“Rough Trade”, End notes
[ Endnotes posted 27 Jun 2018 ]
Since this is a remix, what prompted the direction this story took in differing from the original?
This one was actually a lot closer in structure to the original story than I normally do in remixes, so that my own rendition was more an expansion than the kind of radical re-imagining that is my usual practice. The differences were minor, and I’ll go over them and my reasons for them.
One - More action. That’s just what I do. I like action, and I wasn’t about to miss a chance to show Spike and Cordelia fighting together.
Two - Spike’s personality. Fanfic concerning Spike has always had a lamentable tendency to blur the whole ‘yes, he really was evil before he got his soul back’. As a result, I really focus on the things I saw in unsouled-Spike in canon: sarcasm, selfishness, an outsider’s critique of our favorite characters, and an insistence that he’s still evil and you’d best bloody well not forget it. Canon-Spike became a fan favorite because of what he was; how can I go wrong by showing that, instead of the prettied-up version?
Three - Merl’s presence. Merl has grown on me more slowly than Harmony, or Ethan Rayne, or even Willy the barman, but I’ve found that he adds a certain something that I enjoy. Nothing more than that.
Four - The actual purpose of the amulet. Nothing wrong with Eiland’s original version, but it was written before the finales of BtVS and A:tS. With more canon to draw on than had been available to him, I thought a small alteration made a nice touch.
Five - Cordelia’s revenge. Because it was funny. And because she would.
Is there any particular significance to the title?
Not especially. Spike and Cordelia did, in fact, make a rough trade of service for pay, but I was mainly thinking of the urban dictionary definition of ‘violent, often brutal sex acts, or a person who looks like they participate in such acts’, the latter of which definitely would describe Spike. (I was not aware at that time that it was primarily a gay slang term, which wasn’t at all where I was pointing. Oh, well.)
What is the thing I like most about this story? the thing I like least, or about which I feel most doubtful?
As to like - Spike and Cordelia, both of whom went through substantial changes as characters over the course of two canon shows, had to be shown at this point in their development: Cordelia not yet as formidable as she would become, but getting there, and Spike still resentful of his new (lesser) status and only grudgingly inclined to offer occasional aid to the ‘good guys’ when it was to his advantage. I think I did a decent job on both, or at least managed to avoid any glaring OOC moments.
As to doubtful - Cordelia’s little rant in the car after the main action was over. That was necessary, and I wanted to do it right, but I occasionally wonder if I carried that off as well as it needed to be done.
Is there anything I think I could have done better, or might do differently if I had it to do over?
I think I picked the right approach on this one, but one possibility that presents itself is perspective. This story was told primarily from Spike’s POV, with just a bit of Cordelia right before the end. How might it have turned out, I wonder, if the entire thing had been done from Cordelia’s perspective, with Spike’s POV just the bit at the end? I like my way better, but it might have been interesting.
Do I have any plans to follow up on this story, or to use the character(s) or situation in a subsequent fic?
As it stands, this story was the follow-up, to “ Oaxaca Nights”, which detailed Spike’s kidnaping of Cordelia in Mexico during the summer between Seasons Two and Three. There were, however, links to many other stories as well, both preceding and following this one. Delzpiyrian rites had been mentioned in “ Solitaire Till Dawn” (with Delzpiyrian priests getting a reference here); both the Kung’r demons, and erbit lungs as a delicacy, had been mentioned in “ Notes on an Opera Program”; Hakklusch and Altcchon demons, noted here, had appeared in “ Otherwise a Perfect Sky”, and Hakklusch were further been mentioned in “ Maxima Culpa” and “ An Eye to the Future”, with the latter story also first introducing “Moori-a’ueil” as Merl’s proper name; and finally, Xander’s Gremlin, mentioned here, made an appearance in “ Echoes from the Battleground”.
Any observations to add at the end?
I actually started “Rough Trade” - for RemixRedux in 2009 - before “Oaxaca Nights”, but stalled on the idea and wound up doing a different story instead. I always knew the beginning I’d made was too good to discard, though, and that I’d be coming back to it eventually. As the idea for “Oaxaca Nights” began to assume more prominence, I realized that there were enough similarities between the two stories that I would have to carefully work in the differences. Spike and Cordelia in these stories are not only at different points in their character development, they’re at different levels of capability and status. (Among other things, by “Rough Trade” Spike is still far the better fighter, but there’s a different power dynamic between them, not least of which is that he’s no longer able to pose a direct threat to her.) I’m quite satisfied with the distinction between the two stories, given that they could all too easily have come across as different versions of the same general tale.