btvsats20in20 ROUND 13: THE PACK (BtVS S1.06)

[red_satin_doll]

My entries for Round 13 of btvsats20in20 - actually ahead of deadline!

Beta: The erudite, eloquent, extraordinary and irreplaceable velvetwhip.
ETA:*Orange and Cat5 (Angel!Pig) reserved for Gabrielle and are NOT snaggable. Sorry.

   

10 Themes
Orange*	Unusual Crop	Truth	Sepia+Profile	Retro
Hot	Crossover**	Contrast	Angry	Yellow+Blue
5 Category |WHITE DECORATION
Cat 1	Cat 2	Cat 3	Cat 4	Cat 5*
5 Artist's Choice
AC 1**	AC 2***	AC 3	AC 4	AC 5

Resources:
Screencaps and movie posters from Bloodqueen, Screencapped and SMG-France.
Textures by colorfilter, scoobyatemysnax and lookslikerain. Angel wing by Kyle Butler



Alts/extras:

   1 - 6


   7 - 13


    14 - 18


  19 - 23


 
I'd love to do this episode another round because there is SO much going on in this episode and so much fantastic imagery that I can't begin to cover it with one round. OTOH, I forgot how CREEPY this episode is, and how emotionally harrowing. REALLY creepy.

I tried as much as possible to emphasize the "victims" here, rather than the perpetrators; but also show how the victims fight back and resist victimization in their own ways. The moment depicting in the Truth icon when she sees through Hyena!Xander's facade ("Now I know") is one of my favorite Moments of Willow Badassery (TM). I remembered that Bob Flutie died terrified, eaten alive; I'd forgotten that before that he chased the pack down in a genuine rage because they killed the school mascot, and dragged them into his office, determined to put a stop to their rein of terror. Buffy manages to fight off Hyena!Xander if just barely escaping being raped or worse; then quips about it to Willow afterwards:

"He tried his hand at felony sexual assault...it's safe to say that in his animal state his idea of wooing doesn't involve a Yanni CD and a bottle of Chianti."

On a side note: it's interesting that in the episode that focuses on hierarchies and bullying in high school, Cordelia and the Cordettes are nowhere to be found. It's interesting to consider where she would have fallen on the food chain if she'd been in the episode. Was Charisma Carpenter unavailable the week they filmed that episode?

                                                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Gabrielle has first dibs on the Orange and Cat5 (Angel!Pig) icons; these are NOT snaggable.

But all other are entirely snaggable or make suitable gifts *lol*. Please give proper credit and do not claim as your own; do not post to other websites or archives without asking first. Comments and feedback are always appreciated!

** Crossover, AC1, Alts 20 - 23: Possession starring Sarah-Michelle Gellar as a woman whose brother-in-law body may or may not contain the soul of her comatose husband after both brothers are involved in a car accident. Think a cut-rate version of Jonathan Glazier's flawed masterpiece, Birth (2003).

***Crossover, AC2: Scream2 featuring SMG in a small role as the trope Buffy is meant to subvert: the helpless blond girl in the alley (or in this case, sorority house). Watching "Buffy" crying and begging for her life while being chased by a psychopathic killer is surprisingly unpleasant, btw. (Just saying.)

Comments

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Reading other comments, I agree that The Pack definitely showed that Xander had some darkness in him, which is one of the reasons I enjoy writing him so much! *g*

And can I just say that somehow I managed not to notice ‘Crossover’ yesterday – god knows how, because it’s quite breathtaking.

As far hyena recs – hmm. One place I could point you at is my ‘Beastie Boy’ rec list. I have a series of genre based rec lists (inevitabily mainly Xander based), and that one is mainly hyena or vamp Xander, so you might want to take a look there.

However if it helps, the ones that spring to mind are Jane Davitt’s Predatory Acts. Spike does a reccie on the Hellmouth during the Master’s time and happens to run across a possessed Scooby. Naturally the vamp takes his new plaything home, but discovers that sometime toys have teeth. This is just so great and the hyena and the vamp together are beyond hot. The sequel is Preying on my Mind – it’s two years later, and there are some things Xander can’t forget.

Voices Carry by yin_again is way post-Chosen. Spike is bored in LA and keeps seeing things out of the corner of his eye. Maybe it’s his imagination, or maybe not.

And for something fluffy - Harmless Wolf Fun by dessert_first is short, sweet and very funny. Xander and Oz do some bonding and muse on the allure of meat based products.

I feel very weird about self pimping, but what the hell, here goes. But please don’t feel obliged to read, and if you do, don’t feel obliged to like them! *g*

In Smoke and Mirrors, I wondered what would have been going through Giles’ mind if he’d been on hyena- Xander watching duty instead of Willow. This is short and Gen

And Next Time, was a very early one-shot for me when I tried to get into hyena-Xander’s head at the time he attacked Buffy.

Anyway, those are just a few that come to mind - if you try any of them, I hope you enjoy! :)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Wow thank you for all these nummy recs! And don't EVER feel the need to apologize for self-promotion on this journal - how am I going to find out about your stuff if you don't tell me about it? (Speaking of, you might like my CagedHyena!Xander icon at whedon_elite? http://whedon-elite.livejournal.com/446406.html )

And I just read Next Time and - WOW, so good! You don't pull any punches with that story and the language is astonishing.

[sparrow2000.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the self pimp of the caged Xander icon - it's gorgeous!

Thanks again for the kind words about Next Time. I'm grinning like crazy here :) - but not in a crazed hyena kind of a way, because that would be bad...

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

but not in a crazed hyena kind of a way, because that would be bad...

Well we can't have that now, can we? :D

you're very welcome; thank you again for the links to great stories!