#AND giles is exploiting jenny's desire for attention in order to keep himself safe and unsouled

[jennycalendar]

vamp giles au stuff under the cut, because it’s definitely on the heavier side. this au’s a little darker.

SO LIKE something i’m exploring as i write this thing is the concept of giles absolutely exploiting how much jenny wants to be wanted by him. like, he really plays up this idea of being Only Devoted To Jenny, and in part it absolutely is an authentic thing for him because she genuinely is his top priority, but he’s also playing the long con in order to win her over. because he wants her to be authentically in love with him and he knows he can’t have that AND go around murdering people unless he’s careful about it.

eventually the tables are turned when jenny realizes that this is not, in fact, her boyfriend plus a little extra -- that this is someone who is murderous and vicious and very willing to exploit and manipulate other people, herself included. but she also recognizes that the one authentic thing about him is the fact that he really does love her, and here is where i play into the jenny/buffy parallels a little -- jenny’s response to this is to instigate a sexual relationship, which is something she’s been extremely hesitant about since finding out giles is full vamp. it’s this very convoluted mixture of her attempting to hurt the thing that’s lying to her, her justifying the fact that she’s still in love with giles even as he’s a monster by saying that the sex is Just A Way To Hurt Him (even though it’s really also an attempt to be close to him), and her trying to punish herself for being in love with a vampire that is, like, actively trying to kill people and manipulate her into a relationship with him. it’s very very fucked up.

#writing talk #vamp giles au #i wanna also explore jenny and buffy in this thing. #because like ... buffy eventually figures out that jenny wants to not give giles his soul back #entirely because jenny likes the attention from vamp giles #but jenny REFUSES to admit to this because she feels guilty about it #AND giles is exploiting jenny's desire for attention in order to keep himself safe and unsouled #so buffy kinda slants sympathetic to jenny while also being fucking furious at her.