Buffy the Vampire Slayer Take Two

Gunman said:

How old are Buffy, Cordelia and Xander at present? Are they not all like 16? I do not know what happened canonically or how Cordelia got invited but these could be frat bros preying on high schoolers and very bad things can happen from there that do not the supernatural.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I'm tipsy and your post refers to something I feel I have adequately addressed above, or at least have addressed as far as I care to bother, 'cuz I still feel the 'talking past each other thing' going on. Good fortune to you.

BeepSmile said:

I'm tipsy and your post refers to something I feel I have adequately addressed above, or at least have addressed as far as I care to bother, 'cuz I still feel the 'talking past each other thing' going on. Good fortune to you.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Was it this?

BeepSmile said:

Edit: Hopefully, Buffy will say something (in a socially adroit manner) to Cordelia about how some of these older party goers might be skeevy, and that will cause Cordelia to think to keep an eye out for Buffy's wellbeing.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I see where you are coming from. We both know that is not ideal but I cannot think of something better.

[x]Go to the Bronze with Willow and Amy to have fun without here
-[X]Ask Buffy to keep an eye on Cordelia. Not all evil is supernatural, and Cordelia doesn't have Slayer powers to help her if the frat boys aren't on the up and up.

CollectiveRamble said:

I constantly see them drinking and it being pretty out in the open and not hidden, yet the drinking age is still 21 right? There might be a few college kids who are past that, but I'd think it would be the minority and it's definitely illegal for high school parties. Do people just not enforce that? Is it much less than fiction portrays? Would a teen consider it no big deal to drink below 21 - even someone like Willow?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

As a general rule you shouldn't trust anything fictional, it's optimized for what sells, not what actually happens.

My experience was that it is much less than fiction portrays in high school. It does happen in high school, but it's not super common and it is fairly hidden. However this can vary a lot with demographic and social group. The laws are enforced but they probably won't throw the book at you.

In college it's less than fiction portrays but not that much less. Enforcement is pretty lax.

Willow would probably consider it a pretty big deal to drink. She'd probably only do so as an act of rebellion, she wouldn't do it just because. Willow might consider it upsetting if there is drinking by other underage people around her.

(canon!)Xander would also probably consider it a fairly big deal to drink. He probably would if anyone offered him a drink, but he'd make a big deal out of it and consider it making him cooler and more adult. He probably hasn't drank anything alcoholic at this point in his life either.

Buffy and Cordy probably have been to parties, but less frequently than you would think given fiction.

CollectiveRamble said:

I can field this one thankfully. Xander and Willow are maybe just 17 as their birthdays come before the new year, but Buffy doesn't turn 17 until a rather notorious episode in the middle of this current season, so she is still 16.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I think she actually turns 16 then. Since then she would turn 18 in season 3.

hailcapital said:

I think she actually turns 16 then. Since then she would turn 18 in season 3.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

In the final episode of Season 1 she gives a heartbreaking monologue telling Giles she's "only 16, I don't want to die".

Also her sleeping with Angel on that birthday would be a lot skeevier (than it already is) if she was only 16 instead of 17.

So S1 was 15-to-16, then S2 was 17, then S3 was 18, and so forth. It's just annoying due to the seasons following the school year instead of a proper calendar one.

Glad that all worked out! I don't know what happened in canon during the date, but doing either of the listed actions is a bad idea character-wise. I'm trying to think of something Xander has a reason to do based on what's happened recently to vote for instead. Maybe researching how to detect and fight demons?

[ ]Research more on Angel to see if you can find evidence to show Buffy

Personally, I hope that this action would allow us to find out about Angel's curse - and maaaaaaybe fixing it. Maybe. While I'm not on the Buffy/Angel trip, anchoring his soul would *certainly* be a boon in the long run.

[X] Ask Miss Calendar if there is a way to find out affinities for Magic and similar spooky abilities

Swedish15 said:

[ ]Research more on Angel to see if you can find evidence to show Buffy

Personally, I hope that this action would allow us to find out about Angel's curse - and maaaaaaybe fixing it. Maybe. While I'm not on the Buffy/Angel trip, anchoring his soul would *certainly* be a boon in the long run.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Maybe we can just cut off the last part of the option for character reasons? I'm fine with Xander not liking Angel getting together with Buffy, but actively working against the relationship feels too much like he's letting his jealousy control him.

[X]Research more on Angel and other famous vampires. As much as you don't like the idea of Angel and Buffy getting together, all of the media you've seen tells you that trying to discourage a relationship would only backfire. Instead you'll learn as much as you can in case things go sideways. Learning more in case other strong vampires show up wouldn't hurt either.

I'm willing to modify my write-in, depending on how the discussion goes.

[x]Research more on Angel and other famous vampires. As much as you don't like the idea of Angel and Buffy getting together, all of the media you've seen tells you that trying to discourage a relationship would only backfire. Instead you'll learn as much as you can in case things go sideways. Learning more in case other strong vampires show up wouldn't hurt either.

This turned out surprisingly much better than I'd hoped. Apparently Buffy just... sorted it out on her own? No backup. Unless Angel was stalking her there and helped and she just didn't mention it perhaps?

Blacksheep said:

It was a good night. You had missed being able to just be around her without the awkwardness clouding things up.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

This is very nice to see. We're getting back to normal with Amy, we're unwinding and being a normal teen for a bit, we're maintaining our friendship with Willow, and we're proving we can be friends and do things without Buffy involved as the glue.

Blacksheep said:

You'd be happier if you didn't find out Buffy and Angel had set up a date to go out for coffee together. Why couldn't Buffy see that Angel was bad?

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

I'm a little confused. I'd thought that while we were attracted to Buffy, this version of Xander had already committed to the idea of not pursuing her and that it wouldn't work out (at least right now). So why is he suddenly pining for her and trying to convince her to break up with Angel?

I mean there's plenty of reasons for the vampire-traumatized Xander to dislike Angel on his own merit, but I don't think we've seen him be more than mildly annoyed by Buffy and Angel up to this point have we?

Swedish15 said:

-find out about Angel's curse - and maaaaaaybe fix it. Maybe. While I'm not on the Buffy/Angel trip, anchoring his soul would *certainly* be a boon in the long run.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

While I certainly agree with you, anchoring his soul would be a massive magical effort that wasn't even considered as an option in canon. It'd be true necromancy forcing a human soul permanently into an undead vampire body.

The Kalderash Gypsies got around the difficulty of that by making it a curse with an "out" that I'd guess makes it a little easier, but honestly even the original flawed curse was very powerful dark magic that only prodigies could cast, let alone improve or meddle with.

And unfortunately there's no amount of research that'd tell Xander about the curse on Angel either, because the only people in the world who know the wording and clauses of it are a small near-extinct band of Gypsies - even Ms Calendar, Angel, and Drusilla -the Prophet- never knew it could break.

The way around it could maybe be Xander looking into curse magic in general -theory only obviously- and realising that if Angel is cursed with a soul, then every curse has an "exit clause" that ends it and enquiring what it is and what happens if it breaks?

The best write-in I've got would be:
[X] Look into Angel's whole "curse business" that Xander doesn't fully believe, ask Giles and Ms Calendar about how curses work in case you run into them in future

[X]Research more on Angel to see if you can find evidence to show Buffy

The main thing going on with Xander/Angel is that Angel is an unknown vampire that keeps trying to get to one of his friends. He doesn't know Angel, doesn't really interact with him, all he knows is Angel is a vampire with too much interest in his friend who is already in lots of danger. He wants Angel away so Buffy is safer. Yes he finds the dating thing gross, but mainly it's that Buffy is getting involved with a vampire. It's illogical and far more emotional than it should be, but that's what it is. This isn't Xander acting on logic or rational, this is Xander acting on emotion

[X] Ask Miss Calendar if there is a way to find out affinities for Magic and similar spooky abilities

[X] victor von doom

victor von doom is a genius in both in magic and tech

YAHF

Too bad. I was hoping that researching Angel and "other famous vampires" would let Xander learn about Spike and Druscilla before they actually showed up in person.

As for what costume to wear... No clue. I'm not a fan of Victor Von Doom because he's a megalomaniacal villain, and I'm not sure how much will be carried over after Halloween ends. Xander should have some money saved from working over the summer, but he's saving it for his trip so I don't think he'd want to spend a lot of money on a costume he'd only wear once.

The main skill Xander seems to be weak in is researching, but would improving his research skills be the best way to help out the group? I'm not sure how Willow is spending her time, if she's helping with research or learning magic or whatever else.

Do we want to focus on helping out the group or on helping Xander specifically? If we want to help Xander academically, he could dress up as a scholar/Watcher, though I don't know how he'd explain that to people not in the know. Or Xander could dress up as a martial artist/swordsman/archer/etc. to improve his fighting skills.

I don't really feel that making Xander this uber genius character who can do anything would be good for a story. So Victor von Doom seems like a bad option for me. And the character should fill a role that no one else in the group has and it should be a skill, not some sort of power. Something that Xander can learn that will stick around. So my choice would be something that teaches him a skill his friends don't have and also helps him as a person, emotionally and mentally speaking. One idea I had for a different fic was Hawkeye from the MCU. He's amazingly skilled with a bow which is a role no one else in the group has but he also has a relative;y good head on his shoulders. And yes I know that the MCU doesn't exist yet in the story and comic book Clint is really different but that seems like a minor quibble for the sake of the story. Though, only if Blacksheep agrees of course. So that's two I am going for. If anyone else has a different suggestion, I'm open to that.

[X] Clint Barton (MCU)

It would have to be comic book based

Also Spike did already show, but they aren't aware he's still around

Fair enough, I guess I'll just go with the regular one then. The archer role is still useful. Again, I am open to other suggestions if anyone has them.

[X] Clint Barton (Earth-616)

I assure you, very few teenagers would go as anywhere near like that unless maybe they're 13. That's too cringe even for them. Mostly anyway. There are some but I don't think Xander's the type. Not in canon or in this fic.