walker, a dangerous black magic user from Trinity’s past, made his way into town and begins to search for her. 

Ethan and Doctor Hudson began to see one another.  Buffy became Jo’s new watcher.  Nick tried to work through his confusion over what was really happening in the warehouse.  He became friends with Jo and met Kris, who was attacked by demon loan sharks who wanted her to settle her father’s debts.  Kris and Hayden also grew closer, and he convinced her to seek help with her family problems.

Rhiannon became further entangled in the drug scene when she experienced physical burn out after coming down from her highs.  Her ex-boyfriend Nevin came on the scene and determined that her dealer had been giving her a potent mixture of ecstasy and methamphetamines.  She and Kincaid have a serious argument about her drug abuse.

Matthew Stone, a young British man, arrived on the scene as Bryn’s new watcher.  Tara took a temporary trip to Cleveland to lend assistance to the slayers on the Hellmouth.  Hayden was offered a chance to rebuild the Brotherhood of Fate and turned it down to remain in New Orleans.  He sought assistance from Father Gabriel in finding his faith again.  He also came to realize that he and Rhiannon would not be able to fix their broken love for quite some time, if ever.  After speaking to her father, Kim realized she needed to work harder at becoming a serious watcher.

Nigel was shot in the leg during a Mardi Gras celebration.  Deanna saw him get injured and recognized something of her father in Nigel.  She helped him to safety, and later got harassed by the demon community for her deeds.  Bitterly, she vowed to give them exactly what they wanted.  Spotting Nigel and Father Gabriel on a walk, she stabbed Nigel to death and beat Gabriel severely before being staked by Faith.  Gabriel was left to grieve over Nigel’s death, and he felt himself becoming vengeful toward all vampires.  Also in grief, Faith gathered Deanna’s things from her old apartment and brought them into the warehouse.  Rob’s relieved response to Deanna’s death roused Buffy’s curiosity over his connection with the vampire.

Willow and Father Gabriel confirmed the presence of Anne’s soul.  Nick’s suspicions about strange warehouse activities were confirmed when Jo took him on patrol.  After speaking to Whistler, Rhiannon decided to seek help from Giles and Buffy with her drug abuse.  Kincaid and Rhiannon made up and he offered his shoulder to her during her drug withdrawal.

Buffy and Giles began to experience relationship difficulties, and Buffy began to break under the enormous pressure of recent warehouse tragedies.  Andrew Wells made an appearance in New Orleans after a meeting with Whistler.

As Giles began to suffer more and more with nightmares, Xander and Buffy tried to repair their wounded friendship.  Xander obtained some pictures from Anne of Joyce and made copies for Buffy, giving them to her as a peace offering.  Ethan and Willow began to suspect that something magickal was being done to Giles, and began to research. 

Wolfram and Hart got a new client, a Chinese man named Ma-Miam, who had lost a pet named Schachihoko, which turned out to be the sea monster Kim had been studying.  Faith went to Deanna's apartment and went through the departed vampire's things, bringing some of them back to the warehouse with her, including a number of what appeared to be magickal artifacts. 

Giles's condition worsened and he began to hallucinate due to lack of sleep, which resulted in the destruction of his office and his own broken fingers.  Buffy began to truly worry about him.  Monica and Jo began a romantic relationship.  The nightmares began to spread throughout the warehouse.  Rhiannon came out of her detox a little worse for the wear, but determined to get back to standard.  A new person arrived in New Orleans - a werewolf/vampire named Jack Copeland.

Tings came to a head when Giles's hallucinations took over his mind - he became unable to see anything except visions of the corpses of his dead friends and loved ones - including Buffy - and, panicked, he fled the warehouse.  Buffy caved under the pressure and spent the following eighteen or so hours in a state nearly as bad as she was when the hellgoddess Glory kidnapped Dawn.  She was finally brought out of it through the determination of Father Gabriel, and was able to pull herself together and set up search parties. 

As though things weren't bad enough, Rhiannon encountered the werewolf/vampire - without knowing it was a vampire - upon returning to the warehouse on Saturday evening.  She brought the news to Buffy, who asked her to advise everyone about it so that they would know to use extra caution.  Seeking to make some sort of amends for his earlier actions with the Brotherhood of Fate, Hayden began shadowing some of the Slayers on their searches, trying to help.

After half a day of searching, during which Anne was concussed and received a broken arm from an unexpected but not unique zombie attack, Giles was located by Ethan, Matt, Gibb and Jo, and was finally retrieved and brought back to the warehouse, where he was secured in the lockdown room until some cure for his condition could be found.  Then, after one final nightmare in which a zombie Buffy and Jenny nailed him into a coffin full of blood, Giles awoke in the lockdown room to find himself in the arms of the real Buffy - connected to the real world for the first time in nearly seven days.

Nick confronted Buffy with this knowledge about the occupants of the warehouse. Angrily, Buffy confronted Jo for bringing Nick in the loop without approval. This caused friction because Nick and Jo, but they quickly reconciled their differences and even spoke about Nick's interest in her.

Feeling watched and fearing another demon attack, Kris began to have trouble sleeping and patrolling. She spoke to her new Watcher, Father Gabriel, about her fears. Monica became Sasha's new Watcher, and they began to open up towards one another about Sasha's voodoo-inspired nightmares. Monica shared her insights with Gabriel, prompting him to collect dream information from everyone. Rob told Gabriel of his nightmares about killing Sasha.

Faith re-established herself as a central figure in the group. Victoria, who'd been Deanna's protégée before Faith staked the vampire, felt lost and contacted Sasha.

Jack (the werewolf) and Rhiannon fought on the streets outside the warehouse, and the battle was conceded on both sides. After telling Buffy about her strange werewolf encounter, Rhiannon warned the warehouse about him, emphasizing capture over kill. Although Kincaid and Kris fought several werewolves, none had his seeming ability to reason. Meanwhile, Jack (the werewolf in question) showed his anger at Drusilla for not telling him the warehouse held a nest of slayers.

Ethan and Hudson continued their relationship. Monica and Jo exchanged commitment rings. Jo, whose grandparents practiced voodoo, shared information with a recovering Giles about spelled powders and dream invasion. While Giles grew stronger, Buffy was becoming more dazed and disoriented. Giles communicated his concerns to Gabriel before the latter departed to transport Nigel's ashes.

Hayden began following the patrol groups, wishing he could join in and make up for his past wrongs without raising suspicion. Kris sought Hayden's assistance after a terrifying patrol, and offered her a place to stay for the night and a first kiss. Desperate to recover from her missteps, Rhiannon sought focus and a centering force. Kincaid feared that his increasing telekinetic abilities were making him over-confident.

Sensing that things were not right in New Orleans, Tara came back to assist. She found a gris gris on the perimeter of the warehouse, firing a search that turned up several pouches in the warehouse (including Buffy's office). Willow began to suspect a Yoruba statue (fertility goddess) that Fiona had bought on vacation, prompting Xander to smash all but its face.

Andrew, commissioned to work in the gym, met Nick for the first time. Andrew defended his importance to the Scooby gang. In his typically presumptuous style, Nick labeled Andrew as a homosexual.

Matthew began working with his first slayer, Bryn, who felt strong enough to train for the first time. Rob attempted to overcome his fears and make amends with Sasha. Willow and Gibb established a mentoring relationship.

When Hayden followed Kris on a patrol, a group of demons attacked. Hayden jumped into the fray to help, but was badly beaten and ran to the warehouse for help. When he returned to the alley with Matthew, Kris was missing. Unbeknownst to anyone, a demon named Orion (whom her father owed big money) had taken Kris as payment. Using a painful blood-exchanging ceremony, Orion placed Kris under his control and made her do his dirty work. Jo was crushed by the news that her best friend was taken. Tara's location spell was blocked.

Upon Wolfram and Hart's disappearance from New Orleans, Kim loaded boxes of artifacts and brought them back to the warehouse for further study. Hayden went back to the warehouse to give Buffy information about Kris' attackers. Kincaid grew angry and suspicious of Hayden's involvement with Kris. He sparked an argument with Rhiannon and displayed reckless tendencies by going after Hayden for information.

Faith and Rhiannon organized patrol and research groups to locate Kris. Nick and Tara offered to help search demonology texts. Hayden began to search for witnesses.

Michael Walker continued to search for Trinity, revealing that he wanted her for a powerful ally as well as a lover. Kincaid, Anne, and Andrew were affected by the voodoo nightmares.

Buffy descended from confusion into a non-responsive state. Though Slayer Central knew she was affected by voodoo, no one realized she was the Bokor's next intended victim.

On a routine patrol, Nick and Rhiannon spotted Kris working for Orion's demons. They were attacked and therefore unable to help Kris break free of his mind-controlling magic. The attack yielded a more detailed description of Kris' attackers and their debt-collecting methods.

Xander handed over the operation of the Book Nook to Tara and Willow. Tara made contact with former employees and began to get the store back on its feet.

(Last updated 15 March 2004)

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