NT: Chapter 104

The Compass and Clock turned out to look like your average Spanish Hacienda-style Cantina. The sort of place that was a dime a dozen in Southern California. The only real thing to mark it as anything out of the ordinary, if you weren't possessed of the same set of mystical skills as I was, would be the fact that it had shown up here on the outskirts of Sunnydale literally in an instant. It had no real sign to speak of to advertise. Instead, it had a large clock on the hacienda facade that was patterned to look like a Compass. However, with those who had the same sort of Mystic Radar I had, it was plain as day that the facade was just that, a facade. This place practically reeked of mystical energy.

As we pulled up to the Hacienda-style Cantina, parking in the lot outside the gates, I found Giles was already here. Surprisingly, his normal gray Citroen was nowhere to be found. Instead, he seemed to have parked a black, nineteen-seventy-three MGB Roadster in the lot outside. I parked and got out of my Camaro, Faith doing the same from the passenger seat. We'd lost Xander's Truck at a red light a couple of miles back, though he should be here soon. Regardless, I nodded over at Giles, whistling at the car. It wasn't the most expensive car I'd ever seen, but it still likely would have run Giles around thirteen grand to buy a car like that, and that wasn't nothing for a Watcher who's constantly on the outs with the Council. After all, that was the sort of thing the British Q Division might modify for a Double-Oh Agent going on assignment.

"Nice car." I offered.

"Yes, well. My Citroen rather gave up the ghost over the Summer, unfortunately. I knew someone who was looking to sell their old Roadster and was seduced by the sportiness of it." Admitted Giles.

"That's not a bad car, if you were gonna look into something British, anyway." Huffed Faith.

"I'm sorry, and who might you be?" Questioned Giles.

"Uly, you're up." Smirked Faith.

"Giles, this is Faith. She's a new Slayer. Faith, this is Giles, Buffy's Watcher." I introduced.

"New Slayer? What happened to Kendra?" Queried Giles.

"She's dead, Giles. How else does a new Slayer get called?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, buncha guys with enchanted guns tried to bring back Imhotep out in Egypt. She didn't make it outta the fight without getting shot." Nodded Faith.

"I'll have to call the Council to get confirmation on that. I haven't heard anything about it, though that's no surprise. They haven't exactly been fans of the fact that Buffy fraternizes with local groups." Admitted Giles.

"Five by Five. I'm chilling at Uly's Place for now." Shrugged Faith.

"Speaking of, I'd heard that you had quite the adventure overseas." Mused Giles.

"You've got a masterful talent for understatement, Giles." I nodded, pulling a battered packet of Red Apple Cigarettes out of my Jacket Pocket and lighting up. I took a deep drag off my cigarette and let the smoke fill my lungs before breathing out my nose.

"Indeed. It comes with being British, along with the deadpan delivery and the dry wit." Smirked Giles.

"What'd you wind up doing? I ain't heard this story before." Questioned Faith.

"You've not mentioned your Battle with the Yamata-no-Orochi at the King of Fighters Tournament?" Queried Giles.

"Not yet, no. I wanted to tell the story the least amount of times I could and still get everyone up to speed. I'm gonna wait on that till Xander, Oz, and Willow show up. Speaking of, where are Oz and Willow? Didn't they come with you?" I asked.

"No. Oz and Willow will be arriving in Oz's Van. What of Xander? Is he not with you?" Asked Giles.

"X got stopped at a Red Light, he'll be along in a bit." Informed Faith.

As she said that, Xander's truck pulled into the parking lot, and I couldn't help but shake my head at that. The timing was just too perfect. As Xander clambered out of his truck, I couldn't help but grin.

"Speak of the Devil and he shall appear." I smirked.

"What'd I do?" Questioned Xander.

"Giles was just asking where you were." I offered.

"Quite. Your timing was impeccable." Agreed Giles.

"So, you never said who this Willow and Oz are supposed to be. I take it they're more pals of yours?" Queried Faith.

"Oz? Sure. Willow? Willow and I don't really get on. Still, she's Oz's girlfriend and Xander's best friend since they were kids." I shrugged.

"She's also quite a powerful spellcaster in her own right." Added Giles.

"I'm just surprised she hasn't jumped headfirst off the slippery slope into Dark Magic yet." I scoffed.

"I've been keeping an eye on her." Insisted Giles.

"Yeah? Have you been living with her? She thinks she knows better than everyone, Giles. That's sort of my whole point." I scoffed.

"I take it there's a buncha history here that ain't too pretty? Should I be worried?" Asked Faith.

"Nah, Wills is all right. Plus, she's got folks who can help keep her grounded." Defended Xander.

"Besides, I don't think re-adjudicating this particular argument is going to get us anywhere any more than it did the last time." Mused Giles.

"Right. Anyway, Oz is a good dude. Hell of a shot, too. Plus, thanks to some rituals I did on him and constant meditation, he can control his Lycanthropy to the point where he can bust out the Wolf in fights and not be a danger to anyone but the enemy." I grumbled, forgoing my retort to Giles in favor of cooperation.

"Huh. The guy's a werewolf, then? Those are supposed to be dangerous and unpredictable, yeah?" Questioned Faith.

"Oz isn't feral like some werewolves. He's completely in control. He's more of a Jon Talbain type now." I answered.

"A what type?" Queried Faith.

"Jon Talbain, he's a Martial Artist who became a werewolf a while back, learned to control the Wolf inside, and now fights monsters. It doesn't matter, the point is, Oz is cool." I sighed.

"Copacetic." Nodded Faith.

"Speaking of, that's them now." Chimed in Xander, pointing to the road.

I looked over to see that Oz's Zebra-striped Van was pulling into the lot. Oz parked nearby and got out of the Van, helping Willow down as well. Oz looked more or less the same as the last time I'd seen him, though he seemed to be wearing a Duster that was made out of some sort of yellowish leather that pinged off my mystical radar. Willow, meanwhile, had cut her hair shorter than it had been previously. I nodded at both of them, getting a nod back from Oz and a frown from Willow. Seems she hadn't forgotten our disagreement about her learning magic either. That was going to be fun.

"Oz. What kind of leather did you make that out of?" I asked.

"Chupacabra." Smirked Oz.

"Yes, he helped me to track one down that was attacking animals on the outskirts of town before it could upgrade from attacking animals to attacking people." Confirmed Giles.

"Yeah, it turns out that Chupacabras aren't actually from here. They're from some sort of Hell Dimension called Khanduras." Added Willow.

"So those are real? Killer." Smirked Faith.

"Faith, this is Willow and Oz. Oz, Wills, this is Faith. She's a new Slayer." Introduced Xander.

I rolled my eyes and finished my cigarette while the next round of introductions went off. I really didn't need to be present in the conversation for that, after all. Once everyone was caught up to speed on Faith and what her deal was, I stubbed out my Cigarette and prepared to head inside to the Compass and Clock. Once everyone was ready, we headed inside and prepared to have our minds potentially blown at the multiversal implications. As it happened, however, that wouldn't be the case. Instead of anything like we had been expecting, it was a fairly mundane, uninteresting Cantina. I frowned at that, since I could practically feel the thrumming magic in my bones at this point. This had to be some sort of fake bar to fool curious mundanes and avoid unpleasant consequences.

I caught the eye of the Bartender, a woman with Middle Eastern features in a blue slip dress with a number of bangles and jewelry pieces on her. She nodded at me, winking and gesturing to the back room as she did so. I frowned at that before I was suddenly rocked by a sensation not unlike that which I'd felt a few times before, in the presence of my Patrons. A name and mantle burned itself into my mind. Siduri, Wise Goddess of Beer. Suddenly, I realized exactly what sorts of beings were running this establishment. Now that I knew that, I also knew that we wouldn't have to fear being ready for anything. After all, with literal Gods in charge of this place, I very much doubted that they would allow an ambush in their establishment.

I made my way over to the back room, the others following, varying degrees of puzzlement on their faces, as I led them down a flight of stairs and into an atrium with various doors. Some of them radiated more magic than others, and I had to believe that those were doors that led to other realms, while the less magical doors were ones that led to various rooms within the structure itself. As I parsed this all out, however, Faith and Xander both reached for a more magical door.

"Stop!" I exclaimed.

"What? Why?" Questioned Xander.

"Yeah, what gives?" Queried Faith.

"Just give me a second, all right? Don't open any doors, some of them will send you to other realms." I explained.

"Huh. Neat." Mused Oz.

"I hate to agree with Ulysses about anything, but yeah, not touching the very magical doors is probably a good plan." Admitted Willow.

"I do wonder how we're expected to tell which is which, though." Mused Giles.

"That would be my job." Came a voice from behind us.

We all turned to see a teenage boy, maybe a year or so younger than I appeared to be, in a vest and white button-down shirt. In one hand, he carried a wand with ivy vines twined around it, and he bore an amulet with an apotropaic sigil inscribed into it. Another flash of insight burned yet another name into my mind. Fufluns, Wine-soaked Psychopomp. Yet another God in this odd multi-dimensional bar.

"I see at least one of you recognizes who I am. Small wonder, he clearly also recognized Siduri, upstairs too." Smirked Fufluns.

"Siduri? As in the Sumerian Goddess of Brewing?" Asked Giles.

"Indeed. And I am Fufluns, the God of Wine, Health, and Growth. Psychopomp of the Etrurian Dead." Confirmed Fufluns.

"Good Lord." Muttered Giles, resisting the urge to begin polishing his glasses.

"Psychowhatnow?" Questioned Xander.

"Psychopomp. They're supposed to be like, guide spirits to bring dead souls into the underworld." Answered Willow.

"That's bad, right?" Queried Oz.

"Yeah, are we dead? Cause I feel pretty damn alive still." Asked Faith.

"No, you're not dead. This is just something some of us less-talked-about dieties put together a while ago to keep in touch with goings on in the Mortal Realm." Answered Fufluns.

"But I thought the Powers That Be, Elder Gods, and other associated beings forbade you all from acting so blatantly in the Mortal Realm." Pointed out Giles.

"Under ordinary circumstances, that would be the case, but the Multi-dimensional nature of the Compass and Clock means we operate in something of a gray area when it comes to the decrees of those stuffed shirts." Smirked Fufluns.

"I think I may need a stiffer drink than a beer for this. I don't suppose you carry McCleary Scotch? I am definitely going to need it." Opined Giles.

"I think you'll find our alcohol selection to be both divine and out of this world. Quite literally in some cases." Smirked Fufluns.

As he said this, he led us through a door into a new area, an underground bar with various brass pipes and stone masonry. The whole thing had a very steampunk sort of vibe to it. As we got settled in, Fufluns went to speak to the bartender, a middle-aged, bearded man in a jacket made out of what seemed to be stitched-together wolf furs. As that happened, another flash of insight and another name hit me. Sucullus, Ale-Brewing Wolf God. I don't know why I was surprised at this point. Sucullus immediately poured us all drinks, even those of us who couldn't drink legally in the US got beer. For Giles, though, something stronger was called for, and Sucullus slid a cup of golden-amber liquid over to Giles.

"Won the recipe for that in a bet with the Elf King Zaor of Evermeet a few years before his assassination. You'll like it, I promise." Grinned Sucullus.

As we took our drinks, I couldn't help but feel this was going to be one hell of a night. With Gods and Cross-Dimensional Commerce in play, we might even get to do some things that could get us ahead of whatever Apocalypse was coming down the pike this year that my patrons wanted me to deal with. I wondered if there was a marketplace or something behind one of those doors that I could barter for an outside context item in? Only time would tell, though one thing was definitely for certain.

Tonight was definitely going to be very interesting, maybe even in the Chinese sense. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. We're effectively getting the band back together for the events of Buffy Season Three here, while at the same time exploring this new Transdimensional Pub that opened up. The Gods that run the Compass and Clock are not exactly the most powerful, though. They tend to come from Pantheons that aren't super well-known or have restrictive portfolios. For example, Fufluns is an Etruscan God, while Sucullus is a Gallic God. Meanwhile, while the Sumerian Gods are somewhat better represented in various works, Siduri's portfolio is extremely narrow, being a Goddess of Beer. We'll see just how this interaction plays out going forward.

Other nineties stuff in this chapter includes mentions of Red Apple Cigarettes and McCleary Scotch from the Works of Quentin Tarantino, the Yamata-no-Orochi and King of Fighters Tournament from King of Fighters, Q Division and the Double-Oh Program are from James Bond, Zaor of Evermeet is from second edition Dungeons and Dragons, and Khanduras is from Diablo. Everything else is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

At any rate, the next chapter will involve more exploration of the Compass and Clock, along with appearances from Crossover Characters. I'll also have a few images out before then of various parts of the Compass and Clock, as well as some of the Gods that run the place.

Stay tuned. . .