Christmas drabbles! Deird, Shapinglight, and a bonus

[snick_backup]

Merry Christmas, deird1 and shapinglight! (Deird, yours may ring some distant bells - it's in answer to a prompt you gave me back in, like, March that I never responded to. :p)

Also included is a drabble I wrote for the (Ex-)Housemate as part of her Christmas; I figured you guys wouldn't mind if I posted it, too.

For deird1: Buffy, Faith
Some Burnt, Some Rebuilt

“Faith,” panted Buffy, “we burned down a house!”

“Wasn’t it great?” Faith’s grin faltered. “That’s okay, right? I mean, abandoned, only vamps living in it, obviously a fire hazard...” She scowled. “Am I supposed to feel bad now?”

Buffy glanced back at sky-high flames and leaning timbers. She wondered what vamp dust smelled like as it burned. She looked at Faith, hunched, eyes still lined dark as Cleopatra’s – apparently reforming didn’t fix everything.

“Naw,” Buffy said. “Not the first private residence I’ve brought down. But hey, the flamey part is new.”

“Cool.” Faith grinned again.

That part was new, too.

---

For shapinglight: Spike, Giles, post-"The Gift"
In Many Forms

Too often, finding some demon on patrol too much for their Slayerless band to fight, Spike leapt in anyway, roaring through his fangs, battering the thing until it was pulp. Eventually Giles would send the children away – they’d no need to witness this maniac grief – and when Spike had exhausted himself, ribs rebroken, knuckles bared to the bone, Giles guided him to crypt and bed and saw he had blood ready to hand.

And if on some less bloodied nights Spike ended up on Giles’ couch instead, Giles matching him glass for glass, better the children didn’t see that, either.

---

For Housemate: Kendra
New Lessons

When Kendra was home on the island again, Mr. Zabuto asked her about the mission: about Angelus (she said he was not yet dead); about Mr. Giles and his library (there, at least, she could tell the whole truth); about the Taraka.

He didn’t ask whether Kendra was ever angry, or if the anger helped her in battle. He didn’t ask if she liked the boy she met. He asked about Buffy’s training, but not about her friends; if she focused, but not if she smiled. He didn’t ask what Kendra had learned from her.

And Kendra didn’t tell him.

Comments

[snickfic]

Kendra really did get the short end of the stick in so many ways. I really am sad we didn't see more of her.

And thank you!

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Kendra really did get the short end of the stick in so many ways. I really am sad we didn't see more of her.

Agreed. They really mishandled her story in a lot of ways - and of course killed her off quickly to make way for another white Slayer. I'm not saying it was deliberate on the part of the writers, just badly done. (But you knew that.)

I was intrigued by the notion of a Slayer who even in the 20th century lived in a culture where Slayerness was somehow honored, was part of the community and needed to be trained as a shaman would be. The gist we got on the show was that the way Buffy did things was superior - although in some ways the show also undermines that. (And Buffy's dismissive "You're not the boss of me" in Restless is something she regrets later. )

Actually it is sort of complicated (Buffy going from someone who lives entirely in the "here and now" to having to connect with the origins of Slayerhood) but it's still all about Buffy. Ok, it's her show, so duh, but it means once again, the black girl is not important in and of herself, except what she represents to the white girl. (Which is also true of the First Slayer.) And it's interesting because that's the way the dynamic has usually worked in terms of men and women in movies/tv (esp in certain genres like "buddy" or "action" films), and BtVS reverses this in terms of gender but not race.

Your Kendra drabble reminds me (in spirit, not style) of Lizrael's Potentials fic, "Prism"
http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/356065.html?replyto=11955169