Drabble: Home Sweet Home (School Hard )

[rebcake]

It's School Hard Week at fantas_magoria
The prompt was:  When Spike is introduced in this episode, it's clear he's been in Sunnydale before. What's the story?




Route 66 was a hoot. All those intrepid travelers, far from home and all, filled with the spirit of adventure. No sense of limitations. No sense, period.

Motor lodges. Drive-in movies. Car hops. Christ! Car hops were the living end. God bless America.

He mowed down the “Welcome” sign and followed his nose to the soda shop downtown. Darla held court in a booth, wearing a poodle skirt, surrounded by jocks.

She waved them off when she saw him, “William. Thank you for coming.”

“Don’t know why you think I’ll have any better luck than you, springing ol’ Bat Face.”

Comments

[ares132006.livejournal.com]

Well done. You've captured the essence of Spike. Devil take him, he doesn't care a hoot. :0)

A very good reason for him to have been in Sunnydale, too.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Spike's essence is complicated. Yeah, he swaggers in, dripping blood and attitude, BUT he also showed up when summoned. Bad dog/good dog. That's our Spike.

[shapinglight]

That was great - very atmospheric of the period. Plus it reminds me all over again why I love the idea of Spike/Darla.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Spike/Darla, huh? She's certainly dom enough for him, but I think she prefers 'em big and stupid. *tips hat to Julie Brown* He's neither. Could be entertaining, though.

[shapinglight]

I love them as a pairing, have to say. This may well be precisely because they're such an uneasy fit.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

I just realized that I implied that Angel is stupid. He's not. He might not be intellectually nimble in the way that Spike is, but he is far, far from stupid. Mea culpa.

[shapinglight]

True - though he can be horribly dense at times.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Spike reveling in the road trip was delightful, and I love the image of Darla playing the teeny bopper bombshell.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the image of Darla with saddle shoes is so wrong it's right. It's not that different from Catholic schoolgirl, but slightly more absurd. To me. Glad you liked it.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Love it, especially Spike's commentary on the current social scene.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

I think post-war America would be heaven to a veal-loving vamp like Spike. Irrational exuberance and the explosion of youth culture make for easy pickings.

[bruttimabuoni.livejournal.com]

Very nice - for the sense of time and place, and for SpikeVoice.

Darla playing dress-up too; definitely a character trait we see and cah have fun with!

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the lovely compliments! It's always nice to hear you've kept them in character. This did seem like a natural, but not often written, era for our vamps. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[alwaysjbj.livejournal.com]

Darla held court in a booth, wearing a poodle skirt, surrounded by jocks.

I can so see that!

Very nice drabble.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I cracked myself up with that one. Of course that's what Darla would be up to in the 50s. Maybe Angel battles metaphorical McCarthyism, but Darla just picks off studs at the drug store. Heh.

[sockmonkeyhere.livejournal.com]

Maybe Angel battles metaphorical McCarthyism, but Darla just picks off studs at the drug store.

And you've put me on the floor with laughter, again.

Dandy drabble!

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. It was one of those that just poured out, and left me thinking: this is exactly how it happened! Now I am doomed to think endlessly of these guys in mid-century America. Which is actually quite fun. Especially Darla in saddle shoes! Heh.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

And he obviously didn't. But what a great Spike you've drawn here - full of the irreverent joy of being dead and free. Very nice.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Nope. I'm betting he got bored with all the "vampire court" rigmarole, raised a little hell, and hightailed it to Italy. Or someplace Darla wasn't. I'm glad you enjoyed "my" Spike in this. Thanks for commenting!

[clawofcat.livejournal.com]

Hee! What a light-hearted piece with an awesome punchline. Spike's plucky enthusiasm for the period draws you in on the first line. I can also certainly appreciate the thrill of the road and the southwest having just done a cross-country roadtip this summer. He's ever the adolescent, isn't he? Love his irreverance.

Darla rolling with the times as leader of the Sunnydale pack also brought a smile to my face.

What do you think Spike's hair looked like at the time?

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod! You are thinking exactly like I was! Hair would have been lightly greased back, left slightly wavy on top, but still short, no DA (too poncy!). I think his look at this time was Marlon Brando/Wild Ones. Don't you agree? Without the hat, though. But yeah, motorcycle boots, rolled up jeans, tee shirt, but maybe with an "Ike" jacket, instead of leather. (I think he got the jacket off a GI in post-war Europe.)

Clearly I have given this entirely too much thought. I must expand this into a fic or die trying.

Thank you for your very kind comments. I especially liked: "lighthearted w/awesome punchline" and "draws you in on the first line". You sure know how to make a girl feel special!

[mere-ubu.livejournal.com]

This is such a delight. Your grasp of Spike's perverse sense of humor gets me every time. (I had a good giggle over the carhop line in particular.) I can see this all so clearly--like Pleasantville with fangs! And of course Darla would already be working that schoolgirl mojo for all it's worth.

I'm just gonna file this away in my "that's what really happened" drawer, okay?

P.S. I read this last week and didn't realize that I had churlishly neglected to comment until I was just now showing it to M. Mere. (Who, BTW, especially liked "'ol Bat Face.'")

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

¡Yay! I'm so pleased you liked it!

*I had to explain to McDiva what a carhop was. Kids these days! No culture.*

I am firmly in the "that's what really happened camp", myself. So much so, that this might just turn into my very first multi-chapter fic. *runs and hides*

Thanks for commenting, at anytime. Thanks to M. Mere, too!