Yay! You got it finished. I'm in the middle of preparing for Hogmanay here at the moment so I shall look forward to reading this later, once the chaos has died down. It'll be a fine way to start the New Year :)
Awww so sweet! Horatio can be terribly romantic when the mood takes him :) You've set the scene beautifully here and I love the huge cast of aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews all running around. It's nicely chaotic, as a wedding should be! The description of the kitchen is spot on and an extra big huzzah for the seedcake!
We have faced French broadsides; surely we can withstand three small children. I know how Horatio feels and I only have one of them!
you'll put me aside for a woman someday, however much you may call me your dearest friend. *sniffle* too sad for words, even though it never came to that :'( And Archie is absolutely right that Horatio is naive to think that he could have got away without marrying Mariette.
Lovely stuff. Very well written and the period detail is perfect. Of course!
I'm so glad you liked it! Period detail on land comes relatively easily to me, having volunteered at a house-museum and all; I have cooked in kitchens like that, and although I made my seed-cake in my own modern oven, I did bake gingerbread in a Dutch oven at the hearth! (The fire marshal absolutely forbade us from using the wall-oven, alas.)
One of the reasons that this took so long to write is that I would decide I needed to check a detail for authenticity and get distracted by all the lovely information I found. Things like "was the 'A glass of wine with you' toasting custom only between men, or were women included?" and "were toy Noah's Arks popular before the 19th century?" and "please, Internet, tell me some comic actors of the period, not just the famous tragedians, and, by the way, when was curtain time?" I also had a little bit of trouble sorting out which jobs were the province of footmen and which of housemaids, so, if I got it wrong, I'll just claim that this is a less hierarchical household than a late Victorian one and
( ... )
having volunteered at a house-museum and all; I have cooked in kitchens like that I have never cooked in a period kitchen, in fact I try to avoid cooking if at all possible :} However I eat in one regularly! There is a lovely restaurant just down the road from here in the kitchen of Pollok House which was built by William Adam in the 1750s.
I also had a little bit of trouble sorting out which jobs were the province of footmen and which of housemaids I freely confess I am clueless on that front. I know exactly who did what on a man of war but in a morning room? Forget it! You could have the chambermaid stable the horses in the drawing room and I'd be none the wiser! :}
All of the mischief the children got up to was, at some point, enacted by my very own child. Really?! Even the Rajah incident?!
Weddings bring out the sentimental in everyone, don't they? Erm...probably best if I don't answer that ;)
So glad you enjoyed! I did indeed! Hope we can look forward to more.
eternaleponineinvented the Rajah incident. I have no tiger rug, but I wouldn't have put it past my kid to try that if we had!
I'll forgive you if you're not sentimental about weddings. Horatio is actually romantic about Archie ALL the time, he just usually doesn't have the words to express it. He appears to have found them in the Book of Common Prayer!
As for more - I appear to be 1800 words into my LKU fic. Don't ask me why the last one took more than a month and this one looks like it'll be knocked out tomorrow, if not tonight. Maybe it's the two long drives I've had to do in the past two days - they appear to be good for my writing process!
I was about to comment with "how romantic", when I saw that Anteros got there before me. But, yeah, this is romance at its best. It's a bit like reading a light-hearted Jane Austen, had she been a slash writer (which she secretly totally was).
In addition to all those lovely details of family life, I adore the gentle and slow sex they're having. It strikes me so much truer than fully-blown shagging would.
as long as we both shall live
This could be so very sad, but fortunately, we know that the problem has been fixed.
I've been reading Austen (and Georgette Heyer) for years and years and years, so it's not surprising that this partakes of elements (and what a flattering comparison!)
I'm glad the sex scenes work for you, too. After what Archie's been through, I can see him responding to gentleness (and freezing up when it's lacking). And in my head, Horatio may be terrible at putting emotions in words (that's why he has to use pre-existing ones!) but he's not half bad at reading what Archie's body is saying, and responding in kind.
It was writing that line that made it CRUCIAL for me to write the LKU fic. I couldn't leave it there!
After what Archie's been through, I can see him responding to gentleness (and freezing up when it's lacking). And in my head, Horatio may be terrible at putting emotions in words (that's why he has to use pre-existing ones!) but he's not half bad at reading what Archie's body is saying, and responding in kind.
I couldn't agree more.
Georgette Heyer was the other author that sprang to mind when I read your fic. Emily in particular could be a GH heroine. She makes me think of an older and sterner Grand Sophy, for some reason.
Well I loved the end of this anyway, especially Archie's comment "There's no such remedy for us." That's really poignant, and very, very Archie. I think the extra paragraph does add depth though, particularly to Horatio's characterisation. There's certainly no denying that he has a weakness for women and it seems right that he acknowledges the truth of this, if only to himself.
Thank you! As I re-read the story (to gloat over all the lovely comments!) I realized that there were things I knew about Horatio that I hadn't gotten across - especially about how Horatio still notices girls and not boys except for Archie, but also how Archie's doubt both surprised him (because he's a little dim sometimes, he really HAD thought he could pack Mariette off to his father) and hurt him (because, dim or not, he loves Archie without reservation). Without the internal angst, his answer felt too pat.
And he's absolutely in earnest about "forsaking all others." He hasn't quite thought it out consciously, but I think it derives from his experience of burial at sea - anyone can read the words, if there's no parson aboard, and they still carry the same weight. So he believes that if he means the words when he says them, they carry the same force. God can still hear him, after all, and so can Archie, which matters more. (This says some interesting things about his religious principles, doesn't it?)
because he's a little dim sometimes, he really HAD thought he could pack Mariette off to his father Yeah, I can absolutely believe that Horatio would quite genuinely believe that.
I think it derives from his experience of burial at sea - anyone can read the words, if there's no parson aboard, and they still carry the same weight. That's a very interesting perspective and not one I've come across before. Though I confess I am a dyed in the wool atheist and wouldn't recognise the Book of Common Prayer if it fell on my head. Horatio always seems to be very sincere in his beliefs though, particularly where Archie is concerned of course :)
I'm an atheist raised in a secular Jewish family, so all my familiarity with the BCP (and the KJV Bible) comes from English teachers who pointed out those books' pervasive influence on English literature, because those are the books that ALL the authors would have read, even if they'd read little else. Trust me, I have bookmarks to BOTH of those so I can steal quotations for my writing!
Even though I either never had or have since abandoned any religious connection to those sources, I have to admit I LOVE the language. If I'm alluding to a religion I don't believe in, it had BETTER sound like Shakespeare rather than some more accurate but tediously modern and mundane translation!
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We have faced French broadsides; surely we can withstand three small children.
I know how Horatio feels and I only have one of them!
you'll put me aside for a woman someday, however much you may call me your dearest friend.
*sniffle* too sad for words, even though it never came to that :'( And Archie is absolutely right that Horatio is naive to think that he could have got away without marrying Mariette.
Lovely stuff. Very well written and the period detail is perfect. Of course!
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One of the reasons that this took so long to write is that I would decide I needed to check a detail for authenticity and get distracted by all the lovely information I found. Things like "was the 'A glass of wine with you' toasting custom only between men, or were women included?" and "were toy Noah's Arks popular before the 19th century?" and "please, Internet, tell me some comic actors of the period, not just the famous tragedians, and, by the way, when was curtain time?" I also had a little bit of trouble sorting out which jobs were the province of footmen and which of housemaids, so, if I got it wrong, I'll just claim that this is a less hierarchical household than a late Victorian one and ( ... )
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I have never cooked in a period kitchen, in fact I try to avoid cooking if at all possible :} However I eat in one regularly! There is a lovely restaurant just down the road from here in the kitchen of Pollok House which was built by William Adam in the 1750s.
I also had a little bit of trouble sorting out which jobs were the province of footmen and which of housemaids
I freely confess I am clueless on that front. I know exactly who did what on a man of war but in a morning room? Forget it! You could have the chambermaid stable the horses in the drawing room and I'd be none the wiser! :}
All of the mischief the children got up to was, at some point, enacted by my very own child.
Really?! Even the Rajah incident?!
Weddings bring out the sentimental in everyone, don't they?
Erm...probably best if I don't answer that ;)
So glad you enjoyed!
I did indeed! Hope we can look forward to more.
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I'll forgive you if you're not sentimental about weddings. Horatio is actually romantic about Archie ALL the time, he just usually doesn't have the words to express it. He appears to have found them in the Book of Common Prayer!
As for more - I appear to be 1800 words into my LKU fic. Don't ask me why the last one took more than a month and this one looks like it'll be knocked out tomorrow, if not tonight. Maybe it's the two long drives I've had to do in the past two days - they appear to be good for my writing process!
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In addition to all those lovely details of family life, I adore the gentle and slow sex they're having. It strikes me so much truer than fully-blown shagging would.
as long as we both shall live
This could be so very sad, but fortunately, we know that the problem has been fixed.
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I'm glad the sex scenes work for you, too. After what Archie's been through, I can see him responding to gentleness (and freezing up when it's lacking). And in my head, Horatio may be terrible at putting emotions in words (that's why he has to use pre-existing ones!) but he's not half bad at reading what Archie's body is saying, and responding in kind.
It was writing that line that made it CRUCIAL for me to write the LKU fic. I couldn't leave it there!
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I couldn't agree more.
Georgette Heyer was the other author that sprang to mind when I read your fic. Emily in particular could be a GH heroine. She makes me think of an older and sterner Grand Sophy, for some reason.
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And he's absolutely in earnest about "forsaking all others." He hasn't quite thought it out consciously, but I think it derives from his experience of burial at sea - anyone can read the words, if there's no parson aboard, and they still carry the same weight. So he believes that if he means the words when he says them, they carry the same force. God can still hear him, after all, and so can Archie, which matters more. (This says some interesting things about his religious principles, doesn't it?)
Thanks for reading the
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Yeah, I can absolutely believe that Horatio would quite genuinely believe that.
I think it derives from his experience of burial at sea - anyone can read the words, if there's no parson aboard, and they still carry the same weight.
That's a very interesting perspective and not one I've come across before. Though I confess I am a dyed in the wool atheist and wouldn't recognise the Book of Common Prayer if it fell on my head. Horatio always seems to be very sincere in his beliefs though, particularly where Archie is concerned of course :)
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Even though I either never had or have since abandoned any religious connection to those sources, I have to admit I LOVE the language. If I'm alluding to a religion I don't believe in, it had BETTER sound like Shakespeare rather than some more accurate but tediously modern and mundane translation!
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