The Full Value of Joy

[maraudermods]

Title: Full Value of Joy
Author: Di/dogsunderfoot
Artists: chalada and epithalamium
Pairing(s): James/Lily, eventual Sirius/Remus (also inc. Remus/OC and mentions of Sirius/OCs)
Rating and Warnings: PG-13 for language, off-screen deaths, sexual innuendo, and adult situations
Summary: After personal tragedy strikes, Remus disappears from the lives of his friends for five years

Comments

[brighty18]

Okay, you are brilliant, BRILLIANT at non-magic AU! Your use of canon-characters in the real world is positively inspired. From the Weasleys (and evil!Percy) to Emmaline and Lucius Malfoy, it all worked. Even the nickname explanations were genius!

But, most of all, the Marauders were still the Maraudersim James-as-lawyer is perfect and I loved his family (Twelve-year-old Harry came into the room to watch the two men. "Mum?"
Lily shook her head. "Don’t ask, sweetheart. Just-walk away while you can."), but Peter really struck me. Thank you, thank you, for making him a good, intelligent person worthy of being friends with these guys. Lily was awesome, too - particularly at the end. She was so perfectly in character.

I also loved the way you captured how Sirius understood Remus’ pain, but the others did not. I firmly believe that James, for all his love and loyalty could never fully grasp the intricate hells that both of our boys endured over the years. And the sadness that both these guys endured (both in canon and in your

[dogsunderfoot]

This fic has become one of my favourites, for whatever reason. (Don't tell the others!) It practically wrote itself--even moreso than 'Les Yeux' last year, in the rs_games, and that one was done in a month, all told. This one has been finished since... I don't know... April? May? I'm so glad to finally see it posted. *hugs Brighty for kicking fest into gear and getting it going again

[acanismajoris]

oh my. This was amazing. I was hooked from the beginning (brought up some very emotional moments, actually) and Remus' letter for the funeral actually had me in tears. I can't believe Sirius held it together for that scene, because... I wouldn't, to put it plainly.

The characters rang so true, not just coming over from canon, but in the sense of I've known people who run off like that, out of nowhere, and tracking them down is... well, a nightmare, for everyone involved. Wonderful, and I was really happy it ended well after all (although you scared me with the plane crash. A mention of a storm and then... Well, he got better, that's what matters) I think my favorite bits, though were the correspondences. Either the emails (hahah, Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Business Propostion
From: Sirius Black
To: R. J. Lupin

I think you scare me.) or the phone conversations. Very entertaining

[dogsunderfoot]

It's so very self-aggrandizing, I suppose, but I couldn't help but snicker as I was writing those phone calls and emails. I found myself wondering if I couldn't have done the entire fic in nothing but emails, phone calls, and texts. It was just so much fun to do those.

I can get through an emotional moment if I have to, like for a reading at a funeral, but oh, if I'd been sitting in the audience, I know I would have been bawling my eyes out.

I'm so glad you thought the characters rang true. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I always try to make the characters 'right', because you can cover a multitude of sins as long as the characters are doing what they should be. ;)

And, oh, yes, the artwork IS wonderful, isn't it? I couldn't have asked for two better artists. *hugs them both*

And hugs to you, for reading this and saying such nice things! Thank you!

[epithalamium]

Thank you! I have an on-and-off again relationship with watercolours, so I partly know what you mean. :P Thank Merlin for Photoshop.

[starlite_gone]

I loved this. It was brilliantly done with Remus being very closed off and secretive and prone to running away rather than facing head on what issues he had. (I can relate so I really appreciated seeing things written in a way that allowed for years to pass rather than days before everything is resolved). I also thought everything seemed very canon for it being a non-magic AU, and it was also really cool how you didn't write immediately what exactly Remus had said to push Sirius away. I'd assumed he'd said he was uninterested but the actual wording was well done as being interpretable in different ways

[dogsunderfoot]

For a long time I avoided R/S stories, because I thought they were depressing. Then I found the AU stories in which the pups lived and made a life together... I've done AUs before, but this was the first non-magical AU I've written. I was a little worried about it at first, but it just seemed to flow. Actually, my concern at that point was that it was coming along too well; I was afraid it was going to suck

[starlite_gone]

You know sometimes the best stories are the ones that aren't planned out to every detail... it's when you let things just flow that the characters are given the chance to do what they would. And I thought James' reaction was great and very realistic; just sad for all of them. But it was good that someone felt so much anger and resentment, and good that he thought Remus just let Sirius fuck himself over and then fled. There was no reason anyone should have understood what was really happening.

for dogsunderfoot

[epithalamium]

I think I've already bugged you with the thousand reasons why I loved your fic (along with tmi about my empathy with Sirius), so I'm just going to say that I really loved what you did here. The narrative was sweet, in itself, and Sirius's unconditional love for Remus is at once fuzzy and heartbreaking, but you know what really struck me the most about you fic is the restraint in it. Sirius and Remus touch each other almost casually (well, maybe not so casually), but never in a way that we can say that they're getting off or something. They kiss, yes, but so much is left to tension, especially the scene where Sirius cuts Remus's hair, it almost reminds me of the works of Yasunari Kawabata. And no, I'm not just saying that.

For epithalamium

[dogsunderfoot]

And I've probably bored you to tears with my thank yous and compliments of all of your beautiful drawings--not just for this story, but everything you've done. :)
I hadn't meant for it to be so restrained. No, I take that back. I meant for it to be restrained until the end. I had intended for it to take an NC-17 turn. When I got to the end, I looked back and thought, "Wait a minute. Where's the crazy kissing in the doorway scene I planned? Where's the sex scene I thought about doing?" and there just wasn't a place for it. I'm glad, though. I really am.
(Now, is it going to offend you if I admit I had to look up Yasunari Kawabata? I'm intrigued enough that I think I'll have to order one of his books. Suggestion as to which one to start with?)

Re: For epithalamium

[epithalamium]

You can always write a sex scene and post it later as an additonal. (Yes, YES?) Kissing in the doorway!!

And lol, I only found out about Kawabata when I was in my last year in uni and taking an erotic writing class. My favourite so far is The House of the Sleeping Beauties. :)