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prodigalwatcher196 - Congratulations! You've been granted one wish. What is it?
I'd have been a better Watcher, back in Sunnydale.
No, more than that, I would go back to those days myself. Before I start hearing the horror stories and usual admonishments about time travel and the catastrophic butterfly effects of changing history and possible paradoxes, this is a hypothetical question. I would send me as I am now to serve as Watcher, mentor and guide to the two willful and determined Slayers, rather than the self-important prig sent by the Council.
I know full well who and what I was. Buffy Summers had gained no end of notoriety with the Watchers Council for her constant and blatant flouting and ignoring of their edicts and demands. Rupert Giles' reputation had suffered just as greatly in this regard, as it was ostensibly his task to rein in the girl. I was partly their choice to bring the new Slayer to heel, and partly the Council's idea of punishment for both Buffy and Giles.
Of course, I was blissfully oblivious to my peers' lack of sufferance. I was the most determinedly by-the-book, letter of the law Watcher to ever graduate the Academy, and in that I took my strength and boundless confidence. I was, it must be confessed, all but useless in the field, clueless in the handling of a young female (let alone two) and completely out of my element in every way.
If I were then as I am now, one can only speculate as to how many things would have gone differently. There would have been no need for the quiet, total disregard for my authority, as I believe we all would have been of like minds. Certainly, Giles and I would be much closer to peers and of similar thinking. I would never have made the mistake of attempting to take Faith out of the equation, and I most definitely would have been of actual use in the field.
Yes, I think-- I hope-- that Faith would have benefitted most of all from a Watcher with the fortitude to stand up to her difficult and contentious nature and provide a figure worthy of her respect. Again, if such a thing had been possible, the subsequent effects on so many lives would be exceptional.
I wonder what they all, years ago, would have made of me.
(388)
I'd have been a better Watcher, back in Sunnydale.
No, more than that, I would go back to those days myself. Before I start hearing the horror stories and usual admonishments about time travel and the catastrophic butterfly effects of changing history and possible paradoxes, this is a hypothetical question. I would send me as I am now to serve as Watcher, mentor and guide to the two willful and determined Slayers, rather than the self-important prig sent by the Council.
I know full well who and what I was. Buffy Summers had gained no end of notoriety with the Watchers Council for her constant and blatant flouting and ignoring of their edicts and demands. Rupert Giles' reputation had suffered just as greatly in this regard, as it was ostensibly his task to rein in the girl. I was partly their choice to bring the new Slayer to heel, and partly the Council's idea of punishment for both Buffy and Giles.
Of course, I was blissfully oblivious to my peers' lack of sufferance. I was the most determinedly by-the-book, letter of the law Watcher to ever graduate the Academy, and in that I took my strength and boundless confidence. I was, it must be confessed, all but useless in the field, clueless in the handling of a young female (let alone two) and completely out of my element in every way.
If I were then as I am now, one can only speculate as to how many things would have gone differently. There would have been no need for the quiet, total disregard for my authority, as I believe we all would have been of like minds. Certainly, Giles and I would be much closer to peers and of similar thinking. I would never have made the mistake of attempting to take Faith out of the equation, and I most definitely would have been of actual use in the field.
Yes, I think-- I hope-- that Faith would have benefitted most of all from a Watcher with the fortitude to stand up to her difficult and contentious nature and provide a figure worthy of her respect. Again, if such a thing had been possible, the subsequent effects on so many lives would be exceptional.
I wonder what they all, years ago, would have made of me.
(388)
