#YAHF

[aniseandspearmint]

The episode that launched a million amazing AU fics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ☾ Halloween (2x06) ↳ 25 Year Anniversary: First Aired October 27, 1997 “Look, Halloween is the night that not you is you, but not you, you know?“

[any-mouse]

YAHF Idea

All the artists and cosplayers who poured their heart and soul into creating props and sets only for them to become real.

@wuxiaphoenix

Before Kingdom Hearts, there was Ethan Rayne. Bless you, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[sri-fanfic]

Random BTVS Halloween idea

89. too many gods/goddesses, random ascended and infernal, interfering in the Halloween costume spell to try and claim someone as a champion, all of them using the loopholes other people have mentioned like "dressing as peter parker holding a plastic spider" what other methods of permanently applying a change can you think of based on a costume temporarily becoming real without introducing something like the borg.

a.) follow up: Escafil device leaving behind the ability to shape-change like the Animorphs. b.) Someone holding the super-speed serum and a "drink me" note on it. c.) The obvious Builder costume. d.) a good/reprogrammed version of the nanomorph terminator where enough nanites hang around to start converting them back into a nanomorph.

[str8aura-no-not-that-one]

killing the isekai v portal fantasy debate by indiscriminately describing every story where a character gets teleported to another world as a 'Human in Equestria story'

[ao3feed-torchwood]

Torchwood: Aftershock (Halloween)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/50786572 by arcanedreamer Would you look at that, more stuff from 2012. This one is a follow-up to a Choose Your Own Adventure Halloween adventure I may or may not finish eventually where Xander ends up with Captain Xan in his head. Originally posted to Dreamwidth under madimpossibledreamer. Words: 22003, Chapters: 11/11, Language: English Fandoms: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Torchwood Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: M/M Characters: Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Angelus (BtVS), Rupert Giles, Ethan Rayne, Cordelia Chase, Drusilla (BtVS), Spike (BtVS), Angel (BtVS), Riley Finn, Anya Jenkins, Miscellaneous Old Lady (Arabella) Additional Tags: Old Work, YAHF, Some parts are an outline, episode tags, Pilot Episode, to a series that will never be greenlit, Alternate Universe – Fusion, Crossover, Time Agent Xander, Bisexual Xander Harris, Xander is a geek, NonCon blood drinking, Panic Attack, British Application of Tea, nongraphic torture, Kissing/Making Out, possibly dubcon, because conflicting feelings are involved, pre-Spike/Xander, which then turns to the actual thing, Temporary Character Death, He Got Better, Underage Drinking, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, (Tony Harris as always), I think Spike got affected by Halloween too??, I don’t remember what I was doing with that part, Attempts at Writing Accent, Giles Acting as a Father Figure, The Shovel Talk Protocol, Bisexual Willow, not super plot relevant but it’s relevant to me, consent is important!, Implied/Referenced Rape/Noncon, (offscreen and canon but), Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, viewer discretion advised, Onscreen very vaguely written sex, (that one’s consensual though), this is as citrus as I get people

[kyliafanfiction]

2, 4, 38, 40, 55 from the fanfic writer ask meme?

Thanks for the Ask!

2. talk about a notable time a narrative or character has looked you dead in the eyes and said “fuck your plan, here’s what we’re actually doing.”

I don't know if I have that many times where it's happened like this, but one that did have it happen is in my fic Iron Coin Chronicles Season 1. A core idea of the fic from the start was that Faith wasn't going to go evil. But I did still want to write the reason of Buffy Season 3 close enough to the canon that there needed to be someone in the Scoobies who worked for the Mayor. So I decided to prevent Amy from being turned into a rat, and then have her end up falling down a path to evil, manipulated by the Mayor, while also having her hang with the Scoobies more.

Instead, in the second appearance of her in the fic (the chapter that was supposed to be her start of Darkness, I got really into her dynamic with Faith - their similarities and the way it might play out between them and that rapidly progressed into me wanting to ship them together, which rewrote the rest of the Season (sorta) and them getting together and falling in love became a major sideplot of Season 2. And went on to be planned to be a major part of the rest of the plans for the series, though I ended up abandoning ICC-verse before going all the way with my plans for Faith/Amy.

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

I mean, there are ideas that I had a long time ago that I still technically know and could write, but I wouldn't say I've carried them all this time, because I'm not all that into them anymore. And there's ideas I've wanted to write for a while, but they're not really a full on plot yet, because they're more just 'I want a fic with X trope and Y pairing' or something along those lines, but I haven't sat down and worked them out.

Allowing for that, I suppose the closest thing that would be an answer to this would be my recurring idea on a fic where I write a Halloween Fic for Xander in Buffy (YAHF as it's known, is a common theme where the characters get dressed up as someone different than in canon for the Halloween episode in Buffy Season 2, and some effects linger, as they did a bit in canon). I wanted to write it to avoid common pitfalls in the genre. These days, I also want to combine it with a desire for genderbending Xander, which Is also a trope I love. I don't really feel existential dread - I know why I shied away from it. One, trouble with a satisfactory plot, two, concerned I couldn't do it justice (though I don't really hold to that anymore) and most importantly, unsure what the hell to have Xander (or others) to dress up as that suits what I want. Every now and then I get an idea, or part of one, but I always rethink it. And right now, I hardly have the time for more fics so.

38. how many stories do you work on at one time?

Many. It does varry, but write now, not counting original ideas I really should be working on more, I'm currently in the midst of 6 different fics, which isn't completely atypical though it is more than historically common, and also working on a 7th very intermittently and I have serious groundwork done on 2 others ideas that I want to start but I DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING TIME. :sob:

40. best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Any comment or review that goes line-by-line about in the reader responding to specific sections.

55. do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Yes. Many. Too many to list here. Usually either lack of response from readers, loss of interest for myself, writing myself into corners, my opinions of the characters changing to the point where I couldn't write the characters the way the story required, or most often, a combination of several or all of the above.

Asks for Fanfic Writers!

[thornfield13713]

cringiest fanfic you ever wrote and what it tells people about you?

Um...when I was about fourteen I wrote a Buffy YAHF (Yet Another Halloween Fic)?

And mostly what it tells people about me is that I was always...a bit odd on the gender front, given that it involved the aftermath of Buffy dressing up as a male character for Halloween and a lot of complicated gender-identity stuff that I didn't have the vocabulary for at that age. There was a lot more going on with the other Scoobies and their costumes too, but that was the part that really, looking back, should've been a clue to something going on with me as a person.

The only part that's really stuck in my head is Buffy sort of full-on transitioning to presenting masc for a while during her time in LA between seasons 2 and 3, and coming back having reached a sort of fusion between the two identities, which...looking back, reads very much like 'baby Cat tries to figure out being nonbinary/genderfluid before she even knew that was a thing'.

...actually, I sort of regret not still having that. It might've made for a fun little piece if polished up a bit.

[pleasantchildpost]

Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Willow Rosenberg, Rupert Giles, Angel (BtVS), Buffy Summers, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, Ethan Rayne Additional Tags: Yet Another Halloween Fic (BtVS) Series: Part 1 of Ship of the Line: To Our Own Summary:

A very loose response to Zaion's the Ship of the Line challenge on Twisting The Hellmouth. On the night of Halloween a pitiless and unstoppable force overtakes Sunnydale. It’s up to Buffy Summers and her friends to stop the unstoppable: The Borg.

[tanadapanther]

YAHF

Because really, after me rewatching the Halloween episode of Buffy after binge watching the Tales of Vox Machina I should not surprise myself with the mental images.

Ignore the difference of when the series take place in the real world, and consider the potential.

Buffy dressed as Vex’ahlia for Halloween.  Specifically, a Vex who is all dressed up for a formal occasion, so pretty dress but still deadly with her bow and arrows.

Willow being talked into dressing as Pike: that armor would completely cover her head to toe, making it hard for her to justify tossing a ghost bedsheet on over top.  Alternatively, the bed sheet could make her astral projection!Pike.  Alternatively, the shy but powerful Keyleth.

Xander could easily be either Scanlan or Vax’ildan.  On one hand, both Xander and Scanlan are the comic relief group.  Scanlan tends to be a bit of a backup to the team, and therefore it would fit Xander staying back and out of the fight while still being capable of nailing their enemies with some nasty spells.  As Vax, especially if Buffy had been Vex, that would throw quite a wrench into his interest in her.  Also, the rogue class would actually be good to keep squishy human Xander safe, for the most part.

Giles being talked into joining in the gang dressing up, but I couldn’t tell you who he’d be.  Maybe Grog (which would be hysterical in and of itself in all reality).  Or he could be Percy.

Dawn as either Pike or Keyleth, whoever Willow doesn’t go as.  Alternatively, as Velora.

I have no idea where this would go from here, or what insanity could happen, but really.  It would cause so many fuck ups in Sunnydale.  And would be BEAUTIFUL.

[kyliafanfiction-archive]

Having read a lot of YAHF fics and seen where they falter, if I was ever to write a YAHF fic, it wouldn’t be a close-divergence one, but rather one where I tossed the normal procession of events out the window and just went crazy with them.

Of course, I’m exceedingly unlikely to actually do a YAHF fic, soooo... *shrug*

[a-shiva]

https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-33904/Harry+All+Hail+The+Queen.htm

[livesincerely]

some kind of gesture

Also on Ao3

00000

Jack pours sugar into two cups of coffee, splashing a bit of cream in one and leaving the other black, then puts the carton back into the fridge and nudges it closed with his hip. He gives both mugs a quick stir, tosses the spoon into the sink to deal with later, and has Davey’s coffee ready by the time he walks into the kitchen.

He’s rumpled and sleepy, still in his glasses and wearing a sweatshirt that is absolutely one of Jack’s, his fingertips just barely poking out from under the edge of the sleeves. He squints at the sunshine streaming in through the window like it’s personally offended him, but he ducks down to press a soft kiss to Jack’s cheek as he grabs his cup of coffee out of his hand.

He leans against the counter, eyes closed as he downs half the cup in one long drink. Then he tips his head back and says, in the tone of the long suffering: “Jackie, I love you—really, I do—but I cannot fucking stand that painting you hung up in the hallway.”

Jack hides his smile behind his own mug. “I keep tellin’ ya we can get rid of it,” he starts.

“No, shut up, I know you love it,” Davey interrupts, waving a hand. “Or at least, you love hearing me complain about it.”

“Highlight of my morning, sweetheart,” Jack quips, and it honestly is. “Tell me again about how much it creeps you out.”

“It’s watching me,” Davey protests as he always does, and Jack can’t help but snort. “It is! I can’t even get up to use the bathroom at night with that thing looming out at me from darkness—“

“I can put it in the office,” Jack offers for the hundredth time. “I promise I don’t mind.”

“No, it’s fine,” Davey insists, because it makes him feel better to complain about things even when he’s not actively looking to change them. “It’s honestly fine, really, but maybe you could stop listening to so many true crime podcasts when you’re working. I can’t take any more grayscale, shadow… things hanging up in the house.”

“Well, what if I gave it to you?” Jack asks, stepping closer and sliding his arms around Davey’s waist. “Then you could do whatever you wanted with it.”

“I told you, it’s fine,” Davey replies, sinking into the embrace. “What would I even do with it, anyway? Destroy it?”

“If you wanted,” Jack hums, nuzzling into his shoulder. “Or, maybe I could paint over it for you? Make ya something you’d enjoy?”

Davey pulls away from him, looking worried. “Did I… hurt your feelings?” he asks, brow furrowed. “Just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not a great piece of art, Jackie.”

“No, no, that’s not what I—“ Jack switches tactics. “What if I made something for you? Like, something real special—permanently, life alteringly special? And I gave it to you. And we hung it up in the hallway instead. Is that somethin’ you’d be interested in?”

“Like, scar me for life, permanent?” he asks with a frown, clearly baffled. “Because one creepy painting is more than enough, thanks.”

Jack sighs. “I was thinkin’ more romantic, actually,” he clarifies. “Life altering in a romantic way.”

Davey blinks at him. “What?”

“What if I took down the painting you hate and made you something even better as an engagement present?” Jack finally asks.

“What if you just came out and actually said the words, ‘David, will you marry me?’ instead of using the most convoluted metaphor I’ve ever seen—“

Davey’s brain catches up to what he’s saying then: he stops mid sentence, mouth parting in shock.

“Okay,” Jack agrees easily, the corners of his mouth twitching up. “David, will you marry me?”

“Obviously, yes,” Davey immediately blurts, eyes wide.

Jack can’t help the laugh that bursts out of him then, relief and love all twined up into one.

“Great,” he says cheerfully. “Glad that’s settled, sweetheart. I’ll just go get the stepladder, then, yeah? Get that taken care of for ya.”

He trots off down the hallway, whistling as he goes.

After a moment, Davey calls after him, “You did not just— Jack Kelly, get your ass back in here this instant!”

Jack grins.

00000

Tag List!

@yahfancyclamwiththepurlinside

@dr-charlie-eppes

@stroopwafeldetective

@amillionandonefandoms

@dreams-and-bones

@mainstreamelectricalparade

@wineandhargreeves

@thenoteworthyhelen

@rag-tag-ragamuffin

@ill-purple-your-nurple

[marypsue]

things that should absolutely be common tropes in fic (or at least should be A trope in fic) and yet which I hardly ever seem to see anywhere:

- actors or cosplayers becoming their characters

[longveil-ffxiv]

Shortness of Breath

She heard it again. All of it.

The circle of stars, fourteen in her dreams. Seven joined, and one shrouded in dark.

“Ilfah kyth uhn'uthik. Yahf taag agthshi.” “Uull gag qi'yog zzof.”

Seraanna recoiled from harshness even as the voice’s words grated upon her mind. Speech of a dark god, insistent and grasping. Reaching, inexorably, for what had been promised. For her. For everything. She hung there, lost for a moment in the dark between the stars.

And then, her voice whispered. Soft and halting, murmurs reaching across distance unimagined. A cool, soothing anodyne to the rawness of her fear. Speaking of truths that her dream-self understood, accepted, embraced, even as they escaped her conscious knowing.

"It is rare... and beautiful..."

She awoke.

Seraanna struggled briefly to escape the twisted bedsheets, pushing tousled ash blonde hair from her face as she reached for the pen and pad she kept upon the nightstand - knowing full well the dream would escape before she could put ink to paper. As it had time and time and time before.

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes. "...I'd give anything to hear..."

It was several minutes of slow, calming breaths before she rose. Adjusted the mismatched sheets and padded across uneven floorboards to the tiny kitchenette. A plate of tepid anpan and a small vial of dark, viscous fluid awaited, a note attached: "Gone to the market."

Gone. When Seraa wished her most. Even her smug demeanor and the scent of alchemical ash would have have been a balm, in that moment.

She sighed, and instead took to the grounding ritual of heating water and steeping tea. Green leaves for the morning, mint and honey to ease the harshness of the vial's contents. The surcease of silence that the prodigy's creation granted her.

An hour passed by and found Seraanna dressed and coiffed. Teacup and vial both empty, and one less red bean bun remaining on the plate.

"Gone to the market."

The door, with its intricate lock at odds with the cheap rented room, closed soundly as she left for the cobbled streets of Kugane... * * *

With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite. How rare and beautiful it is to even exist.

I couldn’t help but ask For you to say it all again. I tried to write it down But I could never find a pen.

I’d give anything to hear You say it one more time, That the universe was made Just to be seen by my eyes.

-- Saturn, Sleeping At Last

[kyliafanfiction]

Buffyverse fics I need/desperately want to write:

The Trans Xander YAHF fic

The Always a Girl!Xander Xandelia fic where Cordelia realizes she likes girls when she and Xandra(?) kiss in that basement, and how their dynamic and prior history is changed by Xander being a girl rather than a guy, etc

Another fic exploring what if Willow got bitten by Oz or Veruca and was a werewolf (I did this in ICC, but a - ICC is done/abandoned now, and B, it was never a focus)

At least one of the Faith/Amy fic ideas bouncing around my head

A Faith/Wesley Peggy-sue fic for Faith

a post-series Amy/Willow fic (while I do like the idea of Amy and Willow getting together in Season 6, or even back in HS, I also want to really do more fics where the characters are in their late twenties or something)

A fic where Kate Lockley and Angel actually do get together. Probably requires changing 1x15, but damn if I don't ship them and wish they got together, still. ICC was heading that way, but didn't quite get there.

Really, a lot of things I did in ICC or was gonna do in ICC (Faimy, Werewolf Willow, Lockangel) I want to do again or still want to do, so...

I mean, I made the right choice abandoning that series, but still.

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, February 4

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Cloud Nine (Giles/Jenny, G) by HAL1500

Oh Ariadne, I Have Failed You (Angel, Buffy, Spike, PG-13) by CitizenMocha

Faith's capture (Buffy/Faith, NC-17) by Slashaddict96

Oz Wonders (Ensemble, Jem and the Holograms xover, Not Rated) by Vidicon666

First Impressions (Buffy, Harry Potter xover, G) by Buffyworldbuilder

[Chaptered Fiction]

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 230 (Ensemble, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) by madimpossibledreamer

Listening & Lies Chapter 1 (Spike, Xander, PG-13) by daedream_fanbot

all we have Chapter 4 (Buffy, Dawn, PG-13) by taxicab12

To Live In The World Chapter 33 (Buffy/Faith, R) by IvorySteel92

Breathe Your Name Chapter 2 (Angel/Buffy, R) by Janis70

Gray Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Dusty87

All But One Chapter 11 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by JWS1993

Adjust and Adapt Chapter 4 (Buffy/Giles, NC-17) by froxyn

You Learn Chapter 20 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by bramcrackers

Forward to Time Past Chapter 31 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Unbridled_Brunette

A World Without Shrimp Chapter 2 (Spike/Willow, Not Rated) by buttonbug

Plant Person Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by dirao

Somewhere Begins Again Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by alittlemoretime

Seven Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by HollyDB

You Can't Fight Fate - But You Can Decipher Him Chapter 35 (Dawn, Batman xover, PG-13) by Hermione2be

Invasion U.S.A. Chapter 15 (Ensemble, Harry Potter xover, G) by Buffyworldbuilder

Healthier Choices Chapter 11 (Faith/Theodora Crain, The Haunting of Hill House xover, Not Rated) by BuffyBot3000. Complete story

The Sun Also Rises Chapter 39 (Buffy, Dawn, Silmarillion xover, PG-13) by Grundy

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, R) by slaymesoftly

i called you, a moment of weakness Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, ) by snipssw

Someting To Sing About Take Two (Reprise) Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Kyzaiah

[Images, Audio & Video]

In Ambush (Buffy/Spike) by WTF Cross Time Team 2022 (CrossTime)

Fanvid: Nightmare (Buffy) by oDevilish

Willow YAHF illustration by shy_sirens

[Reviews & Recaps]

Video: Buffy Review - 3x16 Doppelgangland by Reverse Angle

Podcast: Once more with feeling-4x2 Living Conditions by Nerd Subculture

PODCAST: S06E22 Grave by buffyvirgin

[Fandom Discussions]

Any Daredevil (the netflix series) and Angel fans? by icup12__

The Best The Key and The Holy Man by BreakTacticF0

Video: A Teen Screams Icon: Discussing Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Ghouls Magazine

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Hollywoodmarsh: Quiz: Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer Character Are You?

CBR.com: A Buffy the Vampire Slayer Icon is Training the Next Generation of Slayers by Himself

WhatCulture: Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Progressively Harder Spike Quiz

Looper: Buffy The Vampire Slayer Characters Ranked By Likability