They also lived with Anya and six cats.
History
The Building
- “So either fix this one, and we got a deal... Or get out of my hair. And see if anyone else in this city will rent to a gang of weirdos like you.”
- ―Building's landlady (to the Scoobies)[src].
After the Scoobies returned from the assistance in Santa Rosita's zompire crisis, they faced dissatisfaction with their living conditions and rent prices. Spike had been sleeping at Andrew's house in a futon, and Xander didn't want to continue living with Dawn while they were on a break from their relationship.
The Scoobies negotiating with the landlady in the building's entrance.
Robert Dowling shared then a case of a haunted building, where in three decades 25 children disappeared, and its landlord would offer them a cheap rent for fixing this problem. It was inherited from her father and mostly immigrants lived there, and it was being gentrified, with "techies" and "trust-fund hippies," until the haunting started.
The building was actually infested by a Hamelin demon, a symbiotic creature who targeted children on the verge of losing their childhood, and instead offered the victim to live within its dimensions of illusions based on the individual child's dream. The demon trapped the Scoobies, who were able to free themselves and the missing children by refusing the reality the demon created[1].
Prominent Events
The Scoobies playing in the apartment.
Despite initially fighting about their differences while moving in, bickering about Xander's maquettes and Spike's soap opera digests, they quickly found a common ground in their shared apartment's coexistence, even becoming close friends[2].
After Willow set security spells in the apartment, it became a temporary safeguard for the Vampyr book whenever it was needed[2][3].
When Buffy and Spike got together, they took down various of Xander's figurines from the shells, a reference from their first time in "Smashed". He was able to listen to the destruction from Buffy, Willow, and Dawn's apartment[4].
Since she was haunting Xander, the spirit Anya was also one of the apartment's residents. She spent most of her time in his bedroom, but could phase through the wall and see Buffy and Spike's discussions[5].
When Spike rescued six cats from kitten poker, he gave them to Xander and promised to find them a home in the following day[6]. Instead, the kittens grew into adults cats still under their care.
After Anya's death, her funerary urn was placed in the apartment's living room[7].
At the apartment, while researching about the Shenlong dragon, the Scoobies said goodbye to Andrew before he went to Italy. Some time later, they first heard about the Safe Zone implementation, in Press Secretary Joanna Wise and Secretary of Supernatural Ophelia Reyes live broadcast pronunciation[8].
Behind the Scenes
- Spike's bedroom featured a The Clash at Bond's Casino poster.
- Xander's bedroom featured a Lara Croft poster, a Baby Groot figurine, a Westeros poster map, and a Dungeons & Dragons' red dragon statue.
- In the living room, some of Xander's figurines are Godzilla, Alien, Darth Vader with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Lara Croft. There's also a Indiana Jones poster at the wall.
- Despite being marked as Buffy, Willow, and Dawn's apartment, the last scene in In Time of Crisis took place at Xander and Spike's.
Appearances
Buffy Season 10
- I Wish, Part Two
- Return to Sunnydale, Part One
- Day Off (or Harmony in My Head)
- Love Dares You, Part One
- Love Dares You, Part Two
- Love Dares You, Part Three
- Relationship Status: Complicated, Part One (Only in flashbacks)
- Old Demons, Part One
- Freaky Giles Day
- Triggers
- In Pieces on the Ground, Part Two
- In Pieces on the Ground, Part Three
- In Pieces on the Ground, Part Four
- Own It, Part Two
- Own It, Part Three
- Own It, Part Five
