Through a Glass, Darkly (A little postie 21/05/04)

AS for the who's shown up, I'd guess the Buffster, as I don't see Barin as to my ears the comment sounds strickly earthlike and the cheerful strikes me as more Buffy.

Except that they had Dawn. I'd expect her to be more angry or sarcastic than cheerful. "I'll bet my invitation got lost in the mail." perhaps. Or something about how sorry she is that her popularity has gone down so she doesn't get invited to parties anymore. Or something. And fledglings, usually, are too dumb to be afraid of the Slayer. Unless they have already run into her and managed through sheer numbers (and well timed running away) to not get staked. Yet whoever this is has made them wary or confused. I'm easily conviced it is Buffy though. It's been a while since I read any of Barin in this story. (Time to reread. Yea!) I hope we'll find out soon, my nails are starting to tear and I have only been on this cliff for a day.

KD

 

More??

 

Hi, still here. I'm rewriting the next post. The characters were OUT of character, and I think it's because I was having them do things they wouldn't do. With luck and a bit of time I should have it sorted for the weekend.

This is assuming I find my passport. I haven't seen it since I moved house, and I'm supposed to be off to Florida in February! Woohoo! Anybody live near Tampa?

 

With luck and a bit of time I should have it sorted for the weekend.

This is assuming I find my passport.

WooHoo. I'm looking forward to it. Good luck on finding the passport.

And be prepared for Florida to surprise you and be cold. Particularly if I end up there at the same time. The citrus board has asked that my family not visit my brother in the winter anymore. Every year that we went there for a winter holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever) they had record cold and frozen groves, ruined crops etc. I'll do my best to stay away...

Healer Leona - LOL about your son. My brother says California is too cold. He won't come here in winter at all and even says it is too cold in the summer. Go figure.

KD

 

California is not too cold. Well, at least if you don't live too far north...



No new posties?

 

I don't know. Orange County is 50 degrees right now. That's cold to me. Ohhh I am such a so cal girl

 

Well, here in Boston, we finally are getting back in the 20's fairly regularly. Right now 50 sounds great. How a good trip HaiGan.

 

I spoke to soon. The storm is so bad, we lost tv signal about 10 minutes ago and the rain is making my bedroom into an echo chamber. But it is about 50 degrees

 

Considering the blizzard we had last week, I doubt Florida is going to be much of a shock even if it does turn out cold! Beautiful sunshine only a couple of days after that- I was out in a tee-shirt. Then winds to take roof-tiles off and bring branches down, and now the river near my workplace is starting to flood in the rain. Whatever or whoever has been controlling the weather recently, I think its been sticking a pin in the list at random (and I'm way down in the south of the UK- they've got it worse in the rest of the country).

I found the passport! No Chicago stop-overs, I'm afraid though, Leona.

"The citrus board has asked that my family not visit my brother in the winter anymore." -LOL KD . My family's like that with ferries, but in reverse. Every time we took the ferry, the sea's was flat as the proverbial millpond. Unlike the cruise ship- there was a Force 9 gale on the Med when I took that trip. That was FUN (okay, so I'm strange, but I do like a bit of REAL weather).

Hey, there's people from all over. *Waves to everyone not yet mentioned*. One of these years I'll have to take a very, very long air-and-road trip.

I'm making rather heavy going of the next post . I'm really starting to dislike combat scenes, it's so hard to avoid the 'same-old-same-old' feeling. I'm managing about a paragraph a day, but the end is in sight now. Of that particular scene, anyway.

 

the end is in sight now. Of that particular scene, anyway.

Can't wait to give it a look.

 

She's back, she's warm, and we need another post! Barin has vanished, Qui-Gon finally found Obi-Wan, and am I the only person who's worried about what will happen to poor Thom, who's in the clutches of Glory?!!

 

Under normal circumstances I would be more concerned about whether or not Glory will survive her time with Thom; but then Glory is anything but normal.

 

Whew! Right, yes, here. The bunnies are starting to bounce back. Not all for this story, I admit, but it's nice to have too much material again, rather than too little. Maybe it's the break, maybe it's because the days are getting longer again. The other bunnies include some for a couple of short stories I'm already working on, plus a whole new Barin story covering his Trials and how he first became interested in detective work. Not to mention a couple more stories with an entirely new OC.

I've actually rewritten the entire next post, and I'm much happier with it now. Just got to transfer it from the paper to the computer, and run it past a beta reader. Keep your eyes open for it this weekend (not time until then, I've got to strip out every single print queue from the network and rebuild them all from scratch because whatever it was that happened to it while I was away, it's now a complete mess).

Hmm. Thom and Glory. Don't worry, things will get back to them eventually...

 

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! bouncing like Tigger You do realize we will be obsessively checking this thread all weekend until we see the post. Actually, I need to reread the whole thing...

...whatever it was that happened to it while I was away, it's now a complete mess... In my experience what happened to it while I was away was the boss decided to "fix" something. The last time I was only gone three days and it took me nearly 24 hours of overtime to un"fix" things so they would work again. Kinda cancels out the whole vacation there you know? Next vacation I'm changing the passwords before I leave and "forgetting" to tell him what they are.

Edit: mind like a sieve, sigh Glad to hear the bunnies are back!!! more bouncing

KD

 

*tosses out bunny chow**

 

The problem with 'forgetting' to give out passwords is that then they go and get the contractors in. I think it was the contractors who broke my system. Who goes and installs a bit of new hardware, gives it an IP address, and doesn't check to see if the IP adress they give it isn't already present on the system?? Enough! The printers are all fixed now. It's the weekend, and I'm resolving to forget about everything work-related until monday morning.

On a not-work-related note, does anyone read New Scientist? There's an article on bionic limbs with sensory feedback, with operation of the limb using signals from the brain or from the nerves in the remaining section of the limb. There's a suggestion that it might be only five years before they have a proper working limb in use. Roll on the days when they're as good as Luke's hand!

Okay, the story, and here we go! Thank you to TIEPilot051999 for a very prompt beta-read.

******

Some of the other vampires stirred and muttered, not slow to see the uncanny similarity between their opponent and the newcomer. The rest seemed confused by the lull in the fight, shifting restlessly and snarling with impatience. One at the front cuffed the vampire behind him with a corrective backhand, not keen on stepping forwards until he'd had a better look.

"Told you so." Spike straightened, drawing a breath that he didn't physically need and hiding it with a quick and malevolent grin. "Wasn't me, see? This is the fellow you want to talk to." He jabbed a thumb towards the Jedi beside him, glancing sideways for a second. "I'm feeling generous," he added, in answer to the earlier question. "Reckon I can spare one or two, if you're feeling bored."

"You certainly appear to have no shortage to deal with," Barin commented dryly. He had armed himself with stakes this time, roughly made from what might once have been a chair-leg. The ends were splintered, not carved into points. It made little difference to their effectiveness, and he seemed rather more ready to make use of his weapons than he had at his last confrontation with demon-kind. Currently he was spinning them in his hands, over and over, without seeming to have to concentrate on it. It was an oddly tense little motion. Spike might have called it a nervous habit, if he hadn't had other things to think about.

Spike himself shrugged, tired of small-talk, and became bored with the waiting game. He grunted as his fist connected squarely with a convenient chin. His opponent landed on its back several feet away, knocking a few others on the way past, and Spike grinned again. Fighting was always fun. Being on the winning side was a bonus.

The less cautious of the vampire pack swung forwards now, pushing through those who had the sense to wonder about the newcomer. They had the look of fledglings, their yellow eyes alight with hunger-maddened bloodlust and their movements- disjointed and swift- full of poorly controlled strength. Their impetuosity carried the tide of vampires around, swinging the pack across the alley and parting them into a straggling line. One met Spike's forearm with his neck and carried on forwards with the momentum of a leaden sack, slithering to a stop with his head at an impossible angle. A second doubled over Spike's foot and dropped to a crouch on the ground, spitting and growling. Those who faced the Jedi had even less time to consider that they might be rash. Two collapsed into dust immediately; the third followed a mere half-second later. Even demon eyes failed to follow the speed with which the stakes had moved.

Weighing the odds and clearly not liking them, two vampires darted towards the dumpster where Dawn still lay, half their attention on the alley mouth and possible escape. The girl was beginning to stir, and she squeaked as she cracked an eyelid and looked into a fanged and yellow-eyed face intent on carrying her off as a tasty takeaway.

"Nibblet!" Spike lunged towards his young friend, shoving uncooperative bodies aside in alarmed annoyance when they blocked his path.

"Spike

 

Oh goodie! Let's hope this vampire knows where Thom is. Poor Spike, having his little nibblet all mad at him. Now I'm really feeling oddly sorry for him.

I'm with Healer Leona, I too was watching the 5th season recently (trying to get caught up in canon before the story got past me) and I think I like this version better.

KD

 

Oh, just in time! After this last week, this was just what I needed!

Typical Dawn. Typical Spike. Typical...well, no, nothing Barin ever does is typical. Nice that he's figured out that Thom is on Earth. I don't think he'll be too pleased when he finds out who is currently "looking after him."

And Spike...ah, HG, you have him to a T. I could hear and see every single line he said.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please don't keep us waiting so long for the next installment.

 

That was well worth the wait; a two month wait, but it was a wonderful addition to an otherwise gloomy day.

I just loved Barin's description of Thom, runaway mouth and all

 

Thank you to TIEPilot051999 for a very prompt beta-read.

No problem.

 

Okay, this fic was recommended to me by Knight_Dilettante, and I have to say that this is the best crossover I've ever read (and possibly the only crossover to which I've ever replied)...

The idea of SW characters coming through the Hellmouth is great, and you've got the characterizations of the Buffy characters DOWN. I love your Spike, and Xander, and Buffy herself...

But I have to say the best part of this fic is my favorite Buffy character: Anya. You CRACK ME UP.