*Adult++* Non-gratuitous bloody Buffy/Predator crossover

[Guest JohnnyS]

*Warning! Death, Violence, and Sex! Don't read this challenge if you're under legal age in your country (mostly 21 or 18) or when you're too sensitive for such content*

This is a challenge to the experienced and profiled Buffy fanfic writers under you*. If you like the Predator franchise and hold love and deep understanding of the Buffyverse and its characters and if you don't shy away from telling a serious dark story with explicit sex and EXTREMELY gruesome, gory and ridiculously graphic violence and subsequent, multiple deaths of loved major characters implemented into a real complex, multilayered plot that deserved its name, this challenge might be something for you.

Note: this challenge is, despite its first impression, NOT just about writing a gratuitous Death!Fic where everyone is just set up to get killed off one by one as horribly as possible mixed in with some porn scenes for the sole purpose to arouse and thrill the reader-but other than that completely without substance. I think this kind of story is called Guro or Gorn but I'm not certain about that.

Whilst the core aspects of Guro remain (explicit sex, extreme graphic violence/gore, multiple deaths of major characters), it shall have a real plot and Whedonesque storytelling. In other words: Tell us a great, interesting story with complex characters and multiple interpersonal dynamics, Buffy style narrative structures & dialogues, on-spot character voices, metaphors, allegories, foreshadowing, twists and turns etc and make us really feel and root for each of them. Surprise us. Shock us. Horrify us. Despair us. Hurt us.

Concerning plot, it's up to you. I leave you much freedom in that regard. 

The following are my parameters:

1. The story shall take place in the summer after Graduation II. I don't know if there is detailed knowledge of when *exactly* Xander leaves for his summer trip and Cordelia for Los Angeles. So I would say the story starts around two weeks after graduation with Xander and Cordy still in preparations for their upcoming departure.

2. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Cordelia, Angel and Oz are the main characters (they form an ensemble with equal focus) and MUST be in the story.

3. Optionally, you can add further characters such as Riley, Anya or Tara etc. However, that leads to my next point.

4. Stay as close to canon as possible in everything that occurred before the story begins. It's unlikely that Spike will show up since he's in South America. Anya fled Sunnydale before the Ascension. Riley could be involved because the Initiative takes notice of the Hostiles from Space. Faith is still in coma. Etc.

5. Location: At first, briefly in both Los Angeles centered on Angel and Sunnydale with the Scoobies. The happenings in L.A. then lead Angel to return to the Scoobies only two weeks after his melodramatic departure.

5. Make it around 3-5 Predators (I won't cry when it's six) arriving in one spaceship. Only Predators. It's not AvP. You can use their weapons and gear that only exists in AvP, however.

6. Out of the seven main characters, maximum two are allowed to survive but you can kill all of them entirely if it suits you. No resurrections. The deaths are permanent.

7. I love all the characters but I hold a particular fondness for Willow. Means, if she dies, then please late in the story near the end so I get my sufficient Willow fix. However, you're absolutely *allowed* to kill her, of course. She's considered fair game as everyone else.

8. Be creative in the deaths but stay AUTHENTIC. For instance, as far as I know, Predators don't rape and impregnate human females. Just saying (I have read such a story, actually). However, Predators *are* creative (and brutal, gory, nasty, OMG) in their killings so you should have enough space.

9. Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles's deaths (if they happen) MUST be most brutal, gruesome, detailed, graphic and focused on to the very bitter end (and beyond). For the purpose of avoiding repetition and keeping a dynamic in the story, other deaths *can* be quicker, more harmless, "off-screen", implied etc. In general, the deaths don't have to occur at a certain pace and order. That's completely up to you.

10. At least one character must be eaten alive by a large monster. Around the size that it can swallow a body wholly or in a few bites. Either a demon from Earth or a monster that came with the Predators (if such a creature exists in lore. I'm not that familiar with the franchise). However, as always, not gratuitous. Introduce it in time, build it up, do foreshadowing etc. Don't let it pop up out of nowhere with no context.

11. Explicit sex: Just as with gore and violence. Stay authentic. The only sex that makes ad-hoc sense is between Oz and Willow because they're the only couple. Buffy boinking Angel and releasing Angelus again is pretty far-fetched unless you have a very good explanation. Also, don't just randomly throw in sex-scenes to get off the readership. In context and with purpose. Like, During the introduction where the characters are introduced- Willow and Oz have sex in her room. Oz's music is playing from the speakers. They talk with each other while she slowly rides him, issues are revealed (eg. Willow worries about Buffy because she's moping too much etc.) and so on. Until it becomes more and more intense. The sex and nakedness itself please *very* graphic too. For the excitement: I don't see Willow/Oz only doing vanilla sex anyway. Quite the contrary. Actually, I think they were pretty happy to try out things, especially Willow with helpful suggestions from Oz (positions, techniques, kinks etc.)

12. No comedic deaths. They are serious and tragic and horrible and finite. Also no mean-spirited deaths. Willow won't attempt a spell to attack a Predator but screws it up and ends up exploding, for instance. And Xander doesn't fall over his shoe-laces right into a spear because he is in sugar shock from eating too much jelly donuts.

13. Now I have talked so much about their deaths-> they are NOT damsels waiting for the slaughterhouse. They pretty much kick ass and are as resourceful as in canon. It's just not enough. I chose Predators partly because they don't really fit into the classic horror tropes that BtVS subverts with such glee. Buffy & Co. are on foreign ground here.

14. Both, the Predators and the Scoobies don't have much knowledge about the other's abilities and constitution. There may be some legends on both sides. Predators have no idea about magic and the supernatural. They learn fast, however.

15. Chose from these three different endings: A) Predators win, ultimately kill everyone and leave the readers in utter despair, B) After heavy casualties, the Scoobies are ultimately victorious- semi-Happy Ending, C) the Predators kill everyone but a twist defrauds them of their Happy Ending- Kind of a small consolation for the readers.

16. Use the general tone and atmosphere of Buffy and gradually escalate the darkness the more the Predators invade and subvert their universe.

17. If possible, use plenty dialogue and use the narrator to show, not tell the action, feelings, and motivations. I think narrators that spell out feelings and motivations of characters have a good place in shorter character studies. However, in longer stories with plots it can become tedious and a tad patronizing because everything quickly becomes on-the-nose and closed to interpretation. At least in Buffy fanfic and least for me.

18. Just to emphasize again. Extreme violence and gory deaths. Just look the Predators movies and see what they do to their prey. On that level but even more graphic and less implied. The same for sex. Extreme and graphic but still authentic and not bizarre and fetish. Stuff like scat, necrophil, mpreg etc, that doesn't make sense in Buffy and Predator is not allowed. 

So, that's it. I hope someone is crazy enough and wants to pull it off (YAY, you know you want it. Come on!) 

My motivations to read such stories boil down to:

1. I want a good story that captivates me.
2. I want to hurt for the characters. Call it emotional masochism. After having read such a story, I love the characters even more and immediately start to read a normal Gen!Fic or watch an episode. I like the despair only to find out there's an outlet.
3. I'm quite fascinated how good writers can create even such extreme atmospheres and provocate emotions only with words. I admire the craftsmanship.
4. Yes, there's also the thrill.
5. I love reading Buffy fanfic. All Genres. All Ratings. I can even bear short kitsch and fluff (well, if it's really short and I'm in bad mood)

*Everyone else who doesn't consider oneself experienced and profiled is *of course* allowed to try their luck too!