Flowers for a Ghost
I def would have read the diary but also acknolwedge that what I would be doing is so wrong
Flowers for a Ghost
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.
Graduation
I'm emo
Author's Response:Lol!
Graduation
Damn it!
I read this and suddenly there something heavy on my chest and I can't breathe, there must be fresh onions because my eyes are watering on to top it off there's a bittersweet taste....
There is some serious writing-fu going on here.
Thank you!
Author's Response:Thank you! :)
Graduation
Of course there was no way I'd check back to reality without going through Graduation first!
Now I can safely say I am relieved, in any possible way. First because I finished the whole series AND this short story is like the epilogue after the two epilogues. Although I am really fond of your stories, I am good with leaving it there: happy ending in both dimensions.
I'm happy that Buffy and Faith eventually ended up together and that Faith and Buffy are well together. Funny how Tara ends up being Buffy's BFF in one dimension, and dates Amy in the other one (ewww). Also funny that the two Buffys jhave exactly the same concerns about Dawn being away ^^
Plot well constructed, it strats in one dimension, bridges over the two and ends with the other dimension - so clever! :D Thank you for bringing closure to the series in such way.
Secondly because I did succeed that Sunday challenge that you threw to me on Monday - yes I can confirm that I have now read your WHOLE catalogue!! (if you are disappointed in any way let me know I can probably remedy to that :p). That was intense (also in many many ways) and this consequently mean that your mailbox will no longer be spammed everyday by my reviews, I'm sure you'll be thankful for that ;) Thank you for bringing closure to this too. ;)
The Girl from Away
You nearly killed me there!! You tease a rematch of their second date and them possibly delving into their pervert fetish habits and then Faith suddenly feels a surge of guilt and wants to spend the rest of her life being miserable. Thank god karaokes exist, and Angel knows how to convince stubborn slayers!! Pfewwwww
You might have noticed by now that I do like happy endings... yes I want both Buffy and Faith to be happy!! ^^
I wish that in the other dimension, same year same month, the other Buffy and Faith have managed to work around their difficult relationship and, even better, ended being together. Who knows??
The story was very well constructed, epicly sick towards the end :O, never boring, with a little bit of hot stuff but never being PWP and a lot of interations to develop the relationship betweens B/F- everything I love in summary :)
I like that you gave space to different characters in both Flowers and Girl fics, they are different but similar in many ways!
15 great chapters = at least a good 15hrs of pure joy. I hope you enjoyed my comments on this story.
THANK YOU SO MUCH Aliceinwonderbra - needless to say, you can count me in your fan club!!!
Now time to get back to reality, eat and sleep.
The Girl from Away
Wooohoooo for once my predictions were right ^^
And a good point for Buffy who demonstrated once again that she trusts Faith and that Faith can handle herself, thus enabling Faith to have more confidence and that she is as good as Buffy :D
Amy: she's basically a selfish b*tch who turned herself into a rat, I must admit shamelessly I have absolutely no empathy for her. ...And this is how you now realise I'm cold-hearted ^^
Of course we do need a little epilogue :)
The Girl from Away
HAHA I knew that sound from the washing machine wouldn't go unnoticed XD Busted!!!
My favorite line in this chapter: “You guys been raiding Drusilla’s closet?” XDDDDDDDDDDDD how does Spike feel about that?
Question: Without offence, Aliceinwonderbra have you ever thought about going into therapy? I mean, the whole cavern thing is pretty twisted! I hope you manage to sleep well... :*
May I venture myself in predicting the next chapter? I think that Faith may be slightly injured but certainly not dead, and that Tara has some sort of poison that Amy is about to suck in pretty soon... that would be part of Willow's plan that was on that undisclosed note.
--> next!
The Girl from Away
Yaaaaayy I was so right about Willow :D It was meant to be that she'd go with Faith rather than Buffy. Having been in a similar situation herself, Faith can conceive that Willow is not being given a fair trial. It is good that the two of them took the opportunity of being together to put these things on the table! - I hope their relationship can improve moving forward! Although the conversation was difficult, I enjoy this snappy version of Willow who has more confidence in herself, even if she can be a troublemaker. For insatnce, when she can't help herself and shut up about the relationship between B & F. Grrrrr
For a moment I thought there would be no second date at all given the reproaches Faih was going to get from Buffy, combined with her insecurities... but hey! 5 months though???? Yes we've all been waiting for this update, I'm just glad I got it 1hr after the previous chapter XD Does this fic also qualify as your early and thus rough work?? XDXDXD
I liked how Buffy managed to reassure Faith in less than 3 sentences! :D
The Girl from Away
I will definitely opt out for Willow being innocent, as I you may have noticed I always have a tendency to see the good in people (what? would I be contradicting myself for like the hundredth time? Noooo that can't be (*grin*)).
Plus, there's a body of evidence in the chapter:
“Hello?” Willow calls v. “No!” Tara is screaming over and over - something is wrong here. Tara is the victim of a hit & run, and you have Willow entering the house like it's normal. Who would be stupid enough to come back on the crime scene?
“I’m telling you, I’ve got some romantic crap planned that’s gonna knock your socks off.”, “Probably the rest of your clothes, too,” v. “You know I don’t like surprises, right?” - that was never going to happen, it's too soon after their first date. But thanks for the visuals ^^
“You’re kind of a pervert, you know?”,“we’ve all got fetishes.”, “I just told you,” v. “The car’s moving, sweetheart.” - uhhh ok that has nothing to do with Willow's case but I have to comment on that. Too bad there's an emergency, the atmosphere is so full of tease that actually I will backtrack on the comment just above: it could happen now!! Aliceinwonderbra I admire your writing style, 1) you don't need to be explicit all the time to spark graphic images in your readers'brains, 2) you know how to make us laugh, 3) you know how to cold-shower us and bring us back to earth XD
"If you bind her powers, and then Amy attacks, we’re screwed.” - I'm with Marcie on that one. Don't you see it's a trap???????????????????
She plucks a few spell books from her bedside table and shoves them inside. - if Willow was all evil, she'd just suck the content of the books rather than carrying them with her.
“I would never hurt Tara.” - Evil Willow would never hurt Tara unless maybe Tara was opposing to her directly, which is not what happened here.
“I need your help.” - the cherry on the cake, Willow asking Faith for help means she must be at the very bottom of her life! That must cost her a lot! Evil Willow would probably just kill her instantly.
Q.E.D.
So what do you think, Watson? ;)
Author's Response:You were proven right! :) I like what you said about sparking graphic images in the readers' brains and the cold showers, lol. I do try. ;)
The Girl from Away
You surely had some fun with Marcie!!! Not sure Faith enjoyed as much ^^' but it was funny seeing her handle awkwardly the conversation.
Buffy taller than Faith??? Seriously?? sorry but this is just wrong!! :p
The number 1 rule for the first date is don't sleep together - did Buffy forget about it? Thank you for (seemingly) having removed the other Faith picture; however somehow this was not enough for Faith but Buffy is doing a good job here in reassuring her! It's unfinished business though, so I do hope that there will be a second fuffy break from the plot ^^
Some other (futile) questions popped up through my mind that I don't believe have been answered at all because we had a 21 months leap - did Buffy come across the other Buffy's journal? What is her clothing style, as apparently she and the other Buffy seemed to not have the exact same tastes? Just asking... XD
Author's Response:Forgive me for my super slow responses. I have been working on a new fic so have been a bit busy! :)
I loved writing Marcie (and actually have a half finished one shot about her future after this story around here somewhere). I think we'll have a choose your own adventure answer as to whether this Buffy found canon Buffy's diary. I didn't think about it either way! As for her clothing style though, I imagine she keeps more of the style from Season 1-3, lots of skirts and pastels. Canon Buffy moved more into pants and a little less uber femme type style, in my opinion. :)
The Girl from Away
Ok... now you must really have a laugh at my guesses which are soo totally wrong so far but hey the story with Amy is not finished yet! And I do like a lot that you manage to get me surprised every next chapter so ok I stop complaining straight away and thank you instead:p
Faith showed up first to save Willow's butt --> I hope Willow will grab this opportunity and see Faith in a different light, however as Buffy highlighted previously, Faith is not really the problem. But it may still help?
I'm a bit uncomfortable about the discussion Buffy had with Spike: does Buffy have any plan of sacrificing herself very soon? She'd probabbly be relieved but I'm not sure Faith would feel the same. Hopefully the debrief discussion they had together will have clarified that point?!
Lovers? I like that!!!! It's a real contrast with the other dimenson (flowers) where Faith could'nt move on as she was feeling she was betraying her Buffy by being involved with the other Buffy. Different personalities I suppose, but also more time has passed in this dimension and Buffy had the possibility to get over it (somehow). If she wants to get to the next level (that we are all I am craving for :D XD ^^) she absolutely needs to get rid of that sketch (or at least make it disappear from the bedside table) - Aliceinwonderbra I hope you took good care of it!! :p
Author's Response:I never laugh at guesses! It's just kind of glimpses into different paths the story could have taken. :) It is fun when I surprise people, but it's also fun when people can see where it's going and guess correctly.
The time jump really allowed me a lot of freedom here. So yes, Buffy and Faith (from alt world) are different from each other, but I think alt Buffy would have felt very similarly to alt Faith if we'd stuck with her in real time and canon Faith had been out of prison. She'd have had the same guilt and grief blocking her (although of course canon Faith would have been much more open to at least a friendship than canon Buffy was). It was nice getting to explore where things could be further down the line. Plus I loved the Any plot. So fun to write!
The Girl from Away
Uh-oh, it looks like Willow is going to be back in the evil game afterwards (I can picture you snickering when reading how wrong I was a couple of comments ago) - but I guess it's fair, who could honestly stop Amy when you know what it took to stop canon-evil-Willow, apart from Willow herself? Unfortunately the argument she had wih Buffy in the morning may not work in anyone's favor except Amy :/
At least now I know why Willow is not moving under the same roof!
Apart from that, Faith did not freak out too much and Buffy is making her best effort to create a more-than-friendly relationship - good to see that Buffy was ready to go to work all hungry and horny XDXD
Author's Response:So hopefully this answered your Willow questions! Basically, this story is my version of Season 7, and we skipped past my version of Season 6 (with Willow still mad with power and Tara NOT dying). :)
The Girl from Away
I'm glad Faith didn't have to sleep in the closet (aka the cot in the dining room) for too long - given the rapid growth in the number of people now living at Buffy's, I jut hope that B & F can make good use of the bedroom before they are forced to have someone else sleeping with them in the room!! XD
Me when reading that they are kissing: yyyyyeeeeeeessssssssssssssss :D The build up was definitely worth the wait, I so like their kindness towards each other!! ^^
Author's Response:Hahah. thank you! Glad you're enjoying. :)
The Girl from Away
I detect a lot of kindness in both Buffy and Faith, they really care about each other :D
I wonder what happened with Willow. I thought she was no longer with Tara but this thought quickly dissolved when Tara called her baby. Is she in good terms with Buffy? Is she avoiding Faith?
I'd like to see if and how a relationship will grow between Faith and Dawn. Obviously in this dimension Dawn hangs out a lot with Spike so she already has a go-to person, but can she open up to Faith too?
Author's Response:I think your Willow questions are answered in later chapters. :) As for Dawn, thinking back on it, I don't think she features too heavily in this story. There are a lot of other things going on with the plot, but it was also probably just to make this different than Flowers. I focused on different relationships here.
The Girl from Away
21 months later - wow that's a huge leap in time and I'm glad Faith had enough time to reflect.
ahaha thanks for selecting Amy as the evil witch instead of Willow (pfewww!), I didn't see that one coming :D
Faith is back with her innuendos... will Buffy play along?? (*thinking yes*)
Author's Response:Of course she will! :D
The Girl from Away
And now comes the harsh part: back to reality, where Faith needs to come over her guilt by herself and forgive herself (this may take a lot of time!), and Willow is not as understanding as Buffy. Willow who by the way keeps frightening me!
At least Buffy is not completely alone, Tara is around - a common thing in the two dimensions.
Author's Response:Tara is definitely a comfort character/good friend to Buffy in both dimensions. :)
The Girl from Away
Oooooooh I remember how Willow went off track in season 6 and thhe terrible conversation she had with Giles after she brought Buffy back to life - the scooby discussion you depicted in this chapter is strangely similar. I hope that Willow is not going to go all evil... or could it be a good reason to get Faith out of prison?
I find Buffy extremely brave and coping a lot - let's see if it lasts. I'm glad she was honest with Faith, their relationship can start on a healthy, good basis.
Now, time to stop here for the day, I really need a sleep!
Author's Response:I think Buffy is very strong, kind of similar to the real Season 6. Her strategy is always to shoulder her burdens alone and power on. Which can be good, but is often bad...
The Girl from Away
The next question on my mind is when and how (if at all) Faith will be released from prison... otherwise it is going to be painful unless a theme you wanted to explore is relationships in prison?? ^^
Btw, challenge is back on track for a finish by this Sunday XD
Author's Response:You already know the answer to this by now, but it did make me chuckle reading these as you were going through in real time. :)
The Girl from Away
Oh gosh I just want to cry as I feel even sadder for the other Faith when Buffy told her "I don't regret a single minute with you" :'(:'(:'(
While reading Flowers I had in the back of my mind that this Buffy would somehow find her way to prison and talk to Faith, which would be easier in a way as Faith is all but desperately in need of Buffy's attention and I am tempted to think that Buffy would understand better how Faith ended in this situation and thus be able to forgive her (although it is not really for her to forgive as she did not suffer from it... dark times ahead between her and the scooby gang maybe?). The variable I forgot to think about though is Angel and I'm secretly hoping he won't interfere too much.
Now, I see that this series is longer than Flowers, so I guess that's not going to be an easy ride but the good news is, I'm going to enjoy it for some hours :D
Author's Response:It's definitely not an easy ride, but it's a fun one! This Buffy and Faith are definitely in a very different place than the two we left in Flowers. :)
Flowers for a Ghost
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
Flowers for a Ghost
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
Flowers for a Ghost
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!
Flowers for a Ghost
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
Flowers for a Ghost
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!).