That was lovely--the voices were spot on.

Thank you...sometimes I think I'm fandom's mynah bird, but it could be worse. I'm going to watch more Buffy(such a sacrifice) and then I'm going to continue...dream is an AU season 5, but knowing how much else I'm also writing, maybe just one "episode" Maybe a little bit more so Boyd can be mad at the trio for not turning over his checker-playing doll of Ava.

I was hoping to get further in my AU!Fear Itself, but I thought I'd check in and get some notes...

"You all right? Raylan asked." You started out with so much to say in class...I mean, it's only been a week--"

"I'm all right...what happened to Riley, anyway? Willow met him in the bookstore and she said he was all enthusiastic and stuff.And handsome, she thought but didn’t say.

Raylan rubbed his chin thoughtfully “I think he went back to the Midwest.
” He left out the part where Finn went back to Iowa in a pine box and he never said “Boo,” though the thought nagged at him. How could it not, him sitting in Finn’s very desk chair, doing his job. But if he said anything, he wondered what would happen to the rest of the Initiative men, chosen very carefully from the lower end of America’s non-existent class system.No easy gigs with security firms for them. Dr. Walsh wanted young men who were hungry for things a meal plan couldn’t provide.
And it sure enough kept him quiet, even when he swore to himself he’d never let injustice go unanswered again.He knew technically, Finn had volunteered, or at least, signed off on all the drugs and endurance testing, but, somehow, seeing a co-worker turn blue right in front of you beat the shit out of all the releases in the world.It would be simpler to go home and start a little crop. Except for the plant in the barracks breathing its last.No self-respecting reefer farmer could forget to water a spider plant. And he had to admit it..he liked learning about people, why they did the stuff they did.

“Well, if I had somewhere to go back to,” Buffy said. “I’d think about it. I almost envy him.”

“Too much fun or not enough?”

“A little bit of both actually.”

“Look, I know you’re running behind, but you could catch up pretty easily if you work at it…I was a Marine once…persistence is part of the package.”

“Is that why you want me to go the party?”

“Nah…not trying to be a Hall Monitor from Hell…it’s just part of my work-study thing to keep things calm at dorm parties…it’d be nice to go with someone I know. The persistence thing just shows I know whereof I speak. You know?”

“Yeah, I guess… one night won’t kill me, right?”

“It will have to go through me first.”

“Has anyone told you you’re a little…intense?”

“Not in those words, but yeah,” Probably her biggest problem was that Professor Walsh put essay questions on the midterm and Buffy’s brain bounced around like a hummingbird drunk on nectar. She was lucky, not to carry the world on her shoulders.

“We’ll both try to lighten up before the party…it’s Halloween, it’s a slow night, anyway.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You know, I’ll never get any work done with the noise on the floor.”

“Right…see you at eight then.”

“Sure…you know it’s a costume party, right? I’m gonna have to go home and pull something together at the last minute…you can just, like, rent a horse.”

“Not after the last time, I returned it late. Rent-a-Nag will never accept my custom again…I could always go to Rent-A-Stud, but that gets confusing after a while.”

“Naturally.See you then.”

Raylan made a phone call in the hall. Already, costumed students rushed past him like he was invisible.

“Raylan Givens, calling from the land of no-fat milk and honey…how they hangin, son?”

“About like usual…listen, I have a question about my thesis, Art.”

“Sure, you do. On a Saturday night. And a Saturday night that’s also Halloween. Tell me another one.”

“Well, I also…kinda met somebody.”

“Good for you…realign her chakras yet?”

“Art, where do you get this stuff?”

“I don’t exactly know, but I read somewhere California folks are partial to it.If I were you, I’d use a condom.”

“Art…Christ!”

“Humor me, Raylan. I’m stuck in the land of meatloaf on Wednesday and sex on Saturday. Also, Tim isn’t here to listen to the latest peachy-keen reasons why you need to misuse university equipment to do your own research.”

No pressure, but if you'd like to read more..it's here. [link]

Read and commented, erika.

Yes, you should watch Justified...it's the shit(In a can't-gather-the-family-around-and-watch-it-violent-and naked sort of way. Although Raylan would think it very important that I tell you the violent and naked happen at *completely* different times.Of course, my mom and I watch it together, but we ain't right. So that's okay then(/Art voice) Of course, I love Elmore Leonard anyway. Well, except for that one minute after I read his writing tip that was "Cut out the boring parts," then, for one brief moment, it was like "Fuck you, too, Best-Seller Man," but I'm over it. Mostly.

Once again, not required reading [link]

"Cut out the boring parts,"

Basic stone sculpture.

1) Decide what you want the sculpture to look like.

2) Acquire block of stone bigger than that.

3) Chip away all the parts that don't look like your mental image in step 1.

Still, not quite that simple, but that's why he has two houses and I don't. D'oh, stupid know-it-all crime-fiction legends!

A quick "Lost Girl" Fic. I'm not sure I quite have the Morrigan's voice right.

"Don't worry," the Morrigan said, "I'm just here to buy you a drink and share a little girl talk… "

"But.." Bo began.

"I won't take no for an answer. Just a few minutes of queen to succubus talk before I head off to a less - human - place." The Morrigan glanced disdainfully around the hotel bar. "Or we can argue, which will prolong this, and probably add drama. I rather enjoy drama."

Bo flashed the hard empty smile that served her as a poker face. "You can buy me one drink. When I finish, so do you." She turned to the bartender "Same again please."

The Morrigan smiled. "I'm sure I can time things properly so that we finish at the same time."

She turned to Bo. "I'm not here to ask you to make a choice. I'm here to tell you that in your heart you already have." Ignoring the polite look of skepticism on Bo's face, the Morrigan continued. "You know that sacrifice is fundamental to light Fae and dark Fae alike. And you know that the two factions vary in a lot of particular customs. But the fundamental difference goes far beyond those particulars." A slight hint of interest showed in Bo's eyes before she could hide it.

"For example, none of us has much regard for humans. Differences between the sides are simply a matter of - well call it resource management. Two shepherds may disagree on how best to care for their sheep. But in the end the both agree that what sheep are for is wool and mutton. You on the other, at least claim a very different attitude towards humans, to have even mistaken yourself for one for years."

The Morrigan laughed her tinkling laugh, and all expression fled Bo's face. "If that is really your belief, then it makes your actions all these years - interesting. Killing your first lover, well if you were really raised in ignorance, you could not have known what you were doing in time to stop it. And perhaps with the second and the third you thought you had the will power for your love not to mean death. But very soon you must have realized that as long as you lived others must die."

"Not any more" Bo protested.

"And I'm sure," the Morrigan said, "that all those people you killed would be happy if they knew their deaths kept you alive long enough to live the life you wanted to live. Now, now, I'm the last one to criticize. I think you did exactly the right thing my dear. What are the lives of a few hundred humans compared to the happiness of someone like you? But you claim to believe humans are for more than feeding and the occasional pet. You could have ended your life and saved all the humans you knew you were going to kill month after month, when you believed (or so you say) you were one of them. Instead you chose to go on. A sacrifice could not be avoided."

The Morrigan looked at Bo with no trace of humor. "You chose to sacrifice others rather than yourself. And that is the true difference between dark and light Fae. In your heart you have already chosen. In your heart you are already one of us."