Wimsey ficlet, and tease

[nineveh_uk]

In a good mood, having cleared the table last night and spread out vast quantities of notes in order to get down to writing some fic at last. Moral: write the blasted fic before the notes file is 3/4" deep and you're battling through the scene thinking "I know that I've got this somewhere - or was I only thinking about it on the bus?". Not to mention the challenge of choosing between different versions of the same scene jotted down five times.

In the course of this virtuous pursuit (for a given value of virtuous, but really anything that can engage my fleeting work ethic deserves note), I came across this little sequel to this fic, on the subject of the Disastrous Christmas Present, and since it isn't going to turn into anything larger, thought I'd post it.

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The shop, of course, would have wrapped and sent it, but he wanted to put in a note, and he could not deny the slight qualm at the thought of giving Harriet’s address to the girl. Happily, Bunter was a whizz at parcels and could make brown paper, string, and sealing wax around a little glass vase look fit for Egypt’s queen.

He had not, of course, waited in all day for the telephone. It was simply that the weather was appalling, and he felt a slight chill coming on so that it would be foolish to go out.

Perhaps the telephone was a little much to expect. It hadn’t been much, after all. A mere token of regard. It hardly deserved even a note.

For a moment his heart had lifted at the sight of his address in her handwriting, until he took in the size of the box. The smash had been the fault of the post, of course, but that was no consolation.

***

A tease from something else entirely

She was in the garden, shredding a sunflower head between her fingers, when she heard the kitchen door open.

‘My lady.’

‘Bunter.’

He looked old. Grey streaks in the dark hair, hollowness about the eyes. And heartbroken.

‘His lordship has accepted my resignation.’

***

The Yuletide Challenge is here! Time to start thinking whether to make the Serious Requests I always have in the past, or perhaps be a little bit more imaginative. The challenge is being imaginative without being evil. I mean, I know how I felt for a moment when I was faced by Miss Climpson. It's all very well to think something would be entertaining to read, but one must have some sympathy for the writer faced with e.g. Bunter/Saint-George.

Comments

[azdak.livejournal.com]

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Oh, I like this! I don't normally have all that much sympathy for Peter in his pursuit of Harriet - not because I think he's a stalker, because I don't - but because he's already got so much, I don't see why I should be expected to cry because the woman he fancies gives him the cold shoulder. But this makes him much more human and vulnerable, and I felt really sorry for him when the vase came back. And smashed! Poor Peter! And that was before he'd read the actual letter...

A tease from something else entirely



Yikes! What has Bunter been up to? Or Peter? Or Harriet??? It must be something very terrible if Peter's accepted the resignation!

I'm very glad to hear your work ethic has kicked in. Hooray for getting notes in order! Hooray for getting down to writing!

Re. Yuletide. It's possible to suggest several prompts, isn't it? So you could include P/Barbara adultery alongside something less likely to induce a heart attack.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I have always rather liked the line that “Peter has always had everything, except what he really wanted”. On the other hand, so has David Cameron and I don’t feel the slightest urge to hand him No. 10. I have never managed to write H's letter. DLS calls it a “stinging rebuke” so it must be both extremely nasty and well targeted.

There is little more terrible that getting found out...

I am never sure if my work ethic is a tender, delicate plant to be nurtured, cherished, and loved when it does appear, or an appalling shirker that ought to be whipped into shape.

I can't exactly recall how the Yuletide requests work. One can certainly give generous prompts, but they have to coincide with characters. No doubt I shall come up with something in due course.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

You get to pick the characters you'd like to see, and you can add a prompt but the author is not actually obliged to write to your prompt, only to include the characters.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

“Peter has always had everything, except what he really wanted”

It does not, however, come from an unbiased source. I refuse to believe that Bunter, for instance, counts as something he doesn't really want. And GN makes it clear that he'd be loth to give up the title, as well.

I think praise works better than punishment with work ethics as with everything else.

Do you want me to delete my first comment now that you've edited your post?

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I suspect that Uncle Paul doesn't value Bunter nearly as much as he ought.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

All right, what about the cricketing excellence then? Even Uncle Paul must appreciate the difference between being The Great Flim or somebody's bottom-wiper.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Perhaps UP thinks that for a Delagardie, not being a bum-wiper is not so much what one wants and is lucky to get as to be taken as read. One notes with interest that he attributes almost all of what he considers positive personality traits in Peter to his side of the family.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

One notes with interest that he attributes almost all of what he considers positive personality traits in Peter to his side of the family.

I expect Peter was the only one of his sister's children who would put up with him. When he offered to show Gerald round the whorehouses of Paris, Gerry said thanks, but he already knew how to navigate his way through a brothel. And Mary just thought he was a disgusting old goat. But Peter he managed to catch at a susceptible age, and as a result Peter retained a fondess for him, which none of the rest of his family ever felt, and Uncle Paul in return thought Peter was the only decent one of the lot, and that this was clearly down to his own influence, both educational and genetic.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

What has Bunter been up to? Or Peter? Or Harriet???

Or Bunter and Harriet???? I initally thought that if that were the case he wouldn't still be calling her "my lady" but on second thoughts...

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Bunter is (mostly) the soul of discretion in public, whatever he may be like in private (I find it hard to imagine what his pillow talk is like if he retains the Jeeves mask).

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Or Bunter and Harriet????

It is such a comfort to find that other people's minds go to the same place as my own...