Mourning Sun [Romeo + Juliet, Benvolio/Mercutio, mature]
Fandom : Romeo + Juliet (specifically Baz Luhrman's version)
Title : Mourning Sun
Author : elke_tanzer @ AO3
Rating : mature
Characters & Pairings : Benvolio/Mercutio
Length : ~1100
Warnings : none
Summary : This day, Benvolio plays alone.
My Rave Review :
this was another one i found while randomly clicking around AO3. i have a ridiculous weakness for shakespeare slash, romeo and juliet slash in particular, and i absolutely love this solitary, lonely reflection of benvolio's after the end of the play. the whole city is in mourning for the doomed lovers, but benvolio is grief-stricken for mercutio and reminiscing on his memories of him. what i love best about this fic is the imagery and flow-- the author writes with a rhythm that kept me in mind of shakespeare the entire time, and i loved the way she played with words. it's so vivid, in my head it plays like a missing scene from the movie; i can see the colors and the camera angles and it's just beautiful. Differences were not so different after all, and sameness had its own nectared sweetness. Scarce-concealed glances, glittering glances, 'neath the glaring neon and jangling bell-toll of Apples' Orchard arcade... rough and tumbled and sequined and sparkled and naked and wrestling in the sand of the Sycamore Grove... it was all the sun, and it warmed him when he hadn't before felt any chill of cold.
grief is always a hard emotion to write, in my experience anyway, if only because it's easy to tip the scale toward melodramatic wallowing if you do it wrong. and given that the source play is so full of people losing their shit over the deaths of their loved ones, it would be even easier to go the ostentatiously tragic route with the fic. but it's fitting to benvolio's character, as the one who is caught up in the battles in the play and yet never takes an active part in causing them, that his grief is understated and introspective. this fic hits just the right note of hurt, longing and sorrow, so i was feeling for benvolio and also feeling with him. it's a great little character piece that puts me severely in mind of the movie (and in the mood to go watch it when i get home tonight).
Title : Mourning Sun
Author : elke_tanzer @ AO3
Rating : mature
Characters & Pairings : Benvolio/Mercutio
Length : ~1100
Warnings : none
Summary : This day, Benvolio plays alone.
My Rave Review :
this was another one i found while randomly clicking around AO3. i have a ridiculous weakness for shakespeare slash, romeo and juliet slash in particular, and i absolutely love this solitary, lonely reflection of benvolio's after the end of the play. the whole city is in mourning for the doomed lovers, but benvolio is grief-stricken for mercutio and reminiscing on his memories of him. what i love best about this fic is the imagery and flow-- the author writes with a rhythm that kept me in mind of shakespeare the entire time, and i loved the way she played with words. it's so vivid, in my head it plays like a missing scene from the movie; i can see the colors and the camera angles and it's just beautiful. Differences were not so different after all, and sameness had its own nectared sweetness. Scarce-concealed glances, glittering glances, 'neath the glaring neon and jangling bell-toll of Apples' Orchard arcade... rough and tumbled and sequined and sparkled and naked and wrestling in the sand of the Sycamore Grove... it was all the sun, and it warmed him when he hadn't before felt any chill of cold.
grief is always a hard emotion to write, in my experience anyway, if only because it's easy to tip the scale toward melodramatic wallowing if you do it wrong. and given that the source play is so full of people losing their shit over the deaths of their loved ones, it would be even easier to go the ostentatiously tragic route with the fic. but it's fitting to benvolio's character, as the one who is caught up in the battles in the play and yet never takes an active part in causing them, that his grief is understated and introspective. this fic hits just the right note of hurt, longing and sorrow, so i was feeling for benvolio and also feeling with him. it's a great little character piece that puts me severely in mind of the movie (and in the mood to go watch it when i get home tonight).