Fic: Another City, by Corinna [Angel]

[corinna_5]

Another City
by corinna_5
PG for violence and flirtation
5,700 words

Summary: "I prefer to work alone."

Thanks to liviapenn for multiple inspirational suggestions and setting up the Atlantis Amalgamated challenge in the first place, rivkat for astonishingly fast and helpful beta-reading, and gchick for aid, assistance, and fight choreography.

Comments

[burntcopper]

Oooo, very well done, translation of characters especially. Also, fabulous that you had Gunn and Wes bonding so quickly, like they did in the show. ...any chance of a sequel, including a bit where Corta just does a magnanimous handwave of 'they have pair-bonded. it is quite clear.' and Mal starts banging his head going 'don't ask don't tell, don't ask don't tell', not to mention of course there will be Hong Kong action movie geeking.

[corinna_5]

Hee! Actually, I was surprised at the amount of Corta/Wes flirtation that happened in the edges of this story, since Cordy/Wes was never a pairing I was invested in on BTVS or Angel. It would be interesting to see someone explain "don't ask don't tell" to an Athosian, though, especially since the policy makes almost no sense to Americans.

There would be one HK action movie in the library, and they would have watched it FIFTY times. :)

[fairestcat]

Oh, this is fabulous. I love how perfectly you've translated the characters. Athosian Cordelia in particular is uttelry perfect.

[corinna_5]

That was Livia's inspiration, and the perfection of it was part of what inspired me to write the story. Glad you enjoyed it!

[ladyvyola]

The fabulousity of their voices, particularly Mal's awkwardness at the very end as the others prove that they really understand him, makes me very, very happy.

Cookies for you!

[corinna_5]

Mmmm, cookies!

I'm so glad it the story made you happy, and that you loved the ending as much as I did. *g*

[dzurlady]

This was really cool. I especially loved Corta, with her fashions and then when she was scornful of the lace, and later was wearing it herself. :) The whole thing was very funny.

"You know, I generally eat alone," Mal said.

"The stew is quite good," Wesley said. "It's a nice change after those MREs."

"I know," said Gunn. "I might go for seconds."
Hee!

[corinna_5]

I have that same lace cardigan myself, and I don't know what *I* was thinking! It's very pretty, though. *g* Glad the story made you laugh!!

[dzurlady]

It made me laugh a lot. :)

[teenygozer]

That really worked beautifully... a great team! I loved the fact that "Mal" worked out the clever way it did, though of course it also means "bad" in French. Corta was my fav bit of extrapolation that you did, she really worked as an Athosian character but also as Cordy for me.

Perhaps someday Fred, a newly-arrived science genius from Earth, and a relative of Mal's, his fiesty younger cousin William "Spike" Halloran, will one day show up in a future story!

[corinna_5]

No offense, but part of the pleasure of this story for me was that there was no danger that Spike would show up! Glad you enjoyed it regardless.

The Latin etymology of "mal" for "bad" works, I think, better for this character than for Mal Reynolds -- he's a good man who knows himself to be a good man, working outside the law, whereas Mal/Angel knows he has done great wrong. In my head, he embraces the name for the same reason Angel embraced his name: it's a marker of the evil that he's done.

[corinna_5]

Yes, but canonically, in the series, River TELLS us
about the Latin meaning of "Mal." (From "The Train Job": "Mal. Bad. In the Latin.") We do not get an lecture on Gaelic or European history.

So, etymology or not, that link is meaningful for how we're being asked to think of the character in the very first episode aired.