Writing Meme

[avamclean]

Fic meme:

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

My fic can be found here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

In Here Be Dragons your terminator xover, what's going on in Andrew's head when he discovers Buffy and Faith? He seems very different from the pre-judgement day version we all know.

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

The above request was mine, cookie failure.

[azraelz-angel.livejournal.com]

That's a totally kick butt request! :) Andrew was so awesome in Here Be Dragons.

[avamclean.livejournal.com]

In the Here be Dragons ‘verse I wanted to use a character that could allow Faith and Buffy to remain in prison while they worked out the perfect escape scenario. I needed someone that was attached to them, but in the same moment they would do what needed to be done. We saw Andrew’s ability to manipulate when he murdered Jonathan, when he led someone he considered a friend and ally to their death with a smile on his face. It was in that episode that I started to see the strength behind all of his whining.

In my notes Andrew discovers where Faith and Buffy are nearly three years before and begins to use his influence to inform Connor of who they were and what they could mean for the Resistance. He continues slip in random comments so that the seeds are planted so that when Connor is taken to the Century Work Camp he puts forth a great effort decipher if Faith and Buffy are there and how to get them out when he frees the rest of SkyNet’s prisoners. (I haven’t yet decided on if Andrew knew of Connor’s possible capture and simply ‘failed’ to tell him.)

The events leading up to Andrew’s personality shift are, of course, Judgment Day, but thanks to the United States Military keeping tabs on the Sunnydale crew after Initiative fiasco SkyNet targets the Watcher’s Council during it’s first nuclear strike. Willow and the Devon Coven are also destroyed in that first wave which is the main reason behind Faith and Buffy having almost no contact with other Slayers after Judgment Day.

Andrew was shown to be adept at certain magics and helpful to Warren with his inventions. He’s adaptable and smart and willing to kill. I can see Andrew surviving in the Terminator world whether it be working for the humans or the machines. If Judgment Day happened before Warren’s death I would call a toss up between the two, but since this ‘verse happens after I’m certain he’d work with the Resistance or use the Resistance to work for him.

Hope that explains my reasoning behind Andrew.

[polgara-5.livejournal.com]

I'm totally gonna participate, but my brain is fried so I'll ask on Tuesday. :D

[avamclean.livejournal.com]

Is Wednesday and I eagerly awaits your question.

***Edit: Apparently I don't know my days as well as I thought I did. Whoops. ;)

[polgara-5.livejournal.com]

*whistles innocently* Look, it's Tuesday!

From Hollow Places - The Prologue

The glint of silver caught her vacant blue eyes and she reached out. Her deceptively delicate fingers wrapped around a ring shaped into two hands holding a crowned heart. Her head cocked in confusion at the feelings the images invoked and her skin prickled once more as the presence of another moved to her side.

The immense feeling of unease in the void that had once been her shell’s stomach told her it was the warrior. She could sense the others in her army, silent and waiting. The tiny Slayer knelt before her and their grief filled gazes met, neither spoke as Illyria studied the pixie like face before her. Such a pretty package to hold all of that darkness, they were both deceptive in their forms. It had advantages.

“Buffy.” She offered her hand.

The demon blinked before pulling on the shell’s memories once more and a small sardonic smile quirked her lips. “I am Illyria.” Her hand grasped the other girl’s wrist and they shook up and down once.

“Dear Lord!” The demon’s gaze flicked shifted behind the warrior and saw one of the few men in her army staring at her in abject horror. He took a step forward as if to aid his Slayer but seemed to think better of it when he saw Illyria watched him. “Buffy, she’s…she’s…”

“An ally.”

The demon’s attention was drawn back to the Slayer before her. “But Buffy, she’s one of the Old Ones. We simply can’t allow her—”

“To spend one more minute out in the rain.” A brow rose in question to the demon and Illyria’s eye’s narrowed but she rose offering her arm to the warrior. “Willow, ready when you are.”


EDIT: And my brain must still be fried since I failed to explain the choice. had to go farther back cause we've done a lot of discussing of your fics over the years. Here I'm interested in Buffy's rather easy acceptance of Illyria despite her being an old one and Illyria's acceptance of Buffy as something almost like an equal.

[avamclean.livejournal.com]

Illyria’s thought process was that Buffy wasn’t useless in a fight and she’d heard Spike and Angel speaking of her enough so that she knew her opinion swayed the masses. Also Illyria senses the demonic essence that lays in Buffy and in my little world, the Slayer essence comes from an Old one, so Buffy would almost feel like home. Of course so would most of the Slayers, but they don’t like Illyria so all she has that even resembles her past is Buffy and Faith—my two favorite Slayers.

Buffy’s first introduction to Illyria was seeing her fight at Angel’s side and then at her own. She was in all her Old One glory and rocking the battle field which would earn her some respect and of all Buffy’s personality quirks, earning her respect seems to be the hardest of them all. So Buffy’s not necessarily trusting Illyria in this moment, but she is noticing a very powerful, very potential-filled ally when she’s just lost two of them.

I admit that the main reason behind their friendship in this story was because I’d never seen it done before and I wanted to try something new. I like new things. I like stories that don’t follow the normal trend so I try to do that with my stories and this makes me want to reread my Hollow Places notes. *ponders*