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Disclaimer: Characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are property of
Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, the WB, and UPN.

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Part I

Connie was late, and Jeff was getting fidgety.

He was drumming his fingers on the table again, he realized, and clasped his hands together to keep the nervous motion from starting back up the moment he let his attention wander. The waitress (a new one, and young, and better-looking than most, but there was plenty of turnaround here so ‘new’ wasn’t unusual) seemed to be keeping an eye on him; so far, he’d only got coffee, telling her he’d make his main order when the expected guest arrived, and he hadn’t been waiting that long but maybe his nerves were affecting her. Or, maybe, she thought the agitation he was trying to hide meant he was unstable in one form or another.

He wasn’t … he hoped. Or at least some part of him hoped that, because a different part couldn’t help thinking it would be easier to believe there was something wrong with him. The alternative … the alternative would be that it really was the world that had gone crazy, or was headed that way.

He’d picked a booth that let him watch the entrance. The problem there was that the same position made him visible to anyone coming in the door, and his recent paranoia — no, others might mistake it for paranoia, but he had valid reason to suspect that he might actually be under surveillance of some type, now or soon — left him feeling exposed and itchy. But he absolutely didn’t want to miss Connie when she got here.

If she came. If he recognized her. If Connie was actually her name. (If not, he wouldn’t blame her. He’d wavered before giving her his own name, and they’d made their first acquaintance under what were specifically designed as aliases, so it wouldn’t even be a betrayal. But he hoped it was true. ‘Connie’ just had a good sound to it.)

… He hoped she could help him on this, or at least help him to slot it into some kind sane context. Because, if she couldn’t, he didn’t have the least idea what else he might possibly do.

*               *               *

It’s weird.

Jeff has tried not to pay attention to it, really tried even not to notice it. He enjoys the world of Diabolical fanfiction, enjoys the stories and the fan theories and the freewheeling interplay of ideas and enthusiasms, the usually playful back-and-forth of feedback and response. That’s why he started posting stories on the JournalNet forum to begin with, because their setup facilitates and encourages reader response, and when you write fanfic you really don’t get any payment except the pleasure of having readers give their opinions of your work.

The thing is, there’s feedback … and then there’s feedback.

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[–Comment Thread 12327.66–]
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::]sunnyslayr[:: I’m not complaining about the story, I’m actually okay with that. I just get more and more ticked off as I learn more about the SHOW.

::]keyguy[:: How do you mean?

::]sunnyslayr[:: It’s like somebody heard about how things were in SD, & then decided to make the complete opposite of that.

::]keyguy[:: ???Not totally following.

::]emeraldawn[:: I think I get it. Two guys instead of one girl, baseline human instead of you-know-what, a blessed Bowie knife instead of muscles & spells & pointy wood —

::]sunnyslayr[:: Riding the highways instead of stuck in one little backwater burg —

::]keyguy[:: Okay. Yeah. That.

…

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[–Comment Thread 12386.12–]
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::]rona-b734[:: I’m just saying, these guys fight with each other nonstop, total drama. Wasn’t nearly this intense on the show.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Oh, it was. Maybe a little heavy in this particular story, but the boys butted heads all the time.

::]marta-1270[:: And brothers, yes, brothers will argue even when they would stand against anyone else.

::]keyguy[:: Wouldn’t know.

::]marta-1270[:: ??I’m sorry??

::]keyguy[:: No big.

::]andrewthewise[:: You’re not alone.

::]keyguy[:: Yeah, yeah. Wasn’t plumping for sympathy.

…

*               *               *

Diabolical fandom is still going strong nearly four years after the series aired its last episode. As with many such popular shows, people still want to read about the Remington brothers and their continuing hunt/war with various demon clans, even if the official creators of those characters are no longer turning out their stories. Neil “Jeff” Jeffers, and others like him, provide such stories with no public recognition and no profit (that wouldn’t do at all) and only a diffuse coalition of readers, fellow fanfic writers, story collection websites, and occasional newsletters to even recognize their existence.

He’s 47 years old, comfortably divorced — which wasn’t planned, but it came out okay — with two daughters in college and a relatively relaxed job as a freelance copywriter, which lets him set his own schedule as long as he keeps up enough hours to pay the bills (plus extra income from tax prep work in March and April, but that isn’t relaxed at all). His life has settled into something that suits him now; he even dates occasionally, just often enough that he knows he isn’t shutting himself away, but he’s mainly satisfied with a sedate home life, reading and watching movies and TV programs.

That, and writing fanfic. He came to it late, didn’t even know there was such a thing as fanfiction till he chanced across a site while looking online for more information about the Diabolical show. He read a few of the stories, was surprised by how well written some of them were, and then chanced across a WIP (work-in-progress) that seized him so unexpectedly that, after spending weeks checking for updates, he got in touch with the author, who admitted she’d stalled and run out inspiration, and they bounced ideas off each other and finished it together.

‘Amicus Demonica’ was a college sophomore, and wound up leaving Diabolical to do stories for the new Doctor Who before graduating and falling out of fanfic entirely. Jeff was hooked, however, and continued turning out new stories under the author-name of Eiling, chosen from the DC Comics villain just because Jeff liked the way it sounded.

He’s in this for the fun of it, not seeking or welcoming controversy of any kind. Which means this new … whatever it is … is something he really isn’t ready for. Or even have any idea what to think of it.

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[–Comment Thread 1241786.41–]
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::]bluddywm[:: ‘Hurt/comfort’? Bollocks. More like piss & moan.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Well, these guys’ lives are *really* stressful. Sometimes you just need somebody to lean on.

::]bluddywm[:: Yeh, somebody soft n curvy. Brothers’d more likely clout each other cross the noggin for blubbering that way.

::]rona-b734[:: Right, because showing feelings is so terrible?

::]bluddywm[:: Have you ever SEEN how men act around other men?

::]bluddywm[:: Outside your feverish girlie fantasies, I mean.

::]emeraldawn[:: We all know somebody who *doesn’t* play it all macho, all the time.

::]bluddywm[:: Yeh, pointing to Droopy Boy doesn’t really help your case.

::]5by5hottie[:: oh dude you did NOT wanna go there, th sisterhood’s gonna rip you a new one

::]andrewthewise[:: Right. That was *mean*.

::]bluddywm[:: And the first voice from the sisterhood weighs in.

…

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[–Comment Thread 1262114.52–]
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::]seasonsnthsun[:: Okay, I’m really trying here, but I just can’t figure what you guys see in this stuff.

::]andrewthewise[:: It speaks to us as allegory, Dorinda. Mythic echoes of a world that’s older than the world itself knows.

::]seasonsnthsun[:: Seriously? Nobody’s pitched this guy out the nearest window yet?

::]rona-b734[:: Well, I wouldn’t say it the same way as Mr Reality-Challenged, but he’s not totally off-base. The Remington boys deal with a lot of stuff that, let’s say, comes across as *really familiar* to certain people. Especially the SD vets.

::]seasonsnthsun[:: Like what?

::]andrewthewise[:: For one thing, the entire third season is a classic reconciliation arc that totally echoes and resonates with sunnyslayr’s resurrection.

::]andrewthewise[:: Her *figurative* resurrection, I mean.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Don’t think that’s going to mean much to D here. Look, the story above, when Dan & Sean are barricaded in the roadside bar with Arlene & Kay, trying to hold off the Horde till sunrise? Somebody *might* compare that to a few dozen teenagers in this big underground cavern fighting against umpty-thousand CroMagVamps. Just as a hypothetical example.

::]seasonsnthsun[:: I guess I see what you mean. But you kind of have to reach to get there.

::]rona-b734[:: Hey, what else we got even comes close? Not Veronica Mars.

::]rona-b734[:: Which, I **like** VM, just saying it’s not the same.

…

*               *               *

These people know each other, that much is clear, and they focus more on trading comments with one another than on interacting with the author directly. And they also seem to gravitate mainly to his stories; at least, Jeff hasn’t spotted them commenting many other places, and they don’t follow the same process there as they do in the responses to the fics on his forum.

In a way, that could be taken as flattering, but it means he has a close view of something he knows means something, without knowing what the meaning might be.

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[–Comment Thread 1281812.71–]
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::]emeraldawn[:: I am not on the bandwagon here when it comes to all the gushiness over Surael. In fact, I’m getting tired of how so many fans don’t seem to care about anybody but him.

::]marta-1270[:: On the show, he frequently gives us an outsider’s view of the main characters. This is very effective narrative presentation.

::]marta-1270[:: Still, I will admit that the fan stories seem to try to use him differently.

::]rona-b734[:: Okay, sure, the guy comes across as a big teddy bear. People get hung up on that, start throwing their own dream-stuff at him. Not a fan, but I can see how it happens.

::]keyguy[:: I’m with you in the main, Dawnster, but our man Eiling doesn’t really do what you’re grousing about. You’ve maybe got so oversensitized by the squee-crowd, you’re reacting **every** time someone shows him. Not fair to this author.

::]emeraldawn[:: Wait a minute, YOU’RE defending the angel character?

::]emeraldawn[:: Start checking the prophecies for upcoming Apocalypse, people.

::]keyguy[:: Actual angel, not broody poser just using the name.

::]bluddywm[:: Yeh, *that* I can agree with.

::]keyguy[:: Surael himself, now, he’s a hoot. He’s coming from a world he understands, suddenly having to try and make sense of a bunch of crazy people (humans in general, D&S especially). Reminds me of ME, starting halfway thru sophomore year.

::]emeraldawn[:: So you’ve got *no issues at all* with this big cryptic, angsty, tousled-hair, dramatic-trenchcoat character?

::]keyguy[:: **That guy** I hated. Surael I like. So I have layers. Surprise.

…

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[–Comment Thread 1314527.39–]
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::]rona-b734[:: Nice work here with Arlene & Kay. Most fics, these two either come across as not-very-competent sidekicks, or just plain bitchy.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Don’t forget the ones where basically they’re only there to have sex with the guys.

::]keyguy[:: Usually *both* women with *one* of the guys, the stories I’ve seen. Soon as I spot things going that way, I close out and look for something else.

::]emeraldawn[:: Oh, SURE you do.

::]keyguy[:: No, seriously. You were *there* the only time I ever had a shot at a threesome, except it was me & me & Anya. The idea of one guy trying to satisfy *two* women?? DUMB.

::]emeraldawn[:: No, I didn’t actually see that one. I did know about the double-YOU thing, though. And she really wanted to do it with both of you?

::]hatgirlvi[:: What I saw of Anya, that does sound like her.

::]marta-1270[:: I must point out that he is not being completely honest here. I know of several who have told him they would be happy to join with him in any combination or configuration he found agreeable.

::]keyguy[:: Yeah, and I **RAN** from that.

::]keyguy[:: Besides, we’re talking about fiction here. And with these characters, the whole notion of a mother/daughter threesome just weirds me out way too much.

::]emeraldawn[:: Oh.

::]sunnyslayr[:: Oh.

::]rona-b734[:: We’ve drifted pretty far from the subject, folx. Arlene and Kay as actual bad-ass women, holding up *without* supernatural muscle, that’s what I like.

::]bluddywm[:: Believe it. Loved the part where they were laying waste up & down the hardware store aisles.

::]bluddywm[:: Had to look it up on the ’Net to find out what a posthole digger IS. And the use Arlene put it to? Inspired.

::]rona-b734[:: Exactly. It was great, but it was also something a couple of tough, determined women could DO. Eiling manages to get that across in fic, which isn’t easy.

::]emeraldawn[:: Not so easy to pull off IRL, either.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Hey, you have solid chops.

::]emeraldawn[:: Wasn’t what I meant. The way we have things set up, the Chosen Girls do all the heavy work, and non-CG learn to get out of the way and stay clear. Arlene and Kay, they may not always be on the front lines like the guys, but when it happens they DEAL. Handle what’s in front of them, don’t back down, just find a way and power through. I like that kind of thing.

::]hatgirlvi[:: Well, they do have the writer on their side.

::]rona-b734[:: When he does it right, though, it’s still *them* we’re seeing.

::]emeraldawn[:: Could use something like that on some of the support teams.

::]rona-b734[:: No joke.

…

…

Puzzling, repeated hints at something that never really comes clear. Not quite disturbing, at most just a bit unsettling. But a mystery, no question about it.

Then the whole business becomes somewhat more … interesting.