Bad Faith Quest

[FurikoMaru]

Ah, Torchwood. Proof positive that slash being canon isn't enough to make up for everything wrong with a story.

 

[Guile]

Doctor Who spinoffs are always a little... iffy.

Having an immortal protagonist that's fated to live for billions of years after the current time was an interesting stylistic choice, at least.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Thus Spoke Draco Malfoy​

Four Years Old

Mother is a bit concerned that you seem to have no more than a token interest in most of the gifts you received for your recent birthday. You're not sure why she's surprised; when have you ever indicated that you wanted a toy broomstick? If you want to ride around the house on a majestic steed that's what Dobby's for.

Father is altogether more sensible; he still won't permit you to have your own quills and ink, but the box of crayons and the never-ending sketchpad he got you are already being put to vigourous use.

You frown at the drawing, as though your disappointment alone could edit it into something worthwhile. Sadly this is not the case; the portrait of Lucius looks nothing like its subject.

"Can't we do better?" you ask your companion, a spectral boy in a checker-brimmed tophat and a long white coat. "Father won't like it if it isn't good."

The boy remains as silent as ever, frowning alongside you. You don't mind. It's nice to have someone in your life who listens whenever you talk. Mother's all right about that, but not as good as your friend. He's been with you as long as you can remember; he used to be friends with the artist in your dreams, but for some reason he came to stay with you.

"Dobby thinks it looks very nice, young master," the house elf making your bed says timidly.

"Don't be stupid, Dobby," you reply absently, still examining and mentally-correcting your work. "It looks like a baby drew it."

Immediately, Dobby drops to his knees and knocks his head against the floor. "Bad Dobby," he cries. "Bad!"

Oh, good god, not this again. For some reason whenever you correct Dobby about anything he immediately begins hurting himself in punishment and moaning about how bad he's been. You get exhausted just looking at him.

The wails increase in volume as the moments go by. The ghostboy gives you a look, as if to ask, Do we really have to put up with this?

Only half aware of what you're doing, you swing your arm around lightning-quick and point your blue crayon at the self-flagellating elf.

"-Heaven's Door-!"

Dobby crumples to the floor.

You killed him! Good lord, what are you going to do now? He may be just a house elf, but Mother was angry enough when she caught you dissecting that dragonfly; you don't even want to think about what she's going to do when she sees this!

It is with a great deal of relief that you realize he's still breathing.

It is with complete shock that you realize his face has fallen off.

A hinge beside one of those massive ears is all that connects the skin of Dobby's face to his head; the features stand exposed to the air. Surprisingly, there isn't any blood. As you get closer, you observe with great interest that apparently elves have things written on their insides. You aren't a very good reader yet, but those are unmistakably words, just like in the storybooks your mother reads you. There are even pictures, you discover as you turn the 'pages'. One is of your Father with a stern expression on his face, and another is of a house elf you don't recognize.

Is this a story about Dobby? The very idea is bizarre to you; elves don't have stories about them. Elves don't do anything besides clean and cook.

Still, if that's true, why is the book so thick?

When you see a whole page full of pictures of Dobby punishing himself, you scowl. Who wants to read a book about someone who never does anything but twist his ears and iron his hands and stuff? You draw a big X over those pictures. Maybe now he'll get the hint and stop being so annoying.

Hm. Now that you think about it, it will never do for Dobby to go walking around with his face hanging open. If his words and pictures fell out he might not be able to work anymore, and then Father would have to chop his head off. As interesting as that would be to watch, it would be a shame to chop off the book's head before you could read it. Gently, you close the door.

After a minute, Dobby sits up, a strange, slightly dazed expression on his face.

"Go away," you say. "You make too much noise and it's distracting when I'm trying to draw."

"... yes, Master Draco," Dobby says slowly, and with a loud crack he disapparates.

Wonderful. Now where was that white crayon? Maybe if you start with it and layer the darker colours over top you can get Father's hair right...

=

Name: Draco Abraxas Malfoy

Former Identity: Kishibe Rohan. Mangaka, author of Pink Dark Boy (bestselling shounen horror-mystery series), occasional Gucci model.

Perks:

Slave Of The Muses - Nothing is more important to you than your art and sharing it with the world. You will not rest until you have achieved perfect understanding of the Reality underpinning your drawings.

It's Your World; Everyone Else Just Lives In It - Allow me to reiterate. Nothing is more important to you than your art. You have a rudimentary sense of morality, on par with a child's, and it is not likely to develop any further.

Special Abilities:

Heaven's Door - This is your Stand, a manifestation of your life energy. Invisible to people without strong spiritual sensitivity (ie muggles, most wizards), it is capable of accelerating your drawing or writing speed to superhuman levels. At your word, those who have seen your drawings and had a significant emotional reaction to them can be temporarily sedated and transformed into human-shaped books, in which are written their life stories as they have experienced them. If you write commands in a person's memory book, they will be forced to obey not merely the letter of the order, but the spirit as well. You can also edit people's memories by tearing out pages.

Limitations include the fact that Heaven's Door cannot reveal memories of events in which you participated - for example, if the person being read was by your side for the entirety of your birthday party, you can't look up what their experience of the party was like to get a Rashomon thing going. Furthermore, Heaven's Door cannot enhance your artistic ability beyond the speed-boost; if you want to get the most out of it, you'll have to grind your Drawing stat something fierce.

-----

Pre-emptive disclaimer: Let's not get too out-there with the orders, shall we, fellas? Rohan-sensei doesn't necessarily come across as asexual to me, but you have to admit he's a little too obsessed with the ideal of Reality to use Heaven's Door to snag chicks.

Hell, the thought of him picking up chicks at all is more than a bit ludicrous. He's like if Sasuke were a likeable asshole.

 

[mc2rpg]

That seems like an interesting personality and skillset, but he seems just a bit too dissociated from the stuff he is doing, when we could be Spike and revel in maliciousness.

 

[Biigoh]

Erm... Spike didn't win?

 

[FurikoMaru]

Erm... Spike didn't win?

Click to shrink...

So, I think I'm gonna do that thing I did for Cosmos Quest at the start and make a case for the two less popular options by writing previews of them. Sound good?

Click to shrink...

 

[Biigoh]

ahhhh... makes sense

 

[mkire]

[X] I'm the big bad.

I like him, and he's the only one of the three i actually recognize

 

[FurikoMaru]

Question: where do people want the AU-line drawn, if Spike wins? Nothing post-AtS-finale, nothing post-Chosen, hell, nothing post-The Gift, what? 'Cause obviously he's going to have a load of memories that I can't write and which could make him bullshit hax if I use the point where he actually gets permanently toasted.

 

[Biigoh]

Post getting Chipped.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Huh, really? I quite liked his post-chippery silliness. And even the whole crush-on-Buffy thing was tolerable (though I was always one of those people who watched the show for basically every other character but her).

I guess the problem is there's no logical end-point to give him in the fourth season.

 

[mc2rpg]

Perhaps his logical end point in this case IS the chip? Presumably things could have gone wrong rather easily with that.

 

[Biigoh]

He could have met his end at the end of that season when Adam got killed?

 

[FurikoMaru]

You're right, of course.

Man, I just realized, it's been like ten years since I've watched Buffy. This is the perfect excuse to marathon it and see how it holds up.

But I'll write a Kusuri-uri!Draco preview first. Just in case.

 

[EnderofWorlds]

You're right, of course.

Man, I just realized, it's been like ten years since I've watched Buffy. This is the perfect excuse to marathon it and see how it holds up.

Click to shrink...

Buffy was awesome, I remember watching it with my dad; favorite episode: the musical one. Just because...it was a fucking musical. And a damn good one at that.

 

[FurikoMaru]

As I recall, my favourite episode was always the second-season finale.

 

[Scia]

Before getting a soul I would say and certainly after buffys second death but only maybe after buffys return to the living world because I want some of his interactions with the munchkin.
So in the limbo after glorys death?

 

[Ardion Prosili]

[X] "'Were?' Regardless of my present circumstances, I am what I have always been - the greatest artist in the world, forever seeking to capture the ultimate reality in my works." (^_^; Should have known it would take something more potent than reincarnation to derail your obsession.)

Spike....really bores me :S

 

[Guile]

You're right, of course.

Man, I just realized, it's been like ten years since I've watched Buffy. This is the perfect excuse to marathon it and see how it holds up.

Click to shrink...

Man, I was SO disappointed with seasons 1-2 Buffy after doing that very thing. I had friends over to watch it with me, and they didn't get it at all.

Buffy had a lot of really interesting stylistic episodes. Hush, that silent episode with the Gentlemen, and the one after Adam where they're all asleep were brilliant.

If we go with Spike (and it's seeming likely) we need to get at least SOME post-chipping action going on, that bit with Willow where vampirism is so obviously a metaphor for sex and chipping an inability to get it up was amazing. I'd say, how about after he got tossed off that tower? Ate a heroic peanut and went up there to save the 'bit', then got tossed right the hell off the tower; doesn't know she got saved later.

 

[overmind]

Spike, in my opinion, existed until the end of Angel the series, thus we should get his memories until the AtS-finale but nothing after that.

 

[drake_azathoth]

I'm finding the first option pretty interesting, but still on the fence. I'd like to see the second option 'preview'.

I'll admit SOME versions of Spike are appealing and he really fits into the Malfoy family in my mind, but he gets the Worf Effect pretty bad during the latter part of the Buffy series, and during Angel and comics he's simply far too noble and eventually too overpowered.

(Though portions of the comic-book Spike are very, very tempting. Spike with the steampunk ship and alien cockroach crew on the trip to the moon? Seriously, did they really write that?)

In terms of personality... I'd actually prefer Spike just as he was backstabbing Angelus and stopping the demon Acathla from being 'activated' to destroy the world. Still very much in love Drusilla, very pragmatic reasons for helping Buffy, and still an ambitious vampire that's not to be underestimated.

I could foresee some interesting potential interactions with Luna Lovegood, that's for sure.

 

[Selias]

Maybe when he destroyed the hellmouth?

 

[iamnuff]

hmm, how did spike ever get overpowered anyway?

wasn't he just a pretty strong vampire?

i seem to remember vampires got de-powered in Angel too, if only so people like Gunn and Cordy could actually beat them up with their bare hands.

or did he get retarded super-powers in the comic? like angel and buffy did?

whatever [X] "The Big Bad. Who else?"(is that a quote from him? i can't seem to remember it)

and whenever other people think was good.

 

[FurikoMaru]

Spike, in my opinion, existed until the end of Angel the series, thus we should get his memories until the AtS-finale but nothing after that.

Click to shrink...

See, that would involve watching post-Pylea episodes of Angel, and my Cordy-fangirl side and the part of me that has some lingering respect for Angel and Wesley have an understanding that we aren't going to do that again.

Before getting a soul I would say and certainly after buffys second death but only maybe after buffys return to the living world because I want some of his interactions with the munchkin.
So in the limbo after glorys death?

Click to shrink...

God, y'wanna inflict even more problems on Dawn? XD I know people don't like her, but geez.

I'd say, how about after he got tossed off that tower? Ate a heroic peanut and went up there to save the 'bit', then got tossed right the hell off the tower; doesn't know she got saved later.

Click to shrink...

That's what I'm leaning towards, if only to avoid having to sit through the non-Trio episodes of 6.

I'm finding the first option pretty interesting, but still on the fence. I'd like to see the second option 'preview'.

Click to shrink...

It's givin' me some trouble; Kusuri-uri-san is very, very chill.

I'll admit SOME versions of Spike are appealing and he really fits into the Malfoy family in my mind, but he gets the Worf Effect pretty bad during the latter part of the Buffy series, and during Angel and comics he's simply far too noble and eventually too overpowered.

(Though portions of the comic-book Spike are very, very tempting. Spike with the steampunk ship and alien cockroach crew on the trip to the moon? Seriously, did they really write that?)

Click to shrink...

I couldn't get past about the first tpb of the Buffy comic and with Angel I just didn't bother.

In terms of personality... I'd actually prefer Spike just as he was backstabbing Angelus and stopping the demon Acathla from being 'activated' to destroy the world. Still very much in love Drusilla, very pragmatic reasons for helping Buffy, and still an ambitious vampire that's not to be underestimated.

Click to shrink...

There's a reason the season two finale was my favourite episode.

I could foresee some interesting potential interactions with Luna Lovegood, that's for sure.

Click to shrink...

Luna is half the reason I suggested Spike. :3

And Rohan-sensei too, actually. : < /once again, no one's gay for Furi's favourite

 

[Guile]

Admittedly, Koichi and his scary stalker girl were my favorites of that arc. Good memories of Hareluya ii Boy and another tiny Determinator, mostly.

 

[Scia]

God, y'wanna inflict even more problems on Dawn? XD I know people don't like her, but geez.

Click to shrink...

That was not even part of my decision and I sort of like the munchkin. other sudden kids where far worse, like Chibi-Usa

And guiles version also work if we put postulate that some dwn/spike interaction happend somewhere during that season that we simply missed. *g*

And Rohan-sensei too, actually. : < /once again, no one's gay for Furi's favourite

Click to shrink...

You mean exept for Lupin?

 

[FurikoMaru]

You mean except for Lupin?

Click to shrink...

My favourite of these options. I don't have a favourite character in all of fiction, that's madness. : P

 

[RLDX]

[X] "'Were?' Regardless of my present circumstances, I am what I have always been - the greatest artist in the world, forever seeking to capture the ultimate reality in my works." (^_^; Should have known it would take something more potent than reincarnation to derail your obsession.)

 

[Balatro Philologus]

[X] "A simple... medicine seller... am I." (Wait, how does someone like you die? ... never mind, I don't really want to know. )

 

[Vindictus]

[X] Spike
[X] Oh dear- Your plan failed. The bint didn't keep her end of the bargain, and now EVERYTHING's gone to hell... [Alt from S2 end]