And I Turn Round And There You Go

[life_downsized]

[Over the whistling of the kettle, Mr. Bridges was humming a song...]Over the whistling of the kettle, Mr. Bridges was humming a song that Howard thought might have been My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean, although it was difficult to tell with such a lack of tune. Howard thought longingly of his own trumpet, locked in its case and tucked under a loose floorboard in his old bedroom in Leeds. He took a sip of tea that

Comments

[ideserveyou]

Oh, Vince. Oh, Howard. Oh, my heart. Are you going to torment us all three like this for another seven chapters? This was a fabulously bleak and atmospheric setting - the sort of setting Howard would no doubt imagine himself in for this sort of story - and it made the heartbreak all the worse. Howard was so close to remembering there, just a little bit, that sort-of feeling that Vince's hair is the wrong colour... and Vince's story about the Goofy Lodge is pricelessly funny but at the same time so very sad, because he remembers it really clearly as a good time they had together, but Howard's forgotten it. Or this Howard never knew it in the first place

[life_downsized]

Not another seven chapters...maybe just two or three more. Sorry! But Howard's beginning to get there, at least. Flippin' idiot.

The watch is significant, yes! I was trying to be subtle, but reading back I've realised I'm essentially pointing a big neon arrow that says PLOT DEVICE at it :D But, yes, keep an eye on that one.

I'm really pleased that this isn't getting boring yet, and thank you so much for reading! <3

[ideserveyou]

Phew, I didn't think I could take another seven chapters of this level of angst, although of course I would have read them anyway!

Nothing wrong with a good plot device - I use them all the time. (Somewhere I have a cartoon drawn by a friend of mine that has a torch shining on a notice that reads BLATANT PLOT DEVICE - I should really scan it and use it as an icon!) My shaman-senses told me there was something not quite right about that watch. Does canon!Vince even wear a watch, apart from his wonderful 'Top Goth' chiming one?

xi

[life_downsized]

I most definitely need an icon of that!

Vince's relationship to time is pretty nonexistent. He doesn't age (at least not in his own mind) and no matter how late he leaves things (like saving Howard in Bollo) he's never too late for anything. Time sort of stretches to accommodate him. At least, that's how I see it. So I figured it would be interesting to have him battling against the clock for a bit.

[life_downsized]

Haha, don't worry, I haven't got it in me to not resolve this with a nice fluffy ending. That's for better writers to do. Anyway, it's Christmas! :D

Thank you still reading this! You're lovely and I'm thrilled you like it!

[bluestocking79]

“You’ve gone wrong, Howard.” Vince grinned, somewhat shakily. “You and me, we’re a team, yeah? I let you go before and I ain’t doing that again.”Oh. I was barely holding it together, despite the sad, but when Vince said THAT, my heart cracked. Because I feel like now we've had a glimmering of why Vince is doing this, and how they got to this point, and his rising panic and unwillingness to let go of Howard here shows just how much heartbreak and desperation is really there underneath the cheeky facade and positive spin he's trying to put on things. When he tells Howard that he doesn't want to lose him again... well, that tells me something crushing about what Vince has been through, and why he might be here now with that (probably magical) device on his wrist. I don't know how Vince lost his Howard, but it's clear he'll move all of heaven and earth (and time and space) to get him back

[life_downsized]

S'all bleedin' comin' together! (Wrong show, but whatever.) But I definitely won't keep them split up too long. Just a couple more chapters!

But anyway, your comments never fail to make me smile for the rest of the day, so thank you so, so much! I'm so pleased that you like it, and that you get it (probably better than I do, to be honest) and it's just wonderful. Thank you!

[poshlil]

Oh my sweet lord, war stories always set me off. D: AND Bring Back My Bonnie. The two of them so close together with that story about Eurodisney have left me a howling mess. ;__;

[concupiscence66]

I don't know who you sold your soul to, but it was totally worth it. The juxtaposition of vince's chatter in the perfectly rendered war time atmosphere was perfect. It was moving, funny, anxiety provoking and heart breaking. Howard's thoughts on his father, the hero, were especially heart breaking. Canon Howard is always looking for a way to be significant, and i can imagine him thinking that being a war hero would be the best, but he has no idea of what comes with the title. He just wants to be important.

I'm on an emotional rollercoaster reading this, how did you write it???

(Goofy Lodge = priceless)