(Is it true or apocryphal that there were required haircut warnings in Sentinel? I've never quite believed it, but I know I've seen that claimed.)

It's not true. On the SENAD list, which was the major list at the time for Sentinel discussion (might still be, hell if I know), someone requested that people warn about haircutting. She was pretty well immediately mocked, but she was apparently serious. It was never a required warning, though.

Oh, good. That makes me feel better.

Too funny. It's, umm. Hurt/Comfort. No. Really.

I mean, sure it says it wants to mirror my rapes scenes with some healing sex for a pleasingly symmetrical emotional plot arc, but all it really wants is a roll in the hay.

t dies laughing

My solution historically to solve problems like this is to use HBO detailed ratings. (You know, that you see before the movie starts.) R -- for violence, scariness, bad language, and sexuality. NC-17 -- for gore (I have done this only once). It establishes reasonable boundaries of expectation, without giving anything away; and I would expect to see rape/noncon in that list (in fact, HBO does warn for that!) but nothing as specific as character death. And I wish other people would do the HBO thing! Not many do.

That's a really good idea.

In general, I'm where everyone else is -- don't want to know if anyone dies, do want to get a general sense of what I'm getting into in terms of violence/sex/etc. And I want to know the pairing, because it gives me an idea how to interpret things.

OK, I've got some fics in mind but I need some info. first. One is like added scene to Joyce's funeral, where Hank comes, cause I always thought it unbelievable that he wouldn't, and for that one, I need to know what sort of little gift a man might send his daughters from Spain? Any special candy? Castanets for Dawnie? Secondly, for a Giles fic:If you're a Giles and an attorney, what sort of lawyer are you?What would be considered the most respectable?

Erika, I'll take a stab at that last question. Different types of lawyers do have different images, but I'm not sure which would be the most respectable.

I could see Giles as a partner in a very old, established small firm. The firms' clients are largely the local social elite, who have turned to Mason, Rivington, and Giles since their grandparents were children.

Giles himself probably does a lot of estate planning. This involves quite a bit of writing wills. He can discourse ad nauseum on obscure points of (real) property law that still exist mainly because the medieval English went to great lengths to ensure that land stayed in the family. (Unfortunately, all I remember about the Rule in Shelley's Case is that such a thing exists.)

He probably acts as trustee on a number of trusts. Occasionally, he'll appear in court to probate a client's estate.

IOW, very respectable. Not very exciting. Very in keeping with Giles' personality in the early seasons.

Yeah, I kind of thought it would be that sort of thing, as opposed to say, representing smutty comedians or something.(Although they need representation, too, sometimes.)

Or, read the first 20 pages of Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, in which a long-lost older son returns to home and hearth -- he contacts the nice, respectable family lawyer first, because he is polite that way -- and because he is the older (of twins), he inherits and his brother gets practically nothing. Sort of explains (to me) old-school British lawyering and the weird way property works in Britain, all in one.

Trinkets from Spain: there is a particular kind of damascene pottery made in Toledo, which is black pottery with intricate gold-wire twirlies on the side, made almost exclusively these days for tourists. Cordoba seems to be where people buy swords, if they're going to buy swords. All I can remember that they sell in Barcelona is flipflops, which you can get anywhere.

Also, if the Giles is in England, he would probably be a solicitor, not a barrister.