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Post by spindlekitten on Jan 18, 2019 8:43:58 GMT -8
So, I was reading a fic the other day and Buffy called Spike 'baby' and something about it really made me cringe. I know it is a usual pet name that couples often use but in the context of Spuffy I didn't like it.
On the other hand, I love the name she gives him in Myra's Echoes because it has real meaning to it and is very in character for them in that fic.
We all know that Spike is King of the pet names, and when there is a real meaning behind it then I am all for people creating new ones, but sometimes people write him giving pet names using words that just don't fit his character.
Anyway, it got me thinking - are there any nicknames or pet names that you have seen in fics that you really loved/hated and why.
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Post by Zab Jade on Jan 18, 2019 9:14:11 GMT -8
Ugh, yeah, baby doesn't work for Spuffy. Honey sometimes does, for me anyway, though mainly I see them using it sort of jokingly. "Honey, I'm home!" Or if they're in a situation where one of them is trying very hard to be soothing to the other. But not as an everyday, casual endearment. Baby, though, never. That only works for Willow and Tara, since it was used in canon.
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darcygall
Watcher/Pearl
Head of Tourism
Posts: 28
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Post by darcygall on Jan 18, 2019 9:34:05 GMT -8
I hate it when she calls him Baby! Or Honey or Sweetie! Or anything really! I mean, not enough to stop reading something but still.
LOVE the nickname Sparky! Bless The Myra for that one!
I only like pet names (from Buffy I mean) if there's meaning behind it. She never struck me as a pet name sort of person.
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Post by Zab Jade on Jan 18, 2019 9:48:58 GMT -8
Darcy, she did technically call Spike honey, once. When she came back to herself after the Halloween stuff. Which is why I like it when it's used in a joking way.
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darcygall
Watcher/Pearl
Head of Tourism
Posts: 28
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Post by darcygall on Jan 18, 2019 10:19:32 GMT -8
Yeah Zab but like you said, that was a joke!
What did Buffy call the Nazi arsehole? I don't remember.
What did she call him while under the Will Be Done spell? I don't remember that either!
ETA: OMG! She does call him honey during the Will Be Done spell!
*shudders*
Of course she also wants Wind Beneath My Wings as her wedding song so....clearly that was the spell.
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Post by spindlekitten on Jan 18, 2019 11:29:24 GMT -8
I don't really see Buffy as much of a pet name user. Maybe with girl friends and her sister, but not with Spike. Unless she is taking the piss and calling him Honey to wind him up, or as a way to let him know that she has an unpleasant task she wants him to do for her.
I can sort of imagine her saying "Spike, honey, the toilet is backed up again. Do you think you could fix it?"
but not "Honey, get that mug off the coffee table - you know how hard blood rings are to get out."
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Post by myrabeth on Jan 18, 2019 15:08:24 GMT -8
"Baby" is a line I do not cross for pet names within couples. Willow uses it for Tara in canon, so I follow suit in fic. But that's it. I don't like it for couples, personally, so I'm not going to inflict it on others. Now, for a mother-child relationship, I do occasionally use it. In the Echoesverse, Buffy has addressed both her kids as "baby," but not in casual conversation. Only serious moments, and still rarely.
I do like "babe" for occasional use with couples, but it doesn't fit the usual Spuffy dynamic/personalities for me, so I generally steer clear of it for them. I'm going to be using it (from Buffy to Spike) in one fic, but that's a fic that features a Buffy with an altered personality, and it feels like it fits coming from her.
"Honey" is canon for mother-child relationships, because Joyce used it. It makes total sense for Buffy to continue that habit in fic. But beyond "Honey, I'm home" type jokes, it doesn't feel like it fits Spuffy to me, so I don't use it much for them, if ever.
"Sweetie" is Tara-speak in my head. I think she called everyone she had a one-on-one conversation with "sweetie" in canon, at some point. I distinctly remember it for Willow, Dawn, and Buffy, at least. I suspect that was the writing team giving her a verbal habit that sounded gentle and kind, and maybe slightly Southern. For my fic purposes, "sweetie" is a Tara word, pretty much exclusively.
As for personalized pet names, I don't like them all that much if they don't have a clear meaning and/or history. That's what gives them value. As in real life, you aren't going to have a private nickname for someone unless you are close enough to them to not only create the name, but to understand how it relates to them.
For example: Throughout the Echoesverse, Doyle calls Buffy "Firecracker." It's a personalized pet name that only he uses, and he keeps using it for decades. The story behind it is in the first two minutes they knew each other, a comment he made about his expectations and first impressions of her. I don't plan to ever explain it to the readers in later installments of the series. It's already baked into their history. It doesn't really make sense to anyone else (save Dawn and Whistler, who witnessed the initial interaction), but it doesn't have to. It's just for them, an on-going reference to how they met, and his first impression of her.
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