azurite | Lucky Number Three?

Finished reading "Eclipse." I'm curious if anyone thinks I'm cheating in my reading; I'm not. I'm honestly just that fast of a reader, especially when the writing's improved as much as Meyer's has since "Twilight."

Oh, and for any and all keeping up with this short series of posts and who may be interested in the series (whether for lulz or otherwise), I hereby issue you a challenge!

THERE IS ONLY ONE RULE: Write a Buffy the Vampire Slayer x Twilight series fic in which at least one character from each series meets and talks to the other, in a face-to-face scenario.

OTHER MALARKY:
- Any length
- Any genre (including parody/MST, etc.)
- Any characters; minimum of 2 total (again, at least one from each series), no max, but preferably MAIN characters (e.g. not some nameless demon from Season 2 of BtVS)

I'm actually quite tempted to do this myself. I know I was complaining the other day that Meyer's vampires are just too damn cool/powerful, but that doesn't mean I think a crossover is impossible. Go for it!

If "New Moon" was a vast improvement over "Twilight," then I think "Eclipse" comes close, if not edges over that same "good/better/best" line, by a fraction of an inch. "Eclipse" was fairly non-stop with the drama -this time not so much action or even suspense, except toward the end.

I was getting a bit peeved thinking that Bella's manipulative ways (re: Edward being in "the big showdown") would mean we wouldn't see a fight, but I'm glad Meyer didn't disappoint and had Victoria and Riley show up when they did to make sure Bella DID get involved in the thick of things, and saw things as they brutally were. And I also felt that the reintroduction of the Volturi was a bit pointless at the end; they were always this shadowy, looming threat, but the way they were treated at the end of Book 2/"New Moon" was more like "Yeah, they're scary as all get-out, and have all this awesome power at their beck and call, but they're so full of themselves, it'll probably be decades before they even bother to think of us again. We're cool." I'm sure Victoria and Riley's killing sprees accelerated the Volturi's interest in the Pacific Northwest, but STILL... the bit where Jane and Co. showed up at the end felt anticlimactic and pointless, especially after the big showdown with Victoria.

WHAT I DID LIKE: all the tension in the triangle that was MUCH more explicitly developed between Edward, Bella, and Jacob. I really liked that, and not just because who WOULDN'T to be the girl who's sought after by both Mr. Hot Vampire and Adoring Best Guy Friend, but because I like that sort of "realistic" drama. Okay, sure, the whole werewolf vs. vampire thing helped add to the tension, but mainly, I think, it was about Jacob and Edward never really liking each other and both wanting Bella for very different (and at least in Jacob's case, CLEAR) reasons. Can you tell I like love polygons? Book 3 definitely solidified the idea that BxJ (oh, tee hee!) 'shippers have good reason to think the way they do; it's not like the pairing is completely out of left-field and would take a lot of ingenuity and/or OOC to write. It's more or less canon, just not the final couple.

I also like how everything I read about in the wank reports for Book 4 was at least well-established in Book 3. The upcoming wedding (and it being a social soiree instead of a Vegas shotgun wedding), Bella finally being ready to turn, and Edward being willing to do it for her all were explained in "Eclipse." That's not to say EVERYTHING is tied up all nicely and neatly; no-- if it were, there'd be no need for a Book 4/"Breaking Dawn," let alone a desire for Edward's side of this whole affair (SO VERY MUCH NEEDED), a.k.a. the upcoming "Midnight Sun" series (or will it be a single book, I wonder? How eloquent is Edward?)

Now, there is one thing I'm still wondering about, and unfortunately it's not something I can draw upon any sort of mythos, or even pop culture for. Even Joss didn't cover this one in too much detail.

Vamps can quite clearly have sex, but HOW? Oh, don't give me the whole lecture: I know how it works for humans, and to some, vampires are simply a different kind of human, a humanoid, if you will. But to be frank, they're demons in most any story, even aliens. And in this case, Meyer's vamps do not have beating hearts. One person reported on F_W claimed Meyer's vampires don't even have bodily fluids, which I disagree with-- they obviously have their venom and saliva, at the least, and I imagine the "nutrients" in the blood they drink must travel throughout their body SOMEHOW. But they don't need to eat other foods, and they don't need to sleep. Presumably, they also don't need to defecate or urinate or anything like that. So, no urine, no bile, no mucus, etc.? Shouldn't the jump to "no sperm" be logical? Hell, even BEFORE that-- how can any (male) vampire get it up in the first place to worry about it?

Then again, the Cullens are really about beating the odds and going against the grain, aren't they?

I'm trying the possibilities in my head, here:
* They might not have beating hearts or NEED to eat/sleep/breathe, but they can do those aforementioned three things if they want. So maybe the blood is still in their veins, just slow-moving, and cold because it's not being pumped.

* Or maybe there's an incredible force of will at work, and instead of a hard-on being the result of blood rushing to certain extremities, guys like Ed would just need to focus "cold thoughts" on that certain part?

Anyone with theories, feel free to throw them out. (I'm reading a bit of "Breaking Dawn" now, and Edward more or less says, flat out, that they won't be able to have kids; he implies Bella won't be able to get pregnant. He doesn't say that will be her fault in particular (e.g. it's a female vamp problem, not a male one), but it seems pretty clear that, were Bella NOT a vampire, she could still (somehow) get pregnant by Edward (if he weren't so old fashioned and required that they marry first).

I'm still trying to figure out how, and it seems kind of goofy to be expending so much thought and energy on such a silly little detail (which I bet is going to be the crux of the epilogue, just like the wank reports predicted).

Mmm, there very well may be more to say about Book 3/"Eclipse," but I can't think of it off the top of my head. Probably because "Breaking Dawn" is distracting me, as is the idea of Bella "talking shop" with Buffy. *grin*

I'll be back with the fourth and final part of this mini-series once I'm done with "Breaking Dawn." Sore ja~!