Drabblespam #1

[weatherby]

Okay, over the next week or so I am probably going to be very fic/drabble spammy. I wanted to try to consolidate them as much as possible, but there are only two I've finished so far. Also, the idea of putting more than one thing into an entry gives me hives. So for now, you're going to get two posts of this in a row (and I apologise, because I

Comments

[altricial]

I'd like to state for the record that I solved the mystery all on my own. :>

[weatherby]

:-< Perhaps I should have got someone else to read it again before I posted. :))

[bookshop]

Hello! This is beautiful. I love the detail, as always, but here every detail seems richer and more taut with meaning because of all the veiled action. I love the description of the candle, and the wax, and it getting in Draco's hair like dandruff--I love that comparison especially because it's so representative of how out-of-place Draco is here, how surreal and unexpected his circumstances are. I love the way all the litttle details work to give evidence that Draco's fortunes are so drastically different now than they were before: the cold weather, the "lamentable" candleflame, the seized cauldrons, the dull blue-grey of the walls. And I especially love the body language: the way Draco's toes curl up around Pansy's skirt, the way he raps her knuckles and the way she leans against him and touches his hair. That easy familiarity that still conceals and conveys to us a tired distress on both their parts

[weatherby]

You gave me a pity review! :)) Thank you.

Yes, he is avoiding reality. That is why he was laughing when he said that he might die if Pansy forgot about him. And I did that with the title on purpose.

[bookshop]

It is not a pity review! I would have said all this anyway because I have had time to think about it. =;

I am utterly fascinated with the trains-as-paths-to-death metaphor. I babbled on about this when I reviewed PJ's fic "Where All Trains Go" and there is a whole huge motif about it in Billy Wilder's film Double Indemnity, and the fact that Draco's train is currently stalled and going nowhere and is slowly freezing and/or starving him to death unless he gets off it soon, well, that's--that's just about right, isn't it?

[weatherby]

Yes, it is. :)) *continues to feel more clever and planned than actually is* I really picked the train randomly before I wrote the fic, but then I was very pleased with myself as I decided what the fic was about. Now I feel awesome.

[weatherby]

My poor, confusing fic. I was trying to make it clear what was going on without going into clunky exposition and I suspect I failed. Alas! Thank you <3

[tinboxed]

Well, I am horrible at reviewing, but I will anyway! I liked it! I really like the idea that Draco didn't get off the train and that he refuses to go back to the school because he doesn't want everyone to know. And I also like the little physical details that you put in and the bit with the candle wax.

Anyway, if you decide to make a filter for these, please include me on it!

[weatherby]

Thank you! I will try to be less confusing for your drabble. :))

[jlh]

Wah it is so sad!

Okay so yeah, it took me a couple of reads to get where they were specifically, though that's my fault because I didn't carefully note the title.

I see what Aja is saying, but I don't know, maybe it's my nature but I feel like it could be a little more hopeful than that. I keep thinking about how the Death Tarot Card isn't really about death, but about change, and often before you can make a change you have to end something else. You know, he's making this little stab at independence, however futile and somewhat self-defeating in the short term it is. And anyway, sometimes, it's better to spend Christmas alone.

[weatherby]

Hm, well I definitely wasn't going with, DRACO IS GOING TO DIE or anything. I think, rather than trying to be hopeful or depressing or despairing or something, my actual thought on this was a moment of stillness. If that makes any sense. Like that feeling where you feel like you might actually die because there is nothing for you, even though there's no reason to think that you would die and you won't.

[jlh]

Still. Yeah, he seems sort of, well, liminal. Like he's about to make up his mind about something. Although that, again, may be my wishful thinking. I'm a terrible projector. But it's like that moment when you know that you can't keep going the way that you have been going and the way that you thought you would likely always be able to go, except you can't think of another way to go that makes any sense. Or you can't see it. Or something.

[bookshop]

Hi Clio.

I see what Aja is saying, but I don't know, maybe it's my nature but I feel like it could be a little more hopeful than that. I keep thinking about how the Death Tarot Card isn't really about death, but about change, and often before you can make a change you have to end something else.

Yes, I agree. I never really believed that the fic was hinting at Draco's literal death, but at the death of something on a symbolic level--the death of his childhood was my primary guess. I was thinking about this fic more today, specifically about all the symbolism with the candle and the wax, and I couldn't get anywhere, but having just re-read it again, I have decided that light in this fic is somewhow representative of some sort of enlightenment; Pansy starts out holding the candle, described at first as 'lamentable,' and then passes it on to Draco, who then describes the process of holding it as 'getting easier every time.' The light appears to function as some sort of bridge between them (when she goes he snuffs it out after she