I am actually kind of really fond of this one. Protesting is good, but it shouldn’t just end there. The population of Sunnydale should be much more diverse than we saw and I worked my speculations as to why it’s not into the story. And Xander’s reasoning for choosing Blake came out as I was writing and it actually makes a lot of sense; he’s always been one of the Scoobies with the most knowledge about the real world, for better or worse. The underbelly of things. Blake is aspirational in that he thinks he can make a difference, while Xander didn’t (and still, to some extent, doesn’t). It also...maybe wasn’t an effort to shut Buffy out, sadly, but a ‘I’d really like to be her and know I can’t be, so here’s the next best thing’ deal. And then they just get to be domestic, more, which I really liked from At the End of All Things.  (...also there's some interesting thematic things that happen when you put this opposite to the Initiative....)

         It’s weird having vaguely normal conversations now, but Xander’s pushed so hard for them to just hang out that Buffy’s finally starting to get the hang of it. “So, how’s school going for you now?”
         Xander actually perks up. “There’s so much material banned by the Federation for being seditious or not furthering their plot to erase individuality, particularly the history.” At a look, he fidgets in his seat. “If I concentrate on the enthusiasm, I can forget the tedium. This is all fascinating—incidentally, I’ve worked out that ‘primitive’ is exactly as rude as I’d suspected, because it’s not as if we’re much more than less technologically advanced, which hardly means much—consider the Decimas…”
         “Whereas I,” Jesse interrupts in a way that Buffy has worked out suggests that what’s left of Avon has decided that what Xander is about too say is highly embarrassing, “...am extremely bored.”
         “You could always snag that computer science elective,” Xander mentions contemplatively, running his thumb over his lip. He doesn’t even notice he’s doing it; Jesse and Willow, on the other hand, have. He doesn’t even flinch at the withering look Jesse sends, smiling amusedly. “It would be a challenge for you. You’ve barely worked with non-tarriel cell computers, you have none of your usual tools with you, and with the beginnings of the internet you don’t even need ORAC to perform basic computer networking functions.”

this is the second time I’ve written a fic with a romantic offer to kidnap someone else. It’s weird that it happened twice, but makes perfect sense in context.

More extraneous dialogue. “Even then, I dare say disintegration would not agree with you. Care to find out?”

swapped reaction: Being tortured is exhausting to the soul. Blake meets the gaze of his cellmate wearily. “Under the circumstances, why should I do anything else?”