Slayer's Night Off by slaymesoftly
Chapter: all

06/20/2014 06:39 pm
Short but NICE - I sure had a great dislike for Riley - nice reading this one again.  
It's so easy to make Riley the bad guy. :) Glad you enjoyed the reread.

02/19/2014 07:05 am
NICE - great that you did a sequel.
It seemed to need one.... :)

Jags
02/19/2012 08:27 am
very nice
:)

12/30/2008 06:52 am
lol i like it.
Zombies, pirates, and hobbits? those vamps have some major inferiority complexes.
LOL I'm glad you liked it.

Ikepear
11/06/2008 06:39 am
After reading a couple of your recent stories, I identified you as one of the good ones, like enigmaticblue or Eurydice, & began reading them in bunches. I was glad to see you have 87 fics here.

Your stuff is consistently entertaining, & you have a pretty good feel for the characters. I like it that, unlike many writers, you are not usually overly judgmental or harsh about the characters.. I enjoyed this story as well, & I'm looking forward to reading more.

I have one point to make. It's not exactly a criticism (of you or your story), since your approach has canonical justification, but it's a point that bothered on BTVS & bothers me in fanfic.  You say in this story that "without a stake handy all she could do was exchange blows and kicks, hoping to be able to incapacitate them long enough to find a weapon or run away." There's canon support for this, as when Spike told Buffy that she had to reach for her weapon, but he always has his, but I think that it doesn't entirely make sense. Point 1, Spike simply tears their heads off. Point 2, both Spike & Angel have said that Buffy is stronger than they are, ergo Buffy can rip their heads off if she needs to. A further point: Spike's "weapon" is pathetic. His fangs are shorter, duller & more easily broken than the blade of the miniature Swiss Army Knife I cary on my key chain. Plus unlike practically every fang-reliant predator on the planet (sharks, wolves, crocs, etc) vamps have blunt, flat faces & small mouths. They can't strike like snakes or chomp like crocs or lions. Indeed, think of how wimpy a vamp's fangs are in comparison to a lion's. Buffy's fists are far more effective than a vamp's fangs, which they can only use on someone who is already defeated or paralysed by fear. If a vamp is more than about 6 inches away, he can't bite you. Of course I realise that vampires are very quick, that most victims ARE paralyzed with fear etc. Also Whedon vamps are not Stoker/Drac vamps. Van Helsing tells his helpers that Drac can break their necks but they can't break his or do him any physical harm, except by fire, stake etc. Whedon  vamps can be incapacitated, even paralysed, by ordinary means. I guess I'd just like to see more stories where the author recognizes that Buffy could kill or cripple most vamps with or w/o a stake.

A similar point, as long as I'm ranting, is that too many writers consistently forget how strong Buffy is in general, partly b/c the show didn't emphasize it, for practical reasons. Obviously neither Gellar nor her stunt doubles could, e.g., walk off with Boreanaz or Brendon over one shoulder. But Buffy could sprint up the stairs with Riley & Angel over her shoulders, Xander in her left hand & Giles in her right. Despite this, having Buffy ask for help in carring an injured or unconscious Spike is a detail I've seen in easily a dozen stories.

Pardon me. I've lost my mind here, & I'm way off point.  I liked the story. Please write more.
LOL  Quite a "review". :)  I'm glad you liked this story. I hope you enjoy the rest of them.  I think you'll find that my Buffy changes a bit from earlier fics to my latest ones - or from one story to the next. Those are good points about canon and logic, but looking for logic in the worlds Joss created can be a pretty frustrating thing. lol 
I do like to emphsize Buffy's strength when I can, but, as a small person, I can sympathize with her needing help sometimes. When you're trying to balance or carry someone or something that is much larger than you are, the laws of physics can be against you. So, where she might be quite strong enough to pick up both Riley and Angel, the sheer difficulty of balancing two unsymetrical things that much larger than she is would make it extremely difficult if not impossible. In fact, in one of my fics I actually have her struggling to balance an unconscious Angel over her shoulder and getting help from Xander who points out that her being very strong isn't going to repeal the law of gravity which will be pulling on whichever parts of Angel aren't currently being supported.
It's quite true that Buffy is capable of inflicting major damage without touching a weapon. Sometimes she does and sometimes she doesn't.  She is made very strong and fast because the creatures she must fight are supernaturally strong and fast. (which, no doubt, is what allows them to be successful predators). In the Jossverse, however, how strong and fast they are varies from episode to episode depending on what the needs of the writers are for that arc.  So, as fan fic writers, we have a lot of leeway to write them however we need them to be to make our fics work.  You can usually find something within canon to justify just about anything. LOL
Thanks so much for the entertaining review. It was much more fun than just "good fic". :)  You should join some of the forum discussions. They get into stuff like this all the time. :)

2nd Wind
05/08/2008 07:12 am
Great story!! Its a good thing Buffy dumped Riley he was acting like a real... well somthing bad.
Love the idea of vamps dressing up in costumes for Halloween instead of being all traditional ;). Kinda sucks for Buffy though; good thing Spikes there with her.
Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. It was a fun little piece of fluff to write.

alým
03/26/2008 10:01 pm
*Squee!!!!* This was very good,all with the brassin' Riley off and not havin exactly kissed Spike.
Any sequel change?
LOL  There's always a chance. ...

11/18/2007 02:13 am
I was laughing and cheering throughout this whole story. This is what I call a real Halloween treat. Thanks for a lovely little fic.
Hee! I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the kind words.:)

11/03/2007 09:48 pm
Aww, I liked this. What a good way to get rid of Riley...he really should've known better! Love jealous Buffy, she's always entertaining.
LOL Thanks. Yes, I like it when Buffy's jealousy drags her out of denial.

11/02/2007 09:16 am
Yummier than a cute little kid's Halloween haul--and no calories either! I savored every word. Sweet! Thanks for sharing this.
Hee! Thanks for the cute review. I'm glad you liked it.:)

11/02/2007 05:20 am
if only, it had been that easy. wonderful read, thank you.
Thanks. Yes, if only...*sigh*

11/01/2007 03:50 pm
Loved the jealousy scenes! And it was great to see Riley put in his place.
Thanks. Glad you liked it. :)

BT_
11/01/2007 03:27 pm
that was nice. thanks! :)
Vampire Hobbits?
Hey - if they can dress up as zombies, why not Hobbits? :) Thanks for reading.

11/01/2007 10:13 am
Jealous Buffy and Riley bashed -- perfect!
Thank you for saying so. :)

All4Spike
11/01/2007 02:58 am
Oh I love it! I'd really like a sequel.....
Thanks. LOL It about killed me just getting this one finished before it became the day after Halloween! Maybe after I get the SS and another one out of the way, I'll revisit it and see.

11/01/2007 02:40 am
This was a great Halloween piece!
Thank you - I'm glad you liked it.

11/01/2007 01:53 am
Oh I loved it.
Thanks!

11/01/2007 01:51 am
Man I wish this had happened! What a wonderful halloween story. Loved every minute of it. Loved the revelations (including Xander's inner realization that he didn't really want Spike gone). Love the reason for the break up. Love the jealousy and Buffy leaping out of the Nile enough to recognize it. Just loved it in total. Lovely treat with no nasty trick.

Kathleen
Hee - you write the most wonderful reviews, sweetie. Thanks so much. I'm glad you liked it.