Unconventional Angel Shipping, An Overview

[ebailey140@xxxxxxx]

Buffy: "As I was saying..."
Angel: "You're right."
Buffy: (Stunned momentarily at Angel agreeing with her in mid tirade) "Huh?"
Angel: "I had no right to treat you like I had a territorial claim on you.
Please, forgive me."
Spike: "Yeah, right... Like she's gonna buy that brooding, billowy coat,
king of pain, bit, after what you did..."
Darla: "But, you do have a territorial claim. You've marked her..."
Angel: "I'm a vampire, yes. But I know love... (To Buffy) ...because of
you."
Spike: "You're NOT going to just forgive that..."
Buffy: "Oh, Angel..." (Hugs him)
Spike: "Come ON!!! (To Faith) "Can you believe this?" (Noticing her eyes
getting all misty) "You're bloody kidding..."
Faith: (Joins Buffy in hugging Angel) "And I love you both... I was so
rotten to you... Can you forgive me?"
Spike: "I DON'T SODDING BELIEVE THIS!!!! Dru?"
Dru: (Joining in the hug) "Daddy, I've missed you..."
Spike: "Bloody hell... So, Darla..." (She's looking longingly at Angel)
"God..."
Willow: "Um, Buffy... I don't mean to break this up... But you and Faith
just said I was your territory..."
Faith: "Oh yeah... C'mere..."
Willow: "No! I mean, Buffy, you said when this first came up, that all that
with the First Slayer was just a dream..."
Buffy: "Oh! Yeah, I said that..."
Willow: "So, what did you mean, just then?"
Spike: "Well, this oughta be good..."
Buffy: "Willow, I'm sorry... Sure, I'm the Slayer, but you're not my
territory... I love you, and wouldn't do anything to hurt you..."
Willow: (Tearing up) "I love you, too, Buffy!" (Big hug)
Spike: "Just stake me..."
Darla: "So much has changed since I've been away."
Dru: "GRANDMOMMY!!! The stars said you were returning to us!!! Miss Edith
missed you!!! We'll have a tea party..."
Darla: "Then again..."
Angel: "Cordy, I'm sorry about that, back there..."
Cordy: "Like I could ever stay mad at you..." (Another hug)
Harmony: "Softie..."
Tara: (Disengaging herself from being hugged by Willow, Buffy, and Faith):
"Um, somebody going to do the intros?"
Darla: "I suppose...

Title: Unconventional Angel Shipping, An Overview
Writer: E
E-mail: ebailey140@xxxxxxx
Notes: Continues the Unconventional Shipping Overview series, following...
You people have been busy..."

Faith: "You don't know the half of it."
Darla: "...Following the two Buffy ones, the Willow one, the two Faith ones,
the Cordelia one, the Giles one, the Xander one, and the Spike one... How
did the Slayers rate two each?"
Anya: "They're Slayers, so they require massive orgasms even more than you
vampires."
Darla: "Is that possible?

Spoilers: A lot, given the subject, including Restless and To Sanshu In LA.
Warnings: Sexual situations, involving all sorts of pairings, some
gratuitous Kate the Cop bashing, and not really Riley bashing, but generally
dismissing him... Yes, E plays favorites.
Disclaimers: E owns nothing. This is all owned by Joss, Fox, and the WB..."

Spike: "Do you have the WB execs by the balls? I mean, you're never without
a bloody series..."
Darla: "When they wrote me out of Roswell, I told them I was going to rip
their throats out if they didn't put me on Angel.

Archiving: E doesn't mind, and would be honored, just tell him, first."

We're back for another look at unconventional relationships in Buffy fanfic,
this time focusing on Angel, the brooding vampire with a soul...

Spike: "Ponce!"

He was initially turned in Ireland, by Darla, who served as an evil parallel
to Buffy in the early episodes. There's been some interesting fanfic based
on their relationship. There's even been a recent series making Darla a
turned Slayer.

Buffy: "I don't think so... I kicked her ass WAY too easily for her to be a
Slayer."
Cordy: "Oh, I know... I mean, THIS is the Big Bad that Wolfram & Hart went
to all that trouble to bring back?"
Darla: "I was out of condition!!! I'd hadn't had to fight anyone for
decades!!!"
Willow: "Maybe she's supposed to be a threat in a psychological sort of
way..."
Harmony: "Even YOU chased her off, screaming, way before you were
all-powerful Wicca girl. You were just the nerd, and you did it."
Darla: "Hey! I didn't know she was packing Holy Water!!!"
Cordy: "Yeah... Wait, you weren't there! How did YOU know?"
Harmony: "Y'know, word gets around the vampire circles."
Darla: "ARRRGH!!! OK, who's trash talking me?!! Where did you hear that?!!"
Harmony: "Spike told me."
Darla: "SPIIIKE!!!! Is that any way to talk about your grandsire?!!!"
Spike: "Call it like I bloody see it... Just ask the poof..."
Harmony: "Yeah, he does... It was always Angel this, Angel that... What
does the Slayer see in him... Why does she shove her tounge in his mouth
instead of mine... Then he moans about what a great kisser Angel is..."
Spike: "HARM!!!"

Angel developed into a pretty vicious vamp. At one point, he became obsessed
with a virtuous girl who had visions...

Cordy: "You were obsessed with me?"
Willow: "He said virtuous."
Cordy: "Hey!"

...and began stalking her. He slowly killed all her friends and family,
slowly driving her insane, before finally turning her...

Darla: "Those were the days..."
Dru: "Daddy... He killed my family, tortured me... Because he loved me..."
Darla: "Though, you really should have left some of her marbles intact,
Angel..."
Dru: "He chipped my marbles... I loved to play with marbles... But now
they're all broken and won't roll..."

Writers enjoy this twisted relationship, as well. One night, everything
changed. Darla decided to surprise Angel with a gypsy girl. Her family took
revenge by restoring Angel's soul...

Spike: "That was YOUR fault?!!!"
Darla: "I didn't know they could do that!!! It wasn't in the Vampire
Handbook!!!"
Harmony: There's a Handbook?!!! How come I didn't get a Handbook?"
Buffy: "I know how you feel."
Spike: "It's a bunch of bloody rubbish the so-called Master put together.
Once you get a certain age, you get sent alone against a crazed Slayer...
That's what got a lot of his bunch killed..."

Angel was tortured by the memories of all he'd killed. He wandered around in
the alleys, feeding on rats, for decades, until Whistler, an immortal demon
sent to maintain the balance between good and evil, found him and told him he
was needed. He brought him to LA, to witness the Slayer he was destined to
help being called, and stalked, I mean, saw Buffy for the first time. He was
smitten...

Angel: "She was so beautiful, and innocent, sucking on a lollipop..."
Cordy: "What is it with you guys and girls sucking on lollipops, anyway?"
Willow: "You know, a hard, sucking candy on a stick..."
Cordy: "Eww! I don't know whether to be more wigged over finding out about
that, or that you knew it..."

This led to the great Buffy/Angel romance, which defined the show in so many
ways. It was passionate, dark, tragic... What more could you ask for?

Faith: "A tasteful hot tub scene with me and B? Or how about a tasteful
Willow/Tara shower scene?"

The B/A romance has been the favorite subject of Buffy fanfic. It's had many
variations, of course. Even Buffy/Faith and Buffy/Spike fic will often
incorporate it, due to those two having interesting relationships with Angel,
as well. Things turned REALLY bad for the couple when they finally
consumated things...

Faith: "Consumated?"
Buffy: "When we made love."
Faith: "Oh, when you boinked him... Got it..."

...and an unknown clause in the gypsy curse was invoked, removing his soul.
He set about the old pattern he took with Dru, stalking Buffy, killing her
friends...

Anya: "Sticking to the tried and true courtship rituals."
Darla: "You mean, I went through all that hell trying to break them up, and
all I had to do to get him back to normal was get them together for a
night?!!! DAMN!!!"

She eventually had to run a sword through him and send him to Hell to save
the world. What made it even more tragic was Willow restored his soul
moments before Buffy had to do it....

Faith: "See!!! That PROVES she really doesn't love Riley! She ended the
second season running Angel through with a sword, and the third season
stabbing me in the gut with my own knife! She only runs her true loves
through with a sharp blade at the end of the season!"
Willow: "No, that theory isn't accurate, because she hasn't done that to me."
Cordy: "Well, maybe that bit where the First Slayer bit and drained the life
out of you counts. It WAS the end of the season..."
Willow: "Yeah... I guess that WAS a part of her... Buffy loves me!!"
(Smiles)

Angel returned early in the next season, which REALLY complicated Buffy's
life, in the episode Faith, Hope, and Trick, the title referring to the three
characters introduced in that episode: A new foe, a new love interest for
Buffy, and some guy named Scott Hope. Angel eventually left Sunnydale,
because he wanted Buffy to have a normal life, and because he was getting his
own series. However, the spark is still there, and B/A shippers maintain the
great love story.

There have been some interesting twists in B/A fic, though, such as making
the show's primary conventional ship an unconventional one, by having Angel
not regain his soul, or lose it again, but the two being unable to deny their
passion for each other. Angelus (What we call de-souled Angel to avoid
confusion) is an interesting character for many writers. The complexities of
Angel, the division between light and dark, has led to some interesting
stories, and, of course, unconventional shipping...

Cordy: "I was wondering when you were going to get around to that..."

such as...

Angel/Spike...

Spike: "Bloody hell..."
Buffy: "You know you love him.."

This is based on the relationship between sire and childe. It tends to be a
dom/sub relationship, with a lot of love and protectiveness as well. Often,
it also involves their mutual passion for Buffy, leaving the Slayer as part
of a vampire family, whether she's a vamp or not. Also based on the
light/darkness theme is...

Angel/Faith...

Darla: "Angel, aren't we supposed to KILL Slayers?"
Spike: "Rules changed while you were out. Gotta admit, I like this set-up
better..."

Some writers, for some reason, seem to want to replace Buffy in Angel's life
with a cop...

Angel/Kate...

Buffy: "Yeah!! I'm gonna have to smack them..."
Willow: "Now, Buffy, they just want Angel to have a girlfriend, since he's
in LA and away from you, and all..."
Buffy: "Um, the whole reason he left? Soul escape clause?"
Cordy: "You know what's even worse? OK, they want Angel to have a
girlfriend in LA... HELLO! There's someone there every day with him who
actually LIKES him..."

Angel/Cordy...

Harmony: "Yeah, and you had a thing for him all the way back in the first
season..."
Willow: "Maybe the A/K people forget about you because you're not a blonde."
Buffy: "But wouldn't that mean she's just a substitute for me? I don't know
what they're thinking. I'd MUCH rather sleep with you than Kate."
Cordy: "Well, DUH!!! I prefer sleeping with you, too."

Cordy is a seer, given visions by the Powers That Be to help Angel help those
in need, and achieve redemption. A/C shippers build on this bond. Slash
ficcers, however, prefer to ship Angel with Cordy's predeccessor in the
vision department...

Angel/Doyle...

Cordy: "Well, at least Doyle LIKED Angel..."

...and his current assistant, former Watcher...

Angel/Wes...

Buffy: "Thought Ripper'd be more your taste in Watchers."

Others agree...

Angel/Giles...

Willow: "But then there's the problem that Giles hates him, and all..."

Anything's possible in fic. We even have, in surprisingly large amounts...

Angel/Xander...

Buffy: "Which pretty well requires ignoring canon completely..."

Exactly. One long running series is based on the entire actual show being a
lie. Another ship is based on two fangy guys who take a quiet, stone face,
approach hitting it off...

Angel/Oz...

Cordy: "Well, you don't have to write much dialogue..."

Then, of course, there's...

Angel/Lindsey...

Willow: "Him, again?!!!"
Darla: "I'm even getting shipped with him."

And finally...

Angel/Joyce...

Buffy: "sigh..."
Spike: "Well, you know how we vamps are about families..."
Darla: "The Slayer's MOTHER?!!! That's it!!! My childe's been with humans
too long! You're coming with me..."
Buffy: "And, what do you think you're doing?"
Darla: "Get OUT of my way!!"
Tara: "Uh oh..."
Dru: "Darla, are you INSANE?!!!" (Looks at everyone staring at her)
"What?!!"
Spike: "Look, if even Dru thinks you're being bloody daft..."
Darla: "You think I'm afraid of a Slayer?"
Angel: "Given what just one did to you, you should be... And there're two
of them, now..." (Buffy and Faith exchange one of their looks, a silent
communication passing between them)
Cordy: "They're doing that preditory smile thing..."
Buffy: (Sweetly, but with the preditory smile thing) "Darla... Remember
the first time we met? I was knocking you all around that crypt..." (Shoves
her into a chair) "I had you pinned, with my foot on you..." (Darla tries
to get up, only to have Faith pin her back in the chair from behind, her
hands pressed firmly on Darla's shoulders) "If that dork, Luke, hadn't shown
up, I could have done anything I wanted to you..."
Faith: "Y'know, back in Boston, I always had a weakness for those girls in
the Catholic School outfits... You've been a bad girl, Darla, and we're
gonna have to punish you..."
Darla: (Looking pleedingly to her childe and grandchilderen, or however
that's spelled) "Help me!"
Spike: "Hey, don't look at us."
Angel: "Oh, I don't know... Maybe we should... help..." (With the classic
evil Angelus smile) "But not in the way she wants..."
Spike: "I like the way you think..."