Top 5 Moments in Fic
Dec. 17th, 2005 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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buffyversetop5This may need a few words of explanation. I have to admit that sometimes the various fics I've read blur together for me and it's hard to remember who wrote which stories and how the plot went. But I often remember great lines (especially the funny ones). So I started doing a "Fic Quotes" thing on my LJ only the quotes started getting longer. So now I'm calling them Moments in Fic.
(1) Because I thought this was a wonderfully evocative moment
Xander’s only seen Spike look like this once, seen his face quiver like a crystal that’s about to shatter. It’s a face that tugs painfully on Xander’s heart and memory--makes him remember a girl he’d still been half in love with, dead at the foot of a tower. Makes him remember a girl he’d been all-the-way in love with, dusty and bruised, but still alive, with a heart still unbroken.
It makes him remember Will’s face after Giles and Buffy had told him who he’d been before the shanshu and amnesia
Awakenings Pt. 10 by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beetle - NC-17
(2) I thought this was an incredibly poignant moment for both of them.
“Spike,” I said calmly, quietly, prying the books out of his fingers. “We aren’t her. Guys like us, we aren’t the heroes. We don’t get the covers.”
He looked at me in that sad, lost confusion of his, then reached down to slide some of the books aside before lifting one up. “You are.”
It was an issue of Superman's Best Pal Willow had given me for Christmas when I was ten.
For an instant, I wondered if this was what it had been like for him with Drusilla all those years, endless incomprehensibility with sudden flashes of absolute truth. I took the comic from him, studying the grinning face of Jimmy Olsen before looking back at Spike with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, but things never work out so well for old Jimmy, do they? No girl, a crap job, always having to get rescued.”
Pwned bysadbhyl - PG
(3) Because only in Xander's view could this be true!
“We will now leave behind the bland and unedifying spectacle of a half-naked, sweaty vampire wrestling a bull-demon to the death, and concentrate on something more interesting: me.”
Mightier Than The Sword, Part II byrahirah - PG-13
(4) Of all the ways Xander might have re-encountered Cordelia (in this case prior to her seeing Angel in “You’re Welcome”) I thought this was one of the sweetest.
His mouth hung open in shock for a few moments, and then Xander grinned back at Cordelia. He bent to grab her in a fierce hug when he suddenly realized, Oh, shit. The patch. I took it off. Xander backed a step away from the bed, head down, hand scrabbling frantically in his pocket and finally pulling the patch free, only to tangle its strap around his belt buckle. Oh, god, the first thing she sees shouldn’t be this ugly hole in my face. I never wanted her . . . anybody, to see this. Xander willed down the panic, breathed deep and long, filling his lungs and releasing the air until he could control his movements. Slowly, he began to unpick the knot. Xander flinched when Cordelia covered his still slightly trembling hands in her own.
“Xander, look at me.”
When he refused, she tipped his head back and forced him to meet her gaze. Before he could stop her, Cordelia’s fingers were ghosting over the hollow and its scar. He tried to pull away, but Cordelia held him in a much tighter grip than he remembered.
“Xander, you have a lot of things to be ashamed of—your fashion sense, that love spell, making smoochies with Willow behind my back. But not your eye. Never your eye. Like it or not, this is who you are now—not perfect, not ruined. Just Xander.”
Shadowlands Pt. 4 bylunabee34 - NC-17
(5) Doesn’t this make you want to read more?
"You know," Darla said, hauling the large blue carcass off of Spike, "you never used to be this sloppy. Oh, wait. You really were."
"Bloody hell!" Spike gaped. "You're like a cockroach, you know that?"
"You're one to talk," Darla sniffed. "Besides, cockroaches are hard to kill. I get killed plenty; they just keep bringing me back for some reason." She frowned. "God, if I get syphilis again, I'm going to be so upset."
Spike narrowed his eyes. "Didn't Angel stake you?"
"Didn't you set yourself on fire?"
"Didn't you stake yourself?"
"Didn't you go up against a dragon?"
"Guys," Lindsey broke in, "I really don't think this is helpful."
They both glared at him.
"Didn't you get shot?" Spike crossed his arms.
Lindsey shrugged. "What kind of moron sends an empathic soul-reading demon to kill someone? Poor guy speed-dialed 911 as soon as he left. Anyway, here we all are, together again."
"What, did a vision tell you I was having a bit of trouble, Doyle?"
"Funny story," Lindsey sounded less than thrilled. "As a matter of fact, it did."
Darla: The Series bydessertfirst - Teen
(1) Because I thought this was a wonderfully evocative moment
Xander’s only seen Spike look like this once, seen his face quiver like a crystal that’s about to shatter. It’s a face that tugs painfully on Xander’s heart and memory--makes him remember a girl he’d still been half in love with, dead at the foot of a tower. Makes him remember a girl he’d been all-the-way in love with, dusty and bruised, but still alive, with a heart still unbroken.
It makes him remember Will’s face after Giles and Buffy had told him who he’d been before the shanshu and amnesia
Awakenings Pt. 10 by
beetle - NC-17(2) I thought this was an incredibly poignant moment for both of them.
“Spike,” I said calmly, quietly, prying the books out of his fingers. “We aren’t her. Guys like us, we aren’t the heroes. We don’t get the covers.”
He looked at me in that sad, lost confusion of his, then reached down to slide some of the books aside before lifting one up. “You are.”
It was an issue of Superman's Best Pal Willow had given me for Christmas when I was ten.
For an instant, I wondered if this was what it had been like for him with Drusilla all those years, endless incomprehensibility with sudden flashes of absolute truth. I took the comic from him, studying the grinning face of Jimmy Olsen before looking back at Spike with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, but things never work out so well for old Jimmy, do they? No girl, a crap job, always having to get rescued.”
Pwned by
sadbhyl - PG(3) Because only in Xander's view could this be true!
“We will now leave behind the bland and unedifying spectacle of a half-naked, sweaty vampire wrestling a bull-demon to the death, and concentrate on something more interesting: me.”
Mightier Than The Sword, Part II by
rahirah - PG-13(4) Of all the ways Xander might have re-encountered Cordelia (in this case prior to her seeing Angel in “You’re Welcome”) I thought this was one of the sweetest.
His mouth hung open in shock for a few moments, and then Xander grinned back at Cordelia. He bent to grab her in a fierce hug when he suddenly realized, Oh, shit. The patch. I took it off. Xander backed a step away from the bed, head down, hand scrabbling frantically in his pocket and finally pulling the patch free, only to tangle its strap around his belt buckle. Oh, god, the first thing she sees shouldn’t be this ugly hole in my face. I never wanted her . . . anybody, to see this. Xander willed down the panic, breathed deep and long, filling his lungs and releasing the air until he could control his movements. Slowly, he began to unpick the knot. Xander flinched when Cordelia covered his still slightly trembling hands in her own.
“Xander, look at me.”
When he refused, she tipped his head back and forced him to meet her gaze. Before he could stop her, Cordelia’s fingers were ghosting over the hollow and its scar. He tried to pull away, but Cordelia held him in a much tighter grip than he remembered.
“Xander, you have a lot of things to be ashamed of—your fashion sense, that love spell, making smoochies with Willow behind my back. But not your eye. Never your eye. Like it or not, this is who you are now—not perfect, not ruined. Just Xander.”
Shadowlands Pt. 4 by
lunabee34 - NC-17(5) Doesn’t this make you want to read more?
"You know," Darla said, hauling the large blue carcass off of Spike, "you never used to be this sloppy. Oh, wait. You really were."
"Bloody hell!" Spike gaped. "You're like a cockroach, you know that?"
"You're one to talk," Darla sniffed. "Besides, cockroaches are hard to kill. I get killed plenty; they just keep bringing me back for some reason." She frowned. "God, if I get syphilis again, I'm going to be so upset."
Spike narrowed his eyes. "Didn't Angel stake you?"
"Didn't you set yourself on fire?"
"Didn't you stake yourself?"
"Didn't you go up against a dragon?"
"Guys," Lindsey broke in, "I really don't think this is helpful."
They both glared at him.
"Didn't you get shot?" Spike crossed his arms.
Lindsey shrugged. "What kind of moron sends an empathic soul-reading demon to kill someone? Poor guy speed-dialed 911 as soon as he left. Anyway, here we all are, together again."
"What, did a vision tell you I was having a bit of trouble, Doyle?"
"Funny story," Lindsey sounded less than thrilled. "As a matter of fact, it did."
Darla: The Series by
dessertfirst - Teen
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Date: 2005-12-17 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-17 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-18 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-18 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-18 07:39 am (UTC)Actually, I'm really intrigued by Xander and Cordelia meeting up again to reassess what's been happening in their lives. Another missed opportunity by ME but one that I guess fanfic can fill. The snippet you recced looks especially poignant.
Thanks very much for these.
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Date: 2005-12-18 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-19 03:55 am (UTC)It really, really does. Thanks for the recs. :)
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Date: 2005-12-19 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-19 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-19 05:46 am (UTC)