Flowers for a Ghost
I def would have read the diary but also acknolwedge that what I would be doing is so wrong
You're such a brilliant writer, found you over at AO3 and now here I am in a whole other dimension of fics! hope you're still writing!
Author's Response:I am! I'm working on a few things at the moment.
I'm glad Faith made that first step during the wedding, and that Buffy wrote that letter to the other Faith and shared it - they both made the extra effort --> Buffy: 0; Faith, 0 ! ^^
Tara is definitely an excellent friend - I'm thinking, is it because Buffy wanted to have a *real* friend, who did not know her from this dimension Scooby crew, that she went after her? (not sure I'm making any sense after so much binging on your fic).
If you considered this series to be not as good as your most recent work, then I'll retort back: who are you kidding, serioulsy????
The plot was excellent, the variety of emotions your B/F characters and myself experience is huge and it felt good (at least for me, not so much for B & F sadly). The only frustration I have at this stage is the uncertainty of the relationship between B & F, are they going to manage to make it work and if yes, how and what will result out of it (platonic friendship or loving relationship, or...)? Frustrating but that's actually a good end for the story. Maybe there's more onto it with your fic Graduation but I need to go through The Girl From Away first and see what it's like for the other Buffy and con-Faith, which promises to be thrilling (no pressure ^^).
So, THANK YOU!!!!!
Hope you enjoyed the comments, even though they are obviously coming long after you published the story and they can't influence it anymore (although I am not sure at all they would have influenced it in any way!!).
See you soon ;)
Author's Response:Buffy wanted to rescue Tara basically, but it just worked out that Tara then helps rescue her in return.
Okay, so what I still find to be not up to my current level of writing is just about the way things are written. This older stuff still uses "the blond, the older slayer, etc" rather than just names and pronouns. I think that's a very fanfic specific writing issue, and I no longer use those. If I had plenty of time on my hands, I'd go back and edit these to not include that stuff. But plot wise and B/F interaction-wise, I am proud of these. I'm glad people still find these and enjoy them! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments. :D
You're much welcome but I don't know if I should thank you for the creativity you revealed in this chapter... :/ XD
Lost and Delirious - seriously??? You wanted Buffy to kill herself or what?
Author's Response:Hahaha! No! But Lost and Delirious came out around this time and it's a quintessential gay movie! :D
Uh-oh - major freak out time! I'm not sure I want to know what are Buffy's intentions when she believes she has to let Faith go :/ o_o'
It's cool to have Tara joining the group, she's so kind! :) Maybe she can help them somehow?
Buffy:+?; Faith: +? - I lost track of the counting :/
Author's Response:I'm sure Faith is probably still ahead a little bit in points. :) Tara WILL help!
Me going through the chapter:
She wore no bra beneath her tight black tank top - how come? Is there something that we missed?
She was going to torture Willow - ahaha I'd like to see that!!! Payback's a b*tch XD
"Tara in my world was shy just like you, but she met someone. Someone who loves her like crazy, and helped her realize how amazing she is." - ok what's Buffy's plan here? Introducing Tara to Willow so that she and Faith are no longer the only gays in the village? Or hoping that Tara can send her back to her dimension?
"when you had this epic love story with the girl who eats her own hair" - I fell from my chair. Jealous much??
"And what do you mean you were straight?" - oooopsss
She had her best friend's demise to plot as revenge - hehehe, moving from torture to killing
Before they quite made it there, Faith stepped back - What??? No no no noooo
"I shouldn't have stopped doing that." - it's good to see the girl come back to her senses
Just being this close to Buffy was making her uncomfortably wet. - will Faith free her mind and let it go??
...
...
...
She pressed both hands to her mouth, smothering the first sob that tore from her throat. - that was going to happen, unfortunately. I hope she'll be able to go over it!
--> next chapter!!
Author's Response:No bra, just for the comfortableness and the long drive. Poor Willow is just trying to help and she gets threats made against her. :D
Buffy's plan is really just rescuing Tara as her friend. :D
Yay! Buffy managed to chill out!! I loved the movie evening with the popcorn - too bad they were loud enough and woke Dawn up XD, I would give anything to know what Buffy was ready to give Faith to set her free!! (*mischevious grin*)
Thank you Willow for being so cheeky monkey - can't wait to see what happens next!
Buffy: +5 (she accepts her feelings toward Faith, and she was convincing in front of the social worker); Faith: +11 (she's loosening up :D)
Thank you Aliceinwonderbra for being so creative ;)
Author's Response:Thank YOU for all your kind comments. :) We can't get to the good stuff too quick (it must be interrupted by Dawn!).
Ahahah I loved the "I read it, too" and can picture Buffy's horrified face XD but hey that whole journal reading thing is a blessing in disguise! She got to initiate a real conversation with Dawn, and appears less cold-blooded with Faith.
In the end she deserves some attention too, it's good to see her getting there.
Buffy: -10; Faith: +10
Author's Response:Dawn's nosiness for the win!
As I was too keen to move on to the next chapter I forgot half of what I wanted to comment in the first place for the 3rd chapter (*blushing*) - I am so sloppy!
I was actually wondering what happened that day at the motel and was hoping that we would find out soon - thanks for not leaving me too long in the dark about it ^^
It is how Buffy behaved which explains the different turn of event - on one hand a self- & Angel-centered Buffy, who clearly doesn't give a sh*t about Faith (ok, I recognize that when the love of your life comes back from hell, you may struggle putting yourself together... but still!), and on the other hand a Buffy who somehow manages to dedicate enough time and energy for a new relationship. So basically, it's (mainly) Buffy's fault that Faith turned all evil! XD
I also wanted to comment on how Giles interacts with Buffy - he's so nice and wise! I hope Buffy can make the best of him to cope with the situation that she's got to live with from now on.
I was so heartbroken to witness Faith breakdown like that - it is essentially the end of her world :'( I only hope she can find peace and heal, but it's not going to be easy with the other Buffy around.
It's a shame that the start of their friendly relationship (if I can call it like that) was ruined on the same day with that journal. If Buffy had not read the journal, I think it would have meant she doesn't care about this Faith. As spooky as it seems, I support her reading the journal (but maybe not the whole of it), but she has to deal with the consequences after (of course Faith is going to be extremely mad at her, that is soooo private!). However she could have done better with her explanations, it all came out wrong (I was curious - urgh!!), or think of a better moment to give it back to Faith.
To recap, Buffy: -75 + 50 (for the comforting and finally showing some humanity towards Faith) -5 (because she doesn't get it yet, she did not try hard enough with her Faith... but she's on the right track to recognize it) + 0 (for journal reading) = -30; Faith: 3 +1 (for being able to show her vulnerability) +1 (for wanting Buffy to go back to school) + 5 (for asking Buffy the right questions but not being too pushy - wow how can some "small" events make a person totally different!) = +10
The gap is reducing :)
Author's Response:Lol! Okay, I don't agree that it's mainly Buffy's fault Faith went evil. I think the blame for not noticing her struggles and acting appropriately is on the adults (mostly Giles as he's around longer than Wesley).
That's an interesting take on the journal, and I don't think anyone's ever said that before. In fairness to Buffy, I agree it's understandable for her to want to read it. There's no one here in this world who can give her the perspective that journal can. Buffy and Faith are both struggling in different ways, and I don't think Buffy's too slow to warm up really. This is a crazy situation and she's trying. She'll get there!
Chapter 3: Buffy: -75; Faith: 3
We may get there eventually... or not, there are only 10 chapters.
Ok Angel is not part of this dimension (but he may come back, then? who knows??), the Gwendolyn Post event turned differently - will Buffy question herself on this: even with Angel around, could have she behaved differently towards Faith?? (*thinking*).
Thanks for the writing btw, I really enjoy reading you (as usual!).
Author's Response:I would say yes, Buffy questions herself, even if it takes a while. :) But hey, -75! She's getting better.
Previously on Flowers for a ghost: Buffy: 1 ; hell bitch: 0
Chapter 2: Buffy: -100; non-evil Faith: 1
I soooo like how freaked out Buffy is, with her "questionable dating taste". She needs to chill out, what if she gets stuck for a while, or rather indefinitely, in this new dimension?
And poor Faith, how hard it is for her to lose her lover and get instead a self-righteous b*tch!! :'(
Author's Response:I love your score keeping. I think you're being a little hard on Buffy here! Her last interaction with Faith was Faith literally stealing her body, sleeping with her boyfriend while in said body, then deciding to turn herself in. She's suspicious and I think that's fair. But I am a Buffy girl through and through. :) She can do no wrong in my eyes (okay like 90% of the time).
Ohhhhhh I think I am going to enjoy this story *a lot* (*grin*).
I am laughing when imagining Buffy's face when she scans her bedroom and realises that there is stuff that does not belong to her... btw how come a vibrator is visible to anyone who is in the room? Are non-evil Faith and this new dimension Buffy into a voyeuristic relationship or what??!! O_O'
I can't wait for B and F to discover themselves under a new light!
Excellent intro, thank you Aliceinwonderbra :D
Author's Response:Lol! I think they just weren't expecting someone else to be in their bedroom and/or they didn't think about cleaning up before they went to fight Glory.
Great story, I enjoyed it, thank you. :-)
This was gold! You wrote:
"So, Faith, your Faith, she never went bad?" Buffy seemed stuck on this point.
"No," Giles replied. "Faith has been working alongside you, err, Buffy, since she arrived in Sunnydale."
Risking showing her face, Faith stepped into the doorway.
Buffy looked up at her, seemingly dumbfounded.
"Hi," the brunette said, "I'm non-evil Faith."
Ive always wanted to read the letter ...Like I know the history already , we all do but i dont know I wanted to read the letter alongside faith and get her mental reactions with wvery detail she took in. That must have been intense
Good News: your sister/best friend/girlfriend didn't die sacrificing herself to save the world
Bad News: she's not YOUR sister/best friend/girlfriend anymore
I don't have a lot of meaningful feedback to offer yet but I did think Buffy finding the vibrator and then immediately being like "let's not consider the implications of this too much right now" was very funny
Also I'm doing this on Firefox mobile and the text just got SO big and I don't know how to fix that so I'm sorry that this review is bafflingly bold now, it was not a stylistic decision to signal a particular affection for sex toy humor
Author's Response:The review looks totally normal but I suspect you protest too much and you DO love sex toy humor.
SsfgjllgfssASLDFJFKALALAKSLSKlkfaadgjlgd THANK GOODNESS I need to know what happens to alt buffy too!! Thank you for such an awesome universe to immerse myself in. I wish I didn't have work tonight so that I can binge some more
Author's Response:Stupid job interrupting fanfic.
I'm so glad tara is back with the scooby gang. Thank goodness buffy thought to look her up
Author's Response:That was one of the most fun things to do with this story! I love Buffy and Tara's friendship.
Poor girls. Hopefully not all hope is lost
Poor Faith I can't imagine how hard this must be for her
Author's Response:I do love torturing her it seems...
Dimension hopping how fun!! I hope they get their buffy back
Author's Response:Haha. I hope you ended up happy with how this turned out since it didn't go exactly like that...
Aaaaah I’m back! After a few crazy weeks away from my babies, this was a real treat of a reading!
First I wanna emphasize how good your writing always feels. You’re one of the few writers I completely trust not to write things that annoy me, plot or syntax wise, and spoil an otherwise great story, which is so relaxing! As a non-native English speaker, I sometimes struggle to tell whether a confusing sentence is poor writing or a lack of knowledge on my part, but with you I can always identify it as great writing and I get to learn new phrases and vocabulary. I never wanna feel smarter than the writer, and I don’t with you which is really pleasant!
I really enjoyed the plot of the story, parallel universes are always so fun and confusing!
"What would Buffy think about me buffing Buffy? Can’t do that to Buffy!"
The Tara plot was a really clever addition! I was hoping Willow and her would have a
"soulmate recognition" moment but it was still fun to read.
I also love me a good road trip where sexy things finally happen because it’s easier when away from home! (Second OT3??)I had a hunch we wouldn’t get the happy ending of both Buffy’s returning home, but I was still heartbroken over it! I gotta say though, I always admire it when a writer doesn’t pick the easy happy ending route, and I’m glad you didn’t do it in this story cause that worked really well. Seeing it from the perspective of Faith who lost the love of her life but gained her doppelgänger with a different personality is a total mindfuck and so emotionally confusing (I LOVE IT)! Yet the ending was hopeful and it made me think about how in life, really unfair and messed up things happen, but when we let go of the way things should have been, we can open ourselves up to the way they could be and find our happiness. Deep stuff right there! 😉
I also enjoyed how this story gave us "Not bad" Faith (I don’t like to refer to her as evil cause I don’t think she ever was) and "forgiving" Buffy in such an unusual way!
Finally, I kept thinking about the other Buffy and knowing there was a sequel about her waiting for me was really cool! I’m writing this before getting into it and I can’t wait to find out what happened to her!
Author's Response:It's always amazing to me when someone says English isn't their first language and yet they're like flawlessly communicating in it. I cannot even master very basic conversational Spanish lol. But thank you!
I'm a bit obsessed with alternate universes (if that wasn't obvious by now, haha). I'm sure I didn't intend to be very deep, but I will accept credit nonetheless for the lesson about being open to new things that might make you happy. :D I liked what you said about not taking the easy way to the happy ending. I think this was probably the story of mine that had readers were least thrilled by the ending, which surprised me a little at the time. I did think it was a hopeful ending, which for those two and where they were in the timeline seemed to fit.
About Tara, I love her too much to abandon her to her shitty family, but honestly I also love Oz! If he hadn't left in Season 4, I think I'd have been perfect content with the Willow/Oz relationship until the end of the show. So I didn't want to break them up. :) I love the Buffy and Tara friendship too, so that was my primary motivation for pulling her in.
I can get on board with our second OT3! Although I don't think I have any other roadtrips lined up... I'll have to find a way to work one in somewhere. :D
Okay, here I am again! This was the first fanfiction I read when I first discovered this website and I was delighted to read such a good story. All the people in the story are completely in character. The characterization of Buffy was what made me decide I liked you as an author since a lot of fanfiction seem to make Buffy forget all about the bad things Faith has done in her life and especially to her but this Buffy and her reticence to trust Alt!Faith? Perfect. Joss Whedon would be proud of you, girl!
Author's Response:Hi Rubis! I'm sorry I slacked on responses after you took the time to comment! #fail That's a high compliment--thank you! I feel like what you described is the principal challenge in this pairing. How do you get Buffy to a place where she can be open to a relationship with Faith without ignoring all the horrible things Faith did (to Buffy and otherwise)? I can't say I'm never guilty of glossing over their past for the sake of getting them together, but I usually try to write a believable scenario for Buffy to be able to forgive her. It also frustrates me as a reader when I see an author blaming Buffy for Faith's actions, because in my mind, they were both teenagers with the weight of the world on their shoulders, and if we can forgive Faith for literal murder, surely we can forgive Buffy for her crime of... focusing on Angel too much? Not knowing how to fix another teenager who is spiraling out of control? Thanks for the love on this one! Of my long stories I think it's probably the least favorite, as far as I can tell from reader comments, because of it's open ending. So I really appreciate when someone enjoys it, especially enough to comment! Thanks again. 😊😊
Great story!
I felt so bad for this verse's Faith. And kinda frustrated with Buffy at first, but it was great to see her slowly come to grips with things, and realise her own feelings.
The scene between Buffy and Giles where Buffy's rambling about everyone going gay (except Willow, the only one who should be) was perfect. That's one of the scenes where I think you really nailed everything!
I think Oz was a bit underused though. As much as I love Tara, and think her and Willow are OTP, I still love Oz. But is was great to see Buffy remembering Tara and going out to get her! I think the friendship between Tara and Buffy was underused on the show itself.
Another scene that really struck me was the one where Faith loses hope of getting her Buffy back, and breaks down. I might have cried a little.
In the end, it was nice to see Buffy and Faith both being able to let go of each other's respective world's, and giving each other a chance.
Author's Response:Dude. I must apologize that I never responded to this review that you so kindly spent your time and energy leaving me!! I didn't realize it was here for some reason. Otherwise I would have responded much much sooner. Thank you so much for your nice words! I can definitely see how Oz was underused. He was totally background for me, probably because I was focusing so much on Buffy's headspace and Oz is so chill, he wasn't in her face too much or showing himself to be too different than her home world. I still love Oz too. I am so torn because I love Tara but Oz/Willow was my jam too. Thank you also for appreciating the ending! It was one of my more open ended endings, and I love you for liking that even though it wasn't wrapped up with a bow. Again, thank you so much and I'm sorry I was so tardy on getting back to you! I really appreciate your review. :D <3
oh wow i'm actually surprised at the ending! i was expecting canon/original buffy to return to her rightful world at the end of this story; but i guess i'll have to see what happened with alt buffy in the next fic huh :)?
I'M SO EXCITED! Faith is gonnabe such a bitch and alt buffy will be so shocked haha, but i want to see their love story unfold :)
Author's Response:Yes indeed! I hope you liked the other story tooooooo! :D