Comments | spikendru: Fic: What's Love Got To Do With It?

spikendru

Fic: What's Love Got To Do With It?

Feb 20, 2007 16:21

What's Love Got To Do With It?

By spikeNdru

Genre: Character study: Darla
Rating: General
Disclaimer: All hail to Joss, who took a throw-away character from the first episode of BtVS and turned her into the incomparable Darla. Spoilers through AtS Season 3.
Many thanks to makd for the beta.

( What's Love Got To Do With It? )

character study, fic, darla

Comments 18

woman_of_ February 20 2007, 22:16:20 UTC

Oh this is just perfect. Darla taking the cynics veiw of love.

I don't believe in love. Love is the lie people tell each other to get what they need-sex, security, companionship; I've seen it all. yes the vampiric ex whore would look at this emotion like that, seeing the self-satisfaction of sex, and using the words LOVE to get the phyisical action.

Love is never mutual. It always seems to me that one loves more than the other at any given time-another trick that argues against its recommendation. So true as general rule of thumb, one does normally love more than the other. I have often wondered at the people who believe the other loves more than they do.....if that is their perspective, what does that say about them?

For the first and last time, I can say with perfect clarity-I love. I love him with all my heart. is this really the only time we find true love, when we leave a lasting imprint in the would by having a child.

Thoughtful story

spikendru February 21 2007, 01:39:01 UTC

Thank you! I was always fascinated by Darla as a character, and I think she must have been rather cold and cynical - even before she became a vampire.

I have often wondered at the people who believe the other loves more than they do.....if that is their perspective, what does that say about them?

How interesting! You see and hear that all the time, but I'd never thought of it exactly as you've phrased it. It makes the lesser-lover come off pretty manipulative and selfish, doesn't it?

I don't think the only time one feels true love is for their child - there are a lot of people who never have children and probably have very satisfactory love lives, but I do think it's very true for Darla. I got goosebumps when she staked herself to give Connor life. Julie Benz was fabulous, lying there in the rain, and you could see the love for Connor in her eyes. Guh! God, I miss that show!

woman_of_ February 21 2007, 05:35:05 UTC

I have often wondered at the people who believe the other loves more than they do.....if that is their perspective, what does that say about them?
This comes from a mother who taught her two daughters to believe that the man they marry should love them more than they do him. They are both unmarried. One has tired, and, at last count has two divorces under her belt, while the other never has.

The mother was disabled, so maybe that is a factor...not sure

I have never had childern myself. I may be a bit of a cynic, but with some it is more their body clock talking rather than if they really can handle having childern, or have the least idea how to look after them

spikendru February 21 2007, 22:29:22 UTC

ITA with both points. It may very well have been because of her disability that she wanted to make sure her daughters were taken care of, and figured that if they married men who loved them rather than men they were crazy about they would be cared for. But a relationship that is inherently unequal, such as the ones that mother wanted for her daughters, isn't usually a healthy one (Can we say Spike and Buffy? I certainly believe that he loved her more than she loved him.) In most good relationships I've seen, the love is rather like a seesaw (seasaw?): one might love more than the other at one time, and then it switches over. But with Darla, I really don't think she knew how to love, until she was faced with the decision of Connor dying while she just lay there. Her decision to sacrifice herself so he could live was amazing, and had no real foreshadowing in Darla's life to that point.

Oh, I don't believe that everyone should have children, and yes, in some cases it's definitely the biological clock ticking away. My sister and ( ... )

petzipellepingo February 20 2007, 23:01:23 UTC

What we had was a grand and glorious passion, twisted and vibrant and violent, marinated in the blood of thousands, terrible in its depraved beauty. Or, perhaps, its beautiful depravity. No matter. It was unique, and it was ours. The likes of our passion for the hunt, the kill and each other will never again be seen on this earthly plane.
Such a perfect Darla POV and yet... My death can bring about his life. And I want that more than I've ever wanted anything in any incarnation of my lives. For the first and last time, I can say with perfect clarity-I love. I love him with all my heart. He is not Angelus, but a part of him-and a part of me, also. He is the best thing we've ever done together. At the end she finally feels love for someone besides herself.
Very nice.

spikendru February 21 2007, 01:50:05 UTC

Thank you so much! I always enjoyed Darla as a character before Lullaby, but her fears that she wouldn't be able to love the baby once it was born, and her bewilderment at feelings she had never experienced before stayed with me and percolated around in my head until they eventually turned into this.

curiouswombat February 20 2007, 23:07:06 UTC

You know that really is quite beautiful. Every word perfectly placed. Thank you.

spikendru February 21 2007, 01:51:31 UTC

*beams*

*snuggles you*

Thank you so much. I just love these characters to pieces.

zanthinegirl February 21 2007, 01:05:45 UTC

Absolutely gorgeous. She finally find out what love means-- ouch.

Love this so much!

spikendru February 21 2007, 01:56:00 UTC

Thank you so much. This had been percolating around in the back of my brain for some time, and finally just came together. And I'm firmly convinced that Darla was redeemed when she chose to give her life for Connor's. These four really are the most complex, fascinating vampires I've ever come across - not a cardboard character among them!

zanthinegirl February 21 2007, 02:00:20 UTC

I have to say that I didn't think much of Darla until she showed up in season 2 of AtS. Then she hooked me so hard!

I love the line about her traveling to the new world. Just a nice glimpse of her sad mortal life, and her trying to make it better!

spikendru February 21 2007, 02:05:32 UTC

I adored her in AtS S2! So complex. And then when she came back pregnant in S3 . . . whoa! I loved "Lullaby" with a passion and was almost as thrilled to see Darla in "Inside Out" as I was to see Cordy in "You're Welcome".

timeofchange February 21 2007, 01:13:31 UTC

This is beautiful.

spikendru February 21 2007, 02:00:50 UTC

Thank you! I've frequently written Spike and Angel and Dru, but Darla - not so much. I was feeling the Darla love, and although I'd had the idea and the beginnings of this for some time, it just all came together.

*hugs*

timeofchange February 21 2007, 12:44:49 UTC

You made me feel the Darla love, too. I never pittied her before, but I do now.

spikendru February 21 2007, 22:39:48 UTC

YAY! for the Darla love.

At the end of Home, I felt so torn up about Connor's horrible life! He never actually knew that Darla loved him enough to sacrifice herself for him, or that Angel would have done anything for him, because Holtz had done nothing but tell him how evil and terrible his parents were. I even felt bad for Holtz, until he made it his mission to get back at Darla and Angel(us) by totally screwing up Connor, who was an innocent in the whole mess - that I couldn't forgive.