More Musings

[dlgood]

There are all sorts of things that get referenced or mentioned on the TV shows, but which are never explored to their fullest extent. And sometimes, I do get curious:

1. Vampires, when convenient to the plot, have exceptional hearing. Is this something they can turn on and off? Do they have feedback issues? Volume filters or normalization? Do they get headaches? I saw Helmet onstage in 1994. They made my ears bleed. What would they do to a vampire?

2. Vampires and Werewolves, on occaision, happen to have heightened senses of smell. Can they turn that off? There was the vampires that are repelled from Buffy because of her Doublemeat Palace stink. How sensitive are these creatures? Can they handle walking past a gas station? Just how how painful was it for Angel to live in a friggin' sewer for two decades with his SuperScent? Could Oz survive walking through an NFL lockerroom an hour after gametime?

3. Slayer Blood seems to have special properties that make it more potent than regular human blood. If a Slayer tried out for the Olympic Team, could she pass the IOC tests for performance enhancing drugs? And even if she did, would she be able to withstand the massive scrutiny? Would she have to deliberately sandbag her performances in order to not get tested every three days?

Is it even fair for a slayer to compete against non-slayers?

4. Have you seen my bridge?

Edited @4:55 to add some things

5. Has anyone else noticed how much better turkey sandwiches taste when you mix hot sauce in with the mayo?

6. There has been much musing about the menstrual cycles of human females. And, on occaison, how that might affect a slayer. But what about the female vampire? Does she still get a 'monthly visitor'? If not, does she still have the hormonal mood swings. If no on that count as well, during those three days, how much of a trade-off is her soullessness? And does this topic, unpleasant as it might be, not demand itself a Harmony fic or what?

Comments

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I'm at a loss on these, because there's very little to draw from on canon. I would guess that the increased sense of smell is the origin/explanation for the dislike of garlic, but that's largely been dropped from the Jossverse because NB (I think) is allergic to it. Also, smell is not a filmable experience.

Must ponder. More later.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

6. There has been much musing about the menstrual cycles of human females. And, on occaison, how that might affect a slayer. But what about the female vampire? Does she still get a 'monthly visitor'? If not, does she still have the hormonal mood swings. If no on that count as well, during those three days, how much of a trade-off is her soullessness? And does this topic, unpleasant as it might be, not demand itself a Harmony fic or what?

My take is that vampires are essentially asexual beings. They "reproduce" by hunting and feeding and bleeding back. The processes that lead to those occurrances just are not there because they are not necessary. (I say "Cold dead seed" as a joke, but I don't believe it would exist either.) If we were talking Salem's Lot/Nosferatu vampires, rather than the sexual beings of the Jossverse and the Riceverse (is that a term?), I'd wonder if there was any "sexual" contact going on. That's not the verse. There's an oral element within Dracula and even within later works (and here I pimp Near Dark again) that points to that. Under a creator freed from the FCC, Spike might be incredibly talented in fellatio but unable to perform himself, or unable to perform unless having recently fed. In social dynamics term, there's no need for the "leader" vampire to be the big guy, and there's really no need for living morality to specify male-female attraction. That sort of attraction would instead be primarily part of the hunt.

(Hooking into wolf dynamics [and there's much canine imagery in vampirism, both in and out of the Jossverse], only the alpha male is allowed to mate, so it seems likely that, in some groups, only the Big Bad gets to turn someone. I could see that more as part of Sunday's group or the Master than the Fanged Four, of course.)

And Harmony? Imagine this as cut from from "Disharmony":

"Cordy, y'know? Insatiable hunger for blood versus no more 'Aunt Flo'? Such a good deal, I have to say. You really should try it."

"Excuse me, but nuh-uh!"

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

only the alpha male is allowed to mate, so it seems likely that, in some groups, only the Big Bad gets to turn someone. I could see that more as part of Sunday's group or the Master than the Fanged Four, of course

That said, along those lines is it notable that Dru didn't seem to think of making herself a playmate? Rather, she was instructed/encouraged to do so. And Spike, who is certainly not an Alpha personality (unlike Angelus) doesn't seem to have turned anybody. Or at least, it never came up.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

I'm personally convinced that Spike turned Ford. It was certainly his promise that it would happen. But otherwise, we only saw people he turned in S7, after the song was in his head.

Spike was clearly Alpha pre-"What's My Line", although whether Spike would've taken beta to Dru before his weakness or before Dru's is debatable. Likely he would've, and within the Fanged Four, he certainly was the omega wolf/whipping boy. And that position is cemented by him being sired by the previous omega wolf, Dru.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Spike was clearly Alpha pre-"What's My Line"

Yeah - but viewed in larger context, Spike was a non-Alpha trying to play the part of Alpha. But more Alpha-by-default than Alpha-in-truth.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking more along the lines of a menstruating vampire would drive herself insane with blood lust. I'm getting some very disturbing, kinky imagery here folks.

But, inreality, as luddite pints out, can;t see it as it's completely unnecessary.

Which also brings up the gross point of what happens to the bloomin' onions Spike likes to scarf down. My own view is they come out exactly the same as they went in.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

For issues of menstruation (sick pun intended), I tend to defer to "Woman" by LadyCat.

And with the onions, yes, with a bit of compostation along with it. Vampires historically smell of death and decay. Perhaps that's a function of what remains of their digestive tract.

[ludditerobot.livejournal.com]

Slayer Blood seems to have special properties that make it more potent than regular human blood. If a Slayer tried out for the Olympic Team, could she pass the IOC tests for performance enhancing drugs? And even if she did, would she be able to withstand the massive scrutiny? Would she have to deliberately sandbag her performances in order to not get tested every three days?

Is it even fair for a slayer to compete against non-slayers?

Last question first? No.

As a practical matter, any Watcher would discourage their Slayer from attempting to participate, because this would tend to draw attention to her, making it more difficult for her to participate in her calling. And also, the Watcher would declare that such a thing just isn't done. I would guess that, in a world where a mom magics against all contenders to get her daughter on the cheerleading team, mystical tests for performance enhancements would be included with the physical, catching a Slayer before competition.