The Crane Wife: Chapter 6 of 8 (Part II)

[x_losfic]

Title: The Crane Wife
Chapter: Six (Part II): Eight-->this had to be cut in half and posted separately due to lj length limitations
Author: x_los
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Five/Ainley!Master
Summary: In which the Doctor apologizes.
Beta: aralias--I'm posting this under f-lock for the moment because she hasn't quite endured it in full just yet. I'll make it

Comments

[rallalon]

I tend to be a bit of a lurker, but sometimes, a story is just so good/batshit/brilliant that I can’t not say anything due to having thought about it too much. It’s a little all or nothing that way. So hello, I adore your writing, your characterizations, and all the layers in both, and now I’m going to ramble for a little bit

[rallalon]

Now, this is the bit that has me wondering the most about the Doctor. First off, that was badass as hell and just generally awesome. Unfortunately, second, his entire plan hinged on the assumption that the Master would run to protect him in a time of danger. That the Master will do this has to be a given and for it to be a given, the Doctor has to understand and, more importantly, acknowledge the Master’s motivations. He could potentially keep denying his own feelings after this, but I don’t think even the Doctor could go back to blinding himself as to what’s going on in the Master’s head and hearts

[x_losfic]

I think it's important that the bit about the plan hinging on the Master coming running was in the Master's pov. He feels like a rube, like he's been had--the Doctor knew the Master would come himself for a threat like the Likkaut, let alone a serious menace like the Daleks. The Master can't help but see the strategic decision as deeply personal and humiliating because the Doctor was the one making it, whereas I think the Doctor's still comfortable deluding himself about the extent to which the Master has a passing crush.

Thanks about it being badass! I wanted him to do something hard so I could assure myself I wasn't writing woobie!subby!Five.

Ah no, actually--I edited it at some point when I realized I'd not taken care of the collar, and now it goes when the cuffs do. Otherwise he'd just be too easy to track?

I think he currently believes the Master will cool down, given a little time... aha.

Again, thanks for commenting!

[rallalon]

The Master can't help but see the strategic decision as deeply personal and humiliating because the Doctor was the one making it, whereas I think the Doctor's still comfortable deluding himself about the extent to which the Master has a passing crush.Just when I think he might be getting it, no? Seriously, though, I feel like something has to register on a deeper level than that, at this point. Maybe he can justify the attraction as a physical thing, maybe he can justify the mental compatibility from being genius Time Lords, maybe he can even justify the Master's sexual assault of a freak-out in the first part of this chapter as a possessive man's response to being spurned by one of his possessions, but there's still that proposal. For a man who plans like the Master to propose a longterm alliance of any sort means that it's longterm (with, of course, minor-to-severe threats of backstabbing that don't apply in this particular instance

[x_los]

Spring cleaning my inbox and saw I hadn't properly gotten back to you!

but there's still that proposal.

I think Five tends to *write off* shit that's Too Big or that he just doesn't want or know how to deal with. Registering on a deeper level? Yes. Confronted actively on a conscious level? Hell to the no!

And re: property, I think that's ONLY an emotional thing made concrete for him, like handcuffs and presents. He thinks he'd have convinced the Doctor to stay in bed, and he thinks the Doctor's his in an elementary, obvious personal way, and talks about it in physical terms because as you said, physical person, and also if you can't verbalize insecurities well enough to deal with them as what they are, or suspect you might not meet with a good reception if you wanted to Talk About Feelings or whatever, externalize that as literal possession and dealing with it on those grounds seems safer, and more workable?

(Or maybe I'm just reading way too much into this. Sorry, English major. It happens.)Nah, I'm an English major, bless

[x_losfic]

Thanks v. much! Long comment makes my /week/.

I really like your reading of the dub-con scene--the part about physical symbols of control being a means of reassuring himself/demonstrating affection is particularly eloquently put.

Not that you bring it to my attention, this /is/ letting the Master force him into leaving--waiting until he does something that give him an excuse/can't be ignored. I like that even in *leaving* he's being this passive aggressive, and making as little of an emotional investment/commitment either way as possible.

I also really like that point about Five assigning greater prestige to choice than to emotions/outcome, and therefore being weakest on that front. You've done so much excellent commentary it's like reading good canon meta--it clarifies underlying points that definitely get muddled in my mind by the details of the writing process. So thanks a lot!

Every move is to bind the Doctor to him all the more tightlyEven giving him star systems might accomplish that--people feel more tied to a situation

[rallalon]

Not that you bring it to my attention, this /is/ letting the Master force him into leaving--waiting until he does something that give him an excuse/can't be ignored. I like that even in *leaving* he's being this passive aggressive, and making as little of an emotional investment/commitment either way as possible.

The Five you’ve written is an immensely reactive man. From the get go, he’s got a situation to deal with, one that he has to respond to rather than shape. And for someone trying to resist his situation, the emotional side to this makes a great deal of sense. Unless he gets provoked, he doesn’t really do much to the Master, relatively speaking. He refuses to give in, doesn’t often initiate, and yet - for more or less the entirety of Chapter Five - he can’t even properly reject the man. (I think this might be why the escape was just so incredibly fantastic: not only was he finally really actively doing something about his situation instead of simply attempting to hold his ground, he was doing it so brilliantly