Interesting little drabble. I love how this is focused on the loss of power, how that power is like an inspiration and a defining quality of her. It's a little creepy, the way you've described that second paragraph, but gorgeous as well. I particularly love the marble metaphor, and the comparison between the old her and the new one.

The second half provides an interesting comparison to the first as well; her power seems negative in the second paragraph, but seems it could have helped towards the end. particularly that last phrase: "and is unable to grant a simple wish".

Just a brief disclaimer that I'm going into this one completely fandom blind. :)

I love the immediate contrast that you make between Anya and Anyanka. Right off the bat, we know that she's a completely different person now that she's lost her powers. And then the further contrast, using the "masterpiece" metahpor was really, really beautiful. You have a lot of powerful imagery built up in so few words. Most impressive!

I was especially taken by the fact that she saw Willow "shatter" because it just gives such powerful images. It's like she's watching her canvas be completely destroyed, and that is destroying her as well. It's terrible, and it's very well written.

A lovely little drabble! I enjoyed it. Well done and good luck on future projects!

Cheers, dearie!

I'm not very familiar with the Buffy universe, but I don't think it's necessary in this instance. This is a really well-written drabble, with a lot of imagery and very sophisticated writing packed into only a few words. I'm particularly taken with the contrast between "Anya" and "Anyanka".

If this were mine, I'd be tempted to strengthen the second sentence by (quite ironically) taking out the word "weakened." "She's pathetic" seems to have a more brutal feel to it, but your mileage may vary.

I would consider removing the "fin" as well, as again I think this weakens the ending of "simple wish" which was really great. Thank you for writing x

Interesting. I'm fandom-blind with very limited knowledge of Buffy.

I kind of like how you first start off pretty blunt. Anya not being Anyanka anymore. In a short amount of time, you've managed to encapsulate what I think is going on at least... For some reason she cannot save Willow. And I'm not sure why because again fandom-blind here! But some of the language here is quite beautiful. In particular, my favorite line is, "She created terrible masterpieces out of men, chipping away at them like they were marble, sculpting them by pain and death into stone busts of retribution."

Thank you for the read!

This is simple, poetic, and beautiful. The second line, "She's weakened, pathetic," gets me right into Anya's head-makes me feel the self-loathing she's experiencing. I like your insight that Anyanka was an an artist-that her revenge was not random, but crafted. Indeed, the whole theme of artistry in this fic is well-done.

It actually makes me feel sad to see Anya reduced to a girl-it reminds me what hell it must have been to be stuck in High School again. And your final line, in which Anya reflects on how she once would have had the power to help Willow, now she is totally impotent.

I can't find anything in this drabble to criticize. It moved me. Well done-and thank you.

This piece, despite 136 words, it's very expressive of Anya's way about losing her power, and seeing 'her once wanting to fulfill dream' of wanting to see Willow become a successful masterpiece, but failed. It's like the higher our expectation, the bigger our grief and disappointment is when we fail. You described the disappointment without using too mcuh angsty words.

Less is more, I guess :)

Hey, your story was story of the week on the reviews lounge too, so I'm not really familiar with the Buffy fandom, but I'm reading this anyway. I really enjoyed this piece, despite my inability to really understand it. It was very poetic and I think the brevity of it really helped make the point clear. You made me want to watch Buffy just out of curiousity so I can appreciate this fic more. I'll definitely be checking out your other stuff. Great job!

RAEBNC - Read And Enjoyed, But No Comment

Oh, this is really neat. I like how you started with "Anya isn't Anyanka" anymore and then elaborated on that, as if to show us exactly what that means and how big the changes really are.

Fantasic. Truly fantastic.

Oh! This was marvelous. Absolutely heartbreaking. The tone was perfectly balanced and the language was beautiful. Excellent work.

Well, before reading this my background knowledge of Buffy the Vampire Slayer pretty much amounted to that it was a show that had some guy named Buffy in it, and he was more than likely a vampire slayer. When I read this for the first time, I thought it was pretty good. You managed to fit a ton of feeling into only about a hundred words while completely making your point without a bunch of unneeded filler. But I really didn't grasp the full meaning of this fic until I did a bit of researching to learn a little bit the character of Anya.

I was amazed at how much of a difference just knowing a bit of backstory made for me. It magnified the emotions of the piece, and it made me truly appreciate how great of a fic this really is once I better understood the comparison between Anyanka's powers and an artist once I understood what those powers were. It was nicely done, and something that adds originality and helps it to stand out from the crowd. Overall, it was a very nice one-shot, and I greatly enjoyed reading it.

First off, I don't know the Buffy fandom very well. I have seen the show once or twice, and that's about it. Therefore, I don't really know your character, Anya. However, I do know who Willow and Oz are. Therefore, that did help understanding this story. So much said in so few words. I love how people can do that. I have to write at least a thousand words or more to get my point across, so I am always blown away by people who can say so much in so few words. And this really packs a punch. I really love the masterpiece theme and how you use it. I thought this was awesome. Great job! :)

For such a short story this is very good. You used words that are very powerful and give meaning to this short story. And you made it just as long as it needed to be. Good job.

Oh gosh. This is truly, truly beautiful. From start to finish, this is so expertly-crafted. It gave me chills at the end. Willow and Oz' breakup was one of the most heartbreaking stories in the show, and you have captured so much of those feelings here, from the perspective of someone who's a bit of an outsider to the whole situation, not exactly a close friend of Willow's, but someone who feels for her nonetheless.

I don't know what else to say. I am blown away by how powerful this is.