To Catch A Star (Emily of New Moon)

[edonohana]

Title: To Catch A Star
Fandom: Emily of New Moon, by L. M. Montgomery
Spoilers: This is an alternate ending for Emily's Quest, so spoilers for about the first third, then it goes AU.
Word count: 1800
No warnings.

Note: Happy birthday, sartorias! It's your Con Or Bust story!

The poem is by Basho.

Comments

[sartorias]

Oh, this is just perfect. So very perfect.

From now on, when I read the books, I will come to this new ending. In fact, I'd better wipe my eyes, put my tea down, and go copy the URL into the book, so I go click right to it.

Thank you.

[rachelmanija]

Thank YOU! I'm so happy you liked it. (I finished it maniacally yesterday to have it ready for your birthday.)

[sartorias]

I ended up rereading the entire end portion so I could mentally attach the story, and you nailed the voice just perfectly.

[sienamystic]

Oh my lord, I love this with all my heart. It's perfect. They're perfect.

And...as a very quiet Dean-fancier, for fear of being called names...I like what you've done with him and his relationship with Emily very much.

[rachelmanija]

Thank you!

I have very mixed feelings about Dean. On the one hand, in some ways he was very good for Emily. On the other hand, he committed the most awful deed in the entire series. I figured he at least deserved to be depressed in congenial surroundings.

[sienamystic]

Yeah, there is a lot about Dean that, reading as an adult, does not exactly sit very well. But when I first read the books, I identified so much with Emily, and Dean is exactly the type of fantasy man I had concocted for myself - somebody to see my Super Specialness and who would take me around the world to see vistas in the moonlight, or what have you. It's funny how, decades later, you find those things sticking with you.

[rachelmanija]

Dean really is a great fantasy figure for a twelve-year-old. I adored him when I was that age. Then I re-read the books, and went, "Hmmm." And eventually, "Yikes!"

[bravecows]

Oh, this is gorgeous! The last three lines are the perfect ending.

[rachelmanija]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

[silveronthetree]

This was beautiful. I recently reread the books and had been thinking about the differences between my experience of the books as an adult and as a child. I am now fascinated by Dean and I love the way that he acted as the stimulus for Emily to realise what she wanted with her life.

“Like the Moon and the Sun,” said Teddy, who often painted them together.
Perfectly encapsulates Ilse and Emily.

[rachelmanija]

Dean is very interesting. Though I have to say, when I was twelve I read those books and thought he was the most awesome and romantic guy ever and wished Emily had forgiven him. Then when I re-read as an adult I was all, "Ack! She is twelve! Get your creepy thoughts off of her!"

[silveronthetree]

Hmmm, for me it is kind of the opposite. You see, when I was twelve I thought he was very creepy. And I still found him that way in Emily of New Moon. But in Emily's Quest she was an adult and I started to actually think of him as an interesting character in his own right, mostly because of the flaws.

Oh and in response to your post here, I also spent much of the reread thinking about the differences between the two green-eyed Deans and their experiences with the Supernatural!

[rachelmanija]

Teddy gets no love! I asked Sherwood what she meant by "write a different ending," and she basically said, "anything but Teddy."

[sartorias]

*high fiving faithhopetricks*