Canon check

[snick_backup]

I think these may be both be "it depends on the episode" questions, but:

If a vamp is dusted while holding something, say a weapon, is the weapon dusted, too?

When a vamp is staked through the heart with a stake or something, does the stake ever disintegrate, too? Maybe only if it's left in too long?

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I always got the impression it was the "left in too long" thing. Like if Buffy just pops the vamp and jerks the stake back, the stake is fine. If she pushes it in and it stays, then it disintegrates.

This is kinda grisly.

[snickfic]

Like if Buffy just pops the vamp and jerks the stake back, the stake is fine.

Or the miniature carousel unicorn...

If she pushes it in and it stays, then it disintegrates.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but I can't remember having any specific instances of it happening...

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'd be in the "It only disintegrates if you leave it in too long" school of slayage, but I can remember several instances where vampires staked themselves on tree limbs. Vampire dusts, and branch shows dramatically in the swirling debris.

Though I can think of several ways to fan-wank that, so I'm not sure it proves anything.

So "Depends on the episode"!

I can't remember an instance of the vampires weapon not dusting, which proves nothing more than the obvious fact that I'm due a rewatch!

[snickfic]

So "Depends on the episode"!

Which means I can write the fic in question any way I like. Hurrah. :)

the obvious fact that I'm due a rewatch!

Then again, anytime is a good time for a rewatch, right?

[deird1]

There was certainly a vamp wearing a ring in season 1 - and when he dusted, the ring didn't. Maybe metal is immune to the dusting thing?

[snickfic]

Hmm. Could be. I'm rewatching S1 with the housemate right now, so I'll have to pay attention when I get to that episode.

[bobthemole.livejournal.com]

When Buffy staked a vamp while studying for the SAT, the pencil didn't dust. She examined it afterward and said the point had broken so she needed a new pencil.

[deird1]

Yes, but she didn't leave it in the vampire, either...

[snickfic]

So that's one more data point for the "things pulled out of the vampire don't dust" theory. Thanks. :)

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I think the stake question relies on if the Slayer or whoever pulls it back. It seems like anything that is dusted with a vamp has no firm tie to the world, but is more strongly tied to the vampire. So clothes, etc, dust with the vamp. As does a stake in the heart... unless someone alive is holding the stake. It seems to all rely on proximity between life and death.

[next_to_normal]

unless someone alive is holding the stake.

Hmm, well, what if Spike is holding the stake? Does that count as "alive"?

But otherwise, yeah, I'd agree with you. If Buffy or whoever is holding onto the stake, it doesn't disintegrate. But if she shoots them with a crossbow or lets go of the stake, then the weapon dusts with them. The tree branches don't dust, because they're connected to the whole tree.

As for stuff they're holding, I don't see any reason why it wouldn't dust with them, if their clothing and the stake in their chest can both dust with them. Anything touching the vamp - and not touching anything else - gets dusted. But it seems like that rule gets broken (see above re: the ring) whenever it's convenient to the plot.

[snickfic]

It seems like anything that is dusted with a vamp has no firm tie to the world, but is more strongly tied to the vampire.

I'd say that that's a much more sensible and satisfying explanation than the writers ever thought of on the show. Works for me.