#I miss some good happy hollence

[qualitytrashmaterial]

Dark Wood, Dark Water

And when I thought all my luck had run out, You brought it back when you came around, ‘cuz love is either in your heart or on its way To a safe place in you.

About: Danny and Laura get caught in a rainstorm and Danny invites Laura to wait it out at the Summer House. Unfortunately for Danny, it begins to thunder. Finally some happy Hollence. Pairing: Hollence Word Count: 1,534 AO3 Link

“Hey, thanks again for letting me crash here for the night, Danny,” Laura said as Danny stood by, drying her hair. The two of them had been walking from Danny’s office, discussing the book for the lit class when the storm hit. They both had been caught in the rain and since the Summer House was closer than Laura's dorm, they had taken shelter there to wait it out. But the rain only worsened and Danny offered for her to stay the night. It was better than going back out in the wind and the pouring rain and catching a cold.

It was a gesture that any decent human would have offered and Danny didn't think twice about it. She turned to face Laura, a large grin on her lips.

“It's no problem at all, Hollis. We're supposed to get some pretty nasty storms through the night. Besides, you seemed to have taken a liking to my clothes there.” She teased, catching the blush that crept across Laura's cheeks. Danny had to admit that she really did enjoy the site of the smaller girl cozied up in her pajama shorts and her sweatshirt, which was much too big for her.

Danny turned to her dresser, fishing out a pair of sleep pants and a shirt for herself.

“It's so comfy though! And I'm pretty sure your bed is comfier and bigger than mine. But then again you live in super nice Summer House…” Danny laughed and shook her head as she listened to Laura's babbling. It was something she had grown used to since hanging out with Laura. Without even thinking, Danny pushed her pants down over her hips and quickly pulled her shirt off to change. Despite Laura's incoherent rant, she had nearly forgotten she was even there for a brief moment. That was until she let out a high pitched squeak in surprise.

Danny glanced over her shoulder, seeing Laura bright red and gawking at her. Danny felt her own cheeks burn at the realization of the situation. She turned back to the dresser, quickly slipping on the first pair of sleep pants she laid eyes on. Danny couldn't help but feel a small smirk tug at the corner of her mouth. Even though the embarrassment, she was still a bit happy that her suspicion was true. Laura Hollis was definitely crushing on her.

“I um...I...sorry about that, Hollis. I just wasn't thinking” she muttered pulling a T-shirt over her head. She was trying to compose herself, to hide the smile that still couldn't leave her face.

“Don't...don’t worry about it. I mean...it's not like I minded…” she hears Laura mutter. A new wave of heat flushed over Danny's cheeks. Yeah, Laura was definitely crushing on her.

Finally, Danny turned back to the bed, catching Laura still staring at her and silence filling the space between them.

“So um...it's getting pretty late, we should ah...be getting to sleep then,” Danny suggested, rubbing the back of her neck and averting her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah I suppose we should.” Danny nodded and moved to grab a pillow from her bed. Laura looked up at her, brows creased in confusion. “You're not...your bed is big enough for both of us.”

A chuckle escaped Danny’s throat as she sat on the ground.

“I'm very aware, Hollis, but it's probably better if I just stay down here.” She said, laying back on the pillow. Truth be told, Danny would have been more than happy to share her bed with Laura. She had fallen head over heels for the small blonde since she first met eyes with her in their lit class. More than anything, she wanted to share a bed with Laura Hollis, but now was not the time.

Danny had opened her mouth to speak again, but before she could get a word out, a loud crack of thunder interrupted her. Her whole body tensed and she shot up, heart racing a million miles a minute. Danny Lawrence did not fear many things. However, thunderstorms did not fall on that list. She shut her eyes tight to avoid seeing the flash of the lightning through the small gap in her window.

“Hey, hey, Danny it's okay. It's only a storm.” She heard Laura's voice beside her, gentle and soothing. She felt a light pressure on her shoulder and Laura's hand rubbing her back.

She was right. Danny knew her fear of storms was completely irrational. She had consciously placed her life in danger more times than she could count, but storms terrified her. Laura pried Danny’s hand from her chest. She wasn't even aware that she had been clutching her shirt.

Slowly, Danny opened her eyes, staring wildly down at her hand in Laura's. Calm, she had to calm down. It was just a storm, she could handle this. Another crack of thunder and Danny grabbed tightly onto her hand.

“Hey, Danny, listen to me, okay? It can't hurt you.” She tried to listen, to focus on Laura's voice but she could only hear her heartbeat in her ears.

There was a gentle tug on her arm, finally pulling her attention to Laura. Danny’s eyes frantically searched her face and she managed to calm down enough to process the other’s words again.

“Let's get you into bed, okay? I'm not going to leave you on the floor alone when you're freaking out like this.” Laura's voice was low. She nodded.

Get up, Lawrence. You're being a baby.

Danny pushed herself up off the floor and allowed Laura to pull her over to her bed. She gently nudged her to get in and Danny complied, shifting to press her back against the wall. Thunder rolled again, causing Danny to jump. She clutched tightly onto her blanket and shut her eyes again.

There was warmth on her cheek, but she refused to open her eyes. Even if the girl she had been crushing on for the past month was right there.

“Hey, where's your laptop? We're going to distract you from this storm, okay?” Danny didn't want to answer. She wasn't ready for her voice to betray her and show just how terrified she really was. But the gentle rubbing of Laura's thumb on her cheek was helping to settle her nerves.

After a moment of gathering herself, she managed to let go of the blanket and reached her hand out to point across the room.

“I-in my bag.” The words came out, barely more than a whisper. The bed shifted and she heard the sounds of Laura's feet on her floor and her bag being opened. When she felt the bed dip with Laura's weight, she finally opened her eyes. She was sitting up, intently focused on the laptop.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth as she took in her strewn up face, brows furrowed and her tongue just barely sticking out of her mouth. Under any other circumstances, it was a sight that would have put butterflies in her stomach and she would be grinning non-stop. While she wasn't completely grinning, Danny was still unable to tear her eyes away from the other. That was until thunder rolled again.

This time it was fingers stroking her hair that pulled her out of this one. Danny couldn't lie, she felt her heart flutter at this notion. She pulled her head up to be met with a kind smile.

“You like Downton Abbey, right?” Danny nodded. “Good. We'll have ourselves a binge fest and get your mind off the storm.” She smiled timidly up at her and nodded again. Laura returned the smile and scooted down, setting the laptop on her thighs.

Danny curled closer to Laura, her attention shifting to the show. Thunder roared again, causing Danny to grab onto Laura's -actually her- sweatshirt. There it was again, Laura's hand on her back, easing her anxiety.

As the night went on, Danny eventually forgot about the storm. The thunder growing softer and quieter each time. When she had completely relaxed, she dared to steal a glance at Laura. A chuckle escaped her lips, finding the girl fast asleep. She wasn't surprised. It had grown oddly quiet in the past few minutes.

Danny shifted, rolling onto her back and carefully taking her laptop from Laura. There was a soft, incoherent mumble coming from the smaller girl. She smiled and watched Laura’s brows crease in her sleep. She rolled over and nestled into Danny's side.

Danny blushed, practically freezing up as she watched her. The butterflies had returned and made a home in her stomach. Hesitantly she placed her arm around the sleeping girl, which earned her a soft sigh and a faint smile. Danny grinned, giving her a light squeeze. Then, Danny did something she knew she would have never been able to work up the courage to do if Laura had been awake. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She would have to thank Laura in the morning for helping her through the storm, but for now, she was going to enjoy her time with Laura in her arms.

Eventually, Danny drifted off into her own peaceful sleep.

[mooncaps]

Okay, so I've just finished reading this new Carmilla adaptation novel. I'm not sure if this will develop into a full-on review, but I have a few thoughts.

For the unfamiliar, the novel adapts Season 1 of the 2014 webseries, which itself was a loose adaptation in a modern setting of the 1872 novella written by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. To give a broad and succinct summary: It's about lesbians, mysteries, and vampires.

For the most part, this is a pretty straightforward adaptation of Season 1. It's told from Laura's perspective in a first-person, present tense narration. There's no: "I leaned in. We waltzed around the room. She was so close I could feel her breath." It's all: "I lean in. We waltz around the room. She's so close I can feel her breath." The present tense seemed like a curious choice at first, but it sort of works for keeping the reader with Laura from moment to moment.

The book begins as Laura arrives at Silas, giving a couple of short scenes that weren't in the webseries. This is probably the thing I wanted most from this adaptation: to really add detail to the story. In what ways can the story expand without the conceit that Laura's webcam has to be filming for the audience to see it? What potential is there for storytelling beyond the format of two-to-six minute episodes that are confined to one small set? On this front...I may have set my expectations too high.

With few exceptions, the book goes vlog update to vlog update. Episode to episode, following the webseries. There are a handful of small moments added here and there. Scenes that were only explained to the webcam after the fact now play out in Laura's first-person, present tense narration instead, which is a welcome change. Additional content is generally light, but what's there is appreciated by this reader. There are some extra moments for fans of both Hollence and Hollstein, as well as a few other bits and bobs.

This book still could have benefited from more though. LaF and Perry are still introduced after the blood in the milk container, but introduced as people Laura already knows, and present tense Laura has to explain that she met the two of them in between the moments that are presented to the reader. Danny is mentioned early by Betty, but then shows up later, again introduced as someone Laura already knows and the reader is caught up after the fact. There are so many things that could happen in between the vlog updates, and I feel this novelization by and large misses out on the potential to flesh out the story, opting in almost every instance to follow the webseries beat for beat.

Following the webseries is understandable, though I must say this book seems to rely on the webseries in some ways. There's less descriptive language for people and settings than I'm used to in a lot of the fiction I've read. A modest amount is said about how Laura is feeling from moment to moment, but somewhat less is said about what anyone or anything looks like. This could be a deliberate choice, since Laura is the narrator and the focus is on the things she notices, but it ultimately leaves this reader wishing for more. I know that there's something to be said for leaving things up to the reader's imagination. The descriptions don't necessarily need to go all the way to Lord of the Rings levels. What's here though could almost pass for a middle grade novel, were it not for the occasional "shit," "bitch," and "fuck off" sprinkled throughout.

I wouldn't say it's required, but knowing the webseries is definitely helpful in some ways. I don't know what kind of mental image a reader would conjure about the look of Laura's dorm room or of Laura herself based on the minimal information in this text. I think I did less imagining the scene based on the text and more just picturing the webseries...which I could just watch. In other ways, being so familiar with the webseries felt like a hindrance. I found myself thinking things like "why would they change that line?" or "wasn't there a bit more to that exchange?" It feels like this novelization can't make up its mind about whether it wants to stick strictly to only the established events from the webseries or adjust things and add in extra content. While I appreciate the few new things, they're kind of inconsequential; much of the new content doesn't really deepen the characterization or storytelling. The book does enough to avoid being entirely redundant, but I just can't help wishing it had done more to differentiate itself.

I recognize that many of my hangups are based on my own hopes and expectations. As the saying goes: Your mileage may vary. I'm gonna feel really embarassed if I'm entirely alone in all of these opinions though. For my mileage, I think I would've preferred a third-person omniscient narration that could really delve into the goings on around the Silas campus, with focus on what each of the principal characters were doing and thinking, both during the scenes from the webseries and between them. Another thing I would've liked to see is some acknowledgment of the transmedia content. None of it comes up. At all. Again, I feel like I set my expectations too high. I was kind of hoping that this could be a version of the story that unifies all of that content and threads it throughout the flow of the narrative in a more cohesive, natural way.

I don't want to be all negative and nitpicky here. This is a simple and straightforward adaptation of a story that I really love. Laura's character voice is generally quite strong in the dialgogue and narration. The novel is able to explore some things in thoughtshots and prose that wouldn't really come up in dialogue. The significance of some of the body language is given more prominence. There are areas where this book demonstrates some things that can be done in the text-based format that wouldn't have translated as well (if at all) to the screen. I just wanted it do even more of that.

I really love what this novelization has done for LaFontaine. Season 1 of the webseries leaves the audience to infer some things about LaF's identity, without doing much in the way of explaining or establishing. I know the webseries was trying to build a world where people just are lesbians, or bi, or genderqueer and no one makes a big deal out of it. Season 1 felt a bit too vague about LaFontaine though. I clocked one "them" for LaF in all of Season 1 and it might have even been a plural, referring to both LaF and Perry. The novel is much clearer about what it means that LaFontaine doesn't want to be called Susan. They, them, and their pronouns are used from the moment the character is introduced to the reader. The word genderqueer is used. LaFontaine directly states that they do not identify as male or female. Laura corrects Perry's use of improper pronouns. A lot of this didn't come up until Seasons 2 and 3 in the webseries version. I like that the novel gave clear and visible representation from the start.

That said, I really wish the editor had taken another pass at this, because I did notice three instances of she/her pronouns in the narration. As someone who also uses they/them pronouns, it pulled me all the way out of the story all three times. I'm very tempted to take a pen and mark up the typeset with my awful handwriting just to fix it. And there was one other quirk in the prose that repeated so often it became distracting. When a sentence refers to both Perry and LaFontaine, "her friend" is the go-to phrase. Over and over. A simple "them" or "their" would have been easy enough to follow in most instances. A "LaFontaine" or "LaF" could have been used if a sentence would have otherwise become unclear. "Her friend" made some of the sentences feel particularly clunky and the phrase was repeated enough times that it really started to stand out to me.

Again, I don't want to be all about negativity. This was an enjoyable reading experience. Truly, I hate to be anything but supportive of this, but I do feel that there was a fair amount of room for improvement here. It's good; I just wish it could have been even better.

This novel is a solid adaptation of a rare gem of a story. I feel certain that I'll want to reread this at some point, after some time passes and I can take it as it is, rather than focusing on whether or not it's what I expected or hoped it would be. I look forward to being able to do that as I'm sure I'll enjoy it even more. At the end of the day, I'm excited that this book exists and I'm very happy to have read it.