Comments | clawofcat: Off Route 17 ~ Part II

clawofcat

Off Route 17 ~ Part II

Nov 24, 2008 20:51

Title: Off Route 17
Author: ClawofCat
Timing: Season 6, Post Flooded
Rating: R
Pairing: Buffy/Angel
Warnings: Sexual situations

Words: 8,325
Summary: “Something stable, something familiar. She needs that. She needs land and not water.” Or, Buffy and Angel’s off screen encounter shortly after her resurrection. Part I here.

( They don’t touch when she slides under the covers. They don’t look at each other. She thought they could get past this, the awkward hurt, the shame, but Angel made sure the repeating pattern stayed the same )

one shot, fic, buffy/angel, off route 17

Comments 31

only_passenger November 25 2008, 14:31:03 UTC

“Oh, it gets better. There’s always the peanut gallery to chime in on my financial woes, too. Cue the hair-brained suggestions. I mean, who charges innocent people for saving their lives?”

“Actually…”i laughed so hard at this. pitch perfect ( ... )

only_passenger November 25 2008, 14:35:50 UTC

oh, one more thing i forgot to say! i discovered a new pass-kink reading this story, one i totally didn't know i had, but you wrote, and now i know.

it's angel describing sex--to himself in thought or out loud--with the word fuck.

oh fucking god. *melts*

clawofcat November 25 2008, 18:42:18 UTC

LOL. Angel is such a stuck up, puritanical thing, fuck is like "oooh, did I say that?" I loved it when Buffy busted his ass on enjoying carnage and mayhem. He sulked.

Btw - when E sent me the beta'd version back she was like, "I don't think you've ever faded to black on a sex scene!" I was thinking about doing the whole nine yards, but I sort of ran out of steam and I felt it would be excessive. More sex wouldn't have added anything to the fic at that point. It would have been filler, and I hate filler. But, I will someday write Buffy and the bucket ;D

clawofcat November 25 2008, 18:38:25 UTC

i laughed so hard at this (re: charging $ for life saveage).
Heh, me too! There were actually a few instances where I chuckled, like the "death and taxes" line and Buffy morosely watching the Hooter's owl bounce around (I actually saw that very thing during my road trip). Something that I feel really good about is that, to me, this fic sounds like canon. I tend to skew my Buffy toward depresso land, but the show really was infused with humor, especially at this early stage in S6 when Buffy never hesitated to throw in a self-depricating line here and there. This Buffy is funny, and happy, and in love, but also critical and miserable and sad and angry, and maybe a little bit hopeful. I feel like I sort of ran her around the racecourse on this one, just to see how she would take to all this emotion. She did well! *pats her*

I really liked angel and buffy talking in the skating rink.Thanks. I never really consider dialogue my forte (though i've got a sold grasp of it), but they sure do a lot of talking. I thought I did a good job keeping ( ... )

Thread 6

moscow_watcher November 25 2008, 15:34:15 UTC

I love your story. I have a question: the mention of The Price is Right was intended as a reference to the events of Intervention it's just a coincidence?

clawofcat November 25 2008, 18:17:18 UTC

Thanks! I'm glad you do. I put a lot of work into this particular fic. So many things could have happened between Buffy and Angel, but I wrote this with a very Spuffy aim in mind. I tried to piece together a scenario that showed how she could have been driven into the arms of an enemy turned ally, into Spike's.

As for The Price is Right reference, that was completely coincidental. I don't think Buffy was present for that exchange between Spike and Glory. I put it in mostly because that's what's on in my timezone at 11AM on a weekday, and it tied in nicely to their previous conversation about finances (and Buffy's poor handeling of them).

moscow_watcher November 25 2008, 20:21:39 UTC

I don't think Buffy was present for that exchange between Spike and Glory.

No, of course she wasn't. I meant writer's all-seing eye and ironic contraposition of Spike's gleeful abandon and Angel's quiet desperation.

I put it in mostly because that's what's on in my timezone at 11AM on a weekday, and it tied in nicely to their previous conversation about finances (and Buffy's poor handeling of them).

Oh, I see. Interpretation is a bitch! :)

Thanks for explaining! *smoochies*

louise39 November 25 2008, 19:44:20 UTC

The simmering feeling of loss goads her onward; he doesn’t know how to pull her back, how to exorcise this from her.
A perfect season 6 Buffy - lost, resentful, damaged and selfish all mixed together. Angel, the past love of her life, can't help her through this. The textbook reason she will turn to Spike; so he can try.

"I had to crawl out of my own coffin like some dead, evil thing, Angel. Like a vampire.”
Even I felt sorry for Angel after this remark.

Excellent story fitting into the pain and confusion of that time for Buffy.

loved this phrase,thoughts rush past him, a treacherous Audubon of reflection

clawofcat November 26 2008, 16:58:23 UTC

A perfect season 6 Buffy - lost, resentful, damaged and selfish all mixed together.
That's interesting that you found her so negative. Compared to how I usually write S6 Buffy (that is to say depressed, destructive and miserable), I thought that this Buffy was much more balanced. She's funny and quippy, trying so hard to be okay. She loves Angel and they share affection, even if it later becomes tense and uneasy. I imagine this Buffy as straddling a fence - she hasn't been pushed over into the darkness yet, but it's looming closer. She has the building blocks of what she'll become, but she's trying to hold onto the relationship and innocence she had with Angel. It's a slippery slope, for sure.

Even I felt sorry for Angel after this remark.
Heh. I love reader interpretation. I actually hadn't intended that comment to be a slight against Angel. I was trying to tie it back into the "Came back wrong" idea that's brought up later in the season. But, after you pointed it out, I can certainly see how that's got to sting Angel.

loved this ( ... )

hello_spikey November 26 2008, 21:59:13 UTC

So much to love.

It's heart-wrenching, of course, and I see what you mean about this being a subversive sort of Spuffy - I mean, Spike isn't even mentioned, but the audience knows where she will find the release she isn't getting...

Oh, and I had to just love Buffy's reaction to the mundanity of Oxnard. heeeeee. "Strippers or something".

clawofcat November 30 2008, 19:30:51 UTC

Thanks, M. Glad you enjoyed. I'm very fond of this fic, even if it was difficult to write.

I mean, Spike isn't even mentioned, but the audience knows where she will find the release she isn't getting...
Presence while being absent. It's totally a kink of mine. Do you have that? Non sex kinks, like style kinks or genre or element kinks? Yeah... I love having brain sex with authors.

Oh, and I had to just love Buffy's reaction to the mundanity of Oxnard.
Heh, that was Eowyn's great idea. We were speculating where Angel and Buffy go after the rink and she suggested Oxnard, since it was a canon reference.

hello_spikey November 30 2008, 20:04:19 UTC

Do you have that? Non sex kinks, like style kinks or genre or element kinks?

Sistah, please! I'm nothing /but/ style kinks.

Awkward dialog. Mmmm. Oh, and not describing actions I can alert the audience to obliquely. (Like describing someone on the ground instead of saying they fell. I try to fit it in whenever I can and I'm painfully self-aware when I'm doing it.)

And, lastly, divided affections. Which is something I love in your work and so many people seem loathe to do. (Fanfic often filled with One True Pairings and that.) No, I love it when person A loves person B AND person C who loves A and D... Mmmmmm. Why not be complicated?

clawofcat November 30 2008, 20:35:01 UTC

I should start a meme on style kinks. It's so much fun to read about what twangs you just so stylistically as a reader or writer. A newish one for me is love for 2nd person, since it's a bit rare and such a personal POV. *curls toes*

serendipityxxi November 27 2008, 05:13:04 UTC

I love this in SO many different ways from the ice rink to Oxnard (heee!) to how Buffy is so very very broken that not even Angel can fix her, Angel's comparison of her return to Darla's and Buffy's comparison of her return to Angel's and the talk of how they left her in her grave to claw her way out like a common vamp, the mention of what he gave up for her in IWRY and how it was stupid, and how she just wants to FEEL and he makes her look at him and draws her back into the moment I could HEAR him murmuring "Be here with me" whereas Spike who doesn't know her as well or perhaps I should say who knows her in a different way lets her get lost in what they're doing. I loved the bit about how she wants him to bring her back to life (the direct line I will admit made me turn on the Evanescence song LOL) and it's just so very very THEM, the actions, the emotions, the dialogue! I've been waiting for a post-ep fic like this for a very long time! Well done :)

clawofcat November 30 2008, 20:20:21 UTC

Wow. Thanks so much for your in-depth review. It's always great to hear which details resonated a lot with my readers. I'm a canon whore, so I love bringing in references that are familiar and locations we recognize.

I loved the bit about how she wants him to bring her back to life (the direct line I will admit made me turn on the Evanescence song LOL)
Oh, I hadn't even thought of the song! That entire set-up was really driven by the content of the movie they were watching, which is called Quills. It's one of my favs. Winslet's character is killed (as I described) and her love interest (who's a priest) visits her body and when he kisses her and she revives. They then consumate their relationship, but we later find out it's all a dream sequence. I thought the entire circumstance would really resonate with Buffy because of the parallels. Definately check it out if you can. It has a fabulous cast with Geoffrey Rush as the Marquis de Sade and Michael Cane as the villain.

serendipityxxi December 1 2008, 00:58:50 UTC

Y'know that's a movie I totally intended to see when it first came out and then I somehow never got around to. *adds it to the rent list*