Commentary: The Good Guys
Jun. 15th, 2009 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyMore commentary (and I'm still taking requests). ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
shego2drakken asked for some thoughts on the Season 8 fic "The Good Guys." The original is here.
Title: The Good Guys
Author: Beer Good (beer_good_foamy)
Rating: PG13
Word Count: ~580
Summary: Not every mission goes as planned.
This fic was written after #10 of Season 8, in which it was revealed that Buffy has been funding her Slayer army by becoming an international bankrobber. The whole issue of whether or not this is in character for Buffy aside, I thought it would be interesting to see what might happen if Buffy's claim that it's a "victimless crime" turned out to be... not as correct as it might be. I should point out, since I wasn't completely clear on that in the fic itself, that this is not a missing scene from #10; I'm not saying that this has happened in Season 8, just exploring a what-if.
"Not being bad is what separates us from the bad guys." (Buffy Summers, "Season 8" #8)
A phrase I keep coming back to and which I think is crucial to the Buffy of Season 8. It's a curious statement that can be interpreted a few different ways – and considering Buffy's continuing moral greyness in the comics, it sounds oddly like a challenge to the reader: is being a good guy something you are, that's intrinsic to you no matter what you do, or is it the result of what you do - and if it's the latter, then how much does it take for others (and yourself) to stop seeing yourself as the good guy? Twilight's stated goal is to rob Buffy of her moral certainty...
Leah's hands shake as she unzips her bulletproof vest, and she knows it's not just the teleportation (superpowers or not, travelling from a Zürich bank vault to a castle in Scotland in 0.0 seconds messes with every molecule of your being). Glancing around at the others, doing a quick headcount and making sure everyone got back OK, she sees blank faces, shallow breathing; the fight that took all of them by surprise was over in seconds, and some of them are still trying to work out what happened.
We start off on Leah's hands. She's a Slayer, after all. Remember "Primeval"? Manus, the hand, the Slayer. Which needs a heart, a spirit and wisdom as well according to some.
But two of them seem shakier than the others. Rowena, the only one who speaks German and could understand what was said back there. And Lizaveta, the 17-year-old who has just found out first-hand exactly what a Slayer-powered kick will do to the head of a middle-aged security guard. Now she's frantically trying to unbuckle her boots with fingers that won't stop cramping up in fists, all the while staring in tearful shock at their leader. "You said they would not wake up! You said... They had guns and... you said they would not..."
Of course, this takes place seconds after one of Buffy's bank heists goes disastrously wrong. I toyed with the idea of writing the actual confrontation too, but I figured it works better this way. But if you're wondering what happened, imagine a scene similar to the bankrobbing scene in #10. The guards have been put to sleep, but not as efficiently as they ought to be (magic going wrong? Preposterous!) It's a tiny detail, but it snowballs; the Slayers are busy rounding up the loot when they're suddenly interrupted by two groggy but pissed-off security guards yelling at them in Schweizerdeutsch to get the fuck on the ground. Tempers are high, things happen fast, one of them points his gun at Buffy, Lizaveta panics and underestimates her own strength. Remember how Faith described what a Slayer can do to a normal human? "I'll pop this guy's head like a grape." Yeah.
Lizaveta is unspecified Eastern European, BTW, probably from somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Naming her "Elizabeth" is not in any way intended to make her a younger not-Buffy. ;-) (Being a story about Buffy, all Slayers are aspects of The Slayer.) I deliberately didn't give her a silly accent, just made her English slightly stilted. Hell, even Rowena's English has apparently improved over the course of Season 8. Also, her hands won't stop cramping up in fists. Manus, the hand, is useful for many things... but fists don't do subtle or delicate. And she's trying to get her boots off since there's brains all over them, but also because she really doesn't want to be in uniform right now.
Everyone keeps their distance, not wanting to look at the girl who just took a human life, except Buffy.
"Listen to me." The senior Slayer is pale too, but all determination as she kneels next to Lizaveta and puts her hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. Heat of battle. None of us got shot, none of us went to jail; you looked out for your fellow Slayers."
...who, by Buffy's Season 8 standards, have a higher priority than innocent bystanders. (This was written pre-"Time of Your Life", so I suppose that shouldn't have been all that surprising.) Still, Buffy's in shock too – and, by taking charge of the situation, shifts the responsibility to herself.stormwreath remarked that he had been planning a similar story, except with Buffy dealing the killing blow; personally I think this works better, because... well, it was Buffy's plan, Buffy's command, Buffy's the reason Lizaveta has superpowers at all. As much as I may whine about Buffy's portrayal in Season 8, I wanted to give her a chance to actively step up and take it upon herself here – especially given the setup where I don't actually show the fight, just the aftermath; Buffy is the only one who acts within the fic itself here, who makes a decision and follows through on it. If she hadn't done that, it would all just be reactions to something that wasn't shown. Though of course, she can't very well admit that it was a huge mistake in front of everyone either.
"He had kids," Rowena mumbles. "The other guard said -"
Me pouring on someoverdone melodrama cold hard facts: the people they've been up against aren't soldiers, they're not part of some conspiracy, they're just ordinary people doing their 9-5. The scene as I imagine it would involve the surviving (and quickly disarmed) security guard yelling at them in shock when he sees what they did to his colleague, probably begging for his own life, while Buffy's yelling in her com system to get them out of there and it's all pretty chaotic.
"And we have a war to fight," Buffy snaps. "I'm sorry, I'm just as torn up about this as you are, but this isn't a high school field trip. We need this stuff to survive, and if anyone has a better idea of how to pay for it I'd very much like to hear it."
Silence.
Whether the silence means "Nope, you're right, there's simply no other way to do this" or "Yes ma'am, whatever you say, I'm not going to disagree with you"... up to the reader, I'd say.
"I didn't think so. Look... we'll discuss this later. And you." She points to the mystic who was in charge of the sleeping spells. "I won't have any more mistakes like this on my watch. My office in 20."
"Y-yes, Ma'am."
For a second Buffy meets Leah's eyes, then looks away and picks up one of the sacks of gold bars. A few of the girls join her and start carrying the loot to the safe.
You'd almost think Buffy was feeling bad about something, perhaps even asking herself the same question she just asked the others. Also, casual use of superpowers.
Leah walks back to her quarters, her Kevlar dangling from her hand, past the high defensive walls, the radars scanning for American or British troops and planes,
The image I'm going for here is "guerilla camp". Or terrorist camp, if you prefer; they're explicitly called that in the comics, after all, and they made a pretty big deal of the Slayers trying to protect themselves in the first few arcs; hence both the Kevlar, the walls and the radar.
the girls in the training yard learning how to duck bullets and take out monsters with one kick.
Lizaveta is a good student. And hey, teaching them to fight demons is a great thing, I guess (except for what I see as the fundamental metaphorical flaw of the Slayer army, that the Buffyverse was always about fighting your own demons), but when you lack a clear mission statement, it's easy to hit other targets as well. And if your strategy involves antagonising the "normal" world...
Some of them have never even seen a vampire. "Formidabler" my arse.
Leah thinking back to Buffy's speech in #1. Tthis was written before "Time of Your Life", but if you want, feel free to flash forward to Future!Willow's bit about how Slayers ultimately don't gain strength from each other.
Also, they're in a castle in Scotland, which is a very remote region somewhere in Europe far outside even the reach of mobile phones. ;-) Theyr'e not exactly in the world they're supposed to be protecting; they don't run into vampires unless they seek them out.
Also also, part of the reason I stuck this in limited third-person from Leah's POV was to have acop-out legitimite angle of criticizing what I can't help but see as a really stupid decision; it's slightly less of me criticizing Joss Buffy, and slightly more about Leah questioning and being disillusioned by her own part in it – and by stressing her Slayer role, hopefully hinting that Buffy might be asking herself the very same questions.
As always, she tries to ignore the stares, the look of envy from the newbies who don't get to speak to the leader on a daily basis, the whispers from the ones who have been here long enough to have noticed when "Giles" became one of those words you spoke in a slightly hushed tone. An army looking for a purpose.
Buffy's a larger-than-life character to those who don't see her up close and personal – this was written before the Japan arc ("Wow. It's really you") too, but fits in nicely. To those who actually get to know Buffy, though, it's not that simple; she's only human. And of course, a lot of the new Slayers witnessed Buffy's meltdown in #9 first-hand.
And of course, the disconnect of the army mirrors Buffy's disconnect from her friends – Giles, for instance. Hands without wisdom. Not that Giles has been behaving like a morally upstanding font of wisdom in the comics either, but...
Back in her room, she rummages through her weapons chest. There's a blunt stake near the bottom that she's been meaning to finish but never got around to. Her knife is not really meant for carving wood, but fuck it.
She's a Slayer; her knife is meant for killing, of course. Ideally demons. She's using it to carve a stake, the traditional Slayer weapon ("You poke them with a sharp stick?"), a hint that things were simpler once. It's a bit of a swords-into-ploughshares (or swords-into-pointed-sticks if you prefer) thing...
Two minutes later she's over by the sink, cold water running over her bleeding finger, the stake in two halves on her bed. Funny, she used to be good with her hands.
...except it's not that easy to go back, is it? And we end as we started, on the Slayer's hands and the question if they are – or are doing – good. Or well. Oh well.
shego2drakken asked for some thoughts on the Season 8 fic "The Good Guys." The original is here.Title: The Good Guys
Author: Beer Good (
beer_good_foamy)Rating: PG13
Word Count: ~580
Summary: Not every mission goes as planned.
This fic was written after #10 of Season 8, in which it was revealed that Buffy has been funding her Slayer army by becoming an international bankrobber. The whole issue of whether or not this is in character for Buffy aside, I thought it would be interesting to see what might happen if Buffy's claim that it's a "victimless crime" turned out to be... not as correct as it might be. I should point out, since I wasn't completely clear on that in the fic itself, that this is not a missing scene from #10; I'm not saying that this has happened in Season 8, just exploring a what-if.
"Not being bad is what separates us from the bad guys." (Buffy Summers, "Season 8" #8)
A phrase I keep coming back to and which I think is crucial to the Buffy of Season 8. It's a curious statement that can be interpreted a few different ways – and considering Buffy's continuing moral greyness in the comics, it sounds oddly like a challenge to the reader: is being a good guy something you are, that's intrinsic to you no matter what you do, or is it the result of what you do - and if it's the latter, then how much does it take for others (and yourself) to stop seeing yourself as the good guy? Twilight's stated goal is to rob Buffy of her moral certainty...
Leah's hands shake as she unzips her bulletproof vest, and she knows it's not just the teleportation (superpowers or not, travelling from a Zürich bank vault to a castle in Scotland in 0.0 seconds messes with every molecule of your being). Glancing around at the others, doing a quick headcount and making sure everyone got back OK, she sees blank faces, shallow breathing; the fight that took all of them by surprise was over in seconds, and some of them are still trying to work out what happened.
We start off on Leah's hands. She's a Slayer, after all. Remember "Primeval"? Manus, the hand, the Slayer. Which needs a heart, a spirit and wisdom as well according to some.
But two of them seem shakier than the others. Rowena, the only one who speaks German and could understand what was said back there. And Lizaveta, the 17-year-old who has just found out first-hand exactly what a Slayer-powered kick will do to the head of a middle-aged security guard. Now she's frantically trying to unbuckle her boots with fingers that won't stop cramping up in fists, all the while staring in tearful shock at their leader. "You said they would not wake up! You said... They had guns and... you said they would not..."
Of course, this takes place seconds after one of Buffy's bank heists goes disastrously wrong. I toyed with the idea of writing the actual confrontation too, but I figured it works better this way. But if you're wondering what happened, imagine a scene similar to the bankrobbing scene in #10. The guards have been put to sleep, but not as efficiently as they ought to be (magic going wrong? Preposterous!) It's a tiny detail, but it snowballs; the Slayers are busy rounding up the loot when they're suddenly interrupted by two groggy but pissed-off security guards yelling at them in Schweizerdeutsch to get the fuck on the ground. Tempers are high, things happen fast, one of them points his gun at Buffy, Lizaveta panics and underestimates her own strength. Remember how Faith described what a Slayer can do to a normal human? "I'll pop this guy's head like a grape." Yeah.
Lizaveta is unspecified Eastern European, BTW, probably from somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Naming her "Elizabeth" is not in any way intended to make her a younger not-Buffy. ;-) (Being a story about Buffy, all Slayers are aspects of The Slayer.) I deliberately didn't give her a silly accent, just made her English slightly stilted. Hell, even Rowena's English has apparently improved over the course of Season 8. Also, her hands won't stop cramping up in fists. Manus, the hand, is useful for many things... but fists don't do subtle or delicate. And she's trying to get her boots off since there's brains all over them, but also because she really doesn't want to be in uniform right now.
Everyone keeps their distance, not wanting to look at the girl who just took a human life, except Buffy.
"Listen to me." The senior Slayer is pale too, but all determination as she kneels next to Lizaveta and puts her hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. Heat of battle. None of us got shot, none of us went to jail; you looked out for your fellow Slayers."
...who, by Buffy's Season 8 standards, have a higher priority than innocent bystanders. (This was written pre-"Time of Your Life", so I suppose that shouldn't have been all that surprising.) Still, Buffy's in shock too – and, by taking charge of the situation, shifts the responsibility to herself.
stormwreath remarked that he had been planning a similar story, except with Buffy dealing the killing blow; personally I think this works better, because... well, it was Buffy's plan, Buffy's command, Buffy's the reason Lizaveta has superpowers at all. As much as I may whine about Buffy's portrayal in Season 8, I wanted to give her a chance to actively step up and take it upon herself here – especially given the setup where I don't actually show the fight, just the aftermath; Buffy is the only one who acts within the fic itself here, who makes a decision and follows through on it. If she hadn't done that, it would all just be reactions to something that wasn't shown. Though of course, she can't very well admit that it was a huge mistake in front of everyone either. "He had kids," Rowena mumbles. "The other guard said -"
Me pouring on some
"And we have a war to fight," Buffy snaps. "I'm sorry, I'm just as torn up about this as you are, but this isn't a high school field trip. We need this stuff to survive, and if anyone has a better idea of how to pay for it I'd very much like to hear it."
Silence.
Whether the silence means "Nope, you're right, there's simply no other way to do this" or "Yes ma'am, whatever you say, I'm not going to disagree with you"... up to the reader, I'd say.
"I didn't think so. Look... we'll discuss this later. And you." She points to the mystic who was in charge of the sleeping spells. "I won't have any more mistakes like this on my watch. My office in 20."
"Y-yes, Ma'am."
For a second Buffy meets Leah's eyes, then looks away and picks up one of the sacks of gold bars. A few of the girls join her and start carrying the loot to the safe.
You'd almost think Buffy was feeling bad about something, perhaps even asking herself the same question she just asked the others. Also, casual use of superpowers.
Leah walks back to her quarters, her Kevlar dangling from her hand, past the high defensive walls, the radars scanning for American or British troops and planes,
The image I'm going for here is "guerilla camp". Or terrorist camp, if you prefer; they're explicitly called that in the comics, after all, and they made a pretty big deal of the Slayers trying to protect themselves in the first few arcs; hence both the Kevlar, the walls and the radar.
the girls in the training yard learning how to duck bullets and take out monsters with one kick.
Lizaveta is a good student. And hey, teaching them to fight demons is a great thing, I guess (except for what I see as the fundamental metaphorical flaw of the Slayer army, that the Buffyverse was always about fighting your own demons), but when you lack a clear mission statement, it's easy to hit other targets as well. And if your strategy involves antagonising the "normal" world...
Some of them have never even seen a vampire. "Formidabler" my arse.
Leah thinking back to Buffy's speech in #1. Tthis was written before "Time of Your Life", but if you want, feel free to flash forward to Future!Willow's bit about how Slayers ultimately don't gain strength from each other.
Also, they're in a castle in Scotland, which is a very remote region somewhere in Europe far outside even the reach of mobile phones. ;-) Theyr'e not exactly in the world they're supposed to be protecting; they don't run into vampires unless they seek them out.
Also also, part of the reason I stuck this in limited third-person from Leah's POV was to have a
As always, she tries to ignore the stares, the look of envy from the newbies who don't get to speak to the leader on a daily basis, the whispers from the ones who have been here long enough to have noticed when "Giles" became one of those words you spoke in a slightly hushed tone. An army looking for a purpose.
Buffy's a larger-than-life character to those who don't see her up close and personal – this was written before the Japan arc ("Wow. It's really you") too, but fits in nicely. To those who actually get to know Buffy, though, it's not that simple; she's only human. And of course, a lot of the new Slayers witnessed Buffy's meltdown in #9 first-hand.
And of course, the disconnect of the army mirrors Buffy's disconnect from her friends – Giles, for instance. Hands without wisdom. Not that Giles has been behaving like a morally upstanding font of wisdom in the comics either, but...
Back in her room, she rummages through her weapons chest. There's a blunt stake near the bottom that she's been meaning to finish but never got around to. Her knife is not really meant for carving wood, but fuck it.
She's a Slayer; her knife is meant for killing, of course. Ideally demons. She's using it to carve a stake, the traditional Slayer weapon ("You poke them with a sharp stick?"), a hint that things were simpler once. It's a bit of a swords-into-ploughshares (or swords-into-pointed-sticks if you prefer) thing...
Two minutes later she's over by the sink, cold water running over her bleeding finger, the stake in two halves on her bed. Funny, she used to be good with her hands.
...except it's not that easy to go back, is it? And we end as we started, on the Slayer's hands and the question if they are – or are doing – good. Or well. Oh well.
