I have been reading and digesting and rereading and thinking about this story for the past 24 hours. It's powerful.
Your writing style is beautiful and evocative--I want to say "crystalline", though I'm not sure why. I also enjoyed the literary allusions and the impressions they weave into the piece.
You have an interesting AU. I found myself troubled by Soubi breaking his professional ethics for Ritsuka, as falling in love with a patient, particularly a minor, and acting on it (however chastely) is pretty problematic behavior. However, this really works well for a Loveless story, since the whole canon premise is based on a profound relationship between two dysfunctional, troubled people. Here, as in canon, it's a relationship that shouldn't work, that has all the strikes against it, but DOES work, beautifully and heartbreakingly so. I do feel that, against all rules and probability, Ritsuka and Soubi heal each other, and that part of the depths of their love is that they realize how much they can build up what was destroyed in the other.
And your Seimei! It's so symbolic that *he* is the one who can summon the other Ritsuka, and Ritsuka has to choose on so many levels. Past or present? Child or adult? I found myself arguing with Soubi quite a bit at this point: shouldn't Ritsuka be allowed to revert to his "original" self? Isn't it selfish for Soubi to want to keep Ritsuka the way he wants Ritsuka to be, just as Seimei tries to mold Ritsuka to his preference? But in the end, it comes down to Ritsuka's choice, and HE is the one who chooses to remember his pain, to mature, to choose his adult/teen love over his childhood love. Canon is all about choices and renewal, and it's rewarding to see that echoed here.
That's quite a big compliment to me, that you would spend so much time thinking about this. Thank you!
I hesitated over writing that too - the point about Soubi falling in love with Ritsuka - but like canon, I think love isn't always that convenient, especially when you're dealing with people as dysfunctional as these two. To my mind, Ritsuka and Soubi could never be your typical couple falling in love. The age gap is one thing that makes their relationship so tentative and bittersweet, and in canon, the other thing is the unequal power balance and how they're unsure of how to act around each other. I tried my best to replicate that here.
As for Soubi being selfish - well, yes, he is. In that sense, he's not doing anything different from Seimei. But I think between the two, Soubi is the far more sympathetic character (because Seimei is just creepy), and my main motivation was to highlight that you can't just forget the unhappy things in life. (Go Ritsuka!)
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a long and wonderful review. ♥
Your writing style is beautiful and evocative--I want to say "crystalline", though I'm not sure why. I also enjoyed the literary allusions and the impressions they weave into the piece.
You have an interesting AU. I found myself troubled by Soubi breaking his professional ethics for Ritsuka, as falling in love with a patient, particularly a minor, and acting on it (however chastely) is pretty problematic behavior. However, this really works well for a Loveless story, since the whole canon premise is based on a profound relationship between two dysfunctional, troubled people. Here, as in canon, it's a relationship that shouldn't work, that has all the strikes against it, but DOES work, beautifully and heartbreakingly so. I do feel that, against all rules and probability, Ritsuka and Soubi heal each other, and that part of the depths of their love is that they realize how much they can build up what was destroyed in the other.
And your Seimei! It's so symbolic that *he* is the one who can summon the other Ritsuka, and Ritsuka has to choose on so many levels. Past or present? Child or adult? I found myself arguing with Soubi quite a bit at this point: shouldn't Ritsuka be allowed to revert to his "original" self? Isn't it selfish for Soubi to want to keep Ritsuka the way he wants Ritsuka to be, just as Seimei tries to mold Ritsuka to his preference? But in the end, it comes down to Ritsuka's choice, and HE is the one who chooses to remember his pain, to mature, to choose his adult/teen love over his childhood love. Canon is all about choices and renewal, and it's rewarding to see that echoed here.
I won't forget this story soon.
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I hesitated over writing that too - the point about Soubi falling in love with Ritsuka - but like canon, I think love isn't always that convenient, especially when you're dealing with people as dysfunctional as these two. To my mind, Ritsuka and Soubi could never be your typical couple falling in love. The age gap is one thing that makes their relationship so tentative and bittersweet, and in canon, the other thing is the unequal power balance and how they're unsure of how to act around each other. I tried my best to replicate that here.
As for Soubi being selfish - well, yes, he is. In that sense, he's not doing anything different from Seimei. But I think between the two, Soubi is the far more sympathetic character (because Seimei is just creepy), and my main motivation was to highlight that you can't just forget the unhappy things in life. (Go Ritsuka!)
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a long and wonderful review. ♥
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