deird_lj

Here’s a commentary!

This is for

lavastar, who asked for one of You and I, We Fly Together.

The fic looks like normal, and the commentary is in blockquotes.

You and I, We Fly Together (one hour among many)

The first part of the title is lyrics from the song Midnight Hour, by SDIB. My brilliantly deep and meaningful reason for using them? Well, basically I googled “hour lyrics”, and looked at what came up.
The ones I used seemed to go well with the theme of the fic – in which all the Scoobies are doing things in the same hour, all over the world.

9:00pm

Dawn is in Rome, strangely enough.

Dawn threw her math book across the room, where it hit a miniature plastic Colosseum and fell to the floor with a thump.

As I have mentioned in previous commentaries, I have this thing for tacky souvenirs in fic. Buffy is the most frequent culprit.

She sighed. Math was frustrating as ever, no matter what country you were in.
“Death, taxes, and never-ending calculus homework,” she said to the empty room. “It’s inevitable.”
The room, being empty, didn’t reply.

(I really love that sentence.)

She checked the time. Just after nine. Buffy wouldn’t be home for at least two hours. Three, if her patrol team met up for coffee post-slayage. Which, yeah, fine, team-building, and a support system, and shared experiences and all – it was a good way of doing things, and Dawn was all for it.

The main reason I wrote this fic was because I wanted to write about what the Scoobies were up to post-series. The way things are happening throughout this fic is the way I almost always picture them.
And yes, post-slayage coffee is one of the ideas I’m fond of.

But she was bored.

Here she was in Rome, city of adventure, dreams, and awesome gelato, less than a week to go til Christmas… The possibilities were endless…
And what was she doing? Sitting in her Italian, tinsel-filled apartment, a fridge full of pizza and champagne at her disposal, doing… math homework.

Boring…

She crossed the room, pulled her laptop out from under a clockwork model of the Pantheon (Buffy had the worst taste in souvenirs), and settled comfortably on the couch.

(More souvenirs! Woo!)

The website loaded quickly, and Dawn logged in and began another entry.

- - - - - - - - - - -
green_gate posts to Slayerwatch, Dec 22:

Ciao from European headquarters!

Yep, there’s a website. And Dawn runs half of it.
The way I see it, Willow set the website up, and each division posts regular updates. Dawn is the main updater of the European division. (The headquarters being their tinsel-filled living room.)

We’ve had a good week so far. The Dark Lord Marco (and minions) was defeated with no casualties on our side.
There was also a sale on designer clothes in L’Aquila last weekend – which made our beloved Head Slayer very excited.

(Dawn being sweetly snarky is very fun.)

“December Dusting” update: team Germany is still in the lead, with a recorded 374 stakings so far. But with one week to go, they’d better watch their backs: team Spain put in a great effort this week, and are slowly catching up.

I love the idea of them having vampire dusting competitions.

Today: December 22nd is the winter solstice this year. It’s also the day George Eliot and Beatrix Potter died, the birth date of Watcher Tammias Gage, who trained over 16 Slayers before his death by goat trampling, and the International Day of Poetic Justice.
To all readers, “Happy Yule”, and “May Karma Hit Hard”.

This is correct (the year being 2003). It is, according to Wikipedia, George Eliot’s and Beatrix Potter’s birthdays, and winter solstice. The other bits I made up.
“May Karma Hit Hard” is a wonderful motto. I really must find more ways to use it.

Signing out, Dawn.
- - - - - - - - - - -

As she finished typing, a flashing message appeared in the bottom of the screen.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Greetings from London! How goes your efforts in the fight against evil?

Andrew. Dawn grinned, and settled in for a lengthy chat.

You all know how much I like this ship…

* * * * *

4:12am

(This is in China. Same hour.)

“I know you hate the long-winded explanations.”

She just looked at him, quizzically.

“And sometimes I need to get to the point sooner,” Robin kept going, patiently. “I understand that.”

More blank looks. She wasn’t fooling him, though. He’d been around her long enough by now to know the difference between ‘sorry sir, don’t understand a word, and so you can’t stop me sir’, and genuine translation difficulties.
This time she was just a bit too smug to be sincere.

Chao-Ahn has learnt English. And still cheerfully relies on the excuse of not speaking it – when it suits her.

He ignored her, and continued, “But when we’re telling someone for the first time that she’s a slayer, we need to do it gently. Rather than just throwing a knife at her head.”

This, for those who haven’t seen the movie, is exactly what Merrick does to convince Buffy she’s really the Slayer.

She looked up at him. “What? It worked.”

And she was right – it had. Robin sighed, and stopped arguing.

Chao-Ahn went back to polishing her axe, smugness written on every inch of her face.

* * * * *

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Little known fact – calculus was invented by the forces of darkness in an attempt to drain the human spirit of all hope.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Which would mean that math teachers are evil.

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Definitely.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Want me to ask Mr Giles to put them on the high priority slayage list?

I’ve actually figured out email addresses for all of the people in this fic.
For those who are interested:
Dawn – green_gate (because she’s the Key)
Buffy – summersgirl (because it sounds girly, and plus I wanted her to have it so that Dawn couldn’t)
Giles – r_giles (because he hasn’t figured out that usernames can be interesting)
Andrew – the_great_wells (because it sounds almost superheroish)
Faith – fivebyfive (obviously)
Vi – hat_trick (because she wears funky hats)
Willow – redwitch (hair… magic…)
Kennedy – K (because it’s short, and says it all)
Robin – wood (same deal)
Chao-Ahn – chinagirl (kinda the same reason as Buffy’s)
Xander – xanman (it just sounded right)
Rona – thestakesthething (because of her line in Potential)

The “wrnet” at the end stands for Willow Rosenberg Net. Because she set it up.

* * * * *

5:19pm

(Rio. Same hour.)

“It seems strange.”

Willow was kissing her neck, intently working her way from shoulder to jawline, but managed a muffled “Whht dz?” to show she was listening.

I enjoyed writing Willow’s dialogue in this bit.
(And yes, I’m a Willow/Kennedy shipper. …what?)

“Christmas. In summer.”

Christmas should always be in summer. Otherwise it’s just weird.

“Mmm.”

Kennedy kept watching the horizon, where a ship of some kind was moving slowly south. “I’m used to snow. And fires in fireplaces. And Christmas trees.” Willow was doing something very distracting behind her right ear, but she tried to concentrate on what she was saying. “The days should be getting shorter, not longer.”

It’s kinda useful writing sex scenes like this. Just “very distracting”, and leave it up to people’s imaginations.

“No fno insf amay.”

Kennedy turned. “What?”

Willow desisted long enough to say it clearly – “There was no snow in Sunnydale.” – and then turned her attention to Kennedy’s midriff.

(Well, once there was, but that doesn’t really count.)

“True, but at least that was winter. Kinda.” She dug her fingers into the sand. She was finding it increasingly hard to sit still. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

Willow paused, and looked up, worried. “It doesn’t feel right?”

“Oh, no, that does, especially when you – oh. Yeah, that’s- Oh. Good.” Kennedy took a deep breath, and kept talking – calmly. “But the whole wearing-summer-clothes thing, when Christmas is in three days… It just isn’t how this works.”

“Mmhmm.”

“It’s December. We should not be sitting on a beach right now.”

How Kennedy feels in this? Exactly how I felt in Germany, having my first-and-only white Christmas. It’s just odd.

“Nothing wrong with beaches.” Willow, hair coming out in messy strands from underneath the blue scarf she’d tied round her head, brought her face up level with Kennedy’s, and smiled. “Especially when there’s no-one else here.”

“That’s true.” Kennedy grinned, and rolled Willow over, pinning her to the beach towel. “Very true.”

(Yay! Shippy goodness!)

* * * * *

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Wait. Walking skeletons? Seriously?

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Uh-huh. With bits of flesh still hanging off them.

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Eww.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: They were taking over the entire town, and everyone was running around screaming.

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Wow.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: And then, Johnny Depp escaped from jail, and started going after the pirate captain again.

I wanted a movie that could be described as a normal (for the Buffyverse) event, but then turn out to be just a movie. Pirates of the Caribbean came out that year, so…

* * * * *

11:31pm

(Meanwhile, somewhere in Africa…)

The driver’s side door was wrenched open, and Xander came crashing through, followed closely by Kimi.

Kimi is a Slayer. I have no idea where she’s from, exactly, except that English is not her first language. She’s fluent in it, though.

There were frantic cries of “Close it! Close the door!”, a mad scrabble for the keys, and Kimi floored it.
Behind them, in the darkness, two Red Kanesh demons slowed to a halt and watched, infuriated, as their prey sped off.

Xander dropped his sword on the floor, and breathed a sigh of relief. “That was a close one,” he said, adding with a glance at the back seat, “And you could have been a bit more help.”

Rona glanced up and replied, “Looked like you were doing alright without me.” She returned to what she was doing. “Besides, I was busy.”

So, my logic went something like this:
– We know (from AtS) where Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Kennedy, Xander, and Andrew are.
– That’s Europe, Africa, and South America covered.
– Most of the Potentials-that-were would probably go home and fight vampires back there. But some of them wouldn’t.
– The ones who I could see getting really involved in Scoobie stuff? Vi, Rona, Chao-Ahn, Faith, and Robin. (And Giles.)
– Somehow, they’ve got to handle Asia and North America. Plus, Xander’s out in Africa by himself, and Giles is probably off in England trying to resurrect bits of the Watchers Council.
– Chao-Ahn is the logical choice for Asia. (And would be really useful for giving Robin something to do to keep him off Giles’s back.)

Really, the only question was, out of Vi and Rona, who would be with Faith, and who would be with Xander…

“Remember that bit where you’re a Slayer?”

“What? I slayed. I slayed a whole nest of vamps tonight, using this single piece of pointy wood, in case you’re forgetting. You’re the one who wanted to go after the red demons too.”

“The Red Kanesh. And according to my research, they’re a vicious tribe of soul-hunters, who-” He stopped mid-sentence, and said, horrified, “Oh no. I’m turning into Giles.”

Kimi and Rona exchanged a smirk through the rear-view mirror.

Xander sighed ruefully, and then turned back to Rona. His brow wrinkled. “What are you doing?”

She kept typing. “Using the net, Einstein.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh. Dawn’s posted again, by the way.”

(That happened back at the start of the fic, remember? Because it’s still the same hour.)

He grabbed a bag of corn-chips from the glove compartment, and opened it. “I thought you dropped the computer in the river,” he said, round a mouthful.

“I did.”

“So how is it still working?”

Rona took a couple of the offered chips, and explained, “Well, it turns out, when Willow did that whole doesn’t-need-charging mojo, she also made it so that the thing can be leaking mud from all sides and still get broadband. Pretty handy.”

Hey, magic can be useful.

The car jolted over a large bump, sending chips flying everywhere.
Kimi grimaced. “Apologies. Can’t see the road very well.”

“We’re on a road?”

Rona picked up the laptop from the floor. “No problem. Pretty sure this would still work if we hacked it to pieces.” She looked up. “Hey, did you know that today is winter solstice?”

“It is?”

“Apparently.” Rona grinned. “Weird, huh? Winter. You’d never know it, from all the blistering heat.”

“The next village we reach, we’ll buy ski-gear from the locals,” offered Xander. “As long as you help with the slayage tonight. Deal?”

This is why I put Rona with Xander.

Buffy would be inspirational and speecifying, Willow would try using logic (and maybe chocolate), Faith would punch her in the face… but Xander just promises her something completely mad that’s not going to happen, and she grins and gets on with things. It’s about the only approach I can see really working with her.

“Deal.”

* * * * *

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: That’s weird. Buffy just came home.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Isn’t she early?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Yeah. Very.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Any idea why she’s home already?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: I’ll ask her once she gets out of the shower.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Shower?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Green slime.

I love that answer. It says so much.

* * * * *

1:46pm

(This is in Portland, near Seattle – not in Cleveland. And yep, same hour.)

She had an apple pie in one hand, a ketchup bottle in the other, a quiver full of garlic bread on her back, and three Twinkies in her left pocket.

She also had custard in her hair, pastry all over one shoe, and some bits of lettuce down her back that were getting real itchy.

Making Faith do something really, really silly? Surprisingly fun.

She was starting to think this wasn’t such a good idea.

Sure, combining capture-the-flag with a food fight had sounded like a great way to spice up training sessions after their fifth round of vodka last night – but then, Vi’s suggestions always did sound like great ideas.

Originally, this was going to be Vi and Faith getting extremely drunk together. But the time of day just didn’t work – not if I wanted everyone else doing things at their times of day. So it… changed.

Until you tried them, and discovered that Vi was way better at weird training than she looked. Whenever she ran a session, there was utter chaos, insane fits of laughter, and Vi’s team wiping the floor with everyone else.

She’d kicked ass at Stakes & Shakespeare, crossbowed the final target in Hockey Xtreme!, and won every round of Strip-poker Slamdown.

These games are imaginary. DO NOT TRY THEM AT HOME.

And the weird thing was, it worked. The groupies were getting a wicked fighting style, with some major moves she’d never even thought of.
“The way I see it,” Vi had explained over beers, “it’s surprising. I mean, I’ve been training since I was eleven, and it gets boring. Same-y. You need to learn how adrenalin works – how excitement changes it all.” She grinned. “Plus – this is fun.”

Having Vi cut loose is exactly what I’d love to see from here, post-series. (And no-one writes fic like that. Why isn’t there more “Vi Kicks Arse” fic?)

She was right. And it was seriously fun. Faith was just getting kinda freaked out by being the sane one.

* * * * *

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Okay. I’ve got it. Cyclops, Iceman, Mystique, and Rogue.

(Which four X-men you’d have dinner with, if anyone was wondering.)

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Reasons?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Iceman would keep the drinks cool, Cyclops could zap annoying guests at other tables, and Mystique can turn into pretty much anyone, so you’d end up having dinner with all the X-men, rather than just four.

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: And Rogue?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: What? She has pretty hair.

Well, she does.

* * * * *

8:52pm

(England. Possibly London.)

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: Really? I like Storm’s mu

“Andrew,” Giles shut the door behind him, and closed his umbrella. “Can you check if there’s anyone left in York?”

They’re tracking down retired Watchers, fired Watchers, Watchers Academy students, and anyone else they can think of. (This is why there are two groups of people in Europe – Buffy and Dawn are doing the day-to-day Slayage stuff, while Giles and Andrew are busy with something else. I think Giles wanted to keep an eye on Andrew.)

the_great_wells@slayerchat.wrnet: BRB. Mr Giles has returned.

Andrew stopped typing, and spun his chair around. “York? Yeah – Katherine Fletcher is there. She retired five years ago, so she’s probably pretty old.”

Giles nodded. “Okay. Get her number for me, will you. I’ll need to call her tomorrow about some accounts.”

“Sure.” His laptop beeped, and he looked down at the screen. “I think this is for you.”

summersgirl@slayerchat.wrnet: Tell him that Cresotte eggs explode when you stab them.

Giles sighed, and typed a reply.

r_giles@slayerchat.wrnet: Yes, I know that. If you recall, I mentioned it when you requested information on Saturday.

summersgirl@slayerchat.wrnet: But slime, Giles! Slime!

r_giles@slayerchat.wrnet: Indeed.

summersgirl@slayerchat.wrnet: All over my new Shapelli top!

She still goes patrolling in halter tops. She’s awesome like that. (Yes, this was in fact slightly a reaction to comic books putting her in kevlar.)

r_giles@slayerchat.wrnet: Very unfortunate.

summersgirl@slayerchat.wrnet: It smells really gross, too.

r_giles@slayerchat.wrnet: How is Dawn?

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: I’m fine.

summersgirl@slayerchat.wrnet: She hasn’t finished her homework.

green_gate@slayerchat.wrnet: Well, I was bored…