New Faith/Fuffy icon - it was time (in which I blather, excessively)

[red_satin_doll]

When I realized that:
1) Buffy, Faith and/or Buffy/Faith (I can go either way) was starting to take up major real estate in my brain, my fanfic and in my
    fandom conversations;
2) I can't decide from one day to the next which Summers sister I 'ship with Faith (I can go either way)
3) Buffy+Dawn+Faith+Tara = One True Family could totally be a thing in fandom;

...then it was way past time to get a new icon.

A.) Somewhere on the internet I saw an icon of Faith in Buffy's body in Who Are You, stroking Buffy's leg (now her own) in the bathtub with the text "Tell me again why Fuffy isn't canon?" (eleusis_walks's meta on Faith and Buffy describes the "masturbatory" nature of that scene. Tell us again why Fuffy isn't canon, Mr Whedon?) ETA: Mystery solved : it's beer_good_foamy's. Of course.



I haven't found that icon again but I came across a trove of Buffy/Faith icons on the "Fuffy fanclub"  at Fanpop.com. All of them were posted by a member named AcidBanter by the source is only given as "LiveJournal"; so I suspect that AB isn't the original artist.

My apologies therefore and if anyone here does know, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

I wanted to go with #2, "WIll fuck with your sexual orientation" or one of the funny ones with text to start, but my template shrinks the icons too much and I have this bizarre kink about legibility. It's a thing.(#3 's "subtext" is just barely legible in this template.) I may end up rotating all of these anyway, thanks to elisi's instructions on how to do that by using the exact same keywords for the new icon as the one it replaces.

1.)  2.) 3.) 4.) 5.)

BTW, I haven't rewatched S3 in over a year btw so I'd forgotten how pretty Eliza was that season - and can anyone tell me what the what is going on in #8 below?

6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) 10.)

B.) Now this is the sad part: Because I'm limited to 15 icons, someone else had to get booted off the island. And y'all know I love my babies something fierce. *sniffle* This is where I needed to be strong and decisive. Most of my icons were DO NOT TOUCH just TRY to pry them out of my hot little hands and behold the meaning the word "fierce". That left four candidates:

I've used this one to represent: Lesbianism, friendship and/or solidarity, proof on Willow-centric journals that I don't hate Willow; and that moment is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. CHILLS UP MY SPINE every time I watch it.
BTW - the W/T "spiritual handfasting" will be echoed by B/S in Chosen, and perverted by Glory in Tough Love. Speaking of which, check out clockwork_hart1 tribute fic to Tara's bravery and sacrifice in TL, "Shadows and Light". (Read it now and thank me later.)

Extremely useful for obvious reasons, and cute besides. Everyone needs a "huh"? or WTF? icon.

Do I really need another image from "Showtime"? Probably not. But it's useful for "fierce and determined" (as opposed to "extremely pissed off"). Buffy's the hand: when she sets out to get something done, shit gets done.
Also useful for "I have a lot of love for S7 despite the flaws";  "I actually do sorta-kinda think her wounds are a little sexy even if I'm too chicken-shit to admit it"; And of course: "Buffy is my Hero damn it! And she's the protagonist of the Buffyverse! Ergo it is my sworn duty to remind fandom of this fact every once in a while." (Believe me now and thank me later.)

Which leaves me with:

I know, sweetie, I know - it hurts me too. *sobs quietly* But it's the icon I probably use the least, and comlodge 's original artwork will always have pride of place on my Welcome post. (Don't mind me, I'll be all righ...*curls up in fetal position and sobs loudly*)

Comments

[stormwreath.livejournal.com]

My description wasn't meant to be a condemnation of Buffy, but to explain how I think Faith saw the events; how Buffy's reactions must have looked in her eyes.

Faith is a lot more traumatised by the killing than she lets on (see her reaction when she goes back to the body; or how in 'Sanctuary' a year later she's still having PTSD-style flashbacks to it); but she's also someone who's known since childhood that if you show any weakness at all, people will take advantage of you. That's why she tells Buffy she "doesn't care". I think she's trying to convince herself of that as much as she's trying to convince Buffy. Caring is a weakness; weakness makes you vulnerable.

Note how many different stages of denial Faith goes through:

"It doesn't matter, I was just doing my job, it's no big deal."
"I can make the problem go away; there is no body, it never really happened."
"I can leave this all behind, I can skip town and keep on running."
"I'm not a bad person, I've saved thousands of lives, you can't blame me for killing him."
"He was a bad person. Maybe he deserved to die. Maybe I did a good thing by killing him."
"You and I are better than normal people. I had the right to kill him. You can't blame me."
"Maybe I can get you to take the blame for this instead of me. It was your fault."

As for Buffy pulling away from Faith... I don't think Buffy herself would describe it that way. I think she'd say she was reaching out desperately to Faith, trying to help her. But from Faith's point of view, I think she felt Buffy was betraying her.

Faith's in denial, remember. She's desperately trying to convince herself that this was no big deal, that it doesn't matter, that there'll be no consequences. Instead of Buffy agreeing with her - colluding with her denial, that is - Buffy says exactly what Faith least wants to hear. Buffy says it's a huge deal, that it's a really serious, major, important problem that is not going away and Faith has to face it.

Buffy uses the words 'dirty' and 'sick'. Yes, she doesn't actually say that Faith is dirty and sick, but rather assumes that's how Faith must be feeling. Which is probably quite true, in fact - but again, denial. What Faith desperately wants at that point is for Buffy to reassure her; shrug, tell her it's no big deal, she did nothing wrong, she shouldn't worry about it. Buffy can't do that - not least because she's in a panic herself, of course - and instead does the exact opposite.

Buffy might not specifically say she'd going to call the police herself, but she raises the matter. Again, see it from Faith's perspective: teenage runaway, high school drop-out, petty criminal, comes from a broken home; it's a fair bet she regards any form of official authority with intense suspicion. Buffy with her nice middle-class background and nice-middle class mom and nice cosy relationship with her Watcher; she has no such fears. And for Faith at that moment, in a state of panic and denial, for Buffy to start talking about them going to the police - I think it would seem like the final betrayal.

"Buffy is going to side with the authorities; given her background of course she is. It was a mistake for gutter trash like me to ever see her as an ally or a friend or a lover"