This is the home of my most recent fan character and her "scooby gang."
Their stories take place after Buffy season 7, when all potential Slayers became Slayers and the Watchers Council was re-founded by Buffy and Giles. The first wave of new Watchers have been trained -- or rather, retrained -- and deployed to all the Slayers the Council can locate. (Most of the setting is through my own speculation and that of the people I have discussed it with and so may be considered AU.)
Caroline "Caro" Barrett is one of these new Slayers.
Caro was born and raised in a fictitious town in Massachusetts called Emerald Grove, far enough from the coast to keep the tourists out, but not so far as to prevent day-trips. She lives with her parents, Dr. Charles and Mrs. Margaret Barrett, and her cat, an Ojos Azules named Jack. They have a nice little house in an older subdivision with both a small front and back yard. A bit brash and outspoken, Caro isn't afraid to tell her watcher or her friends what's what, but she has a warmth in her that cannot be dimmed, it seems. She fights for truth and justice and the American way...or she would, if she thought it would do any good. Mostly, she just fights to survive and to keep the world from, you know, exploding.
Just down the street lives her childhood friend, Christian Webster ("Chris" for short), and his paternal grandmother, Grace Webster. His house is smaller, with only a fenced-in backyard that fails to keep the neighborhood strays out. Though Chris doesn't have any pets, his grandmother has two birds, a dog and at least one cat [he can't tell which is/are hers and which is a stray]. He was with Caro when she got her powers and helped her through until her watcher arrived. He is stalwart and brave, kind and a self-proclaimed genius. When he isn't helping Caro survive her calling, he's hacking into systems and building strange inventions.
Across town lives one of their newest friends, Angela Dunn. After she accidentally ended up being a sacrifice to a powerful demon and the demon marked her, Caro and Chris rescued her. They've been tentative friends ever since. She lives with her mother (a widow and freelance photographer and sometimes-journalist), Katherine Dunn, in a small apartment near the high school. As her mother is often away on assignments, Angela's one comfort is her cat, a Colorpoint Shorthair named Misty with glowing blue eyes.
Chris' surprise cousin appeared not long after Angela joined their team. Miranda Webster (the daughter of Chris' father's brother) swept into town with a group of travelling goths in search of a vampire den...and they found one. Being one of the few who survived, Miranda quickly dyed her hair blonde and went to find her grandmother, whom she knew lived in town. Despite the old woman's kind offer, Miranda declined living with them (namely Chris) and moved into Angela's building. Surprisingly, she and her cat, a black Siberian by the name of Endora, are fitting in quite well. She isn't even doing that poorly in her classes. Who knew high school could be so easy? Miranda didn't, or she wouldn't have dropped out her sophomore year.
The biggest surprise for Caro, Chris and the others their junior year of high school was their English teacher, Mr. Nathaniel Grant, being Caro's assigned Watcher. What made it even more shocking was what happened when they started training together. He revealed himself to be a necromancer and added that to his Slayer's training! Then as her training continued, their relationship evolved into more than teacher and student until he consented to chaperoning the junior prom as a guise to allow him to go with her...like a date. She was overjoyed, though she had to have Chris cover for the couple to her parents.
Nathaniel lives in a large apartment in a complex several blocks from the school, with an ample courtyard/garden and a small fountain. He lives alone, except for his cat (Tibbs, an older Abyssinian). He can often be seen reading or watching an old or foreign film while sitting beside Tibbs and talking. He swears Tibbs can communicate, though not through words. For a cat, one must admit Tibbs has a lot of personality.
And down at the public library (near the "downtown" area of Emerald Grove, referred to by natives as "the square"), is Head-Librarian Mira Chauhan. She lives across the courtyard from Nathaniel, and they can often be seen together sharing a pot of chai tea and discussing novels and politics. She lives mostly alone with her Belgian Shepherd (Kali), though she has been known to keep a long-term boyfriend for weeks and months at a time before one or the other of them decide to break it off and he moves out. |
