See You Time Cowboy
May. 19th, 2025 02:00 pmSummary: This is another ancient work along the same lines as initiative meetings, Time After, and Torchwood: Aftershock. It's been sitting in a document probably just as long as those, though I copied and pasted it into my prompt document a while ago.
Word Count: 1018
Rating: Teen
Pairing: Spike/Xander
( one of the longer ones )
2nd apocalypse, Buffy goes off to protect everyone (having already agreed to a plan the next day)
Giles should have known the instant Buffy agreed without a protest, when she was so against the idea. He ran, though he knew he’d be late. Which made him run harder.
Dawn came back (using her Key powers, but Glory’s apocalypse remained firmly in place) and was angry and terrified when her sister died. She latched onto Xan and Spike as father figures. But then Spike died, and Xan wore his ashes in a necklace. It’s pretty much Vibora Bay Crisis when the second apocalypse came ‘round.
They use Dawn’s portal powers to call in help, because there’s no way they’re surviving a third on their own. Even with two of the most powerful witches, a half Draconian, a Key, and an Archmage. (Also a lesser wizard and a gadgeteer. And a Slayer-Faith).
idle thought #573
Jun. 22nd, 2024 10:24 pmDream: Sherlock Holmes. Kind of a Caterina di Sforza situation with a strong female lead who called them in. Someone wanted something from her, one person was murdered, she was being blackmailed, there was an attempted arson, and the thing that was making Holmes go ??? was that these are all very different approaches, so after the third or fourth attempt he decided that there are at least 2 perpetrators, 1 who doesn’t mind bloodshed and another who’s trying less violent means.
Right before they ended up captured, and Holmes had his left elbow shattered. “If it weren’t for the fact that I still have some opium in me, I’d probably be incoherent,” he admits.
idle thought #523
Dec. 2nd, 2023 07:20 pmDream: Buffy, Xander, etc were all half-human. Xander and Willow were homeless and sleeping in the park. Ethan had this camera that brainwashed you when he took a picture of you, but the recharge was super long. He went after Buffy first because she was the strongest fighter. (I don’t think they’d met before that point. Buffy was the Social Queen of the local half-human organization but Xander and Willow were just trying to stay off the grid.) Xander was trying to explain all this to Tara, who was the last one. Xander’s powers had nothing to do with fighting but he does have a partial resistance to the camera thing, so he was able to warn Tara even though he was also not quite there when it came to trying to explain and was trying to strangle her now and then during the middle. (Fortunately, she learned after the first time and backed up to a safe distance where she could easily slip out if she needed to do so.)
idle thought #517
Nov. 11th, 2023 09:05 pmprompt: shaun realized that he was in love with desmond after he died. Once they could read others’ memories, he snuck a sample and started reliving desmond’s memories, trying to trigger the bleeding effect so he wouldn’t be so alone. At first, desmond is like “this is pathetic” but feels a little less bad when he sees shaun have a grieving breakdown. 'course, it's an open question whether it's actually him.
idle thought #515
Nov. 4th, 2023 11:59 pmI may or may not end up writing this but if not here’s a prompt: Desmond as head of a third Fae faction in Dresden Files (I’m leaning Fall, but maybe Spring). Summer and Winter conspired to take the power of Fall and Spring between them, but enough was left that after their warring and other events weakening the two they could start to return. Dresden has no idea what to do with Desmond—because he’s human, and sometimes acts very human, but he doesn’t always act like any human Dresden’s ever met. He’s a Changeling, but the Lesser Courts have a very different approach to how that works, and tend to be closer to the mortal world (which is one of the reasons they were easier to overpower)...but also they have friends in the mortal world (Shaun & Rebecca) and are barely affected by cold iron (and in most cases actually kind of prefer using some type of iron weapon because they hold a grudge).
Star Trek AU prompt
Feb. 19th, 2023 04:12 pm “Jim—thank goodness; I woke up and I’m not sure…” He trails off. He knows that small frown of confusion; doesn’t see it much, sure, but.
“Uhm, hi. You okay?”
His world tilts under him again. “No—no, Jim, please, you know me, it’s Bones—” Only desperation has him saying that stupid nickname, but he needs this.
“Trust me, I’d remember a good looking guy like you.”
The world moves, again, an earthquake in miniature, and he watches the panic filter into those blue eyes and registers that, suddenly, he’s being held carefully in familiar arms. “Now, I’d like to say it’s every day that handsome fellows like you fall for me, but it really isn’t,” Jim jokes, but there’s a strain in his voice and concern in his eyes that’s pretty rare. “What happened? Are you okay? Do I need to call someone?”
BtVS Dream: Touch of the Gods
Dec. 13th, 2022 04:04 pmThis was another dream I had a couple weeks back. So for this one, they’d all been chosen as avatars of various Egyptian gods. Think of it like Stargate, except without aliens. Still the same amount of ‘all I see is mine’ and ‘worship me now’. Someone unaffected (Cordy?) had to snap them out of it, and once they remembered who they were again, they still had the powers and some of the memories but didn’t want to take over anymore. They were all pretty accurate. Except for Xander. I’m still trying to work out that one.
To start with, Willow was Isis. Obviously. Avatar of magic, child of several religions (Judaism and Wicca, in her case), one whose magic revives the one(s) she loves…. (Which, actually, thinking about it, that revival spell should have been calling on Isis. Not Osiris. Yeah, sure, everyone knows Osiris is the dead Egyptian god, but that’s surface level. You know whose magic brought him back to at least some level of life, ruling the land of the dead? Isis, that’s who. Then again, the use of Janus is both fitting and not, so…honestly, for Ethan they should’ve used Loki or another one of the trickster gods.)
In the dream, she was dating one of the African slayers, who was Bast. Not sure about this one, particularly since there’s a better option here. (Though if not for the fact that this is Egyptian magic and the stories are perfect, this would have been a more interesting option than Kennedy.)
Because, come on. Tara as Osiris. Even if she’s actually dead at this point. Especially if she’s actually dead at this point. Willow going on some sort of journey with magic but also hard work to bring her back to life. Only she stays mostly dead, but not all dead.
Giles as Thoth. Watcher, recorder, keeper of knowledge. Thoth basically screams ‘Watcher’. (I think he’d prefer Ibis, not Babboon, though. I think he’d see that version as more refined.)
And not to forget, Buffy as Sekhmet. Lioness warrior goddess, protector of the people (and the pharaoh) though life and death. but also healer. Bit of bloodlust and the vengeful hand of Ra. Also needed to be advised to return by Thoth in one version of a myth.
The one I don’t get is Xander as Horus. Especially as it kind of makes him Willow and Tara’s son mythologically, and thematically…I mean, the only parallel is the level of traumatic backstory. IDK, still confused. Maybe Anubis instead, He Who Helps The Judges of Living and Death, plus while it’s a jackal he’s kind of the guard dog of the underworld.
Buffy/Doctor Who Dream
Oct. 24th, 2022 08:40 pmI had this dream a couple weeks back.
Giles was an incarnation of the Doctor (no idea which incarnation, but probably an AU which means he could have been any of them). Xander and Willow were his companions. Not sure about Xander's origin; Willow had things in common with Nyssa.
The first episode was a place where they landed, the forest looked idyllic, and then they ended up getting chased away from the TARDIS by dinosaurs or something. The native people managed to find and rescue them but their only strategy is running away really. They will not open their gates and allow themselves to potentially be wiped out in order to let their guests out on a suicide mission or aid them in attempting to retrieve the TARDIS. They expect their guests to integrate into the city.
They each try different approaches in preparation for an upcoming festival. The Doctor tries to make friends with everyone and get them to reveal something without meaning to, as well as getting himself on the planning committee for one of the events. Willow focuses on absorbing all the knowledge she possibly can from both the databases (not a lot, as while it’s obvious these were used before and that a bigger civilization used to be present before and these are a people in decline) and the libraries. Xander, well. The ‘haha’ way to put it would be that he does drugs, but that’s not the full story.
There’s a native plant the Doctor has never heard of that unlocks brief precognition, not too useful over the long-term but is pretty useful in a fight and is the only reason their occasional hunting parties to find survivors or other resources haven’t been slaughtered or tracked down yet. (Hence why the Doctor and his friends are very skeptical about the whole ‘it’d be too dangerous to let you leave—given how they’re barely hanging on, the Doctor suspects that it’s an excuse to try to keep them as an extra resource.) Use is required to take part in the warrior’s contest, and the Doctor has been told (though isn’t sure if it’s the truth) that winning one of the contests can give the winner one wish. Like being able to leave. The Doctor isn’t fully on board with Xander’s plan but reluctantly goes along with it. It’s a dangerous plan, he warns.
“Sure, but I can’t just sit around and do nothing. Both you and Willow are working hard to make sure we can get out of here. I’m not going to be the dead weight.”
Just in case, the Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to monitor Xander’s condition every day; it’s not perfect but it’ll have to do, since the people insist the plant is perfectly harmless and would not allow their medical equipment to be ‘repurposed’ for such an ‘unnecessary worry’. He does notice changes in Xander’s brain chemistry and cells but has no idea whether they’re dangerous or not. (This will prove to be important later in the series/season, as they’re permanent and do not fade after access to the plant is no longer possible. Though the Doctor takes a sample anyway.)
Sadly, I didn’t get to see the ending, so I don’t know how they managed to escape except that they did.
I also didn’t get to see much of the second episode, so I don’t know much except that Cordy was a big starring role and I get the feeling it might be a similar story to the great classic Star Trek TOS episode “Mark of Gideon” only with Cordy being a more active role.
Extras not in dream: This obviously means Ethan is the Master. Which actually is pretty fitting.
It’s interesting that Buffy wasn’t with them, although I get the feeling this is probably only temporary. When I think about how writing would go, I get the feeling she’s one of the bodyguards for a space futuristic Roman or Egyptian civilization run by some equivalent of Cleopatra or something. (So she’d be from the equivalent of the Mummy movies Medjai, as would the rest of the Slayers, and for once their existence isn’t a tool or a pawn but a high honor the people aspire to send their daughters to, second in divinity only to the ruler herself. Still dangerous, but as we’ve recently seen when you’re the people protecting the government from attacks from within as well as outside, there’s a certain amount of danger.) The Doctor and companions go there, help out, and in thanks the leader offers the aid of one of her most trusted bodyguards. “That’s not necessary; really, it’s not. I wouldn’t think to deprive you of any of your people—” The Doctor begins protesting.
“Oh, but you may find a use for her sooner than you think.” It’s at that point that the Doctor realizes her people have a limited ability to see into Time, like him, and she’s seen something he has not. This of course ties into whatever the series arc is for that series/season, so he stops protesting and accepts.
idle thought #404
Oct. 12th, 2022 10:02 pmalso i hate night highway driving. i almost hit james bond.
wait, how old is the SCA? Because Buffy and the others could definitely have used that as an excuse if it was around (tbf I should know this, I went to a coronation, I just...was spacing)
THIS IS REALLY WEIRD
edit: research says 1966. and by research, i mean bing. google agrees. wikipedia says that it was founded in California for double the relevance. so yeah, they absolutely could have passed off their weapons, historical research, training, everything as being in the SCA. also they could then have a subplot in which Xander actually finds use crafting medieval-esque shields, etc and Buffy becomes royalty of a branch. I don't know if they have wiccan type stuff in the sca. maybe the crafts and scribal arts bit? and it'd also be a great front for any medieval research. this would be incredible. we needed an episode. or, you know, a season arc. barring that, a story. I'd do it but I'd have to do a lot of research. Mostly about the leadership, because if Buffy was going to take over a branch I'd need to know that stuff. (According to Wikipedia, royalty are chosen by SCA armed combat. Buffy would win by a landslide and mostly have to try to figure out a way to make it look natural and not actually hurt anybody.) Giles would nerd out while trying not to appear like he was nerding out. Willow and Tara could actually have met there and/or gone to one of the dancing classes, because among other things the percentage of men to women at the dancing classes was low, so no one batted an eye at women dancing together (and also I got the idea they were pretty cool with non-mainstream living) and they had archery classes, so they could practice there, and when we showed up for the coronation there were a decent number of people practicing fighting with swords and shields outside, so again. Perfect cover. And also a lot of story hooks and interesting stuff to do.
also honestly if they did it during the initiative arc and included Riley it'd make his character more interesting automagically.
I just. man. again i think we were robbed on this one.
(also also when they do eventually get multiple Slayers they could just keep using that as the perfect cover.)