[Kaleidoscope update] Any Road Runs Two Ways

[shimotsuki]

Right! So, I'm supposed to be finishing the last three HBP installments of the Kaleidoscope series so I can get on with revising Part II. But along the way, this DH plotbunny intervened

Comments

[shimotsuki]

Thanks! Glad you thought it fit the characters.

[drumher]

Glad I came over here while waiting for Downton Abbey to begin. I love this series of yours and this part was particularly lovely. Of course there's a bit of angst to get through but that's what we love about R/T. Well done and thanks!

[shimotsuki]

Goodness, thanks for the kind words! And I'm so glad you found this. At this point in DH I want them to be sort of starting to pull themselves out of the angst, but it's a long road, heh.

[starfishstar]

Oh, gosh, this sparks so many thoughts, I don't know how to fit them into one comment

[shimotsuki]

Thank you so much for such a detailed review! It's always fun when people have an analysis...which may include things I never actually thought of when I was writing, heh.

As is the way he thinks about time, forced to count down by hours, or even five minute intervals, until moonrise. -- Ooh, I'm happy you caught that. Even Tonks has learned to think about time this way, even though it's newer for her.

(But oh, that bit about his mum - yes, of course, he has actual reason for fearing what caring for him will do to Tonks.) -- My concession to the Pottermore bio is to stick to that for backstory prior to OotP, but anyway, the idea that Hope died young because of a life of stress and worry would have to color Remus's views on being with Tonks.

= R/T in a nutshell -- Ha! It is, rather. :) The chapter preceding this one, once I get it rewritten, will be plottier and a little better balanced with humor, to make a better contrast with this one; I think humor and getting the job done are also pretty central to R/T. But when Big

[starfishstar]

Totally agree, I think humor is such a crucial part of their relationship and why it works! An R/T who were angst-only would quickly lose my interest as a pairing to follow, I think.

[huldrejenta]

I've had this on my to-read-list since you posted this. When a new chapter of Kaleidoscope gets posted, I try to wait until I have the opportuinity to curl up properly and have enough time to read slowly and soak up every word <3

This was wonderful!

Everything was sound and scent and taste, and touch, and now, until there was no room left for the moon.

Aww, such a beautiful image.
I love your Tonks, the way she understands so much of what Remus is going through, why he's behaving this way, but not letting him get away with it. I love how Remus eventually lets himself realise that Tonks is there for him for real.
Poor Remus does have a history of losing people he trusts, of losing those who's been there for him also in this part of his life, and it's not surprising that he, being the kind of man that he is, tries to keep Tonks at a distance. Wonderful that she doesn't let him :)
And I love that final line!

[shimotsuki]

Thanks so much for reading, and for your kind words!

I don't want to make Tonks into some kind of saintly martyr, but in my headcanon, she does work hard to understand where Remus is coming from, because she understands that being lonely and secretive for a long time will really mess up a person's ability to deal with close relationships...

And yeah, that final line hopefully makes up for some of the angst, at least. ;)

A Nit

[anonymous]

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.” He closed his eyes. “But-moons are hard. That’s-” He stopped, and tried again. “My lycanthropy is the reason my mother died so young. It simply wore her out.”

I really like this as a partial explanation for Remus' behavior. It's totally in character, and for this chapter it works perfectly.

In the wider series, however, it's kind of out of the blue. I think that it would help if we could see Remus thinking along this line to himself, earlier in the series, though I don't know quite where it would fit. Maybe in One Step Forward, where Remus is thinking about those he has lost, and adding Dumbledore to the list? I don't know exactly, and I'm not really trying to tell you how to write your fic. But this is an interesting take, and I'd love to see you unpack it a bit more throughout the series.

Re: A Nit

[shimotsuki]

Hi, and thanks for the thoughtful comments