fandomhighdorms | Stickbug Campfire [Sunday Night]

On her way back from Caritas, Willow saw folks hanging around the Stickbug campfire.

She took a chance, wandered over, and smiled when she saw a certain someone.

"Sir Peter," she said, with a curtsey.

Peter looked up at his name and smiled in return.

He bowed. "Lady. How are you this evening?"

"Italy won!" Willow said, proudly. "I picked a winning team! Go me!"

"They did indeed!" Peter replied, grinning. "It wasn't a bad match at all. Good on you."

Willow went to take a seat beside him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be footie fans with you. I forgot we had to move into the cabins today. I spent the whole afternoon packing and trying to convince Amy to let me dismantle parts of her cage. But I watched the game thanks to a live feed on my computer! It was very fun. I enjoyed cheering for Italy. Especially when I figured out they were actually the team in blue. That helped a lot."

"Does Amy truly mind about her cage?" Peter asked. "How can you tell? But I missed you watching the game. Pretty much everyone was cheering for Italy. Pip seemed a bit put out about that."

"Poor Pip," Willow said. She nudged Peter with her shoulder. "I missed you too. You could've explained the color system to me, as I still say it makes no sense whatsoever. And yeah. Amy gets a little testy when I have to take parts of her cage away so she can fit into my alcove. She doesn't say anything, but she has a way of running on her wheel that's very passive agressive."

"I certainly would have. And you shouldn't feel bad for Pip. Not like the French don't bring it on themselves," Peter said jokingly. He nudged Willow back. "Think you might possibly be imagining the passive aggressive quality of the wheel running? She is just a rat. It's not like she's a Talking Creature or something."

Willow gave a nervous laugh. "Heh. Um. I haven't told you about Amy, have I?"

Peter turned to her. "You told me she's your pet?"

"In a very broad manner of speaking," Willow said. She glanced around to make sure nobody was listening, then leaned in to whisper. "She used to be a girl."

Peter blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"She was a witch, like me," Willow said, still whispering. "Did I tell you about the time I nearly got burned at the stake?"

"I think you mentioned it tangentially," Peter said, also very quietly. "But I rather thought you were - err - using hyperbole."

Willow shook her head. "Nope. Actual wood and fire."

"People in California tried to burn you at the stake," Peter said. "I'm literally speechless. We're not even that backwards at home."

"It was a spell," Willow said. "Which it'd have to be if that many people in Sunnydale would notice all the supernatural stuff going on, let alone get involved in it. Especially my mom."

"Even so." He felt unaccountably sad about Willow's remark about her mother but had no idea how to respond. He reached out to take her hand if she'd let him. "You broke the spell then?"

Willow threaded her fingers through his. "Actually I was mostly tied to the stake. It was Giles and Buffy who saved the day. But Amy? To escape? Turned into a rat. And she's been stuck that way ever since. I've been trying to cure her but I'm just not good enough yet."

Peter opened his mouth to say that she would be then shut it again. He squeezed her hand. "I'm sure you'll find a way."

Willow squeezed back. "I'm trying. I feel so bad that she got stuck. And I can't tell anybody the whole truth about her because all that happened in senior year. But I couldn't abandon her in Sunnydale either! I'm the only witch she knows now. If I can't fix her she'll be a rat forever, and that's awful."

"It wasn't your fault," Peter said though he was now considering the fact that researching magic about transforming animals into people could very easily lead into trying it and getting stuck in animal form themselves. "What about Miss Calendar? Did she know Amy too? Couldn't she help you?"

"She did, but she died before all this happened," Willow said. "Darn. Why didn't I think of this before she left? I could email her though."

"Because you didn't tell me about it so I could make a useful suggestion," Peter said with a smile, pushing the more serious thoughts away. "Did she leave for good?"

"She said she'd be back," Willow said. She threaded her other hand around Peter's arm, giving him a smile. "Did we just do teamwork again?"

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