A Year in Gold and Rubies
Title: A Year in Gold and Rubies
Description: A woman who has the power to preserve memories finds that her own are disappearing.
A/N: Ficathon 2012 submission. The original title of this was "A Year of Gold and Rubies," but I think this actually goes much better. AU, somewhat influenced by ancient Rome but nowhere near an accurate representation. ( Read more... )
Description: A woman who has the power to preserve memories finds that her own are disappearing.
A/N: Ficathon 2012 submission. The original title of this was "A Year of Gold and Rubies," but I think this actually goes much better. AU, somewhat influenced by ancient Rome but nowhere near an accurate representation. ( Read more... )
i love how you give us information in a way that doesn't feel like we're being force-fed; instead, you let us learn about the world organically, through details like the relative value of the senator's gift, or the toss of the pentagram coin deciding which memory will be heard first, etc. you do this with every story you write, but it never ceases to impress.
rhi is fantastic - solemn and fearless and nobody's fool, and i admire her for working in the poorer part of the city for the reason she does. the initial interaction between rhi and icarus is great, too - the interplay between her gratitude for his help and irritation at his concern, and his perceptiveness under all that gallant humor - everything i would expect from a first meeting between these two ;)
the scene with aemilia is lovely too - the bit about gregor's "unscholarly interest" made me laugh out loud - and i definitely had to hold back a sniffle when rhi reminisced about the last time she tried to create a false memory. the unique curse of the memoria is a genius touch. it's so very poignant that her way of indulging herself is to relive her mother's happiest memories.
the idea of rhi's mysterious crane being the key to icarus' taking back the throne is SO GOOD, i am practically sitting on my hands to keep from mashing the keyboard and demanding that you write the glorious outcome. i especially love the last scene between rhi and icarus - romantic without being mushy, and full of promise.
...on another note, i'm also quite curious about this wily seneca ;)
i must pick your brain for ideas, sometime, ice, because this is a fantastic read!! and if i may add my voice to the chorus of comments above - if there's more to be read, please share it with us sooner rather than later!
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*phew* i am so glad to hear that i hit the right notes with the characterizations. it was actually kind of a struggle to get icarus pegged because he had so little screentime until the very very end, but jadeite's good at making a strong impression under limited time constraints ;) i am also very glad to hear the info-dumps didn't come across as such, and extremely relieved about rhi's attempt to create a false memory. i was debating whether that would be believable/a bit over the top but people have done crazier things. it's a bit of an unusual take on rhi's mother, but we can't always have her being perfect.
lol -- you've gotten me there. some other people (*cough* aemilia *cough*) are also quite curious about seneca, and he gets the spotlight in the next part of this verse, i think. i am too predictable :) so hopefully more soon about him and how his icarus-hunt is going xD
ah yes... ummm... i need to return to letters to karchesa too. i really like that one because it's a/z (it always surprises me how few a/z fics i have written given that they are purportedly my favorite pairing) and a travelogue type fic, but it's being slow in manifesting itself. but i'm very glad to hear you like it!!
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