#this show is just Jeeves putting Bertie in situations

[thebatcreature]

He then proceeded to involve Bertie in many many of his schemes again

[yeah-thats-probably-it]

S03e03- Introduction on Broadway

Corky is weirdly conventionally handsome for one of Bertie’s friends and it honestly threw me a little

Is Jeeves even getting paid extra to write this book? Or is he just so thrilled at being asked that he’s willing to just do it as extra job duties

Cowboy Bertie real?!

Oh, so this is why Cyril Bassington-Bassington is mentioned disproportionately in fanfic! The Brinkley Award for fleshing out a character from the books

Mr. Coneybear is like oh boy more marital drama with these two ooh free hat shift saved

“Moustaches are a leading cause of divorces” Jeeves, how is THAT relevant to the present situation

We’re starting to see Bertie and Jeeves communicate nonverbally! Bertie is developing his book-canon ability to decipher Jeeves’s face! “Jeeves, you’re up to something, I know that look” I want to put them in a blender

Bertie and Jeeves’s identical expressions of horror when they see the painting

Jeeves convincing Aunt Agatha that Corky’s painting is worth something is so reminiscent of the painting subplot in Tally Ho, I feel like the scene in the latter has to be based on it

It also feels like Jeeves is using that trick he described in “Bertie Changes his Mind,” where he tells the headmistress Bertie’s name in a way that implies he’s “Someone” and you’ll look uncultured if you admit you don’t know who he is

“I won’t forget this, Bertie!” “Nor me!”

God, I am LIVING for the glorious new dawn of exasperated!Bertie we’re getting in this show. Yes bitch, let him be the only sane man by default because everyone else including Jeeves is even more deranged!!

“I only kept the bally thing on to show who’s master” “Oh, I trust there was never any doubt about that, sir” this is a kink relationship

Not that that hasn’t been pointed out before but it’s really there in the line delivery

[semper-legens]

27. Thank You, Jeeves, by P.G. Wodehouse

Owned: No, library Page count: 263 My summary: Thanks to his insistence on playing the banjolele, Bertie Wooster has been 1) kicked out of his flat and 2) dumped by Jeeves. But not to worry. He's out into the country, where nothing can go wrong! Except maybe love triangles, wacky escapades, imprisonment on a yacht, forced marriages, and a distinct lack of butter. Just his lucky day. My rating: 3/5 My commentary:

You know, despite my usual tastes in literature and my general predilection for the stuffy English gentleman, I've never actually engaged with any Jeeves and Wooster. I've seen clips from the Steven Fry/Hugh Laurie show, as every English person is legally required to, but I've never actually sat down to read any Wodehouse myself. Well, one of my coworkers is currently working her way through Jeeves and Wooster, and decided that I'd like it too. So, on her recommendation, I've gone in blind with this book. Let's see what it's like!

First off - Wodehouse's voice is delightful. Archaic without being impenetrable, sardonic and drawling, punning and witty in all the right ways. I was charmed and captivated from the start, not less because of how full-on it is right out of the gate. It's a very droll writing style, the kind that was definitely a spawn of the 30s; I can't imagine someone writing like that now except to satirise. Still, it's wonderfully charming. And Wooster himself is well-characterised as a complete brainless twit. He actually had a lot more heart than I was expecting from what I knew of his character, but he's still a big idiot who doesn't ever help himself out of any situation at all.

Also, like, I know calling Jeeves and Wooster gay isn't exactly the hottest of takes, but it surprised me just how gay it was. Seriously, Jeeves says that he's got a policy of never working for a married man. I can't be the only one reading implication into that. And he's always at Wooster's beck and call, even in this book where he's not technically working for him. (More on that in a bit.) And Wooster is not all that put out that the eligible young lady who is also his ex in this book isn't into him. In fact, he goes out of his way to avoid getting into a relationship with her! Any tension between them is coincidence and awkward encounters. Just…so gay.

Unfortunately with literature written in the early 1900s, and particularly literature by white people, you're gonna get some racism. In this book, it takes the form of the banjolele and the blackface. The former is the inciting incident for the novel; Wooster has to move to the country because he has taken up playing the banjolele, a cross between a banjo and a ukulele. Everyone hates the noise, but it's the instrument itself that's brought up as being the problem. Jeeves, in particular, hates it. The racial connotations of this can't be ignored - the banjo is associated with black Americans, where obviously the ukulele is a native Hawaiian instrument. But more egregiously, Wooster spends half the novel 'comically' in blackface. There is a never-seen troupe of minstrels referred to with the n-word - whether they are actually black or white people in blackface is unclear from the text, but apparently that was the contemporary term for blackface performers. And every person who sees Wooster in blackface assumes he's a devil and screams and runs away, again 'comically'. Look, I know this was written in 1934, but honestly I don't care. This is just straight-up racist. The idea of Wooster being blacked up is treated as hilarious rather than insulting, and of course not a single actual person of colour shows up at all. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, the casualness of these stereotypes and this behaviour. It's just bad. (And apparently, the TV episode based on this book also had the blackface in 1991. Plus ca change…)

Next, we're off to the Arctic, where there's a haunting on a beached ship…

[egelantier]

Yuletide Recs

Having had two days of more or less nothing but reading fics, I come bearing recs!

First of all, my amazing gifts:

The Goblin Emperor

For Thy Principles

The nohecharei of Edrehasivar VII were unparalleled in their defense of his person, but there were limits to even their prowess. When Maia first developed the fever, Cala quickly determined that it was not the end result of a magically-based assassination attempt – and from there it had to be left to the court physicians.

Maia falls ill, and Csethiro protects him as best she can.

Beautifully gentle Maia sickfic, with Csethiro holding him together. For me all for meeee.

Benjamin January Mysteries

Dry as a Bone

“Oh. Well, I’ve been better, maestro, been a hell of a lot better to tell truth.” Shaw stared at him for a long moment, and he was stunned to see honest to God grief in his eyes. Even when Shaw had just lost his brother he had been so much more himself than this lost man currently standing before him. “Not that I mean to put anything extra on your shoulders, I’m sure you’ve got enough of your own shit going on at present moment, but it seems like I’ve just lost my job.”

Shaw loses his job, and finally confronts Ben about trust (and lack thereof) between them. It’s GREAT.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

A Distraction Worth Losing

They may never be together, but the gods would have to move heaven and earth to split Rune and Brand apart.

Brand, Rune and The Kiss incident. (Poor messed up babies, somebody save them.)

And fics of the collection:

17776, Astreiant, Raksura, Frederica, The Gentlemen, The Goblin Emperor, Hades, Innkeeper Chronicles, Jeeves, Kate Daniels, King Arthur the movie, My Next Life as a Villainess, Nirvana in Fire, No. 6, Psmith, The Secret Garden, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Swordspoint, The Tarot Sequence, Teixcalaan Series, The Temple of the White Rat verse

17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future

so far, so fast

When Manny gets a craving for some fancy meal he had once, over ten thousand years ago, Nick decides he’s gonna fulfill that craving, no matter how hard it is. Because real romance is about making the impossible happen for his husband.

Goddamn transcendental.

Go Get It

Sometimes you start out just planning to get some groceries with your husband, and next thing you know, you’re committing to join the most hopeless team in college football.

Nick and Manny decide to play. It’s perfect.

Afterlife

A young man dies six months before the end of human death; his loss saves five lives, which end up much longer than anyone expects. (A series of worldbuilding vignettes about original characters in the 17776 setting.)

Made me cry, in a very cathartic way.

Astreiant Series - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett

April dressed in all his trim

A quiet evening in spring.

Sweet little slice-of-life with lovely sensory details.

Books of the Raksura

The Second Consort

“When Glow arrives, be friendly and welcoming,” Ember said. “Not scary.”

“Why does everyone think I’m going to scare him?”

Chime said, “They can see your face when you look at him.” He paused, glancing over at Moon. “That face, that’s the one.”

Ember sighed. “I remember being in his position. It’s pretty nerve-wracking coming to a new court and not knowing what’s going to happen to you there - whether they’re going to welcome you or shun you, whether you’ll make new friends, whether a queen is going to claim you…” He came and put a sympathetic hand on Moon’s shoulder. “Glow is probably worried about all of those things, and missing his home and clutchmates, and it’s our job to try and help him relax.” For a moment Moon thought he was just being soft-hearted, until Ember added, “He won’t open up and tell us what’s really going on unless he’s relaxed.”

Jade takes in a new consort, on Moon’s permission, and everybody is delightfully adult about it.

Frederica

Lady Alverstoke

Frederica commences her first Season as a married woman by planning a ball, promising most straitly that her husband will have nothing whatsoever to do …

Sweet and funny slice-of-life post-happy-ending for canon.

**The Gentlemen (2019) **

Even

The week after he intercepts Fletcher, that squirrelly little cunt, outside the London Miramax office, Raymond reluctantly ventures down to Brixton.

Under normal circumstances, Raymond tends to give this part of Brixton a wide berth, but he has unfinished business that needs attending to. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has to like being accosted by the overwhelming smell of greasy fish and chips when he pushes the car door open, doesn’t mean he has to be pleased about stepping into a piece of chewed-up gum the moment he sets a foot on the kerb.

But then, he can always take a shower after an errand in Brixton. The deep-seated discomfort of unfinished business doesn’t wash off that easily.

Raymond tries to pay Coach back for saving his life, and it doesn’t quite go as planned :D

The Goblin Emperor

The Archduke’s Discovery

Prince Nemolis goes on a journey, and learns a bit more than he wanted to know.

Really great point of canon divergence, and true and precise character voices.

Hades

all the spaces between us

For a place full of the dead, crammed with ghostly shades and nothing but the endless lull of eternity unchanging, gossip sure travelled fast in the Underworld.

Or, Zagreus mulls over his relationship with Thanatos while the rest of the Underworld get overly invested.

Slow, slow, slowest of burns.

Innkeeper Chronicles - Ilona Andrews

A Quick Trip

“It’ll be a quick trip,” Maud said, more to herself than to Arland. “No one will even notice we’re gone.”

Pirates are plaguing an ally, just outside of vampire space. Maud and Arland don some aesthetically beat-up armor and try to get more information from the pirates themselves. Of course, plans only last until you meet your enemy. Or your enemy’s giant alien attack boar.

Excellent canon voice, action/adventure sprinkled with badassery and hilarity.

Jeeves & Wooster

August Thirteenth

Discovering that this is not the first August thirteenth that he’s lived through, that certainly was a head scratcher. Luckily Bertie has the stalwart presence of his man’s man, Jeeves.

Very, very great and satisfying use of the time loop.

Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews

lookin’ like a snack (cake)

It took Barabas a while to figure it out, because he wasn’t used to not being taken seriously.

Barabas considered several ways to phrase it, and finally settled upon, “Do you have a thing for twinks?” Christopher knocked his head back against the headrest: once, then again. “Is that a yes?”

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

When Goosefat Bill finds himself in a difficult situation, the last thing he wants is the King to show up and “help”, in his own unique and unexpected way.

Goosefat Bill does not need to be rescued by his King. But he might just enjoy it a little.

My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime)

All I Have To Bring Today

Catarina and Sophia had been discussing the latest in the Devilish Count series, and Sophia had mentioned how romantic the surprise picnic the count had planned for his lover was and how she wished for someone to surprise her like that.

“What about you, Catarina? Have you ever wished for someone to sweep you off your feet?” Sophia had asked.

Catarina makes a choice! As sweet and as hilarious as the canon.

Nirvana in Fire

Adverse Event

What a pitiful man must he have become, if the only thing he could provoke in bed was a monologue on his character flaws.

: or, the famous strategist mei changsu plays xanatos speed chess against truth serum: the fic.

Mei Changsu gets hit with an accidental truth serum; it doesn’t stop him from lying to himself, but it does buy Jingyan a clue.

Records of the Land of Xiang

There was something of Xiao Jingyan there, in the firmness of his jaw, the unforgiving slash of his brows, and most clearly in the eyes that neither saw nor conveyed deception. But Long Zhan was not Jingyan, could never be, no matter how much Changsu might wish otherwise, because Jingyan was dead.

In service to a very-much-alive Prince Qi, Jingyan dons a Jianghu-typical disguise and infiltrates the Jiangzuo Alliance to suss out this Mei Changsu fellow and see if he might be useful in helping them re-open the Chiyan conspiracy case. Basically, a slightly ridiculous premise where everyone is running around the Jianghu with masks, multiple identities, and secret agendas.

Fascinating and fun AU scenario that delves, among other things, into Mei Changsu the jianghu chef, not Sir Su the court schemer.

suffering as I suffer you

The first time Jingyan stays the night at Su Manor, he discovers an uncomfortable truth about Mei Changsu.

Excellent extrapolation of Mei Changsu’s illness into his nightly routine - with Jingyan watching…

Here, In Our Arms

With the world put to rights, however briefly, Xiao Jingyan and Mu Nihuang take the opportunity to make a fuss over their beloved Lin Shu, and will not take no for an answer.

Sweet moment of comfort.

Find the Coals Amid the Ashes

Despite Changsu’s assertions, Lin Chen is a well brought up person. He would never violate his host’s privacy during a social call. It would be inexcusable, for example, to break into a marquis’s private alchemy lab in the middle of said marquis’s birthday party, in order to search said alchemy lab for certain hard to find medicinal herbs, which one has reason to believe can be found therein. These would be the actions of a man without honour, of a man who has only desperation to his name.

Lin Chen crashes a party and makes a new friend.

The best team up ever :D

Dead Letters

Mei Changsu isn’t the only schemer in Da Liang.

Fei Liu fixes things, in the most Fei Liu way imaginable, and it’s great.

No. 6

All Good Things

In the midst of a crisis for No. 6, Nezumi returns to Shion’s side.

A reunion! And cuddling.

Psmith

The Psky Is The Limit

“As this ship’s Orator, my mission is still as it was in the beginning and shall ever be, world without end. It is to hail any message sent by comrades from outer space and pass it on to you verbatim. Well! The hour, I say, has come. The Word has come into being. Here comes Psmith, bearing news of great mirth: the intercom has spoken.”

(A Mike and Psmith Space AU)

Psmith in space! Hysterically funny Psmith in Pspace, at that.

Psmith Pops In

Psmith reached over and solicitously loosened Mike’s scarf, his fingers brushing the skin of Mike’s neck, and that young man, to his horror, felt heat creeping up from where gloved fingers brushed his bare skin. Really, this blushing nonsense was getting out of hand. Ever since Psmith had tried to take the blame in the case of the painted dog, Mike had developed an inexplicable habit of turning hot and cold around him, and these odd responses had become more and more frequent.

Very funny! And then very tragique! And then jussssst right.

The Secret Garden

The Space Garden

When Meri La Nix was sent from the Mars colony to live with her aunt at Missiles Wait Manor, nobody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. But some of them thought it.

Beautifully inventive space retelling - with gardens, still.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

The sky spinning above him

In which there’s a jewellery thief on the loose, Tang Fan plays dress up, gets a mild concussion and also a boyfriend.

Frothy, sweet, well-grounded and hot. Also hilarious (check the end note!)

truth in fiction

Three days after Wang Zhi leaves the capital, bits and pieces of his extensive library begin arriving at Sui Zhou’s house.

Sui Zhou is really committed to research and accuracy in Tang Fan’s porn. It’s delightful.

Time don’t fool me no more

“The electrician is a Tang dynasty spy,” he says, dumping some of his eggs in Tang Fan’s bowl.

Tang Fan nods, shovels more food in his mouth, and starts talking again.

Past or future, Tang Fan has Priorities. And Sui Zhou is weak.

Meeting at the End

Sui Zhou knew he never should have let Tang Fan go alone. He knew he should have gone with him.

Really, really great and desperate whump. Super satisfying.

clever boy

Tang Fan never spares a smile for any of the girls at Wang Zhi’s establishment, he’s noticed. That’s alright, though. It means Wang Zhi gets his attention for himself.

Wang Zhi falling, falling hard; it’s delightful.

a bold and brilliant sun

“You’re sure you didn’t do something to it? They don’t usually stall out,” Sui Zhou says. He looks away from Tang Fan, out the windshield at the endless rust-red of the planet.

Tang Fan pouts at this, and slumps down on the edge of the console, feet propped up at an absurd angle against the pilot’s seat. “You think I’d fake a mechanical issue just so that they’d send a sexy Fleet crewman out here to rescue me?” As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he giggles. “Okay, I would do that, but I promise that this time the problem is real.”

Space AU! Most excellent space AU condensing all there is to love about the canon in one perfect package.

Blind Taste Test

Wang Zhi invites Tang Fan to evaluate Joyous Brothel’s chefs — but it’s Tang Fan and Sui Zhou who are really being tested.

Wang Zhi, ever helpful :)

Authorial Intent

Sui Zhou and Tang Fan end up in hot water yet again. Kinky sex ensues.

Hilarious, kinky, heartfelt, and in character.

Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner

Chrysopoeia

It struck Alec that this would have been much easier if their positions were reversed. Richard would have known what to do if he’d been dragged back here with a hole in his gut. He was quite simply not supposed to be the one on this end of the equation. In fact, it was possible he had done something very bad to deserve this.

Richard is wounded, and Alex is coping. Excellent h/c and excellent bloodplay and sharp, painful slice of Alex’ POV, excellently rendered.

At first — this was just like him — he thought he was hearing god. But it was only the man in the bed, whose face had turned toward him on the ragged pillow.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

Third’s a Charm

Addam asks a favor of Brand.

Addam asks Brand for help, which ends up being exactly what Brand and Rune need.

Pretty good

Five times Brand crawls into Rune’s bed and one time Rune crawls into Brand’s.

Brand and Rune, through the years.

Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

Also in the Act of Reaching

When Three Seagrass arrived at Lsel Station, she was, officially at least, traveling as a private personage. She had missed Mahit and the possibilities they’d both chosen to turn away from. She also had– would always have– a gaping hole in her life where Petal had once stood.

It was simply that, left on her own, Three Seagrass wouldn’t have let either absence drag her to the ass-end of beyond.

Reunion, metaphors and realigment. Subtle and clever and just right.

The (concept of the) World Was Wide Enough

Yskandr Aghavn comes to the world like a drowning man comes to shore, but he is living on borrowed time. Teixcalaan has so many wonderful things to choke on.

Teixcalaan has had his heart for all of his life, has elevated him, corrupted him, and discarded him.

It is Lsel that he thinks of as he dies.

Temple of the White Rat Universe - T. Kingfisher

If Grace Is Too Much

Zale is given a case by Bishop Beartongue which turns out to be more complicated and personal than a holy advocate-priest would prefer.

Clever and sweet and carefully shocking, but in a very right way.

Outreach

“We don’t generally assess the… cursédness… of objects, trees or otherwise,” Beartongue said.

Utterly delightful.

[v-thinks-on]

That evening, I went down to dinner prepared for the worst. No one seemed terribly pleased, to tell the truth. All through the meal, Spode glared at Gussie and myself, Tuppy glared at me, Aunt Dahlia and Stiffy glared at each other from their places on the opposite ends of the table, and just about everyone glared at Spode. Em - that is, Emerald Fink-Nottle (née Stoker) - attempted a bit of polite conversation with Mr. Satterthwaite - a visiting neighbor of Aunt Dahlia’s - but the atmosphere was on the suffocating side, and so it all fell to naught. I ate my fill, but at times like this, even the best food turns to ashes in one’s mouth - though it seemed not all were in agreement upon the matter; Tuppy beside me ate with gusto.

I was hardly the only one who was relieved when dinner at last came to an end. Madeline - now Lady Sidcup - excused herself and went up to her room with a headache as the rest of us quietly filtered into the parlour.

Standing in the parlour, silver tray in hand, was a true sight for sore eyes. I just about bounded over to the chap with a beam.

“A drink, sir?” Jeeves offered, all prim and polished as ever.

“Yes, Jeeves, and make it light on the s.” I said.

“Very good, sir.”

No sooner had I asked did a glass appear in hand - I have gotten so accustomed to Jeeves, that I can hardly fathom what it’s like to have a lesser valet who does not anticipate one’s every want and need.

“Cheers, Jeeves,” I said before taking a good gulp.

“Indeed, sir,” Jeeves replied, perhaps a little more distant than I would have liked, but the man’s presence was enough.

Were we at home, I would have offered the chap a glass of his own and we’d spend the evening on the sofa chewing the fat or reading - him with some improving book and I with a page turner. But alas, duty calls, and so he shimmered on to attend to the rest of the guests.

The party had broken off into several smaller contingents, as parties are wont to do; people scattered here and there, talking among themselves in low voices. I spotted Mr. Satterthwaite sitting in the corner, his rummy gaze apparently directed toward me of all people.

However, it lasted not a moment before he turned away as Jeeves flitted over to offer him a drink. To my surprise, they exchanged a few hushed words - not that I could have heard them at any volume from where I was standing on the other side of the room. I had half a mind to take a step closer, but Jeeves then shimmered on.

Mr. Satterthwaite’s gaze lingered a bit, watching Jeeves as he went, before he turned his attention back to the rest of us. I had the vague, rummy impression that we were all putting on some kind of show, and he was the audience.

I know it’s hardly gentlemanly to stare, but it was with a little reluctance that I moved on as well. But it was for the best, as only then did I notice Em standing all on her lonesome and looking none too happy about it. Truly the fault was mine as a pal of hers for not rectifying the situation sooner.

“What ho,” I said, sidling up to her in a friendly sort of way.

Em looked up and smiled at the sight of me, but it didn’t last. “Oh, hullo Bertie.” She seemed on the verge of saying more, but stopped short.

“Right-o,” I said - one must always keep the conversation going. When she said nothing more, I tried the direct approach; “Something troubling you, what?”

She hmmed a little, seeming rather like that cat in the adage letting I dare not wait upon I would.

“I don’t know, it’s nothing really,” she said at last, though she didn’t sound like she quite believed it. “I shouldn’t even be thinking about it, to tell you the truth, it’s a horrible thing to think.” She shook her head. For a moment I thought she had forgotten I was there, but then she abruptly looked up and l. me in the eye, “You’re a real gentleman, Bertie. Not many men are these days.”

“I say, I mean is that so?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Bertie. Everything’s so complicated. Sometimes I wish… I don’t even know.” She glanced around like a spy in one of the pictures and then leaned in toward me. “You wouldn’t tell anyone, would you, Bertie?”

I was ready to swear it on my honor as a gentleman that I would keep a lady’s secret to the grave, when a shout on the other end of the room, made all of our heads turn - mine included.

“Well, you’ll just have to wait!” Tuppy had exclaimed.

There was no question who he was speaking to; Tuppy and Spode were standing face to face in the middle of the parlour, both gearing up for a fight if I wasn’t mistaken, and I don’t know if a chap could have been, between the reddened faces and clenched fists.

Spode, not one to be outdone, roared back, “Glossop, you damn thief, I’ve waited long enough!”

Tuppy looked more than ready to have at him, but it seemed even a pair of rampaging bulls would have been no match for my fearless Aunt Dahlia, who at that moment stepped into the middle, not quite calmly as you please, but a placid lake compared to the chaps on either side.

Her withering glare, she saved for Spode. “I’ve put up with a lot from you, maybe too much, but I won’t let you come into my home and call my son a thief!”

For an instant Spode looked all too happy to turn his ire on her, but with what seemed like an awful lot of effort, he contented himself with an answering glare and grumble, and returned to his chair.

We all stood, frozen in silence for a moment or two, no one quite sure what to say. I felt a distinct urge to put in a word, just to say something, but, lacking Aunt Dahlia’s iron will, I had no desire to turn the rage of Spode onto myself and managed to stay my tongue.

At last, Aunt Dahlia stepped down, as it were. That seemed to be the thing to break the spell. Tuppy immediately stomped from the room. A few of the assembled made some attempt at resuming their conversations that had been so suddenly interrupted, but it seemed the moment had passed and by a sort of silent agreement, the party began to filter up to bed. By the time I remembered that Em seemed to have something dashed important to say, she had already gone.

I was on the end of my after dinner gasper, contemplating heading up myself when suddenly, I heard a loud crash coming from the other room.

Those of us still in the parlour - Mr. Satterthwaite, Gussie, and myself - looked at each other with a wild surmise like those chaps upon a peak in Darien, but no one seemed to know any more than anyone else.

I ran out into the hall, the others not far behind, to find that a small crowd had already assembled. Being a tall and willowy sort, I craned over the rest to see the casualty that had occurred.

Coming January: the next installment of The Mysterious Mr. Jeeves - Bertie Solves a Mystery!

[leaper182]

I hesitated. Would he want to hear this at all? That he had been taken down a peg or two in my eyes but was all the more wonderful because of it? Looking up into his eyes, dark blue and searching, I jumped in with both feet. "I love you, Jeeves, and I think I have for quite some time. It wasn't until I saw you looking bally well exhausted that I thought perhaps that maybe you might be able to return the sentiment." Jeeves continued to stare into my eyes for a long moment, and then he kissed me

From the Fic DVD Commentary Lemming, found here!

This segment, for anyone curious about it, is from Merry Christmas, Jeeves, a Jeeves & Wooster fic I wrote in 2008 for the yearly Yuletide challenge. As much as I would love to say that I banged this out well ahead of time, I was working up to the last minute (like I usually do with challenges and exchanges nowadays alas.)

As a bit of context, Jeeves and Bertie have had their first kiss (which was a hell of a thing to write, let me tell you). Jeeves, being who he is, shipped off Bertie so that I wouldn’t have to write the ins and outs of having to divide estates when I really have no idea what happens, and I was in a biiig hurry. Also, it gave Jeeves and Bertie time apart, and this is them reuniting when Jeeves gets back to the homestead. Jeeves, of course, has mentioned the idea of resignation, which Bertie has rejected. The DVD commentary segment is Bertie spilling his guts to Jeeves.

I hesitated. Would he want to hear this at all? That he had been taken down a peg or two in my eyes, but was all the more wonderful because of it?

One of the integral parts of the dynamic between Bertie and Jeeves is the fact that Bertie tends to put Jeeves on this pedestal. Because the stories are all about the genius servant having to serve an idiot of an employer, Jeeves never really slips from that perch, but when I think about a romantic relationship between these two in particular, I feel like there needs to be an equality there. Yes, Jeeves is a genius, and yes, Bertie really cares about people, but the two of them entering into this relationship, I feel, have to be able to respect each other and see each other as people instead of as a paragon of intelligence or as a man who can be safely described as a lunatic without Bertie being thrown in an insane asylum for his troubles.

As a result, bringing Jeeves to the level of being approachable as a romantic prospect means having to take him down a peg or two. But it’s not necessarily a bad thing, because Bertie’s loved Jeeves for a while, but has kept his feelings under wraps. Seeing Jeeves show human frailty (and by extension, showing Bertie that he could help Jeeves instead of just standing back in awe) was important, I think, to make the relationship work in my mind.

Looking up into his eyes, dark blue and searching, I jumped in with both feet.

Bertie sometimes chickens out when the situation has the potential to cause him physical harm. Considering how readily he throws himself into the deep end for any of his massively derpy friends, I can’t imagine that Bertie would have any less gusto when he finally confesses his love and explains himself, even if the object of his affections is Jeeves himself.

“I love you, Jeeves, and I think I have for quite some time. It wasn’t until I saw you looking bally well exhausted that I thought perhaps that maybe you might be able to return the sentiment.”

That’s another aspect of their relationship. In the books moreso than the TV show (because Stephen Fry actually has facial expressions, as opposed to being stony-faced all the time), Jeeves holds himself to this insane standard. He has to be superhuman while being Bertie’s valet. Jeeves would feel that it was the bare minimum required for the job, and that he can meet it quite easily, but I feel it’s also been a very good tool for keeping romantic interests at bay, unless Jeeves felt the need to have an understanding for some scheme of his.

In this fic, with the death of a sibling that he genuinely cared about, Jeeves was going to push himself to be the most capable person in the room, to make sure everything ran smoothly so that no one would have to worry about the logistics, and as a result, he would ignore his own pain and loss. I know that I didn’t really communicate Jeeves’s own feelings of grief in the fic about his sister, but I feel like his moment of weakness, as it were, happened in a way that didn’t feel manufactured.

Jeeves continued to stare into my eyes for a long moment, and then he kissed me.

Because this part has to feel like it’s Jeeves. Jeeves had a moment of human frailty at his sister’s house, and while he’s had time to recover himself since then, he has to be in a place where he can let himself be human and need that emotional connection with Bertie, who I’m sure he was also attracted to for some time as well.

One of the most important things for me in a fic is that I need to have events happen in a way that feels true to the characters. Any time I try to force a character to hold onto an Idiot Ball or to be an OOC shithead because I need XYZ to happen in the plot, that’s when I get stuck. I always hit a wall when I have a character who either needs to act like an ass, or who acts counter to who they are. It’s why Revisions has stalled for so long, and why I’m slightly stuck on my current WIP, Hades is a Place on Earth.

(After this segment, it’s implied that Jeeves and Bertie have sex and exchange gifts a while afterwards, and it’s the worst part of the fic because it’s so badly rushed.)