[Fic] "Maxims and Verses" -- Chronicles of Narnia, genderswap AU

More Narnia genderswap, this from the HHB era: 800 somewhat rambling words on Edith and Rabadash in Calormen, veering from history to poetry and desire to war.

[ETA: The AO3 crosspost is now up!]

( Maxims and Verses )

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So yeah. Edith apparently has Jadis's knife -- and don't ask me what that does to the section of VDT on the Star's Island. Maybe Aslan just waited until the Pevensies left Narnia the first time to squirrel it away? Except it would be nifty if it was in Cair Paravel along with the gifts the other three got from Father Christmas when they return in PC. Ooh, I like that idea, actually. Yes. That's how it goes.

Anyway, Edith is notably more suspicious of Rabadash than Susan was, but is also more willing to... play him, I guess. And Calormen makes my writing weirdly sensual (for me, anyway), which is not news by this point, but nonetheless continues to surprise me.

...I need a name for this AU. Suggestions?

[Fic] "Summer of '39" -- Chronicles of Narnia, genderswap AU

More Narnia genderswap! This is set the year before the Pevensies go to Narnia the first time, as should be obvious from the title. (Apparently Lewis wrote a semi-official timeline at some point, claiming that Peter was born in 1927, Susan in 1928, Edmund in 1930, and Lucy in 1932, which means that here Mary is twelve, Stephen eleven, Edith nine, and Laurie seven.) Stephen POV, because family dynamics are fun and unreliable narrators are even better -- as you can see, comparing this story to Fester Like a Sore, Stephen and Edith interpret the same basic situation somewhat differently.

I wrote this longhand at work tonight -- it was a very slow evening! -- then typed it up when I got home, doing a quick edit as I went. (1,250 words)

[ETA: The AO3 crosspost is now up!]

( Summer of '39 )

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Stephen isn't a mother figure like Susan, but he's still a peacemaker of sorts. He does this mostly by not saying things, which is not always helpful in the long run, but it does keep him on speaking terms with everyone, and means he doesn't spark fights... except occasionally with Edith, who wants him to pick a side (preferably hers) and stay there, and doesn't always manage to bite her tongue and play "good daughter" when she's really angry.

I think Stephen and Mary are somewhat closer than Susan and Peter, because Stephen looks to Mary as an example in a way that Susan never looked to Peter. This also means that Stephen doesn't look after Laurie the way Susan sometimes looked after Lucy; that's Edith's job, which she alternately embraces and resents.

...

I still need a name for this, and I cannot think of a good one. *sulks*