by Dub » Tue Nov 09, 2021 10:50 am
First off if you are here completely new to the ConfidentialVerse back up and redirect yourself to Hacker Confidential (for a shorter path to Family) or as I strongly recommend College Confidential (for a rich, deep blend allowing you to truly appreciate the small moments – it’s not coffee beans, read starting from CC and it will make perfect sense). Family is a continuation, to give it the proper respect it deserves you need some background to it.
I felt cheated at the end of Hacker. I thoroughly enjoyed it but then I rolled my eyes at an instant family, bring a baby home and they are sorted, mum cap donned without a hair out of place but then I rejoice knowing there’s a sequel so we will get all the adjustment of parenthood and the stresses of making a twosome a threesome.
Then Family starts with a five year time jump. Five years! That’s past the I don’t know if I can do this stage, the can we still be a loving couple and a parent stage, the how do people look at us as two women with a baby stage, adjusting to the work/life balance stage and how their family adjusts the new addition stage. It’s a lot to unpack and Hacker was only about a year in their time frame so how much fits into five years. Five years!
Well I shut up fast as I got a snippet early on of exactly what I wanted. A simple one line that ticked my box. Tara wondering if she will end up like her father after having to punish her son. That’s just one line but there are so many. Each one shut me up and each one hit hard. We didn’t have to read them experience it first time because the stuff never really goes away. Just a look at Willows chest bringing back all the fears of that brilliant chapter 86 in HC. Family is riddled and I mean absolutely riddled with these single lines that can overwhelm the senses with the memories and emotions of past instalments. Laragh delivers them shamelessly. Now I say shamelessly (not negatively) because there is so much with the prequels here that hits hard but the prequels weren’t even written yet. It’s a pre-emptive plug to future writing and its genius because as a reader I feel rewarded. Every reference I see it feels like a pat on the back and the added depth is my reward. As a writer Laragh drummed up hype for her future writing. Its genius and makes me laugh, perks of being a future binge reader instead of the loyal readers who had to wait a week between each instalment.
While on the topic of loyal readers and the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey-ness of how the series was written, I have to thank Ariel. It has been written that Chapter 41 on page 18 was written for/because of you. This chapter I can whole heartily see as the catalyst for a monumental triumph of what is chapter 42 (page 13) in College Confidential. That is a chapter that has inspired me and is a true benchmark I have set for top tier Tara and Willow connection.
While I don’t get the same intensity of emotion in chapter41 of Family, it gives me tingles of it. In relation to Family as a story this chapter does tick another box in what I felt we were missing from the time jump. It’s a charming little scene that presents growth while looking at the past. So Thankyou Ariel.
I can only sum up Family as an education. The range of topics covered is all connected but yet wide reaching. In previous instalments Laragh’s dedication to researching and getting the details right is evident, from the paths of Paris to the description of a plant at the botanical gardens. Family she ups her game further from the seriousness of Tara’s job and the complexities of the adoption system. FC goes into areas where I think many people including myself know of but never really look further into when really we should. There are numerous examples of the level of research Laragh goes into to pick a few, Chapter 5 (pg3), Chapter 9 (pg4), chapter 10, 12 (pg5), Chapter14 (pg6).
These chapters have so much medical stuff in its easy to think you’re reading a medical journal in any fanfiction but not when it’s Laragh in the writer’s chair. Every piece of information is a reassurance or understanding for Tara and Willow, it’s part of the story and adds to it not detracts.
With the research there is also a massive amount of maturity that goes with it. It’s not played off for jokes. Laragh says no angst in this instalment and yet she still delivers serious hard hitting stuff wrought in emotion which just bonds the Rosenburg-Maclays love even further than thought possible. Chapter 38 and 39 on page 17 is a must read in my book if you want to educate yourself on something you’ve probably not thought too much about. Through the simple delivery of a children’s book, Laragh delves into the impact of adoption on the child but also on the parents. The fear of rejection even after knowing the love is unconditional.
Maturity yet again exudes from the Epilogue. It gives me the same feel of chapter 92-93(pg 34-35) in Hacker. Its smut with purpose but also even though right at the end fits in the insecurities of Tara not being the carrying mother. So we get those wonderful echoes Laragh makes which connects back to the feelings of chapter 38 &39.
“I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are” – Mewtwo, Rosenburg-Maclays embody this.
Again for the readers who commented, it brought out personal stories as people who have gone through it in real life really resonated with it and that’s the pay off all the research displayed in such a mature manner by Laragh. She gets real reactions from people.
Including myself. (Prepare yourselves reader)
Normally I try to find a chapter that really stands out to me and gives me something as a reader. I really thought I’d struggle as all the way through Laragh says no angst, it’s all nice. So already with the family setting I didn’t think there would be one chapter in particular would pop. There are brilliant echoes and lines that encapsulates the things I’ve pointed out before on previous Confidential instalments about what I like about this series. I was just thinking id comment on a concept in the end rather than a scene however then chapter 46 on page 20 came up.
Where to start with this other than it enraged me. It filled me with utter bewilderment and disgust. I could put myself in the scene in Willows shoes and that has never happened at any point watching Buffy or any fan fiction. Rarely with any character ever in any media. The complete joy at seeing Laragh yet again show Tara off in her purest form completely getting the character and what makes her tick. There’s so much to digest in the chapter and it leaves one question in my head of Why?
I’m gonna break it down and look at the factors.
This is a chapter of the first birthing class and honestly I was expecting some embarrassment and awkward positions that Willow would make a comment on causing Tara to blush and tell her wife to behave. What I wasn’t expecting was something that transcended the realms of fan fiction, something that can take Tara and Willow out of the picture but still be as poignant. This is social commentary, this is the voice of so many and unfortunately reading nearly 10 since it’s been written is still such an issue.
Earlier on in the comments it’s mentioned how gay people don’t have just one coming out, they have to constantly come out. This right here with an ignorant expecting mother is Willow having to come out which then accelerates to her having to justify her own family. They are in the same exact position but just because two women fell in love it’s something that has to explained and then probed to every last detail. This is briefly done in a previous chapter where Alice questions Tara on why they didn’t tell them all that they were trying to conceive and Tara expertly shoots back “You didn’t tell us when you and Jesse were trying”. That’s all that was needed to be said. It’s no different. So why in this exact situation of two women who are having a baby with a loving partner to extend their family it has to become such a massive issue to the extent one side has to belittle and degrade the other just because its two women. Seriously why? It makes no sense but yet it happens, still.
Then in comes the Bathroom meltdown right here is where I connect with Willow. I can completely understand and know the feeling of being so frustrated, angry, saddened, lost, desperate and confused because of something completely out of your control. Just one person who will never understand or try to understand why what they do is wrong and affects you so personally that its tears you up inside. With absolutely no control of the situation and knowing the other person will never get it even if explained and nothing will change, meaning the only thing you can do is unleash it on yourself in senseless physical punishment because if it’s not the other person it has to be you. For me the hormones in Willow mean nothing in this moment as this is personal and deep and a question to her existence.
Words aren’t used it’s purely the action of her throwing out her fist to the wall BUT THEN! Laragh shows the epitome of Tara’s character. She stands in the way and takes the hit. She takes the pain so Willow doesn’t have to. All that frustration, rage, upset, confusion, loss, she takes it. Tara has every reason to be a bitter, hate filled, bile spewing shell with the way she has been treated but she looks at the world and says no. She will stand and know in her heart that she never wants anyone to feel the way she does she will do whatever she can to stop that. In this moment Laragh shows it by preventing her wife from hurting self by taking a punch. All the pain she has had, she will take on more to prevent another from feeling it. Laragh continues to display Tara’s loving nature in this chapter as she shows it throughout the entire ConfidentialVerse.
“Why do people hate us so much for falling in love? That’s all we did.”
Tara inhaled deeply and squeezed her arms a little tighter.
“I don’t know, Sweetie.”
That brief exchange says it all. That’s the transcendence which makes this social commentary. How many people have to go through this exchange? There’s a couple out there every day going through it and they shouldn’t have to. All they did was fall in love. Screw what’s considered the norm, screw what ignorant repugnant troglodytes think.
Laragh has shown their effect in one comment so perfectly in this chapter.
I try not to be spoiler-y to entice new readers to this series (and not to invoke the wrath of River Song). But I just can’t with this chapter as you don’t need Tara and Willow here, you could have any everyday mundane couple say this and it hits a note with everyone. No matter their orientation, identifications or age. This is social commentary in the form of Tara and Willow having a breakdown in a public toilet, Laragh never fails to Impress and up her game. Pffft! yeah right smut and fluff, Laragh (And readers, wink wink, nod nod, nudge nudge) needs to give herself more credit for what she puts out. Laragh has earnt a Dub rant which only happens if I really get impassioned about something and to put it in context this year it’s been the injustice of Tara Maclay to the point the name and any Buffy chat is banned in all social circles.
To make a point of the Dub rant as of writing about this chapter, I haven’t finished Family yet I’ve just read the scene and had to write these thoughts down. I’m that confident my opinion on this chapter won’t change as the story goes on. Could be stubbornness. Probably more so the latter
So now that rant is out the way let’s look to something more upbeat that is present in all of the instalments. There is so much comedy to enjoy. You have a whole array of comedy stylings from slap stick (Buffy tackling Jesse to assert female dominance in a football game), sarcasm (Tara, no example needed), Blue (just look to any NC-17 chapter, scratch that to any chapter Willow and Tara are near each other), inside humour (blew up the school), puns and cheesiness. There’s something for everyone.
I know I should focus on the main two here to highlight this work but I can’t, not from lack of it but because the humour just pours from a character who Laragh taps into just as well as she does Tara and Willow. Anya, Anya, Anya. Every chapter she is in she is on point with securing a laugh but she’s no joke. She is completely three dimensional and I can completely see her as canon despite the AU world. If you just want a laugh after reading all this go to page 9 and read chapter 18, you’ll never look at someone wearing a whistle at the shops the same way again. Fear them, Fear them!
This is more for myself but others might appreciate the observation and want to revisit the end of chapter 13 (pg6). We are always taught to look at a piece of writing from the view point of when it was written however after all the events we’ve gone through the previous couple of years I think we can all see this part differently.
Anya hears Tara and Willow are ill so shows up with a face mask and refuses to touch things wanting to take JJ so he doesn’t get ill and pass on the germs to her family as their sons play together.
2011 – Silly Anya she’s ridiculous.
2021 – Anya is the most sensible person in the world, we should all follow her example.
Canon readers still not convinced to give the series a go. There’s an arc chapter 53 pg22 -57 pg23 that does have ties to the show. If you like the episode “Normal Again” you’ll appreciate the weird feeling the location and people have in an AU world.
Ultimately to summarise all whatever this is I just wrote, Family Confidential is a piece of fanfiction that truly transcends the genre. It tackles details that we should remain privy to. It stands up all these years later. Laragh projects her opinions and views from personal experience and hopes which hit hard within societal views but yet it’s all wrapped up in fluffy goodness.
There is so much more I could say about the ConfidentialVerse so far but I want to put something straight. This is not fluff and smut it is so much more that keeps Tara and Willow relevant even though it’s over 20 years since their first screening. The AU is with purpose connecting them to the real world because they are still massively relevant and have ground to break. Laragh is nothing but a talent.
I never understood when people who are already parents say they are going to be a parent again when they are expecting a new addition. I think are the existing kids good to just take now, are they disowned. Sat inside a cardboard box outside the supermarket looking for a good home. Laragh has made me understand this comment now (At least in this case). That’s what I’m taking away from Family Confidential, understanding for topics I’ve been ignorant to.
Personal note – 100% head canon for this series, taralicious raided the bins for the bag with the destroyed sheets in. That guy likes some Tara and Willow body fluids.
), but I'm still waiting for everything else.
Glad you thought so!
Yes, definitely a happy ending. Both because this is the KB and because I wouldn't dream of giving them anything but.
.) I really liked the approach with the book. Very tactful.
