Unconventional Faith Shipping

Unconventional Faith Shipping, An Overview

Cordy: "OK, the formalities... Title: Unconventional Faith Shipping, An Overview
Disclaimer: Joss owns us. No one's making any money off of this. It's a lot like working for Angel..."

Willow: "Cordelia... On topic, please?"
Cordy: "Let me vent, all right? Anyway...

Notes: This continues from Unconventional Buffy Shipping, Parts 1 and 2, and Unconventional Willow Shipping. A lot of variety in the titiles, huh?"

Willow: "Cordelia..."
Cordy: "OK, OK!!...

Spoilers: Um, some mild ones for various episodes and lots of fanfic. Oh, and some old musical and an old Reeces commercial.
Warnings: .. Consentual sexual situations involving two women, three women, two women and one man, etc..
Distribution: Do I have to say this? Shouldn't this be Faith's?"

Willow: "Well, yeah, but she's, you know, occupied..."
Cordy: "OK... Want, take, have, but let E know, first."
Willow: "Are we ready?"
Tara: "I'm not sure... I mean..."
Willow: "I know.. Don't worry about it. We've all slept with her..."
Dru: "It's like that song in The King And I, about the bee and the buttercups..."
Tara: "Wouldn't she be a buttercup?"
Dru: "Oh yes... She's a buttercup that flies, from buttercup to buttercup... You remember that commercial for peanut butter cups, where the two people would run into each other, and one would be eating peanut butter, and one would be eating chocolate...?"
Cordy: "See, told you!"
Willow: "Smug, vision girl... So, are we ready to start?"
Tara: "Well, um, the Slayers... They're... um... over there..."
Willow: "Well, someone needs to get their attention."
Cordy: "Don't look at me!"
Willow: "Sigh..." (Goes to Buffy'n'Faith, who are making out) "Ahem!!"
Faith: "Hmm?"
Buffy: "Huh? Willow! C'mere..."
Willow: "Hey!!! No, no, we can't!! Not now!!! We're on!"
Faith: "Oh!!! Damn, OK..."
Buffy: "We're ready."

Thank you. Yes, we're back to look at more unconventional relationships in Buffy fanfic, this time focusing on Faith. Most FaithFic ships are going to be unconventional, as she hasn't really had any relationships on the show, unless you count Xander.

Willow: "Well, that wasn't really what I'd call a relationship, so we can count it as an unconventional one."

Ok, then. In F/X stories, sometimes things go differently, and Faith doesn't try to strangle him.

Buffy: "How many times to I have to tell you... Safeword..."

In others, she repents, and he forgives her. And, of course, in some, she shares Xander with her fellow Slayer...

Buffy: "Damn straight!"
Faith: "Hell, yeah!"
Tara: "Are they going to start that, again?"

Probably. Which brings us to...

Faith/Buffy

Faith: "Ohhh, yeah!!!"

This one is so popular that the majority of FathFic involves it, to a degree. Even when Faith is being shipped with someone else, she's often thinking about Buffy.

Buffy: "As she should be."

This ship came about because it's almost qualifies as a conventional one. From Faith's introduction on the show, their scenes have reeked with subtext. B/F shippers even got support from Joss, himself, who liked the idea. We've covered B/F shipping before, so we won't rehash it all...

Faith: "I'm the only one who understands her... Who knows what it's like... Being the perfect preditor, loving the hunt, the kill, the sex..." (Sings) "She's a complicated girl, but no one understands her but her woman..."
Cordy: "Please!!! Don't sing that. These writers are twisted enough, already..."

B/F fic can be angsty and intense, light and fun, and always sexy.

Faith: "Well, with a couple of hungry, horny, Slayers, what do you expect?"

And, we've also covered Faith/Willow...

Buffy: "But we can never get enough Willow.."

True. One popular trend, recently, is to have stories featuring Buffy and Faith as a couple, and Willow and Tara as a couple...

Faith: "So, when do we get a foursome?"

It'll happen, I'm sure. There are, however, many Faith fans who are rather hostile towards Willow...

Cordy: "Oh, yeah... I guess Willow had no right to be offended by Faith putting a knife to her throat..."

Fanfic doesn't always have to be logical...

Faith: "Well, y'know, she stole B from me..."
Buffy: "You're right about the logic thing. Look at how much action Angel gets. Soul escape clause? What soul escape clause?"

One nice thing about writing fanfic is you don't neccessarily have to follow the rules...

Buffy: "Except that's the whole reason Angel left me..."
Faith: "I thought it was because he knew you belonged with me, or Red, or the Prom Queen, or whoever..."

Speaking of the brooding vampire, we have...

Faith/Angel...

Faith: "Yeah! Why should she be the only one who gets to boink the undead?"

This is based on the sexual tension between the two of them, and the idea that Angel is the only one who understands Faith, having been psychotic, himself...

Cordy: "Except, he had the excuse of not having his soul... And isn't Buffy sufficiantly sociopathic?"
Buffy: "Look, I said I was sorry about almost killing you in the first episode! Aren't you over that, yet?!!"
Cordy: "Am I the only one who's noticed that you've clocked or almost killed every Scooby except Willow? And this is on the actual show!"
Faith: "Hey, those are the risks... Besides, I took care of clocking Willow, so B doesn't have to..."

Angel is another one Faith and Buffy have shared. Then, there's...

Faith/Spike...

I sort of blame myself for this one. I spent a lot of bandwidth on the newsgroup going on about what a perfect couple they'd be, suggesting double dates with Buffy and Angel. My reasoning was that Faith embodies everything Spike loves about Buffy. They both love violence, sex, and leather. I also suspect a conversation there led to another ship. I was joking that, with
all the B/F and B/W shipping, Cordy needed her turn with Buffy. Another poster joked that she saw subtext in Homecoming when they were looking so lovely in the limo together. The next thing I knew, someone had started a series on that basis...

Willow: "So, that was your fault?"

Maybe. I don't know. Recently, I was encouraging a Willow/Harmony ship, so we'll see what happens...

Willow: "You're evil..."

Oh, and the Slayers sometimes share Spike, too. To complete Faith's vampire lust, we have...

Faith/Dru...

Dru: "Yes! We complete each other, depend on each other..."
Buffy: "...Get each other killed..."
Cordy: "Great. TWO psychos..."

Well, you apparently don't mind, as there is also...

Faith/Cordy...

Cordy: "Well, there should be one sane person in a relationship."

There's also been Faith/Oz, based on the hostility some FaithFic writers feel towards Willow. That's also led to Faith/Tara...

Buffy: "What?!! You've gotten some, already?"
Faith: "Yeah..."
Buffy: "Damn.. Gotta talk to these writers..."

And, of course, there's Faith/Giles, based on the Watcher and Slayer finding a connection. This is another one where the Slayers have shared. There's even been Faith/Veruca...

Buffy: "Um, wasn't Veruca dead while Faith was in a coma?"

Yes, but she got better, only to have Faith kill her again since she was planning to stalk Willow, which would have upset Buffy...

Faith: "The things I do for ya, B.."

Finally, we have, in the most twisted love triangle I've seen in Buffy fanfic...

Cordy: "And that's saying something..."

Faith/Joyce...

Tara: "WHAT?!!!! You... you..."

Basically, Faith gets upset with Buffy over something or other, in one case walking in on Buffy and Angel having sex...

Buffy: "What?!!! You screwed Xander..."
Faith: "Yeah, but that was different. I didn't have feelings for him..."
Buffy: "And that makes it OK?!!!"

...So, Faith ends up, in various circumstances, in Joyce's bed. She's still in love with Buffy, though...

Buffy: "You... You mother..."
Willow: "Buffy!!! Language..."
Faith: "Come on, B... You know I have no control over what these writers do to me..."
Cordy: "And it's not like she's the only one..."
Buffy: "OK, OK... I know about Giles... What other lovers of mine have been sleeping with my mother?"
Willow: "Well, there's Xander..."
Buffy: "Is there anyone Xander HASN'T been shipped with?"
Willow: "I don't think so. Oh, and Angel... And Spike..."
Buffy: "And she lectures me about MY sex life?!!!"

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Part 2

Cordy: "I did the formalities, last time, so now it's Tara's turn... Um, Tara?.."
Tara: (Looking disheveled) "Wow..."
Cordy: "Um, you're supposed to do the disclaimers and stuff?..."
Tara: "Oh... Um... Yeah..."
Cordy: "Hello! What's with you? You look like you had your first double Slayer experience... Oh..."
Willow: "Yeah, the first one of those can leave you a bit... Well..."
Cordy: "She OK?"
Willow: "She'll be all right..."
Tara: "Wow.."
Cordy: "Well, someone has to do this intro, so, since the Slayers have created this situation..."
Buffy: "Hey, guys!" (She and Faith start kissing Tara)
Willow: "C'mon, you two... Let her recover..."
Buffy: "Oh, OK.."
Faith: "Y'know, I haven't done Cordy in a while..."
Buffy: "Me, neither. Shall we?"
Cordy: "Hey, wait a minute! We're in the middle of something! You two have to do an intro... Um..."
Willow: "AHEM!!"
Buffy: "Oh, OK...

Title: Unconventional Faith Shipping, Part 2
Writer: E
Email: ebailey140@aol.com
Disclaimer: E doesn't own any of this. It's owned by Joss, Mutant Enemy, WB, Fox, yadda, yadda, yadda..."

Faith: "The WB are the people who won't let us kiss on screen, right?"
Buffy: "Never mind that I kissed that Zoe girl on that awards show..."
Cordy: "And got an award for it."
Willow: "I knew I should be worried about those people since they have a frog as their symbol..."
Buffy: "Oh yeah, your frog fear..."
Willow: "I have nightmares where that frog is running in editing scenes from my life... And postponing our Graduation for months..."
Buffy: "Do these involve public nudity?"
Willow: "No, he covers me up."
Faith: "Notes: This is the fifth in the Unconventional Shipping Overview series, following the two parter on Buffy, the Willow one, and my first one. In these, we're fully aware of what we do both on the show and in fanfic. Archiving: Want, take, have, tell E."

OK. We're back for a further look in unconventional shipping on Buffy, again focusing on Faith. There were a couple I missed last time around...

Cordy: "Can't imagine that..."

Sorry. I'd seen these two, but was still being stunned by the F/J pairing...

Buffy: "You and me, both."

First, there's Faith/Kate...

Willow: "Who's that?"
Faith: "Oh, she's this cop in LA. Has a real mad on for Angel and all us supernatural types..."
Buffy: "Sort of like Forrest, only a girl... You know, the sometimes grudging ally who wants to rid the world of us, but has to side with us, sometimes..."
Cordy: "But, she's attractive, so she's going to get shipped. Her dad thought she was gay, so she gets shipped with me and Faith, a lot. Buffy doesn't hang around LA enough to get shipped with her..."

F/K shipping tends to follow the popular FaithFic theme of Faith being alone and vulnerable, and just needed someone to show they care about her. Faith, being Faith, boinks her.

There's also Faith/Lindsey...

Buffy: "Him, again?"
Faith: "Yeah, I worked with him for a bit, so..."

So, I think we've covered everybody...

Anya: "No, you haven't!"
Buffy: "Hey, Anya! What are you doing here?"
Anya: "What am I NOT doing here? Why do I never get shipped? One writer remembered me and shipped me with Buffy, for which I'm extremely grateful, but most of these people leave me out of the loop!"
Willow: "Well, you're so focused on Xander, it's hard to picture you with anyone else."
Cordy: "Like it's easy to picture you with Lindsey or Ethan?"
Willow: "Good point."
Buffy: "She DOES have an extremely strong sex drive. She's all libido. Hey, think she was supposed to be a Slayer 1100 years ago, but was turned into a vengeance demon, instead?"
Faith: "Sounds like it. I think we need to test her endurence."
Buffy: "Sounds good. You up for it?"
Anya: "Of course."
Faith: "Cool! We done here, 'til next time?"
Cordy: "Isn't it my turn?"
Willow: "For a shipping overview?"
Cordy: "Well, yeah, that too..."