My first real Due South story! for the current flashfiction Mendacity Challenge. I'm still thinking of a name.

Frannie hates running into old friends. She hates the small talk, the questions. She hates talking about her brother. They always say the same thing:

We haven’t seen you. We haven’t seen Ray. We heard he moved out, was there trouble? Is he seeing someone?

She hates their questions and she gives her answers quick and to the point. She’s started being rude.

He’s busy with work. There’s no trouble. No, no, he’s not seeing anyone. Look, he’s an adult. Adults live on their own. Okay?

Now she has a reputation for being rude, people have started asking Ma or Maria:

What happened to Frannie, she used to be such a nice girl.

Frannie accepts it, she’s not a nice girl anymore. How can she be a nice girl? She lives in the middle of a web of lies.

Which she hates.

Sometimes she gets so mad because no one seems to take the undercover business seriously. Ray chases after his ex-wife---Stella, not Angie. Ray’s parents come to the station—his Dad, not Ma. She hates that everyone at the station seems to know that Ray Kowalski is playing at being her brother. Frannie worries that one day the men out where ever Ray is--because no one has told her where he is--will figure out that her brother is playing at being someone else.

She hates worrying about what she’ll do if Lt. Welsh calls her in his office, not to complain about her clothes or filing but, to tell her Ray is dead.

All of the lying and worrying and she knows that she would never be able to look at Ray Kowalski and say, “I don’t blame you.”

Lovely, askye. But I'm confused about

Ray’s parents come to the station—his Dad, not Ma.

Would this be Ray K.'s dad? Because Ray V's (and Frannie's) dad is dead, right?

Yeah it's Ray K's dad. Because Frannie's Dad is dead and Ray's Dad shows up at the station in at episode, at least one.

I thought because I had Stella--not Angie and then Dad--not Ma that it would help because it's RayK's family and not RayV's in the same order both times.

Okay. Thanks for the clarification. You might want to indicate that, unless the rest of the story spells it out enough.

deb - I'd already read the Xander wish in your LJ and loved it. In Which Spike Acquires a Coat is also delicious. You say so much in 100 words.

but in this guise, hungry as a vicious bear

Love that description!

...

Victor - where does your Manchild/BtVS Cross-Over Fic begin? I've read from when Faith was on the phone with Buffy and there was the confusion about James/Giles being tied up. I love it. Need more. Am too far behind in BF to find my way.

SA - I loved Buffy finding the Watchers' diaries. Like Beverly, their relationship is my favorite on the show.

Cindy! You made me turn pink!

If I ever get a day where I can bend my back (it's completel talky meat right now) and two minutes without errands, I'll finish the Ethan's Bad Day. As I say, Ethan is being screwed with, and, at athe moment, it isn't by Buffy, poor silly man with far too man enemies.

Cindy, Part one is at:

victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 17, 2003 2:17:40 am PDT

But it still may be hard to find the rest of it. Plei will have it up at some point soon, if you get lost.

SA - I loved Buffy finding the Watchers' diaries. Like Beverly, their relationship is my favorite on the show.

Thank you!

Cindy! You made me turn pink!

Fair enough, deb. I just read One Thing That Should Have Happened in Sunnydale, and am sitting here, crying for poor, foamy Tara at 5:25 am. Dammit. That totally should have happened. You asked for crit, but I have none. I love how your Warren: darkness with a gun.

(for all the other skippers and skimmers, deb's short is at: deborah grabien "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 17, 2003 2:31:35 pm PDT)

I have the fantasy crossover in my head, where it turns out Luther Mahoney is actually a vampire. But I'm never going to write it, because Luther Mahoney was better written and better portrayed than any other TV villain in history, and I don't mess with perfection.

Oh dear me. Yes. But you're right - already perfection. (I'd still read your vamp!Luther though, because he totally was a vampire. Now I feel like season 5 Buffy, arguing about Rasputin with her history professor. That would be a fun take on non-paranormal-'verse shows - taking hard-to-catch villains and showing there was really something else going on, the whole time. Whee!)

...

Okay, an hour ago, I started Nillying Victor's serial. Then I found myself reading and Nillying it. Then I found myself giving much fawning feedback, while reading, and Nillying, so that all will live in its own, separate post.

A Nilly (with feedback) of When You Are Tired of London, by victor infante

Part One: Blood Is Thicker...
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 17, 2003 2:17:40 am PDT

“Language!” said Buffy, in mock horror. “You’re gonna burst a scone. So, you have a wacky, identical cousin. From England! Will there be hijinks?”

Whee! Victor, that's fun dialogue. I haven't watched Manchild all that much, but you've hit James so far. What a great idea.

...

Part Two: Dooooomed!
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 24, 2003 12:03:28 am PDT

"Good," said Giles. "Buffy, you'll interview his friend Terry, and I'll talk to Patrick. Then we'll converge and see what we can discover of his," Giles adopted a disgusted look, "liaisons."

"Are you sure that's a good idea," said James. "Sending a young lady alone to talk to Terry? I mean she..."

This is fantastic, because as soon as I read Giles' line, I thought, "Sending a young woman to Terry, Giles? Not so wise." Heh.

...

Part Three: Xander’s Day
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 25, 2003 11:37:12 pm PDT

Plus, he’d get to see the unaired episodes of Firefly, which was a plus.

I am subtle, well-placed meta's bitch. Love this.

“Right, cause that’s a load of bullocks if you are. James is my mate, and I’d never hurt a hair on his head. Don’t care how many models he parades in front of me, even with a dodgy wanker!”

“Whoah!” said Xander, “Too much information!” He placed a comforting hand on Gary’s shoulder. “We’re just gathering information. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I now, officially want victor to write us a season's worth of Manchild/BtVS, to help fill the BtVS-shaped hole in our lives.

...

Part Four: Willow’s Day
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 28, 2003 11:43:52 pm PDT

“Did you…”

“Well, of course I did,” said Elizabeth. “Couldn’t resist, really. Never pass up an opportunity to let them know who’s on top.”

At this point, to paraphrase a line of poetry, Willow wasn’t certain whether she wanted to be this woman, fuck her, or run screaming from the room.

She took another sip of wine while deciding.

Oh, Victor! This is delicious. I also like that the thought of Kennedy held no resonance for Willow. I believe that. It's a truth, you know?

...

Part Five: James’ Morning
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Jul 29, 2003 11:59:27 pm PDT

He let the thought go. He wondered what sort of school this was, but then, it had always been strange schools with that side of the family.

On occasion, James’ mother spoke of how her sister, his aunt, had suddenly one day begun private tutoring. And then, there was the odd academy that Rupert had been sent off to—none he’d ever heard of, but evidently prestigious enough to get him enrolled in Oxford, even with his dubious behavior record.

“Rupert was cool back then,” thought James, recalling just how much he wanted to be like him. The wild parties, the dangerous friends, the running away to London. James always harbored a knot of jealousy toward Rupert. Even when he suddenly returned to school, transformed into a model student, he was cool. Soon after graduation, he was traveling the world for the museum, his life one seeming adventure after another.

I adore all of this. I love CoW continuity. I love seeing Ripper and young Giles from someone else's POV.

His revelry was disturbed by the sound of someone moving about in the adjoining chamber. Startled, he spilled a few drops of coffee on the table. Not seeing a cloth nearby, he soaked it up with the Book Review section.

Oh, and I love being shown so gracefully why James can never be Giles. That was just elegant, Victor. I wish you'd written this in May, when we were having the show-don't-tell discussions in Buffy NAFDA.

“James, Dawn. We met last night?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Dawn.

Oooh. The thot plickens. I'm excited, even though I know how it ends. This is one of the benefits of being a forgetful spoiler companion.

...

Part Six: Giles’ Morning
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Aug 10, 2003 9:15:22 am PDT

Giles didn’t bother to hide his annoyance, but relief overtook him when he found the gallery he was looking for. It was one of those “contemporary” galleries, where—and he was quite certain of this—those bearing too much money and too little taste purchased formless sculptures as part of an elaborate practical joke perpetrated by the city’s artistic elite. He entered, and Buffy followed.

This is dreamy! Your Giles is so very Giles. In reading the comments and your responses, I know you were overtaken by your Xander!voice muse while writing, as well as your snarky!Giles, and this is a good thing. Your Giles is just spot on.

Giles laughed, gently.

Wow. To a Buffy fan? That line is almost as evocative as Jesus wept. Beautiful image.

Part Six - Cont'd
victor infante "Bitchy Fic: It Could Be Plot Bunnies" Aug 10, 2003 9:16:06 am PDT

Now Patrick is all confused. Fun!

...

see next post for more victor fic Nillying