InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Anarchists have a group?"

herself_nyc (herself_nyc) wrote in herself_nyc_fic,
@ 2008-02-15 10:36:00

Entry tags:

distance: redacted part

An experiment - redacted
OK, so I'm probably not going to be able to post part 60 today, because I haven't yet written part 60.

Hence, an experiment. I thought I'd ask here for people to respond if they'd like, by commenting on anything about the story that they're wondering about, that feels like a loose end or a plot/character hole, that they'd like to see happen or see the characters discuss before it wraps up. I ask this not because I'm fishing for more praise but because right now it feels like I have zero perspective and could use someone else's . And often I get ideas from the comments, hints and reminders of things I wasn't considering that I then consider.

So, no promises that anything you ask about will actually happen, but please speak up and know your comment, on WHATEVER, may be a valuable spur to my creative process ....

Thanks!

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	(Anonymous) 2008-02-15 05:02 pm UTC (link)
	Are we leading up to a final showdown between Ilyria and stronger-together-than-apart Buffy & Spike plus a cadre of jr. slayers? One that perhaps ends not in bloodshed but Ilyria grokking that her "pet" is incomplete without Buffy? (Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2008-02-15 05:38 pm UTC (link)

Personally, I kind of like Illyria off somewhere being crazy and don't feel like the Slayers & co. need to defeat her. I like that there are in fact things out there that aren't beatable, just escapable.

My main thing is that I've been waiting for another shoe to fall and I'm not sure if it's going to. A couple of things made me think something was/has been going on ... well, I'll tell you my hints first. When Spike gets back to Dawn ...

-his throat has been recently slit.
-Dawn thinks he's empty or hollow or something like that.
-he keeps worrying that he's not himself.
-there's talk of trials he's been through.
-he's called in a favor from Cruikshank (sp?).

I thought that he had made a deal with someone in which he gave something up (his soul, his immortality, even his corporeality, that kind of thing) and that his called-in favor was going to be something that maybe didn't take care of that problem but maybe mitigated it, at least temporarily. I interpreted his recently-slit throat and the slices all over his body as coming from Cruikshank, and that they implied some kind of surgery or ritual. (Given the way you describe the gash, it could even be that his head had been removed and replaced. It's a little much, but it did cross my mind at one point.)

Now I'm thinking that I was over- or misreading and that it was just that the ordeal was crazy, he needed Cruikshank to provide a safe haven, and his demon's out of control. But, if you're interested, you could still play with that stuff: his demon's out of control, but there's more to it than that that he could be aware of our not, that kind of thing.

You could always do a 2-parter where part I is about his amnesia -- until the Ilyria bit -- and then part II is them getting past this next situation. Bring Willow back in so that maybe she could do something more useful (other than the teleporting). There is a lot of potential in the fallout from him being gone beyond his demon being more powerful. But I don't know whether you want to just wrap it up at this point. I suppose you could be somewhat wrappy and still play with this, but you could also keep going.

That's just some speculation that you can feel free to play with or not. I'm loving this story!

XO

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kd0206
2008-02-16 03:06 am UTC (link)

I'd like to get a better feel for an ongoing S/B relationship and what Spike would like this life to be like. Maybe more obvious integration of all the Amnesia!Spikes? I'd like to see this Buffy ask for something-right now it seems she has her life and she has Spike but they aren't integrated except how she supports him. And how to quiet the demon?
With Giles and Xander: who are these people to each other? Lot's of relationship questions, no plot(that's why you're the writer).

(Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2008-02-16 04:29 am UTC (link)

More about what Spike went through. How does he reconcile the demon and what the demon wants (and what the demon did to survive) with William's soul? How did his throat get slit? What did he promise and to whom? How exactly did he get back?

Buffy is so focused on what Spike wants and needs. What does Buffy really want? Can she and Spike find a way to live together in a stable adult relationship? I certainly hope so.

Vampgaia

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	distance (Anonymous) 2008-02-16 12:21 pm UTC (link)
	It seems to me that the biting or claiming has significance; would it make Spike whole or is he waiting to be whole before he does it, what impact would that have on his promise to Illyria, what caused him to be so fractured? This is one of the best fics you've written - and there's plenty of them! Lou (Reply to this)

Distance
(Anonymous)
2008-02-17 03:06 am UTC (link)

Ideas:
1. Even though Illyria says Angel and Company are gone.. maybe not.. something that is causing Spike to splinter somewhat..or to have visions..one more mission.. takes them back to the alley and Willow
2. Feel the agreement between Spike and Illyria is when Buffy dies.. he will return to her.. find a way to make her weaker or to make Buffy immortal without making her a vampire; maybe a little too happily ever after for you..
3. Wondering about the mage agreement
4. Buffy and Spike travel back through dimensions/time to weaken or kill Illyria.. because during a certain cycle she is ...and able to bring back Angel etc..Fred.. Wes?
5. Illyria comes back and takes Buffy..to get Spike to return to her
P.S.

(Reply to this)

(Anonymous)
2008-02-17 02:23 pm UTC (link)

Here are just a few thoughts, but I must add that wherever you take us this amazing journey, I trust you! My real wish is that you never wrap this story up ;)
My questions seem to be in line with most of the other comments:
What happened to Spike, the neck wound, how did he escape the other dimensions, or did Ilyria let him go (but with a price)
What was the promise/deal. You've mentioned their short time together, Buffys mortality, does Spike have to return after Buffy dies? Would claiming make things different? The refusal to claim/drink definetly seems to be of some significance.
I'd love it if the pair would just worked together for a big mission (someone mentioned getting Angel & Crew Back), to see Buffy and Spike finally together, as lovers, as powerful warriors, without all the baggage, and of course more amazing sex scenes! I'm not all for the Fluffy stuff, but as a real couple, that would be amazing. In the past few chapters, they've finally started to talk, to stop beating themselves up for the past, you've shown how much Buffy has grown.
I liked the idea another mentioned of maybe doing a spinoff fic, detailing Spike's time in the alternate dimensions with Ilyria..

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