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epic_recs2014-05-26 10:58 pm
ci5rod.livejournal.com) wrote in epic_recs2014-05-26 10:58 pm
Demons of DC (R) by Laimelde
Title: Demons of DC
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/NCIS
Categories: Crossover, gen, drama, supernatural, post-series (for BtVS)
Length: Epic (46,800 words)
Warnings: Nothing "on-screen", nothing worse than an episode of either show.
Author on Twisting the Hellmouth: Laimelde
Author onthe Pit of VolesFF.net Laimelde
Summary:
Xander joins NCIS and has to prove himself to become a proper Federal Agent. Keeping his past secret is hard enough by itself — will he be able to do so when the supernatural manages to find him in DC?
Review:
Xander becoming an NCIS agent is a common enough means of crossing these two fandoms over. It's been done a few times, with varying degrees of success. What sets this story apart for me is how it resolutely refuses to fall into the usual lazy writing traps. This Xander isn't a Superxan; his Halloween memories give him an expertise with firearms but his Sunnydale instincts are for hand-to-hand, and his eye-patch is offset by Willow giving him perfect depth perception. Similarly this Gibbs is somewhat open to the possibility of the supernatural, but isn't omniscient and has no idea that demons are anything more than indistinct shapes in the desert. And Tony is an ass to the probie, but not to an extreme.
It makes for a refreshingly well thought out story, with just the right levels of trust and secrets flying about. Xander actually has the perfect foil for the team's curiosity about his past; in the official reports, the Scoobies were treated as civilian consultants to the Initiative, so Xander is officially not allowed to tell Gibbs anything. Gibbs doesn't have to like it, but without good reason he does have to lump it, and again the author plays this nicely.
The supernatural element turns up in the form of a vague and ill-defined prophecy that is taken to mean that the someone in DC in the right government job at a particular time will come into lots of power and money. The NCIS team become involved through missing marines, and then Angel and the Slayers show up separately, and Xander has to walk the tightrope of keeping everyone cooperating. This is not easy when Gibbs doesn't trust civilians and the Scoobies don't trust the military, and possibly my only criticism of the story was that I felt Xander didn't quite have a hard enough time of it. It's a matter of degree only, and personal preference at that, but I would have rather seen both Gibbs and Buffy take a little more convincing to play well.
All in all, a well-balanced story.
Demons of DC
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/NCIS
Categories: Crossover, gen, drama, supernatural, post-series (for BtVS)
Length: Epic (46,800 words)
Warnings: Nothing "on-screen", nothing worse than an episode of either show.
Author on Twisting the Hellmouth: Laimelde
Author on
Summary:
Xander joins NCIS and has to prove himself to become a proper Federal Agent. Keeping his past secret is hard enough by itself — will he be able to do so when the supernatural manages to find him in DC?
Review:
Xander becoming an NCIS agent is a common enough means of crossing these two fandoms over. It's been done a few times, with varying degrees of success. What sets this story apart for me is how it resolutely refuses to fall into the usual lazy writing traps. This Xander isn't a Superxan; his Halloween memories give him an expertise with firearms but his Sunnydale instincts are for hand-to-hand, and his eye-patch is offset by Willow giving him perfect depth perception. Similarly this Gibbs is somewhat open to the possibility of the supernatural, but isn't omniscient and has no idea that demons are anything more than indistinct shapes in the desert. And Tony is an ass to the probie, but not to an extreme.
It makes for a refreshingly well thought out story, with just the right levels of trust and secrets flying about. Xander actually has the perfect foil for the team's curiosity about his past; in the official reports, the Scoobies were treated as civilian consultants to the Initiative, so Xander is officially not allowed to tell Gibbs anything. Gibbs doesn't have to like it, but without good reason he does have to lump it, and again the author plays this nicely.
The supernatural element turns up in the form of a vague and ill-defined prophecy that is taken to mean that the someone in DC in the right government job at a particular time will come into lots of power and money. The NCIS team become involved through missing marines, and then Angel and the Slayers show up separately, and Xander has to walk the tightrope of keeping everyone cooperating. This is not easy when Gibbs doesn't trust civilians and the Scoobies don't trust the military, and possibly my only criticism of the story was that I felt Xander didn't quite have a hard enough time of it. It's a matter of degree only, and personal preference at that, but I would have rather seen both Gibbs and Buffy take a little more convincing to play well.
All in all, a well-balanced story.
Demons of DC