dragonyphoenix

Looking, Walking, Being By Denise Levertov

Title: For a very important date…
Fandom: BtVS
Summary: Anya’s been reading Alice in Wonderland
Rating: G
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but they will be... once I've taken over the world! Bwah-ha-ha

Note: Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday: late.

“Rabbits and cards and painted roses?” Anya dropped the book. It hit the table with a loud thud. “Children read this?”

Giles closed the cash register and wished the customer a good day. “Alice in Wonderland? It has a different connotation outside of the demonic community.”

“Do you know what 'I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.' means in Y'gar'esh?”

Giles removed his glasses and pulled out a handkerchief. “That's not one of my strongest demon tongues.”

“You can't translate it makes it okay for innocent little children to read about blood rituals and poisonings and... and... rabbits?”

Far fewer stories this year. I've been busy with English classes and also with a novel writing class that runs from October through sometime in the summer. Don't expect a novel out of me anytime soon though. That thing is a huge chaotic mess.

BtVS as Dragon's Phoenix

All of these are short – Monster at nine pages is the longest – and most are pure drabbles.

I wrote Monster as a sequel to skargasm's FrankenSpike's Creation because I couldn't help wondering how Xander would react once he realized he was a copy created to kill his beloved. I love this story because I think I do a good job of increasing the tension, of ratcheting it up in each chapter.

This drabble, based on the prompt of doorway, was me playing with metaphors. I frequently look at Angelus and Darla, and how they might interact with or attack Dru before she was Turned. This isn't one of my better efforts.

Playing with metaphors again or at least trying to, I wrote two drabbles playing with the prompt of wind, where Angelus tries to protect Drusilla. You can see why they wanted someone else to take that on.

Fireworks, still playing with metaphors, showing Spike yearning for Xander. Because I love Spander. ;-) It has a beautiful last line.

Tiny Suns in the Dark also responds to the fireworks prompt. This time Spike tries, not quite successfully, to keep Dru away from sparklers, “those little fireballs that shot off vamp-killing sparks.”

Nobody Told Her delves into what Faith was thinking on her way to Sunnydale. I think I got her voice down fairly well and like what I did with this one.

Games is basically Buffy and Willow chatting about schoolwork during that time when Buffy has been expelled from school and is waiting to get back in.

In Cerebus the Dork, two of the three geeks are being dorky while Warren is acting like a jerk. An Open on Sunday prompt of comic(s) allowed me to reference Cerebus the Aardvark, which I followed avidly in college.

In The First of Her White Dresses, a sick Dru explains to Spike why she's started wearing white. I rather like the Dru-logic of it.

And I Shall Defend My Queen references so many things: a graphic novel called Hatter M which is loosely based on the Alice in Wonderland books; Joss' Fray!verse since this library is supposed to be the one that Fray finds; Babylon 5 because that bit with the bowler hat is what Lt. Corbin does after the comic duo of Rebo and Zooty visit B5. Not bad for 100 words, huh? And I think I did a great job with Andrew's voice here.

Seashell was supposed to be the metaphor but instead Dru sees the tides carrying Spike away. It's a nicely sparse and evocative story.

While playing with the nest metaphor I wondered where Drusilla might go after Angelus killed her family but before she chose to join the convent. Suicide's a Sin came out of that.

Feeding: This dark!Willow fic references a couple of ideas from the comics, that Willow survives long enough to be in the Fray!verse and that Willow has gone dark. What does Willow do first once magic returns to the world? Aaargh, and I'm kicking myself for not having a gingerbread house on the table at Willow's place!

Falling from Darkness to Light is another drabble written to play with a metaphor, falling this time. It looks at the moment Dru realizes that Spike no longer loves her. Nicely done, even if I do say so myself.

Dust Drifting Like Snowflakes in the Snowy Wastes: What can I say? I adore writing about the desolation after love has been lost. And I'm very fond of Spander. ;-) The last line is killer, which also makes me happy.

By Their Fruits Shall Ye Know Them depicts Wesley's thoughts as he overhears Giles and Buffy choosing to keep the Council out of the loop after Faith had killed Mr. Finch. I tried to suggest that Wesley is more upset that Buffy didn't go to him than he is that they are planning to go around the Council's rules, but I'm not sure how well I pulled it off.

In We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us, I've condensed a series of complex emotions down into a drabble. Yeah me! It's Willow's thoughts the night after Xander's yellow crayon speech has stopped her from destroying the world. The title is based on the comic strip Pogo.

With Lighting the Tree I was going for a drabble but couldn't condense it down enough. This was my Solstice story for 2012. A happy Giles/Ethan moment. And the ending is nicely ambiguous – but still happy either way you look at it – which makes me happy.

Squee!!! Zombies on the Beach is so much fun! In a drabble, two characters – both Faith and Ethan – have arcs. You learn that Ethan had staged a zombie attack and that Giles is dead. I love how much I crammed into this little story. *does happy dance*

The title for Plummeting from the Nest comes from a Babylon 5 episode. After Vir has been discovered helping Narns escape, Londo tells that some birds fly from the nest but that Vir has plummeted, fallen on his beak, and needs to helped gently back into the nest. The story suggests that Wesley is such an ass when he first gets to Sunnydale because he knows he's not prepared to be a Watcher.

VelvetWhip asked ShakenSilence for an Angel rapes Willow story. I, who tend to write my more violent stories when I'm upset, heard about the request shortly before holiday stress kicked in. Since I really can't see Angel – not Angelus – raping Willow, I played up the guilt side of things in With My Thoughts Wandering In the Dark.

Since I just finished writing Yearning. Oh Gods. The Pain., I'm too close to the story to say if it's good or bad. This sequel to Zombies on the Beach depicts Ethan shortly after he's learned that Giles is dead.

BtVS as Lucy Ash

This is where my dirty, bad, wrong stories live.

A Bad Influence remix - Part 1, Part 2 - plays with a story written by Hello Spikey. The original is better than mine.

Original

Shattering Like Broken Glass is a response to the prompt of plastic, although the metaphor I play with here is glass. I was thinking of how the glass windows of my childhood sparkled when struck by sunlight, unlike the less breakable plastic windows we have today. I have no idea where the priest or the assassin came from.

“And the days are not full enough

And the nights are not full enough

And life slips by like a field mouse

            Not shaking the grass.”

                        - Ezra Pound

Title: Plummeting from the Nest
Fandom: BtVS
Summary: Wes doesn’t feel ready to be a Watcher.
Rating: G
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but they will be... once I've taken over the world! Bwah-ha-ha
Note: Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday – fire – but this week's prompt is flexible. To get to fire I started with the Tarot card of the Hermit, who holds a lantern which is illuminated by a flame.
Word Count: 100

Wesley had meant to be a scholar, a Hermit whose light would illuminate the work of others. Father had other ideas. He'd arranged for Wesley to become a Watcher.

Wesley had studied day and night, learned everything there was to learn about Sunnydale, and had even taken the advanced training that had pitted him against vampires. None of it had helped. He was terrified. Men who had trained their whole lives had failed at this task. He would have turned back if he could, but Father...

Surely the Council wouldn't have assigned him to the task if he wasn't prepared.

Title: Lighting the Tree
Fandom: BtVS
Summary: Ethan’s looking for a bit of extra attention. What a surprise. ;-)
Rating: G
Concrit: Please, in comments
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, not yet, but they will be... once I've taken over the world! Bwah-ha-ha
Note: Written for a prompt at Open on Sunday: fire
Note: Not necessarily a sequel to Of Old Mystics, but I was thinking of that most excellent Giles/Ethan tale when I wrote this. I highly recommend it ("it" being "Of Old Mystics" although I do very much like my own story as well!)
Word Count: 132

Feeling a surge of Ethan's magic, Rupert stepped quickly into the darkened living room. “What are you doing?”

Ethan gestured toward the tree, decorated but unlit. “There obviously needs to be flame. It's traditional.”

It sounded sensible, but Rupert knew Ethan. “I'd rather prefer to have a tree this year, and not a charred stick.”

Ethan turned away, but Rupert could feel his smile. “One little fire imp and I'm never forgiven.”

Wrapping his arms around Ethan, Rupert replied, “I merely said I'd prefer not to repeat the experience.”

“Well, what do you suggest then? That I never perform magic again?”

“Why don't we light the tree together?” As they joined their magic into one, Ethan leaned into his husband and purred, and Rupert knew this is what he'd wanted all along.

• Mr. Spike: (BtVS) Spike has a place he goes to do something nobody would expect of him. It started when he had the chip. He doesn’t know why he’s still goes because it hurts sometimes, but Mr Spike is the one who does good because it’s good and not for any other reason. Note: Warning, it's terribly sad.
   
• Sleeper: (BtVS) Xander Harris never thought he’d end up in a place like this, and certainly not with Faith. When the past comes crashing back into his life, what future will he have left? Note: This is my absolutely favorite fanfic.
   
• Of Old Mystics: (BtVS) Giles and Ethan are at the center of a propehcy.
   
• December Bride: (Frosty the Snowman) The little girl in the red hat wants something different now that she's all grown up. Note: Warning, R-rated
   

As they all jumbled around together, facing the camera, she thought of her mother’s phrase. “Each photo is a bit of history.”

Three nights earlier, Mary had been sorting through her belongings – deciding what little to take, what to abandon, and what to store – when she’d found her old photo albums, full of the pictures she’d taken, her husband and children spread across the pages but almost nothing of her. It was almost as if she didn’t have a past.

She’d sold the camera, after the divorce. He’d gotten the money. He’d gotten the house. He’d gotten one mistress pregnant and had married another. He’d gotten the children. Given the thinly veiled threat that they could have his support or their mother, his children had each made the pragmatic choice.

That had been three years ago, and she’d barely seen them since. After the youngest had graduated, but still hadn’t sent even a card, Mary had decided to take control of her life. “OK, smile.” The words broke her out of her reverie. Looking up, she saw Dave running around to join them. The timer was set. 

Before the bulb flashed, with a quick rub over her t-shirt’s raised logo, that told the world she’d joined the Peace Corps, Mary smiled. She couldn’t change the past, but she could damn well make sure she had a better future.