Flood

[valyssia]

“You get my admiration and praise for an excellent piece that was written in record time with no deviation from quality. Characterization was good up to the point where it became your universe and continued from there as I felt your extrapolations were accurate. The plot was compelling, the romance believable. Angst a little heavy but third-person past does have limits which you overcame, for the most part, well enough with letting us peek in their heads. Sometimes the shifting got a bit...dull, information overload but the plot was quick enough to not let that be a severe issue.

And, as I said, the story was strong enough and created skillfully enough that you used the Rule Breakers well and incorporated them into your story. So I’d say it was a quadruple success. You took on gender-flips, immortality, death and possible after life and it worked.”

Mad Hamlet

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Cover Art by Charlene

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Summary: I received this challenge near the springtime of 2008.

“There was a throwaway comment in season three Earshot where Willow asks Buffy if the demon that infected her was a boy demon and I always expected someone to run with this but I’ve never seen anything.”

This might seem on the surface to be a request for some pretty twisted PWP she-male porn, but as I considered it I began to see the value in the story. Gender dysphoria is a very real topic, one that’s particularly taboo in our crappy militant Christian society. As an atheist, poking my finger in the eye of the ‘conservative right’ is something of a hobby. As a lesbian and a member of ‘the community’ I saw this as an opportunity to speak to this topic on what I hope to be a relatively sensitive level.

What we end up with is a pretty unusual sort of ‘trauma/ comfort’ story.

Rating: ‘Mature Audience’ or if you prefer a mild ‘R.’

Word Count: 123,566.

Comma Guy: Howard Russell.

Pairing: Buffy/ Willow.

Disclaimer: Another day, another…they don’t pay me anything at all. I just do this to amuse myself and you. That’s what allows me and mine to slip under the radar while playing with characters created by those more fortunate than us.

Author’s Note: Mad-Hamlet wrote portions of the mayor’s scenes. Specifically, the ‘Gummy Bears’ bit was him. Howard also wrote the majority of the Joyce point of view scenes, which was very cool. We got to work together.

Distribution: LiveJournal, DreamWidth & AO3.

Feedback: Please feel free.

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Table of Contents

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Chapter 1:	Depth of Life
Chapter 2:	Something Deeper
Chapter 3:	Just How Damaged Have I Become? (continued)
Chapter 4:	Like Bees Working in a Glass Hive (continued)
Chapter 5:	All the King’s Horses
Chapter 6:	And All the King’s Men
Chapter 7:	The Redeeming Things (continued)
Chapter 8:	From Fatal Errors
Chapter 9:	The Lame and the Blind (continued)
Chapter 10:	Something Subtle, Intangible and Inexplicable (continued)
Chapter 11:	Put Out the Light in My Eyes
Chapter 12:	In the Beginning is My End
Epilogue:	The Seeds of Life

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eBook

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Awards

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Comments

[rahirah]

Oh, my. One of the fics MH MSTs was written by the guy who single-handedly scared me away from Buffy/Willow back in the day....

[valyssia]

There's little doubt that any relationship can be presented poorly enough to curdle the contents of one's stomach. Mad had fun with these. My favorite of the bunch is a monstrosity by The Bear called Triality, I think.