Fic: Fine Print (The Connections Remix)

[curuchamion]

Here's my entry for the mfuwss Exhibition Remix Challenge! It's actually not due till June 1, but I'm putting it up today so I'll just have to link it there on Tuesday. (This looks like being a busy week.)

Title: Fine Print (The Connections Remix)
Summary: Napoleon gets a wedding invitation from an old flame.
Notes: Gen, 455 words. Remix of "Fine Print" by theladyrose, located here on FFnet and here on network_command. Rated G.



Darling Leon: This is to tell you I’m getting married. Your mother gave me your address; I think she still wishes we’d get back together. Wouldn’t that be too funny, Leon?

Probably. Maybe. It depends on your sense of humor.

I scan through the rest of the letter. There’s not much substance – my high school sweetheart, still bitter from our long-ago breakup, is marrying a high-level Thrush munitions dealer. And while she doesn’t say much of anything flat out, she certainly implies. Thrush now knows exactly where I live.

Not that they’d do anything so crude as blow up my apartment in the middle of the night. UNCLE’s newest improved security system should be enough to guard against kidnapping attempts, but I’d better watch out while opening my mail for a while.

Mail. I hope she didn’t slip anything nasty into the ink. It’d be just like Trixi to send me a literal poison-pen letter for a wedding invitation.

Can you even put a toxin in ink? Would it do anything after it dried?

Better safe than sorry. I head over to wash my hands at the sink.

Mom will never get it. I am settled down, as much as I care to be. My women are butterflies – yes, Trixi too, and if her Thrush fiancé doesn’t know that by now he never will. There are a lot of people like her in the world: giving their bodies freely for a day or a week, or even a life, but trusting their souls to no one. Ever.

Once I thought I was like that. Trixi and I made a good pair, then. Not anymore.

The man who owns my soul is curled up in my favorite armchair, doing a crossword puzzle. Some people might wonder if he knows how much he matters to me; after all, we don’t talk about it. We tease and pester and take the mickey out of each other, and when we share a bed – as we often do, on the job – it just means a lot of scuffling and kicking and stealing of sheets. Illya has very pointy elbows.

He looks up from his crossword, pushing his black-rimmed glasses up his nose. “Napoleon,” he asks, taking his pencil out of his mouth for a moment, “what’s a six-letter word for ‘one who lays down his life’? I tried ‘martyr’, but that would make 22 down ‘Ypsilanti’, and it—“

I try to hide my smile. “I think the word you’re looking for is ‘friend’. Greater love hath no man than this?”

“To lay down his life for a friend.” Illya gives a satisfied little nod at the rightness of that definition and goes back to his paper.

Oh yes, he knows.

Comments

[ifavorfire.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, that is really beautiful. *gets warm fuzzies*
Love it!<3

[carabele.livejournal.com]

Nicely written. I love the ending with the take on the word friend.

[togsos.livejournal.com]

Excellent Remix. Loved the ending.

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

I am really touched by this lovely remix! I was never quite happy with this fic because the POV always felt off to me, and your Napoleon voice makes it so much bette. The ending is made of win :D

[curuchamion.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you! :DDDD I'm so glad you like it! (And saying it's better than the original - what a compliment! *blushes*)

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I like this a lot. I like the fact that, though you stick very closely to the original plot, the shift in perspective, sticking very tightly to Napoleon's POV, and in focus - making his friendship with Illya the point of the story - create a very different fic (the original being more philosophical, and about time and change and loss and gain, rather than focusing tightly on a relationship). It's an interesting demonstration of what a remix can achieve.

[saki101.livejournal.com]

I agree with Azdak, it is fascinating to see how the plot can remain and the other changes make a different reading experience.

Loved the ending.

[edna-blackadder.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwwww! I love your intimately frank Napoleon voice, and I agree with azdak and saki101, it is really remarkable how you've managed to write such a unique remix while sticking so closely to the original. And the ending, with "friend" as the crossword clue, is just beautiful. ::applauds::

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

Just catching up here... very nice! Just a slight adjustment of perspective... sort of sideways.

And yes, he'd better be careful of his mail. :)