FIC: Thought You Should Know - Chapter 20

[angearia]

Title: Thought You Should Know - Chapter 20
Summary: Spike wrote a letter to Buffy before the final battle in Not Fade Away. What happens when Buffy finally discovers Spike is back from the great beyond?
Characters/Pairing: Spike/Buffy
Genre: Romance, Angst
Chapter Rating: R for Violence, Blood and Adult Situations
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of

Comments

[angearia]

*shudders*

Hee! I don't think you'll have to worry on this score. ;)

*shrugs* It was Faith who hit the Decoy.

Is a police officer restraining a suspect for questioning considered torture? Plus punching a Slayer is kinda the equivalent of pinching a normal person. A slap to the face almost.

I was trying to play with the idea that also equates Tara's memory being violated by Willow as rape. Forcing the truth out of someone, their inner truth, violating their right to privacy - forcing confessions can be just as emotionally painful as physical torture. Mental and emotional betrayal. That there are different forms of torture than just breaking out the blades. Angelus would appreciate it - stripping away a Decoy girl's only secrets when she's already been forced to abandon and forget her own identity. It's the final step in violating the Decoy as a person - "What you want doesn't matter."

As to the Truth Spell, I don't get it. Did it work? Did the Decoy changed her mind after the spell stopped working? Or The Immortal had somehow made the Decoy immune to the spell?

There'll be more follow-up later. Making sense of the senseless.

[moscow_watcher]

Forcing the truth out of someone, their inner truth, violating their right to privacy - forcing confessions can be just as emotionally painful as physical torture. Mental and emotional betrayal. That there are different forms of torture than just breaking out the blades.

When a person agrees to work undercover he can't not understand that his loyalty will be sorely tested.
In RL it's a polygraph, in a fantasy world it's a truth spell. If a person has guts to face the consequences of working undercover, he agrees.

It's the final step in violating the Decoy as a person - "What you want doesn't matter."

I think, it would have been a violation only if she hadn't agreed voluntarily to work undercover.

JMO. :)

[angearia]

This seems to follow the same line that the Dolls in the Dollhouse can sign away their basic rights, though. Some argue that you can't volunteer for enforced slavery. And even if you agree, does that make what's done to you right?

I don't think the Decoy is purely a victim in the truth spell scene (obviously), but I don't think Buffy and Co. have the right to forcibly manipulate her mind and will. Is there no right to a secret place inside you, yours alone?

[angearia]

Had some more thoughts on this. :)

A polygraph is a passive tool. It doesn't affect the will of the person, merely observes. A truth spell forces truth, removes all delicate nuances of privacy and shared knowledge.

[moscow_watcher]

Like Buffy would say, it's complicated. :)

I'm not an expert, but, according to Wiki, there are positions in the intelligence services, where regular polygraph tests are required. Apparently, people can refuse to accept these positions if they don't want to undergo tests. It's voluntary.

And it's understandable. When on the one tip of the scale is a person's privacy and on the other tip are human lives, I think that the violation of the privacy is the lesser of two evils.

But, of course, it's not that easy. A person who agrees to work undercover has to be subjected to a thorough psychological evaluation. There must be serious training. Apparently, Buffy skipped that part.