Genfic minis returns!
For beer_good_foamy, at the revived genfic_minis round of Minor Characters: Hurray! Resoundingly silly ficlet to celebrate: Hurray!
Title Defining Characteristics
Author Brutti ma buoni
Character(s) Vi, OC Slayerettes
Rating PG
Word Count 510
Prompt For Beer Good, who wanted hats, slayers and demons, sans Bryan Adams and cranberry sauce. Having been badly scarred by a surprise!Bryan Adams tribute band last autumn, I was delighted to comply.
It was tough, being a senior Slayer. One of the Choosers. One of the Sunnydale elite. An example to the others. A pathfinder. An awesome responsibility.
But cool too, obviously.
It was, for example, deeply cool that the others looked up to her. Asked her for guidance. Okay, also weird, but anyone who’d survived the Hellmouth had also learnt a lot of scary, useful stuff that the newbies could benefit from. Even newbies who had joined, like, two months after Vi. She had seniority, and always would.
No, the thing that Vi had a problem with was the hats.
Thing was, with four hundred new Slayers joining after Sunnydale, there was competition afoot. Buffy was Buffy. Faith was Faith. Everyone else was part of the blur of Other Slayers. So they were looking to be different. Kennedy was The Shouty Authoritarian One Who Actually Does Know All the Moves. Dilly was The Angelic One With the Dirty Mouth. Caridad was The One All the Guys Stare At Who Sometimes Snaps and Snapped One of Them That One Time.
Vi was The Kooky Sweet One With the Hats. It was okay. She would have liked to be cooler, or tougher, or hotter, or some temperature other than tepid. But it was okay. Just, hats are a prop, and there was a lot of call for props in the distinguishing-yourself-from-other-Slayers stakes. Vi’s hat supremacy was under serious challenge.
Vera, to take an unrandom example, was The Mysterious Russian With the Beret. Which made her seem like some kind of international spy, and was a good look. Unlike, say, Cassandra, who could have gone seriously dramatic goddess, but had instead decided to be The Idiot Who Thinks A Small Glittery Top Hat Looks Good On Her. All day, every day. Even when Slaying (until it fell off. Which it always, always did.)
Now, Cara, who'd apparently gone with The Other One Who Wears Floppy Woollen Hats as her so-called signature style, was in trouble, and Vi was going to help. Seriously. She'd only briefly considered leaving her deadly hat rival to stew in her own naïve juices.
"Cara? You have a weapon?"
The voice that came back was muffled, but negative.
"Okay, that's a little unfortunate. It's best to attack the Bezoar from inside, so another time you want to take something with you while you're being swallowed." As Kennedy always said, It's important not to lose an opportunity for instruction. Especially when you're pissed with the kids.
"Mhhmm phhmm," said Cara, which Vi assumed meant approximately I have no intention of ever being in a position to put your advice into practice as this is the last Bezoar I have any intention of fighting, always assuming I don't get digested while you're taking your time with this educational crap.
Vi took off her hat before diving in. She took an axe as well as a good hunting knife - not ideal, not enough space to swing, but if you're hacking through masses of Bezoar tissue, it's good to have some leverage. Gross, necessary slicing occurred. Vi was a hero, of course, and Cara learned a valuable lesson regarding access to weapons in times of crisis.
Tragically, Cara's hat did not survive the Bezoar.
***
Title Defining Characteristics
Author Brutti ma buoni
Character(s) Vi, OC Slayerettes
Rating PG
Word Count 510
Prompt For Beer Good, who wanted hats, slayers and demons, sans Bryan Adams and cranberry sauce. Having been badly scarred by a surprise!Bryan Adams tribute band last autumn, I was delighted to comply.
It was tough, being a senior Slayer. One of the Choosers. One of the Sunnydale elite. An example to the others. A pathfinder. An awesome responsibility.
But cool too, obviously.
It was, for example, deeply cool that the others looked up to her. Asked her for guidance. Okay, also weird, but anyone who’d survived the Hellmouth had also learnt a lot of scary, useful stuff that the newbies could benefit from. Even newbies who had joined, like, two months after Vi. She had seniority, and always would.
No, the thing that Vi had a problem with was the hats.
Thing was, with four hundred new Slayers joining after Sunnydale, there was competition afoot. Buffy was Buffy. Faith was Faith. Everyone else was part of the blur of Other Slayers. So they were looking to be different. Kennedy was The Shouty Authoritarian One Who Actually Does Know All the Moves. Dilly was The Angelic One With the Dirty Mouth. Caridad was The One All the Guys Stare At Who Sometimes Snaps and Snapped One of Them That One Time.
Vi was The Kooky Sweet One With the Hats. It was okay. She would have liked to be cooler, or tougher, or hotter, or some temperature other than tepid. But it was okay. Just, hats are a prop, and there was a lot of call for props in the distinguishing-yourself-from-other-Slayers stakes. Vi’s hat supremacy was under serious challenge.
Vera, to take an unrandom example, was The Mysterious Russian With the Beret. Which made her seem like some kind of international spy, and was a good look. Unlike, say, Cassandra, who could have gone seriously dramatic goddess, but had instead decided to be The Idiot Who Thinks A Small Glittery Top Hat Looks Good On Her. All day, every day. Even when Slaying (until it fell off. Which it always, always did.)
Now, Cara, who'd apparently gone with The Other One Who Wears Floppy Woollen Hats as her so-called signature style, was in trouble, and Vi was going to help. Seriously. She'd only briefly considered leaving her deadly hat rival to stew in her own naïve juices.
"Cara? You have a weapon?"
The voice that came back was muffled, but negative.
"Okay, that's a little unfortunate. It's best to attack the Bezoar from inside, so another time you want to take something with you while you're being swallowed." As Kennedy always said, It's important not to lose an opportunity for instruction. Especially when you're pissed with the kids.
"Mhhmm phhmm," said Cara, which Vi assumed meant approximately I have no intention of ever being in a position to put your advice into practice as this is the last Bezoar I have any intention of fighting, always assuming I don't get digested while you're taking your time with this educational crap.
Vi took off her hat before diving in. She took an axe as well as a good hunting knife - not ideal, not enough space to swing, but if you're hacking through masses of Bezoar tissue, it's good to have some leverage. Gross, necessary slicing occurred. Vi was a hero, of course, and Cara learned a valuable lesson regarding access to weapons in times of crisis.
Tragically, Cara's hat did not survive the Bezoar.
***