liz_marcs | Meeposian Dance of Joy: Cat Shadows

Current Mood: fluffy

Meeposian Dance of Joy: Cat Shadows

A WiP that I've been waiting for an author to continue is getting continued!

YAY!

The story, Cat Shadows by Prospero Hibiki, is an AU starting from just after Halloween in S2. And no, it's not yet another Xander's costume schtick.

The general premise is that Xander does some research post-Hyena and post-Soldier possession and finds out he might be more susceptible to future possession attempts. So he does something about it by taking on a Cat Spirit to block any potential possession in the future.

It's probably one of those few Xander-gets-a-power stories and Xander is perfectly okay with it (at least at first) that I truly adore. 16-year-old Xander is soooooo 16-year-old Xander in this that you could actually picture this happening if BtVS chose to go in this direction.

If there's any complaint, the language inside Xander's head is a little more formal than you'd expect (especially since it is told from a first-person point of view), but just seeing Xander enjoy his new abilities (as well as suffer some related drawbacks *because* of those new abilities and the clever ways he learns to get around it) really lifts this fic. Toss in the fluffy fun and humor, and it's too charming not to enjoy.

The pairing is B/X (although you do see the B/A relationship). If that bothers you, please give this story a try anyway. It's not hot-and-heavy B/X and it takes some unusual forms in some laugh-out-loud moments before Buffy figures out just who her "patrol buddy" is. (No really, you can't blame Buffy for not figuring it out sooner.) The relationships between all the Scoobs (even the romance stuff) is perfectly in tune with the fluffier fun of S1 and the beginning of S2 BtVS.

Even more extraordinary, Angel comes off as pretty good here (a rarity in High School-set B/X fics) even though we're seeing the Brooding One through Xander's green-tinged (and I may mean that literally) eyes.

If you're one of those that tend to shy away from Xander-gets-a-power fics (and I know I am) this is really the exception you have to read.

Go. Read. This fic is like a warm fuzzy blanky on a cold winter day. It's minimal angst, lots of laughs, and a nice look at the Scoobs and Angel before they grew up and had to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders.

I'll be honest, Cat Shadows is on my list of "feel good" fics, which includes Wisdom of the Fool, Folly of the Wise by Pete Milan, one of the more breath-taking, insano-making post-S4 AU's you'll ever read (This one is W/X).

Another feel good series to check out is

bastardsnow's Coffee Series which manages the impossible: fluffy romp, post-'Chosen', B/W/X friendship, and a series of clever cross-overs that aren't too heavy-handed. Read them in order of posting date on the archive page rather than order of appearnce. I admit, I have to be in the mood to get fluffed to read it, but when I need fluff, I reach for Coffee. *smooches Mark for writing these stories since I needed fluff last week* Someone kick him so he'll start posting his fic on LJ.

*blink blink*

You know? I'm beginning to think that F/X is not a pairing that lends itself to fluffy. I can't think of a single fluffy F/X story.

Oh, new Living History part will be up tonight: Xander and Faith have a last chance to talk to generations as-yet unborn. It's not pretty sight.

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I love how you talk about the fact that there aren't any fluffy F/X stories, and then immediately go and plug your loosely F/X story by saying the latest chapter's events ain't so pretty. I mean, girl, you so crazy. =)

I think your birthday ficathon should be a fluffy F/X thon. The winner is the one who makes you throw up in your mouf from the sweetness.

*heh*

That's what I get for the post-and-run. I didn't even realize that I did a pimp for Living History after the fluffy complaint. I'm not sure I'd necessarily qualify Living History as fluffy, though.

A fluffy F/X ficathon? Oh man. That's a scary thought. Fluffy F/X. With their luck the static electricity caused by fluffiness will kick-start armageddon.

[Yes. Wearing a sweater. Yes. Had static electrical shock this morning. Joy]

Sweaters are good. There's few things in the world more huggable than a girl in a sweater, and I think all of them are baby domestic animals.

No, I don't think that LH qualifies as fluffy. At all. I mean, the grand triumph of the story is "we didn't fuck anything up!" It's a great story, I love reading it, but it's kind of a downer. =)

Fluffy F/X. With their luck the static electricity caused by fluffiness will kick-start armageddon.

This is also a great ficathon idea -- most ridiculous apocalyptic catalyst.

I mean, the grand triumph of the story is "we didn't fuck anything up!"

You realize that made me LOL, right? Because you're so dead-on. That has to be the best one-line description I ever read for LH.

I have to go back to work now (grumble, grumble, working late)

You realize that made me LOL, right?

I'm glad, because reading over it now I realize that a less thick-skinned author might take great offense to that statement. I hope you can visualize my Xander-like double thumbs up while saying that, as I think it adds a certain depth. =)

Working late gets more than a grumble grumble. Go ahead, let out that long stream of curses you know you have building up. Or, you know, did last night since I got this a bit late.

Offended? Hell no. It's hilarious because it's true.

But then again, I have a very odd sense of humor.

You know? I'm beginning to think that F/X is not a pairing that lends itself to fluffy. I can't think of a single fluffy F/X story.

I blame Faith. I can't think of any fluffy Faith fic, no matter who she ends up paired with. She wants it -- it showed up in her coma dream -- but she doesn't believe in it. The pink dress made her feel wicked stupid. I don't think she'd ever trust fluff, and thus she'd sabotage it, looking for black cloud until her negativity and distrust destroys the relationship. She'll be trying to protect herself and would end up hurting herself.

Can't wait to see Xander and Faith work this out.

See, that's why I'm with you. I don't see Faith/Xander as something that can happen even remotely quickly.

I know I can't write fluffy F/X because I just don't see how either one could ever be fluffy in a romantic relationship. Even Xander was somewhat hit-and-miss. Great at the "big moments," not so great on bringing on the romance day-to-day.

I can't think of a single fluffy F/X story.

I tried to do it from Willow's pov. Boy, my pride is still wounded from that one. *pouts* But if you find any, please tell!

I think fluffy and Faith and Xander will never appear in the universe together. It just doesn't happen.

Although I bet you could do it from *Andrew's* point of view...which would be surreal.

Yah could warn a girl that the site itself is rabidly anti-slash. Will read the story, but only 'cause you recc'd it.

*whoops!*

Apologies!

I suppose I'm so used to effortlessly ignoring all those silly warnings on both sides of the rabidly slash and rabidly het divide that sometimes I forget. *sheepish grin*

Sorry.

What makes this particular site somewhat infuriating is that they're very inconsistent about the slash. On the one hand, M/M slash is a NO! On the other hand, noncanonical F/F slash is perfectly okay! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

*snarl* Can you tell it's a male-heavy list? Can you? *snarl*

(Let's just say I have serious problems with the rules...)

The only reason why I post on the attached list is because it's the largest het-Xander group on Yahoo (more than 1,500 members) and much as I love reading things on the Nummytreats side of the divide, I don't think they'd be none too happy if I posted my stuff there since I can't write slash to save my soul. (Not for lack of trying on my part).

The sad thing is, there is a significant minority on the XanderZone list that actually do *not* have a problem with slash and are reasonably sane. However, the listowner and the loudmouths on the list tend to be virulently anti-Slash (to the point that a couple of authors *refuse* to post on the new I Need A Parrot Web site because it houses slash).

And wanky? Have I mentioned wanky?

*headdesk*

Sorry to rant. I know it's a rant. It's a bad rant. But I get very frustrated with that site and the XanderZone list. They just finished a wank that ate the list. This happens once a month.

And let's not get into the snark-a-licious het Marty!Stu stories over there. No. You really don't want to do that. Because then I'd be here for 10 years. Seriously.

Ummmm, which is to say I agree. *smiles brightly* Let's just say that the XanderZone was the reason why I started my LJ...so I'd be hella less dependent on them to get readers.

*snorfle* And, as nifty as the story is, the entire "Very Big Damn Cat Walking About in the Open of the School and No One Calling Animal Control" aspect of the story is making me: O_o

"Very Big Damn Cat Walking About in the Open of the School" -this particular school is in Sunnydale where PCP makes people look like vampires, where no thinks it's weird for teenagers to hang out in cemeteries or in the library w/ a middle aged man all night, where all the women in town end up in Buffy's basement for a scavenger hunt, etc.

heeheeheeheee... Oh Xanderzone, home of kwality halloween fics =)

It's frustrating on that list... the ratio of signal to noise is about oh, 1:80. If I didn't have a set of good email filters to filter out all the non-fic, I'd simply unsubscribe... I mean, I honestly have a filter to autodelete emails from certain members cause all they post is "Great work [/end]" over and over. But some of the stories are really really good!

But the discussions... oh man. There are some majorly narrowminded people on that list, and none of them want their opinion changed, they just want to argue.

And never have I ever seen a fandom that can induce such impressive amounts of Gary!Stu!Fic.

And as for the rabid anti-slash, every time it comes up I just think ::coughcoughmymyaren'twesomewhatinsecureaboutoursexualitycoughcough:: =P

"What makes this particular site somewhat infuriating is that they're very inconsistent about the slash. On the one hand, M/M slash is a NO! On the other hand, noncanonical F/F slash is perfectly okay! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

(Warning: the following contains a less than positive review of one such author on the XanderZone. I'm either a mean-spirited jerk or trying to do a public service. Probably both.)

I'll be the first to admit that I don't read half the authors at the XanderZone (you figure out real quick which authors you can follow and which authors you hope never write a grocery list), but the only one I'm aware of who consistently writes noncanon F/F slash is NORGCO a.k.a. Shawn Dorca. As near as I can tell, Femslash, as he labels his work, is the entire freakin' *point* of his work. Then again, he's made the claim that in his own personal life, his ex-wife, current wife, and grown daughter are all active bisexuals and wiccans, and at least one is also into BDSM. I repeat, so he claims. *If* that's true, then apparently he's trying to rewrite the Buffyverse into a MartyStu version of his own life, with all the "Buffy" women (except for Dawn) being bi, lesbian, or some other sexual kink, with varying shades of repression or openness about it. And his Xander's only role is to be the male who is supportive of all the women's orientations and who sometimes gets to sleep with some of the bi girls. (Like I said: a complete Marty-Stu.) Making matters worse is, IMO, the author's utter lack of grasp of plot, pacing, setup, or characterization.

(Worst example: his story whose first part posited that it would have been more realistic for Runaway!Buffy to have turned to prostitution after "Becoming" and, after being found by Giles and Xander, she confesses that her experiences have led her to realize that she's actually a lesbian and in love with Willow.

In the *first part*. Yes, you read that right, and no, I wish I hadn't. The guy's like watching a trainwreck.)

If there are any XZ authors who regularly do F/F slash anywhere near as bad as the above, I honestly don't want to know. I'm still trying to navigate around the endless anime crossovers, Halloween fics, and anime-crossover Halloween fics.

--skippcomet

I can't think of a single fluffy F/X story.

I think the problem here is that there's not much (read: none) fluff in their history on the show. If someone wanted to write a fluffy B/X or W/X story, there are several moments in the show they could go back to in order to get a feel for what such a story would be like. Ditto for B/A, W/T and a lot of other 'ships. But with F/X, if you wanted a fluffy story, you'd have to create that "feel" from whole cloth, and I think a lot of fanfiction authors balk at doing stuff like that. That's just the sense I get, anyway.

Thanks for the recs - I also really like the "Coffee" series. I really need to read his "Knight's Chosen" story, too - I started it a while back but was put off because it's a "Xander gets a power" story, but I've read and liked most of his other stuff so I figure it's worth giving it another shot.

Sigh. So much to read, so little time....

P.S. My favorite "feel good" author would have to be Pete Meilinger. Tons of good stuff there, and most of it of the "feel good" variety.

The MUSHMEISTER!

Gosh! I forgot him!

And they're both part of Unfit for Society, too. That site has a lot of good authors on it, including Victoria P. I think most of them have moved on from BtVS fandom at this point, but there are a lot of good stories under the authors linked from there.

Unfit is a cool place. I was semi-involved in their mailing list for a while -- kind of died after LJ took off, though. Have you checked out the Call Waiting archive? (self-pimp)I wrote the one for Dennis.(/self-pimp)

Well... thanks for the words on the Coffee fic... and as for Knight's Chosen... if I had the time and energy to rewrite it, I would. That was the first thing I ever wrote, and really, I think it shows. Not trying to pat my own back here... but compared to a lot of the stuff I've written since then, Knight's Chosen is kinda crap. The sequel is better. Hell, just about anything I've written since is better...

And props on the Meilinger pimpage... Pete rules. Whenever I need some good B/X fluff, I usually just head straight for Our Day Has Come (http://unfitforsociety.net/pete/ourday1.html) and I'm all with the happy again.

You're welcome. The "Coffee" stories are great friendship pieces.

Pete Meilinger was actually the first BtVS fanfic author I discovered, and he's still one of my favorites. I prefer his W/X stuff, but it's all good, really. He writes a great Xander. And "Addrilanne" is the best story I've ever read involving naked vampire fighting, so he's got that going for him, too.

That's true. And then there's the other one... crap, what was it called... about the skyclad ritual... The Paragon. That's it. He's got good stuff.

Crap, I knew I was forgetting something. ::makes note to post to stories to LJ... wonders if it'll work any better this time...::

And uh. You're welcome. =)

And I think you're right. It would be hard to write an F/X fic that's completely fluffy... although once a relationship was established... well established... I think it could be done.

And while I have read a fluffy F/X story or two (and no, I don't remember where they were)... well, none of them were worth it. Just wanked out the ass. Er. In a manner of speaking.

Yeah, shutting up now.

-Mark

Oh, and thanks for the pimping

Setting aside personal and politcal differences, I went to both sites you recommended in your latest post. I found both of them freakin excellent. I originally came to this web post to get the latest Living History excerpts that I have come to be greatly addicted too. While I am glad to see a satisfying conclusion to this story...I am a little sad to know that the end cometh way to soon. I do enjoy the differences between the Xander of your universe and the Xander portrayed in what is known as the Journeyverse. That Xander has ceased being the guy I could identify with from the seven seasons I watched almost non-stop. (that includes one weekend where the DVD and VCR got alot of use). You have a real gift and a uncanny grasp for the characters of the Buffyverse. I hope that you can accept this complement for what it is. A compliment.

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Meeposian Dance of Joy: Cat Shadows

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