Developing an uberfic

[PancakesinBellies]

I would like to try my hand at more creative writing in the hopes it will balance out my MA thesis and help my brain not get fried. In order to do so, I plan on lifting the cast of Buffy straight out of Sunnydale and plopping them into Whedon's Firefly setting. And now comes the difficult decision-do I set Tara up as the Captain (Mal), the First Mate (Zoe), or place her down the ladder as the mechanic (Kaylee). Now, for the most part, Tara would fit most easily into Kaylee's role, but I'm intriuged by the idea of Tara as the tough, ever so embittered Captain. I, of course, would play merry hell with Firefly canon because it amuses me to do so, but I wanted to take a poll of interested Kittens so that I might make up my mind more easily. Here are the prospective casts of characters (for the sake of brevity I'm just matching BVS characters with the spot they would slot into in the Firefly verse, not claiming that they would/must match the FF characters in all points):

Scenerio 1
Tara->Mal, Captain
Faith->Zoe, First Mate
Spike->Jayne, mercenary
Giles->Book, missionary(ish)
Xander->Wash, pilot
Willow->Simon, doctor
Dawn->River, Simon's sister
Buffy->Inara, Companion
Anya->Kaylee, mechanic

Scenario 2
Tara->Kaylee, mechanic
Faith->Mal, Captain
Anya->Zoe, First Mate
Xander->Wash, pilot
Spike->Jayne, mercenary
Giles->Book, missionary(ish)
Willow->Simon, doctor
Dawn->River, Simon's sister
Buffy->Inara, Companion

Scenerio 3
The same lineup as the first scenerio, but with Faith as the Captain and Tara as the First Mate

Advice, opinions, anything?

[Knock yourself out]

This sounds like an intriguing premise that I would be interested in reading.

Mal is probably my least favourite character in Firefly so you would have to work very hard to get me to like an arrogant Tara. I don't like the idea of Tara as Zoe with Xander as Wash because then Tara would have to be unfaithful

It's scenario 2 that catches my eye with Tara as Kaylee and Willow as Simon.

[PancakesinBellies]

Perhaps I should clarify: there is no way that Tara would ever in any way be with anyone who isn't Willow. 'Cause that's just wrong. But I have to agree that there are many problems to presenting Tara in Mal's position: I think that some of the character changes would be irreconcilable. The pairings in the fic would be W/T, B/F, and X/A. I'm leaning towards Tara as Zoe because if I put her in Kaylee's place and follow Firefly canon at all then she gets shot in the first 'episode' and I just don't think I have the heart to do that. Also, if Tara is Mal or Zoe then she gets to kill the lawman (Warren), which makes my heart sing. Y'know?

[Knock yourself out]

As long as Tara isn't being unfaithful (which I should have known wasn't going to happen) then Tara as Zoe sounds like fun. Kaylee is sweet but not exactly kick-ass plus the thought of Tara in Zoe's leather waistcoat is rather enticing...

[PancakesinBellies]

Mmmmmm...Tara in leather...

Thanks so much for your input. It always helps me to get someone else's opinion. Things that make sense or sound good to me don't always do the same to other people.

[db]

Just my two cents.
Tara --> Inara,
Willow --> Kaylee.

*dreamy smile*

Did no one else see the love betwixt those two?

db

[PancakesinBellies]

Oh no, I completely saw that. As one of my friends put it, "Those two are so being gay together." But the problem with that remains the nature of Inara's work, and so we must ask ourselves: could we stand Tara being with other people, even given the way in which their society views Companion work as spiritual as well as physical?

[db]

*of course* it would cause angst ...all the more reason to do it, I say. .

... the thing is, it's not like you would have to write what happens when Tara goes away to attend to her work... just the anxiety and uncertainty and *questions* that it raises for the two women as they fall in love. I guess I kind of bought into the firefly mythology where a companion's job was well respected and mostly spiritual, but not about a personal love relationship .

I dunno. It works for me, but again, just my 2 cents.

For the record I also like willow-->kaylee / tara-->simon too (mostly 'cause I always thought michelle and amber had an uncanny resemblance to each other so it would be neat to see dawn as tara's sister).

I can't really see Tara as Zoe mostly because Zoe is a soldier at heart and her job is to make things dead. But feel free to prove me wrong.

db

[PancakesinBellies]

I know what you mean about Inara's position as a Companion. It is a very spiritual calling, and I know of several people who have grappled with the issues raised by that occupation in a personal relationship (i.e.Kaylee/Inara) successfully, but I don't know if I want to jump feet first into the angst pool. I've spent so long only writing academic papers that that angst-level is rather intimidating. And I get what you say about Tara->Zoe. Zoe does make things dead, and I've been mulling over how it would be possible to reconcile that to Tara's intrinsic nature, and I'm not sure I have a solution that would prove you wrong.

Hmmm...You know, I never thought of Tara as Simon. I always pictured her as Kaylee in the Kaylee/Simon dynamic. But that could prove *very* interesting. Dammit, db, now I have another option instead of *fewer* options. That would actually solve the dynamic problems that would result from putting Tara into Zoe or Mal's spots (as well as the great character divide), and I find I don't have the same reservations as to injuring Willow. Hmmm...*ponders* Very interesting indeed.

[mole]

Howdy,

I enjoyed Firefly and would very much enjoy having the Sunnydale gang transplanted in those environs. Hmmm...I'm very intrigued with the thought of Tara = Inara. Maybe Willow could be Mal, giving you lots of room to play with Mal's arrogance and the tension between Inara/Mal (Tara/Willow). Although, if you're trying to avoid angst, probably not the way you want to go:)

Regardless, I hope you do write the story.

Michelle