Not too much angst please.
Author's Response:But I love it.
OMG! What are you doing to us here! When I read that dialogue, I almost dropped my phone. I'm living for the emotional roller-coaster. So much angsty angst angst, but I want the happy ending. I'll be patient and wait.
My writing is slow going, but is still on track. It went from a one shot to a multi chapter to a retelling of a season. I think I went too big. But I will love it when it's complete. I hope others will like it if its good enough.
As always, thanks for posting.
Author's Response:That's always the way isn't it? The writing spirals out of control. 🤣
Angsty, angst angst is my favorite. 😅😅 But so is coming back together and soothing the angst. 😆 I think this story is going to be about 20 chapters, so we will be to some happy stuff sooner rather than later, for sure. 😊
Yeah.
The bullshit is real.
And we all have it.
Author's Response:Ugh, sad but so true.
Swoosh, gut punch.
I knew it was coming, you told us so, but now this chapter is here and it happened... or not happened. I'm starting to let it all sink in. Faith is a complicated woman. Buffy is a patient woman, that I almost cried alongside on this one. So much emotion and angst that the payoff will be worth this.
I trust you!
PS, thanks for posting early 🤗
Author's Response:Gulp. Haha. I will try to live up to that trust! ;) Only joking--you know I can't resist a happy ending. Even if it takes a while to get there... Hope your writing is going well too!
Filled with all the mirth and theme's of Christmas! Great use of a precursor messenger for Faith. With all the reinforcement she's receiving from every angle I'll be amazed if it all doesn't sink in sooner or later. She is worthy 😆
Author's Response:Sooner or maybe... later? :D No, it will, I promise. :) Just uhhh, a couple more chapters maybe to get to that. Haha.
The writing is taking longer than I remembered. I'm switching between how I want to write it, first or third person. Then with the re-reads and edits. I'll be happy once all the threads weave together. I've got a solid idea and written most key parts I want to have happen, but pulling them together in a coherent way is taking a while. There's a sweet spot I get when I can visualise the action, so once that happens for all the sections it'll be ready 😅
Thanks for remembering and being supportive of my endeavour.
Nice!
Def worth the wait.
Nice and snuggly too :)
Love Joyce! All day er day! Classic maternal display in action 🤗 Happy Faith's there now, ready to love and be loved.
Author's Response:Yes! I almost feel bad about the inevitable further issues upcoming after this sweet chapter... almost. How is writing going??
Author's Response:Yes! I almost feel bad about the inevitable further issues upcoming after this sweet chapter... almost. How is writing going??
You ever think about doing a cross over?
Author's Response:With what?
So important.
So sad.
:(
Author's Response:I guess it was sad! I was mostly focused on the bonding between them and it didn't feel as sad to me.
I almost forget how much reassurance Faith needs to believe anyone could willingly want to choose her. To want to spend time, make commitments, to protect... I'm glad the jacket was the thing that opened the door of possibility to the validity of Buffy's feelings for her. Very important chapter for sure.
Can't wait for Joyce to install the no sex under her roof clause when she gets whiff of this budding relationship 😉
Author's Response:Maybe Joyce isn't a regular mom, she's a cool mom (TM Mean Girls)? 🤣🤣 I love Season 4 Faith for exactly the reasons you said: that it's so hard for her to believe anyone really cares, because she does ultimately feel that she's evil and worthless. I want to slowly move her toward understanding she isn't and that people do care, but I think it takes several reiterations for things to sink in, and that she finds actions more believable. So... it's a struggle haha. Especially because I think at some point she needs to freak out and reject some of this... sad spoilers for future chapters lol. Thank you as always for commenting and reading this in real time! I love your commentary.
Getting there.
Sucks that Faith is so insecure, and sees drama with every move.
But yeah, that's how insecurity is.
Author's Response:For sure. I think the timeline is also so tight in this fic that she hasn't really had much time to adjust to all these changes yet. It's been only a few days since she woke up, so I think her ability to accept love and care from other people will increase as we move forward. 😊
Love their interaction, its slow, but they are getting there. And Buffy, the Council and a sword is always of the good...I remember a scene were she made clear she was her own boss...badass!
You write so well, I was worried for a double cross! I can tell I'll be re-reading this fic from the start of Vengeance once it's all completed. Excited for the next chapter. Thank you.
Author's Response:I think that would be cool to read it all as one continuous work. 🤗🤗 Ultimatey I think the initiative is not trustworthy especially without the Buffy/Riley romance to really get Riley to examine his world view, but I wanted to resolve the Council in a somewhat similar way to canon (they stopped coming after Faith turned herself in--why? Who knows? Does not make sense to me but that's what we've got!), so this is what I came up with. I didn't initially write Buffy fucking their day up so much, but decided that if the council problem is going to go away without any of them being murdered, then Buffy had to be willing to do anything except kill them. The stakes had to be higher than just letting Riley save the day. So hopefully this worked in that way. 😁 I definitely think it could have gone the double cross way with the Initiative taking real custody of Faith, but then I think I'd be doing a retread of Buffy's recue of Faith (and a rescue I've already done in another fic), so I went this way. For this story, I think plot development is not a super huge factor (because I think the relationship IS the plot here), so I've been trying to straddle the line between not getting overly embroiled in plot while also not hand waving away the things that would naturally happen next (the council, the police).
The other fic I've been working on is also not super plot heavy. Maybe I'm not feeling plottiness in the pandemic. I just want my relationship angst and then happy endings! 😂
Nobel, but c'mon! I'm accepting of this coz Faith's gotta have a story arch and I'm here for it 🤗
Love the familiar touching from Buffy and ease of innuendo prone Faith. Those were super sweet super short lived moments that gave this chapter life.
Thank you.
Author's Response:I could have sworn that I responded to this, but now I see that I apparently did not. #fail I love getting a super fast comment from you every week when I post the new chapter! You are the best. Thank you. a86;a039;a86;a039; One challenge of so many of these earlier chapter being sort of "in real time" is having to follow events that maybe aren't super riveting, so I try to look for places to put in something sweet (like Buffy's easy touching), so I am glad those moments shine! The story goes pretty much in this real time format through chapter 13 which is what I've written up to now. The plan for the rest, starting with the next chapter, is to be less diligent about touching on every day, so I think that'll allow for more fuffy, less of the other stuff. I'll confess I haven't worked on the story this week. I got the urge to write another one shot so I just went with it. 😬😬🤣🤣 I'm almost through with it, so hoping I'll have it completed and ready to post later this week, then I'll be on to chapter 14. a86;a039;
Wow.
Yu can really feel the fury radiating off off Buffy.
Jeez, if i was those guys, i wouldn't want to be doing anything bad to Faith.
I mean, if she dies, Buffy is gonna have nothing better to do than hunt you down and kill you. A lot.
Author's Response:Hahaha. I don't think killing Faith is on their agenda (although never thought this plot point made much sense on the show), so probabky safe there... 😝 I think they are pretty pompous though, and don't seem to fear retaliation very much.
Getting there!
Woohoo!
This is great! I'm so happy that people are still writing anout those two. Keep up your good work!
Author's Response:Thanks so much! Slowly but surely still writing. :p A new chapter is typically up each Sunday. Just finished off writing Chapter 12.
Love their interaction, its slow, but they are getting there. And Buffy, the Council and a sword is always of the good...I remember a scene were she made clear she was her own boss...badass!
Author's Response:I love that scene too! :) Thanks for keeping up with the story! I will say it probably can't be smooth sailing forever... :D
I had forgotten about the council in this season cannon. Crazy.
So glad Faith went to Buffy in her moment of need and that Buffy was able to regulate her reaction to Faith coz that was dicey. One wrong word and she would've been waving bye bye to Faith's back as it hopped out the window. I'm not fully convinced Faith won't do that now she knows the Council is on the trail. I hope Faith doesn't run off while Buffy's downstairs. Thinking that she's doing it to keep the blonde and the rest of the family safe.
Still on board with this. I couldn't go to bed unil I had read it. I need help 😣 😅
Author's Response:Ugh the fucking council pricks. Although in their defense, their appearance in Sanctuary did give us the wonderful, immediate reaction from Buffy of 'the council isn't getting their hands on Faith even if i did just say I'd murder her.' :D They will be just as dick-ish when they appear next chapter.
I think it worked in Buffy's favor that Faith was in a weakened state, so a little bit less likely to flee the premises. :p
I'm sorry to keep you up late, haha! I used to post in the AM my time, but it's been busier than usual with holiday stuff, trying to squeeze in dog park time before it gets too cold, etc. Stupid real life. Thanks for waiting up! Hope things are good with you!
Well there's a hellish coinkydink.
Just learned about all of these things in class today.
But in defence of the inaccuracy, they didn't want to deal with the tricky/iundignified/gross parts of a person being in a coma for months.
It's a fantasy/adventure/teen show.
And in the US, don't they just let you die, if there are no family members to keep paying?
Council maybe?
Author's Response:That's so funny! Are you going to school for something medical-y? 😄
For a fantasy show they really went all in on boring me to tears with talking about finances, custody of Dawn, having to hold down a job, etc in Season 6. (I am an apologetic season 6 hater lol). The very least they could have done was not have a freaking peripheral IV in her arm for 8 months. 😂 Give her a central line and I'll give a pass on not seeing a feeding tube or a catheter or a diaper. Because those would be more undignified/ gross to show on TV, I agree. I work in a medicine-adjacent field so inaccuracy in medical events on TV is one of my pet peeves. 😂
My fanwank would be that the Mayor's estate is providing for Faith's care. To me it never made sense that the Council would even leave her in a coma, rather than showing up and offing her discreetly so they can get a new slayer who might play ball with them. So I would assume they aren't paying for her care. As to what the US healthcare system would do with someone destitute and comatose, I confess I have no idea. There is also the possibility that Faith is a minor at this time, so I'm not sure if that would change things or not. 🤷🏼 I want to say it would be something like the hospital would have to get a court to agree they could withdraw life sustaining measures (basically nutrition here since they don't have her on a vent). But I'm not sure at all.
Perfection.
I don't know where to start. Thank you for exercising your civil duty to inform and educate readers on coma awakening etiquette. The trigger warning was a nice touch.
I'm glad Faith had the opportunity to witness Buffy's love, from noticing the decorations and socks to seeing her defend Faith from her friends' assumptions of Faith's mental state. Most of all Buffy's rejection of Riley.
I'm sad that that slayer sensing didn't kick in for Buffy. Faith was right there!
Again, it's going to be a loooooooong week. Damn you and thank you 😆
Author's Response:Lol! I work in a field related to medicine, so it irritates me when I see crazy unrealistic depictions of medical events. Like okay, I don't need you to show me everything, but you guys couldn't even do the bare minimum here? 😂
I should have expected not using the slayer senses in the final scene was going to bite me in the ass. 🤣 Honestly my thought was, "I already did the Faith spying on the Scoobies scene in Somnaire, and I did have Buffy sense that she was there, so maybe I should do it differently here." The show itself seemed to play fast and loose with the slayer senses, and they didn't come into play every time they realistically should have. Maybe we can fanwank that they have to be actively concentrating to sense each other...? We'll go with that. 🤓
To provide some balm for the long week, I'm now almost finished with Chapter 12. So even tho you have to wait, at least there's a tradeoff in knowing there are so many more chapters to come, and they'll be coming regularly rather than the usual sporadic six month long waits I'd usually have? 😇🤣😅
Well, that could have gone better.
But yeah, she's gonna be sensitive about that stuff.
Author's Response:Most people probably would be! Haha.
Yep, that's a classic Faith reaction. Oh dear.
And I tried to forget about this fic coz I wanted to binge it all when it was completed, but I couldn't help myself and now I'm like Sunday can't come quick enough!
Author's Response:Hahah! I'm sorry you have to wait, but also excited you're reading now! Sunday is almost here. Sort of. a86;a039;
Great sequel, read it in one go. Ofcourse Faith is hurt now...Buffy has got her work cut out for her!
Author's Response:Yay! Glad you're liking it! Poor Buffy, I think it's not exactly her fault that this happened. She tried to do the right thing by being honest about it, but that's backfired a bit. She certainly will keep working on it though. 🥰 I just finished writing Chapter 11, and the story is still somehow nowhere near done, so we have a ways to go. 😁