Wool Over My Eyes ~ (1/1)

[clawofcat]

Here's the next fic in my series of prompt-inspired shorts. I decided to be a bit experimental on the POV in this one, which accounts for my use of the second person. I've seen girlpire do it before (with great skill, I might add) and wanted to try it myself. You can let me know if you thought it worked well. Jury's still out on my end.

Title: Wool

Comments

[missus_grace]

Yowza! Great kinky sex between Dawn and Xander! And the feely, thinky parts were poingnant as well.

Well done!

[clawofcat]

Thanks :) We see so much BDSM in this fandom that's extreme, disempowering and generally unpleasant. I wanted to write a story that explored how there can be times when you forge strength through pain and you're able to reclaim the disempowerment you feel in life. Dawn confronts her fears and her pain here with the help of Xander. It's a different sort of strength that I thought was important to explore.

Glad you liked it. More prompty fics to come soon.

[katiekat641]

Beautiful. Kinky and poignant.

[clawofcat]

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. There can be a softness to BDSM when you eliminate the power dynamics of dominance and submission. Here, Dawn is able to explore in a safe space (with someone she trusts) things that are difficult for her to process and cope with.

Did you see that I posted a fic in response to your prompt? I never got a comment from you.

[snowpuppies]

Nice!

Very.

I love the setting, the soft, warm darkness of the cloak closet, almost uterine in the way it isolates Dawn and Xander from the world.

And I love how you used the scarf, connected it to Tara, and the restraints - I do love restraints - and...yeah, you hit a lot of my kinks, here.

Also, the second person works well, I think. Makes things much more personal, IMHO.

Thanks *so* much - this was truly wonderful to read.

[clawofcat]

I love the setting, the soft, warm darkness of the cloak closet, almost uterine in the way it isolates Dawn and Xander from the world.
Thanks! I really like putting characters in unusual places to carry out their sex acts. It gives me the opportunity to use the space to tell the story. The coat room almost becomes a third character. I love how you describe it as uterine. That's so cool!

And I love how you used the scarf, connected it to Tara
I wanted there to be some element of constancy to Dawn's encounters with Xander. The scarf works nicely because it makes her feel safe and loved. It becomes especially poignant because the particular tragedy that's bothering Dawn - the death of Willow's g/f, Priscilla the Slayer - is the same fate that took Tara away, too. It's one big cyclical thingy.

I do love restraints - and...yeah, you hit a lot of my kinks, here.Awesome! Bonus points

[snowpuppies]

I get the feeling that not many people on my flist will read it because of the pairing, though. Bah.

It absolutely boggles my mind how many people will read mediocre and even utterly crappy fanfic because OMG!It's my OTP!!! and will give wonderfully written, thoughtful fiction a miss because it's the 'wrong pairing'. I mean WTF? people, WTF?

You can imagine how I feel - probably 70-80% of what I write are 'rare' and 'unusual' and 'unpopular' pairings. But I finally decided that I was going to write what I wanted - I like nearly ALL the BtVS/Ats characters and I want to explore each of them and how they relate with others - and if people read, then fine, if not, it's really their loss.

I actually find your choice of this pairing a little strange since I just wrote a Dawn/Xander ( Epilogue) a few weeks ago, and had never written it before. It actually makes a lot of sense, IMHO

[clawofcat]

Well, you know where I stand on the matter. I write all sorts of pairings and will continue to do so as the whim strikes me. It'd just be nice if my readers would take the journey with me, regardless of who's having sex with whom.

The way I chose the pairing was anything but scientific. I thought, "Okay, self. What guy and what girl does Snowy like that I've never written together? She likes Dawn. She likes Xander. Alrighty. Dawn/Xander it is." Pretty simple.

I didn't know that you'd recently wrote a Dawn/Xander yourself. I must have missed it. Will go check it out and comment tomorrow.

[louise39]

I like Dawn. She was the whiney vulnerable teen, the unknowable key and the angry young adult and she is still working through her strange life. It is fitting that Xander should be her companion.
[I recall that moment in S.7 when they had that tender 'special' talk.]

I like the use of Tara's soft, knitted scarf to help Dawn deal with her brittle, surreal reality. Priscilla's violent death was just another jolt.

I'm also glad this story places an emphasis on the safety that Dawn feels with Xander.

[clawofcat]

I like Dawn a whole lot. She's definately one of my top 3 favorite female characters to write. So many bad things have happened to her, but she copes and processses very differently than Buffy. There's a lot less anger in Dawn and she reaches out to people to help her. In many ways, I find her to be more human, if not better adjusted, compared to Buffy and Faith.

It is fitting that Xander should be her companion.
Honestly, it's not a pairing I've ever really thought about before, but I can definately see it working. That tender moment in S7 is a good canon example that lays the groundwork for their dynamic here. Xander's a bit darker and edgier here, but he still offers her that support and clearly cares for her like we knew he did years before.

I like the use of Tara's soft, knitted scarf to help Dawn deal with her brittle, surreal reality. Priscilla's violent death was just another jolt.Thanks. The scarf was always part of the original concept, but as I went along I decided it should be Tara's. Priscilla and Willow were also not

[ellan_vannin]

Wow. I don't have a problem sending Xander to the "toppy" place in my head, but I rarely read fic that makes it seem credible. I think you've accomplished that exceptionally well here with the combination of the unique POV getting us inside Dawn's head and the spare dialog that sounds true to Xander's character.

Independent of the (very fine) characterization, however, I love (love, LOVE) how you took the BDSM to a trust place rather than a power struggle place. (A fact which you've already explained in these comments, but as it's a personal fave of mine, had to comment on it again!)

[clawofcat]

I don't have a problem sending Xander to the "toppy" place in my head, but I rarely read fic that makes it seem credible.
Wow, thanks. I hardly ever read fics with Xander in them at all, but it's great to hear that my Xander seemed credible. He's pretty quiet throughout most of this, since we're so entrenched in Dawn's POV. I guess I did my job if you were still able to get a strong sense of his characterization despite the limitations of the POV. Yay!

I love (love, LOVE) how you took the BDSM to a trust place rather than a power struggle place.Oh, gosh. Don't even get me started on how people twist this stuff around so that it just becomes a self-indulgent exercise in "ZOMG, dirtybadwrong!" On a personal note, that has never been my experience. No doubt, people do engage in extreme play like some of the stuff shown in fics, but it often steps outside the realm of reality for me. I've wanted to write something like this for a long time, and probably will explore it again in the future, just to make a point and say "Hey, guys. Put