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because i promised emmie i would share my ~feelings~
So I have read the Espenson-penned Spike comic prelude to S9! And it was DELIGHTFUL. SO INCREDIBLY SPIKE.
I really have no deep thoughts or anything--I'll leave those to Emmie and Maggie and other smart people--but things I loved!
+ THE REAPPEARANCE OF SPIKE'S WHITE SOCKS! I do not know why I find them so endearing, but I do.
+ The bugs' plan that's going to last one and a half thousand hours. HAHAHAHA. WRONG VAMPIRE TO TRY THAT PLAN WITH. Of course that's not going to work for Spike--he's too impatient with the plan--and he presses a button at random and nobody knows what's going to happen, and it all turns out reasonably well except that he gets some burns but that doesn't really matter because he's never had much of a sense of self-preservation--he's never been careful with his body. And it's just so incredibly Spike.
+ ALL THE THINGS HE DOES WHEN HE'S BORED, ESPECIALLY REQUESTING THE NOVELTY CALENDAR. YOU WOULD, YOU DRAMA QUEEN. Sometimes I think Spike has more in common with a teenage girl from a John Hughes movie than he does with any kind of vampire ever. Speaking of which: the B+S in the heart? YOU KNOW HE DODDLES "MR. BUFFY SUMMERS" IN THE MARGINS OF HIS BOOKS. BECAUSE HE IS A TEENAGE GIRL IN THE BEST SENSE OF THE WORD. OH THIS BOY.
+ TEACHING THE BUGS ABOUT POETRY OMG BEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! AND THEY, LIKE ANGEL, LIKE HIS BLOODY AWFUL POETRY! LOOOOOOOOOOOVE.
+ READING BUG ROMANCE NOVELS. OMG HE SO WOULD. THE BUG EQUIVALENT OF PASSIONS!
+ SINGING TO THE BABIES! THE GRUBS LOVE HIM! OMG OF COURSE THEY DO! OF COURSE THEY DO.
+ OFFICIATING AT THE WEDDING HAHAHAHAHA.
+ Decorating his room with a mobile made of old bug legs. Oh, Spike. He's always liked luxury, hasn't he? And he'll make do with what he can find.
+ CHAPERONING THE DANCE. HAHAHAHA!
+ NAMING THE BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS. AND THE NAMES ARE SO RIDICULOUS AND ALL OVER THE PLACE. I MEAN THERE'S ALL THESE PET SORT OF NAMES AND THEN ALSO RANDOM PEOPLE NAMES AND MY FAVORITE IS IRENE. FAVORITE.
+ The fact that he's smoking in like every single scene until he's finally back on earth. Where did he get all those cigarettes? I'm imagining him using old maps and things for rolling paper and trying to find substitutes on board the ship for tobacco.
+ AND THEN. THERE'S BUFFY.
+ AND SHE IS SO NOT SURPRISED TO SEE HIM OR IF SHE IS SHE DOESN'T SHOW HIM. Personally I think her heart leapt up in her throat (as evidenced by the tears a panel or two later), but she just wants to play it cool because this is what she does with Spike.
+ JUST THAT: "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" AND IT SOOOOOOOOO HER. I CANNOT GET OVER HOW HER IT IS. This is the way she treats Spike (and also Faith): oh, look. You're back. I am unsurprised. And I'm going to hide all of my emotions because I don't want you to know how you get to me.
+ AND SPIKE REPLIES WITH WANTING TO BORROW A TOOTHBRUSH. (Which: is it just me, or is that pretty intimate? Just saying.) He's going along with the tone she's set. Not throwing his heart on the ground in front of her anymore.
+ BUT THEN SHE LETS HER EMOTIONS PEEK THROUGH. AND THERE ARE TEARS IN HER EYES OMG. AND SHE ASKS IF HE'S HOME FOR GOOD AND THE IMPLICATION IS THAT THEY HAVE THE SAME HOME.
+ And he plays it off, again, which makes sense. But we know that he's going to be around next season. We know it. And this set up what their relationship is going to be like for the rest of S9: Spike's not going to be the one to take the first steps, not this time. But Buffy is (more on that anon).
+ And now if you're a big Angel fan or a big Buffy/Angel fan, this might be the point at which you need to quit reading, but I couldn't help but compare these two manpires.
* Can you imagine Angel in this Pokemon ball of a ship with these bugs? I just can't see him reading trashy bug romance novels and singing to baby bugs and such. But Spike's got to make those connections. That's how he stays sane, but interacting in the community. It's so him. And this is exactly one of the reasons why Spike is my manpire.
* I also can't help but contrast how Buffy reacts when Angel pops back in her life versus when Spike does. With Angel it's all romance! Over-the-top-ness! Make me promises! It's a big ~MOMENT~ and it's always a surprise. With Spike, she's never really surprised that he's back ("Lessons," aside, but that's more of where he is and how crazy he's acting than that he's back, I would argue). She takes it completely in stride, because of course he comes back. That's what he does. Things don't stop the way they do when Angel comes back--she has to take a moment to bask with Angel, it's nothing like real life, it's sort of a time-out or an intermission in the middle of her life. With Spike, though, she keeps going at the same pace. She doesn't stop her life for him. She continues it and she trusts him to keep up. That's the way it's always been. And I actually love that, because, like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_royal_anna used to say, when you picture Buffy and Angel, they're face to face, but when you picture Buffy and Spike, they're side by side, looking ahead at what's coming, facing the same direction. And you know which one I prefer.
* But! Even though there's that moment of "Oh, look who's back," there is a bit of a difference this time in the way that Buffy usually greets him. This time, she pauses, just for a second and says, "Are you home for good?" Because this is the first time she hasn't been sure of him. And this is the first time she couldn't take it for granted that he'd come back. And this is the first time that she has time to ask that question. And this is the first time she's willing to be vulnerable enough to ask it. It signals a change to me, a shifting in their roles in the relationship. This time it's going to have to be Buffy doing the reaching out and the vulnerability. Spike's played that role, and now it's her turn. And that moment of asking if he's back home is her taking her first tentative steps into that role. And I can't wait to see how the rest of it will play out.
I really have no deep thoughts or anything--I'll leave those to Emmie and Maggie and other smart people--but things I loved!
+ THE REAPPEARANCE OF SPIKE'S WHITE SOCKS! I do not know why I find them so endearing, but I do.
+ The bugs' plan that's going to last one and a half thousand hours. HAHAHAHA. WRONG VAMPIRE TO TRY THAT PLAN WITH. Of course that's not going to work for Spike--he's too impatient with the plan--and he presses a button at random and nobody knows what's going to happen, and it all turns out reasonably well except that he gets some burns but that doesn't really matter because he's never had much of a sense of self-preservation--he's never been careful with his body. And it's just so incredibly Spike.
+ ALL THE THINGS HE DOES WHEN HE'S BORED, ESPECIALLY REQUESTING THE NOVELTY CALENDAR. YOU WOULD, YOU DRAMA QUEEN. Sometimes I think Spike has more in common with a teenage girl from a John Hughes movie than he does with any kind of vampire ever. Speaking of which: the B+S in the heart? YOU KNOW HE DODDLES "MR. BUFFY SUMMERS" IN THE MARGINS OF HIS BOOKS. BECAUSE HE IS A TEENAGE GIRL IN THE BEST SENSE OF THE WORD. OH THIS BOY.
+ TEACHING THE BUGS ABOUT POETRY OMG BEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN! AND THEY, LIKE ANGEL, LIKE HIS BLOODY AWFUL POETRY! LOOOOOOOOOOOVE.
+ READING BUG ROMANCE NOVELS. OMG HE SO WOULD. THE BUG EQUIVALENT OF PASSIONS!
+ SINGING TO THE BABIES! THE GRUBS LOVE HIM! OMG OF COURSE THEY DO! OF COURSE THEY DO.
+ OFFICIATING AT THE WEDDING HAHAHAHAHA.
+ Decorating his room with a mobile made of old bug legs. Oh, Spike. He's always liked luxury, hasn't he? And he'll make do with what he can find.
+ CHAPERONING THE DANCE. HAHAHAHA!
+ NAMING THE BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS. AND THE NAMES ARE SO RIDICULOUS AND ALL OVER THE PLACE. I MEAN THERE'S ALL THESE PET SORT OF NAMES AND THEN ALSO RANDOM PEOPLE NAMES AND MY FAVORITE IS IRENE. FAVORITE.
+ The fact that he's smoking in like every single scene until he's finally back on earth. Where did he get all those cigarettes? I'm imagining him using old maps and things for rolling paper and trying to find substitutes on board the ship for tobacco.
+ AND THEN. THERE'S BUFFY.
+ AND SHE IS SO NOT SURPRISED TO SEE HIM OR IF SHE IS SHE DOESN'T SHOW HIM. Personally I think her heart leapt up in her throat (as evidenced by the tears a panel or two later), but she just wants to play it cool because this is what she does with Spike.
+ JUST THAT: "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" AND IT SOOOOOOOOO HER. I CANNOT GET OVER HOW HER IT IS. This is the way she treats Spike (and also Faith): oh, look. You're back. I am unsurprised. And I'm going to hide all of my emotions because I don't want you to know how you get to me.
+ AND SPIKE REPLIES WITH WANTING TO BORROW A TOOTHBRUSH. (Which: is it just me, or is that pretty intimate? Just saying.) He's going along with the tone she's set. Not throwing his heart on the ground in front of her anymore.
+ BUT THEN SHE LETS HER EMOTIONS PEEK THROUGH. AND THERE ARE TEARS IN HER EYES OMG. AND SHE ASKS IF HE'S HOME FOR GOOD AND THE IMPLICATION IS THAT THEY HAVE THE SAME HOME.
+ And he plays it off, again, which makes sense. But we know that he's going to be around next season. We know it. And this set up what their relationship is going to be like for the rest of S9: Spike's not going to be the one to take the first steps, not this time. But Buffy is (more on that anon).
+ And now if you're a big Angel fan or a big Buffy/Angel fan, this might be the point at which you need to quit reading, but I couldn't help but compare these two manpires.
* Can you imagine Angel in this Pokemon ball of a ship with these bugs? I just can't see him reading trashy bug romance novels and singing to baby bugs and such. But Spike's got to make those connections. That's how he stays sane, but interacting in the community. It's so him. And this is exactly one of the reasons why Spike is my manpire.
* I also can't help but contrast how Buffy reacts when Angel pops back in her life versus when Spike does. With Angel it's all romance! Over-the-top-ness! Make me promises! It's a big ~MOMENT~ and it's always a surprise. With Spike, she's never really surprised that he's back ("Lessons," aside, but that's more of where he is and how crazy he's acting than that he's back, I would argue). She takes it completely in stride, because of course he comes back. That's what he does. Things don't stop the way they do when Angel comes back--she has to take a moment to bask with Angel, it's nothing like real life, it's sort of a time-out or an intermission in the middle of her life. With Spike, though, she keeps going at the same pace. She doesn't stop her life for him. She continues it and she trusts him to keep up. That's the way it's always been. And I actually love that, because, like
the_royal_anna used to say, when you picture Buffy and Angel, they're face to face, but when you picture Buffy and Spike, they're side by side, looking ahead at what's coming, facing the same direction. And you know which one I prefer.* But! Even though there's that moment of "Oh, look who's back," there is a bit of a difference this time in the way that Buffy usually greets him. This time, she pauses, just for a second and says, "Are you home for good?" Because this is the first time she hasn't been sure of him. And this is the first time she couldn't take it for granted that he'd come back. And this is the first time that she has time to ask that question. And this is the first time she's willing to be vulnerable enough to ask it. It signals a change to me, a shifting in their roles in the relationship. This time it's going to have to be Buffy doing the reaching out and the vulnerability. Spike's played that role, and now it's her turn. And that moment of asking if he's back home is her taking her first tentative steps into that role. And I can't wait to see how the rest of it will play out.