The Earth Her Body - Fic by La Noyee, (and random thoughts about the women of the 'verse) (1/?)

[red_satin_doll]

ETA: Additional screencaps added below cut - which has also been added. (Post in haste, repent at leisure.)

Take a Moment: by   lanoyee. Gen, Buffy, Tara, Dawn. A "deleted scene" , post-"Grave"; Buffy bids a friend good-bye. Spare, elegant and melancholy, it's a scene I wish had been in the show.  One of the things I love best about BtVS is how

Comments

[rahirah]

(sorry, wrong account!)

I was always a little sad Buffy and Tara never got more screen time together. As someone who also lost her mother young and pretty much had to take care of herself, Tara was someone Buffy had a lot in common with. But I think there were multiple strikes against them developing a really close friendship - on the one hand, Willow kind of wanted to keep Tara to herself, and not let her get absorbed by the Scooby force field. And on the other, once Willow loosened up a little, we started to get into S5 and the beginning of Buffy closing herself off. And then in S6, although desperation drove Buffy to confide in Tara, the situation with Willow again made things awkward, and Buffy doesn't seem to have continued to seek her out post OAFA.

Oddly, I once had one of the biggest arguments I ever had with a beta over some lines of Buffy and Tara dialogue...

[red_satin_doll]

(sorry, wrong account!)

You had us both confused for a moment. *lol* No worries, I deleted the other post. I've been meaning to ask you how the hell you all manage to do what you do with the herald ever since spuffy_luvr told me she thought you actually screen everything you link to? It makes me headachy just to think of it.

I was always a little sad Buffy and Tara never got more screen time together. As someone who also lost her mother young and pretty much had to take care of herself, Tara was someone Buffy had a lot in common with.I was beginning to think I was crazy for thinking that, so yay! When I started writing meta notes about them I noticed how they both are deeply bonded with loving but imperfect mothers who are the centers of their emotional worlds, and both have issues with fathers who are either absent (Hank) or abusive/overcontrolling (Mr Maclay). And so forth. They are both very loyal and loving but also stubborn at times, but express it in very different ways. Has anyone ever written a Tara the Vampire Slayer fic? Or Tara

[rahirah]

It was a scene in Necessary Evils - I had Tara talking to Buffy and mentioning something about the attitude her family/home town had towards "uppity dykes." My beta (the later-notorious CousinJean, as a matter of fact) threw a fit and said Tara would never, EVER use the word "dyke," and no decent writer should be using it either, etc

[red_satin_doll]

My beta (the later-notorious CousinJean, as a matter of fact) threw a fit and said Tara would never, EVER use the word "dyke," and no decent writer should be using it either, etc. Well I know naught about CousinJean (other than that they've written a lot of Spuffy stories), but I received much the same lecture back in the early-mid '90's when I jokingly referred to myself as a "baby dyke" to a gay friend in his 50's. He was genuinly upset and to him it was tantamont to using the "n" word. And gave him the same "reclaiming" explanation. I'd come out (finally) around '92, joined a lesbian support group where a 60-something grandmotherly type who had just come out as I had cheerfully called herself a "baby dyke"; there was Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, "dyke detector" (instead of "gaydar") etc etc. I didn't have any "bad" associations with it

[lanoyee]

O-oh my. You know, I gave my okay to this, but I'm getting a bit fluttery now. Waah! ♥

Also, I'll have you know that your choice of screencaps is PERSONALLY OFFENSIVE TO ME. >( By which I actually mean they're wonderful, but so very, very heartbreaking. /sobs eternally

I mean Buffy going to hug Tara and being SO HAPPY TO SEE HER? And Joyce and Buffy and Buffy and Dawn and that shot from The Body and /FLAILS.

I'm okay, really.

and unlike most tv and movies shows I grew up with

Haaa, I think I'm luckier there. I had things like Astrid Lindgren and Fantaghiró and such.

Not in blood alone, but in bond.

That is a beautiful way of putting it. Points to Kikimay!

and choose to love

YESSS I love that aspect. Love as a choice, a conscious effort. Love can be an emotion, but it can also be a deliberate act.

I could devote an entire meta just to "Joyce's kitchen" as symbol of the Mother Principal, of Mater.You did realize writing this that I was going to get on enabling you to do this post-haste, right. /dangles cookies

[lanoyee]

ON A DAWN-RELATED SIDE NOTE; have you seen this extremely spectacular gifset series? It creates scenes of Dawn with other characters in S1-S4 and is pretty much the best thing to ever exist.

[lynnenne]

That gifset is so awesome!

[lanoyee]

ISN'T IT JUST

Just

The Prophecy Girl and post-Anne gifsets BREAK MY HEART WILL YOU. And and meeting Spike, and Tara, and Faith. AND CORDELIA! It's funny because for RP purposes I completely thought Dawn and Cordy sort of bonded over Buffy-directed spite back in the day.

[snogged]

Thank you for sharing these thoughts, sweetie.

I'm fond of the Buffy/Tara friendship too and I wished there had been more of a tribute to Tara when she died.

[red_satin_doll]

That's pretty much what inspired 's fic (rec'd above) - we were talking about that very point and then she just came out with that, as if it were nothing. I really admire that; and I'm always happy for more!

Yes, it really felt like there needed to be more. Even in Villians/TTG(?) I kept waiting in that car ride for Buffy to ask Willow "Where's Tara? Is she ok?" It emphasized just how much of a plot device Tara had been after all to M.E. *grumble*

The scene where Buffy & Xander find Dawn in the bedroom with Tara's corpse? It echoes Buffy finding Joyce in the body but at least we see Joyce's face. JESUS was that scene cold. Poor Dawn.

[red_satin_doll]

And as much as I would have liked to have seen Tara again, I am kinda glad that Amber Benson nixed Joss' plans to bring her back in S7 because that would have just made her even into more of a plotdevice, killed and brought back again on the whims of other characters' arcs.Her decision only increased my respect for her, because she knew it would upset the fans who were already extremely traumatized (I saw the show last year finally, knew Tara would die and it still hurt like hell.) And also angry at Joss's "my pain is worse than your's how dare you be offended and question my wisdom?" bs. Which is another rant altogether. (I'm speaking of CWDP of course

[eilowyn]

Damn. There is no time for me to gush about Buffy and Tara's relationship right now (the library is kicking me out), but I'll do so later tonight when I can read this more carefully!

[eilowyn]

Re: Mater. You briefly mentioned Spike in the kitchen, but there was also the scene of him laughing with Joyce and Dawn, perfectly comfortable in the kitchen, in the woman's space. And that's the difference between Spike and Angel and Riley (do we ever see them in the kitchen? Or is it a likely glaring but purposeful blank in my mind?): They're the alpha male type. They can't follow a woman as her second-in-command, and Spike can. With Spike, Buffy remains the hero, as she should be. Because Spike understands women better than they (Angel and Riley) do. What was the point of the Wife of Bath's tale in The Canterbury Tales? That women want to be queen. Riley and Angel are he-man "I want to be king, dammit!" types, and Spike's a "I'm fine being the prince consort" kind of guy.

That's about as coherent as I can be right now.

Also: what if there was space for Tara and Spike to be bffs? That's one of my favorite things in fic. Buffy/Dawn/Spike/Tara is my happy family OT4.

[red_satin_doll]

but there was also the scene of him laughing with Joyce and Dawn, perfectly comfortable in the kitchen, in the woman's space

I was talking to comlodge who is a HUGE Spike fan, about my ideas about Spike and Mater, and she agreed that he looses his way in that regard in S6. Buffy and Spike both do, obviously - and they both need to find that again, regain that balance within themselves. Mater and Logos. (I know Pater is the equivalent term of Mater, but Logos gets the point across better IMO.)

And that's the difference between Spike and Angel and Riley (do we ever see them in the kitchen? Or is it a likely glaring but purposeful blank in my mind?): They're the alpha male type.YES to all of this; I've said elsewhere that the two of them are far more alike than either one of them would like to believe. Superficially they seem very different, but there's a core of paternalistic, rigid & dogmatic thinking; and they both hold very tightly to "male priviledge". I think they are genuinely attracted to Buffy's strength on one level but

[eilowyn]

I see what you mean re: Spike being the center of Happy Family OT4 fics. Even my favorite fic 'verse (you may need an account to access it) there's more Spike/Buffy, Spike+Tara and Spike+Dawn. There's implied, periphery B+T and D+T, but I've come to realize over reading this 'verse a thousand times or so, as a whole it really is Spike's story, from Spike's point of view, even though parts are written from Buffy's perspective. I think it's the same way season 1 of The Vampire Diaries (don't remember if you watch or not - it's fun, but not as good as Buffy), where we're introduced to the series through Stefan's perspective, even though it's Elena's story

[red_satin_doll]

Even my favorite fic 'verse (you may need an account to access it) there's more Spike/Buffy, Spike+Tara and Spike+Dawn. There's implied, periphery B+T and D+T, but I've come to realize over reading this 'verse a thousand times or so, as a whole it really is Spike's story, from Spike's point of view, even though parts are written from Buffy's perspective.Yeah, I don't have an account - and since that's usually needed for "NC-17" fics, I haven't bothered. Your description pretty much makes me NOT want to read it, although I don't doubt it's well written. There is SO MUCH fanfic focused on Spike as the protagonist, Spike as the hero, etc