Comments | slaying: [025 - action & written]

slaying

[025 - action & written]

Oct 05, 2009 06:50

[Buffy is sitting outside one of the window's of house forty-seven, despite the rain. Her back is against the wall and she looks over her shoulder every so often--an uncertain frown bending her mouth. The room was empty and it was going to be empty every time she looked into it, no matter how much she expected otherwise ( Read more... )

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[written] the_ex_watcher October 5 2009, 19:03:02 UTC

[He just heard, so he knows who Buffy's talking about, and his reply is understanding.]

She's a strong young woman surrounded with friends and people who love her. Not to mention, she's your sister. She'll be fine.

[written] slaying October 6 2009, 07:02:33 UTC

Exactly--my sister. She needs me.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 6 2009, 08:17:45 UTC

She knows how to be strong and take care of herself. She's learned that from you.

[written] slaying October 6 2009, 15:18:25 UTC

She was from further along, timeline-wise. Who knows what she's gone back to.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 6 2009, 15:22:39 UTC

Probably a future version of yourself, for starters?

[written] slaying October 6 2009, 15:27:46 UTC

And apparently a future-version of Faith who tried to kill me, but she wasn't exactly forthcoming on the details with that one.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 6 2009, 16:32:14 UTC

Really? Considering how much Faith has clearly changed, that's rather surprising.

Still, it's probably Fate or Destiny or some such. The Light Slayer and the Dark Slayer. I wouldn't be surprised to see a prophecy somewhere on the subject.

[written] slaying October 6 2009, 17:03:44 UTC

You make it sound like my life is destined to be one really horrible Star Wars sequel.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 6 2009, 17:09:51 UTC

You're the Queen of Slayers. Cliches seem to come with the territory. I mean you can't look at Angel's souled life and honestly say that it isn't a perfect trope of the Hero with a Troubled Past. I will freely admit I suspect the Powers That Be of watching too much daytime television.

[Oh look it's irony! Insert canned laugh track here.]

[written] slaying October 6 2009, 17:11:46 UTC

Better the big scary Powers That Be flipping channels, instead of these wacko scientists. At least you usually got a chance to fight back, at home.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 6 2009, 17:24:06 UTC

I suppose it depends on how one looks at it. At home, as you put it, I always wondered how much of my life was my own fault and how much was the result of the Powers. Here I'm more certain we're each just another experiment.

And there goes my self-resolution not to sounds deliberately depressing. I'm sorry.

[written] slaying October 7 2009, 06:45:23 UTC

No--don't bother apologizing. You can probably pretty much guess that a big chunk of my life has revolved around whether I win this or that one because of myself or because some old bearded man wrote it down in a book, once.

Re: [written] the_ex_watcher October 7 2009, 10:19:44 UTC

I'm surprised that bothers you. I would have thought that ignoring rules and prophecies, breaking through conventionally accepted wisdom, is rather your modus operandi by now.

But to address the point itself, I don't think any victory, no matter how predetermined, is entirely the responsibility of fate. The Powers That Be set up the obstacle course, and they can make it impossible to complete, but ultimately navigating it successfully is to the credit of the individual.

[written - suddenly filtered] slaying October 7 2009, 14:52:29 UTC

I died when I was sixteen because one of those moldy old books said I was going to. Of course it bothers me.

[written - filtered] the_ex_watcher October 7 2009, 15:03:55 UTC

[There's a pause before he writes.] Of course. I'm sorry.

But you came back, as well. And that was entirely to the credit of your friend Xander, wasn't it? Even assuming the maximum amount of interference from the Powers, that they deliberately put Xander in that school with you, no one made him help you.

What we cannot achieve, our failures and moments of weakness, they may be a part of us or they may be a result of intervention. But I believe that every triumph, whether it's acing a test, staking a vampire, or saving the world, cannot be achieved simply by predetermination. We choose to study for the test, or train to stake vampires, or push ourselves to the limit, and we as humans can take credit for that.

[written - filtered] slaying October 7 2009, 15:08:37 UTC

[It's a good thing that she is writing this, because it quells the urge to go all argumentative. God, she just wants to tear someone a new one. Preferably a vamp, and not an actual ally. But something combative has definitely worked its way into a fury inside the Slayer. She could probably use another General to kill.

The written word gives her time to think; instead of flying off the rails, she reconsiders.]

There were some times when I felt like it was me acting, and not a...a lineage or a destiny. Like--[and there's a bitter Buffy chuckle (you know the kind, Wes) as she writes this]--saving Dawn. The second time I died.

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