TITLE: Violently Happy
AUTHOR: Mad (marksandspence@yahoo.com)
SETTING: Buffy Season 5 (post-Crush); Angel Season 2
RATING: Mostly PG-13/R for language and violence; some NC-17 (explicit sex)
SUMMARY: Sunnydale has a new resident and LA a new sometimes visitor. She's smart, cute, and not human. She likes swords, shoes and a certain blonde vampire whom she'd first met more than a century ago. Sex, mayhem, love, angst, hilarity and redemption ensue.
DISCLAIMER: Spike, Angel, Buffy, Anya, Xander, Willow, Tara, Giles, Dawn, Glory, Gunn, Cordelia, Wesley, Darla, Drusilla etc. are all owned by Mutant Enemy. I have no affiliation with ME and I am incredibly indebted to them for creating such fantastic characters for me to use and abuse! Also, the character of Duncan MacLoud and the Highlander universe is the property of Davis-Panzer Productions, Inc. and Gétéve (I think). However, the characters of Miranda, Alex, Joseph, Phil, Trachys, Jimmie, Father Dunn and pretty much anyone else you don't recognize from BtVS or AtS are entirely my creations. If you want to use them in your own story, please contact me first.
FEEDBACK: Please. It makes all the difference...
AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION/DISCLAIMERS:
I conceived all the main events of this story in a fairly short period of time during Season 5 of BtVS. I had two things in mind when I conceived of this story—To introduce a character into the buffyverse who was not human, but not a demon (= not necessarily evil) and to give Spike a love interest who wasn't Buffy. Thus, Miranda was born. Though I created the personality of Miranda from scratch, I did not have the energy to create what she was. Therefore, I borrowed from the Highlander series and decided to make Miranda an Immortal. PLEASE, all you Highlander fans out there take note: At the time I conceived of this story, I had only watched a handful of episodes and had never seen the films. I went to a few websites and that is ALL. I took what I found in my very brief research and then made up the rest, so I am CONFIDENT that I have seriously violated the Highlander dogma. I apologize and mean no offence! For me, it was a simply a convenient starting point. So please don't flame me for any Highlander blasphemies I have committed. It will only make me sad. I mean no disrespect!
Though the story is finished in the sense that I've written the final scene, complete with "The End" stuck at the bottom, there are some holes in the text. You'll find sections where I've provided a summary instead of writing out a scene [did I mention it's in screenplay format?] and there are a number of 'writer's notes' stuck in here and there. I would call it a 'draft', except that I probably won't take the time for extensive re-writes. Basically, I conceived of the story in its entirety in my head before ever putting pen to paper--many things got left out due to time/energy constraints.
I conceived of the story during Season 5, but didn't start writing it until after Season 6 and now the show is over. Certain things about Spike's past have come to light since Season 5, but I did not back correct. I left the story pretty much as-is, regardless of future and/or past events.
Though primarily a love story, there's a fair bit of action and adventure to move things along. But, the emphasis is definitely on relationships and character development, so I spent very little time trying to come up with clever plots and new and exciting monsters. I also focused almost entirely on the primary characters (Miranda and Spike) and so don't look for extensive character development of Anya for example or even many scenes in which neither of the primary characters appear. Finally, the story spends a lot of time exploring Miranda's character—in truth, it is mostly her story set in the buffyverse. But she's very cool and she and Spike make a stunning couple :)
Finally, the story was originally written as a serial, which I doled out to three readers/friends on a weekly to monthly basis. It was intended as an experiment in writing for me (not to mention a very fun little hobby) and I had not anticipated making it available to a wider audience. But, my readers were amused and entertained enough to encourage me to share and so here I go. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE feedback---positive, negative or whatever so long as it's constructive. I'm also happy to clarify things or answer questions or whatever.
TIMING: To get the appropriate setting, I’m going to have to go with a hypothetical time that is somewhere in season 5 (post-Crush). So Buffy knows that Spike is in love with her AND YET, he’s kinda-sorta a functioning part of the scoobies, i.e., everyone is dealing with the situation…Spike has toned down his ‘plays’ for Buffy’s affection (given up hope?) but still hangs around and everyone else just tries not to think about it. Everything else is as it was…Giles is still around and owns the magic shop. Xander and Anya are still together (but not engaged) and so are Tara and Willow. Oh, but Joyce is dead and so Buffy is having to do the parenting. I think that is most of it. Oh, and one more disclaimer. I wrote this first scene BEFORE having seen Dead Things. Really.
**Please note: I have recently updated and reorganized these pages. If you find a broken link or some other kind of screw up, please let me know by sending me an e-mail. Thanks! **
Scroll down if you'd like to download the entire story as a PDF.
Part 5
5a
5b
5c
5d
5e
5f
5g
5h
5i
5j
5k
5l
5m
Part 6
6a
6b
6c
6d
6e
6f
6g
6h
6i
6j
6k
6l
6m
P.S. (this is still a WIP--I couldn't resist the temtation to continue their story a bit, post Sunnydale. Please bug me to finish it if you're interested!)
You can download the whole damn thing as a PDF if you'd like. Be warned, it's over 400 pages long!
Violently Happy PDF
Feedback (please, oh please!)