Comments | clawofcat: Fic ~ The Hard Choices (1/1)

clawofcat

Fic ~ The Hard Choices (1/1)

Sep 01, 2008 18:38

Note to flist: My LJ cuts are fucked up. This is pissing me off a great deal. I am posting from a computer I usually don't use. It's possible the font and format of the story might be slightly different than normal. Apologies.

Title: The Hard Choices
Author: ClawofCat
Timing: Season 5, Forever
Rating: PG
Characters: Buffy, Angel, Joyce
Summary: Angel ( Read more... )

the hard choices, fantas_magoria, fic, gen fic

Comments 11

ellan_vannin September 1 2008, 23:22:27 UTC

Love this, btw, but am commenting re: lj-cut.

If you cut & paste from word processor and let lj "clean" it for you, you're screwed. Something about the code is getting lost in translation. You've probably already figured that part out, but the important thing is to NOT switch between RTF and HTML after you get your cut to work. I emailed lj support again, but despair of a response. They seem to feel like they've helped me out already and any more would be sparing the rod or something. *snarls*

clawofcat September 2 2008, 00:31:42 UTC

I did briefly get the cut to work yesterday, but when I tried it again today it when caphlooey. It's an incredible inconvenience and I'll continue to fiddle with it until I can (hopefully) get it to work. Luckily, I have more than one computer at my disposal. So, if things still are craptastic on my laptop, I can jump onto the communal PC and post from that.

Let's cross our fingers that the genuises at LJ command central can fix the problem soon. I'm getting testy. *flicks tail anxiously*

slaymesoftly September 1 2008, 23:51:49 UTC

Very powerful, sweetie. Your usual in-depth take on the emotions and layers that exist in these characters.

clawofcat September 2 2008, 00:54:52 UTC

Thanks. I was grasping at straws a bit with this one, since there really isn't very much to go by given how limited Angel and Joyce interact on the show. Of course, it was Spike's unique relationship with Joyce that made me consider what Angel may have thought of her, too :)

Your usual in-depth take on the emotions and layers that exist in these characters.
I know. I know. Doing the same old schtick. I need to get a new angel. Perhaps more fluff is in my future? *noooooo*

hello_spikey September 2 2008, 12:47:22 UTC

aaaaaaaaaaaaw

*pats the broodpire*

*sniffle* Joyce was awesome. A highly under-rated character.

clawofcat September 2 2008, 13:26:40 UTC

LOL. He is totally a broodpire. Guilt guilt guilt. I can just see him flogging himself the entire drive to Sunnydale.

Joyce... had her moments. I guess I'm more interested in her as a subject of fanfic (since she's not written about very much) than a character I really got into on the show. My favorite Joyce moments were when she was actively being momish, like "Get the hell away from my daughter!" or hanging out with Spike.

brunettepet September 3 2008, 23:39:58 UTC

Angel's take on Joyce is fascinating. She was wary of him from the very beginning, and that tension never left. You make an excellent case for her antipathy here: To think… he could have had both Summers women. To think he had nearly murdered them both. It would have been easy to kill Joyce, but that's not the main reason she disliked Angel. That was all about being a mother.

That last paragraph is haunting.

clawofcat September 4 2008, 02:05:48 UTC

Angel's take on Joyce is fascinating.
I'm glad you think so. In canon, we have Spike and Joyce, who interact relatively frequently and their relationship has been much explored in fandom. But, as far as I know, we've got nothing on the Angel-Joyce relationship, so I wanted to explore that a bit here. Angel being Angel, I imagine he would have a lot of guilt about his behavior toward her, which was less than stellar.

One canon moment between them that I did not reference in this piece (I think the only one) was from Lover's Walk, in which Joyce is in the kitchen listening to Spike commiserate about Dru when Angel shows up and demands to be let in. She refuses. I think this fic shows that it was certainly for good reason.

that's not the main reason she disliked Angel. That was all about being a mother.Joyce doesn't get to "mother" a lot on the show given how defiant Buffy is. Her authority is generally rebuked. But all of these scenes between her and Angel are just that - between her and Angel. She really steps up as the mother ( ... )

only_passenger September 21 2008, 17:40:40 UTC

this, this is really stunning. it reflects something i so admire in you as a writer: your thirst to find the buried stories. maybe it's your journalism background, but damn girl, you are a digger. and you're always coming up with treasure. it's amazing.

this small piece is so full. your words are economical. there's not fat to trim, yet it's all as fleshed out as it needs to be, giving the reader just a touch of a margin to let the story bleed into in a personal way, so that we get to leave a fingerprint on it. much of this is raw in an incredible way, the same way the body is raw.

absolutely incredible work.

clawofcat September 21 2008, 23:46:39 UTC

*smiles* I had a feeling you would like this. Taking little nuggets of canon to piece together a story that we never got to see on screen (but we know happened) is one of my favorite things to explore in fic. IMO, it's the closest we get to writing the show. I'm always curious about the secret lives and thoughts of people and objects. Joyce and Angel? Talk about an unexplored relationship.

this small piece is so full. your words are economical.
Thanks. I wanted to try something different with the first part and make it sparse. I'm always doing intense description and in a moment when two people are connecting after a long period of time and a loss like Buffy's, I really wanted the uneasiness and uncomfortableness of their conversation to stick. I think maybe that's what you mean about it being raw, like The Body. There are no words to hide behind here. It's just there. In your face.

Writing this fic also is what prompted me to sign up for the iwry_marathon. It's a B/A ficathon run by chrisleeoctaves. Reading your Bangel all those months ago made me soften a ( ... )

only_passenger September 21 2008, 23:54:16 UTC

yes, please hit me up for that story. believe it or not, i have never read a fitb (that comes to mind) from that episode, but have always wanted to read a good one, because it's intriguing to me.

i like b/a. i think i relate to angel a lot, which is why i have such a love/hate relationship with him. i see many things in him that i dislike about myself. this can make it hard for me to examine him too closely, like looking at the sun. but it also makes him interesting to me, specifically how he relates, because i'm constantly like, "oh honey, you fucked that up so terribly, and i understand exactly why".