The odds were against me liking this story. I’m not too familiar with Dead Like Me (only saw one or two episodes, and though I didn’t dislike it I never got into it), and the basic structure of the narrative necessarily focused less on Buffy than on DLM. That was not a good set-up for success.

All the same, it worked. It penetrated, and it worked. Your depiction of the older, more responsible George — despite her horror at being seen in such a light — is a perfectly plausible evolution of the sour, deadpan misanthrope of whom I caught just a glimpse. Furthermore, the little I did see included Betty’s taking her own leap of faith, so the reaction of her co-workers was something to which I could directly relate.

The continuing theme of Reaper rebellion as an Olympic sport wasn’t just entertaining, it laid out a motivational dynamic that supported the entire story. George’s recounting of the moment when she first became a Reaper — really became one, finding that she’d accepted the reasons and made the adjustment without realizing it till then — illustrated and underscored Dawn’s coming to the same point. And the sequential closures (dead-Buffy with dead-Dawn, followed by dead-Dawn with Xander) not only facilitated closure for the reader, but was just plain darn sweet.

I know there are only a couple of days left before the Big Reveal, but I’m going to offer my own guess. The effortless depth of characterization, the balanced picture of Xander — neither overdone-goofy nor super-competent — and even the simple fact of turning out a sixty-thousand-word narrative in less than a month … all of these make me think of liz_marcs.

Regardless, damn fine story.