#willow/tara

[maybebitterxox]

The most special Tillow moment for me is when Tara literally got her mind sucked out by Glory and went clinically insane, becoming incomprehensible and occasionally violent, with a big possibility of never recovering—which Willow acknowledges herself via a clear spoken line. But for Willow, it’s not even a question of what to do next; she takes care of Tara. Holds her, watches her to make sure she’s safe, spoon feeds her, and constantly reassures her, telling her “I’ll be right back baby, okay?” and “that’s my girl”. She does everything she can to try and get her mind back, but still makes it clear that she’ll be with her and take care of her even if she never gets better. Even if Tara was permanently insane, Willow would still be with her, because “She’s my girl”. Still telling her “You’re my always”, despite everything. Just completely unconditional love. It still makes me tear up

[nancylou444]

Canon LGBTQ+ Characters of the Day

Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

[irrationalrage]

You’re gonna tell me Buck and Eddie aren’t in love after that freaking shooting scene that was right out of the Buffy episode where Tara died?? (Fuck you as always Joss Whedon)

DOWN TO THE WHITE SHIRT COVERED IN BLOOD

[buffster]

Real Me (BTVS 5.02)

This is part of my ongoing Buffyverse Project, where I write notes/meta for every episode in an attempt to better understand the characters and themes of the shows. You can find the BTVS list here and the ATS list here. Gifs are not mine.

In hindsight, it's funny how they attempted to make Dawn seem mysterious and malevolent only to later reveal she's just a dramatic teenager.

This episode is largely about introducing Dawn as a character and her place in Buffy's life. Real Me is interesting from a meta perspective, because we're watching everyone acclimate to Dawn in real time even though they believe they've known her for years.

In typical little sister fashion, Dawn remains totally unimpressed by Buffy's slaying. If no one else is going to take Buffy down a notch, Dawn will have to. Her relationship with her sister is the most strained.

The addition of Dawn is also revealing of Joyce, who moves from having an understandably complicated relationship with her complicated daughter to just seeming like a negligent parent. She pawns Dawn off on Buffy a lot and doesn't seem much more involved with her normal daughter than her slaying one. Dawn also isn't getting the pseudo-father figure thing from Giles, who is characteristically only concerned with his slayer.

Dawn does enjoy Willow and Tara, who seem to adore her and treat her like a beloved little sister (and less like an annoying one). It doesn't seem like she knows they're a couple yet. Tara especially is very protective of her and worries about how much of an outsider Dawn feels like. Some of this is projection, but it's also true. Dawn is expected to hang on the sidelines and not be a bother, so she gains attention by being a nuisance. I think Buffy's friends also find Dawn easy to sympathize with, because she's the non-special weirdo rather than the popular chosen one. They get that.

When Buffy is forced to drag Dawn along to The Magic Shop, it's little surprise she finds trouble. What does Joyce expect at this point, exactly? The owner of the shop is dead. Harmony is now running a Sunnydale gang. Outside, Dawn has her first encounter with someone mentally ill that can sense something off about her.

Joyce still isn't ready to take Dawn that evening (she's working) so Buffy calls in Xander to babysit so she can patrol. Dawn has a crush on Xander. Her perception of events is child-like, likely reflecting how much they shelter her (she thinks he went "undercover" to stop Dracula). I love seeing Xander interact with people. He just has a friendly nature, so he's able to easily listen to Dawn's rant about Buffy and be supportive just as he listens to Buffy rant about Dawn.

It's fun watching Riley's confusion over Buffy's struggle to deal with her sister. Yes, Dawn is clueless about slaying. Yes, Dawn gets coddled. Yes, Dawn often gets more attention. What's new? Well, all of it. Buffy is struggling to adjust.

Buffy: I guess. It's just - I know it's always been this way… She's the baby. But, for some reason, it's really been getting to me lately. She's always around.

Tensions come to a head when Dawn accidentally invites Harmony inside. Buffy is furious. I'm assuming Dawn was slipped into everyone's memories as seamlessly as possible, meaning she had little involvement/impact on previous events. You get the sense this season that Dawn being in danger/involved in supernatural events is new and not something they remember.

Buffy: No, Dawn has to be coddled and protected from the big bad world. Well, you know what? We're turning Dawn into a little idiot whose going to get us all killed!

I enjoyed watching Buffy's frustration over everyone's easy forgiveness of Dawn. It's true that "put your big girl panties on" was pretty much the message a young Buffy got at every turn. She wasn't given a pass for being youthful and naive, and it makes her angry that Dawn gets one. Especially since there are rarely dire consequences for her mistakes. Buffy was punished pretty badly every time she messed up. Seeing Dawn living the life she should have had and be ungrateful must be hard. Likewise, being the kid sister to the Chosen One must be hard.

Buffy: Harmony, when you tried being head cheerleader, you were bad. When you tried to chair the Homecoming committee, you were really bad. But when you try to be bad… You suck.

Unsurprisingly, Harmony isn't difficult to defeat. Buffy beats up on Spike to get the info for her hide out. He seems to be growing resentful.

Buffy: Well, apart from the fact that magic shop owners in Sunnydale have the life expectancy of a Spinal-Tap drummer, have you ever run a store before?

Giles: I was a librarian for years. This is exactly the same, except that people pay for the things they never return. This will give me focus, help me increase my resources - and keep you lot from tramping about my flat at all hours. There may even be space for you to train in the back.

Buffy: Boy, you've really thought this through. How bored were you last year?

Giles: I watched 'Passions' with Spike. Let us never speak of it.

New location: Magic Shop.

Character Notes:

Buffy Summers: Buffy does not understand Dawn's reference to Hogwarts.

Dawn Summers: She has a Third Eye Blind Poster.

Harmony Kendall: She was stood up by minion Brad Bellamy (who she turned) in the tenth grade. She likes unicorns.

Riley Finn: Riley gets boyfriend points here. He sincerely doesn't mind her canceling plans (and totally forgetting him) here and is just sweetly supportive.

Rupert Giles: He bought a sports car as a sort of post-slayer crisis. It's not working out too well.

[too-much-alphabet-soup]

Sometimes I see gifsets of Willow/Tara and think there has got to be ABO fic of this. And then I don't look it up.

[wolfstrong]

Quick Willow and Tara drawings :)

[dinovia-grant]

For all those waiting patiently for me to start moving my Amazing Wife's older works to AO3, I just moved all 21 parts of Unexpected Consequences, her longest Willow/Tara work.

Have fun!

[laragh]

Happy birthday to me!

(A fun point in the process; at one stage, Willow was wearing a dress of my blood)

[faerywhimsy]

I've been sick this week, and rewatched a LOT of Buffy so I may be waaaay off base.

But

I feel like we just now got a version of the same big gay scene that gave me the fuzziest vibes in 1999, only now it's 2023. The vampires are gay and they have unhinged overtones (yasssss)

[definitely-not-5urreal-w4nderer]

Imagine if Waverly took up witchcraft and had Nicole help her with spells.

Truly fantastic that we got sexual tension loaded moments that got to to be horny without the need for a wash of respectability or the mask of metaphor, like the office kiss, the stair scene, etc.

But Damn if I wouldn't have also loved a sweaty sweaty spell casting that was analogous to sex a la Willow/Tara style 🥵

[femslashspuffy]

I kinda do wonder how long it would've taken willow to come out if spike didn't meddle. Like truly I think where she was going in season 4 she would've been fine with never talking about it ever but I think her love for Tara and Tara's want to love her in public would have to win at some point.

[mollywobbles867]

[nancylou444]

Bonus Canon LGBTQ+ Character of the Day

Tara Maclay and Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

[charmedslayer]

O-o-our relationship? We're friends. Good friends. Girlfriends, actually. Yes, we're girlfriends.

[tubesock86]

the scoobies (plus faith and spike)