Willow looked at Xander Harris in disbelief. ** He loves me? 'Aw, widdle Willow is trying to kill everybody in the world, but she hasn't thought it through. If I just let her know somebody loves her she'll get over her snit.' STUPID JERK. A world that produces a Xander doesn't deserve to have its pain relieved. ** So, Willow abandoned her plan to relieve the world's pain, to concentrate on causing pain in her former best friend.
** The thing is, Warren at least respected me. I mean, sure, he did kill my best friend, but he did respect me, acknowledge my anger. Xander hasn't even done that. So I'd feel bad flaying him, he deserves worse. **
Willow disguised the dark magic, allowing Xander to tell himself he'd solved Willow's problems. While Rational Thought might have suggested that a rage so vast as to have the holder try to kill everyone in the world would not simply vanish upon being told an old friend loved the holder, Rational Thought and Xander Harris had little to do with each other.
It was not, as Xander's detractors will suggest, that Xander Harris and Rational Thought were such unconnected entities that drawing them together in a game of 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' was an automatic loss, but rather that they were usually distant. They met on the level of acquaintances, not fast friends. 'Rational Thought, I remember you, you helped out big time during that 'Judge' episode.' 'How kind of you to remember, Mr. Harris (Rational Thought being to unfamiliar to feel comfortable using 'Xander' as a name.) The years have been kind to you.' Rational Thought assuming, based on past experience, that Xander Harris had no particular intent of involving Rational Thought in his life.
Most particularly, Rational Thought knew, should he encounter Mr. Harris, that there would be no involvement in the infamous Harris love-life. Most people do resist Rational Thought's involvement in their affairs of the heart, spending much more time consulting him regarding their choice of minivan model than their choice of mate. Cynics will suggest that the experience of Rupert Giles, as the member of the Scooby gang with the most involvement with Rational Thought and the least with love, may show the incompatibility of the two. Less cynical will examine the partners of the other Scoobies, rating them against Jenny Calendar and Olivia, and chock Gile's greater solitude to the presence of taste.
But there could be little argument that as far as Rational Thought's involvement in romance, Xander Harris represented the minimum. It was not that Mr. Harris could not hear Rational Thought, Mr. Harris had to stubbornly IGNORE him. "Cordelia Chase? Aside form certain obvious physical charms, why would you consider dating a woman too annoying for Devon?" Anyone else would have found the logic compelling, but not Mr. Harris. "Okay. So you've decided to romance a girl you had ignored AFTER she's formed a relationship with someone who turns into a man-eating beast three nights a month. While staying with the most annoying, vindictive woman on Earth."
Mr. Harris once again pays no heed to Rational Thought's input. "The girl kicked you out too fast to get dressed after talking you into sex. At no time during the talking you into sex bit did she even make a pretense of acknowledging you were a person, much less show any actual interest in you AS a person. Now, after she's killed someone and lied to falsely implicate someone who saved her life, you are going to go talk to her relying on your CONNECTION from that experience to make her behave reasonably." Of course, Mr. Harris feels that ignoring Rational Thought is still the plan to go with. Next, Rational Thought questions his involvement with Anya. "You've decided to date a woman who was the essence of vicious revenge, was forced out of a position involving the murder of thousands per year, betrayed your best friend to try to regain that position, and has never displayed the level of regret you show for eating the last twinkie." It is Rational Thought's habit of destroying cherished illusions that gets him banned from amorous situations. Even people like Buffy Summers, much more comfortable with Rational Thought, would make every effort to avoid consulting him about their love lives.
Willow Rosenburg contemplated the situation. It's all very well to feel someone deserves 'worse than flaying.' But then you have to come up with the 'worse than flaying.' "Worse than flaying' requires some pondering.
Willow was, however, far better acquainted with Rational Thought than Xander Harris. Not as well acquainted as Giles, as Willow spent too much time entertaining Rationalizing Thought, and despite (or because) the two are so hard to distinguish, they will not spend time together with the same individual.
Rational Thought showed Willow her route to revenge. When had Willow hurt worst. When she lost Oz and Tara. When had Xander been most broken up? After the Anya debacle. So, to hurt Xander badly, she must involve him in a love that could only be tragic, and only end in immense pain for him. It is a credit to her nature that a small part of her screamed at the inhumanity of her plan, but she cold bloodedly locked the screams away to face what her vengeance required. She must set Xander Harris, formerly her best friend, up with Buffy Summers.