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salamandaslash

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Everything posted by salamandaslash

  1. No - I just couldn't be bothered to log in again. Anyway - got to admit I'd prefer if you read it properly rather than skim it. It took a lot of work.
  2. Thanks as always for the review and feedback.

    However I think you've got yourself completely the wrong end of the stick. You couldn't be more wrong about Faith – she doesn't want to be, or see herself as, a man - or as in a male role at all! She's completely female and really, quite feminine with only very slight butch tendencies but she is absolutely *not* masculine. She's a lesbian Top – perhaps, though I dislike the label, a dominatrix - though in fact, while she is  sexually dominant she is solely Joyce's Dominant. In fact that might in some ways be the alternative title of the story! But beyond that she is a woman who loves women; and one woman in particular. In fact the idea that she's playing some sort of male role would really offend her. Moreover she certainly sees herself – and Joyce sees it as well – as a romantic. I frequently describe them as lovers for a reason. I think you've misread or misunderstood the whole premise, and one of the central themes of my story if you can't see that it's a romantic love story – a kinky one certainly – but one in which Joyce's seduction and ‘conversion‘ are based on her falling in love with, and coming to accept the feelings she has for, Faith; and to treasure the way those feelings are reciprocated by her lover. And at the same time what Faith feels for Joyce – feelings that Faith has had for a long time – is equally deep. She may be Joyce's Dominant, and at times a harsh, demanding lover but Faith is quite as much in love with her submissive as Joyce is with her Mistress. Their relationship is a night/day/yin-yang/push-pull thing in which, without the dominant there is no submissive ave neither can find what they want and need. They both need each other equally and their love for one another is completely interdependent.  So Faith is not intended to be some uncaring, ersatz male, interested only in taking what she can from Joyce. Yes there's a lot of sex – kinky and frankly unrealistic – because in the end this is supposed to be, from the outset, a written sex-comic – but the sexual content is both meant to be entertaining and erotic, and also to express the intensity of the two protagonists’ physical love which in turn is a reflection of their deep and deepening emotional, romantic love.

    So while you’re right that I've tried to create a sort of inverted 50's romance – with a relationship that would have been completely frowned upon at the time – there is definitely no element of gender roleplay intended. That 50's housewife paradigm is just a conceit. And you shouldn't look at Faith’s use of dildos as being wanting to be male – the ability to penetrate Joyce is more about domination – and, at the same time, pleasure for Joyce – than anything else. As for her being patient or otherwise: in the early stages it was all about keeping Joyce off balance and disoriented, and vulnerable - receptive to seduction and susceptible to domination; and then later it's meant to reflect the urgency of their ongoing passion.

    I have to admit that I'm a bit disappointed that you've managed to come to  these conclusions, because to get to a point so far from what I’m trying to portray must mean my writing has failed.

    I'm afraid your hope that Faith becomes Buffy's step-mom (and Kendra becomes her aunt) are going to be disappointed - I'm just not interested in exploring that. And in my romance story Faith just isn't interested in any other women - that's really important to me.

    I also struggle as to why on earth the consensual relationship of Tara, Kennedy and Willow would attract your disapproval? What in their conduct could you disagree with? That they are engaged in a form of polygamy? It may not be how you would choose to live your life; nor how I would either – but it seems to make them happy! And I just want to portray these characters finding happiness. 

    I'd like to do something more with Satsu – another Intermezzo scene – though I'm not yet sure what!

    By the way Buffy only has 2 ex-girlfriends – Faith and Willow - so no deal there either I'm afraid.

    Anyway thanks again for your thoughts. 
     

    1. CloverReef

      CloverReef

      I’m just going to stick my nose into something that’s none of my business to point out that the reviewer did say “I didn't read through the whole thing exactly word-for-word“, so chances are, the fact that they missed so much of what you were trying to portray had more to do with that, (and maybe a few little personal biases) rather than any failing on your part. You responded well and with tact, Salamandaslash. Kudos. 

    2. Krulos

      Krulos

      I understand what you mean, I think, Salamandaslash; so sorry I didn’t reply sooner. been really really really busy with attending a vocational school- and I guess I sort of lost track of the conversation, to ColoverReef: thank you for reminding me of this, and thanks for your defense, it is appreciated, but totally unnecessary.

      To Salamdaslash, and to Faith Lehane in that writer’s work here as well, despite her being a character; you’re right, I think… I have misread Faith as far as how feminine she is in this. I guess you mean to have her as sweet and loving as she shows up in “Change of Seasons” but a bit more into the sexual side of her life; am I right, Salamdaslash?

      My point is that if Faith marries Joyce, she inherits the job of “mother” to Joyce’s daughters- that’s how it goes: you marry someone, as a woman, you inherit the job of “mother” to their kids, or as a man, “father” becomes your additional job- that was my point about Faith’s new “family”.

      I do think that Divorce is something that people invented to carry out marital infedelity- that’s what gets my goat about it… and believe you me: I’ve had numerous real-world counseling sessions with a trusted advisor and mentor on the topic of others’ perceived immoral actions, and whether or not I’m obliged to stand up to them- my goal in this “story universe” of the “BtVS/AtS series” is to master my own tendencies and be able to be compassionate to people who misbehave- eventually to transplant that into my dealings in the real world- and you look at their *behavior* in the show: a good percentile of it *is* misbehaving!

      I understand what you mean, but here’s what and why I disagree with in the *behaviors* in the storyline you’ve been constructing; you *probably* already know my goals; what you may not know about me is this: I, like several monsters in world history, tend towards tyrannical leanings. Mine are rooted strongly in natural law and endoursement  of it. Sadly that tendency lends itself to a form of a tendency to *break* those regulations in regards to *others’* breaches of those regulations. I am, in a sense, by involvement in this fictional universe where in I cannot hope to harm the *people* who played the *characters*, proviso I remember the difference between say Sarah Gellar (NO, I do not remember her married name, but she’s gotten herself a family- very good for her) and Buffy Summers; and that the latter is a fictional superheroine, and the former is a real woman, actress, and wife and mother to her family, she played her character, and that’s the limit of the connection. My goal, therefore, is to master humane treatment of these characters, especially when they act up by fornicating, which’ll only mess with their feelings. Think about it: this is a story you’re writing, I know that, and so hopefully do the rest of the people here, a story I completely enjoy for all the drama, and I loved hearing Faith’s “inner position on her goals in that relationship” directly from the mind that’s writing her point of view here, so thank you from the bottom of my heart, Salamandaslash, that was most enlightening. I guess she wears those “toys” to sexually pleasure her wife, Joyce, as she sees her. My point is thus, Faith actually sees herself as Joyce’ dominant wife, partly because she’s been “screwing” her, but not in the mean way- you told me previously that she’s the heroine of this. I got the family connections from Faith and Kendra’s weddings to Mrs. Summers and Buffy’s aunt Arlene, and as you have it as “weddings”, it stands to reason why I’d naturally conclude as a reader that Faith’s now her ex-girlfriend’s stepmom, and Kendra became Buffy’s aunt.

      I fully expect that we’re going to come up with different ideas, Salamandaslash, that’s part of the fun of writing back and forth in the real world, I don’t know about you, but I’m completely enjoying this discussion!

      Perhaps some of Faith's background as Buffy’s girlfriend, or how she and Buffy broke up, but remained friends- or so it seems, a “background scene”, you know, a flashback scene, might be fun to read, or some of Jenny Calendar’s “girlfriend bond” with Buffy (she’s had a lot of female ‘dates’, or is “mates” in this story you’re writing, Ma’am (again, being polite), hasn’t she?); I don’t doubt that in this case, as the same with Tara and Kennedy picking up Willow as a girl at a bar and taking her to their dorm room to mate with her might cause what might be called “romantic jealousy” between Kennedy and Tara; as each has “mated” with Willow, they’d see themselves as “her wife” apiece, hence conflict- another reason I’m against extra-marital sex in *practice*, but as far as a *story plot* goes, it *does* render perfect recipe for drama, doesn’t it? I’ve used it as a mechanism many times myself.

      As a *story*, I think it’s turning out reasonably well, now particularly so because I grasp Faith’s inner ideas better; as a *comic*, it’s missing pictures, completely so- comics often are very visual, if it has to be written: the action is heavy in depiction-terms, and lacking in much else, aside from drama- usually, Miss, tales that involve sex involve either horror, or a tremendous degree of drama. I don’t know if Faith was a chaste girlfriend when she was dating Buffy, but if she wasn’t; her heart would be torn, as her inner emotions would read both Buffy and Mrs. Summers as “my wife”, or she’d read them both as “her wife”, hence tremendous emotional conflict within your story’s heroine- she’d be pulled everywhichway by her feelings and would have a deep emotional bond with both mother and daughter. This’d be a problem  with committing to one person that kind of commitment, which you said here that she deeply wants to give to her “wife” Joyce Summers.

      Honestly, I cannot have everything I’d like; I know that, and furthermore, this is far from in any way remotely about me at most- I have absolutely zero say about this, barring of course persuading you, Miss, to write what I convince you to write; my preferences are thus: I love the love, but hate the lust- that’s me… ironically, I know how children are made- I hate the deed, but love the product, the offspring. Again: contradiction: Yes! But that’s personality and perspective, nothing  less, nothing more.

      I love your ideas for her (Faith), but, as many fans have cast her into my belief system, I’d be her, I guess, stepbrother is the proper term- as we’d be adopted siblings not remotely biologically related, or so it seems. I cannot condone where she’s *looking* for a relationship to which she can give herself as “wife” and a loving one at that; but I do grasp her goal to be involved in that.

      I think, and guess here, that that Faith has drastically mixed up lust with love, and hasn’t any clue whatsoever on how to *show* love- for instance, she makes overt sexual advances to Joyce when she meets her, uses crude language towards her about mating with her; these things are what mixed me up about her, so I’d guess that she’s a bit of a “tragic heroine”- bad past, but out to give herself in a loving relationship… and the “bad past” thing is hinted in the show too, same with looking to amend herself!

      Don’t you worry; I too fail at writing adiquitely from time to time, and I love your cultured method of writing, but that’s why we’re in these “writing clubs”, to aid ourselves in mastering our skills- no matter how late in our lives it is- and I find that refreshing, really!

      About Satsu: having family drama might be a good element, especially if, and I don’t really remember, if she’s Ling’s adopted daughter- and a radically different ethnicity- think a lady Samurai having been orphaned and then adopted by a woman of Chinese ancestry- the ethnicties hate oneanother intensely, but the two might be the best of friends, and all the events in her home with her mom, and if Satsu brings a girlfriend home- that kind of thing… late getting up for school, temptations to lie, cheat, and/or steal, in reference to tests, or events of bitterness between mom and daughter; all those little elements that add family drama.

      The desire to marry is the desire to become a family- human nature; so a good amount of domestic drama would come up from time to time- I’m already cooking up a little story *somewhat* based on your storyline here, but distinctly *NOT* your story, but mine, as per what you told me in our discussions: to write my own story… this one is like yours in that Kendra and Faith “marry” Arlene and Joyce, like you have done, but basically Kendra’s trying  to rescue her sister-in-law from the lifestyle weakener of smoking, and like in  the series, these two are *supposed* to be superheroines., so it is set in the actual Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, but a bit different.

      You don’t need to be disappointed nor upset, if anything is an obstacle it’s the length per chapter; it kind of makes it harder to figure out where I am per reading- but that’s more me than you- it’s something *I’ve* got to deal with and amend, through continual effort; as I said, or tried to: I really had to skim the story due to time limits; that led to that. I really don’t have a reason to complain about your quality of work- the *behavior* of the characters I do *NOT* agree with, but that’s part of why I am here: to tame myself… like in Season 7 both Faith and Spike submitted to restrictions to their freedoms; they didn’t trust themselves and as they put it “I got dangerous for a while”… we’re all undergoing treatment for some disorder of some sort, every single human being currently in this life, from conception to natural death has some obstacle to deal with- stories like these that you’re writing to me are a means to an end; one that I sincerely hope shall be a good one about my treatment of neighbor.

      To be able to read the story I’ve been focusing on the inherent drama between the characters mostly; but to me sex is a catylist to get the drama going- why I’d conclude the “tearing of the heart” if someone has say “a wife and a mistress living together”- he’d be in constant trouble with one of them at least- that’s kind of the Chinese written word for “Trouble”, a guy living with his wife *and* his mistress at the same time- both women would be always after him… not like you have a sort of “BDSM marriage” going on between Faith and Mrs. Summers, or is it in this “Mrs. Summers and Mrs. Summers”; but I can envision what’d happen if say Mr. Summers finds out his wife, or as you might see it, ex-wife, married a woman his daughter’s age, and an ex-girlfriend of his daughter’s; another element  for drama: Faith’s feelings about this relationship of being married to her ex-girlfriend’s mom.

      Partly I cannot escape casting myself in my neighbor’s shoes- human weakness, that… direct result: I’d think that if Faith wanted  to wed Mrs. Summers, she’d want to also take on all the jobs that role entails: including  “Mom” to her “wife’s” daughters- see how I got the conclusion here?

      Perhaps some of Dawn and Janice, maybe Dawn brings Janice to her home, and Faith is introduced to Dawn’s girlfriend.

      Or some of Buffy’s new role as Dayna’s “property”; some of those events; maybe Faith was briefing Dayna on methods of domination, per say.

      I can’t wait for more, but I do guess I’ll have to!

      Sincerely, I’m happy with both messages; you take what you can get in this situation wherein you’re dealing with other people, and be grateful for it;

      Krulos!

  3. Hey. Yeah - more chapters of this story coming, but it's pretty slow going - this chapter is quite complicated and while I've got its overall shape down and a fair bit of the first draft written it's taking a lot of work to progress and I'm struggling to fit in all my ideas. However it's not that I don't do this for fun… I'm not sure about other stories in this universe - I'll have to see when it's all done, whether I've got any inspiration for it left over. But I do have a couple of half ideas for shortish, single chapter spin-offs. You'll be glad to know that there will be a bit more Kendra in the story - not sure if she'll be in this chapter or, more likely, the next. I don't know what you mean about betting harassed and readers barrelling down my throat. Apart from not knowing why someone would do that, I thought I'd made it pretty clear in my notes that I'm enthusiastic to receive readers' feedback. If they want to discuss my writing and my work I'm really happy to hear what they think and even what they want to see happen. I may not agree but it's interesting. More than that I've been pretty easy about people wanting to spin-off their own takes from my work. As long as it's not them passing it off as being 'canon' to my story - that sounds so pretentious - I didn't mean it to - then I love to read what others' imaginations come up with for 'my' characters. They're not mine of course but you know what I mean. Anyway - more to come but sadly, work calls.
  4. For anyone checking out this thread – feel free to say hello by the way – I’ve now posted the next three chapter instalment – Part 4. Love to hear anyone’s thoughts on my madness.
  5. Hey, thanks for that - and your review - it's great to get some; and you're right the review function on the site is a pain. It doesn't allow authors to reply either. I'm toiling through the next instalment - which is proving hard work - but we're getting there. I think you'll like the Dayna arc once I get it all worked out - it's complicated making it all fit. Glad to know you enjoy the intermezzi - it means 'something [layers, courses, floors] between others'. I use it to mean breaks. S.
  6. Thanks for the feedback - I do really appreciate it. I really don't mind what you call me though. I'm working hard on part 3 but completion of that is still a way off. So much so that I might have to post it in two parts. Unfortunately it won't feature any Faith-as-Buffy's-stepmom drama really - I just don't really see that fitting in.
  7. Hi there lovely people - newbie on here - I posted some new chapters of my fic. Please tell me what you think. xxx Author: Salamandaslash Title: The remaking of Joyce Summers Summary: a Faith/Joyce kinkfic - of which there are not enough! AU - very AU. Feedback: Please! I'm not too proud to beg! But be gentle with my sorry ass! Fandom: Buffy Pairing: Domme-Faith/sub-Joyce (and random others) Warnings: AU, BDSM, spanking and all sorts of FF kink Solo story or chaptered story: Chaptered (6 so far - more to come) URL: http://buffy.adult-fanfiction.org/index.php Review Reply thread (including my rambling notes): http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/topic/64836-the-remaking-of-joyce-summers-the-servitude-of-sappho-full-authors-notes-and-feedback/
  8. For anyone out there interested in my little fic - Part 2 now posted for your reading pleasure...
  9. Hey if the offer is still going I'd love someone's - anyone's - thoughts on my WIP. I mean I hate to sound needy... http://buffy.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600092174
  10. The remaking of Joyce Summers: The servitude of Sappho. Author’s notes: For those of you who have read Imago: The Seduction of Arlene – this is the first chapter of originating parent fic that gave birth to it. If you *have* read Imago/Arlene; firstly – thank you and thanks for giving this a go; and second, well – you’ll know what to expect – assuming that you had time in your life to slog through my *extensive* author’s explanatory notes for that fic. If you did – thanks again. For those of you who haven’t read Imago (please do – I mean *please*!) some basics: This fic is completely AU. In this universe there are no Slayers, no Vamps, Demons, Witches, Magic or supernatural powers of any kind. If that’s a deal-breaker for some – and I understand that it might be – sorry – it’s just how this fic wrote itself. By way of a brief explanation of the reason for that – I started out wanting to write a fic that had the feel of Rebecca’s ‘Housewives at Play’ comic books (which I love – in a way that I really *ought* to have grown out of!) where kinky lesbian sex appears rife in a part of small town America; where a whole community seems to have marginalised and excluded men in order to indulge in every lesbian coupling imaginable and I found myself seeing the two communities of Sunnydale and Sunnyvale as interchangeable. For those of you who know HAP – in my head Joyce became a sort of avatar for the Cathy character and much of the rest just followed in time. However, I quickly found that trying to combine both fandoms into a coherent story *completely* beyond my abilities. So I found myself removing the supernatural element of BTVS [etc] and the fic became wholly AU. Which to be honest – had its benefits as it allowed me free range to mix up the pairings and introduce non-canon, OC and crossover characters without having to retain continuity. To be honest – in the end I’m not even sure I’ve managed to keep the comic book feel really – partly because when I write I can’t help but constantly try to explain the motives and rationale behind my characters decisions and actions in order to try to achieve a suspension of disbelief in the reader – which means that I lose some of the frenetic pace and exaggerated styling of a comic book story. And partly because of the way the fic opened up in my mind meant that it moved away from some of the wilder idea in HAP. By way of illustration I started out with Chapters called things like ‘Dominated Dame’s Dramatic Debut’; ‘The Punishable Panty Prohibition’; ‘Tramp in Training’; ‘A MIlf and her Mistress’; and ‘Stripped and Strapped and Stretched’ but as the story wrote itself I lost sight of some of that comicbook-ness. So while some of the crazy is still there I think it’s become something different from the original intention I think in the end I’ve ended up with a sort of comicbook/soap/fanfic hybrid* Whatever – it is what it is and I can’t apologise for that. As I say - as with most of my stories it all really rather wrote itself, expanding beyond the original narrative, sweeping up numerous other characters both significant and minor in an ever growing cast of characters. On which subject – in an attempt to create a wider reality – I’ve co-opted characters from various fandoms (apologies to lovers of those who might feel slighted) and at the same time created a number of original characters of my own – including Dayna Penshaw (Janice’s mom), Arlene (Joyce’s sister) and a whole handful of others of varying degrees of insignificance for the tale and whom I have, in a moment of complete self-indulgence cast as if for TV. The purpose of these might be to give context to a world in which lesbian seduction is normal though for me it’s just about playing around with a world in which D/s lesbian relationships are commonplace – I guess that’s maybe a *little* bit political – and a lot because I’m a dirty old woman! There are also a number of ‘break-out’ scenes – I’ve called them Intermezzi –which do not fit the main narrative and are mainly intended to be simple sketches of what else is going on in my weird little lesbian world. Some are longer than others (it was from one of these that Imago developed and there may be other ‘spin-offs’ that arise as well) and relate to subsequent plot-line but mainly they are brief scenes or pastiches of several scenes and again for those who know HAP they are intended to function like those in Rebecca’s books of single sketches. Some will perhaps all find this distracting – and the numerous interstices in which they figure. The purpose of these was to create a look and feel for this milieu, filling in the gaps. But again – I apologise if it spoils the story for some but it was really just how it wrote itself – honest! This was also, in large part, why I have struggled with this so much over the years – and it was a lot of years. I started this fic sometime around 10 years ago and worked on it quite hard for a long time until it started to just grown bigger and bigger spinning out of control. Believe me when I say – this is the stripped back, slimmed down version – though I admit that a little critical editing probably wouldn’t have gone amiss. I’ve picked it up on a couple of occasions to try to run with it but until I actually finished the spin off: Imago (which as I say only started as a brief scene within a scene touching on a minor semi-O/C character) that I really started to get a grip on it. Even now it remains incomplete but I’ve managed to progress the first few chapters to the point where I can publish them. I have to issue fair warning – I’m not expecting to complete the whole thing any time soon! At present I’ve pretty much written almost half the total fic – though some of it still needs finishing, polishing and proofing. Of the second half about two thirds is in rough form and the rest is unwritten (though mostly in place in my head). I reckon I’ll probably have that first half complete this year and the rest next but no promises. I’ll try to post Chapter 2 in the next few weeks if RL doesn’t prove too intrusive. In other words – I am going to try your patience. I’m not a quick writer at the best of times – real life gets in the way – and this is a real stretch for me anyway. Lastly – a personal confession: as I mentioned there is a fair amount of self-indulgence in this. This ranges from the inclusion of Piper Halliwell for example (Holly Marie Coombs has, much to my long suffering g/f’s bemusement, been somewhere near the top of my ‘freebie’ list for nearly 20 years) to the ‘casting’ of various actresses that make my heart pound (and if you’ve read ‘Imago’ you’ll already know about how this works) like Madeline Stowe, Danica McKeller or Sara Ramirez; and all the way to the inclusion of a number of personal fetishes (young Domme/older sub, sexual ‘reprogramming’, public nudity, intimate body piercing and tattoos, BDSM weddings…the list goes on) – as I said self-indulgence – I hope this doesn’t piss too many of you off! Anyway – as always – I’d love to hear your feedback – even the critical – though please be gentle…I’m a sensitive soul! No I am! Really!
  11. Yeah - I hear what you're saying about speed. I can't write quickly either. I'm just too deliberate and at the same time too easily distracted. Joyce's story is still kicking my ass but I'm still trying! Anyhows hope you make progress - and have a great Christmas.
  12. Hey there - you get any responses to this. I'd love to see you write this. I can't spare the time to help you myself but if be really interested to see what comes out.
  13. Chapter 3 (After the heart of the night - the child light of day) now restored. No idea where it went! And now - back to working on the story of how Joyce became Faith's lesbian sex slave.
  14. To those who have offered feedback so far - thank you. It is nice to be appreciated! To respond to your specific comments: LL72 - sorry you thought there was too much dialogue but I'm afraid that's just how I write it helps me to get inside the character's thoughts and emotions. But as I said in my notes - I do appreciate that the fix is not as well edited as it might be and so has several faults. I guess that might be one for some! I'm glad you liked Domme Faith and sub Joyce. and I've got some good news for you - I'm going to look at it again to see if I can finish it. No promises! Saladie - thanks to you as well for your lovely comments! Lovely to hear from someone who remembers my earlier efforts! I might try to recover them all and past them here if I find the time. Unfortunately I've had to move my Author's Notes to here because they exceeded the permitted length - mea culpa - but it's great to know that you appreciated them! I love the idea of (Harsh)Dom!DaynaPenshaw/(reluctant)Sub!Buffyou. I had always seen it as being more a case of Buffy being a willing sub who was looking for an older domme but your way is hotter! If you think there is a story there - please feel free to write it! Omegadelta - thanks glad you liked it. You can find most of my old stuff in the Sick and Twisted fanfic group on Yahoo - but you'll have to do a bit of digging for some of it. But I'll see what I can do. S.
  15. Imago: The Seduction of Arlene Ok – so the standard warning! If you’re shocked by portrayals lesbians indulging in all manner of kinks – you best be on your way. There is nothing for you here! For anyone disturbed or outraged by the concept of gay marriage – I’d prefer it if you’d just fuck-off! NC-17 – sexually explicit content. F/f – with references, of varying levels of explicitness, to numerous secondary F/f and some F/f/f and, F/F/f relationships. I do not own these characters – even the ones I made up – and I am certainly making nothing from their misuse! I do not mean to imply anything about the sexual preferences of any of the actresses cast. As always – f/b gratefully received but please be gentle with me. And so…an explanation…and bear with me – this is going to take a while… It’s been a long time, a very, very long time, since I published anything new. But then, in fact, this isn’t new at all. I mostly wrote it over a decade ago and rediscovered it a couple of months ago when clearing out some old files on my old lap-top and realised I could do something with it. Firstly I have to confess that this is definitely a bit, well, odd I guess…mainly because it’s really completely detached from the original show cannon… ‘Arlene’ is essentially a spin-off, a random mutation from another fic – an AU tale of how Joyce Summers became Faith Lehane’s submissive lesbian housewife. Unfortunately that original fic became bit of a monster that I was never able to finish. After struggling with it for the longest time – on and off for about three or four years before finally abandoning it - I found that ‘parent’ fic increasingly difficult to write as the initial plot spun further and further out of control, getting bigger and more complex with ever more sub-plots and relationships to distract my focus. One of those (all too numerous) distractions was ‘Arlene’ which began as one of a number of ‘scenes within a scene’ in the overarching tale. Sadly I now doubt that I’ll ever finish that originating fic! Though I never thought I’d publish this...so I suppose you never really know. However what I did manage to pretty much finish at the time was ‘Imago’. I guess it was easier to complete because it’s fairly self-contained, not say shorter – though not short – I never did manage to do short! But also I suppose, because the principal character is in effect, a blank canvas onto which I could project my own – ahem - depraved imaginings. Ironically though it was that which really what led me to decide that the whole thing was all a bit too ‘free form’ and speculative to be worth putting out there. Now, looking at it again though – I reckon – ‘what the hell’. I like it! So with a bit of spit and polish I’ve managed to tidy it up into something approaching a coherent bit of smut. To be honest I’m quite aware that it really needs a bit of critical editing to tighten it up, thin out some of the meanderings and smooth over some of the clunky bits that might have worked had it been part of the wider story – but I really don’t have the time or inclination to do that. I’ve run it through myself to correct the obvious grammatical errors (though there may be more I’ve missed) but please bear in mind that this has not been beta’d – so I can’t make any great claims for its consistency or coherency. Additionally it doesn’t really have a conclusion and the final segment is pretty ragged. This is partly, I guess, because it was meant to be part of the wider whole and has extended beyond that origin – but mainly I think it’s that I just couldn’t land the dismount! So, for better or for worse then, it is what it is. I apologise if it doesn’t hold together for you but putting it out there kinda feels cathartic – like getting it off of my chest. Anyhoo – to make any sense of it – because like I say it’s a bit of a…speculative, self-indulgent musing which has no real basis in, well, anything really…you’re probably gonna need to know some background to the story it derived from! Given that the central character is a barely mentioned background figure in BTVS canon and I’ve moved so far from the premise and characterisation of the show as to make the connection almost nonexistent it strikes me that it’s so AU that it’s barely fanfiction at all! To be honest, looking at it now I reckon the idea was entirely mad in the first place…but whatever…it just happened! And, looking back, it still works for me now even after a decade of growing older…I guess it’s a case that when the muse takes you I think it’s best you follow where she leads, ‘cos you never know when she’ll be back. I certainly know that! I haven’t seen her round here for the longest time! Anyway – going back to when I did have the creative urge to make this – what I found was that as it was so separate from the ‘reality’ of the show it allowed me to play with the sort of [kinky] ideas that I like without having to worry any about consistency or chronology within the fandom; which in turn allowed me to use (and slash) characters whose lives just don’t intersect. I have to confess that there is a degree personal transference on my part in how this fic developed. It doesn’t take a great deal of psychoanalysis on my own self to work out why the idea of an older sub/younger Domme, inter-racial f/F dynamic does it for me. Put simply – it goes pretty much exactly to my own personal knik and suffice it to say I really wish I was about 25 years younger! In the original ‘parent’ fic what I wanted to create was a sort of Buffyverse meets Rebecca’s Housewives at Play confection. I do lurve the fantasy world of Rebecca’s Housewives at Play comic books and their off-kilter perverting of the middle-class/middle-aged/middle-America housewife stereotype. And, I’d always wanted to create a BTVS based fic that reflected the feel and style of HAP – partly on the grounds that I can’t draw shit! So my overall starting point was to try to give it a comic book feel – I don’t know if I succeeded in that with this spin-off but I hope I’ve got a bit of it. Added to all that; as an – errm – shucks – ‘older’ fan of kinky femslash (I’m enough of a vain old broad not to reveal my age but suffice to say I probably should know a lot better than be wasting my time on this sort of thing!) I’ve grooved on the idea of seeing Joyce Summers, as played by Kristine Sutherland (oh and I so would…I mean…) forcefully and painfully converted into a hot, horny, nympho lesbian sex-slave. These two ideas kind of merged together for me way back when, with Joyce as a sort of avatar for the Cathy character trope. And what came out of that fusion of ideas was the original larger fiction which went by the working title: ‘The Servitude of Joyce Summers: Sappho in Suburbia’. Snappy I know – but you can probably see where the whole thing was going. In adapting (and adopting) the characters – and also adding a small number of OC’s and some crossover characters from other fandoms for good measure, I had hoped to retain a sense of the traits of those found in the original TV material (which, just to be clear yet again – I do not own! I’m just taking them out to play) viewed through a sort of Housewives at Play (which I also don’t own) filter. Moreover, in the AU that both the parent fic and this spin-off occupy there are no Slayers or Vamps, no witches, demons, monsters or any other supernatural factors. That would just have distracted from my HAP comic-book style musings. Having made that leap it also provided me the additional happy advantage of allowing me to access the entire dramatis personae of BTVS without concern for the continuity of the show. It let me expand in a couple of significant instances on more minor characters and, as I said, at the same time include a small number of crossovers and add a couple of OCs of my own creation: so allowing, for example, Joyce to have lived on healthily to find her new direction and a new love; Dawn to grow up and discover her own sexuality while Kennedy and Tara could be alive at the same time to jointly dominate Willow. It also allowed – and critically for this spin-off piece – Kendra to have survived: because, as there are no such things as Slayers, she never died – easy! The same applied to the Jenny Calendar, Anya, Darla characters – among others with roles of varying importance. So basically what I’m saying here is that there were no rules…which was probably, in large part, why the whole parent piece span so completely out of control! Nevertheless as a result of the absence of rules I found that one of the bits that fell out of the overarching ‘The Servitude of Joyce Summers: Sappho in Suburbia’ fic was the story of Joyce’s older sister Arlene, which just leapt out at me shouting ‘Look at me! Look at me! Look at me!’ And when I looked at it a casting for the role just stuck out for me. Anyway, after all that meandering – a brief (well briefish) if slightly incoherent prasee of ‘Sappho in Suburbia’ by way of a summary of what lead up to Arlene’s story: The story opens with Joyce Summers – lonely divorcee and mother of two girls (Buffy, 19 and Dawn, 16) answering her door to find Faith, Buffy’s older friend and, the somewhat homophobic Joyce suspects, ex-girlfriend, paying a call. Faith however isn’t there to see Buffy and she forcefully and shockingly (for our middle aged heroine anyway) seduces Joyce. Dominating her, Faith has her way with her repeatedly. She turns Joyce into her sex-slave and they enter into a kinky relationship in which, while Joyce continues at Faith’s insistence to run the art gallery she owns during the day, at night she becomes Faith’s submissive, lingerie clad housewife and plaything to meet all Faith’s fantasies of having an older woman serve all her lusty needs. Following Joyce’s seduction she experiences numerous sexual adventures with Faith: a first date when Faith takes Joyce to a lesbian dance club where she very publicly and very intimately fondles and gropes her before spanking her in the bathroom for some minor infraction. Joyce is made to leave her panties with the woman behind the bar. They dance and by the end of the night a very confused but undeniably aroused Joyce is taken home by Faith who makes passionate love to her again. At work the next day Faith calls Joyce leading her into coercive phone sex which ends with Joyce masturbating as Faith tells her what she’s planning to do with her. Faith instructs Joyce to join her when the Gallery closes – bringing her panties with her – at the Espresso Pump. There Faith explains to Joyce that – if she agrees – she’s going to make her into a submissive housewife for her to do with as she wishes. There is a leather paddle on the table – Faith tells Joyce that if she accepts what Faith wants she should pick up the paddle and hand it back to her. Faith sets out her conditions – the painful, humiliating, sexual things Joyce is going to have to accept. She promises her complete domination and endless wild, kinky sex. Swept away by Faith’s intensity and passion, the promise of such and exotic life so different from her currently unexciting existence Joyce while terrified takes a deep breath and picks up the paddle. Faith immediately takes her home to Revello Drive where she spank and paddles her until she is sobbing, before making love to her over and over until she is utterly spent. The next day Faith begins to take over Joyce’s life. She makes her take the day off. First they move Faith into Revello Drive and then they go shopping. Joyce’s credit card takes a hammering as they buy her a new, slutty, wardrobe, erotic lingerie (which is all that she will be permitted to wear about the house from now on), sex toys and, much to Joyce’s shock and embarrassment, a large quantity of porn. During the day Faith fondles and gropes Joyce constantly and publicly, showing her off and fucking her in the changing rooms of one of the stores they visit – and then again in the car in the parking lot. She makes her browse the adult bookstore at length making a show of her as they select several movies and a number of sex toys. When they get home Faith makes her strip and she shaves her before making love to her yet again. Swept off her feet and plunged into a new life Joyce has no choice but to quickly come to accept and enjoy her new sexuality and submissive lifestyle and she finds herself falling deeply in love with her young Mistress despite – or perhaps because of – the all the things to which she is subject at Faith’s hands. At the same time Joyce’s daughters are going through their own changes. Dawn has recently consummated her relationship with her girlfriend Janice when they are caught in bed together by Janice’s mom, Dayna. Despite the discovery of long forgotten feelings in herself Dayna is shocked to find out that her daughter is a lesbian and she forbids them from sleeping together under her roof. Angrily Dawn and Janice head for Revello Drive. When Joyce and Faith come home, very aroused, after a romantic, sexy date at the local dyke-bar again – where Joyce has had her first lap-dance, they are surprised to find Dawn and Janice naked, making love on the sofa while one of the porno movies that Joyce and Faith bought together is playing on the TV. A disagreement follows with Joyce initially siding with Dayna’s position; but when Dawn points out Faith’s hand on Joyce’s ass saying that she knows about their relationship after seeing, a few nights before Joyce, naked on the bathroom floor being shaved and then fucked by Faith Joyce realises that she cannot be a hypocrite and concedes that the two teens can sleep together under her roof. Meanwhile Buffy’s brief relationship with her former High School teacher Jenny Calendar is in difficulties and it ends painfully when she finds Jenny spanking another blonde girl – and Buffy knows from personal experience what that will lead to. Devastated, she turns to her room-mate Willow for comfort but returning to their dorm-room she finds Willow being double-teamed by her girlfriend Tara and a new girl, Kennedy. And so at a bit of a loss she returns home to Revello Drive where she is shaken to find her mother in bed with Faith and her sister with Janice. They all settle into an uneasy peace with Joyce and Faith sharing their lives together and Dawn spending most of her nights with Janice. Buffy is lonely. She masturbates frequently, often to the frustrating sound of her mother’s and sister’s noisy sexual escapades. Some days later Joyce’s friend (and Janice’s mom) Dayna visits the gallery to demand that she stops their daughters from sleeping together. Joyce explains that she can’t and, when pushed by Dayna as to why, explains the reasons, coming out to her friend. As they talk Dayna realises that her objections to Janice’s relationship with Dawn are mainly about her own jealousy and she admits to Joyce that she’s lonely. She confesses that she had several girlfriends in her college years and had only married Janice’s dad due to parental pressure, when she never really loved him. Lightened by the admission she tells Joyce that she’d like to have a girlfriend again. When they talk more she also admits that she’s attracted submissive women – like Joyce – only younger. Joyce invites her to join her and Faith at the lesbian club and she reluctantly agrees. When they get there she hooks up with one of the dancers, Cordelia. They go home together. Never one to miss a good reason to tan her lover’s backside Faith ensures that Joyce pays a painful price for inviting someone on their date night, giving her a severe, public, spank ing before taking her home. A few days later Dayna shows up at the Gallery again and tells Joyce that she had a great time with Cordy but it was only a one night stand – albeit with a very hot, young, submissive stripper. Now she’s had some time to think about it she realises wants more. After some thought Joyce realises she’d be perfect for the lonely Buffy and offers to set them up. Dayna can hardly believe what Joyce is saying but she eventually agrees to take her up on the offer though she says she doesn’t really know what to do. Joyce tells her to be forceful – like Faith was with her – aggressive even, handsy and pushy. Don’t give her any choice, she tells her. Boss her. Tell her how it’s going to be and just make her – spank her if you have to – she’ll thank you for it in the end. Later Dayna comes to Revello Drive to tell Buffy that she’s going to take her out on a date. She gives her a dress to wear (it’s very short, very tight and very revealing and slutty) and some very specific instructions – she’s to be ready at 7.30 promptly, she’s to wear heals, pack a toothbrush because she *won’t* be coming home, and she’s *not* to wear underwear. The date is a success and they are both strongly attracted to each other with Buffy struck by how dominant Dayna is. Dayna takes her home, spanking and making love to her. After arranging to see her again she drops her back home the next day. Buffy is very tired and dishevelled but blissfully in love. Buffy’s life is transformed and soon she moves in with Dayna while Janice moving the other way in to Revello Drive. Meanwhile Joyce and Faith continue to explore their relationship: visits to the tattooist and the piercing studio; the night Joyce [and Buffy] are made to strip at the club they frequent; the times Joyce is publicly spanked; and a threesome with a client of Joyce’s at the gallery (an art buyer by the name of Piper Halliwell) who Faith gets her to hit on and bring home. And eventually they both realise that they want to really want Joyce to become completely Faith’s so, Faith proposes to her and Joyce accepts willingly. And after two quite different bachelorette parties they get married. (Please remember that this was written before the recent – if incomplete – progress made on gay marriage on both sides of the Atlantic. I’ve always fantasised about the conceit of the kinky lesbian wedding conflating ideas of commitment and coming out and submission in a feminised but traditional wedding scene. I know I touched on it a few times in the stuff I wrote in the deep and distant past but it’s something that comes back to me time after time.) There was going to be more to it after that – honeymoon and some more around Dawn and Buffy and their relationships going forwards but I rather lost the will to continue. However it’s that wedding that provides the back-drop to Imago and so, enter: Joyce’s sister Arlene – as played in my fevered mind at the time I wrote this, by an old favourite of mine, Gates McFadden once of Star Trek: the Next Generation. Forgive me that complete and total self indulgence! Included at the end of this are several short scenes – vignettes perhaps. Their original purpose was to provide a sort of contextual relief within the chapter on Joyce’s wedding day (and night) in the main ‘The Servitude of Joyce Summers: Sappho in Suburbia’ fic. And it was from one of these that Arlene’s story originally formed and expanded in my mind to be what you see below. I’ve included the other vignettes here in their original form to illustrate where Imago grew from – and partially, simply because I wanted to. Please feel free to disregard! To be honest I suspect that some readers are probably going to find it all too much, with too many ancillary characters thrown in – but they are all characters that figure to some degree in the wider parent piece and who find their way into here as part of the contextual scenery. However, as I said earlier I fully acknowledge that it really needs a bit of critical editing to strip it down and tidy it up where it doesn’t flow with [what passes for] the narrative and some of that would no doubt include some of those characters. But as I say – I haven’t got the time or inclination to do lots of rewrites – so I beg your forbearance. For those reading this whose normal usage is American English - please remember that I’m English and much of my spelling and general usage is English-English so while I’ve tried to use America idioms it isn’t perhaps as consistent as I’d like. Finally – a note on the Dramatis Personae: I’ve ‘cast’ all of the characters – speaking and non-speaking, OC or otherwise; minor or major and included them order to colour in the backdrop. Where these are Original Characters I had fairly clear ideas on what they would look like and who would play them. thus, visually at least, The Judge is clearly (and shamelessly) based on Lucy Liu as Ling Woo in Ally McBeal as Peri Gilpin (whose character is much larger in the parent work) is obviously based on Ros Doyle. And, at risk of exposing my hidden shallows, please bear in mind that when I started this way back when and set it in about 2003/4, I wrote it with these actresses in mind as they might have appeared at that time rather than as they may do today. And if all that lot hasn’t put you off – if I haven’t bored you all to death with my self-indulgent ramblings...at last…I hope you all enjoy the story as much as I did. Please let me know.
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