Death shall have no dominion (Drabble, PG)

[electricalgwen]

Inspired by the prompt "Dominion" at open_on_sunday. The title is of course from Dylan Thomas.


He’s glad Tara’s dead.

Death is vague when you’re a kid. It gains reality and form slowly. Grandma’s not baking cookies anymore; the class guinea pig lies unmoving on the cage floor.

Eventually, you’re old enough to attend funerals. And despite the minister’s assertion of the Resurrection and the Life, you know death is final.

Only… then you get a little older, and meet the Slayer. You learn about vampires and zombie cats, and eventually one of your best friends brings another one back – from heaven.

So, yeah. He’s not glad Tara died. But he’s glad she’s still dead.

Comments

[apreludetoanend.livejournal.com]

Love this! Very cool idea, and I'm so glad to see more fic from you! ♥

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm trying to get my head back into the writing zone... *sigh*

[isis-whit.livejournal.com]

Ow, painful view on things. No, resurrection on the hellmouth isn't what is advertised. Great drabble!

The poem was the first thing I thought of when I read the prompt. Dylan Thomas is love.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
It is a great and very appropriate poem. :)

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Love the Thomas title! First thing I thougth of when I saw this week's challenge.

Excellent drabble! Good reflection on the BtVS death experience. Always loving the Xander-think.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, death in the Buffyverse is much more... fluid.
The Thomas reference seems to have been popular. It is a great poem. :)

[skybound2]

Oh, very well done. A nice little look into Xander's mind. And I have to agree with him here, so very glad that Willow couldn't bring Tara back...

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[laisserais]

Oh! oh! just.... oh. So wonderful, the progression. How like it really is, and then where it goes on the hellmouth. and i love the distinction, the finer points he'd have to make. so sad, yet stunningly true.

this is a wonderful idea, fleshed out beautifully.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :D
It's funny how drabbles go - occasionally there are ones that actually want to be shorter, and have to be worked up to 100 words; other times it feels like trying to squash a bear into a subcompact car. This was definitely one where the idea felt bigger than the allotted space. I'm glad that the implications, the progression, came across.

[jussyklutz.livejournal.com]

oooher, nice

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[4thdixiechick.livejournal.com]

So, yeah. He’s not glad Tara died. But he’s glad she’s still dead.

Meep!
Very sad, and so true to character.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much - I'm glad you felt it was in character. :)

[shinodabear.livejournal.com]

Living in Sunnydale is hard enough, when you know things others refuse to believe, and then dying isn't exactly what it used to be. Wishing Tara stay dead is really an ultimate form of respect and love, in this sense. Wonderful.
I love the examples of Grandma's cookies and the hamster. :)

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think you're absolutely right, it is respect - not wanting to interfere (further) with the natural order of the world, and recognizing that Tara wouldn't have wanted that either.
Glad you liked the examples. Death is very concrete in that sense, in the early years.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Wonderful Xander logic in this and that last line choked me up. Excellent job on this.

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[lil-miss-maddie.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to let you know that that gave me goosebumps. Do I assume correct in that the narrator would be Xander?

[electricalgwen.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reading and commenting - it's great to hear that it affected you that way! Yes, I imagined this from Xander's POV.