First up, when I got my assignment I skimmed your work and glommed onto this one immediately. I read it straight up and have been thinking about it regularly ever since. It's so damn good, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The concept is brilliant. I'm always fascinated by the allusions to the Folly's security and what it guards, and you did a brilliant piece of worldbuilding to expand on those hints. It's very realistic to the universe, as well, being both dark and weird at the same time, but delivered in that charming style that makes you read on and then go back and think "Hang on a second, did he just say blood?"
Dismantling them would trigger an alert and activate the inner series of wards, which Nightingale had designed himself during that rather dull period from 1968-1973 when there had been very little to do but contemplate the inevitability of his own death and what that would mean for the future of English magic. Again, this is so on voice. Aaronovitch uses sentences like this and you've used it to great effect. It starts out so benignly, and then halfway through I spat my tea out laughing and then it got sad. Delightful.
Nightingale was no David Mellenby, and he was no Peter Grant. I love that you brought Mellenby in. He's one of my favourite unseen characters of the books, and the constant comparisons between Peter and him, and Peter's having to live up to so many ghosts, is wonderful. That you've had Nightingale call him out specifically here but also put Peter on the same footing as him already is a really lovely touch.
The conversation between Molly and Nightingale is really nicely done. The way they dance around the subject of Lesley and she manages to say so much without words really works for them. That moment when she sets the toast down "with rather more force than necessary" conveys the whole tangled mess, doesn’t it?
the woman spooning raspberry jam into a cup of otherwise perfectly good tea I winced. I know people swear by it, but I remain sceptical, so I'm on Nightingale's side with this one. And I laughed.
Varvara is a delight. I never warmed to her in the books, perhaps I will on reread, but if I do it will probably be because of this story. I genuinely like your portrayal of her as a person. She's just the right level of cheerful and sarcastic and I want to go out for drinks with her.
it didn’t mean he wanted to waste any of his borrowed time locked away from the world. Not any more of it than he already had. That's an interesting admission. I wonder how much of the 90s Nightingale was aware of?
I love how you've brought the other characters in. Guleed is a fun balance against the weirdness of the Folly, and the way she takes everything in her stride puts it all into perspective. Her brief conversation with Molly about cake is such a wonderfully normal moment considering who she's talking to and where she is.
The SPECT scan conversation is brilliant. Again, draws the contrast between Varvara and Nightingale, one who went out and enjoyed her life and one who stayed locked away in the past. I love Varvara's collection of records and her clothes, and Molly claiming them away, that was such a perfectly Rivers of London moment. The phrasing of the wrinkles were not long for this world is spot on.
“I suppose we’ll have to go back to vodka-fueled interrogations to get any useful intelligence from you.”
“I look forward to it.” Stop flirting, you two. Or don't.
Really liked the personal effects box. It was a lovely way to look at Varvara's life without requiring exposition or the aforementioned vodka, and showed a more vulnerable side of her. Nightingale being more gentle than usual with he box said a lot about him too.
Is this about the sheep? I love their whole conversation, but that set me off. What a way to open a conversation. Abdul and Nightingale have a wonderfully relaxed relationship here, I love it. And then you did it to me again when Peter rang, but thankfully I'd finished my tea by that point.
The insight into what was going on at the Folly at the time is really interesting. I really like the route you took with it, Nightingale's immediate concern for Peter and his sending Bev with him, and his instinct to go haring off after him even though he knows he can't.
He told himself the brownish splotches were at least as likely to be beef gravy as they were to be human blood. Siri, sum up the Folly for me in one sentence. I love that it's on graph paper, and the sentimentality of refusing to transcribe them so he has an excuse to keep hold of it. I could have cried at that. I am a Nightingale/Mellenby shipper, and my poor little shipper heart went out at that moment. Your descriptions of the Folly during and then immediately after the wars are excellent. Deft and delicate, and achingly sad in their way.
And now we hit the really, really juicy worldbuilding. It's so good? Voice is absolutely spot on, it could have come from one of Aaronovitch's short stories and I'm pretty sure I'll be misremembering it as canon in years to come. I love how utterly present David is, even when he's decades gone. That description of his signare as warm and welcoming made my heart ache.
That aside about the gap at the twelfth order and Nightingale wishing he could remember it to tell Peter? Absolute magic. We were so robbed of their interactions. They'd get on so well. And Nightingale has both of them in his head telling him to stop (and of course he doesn't listen).
For an instant of utter clarity, he saw the wards opening like a chasm beneath his feet, the roiling horror of the death that had paid for them exposed like a raw nerve. And then the spells did not so much collapse as implode. Stunning. Voice absolutely spot on, sense of horror and weird is perfect. Just *Chef's kiss* I had a moment of genuine fear when he couldn't light the werelight, like the first time I read River of London and Peter's werelight got eaten.
I want to hug Nightingale. I don't think he'd appreciate it, but I want to do it. Varvara to the rescue! Sort of. I love their banter backwards and forwards, the things he answers and the ones he doesn't, the way he just impellos her into the wall rather than arguing about it and she knows better than to try anything big in that space. And she's straight in there looking after him, for reasons that must have been utterly bewildering to him even if he weren't half out of it with blood loss and battering his brain against the wards. The drawing in the corner is so lovely I'm going to cry again. Is it weird that I miss a character we never met? I am inordinately fond of David. I both do and don't want to know what the sacrifices are. I think you've made it quite clear, but if I don't acknowledge that I won't cry again.
That conversation about their immortality leading to the revelation about the blood is brilliant. I wondered where you were going with it (not that I wasn't enjoying the journey, I very much was) and then that came out of nowhere. So simple, so obvious, so brilliant when the penny finally drops. And of course Nightingale goes into self-recrimination whilst Varvara uses her brain, but we'll forgive him since he's so battered already.
Oh my shippy heart. Poor Nightingale. Poor David. Damnit Aaronivitch. “Oh, do consider Peter, if you find that helpful,” she said with unnecessary enthusiasm. I cackled. Probably shouldn't, but I did.
Nightingale trying not to plead. Varya enjoying the command. Very nice indeed. Sex scenes are not my usual wheelhouse, but I really enjoyed the mix of flirty, sexy and sarcastic
Their conversation in the smoking room after, again with so much left unsaid, wraps things up so nicely. I particularly liked the use of My Generation to tie it all off. It's the perfect album for it.
General notes: As I've mentioned, I really loved your voice for this story. It felt very accurate to the canon and also to Nightingale. Not as many architectural wanderings as we get with Peter, more reminiscences and historical reflections, which felt spot on. You placed it really well within the context of the series and drew on the wider events well, although I was confused at times by the timeline you had for David Mellenby. This might be because of things from books released since, though, I realise it's a while since you wrote this and creators have an annoying habit of Jossing us. You expanded on hints we've been dropped beautifully.
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timeasmymeasure
Routine Maintenance
Date: 2021-05-08 05:30 pm (UTC)First up, when I got my assignment I skimmed your work and glommed onto this one immediately. I read it straight up and have been thinking about it regularly ever since. It's so damn good, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The concept is brilliant. I'm always fascinated by the allusions to the Folly's security and what it guards, and you did a brilliant piece of worldbuilding to expand on those hints. It's very realistic to the universe, as well, being both dark and weird at the same time, but delivered in that charming style that makes you read on and then go back and think "Hang on a second, did he just say blood?"
Dismantling them would trigger an alert and activate the inner series of wards, which Nightingale had designed himself during that rather dull period from 1968-1973 when there had been very little to do but contemplate the inevitability of his own death and what that would mean for the future of English magic. Again, this is so on voice. Aaronovitch uses sentences like this and you've used it to great effect. It starts out so benignly, and then halfway through I spat my tea out laughing and then it got sad. Delightful.
Nightingale was no David Mellenby, and he was no Peter Grant. I love that you brought Mellenby in. He's one of my favourite unseen characters of the books, and the constant comparisons between Peter and him, and Peter's having to live up to so many ghosts, is wonderful. That you've had Nightingale call him out specifically here but also put Peter on the same footing as him already is a really lovely touch.
The conversation between Molly and Nightingale is really nicely done. The way they dance around the subject of Lesley and she manages to say so much without words really works for them. That moment when she sets the toast down "with rather more force than necessary" conveys the whole tangled mess, doesn’t it?
the woman spooning raspberry jam into a cup of otherwise perfectly good tea I winced. I know people swear by it, but I remain sceptical, so I'm on Nightingale's side with this one. And I laughed.
Varvara is a delight. I never warmed to her in the books, perhaps I will on reread, but if I do it will probably be because of this story. I genuinely like your portrayal of her as a person. She's just the right level of cheerful and sarcastic and I want to go out for drinks with her.
it didn’t mean he wanted to waste any of his borrowed time locked away from the world. Not any more of it than he already had. That's an interesting admission. I wonder how much of the 90s Nightingale was aware of?
I love how you've brought the other characters in. Guleed is a fun balance against the weirdness of the Folly, and the way she takes everything in her stride puts it all into perspective. Her brief conversation with Molly about cake is such a wonderfully normal moment considering who she's talking to and where she is.
The SPECT scan conversation is brilliant. Again, draws the contrast between Varvara and Nightingale, one who went out and enjoyed her life and one who stayed locked away in the past. I love Varvara's collection of records and her clothes, and Molly claiming them away, that was such a perfectly Rivers of London moment. The phrasing of the wrinkles were not long for this world is spot on.
“I suppose we’ll have to go back to vodka-fueled interrogations to get any useful intelligence from you.”
“I look forward to it.” Stop flirting, you two. Or don't.
Really liked the personal effects box. It was a lovely way to look at Varvara's life without requiring exposition or the aforementioned vodka, and showed a more vulnerable side of her. Nightingale being more gentle than usual with he box said a lot about him too.
Is this about the sheep? I love their whole conversation, but that set me off. What a way to open a conversation. Abdul and Nightingale have a wonderfully relaxed relationship here, I love it. And then you did it to me again when Peter rang, but thankfully I'd finished my tea by that point.
The insight into what was going on at the Folly at the time is really interesting. I really like the route you took with it, Nightingale's immediate concern for Peter and his sending Bev with him, and his instinct to go haring off after him even though he knows he can't.
He told himself the brownish splotches were at least as likely to be beef gravy as they were to be human blood. Siri, sum up the Folly for me in one sentence. I love that it's on graph paper, and the sentimentality of refusing to transcribe them so he has an excuse to keep hold of it. I could have cried at that. I am a Nightingale/Mellenby shipper, and my poor little shipper heart went out at that moment.
Your descriptions of the Folly during and then immediately after the wars are excellent. Deft and delicate, and achingly sad in their way.
And now we hit the really, really juicy worldbuilding. It's so good? Voice is absolutely spot on, it could have come from one of Aaronovitch's short stories and I'm pretty sure I'll be misremembering it as canon in years to come. I love how utterly present David is, even when he's decades gone. That description of his signare as warm and welcoming made my heart ache.
That aside about the gap at the twelfth order and Nightingale wishing he could remember it to tell Peter? Absolute magic. We were so robbed of their interactions. They'd get on so well. And Nightingale has both of them in his head telling him to stop (and of course he doesn't listen).
For an instant of utter clarity, he saw the wards opening like a chasm beneath his feet, the roiling horror of the death that had paid for them exposed like a raw nerve. And then the spells did not so much collapse as implode. Stunning. Voice absolutely spot on, sense of horror and weird is perfect. Just *Chef's kiss* I had a moment of genuine fear when he couldn't light the werelight, like the first time I read River of London and Peter's werelight got eaten.
I want to hug Nightingale. I don't think he'd appreciate it, but I want to do it.
Varvara to the rescue! Sort of. I love their banter backwards and forwards, the things he answers and the ones he doesn't, the way he just impellos her into the wall rather than arguing about it and she knows better than to try anything big in that space. And she's straight in there looking after him, for reasons that must have been utterly bewildering to him even if he weren't half out of it with blood loss and battering his brain against the wards. The drawing in the corner is so lovely I'm going to cry again. Is it weird that I miss a character we never met? I am inordinately fond of David.
I both do and don't want to know what the sacrifices are. I think you've made it quite clear, but if I don't acknowledge that I won't cry again.
That conversation about their immortality leading to the revelation about the blood is brilliant. I wondered where you were going with it (not that I wasn't enjoying the journey, I very much was) and then that came out of nowhere. So simple, so obvious, so brilliant when the penny finally drops. And of course Nightingale goes into self-recrimination whilst Varvara uses her brain, but we'll forgive him since he's so battered already.
Oh my shippy heart. Poor Nightingale. Poor David. Damnit Aaronivitch.
“Oh, do consider Peter, if you find that helpful,” she said with unnecessary enthusiasm. I cackled. Probably shouldn't, but I did.
Nightingale trying not to plead. Varya enjoying the command. Very nice indeed. Sex scenes are not my usual wheelhouse, but I really enjoyed the mix of flirty, sexy and sarcastic
Their conversation in the smoking room after, again with so much left unsaid, wraps things up so nicely. I particularly liked the use of My Generation to tie it all off. It's the perfect album for it.
General notes:
As I've mentioned, I really loved your voice for this story. It felt very accurate to the canon and also to Nightingale. Not as many architectural wanderings as we get with Peter, more reminiscences and historical reflections, which felt spot on.
You placed it really well within the context of the series and drew on the wider events well, although I was confused at times by the timeline you had for David Mellenby. This might be because of things from books released since, though, I realise it's a while since you wrote this and creators have an annoying habit of Jossing us. You expanded on hints we've been dropped beautifully.
So in short, I just really loved this story.