#why buffy still matters in 2023

[girl4music]

That is precisely why Buffy still matters. And maybe more so now than it ever did. Timeless television has a way of keeping you coming back to it not because of what it contains that matters. But rather what you can get out of it because of what matters to you. In actual fact it doesn’t contain it. It’s created in the moment. And timeless art/entertainment of all kinds is like this. There’s never really a one specific fundamental lesson to take from it because it always depends on the observer what can be learned. So it stands the test of time as meaningful material because there’s always an observer creating that material for it. Truth be told - Buffy probably isn’t meant to be that deep. It’s likely not intentional how deep it is when it comes to its meaning. But it is that deep because the people that watch it add more and more to it’s depth all the time.

So it’s not the content that is why it still matters.

It’s the content creators for it. Just like you.

You make it still matter.

[fluentmoviequoter]

The Slaying of a Vampire

Monster Monday, October 9, 2023

Fic-tober Masterlist

Summary: Chris is dressing you and Dalton up as a couple for a Halloween party. The catch? Neither of you know what the other is going as.

Warnings: fluff, mutual pining, biting?, kissing, a couple Buffy the Vampire Slayer references. 1.3k+ words

A/N: I'm currently trying to improve certain aspects of my writing, so if this reads a little differently than my other fics that's why. I hope you enjoy! :)

Black satin drags the floor with each step as the cape sways. The full moon reflects off the sharp fangs that poke out from the handsome face hidden in the shadows. With great care and questionable intention, a vampire awakens and begins his quest.

Dalton groans quietly as he steps out of the dressing room, the long black cape trailing behind him. The inner lining, blood-red satin, is visible where the collar frames his face.

“Remind me why I’m doing this?” Dalton asks.

“Put these in,” Chris commands, handing him a set of faux fangs.

“Chris,” Dalton sighs. “I don’t even want the costume.”

“We already bought it. You agreed, Dolphin, stop complaining.”

Dalton’s shoulders rise and fall with yet another sigh as he slips the fangs into his mouth. They sit over his bottom lip, seeming to glow under the fluorescent lights of the costume shop.

“Besides, you know you’re only doing it for her,” Chris points out.

Even though she didn’t say your name, Dalton knows who she is talking about. And she’s right; Dalton only agreed to this weird request for unknown matching costumes because he would be matching with you. If he’s a vampire, he can’t imagine what you will be, but he knows you will be beautiful no matter what costume Chris picks.

“Dolphin? Still here?” Chris asks, waving her hand in front of his face.

“Yeah,” Dalton says, moving his lips to accommodate the fangs.

“I think this is it. Want to add anything else?”

“Please, no.”

Chris nods and ushers him back into the dressing room. Dalton hopes you win the couples' costume challenge, not because he wants the trophy - he actually thinks the whole thing is stupid - but because he wants to be presented as a couple. Just thinking of your names together is enough to make Dalton smile.

“So, what’s my other half dressing up as?” Dalton asks as he exits, vampire costume in hand.

“You’ll see,” Chris says, winking over her shoulder. “Oh! By the way, I talked to the people who won last year, and they said staying in character increases your chance of winning, so start practicing. ‘I vant to suck your blood’ and all that.”

Dalton rolls his eyes as she pulls out her phone, likely planning to take you shopping next. He thinks he can play a vampire for a few hours to spend time with you if no other reason.

✵✵✵✵✵

“Are you kidding me?” Dalton asks.

You turn to face him, and his shoulders slump forward. Slowly looking him up and down, you begin to smile.

“The fangs look good.”

Dalton shakes his head, glaring at Chris.

“Remember to stay in character,” Chris sings as she walks away, patting Dalton’s shoulder.

“You’re,” Dalton begins, pointing to you.

“A vampire slayer. Yeah.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming.”

“Well, looks like we have to keep some distance tonight,” you say. “Otherwise, I’ll have to put a stake through your heart.”

“You wouldn’t.”

You smile at Dalton, looking up at him through your lashes. He looks up and down your costume before stepping back.

“I’ve heard of you, but I won’t go down without a fight,” he says.

Your eyes are fixed on his mouth as he talks, the fangs distracting you. He looks incredible, and you want nothing more than to stay glued to his side for the rest of the night, but you have a character to maintain.

“We’ll see,” you respond. “I haven’t lost a vampire yet.”

“I can imagine,” Dalton says under his breath.

Someone yells your name, and you look away, surprised to see Dalton is gone when you turn back. If that’s how he wants to play, it's time to hunt a vampire. Dalton is worth it. And if you can’t resist kissing him when you finally catch him? Maybe you change the ending for the vampire and the vampire slayer. No one ever suffered from a Buffy and Angel-type relationship. Right?

The party lasts all night, and the costume contest winners will be crowned at sunrise. Most of the night is spent walking through the house and looking for Dalton. Every time you find him, you raise the wooden stake and lunge for him, but his newfound vampiric abilities allow him to lunge out of the way at the last moment. He has tried to sneak up on you between attacks, but you raise the crucifix hanging from your neck when you spot him. His eyes seem to catch on the skin of your neck, affecting him more than the crucifix itself. As the early morning hours tick by, you find it harder and harder to stay away from Dalton.

You’re standing over to the side, gripping the fake wooden stake in your hand, as you search for Dalton. Fabric brushes against your arm, and you sidestep out of the way before something sinks into your skin at the juncture of your neck and shoulder. You yelp at the feeling and jump away, turning to see who or what that was.

“Did you just bite me?” you ask, hand raising to the affected area.

“Just a little,” Dalton says, smiling. “It’s how I show affection, I promise.”

“You got lucky this time,” you say, pointing the stake at him as you walk backward. “It won’t happen again.”

“And where are you going?”

You look outside and see the sun rising before answering, “I’m going for a walk. Outside.”

“I’ll go with,” Dalton says quickly, never one to let you go into danger alone.

“How?” you ask with raised brows and crossed arms.

Dalton chews his bottom lip, his fangs once again drawing your attention. “Have they made SPF 300,000 yet?”

You laugh and turn around, leaving the lucky vampire in the shadows.

✵✵✵✵✵

“Attention! We have a winner for our couples’ costume contest!” a girl announces, stopping the music.

Dalton is nowhere to be seen as the sunlight begins to stream in the windows at the back of the house.

“This couple has been seen several times tonight and their characters are adorable! The winner is…” The cord provides a drum-roll before she says your name and Dalton’s. “The vampire and the vampire slayer!”

Dalton is suddenly at your side, and you can’t stop the goosebumps that spread as his hand brushes your waist. He takes your hand and leads you to the stage, accepting your crowns and the trophy. Chris cheers the loudest, but you can barely hear anything over Dalton whispering in your ear.

“You look amazing,” he whispers, his fang brushing your ear. “We only won because of you; you know that right? I almost gave up three hours ago when you were standing in the corner. Biting you was a spur of the moment idea to get close to you.”

You shake your head as he says you won because of you. “You look far better than I do; I doubt anyone even noticed me.” You take a deep breath before confessing, “And I needed a break from the distance too. So, thanks for biting me.”

Dalton’s cheeks are tinted with pink as he mumbles, “Anytime.”

The partygoers begin leaving, and Chris waves to you as she leaves with a group of people. Dalton’s arm remains around your waist as he leads you toward the door.

“Wait,” you say, raising a hand to his chest. “Can you go outside?”

“I can go anywhere with you.”

You smile up at him, and he can’t take it anymore. Dalton’s hand raises your chin as he kisses you, his fangs brushing against your bottom lips as he kisses you like you’re his source of life. Desperate for air, you pull back and sigh as Dalton continues kissing down your jaw, stopping to brush his fangs over your pulse point.

“These things are in the way,” he grumbles, kissing you again before removing them.

“That was a way better prize than that trophy,” you whisper against his skin, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

His hands hold your hips steady as he smiles and says, “This prize was the only reason I agreed. We were going to win tonight, no matter what. The trophy is just a bonus.”

[booasaur]

I’m not sure if you’ve answered this before, but in case you haven’t, what are your top 10 characters? I’ve always had the same couple of character in mind but working remotely for the last few years made me watch a lot of current and past tv and I’ve changed my opinion a lot. Some characters that I thought were amazing when I was younger are really underwritten or bland, or just not what I thought at all lol. It’s nice to have a better perspective but it also made me stop rewatching because I want to keep some old favourites still!

Lol, anon, the wrench you've thrown into my night! I might have been asked this before, but I don’t think I’ve ever answered, it's always been so difficult to pick and rank, but for some reason, I decided to give it a try tonight.

Oddly enough, I don't really think I've experienced what you have, but aww, that sucks, to lose faves like that, or to be afraid to lose them. :x Hopefully you’ve been able to add more!

I think the difference for me is that I don't really have individual favorites so much as archetypes? And that's going to show in this longass list of way more than 10 characters.

I decided to do a read more for both length as well as to give myself the option to edit in the future:

So this isn't an official list, I tried to make a list years ago and realized how difficult that would be and decided it'd be better to do archetypes/similar groupings, because there are SO many awesome characters, I can't remember and list every one of them, but archetypes I have a much better handle on.

This is messy because there might be overlap between groups but I spent a while tonight organizing them and sorting into a kind of spectrum so I think this is as good as it gets.

Oh, you may think they should be in different groups, but these are simply why they matter to me:

Boss ass bitches - The characters who're smart and ambitious and wield it well, it's plain fun watching them in charge:

Jessica Pearson Brenda Leigh Johnson Kerry Weaver Baroness Spoor (Crest of the Stars) Siuan Seo-hyun (Mine) Chrisjen Maria Hill (Added 2022-12-22)

Compassionate leaders - These are the leaders who're also of course badass and fun, but what I like about them specifically is the work they've put in to be kind, so it’s not a coincidence several of them are working to fix past mistakes. The rest are just very good at leading in ways that center other people:

Lexa (Kenshin/Xena - This was one of the earliest entries and my effort to try really group whole archetypes into single representative characters, so you can see how that works) Claire Redfield (movies version) Two (Dark Matter) Dutch (Killjoys) Kat Loving (Strange Empire) Warren (Z Nation) Naomi Nagata Janeway Amalia True (Added 2023-02-18) I might put someone like Laura Peterson in this one or the one above

Good-hearted and competent - These are the people I love for BOTH these traits, that their competence and skills are part of their personality, and it serves them in being good:

Seven of Nine Moiraine Kat Edison Donna Clark (HACF) Jessica Fletcher Ginger (Filthy Rich) Drummer Sam Carter Bobbie Draper Ellie Sattler Nakia Trinity Teresa Lisbon (Mentalist) Lafiel (Crest of the Stars) Probably the longest list, I'd put people like Kirsten from Vigil, Fear Street's Deena, Bletchley Circle's Susan, etc here

Incredibly big-hearted - These people may be many things, including extremely competent, but my first love for them is just how much they strive to do the right thing:

Kara Danvers Nausicaa (Ghibli) Raya Sister Julienne (Call the Midwife) Hi-soo (Mine) Jade Tanchingco Khirad (Humsafar) Rory Gilmore James Holden (Added 2021-12-23 - Moved here 2022-03-04) Frodo (Added 2022-03-04) Ava (Added 2022-12-06) Cruz (Special Ops Lioness) (Added 2023-09-03) Mickey Bolitar (Shelter) (Added 2023-09-07) This is where characters like Buffy and CW’s Nancy Drew (or every version, really), etc would also go

A little self-centered or demanding or flighty but ultimately still very lovely:

Glinda Upland Blair Warner Michiru Aaliyah (Special Ops Lioness) (Added 2023-09-03) Where LM Montgomery heroines and Fatin from The Wilds and Bess from CW’s Nancy Drew would go

A lot more self-centered or demanding but I love ‘em:

Rachel Berry Monica Gellar

Veering into straight up bitch territory but usually because of some insecurity or other: April Stevens Paris Gellar Quinn Fabray Katie Fitch Ava (General Hospital)

Neat characters who always win:

Harley Quin (not Harley Quinn, but the possibly only supernatural Agatha Christie detective, the personification of death) Psmith (Favorite of Wodehouse protags)

Doofuses:

Jay Kulina (Kingdom) Jean Ralphio Saperstein Kenneth Parcell Randy (Enlisted)

Misc:

Eve (Killing Eve - No idea where she falls now given her writing) Kurapika (and similar wildcard characters, not leads, too strong, others include Fuji from Prince of Tennis, Yukimura Sanada from Samurai Deeper Kyo, Soujiro from Kenshin, Doc Holliday from Tombstone) Keanu characters