Buffy! Stop leading faith on!! You're hurting her!!

Author's Response:

Buffy is such a tease. But also confused because angst-y, blonde slayer who is mostly kinda hetero...;)

 

Also there was that head wound.

Yay sleepover with willow and faith

Author's Response:

Blonde, redhead and brunette makes for a nicely inclusive sleepover.

 

No pillow-fights though, maybe next time.:)

I love team slayer going up against pete!

Author's Response:

Yeah! Buffy doesn't need any rescuing this time.Team-slayer!

She does need some kinda combined-slayer power maneuver though, the might of Buffy and Faith together!

 

Have to think on that one. :)

 

D

i'm so glad talented writers like you exist

Just reread this today and wanted to let you know that it is one of my all-time favorites!  Now on to devour the sequel!

Author's Response:

Devour away! The sequel will be updated shortly, chock full of juicy new chapters. :)

Amazing Post

Author's Response:

Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. :)

First fic I read on this site, and it's a great one.

The main characters feel real and true to canon, the romance is believable and interesting, and most of the sexy-time really is sexy. The underlying plot also kept me engaged (in addition to the romance) despite developping a little more slowly than I expected. Guess I'll just have to read the sequel, which I'm looking forward to.

One thing that irked me at times though were some typos/grammar mistakes, namely a few too many things like "it's" instead of "its", and some missing or misplaced words. 

The story was still very good, and I devoured it in two days.

Author's Response:

Wow, thank you. That means a lot. :)

 

I did try and keep all the characters true to life. I always hated jarring out-of-character stuff in other fics even if the Buffy/Faith stuff was spot on.

The plot is partly taken from another fic and partly an idea I got from the Buffy RPG. It'll develop a bit more as the story goes along, and hopefully come to a head in Season 5/6.

Yeah, the grammer mistakes make me scowl quite a lot. One day I'll get my new beta to go over the chapters and give them a nice spit/polish. The sequel isn't nearly as bad (in that regard).

 

Thanks for the honest feedback- keeps me motivated. :)

So I was told about this site by LizM, and found this fic. I read it all day at work on my phone instead of doing my job. It usually takes a lot to do that. One of those rare gems of a story. This isn't one of those one in a million, but it *is* a great fic. And there is something about it that draws you in and doesn't let you go until you finish it. I'm not even going to start the sequel until it's done just to save myself the torture. Basically, I can't wait to see you get even better as a writer because if you can draw me in so deep with just a great fic and not a gem, I can only imagine how addictive a gem from you will be. And don't feel bad about me calling it great and not a jem. I tend to be extremely harsh in my judgements. Anyone who recognises my username from the various B/F groups can tell you that. I'm hard to please.

Author's Response:

Wow, I'm so pleased that this is still getting reviews!

Seriously, I'm all smiles right now. :)

 

Firstly, thank you very much for your kind words.

This was pretty much my first fic so of course I'll take 'great', and hopefully gradually work my way up to 'gem'. (Gems need to be polished more anyway now that I think about it.)

Really, I'm so pleased by your response- it means a lot to me that somebody says that my fic is 'un-put-downable'- or the internet equivelant at any rate!

The fic I'm working on right now (A little under half-way done at the moment) is certainly more technically proficient (I have a proper beta and everything!) but is also a lot more of a challenge for me to write.

I'll certainly be interested to see if you think its up to the standard of the first.

Again, my sincerest thanks for this, responses like yours help keep an author motivated to write more. :)

 

 

Ooh, a mysterious tattoo. So the time travel probably isn't an Anya (Or other vengeance demon) thing then. I wasn't sure if you were going to cover why Buffy was getting a second chance, but now it looks like you will and it's something ominous. A last-ditch spell set up by Mayor Wilkins in case things went wrong, maybe? That's all I can think of at least.

I liked Willow's random butting in while Buffy was explaining Angel to Faith. And Faith's concise summary of the curse. And then Faith trying to violate Mr Gordo (Poor Mr Gordo. Not cool, Faith.). That was a nice scene, and the dialogue flowed really well.

I also feel like I should like that Willow and Faith are getting along, but at the same time, Willow annoyed me so much during that season that I mostly just want to see Faith punch her instead. :p

Aaw, poor Cordy - she still couldn't win Homecoming Queen, even without Buffy's meddling. A nice, untimely entrance there though – I thought she'd definitely seen Buffy and Faith together, and I think that'd be pretty much the reaction she'd have if she did.

And then lots of oh dear. Buffy really knows how to woo a girl. Slightly harsh, even if her overreaction was from denial and not malice. I'm not surprised that Faith didn't take it well, and the mouthwash line was a good way of summing up Faith's feelings.

Author's Response:

Ah, yes the episode where the sub-plot belatedly rears its head- tattoo, wish, hi-jinks... yadda yadda :)

 

I had a whole lot of fun with this episode, what with the dancing scene and the sleepover scenes- I really had to get away from the actual episode for a good part of it and stretch my writing muscles- I'm glad you found them enjoyable.

I always thought that Willow loved gossip (boys, romance and alll that girl stuff) and didn't really have enough gal pals to really indulge herself- and now she can, being all 'in the know'

Re; Faith, curse- she's a pragmatist at heart, and would certainly point out the unfairnness/logic flaw on the whole thing, without really understanding the tragedy of it. She's wacky that way.

Plus a violator of stuffed animals! :p

Yeah...Willow. The only real explanation I see for Willow's unkind/unsympathetic behaviour (she tends to be nice most of the time- even to Cordelia) is insecurity. Feeling threatened by the whole slayer thing.

She's still a brat about it (even well into the comics...) but I try and remember that the dislike of Faith is one of her few character flaws (early on that is...) so I cut her a little slack.

If Buffy deals with those insecurities with a little reassurance they don't become bottled up.

 

Imo Cordy was never really in the running for Prom Queen, she's she's spent too much time hanging around with the 'weird kids' to be considered truly popular, despite her many charming qualities. :p

And yeah, her reaction would've pretty much been an 'OMG you're a freak' moment, and then moving on to her own deep 'trauma', but that'll all have to wait for a while.

And the whole Buffy freaking out when Faith kisses her and saying something d'oh-worthy is a cliche, but it's a realistic one I think, and their budding relationship needs a few more bumps in the road, which'll be explored as the story goes along.

 

Thanks for the kind review!

I really appreciate it :)

 

The concept is cool (Tru Calling springs to mind; too bad it was cancelled by the time it started exploring things in an interesting way), and I love season three so much that the re-use of dialogue is fine by me (Weirdly, despite having seen it a worrying amount of times, I've never picked up on Willow being concerned about the alligator before). The alterations are enough to keep it fresh, and seeing how Buffy tries to change things up will be interesting. It looks like the original reality is almost fighting back at times (Or maybe Faith is just really stubborn), which suggests getting everything right won't be as easy as it might seem on paper. Plus we've already seen one example of unexpected side effects with Kakistos going after Giles.

I have this inexplicable desire to skip ahead and see if Buffy manages to bypass the entire council test and just punch Travers in the face instead (OK, so that wouldn't fit with her 'stick to the script' plan, but sometimes a little risk can be worth it :p).

My only complaint is that it could maybe use some beta-reading, mainly for punctuation. It can be a little distracting at times, though it's not unreadable or anything.

 

Oh, and the paragraphing. But you can probably blame Alice for that. :)

Author's Response:

Oh, hey! :)

 

And thanks for taking the time to review.

 

The concept was pretty much pinched from another fic on another site, called 'Starting Over' I think, It wasn't anywhere near finished (only three or so chapters) and I thought it was a cool enough idea to attempt my own version.

Some of the dialogue is from the show, some from me, and I added a few bits that where in the shooting script (like Willow asking about the alligator and Faith's answer) which, sadly, never got used- either for time constraits or some other reason.

I tried to get a balance right between Buffy changing stuff successfully, but also keeping enough familiarity to give the 'alternate Season 3' some context for myself and the reader, but as the story progresses it diverges more and more from the original stuff.

Plus, unexpected side-effects will become a big theme in the story, as you might find out...

 

 

Yeah, I will eventually get around to getting my new, much better beta-reader to punctuate the story better and repost it- although I think that kinda stuff gets better as the story progresses. I've got a new, more skilled beta at the moment- really adds confidence to my writing!

 

Anyway, thanks again for reading- I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts on any of the other chapters!

 

 

So I found this story friday night and spent a good chunk of the weekend binge-reading it.  Couldn't put it down.  Possibly the best "what if" stories iv'e read.  And now mixing that world with original timeline should make for some every interesting events.  How will the new Buffy and the old Faith interact?  How will Faith find out what happened, will the Djinn or Buffy tell her?  How will she react?  Mysteries abound.

 

On a side note I found this story in varying levels of completion on several different sites before i finally found the whole thing here, so I'm just curious if this is you main site to post on or do you have a main hub somewhere else where you post all your stories?

 

Can't wait to where it goes from here.

Author's Response:

Oh, hey. New review! Thanks!

Binge-reading weekends are fun. :)

 

I do enjoy 'what-if's' and obviously S3 is an obvious place to place them, in a way it was also a crutch so I could mirror the actual storyline- helped me an awful lot!

Yes, mysteries abound, but more stuff will be revealed about the plot and various schemes, slowly and mixed in with the 'original' timeline. Some things will change as a result, others will stay the same, but there will be more 'original' stuff and new character interaction.

 

I always thought there was more 'room' for changing stuff in S4, which has quite a weak main arc imo. Faith could certainly make things more interesting!

 

Writing 'old' Faith has easily been the hardest thing I've wriiten. In s4 she's so damaged and unstable and to write that believably was certainly a challenge.

 

Hmn, Well, I've only posted this on two sites, but this site is the only one where its actually completed. So I guess this is the main one.

This is my first story I've posted but the sequel is just starting! It's up right now (*plug*)

Review kindly, if you'd like!

 

Thanks again!

loved this from start to finish..though i didn't want to see it finish, so am super stoked for a sequel and with faith pov :)

Author's Response:

 Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Still plugging away at that sequel and its coming along nicely.

Thanks for the kind words.

I felt it ended a little abruptly. Like it didnt exactly have a big build up to this point but since youre making a sequel that makes up for it =) Loved the whole story! One of the best "buffy or faith relive past seasons with future memories" ive read. Looking forward to the sequel ^_^

Author's Response:

Thank you! Yes the ending was a bit...short, so surprise!

Build up...yeah the pacing could've done with a bit of work, but since I changed things halfway through I figured it turned out pretty well.

 

Thank you for the heaps of praise, you're very generous.