Comments | oldschoolfic: FK: "A Delicate Balance" (PG) by Amy R.

brightknightie in oldschoolfic

FK: "A Delicate Balance" (PG) by Amy R.

Jul 06, 2008 23:50

Ficathon Recipient:
amilyn

Ficathon Request:
Natalie Lambert of Forever Knight

Ficathon Prompt:
We know practically nothing about Natalie's past except it's loss after loss, which she faces with compartmentalization, humor, perfectionism, self-blame and avoidance.

Classifications:
PG, Gen, ~9,500 ( Read more... )

fandom: forever knight, author: brightknightie

Comments 18

amilyn July 15 2008, 01:06:05 UTC

I. Am. So. Excited. To. Read. This!!!!!!

Thank you!

More comments after I make it through the story after we finish the show we're watching but I just wanted to let you know that I SQUEALED when I saw that I'd gotten Natalie and that you'd written it!

And...dood...I've really got to start doing the References and Works Consulted and Credits thing; I love that idea!

ETA: This...I've read the first scene and it is GORGEOUS. The details, the dialogue (Natalie! Schanke! Nick!), Natalie being SO DONE with the conversation and finding it condescending...but wearing the long sleeves in the heat wave. I'm in love already. [TV break over...more reading later...] I'm totally going to savor this.

ETA2: I am literally breathless with how gorgeous and painful and strong and wonderful and THANK YOU. I want to respond in more detail...but that may require me to copy-paste the entire thing into Word and comment every couple of sentences. I adore this in more ways than I can express and will be reading it over and over and....did I ( ... )

brightknightie July 16 2008, 07:18:17 UTC

I am so relieved that it works for you! Thank you for all your generous enthusiasm for the story, here and in the kind mention on your LJ. Thank you also for the FK prompt in the first place; I was glad and grateful to get it (and am even more so now that I see we were the only two to include FK requests -- I lucked out!).

Perhaps curiously, as soon as I determined this story included flashbacks, the flashbacks simply happened, while I continued pushing and pulling to the last minute of the original deadline to haul the present-day into place.

If you'd perhaps be interested in chatting about your prompt sometime -- not in the middle of a work week! but sometime -- I'd love to learn more of what you were thinking as you chose and crafted it. Of course it plugs into canon every which way, and is very versatile. Did you have something specific in mind?

Again, thank you very much for reading it -- and so quickly! -- and for all your kind words about it.

amilyn July 16 2008, 14:35:53 UTC

I'm so not done gushing; I have so much to say. It MORE than works for me and is everything I'd hoped for and more. I'd LOVE to chat about it, and you can often find me at AIM/YIM as AmilynH.

brightknightie July 19 2008, 17:57:47 UTC

>"I'm so not done gushing; I have so much to say."

I'll be very glad to listen, in that case! :-) And thank you again for being so generous with your time and comments on some of my older Natalie stories this week. Your replies have been special treats through a stressed-out work-week.

>"...you can often find me at AIM/YIM as AmilynH."

~sheepish~ I've never learned how to use instant messaging. Would email or an LJ thread do? (Yet another reason that if there were some sort of physical eternal-youth immortality, I'd never, ever pull it off. ~g~ I don't learn new technologies quickly enough for the age I am, never mind eternally pretending to be younger!)

Thread 10

butterflykiki July 15 2008, 05:45:39 UTC

*applauds* Great story! I like that Natalie's mourning is so complicated, not just by the circumstances of Richie's death, but by how difficult and secretive their childhood was. I like the shift in perception to see Nick's behavior in a light that makes more sense; I love people being sweet to Nat at the birthday party. And nice job working in all the side characters. Yay!

brightknightie July 16 2008, 07:00:29 UTC

Thank you! Thank you for reading the story, and for seeing those specific aspects of it, and for letting me know! I appreciate the encouragement and reassurance.

chelseagirl July 15 2008, 11:27:21 UTC

My FK is a bit rusty in places, but this is a wonderful story. I never thought of Natalie as so traumatized, because she seems so sensible, but it actually makes a lot of sense with her character.

At the end I just imagined Natalie and Janette in a foggy airstrip somewhere in North Africa. ;-) The beginning of a beautiful . . . well, collaboration, anyway.

brightknightie July 16 2008, 06:44:28 UTC

Thank you very much for reading, and for letting me know you did! (Thank you also for the generous recommendation mention on your LJ!)

>"I never thought of Natalie as so traumatized, because she seems so sensible, but it actually makes a lot of sense with her character."

If FK had had a story bible -- well, it wouldn't have been FK! but if it had, I'm positive "abused by grandmother" would not have been in Natalie's original entry. By the time it rolls around in "Dead of Night," though, it parallels her with elements of Nick's experience, and doesn't clash.

>"a foggy airstrip somewhere in North Africa. ;-)"

Exactly. :-) Thank you! I wanted to give them a shot at picking a different road than the one that leads to third season.

abby82 July 15 2008, 12:37:55 UTC

::runs in and tries not to read for now::

Awesome! Natalie fic. You rock!

I simply must resist the temptation to speed read before work. It deserves much more attention than that.

brightknightie July 16 2008, 06:32:16 UTC

Thank you very much for the enthusiasm! :-) No rush. And the story will go to fkfic-l and my site in a week or two, when the ficathon has had a chance, and I've done whatever tinkering pops up.

larah33 July 15 2008, 22:45:47 UTC

I never watched the show, and only have a passing knowledge of the characters. But ... WOW! This was like a whole episode! The descriptions are so rich, the medical jargon (I'm assuming) spot on, the plot intricate yet intriguing.

When the swing brought him in range, she hit him. On the chest. Just like Nana hit them. Where the bruises didn't show.

This was particularly moving. People who have been abused tend to perpetuate the cycle, so this was a completely realistic moment. It just added so much to the backstory!

Your research puts me to shame. Fantastic job! :-)

brightknightie July 16 2008, 06:52:15 UTC

Thank you very much for reading it, and for letting me know! I'm delighted the story could work for someone not familiar with Forever Knight (and of course I must point out that it's available by download and DVD, if you find yourself interested ~g~).

Thank you for the kind words. I tried to make it as episode-like as I could.