What a cliffhanger!! Can't wait to see what happens next! Buffy'll sure be pissed!

Author's Response: Thanks; and yes, she most certainly will. :)

I've been a horrible reviewer I know, but, well, I won't bore you with excuses. Just know that I still love the story, mm'kay?

This is gonna be short (honest this time) cause I'm drop dead tired and late for work. See? That's gotta show a level of dedication, I'm late for work and I still read this chapter! Go me. =)

And hey! When I was 8, The Boxcar Children rocked. Seriously! I mean, who doesn't love orphans living out of a boxcar solving mysteries. They're like, do-gooder over-achievers with no parental guidance. Woot!

As for Spike... sure, he's completely the Byronic hero at the moment. But, I think you're right. Spike needs to lighten up with the self-destructive kick and mellow out just a tad. I mean, Lord Byron was a romantic, yeah? So why can't Spike be, even just a little? Besides, we don't want Spike to fully self-destruct, that'd be sad.

And holy crap and I can't write a short review on your story. I blame you. Well, I'm not sure if I made any sense whatsoever in this review, so that makes me a feel a little better. Kinda. I'm not even gonna re-read it to check and see if I have any silly typos or anything. Nope. Not gonna.

Author's Response:

Good update, you have me on the edge of my seat for the next!

As far as 'tweaking' Spike....tweak all ya like. I know *I* would!!!! :P

Author's Response: ^_^ Yes, at the time I did not fully realize the sexual connotation of using the word "tweak" and Spike in the same sentence. Thanks for reviewing! :D

oh no, this cant be any kind of good..

Author's Response: Indeed, my dear Blax, indeed! :D

Hhhhmmmm....Byronic? I can't say the good Lord who shocked many is who comes to mind when I read this Spike. Mostly because Byron's earliests loves (and many thereafter) were homosexual in nature, and he was a member of the aristocracy, which was what allowed him the freedom and means to live as he did.
Also Byron is considered the father of romanticism, which was very much associated with pacifism and dandyism (despite Byron's illustrious military career). He would probably not have been so abusive to a girl he loved even if she scorned him (as many contend Byron himself suffered sexual molestation at the hand of a nanny)...like Ovid he would have mooned about and wrote about it.
I clearly think that Spike is quite self destructive right now, and if I may say so....petty. We've all endured humilation from our peers, at some point the response has to be "Yes? And so? Cry me a river". Perhaps the literary archtype you are looking for would be Bronte's Heathcliff? While other girls mooned over his passion, I thought Heathcliff, violent, possesive, abusive and suffering from chip-on-shoulder-syndrome....Cathy was no better, but I've always disliked people who are overly dramatic and codependent. And they were certainly a self-destructive pair.
As to whether or not you need to be more graphic about how awful Buffy was.....we all must learn to walk tall and right....for every 1 person and recycles their abusive experience there are 10 more that grow up get a job and raise 2 kids properly. I think Spike, if we're speaking of Mr. Whedon's versionwould've eventually (albeit supernaturally) tended towards the second scenario not the first, or at very least learned to walk right.

Author's Response: You're just a walking encyclopedia of information, you know that? ;) Somehow I knew you'd be the one who talked about Byronic characters, probably one of the few people who knows about the topic comprehensively, and I'm very glad you did. And while, yes, Spike does not display very similar characteristics to Lord Byron, I was referring to the Byronic category as a whole. While this may include Lord Byron himself, when I say "Byronic Hero" I also mean Heathcliff and Rochester and probably the entire anti-hero category that it spawned. That might just be a lack of proper education on my part, considering I have yet to learn about Byronic characters at school and rely on my own gatherings in this instance. Note also that, when I say Spike is a Byronic character, I'm also warping the traits of a Byronic character a little bit to fit a high school teenager. Maybe I should have used anti-hero, but anti-hero sometimes implies someone with heroic goals, and Spike does not have any heroic goals at the moment, besides perhaps his elusive way of helping Buffy every now and then. Clearly, though, Spike is a social outcast, he loathes authority and rank of any kind, he has conflicting emotions (with Buffy particularly), a troubled past, he's arrogant, cynical, self-destructive, and he struggles to be a man of worth. The wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byronic_hero) defines a Byronic hero almost identically to that, but wikipedia might not be the most reliable source for such information. Oh, and I found a really interesting article (I think it's a college class outline?) on the Byronic hero that rightly references Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel! (http://www.rc.umd.edu/praxis/contemporary/stein/stein.html) Just one of the many ways the show amazes me and most likely will for several years to come as I discover all of its themes and characters fully. :) And I'm a bit unclear as to your last paragraph; I assume you support the idea of Spike changing, as you want him to "walk right?" Thank you very much for replying to my plea and story, it's much appreciated! =]

can't wait to see what happens next!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D



Author's Response: Thank you. :)

Wow...I don't know what to say bout that. I never expected that. What's gonna happen now? Who was that?

I don't like this Spike much. He's pretty much worse than the populars now. He's insulting daily and he pretty much treats Buffy like garbage and a slut. Not a favorite of mine at the moment. For someone who was treated horribly, why would he treat other people just as bad if not worse?

Update soon please! I can't wait to see what happens next chapter!

Author's Response: You'll just have to stay tuned to your monitor to find out. :D I agree wholeheartedly with what you said about Spike; I think recently I've purposely tried to make him much worse than the people he loathes, possibly to make the epiphany and wake up call all the more shocking to him. I assume you support a major change in Spike, then? Thanks for reviewing; and the next chapter's rough draft is actually almost finished, so you might not have to wait that long. :)

Well, I think you know how I feel about Spike and this story. I think you should show the William side to him a little more. The side that was/is in love with Buffy. The side that got made fun of. That the readers didn't really get to see.



Author's Response: Y'know, something I've ALWAYS wanted to do with this story is just have Spike leave for a few months when they start to really fall for each other and come back 100% William. I think that would be totally fun, Buffy trying to make him Spike again and finally deciding he's better off as William. As for your thoughts, I really do think something similar to that is in the plans; I don't think Spike's capable of being himself, rather on loving Buffy, in his current state, and needs to change. Fantastic idea, though, putting some of the William back in him. I've always wanted Spike as a hopeless romantic at some point in the story; might be the golden opportunity, who knows? Thanks for commenting!

Dosen't suck. At all.
Just perfect :)

Author's Response: Awww, thanks! :D

Oh, and I just saw your (second? third?) response to my comment below - again, you didn't offend me, so no apology necessary, and I'm sorry if I offended you. Good luck with your writing.

Author's Response: 'Kay. No harm, no foul. Thanks again. :)

Wow, you wrote a novel to your response to abbyland.

Although, i do see both of your points. Life isn't perfect and people are not perfect.

I knew Spike was going to take it out on Buffy and the rest of the populars for hurting him. Especially on Buffy because when the object of your affection is mean to you it makes you go crazy. But I didn't think that Spike was going to be such an ass and have buffy look like the good one.

But I thought and it looks like a lot of others that we going to sympathize and feel for Spike. But it all has been about feeling sorry for Buffy and making Spike look like an ass.

Like I said, I don't think this is my story. Another high school story where Spike is an ass.

But it is your story and you should write it the way you want it. And I apologized to you if I have cause you any trouble.

Oh yeah, I lust for spike all the time. Darn SMG for getting to do some hot sex scenes with him. Also, that damn door in the episode of Dead Things. I want to a damn door. That's so bad. So hot. I need to take a shower now. hehe........

Author's Response: Nah, you haven't caused me any trouble. And this fic just isn't what you expected, I can respect that. And I believe the term is "cold shower.'" ;)

Hey, I like some angst. But some. Cause hey life isn't all roses and sunshine. But sometimes I think authors take it too far where they beat up their characters so much and then have a Spuffy ending. Don't really care for those type of stories. That is why authors should put a warning if almost every chapter is angst. Authors are usually good at that though. Especially now my life isn't the greatest and reading angst all the time is not what I want.

I just thought this was going to see more of Buffy and the bad light then Spike. Cause boys aren't the only one who are bad in high school. They are some sweet ones out there. Like my best friend. He was so sweet. Too sweet. haha.....

Also, don't worry. I don't think bad about you or anything about what you wrote about Spike being justified. I get it.

I just didn't really like what the show had Spike do because it seem like Buffy was getting too much bad attention. And they couldn't have that so they made Spike do something so terrible.

That is what this story kind of reminds me of. Saying no it is okay for Buffy to treat spike bad because she has a terrible home life and everything.

But on the show it is different cause spike is a vamp. And boy do they remind you. So I guess on the show a vamp can't be truly good without a soul. Although, I also like that the show doesn't always show that having a soul makes a person good all the time. Everybody knows that there are some evil people. Pretty sure that they have soul.



Author's Response: IMO, girls are worse than guys in high school, with the drama and the deceit and the hairpulling. Guys just go with the flow normally, at least from what I've seen guys are lax, while girls... not so much. Again very stereotypical - sorry about that. And I _have_ made Buffy out to be a bad person, just stuff before the story started. I agree wholeheartedly with the rape as a response to making Buffy look better. SMG has stated several times that she really disliked her character in season six. I think her season six character is pure genius, profound and deep as Socrates and Plato, and tragic as Romeo and Juliet, but SMG didn't think so. I've heard some really bad things about SMG and I started to believe them after she practically dissed Spuffy and opted out at season seven. She's made some really atrocious movie choices and I wish she would come back to television where she shined the most. Love her and hate her at the same time, I guess. As for your last point: I've had conversations with friends that have reached dozens and dozens of pages about souls and the shades of grey on the show. BTVS does good versus evil, shades of grey, souls, and the inherent evil in everyone brilliantly, it's really one of the best themes of the show, and definitely contributes to the shows overall greatness. Delving into that would take up more space than this response box has to offer, though. :( Again thanks for responding to my response! :)