Dark fic.

[septemberoses]

Title: Rage/The Dark Fic (excerpt)
Author: septemberoses
Fandom: True Blood
Rating: R for force, insanity, betrayal, abuse
Pairing: Eric/Godric
Word Count: 1700
Summary: Godric uses his powers of command to force Eric into something that he doesn't want to do.
Note: This is an excerpt from an as-yet-untitled Dark Fic that I have been working on

Comments

[gruochrua]

I've been craving a dark fic, as you know, and this...whoa. The suffering and the cruelty were so tangible. There is something profoundly creepy, as well, in Godric forcing Eric into the role of his tormentor (originally his maker, perhaps?). It made me cringe, which is exactly what I wanted. Ugh, I'm a horrible person sometimes. But it's cathartic, and that's sort of the point of this fic, right? Purging...only poor Eric, to be used like that. I felt for Godric, but really most of my sympathies were with Eric.

[septemberoses]

In this dark fic, it's partly about Godric getting his masochistic needs met. (and yes, in his worst times, he turns toward the abuse he got from his maker) I have mixed feelings about this, in terms of meshing with my personal canon for these two. For instance, while I think it's plausible that Godric *could* command Eric like this, it's such a wretched thing to do to him. My sympathies were totally with Eric as well in this vignette, although the entire fic is a series of vignettes and the sympathies shift.

I'm curious, do you see this as working at all in the construct of who you perceive them to be? I'm writing it regardless, but it's dark and more than a little creepy. Cathartic, for sure, which is what this snippet was for Godric as well.

I am ... I think ... taking some of my personal canon (their power dynamic, Godric's mental state) to its most extreme in this fic.

[gruochrua]

It is creepy, yes, and disturbing, but honestly I think it actually makes a lot of sense. I think Godric is all about the suffering--it's very much a part of him. He obviously has a lot of guilt that's piled up over the years. I mean, he wanted to burn to death. What a horrible, painful way to die. And I think it's reasonable, too, that he would use Eric to revisit these unhappy moments and perform a sort of penance. It's rather cruel to poor old Eric, but there's such a trust and a bond between them that goes back for ages. The self-mortification has much deeper meaning, and a greater release, when Eric is the one who is, in a sense, punishing and absolving. I think Godric has a very hard time forgiving himself, but he can sort of do that indirectly through Eric. Is this making a modicum of sense, or am I just rambling?

[septemberoses]

Yes, it does make sense. Their relationship is so intimate ... Godric chooses Eric to punish/absolve, a twist on the same intimacies that had me choosing *Godric* to administer the tribunal's nasty punishment in Obedience. Because as Godric said, if it was going to be someone punishing Eric, he'd rather it was him. And I can't help thinking of the weirdly overlapping fic-concept threads between this part of their bond and the way you just explored it in your fic. It's the same deep bond, deployed in wildly different fashions.

[gruochrua]

I was thinking the exact same thing when I was reading this--like wow, I'm seeing this strange flip-side/creepy fun-mirror reflection of themes on suffering and the ties that bind that are in my own fic.

Ahh, Eric and Godric are so much fun it's disgusting.

[blissy83]

I was thinking you two were the same person, cause I keep finding bits that complement each other in both of your fics-even the older ones- I thought about PMing Sep about this, but I was afraid it might seem weird

[septemberoses]

Hah. That's very funny. Actually I am flattered, because I think Gruochrua's an excellent writer. I think we have an overlap in some of our personal (made-up) canon, and an overlap in the parts of their story that interest us. But we are not the same person, and we're not comparing story points in advance.