Fic - "A Private Little War"
Title: A Private Little War
Author: colonel_bastard
Characters/Fandom: Basil, Ratigan, Dawson. The Great Mouse Detective.
Word Count: 4,000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Between the capture and the kill, Ratigan savors the moment. Dawson observes and intervenes.
Warnings: Molestation, an F-bomb, general desecration of beloved Disney characters.
Notes: ( Read more... )
Author: colonel_bastard
Characters/Fandom: Basil, Ratigan, Dawson. The Great Mouse Detective.
Word Count: 4,000
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Between the capture and the kill, Ratigan savors the moment. Dawson observes and intervenes.
Warnings: Molestation, an F-bomb, general desecration of beloved Disney characters.
Notes: ( Read more... )
Ok, so my very first reaction was YAY YAY YAY OMG MORE FIC YAY. I believe anneka can attest to that, since my next action was to im her the yay and link. And then I started reading, quite literally quivering in excitement. (I mean, I somehow managed to comment before the post timestamp. THAT'S HOW EXCITED I WAS.
Yay Dawson! Huh, yeah, at this stage they wouldn't have known each other long. Which only makes this more disturbing. And I love how you make him quietly badass. It's lovely - he's not the fumbler so often shown, but he's not as, er, excessive as law's.
Oh, Basil. He's gone, he's really just gone. As much as I'd love to know what he's thinking, I think it would end up distressing me terribly. It's very odd, getting an outside view of these two at a point where both their emotions are running so high, and somehow even more painful. Maybe because then it allows me to insert what *I* think their thinking, and my mind is a little too good at going dark. The half formed fists. Why does that hurt so much?
Can’t you see he’s in no condition to fight back? I just want to pet Dawson right here. He so doesn't even begin to understand. And Ratigan! All, "Excuse me?"! Giggles. Oh, and his reaction to Dawson's reaction, the control he's holding himself to. Mmm.
“I would be a fool not to notice the way he shadows you now,” Oh, implication. Lovely writing. Lovely jealousy. Lovely fretting. Lovely protectiveness/possessiveness. Oh, and that just carries on throughout. Nice.
finally wiped his mind clean into silence. ah. That. That's what I'm afraid of finding in his thoughts.
“But do you,” Ratigan clarifies. “Love him?” and right there is when I'm reminded that this is hurting Ratigan too. Not like he'd admit it, but it is. It really, really is.
Oh god, the tongue.
“Not a word of protest,” Ratigan notes, almost wistfully. “After all these years, you’re finally...” AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I WILL BE HAVING TO SEND YOU THE PLOT BUNNIES. Whimper. That, and the whole next little section, hurts. Oh, damn. You just keep giving Ratigan these wonderful, half self aware, painful lines. I end up wanting to quote them all. But especially the fifteen minutes late. OH, BOYS.
Ratigan's shaking hands If I remember correctly, I think this is where I actually whimpered out loud a little.
obediently lifts his head Idk if it was intentional, but the parallels there for his responses to Ratigan and Dawson are painful. Lovely, but painful.
Dawson's stitches. YES. THAT. Moments like that. Sigh.
bottomless in their haunted grief,…and that is where I began to descend into tears the first three read throughs. I'll try and retain my coherency a little longer.
Basil, clinging oh, oh, that hurts and he's nothing else left to cling to…I can't quite explain myself.
Goddamnit. Every fucking time. Even now, on what, my seventh read? “---scars.” His voice is unnervingly quiet. “Yes, I know.” I just rear back from the screen and close my eyes and hold my breath and try not to start sobbing and throwing things. Goddamnit
I tried, but I can't pull back from the last bit enough to commentary. I'll just say: beautiful writing, sparsely gut wrenching, loaded with their inability to articulate themselves. Rather like me at this point.
While I hate that this is and ending, I'm glad it's not *the* ending, that you have a number of years between the last one and this (which means more fic, right? Poke.) But then, I think that's why this hits me so hard; because I'm wondering what sort of things could have happened in that time to bring them from the point they were at to this stunning level of emotion regarding each other. It's the brutality of what must have happened, that I haven't even read yet that's leaving me trembling for entirely different reasons at the end than when I started. The end of a very long battle. That's it.
Two days later and I still can't gather myself.
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Dawson was the reason this fic took so long! I'd gotten so used to writing just Basil and Ratigan, I was really thrown for a loop when someone prompted a third party, and especially one of such significance. I really wanted to do his character justice (considering the importance he'll eventually have in Basil's life), and I'm just so pleased to hear that it worked.
FEEL FREE TO SEND PLOT BUNNIES. SERIOUSLY. This entire series has been built on prompts!! It's the plot bunnies from you guys that make it happen, and I would love to hear what you have to say. ^_^
Ratigan has become very dear to me over the course of writing these stories, and considering this would be his last appearance in the canon timeline, it had to be intense and magnificent. You've cited many of the moments that I worked very hard on, and I'm just--- ah, I'm relieved. Ratigan deserves it. I feel like I owe it to him. :D
And I'm just--- humbled by the depth of your emotional reaction. I've had this epilogue scene in my mind for a very long time, and I wanted it to be absolutely perfect. Judging from the response, I'd say I must have done something right! I just realized that the end of the film is a huge turning point in Basil's life, the night when he loses Ratigan (who has been the most important person in his life) and gains Dawson (who will become the most important person in his life). That's some seriously complex territory to explore, and "sparsely gut wrenching" was exactly what I was going for, so thanks so much for saying that. <3
There is going to be a lot more fic! I've got years to cover. I've got to get them from sexy flirting at the masquerade (their last interaction in the series) to this horrible, awful night when they realize that only one of them can survive. It's gonna be fierce, it's gonna be crazy, and most of all, it's gonna be messy. We're only at the beginning of that very long battle, and I can't wait to write more.
Thank you so, so much for taking the time and energy to leave me this wonderfully thoughtful review. Writing is my greatest passion, and to see it evoke such passion in others is just all I could ever ask for. Thank you. <3
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He does deserve it, and you gave it to him. :)
Oh, I'll admit, I cry over fiction very easily. But it still takes something special to just continue breaking me down again and again.
It's funny, it's been so long since I saw the movie that it had slipped my mind how much he lost and gained in one night. And, oh dear, I can just see some of the unwilling mental comparison Basil is going to have running for a while.
Yay yay yay much more fic! I did kinda assume so, since there's years between there, and then there's backstory, but it's good to have it confirmed ;)
(and I'm remembering why I was so bad about leaving comments: I either say nothing more than "nice", or do this^)
Am totally sending that plot bunny. But by PM, because it's ridiculous and long and detailed.
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Yeah, I watched the movie for the first time in a long time when I first saw anneka's original prompt (so long ago...!), and I was just struck by how intense and frantic this, like, twenty-four period is! A ton of shit goes down in basically one day! No wonder Basil has a mental breakdown! o_O
It's definitely confirmed. Just go over to the "unfilled prompts" section at the kink meme and see what I've got piling up on my plate. :D
Your babbling is totally endearing. Consider me endeared, my dear. :3
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