calic0cat: (Default)
Calic0cat ([personal profile] calic0cat) wrote2006-09-12 11:26 pm

More random scribbling...

*groan* Yet another horse show coming up this weekend... Ugh... I hope our "steady Eddie" gelding behaves better than he did at the last one... He's like that poem about the girl with the little curl - when he's good, he's very, very good, but when he's bad, he's horrid. :P At the last show, I had to actually pull him out of class, he was so bad (having the horse turn so that he's at a 90 degree angle to the wagon he's pulling is not, generally speaking, a good thing - especially when he's supposed to be going straight... *sweatdrop*).

Anyway, aside from horse-related stuff, I've been working on a few fandom-related things. Unfortunately, the only bit of writing that I'm prepared to offer at the moment is another bit of the same BTVS-HP crossover that I've posted a couple of bits of previously. Still untitled, too.



***

"I realize that you must be weary from your trip but, if you wouldn't mind too terribly much, I had thought that perhaps we could go fetch Harry directly..." Remus suggested tentatively as they headed out of the airport, luggage in tow. "His godfather's death hit him hard and the Dursleys are not the most... sympathetic... of people. I think it would be best to get him out of there as soon as possible."

"Sure," Xander agreed readily, seeing nods of agreement from Dawn and Spike. As they made their way through the short-term parking lot, he asked bluntly, "So, how, uh, 'unsympathetic' are we talking here? On, say, a scale from one to ten, where one is 'Pretend he doesn't exist' and ten is 'Beat the shit out of him for breathing too loud'?"

Remus blinked, looking somewhat taken aback. "Americans certainly don't believe in mincing their words, do they?" he murmured before answering the question. "I am not entirely certain, but I would hope that Harry would have told someone if they were on the high end of your scale. He does prefer to stay at school over the holidays and is rather reluctant to return home for the summer, so I suspect that things are a bit more difficult than a one. Perhaps a two or three?"

Xander mentally revised that estimate to at *least* a four or five; 'reluctant to return home' practically screamed serious trouble to him. Neglect and emotional abuse were hard for an outsider to spot and even harder for a kid to explain so that someone would understand instead of dismissing it all as typical childhood complaints. Even physical abuse could go unacknowledged, get downplayed as spiteful dramatics or simple exaggeration on the kid's part. And that was if the kid had a good enough self-image to realize that something was wrong and the self-confidence to try to tell someone in the first place.

It had only been recently, after the whole mess with Tara's so-called family, that Xander had finally really faced the facts about his own less-than-stellar home life. Willow had pulled out all the stops to try to get Tara and himself to attend a support group for survivors of abuse; neither of them was very good at telling her 'no' and they'd both caved. Though they'd initially been reluctant and somewhat unconvinced about the whole thing, hearing other people's stories and seeing those people react to their own had eventually convinced them that, yeah, they both *did* actually belong there.

Before that, Xander had never thought too much about the way his parents had treated him. Sure, he'd been slapped and shoved around occasionally when they'd indulged a little too heavily and he hadn't made himself scarce fast enough, but they hadn't usually hurt him any worse than the school bullies did. It wasn't as if he'd spent a lot of time in the hospital or anything. 'Child abuse' was such a strong term that he'd never applied it to himself as a kid. Now, well, he could admit that the harsh words and lack of affection had in fact amounted to verbal and emotional abuse, and the general lack of affection and attention and little things like regular nutritious meals on the table had been neglect. And, yeah, his dad in particular had kind of tended to be rougher than was generally considered appropriate, especially when he was between jobs. But Xander still didn't think that he'd had it all *that* bad. After all, he'd had Willow and Jesse for affection - and for an open invitation to dinner on the occasions when his parents' meal had been of the bottled variety. So, when the support group members had been asked to rate their parents on the abuse scale, he'd put his parents at about a two.

Of course, Willow'd rated them at a four or even a five, and he and Willow had both put *Tara's* family at a solid six while Tara herself rated them a two, maybe three, so... yeah. Victims - and, god, had *that* been a tough label to accept - tended to underrate the degree of abuse even when a sympathetic third party was fully aware of it and was right there telling them that it was *not* normal or acceptable treatment, that it *was* abuse.

Considering that Xander had never been reluctant for summer vacation to roll around, despite the fact that he would inevitably be seeing more of his parents while school was out, he seriously doubted that the Dursleys' mistreatment of his cousin only rated a two or three. And, if he accepted Willow's rating of his own folks, then even a four or five might be too low.

Great, the Dursleys might even be a match for Tara's rotten bastards of relatives. Poor kid.

Under the cover of the steady stream of questions that Dawn was directing at their escort, Spike poked him in the ribs and asked, "You okay there, Harris?"

Realizing that he'd once again allowed himself to become lost in thought, Xander grimaced. This was not good; he was responsible for Dawn's safety and he kept spacing out. Good thing Spike was on duty too. But he still really needed to get his act together. "Yeah, sorry. Just... a lot goin' on and not enough time to deal with it, I guess."

"Just remember you're not dealin' on yer own, mate."

Xander firmly stomped on his inner Zeppo's impulse to squeal 'aww, how sweet!' in response to Spike's gruff display of support. Obviously, he was spending *way* too much time hanging out with the girls. He opted for a manly grunt of acknowledgement instead.



Previous bits here: 1 and 2.

[identity profile] sunhawk16.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 11:50 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe 'Eddie' is trying to tender his resignation from horse shows? *nod nod* He is a good horse and understands your need to write. *griiiin*
drgaellon: (Shut Up)

[personal profile] drgaellon 2006-09-13 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooooh... dat's good fic. Is this a prequel to "Visit"?

[identity profile] auntyk.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I liked this. Is there ghoing to be more, or is this the prequel to something?

[identity profile] ignescent.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, I like! You gave Xander's innervoice the perfect mix of determination and babbling, and I like the Spike bits as well, even if they're pretty sparse so far. Please write more of this! :)

[identity profile] vichan.livejournal.com 2006-09-13 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Go, go, go!!

You must continue. :)

[identity profile] kiria-dk.livejournal.com 2006-09-14 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm definitely enjoying this little series. Hope things slow down for you somewhat.

spander/hp xover

[identity profile] redrayne717.livejournal.com 2006-09-16 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Very interesting fic...

I wandered over here from Bloodclaim, and I'm glad I did. Hope to see more!

[identity profile] mrpage8466.livejournal.com 2006-09-16 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
Just amazing, sweetie. Can't wait for more.

BTW: I love your mood icons.

[identity profile] grey-hunter.livejournal.com 2006-09-22 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
this is completely not-related. I came upon your name while going through hd_365's watched by list, and remembered it from the time I read GW. I know I liked your fics. Is it okay if I friend you? (So I can stay up-to-date and read the new ones you have?)

[identity profile] smokey-duck.livejournal.com 2007-08-01 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
Love this little 'vers, along with 'Not synonymous'. Any plans to continue it?

[identity profile] calic0cat.livejournal.com 2007-10-09 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!