Borne Back Ceaselessly Into The Past

[life_downsized]

[Outside it was a crystalline, cold night...]Outside it was a crystalline, cold night. The sky rippled overhead, like black velvet, and every so often a cloud would make way for a tiny, bright star to momentarily twinkle before retreating once again back into the darkness. Save for the occasional car driving young women to the Soho clubs and to the restaurants and theatres in the West End, it

Comments

[ideserveyou]

Oh, poor Vince, I'm feeling sorrier for him than ever - he gets that little flash of hope when Howard responds as HIS Howard and not some stranger, and then is disappointed again when Howard still totally fails to recognize him.

What on earth went so terribly wrong in the first place, to drive them apart like this and have Vince frantically searching through time and space to try to 'sort it out'?

You are an evil genius, you know. I have a nasty feeling there is more and worse to come before anybody gets any answers...

[life_downsized]

There may or may not be worse things to come. (There are. But on the bright side, the big reveal's not too far off!)

I'm really pleased you're enjoying this! I was getting worried about the format being too repetitive, and I guess it still is a little bit, but you're still interested so I'm happy! Thank you so much!

[ideserveyou]

The format is working fine for me - and of course I'm still interested, you wrote this AND it's Howince, so how could I possibly not be interested?

[bluestocking79]

Oh Vince! My heart aches for him. Along with him, I keep hoping that each time, this time the connection will be made somehow, and it's just so painful to see his disappointment and dejection when Howard doesn't recognize him and his high hopes crash and burn. I thought the last chapter was heart-wrenching, but this is somehow worse for having been so tantalizingly close, because those moments of almost-recognition, where Howard falls into their familiar bantering rhythm without even knowing they HAVE a rhythm, make it hurt all the more when there are reminders that it's just an illusion, that the true spark of recognition isn't there yet.

Like ideserveyou, I am convinced that this will get worse before it gets better, but in your hands, angst is such sweet sorrow! I trust that it will make the resolution all the sweeter. (There is a resolution, right? Vince isn't going to end up with his heart completely crushed after being on this determined quest through time and space to find HIS Howard, right? I don't know if I can deal with the

[life_downsized]

Ok I might have turned my phone on, read your comment and then thrown my phone down on the floor and squealed for about two days...

It is going to get a little bit worse, I'm afraid. Sorry about that. But on the plus side, I don't think I have it in me to write a fic that doesn't have a fluffy, happy ending, so that's pretty much guaranteed :D

But eeeeeeeeeee I'm so, so glad you're enjoying this! Thank you so much for being so lovely and ahh you're just the best, ok?

(And yes! Though I did ask that question when my initial plan was to do an actual Advent Calendar of AU fics, but then time and my own sanity rather got in the way of that idea :P Funnily enough, it was your 1920s suggestion that prompted this chapter, even if I didn't quite get to fit the Jeeves and Wooster idea in, but someday!)

[concupiscence66]

You are such a good writer, it is ridiculous. I'm running out of ways to say it. Thank goodness Bluey knows how to say it for us! I can see each chapter so clearly and it feels like a Christmas movie. I can imagine Julian playing all these variations of Howard and Noel's eyes looking so sad as he keeps trying to make a connection. When Vince tells Howard not to worry, even though Howard has no idea he should be worried, was so sweet and in character and heart breaking. It was my favoritest moment is a story full of favorite moments.

That's all I can type with my arms flailing about.

[poshlil]

Vince. ♥ I can already tell I'm going to be as broken by this as the people on tumblr are, good grief. All these details creeping into Howard's life, and I don't even want to KNOW why Vince is running out of time, but I'm beautifully intrigued by this watch and how he's travelling to all these times and places, and where the real Howard is (and why, which I guess means I'll have to find out why Vince is running out of time, and oh god, it's going to hurt, I can just tell.)

*keeps reading*