When Dawn Is Due [Spring Fling 2010 Fic Exchange, for larah33, BtVS]

[malinaldarose]

Title: When Dawn Is Due
Recipient: larah33
Author: malinaldarose
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Character(s): Pretty much the entire later season ensemble
Prompt: "Watch them when dawn is due, sharing one space." -- Al Jarreau, Moonlighting
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,925 or so
Beta: Thanks to bethynyc for some excellent suggestions and the reminder that there is

Comments

[malinaldarose]

Thanks! =)

"Sunnydale has an excellent bus station."

[brightknightie]

I enjoyed this. I found Tara's deflection of Dawn's spell a clever story complication, and this depiction of Tara entirely satisfying (she has been my favorite since the first episode in which I saw her -- which was out of order, and so not her first episode). I kept hoping that the story would veer entirely into AU and release the characters from sliding any further down the slope of canon... but slotting back neatly into canon is enjoyable, too. :-)

>"and I hope not really all that noticeable."

The massage of the timeline slipped by me entirely until I read your note; I've never rewatched this season, so the building blocks in my memory slid around smoothly where nudged by the story.

>"...Tara -- in collusion with Xander -- just chose something else"

This is my favorite line of the story. You pack a great deal of character exposition into this quiet action, for all four of the characters mentioned.

>"She sighed. She'd have to have a talk with Dawn about love spells, because no one else would. Willow would only be chagrined

Re: "Sunnydale has an excellent bus station."

[malinaldarose]

Tara is also a favorite of mine. =)

I gave some serious thought to an AU story, because it's very difficult to get Willow/Oz and Buffy/Spike into the same story, because those combinations happen at different points in the overall timeline. (And I may still go back and write that other story idea I had from the same prompt, which was entirely AU.)

Re: "Sunnydale has an excellent bus station."

[larah33]

(And I may still go back and write that other story idea I had from the same prompt, which was entirely AU.)

YES PLEASE!!! ^_^

Re: "Sunnydale has an excellent bus station."

[malinaldarose]

So...you're not really interested, then? ;-)

[larah33]

OMG. Beautiful and heart breaking in one story! Thank you so much for this wonderful story! ^_^

...I had to,er, massage the timeline of season 6...

I've only seen the sixth season once, and the channel Buffy is being re-aired on is still in season five. So I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't said anything. LOL

But I remember thinking that Dawn was acting like the child of divorced parents where Willow and Tara were concerned. You've captured that feeling here perfectly. In fact, you've captured everyone's voice perfectly.

(As a side note, a few ficathons ago I also wrote a "Dawn casts a spell that goes awry" story. It was neat to see how you worked the same concept.)

The last scene reads like a closing scene of an episode, cutting to each individual character. But this line:

He doubted he'd ever return to Sunnydale.

it crushes me every time I read it. Even though I'm a huge Willow/Tara shipper, I'm also a huge Willow/Oz shipper. Poor, poor Oz. *sniffle*

But still, a really great story. Thank you again, so very very much. ^_^

[malinaldarose]

I'm so glad you liked it! (And I shall have to go look up your Dawn story, too.)

I loved Tara, but I do feel sorry for Oz.

[larah33]

My Dawn story. I got a kick out of seeing who the recipient was for that particular ficathon. ;-)

[malinaldarose]

*snork*

Forgive me for forgetting? Pretty please?

[malinaldarose]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!

[slaymesoftly]

I'm not enough of a canon freak to have noticed or cared about the massaging you did. The story works beautifully as is.

[malinaldarose]

Thank you!