madimpossibledreamer | And So It Begins

I suspect I keep making Xander non-human because it’s a good way to make him reexamine his xenophobia. How do you hold on to your humanity when part of it’s gone? What’s worth discarding? What happens when it’s the humans that are the monsters? (Which is a thing Xander knows, given his comment about the coaches; he knows that sometimes humans are the worst but it’s easier not to think about that because it hits too close to home.)
As usual, the chronology is off, if only slightly. A Call to Arms, the movie that introduces Galen, comes out 2 years after the Halloween episode. However, if I wanted to write this without messing up the timeline at all, I could; the episode that introduces his mentor came out 3 years before the Halloween episode. (I like Galen more than I like Elric, though as he’s also bald you could just substitute him in.)
Other question that occurred to me: do they make Sunnydale their Place of Power? Because lemme tell you, that would complicate the last season…
This starts out with a less sympathetic Xander than I usually write, but then, I often have him past his point of realization, which has yet to come in this one. It’s going to have some very Maybe Tomorrow’s a Better Day stuff where something comes back to bite him and he can’t just BSOD; he actually has to work on fixing it. Also, Willow, you can definitely do better, as much as I like Xander as a character.
my favorite thing about this one besides writing a ton of b5 references is buffy's comeback /grins
I also don't care that the writers kind of went with it but didn't commit. I will continue to headcanon Xander as from a poor or poorish family that might be middle class if they didn't spend all their money on booze.

Main Points:
Buffy/Babylon 5 AU (same as The Ushari)
Chapter Summary: Willow and Xander have an idea for matching costumes.
Word Count: 810
Rating: Teen
Spoilers for up until halfway through Season 4 of Babylon 5 + the Technomage Trilogy Books (it's quick but it is kind of a major spoiler)

           Buffy joins her friends for lunch just in time to hear Xander say, “I really wanna pull off Galen, but I don’t think I could do the balding look.”
           Buffy blinks, slightly disturbed by the image. “What are you talking about?”
           Xander grins fondly at Willow, who sheepishly puts her hands down from where she’d been waving them around in excitement. “Costumes, since the high and mighty troll is insisting we dress up. Will got really excited about this B5 movie they did, because of the technomages which use tech and magic, two of her favorite things, so we’ll probably do matching if we can swing it under budget.”
           Willow’s practically bouncing on her seat. “You could join us!”
           Buffy sighs. She hadn’t been planning on talking about this with Xander here, but if he’s pushing it, she might just need to shut it down. And kind of bluntly, too. “Is it the kind of costume that would get Angel’s attention?”
           Her friends exchange a glance, before Xander says slowly, “…Um…some of them wore tight leather? So maybe? We could even get him in on it.” He bristles a little at the shocked silence. “Hey, I’m still in the ‘I don’t like the guy’ camp, but you do, so I will begrudgingly include him in things. I’m not a total dick.”
           “Xander!” Willow hisses. It’s hard to say whether it’s because of his swearing or actual sentence.
           He shrugs. “I’m trying.”
           “I noticed,” Buffy states dryly, and tries not to grin too hard at the hurt ‘hey!’ “So, uh, what’s up with the technogadgets?”
           “Technomages. They use technology to simulate the effect of magic.” Willow’s practically bouncing on her seat.
           “They’re from my favorite science fiction series. I forced Will to watch it,” Xander confesses, and Willow pats him on the shoulder.
           “It’s okay, I enjoyed it. The story was well-written.” From her glance at her crush, that might not have been the only reason. “You could maybe do an alien instead of a human? Centauri, maybe?”
           He considers that carefully. “I don’t have the hair for it, but that’s a good idea. Maybe Narn? Though the makeup’s probably super annoying…”
           The Slayer sighs, but she wants to keep an open mind about this, particularly with Willow so adorably enthusiastic. “Willow, sell me on this. Why should I go with a group costume instead of a ballroom gown?”
           “Because Angel didn’t fall for any of those girls in the past, he fell for you? So you shouldn’t remind him of them, you should remind him of you?” Willow suggests hopefully.
           “Because if you get a leather costume, you could rewear it generally?” Xander adds and shrugs at the stares. “Hey, I’m not the Fashion King and I’m not sure how well I’ll pull it off, but multipurpose items are kinda my thing.” Willow looks slightly concerned, but Xander continues, trying to distract, maybe. “If you wanted to go all Romeo & Juliet minus the dying part, Angel could be a telepath.”
           “Oooh! That’d be sweet!” Willow turns to Buffy, grinning. “See, the Vorlons created the telepaths, while the Shadows created the Technomages, and the Vorlons and Shadows are kind of at each other’s throats, and a strong enough telepath can turn off Shadow technology, so they might be able to do the same thing to a Technomage’s implants, except Angel definitely wouldn’t do that because he fell in love with you.”
           “I hate to bring this up, but that might mean no leather for Angel.” He does actually look a little disgusted in himself for bringing it up, but it is actually a point of concern, and Buffy gives him a mental participation prize for at least putting in minimal effort.
           Willow waves her hand, unconcerned. “He does that all the time. It’d be a change of pace. And PsiCorps uniforms are pretty cool, too. Or—oh, he could dress like Lyta.”
           “The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father,” Xander quips. “But at least one of her outfits had leather, too. Unless he’s one of the rogue telepaths. I think they didn’t wear leather as much…Whatever, we can figure it out. The only requirement, probably, is the gloves.”
           “You just want to see Bester chasing him,” Willow teases, and he shivers.
           “Actually, I don’t want to see them teaming up,” he corrects. “Psi Cop Angel would be terrifying.”
           Willow looks thoughtful, falling silent, and Buffy feels like this is a good part to point out, “You two know I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
           At least Xander looks a little sheepish. “Sorry, yeah, I gave up the whole ‘geeking out about things I like at school’ phase for reasons.”
           “Reasons which might be named ‘Larry’?” Buffy asks with a knowing eyebrow, and Xander scowls, but isn’t given a chance to respond because of the bell. Class time.