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Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series; Ideas, discussion & fanfic recs!

Hyperion1987 said:
A specific POD would likely take place early to mid season 3, or depending on the plot, possibly some point in mid to late season 2.

I was thinking Navy Seabees as it would combine military skills and training with Xander's canon success in construction. By season 6 he wasn't exactly the top person at his construction company, but seemed to have enough pull to get Buffy a job and wasn't automatically fired because of her, and did seem to have a degree of authority over other workers in later seasons when seen at work.

Love of boats isn't a necessity or requirement for the navy either. I've met former Navy folks before who simply picked that branch at random, or they tried to enlist with the other military branches and the navy folks where either the only people to make an offer, or simply the first ones to call.

Sunnydale is big enough it likely had at some sort of recruiting office somewhere in a strip mall or downtown area store front, maybe even a setup at the Sunnydale Mall. A possible POD at some point between the season 2 Halloween episode could be Xander just happens to be in the right/wrong spot when one or more vampires decide that some enlisted sailor or even a junior officer assigned to or having business at the local recruiting office, someone who isn't a Sunnydale local and doesn't know the unwritten rules of Sunnydale after dark, gets jumped by one or more local vampires. Xander just happens to be passing by, and ends up deciding to help.Thanks to a combination of the vampire(s) being nowhere even close to the likes of Angel or Spike or other higher profile vampires, Xander and the recruiter manage to tagteam the vampire(s) and kill or otherwise knock them out.

Xander and the recruiter chat, Xander gives the person a cut and dry rundown on what just happened, and they part ways, but not before the recruiter hands Xander his or her business card with contact information. The recruiter figures since Xander just saved his/her life, might at least owe the kid a small favor or two off the record at some point.
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Oh I wasn't trying to say he needed a love of sailing. Just that if you want him to keep any of the memories, he needs to use the memories sooner than S4. I really like the idea overall, it reminds me of the NCIS crossover fic I read. So if it's sailing/navy memories, the easiest way is probably just to have him use Cordelia's dad's boat on some weekends. (and of course, you can always ignore something as small as Xander's comment about when he forgot stuff and just make him remember stuff a few months longer than canon.

The construction is a little bit different, since it's likely a Sunnydale construction company. So most of the people who would normally be doing Xander's middle management construction job, probably already died. It makes it a lot easier to get promoted in sunnydale. The NAvy would have a command structure outside Sunyndale that would have capable people shipped into the Sunnydale base.

If Xander/Cordelia/Oz/Willow can hunt vamps for a whole summer with no inguries/deaths, then Xander and a military guy can totally tagteam a newbie vamp. And since we've seen Vamps struggle in conflicts with a human (not instantly overpower them), most vamps are nowhere close to twice as strong/fast as a person. Even Angel is probably topping out at twice a human's strength. Because when do we ever se a vamp lift more than 1'000 pounds?
 
Y'all, I finished the prologue of the rewrite! (It's not up yet because I'm desperately searching for a beta).
 
Flightless Man said:
If Xander/Cordelia/Oz/Willow can hunt vamps for a whole summer with no inguries/deaths, then Xander and a military guy can totally tagteam a newbie vamp. And since we've seen Vamps struggle in conflicts with a human (not instantly overpower them), most vamps are nowhere close to twice as strong/fast as a person. Even Angel is probably topping out at twice a human's strength. Because when do we ever se a vamp lift more than 1'000 pounds?
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People today aren't that strong due to our lifestyle. The average person struggles to lift 100lbs. Especially if you factor in women who as a rule of thumb are weaker than men in raw strength and lifting power. I'm not saying a specific woman who is a female bodybuilder can't be stronger than an office worker, just that the bell curve will be lower overall. I'm not being sexist, they had charts in high school to prove this.
So a vampire that can lift 400lbs could be four times as strong as the average human that doesn't work out much. Now somebody in the business of fighting vampires will have trained their body and will be much farther to the right on the bell curve in terms of physical fitness than the average person.
Heck, I used to work at both a grocery store back in high school and at a Sam's Club and I got asked to help pick up mere 50lb items all the time and put them in customers carts or cars.
 
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SlickRCBD said:
People today aren't that strong due to our lifestyle. The average person struggles to lift 100lbs. Especially if you factor in women who as a rule of thumb are weaker than men in raw strength and lifting power. I'm not saying a specific woman who is a female bodybuilder can't be stronger than an office worker, just that the bell curve will be lower overall. I'm not being sexist, they had charts in high school to prove this.
So a vampire that can lift 400lbs could be four times as strong as the average human that doesn't work out much. Now somebody in the business of fighting vampires will have trained their body and will be much farther to the right on the bell curve in terms of physical fitness than the average person.
Heck, I used to work at both a grocery store back in high school and at a Sam's Club and I got asked to help pick up mere 50lb items all the time and put them in customers carts or cars.
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I was only using 1'000 pounds as a rough estimate of 4 times an average human, that most people would find acceptable. But you are correct that 100 is far more accurate for the average person. But the point I was more trying to make is that most vampires aren't that much stronger than a strong person. We see them struggling while grappling with normal people on multiple occasions, when weight classes in wrestling show how easy it is to completly overwhelm someone.

Most vampires aren't even close to Buffy's category and she still struggled/exertted visible effort to bend metal. So most vampires are probably somewhere in that 400-1000 pound of applicable force range.

...

Sidenote: Story idea for a buffy S4/Community Season 1 crossover, where the greendale weirdness is mostly the sunnydale syndrome explaining away the supernatural.
 
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So I posted this elsewhere, but I figured I would ask here as well:
So I am working on a Buffy fic that is a AU, but some of my ideas involving the original slayer I am unsure about, and am worried would not fit Buffy's general theme.

Basically my idea is that Sineya was the daughter of the head shadowman, nor was she the first choice to be the slayer. The original first choice was the eldest of Sineya's three brothers, as the head shadowmen believed his son were strong enough, and would be able to bare the power of the demon. They weren't; they were consumed by the spirit of the demon and had to be put down. After the first of her brothers died, the other shadowmen refused to allow there own sons to be used, so the head shadowman then had to use his remaining sons reluctantly, each of whom was consumed and then had be put down.

Finally the only one left to use was Sineya the beloved daughter, which is the last straw for the head shadowman's wife, who leaves. Sineya survives the bonding and becomes the first slayer. The Head shadowman finally allows himself to realise what he has sacrificed, forms the precursor to the Watcher Council in order to guide and, his case, to protect the legacy of his daughter and last child. The mother, who had tried to return and was to late to stop the ritual, becomes the first of the guardians.

The other part of my idea is that the death of Sineya's brothers though had an effect on the the magic of the slayer line, giving rise to the ritual of Cruciamentum that would fall in and out of use at the watchers council over the thousands of the years of its existence.

What actual effect the brothers would have I am not sure; the best I came up with is perhaps shades of Sineya's return in pain and anger, and lash out and try to kill the one they think is their sister.

Thoughts? Ideas on how I might make it better? Not saying I will use them, but I like hearing other peoples ideas.
 
Snippet/random-thought: did you ever wonder how some of the Scooby Gang's decision-making 'processes' might look to an outsider? One such person gets a glimpse into the lives of the early-Season 2 Scoobies — and even knowing she's dealing with teenagers, she is appalled at the lack of critical thinking on display:

– – – – – – –​

Jenny glanced at where [REDACTED] was standing and arched a brow as she took in the taller woman's expression, which was somewhere between bemusement and outright incredulity. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just listening to these two talk about dating" a gesture at Buffy and Willow, who now turned suspicious eyes her way "and trying to work out which part of the whole thing is most absurd. On one hand, I'm hearing two virgins trying to tell each other the secrets to getting laid; on the other hand, you also have Buffy trying to get relationship advice and accepting it uncritically from a girl who's never had a date; and on the gripping hand, we have Willow calibrating her standards for what and who makes a good romantic partner by taking cues from Buffy... a woman who is giving serious consideration to fucking a mobile corpse!"
 
honestly the whole "angel is a corpse" thing just feels like a Xanderzonism that weakens what is otherwise a fairly compelling criticism.

maybe note that he's two centuries her senior instead.
 
Well, the XZ may be gone, but some of our longstanding memes die hard, I guess. Nonetheless, the Speaker has Definite Opinions about demonkind and vampires, so taking a sidelong shot at Angel for being an 'undead American' is in-character.

I might change it to "a quote-unquote 'man' who's been dead since before your country issued the Declaration of Independence!" but pending further feedback, it's a pencil-note for now.
 
Trace Coburn said:
Snippet/random-thought: did you ever wonder how some of the Scooby Gang's decision-making 'processes' might look to an outsider? One such person gets a glimpse into the lives of the early-Season 2 Scoobies — and even knowing she's dealing with teenagers, she is appalled at the lack of critical thinking on display:

– – – – – – –​

Jenny glanced at where [REDACTED] was standing and arched a brow as she took in the taller woman's expression, which was somewhere between bemusement and outright incredulity. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just listening to these two talk about dating" a gesture at Buffy and Willow, who now turned suspicious eyes her way "and trying to work out which part of the whole thing is most absurd. On one hand, I'm hearing two virgins trying to tell each other the secrets to getting laid; on the other hand, you also have Buffy trying to get relationship advice and accepting it uncritically from a girl who's never had a date; and on the gripping hand, we have Willow calibrating her standards for what and who makes a good romantic partner by taking cues from Buffy... a woman who is giving serious consideration to fucking a mobile corpse!"
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Interesting mention of Jenny Calendar. Despite her falling out with Buffy and Giles shortly before her death, I think she brought a lot more to the Scoobies then some people give her credit for.

As an adult that wasn't Buffy's mom, or directly related to anyone else, someone good at magic but that wasn't brought up from an early age on the Hellmouth with all the drawbacks that has, plus someone that was younger the Giles and knew how computers and stuff worked, I think her death really screwed everyone over not having an actual adult around to help or guide them.

How might another responsible or at least semi responsible adult running around have impacted Faith for example? Not a Watcher like Giles, and not Buffy's mom, maybe she wouldn't have cared one bit about everyones favorite Slayer from Boston. Maybe she'd have a couch or even a guest bedroom she'd be willing to offer the girl, if only even temporarily. We never saw where she lived, but given she was a teacher which probably paid ok, and Sunnydale home prices where cheap, it wouldn't be impossible that she might have a house or apartment with a spare bedroom.

An adult that isn't Giles could have had a big impact on Willow and Amy. Willow saw Jenny as a true mentor, and pretty much had no guideance after her death. Amy's backstory, being a recurring character and not main cast, is a bit more up in the air, though she seemed to know about the warlock Rack while in high school. Girl probably would have still seen Rack, but Willow dragging her along for a few meetings or training with Jenny instead of secretly sneaking off to Rack a time or two probably wouldn't have hurt.
 
I HAVE TO SEND Y'ALL A THING THAT MY BRAIN BRAINED, HAVE A THING; I dunno if this'll make it in yet but I liked it.

"So." Roland sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs nursing a cup of coffee. The early morning sun hadn't quite made it through the curtains yet.

"So?" Cornelius looked up from a heavy volume on quantum physics, what he considered 'light reading', Roland doubted he'd slept but it didn't show on the wizard's face yet.

"So, the kid's fake?" Roland was blunt as he sipped at the hot drink in his hands.

"Well," Cornelius began, "strictly speaking she's a metaphysical concept given physical form. Somewhat similar to the conception of Avatar from Hinduism, though on a smaller scale and not a god. At least, I don't think she's a god at this time."

"What kind of sick fuck embodies concepts as defenseless children?" Roland's question was rhetorical, there.

"Generally, the cowardly kind." Cornelius turned his attention back to his book. "Any magician capable of the feat of embodying a concept and bringing them into reality not only as an extant being but also twisting the memories of the minds of several dozen people of varying skill with mysticism? Are more than capable of defending that concept in its natural state."

"So the kid's fake?" Roland wasn't stuck on it as much as it sounded, more… bitter? Dejected? It was hard to say.

"No." Cornelius looked up from his book again, annoyance crossed his aged features.

"You just said she was some kind of magic construct."

"I did, because she is. That does not mean she is fake. She's as real as any other person," an amused look crossed his face, "besides? What hero doesn't have a bizarre origin story?"
 
I was attacked by a plot-bunny this morning, and I want to check the track-record for the concept. Does anyone have any links or recs for fics that set the series somewhere other than Sunnydale?
I realise that the Hellmouth is one of the show's central conceits, but what if the Council (in its infinite wisdom /s) decided that another, similar hotspot elsewhere in the world was more active and had more immediate need for a new Slayer than Sunnydale, and consequently engineered Buffy's moving there, instead (or outright getting her to [location X] and starting her Slayer career there, rather than at Hemery)? Even if [Location X] was in another country?

And yes, I realise that the show was set in California because it was made in California and aimed squarely at American audiences, and thus used the familiar environment of an American High School experience for ease of audience buy-in and sympathy with the various occurrences. Speaking as a non-American, I knew the American High School experience only from TV shows, mostly sitcoms that overblew everything for humour value, so it was actually a little alienating compared to my own (fairly-recent, at the time) high school experience, and I'm wondering if Buffy would have found 'High School is Hell' so true even if it wasn't an American HS she attended.

Pre-emptive note: 'losing' Sunnydale doesn't necessarily mean losing the Scoobies. They might easily be recast as friendly locals, or as fellow American transfers to [wherever], and indeed it might create some interesting new dynamics. Imagine Cordelia's trying to process the (horrifying!) revelations that her new school a] requires uniforms, so she can't pull her former Fashion Stasi antics, and b] doesn't have a cheerleading squad, so she's denied that shortcut to status as well. Xander finding that between Cordelia having less room to undermine his social status, and being a foreign import himself, he's actually got a certain cachet with the residents, and being less of an outcast than he was in Sunnydale helps boost his confidence and start working towards reconstructing his sense of self-worth (and breaking some really bad mental habits). Willow blowing the lid off the academic bell-curve as always, but perhaps not being jumped up grades until she finds a proper degree of challenge (despite how easy she finds the work) because the faculty is worried that being [X] years younger than anyone else in a particular classroom would hurt her (already-concerning) social development.
 
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Trace Coburn said:
Does anyone have any links or recs for fics that set the series somewhere other than Sunnydale?
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Unfortunately no. I have a half finished outline for a fic setting Buffy & co in the New England town of Kingsmouth from the old Secret World mmo (and bringing some of the horrors and heroes from that into things), but I'm not aware of any actual fics that move the cast elsewhere.
 
There's quite a few post-canon fics move them to Scotland per the comics I never read.
 
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