E S S A Y S
Extraordinary Potential: Writing Dawn/Kennedy by Doyle

A brand new Slayer and a Slayer’s little sister. Intriguing or downright impossible? Let’s take a look at some factors that could pose problems in a Dawn/Kennedy pairing, and some ways around them. You’ll notice a lot of ‘probably’s and ‘possibly’s – that’s because these just are one person’s opinions on how this ‘ship could work, and are only presented as a (hopefully useful) guide on where to start.

The age difference

According to the shooting script for Bring on the Night, Kennedy is 19. At that point Dawn is sixteen. Since we never see one of her birthdays, it’s possible she turns seventeen soon after Chosen. A two or three year age difference is very minor (especially compared to, say the Buffy/Angel relationship. And that’s a very big card for Dawn to pull if her sister freaks about her seeing someone older.)

If your fic is set before Dawn’s 18, there’s the underage factor to consider – unless they all move to England post-Chosen, because in that case she’s of-age and everything’s hunky dory.

Even if your characters are in America and Dawn is underage, Kennedy doesn’t seem the type (IMHO) to angst and hold off till the 18th birthday. Her family’s wealth and privilege could bring with it an arrogance sense of being above the law. Not to say that it would, but it’s a possibility, and something to bear in mind.

The orientation question

Argument against Dawn slash: we’ve never seen her go after girls on the show.

The argument against the argument: when we last saw Dawn, she was sixteen years old. It’s completely possible that she wouldn’t be fully aware of her sexual orientation yet, or that she would experiment. After all, Willow was happily involved with Oz until she was eighteen.

Willow

This is likely to be the big stumbling block, because even if you have Willow and Kennedy split, for whatever reason, and even if you have Willow somewhere far out of the picture, she’s still going to be an issue. No matter how bad the break-up, Dawn should feel some guilt at being with the ex of someone who she’s close to. On the other hand if Willow’s still around, she might give her blessing to the relationship.

Buffy

If Buffy’s around – and she doesn’t have to be, since she could be off in another part of the world finding or training new Slayers, or Dawn could be at college – then she’s bound to have a slightly stronger reaction to Dawn/Kennedy than “okay, I wish you well.” For one thing, her sister’s seeing another girl (and she did freak out a little at the Willow/Tara news); for another, probably a bigger issue, there were some personality clashes between her and Kennedy in season seven. It’s also not uncommon for people to treat their siblings as younger than they actually are, and to be overprotective (see Buffy’s reaction to Dawn at the Bronze in ‘Him’.)

On the other hand, she’s definitely not a homophobe, and she would most likely come round to whatever made Dawn happy. It’s not impossible, though, that she would privately warn Kennedy not to hurt her little sister.

Personality clashes

The biggest obstacles in getting these two together aren’t going to come from outside forces, they’re going to come from inner ones. The two of them didn’t interact much in season 7, so they barely know one another. Kennedy has a very forceful personality. She’s tenacious in defending those she loves (something she and Dawn share), but can have little time for others, especially those she sees as being weak.

Dawn doesn’t have powers in the sense that Kennedy would define them. She doesn’t have super strength or magical ability, and Kennedy hasn’t seen her fight with the group. Dawn would know that Kennedy challenged Buffy’s authority more than once, and loyalty to her sister could cause problems.

Both of the characters have good and bad traits. Don’t ignore their faults just to make it easier to get them in the sack. The clashes are what’s going to keep it passionate and interesting.

Their backgrounds

On the surface, their upbringings were pretty different. Kennedy’s from a privileged family, while Dawn remembers being brought up in LA and moving to Sunnydale after her parent’s divorce, when she was about ten.

But they have some things in common. Kennedy was trained as a Slayer from a young age. Because of her sister, Dawn would have been exposed to the supernatural early, too. Dawn’s memories pre-age 14 are all false. Neither of them exactly had a normal childhood, and that’s something that could bring them together.

Physically

Especially of note in PWPs: Kennedy is a Slayer. Dawn is not. Kennedy is therefore much, much stronger than Dawn, something that needs to be taken into account. Would she need to hold herself back? Would that lead to resentment on her part? Also, if Faith’s to be believed, slaying might get Kenn hot and bothered.

Depending on the time period, Dawn may be a virgin or may not. She may have had sexual experience with women or she may not. All that’s going to influence how you write the naughty, fun parts.

Type of fic

A lot of how you write the characters is going to depend on the mood of fic you’re going for. A fluffy, sweet romance is going to be very differently written to a bitter PWP where Kennedy has a one-night-stand with Dawn after a bad breakup with Willow.

What it comes down to

Know the characters. Know Dawn inside out. Know Kennedy inside out. Read other people’s views on them. Decide how they would interact. And then write. Because this relationship has the potential (pun not intended, etc) to be funny, sweet, hot, heart-breaking, exciting – whatever you can make it.

Best of luck.