Reading "Stay" - Accidental Fanmail to Anaross (and a Ficlet)

[feliciacraft]

I was leaving a heart-felt but polite, not to mention brief review for anaross’s “Stay” on EF or AO3 like a normal person when all of a sudden, this began to pour out. And out. And out. In the interest of self healing, I’ve decided to unstopper this repressed memory and release it from the bottle. Because it would be way too embarrassing to post half of

Comments

Re: Bernal Heights

[feliciacraft]

I would LOVE to read a story of Spike and Buffy spending an evening together, especially from you!

I like to think that Buffy would have eventually figured out that if your ultimate dream is to be normal, then normal you are decidedly not. And at some point in your life, you have to stop trying to be who you are not, and accept who you are instead, and make a life with what you're given, and recognize the truth and the beauty and the GIFT of it all, despite everything.

And so, in the ficlet when Buffy muses on some of the couply things she does with Spike being almost normal, it is not with a wisp of glass-half-empty type of longing, but with amazement, with self awareness, that the two of them, each being as far from normal as possible, and even more improbable as a couple (the Slayer and the Slayer of Slayers), can still achieve something so normal together. Something akin to inner peace. Simple, domestic bliss. Even if, well, especially if it's followed by a round of demon slayage in the moonlight.

I've been told that my Buffy is wise beyond her years but, hey, I'm more than willing to impart some of my age-earned wisdom to contribute to a beloved character's happiness. :)

Re: Bernal Heights

[anaross]

Well, that's it, isn't it-- for her, "normal" is a gift. How wonderful to just do normal things.

And as for "wise," well, if being able to accept "incredibly hot guy who adores you" into your life is wise, yes, Buffy is FINALLY wise!
It is interesting how those who live in great excitement are the ones who end up most content with "normal".

Re: Bernal Heights

[feliciacraft]

Well, I have a S5 Buffy that accepts Spike following the end of "Intervention", and between then and her fatal leap off of Glory's tower, first inducts him into the Scooby gang, then consummates her relationship with him. But it's not as simple as accepting an "incredibly hot guy who adores you". That guy happens to be a soulless vampire who has repeatedly gone after her life, her friends. Even a truce, let alone a budding romance, would go against Council indoctrination of vampires being nothing more than demons that take over the physical shells of the people they kill, and that a soul is a prerequisite for love and morality and all that jazz. And that is without bringing in the history of her disastrous affair with Angel/Angelus.

So a level-headed dive into a relationship with a soulless vampire? It would make Buffy either incredibly foolish or incredibly wise. Since I wrote it, I obviously think the latter. :) And I'm going to prove it in a continuation of the 'verse in a S6 rewrite (the first chapter of which will be posted on EF as soon as I've made a banner...Fanfic these days require so much more work than mere writing).

And yeah, that "normal" obsession of Buffy's... Grass is always greener on the other side and all that. Buffy accuses Spike of loving her because she's unattainable, but she doesn't see that the allure of a "normal" life to her is exactly that, its unattainability (yuck, that's a clumsy word). It is true that great excitement is not necessarily desired or desirable, though. It's like that Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." Well, Buffy and Spike do, and thank God--I mean Joss--for that.

Re: Bernal Heights

[anaross]

That's why I only write S6 and after-- once she's already overcome her squickiness. I don't know how to deal with her before that.