In a Corner of My Soul: Angel: Hello Kitty

[dragonyphoenix]

Summary: Rewrite of season 1 with Giles as the Big Bad.
Master List for In a Corner of My Soul (previous chapters / scenes)

Willow ducked behind a parked car and stared at the brick expanse of the high-school. Maybe she shouldn't have worn the Hello Kitty t-shirt, but she was trying to break taboos and gang colors were not allowed which sort of made them taboo, right? This t-shirt, with the white silhouette of Hello Kitty, was the only black she had. Did the bow count as a red accessory if it was part of the design on the shirt?

She had to move. The bell was about to ring and then she'd be late. She'd never been late. What if they called home and Mom wanted to know why she'd been late? She couldn't explain that it'd been because she was worried about wearing gang colors to school. But what if they sent her home because she was wearing gang colors? A bell rang. She had only ten minutes to get to class. Willow darted across the street and dashed up the stairs, dodging other students. Maybe if she kept moving nobody'd notice she was wearing gang colors.

All through homeroom, Willow could feel everyone's eyes on her even though no one said anything. I'm getting away with it, she thought. This isn't hard at all. In fact, it feels sort of powerful. Hey, yeah, rebel here. What are you staring at? Never seen a powerful rebel woman before? Wait, was Xander saying something? “What?”

“I asked if you were up for a bit of cockroach slaying this evening. You know, fumigation party? Bronze?”

“Oh, um, sure.” Hey, maybe she could wear black to the Bronze. Oh, um, except black clothes and red accessories weren't taboo outside of school.

“Do you think Buffy'll be there?”

“Why wouldn't she?”

“More to the point,” Xander added. “Do you think she'll be too busy mooning over Angel to notice me? Us, I mean us.”

Ooh, Angel wore black, lots of black. Was it the black that made Angel so mysterious in that slightly dangerous kind of a way? Maybe that's why nobody had commented on her t-shirt. Maybe she was giving off a dangerous mystery-woman vibe.

“Willow. Willow!”

“What?”

“What do you mean what? You're totally zoning out. What's wrong with you today?”

“Nothing. I just have a lot of thoughts in my mind as I sometimes do.”

“Yeah, but they usually don't make you quiet.”

Ooh, maybe the black was making her taciturn just like Angel was taciturn. Wow, this taboo breaking thing was really effective if it was changing her this fast.

The bell rang before she could explore this idea further. As they walked to class Willow glanced from side-to-side, looking to see if anyone was turning away from her t-shirt. She hadn't caught anyone at it, but they sort of had to be what with black being a taboo color and all. Maybe the black was sort of projecting itself ahead so everyone knew to look away before she could spot them at it or … or maybe they were gossiping about her. Maybe it was all over the school that she, Willow Rosenberg, was not only wearing a taboo color but also getting away with it.

“Well, and look who's all gang-colored up today.”

Oh, Xander finally got the courage? Oh, no, he was talking to Cordelia.

“Like I'm going to let anyone tell me what to wear.” Cordelia had on black pants, a purple shirt and, over that, a blouse in a pattern of purple, blue, and silver.

Willow looked around. Everyone was staring at Cordelia. Nobody had even noticed the black t-shirt or Hello Kitty's red accessory. But why wouldn't they? It was a very black t-shirt, almost entirely black with just a touch of white. Maybe Hello Kitty acted as a kind of cuirass, a kind of body armor, except rather than blocking swords it blocked gazes so that nobody saw she was wearing a taboo color. Or maybe it was just her, Willow Rosenberg, invisible girl.

Comments

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

My mind's like a sieve these days so I can't read longfic any more until it's completed. But the title of this chapter piqued my interest, and yay! You wrote Gang colors Willow! And it's funny, right up to the end when it hits me right in the feels. Well done.

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you. I was sort of hoping the title would bring someone in! *grin*

I have been only writing a scene a week, which created about a four month gap between chapters, but I've got a new long fanfic I want to get working on for NaNo so I'm thinking of finishing off this one faster. So you may have a chance to read it not too far off.

My mind is also sieve-like, possibly because of a horseback riding accident when I was a teen. I hit it hard enough to have amnesia but only overnight. Still, I met someone else who's mind had been like a steel-trap until she'd been in an accident. Or maybe this is my natural mind state. Hard to tell.

[punch-kicker15.livejournal.com]

Cool cool cool . Looking forward to the finished fic!