My birthday's in February, so I turned 21 my last semester in college. I was suddenly very popular. "We need booze for the party this weekend, who's got a good fake ID? Wait! Connie's legal! And she only charges a quarter a bottle!"

What? Yes, I know it was a felony, I was a stupid kid, OK? Made a goodly amount of money, too, so I could buy my own favorite cheap wine. Mmm, Riunite Lambrusco, shades of my youth everytime I taste it. Boy, the liquor store people stared and stared at my driver's license, but they had to admit it was the real thing. YOu had to go to State Stores for hard stuff, but beer could be bought almost anywhere, including drive-thru places.

What?

Hey -- I never charged. And I kept buying, if needed until I was nearly thirty.

As dumb things go, it's less dumb than speeding. Which I do all the time.

Daniel, maybe you shouldn't leave link out there in the open like that.

Hec, that's the official link Shrift posts here when she lets us know publicly that she has a new offering, so I felt confident to post that link and that link alone. It immediately presents the information that you must contact the address provided for access.

I never charged, and for the first half of my 21st year, lived within walking distance of the booze store.

I bought a lot of booze.

Most of it, sadly, was MINE MINE MINE.

(Cereal)

In fact, during my first senior year in college*, the grocery store STOPPED carding me.

*The second one was a short year, about a year after my originally scheduled graduation date. I had a couple incompletes that I let slide, you see. It really only took me 4.5 years of dicking around all told.

Hec, that's the official link Shrift posts here when she lets us know publicly that she has a new offering, so I felt confident to post that link and that link alone. It immediately presents the information that you must contact the address provided for access.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound bossy about it. Just mindful of protecting her rear. I'm sure you're right.

she did have good reason to assume Buffy was in hell since Buffy died jumping into the gateway to a demon dimension.

I still don't get this ... no one that's been to a hell dimension went there because they died. What's the good reason, again?

I bought into the assumption (once they suggested it), so it feels like there's some inductive reason to assume it. As logic goes, that's pretty peccable. I'll do better, Hec.

There is a parallel to Angel, who died (or Buffy "killed" him, at least) and went through a dimensional portal, and later turned out to have gone to Hell. Sean pointed out that his body disappeared, and Buffy's didn't. That makes it a stretch to assume she could be in Hell, but it turns out to be justified: having no body didn't prevent her from going to Heaven.

On one hand, it would be a weird opening that could send you physically to Pylea or spiritually to incorporeal hell, but then, it did connect to "all" dimensions, and remember that the Senior Partners don't have bodies in their dimension -- they just manifest in the form of a demon to move around in this dimension. (Sounds kind of like a demon rental-car business. "Hertz -- Doesn't It?")

(Aside on my research: as far as I can tell, Christian heaven and hell are places for both your body and soul. So "he's going straight to hell" and "your grandma is in Heaven now" aren't strictly accurate, because they both have to wait on their physical resurrection. And assuming Buffy went to either place makes even less sense.)

I'm still not convinced she was in Heaven either. I'm convinced that *she* thought it was heaven, which is good enough. But still, it was a place that basically lied to her so that she'd believe everyone she loved was safe.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound bossy about it. Just mindful of protecting her rear. I'm sure you're right.

No problem, we're all quite fond of Shrift's rear.

I always thought Willow was, if not explicitly, tacitly encouraging Dawn to investigate means of bringing Joyce back when she pulled out that book. It seemed an act of gross irresponsibility--and being of an age that tends to acts of gross irrepsonsibility isn't enough of an out for "let's show a grief-stricken teenager who's already dealing with the fact she was artificially created how to bring back the source of safe, unconditional love." And her dismay seemed more for her own sake than for the idea of Zombie!Joyce.

The look on Willow's face after she sacrificed the fawn also spoke more of "Boy, I hope I don't get caught." Guilt just oozed off of her. She may not have used the word "wrong" while thinking about the whole sacrifice, plus the resurrection, but she was sure heavily on the "People whose good opinions I have often courted might not think this is a good idea, best not tell them."