I talked in my last Snowflake post about my Commander Elizabeth Bennet AU: a P&P/Mass Effect fusion with Elizabeth as Shepard that’s simmering in my brain right now. I may or may not actually write it, but I do want to get the story nailed down for myself, and I’ve gotten the basic set-up established—at least, I think so!

I didn’t want to explain the entire fic (...should I write it someday) on Tumblr, but I still wanted to share some part of it with the fandom friends who might care (I’m actually very excited!). So I thought I’d post about the set-up for the story over here on Dreamwidth.

The story opens on Mira Gardiner, a decorated officer of the human Systems Alliance and captain of a new, state-of-the-art, stealth Alliance starship, the SSV Normandy (I thought about Waterloo, but idk). Captain Gardiner’s staid XO, William Collins, is her current right hand and presumed successor as captain of the Normandy according to Alliance protocols. But there’s a complication.

For years, humanity has been trying to get accepted into the powerful galactic Council, and one major step in that direction would be the appointment of a human to the elite Spectres that act on the Council’s behalf. Captain Gardiner herself was once under consideration to join the Spectres, and served a mission under the observation of the turian Specter Saren Arterius, but failed in mysterious circumstances. Now, years later, the Council is finally re-considering the appointment of a human to the Spectres, and has reached out to Captain Gardiner again. They’re not re-considering her; the current (oblivious) candidate is her favorite protégée, Commander Elizabeth Bennet. They want Elizabeth transferred to the Normandy for a secret mission under the supervision of the Spectre Nihlus.

Elizabeth is a controversial figure these days. She’s always been respectful, clever, and pleasant, even charming, but she’s never backed down from anyone or anything. She recently triumphed in a brutal battle on Torfan with batarian slavers; her forces were obliterated by the batarians, but Elizabeth used her tactical and technological expertise to not only survive but to wipe out the batarians. Captain Gardiner herself defended Elizabeth’s actions to the Alliance high command—and apparently Elizabeth’s resourcefulness and resolve at Torfan caught the eye of more than the Alliance.

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An anon said:

hey, i've been going through your various P&P tags and I noticed these tags "#georgiana and lydia parallel each other to highlight their differences to highlight how little it matters anyway #they also parallel each other as part of the broader darcy--elizabeth parallels but not even getting into that" on this post /post/100262707898/warmed-up-rant and i was wondering if you ever went into how georgiana and lydia are part of the broader darcy/elizabeth parallels? i'd love to read it if so :)

I replied:

Hmm, it was some time ago, but I think I meant that Georgiana and Lydia occupy roughly similar positions in the narrative with respect to Darcy and Elizabeth respectively. They’re significantly younger sisters to Darcy/Elizabeth (and exactly the same ages as each other), they’re attractive but less so than Darcy/Elizabeth, they get led astray by Wickham in partial consequence of Darcy/Elizabeth’s inaction and are rescued in some form or another by Darcy.

(At the same time, they’re exact opposites in other ways—they operate as sorts of mirror images of each other.)

So it’s not just that Lydia and Georgiana are strikingly similar or starkly dissimilar at pretty much all times (and in either case, in ways that still associate them together). They’re also paralleled specifically in relation to Darcy/Elizabeth. And that makes the parallels between them feed into the broader Darcy/Elizabeth parallels that drive the novel (you can see something similar with Jane and Bingley, say, and perhaps Charlotte and Fitzwilliam, along with Mr/Mrs Bennet and Lady Catherine). I would say that it’s the clearest way that they’re bound up in the overarching thrust of the story.

That’s in addition to their significance as vulnerable young girls whose radical differences of situation and personality don’t prevent them from being preyed upon in similar ways—reinforced by the fact that their predator is literally the same person.

They said:

parallels anon here - thank you! that makes a lot of sense, and it's given me a bit to think about with regards to how character dynamics aren't conceived in a vacuum, but are also influenced by the other characters they interact with :)

I responded:

I’m very glad to hear it :)

Darcy has a lot of iconic moments as a character, and this isn’t usually considered one of them, but tbh this letter’s after-the-fact summary of something he said offstage is probably the single most important moment for his character for me.

So I was super depressed, and decided to comfort myself by ... posting a ton of paper dolls, 'cause I like them.

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We all have a personal canon -- the X that exists in our heads, with all the little additions and details our minds supply.  Sort of like fanon, but for one person instead of a weird fandom virus.  So, for Pride and Prejudice, this is mine:
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Two more P&P fantasy drabbles - one which should be self-explanatory, and another wherein vampire!Wickham gets his just desserts:

( Hunsford )


( Persuasion )

[reposted from wordpress]

I recently rediscovered my copy of So You Think You Know Jane Austen? and, just for kicks, went through the P&P section, as that’s the one I know the best. If I may offer a word of advice? If you own and/or are considering owning this book, take everything the authors assert with a grain of salt — with a mound of salt, as it were.

So, largely for the purpose of venting, here are my ‘Yes, I rather do think I know Jane Austen’ replies; by the way, this is supposedly arranged by level of difficulty, from easy to difficult.

(For convenience’s sake, I assume the events of the novel occur over 1799-1800; ‘A1′ is my original reply, A2 their answer, with some typically kind and sweet-natured comments on my part.)( Read more... )