Fic: Aral Vorkosigan's Dog 9/15

[philomytha]

Special thanks for this chapter go to my father-in-law, an engineer and Bujold fan, who sat down with me and helped me work out which bits of a spaceship I could break and then explained how to fix them. I have diagrams! From multiple angles! And I know the names of all the parts and tools! Or at least I did once. Unfortunately, if I'd made use of

Comments

[avanti_90]

I love this chapter, every bit of it. I can see you've put a lot of effort into the Really Interesting Engineering Problem (I wish I had your diagrams from multiple angles!) I never quite appreciated how difficult it is to write that sort of thing until I started wrestling with what I think I shall now call Gregor Vorbarra's Really Deadly Engineering Problem.

I loved all the Komarr veterans worshiping the ground Aral walks on, and the story of Simon's father, and Aral asking Simon which side he would be on. Yes, that's what would have happened, if Serg had survived.
And I loved the way Aral stays out till the end, and the automatic way he risks his own life for Simon. And I have always believed that however little you may have wished for one, once you have a dog, he's your responsibility is an awesome, awesome line.
Actually, I can't think of anything in this chapter that I didn't completely love.

[avanti_90]

I'm giving up on the favorite-chapters thing. With this fic, it's just impossibly difficult.

[philomytha]

I got the impression from my father-in-law that engineers think 'really interesting' and 'really deadly' mean approximately the same thing! The problem with this was that I needed something that would involve them having to go outside to fix it, and he seemed to think that absolutely everything possible would be fixable from the inside, but that bearings had a nasty tendency to wear out suddenly and could only be replaced from the outside.

And I'm glad the dog line came out as awesome rather than corny, which was my fear.

[gwynnep]

I'm sure the tension in this story is bad for my health, I keep forgetting to breathe. But it's so good, even though I KNOW what will happen I still worry, and wonder.

[philomytha]

This was a particularly action-heavy chapter, I admit! I'm glad you're enjoying it.

[gwynnep]

I totally agree - that's what amazes me when reading - how I know what's going to happen and still can get so worried as I go along.
This fic is a great gift!
Thanks

[philomytha]

I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hope I can keep the tension going...

[laleia]

I like all the small ways you show how Vorkosigan is a great leader not by telling us that he is, but by showing us people's loyalty, by showing us how he can reassure a Weaponry Officer and ask the right question, whereas Serg lowers morale with every word that comes out of his mouth.

[philomytha]

Thanks! I'm glad Aral's leadership skills came across well here; I wasn't sure whether I was being too heavy-handed with that.

[hedda62]

I look forward to these early morning updates so much!

The tension in this chapter is great, along with the deeper understanding of Illyan's background and his developing relationship with Aral. And I admire your decision to make Serg not stupid at strategy - it would be easy to show him completely awful and this makes him more a tragic waste. And he's clever enough at tormenting Aral, after all; why shouldn't he be good at planing ship maneuvers when he puts in the effort?

[philomytha]

It's lunchtime updates for me here! I hope I can keep them coming regularly; I'm getting towards the bits that require a bit more polish and fixing up before they're fit to be seen.

Serg is a tricky character to write. He was a bit shallower and more Ges's puppet in earlier drafts, but Tel pointed out that he should be perceptibly Ezar's son, and so he got a bit more depth and power in later drafts.

I believe, looking over at your journal, that you are somewhat responsible for all my Vorkosigan fic. I first encountered the books via your Snape crossovers, and I believe I also found myself strongly attracted to Illyan from them. So I'm glad that this story is entertaining you in return!

Also, thanks for the rec, and I'm afraid you do more research than I do, because I just guessed that hydroponic potatoes would be doable! It seemed plausible - potatoes seem to grow in some fairly unlikely places. I saw one recommendation to grow them inside a bale of straw once, though I didn't actually try it.

[hedda62]

Oh, so cool - I'm glad I got you reading the books, and that it's had such a wonderful result. All your fic is good but this one is stunning.

One of my other lives is vegetable gardening education, so I'm always distracted by mentions of methods I haven't heard of. And it's kind of nice to know that gardens on spaceships would work.

[bratfarrar]

...This story could be subtitled "How is Aral awesome? Let me count the ways".

[philomytha]

Many, many ways... for a fic that's supposed to be about Illyan, it's got an awful lot about Aral too.