Re: Fic: Rough Magic (8/?)

[danspector@xxxxxxxxx]

Inell,

Oh, so much pain. Poor Anya. It's only natural for a parent to feel
guilty that their child has died instead of them, but for a woman who
has never felt completely human and who must have seen her baby as
validation of her human life, it has to be all the more devastating.

And poor Willow, knowing that not only will she always bear her own
guilt but that she'll be reminded of it everytime she sees Xander and
Anya. To see her "wishing she had half of [Buffy's] strength" when so
often she's the strong one of the two, well, ouch.  

And yet, so much love. Buffy and Xander are both there for the women
they love, knowing that having their beloved with them makes up for
anything else. Very nice.

I wonder if we're ever going to find out what happened with the spell,
or if it's going to be one of those unexplained phenomena that people
just have to go on and deal with, despite the lack of closure. Either
way should be interesting.

Thanks, Inell. (That enough "nice things" for ya? <g>)

[and I'm sure I don't have to say] More, please! [but, what the heck, it
never hurts to be polite.]

Dan

PS--Warning! Spoilers for "Lessons" below!

As 

a 

present 

for 

Inell,

and to flex

my 'shippy-moment-spotting muscles

(even for 'ships I don't do)

here's an attempt to find

Willow/Spike foreshadowing in "Lessons"


Okay, so they're a continent apart, never mention the other and are so
disconnected neither one of them even knows about the other's crimes.
(Spike left town before BadHairWillow showed up, and I haven't seen any
indication that Buffy, Xander or Dawn told Willow or Giles what happened
in that bathroom). But let's focus on what we "learned" in "Lessons",
namely:

"It's all connected" and "it's all about the power".  
Well, of everyone on the show, Will and William are on the most similar
arcs, having abused their "power" last year and now being tormented in
consequence. Are they "connected"? Will they have to heal each other
in order to heal themselves? If Buffy turns into a BigBad, as implied
at the end, would the Damaged-but-Dangerous Duo have to join forces to
take her down?

Okay, probably not (my money's on Willow's entire arc, including Buffy's
future forgiveness of her, as just being a way to make Spike look
equally redeemable and resolve the series with the hero snugly in the
arms of her attempted rapist, because what could celebrate "female
power" more richly than that? Bitter, me? Nah.), but I thought I'd
throw you a line. 

Oh, by the way, want to bet we never get an explanation of how Spike got
back from Africa, despite the fact that he has no money or passport we
know of (he told Buffy in "Doublemeat Palace" that he could "get" her
money, not that he "had" it), that he can't hurt people because of his
chip and presumably wouldn't do anything evil because of the soul, that
he has trouble traveling because he's a vampire, and that, oh, yeah,
he's completely crackers??? Is there a travel agency somewhere that
caters to impoverished, undocumented, sunlight-averse and sanity-free
travelers? Or did the PlotConvenienceCoven blink him back to Sunnydale,
too?

Well, maybe the Mighty Morphin Power Stranger (? somebody at TWoP)
brought him back so he'd have somebody to orate to, I don't know....