[Fic] "To All Good Will" -- Chronicles of Narnia

[edenfalling]

I thought I might as well write something while waiting to be told what to write. (Yeah, yeah, go ahead and mock all you want. What can I say -- I get bored easily.)

The internet informs me that Christmas in 1948 did in fact fall on a Saturday. The first two lines of Edmund's attempted limerick are a direct quote from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The remaining three are, alas, entirely my fault. As for how the letters got back and forth so fast... let us say that either London's postal service was Just That Good, or they talked Peter into playing courier. *grin*

Five letters exchanged between Susan and Edmund Pevensie in the week leading up to Christmas 1948. (600 words)

[ETA: The ever-so-slightly revised final version is now up here on AO3 and here on ff.net.]

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To All Good Will
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Dear Ed,

Lucy stopped by yesterday to inform me that you'd been home a week and it was long past time I should come round and greet you. She also attempted to talk about subjects I thought we'd agreed that you would keep off limits.

Since the bargain is at least temporarily broken, I offer a proposition for the student of logic:

If a thing exists, it ought to exist all the time. Chairs don't simply vanish, do they? Life doesn't spontaneously generate. Even stars don't come from nowhere or turn to nothing.

If a thing appears to pop in and out of reality, there should be a discernable pattern to the shifts, and one ought to be able to discover where it goes when it's not here, and why it seems to be undetectable. Assuming that magic exists, perhaps a magical door between worlds can only be opened when certain conditions are right at both ends, but those conditions shouldn't be arbitrary.

If there is no pattern, somebody is playing silly buggers with the universe.

What kind of good example is that meant to be?

Yours,
Susan

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Su,

There are worse universal purposes than laughter.

I'm sorry about Lu, but you know how hard it is to stop her when she feels deeply about the rightness of her argument. Her strength is as the strength of ten and so on. Expecting me to do anything when I'm not there in person seems a bit much.

Come home for Christmas supper on Saturday. We miss you.

-Ed

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Dear Ed,

I'm not laughing. You're right about Lucy, though.

Tell Mother to expect me at noon. I'll help in the kitchen.

Yours,
Susan

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Su,

I shall quote Eustace at you, with my own additions:

Some kids who played games about Narnia
Got gradually balmier and balmier,
You may find them quite wearing
But please be forbearing
And rely on your brother to warn you.

And here is where we realize, yet again, that I'm not a poet, as in order to make complete sense, the last line would have to include "when the conversation is going in directions you'd prefer to avoid, so you and he can preemptively change the subject," which would utterly destroy the meter. The assonance, however, I blame on Eustace, who invented the first two lines ages ago.

As for the rest of it, even if I can't keep Lu from pushing you when I'm not around, I think the two of us are more than capable of finding innocuous topics of conversation for one day. In return for my help, will you promise not to go after her and Peter while I'm home? You won't change their minds any more than they'll change yours. I'd much prefer to grill you on that arse I saw you out walking with last Friday. I knew his brother at school, and I assure you, if there's any family resemblance, you deserve infinitely better.

Merry Christmas, a few days early.

-Ed

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Dear Ed,

You have my deepest respect on many levels, but please never attempt poetry again. I doubt my aesthetic sense could survive the abuse.

As for David Mooresby, don't worry. I have no intentions of getting over my head. I do wish you'd remember that I can read character perfectly well for myself, and that there's no harm accepting a free meal so long as one doesn't make any implicit promises about reciprocal favors -- speaking of which, in addition to your Christmas gift, expect a package once you return to university. Peacekeeping deserves rewards.

Yours,
Susan

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Inspired by the 1/2/11 15_minute_ficlets word #59: epidemic

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There is actually an explanation for how I got from the prompt word to the fic, but it's rather long, convoluted, and involves me singing the word to the tune of "Rock Me Amadeus," among other things, so I think it's best left untold. *wry*

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid]

Ooooh, I liked that. Oh, *Susan*. And protective Edmund is my favourite Edmund. :D

Although, um, may I offer a piece of particularly persnickety criticism? I'm not aware of 'wanker' being in use for 'a person i don't like' (as opposed to 'a person whose masturbatory habits i am particularly referring right now') until the early 70s. I could be wrong on that, I wasn't around in the early 70s let alone earlier - but I am the kind of person who has looked up, just in the last month, the words 'blow job', 'suck off', 'wanker', 'nuts', 'balls', and various other things in the Oxford English Dictionary in order to determine their appropriateness for use in Narnia fic. And now I share the dubious fruits of this research with others...

[edenfalling]

I have, apparently -- and I have no idea why, really -- a great love for Susan and Edmund just sitting around and talking. They play off each other very well. :-)

As for the 'wanker' thing, fair enough! What would you suggest instead? 'Prat' isn't right, and 'git' doesn't seem quite strong enough... besides which I don't know if those go back past the 1970s either, since I only know them from Harry Potter and a couple Diana Wynne Jones books.

ETA: I changed it to 'arse,' at least for the moment.

[branchandroot]

I can so see Susan being resentful of the apparent game of silly buggers. And Edmund's limerick is priceless.

...of course, now I want to know what the track was from "epidemic" through Amadeus to this.

[edenfalling]

Susan has always struck me as the most organized of the Pevensies, which suggests to me that she would be most put off by the (apparent) arbitrariness of Aslan's choices. As for the limerick... *sigh* I can, in fact, write poetry, but mostly free verse. I can do meter, too, but rhyme has never been my strong point.

The mentral track looped back on itself several times, but roughly it went like this: Lucy and her cordial -- Lucy planning to go into nursing in England -- disease in wartime England -- the Doctor Who episode "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" -- no wait, that makes no sense -- sanitary conditions in Golden Age Narnia -- hey what about sanitary conditions in pre-war Europe? -- okay, why is my subconscious trying to hum the chorus of "Rock Me Amadeus" with the wrong word? -- pause to crack up at myself when I try to sing aloud -- Amadeus is the equivalent of Theophilus, right? -- love of God -- outbreak of skepticism; it's everywhere these days! shock! horror! -- not something you can cure by magic -- oh, right, Susan! And the Professor's LWW lecture on how scientific rationalism is wrong, which has always annoyed me. Right, then, here we go.

[branchandroot]

*deeply entertained by this progression* Yeah, Narnia is no place for someone wanting logic or scientific method. Makes me once scoff at Lewis' claims to have been a Wild Eyed Atheist in his youth, which is total rot. He was a Christian undergoing a crisis of faith. It shows in the way he writes, no question.

[aishuu.livejournal.com]

For some reason, this makes me think of the "Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" op ed. Something about the style of writing, perhaps. Or the fact that Susan's clinical argument brings to mind trying to take a baby's rattle apart.

And the fact that it's 2 a.m....

[edenfalling]

*reads op-ed* Yeah, I can see that. I was aiming for a riff on Professor Kirke's lecture in LWW, but since that lecture seems to be based on the same general principles as the op-ed, it's not surprising there are thematic similarities. :-)

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

It is sad that Susan feels so cut off from her family. Good on Edmund to attempt really, REALLY bad poetry to cheer her up. THough, the worst of it was Eustace's. The rest wasn't bad at all :)

[edenfalling]

I have a great love for writing Susan-and-Edmund interaction; they play off each other so nicely. And thank you for your kind comments on my bad poetry. :-)

[snacky]

Am laughing so hard at the bad poetry! I do love epistolary fic, and I love Susan and Edmund interaction, so this was great fun.

[edenfalling]

Epistolary fic is hard -- I'm glad to hear this one didn't fall flat. Susan and Edmund are my favorites, so I always like writing them talking to each other.

There is a certain glee in writing deliberately awful poetry. I had absurd amounts of fun working on the part of my Harry Potter fic "Secrets" wherein Ginny writes the bad Valentine's Day poem from CoS... and runs through a few even worse versions before settling on the canon verse. :-)

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I like it, but I wonder whether ED would have used the word 'arse' of a person in 1948. It sounds a bit modern.

[edenfalling]

I had previously been told that 'wanker' was too modern, which is why I substituted 'arse.' So that's also too modern? *headdesk* The only other British insult I know (courtesy of Harry Potter) is 'git,' and I don't think that's strong enough.

Do you have any suggestions?

[watervole.livejournal.com]

I'd do an instant guess at 'bounder' though that might be a bit early. I wonder if there's any websites for dating slang?

[shinealightonme]

Great interaction between the two of them! There's a very strong "sibling" vibe here, and a nice balance of sweet and sad.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! I love stories about family and sibling interaction, and Narnia gives such a lot of opportunities to write them. :-)

[casapazzo.livejournal.com]

Somehow both sharp and touching; I very much like the combination of Susan's siblings not giving up on her, and her having a reasonable logic behind her rejection/denial of Narnia.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! In TLB, Eustace, Jill, and Polly are the ones who elaborate on Peter's simple statement that Susan is no longer a friend of Narnia; Lucy and Edmund do not participate in that conversation. Peter then cuts the others off by blatantly changing the subject -- to quote: "Well, don't let's talk about that now," said Peter. "Look! Here are lovely fruit trees. Let us taste them." -- which reads to me as if he doesn't want to hear anyone speak badly of his sister. So I always figured that the Pevensies still loved Susan even while being sad and/or annoyed at the way she turned her back on Narnia.