Flash challenge: mortality rate

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Boy, this took me to an unexpectedly sad place...

Title: Mortality Rate
Rating: PG
Words: 250
Character: Xander
Prompt: The Prom flash challenge 'the lowest mortality rate of any graduating class in Sunnydale history'
A/N: all credit to buffy.wikia.com for the student list!

Comments

[snogged]

Oh Xander...
*hugs him*

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Sigh... Thank you!

[gillo]

That works beautifully - and the names are so evocative - especially those whose later fate we know. Very nice writing.

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Thank you! I hate to think what the other mortality rates were like...

[deird1]

*sniffles*

[brutti_ma_buoni]

*passes tissues*

Thanks!

[slaymesoftly]

Wow - different look at what was mostly presented as a happy occasion. Good job.

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Thank you! I love this episode because it's so happy, but this prompt undercut that somehow.

[rebcake]

Yeah. Actually, it's the other side of the coin that makes this line so evocative for me, which you've captured beautifully here. The results of Graduation Day immediately put the lie to it...but first time viewers don't know that. For now, seeing the list of the unlucky and the reckless carries enough of a sting, starting (or ending) with Jesse.

Mmmm. Bittersweet. My favorite.

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Thank you kindly! I'm glad it chimes with what you hoped for with the prompt. It certainly worked to make me reconsider this scene a little.