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cjsmalley · 7 months

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Wished Away 7:

Happy Thanksgiving (Early, I Know, Shut up):

“Father, Mother, and Uncle Tucker wish to invite you to our Thanksgiving meal,” Damian said.

“Are you sure?” Bruce asked, “we’re a lot.”

Even without Damian, Bruce had many children and cooking for all of them was sometimes a tall order.

Damian smiled, “We are aware. You are not the only family we are inviting. Every child Father, Mother, and Uncle Tucker has taken in we have invited along with their remaining family if they have any. Even the non-Americans have been invited.”

“We’d be delighted to come,” Alfred said for his family, “should we bring anything?”

“You may,” Damian agreed, “however, the chefs and cooks of the Palace will be preparing the main meal. It will be mostly meatless. Seitan mostly, in observance with mine and Mother’s dietary needs and our beliefs. It will also be made in-line with kosher regulations.”

“Cookies,” Jason said, looking at Alfred, “we can make vegan cookies.”

“Very well, Master Jason,” Alfred nodded, already planning for such a large batch, or several batches.

Damian grinned.

Thanksgiving Day arrived and the portal opened.

They filed through and were greeted by Sam, the younger Sam on her hip, “Happy Thanksgiving.”

Sammy just waved shyly, gaining fond chuckles.

They all echoed the sentiment and were led through the palace to one of the ballrooms, “Not even the large dining room is big enough to hold our horde,” she said with humor.

“Oh?”

“Everyone invited came,” Sam explained before visibly remembering, “Oh, and any red wine you see? Not red wine; we have a vampire in attendance. He eats human food but not really.”

“Of course,” Bruce nodded; only Dick was of age to drink, of his children, but neither one really drank. Still, it was good to know.

“’m assuming the vamp’s friendly?” Jason voiced.

“Friendly as in doesn’t eat humans anymore, yeah,” Sam nodded, “but, well, Spike’s Spike. You’ll understand once you meet him. Don’t go after his humans and he’s nice enough.”

“Fair enough,” Stephanie nodded.

“Also in attendance are a Vampire Slayer, several witches and wizards, two magic superheroes…basically everyone you met at Damian’s birthday party’s here. I know Spike wasn’t there; he had to babysit the Hellmouth that day, so he’s really the only new face. Him and his daughter, Hope.”

“Vampires can have—”

“She’s adopted, from a separate dimension. Danny brought her to the Hellmouth group to hide her. She’s being raised by Buffy and Spike.”

“Oh.”

They finally made it to the ballroom; the doors were wide open; servants rushed forward to relieve the Waynes of the platters of cookies they carried before they entered the room.

Most of the room was divided down the middle by a cartoonishly long dining table, bench seating on either side of it. Settings were already in place.

In one corner was a padded and gated off area where Anakin and the baby that could only be Hope played. Well, played as only young babies could, which wasn’t much.

Dotted around the room were small clusters of regular chairs and beanbag chairs, some of which were already occupied, surrounding small tables with pitchers of water and juices and, yes, blood.

Spike the vampire was easy to pick out from the masses because he had a glass of what looked like red wine in hand. Nobody else did.

The Waynes spread out, first finding Damian to say hello, then mingling and visiting with the friends made at the birthday party.

Bruce made his way towards the vampire.

“’Lo,” Spike greeted lowly over his drink, Buffy at his side.

“Hello, Buffy,” Bruce said before smiling with a closed mouth, “and you must be Spike. Bruce Wayne.”

“Not an ape, mate,” Spike snorted, “won’t attack if you smile at me. Sit down, take a load off. Hear you’re Batman. The real deal one.”

“I am,” Bruce took a seat, reaching to fill a cup with orange juice, “where did you hear it from?”

“Dawn was excited; her little brother’s bio-dad is Batman,” Buffy explained, rolling her eyes fondly, “one of my friends, Xander, is a big comic book nerd.”

“Ah. I assume there won’t be any problems?”

“Not from us,” Spike agreed, nudging Buffy with a smirk, “my girl here’s a superhero too. Won’t be any trouble from our lot. Right, Slayer?”

“Yep. No problems from us. If Danny and Sam are good with you being…you know, you then we’re good,” Buffy nodded, “just as long as you don’t put Dawnie or Hope in a suit.”

“I don’t want them out there,” Bruce grumbled, “but if I didn’t help them, they’d all be dead by now.”

“We get it, honestly,” Buffy assured, “Dawn’s given us enough gray hair,” she grinned mischievously at Spike, “she’s even given Billy Idol here some.”

“Slayer, you know that pissant stole—”

Bruce laughed.

Everyone mingled and chatted for a few hours before the meal began; servant after servant carried food and drinks to the main table as everyone found seats on the benches.

Spike and Danny placed the babies into highchairs.

By the time everything and everyone was ready, the table was fairly groaning with the meal.

Danny gained everyone’s attention, standing and grinning, “Welcome to Thanksgiving Dinner at the Palace. Thank you all for coming, even our non-Americans for putting up with our silly traditions.”

The non-Americans laughed fondly, nodding; even Alfred cracked a smile.

“For those who’re probably wondering,” he continued, “our essential living staff celebrated at lunch and most will have the day off tomorrow. Everyone else had the day off today. Now, normally we’d go around and say what we’re thankful for but we’d be here forever if we did that tonight. So, while we eat let’s just think about what we’re thankful for and enjoy the food and the company. Oh, and just so you know, everything’s kosher and most of the ‘meat’ is actually Seitan. Real meat is on the green platters. But before we begin, let’s give a round of thanks to the kitchen staff for making the food!”

Everyone applauded.

“Now, tuck in!”

They all did so with gusto; the meal was magnificent and it was clear the Palace staff had put their all into it.

Most of the Seitan was shaped into meat product appearances, looking indistinguishable from the real turkeys and hams. And it tasted almost like the real things too.

The meal lasted well into the night and everyone went home stuffed and with leftovers.

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raisedbythetv89 · 3 months

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The eldest daughter experience if you’re surrounded by shitty people is everyone randomly and suddenly despising you for the behaviors they forced you to adopt and rely on 99% of the time. It’s like a teenager rebelling against their parents and them suddenly wanting to assert their independence but then doing absolutely NOTHING to take on more responsibility in their lives so they go right back to depending on you and the cycle just repeats.

This is what happened to Buffy throughout the whole series (willow being super bitter and childish about Buffy not wanting her to do magic even though willow has created so many problems for Buffy with her magic) but especially with everyone but Spike in season 7. She started to be confident in her leadership, a role she was thrust into first by the council who tried to kill her at 18 and then by the scoobies when they brought her back to life just to slay, raise dawn, and pay the mortgage and bills, and they all turned on her for finally accepting and acting like the leader she’s always been even though they have been so unbelievably dependent on her protection, self sacrifice, and leadership.

People who act like this are terrible people and shitty “friends” who don’t care about you as a person and are just using you to be responsible for them so they don’t have to AND to have someone else to blame besides themselves when things don’t go the way they want. (Notice how horrifically awful xander and willow are especially at taking personal responsibility and how when they fuck up everyone suffers SEVERE consequences/is forced to clean up their mess for them the majority of the time, they learn nothing and the cycle continues)

Get away from those people immediately and let them fucking drown because in situations like that it’s either you or them that’s making it out alive.

#eldest daughter #eldest daughter things #eldest daughter truama #buffy summers meta #buffy the vampire slayer #spuffy #buffy summers #anti scoobies #willow and xander are not good friends or good people #codependency

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girl4music · 4 months

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I love how Hannigan plays that sacrificing the deer scene. Apprehensive but determined. Very much a “I don’t want to do this but I’m doing it for her” vibe. Of course she lies. Tells the Gang she got the deer blood at the black market. Never tells them that she killed the poor thing with her own two hands and drained the blood from its corpse herself. I suppose in a way it is safer than going to the market. But still, the fact of the matter is SHE FUCKING KILLED BAMBI! And you’re meant to view it as a very disturbing moment.

WILLOW: “All I know is that we have to have it to finish the spell so it’s good stuff in my book.”

It’s the whole methodically planned out deception to make sure Tara doesn’t know just how dangerous it actually is because she knows she’d never go along with it if she actually knew what the resurrection spell required. And Xander pretty much confirms that when he asks Tara in the next episode whether she knew about it and she immediately says “No”. So as far as she’s aware, Willow never knew about the risks or consequences either. It was a surprise to the both of them. Except that’s not quite true. Of course Willow didn’t know what was going to happen with the chaos of the Buffybot and biker gang breaking the urn of Osiris and disrupting the whole ritual. But she did know how dangerous it was. She did know of the risks and consequences. She just didn’t care about them because desperate times call for desperate measures.

Spike - when he found out - he immediately knew Red was the one behind Buffy’s sudden appearance and to blame for the absolute traumatised state she was in. That the rest of the Gang were merely just coerced and while knowing the goal, had no real idea of what Willow was doing and how far she was going to meet that goal. And the dishonesty of it all is telling of that.

SPIKE: “Listen, I’ve figured it out. Maybe you haven’t but I have. Willow knew there was a chance that she’d come back wrong. So wrong that you would ha- that she would have to get rid of what came back and I wouldn’t let her. If any part of that was Buffy, I wouldn’t let her. And that’s why she shut me out.”

XANDER: “What are you talking about? Willow wouldn’t do that.”

SPIKE: “Oh, is that right?”

Spike seems to be the only character that can see darkness in Willow this early because he deals with it in himself. Spike is scared of Willow because he recognises in her that hunger for power and a willingness to inflict pain and cruelty to get it that he constantly fights in himself as an evil demon. He sees right through her lying and manipulative tactics. He notices that she’s playing them all for fools because that’s what he has done and it’s what he can still do if he lets the darkness within him win the battle. He is afraid of what he sees in her because it’s something that he is afraid of in himself. Her energy is very frightening for him. And I’ve always said how I wish there was an interaction between Spike and Dark Willow but I’ve just realized something just now in writing this. He already was interacting with her the whole time. Dark Willow is already there right from the first episode of Season 6. There’s just no “makeover of the damned” because she’s not fully embracing the darkness yet. She doesn’t do that until Tara dies because that was the catalyst to push her over the precipice and fall. She doesn’t embrace the darkness because she’s convincing herself she was doing good.

It’s very clever what they do with Willow this season in that nobody even realizes that the Big Bad is right there with them. Hidden within the ranks of the good guys. Like a viper hidden in harmless vegetation. Something that’s purpose is to nourish and sustain you. Not bite and poison you. The only character that seems to realize this sudden change in Willow is Spike and that really is so interesting to me narratively and thematically because there’s layers upon layers of complexity with Willow that the only character that sees that in her is just as complex himself and I can’t imagine it’s very fun to see his reflection so he spends practically the whole season avoiding her because he can’t stand it. He can’t stand looking at himself. What he used to be. How he used to behave. How he still can if the dark side takes over and drives him over.

And you would think it’s because they’re just characters that wouldn’t interact because there’s no reason for them to why they don’t. I mean they don’t inform each other as characters usually. But rather - at least in Season 6 - I think that it is purposeful. It’s the point. He doesn’t want to interact with her because she scares him. She scares him because she reflects what he doesn’t want to see in himself because despite everyone still treating him as if he is (including the narrative), he isn’t evil anymore. He can still do evil things but his nature has changed because of his love for Buffy and Dawn. Because he cares for them and wants to protect them. I just think it’s so interesting that what was once the purest member of the Scooby Gang is the one member that Spike actively avoids now because he doesn’t want to deal with darkness anymore. He is looking towards the light. At least that was the plan. To change. But it doesn’t work out that way precisely because Buffy is brought back to life by Willow. So in a way she foils his plans by giving him exactly what it is he wanted. Which probably just made him even more scared of her come to think of it.

I really do think it’s interesting how Spike is with Willow in Season 6. To me they are the paralleled characters of the season. Even if not intentionally. It just makes sense to me given how I interpret them and their arcs. How they both struggle to hold on to who they believe they are and should be. And Spike’s had much more experience with darkness than Willow. He knows well what can happen if all control is lost when his anger flares up and he lets his dark side win.

#buffy the vampire slayer #bargaining #willow rosenberg #alyson hannigan #spike #james marsters #parallels #reflection #darkness #power #season 6 #character representation #character development

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thatseitagremlin · 21 days

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my drdt driving headcanons (tierlist form)

DISCLAIMER: this was originally made spontaneously for a (work-in-progress!) drdt x limbus company au, since my friend kindly reminded me that They Do Not Have a Designated Bus Driver (makes more sense in context), thus making one of the little freaks responsible for driving the bus and making sure all seventeen [;)] passengers stay alive. thankfully for these little freaks in this au specifically, death is reversible, which is why one of the tiers is worded like That. aside from that this actually isn't any different from my "normal" driving tierlist, but i thought the disclaimer need to be made anyways. full explanations under cut!

-) i trust them: it actually took me a while to figure out who the hell would i trust with driving a bus. with the additional possibility of the other drdt characters bitching about traffic and possibly annoying the driver. at the end i decided that i had the least worries about min and levi... until another friend brought up that they wouldn't trust min because she wouldn't be able to see 😭 I DON'T REMEMBER HER BANGS OBSTRUCTING HER IN ANY WAY IN CANON THOUGH, SO I'LL LEAVE HER THERE.

-) anxiety: i actually trust eden more than nico or ace, hence why she's at the first slot. she can probably drive, she's just prone to panicking. also i can imagine a scenario where she's so focused on the road that she doesn't realize she's driving onto a broken fence like a mario kart shortcut. also i think nico would do fine until they get into an oddly specific driving scenario and crashes the bus

-) road rage: hu has 18+ years worth of repressed anger. if she was driving and she knew someone else was listening i feel like she would progress from small talk to roasting everyone and everything she can think of. j could drive but arei would be constantly out to get her, so it's not worth letting it happen. ace is indeed there twice because leaving him out of either tier seemed unfaithful

-) has never driven: i think these three were 1) the type to get used to personal drivers, taxis, and driving service apps and 2) never rode in those little cars attached to shopping carts or played mario kart as children, but they all would be okay-ish drivers if they had the chance to learn. Unfortunately in this specific au, the only chance to learn is trial by fire, and they all fucked up their first attempts of driving and only charles is willing to try again. and then he'd go to the first slot of road rage. (charles voice after someone cuts him off on a red light) "Are you stupid?"

-) snorrrkkkkk mimimimimi: they let rose on the driver's seat for twenty seconds and put her on the banlist

-) blasts playlist: whit would like an artist that everyone else (except one or two secret fans) is ambivalent to/hates. it's just that my music taste is the fault of my brother's (near-exclusively vocaloid) and can't assign a specific example. he did actually get killed in the middle of driving once (and got revived after that, don't worry!!), so he has to promise to not blast his playlist and not try to annoy everyone else on purpose if he wants to drive again

-) legally and morally banned: teruko's bio states she dislikes vehicles so i think she was just banned outright from the very start. and even then she wouldn't want to drive, nor can anyone convince her to, because you never know what way her luck can kick in and cause the entire bus to get in an unfortunate accident. ...in this specific au there is actually no means or reason for xander to acquire a motorcycle and thus he'd be allowed to drive the bus, HOWEVER i really like giving the oddly specific headcanon of "goes absolutely haywire when driving a motorcycle and does life-threatening stunts that look really cool" to people who are normally responsible drivers. therefore i think if xander rode a motorcycle his adrenaline would just spontaneously spike and activate his innermost mario kart wii funky kong flame runner instincts

-) "people with seatbelts still die in car crashes!! :D": Even in a world where death is reversible, would you even give Veronika Grebenshchikova a chance to drive any sort of vehicle with other people's safety in her hands? also david is barely there because i think every other time he gets into a vehicle he eventually thinks about the vehicle crashing in an unfortunate accident. even when he's the driver. Especially when he's the driver.

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coraniaid · 6 months

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I understand why it happens, but it's kind of striking how quickly fighting vampires on Buffy goes from being something that only the Slayer can do at all ("she alone will stand against the vampires", as the opening narration tells us in the first two seasons) to something only the Slayer can do well (meaning that other people can try but they'll risk getting hurt or letting vampires escape), to something that only the Slayer can be trusted to do properly (even if it might seem superficially that other people are doing okay) and then finally to something so mundane that pretty much anybody can do it, with or without any special powers.

The pair of mid-season 3 episodes I've reached during my current rewatch (Gingerbread and Helpless) almost feels like the last time that the writers will really take seriously the initial premise that being able to fight vampires is not something anyone can be expected to manage if they just put a little effort in. Both of them feature as plot points the idea that being able to fight vampires makes Buffy somehow uniquely special (which is perhaps one reason why Faith doesn't appear in either one of them). And yet, if anything , they already feel a little anachronistic at this stage in the show's history.

In Season 1 or early Season 2, the idea of Joyce accompanying Buffy on patrol as a sort of impromptu mother-daughter bonding event would have felt ridiculous (and not just because Joyce had no clue that Buffy was the Slayer or that vampires even existed) and it's clear in Gingerbread that we're still meant to think that it is. But it's a little harder to accept that when we've seen Buffy going on patrol while casually chatting with Willow just a couple of episodes earlier, or when we know that Willow, Oz and Xander spent all summer fighting vampires without sustanining any significant injuries. If it's okay for them, why can't Joyce tag along while Buffy's on patrol? (It's presumably not going to lead to her trying to burn her daughter at the stake every single time.)

Equally, the test that the Watchers' Council subject Buffy to in Helpless -- in which she is robbed of her powers and forced to fight a vampire without them -- is meant to be cruel and arbitrary. But by Season 7 the writers will decide that expecting a bunch of teenage girls with absolutely no special powers to be able to fight vampires is, in fact, a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And as the show progresses, more and more people without powers will do just that. Indeed, the conclusion of this very season will upend the show's premise by having Buffy's classmates take on a small army of vampires at their graduation ceremony.

In fact, vampires as a serious threat at all become increasingly rare in the show, starting from around this season. This season's main vampire adversary Mr Trick has been relegated to a subordinate role after less than a full episode on his own devices, and this is a role he will only manage to keep for a few more episodes. Despite a fun first appearance, Trick has never really managed to make an impression in the way that the Master or Spike or Drusilla or Angelus did. I'm honestly not even sure when exactly Buffy first learns his name. This season's Big Bad, the Mayor, is the first primary season villain not to be a vampire, and in fact no vampire will ever get to play this role again.

(Vampires in general start to become so quotidian and non-threatening that by Season 7 the writers resort to the rather embarrassing measure of introducing a brand new special type of really dangerous vampire, with decidedly mixed results.)

I might be missing a couple of names, but I think the list below covers every single speaking vampire character that appears in more than one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Darla (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 1)

The Master (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 3)

Angel (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 7)

Luke (first appears in Sesaon 1, last appears in Season 1)

The Anointed One (first appears in Season 1, last appears in Season 2)

Spike (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 7)

Drusilla (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 5)

Dalton (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 2)

Lyle Gorch (first appears in Season 2, last appears in Season 3)

Mr Trick (first appears in Season 3, last appears in Season 3)

Wishverse!Willow (first appears in Season 3, last appears in Season 3)

Tom (first appears in Season 4, last appears in Season 4)

Harmony (first appears in Season 1, first appears as a vampire in Season 4, last appears in Season 5)

Sandy (first appears in Season 3, first appears as a vampire in Season 5, last appears in Season 5)

And what's striking about this list is that we have, less than a third of the way through the show, already met almost everybody on it. The only two recurring vampire characters with speaking parts who haven't appeared at least once already as of The Wish are Harmony (who we've met, but not yet as a vampire), Sandy (who we'll meet as a human in just a few episodes), and 'Tom', a character so unimportant I had to look his name up on IMDB because it is never spoken in the script for either of the two episodes he appears in. (He's one of Sunday's goons who's later captured by the Initiative, if you were wondering.) More recurring vampires have already appeared for the last time than are yet to appear, with still a hundred episodes left to go.

Yet, at the same time, (unnamed, mostly harmless) vampires will actually appear in almost every episode of Buffy until the show ends. Season 3 is actually the first season of the show to feature a vampire on-screen in every episode. The season where vampires appear least is actually the first: there are four episode of Season 1 with no vampires at all, and only three other episodes where that's true (one in Season 2 and two in Season 4). Perhaps that's why Season 1 is able to take them seriously as an obstacle.

Buffy will continue to be a show where vampires feature heavily after this run of episodes, but it won't ever really be a show where the audience is expected to find them particularly menacing. Even in The Zeppo, the very first episode after these two, it feels telling that the supernatural threat Buffy is worried about Xander being exposed to -- and the dangerous enemies she and the other Scoobies fight in the background while we follow Xander around town -- are demons, not vampires. Because as much as the show wants us to think that Xander is the "Jimmy Olsen" of the group, by this point it's stretching credulity to suggest that even he would be seriously troubled by something as unimpressive as a mere vampire.

#btvs #buffy rewatch 2023

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rahirah · 1 year

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You know, I have been seeing ‟Those hormone-addled Spike fangirls, amrite, hur hur, you only like Spike because you want to fuck him!‟ posts for over twenty years now, and I‛m getting just a teeny bit tired of it. And I could write a big ol' meta post about how no, I am a lesbian and I don't want to fuck Spike, or James Marsters, and I find Spike fascinating because in many ways I identify with his struggle – the whole bit about a creature without a soul trying to grapple with 'how can I be good?' hits narrative kink buttons I've had all my life, not to mention that characters which challenge the boundaries of their fictional universe – really challenge them, and force both creator and audience to think about those limits, what they are, why they exist, SHOULD they exist? – are just *chef's kiss* and combine that with Buffy's conflict between her duty as a Slayer and her personal life which hits ANOTHER set of narrative kink buttons, and how characters which blah blah blah far into the night, but I've done that at least six times before on as many different platforms, and we are STILL in the Year of Our Lord 2023 getting posts which boil down to "You only like Spike because you want to fuck him lol!" so ya know what?

WHO THE FUCK CARES? Maybe some Spike fans do want to fuck him. Many of the Xander fans I've known either A) want to fuck him, or B) identify with him and want him to fuck the characters they think are hot/important. Many fans of every single other character do the same! This is American television, pretty much everyone on it is gorgeous by normal person standards, and unless you're ace you probably notice this fact and think "Hmm, wouldn't toss them out of bed for eating crackers," about half the characters of your preferred sex(es). THAT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY INVALIDATE EVERY OTHER THOUGHT YOU HAVE ABOUT A CHARACTER.

CAN WE JUST TAKE 'THE CHARACTERS ON THIS SHOW ARE PHYSICALLY ATTRACTIVE' AS GIVEN AND MOVE ON?? CAN WE? THANK YOU!!!!

#btvs #look I'm sorry for the capslock but TWENTY YEARS DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN

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someonefantastic · 2 years

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so the line in Faith, Hope & Trick where Buffy says that after slaying she “sometimes craves a non-fat yogurt" bugs me (and those on the cangel discord as well) because with the amount of calories Buffy must burn she should be allowed to eat more than just a non-fat yogurt. to rectify that, here are a bunch of food related headcanons:

shortly after becoming the slayer, Buffy realizes that she’s hungry nearly all of the time

we’re talking like wakes up to raid the fridge at three in the morning hungry

Joyce notices too and chalks it up to Buffy being a growing girl and starts preparing heartier meals and stocking up on extra filling snacks

when she starts at Sunnydale, Giles is already prepared

apparently this is a common thing for slayers cause he has drawers filled with protein bars and when she comes into the library after school he usually has a sandwich or wrap prepared and Buffy’s like “sir, I’ve only known you for like a week”

she really appreciates it though

one time when they go on patrol together he has a bag of orange slices and Buffy calls him a soccer mom

Willow is the one who most consistently has snacks though

no one knows where she gets them though, she’ll be wearing a dress with no pockets and not be carrying a bag or anything and Buffy will make a comment about being hungry and the next thing she knows a homemade granola bar is being shoved into her hand

years later Xander is still convinced that Willow learned how to use magic before she actually started actively practicing it just for magic snacks

speaking of Xander, he’s Buffy’s snack buddy

the classes where they sit next to each other, they’ll just pass a bag of pretzels or chips back and forth until the teacher tells them to knock it off

*dead silent room as they take a test* *CRUNCH* “it was Xander!” “Buffy!”

the real reason why Xander becomes snack run guy is because between him and Buffy, Giles’ slayer snack supply is in serious detriment so he makes Xander go because “if you both insist on eating me out of house and home, than at least one of you should go get more snacks” and since Buffy is the slayer, Xander gets snack duty

it means he gets first food pick though so it’s not a bad gig

Buffy has a frequent punch card at Mister Donut

actually they all do

also the nice thing about dating guys with affinities for trench coats is that they have lots of pockets to keep protein bars or trail mixes in, plus since Angel and Spike are on liquid diets so there’s no worry of either them mooching

(side note but after each one winds up in L.A. they’re still finding random food in their pockets--Spike especially has no clue how, he’s a ghost after all. Angel used his to give to scared victims or Cordelia when she was first starting out and couldn’t really afford food. When Spike shows up in L.A. he alternates between throwing the trail mix nuts at Angel and giving his snacks to those who need them)

it’s not just snacks though

Buffy is the first to go back for seconds... and thirds and no one bats an eye

sometimes after they save the world (again), the scoobies will go out to get burgers or whatever fast food is open and Buffy winds up with like six burgers or tacos or [insert food here]

Willow is very generous about sharing her fries

Xander will only share them after being persuaded by the joined forces of puppy eyes from Buffy and Willow

Giles is still ranting about the choice of food in America

the scoobies or Giles or whoever automatically doubling a recipe when Buffy is invited over without giving it a second thought

they all want her to eat as much as she wants without feeling bad about it or worrying someone else won’t get fed

the ones who like to cook or at least can cook have a few recipes under their belt that are high in protein and other stuff to help a growing slayer

by the time Faith rolls around, they’ve got their food game down

Faith is actually really surprised by how quick they are to hand her a yogurt or pull out a sandwich or give her a bagel, sometimes even before she makes a comment about being hungry

not to make this sad but after she starts going dark, she notices how they become less and less forthcoming with their food

this is purely self indulgent but I love the idea of the honorary/secondary scoobies being indoctrinated into the snack life

they hang out with Buffy, Willow, and Xander for like two weeks and the next thing they know they’re carrying around extra food

Cordelia, less than a week after she “helps” Buffy and the other scoobies kill the master “why the hell am I bringing two smoothies to school?”

her housekeeper actually makes really good smoothies though, Buffy is secretly always thankful when Cordelia shows up to school with an extra thermos

Oz just always has beef jerky

Anya is a little less helpful in the snack department but she reads a book on food and nutrition and talks about the merits of calories and proteins and other food stuff for like an hour straight

she means well

also she can’t really cook but she almost always has ice cream to share

and strange cheeses

I feel like Tara would make the best oatmeal raisin cookies, maybe she also has like sunflower seeds and bags of granola on her too

she’s the one who jumps on the snack train the fastest, she hears Willow mention Buffy and snacks once and the next thing they know she’s got her school bag filled

Dawn steals a lot of Buffy’s food

she uses the “I’m a growing girl too. You know... teenager” excuse often

it works usually

not food related but there’s at least two water bottles a person at all times

hydration is important folks

anyway this got really long but I simply love the idea of Buffy being allowed to eat a lot of food without being made to feel bad about it and the rest of her friends/family supporting her fully

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silly-little-gooses · 8 days

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the inheritance games characters at a wedding!

as guests ofc

avery is rich, so she will bring the bride and groom the most expensive and crazy gifts for their wedding. for libby and nash’s wedding, she bought them an island. she’s overall a very good wedding guest, would recommend.

jameson is a wildcard. he will either get bored and leave early or if it’s someone important, he goes CRAZY. definitely spikes the punch at his brothers weddings yk. probs takes off his shirt at some point. do not make him the best man, his speech will be WILD.

grayson doesn’t care much for weddings. he finds them useless and impractical. but it gives him a reason to dress up, and you already know he doesn’t disappoint. dressed to the nines, perfect suit, styled hair, tons of rings or a fancy watch. he’s even more extra and dramatic than usual. he will remind everyone that it is a *blessing* that he’s there.

xander cries at every wedding, no doubt. he’s all jokes and laughs, but at jameson and avery’s wedding, he’s sobbing. but then when it comes time for the reception, he is jameson’s right hand man in causing mischief. he judges the scones/pastries, does crazy dances, and looks hot while doing so.

nash is another ideal wedding guest. he is respectful, mature, knows how to behave. but when nash gets drunk, OH BOY. hes a surprisingly good dancer and if you play hoedown throwdown, he knows the whole dance.

libby personally tries to make every single wedding cake for any wedding she’s invited to, even her own! most of the time, she gets asked to make cakes. libby is also a hopeless romantic and adores the aesthetic of weddings and just weddings as a whole. at her wedding, she def wears a black wedding dress with black bedazzled cowboy boots and hat for nash <3

max is just tagging along for the fun. she’s an even mix of party and maturity. she does get bored easily, however, and will quickly move from one thing to the next. it could be anyone’s wedding but she will be complaining like ‘when does this thing staaarrrrttt??” and at the reception, she mostly eats snacks and makes sure xander doesn’t burn the place down.

that’s all for now! if you have any ideas or recommendations for content, just ask me! I love you all, have the most wonderful of days! <3

#the inheritance games #jennifer lynn barnes #booktok #avery grambs #jameson hawthorne #headcanon #xander hawthorne #nash hawthorne #max liu #libby grambs #averyjameson #grayson hawthorne

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specialagentlokitty · 4 months

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Giles x reader - athletes don’t love the nerds, do they?

Tossing the water bottle in your hand, you looked at the small group of students who were gathered in the gym.

“When do we start?” One of the girls asked.

“When we find out missing person, she’s late.”

“Fat chance of getting Buffy up show up!” One of the scoffed.

You sighed, looking at your watch before you nodding, taking it off your set aside with your stuff on the bleachers.

Walking back over, you began your lesson, explaining the purpose of the training to the girls, and you set the bottle of water down across the gym.

“Right, you, I want you to set the ball for me. Remember right now all you have to do is focus on me.”

The girl nodded and got ready, you sprinted towards her, and jumped, and she threw the ball up, letting you slam your hand into it and he flew into the water bottle, knocking it to the ground as the ball rolled away.

“It’s important to practice direct aim, sometimes it’s your only hope, knowing exactly how much power to put into the ball, especially if you’re going to try spike it.”

The girls all nodded and you stepped aside.

You set up two setters, and you gave them the go ahead to start, and you walked over to the bleachers, sitting down as you watched them.

You weren’t going to teach them much for the first few classes, just let them get the hang of the basics.

Looking down at your paper, you made a few notes and looked up again, then you titled your head back at the three students who had just snuck in.

“Hey.” You said.

“Uhm… hi?” The redhead grinned.

“You’re late Summers, and you two aren’t part of my class.”

“Sorry we have a uh.. a free period..” the boy mumbled.

Sitting up, you turned around to look at them.

“I.. I’m Xander.”

“Hi, I’m Willow.”

You nodded your head and pointed to Buffy.

“Since you’re late, you can stay late too.”

“I.. I have somewhere to be.. the library?” She grinned sheepishly.

You shook your head, pointing down to the court.

“Not until you’ve completed the whole class time like everybody else, I’m sure your friends will understand.”

Buffy sighed, making her way down, and you turned around to watch them, fully away of Willie and Xander moving to sit next to you.

Willow took a look at your notes, and you held them out to her so she could take them.

“I’m making note of their strengths and weaknesses, it’s important for a coach to know what her team need help with.”

“Right yeah, then you can specialise training programs for them all.” Willow said.

You nodded your head, handing her the pen.

“Give it a shot if you want, I am looking for a student to help me coach the team, Synder won’t let me keep you guys aren’t if you aren’t doing something.

“What can I do?!” Xander grinned.

You looked at him, humming in thought.

“You can be ball boy, you get all the excess volleyballs and bring them back for the girls so they don’t have to worry about it.”

Xander jumped up to immediately go do his job wanted to impress you and the girls who were training.

Leaning back, you looked over at Willow and you furrowed your brows, leaning over to see what she was doing.

“You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?”

“I’m top of my classes, but I guess that doesn’t warrant points in being popular.”

“I get it, I wasn’t all that popular when I was in school either.”

She looked up at you.

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. I was a smart kid, nobody wants to hang out with the smart kids unless they want something, and then I started playing volleyball, got scouted in college. You want to know something cool?”

Willow nodded her head and you grinned.

“You have the power to take people out of games.” You whispered.

“No way!”

“Oh yeah, as the student coach, you decide who plays and who doesn’t, I of course will review your choices, but I have a feeling you’ll make the right ones.”

Willow grinned, going back to what she was doing, and you sat there explaining what she needed to look out for and how to plan things for games.

As the bell went, the girls made their leave and Buffy tried sneaking off.

“If you do it I’ll call your mom, don’t make me a snitch I don’t want to call your mom.”

Buffy stopped, and she huffed.

“I don’t see why I have to stay…”

“Because you were late.”

Getting up, you walked down and picked up one of the volleyballs, and you tossed it to her which she caught.

“You’re athletic, with a little effort I think you can actually go far.” You said.

Buffy looked at the ball in her hands, then looked at you.

“It’s a game of trust, you need to trust your setter will always, always get the ball to you Buffy, do you think you could do that, no matter where I run and jump, do you think you can get it to me in time?”

Buffy shrugged.

“Give it a shot.”

She watched as you walked around the court, and when you began to sprint she set the ball for you, and you slammed it to the ground, landing back on your feet.

Walking over, you took it, tossing it up and down a few times.

“Not bad, but remember I’m going easy on all of you.”

You gestured for her to jump, and you set the ball for her, watching as she missed it.

“Setter, pretty good, spiker? Not so much.” You chuckled.

She got the ball and brought it back over.

“Is it true you played worldwide?” Xander asked.

You nodded, setting the ball for Buffy again.

“Why did you come here then? Out of all places?” Buffy asked you.

“I was born and raised here, I thought while I’m in the off season I may as well come back, help inspire the next generation of female athletes.”

“Aren’t you like.. old?” Buffy asked.

“Is this how you treat all your new teachers?” You laughed.

You walked back to the bench and sat down, stretching a little.

“Yes, I’m older than you, but I’m only in my early 30s, I’m still young.”

You took the papers from willow, making a few notes on it as well, and you slipped back into the folder to put into your bag.

Sitting on the bottom bench you gestured go the other two.

“You guys can go, Summers you’re staying.”

“But I.. I really need to… Mr Giles..”

You gave her a look and she sighed, sitting next to you.

“Go guys.. tell him I’ll be late.”

“See you tomorrow Miss (Y/N)!” Willow and Xander beamed.

They left, and you tossed the ball up and down in your hands, then you set it down on the floor.

“So, why were you late?”

“Would you believe me if I ask I forgot?”

“Nope, I know your track record summers, I know you miss more classes than anybody else, in fact if you weren’t put on the team Synder would’ve expelled you.”

She looked at in shock.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t want to mess with a possible winning team, so he won’t, he’ll back off a bit.”

“Why did you put me on your team?”

“Call it curiosity, I wanted to see what you really had to offer, so far I’ll say it’s promising, you come to every training session I can make a champion out of you yet.”

“What if I don’t want to be an athlete?”

You shrugged.

“These skills aren’t just good for Volleyball, you can translate them into every day life if you wanted.”

Buffy seemed to like this idea, for her it meant training without training, it wouldn’t feel like training but instead just practicing for a game.

You took your watch out of your bag.

“I think I’ve held you long enough, tell that Mr Giles if he’s got an issue with you being late he can bring it up with me.”

Buffy laughed a little.

“He’s not going to fight you, he’s too English for that. See you later!”

Three times a week you would coach the new team, trying to build their team spirit, getting them to work together and helping them become better.

Willow was in charge of all personal training programs while Xander just walked around picking things up to make it easier.

It was a good system, and with their first game coming up they were staying longer and training longer.

You were talking with Willow, and the doors were opened.

“Buffy?!”

You looked up at the man, and nobody seemed to pay him any mind as he tapped at his watch.

“Oh that’s Mr Giles..”

You hummed, handed her the papers you put your hands into the pockets of your jeans and walked over, standing in front of him.

“Can I help you?”

“Buffy summers is late for her uh.. her.. extra studies…”

He carried on glancing around the room.

“Well, I’m her coach, and she’s not to leave until I say she does.”

Giles snapped his gaze down to you and you offered him a small wave before holding your hand out.

“(Y/N) (L/N) coach of the girls volleyball team.”

“Rupert Giles.. I uh.. librarian..”

He shook your hand and you smiled at him, gesturing for him to sit down with you so he did.

“So you’re the reason my star player keeps turning up late I presume?” You asked.

“Star.. what? I Uhm.. yes?”

You laughed softly at his nervousness, and you turned away from him.

“Summers, she’s my star player, amazing talent.”

“Yes, yes she is rather remarkable isn’t she?”

You nodded your head, and he looked at you.

“Willow and Xander?”

“They wanted to hang around and Synder would have them if he saw they weren’t part of the team, plus Summers enjoys having them around.”

Giles nodded and quickly turned around, messing with the bag he had placed in his lap.

You took a sip from the bottle of water next to you and set it back down.

“So, librarian, what brings you out of the books?”

“I Uhm.. I well..”

Your name was called and you gave him an apologetic smile, heading over to the students to see what they needed help with.

Giles couldn’t keep his eyes off you, he did think about leaving, but he found himself just frozen in spot, the only think starling him out of it was the girls running to leave.

He quickly stood up, thinking it was some sort of danger, but he saw that the training was over.

After that, Giles find himself hoping he would bump into you in the hallways, or the staff room, which sometimes he did, and he would always fumble for his words.

What he wasn’t expecting was for you to come to the library one day.

“Summers?”

“Miss (Y/N)?” Buffy asked.

They quickly shoved the books aside and you walked over, setting a black shirt on the table.

“Your uniform for the big game next week.”

You glanced around the library.

“God these places still give me the creeps.”

“Maybe it’s the darkness of it.” Xander snickered.

“Maybe, or the fact that there’s a man in the shelves clearly trying his best to pretend I’m not here.”

Giles dropped a book and quickly crouched down to pick it up before stepping out of view.

“Ignore him, he’s a like a dog, he needs time to take to new people.” Buffy smirked.

You laughed.

“Well, in that case I’ll see you all next week.”

You made your way up the stairs and you looked at Giles who offered you a nervous smile.

“I expect to see you at the game too.”

With that, you jogged away going back to the gym and Giles sighed, making his way back to the students.

“Real smooth.” Willow said.

“I.. I panicked…”

“Thought you were going to ask her out?” Xander said.

Giles set the books on the table and sat down.

“Well I.. I uh.. she younger than me..”

“She’s still an adult Giles, you know it grosses me out to think about your grown up smooching but come on, she’s amazing!” Buffy said.

“Yes.. yes she is.” Giles smiled.

“So ask her out! Ask her to the dance!” Willow beamed.

“Let’s not discuss this…”

Giles quickly changed the topic, but his mind did still drift to you and whether or not he should ask you out, if it would be worth it.

He couldn’t see somebody like you, a professional athlete who had played worldwide agreeing to go on a date with somebody like him, a simple man who always had his head in a book.

But it plagued on his mind, even when he was supposed to be going to the library the next day he found himself stood in front of the gym.

Opening the door, he stepped inside and looked around.

You were in the middle, running, throwing a ball and then hitting it back down, knocking over varied cones you had placed around the gym.

He stood there for a few minutes, just admiring you, how you moved with ease as, how you always hit your mark no matter what.

You did the same thing, hitting the ball across the gym, and you turned around to grab another.

“You know somebody would consider it creepy to watch a woman like that.”

“I.. I’m sorry..I wasn’t… I just..”

Laughing softly, you picked up the ball and did the same thing.

“What can I do for you?”

Giles set his bag next to yours, pushing his glasses as he walked over, handing you another ball.

“Well I.. I uh.. I was hoping.. maybe…”

He mumbled something you couldn’t hear, and you turned around, raising a brow in question.

“Now don’t get me wrong Rupert, I’m a woman of many talents, but I don’t have super hearing.”

“Right…”

He took a small breath.

“I uh.. I was wondering if perhaps…”

He sighed, handing you another volleyball and he shook his head as the bell went.

“Terribly sorry, you have a class.”

He quickly rushed to his bag.

“You can stay, I don’t have a class this early!”

Giles hesitated as he reached for his bag, he so wanted to leave to get away from the awkwardness, but he wanted to stay just because you were there.

“Maybe I can teach you how to set a ball?”

He set his bag back down, and turned around to see you grinning a little at him.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. Take a break from the books, then when you’re ready we’ll talk about whatever it is you want to talk about.”

“Well I.. I suppose that would be alright.”

He took his jacket and blazer off, setting them aside and he walked over to you.

You put the volleyball in his hands, and you placed your hands over his, moving them to where they had to be.

He would be lying to himself if he said his heart didn’t nearly stop right there and then.

Yours hands were a little calloused, but they were soft, and gently, and when you took them away it left a cold place where they were.

You backed away, and he got ready, watching as you ran up and jumped.

Then he threw the ball, and in the blink of an eye it was across the gym, and you were back on your feet.

“See? Easy!”

You walked away and he got ready to throw the next one, and when you jumped again he did the same thing.

He was mesmerised by you, the way you ran, the way you jumped, the little sliver of a tattoo he caught on your back when you raised your arm to hit the ball, the way you landed with easy.

He never had much interested in sport, but this was one he would happily learn about if it meant he could spend more time here with you.

You did this a few more times before you stopped to get a drink of water.

Giles began rounding up all the volleyballs across the gym to bring them back over.

“So, do you want to talk about what you came to talk about yet?” You asked.

“I.. I.. uh.. well…”

You laughed softly.

“I actually had something to talk to you about if you wanted me to start first?”

This peaked his curiosity and he nodded his head.

You stood on one of the bleachers, tossing a ball up and down.

“Well, there’s a dance on just before the game, it’s on Friday.”

“Yes, yes I remember Willow telling me about it, apparently it took a lot of convincing to get Snyder to agree to it.”

“Oh yeah you have no idea.”

He chuckled a little, watching as you walked over to set the ball down.

“Well, I want to talk to you about it.”

“Ah, yes. I.. I also wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Oh?”

You looked up at him, and all the confidence he had just seemed to melt away.

“I.. I.. I wanted to see if you needed any assistance setting it up…”

“I could always use extra help setting it up.”

He nodded.

“Right yes.. if you uh.. if you bring me a list of what you need I can get it…”

Giles quickly rushed back over to his stuff, pulling his blazer and jacket back on.

“Are you going?” You asked.

He paused.

“I… I haven’t really thought much about it.”

You turned to smile softly at him.

“Think about it Rupert, I’m going, I’d love if you were to go as well, you know, with me.”

He cleared his throat and turned around to hide his smile.

“I.. I.. I’m not sure dances are my cup of tea…”

“I get that, but if you want to come I’ll be here, I hope you will come.”

Giles headed the gym door open and a couple of students walked in.

“Yes.. yes I will.. I’ll think about it..”

With that he left, silently cursing the fact that he didn’t just agree to go with you.

He was trying to ask you to that very same dance, then you asked him and he panicked, nervousness got the better of him again and now he was worried that you weren’t interested in him

#buffy the vampire slayer x you #buffy the vampire slayer imagine #buffy the vampire slayer #buddy the vampire slayer x reader #Rupert Giles #Rupert Giles x reader #Rupert Giles x you #Rupert Giles imagine

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pzyii · 6 months

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okay so like aus, the loml

so btvs pjo au??? yes.

lets start with buffy then, shes a child of zeus. people will say she should be a child of athena but like no. not only does zeus work well with her whole vibe, but her godly parent kinda also has to be a dad because of joyce. like it lines up with the show with the absent father that abandoned them and this way i can kill of joyce when things are going a bit too well for our scoobies (she can be sally Jackson but perma dead)

Dawn is also a child of zeus. possibly in some weird way to bring in the whole key plotline, but thats not something ive figured out yet.

Willow is a child of hades, and before you come at me, yes i know hecate exists. but no1 tara is a child of hecate instead and hades works so well for willow too. first we have this whole thing with their parents, we've met willows mom who suckksss and her dad is even more absent, so therefore godly parent who is a father. then we also have the whole dark willow arc, and just a bunch of really good angst potential of it, plus yk its my au.

since i mentioned her, yes tara is a child of hecate, at least one of the lesbians had to be

xander is a child of hephaestus cause hes a carpenter, i conciderd hermes cause that gives me the vibe of like everyday man but no i settled on hephaestus

if giles even is a demigod, he is a child of athena. which also works well cause he has daddy issues.

anya is a child of nemesis, which is really self explanitory.

cordelia is a child of Aphrodite, which also, obviously.

faith is a child fo ares which i conciderd for both xander and buffy but like nope thats for faith 100%

im not sure how im gonna do with the whole vampires and demons thing, like if im gonna make people evil in some weirdo way. but spike is a child of either apollo or hades. apollo cause of poetry and hes really just a soft sad boy but he wont admit it. and hades because well yeah, plus him and willow being siblings would be great. Tho im more leaning towards him being apollo cause of the next one.

angel is a child of hades, unless i make spike into one, because then angel is a child of ares. both feels self explanitory, alot based on vibe. and since angel gives more child of hades vibes im probably gonna make him into one instead of spike. angel and willow as siblings is about as great as spike and willow as siblings.

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cjsmalley · 9 months

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Wished Away 6:

Summers Meets Summers:

Danny stepped through the portal, arms cradling a baby.

“Uncle Danny?” Dawn started.

“Dawn, this isn’t for you,” Danny assured, before looking to the assembled Scoobies, “Scoobies, meet Hope Summers—well, that’s an alias. It’s not safe for her in her dimension.”

“Wait, Summers,” Xander said slowly, eyes wide, “like X-men Summers? Mutant Summers?”

“She’s supposedly the mutant messiah,” Danny said in hushed tones, “every anti-mutant asshole’s after her. Clockwork pulled her right after her family was decimated because of those assholes. Me and Sam would take her on but we’ve already got Anakin.”

“We’ll pass her off as a cousin,” Buffy declared after a quick silent conversation with Spike, “family problems. Me and Dawn are her only other family. Xander, we need your comic knowledge. Giles, Anya, Willow, Tara, your magic knowhow. Danny—Your Majesty—”

“I’ll be point of contact for her dimension, and I’ll fund her stay here,” Danny interjected.

Another portal opened and a stream of ghosts came flowing out; they were carting baby gear.

Danny smiled widely at everyone’s shock, “We weren’t just gonna hand you a baby and run. Everything you need, you just need to buy the formula, diapers, and such. Come here, Buffy.”

Buffy took Hope carefully; she had held babies before, mostly Phantom children, but never one so…young.

Then she blanched, “Holy hell, Spike! We have a kid now!”

The vampire went bone white.

“Congrats,” Danny said, grinning widely and with too many teeth to pass as human.

“You’re sure you cannot rear her yourself?” Giles asked.

Danny shook his head, “No, we have…Anakin might be subject to a Prophecy about being the Chosen One, Harry and Nev have a prophecy about either one being a Chosen One, Adrien is a Chosen One…in fact, only Damian doesn’t have some prophecy attached. That we know of. Even Dawn was gonna end the world. Plus Hope’s gonna be powerful; I don’t know how powerful but she will be powerful. We can’t risk her being ecto-contaminated either.”

“Damn,” Xander muttered.

“We’d take her in,” Danny assured, “if we could; but we really can’t.”

“What if the placement falls through?” Anya asked.

“Then we ask Damian’s bio-father to either take her or help place her in his dimension. If he can’t help, either the Potters or Longbottoms take her, if not them then the Fenton-Chengs, my eldest son and his wife. You’re our first choice but not last resort. You were chosen because we hope the Hellmouth will help hide her. Pass her off as demon-touched or something once her powers start coming in. We hope there’s enough of a…a gulf between the two dimensions that nothing from hers can come after her.”

“We’ll take care of her.” Buffy promised.

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baltears · 2 months

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idk how else to describe this like i think the kind of traditionalist/hyperliteral read of buffy not catching feelings for spike until late s5/s6 just misses the level of iron grip buffy keeps on her feelings. apropos of nothing other than seeing this read one too many times and im not up on my buffy meta scholarship so forgive me if im making the same points everyone and their mother has been making for the past two decades

keeping tight control over her feelings is not something buffy started doing after a certain point, it's a behavior she has coming into the pilot bc we see that at that point there's already a level of emotional distance between her and joyce (not only re the slayer stuff and the later retconned-in betrayal & invalidation trauma from being thrown in an institution when she tried to tell her parents the truth, but also for instance the intensity of buffy's distress over the divorce). she already has a home life consisting of not voicing most of her difficult and 'close to the chest' emotions. when she tries to be genuine in a way that asks for space for her frustration or anger or more 'selfish' feelings, this is often not met with understanding (worth mentioning that giles does a MUCH better job on this than joyce for the most part, but other characters including willow and xander respond poorly a substantial number of times). as a result she is well practiced at suppressing emotions that are too inconvenient or complicated to feel acceptable to verbalize, so she tends to just kind of whistle past things that feel hard to tackle until she reaches a point where she can no longer bear to ignore them. this is a core part of her canon characterization that is also visible at many points in buffy's relationship with angel (s3 comes to mind, when she spends a good chunk of the season operating under the convenient belief that they're in a functional platonic friendship when she subconsciously knows they are still too hung up on each other for that to be feasible). so like we know this is something buffy does. it is not at all unusual for her to feel things that she keeps beneath her conscious awareness + does not allow herself to process and admit to having felt until well after the fact.

this takes me to the oft cited point that from the first time she interacts with spike, there is a different vibe happening than is typical for buffy and vamps. it just feels very obvious to me that from basically minute one (or maybe more accurately from their first fight, when she isn't so much on the back foot) she registers him on some level as a person who happens to be really interesting and hot, but has a fairly easy time of it keeping this feeling out of her conscious awareness bc 1) he's also an unsouled vamp, meaning she can choose to dismiss his personhood as nonexistent and his personality as mere performance or game-playing (ie he is not a 'real' person, therefore the relationship need not be acknowledged as 'real' either – taken to extremes in s6 when she has to actively abuse him and continually reaffirm his lack of humanity and lack of worth in order to sustain the self-told belief that she doesnt see or experience his personhood and doesnt feel a human connection with him), 2) they're mortal enemies, 3) he likes to be really annoying on purpose + as a vampire also has a baseline level of generally acting like a bit of a creep, and 4) for much of their relationship she has other romantic objects on whom she can more acceptably focus her attention (insert reference to spuffy being a queer coded relationship here).

i think this state of noticing-slash-not-noticing persists from 2.03 through s3&4 and into season 5. by then she is so good at studiously ignoring how weird and flirtatious and intense their dynamic has always been that the revelation that spike is now acting very obviously like hes in love with her, to the extent that someone else could notice, takes her totally by surprise. getting more specific idk how else one could possibly explain how her ass was acting in something blue pre-spell, like i absolutely canNOT see buffy behaving like that around any other vamp literally ever. they were both being so unceasingly annoying with their creepy little flirty back and forth that both giles and willow were completely over it and just wanted them to shut up and stop paying so much attention to each other. ig the point im getting at is i think it's weird and dont get it when ppl seem to read buffy's character as if shes basically just saying the things she feels and vice versa rather than like regularly and even habitually lying to herself, bc i just don't think that's in line with the character that we're shown. buffy SAYS for a very long time that she doesnt care about spike and basically says and does everything possible to deny that she has any attachment to him at all, but frankly i think the level of aggression and frequency with which she expresses variations on that sentiment in and of itself gives the lie to that idea. anyways i think she was down bad pretty much immediately and just took a very long time to let herself notice

#spike was too obvi but i feel everyone knows that bc its even more impossible to ignore w him. mr bloody thorn in my bloody side <3 #imo he partly had an easier time coming to grips w it because vamps are all relationship anarchists but thats another post #btvs #spuffy meta #i don't wanna be the one

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aingeal98 · 8 months

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My favourite thing about the buffy fandom is that the show is filled with evil awful men who consistently drag Buffy down and make her miserable but fandom will ignore all that to focus on a few of the traumatized child soldiers who are either orphans or have abusive parents and they'll be like hmm actually THIS character sucks and is the worst because they were not nice to Buffy. If I ignore everything else and focus only on a handful of episodes it proves that they were horrible people the entire time and Buffy deserves better. The only one who was REALLY there for Buffy is MY fave.

(Their faves tend to spend a solid third of their screen time being misogynistic but shhhh no trust me he GETS Buffy like no one else. It's a special romantic bond, dark gothic horror or whatever. He calls her a bitch 10 times but look how sad he is when she finally snaps.)

Like absolutely Buffy deserves better she deserves therapy and a fresh start and healthy boundaries but we simply wouldn't have a show if they weren't all messed up kids with ptsd who hurt each other horribly and the love that saves them is also what dooms them, an endless vicious cycle until the whole city collapses. They start off as friends and end up as... something else. Buffy and Xander and Dawn are family and no matter what happens or how shitty they are to each other at times nothing can change that loyalty. It doesn't matter if x or y deserves better they're never going to go searching for it they've simply been through too much trauma for anyone else to come close! Willow would need an entire other post to summarize the friendship development she and Buffy go through but it's so good exactly because of how it goes from sweet to pure pain and grief.

Everyone is free to like and dislike whoever they want but I do feel bad for people who genuinely hate Buffy's friends because what a miserable way to watch the show considering what a huge part of it they are lmao. Yeah yeah Angel and Spike scarred her for life and their love is so powerful whatever. Willow literally will not let Buffy stay dead she is going to get an A in best friend sidekick, something that is normal to want and possible to achieve. Buffy has no choice in this she's the hero so get your ass out of heaven girl we need you to pose and fight monsters so Willow can pretend to have self esteem. Oh you got shot? Walk it off bullet fixed. You might be needed later if the one who healed you decides not to kill the entire world.

Cordelia and Anya take turns being the funniest and most refreshingly straightforward person on the show. Tara is genuinely lovely and I am so sorry Willow and the Scoobies happened to her but it is very nice that they all get a kind friend who stays kind until the end. Dawn is so fascinating her life is a horror story and she wasn't even real at first or there at all for the first four seasons and yet I clap and cheer whenever Buffy gets extra violent with the people that hurt her. Xander... yeah no I get the Xander hate fully he's exhausting especially as a teen. But the fact that the mental wellbeing of two of the most powerful people on this planet is tied to the aliveness of Just Some Guy? It's delightful. He made friends with a shy autistic girl in kindergarten and they later both trauma bonded to Buffy and it saved the world. Amazing.

#i always find the “scoobies or dawn or x character” were awful to buffy arguments so funny #because beyond their first season not a single dynamic on that show was free from toxic codependency #it's the trauma bonding your honour #like yes they suck. absolutely! that's why it's so fun #the counterarguments of “No they were really good actually” are equally funny because sure they were at points #but they were definitely all fucked up #I wouldn't love Willow or Faith as much as I do if they weren't just. Awful people. Nightmare kids who grow into even worse adults #before eventually mellowing out a tiny bit.#btvs #btvs rambles

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