Drabblespam #1

[weatherby]

Okay, over the next week or so I am probably going to be very fic/drabble spammy. I wanted to try to consolidate them as much as possible, but there are only two I've finished so far. Also, the idea of putting more than one thing into an entry gives me hives. So for now, you're going to get two posts of this in a row (and I apologise, because I

Comments

[bookshop]

Hello! This is beautiful. I love the detail, as always, but here every detail seems richer and more taut with meaning because of all the veiled action. I love the description of the candle, and the wax, and it getting in Draco's hair like dandruff--I love that comparison especially because it's so representative of how out-of-place Draco is here, how surreal and unexpected his circumstances are. I love the way all the litttle details work to give evidence that Draco's fortunes are so drastically different now than they were before: the cold weather, the "lamentable" candleflame, the seized cauldrons, the dull blue-grey of the walls. And I especially love the body language: the way Draco's toes curl up around Pansy's skirt, the way he raps her knuckles and the way she leans against him and touches his hair. That easy familiarity that still conceals and conveys to us a tired distress on both their parts.

And the final imagery: Pansy's thin black line against the snow, the candle going out--it is all just gorgeous, as your writing tends to be; and if I did not suspect that you hate your work being deconstructed and read into, I would have a lot to say about symbolism and how it is at work here on a number of different levels. Most especially, the title intrigues me: the Last Stop. Knowing that Draco is on a train, and knowing that metaphorically, at least according to film noir, the last stop is always death, this piece manages in a very short space to raise all sorts of questions about what kind of reality Draco is living in, what the future will bring for him, and what sort of life, even whose life, is being snuffed out with the candle. In addition to avoiding home, is Draco also avoiding reality? Is he avoiding the possibility that Lucius will face death or (worse?) the Kiss? Is this the last stop for Draco on the path to maturity and acceptance--or to something much worse?

The devotion between Draco and Pansy here is simply profound and touching and real.

I don't know what else to add other than that I loved it, as always--but especially this, especially now. ♥

[weatherby]

You gave me a pity review! :)) Thank you.

Yes, he is avoiding reality. That is why he was laughing when he said that he might die if Pansy forgot about him. And I did that with the title on purpose.

[bookshop]

It is not a pity review! I would have said all this anyway because I have had time to think about it. =;

I am utterly fascinated with the trains-as-paths-to-death metaphor. I babbled on about this when I reviewed PJ's fic "Where All Trains Go" and there is a whole huge motif about it in Billy Wilder's film Double Indemnity, and the fact that Draco's train is currently stalled and going nowhere and is slowly freezing and/or starving him to death unless he gets off it soon, well, that's--that's just about right, isn't it?

[weatherby]

Yes, it is. :)) *continues to feel more clever and planned than actually is* I really picked the train randomly before I wrote the fic, but then I was very pleased with myself as I decided what the fic was about. Now I feel awesome.

[weatherby]

Your review makes me feel very clever.

[bookshop]

:o I have merited a second response!

Gosh. Now I feel clever also.