I really enjoy how you weave events from the show into the timeline of the story. They always make to be right where you put them.

I like that Faith isn't very trusting of Walsh. And with good reason, too. The fact that she goes after Joyce shows that she knows that she's Buffy's big weakness.

Can't wait to read what you have planned next! :)

Author's Response:

Thank you for the kind words. I like the whole 'weaving of a plot' thing, its fun- but the next few chapters are gonna get back to what's important in this fic.

Buffy and Faith beating the tar out of each other!

 

And also some mushy stuff a little later on...

 

Faith is pretty good at reading people, and given her level of cynicism its very hard to manipulate her, even if you are a certified mad scientist with lots of psychological tricksy tricks.

No mind games for Faith, except for the ones she's playing with Buffy. *gulp*

 

The next update will be...as soon as my beta returns it to me. So, any time now!

 

D

Yay, another update. things are starting to get interesting and its good to see faith wise up about getting played, fool me once and all that etc. Can't wait to the next one.

Author's Response:

Thank you! The five stars is very welcome. :)

 

Yeah, Faith is really too cynical at this point, and consequently very hard to fool.

The only way you can actually fool her is by telling her the truth- 'cause then she won't believe you!

Girls' got some big issues man...

 

The next one will be soon...ish

Like the others, i'm really hoping Faith turns the tables on Maggie.

And i can't help but wonder at the cloaked figure.

He's definitley up to no good, but some of the things he's doing seem helpful.

I guess he's just got his own 'apocalypse playbook.'

 

I guess we shall see.

Good chapter.

P.S: Don't fall for it Faith!

Gah! frikkin' Riley!

So close to a breakthrough when he busts in and squishes it all.

Ugh.

Tell me something about the writing when it can annoy me so much.

i.e: that it's well done.

Medium rare is also good :P

R

Author's Response:

It was always gonna be Riley for me, if there's one guy who's gonna jump to the wrong conclusion its Riley (or possibly Xander, but he doesn't have a blaster so...)

Hopefully I made his 'mistake' understandable, even if it was maddening to see.

 

Although we'll see soon that Buffy's efforts weren't totally wasted...

 

Well done and medium rare writing is good, raw...not so much! :p

 

Thanks for the kind words! ;)

You know, i always like Riley.

And i always liked Oz.

Just not with Buffy, and Willow, respectively.

 

He's a good guy, and you write him well.

But with Buffy... So wrong.

Het is eew.  :)

 

R

Author's Response:

Yeah, I like Riley to, just not really with Buffy.

But I will say that he did genuinely make her happy- its nice that Buffy had a normal relationship for a while. Not having to deal much with the Angel angst, or the Spike pain and self-hate. (Man, talk about eew!)

Riley was good for her, but they weren't good together (If that makes any sense) and it certainly wasn't true love, Riley gave up on the idea of them way too easily in S5. :(

 

I really like Oz though, (with and without Willow) and I still toy around with the idea of including him in post S3 stories somehow. When I come up with a workable way to use him I probably will.

To me Fuffy puts most other 'ships (especially het- Buffy ones) to shame. Nobody has that connection with Buffy like Faith does. Their relationship works on so many levels.

 

Thanks for the review!

Sigh. Vampires. So dumb.

Go Spike!

And get eaten!

 

I can't wait to see what happens when Buffy and Faith meet in the middle of the Initiative. It would be nice to see them go to war on the place.

Or possibly on each other. (hopefully not)

Either way, stuff is gonna get wrecked.

Though i think it's going to take both of the Chosen Two to deal with the big bad. and the big-bad's boss.

 

I can't wait!  :)

 

Author's Response:

Yep, Spike follows his blood, and isn't the world's greatest thinker. (Even he accepts this.) and it looks like the mystery baddie knows this too. :)

 

Buffy and Faith will meet up again soon (They've been apart long enough methinks.) and all I'm saying is that there will be fireworks! And stuff getting wrecked obviously, that's a pretty safe bet.

 

I think at this point Faith needs Buffy, so its only fair that Buffy needs Faith also, so the Chosen Two have a chance at working out. :)

 

Thanks for all the reviews!

I really have to stop getting behind on this one!

I feel bad for Faith. Someone always seems to be manipulating her in some way. It's no wonder she doesn't trust that Buffy's looking out for her.

There's so much going on but I really enjoy that Buffy's coming up with a plan and making sure the others know she's in Faith's corner. Oh, and I really want to know more about what Spike saw!

Looking forward to more! :)

Author's Response:

Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, that I know of...

 

Faith is gonna have a bad few chapters...all that karma for the bad stuff she did I guess, or maybe I'm just really mean.

A few answers next chapter (about what Spike saw, about Faith's sitch, what Riley's doing and such.), in fact it's getting so long I might have to split it in two.

 

Thanks for the feedback. :)

So...  I started the fic that preceded this one a while ago.  Then the real world got in the way, and I lost track of it.  Two days ago I started reading it again, and I've been reading ever since.

I'm usually not crazy about fics that follow the series episode-by-episode, but this series is a great exception to that rule.  I'm loving the character development (and the accuracy of the characters' personalities), and I also love how you're ripping my heart out with all the drama.  Keep up the good work, and have a nice day.

Author's Response:

Oh, wow thanks!

I do like big read through's of long fics, its an indulgance of mine!

Yeah, that darm real world huh, whaddaya gonna do? :)

 

The episode by episode thing- a writer's crutch! But some people enjoyed it, so I'm glad. I had a lot of fun rewriting some of the scenes and including Faith in them.

 

I do love me some characterisation, and I have a beta who double checks to see if the feel of a personality comes through...so I'm glad you like it.

 

I'm glad you like the drama/angst, 'cause there's much more to come. Things are gonna get bad before they get good again.

 

Thanks so much for the feedback...and yeah, I think I will have a nice day!

 

So good. Need more. MORRRRE.

Ahem.

I can't even think of coherent feedback. Just need to read what's next. I need my fix. I need it bad! haha

I thought all the non-Buffy parts worked fine. Not sure what exactly you're unhappy with but maybe let me know what you feel is weaker or doesn't quite work and I'll look out for it in the future chapters and tell you if you have a point or just being paranoid. :P

Hope to see chapter 6 in the next hour or so...too hopefuly? Sighh...

Author's Response:

Thank you!

 

Incoherent feedback is all good. Animal noises, sound effects (good ones...) or mad gibbering I will always view positively. :)

 

I'm reasonable confident with all the Buffy/Faith POV stuff, and I'm getting to quite enjoy Willow's perspective (generally speaking I like her character) I know there's a lot of Riley hate out there and I'm a bit worried about the Riley POV stuff to come (although there's not that much after the next few chapters.)

But mainly its the original stuff ithat I have to watch, 'shadowman'- who will get an actual reveal in the next couple of chapters, made-up Initiative guy, Walsh- those are the ones I'm not sure on- I don't want to bore people who come wanting to read Fuffy-ness.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but its better than being complacent, right?

 

Next update...Friday-ish?

Your cliffhangers killll dude this is great keep it up thanks for the consistant updates

Author's Response:

Sorry about the cliffhangers! But the wait is over...next parts up now.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

I finally got caught up!!

Really loved how this one is going. There are so many different plot points going but they're all connected in a way because they all seem to lead back to Faith. It feels like everyone wants a piece of her.

You know, part of me thinks that Riley will be the one to mess up their little reunion but I'm sure if not him then it'll be someone else. It seems early for any fuffy happiness yet.

Can't wait for the next chapter! :)

Author's Response:

Hey there, :)

And thanks, I really like how things are coming along- I always feel that S4 has a lot of room to play around in with the Initiative and the watcher's council. And, yep, Faith is gonna be of great interest to some people. (And not for the usual reasons...)

 

And we have one solid vote for Riley being the interloper who screws things up. We'll all just have to wait and see. :P

And yes Fuffy happiness is, unfortunatly, a ways off yet. :(

Thanks for the feedback.

Ohhhh, it was just getting to the good part! I hope the next chapter isn't too far off. :(

You're handling the different POVs really well and I actually didn't notice they'd changed which is a good thing really because it all seemed to fit together smoothly. Still loving Faith's perspective and seeing her inner conflict, there are so many factors at play that I honestly don't know how she will decide to act! Buffy's own thoughts and feelings about everything are also a joy to read and it's sweet to see her think back on moments with Faith in the other reality. I really hope she pulls out all the stops to convince Faith she's on her side. So many stories go the route of making Faith cynical and paranoid for far too long. I'd really love to see you have Buffy smash through her walls like a Buffy Bulldozer powered by personal knowledge and the lessons she learnt from the other reality. Fingers crossed.

Having said that, I love how this chapter has set up an unpredictable outcome as various friends and foes circle and threaten to disturb the pivotal talk Buffy wants to have with Faith. It was bound to be a mountainous task to tackle to begin with but the possible intereference of the initiative, riley, the council, or the mysterious hooded figure (djin?) serve to makes things a complete mess. It would be hilarious if they all turned up at once and everyone involved is so confused in the chaos that even Faith struggles to believe Buffy set a trap that over the top! :D

Guess I'll have to wait and see! *counts away the hours and sighs*

Author's Response:

Hi, and Thanks!

I'm glad people are liking the different POV, since they're going to be a bit more common for the next few chapters (lots of balls in the air) before settling into a more familiar pattern.

Hopefully they'll be a lot of good Buffy/Faith moments as Buffy tries to reach Faith, can't promise that she'll suceed right away though...

Yeah, I'm trying to emphasise, from Buffy's position, that this is almost like Angel/Angelus all over again. Something she could've prevented but didn't- but its not exactly the same because Faith is capable of change, she can be saved. - but I'm glad you're liking her thoughts as well.

All the factions will circle, but only some will show up to the meet! But all will play some factor in the coming events. Some canon-y, and some not. :)

As for the wait....not too much longer now.

 

 

 

Man. I really like seeing things from Faith's POV. Buffy POV is good too but this feels like a refreshing change. Though I have to say I was surprised by some mysterious cloaked figure was the one who woke Faith up. Not sure what that was all about, but I guess that's the point of being 'mysterious'.

It was pretty cool to see how Faith saw things and the situation leading up to where she is now. In some ways its so easy to sympathise with her and in some ways she's really in denial about how badly she screwed up... but I guess that is par for the course in canon Faith. I honestly didn't see anything that could be considered any kind of big deviation from canon. I guess that is intentional and it does make sense that it's like that. I'm just looking forward to how things are going to play different now...

Are they still going to duke it out in the quad of the school? It sort of seems that way but this time around Buffy is going to be a lot more reluctant to fight Faith I imagine. It will be really awkwared to have a heart to heart in public and with Willow there... not to mention Faith is probably too pissed to listen to anything Buffy has to say at the moment. Grrrr so much that can happen, this chapter was fun but I really wanted to know what happened next

Look forward to next update. Love it. :D

Author's Response:

Thanks! :)

I really enjoyed writing things from another POV, Faith's thought processes are really different from Buffy and I really wanted to put that across, she's cynical. damamged and confused.

I always felt sympathy for Faith, right from 'Revelations' onwards, and even when she was killing Eliza managed to convey a vulnerability about her, even when she was doing horrible things. And watching 'This Year's Girl' and how alone she is...I'm not sure if I managed to get that across in this but it was really well done in the show.

 

The big deviations from canon start now, firstly with Buffy's reactions to Faith (and later Riley) and Faith waking up early because of 'Mr Cloaky' (Gotta come up with a better name...) which means all these different elements will mix and react in different ways. Faith, The Initiative, The Watcher's guys. Hopefully it will still havve that 'it could've gone this way' feeling to it, because I always think S4 could've been a lot more interesting with some of the plot elements.

Buffy and Faith are gonna go through a few ups and downs before they level out. I'm not gonna say anymore.

 

Thanks again for the feedback. Next chapter...this weekend maybe, not sure.