FIC: And What Was Meant to Happen, Happened (Lilah Morgan/Ilona Costa Bianchi, PG-13)

[carlyinrome]

TITLE: And What Was Meant to Happen, Happened
RATING: PG-13
FANDOMS: Angel
PAIRING: Lilah Morgan/Ilona Costa Bianchi
SUMMARY: Lilah doesn’t speak Italian.
AUTHOR’S NOTES: Written for femslash_minis Round 64 for beer_good_foamy, who wanted an office party, snark, and chicken, without violence or fluff. Couldn’t quite work the chicken in there, but I did give you another

Comments

[brutti_ma_buoni]

Lovely! You've given Ilona just enough depth compared with canon, and yet the focus is all Lilah, with all her brittle ambition on display. Of course, the Italian helps! I love what you've done with language and symbol and metaphor for the two women.

[carlyinrome]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it; now that I think about it, I've never written Lilah before, which means that both characters were new to me.

[ticketsonmyself]

Lilah doesn’t know where Ilona finds the energy to talk, but she hasn’t stopped: not through a bottle of champagne, not through the party dragging on into the wee hours of the morning, not in the elevator up to her penthouse, not on her way to orgasm. Ilona’s fine body arches, writhing against the bedclothes, and her mouth keeps running.

I enjoy Lilah's wry, slightly detached POV!

Lilah doesn’t speak Italian. She took a little French in high school, then learned Latin in college, a necessity for all the legalese and demon raising she’d need to do in her career. Italian came from Latin, and Lilah can hear similarities, but there’s a completely different energy about the language. Latin is so staid and grim, solemn, but Italian is bubbly and alive. Lilah knows that if she spoke Italian, it would just be Latin with a different vocabulary; she doesn’t do bubbly. But it’s pretty to listen to, and a little dizzying, like champagne for the ear

[carlyinrome]

Oh, thank you so much, honey. I'm so glad you liked it; I've never written either of these characters before. I've always been a little afraid to write Lilah, because I feel like I don't get her the way I do some other characters.

<3

[ticketsonmyself]

Ilona's believably in tune with her characterization in canon, and Lilah! Lilah is srs bzns about her job, and not just because her life is literally on the line for it at times. I love how Ilona successfully manipulates her a little with flattery, and how it has its intended effect on Lilah even though she's sort of aware of what's happening. I always love it when people demonstrate how Lilah doesn't have to be, like, fanonically near-omniscient in being able to read and react to people to be an interesting character, since her less polished edges are exactly what interest me more in canon, and you've done that so well here.

[beer_good_foamy]

Brilliant! Thanks a lot for writing this. Great Lilah POV, and I love the way you tied the story into her ambitions - and Ilona's self-serving flattery. Great job!

[carlyinrome]

Thanks; I'm so relieved you liked it!

[snogged]

This was awesome!
I really like the way you captured Lilah and Ilona. Very believable characterizations. :D

[carlyinrome]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!

[rebcake]

Lindsey doesn’t look this good in a dress

Perfect Lilah deadpan (but never self-deprecating) humor. Great job! I could so use more of these two!

[carlyinrome]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked the story.