164 Fic: The Front Lines

[rebcake]

Title: The Front Lines
Author: Rebcake
Rating: PG
Word Count: 800
Prompt: 164 - Robin Wood
Characters: Mostly Robin, a smidge of Gunn
Summary: Robin thinks about all the varieties of monster he knows, a couple of years before he comes to Sunnydale.

Comments

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Ow. This Robin shouldn't have come to Sunnydale. (Maybe that's true, in fact.)

Thanks for the footnotes - Ivy League is not news, but all the others definitely needed explaining!

[rebcake]

Educators who work in the neediest schools often burn out and move to the suburbs, thinking it will be easier. They very often end up going back, though, after a year or two of "sabbatical". I thought that Wood considering the Hellmouth a sort of "manageable evil" was both silly and true.

I have this thought now of Gunn running into Wood for the first time in the Rules!verse, and saying, "Mr. Wood? What are you doing here?" and Wood getting all emotional (for him). *bats eyes*

[brutti_ma_buoni]

I see what you're doing there, and I'm trying very hard to resist...

[rebcake]

I'm just saying, who do you think first taught Gunn hand-to-hand combat? Amirite?

[mabus101]

Interesting...I would never have connected Robin Wood to the Gunn family, but it works.

I think there's something like Mock Trial here, but I've never been involved in it. They didn't have it in Western Kentucky.

Clever tale.

[rebcake]

When I was coming up, it was Debate Team, but kids these days are all about Mock Trial around here.

When I thought about Wood as a hero and as an educator, it made sense to me that he would combine those two qualities and work with the neediest kids. It was just a little hop to get him into the Gunns' high school. I was also all excited about showing Gunn's potential from an objective source, and foreshadowing his law career. (I had way too much fun with a story that actually made me tear up.)

[louise39]

It was still a battle every day. This Robin had a priority and he fought - for himself and others - everyday.

[I did not know that SOAP could not be purchased with food stamps. Maybe because it is a 'non-food' and taxable [at least in NY].

[rebcake]

I tried to show that Wood's heroism ran deep and wide. Those educators who work in the neediest areas are a special breed, and they work against insurmountable odds. Compared to that, what's a little old Hellmouth?

When my friend told me about the soap (and shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc.), my heart was a little bit broken. What a vicious cycle in the "land of plenty". Don't even get me started...

[deird1]

This is great!

[rebcake]

Thanks, darlin'!

[angelus2hot]

Great look at Robin before his Sunnydale days!

[rebcake]

I find that people who want to make a difference and help people often have interesting back stories. :)

Thanks for commenting!