dragonyphoenix

I was thinking about the BtVS Halloween episode where they become their costumes. It reads, particularly for Willow, as a rite of initiation. Before becoming her costume, Willow is hiding behind that ghost costume. Not that it’s a particularly childish ghost costume. It looks much more like a costume a kid, rather than an adult would wear. After, she’s comfortable in the hyper-sexualized costume that Buffy had put her in. WIllow has accepted her sexuality / adulthood.

Buffy defines herself by identifying something she’s not, which is a perfectly valid part of defining whom you are. She’s not the damsel in distress.

Xander doesn’t seem to have been transformed by the experience. He does gain soldier knowledge, but even after having been a soldier, he’s still seen as the Zeppo.

Title: Business Opportunity
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 484 - Ankh
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2368
Summary: Restfield and Kikimay came up with an idea about using vampires to dispose of waste. I ran with it.

( Franzone threw the bag into one of the cages, the one with a guy still awake in it, only suddenly it wasn't a guy. His face got ugly, real ugly, and fangs tore into the bag. “Holy fuck! What the hell is that?” Willy found himself on the other side of some big machine with no real good idea how he'd gotten there. He was peering around, watching the … whatever it was. Its face was still ugly and it seemed to be drinking whatever was in that bag. )

Okay, let's generalize this up a bit. What might WIllow consider to be, maybe not fully taboo, but outside her box? Oh, season 1 Willow. I want her to be breaking rules to expand her boundaries.

For example, I might have her try smoking. I'm starting with her not studying for a night, which she thinks will be easy because studying or not is her choice. *grin* What else do you think Willow might try? I'd prefer things I could make sort of amusing but any ideas would be wonderful.

Title: The Box
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 478 - Slow Suicide
Rating: PG
Summary: Another chapter for Shanshu
Word Count: 1351
Note: The final chapter so maybe I should have called it The End. ;-)

( Spike stopped and spoke before turning. “Webb.” He started to pat at himself, searching his jacket for cigarettes as he turned. Will hadn’t smoked. Will also hadn’t even remembered much less worn a leather jacket for the past six years. Spike glanced down at WIll’s jeans and sweater, which were grungy after weeks of imprisonment in a dungeon. The flicker of fire from Webb’s lighter highlighted the faded letters on the old t-shirt. “Agnostic Front? Don’t you think it’s time for a new wardrobe?” )

Title: We Are the Hollow Men
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 477 - ascetic
Rating: PG
Summary: Another chapter for Shanshu
Word Count: 1013
Note: Written out of order. I decided I needed a scene earlier on, when Will and Willow are in the cell.

( Will had moved the jug of water to the center of the cell. The walls were dank, oozing with who the hell knew what, and he didn't want anything contaminating their water. One thing, among many, that he couldn't get used to: no matter how much he drank, the jug remained full. Except he wasn't letting himself think about that. He didn't believe in magic – no matter what the red-head, Willow, said – but he couldn't see how the trick was being played. Perhaps they'd drugged him. Perhaps the whole situation was an elaborate hallucination. It felt real though. Sitting, shackled to the wall for days on end was too dull to be some kind of a vision. )

Title: When You Have Neither
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 475 - Titanic
Rating: PG
Summary: Another chapter for Shanshu
Word Count: 2470
Note on scene title: When you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. When you have the law on your side, argue the law. When you have neither, holler. - Al Gore

( Millay didn't argue when Xander and Dawn had commandeered one of the vans so they could return to LA immediately. Anything that got her to Will sooner was okay in her book. The Slayers were staying to close the Hell-thingy, assuming there even was a Hell-thingy, but Millay had seen the creatures that had climbed out of the crater. Those monsters would put even Nosferatu to shame. She'd also seen them turn to dust when killed. If Hell-thingys did exist, then the more people making sure they were properly closed the better, but Xander said the Slayers had it covered and that was good enough. Millay might not believe in Hell-thingys and vampires, but she did believe in Will, who might or might not be in LA. If he was, she wanted to be there with him. )