for Stormymouse: "Islander" (Wilby Wonderful) by sageness

[midsummer_fic]

Title: Islander
Author: sageness
Recipient: stormymouse
Fandom: Wilby Wonderful
Rated: R
Summary: Buddy's still looking at his hands, or maybe the old worn-out rug at their feet, but then he turns his head toward Duck and says, "What was it like to get out?"

Comments

[nigeltde]

Jesus, this is great! It's got a real quiet, calm, sorta desperate, sorta inevitable tone and feel that fits perfectly with Duck's character. I love this backstory for him and I love the half-resigned, half-angry encounter with Buddy and I love the not-exactly-happy ending and just, everything!

He can run a boat. He can fix an engine. He can run a fish grinder, drive a truck, load and unload semis and shipping containers. At the end of the day he goes and has a drink. Sometimes he has a lot of drinks. At the end of the night he staggers home, and at the end of every second week, or fourth if money's tight, he goes up the road from the docks and catches a ride into the heart of the nearest city to find the places where the faggots cruise. At first he's eighteen and then twenty-four and then thirty's only a memory and he's still doing the same thing, more or less, week after week, with his time. The jobs change. The ports change. But the routine remains.I quote the entire paragraph unashamedly because it's such a perfect snapshot of

[sageness]

Thank you so much, what lovely feedback! I did want the end to be happier, but he just isn't there yet. Luckily, Duck's got about eight years between here and the film to get all wonderfully zen-like. :)

[aukestrel]

It's heartbreaking and the voice is wonderful. I'm glad there's a Dan around the corner for Duck. :-/

[sageness]

Thanks, babe, I'm so glad you think so. I'm glad Duck's got happiness in his future as well--he's more than due for it!

[stormymouse]

wow. just wow. this isn't exactly the backstory that i have in mind for duck but it's frightingly plausible. it's dark and it's haunting and it hurts a bit to read it. but i like it a lot. thank you very much.

[sageness]

Thanks, I'm so glad you liked it. It is kind of bleak, but hopefully it gives some context for Duck having earned his amazing sense of perspective...and for me that kind of makes his happy ending with Dan even sweeter. :)

[exeterlinden]

Wow. I don't want to think that that's the kind of life Duck has had before Wilby - but this story is very convincing in it's detail and history - I think maybe quite real in what kind of life a man like Duck could have lead.
The story is so rich with atmosphere and emotion - and this quiet bitterness, or resignation - it's brillianty done.

[sageness]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I think I've becomes terribly invested in Duck as a character after doing so much research for this. 1978 to 1996 is a long time, and I'm really glad you can see it as a potential history for him.

[mergatrude]

I found this to be really compelling. Duck/Buddy is a difficult pairing, one that I'm not personally convinced of, but you've made it plausible. I loved the details of Duck's life, the squalidness, the grinding ordinariness, the fact that life on the island isn't that much different. I too, am glad that Dan is there in Duck's future.

[sageness]

Thanks so much for the kind words, hon. Duck/Buddy is the angstiest thing ever, but I find it weirdly compelling...like a mistake one can't avoid making. They just have to muddle their way through. *g*

Hopefully this week I'll get to spend some time on the Buddy fic!