OT: Hello, anybody want this?

["Russell Ward" <rainse@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is just an idea to explain how Buffy could drown and not trigger
her Immortality.



PREMISE FOR A BUFFY/HIGHLANDER CROSSOVER

I. Buffy is a pre-Immortal.
A. Xander brought her back before brain death.
1. The magic that chooses a Slayer only waits for the heart to
stop with no chance to restart itself before choosing the
next Slayer.
2. The Quickening waits for brain death before it kicks in the
first time.
B. Buffy is out of the Slayer succession.
1. When chosen the Slayer's body is modified to draw power from
the ambient magic of the world around her.
a. This makes her body both stronger and faster.
b. Her physical senses sharpen to permit easy night hunting.
c. Also, her mind becomes more sensitive to the evil stirring
in the area.
2. Once the modifications are made to the Slayer, the agency
(Powers That Be, God, Magick itself)that chooses the girls to
be Slayers waits for the heart to stop beating then moves to
the next girl. (Kendra)
a. Such an agency does not keep track of the previous
Slayers to make sure they stay dead.
II. When chosen a Slayer is gifted with powers.
A. The Slayer's powers are much like a vampire's.
1. As a vampire gets older its powers grow.
a. Its strength and speed increase.
b. Vampires can develop powers of compulsion (The Master)
and the ability to slightly mask their movements (Angel's
disappearing act)
2. So too a Slayer's powers increase with age.
a. A Slayer's short lifespan usually precludes any noticable
growth.
b. Buffy's brush with death jumped her up the ladder of power
development. (Her prophetic dreams got much clearer after
she drowned.)
III. An Immortal's Quickening grows in two ways.
A. It increases with the Immortal's age.
B. It grows with the Quickenings of fallen opponents, effectively
adding years to the victor's Quickening.
IV. Buffy gets killed by ??
A. Spike. He has himself a real good day.
B. Other vampires. (Doubtful)
C. A demon.
V. Buffy wakes up, ?
A. Alone.
1. She doesn't realize what happened.
2. She knows she was dead and tries to keep it a secret.
3. She knows and tells Giles.
B. Surrounded by loved ones.
1. Everyone recoils from her thinking she must be a monster now.
2. Everyone hugs her, glad she's alive.
VI. Buffy's Slayer powers and her Quickening interact.
A. Her Slayer powers use the Quickening as a sort of ever-
recharging
battery to make Buffy stronger, faster, and more mystically
sensitive.
1. Even a newbie's Quickening is a massive amount of power. 
2. When Buffy is eventually forced to take a head her opponents
Quickening effectively increases the voltage of the battery
her Slayer powers are drawing on. Thus, every head Buffy 
takes
makes her strength, speed, and sensitivity jump up a notch.
B. Buffy would not be prepared for this instant jump in strength
1. Breaking things picking them up and so on.
VII. A headhunter attacks Buffy.
A. Buffy is faster and stronger than anyone the Immortal has
faced before.
B. The Immortal is more skilled with a sword than Buffy imagined
possible.
C. Buffy gets lucky, and kills him. (temporarily)
1. She sits there in shock at killing a human being.
2. He revives in front of her. She kills him again, and runs
away.
VIII. Buffy tells Giles about the Immortal.
A. She felt him coming before she saw him. (The Buzz)
B. He was an incredible swordsman.
C. He came back from the dead.


And that's where my imagination petered out.