Fic: Bedtime Stories for Bohemians

[gildedmuse]

Author: Stephanie
Title: Bedtime Stories for Bohemians
Chapter: The Princess and The Marxist
Characters/Pairings: Roger/April, Mark/Roger/April (sort of)
Rating: Pg-13
Word Count: 2,870
Summary: April, Roger, and Mark are laying around, trying to fight off the cold when April incites Mark to tell them a fairy tale.

Comments

[formerlydf]

Okay, so the fact that you wrote this would make it amazing in any case, but the whole "fairytale/bedtime story" theme is just the icing on the cake. I've wanted someone to write Rent as a fairytale for so long, you have no idea.

...Yes, seriously.

Anyway, this was super-amazing-incredible, although I felt kind of bad for Mark. *hugs him* The whole "he has no one" thing, and how he's accepted but still separate. And then how they fall asleep without him. I really hate it when stuff like that happens. *makes face*

But! I loved your characterisation-April having a sister and this April doesn't talk about herself much, just about things she's doing or going to do, never backwards. was really cool, because it gave a little insight into April. Oh, and the "brother named June" thing made me giggle.

Roger and April's relationship is adorable (even though they tend to block out the world and therefore Mark.) I like how they're all snuggly and semi-domestic, but they've still got the whole "I don't know where under the covers his hand is, and I'm not sure I want to" thing going on. It seemed... realistic, especially with your portrayal of April as a sympathetic but not super-over-pathos-inducing character. Plus you didn't mention the drug thing, which was cool. I mean, so many fics already deal with that aspect of it that it's refreshing to have one that doesn't. There must have been one time when April and Roger weren't stoned out of their mind, right?

As to the fairytale itself, it was adorable! Mark is definitely much better at telling stories than he thinks. (Silly self-deprecating little boy. *shakes head*) Except now I'm getting Mark/Roger prison!sex images, which I suppose isn't necessarily a bad thing...

I kind of wanted to know how it ended, though. Although the painter, poet, and April start having a threesome relationship with lots of hot sex until the poet gets jealous of the painter's sexual prowess, and you guys are really asleep, huh? made me laugh hysterically. Especially the bit about Mark's sexual prowess. You write Mark so amazingly.

Speaking of Mark, now I get to have a whole paragraph devoted to him, which is definitely the funnest part of writing reviews! He just... He's so cute, but yet so sad. (In a completely mostly subtle way, of course, so mad props for that.) They have each other, so they can spare a few blankets for the lonely, frozen cameraman. I... can say nothing to this. *hugs Mark*

I feel like this is where Mark starts to turn himself off, even before the AIDS thing. Like, he feels happy with these people, but sometimes they just act like he's invisible, and so he starts to be. Roger is just preoccupied with April, and April, while well-meaning, is kind of capricious and while she can be stubborn, her attention can also be diverted occasionally. And that leaves Mark in the background, just kind of taken for granted, not noticed until he starts to speak.

Or I could just be reading too much into this. I did just write an essay for English class, after all, and I think my mind is still in the whole analytical mode. Plus, Mark. Is just amazing. *nods*

*coughs* Anyway, I'm going to stop rambling now and just say how much I liked this story, which was a lot. But then again, like I said, it was written by you, so that's pretty much a given. *grins*

~DF

[gildedmuse]

Ha. Your review is almost as long as the fic itself. I like that. ^^ It helps my day, what with the computer crashing and all. Which brings me to the point that this reply would be longer if I weren't using a school computer during class.

And I don't think you can ever be too analytical, so don't worry about it.

[formerlydf]

*blushes* Well, I tried to be concise, but then I just kept on thinking, "But there's so much more to say!" and then... Well, you can see the results. (The best, though, is when someone writes a drabble and I write a review that's about twice as long. Just for the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. *grins*)

Oh noe! Computer crashes are an existential bane. Along with writer's block. And hey, it's cool; I'm used to replies being a heckuva lot shorter than my review. (And I just used the word heckuva in a sentence. Wow. *shakes head*)

Oh, goody. And thank you. *laughs*

~DF

PS. Your icon wins, just for the sheer awesomeness of that movie.