Today I read the best ever description of the Enron collapse and subsequent scandal:

"How many great [men] rob their petty tradesmen, condescend to swindle their poor retainers out of wretched little sums...? When we read...that one or other owes six or seven millions, their defeat seems glorious even, and we respect the victim in the vastness of his ruin. But who pities a poor barber who can't get his money...or a poor carpenter who has ruined himself by fixing up ornaments and pavilions for my ladies' dejeune; or the poor devil of a tailor whom [the man] patronizes, and who has pledged all he is worth and more to get the [customized clothing] ready... When the great house tumbles down, these miserable wretches fall under it unnoticed; as they say in the old legends, before a man goes to the devil himself, he sends plenty of other souls hither."

Quick...where is that from? The New York Times? The Wall Street Journal? Some progressive blogger on the Internet?

Give up?

( Literature blather under this cut )

As for Living History, real life has kept me busy. A few long hours at work, gearing up my work-out routine, and dealing with a needy bird has me hopping.

However, I am still chipping away at the next scene. At long last, I understand why Xander can be frustrating character to write at times. It's pretty much canon that Xander will try to avoid confrontation with his friends to the point where he'll fluff it off, make a joke of it, or not mention it at all.

The scene I'm working on involves a recovering Willow trying to get out of Xander the truth of what happened with her down in the caverns. This scene is hella important to get right for several reasons:

1) It leads to Willow making an executive decision that affects everyone in the Cleveland house without their knowing it. It's somewhat on par with Xander's lie in "Becoming Part II," and yet post-S7 I can see Willow making the call for a lot of good reasons.

2) It has to show that Xander has changed enough that he will finally tell someone he loves an unpleasant truth (no matter how reluctantly) while still showing that canon unwillingness to do so. It's such a fine balancing act (and a frustrating one) that it's no wonder the BtVS writers never tried to tackle it. Usually (canonically speaking) whenever Xander tells someone an unpleasant truth, it's because he's furious and frustrated. Now I've got to write an adult version of that guy who will do it because he realizes that not doing so will hurt more. Yeesh.

3) It also has to point out fundamentally different ways Xander deals with people in his life as far as Living History goes: Faith he'll toss the unpleasant truth at without a thought (as I've written time and again). He still avoids unpleasant truths Buffy, although he dances around the margins. This conversation with Willow signals a shift in how he deals with her: from Buffy-like keep-away to a more honest way of dealing with her.

I've been working and re-working the conversation and it is coming into focus, but Xander still doesn't sound quite "right" to me. I a little more tweaking and it should be right (I think). *snarls in frustration*

I know that I thought that I had nwhepcat's birthday fic-a-thon all set. I had a concept. I had started writing it. I had everything down. All I needed to do was finish writing it.

Know what happened to it?

I started cooking, that's what happened!

*grumble growl* stoopidplotbunny *grumble growl*

I now have the perfect birthday fic. Perfect. More perfect (which was somewhat imperfect) than my original plan.

*snarl*

What's worse? It's a fucking good idea that's what. AAARRGHHHHH!

*pounds head*

This is going to be interesting. Alternate reality. Vengeance. Anya. Anya's victims. White picket fences. Happy-ish endings, but not the happy-ish ending you think. Desperate friends... and did I mention dead friends?

And canon-ish Xander lands right in the middle of AU Xander's life and mucks the whole business up in a very, very bad way.

Think It's a Wonderful Life without the neat ending.

And the urge to write it is god-awful overwhelming to the point that I can't even concentrate.

See? See? This is what I get listening to Finger Eleven while cooking.

I see a writing marathon that will only be topped by the feverish nature with which I wrote Into the Desert in my very near future.

Gah!

*stomps off*