Payback
joyce is coming!
I really enjoyed all the different perspectives you had in this chapter. I especially liked Mark's at the end, mostly because I wasn't expecting that at all.
It's great that Joyce is staying true to her word and is willing to talk to Faith and be the mother figure she really needs. Loved Faith's reaction when she said she'd visit!
Looking forward to more chapters! :)
Author's Response:Ah, Mark: The textbook new-age martial artist and spiritualist. Exercise, meditate, eat organic vegan, don't worry, be happy. Then his wife is possessed and he's saved by his student/client/friend who happens to have super powers, calmly points out the possibility of possession like it was completely obvious, and just happens to have several rolls of duct tape on hand for just such an event.
What else is there to do but have a mental breakdown?
Joyce, Vi, Buffy, and to a lesser extent Mark and Sara are all about Faith slowly coming out of her very spikey shell. Everyone else here remind us that Faith is not perfect or flawless by any means, and that while I write faith in first person, her point of view is naturally biased and not always accurate.
More to come soon!
~OW
Right before I get into the review, I just want to comment on what a reviewer and you said in response, the reviewer said and you agreed that faith doesn't feel guilty for what she did which isn't true, she did feel guilt, so much so that she tried to commit suicide by cop (getting Angel to kill her) she enjoyed the body swap at the time because it felt to her as a clean slate, she showed her disgust for herself at the end of the episode by brutally hitting her body and this was after she took it upon herself to rescue some innocents in a church. Faith just doesn't open up like others do but she does feel guilt, she just either tries to bury it (which made things worse) or when helped by angel, deals with it and does the right thing.
As for the story. its good, I enjoy it but the pacing should slow down a bit now as we now got a grasp of what is going on.
I found Buffy to be incredible naive in this chapter though, you're right in that Buffy would likely accept faith if the body swap didn't happen but I doubt she would immediatly trust her, Buffy is smart and cautious, she would still be wary.
Also Faith paying the scoobies off seems to be too much of an easy way out and a bit of a cheat, it should come to the point where the scoobies think the money is not a way out and faith should prove herself to them, though an independent faith is good, so whether she would is up to you but the the scoobies shouldn't be bought off and perhaps not accept the money until they believe Faith is genuine.
Characterization is very important, make sure characters keeps to the shows depiction of the characters, that means no asshole version of Riley(Riley being a dick is extremely common in fics which ruins it), Willow and Xander not being overly bitchy and nasty(another common one), Joyce being nice and caring but not overyly motherly, Giles being stern and disappointed in faith but not hateful or extremely angry etc.
You should add some complexity to Faith too, like maybe have her struggle with her sexuality i.e her old habit of sleeping around with men could be due to being in denial about being gay (which is common in people who are confused) and having self loathing (latter being worse from killing those two guys) too many (seriously too many!) of these fics simply gloss over the concept of sexuality by having Buffy and faith either Bi or having single-target sexuality (only having feelings for eachother) or not even mentioned at all, and while the world would be better if it wasn't an issue and you could just being with any gender with no personal issues, it just not that kind of world sadly.
All in all, good story so far, keep it up. I am looking forward to reading more but remember the pacing etc.
Author's Response:I always enjoy a review with some meat to it. Make a username so that your reviews are signed. It's much nicer to (relatively) know who I'm holding a conversation with.
Okay, your depiction of Faith's character is post S4 canon, which is not what I'm going for. To paraphrase what I mentioned in Haley's review below, my two assumptions are that a) Richard loved Faith, which changed her (slightly), and b) Faith's Slayer healing did not magically malfunction due to the needs of the TV series. Any fan fiction piece will adjust characters from their canon depiction to some degree or another. After all, we're aiming for a different outcome.
Judging from Buffy's dialogue before Faith poisoned Angel, the Slayer dream, and just before the body swap, I feel that Buffy would be the first to extend Faith an olive branch. You are also correct - paying off the Scoobies is indeed an easy way out - if you're trying to be moral and shoot for true redemption.
Which she isn't. Faith is an inherently selfish, elitist and vindictive person, and the love and affection of Buffy and Joyce will soften her only so much.
I have no plans to demonize any of the characters, which you seem to be worried about. Then again, conflicts between characters are bound to happen.
As to Faith's character: No. No angst. Faith is quite comfortable in her sexuality - as in she wants it. A lot. Faith doesn't really care that she killed people, though her first-person dialogue will hedge around this point. Faith and Buffy will orbit around each other for a good long while before a real relationship starts. Neither are truly gay, and they both have a lot on their plates. Buffy gets hurt by her relationships. Faith distrusts them. They definitely have work to do, but you won't see the standard denial-based drama that so many other fanfics have gone for.
In the end, I have most of this story planned out. Hope you stick around for the ride!
~OW
Woohoo!
I really liked this story.
I look forward to Buffy and Faith getting together :)
Def adding this to my favourites!
R
Author's Response:Thanks for the fav!
I'm going to draw it out a bit - not in an angsty way, but owing to the their lives: Both Slayers guarding Hellmouths, neither particularly gay, they live a continent apart... you know, real-world stuff that tends to keep people apart. I want them to grow together rather than fall hard right away. ~OW
Loving this story. Was just a bit put off by all the Sips in the Buffy & Willow interaction.
Cant wait to see how she handles all "fun" that is about to start.
Author's Response:Heh heh. Sip. It'll be an interesting run for Faith - clean up Cleveland in time for guests! ~OW