"FIve Things" Wimseyfic

[azdak]

I Have A Sin of Fear

(Four times Lord Peter Wimsey denied he was afraid, and one time he didn't)

Comments

[hazelwho]

This is lovely! You really captured his dry humor, and the deep feeling it covers.

[azdak]

Thank you! People are always going on about Peter's "masks" on the yahoo list, and I thought it would be interesting to look more closely at how that works.

[gryphonrhi]

Oh, ouch. Gorgeously done, don't get me wrong. But ouch. Poor Peter.

Thank you.

[azdak]

ouch

Don't blame me, blame Sayers! It's all either canon or explicitly referenced in canon (even the horse that gave him nightmares - Mortimer seems to have been an unsatisfactory father all round).

[gryphonrhi]

Oh, no, I do know it's canon, and you did a great job with it. Nonetheless, poor Peter.

[dimity_blue]

Poor Peter. I can't imagine how horrific it was during WW1, but those two snippets were extremely evocative.

I'm glad he has Harriet in the end. At least then it's okay for him to allow himself to be vulnerable.

Thank you so much for sharing. This really is Peter, every line of it.

[azdak]

Thank you! (The third snippet isn't WW1, it's from Clouds of Witness, when he gets stuck in the bog and Bunter hangs on to him half the night to stop him sinking. I think DLS had the war in mind when she wrote the scene, though, because just before he gets trapped they hear a horse scream and it reminds him and Bunter of hearing horses in a burning stable during the war. Peter's line to Bunter about this being a beastly way to peg out is lifted straight from the book).

he has Harriet in the end. At least then it's okay for him to allow himself to be vulnerable

I do admire the way DLS uses Harriet to retcon Peter as having been sensitive and traumatised all along, just very good at hiding it, so that the climax of Busman's Holiday comes when he finally opens up to her and admits his vulnerabilities.

[crimedoc1]

Oh beautiful. Very Peter.