More BTVS AU
Aug. 4th, 2003 09:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakA brief summary of yesterday: Tannhäuser. In the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, with 36° Celsius outside, and no air conditioning inside. See me melt.
On the other hand, proof how fandom corrupts, it occured to me for the first time the Tannhäuser/Wolfram relationship is actually quite slashy.
Speaking of corruption: here's the second AU from my Five Things Which Never Happened To Warren series.
II.
He had never hated and admired a person as much as Maggie Walsh. She recruited Warren shortly before Graduation. “You’ll have to transfer to UC Sunnydale,” she said, without as much as a preamble.
Warren had no intention of doing so, of course. He wanted to get away from Sunnydale, and the College there really wasn’t first class. Besides, the blonde, business-like woman who had introduced herself as Professor Walsh taught psychology, which had nothing whatsover to do with his fields of interest.
“If we’ll have you,” she continued, without even waiting for his reaction. “You’re obviously smart enough for this project, but are you suitable?” Her grey, cool eyes behind her glasses took him in, measuring, and he was conscious of every inadequacy of his life. Which was ridiculous. He didn’t even know this woman.
“You’ll have the chance to be part of something extraordinary,” she said. “Something few people will ever know about. Something which will change our world.”
He was, humiliating as it was to admit, hooked and reeled in by an expert. She put him through a series of tests. Warren thought they were only slightly more challenging than the SAT things, but in the end she said:
“Meers, you’re hopelessly immature, with unresolved mother issues, emotionally none too stable and a borderline sociopath. But I’m not interested in that. What I am interested in is for your to give your best as a programmer, and you just might be able to do that. Just let me make one thing clear: if you mess up my project in any way, I will personally carve your insides out with a very dull spoon.”
He knew then he would get his revenge on her, just as he knew he would give anything to be a part of this project she had liberally hinted at. As it turned out, at first the Initiative seemed to be his dreams come true. Being part of a secret government force that dealt with demons in a high-tech way seemed infinitely cool and even worth sticking around in Sunnydale for. Warren adored the secrecy of the underground lair, which could have been build on the designs of Ken Adams. He asked whether it was, and was met with dumb incomprehension. Nobody in the Initiative knew the name of the genius who had created all the cool stuff for the Connery Bond movies.
This he would have regarded as a flaw in an otherwise perfect ointment, were it not for the fact it would become symptomatic. He posed as a student at UC Sunnydale just like Riley Finn, Forrest, Graham and the others did, but did they deign to notice him above ground? They did not. Actually, they didn’t notice him all that much in the lair, either, except for Finn, the one time they talked, laughing about Warren calling it “the lair”. Warren was forced to come to the depressing realisation that his social life wasn’t that different from High School. There were still jocks around. And a queen bitch.
Not that Professor Walsh didn’t deliver on the promise of challenging work. The behaviour modification chips were a brilliant idea. Fine-tuning them for the various sub-terran species were what he did at first, but when he suggested that negative conditioning fell short of what was possible, that one should able to rewrite their behaviour and control it completely if the interfaces between the organic and the cybernetic could be improved, Maggie Walsh introduced him to the ADAM project.
This gave Warren his chance, in more than one way. He might not be interested in psychology, but one didn’t have to take Professor Walsh’s classes to figure out she was more than professionally interested in Riley Finn. And it wasn’t a simply classifiable interest, either. The human organic components she used for ADAM were all from the same man, and Warren managed to hack his way into her classified files long enough to find out it had been her son. Who, not so coincidentally, had a striking resemblance to Riley Finn. Unresolved mother issues, was it?
On the other hand, she wasn’t just maternal about Agent Finn, either. Warren caught her watching him after Finn had gone through some vigorous exercises, his shirt clinging to him, displaying every muscle of his well-trained, sweaty body, and it wasn’t a maternal gaze at all. When Finn began going out with Buffy Summers, she started to exhibit jealousy that really didn’t have much to do with the concern of a mentor.
At this point, Warren had been slaving away in secret on his own special project for a month, and with the Initiative’s financial and technical resources, which he appropriated for himself without hesitation, he was done far earlier than he would have been on his own. When the android was complete, and its programming fine tuned, he sent it to Maggie Walsh with specific instructions. And waited.
She turned up at his dorm, in the room which he shared with some nonety whose first name he tended to forget, at dawn. The fact she didn’t wait till he showed up for work was already proof of how successful he had been, and Warren was exhilarated. “Out,” she said, and the nonety fled, highly disturbed of the professor’s intrusion. As soon he had shut the door, Maggie Walsh came up to Warren, slapped him, and left in complete silence. It was a hard slap, and she was an athletic woman; Warren tasted blood in his mouth afterwards. At the same time, he felt an incredible rush of satisfaction. He had sent the android, a perfect doppelganger for Riley Finn, to her in the evening, and if it had not met her then, it would have returned as instructed. She, on the other hand, had not arrived here before now. There had been an entire night, and she knew he knew, and would know forever.
He sent her the invitation for dinner soon afterwards, and knew she would accept, no matter what Professor Angleman or her other collegues would say, or, for that matter, Riley Finn and the soldiers who treated her with fear and awe.
She had no other choice.
On the other hand, proof how fandom corrupts, it occured to me for the first time the Tannhäuser/Wolfram relationship is actually quite slashy.
Speaking of corruption: here's the second AU from my Five Things Which Never Happened To Warren series.
II.
He had never hated and admired a person as much as Maggie Walsh. She recruited Warren shortly before Graduation. “You’ll have to transfer to UC Sunnydale,” she said, without as much as a preamble.
Warren had no intention of doing so, of course. He wanted to get away from Sunnydale, and the College there really wasn’t first class. Besides, the blonde, business-like woman who had introduced herself as Professor Walsh taught psychology, which had nothing whatsover to do with his fields of interest.
“If we’ll have you,” she continued, without even waiting for his reaction. “You’re obviously smart enough for this project, but are you suitable?” Her grey, cool eyes behind her glasses took him in, measuring, and he was conscious of every inadequacy of his life. Which was ridiculous. He didn’t even know this woman.
“You’ll have the chance to be part of something extraordinary,” she said. “Something few people will ever know about. Something which will change our world.”
He was, humiliating as it was to admit, hooked and reeled in by an expert. She put him through a series of tests. Warren thought they were only slightly more challenging than the SAT things, but in the end she said:
“Meers, you’re hopelessly immature, with unresolved mother issues, emotionally none too stable and a borderline sociopath. But I’m not interested in that. What I am interested in is for your to give your best as a programmer, and you just might be able to do that. Just let me make one thing clear: if you mess up my project in any way, I will personally carve your insides out with a very dull spoon.”
He knew then he would get his revenge on her, just as he knew he would give anything to be a part of this project she had liberally hinted at. As it turned out, at first the Initiative seemed to be his dreams come true. Being part of a secret government force that dealt with demons in a high-tech way seemed infinitely cool and even worth sticking around in Sunnydale for. Warren adored the secrecy of the underground lair, which could have been build on the designs of Ken Adams. He asked whether it was, and was met with dumb incomprehension. Nobody in the Initiative knew the name of the genius who had created all the cool stuff for the Connery Bond movies.
This he would have regarded as a flaw in an otherwise perfect ointment, were it not for the fact it would become symptomatic. He posed as a student at UC Sunnydale just like Riley Finn, Forrest, Graham and the others did, but did they deign to notice him above ground? They did not. Actually, they didn’t notice him all that much in the lair, either, except for Finn, the one time they talked, laughing about Warren calling it “the lair”. Warren was forced to come to the depressing realisation that his social life wasn’t that different from High School. There were still jocks around. And a queen bitch.
Not that Professor Walsh didn’t deliver on the promise of challenging work. The behaviour modification chips were a brilliant idea. Fine-tuning them for the various sub-terran species were what he did at first, but when he suggested that negative conditioning fell short of what was possible, that one should able to rewrite their behaviour and control it completely if the interfaces between the organic and the cybernetic could be improved, Maggie Walsh introduced him to the ADAM project.
This gave Warren his chance, in more than one way. He might not be interested in psychology, but one didn’t have to take Professor Walsh’s classes to figure out she was more than professionally interested in Riley Finn. And it wasn’t a simply classifiable interest, either. The human organic components she used for ADAM were all from the same man, and Warren managed to hack his way into her classified files long enough to find out it had been her son. Who, not so coincidentally, had a striking resemblance to Riley Finn. Unresolved mother issues, was it?
On the other hand, she wasn’t just maternal about Agent Finn, either. Warren caught her watching him after Finn had gone through some vigorous exercises, his shirt clinging to him, displaying every muscle of his well-trained, sweaty body, and it wasn’t a maternal gaze at all. When Finn began going out with Buffy Summers, she started to exhibit jealousy that really didn’t have much to do with the concern of a mentor.
At this point, Warren had been slaving away in secret on his own special project for a month, and with the Initiative’s financial and technical resources, which he appropriated for himself without hesitation, he was done far earlier than he would have been on his own. When the android was complete, and its programming fine tuned, he sent it to Maggie Walsh with specific instructions. And waited.
She turned up at his dorm, in the room which he shared with some nonety whose first name he tended to forget, at dawn. The fact she didn’t wait till he showed up for work was already proof of how successful he had been, and Warren was exhilarated. “Out,” she said, and the nonety fled, highly disturbed of the professor’s intrusion. As soon he had shut the door, Maggie Walsh came up to Warren, slapped him, and left in complete silence. It was a hard slap, and she was an athletic woman; Warren tasted blood in his mouth afterwards. At the same time, he felt an incredible rush of satisfaction. He had sent the android, a perfect doppelganger for Riley Finn, to her in the evening, and if it had not met her then, it would have returned as instructed. She, on the other hand, had not arrived here before now. There had been an entire night, and she knew he knew, and would know forever.
He sent her the invitation for dinner soon afterwards, and knew she would accept, no matter what Professor Angleman or her other collegues would say, or, for that matter, Riley Finn and the soldiers who treated her with fear and awe.
She had no other choice.
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no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 07:28 am (UTC)(A request: Could you include a blank line between paragraphs? It's easier to read online.)
A few minor corrections: it's "nonentity," not "nonety," and the saying is "a fly in the ointment," not "a flaw in the ointment." I believe also the other scientist's name was Engleman, or Englemann, not Angleman, and that the series always said "subterrestrial," not "subterran." ("Subterranean" is actually an English word. And I hope that doesn't sound condescending, because you are in general so far past fluency into eloquence with English that I'm just incredibly impressed.)
"“You’ll have to transfer to UC Sunnydale,” she said, without as much as a preamble." could just be "You'll have to transfer to UC Sunnydale," she said without preamble."--although that's a personal judgment, and "without as much as" does emphasize just how terse Maggie is.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 08:09 am (UTC)The beta rquest will come your way, as soon as...
Date: 2003-08-04 12:54 pm (UTC)They are a match made in psychiatry, aren't they?
thank you, and...
Date: 2003-08-04 12:51 pm (UTC)I'm grateful for the corrections - after all, I want the final product to read as something without any mistakes that throw readers outside of the story.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-04 12:40 pm (UTC)So . . . what's next?
Thanks!
Date: 2003-08-04 12:47 pm (UTC)Re: Thanks!
Date: 2003-08-04 09:59 pm (UTC)It's up now. Enjoy.
Date: 2003-08-05 01:23 am (UTC)More Detailed Feedback ...
Date: 2003-08-05 11:26 pm (UTC)Meers, you’re hopelessly immature, with unresolved mother issues, emotionally none too stable and a borderline sociopath. But I’m not interested in that.
Well, gee, Maggie maybe you should be *g*. She can't say she wasn't warned in advance ...
If you mess up my project in any way, I will personally carve your insides out with a very dull spoon
As oposed to a small and very blunt knife?
Warren was forced to come to the depressing realisation that his social life wasn’t that different from High School. There were still jocks around. And a queen bitch.
You know, I've always thought that a lot of what lead to both Warren and Jonathan turning supervillain in Season Six was the fact that their lives didn't get better after high school. Heaven knows I would have been dissapointed and angry if university hadn't been the haven I'd been waiting for.
Re: More Detailed Feedback ...
Date: 2003-08-06 05:44 am (UTC)Indeed she can not. But that's our Maggie. See her behaviour on the show. *g*
As oposed to a small and very blunt knife?
He. You are the first one to recognise the source.
You know, I've always thought that a lot of what lead to both Warren and Jonathan turning supervillain in Season Six was the fact that their lives didn't get better after high school.
Wait for an hour (I'm about two thirds done), then check the newest endeavour of yours truly, featuring Warren, Jonathan and the reasons why.
Re: More Detailed Feedback ...
Date: 2003-08-07 02:47 am (UTC)Indeed - all brains, no judgement, that was Maggie. Another thing she has in common with Warren.
You are the first one to recognise the source.
Servalan: an inspiration to villainesses everywhere.
BTW, she just received the entire Five Things from me. I posted part IV today, and will hold back V. until tomorrow morning (my time), for tradition's sake (one per day).
... and now I've read it. I fear my reaction so far consists of positive noises rather than anything that could be construed as eloquent comment. I'm currently somewhere between 'awwwwwwww' and 'aarrrrrgh'. I'm sure I had an actual vocabulary around here somewhere ...
It occurs to me I've got something of a movie theme here.
Now if you can just come up with something to fit the first one, you'll have wonderfully appropriate subtitles for the story. The more pop culture references the better, given the subject.
Positive noises are good.
Date: 2003-08-07 05:08 am (UTC)Movie theme subtitle for the first one: "Buddy, Buddy"? (Only I haven't actually seen that movie, so I don't know whether it's appropriate.)