Dæmonverse AU ficlet: "Matters of Control."

[lit_luminary]

Title: Matters of Control
Author: lit_luminary
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: House, Wilson; House/Wilson established; implications of House/Chase mentorship/friendship.
Summary: House and Wilson discuss the implications of Chase’s ability to ease pain. (An interlude set between the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of " Principles of Growth."

Comments

[brindlewolf]

Like this a lot. I do need to reread the whole series which I seem to have neglected to comment on previously :( except one old comment here: http://lit-luminary.livejournal.com/14347.html?thread=122635#t122635 This is really good! <3

[lit_luminary]

Well, better late than never! I'm glad you enjoyed this latest installment, and I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts on the previous ones.

[damigella_314]

Thanks for writing this! It's good to see House and Wilson explore their reaction to Chase's "coming out". It's particularly important that House realizes he's no longer allowed to take arbitrary risks, since it's no longer only his life he's risking. I think it's a side of House that is very, very IC and we don't see enough of in the show (not to mention the total OoC that is S7). Same is true for House's caring for Chase, despite their initial difficulties, probably due to House being a father figure.

You've done a fantastic job of using the demons to show the connection between House and Wilson, especially Wilson's long suffering and House's acknowledgement and respect of it.

This is a great example of a point I tried to make in the around-the-campfire discussion thread, namely that extremely AU fics can still be IC and in fact enlightening for canon.

[lit_luminary]

Thank you for noticing the "coming out" metaphor: magic has so often been a stand-in for various forms of gender and sexual transgression that it was impossible not to give a nod to that discourse.

I agree with you absolutely: House is often horribly reckless with his own welfare, but it's never his intention to cause any serious and/or irreparable harm to others. (I wish I could put that on a poster and march in front of the canon writers' offices with it.) He'd certainly never knowingly risk the lives of those he cares about (or the lives of complete strangers, either, unless there were some larger goal to provide logical justification--e.g., his decision to sacrifice one baby to save the lives of six others in "Maternity").

As to your last point, that was my argument I used in the essay I sent you: that not only can AU fics be IC, they can accomplish certain functions that fics obeying canon's parameters cannot.

[damigella_314]

I wish I could put that on a poster and march in front of the canon writers' offices with it.
I'll help you carry the poster. You may have to restrain me from bashing the idiots' heads in with it, though.

they can accomplish certain functions that fics obeying canon's parameters cannot.
Precisely. I wish you had taken part in the camp!fire discussion, because you could have said it much better than I can.

Every time I think about Wilson sacrificing the physical tie to Rona, and risking severing the other two ties as well (because magic, like medicine, is not an exact science) in order to get House back, I think this is the best image of what there is between them.

[lit_luminary]

Well, if you did hypothetically happen to bash their heads with the poster, of course you'd know that it wouldn't actually hurt them. Same principle whereby House knew that driving a car through Cuddy's dining room wouldn't hurt her and her guests!

I'll have to watch for the next discussion, because I hadn't been aware that one was going on. And thank you so much: that's the highest compliment this universe could be given.

[tayloz9]

nice :) i like.

sorry, i am new on LJ, how do you do this 'read more', please?

[lit_luminary]

See LJ FAQ #75 here: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=75.

[cuddyclothes]

To sound like a teenager: wow, this is so cool! It took me a few moments to understand what was going on, but then I went back and reread the beginning and got it. The "quality more than quantity" is such a great key to House's--I'm not sure what--id? Worldview? Emotional life? (Yes, it's that good.)

What essay? Is there one about AU fics being IC?

[lit_luminary]

Thank you! This series contains some of my favorite pieces of everything I've written: the addition of dæmons allows a kind of narrative flexibility I can't achieve with anything else.

I'd say "worldview," personally, but there'd be elements of his emotional life there, too: it's an idea that's central to understanding not only his life choices, but his attitude toward his pain. And he and Wilson have never agreed on that point: Wilson's need is to keep House alive as long as possible, without necessarily confronting the questions (and realities) of what that would mean in terms of quality of life.

The essay I mentioned is one I wrote about the appeal of fantasy/magical realism AUs in House fandom; you can see an extract here. (The rest is largely a discussion of what I was attempting to explore in writing "Principles of Growth" and remains unposted.)

[cuddyclothes]

The link sent me to a dead page. :(

[lit_luminary]

Okay: I must. Let's try this: http://lit-luminary.livejournal.com/10686.html.