ext_15447 ([identity profile] beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] still_grrr2010-03-03 12:55 am

159 ficlet

This was supposed to be pure crackfic to top the Mr Gordo/Miss Edith idea. It ended up... different. Hey, if people can portray stuffed toys and spaceships as having souls...

Title: By Design
Author: Beer Good ([livejournal.com profile] beer_good_foamy)
Rating: PG13
Prompt: 159 – free-for-all
Fandom/timeline: Buffy, post-"The Gift"
Word Count: 460
Characters: Mr Pointy/Faith's knife

By Design

They're both here by accident. They were supposed to be someone else's, they were supposed to be something else. Made to kill, made to protect. And yet here they are, gathering dust at the bottom of a weapons' chest. And what's a weapon once it's clear that it'll never be a weapon again?

You're beauti-

Don't. Please don't say that. Never that.


She remembers being put in the wrong hands... or were they? To date, she's never sure. She just knows that for a few short days, she was one of a pair, the finest gift her owner had ever seen, turned over again and again in private, her blade reflecting eyes that welled up with loyalty. And that now the blood still sticks to her blade, blood she had no choice in drawing, cutting through skin, cutting through bone, cutting the thin thread of life. Then once more, in her new owner's hands, betraying those eyes for all the right (?) reasons. Then put in here, in the dark, a bad memory to be forgotten. But not alone.

You're so shiny. She named you? She actually named you?

She shouldn't have. I was just a weapon. That should have been all.


He doesn't know how he knows, but he's sure that his former owner reached for him in her last fight only to find him gone. He'd been given willingly, sure, but he knew she still took for granted that he'd be there, as he had been for years. The one sure thing, brown palm and polished wood in perfect symbiosis, two against the world. And vampires, obviously. Like the one that slashed her throat and left her to die alone.

If I'd been there, if I'd kept her alive, yours would never... you would never have had to -

You can't know that. And at least you got to keep doing what you were supposed to.


He had, for a while. Their new owner had adopted him, kept him working, patroling, slaying. But it was never the same, never as easily efficient (dust and move on, dust and move on, why all this quipping and dancing around?), and bit by bit he became a souvenir. A favorite, but semi-retired, perhaps some day to be bronzed and displayed. Except then the count from 730 reached zero, and he got tossed in here with so many other belongings that robots don't need.

I should have done more.

And I should have done less. Too late to change that now.

So... then what?


Hard wood and sharp edge might cut or blunt each other – more than they'd like - so they're careful.

We can't do this.

Says who?

We're weapons. Tools.

We don't have to be.


...But not too careful.
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)

[personal profile] deird1 2010-03-03 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
This is lovely. (Who would have thought that a crack pairing could be so moving?)


Hey, if people can portray stuffed toys and spaceships as having souls...

Go on. Write Mister Gordo losing his soul and going evil. You know you want to...

[identity profile] angearia.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 12:26 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my god, please!

*

He'd known true happiness. Not the felty fluff of his youth when he thought a good squeeze from any passing puppet meant love.

No, he'd never known love. Not until her with her braided satin tail and shiny black eyes.

Late at night, he'd wiggle his way off the bookshelf to find her snuggled in the basket full of other plush people. A jewel among the plush.

It was wrong to love her. She wasn't special like him. He was Golden Hair's favorite. He was the Chosen Snuggle. She wasn't favored like him, but he didn't care. She was beautiful with her velvety coat and leather-sewn hooves.

He'd nuzzle her nose softly in greeting and her eyes would light up with pleasure. This was happiness. Joy.

If only he'd known about the curse...
Edited 2010-03-03 00:28 (UTC)
deird1: Fred looking pretty and thoughful (Default)

[personal profile] deird1 2010-03-03 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
He was the Chosen Snuggle.

Hee!
angelus2hot: (Giles car seduced me)

[personal profile] angelus2hot 2010-03-03 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
thirding the Hee! for Chosen Snuggle!! Too cute!
ext_30116: (Default)

[identity profile] libco.livejournal.com 2010-03-04 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
I'm thinking you should write "the Chosen Snuggle"

[identity profile] mierke.livejournal.com 2010-03-10 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Brilliant!

[identity profile] gigi-tastic.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
oh yes yes please!!! you must write this!!!

[identity profile] aerintine.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
LOVE this.

And to echo the above comments - I want that Mr Gordo fic. Please. :)

[identity profile] buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
what they said, nice work :)

[identity profile] cozzybob.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Guh. I love this. I can't even tell you how much--I was having a really, really, really bad day, and this cheered me up immensely. :)

[identity profile] coffeecats.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 10:15 am (UTC)(link)
Crackilicious yet poignant. Excellent work!
ext_7259: (Default)

[identity profile] moscow-watcher.livejournal.com 2010-03-03 03:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Quintessential BtVS where even soulless things somehow behave as souled ones.
angelus2hot: (Andromeda Tyr2)

[personal profile] angelus2hot 2010-03-03 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
You made me feel sorry for inanimate objects...GO YOU!!

Wonderfully written!

[identity profile] brunettepet.livejournal.com 2010-03-09 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
These once cherished weapons missing their slayers but finding each other was poignant and quite moving. Buffy being dead made this even more sad. Great job.

[identity profile] rebcake.livejournal.com 2010-03-10 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
It would have been easy for them to blame Buffy, and start a rebellion in the weapons chest. But they are bigger weapons than that.

Wonderful and touching. How do you do that?

[identity profile] mierke.livejournal.com 2010-03-10 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
This was actually quite moving!