FIC: The Devil in the Detail

[lovelylytton]

Title: The Devil in the Detail
Summary: So many choices, so many lives.
A/N: An Ando Airmail Remix for my dear friend charliechaplin2, who makes writing look effortless, and whose good-hearted, friendly and kind nature makes me want to hug her all day long. Slightly AU in the sense that in Airmail, Ando remembers his past when he’s in Tokyo and meets Umino. Here

Comments

[charliechaplin2]

1. even though I knew it's only a possibility (and not the one chosen since it's Airmail) threw me for such a loop! I was just like 'waah! OMG he just jumped!' It's like that unexpected beginning in a film where the character dresses up at the start and kills themselves, and then the introductory credits come on and you just sit there, staring at the screen, taking it all in. That was me, because let's face it, even though it was hypothetical, you killed off Ando. I don't recover easily from that sort of shock. What made it even worse was I laughed when I read has what can only be described as a minor nervous breakdown so I felt bad because I laughed at a guy who offed himself (in all fairness to me, I thought he was going to have his breakdown and then get over it, not jump off a balcony).

2. When I read this: Ando decides to go on as usual until he finds a guidebook to reincarnation I knew where this one was going and I thought, oh well, at least he would have lived a long and slightly happy life, like Zoi did in that other fic you

[lovelylytton]

Oh Charlie, bless, I'm so happy that you enjoyed this! I wanted to write an Ando-centric Groundhog Day fic for ages, but the plot wouldn't really come together until I sat down and went "okay, time to pony up, Ando centric fic for Charlie", and well, here we are.

And you are meant to laugh at him. Ando is many things, and hilarious and a bit ridiculous is one of them. But I do think that there was always a chance with him that he couldn't cope with the situation at all and he is not the kind of person who shies away from drastic solutions.

there WAS A DISASTER THAT ENDY TOTALLY WOULD TRY AND SAVE!!!
Except he didn't. This is Airmail's nod to The Butterfly Effect. Without Ando in their lives, various things don't happen when they do in the Airmail timeline, and one of those things is Crystal Tokyo. That being said: I must see the hypothetical Ando doll. Are you good at making crude weird dolls? Do they look like voodoo dolls? *sits down* *looks keen*

So starting where he runs away from Zoisite only to bump into Minako and basically

[charliechaplin2]

As a final point (and the most important)

THANK YOU FOR MYY AWESOME BIRTHDAY FIC!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!!

[lovelylytton]

THANK YOU FOR BEING SO NICE AND LOVELY AND WONDERFUL AND ALL AROUND TOP NOTCH HUMAN BEING!

[satine86]

I started reading this and I'm like;
WHY DOES SHE KEEP KILLING HIM? I THOUGHT THIS WAS A FLUFFY 'I LOVE CHARLIE FIC'? ;_;

But yes, it must be said: I love Ando. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! YOU DRUNKEN MOPEY IDIOT!!! *cuddles Ando*

[lovelylytton]

See, I tend to write with my audience in mind when it comes to birthday fics and Charlie likes it when I make her weep. ;)

But I love Ando too, which is why his death was only one (okay, two) possible scenario. It all turned out well in the end though, he's quite the happy little monkey.

Thank you so much for commenting, dear! :)

[jenbunny]

I really enjoyed this, all the possibilities ^^, but of course I haven't ever not liked anything you wrote so I figured I would ^^. Great work!

[lovelylytton]

Aww, Jen, thank you! It was a fun quote to play with, so I'm happy Charlie's birthday gave me an opportunity to do so.

[warriorofice]

Wonderful! More Airmail, and the premise is one that fits really well with the SM universe with its multiple rebirths and time-traveling. I've always loved that idea of many different lives splintering off at crucial points in time, and I like that everything goes kind of crazy in the last section

[lovelylytton]

Ice, thank you so much for your kind, kind comment!

It's the most tragic one because he searches for them so hard ;; and it's kind of a parallel to his traveling in Airmail.
Fate is so dependent on timing. He missed his one shot, and now he has to search for them all over the place, but he will never find them. In Airmail, Ando went on his journey to search for himself, now he is searching for those he loves and it ends with a bomb. Poor thing.

Is the part about the volcano in Tokyo a nod to On Razor's Edge?
Exactly! And without Ando there, some things never happened and Usagi and Mamoru didn't save the city. Instead, the goverment evacuated it and the whole place turned into a ghost town swallowed by lava and CT will come into being in another way a little while later.

I just imagined -- "Jadeite's in the hospital!!"
"OMG IS HE TAKING HOSTAGES?"
"IS HE BURNING THE PLACE DOWN?"
"WHAT DOES HE WANT?!"
"Um... to have his leg set, a cold beer, and Rei's forgiveness?"Hahahahahaha, I love this! This cracks me up to no end because YES,