Hello, new reader here (well, I haven't read fic for 20 years). I just found this and made it through for the first time. It's AMAZING! I love intricate well-written stories. I am intrigued and delighted. Can't wait for the rest. Thanks heaps.
Oh goodness! Welcome back to the Buffyverse. Glad to have you.
🌺🌺🌺 Thank you so much!
So glad to see an update! I was getting worried.
I will never completely disappear. I promise. There are a bunch of health issues going on with me and my family, right now, as well as the ordinary stuff that life pitches. Sometimes, there's not enough left of me to write, edit, and post.
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for sticking with me.
Please take care of yourself! I have some chronic health issues myself and send you my deepest sympathies.
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“Are you saying vampire behavior is a response to trauma?” A novel notion. He jotted it down on his notepad.
“Yes.” He cocked his head. “And no, not completely. - Oh yes, one of many nuanced pieces in the very large puzzle that goes into making a hybrid type of being.
You know, I'd never heavily considered the incredibly political word that is "turned." A long history of war, indeed.
Also, Rue? That is most adorable name for Giles *ever*. (And Buffy as Kali Ma is equally perfect.)
Love this, darling! 
Vampire behavior has to be, at least in part, a response to trauma. Can you imagine digging out of a grave? How utterly horrifying would that be? And you remember being murdered, too. Geeaaaauuugghhh. I also wonder (and it might--just maybe--come up later in this story) how much of vampire behavior has to do with age. We have trouble with people in their sixties and seventies carrying outdated notions into the twenty-first century. Can you imagine what it would be like if they were three hundred years old?
"Turned" is a very cloak and dagger word. Covert operatives get turned. Then they defect or become double agents. It sounds like a Watchers' Council word. It sounds like propaganda.
Glad you like it. 
So far, there are only three people Sean has had more than a passing conversation with that he hasn't renamed: Buffy, Spike, and Angelus. They're his immediate superiors. He wouldn't presume.
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
Love this version of Slayer lore
Thank you! I had a lot of fun with that. 🌺🌺🌺 And it makes the world more consistent, doesn't it?
Yessss!!! Always so happy when I get a new one!! I read the whole story again!!! Just to celebrate!!! Love it even more!!! Pleaaaaaaase more!! I need to know so much! Who’s is the Moon Vine?? Are they going to kill Willow??(pleaaaaaaase yes), Who are those Wolves?? And pleaaaaaaase get someone better to poor Anya! Even Giles would miles better than Xander!! She deserves so much better!! Pleaaaaaaase!! And more much much more!!
I am so glad to being back to updating again. I hate it when my life swallows my writing.
Well, I won't comment on the Moon Vine, the Wolves, or Willow, but I will say that Anya's life is going to be very different this time through. And she does deserve better, doesn't she?
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
Love to see Giles' Council-indoctrinated preconceptions challenged. Sean's personality is enough to make him have a total rethink of everything he 'knows'.
The staff at my (UK) high school all referred to boys by their surnames too. In fact, thinking about it now, there were quite a few who weren't in our immediate circle whom we all automatically called by their surnames, and I still to this day have no idea what their first names were...
Giles is in for an awakening. That's for certain.
Traditions are strange and inexplicable, right? In an American school, you'd never call students by their surnames unless they were in a whole heap of trouble. Then there would usually be an honorific attached (coaches and gym teachers have slightly different rules). "Mister Walden, we'll discuss this in the principal's office." First names. Always. In the kind of liberal, west coast alt-arts school Sean attended, you might even call the teachers by their first names. That's why Sean feels like he's being a jerk every time he calls Giles Giles.
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
Always a joy to meet Sean. <3
"college students and aspiring artists, not monsters"
Giles still thinks these things are mutually exclusive :)
"“You mean pigeonholing me.”
“That’s an uncharitable description.”
“It’s an uncomfortable feeling.”"
Touche :)
"Does everybody call you by your last name?”
Love that he asked!
"Rue"
omg :))) also, I see what he did there with intimacy and making Giles feel at ease
The thrall is fun to watch.
"That story could have been his own."
Love it
I love the talk between Giles and Sean (really hate the Rue thing though). What Giles is seeing, what he is learning, he can't unsee. Through his talk with Sean and what he observes Giles is learning that what he thought was true was actually false.
I also like what we are learning about Sean himself.
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“You mean pigeonholing me.” Leave it to Sean to nail it on the head. That's Giles' problem. He has to shove everyone into a convenient box.
“I didn’t turn against anyone. I didn’t go to the other side. You can’t choose a side in a war you don’t know about.” Exactly. He just adjusted to the new diet and restrictions. Like Harmony in some ways little changed. She knew about the "war" though and tried to pick a side.
“Are you saying vampire behavior is a response to trauma?” No doubt most suffer a form of PTSD after all they were murdered. That's not the whole of it of course but a factor.
Oh, Giles, (Like the Rue BTW) you need to just let it go. Admit the Council is largely full of crap and start to learn! Sean is the perfect one to make him at least try.
I am so in love with this character! He really is an eye-opener for them all. He is pretty much a vampire who wasn't trained, just became.
Excellent update.
Kathleen
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Great chapter! Can't wait to read more!
Thank you! 🌺🌺🌺 So glad you're reading!
Giles can learn a lot from Sean. That was really sweet of Buffy, letting him know he is family. Wonderful chapter 💚
She's trying to be better about that. Sean is family. He needs to know that. And even if he weren't, he's one of the few Aurelians she has in Sunnydale. She needs him.
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading.
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Delighted to have Hindsight back as an actively posting story!
Delighted to be back. 🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
Wow more new players and pieces to the puzzle. Awesome chapter 💚
Thank you! 🌺🌺🌺
I love your worldbuilding of the dreamlands, and the inclusion of Nightmares. Just brilliant.
I'm so fascinated by Sineya's actions, and her seeming partnership with the original vampire. Perhaps it means that only together - Slayer and Vampire - can they save the Council? Maybe that's the "house" that is getting pulled down... 
ETA: Anne! I'm so excited to see her unexpected face
[Report This]This was very interesting. The dream scenarios clearly holds some interesting meaning. The possibility of peace between Slayers and vampires is addressed again. We also had things that was clearly not as good.
Hank seems to be handle this rather well, there is hope for him. I liked that "Anne" was seen again.
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Oooh! Hank can't stick to his denial (must be a family trait) any more!
Good fight! - but where did the fire come from?
Another cryptic dream... Ooh! And Anne is the manager! Love it when familiar characters pop up.
And what is the Council doing all mixed up in this? Intriguing.
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"“Weirdness,” the waitress said, curling her arms over her chest and shivering. “Fuckin’ L.A. weirdness.” Her dark eyes fixed resentfully on a smudge of tar on the toe of her left shoe. “I gotta get outta this place.”"
Hee :)
“Her picture is stapled to the breakroom wall. We know what to do if she shows up.”
Love it!
"He took one cautious step backward, not quite out of striking distance, the spark of a smile in his china blue eyes. He knew: She could catch him on two legs; she could catch him on four. She could always catch him."
Nice detail
I wonder why the moon vine is "acting" differently in this dream. Maybe because it's Spike's dream. Maybe Dru changed her mind about something.
"That’s why Billy Palmer needed training."
I can't believe you used "Nightmares" for worldbuilding. :)) "Nightmares", the "eh, sometimes these things just happen" of Buffy plots. Am impressed.
"Then The Slayer, the progenitor of her kind, ancient, solitary, and implacable, did something completely unexpected.
She smiled.
First at the two of them, but then at the monster beside her."
Well, that seems good.
HI, ANNE! <33 Great to see what she did before the shelter.
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Nice tight chapter. Surreal but not hard to follow even if some things aren't clear yet.
On those rare occasions that someone did dream their way in, they woke from the kind of indelible experience at the heart of new religions. This makes sense.
The Council wrapped in moon vine and it's growing... I can't see that as good.
Love the idea of the dreamworld (reminds me of the dream time of Australian aboriginals with it being reality not just the mind's fancy.
THE Slayer smiling at Buffy and Spike and then the Turok-Han must be an important message... they came out of the Council too. I have a few theories but will keep them to myself.
Didn't expect to see Anne (Cantrelle/Lily). Looking forward to seeing how she ties in.
Excellent update.
Kathleen
[Report This]Yay update ! Thank you ! 
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks so much for reading!
Great chapter! Can't wait to read more!
🌺🌺🌺 Thank you so much!
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Pleaaaaase more!! This is the best!!! Only story I ever read that I like both Angel and Riley, and that’s a miracle cause I usually just hate them!! Pleaaaaaaase finish this one !! I need to know who
the moon whine is! And what was that about the Wolves!! Pleaaaaaaase more!!
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“Good look for you." - DAMN SKIPPY IT IS. Have I told you how much I *adore* that you made punk!Spike? Because I very, very much do. Guh.
AND OO WHAT A FIGHT! 
Loved our pair getting to brawl, and now I'm just dying to know who's come to the rescue!
I think they've turned Hank into a believer.
"Go, Buffy!" I'm proud of him.
Who/where did the flamey circle come from?
Hank is learning some stuff, isn't he? And the flamey circle has popped in a few times, now. Kinda lurking. 🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
After this, Hank has no choice but to believe the stories about vampires and demons. He will probably need to calm down from the shock but I have hope that he can become a part of Buffy's life again.
It was great to see a new chapter.
[Report This]I’m confused by Buffy’s reaction to the sweater. Spike panicked and she did not pick up on it or did she rub it in?
I like how you have clock position for the adversaries. It makes it so much easier to envision.
If Hank does not believe after this, he is a lost cause.
Oh, she picked up on it. And she gets it. If he feels like he needs to look more mainstream for certain events, that's fine. She does the same thing--dresses up or down for the situation. That's all good. And she loved the white sweater. He looked beautiful in it, like the kind of guy you take home to mom. This look, on the other hand, is her personal favorite. She plans to take it off him the moment they're alone. So she squeezed his hand and stroked his thigh and the panic subsided. He is loved. He is wanted. The world is okay.
Hank is getting a crash course, isn't he?
🌺🌺🌺 Thanks for reading!
I had a shit day at work Thursday, but then received an email about 30 minutes before leaving that my favorite WIP had been updated. Made the last bit of work bearable, knowing that I had reading the update to look forward to once I got home. Just wanted you to know how a simple act like posting a new chapter of fanfic can affect someone else’s life. I do not review like I should, but make sure I at least “like” every chapter. I have reread this story far too many times to count.
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I love EVERYTHING that happened in the diner. :))) The demons are nice too! :D
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Damn, amazing chapter. Well worth the wait.
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