International Women's Day meme: Aravis, Jalur, the Rat, the Boy, and the Trickster

[rthstewart]

For min023 , elouise82 , and LoTL (also, a while ago, Syrena asked for some of this too,

Aravis, the Rat, the Boy, and the Trickster, with added Jalur.  As I'd had multiple requests for Aravis, I combined this into a couple of pieces.  None even come close to being 100 words.  Aravis takes some getting used to, and alters even over the course of this short piece

Comments

[min023]

I really like these. Jalur at his snarky best, and the view of the night before the morning after. 'Course, now I'm feeling greedy, because I want to know what happened with Willa and the 200 horse in the desert, and what exactly the final sequence with the Trickster means (it almost has the feel of a dream). Oh, and do I remember you once saying that Aravis is a person of colour in your universe? Or is it that she is Hispanic (a la the Telmarines in the PC movie)

[rthstewart]

Once again, I've shown the END of the story. You recall Asim's dream of the Rat and the Crow conferring? That's Willa and Sallowpad with Sallowpad telling her of their plan to escape Tashbaan and Willa deciding to stay behind to spy and then learning of the invasion plan and being helpless to do anything. She tried to catch up with Aravis, but can't move that fast and so ends up smuggling herself with the 200 horses.

As for the Persons of Color, I certainly see Aravis as such and I'm casting Jill as Afro-Caribbean after seeing Miniver float the idea.

[autumnia]

Lovely!!!! I am thrilled with your ever expanding Narnia-verse. For now we have a bit of HHB here.

Jalur and his promises to Morgan to keep dim-witted ladies away from their King. Loved that! And Briony's comments about her and Lucy's thoughts on the daring Archenland soldier.

And like min above, the whole thing with Willa and Rabadash sounds rather intriguing. It just makes you want to know more.

I do love Jalur and Aravis as well. Perhaps to him, she is a little like when he and Edmund first met Morgan? Both women are so unused to their surroundings and it takes time for them to break out of their shell.

And the Trickster! Lovely, lovely and how totally fun that would have been to hear the conversation between the God and Willa. And Cor seems to be a bit more confident here... perhaps because they were talking about a subject he's quite familiar with?

This was absolutely wonderful, rth.

[rthstewart]

I think the piece is a bit all over the place and I certainly do not have a clue as to Aravis yet. But, the prompts were what they were and it was fun to play with it and see what came out. I did have Cor be very bumbling with the introductions and bowing, whereas Aravis is smooth. But, when it comes to the Trickster, Shasta believes -- as well he should since the Trickster has been watching out for him. The race issues and the idea that Cor wasn't punished for his raiding while Aravis was punished for her actions with the slave were discussed on the NFFR board so I wanted to see what happened when I played with them. And for a Tiger in Archenland, he's just not going to get the "race" difference.

[katharhino]

Aslan will eat me again? That sounds like a story.

I'd love to read more about your Aravis. I can see you refining her voice in this.

[rthstewart]

There's a link I added to my first foray into the Trickster. He frequently shows up as a Rat in my Calormene head canon. http://rthstewart.livejournal.com/26439.html

I've not done Aravis before -- I've thought about retelling HHB from the perspective of the Trickster god but had not thought over much about Aravis other than that at some point, I would send her and Cor off on an adventure where they fight, save the world, and finally do the deed (whatever that might be) and live happily ever after. She needs refining, obviously, and this was a good opportunity to start trying it out. Some fic writers have her pretty comfortable with her Calormene culture. Others do not and obviously I've tried out here the idea that she's tried to renounce it and leave it behind her, to try to "fit in." I'm not sure if that makes canonical sense. I'll have to think about it.

[elouise82]

Gorgeous! I love that Aravis very firmly and decidedly puts everything from her past behind her: her beliefs; her practices; her family; even her name, while Cor seems to blend his two cultures far more seamlessly together. And Jalur's complete confusion as to why Aravis would feel so different from the Archenlanders - priceless!

(And I HAVE to ask - was Cor captured by Tusken Raiders or Jawas???)

[rthstewart]

Awww, thanks. That was the idea, to have her renounce everything, only to find that it's not gone as much as she would like it to be. Insofar as the Trickster is concerned, in my head canon, he has been actively watching out for Cor and so the boy does have a very positive view of that aspect of the Calormene pantheon, whereas I think Aravis feels very much abandoned by the gods of her youth and/or trying desperately to be like everyone else. I'm not sure if that's how I really see her, but this was a good opportunity to test the theory. Thanks for prompting!

Desert pirates/tribes/Tusken Raiders For The Win. they ride Banthas... and there will be a Krayt dragon!

[anonymous]

So good! I loved Briony asking Jalur if he'd rather council Lucy! Also all the Rat and Crow.

And it had to have been the Tuskan raiders, right?

[anonymous]

That's from me, by the way. I forgot that I don't have my account name there automagically like I do on ff.net. Oops. *blush*

~LotL

[rthstewart]

Thanks so much! Aravis doesn't come across really well in this, until the very end where you see more of her strength. But for International Women's Day, we do see lots of other women characters, including Briony in take charge mode and Willa as super Spy.