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Jan. 4th, 2003 05:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockI was chatting with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
octopedingenue about about Spike in my previous post, and she linked this really great site that had the full text for the story "The Velveteen Rabbit", which I haven't read in YEARS, and I was delighted to skim over it again.
And this is still a wonderful excerpt:
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
***
"Are you real?"
(Buffy, to Spike, S-7)
***
octopedingenue about about Spike in my previous post, and she linked this really great site that had the full text for the story "The Velveteen Rabbit", which I haven't read in YEARS, and I was delighted to skim over it again.And this is still a wonderful excerpt:
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Velveteen Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
"Are you real?"
(Buffy, to Spike, S-7)
***
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Date: 2003-01-04 06:12 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-01-04 06:52 pm (UTC)I know, me too. I especially like "You become." It reminds me of two things-- the double-episode Becoming from season two, which was when Spike made the bargain with Buffy that started him on the path to what he has become, and also for a short, amazing Spike vignette I once read called "Becoming."
no subject
Date: 2003-01-04 09:54 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-01-04 10:20 pm (UTC)Becoming by Jessie
I liked this part:
"But then she says his name. And it's in that tone of voice that he's forgotten ever existed until she uses it again. That tone that he swears makes his heart almost start to beat. And he feels himself give in."
I also like the very last lines. Wonderful vignette.