Buffy and Faith's shared dreams headcanon

[garfan]

In one of their dreams Buffy mentions having to leave. Then the next second the knife is in Faith's gut.

So am I the only one who headcanons that that was the moment Buffy woke up, and that when they're dreaming together things are good, they're helping each other, they're friends and it's only when Faith is alone in the dreams that Buffy is hurting or hunting her

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

Needs more Sapphicism to be an actual Buffy/Faith head canon.

 

[thetopher]

Not really. Buffy makes no mention of any shared dreams past 'Graduation Day' where she was self-aware and remembered the shared dream/connection. Mainly because she was no longer in the same shared 'close to death' head-space.
Afterwards it was only Faith, dreaming about her issues; being domestic with Buffy before Buffy 'turns on her' and stabs her, being familial with The Mayor until Buffy ruins that too, dreaming about being stalked by Buffy until she finally manages to 'defeat her'. and wake up.

It tracks to abandonment and being forgotten about and being 'betrayed' & 'persecuted' by Buffy, which are all nightmarish distortions of Faith's memories. Except the forgotten stuff though, which is the point.


One thing I've always disliked about some Buffy/Faith fic is the 'they always share dream spaces' fanon when its established as a very selective thing; near-death mostly, or with the First Slayer nearby or whatever. It's a rare occurrence.

The only thing that baffles about Faith's dreams in the 'little sis coming' stuff, coupled with 'little Miss Muffet' from GD2 means that Faith's dreams foretell what's going to happen to Buffy. In fact its the only time we see Faith having prophetic dreams at all.

So Buffy still gets the prophetic dreams, even though she's not 'The Slayer' but Faith gets future bits about Buffy? Makes you think.

 

[NotASlayer]

I did wonder with the S5 foreshadowing in Faith's dream whether it was Buffy's dream as well. Although perhaps one that Buffy didn't remember on waking.

There is also a kind of "we were 'together' in the first dream then you ghosted me" vibe from what Faith and Buffy say in Faith's dream.

 

[garfan]

Not really. Buffy makes no mention of any shared dreams past 'Graduation Day' where she was self-aware and remembered the shared dream/connection. Mainly because she was no longer in the same shared 'close to death' head-space.

I just realized I didn't make that clear, I consider that their subconsciouses. I mean I don't think Faith remembers the dreams either. There's no evidence she feels like she betrayed the Mayor after all

Afterwards it was only Faith, dreaming about her issues; being domestic with Buffy before Buffy 'turns on her' and stabs her, being familial with The Mayor until Buffy ruins that too, dreaming about being stalked by Buffy until she finally manages to 'defeat her'. and wake up.

It tracks to abandonment and being forgotten about and being 'betrayed' & 'persecuted' by Buffy, which are all nightmarish distortions of Faith's memories. Except the forgotten stuff though, which is the point.


One thing I've always disliked about some Buffy/Faith fic is the 'they always share dream spaces' fanon when its established as a very selective thing; near-death mostly, or with the First Slayer nearby or whatever. It's a rare occurrence.

The only thing that baffles about Faith's dreams in the 'little sis coming' stuff, coupled with 'little Miss Muffet' from GD2 means that Faith's dreams foretell what's going to happen to Buffy. In fact its the only time we see Faith having prophetic dreams at all.

So Buffy still gets the prophetic dreams, even though she's not 'The Slayer' but Faith gets future bits about Buffy? Makes you think.

well, maybe Faith is there because Dawn could have been her younger sister if Buffy died to soon

 

[Ethan Reigns]

There is an episode where the scoobies share an element of a dream. In "Restless", every dream shows the man with the cheese slices making some cryptic statement but the statement is not what matters. What matters is that the connection between the scoobies (as shown in "Primeval") is so close that they all share the dream element of the cheese man.

Dreams are used to show a connection that is not shown in real life.

 

[NotASlayer]

I just realized I didn't make that clear, I consider that their subconsciouses. I mean I don't think Faith remembers the dreams either. There's no evidence she feels like she betrayed the Mayor after all

Although Buffy clearly remembered the first dream.

well, maybe Faith is there because Dawn could have been her younger sister if Buffy died to soon

Or, given the monks were rushing the spell, Dawn might have been Faith's sister if Faith had been standing too close to Buffy when it was cast, resulting in it missing the target and hitting the wrong Slayer.

 

[garfan]

Although Buffy clearly remembered the first dream.

I believe that was because she was in that nearly dead headspace

 

[NotASlayer]

I believe that was because she was in that nearly dead headspace

Although Faith was too. Definitely for the first dream - being nearly fatally stabbed with a dagger will do that for you - but perhaps in the second as well? Okay, she wasn't nearly dead, but she had been in a coma for a year-ish.

 

[Bop]

I agree because in the shared dreams (or just Buffy's dream in Restless) it feels like Buffy and Faith are actually there and conscious on some level, but at the very end of the This Year's Girl shared dream when Buffy stabbed Faith it seemed like it was their avatars and it turned into a normal nightmare. Just like the dream of Buffy hunting Faith is just their avatars in a normal nightmare, same for the dream with The Mayor and Faith having a picnic and Buffy stabbing him. It could make sense that it turned into a normal nightmare when Buffy left. Maybe it didn't happen at the end of the Graduation Day shared dream because it seemed like Faith almost sent Buffy out of that dream, so it's a smoother transition from a shared dream to a normal dream.

 

[thetopher]

I mean I don't think Faith remembers the dreams either. There's no evidence she feels like she betrayed the Mayor after all

From Faith's perspective her dream-space moment with Buffy is buried under 9 months of nightmare-trauma.
And yeah, Faith barely acknowledges the Mayor or her part in his downfall but then she barely mentions nearly getting stabbed by Buffy. Her beef is about being forgotten and abandoned when Buffy moved on with a brand new boy-toy.

Basically she wakes up confused, moves on to pissed pretty soon and then onto self-hate a little after. Her feelings for The Mayor are probably all kinds of messed up; should she really feel bad about betraying him when she did (and tried to do) so many awful things FOR him?

well, maybe Faith is there because Dawn could have been her younger sister if Buffy died to soon

...Maybe, its still weird that Faith would foreshadow these things cryptically for Buffy's benefit.

I would love to say that in further lore the writers explored any kind of relationship between Faith and Dawn but they didn't, so it seems like just a weird nothing quirk.

 

[garfan]

...Maybe, its still weird that Faith would foreshadow these things cryptically for Buffy's benefit.

much like Tara, who has nothing to do with the Slayer line, is used to speak for the First Slayer when higher powers want to use your form or your voice you don't necessarily get a say

I would love to say that in further lore the writers explored any kind of relationship between Faith and Dawn but they didn't, so it seems like just a weird nothing quirk.

it's cause Faith and Buffy sarcastically called each other sisters a couple times in season 3.

 

[thetopher]

much like Tara, who has nothing to do with the Slayer line, is used to speak for the First Slayer when higher powers want to use your form or your voice you don't necessarily get a say

'Restless' is distinct from slayer dreams. since it involves a force invading and influencing the dreams of 'non-extraordinary' characters like Xander. Buffy and Faith refer to things in each others lives they were not present for.

Besides, tara represents The First Slayer, not a higher power.

it's cause Faith and Buffy sarcastically called each other sisters a couple times in season 3.

*sigh* No, that's not the reason, or indeed anything to do with what we were discussing.

 

[garfan]

'Restless' is distinct from slayer dreams. since it involves a force invading and influencing the dreams of 'non-extraordinary' characters like Xander. Buffy and Faith refer to things in each others lives they were not present for.

Besides, tara represents The First Slayer, not a higher power.

considering the ability to force herself into people's dreams and be summoned for vision quests suggests she might be something

Things like the Oracles in season 1 of Angel suggest to me there can be beings that are higher up than humans but below the PTB

*sigh* No, that's not the reason, or indeed anything to do with what we were discussing.

a lot of people do view Slayers as a sisterhood and they were talking about a sister

 

[thetopher]

considering the ability to force herself into people's dreams and be summoned for vision quests suggests she might be something

The reason the First slayer could get into the dreams of Giles, Willow and Xander is because of the enjoining spell that linked them (temporarily) to Buffy's power-source. After that it/she never bothered them again. Seems pretty plain what she was; a spirit/representation of the slayer power.

Things like the Oracles in season 1 of Angel suggest to me there can be beings that are higher up than humans but below the PTB

Sure there are conduits to the higher powers, seers or spirit guides and the like; Skip is a good example, or even Lorne and his reading abilities.

a lot of people do view Slayers as a sisterhood and they were talking about a sister

It's wordplay parlance; slayers aren't actually sisters, they're a distinct spiritual-descendant bloodline thing.

I do wonder if any slayers ever actually had biological siblings at all; maybe they're all one children. That would make Dawn unique in a similar way to how Buffy is (as well as being The Key obviously).

 

[KaitKat]

In Restless Buffy tells Tara that her and Faith just made the bed, the one for little sister from This Year’s Girl. That to me feels very much like a slayer dream. With that said I don’t think Buffy and Faith were visiting each others dreams nightly or anything but I wouldn’t be shocked if it happened with big/apocalyptic events.

I do think that the other dreams in This Years Girl is just an insight into Faith’s psychology. I don’t think Buffy is also dreaming about chasing Faith down with a knife. It shows us how Faith views the events of season three. I think one of her more interesting dreams is having a picnic with The Mayor when a snake appears and Buffy appears and stabs The Mayor.

 

[AlphaFoxtrot]

I believe Fray has the Slayer being a fraternal twin to a brother who inherits the "seer." No idea how that works. Maybe the Seer and the Slayer are separate lives?