#I was gonna make you a Benson gifset

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, November 15

SPIKE: Come on! I'm never gonna get anything killed with you lot holding me back. TARA: (panting) I thought the big ones were supposed to tire more easily. SPIKE: No, that's over-the-hill shopkeepers. GILES: (leaning against a gravestone, panting) I'm fine. I just need to die for a minute. SPIKE: (to Tara) That powder you blew at him made him rabbit off. TARA: It's sorbis root. It was supposed to confuse him, but it just kinda made him peppy. It's not supposed to mix with anything, you think he might be taking prescription medication? SPIKE: (sarcastic) Yeah, that must be it. GILES: Good god, I hope he doesn't try to operate heavy machinery.

~~BtVS 6x01 “Bargaining, Part One”~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Training Schedule (Buffy, Giles, Willow, PG) by badly_knitted

Postcards and Bills (Buffy/Spike, R) by veronyxk84

Walk It Back (Buffy/Spike, G) by violettathepiratequeen

White Wedding (Angel/Spike, Buffy/OC, E) by Ashmaenas

I Know You Better Than You Fake It (Buffy/Angel, M) by harpsichord

Walk in the Valley (Xander, T, Phantom xover) by arcanedreamer

Right Place, Right Time, Right Body (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by honeygirl51885

Purpose (Buffy/Spike, R) by Teuntje

Santa Spike (Buffy/Spike, R) by VeroNyxK84

Right Place, Right Time, Right Body (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by honeygirl51885

The Other End (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Zab Jade

[Chaptered Fiction]

Breathe Again, Chapters 7-8/17 (Angel/Cordelia, M) by Califi62

Moments that Make You: The Hero and The Princess, Chapters 86-87 (Cordelia/Doyle, T) by myheadsgonenumb

The Magic of Sunnydale, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Oz, G) by Buffyworldbuilder

Stepping on Butterflies, Chapter 13/22 (Buffy/Angel, T) by melodys_muse

Blood and Chaos, Chapters 53-54/? (Ensemble, M) by Aetheron, quote_Amy_unquote (Sannah_banana)

Days of Future Past, Chapter 30/34 (Buffy/OC, Angel/OC, Buffy/Angel, M) by a2zmom

New York, Chapter 15 (Giles/Xander, M) by drsquidlove

I'm Only Your Darkness, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Faith, E) by Karnstein99

Mental Light, Chapters 1-2 (Buffy/OC, M) by Mika the Supreme Ninja

L'amore troverà la via, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Violette-Milka

An odd Couple of grumpy old Brits, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, G) by Julikobold

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Slaymesoftly

Destiny or Choices Made?, Chapter 29 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by charmed4lifekaren

The Vision Quest, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by acb6293

The Wolf Who Sees, Chapter 5 (Xander, Teen Wolf xover, FR15) by calikocat

Forgiveness Doesn't Come Easy, Chapter 5 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Slaymesoftly

An odd Couple of grumpy old Brits, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, G) by Julikobold

The Vision Quest, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Acb6293

[Images, Audio & Video]

Gifset: Vampire Appreciation Week [2023] (ensemble: vampires, worksafe) by sulietsexual

Tattoo: Prophecy Girl (worksafe) by [artist not mentioned] via sapphicbvffy

Fanvid: buffy the vampire slayer // Getaway Car (Buffy/Angel) by jill.shurley

Video: Something Better Change (Buffy/Spike) by Double Dutchess

[Reviews & Recaps]

Today’s review is the new audible original audio drama: Slayers: A Buffyverse Story by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson by onenerdroaming

S7 Rewatch Thoughts by Independent-Rise2480

Buffy The Vampire Slayer | 3x1 'Anne' | Blind Reaction by Vic

Angel's Backstory! // Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode 2x21 Reaction // Spike is Scheming! by Brooke Whipple

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6X09 REACTION | First Time Watching by EvilQK

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER 6X10 REACTION | First Time Watching by EvilQK

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1x11 "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" Reaction by Justalowly Channel

*HOW DARE YOU?!* Angel Season 2 Episode 11 "Redefinition" Reaction: FIRST TIME WATCHING Buffy by Nick Reacts

PODCAST: Episode 42: Gingerbread by Gym Was Cancelled

PODCAST: HELLMOUTH HOMOS: The Wish by Fear Queers Podcast

[Fandom Discussions]

One thing I never understood about the nightmare episode in season 1 by austinoson

[About Dawn and Xander being a couple in the comics] by sanshofox

post-s3 buffy is just like you and all your high school best friends are trying to navigate your 20s by goresbian

[Headcanon] Jenny and Giles would watch Bridgerton together by jennycalendar

Cordelia Chase: submission and propaganda by look-how-they-massacred-them

Thinking about Connor AtS again by all-seeing-ifer

The scenes with Angel attempting to help Faith in Consequences are really hard for me to analyse. by coraniaid

It feels odd re-watching the Giles/Jenny episodes by aphony-cree

Is it fair to judge vampires? by HannahRose, multiple posters

Buffy & Angel & Spike started by NoShip

Amy is so obnoxiously annoying in "The Killer Me" why is she jealous that Willow's friends were close to her again after season 6? started by Joshua

Do you prefer Angel with Buffy or Cordelia? by JusticeAndrewDo

The bathroom scene (s6ep19) by Beneficial_Bus_2867

Motivation Question re: Angel by Overlord1317

Season 3 had the worst Buffy amd Cordielia outfits in the entire show (potential spoilers) by Xandertheokay

What are your thoughts on Wesley's torture scene in “Five by Five”? by JellyfishDry9464

Do vampires shower? by IvyWillow22

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

PUBLICATION: Buffy Finally Reveals What Would Have REALLY Happened If Dawn Had Been There From Season 1 by Screen Rant

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[rahleeyah]

gods dammit your tags on the Tuckson gifset. I AM CRYING BECAUSE OF YOU AND THOSE BEAUTIFUL BASTARDS

oh these tags??

s.vu Tuckson baby girl 🥺🥺🥺🥺 the way that THIS is the happiest she's ever been. with her beautiful son and a good man who takes care of her and she's in love and she's safe and she's happy and she's scared she's gonna lose it all and then she's right. isn't she bc it doesn't last he says 'not if i can help it' but it was never really in his power to make her happy. was it bc this little dream was so close to what she's always wanted but it wasn't IT. close. but not close enough my heart

LISTEN I am so here for their tragic lil romance. Olivia "this is the happiest I've ever been and I'm crying bc I'm scared it won't last" Benson has been through so much, has lost so much, has been hurt so much, that she is afraid of happiness, that she RUNS from happiness. Tucker was steady and there for her and he loved her and he was the closest thing to a future she ever had and she ran and he let her bc he knows her and I think he always knew, on some level, that she wasn't gonna stay. that she didn't know how.

and that's something I'm really interested in, and would like to fic about at some point, is that Olivia has grown so used to abandonment she doesn't know how to stay. she doesn't know what longevity looks like. she doesn't know what commitment looks like beyond a year or so, on a personal level. she doesn't know how to do it and she is afraid of it and that is really compelling.

but yeah tuckson is real good and I love them a whole lot and I'm not sorry

[singinprincess]

SPL Gifmas ↪ Raven’s Home for @the--beautiful--monster ♥ (insp)

[dailysvu]

OLIVIA BENSON APPRECIATION WEEK will be hosted by @dailysvu and will be taking place on May 23 — 29

We will be tracking the tag #Benson Week. You can also tag us on #dailysvu!

To save up time, we've decided to pick the themes ourselves based on some new ideas and a few recurring prompts we got in the past events.

Prompts for Artists (gifsets, graphics, moodboards, wallpapers, etc):

Day 1 (Sunday, May 23): The moment you fell in love with Olivia Benson

Day 2 (Monday, May 24): Seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)

Day 3 (Tuesday, May 25): Emotion (angry Olivia, happy Olivia, sad Olivia, etc)

Day 4 (Wednesday, May 26): Olivia + a color (or colors)

Day 5 (Thursday, May 27): Favorite thing about Olivia

Day 6 (Friday, May 28): Olivia + an aesthetic 

Day 7 (Saturday, May 29): Social media

Bonus Prompt: Olivia + a pet

Prompts for Writers (fanfiction, drabbles, headcanons, metas, etc):

Day 1 (Sunday, May 23): Dancing

Day 2 (Monday, May 24): Sleepy

Day 3 (Tuesday, May 25): Jealous

Day 4 (Wednesday, May 26): Injured

Day 5 (Thursday, May 27): Lost

Day 6 (Friday, May 28): Rain

Day 7 (Saturday, May 29): Driving

Bonus Prompt: "I wasn't ready"

The Bonus Prompt is just for the fun of it. You can choose to do it after the seven main prompts or you can use it to replace one of the themes of the day of your choice.

As always, you can have as many entries per date as you wish. If you want to write a fanfiction and make a gifset, a fanart and a playlist, or any combination of anything, just do it. The more the merrier.

How to submit your creations: post them to your blog and tag them with #Benson Week and we will reblog them. Simple as that.

REMEMBER: You can’t post your creation(s) earlier, but you can post them later. So if you are gonna mix up the themes, post on the date of the latter.

Also you can make things for every day or just pick the one(s) you like the most. No pressure.

We can’t wait to see what you guys have planned!

The week will officially begin on May 23.

HERE’S THE FAQ

RULES & GUIDELINES

If you have any questions at all feel free to send us a message!

Have fun and ENJOY!

[maxanor]

Oh, I'd say you should give Malignant a chance whenever you feel like it, it is truly an amazing film. there's an action sequence in it that is is just amazing!! like james wan really outdone himself in this one! I've also recently seen X and I loved it, it was really good. I'm very similar to be honest, when it comes to new films. I'm not the best at watching them until months/years later. I am also a person that prefers watching films at home under my blankets and my cats. It's just so much more comforting. For big releases, like films I am most excited to see, I might splurge and go to see in theaters. I think I've seen around 3 or 4 this year.

and oh my god yes!!! i keep wanting to learn to do typography better but I only know the basics on that. same with blending, I've only learned some of the basics of that, and i have fun playing around with that, but the things I've seen some people do??? MAGIC!!! HOW!!!

I prefer music when I'm giffing, cause if i turn on a tv show, even if i've seen it multiple times, i'll just inevitably get sucked into that. I also love procedural crime shows (i've seen law and order svu so many times i've lost count.) but when I used to go to school i would be able to do my homework better with something on in the background. dunno why it's different when it comes to giffing for me though.

with music i listen to, it depends on what gifset i'm making tbh. If i'm making a lyric set, then I'll listen to that song on repeat while I make the gifset. I listen to a lot of different things but those who come to mind the most lately are one direction, linkin park, mothica, harry styles (solo), Djo, 5sos, Halsey, etc. (as I said, really depends on what exactly I am giffing, but yeah, these are just ones that come to mind that I've been listening to the most lately)

What are your favorite crime procedural shows? favorite characters of those shows?

- psc anon

it's on my list now!!!! i feel like i'm gonna stay in the horror movie mood from now until halloween, which is my favorite holiday lmao. what's your fav holiday, if you have one?

i think if i'm making a more creative set with lyrics i'll listen to music, like you do, just to get me in the ~vibe~ but mostly i just stick to shows!

my fav crime procedurals are def law and order (every version) and criminal minds! i've also seen law and order svu a million times lsdkfjhgd i know the ending of pretty much every ep as soon as the theme song hits, but i still love watching them! so glad to find another law and order fan <3 it's such a cheesy dramatic show and def copaganda but i enjoy watching it just for the insane plotlines. recently i watched all of cold case and without a trace, which i think are lesser known crime shows and they weren't that good but i still enjoyed listening to them in the background. as for fav characters, i mean olivia benson is a no-brainer <3 i think mariska herself is soooo stunning and just a wonderful and talented person, and i love watching her as olivia. i also really love all the adas on svu, like alex, casey, and barba. do you have any other crime shows you like to watch?

[rahleeyah]

I always loved fandom. I joined Twitter because I wanted to share my excitement and talk about the show (svu/OC) in depth. Now I'm really disheartened by the bullying going on between the fans (especially in the same fraction). I wanted to try Tumblr but it's so much harder to connect with people. Do you have any tips?

I'm sorry that Twitter got you down and I'm really glad you asked bc I think you're not the only person who's just come to Tumblr for the first time and Tumblr is a little different so I can see it being difficult to get started, esp coming from Twitter. I'm gonna start at the beginning and make like a primer, you have probably already done some of these things but I'm gonna throw it out there for everybody.

The first thing you're gonna wanna do is make sure you have your blog set up. Have a pfp, have a blog title and some description - doesn't have to be a description of you, could be a quote you like or anything, just put something in there so it's not completely blank. A lot of old timers will block a blank blog automatically bc it looks like spam.

Once your blog is set up, go to settings, dashboard preferences, and turn off best stuff first. When this is turned off, the posts from blogs you follow will appear on your dashboard in chronological order. When it's on, they'll appear according to how many notes they have, and you'll miss posts and no one wants that. Once you've been around for a while you may want to turn off "in your orbit" and "based on your likes" bc those add suggested posts to your dash, not necessarily from people you follow, but that may be helpful in the beginning. While you're in there make sure you have asks turned on so people can send you messages.

Once you've done that, go reblog some things. On Twitter if you like a post it gets pushed to your followers, and likes boost a post and put it in front of more eyeballs. Here likes don't do that. They add to notes, but note counts only matter for the features I just mentioned, and most people have them turned off. Reblog is the way to go.

To find things to reblog, go to the tags, and look for stuff you like. Search the svu tag, but search the characters too. Search Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson. Search svuedit. Tags automatically appear in order based on note count, you can switch that to "most recent" so you can see everything.

When you reblog, add tags of your own! If you reblog a post and tag it svu it won't appear in the svu tag, only the original post will. But if you tag everything svu related you can go to your blog, and filter by just that tag, and see everything #svu you've reblogged. It's a curation system. If a gifset makes you feel something, put that in the tags, too! If you see a set and you're moony over eo holding hands, put that in the tags of your reblog. It'll make the creator feel good, and it'll make you stand out.

If there's a text post in there with some interesting points, reblog it and add your thoughts! Or check the notes, see if other people are having conversations in there. Once you've reblogged some things and your blog isn't blank, talk to people in the notes.

Pls reblog a fic post if you like it, the writer will love you for it.

While you're in the tags, check out who's posting. If someone made something you like, follow them! Go to their blog, click on their tags - a lot of people use special tags to archive their original content on their blogs. I use #my gifs. So if you go to my blog, and you see a gifset I made, and you click on the my gifs tag, you'll see all my gifs. Like as many as you want. Reblog as many as you want. People don't get suspicious if you interact with an old post; you're supposed to. Go through my whole blog and like a hundred posts in a row, I'll love you for it. Twitter is all about what's happening now; Tumblr doesn't care about immediacy. It's supposed to be an archive and you're supposed to scroll as deep and as long as you want.

When you interact with posts - like, reblog, comment, whatever - when you follow people, you're putting yourself out there. They may click thru to your blog, they may not. But if they do, and they like what you've reblogged, they may follow you back. If you aren't very active, fewer people will see your name, and fewer people will follow back, and Tumblr thrives off the dash. People interact most with posts from people they follow. To get followers, you gotta get your name in front of people.

In addition to interacting with posts you can put yourself on other people's radar by making original posts and tagging them. So say there's something you really want to talk about related to the most recent epi. Write up your thoughts, and then tag your post. Tag it "law and order svu" and "svu" and "Olivia Benson", or whatever, so that people who follow those tags will see it. If you don't tag it won't go anywhere. You'll probably have to make a couple posts before you get traction. There is no telling what will take off and what won't. If you can make gifs or graphics post those, but text posts can get just as popular, you don't have to make graphics.

You'll notice I don't tag my text posts or my ask answers with "svu". I use "s.vu" bc I like keeping those posts between me and my followers, I don't wanna fill the svu tag with all my ask answers. Some people do this; some people are blogging about svu but they don't show up in the tags. So look at who's commenting on posts you like. Look at who's reblogging them. Go to those blogs, scroll through, see if you like it, follow them too. If you've got a favorite fic author search them on tumblr and see if they're here. They probably aren't, but then again a lot of people are.

You want to broaden the base of people you're following and no one can see it, and unlike Twitter no one is gonna judge you for who you follow or how - follower count doesn't mean shit here, no one else can see it and most of us never look at our own counts, and if you follow a blog and then decide it's not for you and unfollow they'll probably never even notice you went away. You like flowers? Lingerie? New Girl? Go follow crazy. Fill your dash up, and then change it at will.

You won't get shadowbanned for saying fuck or kill. You don't have to censor yourself.

If you comment on some posts, if someone answers you back, if you start interacting with a particular blog, shoot your shot in the dms! I wouldn't do that if you haven't spoken to them at all before, but if you've had some previous interaction, go ahead.

But conversations are a little slower to start on Tumblr bc that's not really how it's structured. @andallthatmishigas is one of my very best friends in the whole wide world. We may not "talk" on Tumblr for days on end. We will reblog things from each other, and now that we're actual friends we may send each other links to funny posts over Tumblr dms, but we aren't having conversations in the notes on posts. We're doing parallel play; she's reblogging things she likes and I'm reblogging things I like and we're trading likes so we both know we're here, but we're not doing the same thing. And you know how we met? She said nice things about a story I was writing and I thanked her for it. Literally that was it, that was the start of our friendship. That was five years ago and we went to London together last month. Bc we communicated about a fic. So be open to interaction, be willing to pursue it, but understand that Tumblr isn't necessarily about a constant back and forth.

Tumblr is about curating things you like. It's about gathering shiny treasures for yourself. It will not do it for you the way Twitter will, you have to go out and find the blogs to follow and you have to push the interactions. Along the way you can make friends - @featherpluckn and I have been friends for over a decade bc of this platform, @racethewind10 and I became friends bc she commented on a post and I answered and now we talk every day- and you can have those conversations and you can build those relationships, but it's slow. It takes time. So do Tumblr for you. Write out all your thoughts, and tag them for people to see. Reblog everything that brings you joy and say so in the tags. Jump into the notes when you see people talking about things. Send asks!! People love getting asks. Send em anonymously if you're nervous, and work your way up to showing your face. This is often a better approach than just starting in the dms tbh, and it opens the conversation up to more than just you and that one person.

It can be hard to get started, and it can feel overwhelming, but just take it one day at a time. Say what's on your mind, reblog things you like, and play around with other people. Something will stick.

[rahleeyah]

I looked at the notes under the gifset you shared about 22x12 the conversation between Vanessa and Liv and that left me wondering. Like you mentioned anyone who looks from the outside would be led to believe Olivia Benson has now such a great life, only the ones closest to her would know how much she has struggled, even more in these recent years with all her loses. But do you think Elliot is one of those people who would look at her and believe she's got It All together? Because since he has returned he has been so involved in solving Kathy's murder that the only real information he has about Liv's life is what Fin told him and what he has witnessed. Of course now he knows about Simon's death but as far as it seems at least from his perspective he could be thinking that Liv thrived since he last saw her, she moved up in the ranks and is now Captain, she became a mom which was her greatest dream and she has a squad of her own that has her back and are completely loyal and love her as a family. And of course it wouldn't be wrong, she has managed to build so much for herself but there is this whole other side of that, all the pain and tragedies she has experienced and witnessed on this decade, people who she cared about eventually leaving her for different circumstances, the utter terror that was the whole ordeal with Lewis as she described it herself. And Elliot ignores this whole other side of her life and it's painful because if he only looks at the brighter side of things it would make him believe he did the right thing by leaving because now she has this amazing life, but he doesn't understand how much she needed him in the darkest moments of her life, of course Liv being Liv still moved on and got through all of that because she has a great strength. But for Elliot I think it would play on his insecurities and could be a step back for them unless they really talk to each other and clear up so much unresolved things, I really hope they do!

Oh my gosh I love this perspective? Bc I think you're right - I think El looks at Liv, and does think she's got her shit together. She's got a son, she made Captain, she's stable, her squad loves her, she's a Boss at this point, she's achieved so much, and he doesn't know. He doesn't know about her PTSD or all the people she's lost, doesn't know the grief and the guilt she carries over Dodds, doesn't know she's still grieving Tucker, doesn't know anything. And that's not his fault. Liv hasn't told him. And how else is gonna find out? She's not gonna say hey welcome back sorry about your wife exploding wanna hear about my trauma? She's so busy being stable for him she doesn't show him the cracks in her own foundation.

But she's gonna have to. Eventually, for them to move forward, she's gonna have to let her walls down, and when she does, I do think he will feel guilty. I think he may not feel directly responsible for it - well, maybe for Lewis - but I do think he will hear her story and tell himself I shoulda been here. If I'd just been here, she wouldn't have been alone. And he needs to wrestle with that. But if they'll just talk to each other, I do think they could come through it stronger.