it's autumn in the country i remember, for nasimwrites

[nfe_gremlin]

Title: it's autumn in the country i remember
Author: be_themoon
Recipient: nasimwrites
Rating: PG
Content/Warnings: Mention of death.
Summary: Susan and Edmund have a conversation in three parts.
Author's Notes: Thank you to [redacted] for looking it over.

Comments

[vialethe]

I love this. It's quiet and soft and lovely, touching on the issues with Susan without getting mired down in them. Her acknowledgment to Edmund at the end is just right - dust in a storm, but still worth having. I like the connections between the scenes, with the sugar and her hair, and that last line! So beautiful.

[autumnia]

Just lovely! I like the little hint of what Edmund's been up to on this side of the wardrobe and how he and Susan can still talk about Narnia though not as openly as Lucy would. I also enjoy seeing the flashbacks to the same conversation when they were both in Narnia, and despite the things that went wrong, Susan was right - that life was worth having.

[nasimwrites]

I loved it... the subtle allusions to so many things! "The heat of the cup she hands him seems to be taking too long to spread, but then cold has always gone to his bones. He's not built for it. " it seemed to me like a hint at the White Witch, and in just that little phrase, everything was suddenly so chilling. I've always loved the relationship between Susan and Edmund; it feels so different from the relationships they have with Peter and Lucy. It's like they have a special understanding towards each other. I loved how Edmund reflected that while Lucy felt that Susan's smile was fake, Susan has always been like that, and it was part of what made her such a good Queen. It's such a perfect reconciliation of the books and my own idea of who Susan was... while she did focus on real life, she didn't ever really forget Narnia. And that conversation at the end, with Susan actually comforting Edmund, in a way... my heart!! It felt like a perfect rendition of the last quote I put as a prompt xD Thank you so much for that

[wingedflight21]

This is adorable! I love that you are able to reconcile the Susan we are told of in Last Battle with the strong queen -- giving her a reason for acting the way she does without sacrificing her overall character. She isn't forgetting Narnia so much as choosing to look forward, rising to the situation as always -- and the only reason she has changed so much is because her surroundings have as well. I love the gentle way the conversation plays out, the relationship that Susan still has with Edmund, the blinks of deja-vu that cut through the dialogue. Very beautifully done.

[edenfalling]

I really like the connection between Susan and Edmund, and how it relies as much on what they don't say as on their spoken words. The doubled conversations -- that almost but don't quite align with each other -- are a neat device. I especially like the idea of... how to put this... that the disaster with Rabadash and the whole of their time in Narnia are both experiences that have shaped Susan (and Edmund), though one was negative and the other mixed, and that she doesn't regret them, but they are past and she is looking to the present and future. Which is an interesting contrast with the way Lucy, who is often portrayed as throwing herself into new experiences, keeps trying to pull Susan into reminiscing -- to looking backward -- and thus causing arguments while also inverting aspects of their common fandom characterizations.

I love that you close with them passing under a lamppost. :-)