Fic: Five Black and Gold Rings

[beccaelizabeth]

My first finished Buffyverse fanfic!

geocities.com/beccaelizabeth/ethan/fiveblackandgoldrings.htm
Five Black and Gold Rings
https://archiveofourown.org/works/51441

Five things that never happened to livejournal.com/users/beccaelizabeth/95872.html the ring Giles wears.
https://beccaelizabeth.dreamwidth.org/97053.html

Giles pre-series, G/E in parts, nothing graphic.

8855 words

beta by mireille719, then tweaked by me, so any remaining mistakes are all mine.

Any kind of feedback welcome, even the kind where you tell me all the ways it is all wrong. I might cry and hide under the desk, but you are welcome to say it.


[edited link March 2022, geocities being long gone, and livejournal]

Comments

[julia-here.livejournal.com]

be, not wrong.

Not a word of the first part wrong, and I shouldn't have read that far when I've got 900-odd more words to write today and teenagers to feed.

The first part is the best Giles childhood stuff I've read, not that there's a lot of it anyway, but it's purely lovely.

Thanks for getting all brave and posting, and I'll read the rest in the morning, I expect.

Julia, very well pleased indeed

[beccaelizabeth]

I did not replied right away because I thought you would add more comment, but thankyou for saying nice things about my story :)

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Your first Buffyverse fic? Really? I find that hard to believe.
You do something even old veterans often don't do, you liberally fill in the blanks. And you do it extremely well.

Good stuff:

The whole first part. Grandma Giles kicking rugby balls. Grandma's history as a former potential (brilliant!!!). Grandma Giles period.

In the second part: the realisation that the life Giles is waiting for will never come, that studying and preparing IS his life. Excellent. Totally believeable starting point from where to leap into a life of rebellion.

Also good: The whole Ethan relationship.

Very odd: the last part - too short, too sudden. There's no sense of closure.

What I did not understand is this: why is it a Five Things story? All these things fit so well, they do not have to be alternatives. The idea to use alternate ring scenarios is very clever, but somehow I feel quite prepared to take your part one as canon - except you put it in a context where you say it never happened. Does that make sense? I would have preferred it as a chronological narrative in which rings always crop up as signifiers.
And I would have liked to see the story branch out into canon and merge with it.

I did see a slight problem where you explain about the various meanings of the stones and where you explain the magic properties/possibilities of the materials. They could have been very dull indeed, but since you put them in dialogue, these sections work. But you do lose some of your impetus there (and I know all there is to know about that).

But all in all I enjoyed reading this tremendously - and I am a very nitpicky reader. So, no need to hide under the desk. :-)

[beccaelizabeth]

Your first Buffyverse fic? Really? I find that hard to believe.

My first *finished* fic. I've been writing since the series ended. I have something like 30 stories on the go. I'm waaaay better at starting things than taking them anywhere.
This was supposed to be a set of 5 drabbles, so obviously I could finish something that short...

Very odd: the last part - too short, too sudden. There's no sense of closure.

and yet my beta said it was the perfect ending. I'm constantly fascinated by people's different reactions to stuff.

There wasn't supposed to be closure, there was supposed to be pointing out that for all the ring *could* mean, it might also just be a shiny thing Giles likes.

What I did not understand is this: why is it a Five Things story?
And that you and my beta both said, yet to me it is very clear.

Giles wears one ring. As described here, it is black and gold and on his left little finger, and he wears it pretty much all the time in the series. In each of these sections he gets that ring for the first time. It is made of different things, has different meaning, different symbolism, different personal significance. His continuing to wear it so consistently makes him in some respects a different man, depending on what it means to him. Yet the ring can have only one origin. So at least four of these never happened, and none are likely to be intended by canon.



The explaining the meanings bit was because this started as an essay, but then I realised writing thousands of words about one never mentioned shiny thing would be kind of insane. So instead...


And I'm very glad you enjoyed it :) thanks :)

Giles Story

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, Becca -

I read, I enjoyed. Little six-year-old Giles was very sweet and touching, and believable. The other sections worked, each in their own way, and every one could have been the way it happened. Your format was a neat and novel idea, by the way.

I loved the last one. Saw it, liked it, bought it, which now that I think of it, reminds me of Faith and her "want, take, have".

Good stuff, well written.

Anne, S'cubie Hellgoddess

Re: Giles Story

[beccaelizabeth]

thanksyou :)

the 'five things' format was a challenge at some point and now bounces around fandoms, so I can't really take credit for that format. But it is neat, very flexible and freeing. No need to come up with the One True Way, just lots of stories.

*people like it happy bouncy*
:)

[nandibble.livejournal.com]

I like it, too. Particularly the sections with Ethan, whom I've become quite fond of. Strange--though there's no canon on which to base it, Ethan/Giles is remarkably consistent through a number of writers--Giles aloof, dominent, Ethan charming, sneaky, and sometimes quite needy, never giving up the relationship willingly--certainly anything but submissive, considering the assumed dynamic. Your version is as credible and persuasive, in its brevity, as any I've ever seen.

Congrats, Be! A fine first fictional outing.

[beccaelizabeth]

*coolness happy smile*
author I like likes it :)

plus another convert for Ethan :)

There is very skinny canon for Ethan, let alone Ethan/Giles, but some things seem to be suggested by it. Charming, sneaky, never giving up on Giles, those things seem to me to be present in canon. Or at least still being focused on Giles after decades. Giles tries to be aloof, but Ethan goes out of his way to get him to engage. And Giles opens up and talks to Ethan, eventually, which he doesn't do with anyone else at the time. So there is stuff to work with. But how that works out in different stories can be wildly different. Which is the fun part :)

Take a bow, dear

[(Anonymous)]

be – there is just so much to love about this! Truly a stunning debut. I’m not surprised at the excellent feedback.

Loved the portrait of Giles’ grandmother and the way she is with him as a small boy – her descriptions of being a potential and then learning that she would not be chosen and the deep importance she felt in becoming a Watcher. When she says: “And that was when I knew. I wasn't going to wait for one day. I was a Watcher, now and always. Because I knew what was out there, and I'd never stand by and let it get to people. I would protect the world, whatever it takes.”, it’s such a wonderful reminder of what the Watcher’s Council should be, at their best.

Loved the way you showed the changing nature of Giles feelings about being a Watcher as he heads off to Oxford. And the changing relationship with his father, so nicely conveyed in the way he is “tested” for knowledge when given the ring and summarized so well in the line: “ ‘But of course you must remember that the Council comes first. Duty, then friends. Always.’ ”

Loved the succinct way you describe the moment Giles turns away from the future that is all laid out and the difficult road back to the Watchers again.

Loved all the scenes with Ripper and Ethan – holding Ethan in front of the shop as they take the first rings; reading about the various properties of stones as they snuggle; the oh-so-revealing “As soon as he said it Ripper realised he'd said something monumentally wrong. Ethan looked up at him with more hurt in his eyes than he'd had from his injuries. Like Ripper had pulled the ground out from under him. Why on earth..? Oh. Oh hell. The way Ethan had been about the ring, the sodding engagement ring, telling everyone 'Ripper got it for me'. He hadn't thought...”

Loved the way you made me feel for Giles, his irritation as he tries to put Ethan into the past, and Ethan, his wise sadness as he watched Giles twist away from him. “ ‘It's your magic, Ripper. I felt it so often I came to think of it as ours. I'd see it anywhere.’ ”

And then the last. Count me in with the folks who liked it a lot. So appropriately stark. “Gold band and a flat black onyx, starkly masculine. And cheap. He liked it. So he bought it.” Very much the mental place to which Giles eventually moves.

**standing ovation**

Lola

Re: Take a bow, dear

[beccaelizabeth]

*bows, bows*
thanksyou, thanksyou
*does the little queen wave*

:D

glad all the bits work for you
happy detailed feedback yaay!

[salsk.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this story.

Young Giles was especially good to read and particularly strong. I was pleasantly surprised to see such a favourable reaction from Giles' father - most fics make him out to be the evil in Giles' life but this story showed another side to him.

Lots of good moments - especially with the realisation that he's going to be in the same way of life - but I think Ripper and Ethan were a real high point for me, particularly with the loss of Ethan's ring.

I liked the final part - some might say it's anti-climatic but to me, it worked. It was the opposite of what we'd come to expect in the other parts and established what Giles had become. It's an interesting inversion to realise that it's not the meaning behind it that's important - in fact, if it's cheap that'll do. And the fact that the part was so succinct really helped there - it's as if every other part needed (to Giles) a huge amount of explanation and worth..whereas in the final part, it was the total opposite. A snap decision, almost. Also, I think it's intriguing that it's the one he chose and wasn't given/chosen by someone else.

Excellent stuff.

[beccaelizabeth]

I'm glad you liked it.

The only impression I get of Giles' dad is that he is absent, at least in the timeframe of the series. He might seem 'evil' if you think choosing a career for your kids is evil, but it used to be default setting, assumed that a kid would follow their parents profession. So I figure he could be any kind of person.

glad the last part worked for you :)

[(Anonymous)]

Becca:

You did a nice job with your story. The Grandma Giles part was my favorite. I especially liked the little things that fit so well with grown up Rupert, like Grandma knowing everything, or "knowing where to look it up." But of course!

And this part: "The different pieces of his life drifted further apart by the day. And he still hadn't found how to keep any of it for himself." That sentence stood out for me, because this is a struggle that continues for Rupert, through the BtVs years.

I also liked the way Rupert began to feel trapped, and like he had no options - it reminded me very much of Buffy and her ambivalence about being The Chosen One.

Congrats on a successful first outing!

S'cubie Spring

[beccaelizabeth]

:)

On BtVS the secret identity angst is usually focused on Buffy, but it has to be at least as much of a problem for Giles, and he has lived with it longer.

And Giles has the problem that not only does he get to live with being chosen, he isn't the chosen ONE but one of very many, so he can devote his whole life to it and still get fired. No options and no security neither.

glad you think is successful :)