astolat: Five Things That Never Happened -- Three: All The Wonder, Aubrey/Maturin

astolat (

astolat) wrote,
@ 2003-12-17 23:03:00

Five Things That Never Happened -- Three: All The Wonder, Aubrey/Maturin
Yes, finally, the next five-things story, and this is in fact the one based on suggestions. Specifically,

harriet_spy's. I figure half of you are off seeing ROTK or recovering from it, but I have to get this posted so I stop fiddling with it, answer some of my backlog of comments, and get to work on my yuletide story (eek).

Many many thanks to

destina for a great beta.

Five Things That Never Happened
Three: All The Wonder
Jack and Stephen in space. No, really.
Explicit slash.

Feedback always greatly appreciated!

(Post a new comment)

	thehoyden 2003-12-17 08:47 pm UTC (link)
	Yay! Jack and Stephen live happily ever after in space. That's lovely. I was really impressed by your descriptions of space and sailing. Did you come up with it on your own, or is it based off of suggestions? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-17 08:54 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks! :D Oh, it's all completely invented out of my head. g I was mainly just trying to come up with enough plausible-sounding excuses to have sailing through space work very much like sailing the oceans. :-) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	not_fledged_yet 2003-12-17 08:53 pm UTC (link)
	wow, this is a real accomplishment. Very POB-ey, but also very space opera-ey at the same time. I love it SO much. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-18 06:55 am UTC (link)
	beams Thanks so much! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	azarias 2003-12-17 09:18 pm UTC (link)
	gibber squee s.f. sailslash happy ending jackandstephen sex in the opera sooooooooooooooo many good things I wanted to have something intelligent to say, but I'm too busy squeeing. It was the sex in the opera that did it. That's the most wonderfully mmm-ful scene, for some reason. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-18 06:56 am UTC (link)
	You know, I was so focusing on the virtual reality thing, it didn't occur to me that that's the second time I've written sex-at-the-opera. Hmmm. g And thank you! :D (Reply to this) (Parent)

afrai
2003-12-17 09:24 pm UTC (link)

Girl!Tom Pullings.

*LOVELOVELOVE*

This story kept making me skreek in the most embarrassing manner. I loved what you did with all the space-sailing: I don't understand a word, and I have no idea if it makes any scientific sense at all, but it is so cool. Like this:

"How stands the foremast, Mr. Allen?"

"Well, sir, I should not like to see her take more than fifty kilotons of pressure, but with the wind as it stands I think we can safely press on more sail."

SQUEE!

I love Stephen's ranting about regeneration tanks and primitive mthods of surgery. And, uh. Wow. Cool.

Okay, that petered out unimpressively, but yay! fic! cool! *bounce*

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	afrai 2003-12-17 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	Plus? eeeeeee. eeeeee. eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! P. S. What the hell is aether? (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

astolat
2003-12-18 07:00 am UTC (link)

Heeee. No, it doesn't make scientific sense at all, but hey, all I was going for was plausibility, so since you even asked, go me! *g*

And "aether" is actually an old (early-20th century, I *think*) scientific term; back before people figured out that space is basically a vacuum, they posited that there was this stuff called aether between the planets, etc. So I decided to borrow the word to use for the stuff that fills the "sailspace" dimension that they travel through. :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	afrai 2003-12-18 07:09 am UTC (link)
	That is so wicked cool. squees some more (Reply to this) (Parent)

	lesadoreyl 2003-12-17 09:25 pm UTC (link)
	Aw, is it the cutest end ever or what? melts I'll be going around for the whole day with the goofy smile on my face. Thanks! g (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-18 07:02 am UTC (link)
	You're very welcome! g I was thinking how many circumstances am I ever going to find where it would actually be plausible for them to get married? So I figured I should take advantage of this one. ;-) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	rusty76 2003-12-17 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	You are brilliant. Very creative and well done juxtaposition. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-18 07:02 am UTC (link)
	Awww! Thanks so much! :*) (Reply to this) (Parent)

i am teh stunned.

tuff_ghost
2003-12-18 01:22 am UTC (link)

you're fantastic, shalott. i can't even begin to think how all of this could fit inside anybody's head -- you must be, like, supernaturally creative. the AUness was as whole and as flawless as could be AND your characterization was dead on. that in itself is amazing, and to be treated to a clever and exciting plot besides is so, so rare.

really tight work. i'm so pleased you're writing this pairing and i can't wait for more stories from you.

(Reply to this)

addendum, 'cause i forgot to put my questions in the first one

tuff_ghost
2003-12-18 01:43 am UTC (link)

hey --

1) was pullings disguised as a man and was jack keeping her secret by calling her 'Mr' (and 'Tom', for that matter - that's usually a male name only, right?), or was the 'Mr' only there for the sake of, heh, nominal fidelity to the canon?

2) if the story's set in the future (seems to be, at least), is it at all a taboo for jack and stephen to be rabbiting away together in the stern cabin? clearly at least some of the crew have an idea of what's what, but is their discretion based in a modern attitude of tolerance, or just personal/professional respect?

(forgive me if i shouldn't be poking at your story - it's just that you and your supercool AU have gone and made me all curious.)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

Re: addendum, 'cause i forgot to put my questions in the first one

astolat
2003-12-18 07:21 am UTC (link)

No, no, poke away by all means. I am happy to yak about my work at the least provocation. *g*

1) No, she was just a woman whose nickname was Tom. :) I'm pretty sure that even in the modern military, "Mr." is used for most lower officers, regardless of gender; anyway, I just use it as a gender-neutral title here.

2) Nope, no taboo at all -- in my mental backstory for the universe, the Navy is largely made up of gay & bisexual men. It's not that women aren't allowed in the Navy, but they don't often opt for it, and the ones who do are generally so passionate about it that they prefer to save themselves the career headaches of having affairs on ship and the tension and jealousy that result.

So then with long cruises, coming aboard at puberty, and a tolerant society, my assumption was most of the men would learn to make do, particularly as prostitution is much more effectively illegal and so it's not as though they can even count on getting laid on shore leave. :-)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	cruisedirector 2003-12-18 07:16 am UTC (link)
	Oh, joy! Reminds me of 19th century sci-fi in tone, with a little bit of Deep Space Nine thrown in (the sailing in space), and I LOVE Jack trying to deal with Stephen the Spy and the fact that they live happily ever after. This is just SO clever. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	astolat 2003-12-18 07:57 am UTC (link)
	Thanks so much! happy (Reply to this) (Parent)

	movies_michelle 2003-12-18 09:27 am UTC (link)
	Okay, you are mostly forgiven for putting in my head "Jack and Stephen...in...spaaaaaace!" because this was so good. Mostly. g I liked the sort of overlay of space travel and sea travel, with the solar winds and gravity wells. Very cool. (Reply to this)

	doolabug 2003-12-18 06:03 pm UTC (link)
	My dear, you don't know me, but I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your Aubrey/Maturin stories! I read the series years ago, before I discovered slash, and even then remember thinking that these two are so in love. You write them so beautifully - Mr O'Brien would be delighted if he ever stops spinning in his grave! I look forward to more. (Reply to this)

	pun 2003-12-21 02:47 pm UTC (link)
	Hee. Jack and Stephen IN SPACE!!! And just as delightful as ever, for which you deserve all the credit, of course. I loved this story. Especially the scene where they first get together and the super sweet and wonderful ending. YAY! We Jack and Stephen fans are so very lucky to have you writing these amazing stories. Thank you! (Reply to this)

	mickanick 2003-12-22 04:26 pm UTC (link)
	Man, was this a good one! Tech-ie sounding space stuff and masted ships! Woo-hoo! I was put immediately in mind of Disney's Treasure Planet, which has masted ships with solar sails and is majorly pretty to look at because, you know, Disney. Now I get to picture the pretty ships with Jack and Stephen aboard, boinking their way through space! Whee! Thanks, shallot! :o] (Reply to this)

thepouncer
2004-01-05 05:44 pm UTC (link)

I've been making my way through your M&C stories, and finally got around to reading this one today (I adored the first of the "never happened" because the thought of England being invaded is so horrific). I really enjoyed the notion of Stephen and Jack in space (disclaimer: haven't read the novels, just seen the movie). To a certain extent, I was reminded of the David Feintuch Seafort novels, since those took the notion of the British navy into space too. Of course, those also kept the 18th century social mores, which I was glad to see did not translate in your story. The technical details were charming, and I could envision some sort of solar wind powering the ship, enabling interstellar travel. The personal details were wonderful - Jack's curiosity over Stephen's mission, but his reluctance to face it, the potential of their being parted at the end . . .

I'm saving up to read the fifth in the series. I fear I may have to brace myself!

(Reply to this)

	I do love this fic missizzy 2005-02-07 01:43 pm UTC (link)
	May I have permission to write a drabble from the point of view of this version of Pullings(for the mandc100)? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	Re: I do love this fic astolat 2005-02-07 01:55 pm UTC (link)
	Sure, have fun. :) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	Re: I do love this fic missizzy 2005-02-08 12:47 pm UTC (link)
	It's done. Go to the community and see! (Reply to this) (Parent)

Username:		Create an Account Forgot your login or password? Login w/ OpenID
Password:
	Remember Me
	English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…

About

Help

Get Involved

Legal

Store

LJ Labs