Fic Rec
It's been quite a while since I've done a proper rec post, but with feeling so gross the last week, I haven't done much except read (and occassionally write) so I've had the chance to catch up on some stuff I've had open in my tabs for a while now. In particular...
Accursed by FlightsofFancy | R | ~74k to date (WIP)
Not another S5 AU! I hear you cry, but wait, trust me, this one's awesome. Imagine Spike doesn't have his big moment of revelation re his feelings for Buffy. Imagine instead he slowly continues to insinuate his way into the Scoobies' lives because he's, well, lonely. Imagine Dawn isn't a mystical key, and instead of a hell goddess, the Big Bad is a choas mage whose spell gets way out of hand. Suddenly, the gory hallowe'en tableaux Anya is selling in the Magic Box are starting to come true, an invisible monster is stalking Dawn, Buffy is dreaming about peacock feathers and both people and demons across Sunnydale are running into some unbelievable bad luck. And in fact, Buffy doesn't believe it. The only problem is, with her mom sick and her friends run ragged, she's in so far over her head she can't even see daylight. Or is that just all the Southern California snow clouds?
What FlightsofFancy is giving us here is a fic that started off life as a list of 10 random items, and has become a gem of ensemble story-telling, with a cracking plot and beautiful, slow-build Spuffy feature. She has a lovely, light-handed, show-not-tell approach to the characters' emotional arcs, and character voices that've made me green with envy on more than one occasion. Even more impressive, this is the first work of fiction she's written since she was in single digits! Personally, I think this might be one of the most under-rated WIPs out there right now (some of the chapters currently have only 2 or 3 comments on them), which is why I feel particularly compelled to pimp. Go! Read! And especially, comment.
Excerpt:
Spike scoffs. “D’you even hear yourself? I saved Dawn. That’s a good thing!”
“Precisely!” Giles’ voice is unyielding. “A good thing. And you, Spike, are an evil thing. No matter what you do, what you tell yourself, or what you’ve come to believe, at heart you are a creature of darkness and someday you will hurt her.”
“Her? Buffy or Dawn? No!” Spike cuts Giles’ rebuttal off. “I wouldn’t hurt either of them. Any of them! They aren’t my enemy and they aren’t my prey. I know them. I’m fucking invested. I wouldn’t be doing all this if I weren’t invested. I wouldn’t have run into the sodding sunlight, if I wasn’t serious about this!”
“Just because you don't intend to hurt doesn't mean you won't. It is your very nature.”
“I control me! I do! And I'm saying, I know them and I won't be hurting them.”
“Yes, you know them. That’s what makes this whole situation so difficult. We ran into a similar conflict, a while ago, when deciding what to do with you. When you first got the chip, and then after you betrayed us to Adam. We discussed the merits of dusting you.”
Giles’ voice is almost clinical.
Spike’s body vibrates like a tight wire. “Obviously, the jury was not in favor.”
[...]
Spike’s face has sharpened into extreme planes and angles, making him look harsher and crueler than he has in a long time. His eyes are cut glass, piercing back into Giles.
“You know what? I’m not gonna stand around and listen to you spew this bullshit. Fact is, this isn’t even about me. S’not even really about the Slayer.” Spike’s lips curl back as he goes for the kill. “It’s about you. You and that Ethan bloke.”
Giles flinches.
“Yeah. I don’t know the whole story there, but I can read between the fucking lines. You were mates, once, yeah? And he did you wrong, stabbed you in the back maybe. You, in your ‘inexperience,’ let the bastard go when you could’ve ended him. Now, he’s back, raising all sorts of hell and getting people killed and the guilt of it is just eating you up.”
Giles has gone white and wide-eyed. His fists clench and unclench at his sides. Spike doesn’t give a fuck. He’ll push the envelope as far as he fucking wants to.
“You think that’s me and the Slayer? You think we’re like you and that Ethan fellow? That she'll trust me and I'll fuck her over and she'll be too conflicted to handle her shit? Well, wake up, Rupert. The Slayer isn’t some weak-stomached school lad, as I’m sure you were. She isn’t going to hesitate to dust me if that’s what needs to happen. Or did you somehow forget Angelus? If she can stab the love of her sodding life through the heart and send him to hell to get shit done, then what makes you think I’m gonna give her pause? She doesn’t need your interventions.”
Spike pauses, letting the charged silence draw out just that little bit longer. “She doesn’t need your help to be the Slayer. She might need you, but not for that. Truth is, you're just a sad little man so desperate for a role in her life that you’re making roles up. Experience and observation! She needs your support not your meddling!”
Spike sneers, taking in Giles’ shell-shocked expression. Maybe the man hadn’t even realized what he was doing. Spike knows in his gut that he isn't wrong about Ethan.
Through thin bloodless lips, Giles hisses, “And you, who have been her enemy, think you're equipped to support her?”
“I think what we’re doing works for us and isn't any of your damn business.”
Abruptly done with the conversation, Spike storms off, leaving Rupert to sputter in his wake.
Accursed by FlightsofFancy | R | ~74k to date (WIP)
Not another S5 AU! I hear you cry, but wait, trust me, this one's awesome. Imagine Spike doesn't have his big moment of revelation re his feelings for Buffy. Imagine instead he slowly continues to insinuate his way into the Scoobies' lives because he's, well, lonely. Imagine Dawn isn't a mystical key, and instead of a hell goddess, the Big Bad is a choas mage whose spell gets way out of hand. Suddenly, the gory hallowe'en tableaux Anya is selling in the Magic Box are starting to come true, an invisible monster is stalking Dawn, Buffy is dreaming about peacock feathers and both people and demons across Sunnydale are running into some unbelievable bad luck. And in fact, Buffy doesn't believe it. The only problem is, with her mom sick and her friends run ragged, she's in so far over her head she can't even see daylight. Or is that just all the Southern California snow clouds?
What FlightsofFancy is giving us here is a fic that started off life as a list of 10 random items, and has become a gem of ensemble story-telling, with a cracking plot and beautiful, slow-build Spuffy feature. She has a lovely, light-handed, show-not-tell approach to the characters' emotional arcs, and character voices that've made me green with envy on more than one occasion. Even more impressive, this is the first work of fiction she's written since she was in single digits! Personally, I think this might be one of the most under-rated WIPs out there right now (some of the chapters currently have only 2 or 3 comments on them), which is why I feel particularly compelled to pimp. Go! Read! And especially, comment.
Excerpt:
Spike scoffs. “D’you even hear yourself? I saved Dawn. That’s a good thing!”
“Precisely!” Giles’ voice is unyielding. “A good thing. And you, Spike, are an evil thing. No matter what you do, what you tell yourself, or what you’ve come to believe, at heart you are a creature of darkness and someday you will hurt her.”
“Her? Buffy or Dawn? No!” Spike cuts Giles’ rebuttal off. “I wouldn’t hurt either of them. Any of them! They aren’t my enemy and they aren’t my prey. I know them. I’m fucking invested. I wouldn’t be doing all this if I weren’t invested. I wouldn’t have run into the sodding sunlight, if I wasn’t serious about this!”
“Just because you don't intend to hurt doesn't mean you won't. It is your very nature.”
“I control me! I do! And I'm saying, I know them and I won't be hurting them.”
“Yes, you know them. That’s what makes this whole situation so difficult. We ran into a similar conflict, a while ago, when deciding what to do with you. When you first got the chip, and then after you betrayed us to Adam. We discussed the merits of dusting you.”
Giles’ voice is almost clinical.
Spike’s body vibrates like a tight wire. “Obviously, the jury was not in favor.”
[...]
Spike’s face has sharpened into extreme planes and angles, making him look harsher and crueler than he has in a long time. His eyes are cut glass, piercing back into Giles.
“You know what? I’m not gonna stand around and listen to you spew this bullshit. Fact is, this isn’t even about me. S’not even really about the Slayer.” Spike’s lips curl back as he goes for the kill. “It’s about you. You and that Ethan bloke.”
Giles flinches.
“Yeah. I don’t know the whole story there, but I can read between the fucking lines. You were mates, once, yeah? And he did you wrong, stabbed you in the back maybe. You, in your ‘inexperience,’ let the bastard go when you could’ve ended him. Now, he’s back, raising all sorts of hell and getting people killed and the guilt of it is just eating you up.”
Giles has gone white and wide-eyed. His fists clench and unclench at his sides. Spike doesn’t give a fuck. He’ll push the envelope as far as he fucking wants to.
“You think that’s me and the Slayer? You think we’re like you and that Ethan fellow? That she'll trust me and I'll fuck her over and she'll be too conflicted to handle her shit? Well, wake up, Rupert. The Slayer isn’t some weak-stomached school lad, as I’m sure you were. She isn’t going to hesitate to dust me if that’s what needs to happen. Or did you somehow forget Angelus? If she can stab the love of her sodding life through the heart and send him to hell to get shit done, then what makes you think I’m gonna give her pause? She doesn’t need your interventions.”
Spike pauses, letting the charged silence draw out just that little bit longer. “She doesn’t need your help to be the Slayer. She might need you, but not for that. Truth is, you're just a sad little man so desperate for a role in her life that you’re making roles up. Experience and observation! She needs your support not your meddling!”
Spike sneers, taking in Giles’ shell-shocked expression. Maybe the man hadn’t even realized what he was doing. Spike knows in his gut that he isn't wrong about Ethan.
Through thin bloodless lips, Giles hisses, “And you, who have been her enemy, think you're equipped to support her?”
“I think what we’re doing works for us and isn't any of your damn business.”
Abruptly done with the conversation, Spike storms off, leaving Rupert to sputter in his wake.