Roads Less Traveled
by Casix Thistlebane
Story 6: The Sad Tale of Bunnyman
Part Five
Willow spared Xander a worried glance before focusing back on Dawn. He was obviously in trouble, but if she couldn't keep the possessed girl in check . . . .
Dawn was growling and spitting, struggling against the bonds. Then her body suddenly went slack, and her eyes widened.
"Willow,"
Willow cursed silently. Of course. If the spirit couldn't act through Dawn, it would try and find another host . . . . But the only other people there were herself and . . . .
She snapped her gaze back to Xander, who still huddled against the tree, shaking and clutching at his prosthetic eye, but now his head was jerking back and forth. Keeping one hand directed toward Dawn, she shot the other one out, nearly screaming the words of power. Whatever was happening to her friend could give the spirit an in on his brain, and if it got a hold of him . . . .
The words were barely out in time, as Xander's eyes shot wide open and he lurched against the tree, halting into a crouching position. He whimpered wordlessly.
Dawn was a stubborn, often angry young woman, and when the spirit got a hold of that, it went after vengeance. But in Xander's current state of panic, the fight or flight instinct would take on a different form.
In Dawn, the spirit was a predator. In Xander, it was prey.
Xander jerked again, and his mouth opened and he let out a soft, high-pitched keening sound before dropping back down to sit on the ground. He stared wide eyed at Willow, then shot his eyes sideways, to Dawn.
Who was tensing again, and starting to growl. Willow gritted her teeth, struggling to maintain a grip on both of her friends. The spirit, at a loss of where to go, was bouncing back and forth between them, looking desperately for a way out. She had to make it choose one, or she'd never be able to communicate with it.
But which one?
She frowned, closing her eyes, trying to feel out which of her friends would be more suitable. Xander was less likely to attack, but his mind was caught up in a panic attack, confused, terrified, and likely to strike out at the least provocation. Dawn was more focused and a lot more calm, but much, much more dangerous. Either way she'd have to keep a grip on the other, to make sure the spirit didn't try to retake them . . . .
And then, suddenly, she knew exactly what she needed to do. She reached out with her mind, enveloping both Xander and Dawn within it, preventing the spirit from entering either one. Wordlessly, she asked their permission.
Dawn was confused, but nodded slightly. Xander flinched, then nodded as well. Willow swallowed a lump in her throat, then whispered more words of power.
Both Dawn and Xander slumped down into unconsciousness, and Willow opened up her own mind, letting the spirit in.
She was much to powerful, and too in control of her mental capabilities for the spirit to take full control, and the spirit knew this. But it was angry at the way it had been trapped between the other two, confused why someone as balanced in nature as Willow would be looking to hurt it. It consented, and entered her mind.
Willow's body dropped to the ground near her friends as her mind dropped into the astral plane.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The spirit was large, but intangible. It took on the form of a wolf, with cloven hooves, antlers, and scaled skin. It loomed over Willow on the blank plane. She could feel hot breath, smell forest decay and spring buds, feel earth under her feet. She stared it down.
She brought forward images of the spirit's victims, the bodies hanging from the bridge, the grieving families, the drugged Bunnyman huddled in his room at the asylum. And she spoke a single word: "Why?"
The spirit showed her its woods, as it had been, before mankind. It showed her the deer and the rabbits, the racoons and squirrels and snakes and wolves all moving through the trees and the water, animals dying and animals giving birth, in equal measure. Then it forced her to watch, as the woods were slowly destroyed by colonists and industrialists. She watched the railroad bridge being built, bringing with it fumes of burning coal and oil, hot steam and gasoline. She watched the asphalt being laid down, fencing the spirit into this one, lonely stretch of woods. She watched as the wolves vanished and the deer, lacking its natural predator, spawning in too great numbers, until they were starving and weak. She saw the teenagers coming in, leaving behind metal and plastic and styrofoam that wouldn't bio-degrade. She saw men and woman walking through, dropping cigarette butts that burned through the fallen leaves, smoking the smaller animals out of their homes.
She showed it happy families, men and women living in peace with each other, people recycling and helping clean up the woods. She showed him as much life as she possibly could, but the spirit shook its head.
It showed her life in balance with death, creation with destruction, cycles of animals and plants flourishing with the help of the others. And it showed her, again, the destruction of all those lives, pushing forward, past the present and into the future of blackened, dead trees, a lifeless woods.
Willow frowned, and showed it the police coming into the woods to investigate the bodies, breaking branches and leaving behind bits of paper, cigarettes, coffee cups in their hurry to solve the crime and make the area safe. She showed it mankind giving up on the woods, believing it to be evil because it is bringing death. She showed it bulldozers and apartment complexes rising up where the trees once stood.
The spirit reared back, and hesitantly, in a gruff voice, it used the words it could sense in her mind.
"No."
"That's what will happen if you keep killing people."
"Life and death. Balance."
"We're learning those things. Every day people are learning more about it. But people are afraid of nature, of the woods. If they think it will kill them, they'll kill it first."
"Need a predator."
"Men are their own predators." Willow brought forward images of war, domestic abuse, genocide. "We keep ourselves in check."
"No."
"Okay, so maybe not very well. But people are trying. Taking over minds, forcing them to kill, it will only lead to destruction faster."
The spirit turned away.
So Willow called forth images of Dawn. Dawn lecturing one of the potentials who didn't cut apart the plastic rings from a six pack. Dawn helping her mother, and then Tara tend the flowers and bushes in the backyard of the old Summers house. Dawn walking through the woods, enjoying it without destroying it.
The spirit turned back, slightly, and Willow hid a smile. She showed it Dawn attacking Xander in the water, under the spirit's own influence. Dawn turning her back on environmental issues, because she remembers being forced to care too much. She called up every memory she could think of of people she knew, caring for the world around them. She even showed it the destruction of Sunnydale, trying to fight back the evil forces that would destroy the spirit and the woods it coveted just as surely as mankind in its ignorance would, but doing it purposefully, with evil intent.
The spirit stared at her. "Balance."
"Yes."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn woke in the dark woods, with no idea how long she might have been out. She brushed leaves and debris from her jeans, pushing herself up into a kneeling position. Willow had knocked her out gently, she had none of the pain she associated with being forced unconscious.
She tried to feel to see if the spirit would try and take over her again, but she was definitely alone in her mind.
She heard someone moaning softly a few feet away, and after a moment could make out Xander's shape as he slowly sat up. She hurried over to him.
"Are you alright?"
Xander shivered, then nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't know–"
"DON'T apologize." Dawn wrapped an arm over his shoulder. His cheek was bruised where his own fingers had dug into the skin, trying to protect his missing eye. "It's not your fault."
"I don't know what happened." Xander's voice was barely a whisper. "When you knocked Willow down, then grabbed me like that . . . . It was like I was there, in the vineyard, all over again. I . . . guess I kinda freaked."
Dawn smiled. "Kinda. Screwed up our plan pretty royally, too."
"Well, I never liked the plan, anyway."
"Seriously, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Dawn. I'm alright." Xander sat up the rest of the way, then pushed Dawn aside. "I mean, I'm still a little wigged, but it was nothing I can't handle. It was just–"
"Post-traumatic stress disorder." Willow was shoving herself up onto her elbows. "You were reliving it. That's PTSD, Xander. You need to see someone–"
"I'm fine."
Willow moved toward them. "No, you're really not. Xand–"
"Willow, leave it. I'll be okay. This never happened before, it was just the situation, okay?"
Dawn frowned. "You've never panicked like that over . . . what happened?"
Xander shrugged. "I've had nightmares . . . . A lot of nightmares. But they've been going away. I really think I'm okay." He stood, carefully, then offered his hand to Willow. "Did you get it? Did you stop the spirit?"
Willow shrugged. "I think so. There's no real right answer here. I mean, it was right, humans ARE destroying the woods, but getting them to kill each other isn't going to help anything. I tried to show it that."
"So it's still here?" Dawn spun, as though she would see it sneaking up behind her.
"It's always going to be. It doesn't have a choice, this is its home." Willow frowned. "I think it agreed to stay away from humans. As long as no one comes along to build an apartment complex here, I think it'll be okay."
Dawn smiled. "Hey, maybe when Lisa is done getting the Lizard Man's domain protected, she can come and argue with the builders up here."
"Lisa?" Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. Don't tell me Xander didn't tell you about Lisa and Leyna,"
"He's been pretty quiet on the slayer subject, just 'this girl is coming, look after her'."
"Well, then, we've got some stories to tell you." Dawn grabbed Xander's hand and began leading him and Willow back up to the car. "After all, you gotta be prepared for all the girls you're gonna be meeting in Europe."
"Somehow, Dawn, I get the feeling that European slayer hunting is going to be a bit different from what we do." Xander grinned. "If nothing else, you gotta watch out for those language barriers."
"Yeah, and hopefully, your slayers won't all be living in supernatural central. I mean, there's gotta be SOME place in the world that doesn't have some sort of beastie or ooglie to fight, right?" Dawn tripped over a branch and grinned. "Hey, I'm not all Dawn of the Woods any more."
"Don't get too excited, your love of nature is half of what convinced the spirit to quit." Willow smirked. "You're making me look bad."
"That," Xander wrapped an arm over Willow's shoulder. "Is patently impossible."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Have a good trip, Will. Don't get yourself in trouble over there, okay? We can't translocate to save your ass."
Willow grinned and shouldered her backpack. They were back in the hotel, though Dawn had pleaded utter boredom and taken the car off to do some recreational driving. Both Willow and Xander could see right through that excuse, but they let her get away with it.
"Please. I think I can handle myself, magic or no."
Xander smirked. "I dunno. I have a sopping wet sneaker in the toilet that says differently." He frowned then. "You seriously missed? 'Cause that worries me a bit."
Willow grinned and winked at him. "Of course I didn't. A) teleporting into the hallway, where anyone can see me? Not such a grand idea. And b) it sounded on the phone like you guys could use a good laugh."
"You teleported into the toilet on purpose."
"What, you think you have the market cornered on inappropriate, self-effacing humor?"
Xander pretended to ponder that for a moment. "Well, yeah. I AM the undefeated champion. Well, aside from Rodney Dangerfield, that is."
"You don't get no respect."
"I don't."
Willow grinned, then leaned in and placed a quick kiss on Xander's left cheek, right on top of one of the finger shaped bruises. "Seriously, Xander. You need to see someone. A panic attack like that, even only one, it's not a good thing."
"I know, Wills. And if it happens again, I promise, I'll drop everything and find myself a really good counselor." He shrugged. "But right now, I can't help but think this is more important. There's a hell of a lot of girls out there who are in need of exactly the kind of Xander-shaped support that I can provide." He grimaced. "Barring Carmella. I really hope she'll reconsider and give us a call."
"If she won't come willingly, there's nothing you can do." Willow smiled. "Besides, how many girls have you talked to, and only one has out right said 'no'? I'd say you're setting a tough precedent for me." Willow glanced at the clock. "But I've got a flight out of the country in two days, and a large backpack to buy and pack." Willow reached into her pocket for the translocation spell ingredients.
Xander grabbed her arm. "Not quite yet." And he pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "Call me. I don't care what time it is. You need anything, even just a virtual, over the phone hug, you call me."
"Same to you, buster."
Willow started setting up her spell, but just before she placed the last stone at her feet, she turned and caught Xander's eye. He smiled and waved. She set the stone down, and faded from sight.
Xander was just turning away to get ready for bed when he heard her voice calling from the fading circle on the floor.
"Next one's outside DC!"
"Again?!"
tbc in "Foresta"
Addendum to the author's note: Holy shit, I actually finished this story. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. I don't know what it was, but this story was really hard for me to get going on. Hence it being filled with, well, filler. A lot of the character stuff in this chapter was somewhat superfluous, but if nothing else, I do enjoy playing around in the characters' minds. And since most of my inspiration on this story these days is conversations about pop culture between Xander and Dawn, I had to get SOME of that out of my head.
I hope you all are still enjoying this story, and thanks for all of your reviews! "Foresta" might take a little while again, as I'm still job hunting and am now stage managing a show, but it's already forming in my head, so hopefully it won't be TOO long.
On Xander and PTSD: I had a little trouble with this, as I knew I wanted to do something with the emotional impact of losing an eye, but I wasn't sure I was a skilled enough writer to tackle the topic. I also had the trouble of, once I brought it into the story, it had to remain an issue. I can't simply present it and then have the characters move on their ordinary business, but since the story requires the characters traveling, and it's pretty much impossible to get proper, psychological care while they're on the road, I'm going to have to work on this issue a little bit. It will definitely be coming back, but perhaps not for a little while.
Keep an eye out for Carmella, she's not nearly done yet.
As I've said before, I'm starting to get a feel for the ultimate arc of this series. It's a bit of a doozy. God knows it'll change a lot as I keep writing, but we're not even halfway yet, so I hope you all are ready for a long haul.
-Casix
by Casix Thistlebane
Story 6: The Sad Tale of Bunnyman
Part Five
Willow spared Xander a worried glance before focusing back on Dawn. He was obviously in trouble, but if she couldn't keep the possessed girl in check . . . .
Dawn was growling and spitting, struggling against the bonds. Then her body suddenly went slack, and her eyes widened.
"Willow,"
Willow cursed silently. Of course. If the spirit couldn't act through Dawn, it would try and find another host . . . . But the only other people there were herself and . . . .
She snapped her gaze back to Xander, who still huddled against the tree, shaking and clutching at his prosthetic eye, but now his head was jerking back and forth. Keeping one hand directed toward Dawn, she shot the other one out, nearly screaming the words of power. Whatever was happening to her friend could give the spirit an in on his brain, and if it got a hold of him . . . .
The words were barely out in time, as Xander's eyes shot wide open and he lurched against the tree, halting into a crouching position. He whimpered wordlessly.
Dawn was a stubborn, often angry young woman, and when the spirit got a hold of that, it went after vengeance. But in Xander's current state of panic, the fight or flight instinct would take on a different form.
In Dawn, the spirit was a predator. In Xander, it was prey.
Xander jerked again, and his mouth opened and he let out a soft, high-pitched keening sound before dropping back down to sit on the ground. He stared wide eyed at Willow, then shot his eyes sideways, to Dawn.
Who was tensing again, and starting to growl. Willow gritted her teeth, struggling to maintain a grip on both of her friends. The spirit, at a loss of where to go, was bouncing back and forth between them, looking desperately for a way out. She had to make it choose one, or she'd never be able to communicate with it.
But which one?
She frowned, closing her eyes, trying to feel out which of her friends would be more suitable. Xander was less likely to attack, but his mind was caught up in a panic attack, confused, terrified, and likely to strike out at the least provocation. Dawn was more focused and a lot more calm, but much, much more dangerous. Either way she'd have to keep a grip on the other, to make sure the spirit didn't try to retake them . . . .
And then, suddenly, she knew exactly what she needed to do. She reached out with her mind, enveloping both Xander and Dawn within it, preventing the spirit from entering either one. Wordlessly, she asked their permission.
Dawn was confused, but nodded slightly. Xander flinched, then nodded as well. Willow swallowed a lump in her throat, then whispered more words of power.
Both Dawn and Xander slumped down into unconsciousness, and Willow opened up her own mind, letting the spirit in.
She was much to powerful, and too in control of her mental capabilities for the spirit to take full control, and the spirit knew this. But it was angry at the way it had been trapped between the other two, confused why someone as balanced in nature as Willow would be looking to hurt it. It consented, and entered her mind.
Willow's body dropped to the ground near her friends as her mind dropped into the astral plane.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The spirit was large, but intangible. It took on the form of a wolf, with cloven hooves, antlers, and scaled skin. It loomed over Willow on the blank plane. She could feel hot breath, smell forest decay and spring buds, feel earth under her feet. She stared it down.
She brought forward images of the spirit's victims, the bodies hanging from the bridge, the grieving families, the drugged Bunnyman huddled in his room at the asylum. And she spoke a single word: "Why?"
The spirit showed her its woods, as it had been, before mankind. It showed her the deer and the rabbits, the racoons and squirrels and snakes and wolves all moving through the trees and the water, animals dying and animals giving birth, in equal measure. Then it forced her to watch, as the woods were slowly destroyed by colonists and industrialists. She watched the railroad bridge being built, bringing with it fumes of burning coal and oil, hot steam and gasoline. She watched the asphalt being laid down, fencing the spirit into this one, lonely stretch of woods. She watched as the wolves vanished and the deer, lacking its natural predator, spawning in too great numbers, until they were starving and weak. She saw the teenagers coming in, leaving behind metal and plastic and styrofoam that wouldn't bio-degrade. She saw men and woman walking through, dropping cigarette butts that burned through the fallen leaves, smoking the smaller animals out of their homes.
She showed it happy families, men and women living in peace with each other, people recycling and helping clean up the woods. She showed him as much life as she possibly could, but the spirit shook its head.
It showed her life in balance with death, creation with destruction, cycles of animals and plants flourishing with the help of the others. And it showed her, again, the destruction of all those lives, pushing forward, past the present and into the future of blackened, dead trees, a lifeless woods.
Willow frowned, and showed it the police coming into the woods to investigate the bodies, breaking branches and leaving behind bits of paper, cigarettes, coffee cups in their hurry to solve the crime and make the area safe. She showed it mankind giving up on the woods, believing it to be evil because it is bringing death. She showed it bulldozers and apartment complexes rising up where the trees once stood.
The spirit reared back, and hesitantly, in a gruff voice, it used the words it could sense in her mind.
"No."
"That's what will happen if you keep killing people."
"Life and death. Balance."
"We're learning those things. Every day people are learning more about it. But people are afraid of nature, of the woods. If they think it will kill them, they'll kill it first."
"Need a predator."
"Men are their own predators." Willow brought forward images of war, domestic abuse, genocide. "We keep ourselves in check."
"No."
"Okay, so maybe not very well. But people are trying. Taking over minds, forcing them to kill, it will only lead to destruction faster."
The spirit turned away.
So Willow called forth images of Dawn. Dawn lecturing one of the potentials who didn't cut apart the plastic rings from a six pack. Dawn helping her mother, and then Tara tend the flowers and bushes in the backyard of the old Summers house. Dawn walking through the woods, enjoying it without destroying it.
The spirit turned back, slightly, and Willow hid a smile. She showed it Dawn attacking Xander in the water, under the spirit's own influence. Dawn turning her back on environmental issues, because she remembers being forced to care too much. She called up every memory she could think of of people she knew, caring for the world around them. She even showed it the destruction of Sunnydale, trying to fight back the evil forces that would destroy the spirit and the woods it coveted just as surely as mankind in its ignorance would, but doing it purposefully, with evil intent.
The spirit stared at her. "Balance."
"Yes."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Dawn woke in the dark woods, with no idea how long she might have been out. She brushed leaves and debris from her jeans, pushing herself up into a kneeling position. Willow had knocked her out gently, she had none of the pain she associated with being forced unconscious.
She tried to feel to see if the spirit would try and take over her again, but she was definitely alone in her mind.
She heard someone moaning softly a few feet away, and after a moment could make out Xander's shape as he slowly sat up. She hurried over to him.
"Are you alright?"
Xander shivered, then nodded. "I'm sorry, I don't know–"
"DON'T apologize." Dawn wrapped an arm over his shoulder. His cheek was bruised where his own fingers had dug into the skin, trying to protect his missing eye. "It's not your fault."
"I don't know what happened." Xander's voice was barely a whisper. "When you knocked Willow down, then grabbed me like that . . . . It was like I was there, in the vineyard, all over again. I . . . guess I kinda freaked."
Dawn smiled. "Kinda. Screwed up our plan pretty royally, too."
"Well, I never liked the plan, anyway."
"Seriously, are you okay?"
"Yeah, Dawn. I'm alright." Xander sat up the rest of the way, then pushed Dawn aside. "I mean, I'm still a little wigged, but it was nothing I can't handle. It was just–"
"Post-traumatic stress disorder." Willow was shoving herself up onto her elbows. "You were reliving it. That's PTSD, Xander. You need to see someone–"
"I'm fine."
Willow moved toward them. "No, you're really not. Xand–"
"Willow, leave it. I'll be okay. This never happened before, it was just the situation, okay?"
Dawn frowned. "You've never panicked like that over . . . what happened?"
Xander shrugged. "I've had nightmares . . . . A lot of nightmares. But they've been going away. I really think I'm okay." He stood, carefully, then offered his hand to Willow. "Did you get it? Did you stop the spirit?"
Willow shrugged. "I think so. There's no real right answer here. I mean, it was right, humans ARE destroying the woods, but getting them to kill each other isn't going to help anything. I tried to show it that."
"So it's still here?" Dawn spun, as though she would see it sneaking up behind her.
"It's always going to be. It doesn't have a choice, this is its home." Willow frowned. "I think it agreed to stay away from humans. As long as no one comes along to build an apartment complex here, I think it'll be okay."
Dawn smiled. "Hey, maybe when Lisa is done getting the Lizard Man's domain protected, she can come and argue with the builders up here."
"Lisa?" Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah. Don't tell me Xander didn't tell you about Lisa and Leyna,"
"He's been pretty quiet on the slayer subject, just 'this girl is coming, look after her'."
"Well, then, we've got some stories to tell you." Dawn grabbed Xander's hand and began leading him and Willow back up to the car. "After all, you gotta be prepared for all the girls you're gonna be meeting in Europe."
"Somehow, Dawn, I get the feeling that European slayer hunting is going to be a bit different from what we do." Xander grinned. "If nothing else, you gotta watch out for those language barriers."
"Yeah, and hopefully, your slayers won't all be living in supernatural central. I mean, there's gotta be SOME place in the world that doesn't have some sort of beastie or ooglie to fight, right?" Dawn tripped over a branch and grinned. "Hey, I'm not all Dawn of the Woods any more."
"Don't get too excited, your love of nature is half of what convinced the spirit to quit." Willow smirked. "You're making me look bad."
"That," Xander wrapped an arm over Willow's shoulder. "Is patently impossible."
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
"Have a good trip, Will. Don't get yourself in trouble over there, okay? We can't translocate to save your ass."
Willow grinned and shouldered her backpack. They were back in the hotel, though Dawn had pleaded utter boredom and taken the car off to do some recreational driving. Both Willow and Xander could see right through that excuse, but they let her get away with it.
"Please. I think I can handle myself, magic or no."
Xander smirked. "I dunno. I have a sopping wet sneaker in the toilet that says differently." He frowned then. "You seriously missed? 'Cause that worries me a bit."
Willow grinned and winked at him. "Of course I didn't. A) teleporting into the hallway, where anyone can see me? Not such a grand idea. And b) it sounded on the phone like you guys could use a good laugh."
"You teleported into the toilet on purpose."
"What, you think you have the market cornered on inappropriate, self-effacing humor?"
Xander pretended to ponder that for a moment. "Well, yeah. I AM the undefeated champion. Well, aside from Rodney Dangerfield, that is."
"You don't get no respect."
"I don't."
Willow grinned, then leaned in and placed a quick kiss on Xander's left cheek, right on top of one of the finger shaped bruises. "Seriously, Xander. You need to see someone. A panic attack like that, even only one, it's not a good thing."
"I know, Wills. And if it happens again, I promise, I'll drop everything and find myself a really good counselor." He shrugged. "But right now, I can't help but think this is more important. There's a hell of a lot of girls out there who are in need of exactly the kind of Xander-shaped support that I can provide." He grimaced. "Barring Carmella. I really hope she'll reconsider and give us a call."
"If she won't come willingly, there's nothing you can do." Willow smiled. "Besides, how many girls have you talked to, and only one has out right said 'no'? I'd say you're setting a tough precedent for me." Willow glanced at the clock. "But I've got a flight out of the country in two days, and a large backpack to buy and pack." Willow reached into her pocket for the translocation spell ingredients.
Xander grabbed her arm. "Not quite yet." And he pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head. "Call me. I don't care what time it is. You need anything, even just a virtual, over the phone hug, you call me."
"Same to you, buster."
Willow started setting up her spell, but just before she placed the last stone at her feet, she turned and caught Xander's eye. He smiled and waved. She set the stone down, and faded from sight.
Xander was just turning away to get ready for bed when he heard her voice calling from the fading circle on the floor.
"Next one's outside DC!"
"Again?!"
tbc in "Foresta"
Addendum to the author's note: Holy shit, I actually finished this story. I was beginning to wonder if I ever would. I don't know what it was, but this story was really hard for me to get going on. Hence it being filled with, well, filler. A lot of the character stuff in this chapter was somewhat superfluous, but if nothing else, I do enjoy playing around in the characters' minds. And since most of my inspiration on this story these days is conversations about pop culture between Xander and Dawn, I had to get SOME of that out of my head.
I hope you all are still enjoying this story, and thanks for all of your reviews! "Foresta" might take a little while again, as I'm still job hunting and am now stage managing a show, but it's already forming in my head, so hopefully it won't be TOO long.
On Xander and PTSD: I had a little trouble with this, as I knew I wanted to do something with the emotional impact of losing an eye, but I wasn't sure I was a skilled enough writer to tackle the topic. I also had the trouble of, once I brought it into the story, it had to remain an issue. I can't simply present it and then have the characters move on their ordinary business, but since the story requires the characters traveling, and it's pretty much impossible to get proper, psychological care while they're on the road, I'm going to have to work on this issue a little bit. It will definitely be coming back, but perhaps not for a little while.
Keep an eye out for Carmella, she's not nearly done yet.
As I've said before, I'm starting to get a feel for the ultimate arc of this series. It's a bit of a doozy. God knows it'll change a lot as I keep writing, but we're not even halfway yet, so I hope you all are ready for a long haul.
-Casix