Story: The Lion, the Thief, and Avon

[vilakins]

I've finished my B7 / Narnia crossover, just in time for New Year! Thanks very much to astrogirl2 and kerravonsen for beta-reading. :-)

I started writing it for picowrimo (5000 words in a month) and it's now just over twice that. I wanted to write something fun after several serious stories, and I hope it amuses.

The Lion, the Thief, and Avon

Comments

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was worth the wait! Of course I should have been warned... whenever you say you did a story "for fun" it turns out to have a really serious point. But it's fun in the sense of extremely entertaining, ceertainly. I especially love the otters. Vila fits well into that world. I find your Aslan a lot less irritating than the canonical one, but that's a bonus.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love otters and had to have some. I'd have worked the cheetahs into a scene too if I'd had time, but the story was already long enough.

Did you like Vila's objections to royalty? I thought of you when I wrote those bits.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I'm flattered! Yes, and I liked how he overcame them when he met her and saw just a child, also how he made use of the Lucy precedent to get things put right.

PS

[hafren.livejournal.com]

I couldn't help being reminded irrelevantly of executrix's great icon The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Me too! I was just telling Greg about it.

Re: PS

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Well, the good one of that was made by entropy_house.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

That's lovely. :)

I'd only just had lunch, but your description of tea with the Otters made me feel hungry.

Just one sentence seemed to have escaped the proof-reading, with two typos in it, a surplus "I" and a missing "to":

I suppressed the I desire to make a the obvious pun and looked at the pictures again (very nice shaded drawings) and I was almost overcome by the desire stroke a cheetah's soft fur.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

How did three of us miss that? Thanks, I'll fix that right away.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

D'oh!

Though, I have to say, I had a serious problem beta-ing this story, as I kept having a tendency to get caught up in enjoying it and forget what I was doing. :)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Narnia too, a good story. I still like Avon's way of getting into the castle. However can't quite see him blundering around picking every valuable in sight, bound to bring the guards down on them. Not exactly his style at all.
Like the mistake of precedent and president!

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think he underestimated a backward people. And he's an embezzler, not a thief. :-)

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I wanted to meet the cheetahs. I was cheetahed out of cheetahs! :^)

I must admit I didn't recognize Avon. I honestly think his behavior (particularly in Narnia) wasn't at all the way I'd have pictured him. But we all see the characters differently. Never know, maybe someday I'll write an Avon in Narnia story and see what happens.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

He is ratty, snarky and unkind to Vila; that seems like authentic fourth-season Avon to me!

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Your Avon may vary from mine, too. I'm more and more tempted to write Avon in Narnia, so you might see what I mean.

[hafren.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sure we all see characters differently. But I have to admit I'm puzzled by how people can not see S4 Avon as basically pretty much of a shit. A lot of it is not his fault, but it isn't the fault of those around him either, particularly Vila, and that doesn't stop him taking it out on them... What I would concede is that in S1 and 2 he was consistently nicer, and certainly more civil, to people off the ship than to his crewmates; are you suggesting that tendency might resurface in Narnia?

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Avon is a right bastard, I'd never deny that. It's other things that don't match my view, but I shan't get into details as it would be rude to pick apart Vilakins' story merely on the basis of seeing the character differently.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I suppose you object to his actions too.

1. Avon was pretty acquisitive in S4.
   
2. He underestimated a backward people.
   
3. He excels as an embezzler, not a thief.
   
4. Vila wrote the story and do you think he was objective?
   
5. I don't think he saw Blake that clearly either, not realising who'd put the chess set there.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

It's your story, if you see Avon the way you've written him, that's fine. It's just not the way I see him.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's OK; after all, I don't see Vila as bisexual and Avon as irresistible.

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm flexible. I don't always see Vila as bisexual, only when it's convenient. :^)

[reapermum.livejournal.com]

If you go by some peoples' stories life on the Liberator is one long orgy and that's not how life seems to me. I always visualise them as more like the people at work, some can be irritating, we all try and avoid some jobs and we're much more likely to discuss shopping, cars and last night's TV than sex.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Yes! I see it that way too. Friendship is also stronger than a lot of people give it credit for. In some languages, the word comes from the same root as love; if it did in English, we mightn't devalue it so much.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I loved it :-) It felt both Narnian and B7-ish, and that's not an easy thing to have pulled off.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

[bounce] Thank you! :-D