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littleredchucks · 7 years ago

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@agarlandoffreshlycuttears another for you, because I felt badly for doing the others and not this one, and you were so kind in your review of this fic. So here I go with a Boosh and Prejudice commentary:

“You would have me as your guest? For as long as I chose?” Vince felt his chest constrict painfully at the possibility of Howard’s proposal. The emotions pouring forth from his heart were threatening to flood him completely and he needed something to cling to before he was swept away entirely. He moved until he and Howard were facing one another, his hands resting on Howard’s arms, taking comfort in the other man’s solid presence.

(The word ‘proposal’ was really important to me here. I’m a sucker for romance and proposals and engagements and when I wrote this marriage equality seemed so very far off and so I wanted to give Vince the closest I could to a proper Regency romance proposal.

And I think I spent rather a long time trying to ensure that the metaphor of this paragraph was constant but not overworked. I’m not sure I succeeded. Vince mentions in other chapters how he isn’t used to crying so much, or having his emotions upset him so entirely and so I liked the image of his emotions now being like a flood, all those tears bursting forth, and how Howard is so solid and the only thing he can cling to in such a moment.

“I would have you live with me, in my home, for as long as you chose,” Howard spoke, his voice rough as he fought against his own torrent of emotion.

Vince gave a short laugh, one of disbelief and joy, confusion and just a touch of panic. He leaned his head toward Howard, wanting to show his delight and agreement with a kiss, and took a step forward to enter his embrace.

(This is Vince throwing all fear to the winds. He is going to show his love out in the open. The outdoors was also really important to me in this fic. Leaving the drawing room behind, so to speak. When they’re outside they seem better able to show their love, but it is usually among trees or in the garden, in the early morning or at night, away from the trappings of the houses and society but still hidden. Here they are right out in the open, and being open is what Vince has wanted from the start, and so this gesture by Howard is so important to him.

“Aargh!”

“Vince!?”

Howard caught the younger man as he fell, the pain of taking his weight so suddenly on his twisted ankle having sent him into a faint.

“Vince? Vince, was that a yes?” Howard whispered, unsure of why he felt the need to speak in hushed tones.

He gave the man a light shake but Vince’s head merely moved about like that of a small girl’s rag doll and he remained unconscious.

“Oh dear,” was all Howard could think to say.

(Comedy was needed. It was all too sincere and happy. Howard doesn’t get any happy without a fight and I’m not done with either of them yet. Also, it’s a call back as previously Vince has asserted that he isn’t a young lady prone to faints and sprained ankles, yet there he goes. I like making Howard do those little expressions of ‘oh dear’. Short and to the point, biggest understatement of the Regency period. And at this point there is actually a chapter break I think, because I thought it the best way to end that scene. Tiny bit of comedy, tiny bit of drama.

The arrival of Vince, unconscious and in the arms of Mr Darcy, at the Bennet home, caused a significant stir. Mrs Bennet shrieked and burst into tears, telling anyone who would listen that she had been against Vince going shooting from the very beginning and had known that some evil or other would befall him. Mary and Jane meanwhile escorted Mr Darcy to the sitting room where Vince was placed carefully and lovingly on the sofa. Mr Darcy insisted on removing Vince’s boots and elevating the injured ankle - which was dreadfully swollen - on a cushion.

(Mrs Bennet is so very much my step-mother. Oh so much. In the original P&P too. And she infuriates me. Because we all know she was the one who basically bullied Vince in to go out to the shooting that day, which led to him twisting his ankle, but she lives entirely in her own world and is always the one wronged, never the other way around. But she’s also a fabulous character and I basically lifted her straight from the original and barely tweaked her. Jane and Mary are very much the real ladies of the house, and do what needs to be done. Gosh but I love them. And I felt it necessary to show that Vince isn’t really over reacting, he really did hurt his ankle. Oh, and that Howard’s actions are so obviously loving and caring, the way he carries Vince, lays him down, removes the boot, and rests it on a cushion. Even when Howard is awkward with words, awkward under the scrutiny of others, his genuine actions are full of love and adoration.

“Thank you, Mr Darcy,” Mary said reassuringly as he hovered about his unconscious charge.

“Yes, thank you,” echoed Jane. “He shall be quite alright, we assure you.”

“It is true,” Mary smiled. “He cut himself with the scissors a few years ago and fainted from the pain and the sight of his own blood and remained completely insensible for two hours.”

(Can I go off script for a bit to talk about Mary and Jane? So many interpretations portray Jane a vapid or lacking in substance and that really bothers me, it’s the same way people treat Hero in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ but they are characters with so much potential, and so is Mary, yet she is so often portrayed as sour and dowdy. The 2005 P&P is kinder on Mary, showing her as young and awkward but kind, but in my mind Mary Bennet has been on so many adventures and lived Such a life! I love her very dearly. And something I wanted to do with this story was to play around with the expectations made of the characters. Elizabeth Bennet is quite proud of how un-accomplished she is; she can’t play piano well or paint or do the things ladies are supposed to in order to win a husband. So I gave those things to Vince, because really they fit with his character. And to Jane I gave Elizabeth’s sensible side and to both her and Mary I gave Elizabeth’s wit and intelligence because it shouldn’t be just the heroine/hero who has such traits. And I didn’t want to erase Elizabeth from the story, so I gave her essence to her sisters. Really, once I let Mary and Jane lose in my mind it was so easy just to let them chat and tease and act like regular sisters.

Howard nodded uncomfortably, looking once more at Vince. He had a sudden fear that he would wake up with no memory of their conversation, or worse, would come to his senses and assert a desire to never lay eyes upon Howard again. Howard felt panic begin to well up within him. He needed some way of assuring Vince of his devotion whilst not being actually present when he awoke and, he realised, he would need to act swiftly, as the two eldest Miss Bennets were beginning to wonder at his lack of response. At which point his gaze happened to fall upon the writing desk in the corner and the paper thereon.

“Might I,” he stuttered. “Might I borrow paper and a pen?”

“Yes, certainly,” Jane said, her brow creasing in confusion. “But you are welcome to stay.”

“No, no, I... must retrieve our rifles, and assure the rest of our party that Vince is taken care of.”

(Howard will always, without fail, assume the worst. As if Vince, who has been gazing at him adoringly for fifty whole chapters at this point. But really he knows he’s no good at confessing his feelings. He’s liable to say something wrong or lose confidence or worse, and so he wants to find a way of expressing himself without letting himself get in the way. And his excuse is such an obvious lie, bless him. I expect he was intimidated by Jane and Mary, because he’s not great with people he doesn’t know well.

Gosh I liked writing this. I think I basically wrote a chapter a day. They aren’t long chapters but still. I liked the way Howard and Vince transferred so well in to that world and I loved fleshing out Mary and Jane Charlotte and Mr Bennet especially. I’m not so good at the comedy though, it’s all rather sincere and heartfelt, which is probably where it falls short most. But it was fun to write.

#my writing

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