Comments | h_dash_h: In which Eustace is unnervingly insightful

h_dash_h

In which Eustace is unnervingly insightful

Sep 02, 2011 02:10

This got a lot more serious than the commentfic which triggered it. But as much as I wanted to write about Eustace having amusing drug-addled conversations with a lizard skull filling in for his dragon self, a peyote experience just seemed to require exploring possible insights in a different way. It's not all "fear and loathing", you know.

( Eustace got more out of the peyote ceremony than he initially let on )

fic, peter pevensie, tsg au, eustace scrubb, narnia

Comments 24

rthstewart September 2 2011, 11:32:00 UTC

If first you start down the dark path ( ... )

h_dash_h September 2 2011, 16:23:28 UTC

Thanks! Going back over this Peter doesn't come off as passive in the way that I feared. There was a longer version in which I started wondering why Peter is traveling with Mary and Eustace (other than perhaps for Mary's company). And that got a bit too much into Eustace suddenly having a pile of answers and Peter just sort of sitting there going "whut?" I'm glad this comes across as Peter just being a good listener, as that was the original intention. I still might come back to what it is that he's doing tagging along for so long. And I like the idea of Peter and Eustace, who we almost never saw together in the books, having something of an adventure together and bonding a bit ( ... )

rthstewart September 2 2011, 17:13:12 UTC

I think the hardest things about starting writing are the shame (I've never gotten over that), the idea that you are doing it for fun, so it is like any other hobby, and to get over that self-censor -- writing for 3-4 hours to get something useable, as you say. That being said, the whole concept you have going here works really well. They are in New Mexico for a reason (I have in my head, reasons why Peter is going along and actually don't think Asim would be there given American attitudes to people of colour at that point). Eustace's interest in reptilia makes sense for a whole bunch of reasons and so his musings, with reptiles as the sort of medium for the message are also perfect. As Elouise said, the idea of Jill and Eustace seeing the end and then being sent is unique and there is a wonderful, terrible symmetry to it ( ... )

h_dash_h September 2 2011, 18:15:26 UTC

It's exactly that character journey that put me in a tough spot with Mary. So if you'll pardon me while I write as if I know your character better than you do ( ... )

Thread 7

Sorry about that pingback_bot September 2 2011, 11:41:37 UTC

User rthstewart referenced to your post from Sorry about that saying: [...] and Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well [...]

autumnia September 2 2011, 13:08:59 UTC

Fascinating, especially the fact that Jill and Eustace saw the end of Narnia (or perhaps not). In this version, does this mean they went back a third (for Jill) or fourth (for Eustace) time, or that they saw glimpses of what was to come as they crossed from Aslan's Country with Caspian and back into our world?

h_dash_h September 2 2011, 16:41:11 UTC

What I had in mind (and it wasn't quite as fully developed as this, you made me think about it more :-) is that they did go back for The Last Battle, which happened mostly as it was written, especially on the Narnia side including their arrival and adventures. But there was no train wreck, they were just pulled in rather like the Pevensies in Prince Caspian. And the other Friends of Narnia were not present at all ( ... )

Eustace, Peyote, and the Gila Monster skull pingback_bot September 2 2011, 14:59:41 UTC

User rthstewart referenced to your post from Eustace, Peyote, and the Gila Monster skull saying: [...] in fact, Eustace and Jill were called back to Narnia to witness her end, and then were returned. [...]

anastigmatfic September 2 2011, 17:05:44 UTC

YOUR BRAIN, I ADORE IT.

The idea of Pole & Scrubb experiencing the events in TLB and then coming back home afterwards, alive, unscathed, and not flattened by the Allegory Express makes me so very very happy.

"An ending for Narnia, but a beginning for us." Perfect. Love it.

rthstewart September 2 2011, 17:13:36 UTC

This

h_dash_h September 2 2011, 18:26:04 UTC

Thank you! The paragraph with the ending/beginning line was a difficult one, and once that line appeared, I was finally able to post this because it finally had a point. Besides Eustace's comment about flying, the meaning of which is still unclear to me (but it had to be there).

snitchnipped September 2 2011, 22:50:05 UTC

And you can take it a bit further, too. There's the symmetry of Digory/Polly seeing the beginning of Narnia vs. Eustace/Jill seeing the end of it.

But there's also the symmetry of two young children witnessing the end of Charn with two young children witnessing the end of Narnia.

It's a cycle... it takes two to close a door for another to open... or... something.

Thread 5