(No Finch/Stone icon just yet, but here's another western pair all aglow with lurve.)
Thank you so much for this post! It's wonderful. And of course, thanks for writing the story in the first place, and working so hard (and stealthily!) to make my Yuletide ultra-special. It certainly was. You DECEIVER. :D And your awesome betas too!
I like your decision to go with circa-1890. I shall feel safe stealing borrowing your decision when I eventually tackle Peacemakers. *g* Also, I am toooootally bookmarking your research links! (*steal, steal, steal*)
I also think that's a good point in the plot to start the story. It's in medias res, of course, but more than that, it's at a handy spot to get momentum going right away--that's a crucial fire in itself, both for the case-plot (it's the one with the most clues in its wake) and for the emotional plot (it gets Finch hurt and finishing bringing Stone's feelings to the surface at long last). The other fires are important mainly due to their piling-up, so they're fine to have in the past.
I also wanted to really ground this story in the town, and with the townspeople,
Mission successful! Though their 'onstage' appearances are usually brief, so many of the side and background characters are there, living their lives, making up the town. To my mind, it's a strong thematic backbone, both in a more concrete sense (like the one-made-of-many physicality of the bucket-brigade, Stone working there among them while also observing the others and worrying, the descriptions of the others in particular Isaac) and in a more abstract sense (Morgan fails in his plan because he doesn't understand the town as a group, despite his surface participation in it, in the bucket brigade, etc.--as you mention, for instance, he thinks *all* the townspeople will very easily be fractured apart and turn on Babbles as a scapegoat; he drops the wrong word at the wrong time, not realizing how quickly and widely information spreads among them; etc.).
This was one of the things I wanted to have running underneath the entire story: Stone's awareness of Finch's physical condition, and his efforts to care for Finch while never babying him.
I definitely nommed that up like ID CANDY. The awareness thrummed along underneath, woven with (and indicative of) that understated yearning I like so much. And it does some character-work, too--it's like Stone's eyes keep telling him he's looking at Finch, and Finch's body, and Finch's health, as a purely surface exercise, while the reader can see that he's looking deeper than that, and more...obsessively than that, perhaps, and certainly more emotionally than that. It's very Stonelike to keep his emotions from himself like that--not too terribly far beneath by now, but still seemingly safely covered with practical concerns. And it takes till the end of the story for Stone himself to admit what the reader already knows. I like that dynamic in fanfiction very much. (I know this surprises you.)
And I must agree--the ending line, while it might not be a lengthy wallow for the id (though it does have id candy packed in there, embedded in that long moment, and with his voice gone hoarse), is in fact a solid ending for the story. Because the story is about Stone finishing his realizations (which surely started in the Pilot the minute he and Finch stopped butting heads for two seconds and really paid attention to each other) and opening up that deeper emotional level to admit it to Finch as well as to himself. We already know how Finch is going to respond, given his half-asleep readiness to reach out to Stone himself. (♥)
(It has just now occurred to me that I am 2 for 2 in writing Peacemakers stories where a nice hot bath is part of the plot.
no subject
Thank you so much for this post! It's wonderful. And of course, thanks for writing the story in the first place, and working so hard (and stealthily!) to make my Yuletide ultra-special. It certainly was. You DECEIVER. :D And your awesome betas too!
I like your decision to go with circa-1890. I shall feel safe
stealingborrowing your decision when I eventually tackle Peacemakers. *g* Also, I am toooootally bookmarking your research links! (*steal, steal, steal*)I also think that's a good point in the plot to start the story. It's in medias res, of course, but more than that, it's at a handy spot to get momentum going right away--that's a crucial fire in itself, both for the case-plot (it's the one with the most clues in its wake) and for the emotional plot (it gets Finch hurt and finishing bringing Stone's feelings to the surface at long last). The other fires are important mainly due to their piling-up, so they're fine to have in the past.
I also wanted to really ground this story in the town, and with the townspeople,
Mission successful! Though their 'onstage' appearances are usually brief, so many of the side and background characters are there, living their lives, making up the town. To my mind, it's a strong thematic backbone, both in a more concrete sense (like the one-made-of-many physicality of the bucket-brigade, Stone working there among them while also observing the others and worrying, the descriptions of the others in particular Isaac) and in a more abstract sense (Morgan fails in his plan because he doesn't understand the town as a group, despite his surface participation in it, in the bucket brigade, etc.--as you mention, for instance, he thinks *all* the townspeople will very easily be fractured apart and turn on Babbles as a scapegoat; he drops the wrong word at the wrong time, not realizing how quickly and widely information spreads among them; etc.).
This was one of the things I wanted to have running underneath the entire story: Stone's awareness of Finch's physical condition, and his efforts to care for Finch while never babying him.
I definitely nommed that up like ID CANDY. The awareness thrummed along underneath, woven with (and indicative of) that understated yearning I like so much. And it does some character-work, too--it's like Stone's eyes keep telling him he's looking at Finch, and Finch's body, and Finch's health, as a purely surface exercise, while the reader can see that he's looking deeper than that, and more...obsessively than that, perhaps, and certainly more emotionally than that. It's very Stonelike to keep his emotions from himself like that--not too terribly far beneath by now, but still seemingly safely covered with practical concerns. And it takes till the end of the story for Stone himself to admit what the reader already knows. I like that dynamic in fanfiction very much. (I know this surprises you.)
And I must agree--the ending line, while it might not be a lengthy wallow for the id (though it does have id candy packed in there, embedded in that long moment, and with his voice gone hoarse), is in fact a solid ending for the story. Because the story is about Stone finishing his realizations (which surely started in the Pilot the minute he and Finch stopped butting heads for two seconds and really paid attention to each other) and opening up that deeper emotional level to admit it to Finch as well as to himself. We already know how Finch is going to respond, given his half-asleep readiness to reach out to Stone himself. (♥)
(It has just now occurred to me that I am 2 for 2 in writing Peacemakers stories where a nice hot bath is part of the plot.
I APPROVE OF THIS TREND. *cough*