FIC: Absolution

[angevin2]

Title: Absolution
Author: angevin2
Play: Richard II
Characters: Richard, Carlisle, Aumerle; deals with Richard/pretty much everyone he has ever met on one level or another, but mostly with previous Richard/Henry and Richard/Anne. I have tagged it as gen nevertheless, but it sort of inhabits a grey area.
Warnings: Dodgy sexual ethics; theology; brief

Comments

[speak_me_fair]

Ok, I was so not expecting him to dial the number. I mean, yes, he so would, because he is Richard, but still...

You know how I love this (shall I count the ways?)

I ate curry for dinner to night and satisfied my jonesing - finally.

You gave Aumerle a spine and a pink shirt and an evil sense of prodding humour that is just LOVE.

Richard burned his mouth on the tea and didn't get any of the good coffee.

Greene is a dirty stop-out.

And Carlisle! Oh, Carlisle, the Chinese water-torture of conversations with men like Carlisle....

And the crowning glory:

Lusty Bachelers, Gentil Knyghts: Ideal Manhood from Capellanus to Castiglione.

The poor bastards.

&hearts &hearts &hearts &hearts &hearts &hearts &hearts

[angevin2]

YAY FOR CURRY. Writing this fic totally had me jonesing, too, though I did finally go and get some and that made it better.

ANYWAY I am so glad you like it! It was a blast to write (except for the sad bits, which were sad). This AU is totally brain-eaty. I think I have persuaded Gil to write me Richard-finishing-his-thesis fic. ;)

ALSO YES THIS FIC HAS A TWIST ENDING. HEE. I don't think either of us has actually decided what happens when Henry answers the phone. Or whether one of the kids picks it up and that throws Richard off his game. ;)

[speak_me_fair]

Could be any one of these - isn't that the pure joy of it?

(Also, I had lamb jalfrezi and sag dhaal and naan bread in honour of Richard, and now you could use ME for stuffing.)

[angevin2]

zomg YUMMY. I am definitely taking Poet!Sister to House of India tomorrow night when she is in town.

BTW the conversation between Henry and Edward will eventually be fic. Though I am not writing that one. :D

[lareinenoire]

You know how much I love Richard's voice -- especially those utterly perfectly run-on sentences -- but I will say it again anyway. Also, the Threatening Indian Lunch was made of awesome (and not just because my parents have been known to wave Indian food at me in a similar manner).

[angevin2]

I am ALWAYS pleased to be complimented on my Richard voice. :D

[gileonnen]

I think I've said it forty or so times already--but I love this fic so much. And while you've received comments on previous sections, I must say, I love that Richard couches the gesture that he means to use for his absolution (the call) in terms of self-destruction. He can't get away from that language, that all-consuming drive to eradicate himself--and the juxtaposition of ruination and salvation is really haunting. Very well done.

[angevin2]

Thank you so much! You always leave such wonderful feedback. And thank you for starting this AU, because it is SO MUCH FUN to play in. :D

[highfantastical]

Oh wow, the bit about Anne dying. Ouch.

I now DESPERATELY want to read Richard's book. WHERE IS THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH THAT BOOK REALLY EXISTS.

And aside from these things: AWESOME. My love increases with rereading the bits I'd already seen! Also, God, I am SUCH a sucker for anything involving oxonian!Richard.

[highfantastical]

Further to food comments above, the food scene was SO GOOD that it made EVEN ME (strictly-vegetarian-ludicrously-fussy-permanently-sickly) want to go out and get curry! That's a well-written food scene. ;)

I still lack a suitable food icon, of course...

[angevin2]

It is entirely possible to do curry even if you are strictly vegetarian or even vegan! Although I suppose it depends heavily on your spice tolerances.

Also, I spent the entire writing of that scene cursing myself for making them eat something I like but do not have often (until the interstate reopened, my favorite Indian restaurant was a HUGE pain to get to). NEXT TIME I WILL MAKE THEM EAT SUSHI, I vowed. ;)

[highfantastical]

I have sometimes had vegan curry (AND IT IS YUMMY), but not for ages now, because I can't eat anything interesting at the moment. BUT ONE DAY. I will rediscover culinary delights that are currently barred!

[jamjar]

I found this while trying to track down all of the Richard/Henry fic (a craving caused by the most recent BBC version) and I found this and it's just so good-- going straight into my comfort reading. And there's more! There's a whole series of it!

Seriously, this just makes me so happy. They're still plausible versions of themselves, but they're also plausible versions of 20/21st century academics, you know? Which is what a good AU has.

[angevin2]

First of all, if you want to find ALL THE RICHARD/HENRY EVER, go to thisengland and look at the top post -- there's a masterlist of histories fic there. Including lots and lots of Richard/Henry, and I say this partly because I wrote a lot of it. ;)

(I am personally very interested in whether anyone has started writing Richard/Henry fic in the wake of the delightfully slashy new version, but so far I haven't found any. Oh well.)

And secondly, thank you! I'm so glad you like the fic and that they're all still recognizable as themselves -- the context here is so different, after all. I totally need to return to writing this AU; it's been a while since I've done anything with it, and the part where the shit hits the fan is actually plotted out. (Richard is going to be up for tenure. Spoiler: it's not going to go very well. Not that he's not brilliant, just -- everything else about him.)

[jamjar]

I think I may have cleared out the list already, sadly.

Richard is going to be up for tenure. Spoiler: it's not going to go very well. Not that he's not brilliant, just -- everything else about him.

That's pretty much the summary for Richard in general, isn't it? Brilliant in multiple senses, but with no enemy worse than himself.

I'm guessing that this Yuletide will have more than a few people requesting Richard/Henry. And the Hal requests, you just know those are going to come flooding in, which also makes me happy.