Plot-bunny: Highlander/His Dark Materials

[marbleglove]

A few days ago I wrote a snippet that added deamons from the His Dark Materials universe into the Highlander universe. But the more I think on it, the more problematic that particular fusion is for immortals

Comments

[lyndseas]

It's a squitten! :D ...you do not want to know the story behind it. really. It will ruin the cuteness forever, or at least 5 minutes

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

I think that Harry's trying to keep Xander out of everything as much as he can. Yeah, intellectually he knows that Xander's older than he is, and knows a lot of magic; but because he never saw Xander as an adult, Xander acts younger than Harry expects old people to act, and magic is just a thing Xander does rather than a real passion (so he's much more likely to be talking about other things, or magic in vague terms, than talking in a way that would make Harry think of him as a mature wizard), it has a tendency to slip Harry's mind that Xander is more than just the surface image. Which has to be a pretty difficult thing to do, since they've soulgazed, but I have confidence that if anybody can do it, Harry can. Xander is kind of vaguely aware that a lot of people have issues with the mafia, so he takes care not to mention who he's working for or some of the things he sees; the way he talks about his job, Harry's sort of under the impression that he's doing wards for some rich guy who will never actually be attacked

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

Ooh, what was the soul gaze like? What did Xander see? What did Harry see? And does Xander get into soul gazes with other people now? Will he and Marcone see each other? Or maybe he and Michael see each other and that might really unnerve Xander.

I like the idea that Michael is so very good at being a decent human being that he unnerves Xander. Xander is just not used to people being so pure and good, both in the big fights and in day to day life.

Michael is pretty good about keeping his own counsel when necessary. Maybe he decides to just wait and see how things play out when he realizes that Xander works for Marcone and Harry doesn't know. But how would he find that out?

And I had forgotten about Murphy, but oh, Xander and a short blonde woman who can kick ass? I'm not sure how he would react but I'll bet however it is, it surprises Murphy.

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

I have no idea what anybody sees--although, everybody perceives soulgazes differently, so maybe he gets his as input from his former possessions? And remember, both verses operate on the same laws of magic in this multiverse, and Xander's certainly at a level of magic knowledge and use that means that he soulgazes people. His SOP is soulgazing everybody he might be going into battle with, because the last thing you want to do when preventing an apocalypse is accidentally get distracted by staring into your ally's eyes. Which, actually, he might not consider Harry to be in that group, since they have different jobs. But he definitely soulgazes Marcone and Hendricks, at least

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

Yeah, I was trying to think how he'd react to small, female, and kick-ass and I'm not sure either

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

Fighting like he expects her to be faster and stronger would mean not taking it easy, which...I don't know enough about how much you can tell about somebody while you're fighting them, but it might just come off as trying to overwhelm her with strength--though his body is initially the out of shape, pre-demon fighting version, so she might be more muscular than him in reality too. OTOH, he wasn't the only unenhanced person in SWCI, so it's not like he would necessarily fight that way

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

I was thinking of Xander being on the defensive: Murphy moves to strike and Xander is suddenly five feet away. He rolls with every punch because he doesn't expect to be able to just take a hit. Remember when Buffy was fighting Caleb? He wound up overpowering her until she changed to a style that didn't allow any of his strikes to hit. Hmm, I'm thinking through the power dynamics, even on the offensive... if you're thoroughly out classed in strength, all of your take downs have to involve leverage rather than overpowering

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

Ooh, you're right; I can see him being very much on the offensive, dodging a lot more than blocking, until he sees an opening, and then bam! suddenly strongly on the offensive. Also his fighting style is probably messed up in the beginning, because he doesn't have any muscle memory and his fighting style is still adapted for only having one eye and one leg being only marginally usable

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

If Murphy sparred with Xander when he first came through, when he was 16 (again), but then he goes off to do his thing and raise and redeem young warlocks, it could be a good ten years later and he is essentially someone she was once acquainted with. I've read the first few Dresden Files books but haven't followed the whole series. How much time passes? Can you give me a basic timeline of when major events would have to happen for your story? What year does Xander come through, what year does he rescue is first group of warlocks, and what year does he kill one?

I figured it wasn't about Michael's god, so much as Michael's utter and completely belief/faith in his god. And Xander is stunned (and maybe a bit jealous?) that anyone who has fought the evil that Michael has fought can still have that kind of faith.

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

Timelinewise, I'm pretty much in the dark. That is to say, I have a pretty kickass timeline of canon, and there are some events which have to be placed at certain times because of Xander's biological age (for instance, it would be difficult for him to run his home for warlocks while he's still living under Harry's roof), and setting anything after the end of Changes would most likely not work. But...I think Xander comes through in 2000 or 2001, between Fool Moon and Grave Peril; add 2 or 3 years, and he's graduated from high school and free to take on apprentices/students/minions

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

Ooh, I like the idea that Dresden was brought in to help investigate and then realizes that he can't after all. Which would, of course, focus Murphy's attention even more on him and his associates.

And you're right, if Xander thinks this world is kind of tame then there's no reason to not believe in a benevolent god. Maybe he's just startled by really *seeing* such belief for the first time? How many people has he soul-gazed who were at all religious, and of those, how may believed in a kind god?

And now I'm imagining him finally meeting one of the denarians who are trying to creep him out and he relaxes and is like, "finally." This is the type of bad guy he's used to.

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

Well, even putting aside issues of friendship, it would be kind of a bad thing if he said anything, considering he's one of the people who urged Xander to kill the kid. Which legally makes him at least an accomplice

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

Although an important part of who Xander is is that he does care about those 20 people. He does want to save them and he should work hard to do so. He just doesn't panic about it, maybe?

There might need to be some research into the psychology of first responders or special operations people, which would be kind of like who Xander is. Presumably, people don't take those jobs unless they enjoy it and are good at it, but they're (generally) not psychopaths who *want* a disaster to occur so that they can enjoy their job.

And now I have a second potential plot arc: Xander and his band of misfit warlocks take on the Denarians. After all, what better way to bring a group together and pull them thoroughly to the side of good than to give them a common enemy who is thoroughly on the side of bad? And the White Council are left wondering what they're supposed to think of being saved from the Denarians by the kids they thought were better off dead.

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

Of course he cares about every person who is theoretically in his power to save, but a mere 20 people is kind of low pressure, you know? Considering that in *his* world, Brazil no longer exists. So he's not going to get too worked up over it

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[marbleglove]

Sigh, yeah, non-school related reading... oh how I miss you.

And, oooh. The warlocks are all used to being lectured about doing good, or maybe getting inspirational talks about being the better person, and here's Xander not saying anything like that. Instead, he's just regularly going out and saving the world or the city or the neighborhood, because, well, it's his world, city, and neighborhood. It's all part of taking care of yourself and your friends.

I was thinking about the Denarians and their silver coins and the fact that Harry managed to be possessed by a Denarian without being controlled by her. While you might not want to do this since it would be duplicating the canon, but Xander does get possessed a lot... I can just see the Denarians fighting over which of them gets to possess him... and then discovering that the primal hyena doesn't share, and the soldier backs her up.

Is there any way to destroy a Denarian (eaten by a primal hyena for instance) or are they truly immortal?

Re: #1, Buffy/Dresden brainstorming

[lyndseas]

The warlocks are totally waiting to be told about this epic war between good and evil that they've been drafted into (because seriously, books and movies have made me half-expect that if I ever find out I have powers), that it's one of those "with us or against us" situations--and that's certainly the mindset of the Wardens, with an added "once you turn to the dark side, you can't turn back" thrown in for good measure. And here's Xander, and he doesn't say or think that at all. It's all about taking care of your people, and the only thing more than that about morals is that they should be careful who they make enemies of--will that person harm your people more if he's an enemy, or if you remain neutral? And just because he defines his people rather loosely, that doesn't mean that any of his warlocks have to do the same