A personal comm/blog for me, mardia.
I really really meant to be focusing on my original fic, AND YET
I've got @madecunningly talking to me about Rivers of London AUs where Nightingale is a werewolf, I've got @angelsaves gleefully enabling me when it comes to my goals of writing every single AU for the Martian there could possibly be.
NOT HELPFUL GUYS




But nightingale would make such a great/terrible werewolf!
HE WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT/TERRIBLE WEREWOLF
and I'm dying over the idea of Peter knowing that the best way to calm Nightingale down when he's stressed is to sit down with him in a quiet room together, either watching TV or doing some other low key, relaxing activity--and having no clue as to WHY it really works so well.
Does nightingale understand why this works? And how guilty does he feel about it????
Yes and SO GUILTY. But he's also deeply into it???? If they're sitting together watching a rugby match or listening to jazz, Peter's right there with his steady heartbeat that Nightingale could pick out in a crowded room and that clean smell of his and just--he's there and he's safe and it satisfies a dark corner of Nightingale's brain he doesn't like to look at too closely.
IS THERE WEIRD SNIFFING
OH MAN. Nightingale tries REALLY HARD for there not to be, but during the times when Peter's had a near escape from dying (which is FAR too often for Nightingale's tastes) sometimes he just...can't help himself, and he leans in a little too close, breathes in a little too deep. Peter's far too observant not to have noticed, Nightingale KNOWS that, but he hasn't said anything yet. Hopefully it can just be one of those things they ignore because they're British.
If anyone could ignore all the signs ones boss is a werewolf bc it would be impolite to notice, it would be the British.
This is why I want random fly by crossover with Malcolm Tucker yelling at nightingale about being a better werewolf and less British!!!!!
"STOP BEING SO FUCKING TERRIBLE AT YOUR GENERAL EXISTENCE, YOU FUCKING WANKER." (Malcolm Tucker's actual opinion)
Where is the goddamn lie.
Also I yelled about this on twitter, but Nightingale noticing right away when Peter starts dating Simone (the "perfume" of honeysuckle) and ignoring it because--well, it's none of his business what or who Peter smells like. And then the reveal about what Simone really is happens, and Nightingale is so pissed off at himself for not realizing sooner, for not realizing what kind of danger Peter was in.
DOES HE RESOLVE TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO HOW PETER SNELLS
HELL YES. and he resolves to be more open--A LITTLE BIT MORE OPEN--with what he notices, in case he's wrong and shouldn't assume, or in case he's right and should. So he asks when he thinks Peter's hungry, comments when he thinks Peter is tired or frustrated, and he thinks that maybe Peter will get tired of it, or exasperated, think that Nightingale is hovering--except Peter doesn't seem to mind at all. He almost seems to like it, maybe--the proof that Nightingale is paying attention, that he knows Peter that well.
And it's not as if Peter doesn't know him. It's not as if Peter hasn't noticed that Nightingale likes to smell him sometimes, that Nightingale likes to sit with Peter in quiet rooms, that Nightingale is fussy sometimes about what he eats. Peter, who took the news that his new governor was a werewolf in stride, who never blinks, who always seems so happy to see Nightingale when he appears.
It's something Nightingale doesn't think he should get used to. He is anyway.
BUT HOW DOES PETER FEEL ABOUT THIS
Oh God, Peter is so ridiculously into all of it. His boss is a WEREWOLF, this is the coolest thing he could even dream up. And he's also, in the back of his head, in a place he doesn't like to talk about--weirdly flattered to know just how closely Nightingale is paying attention to him, that Nightingale cares that he's hungry or tired or stressed out. Even if teasing out of Nightingale what he CAN do is like, nearly impossible.
One of the things Nightingale does tell him is that he's stronger than the average human, but Nightingale is very vague about what that means, and once Peter gets an up close view of Nightingale holding one of their suspects (who tried to do a runner) by LIFTING HIM UP IN THE AIR, Peter is, uh. Very intrigued by this new development.
OBLIVOUS PETER IS GREAT
OBLIVIOUS PETER IS QUALITY, AND I WILL RIDE THIS MERRY GO ROUND UNTIL THE WHEELS COME OFF
anyway. imagine the scene in Whispers Under Ground when Peter is buried alive, except this time around Nightingale can hear Peter's heartbeat and knows he's alive, but knows that he's terrified and trapped somewhere that Nightingale can't get to him.
Also, when/how do we think Peter would get to see Nightingale in wolf form?
We'll definitely in That Scene, you know the one, but I don't know about others.
Tho I wonder if Nightingale at first doesn't want Peter to see because he's too busy repressing?
See, my takeaway from all of this is that it's incredible you haven't written the Rivers of London/Thick of It crossover yet.
I mean, my days, can you imagine how angry Malcom would be that all of this exist that the entire thing, the sum and total of the public sector involvement and regulation boils down to one posh Englishman (and then one posh Englishman and his fucking sorcerer's apprentice).
Oh! And it's technically under DoSaC because it was effectively defunct, dead, some anachronistic hangover passed onto the department of who gives a toss, because who else is pointless enough to be in charge of something that hasn't mattered since 1945?
Except now it's starting up again, coming back like TB and whooping cough and privatised health care.
Goddammit. Now I want the AU where Nicola finds out about the Folly, and maybe she got her A-level in Latin? (I know this is shameful but I still don't get how British education works) Whatever the point is that Nicola's eyes light up when she accidentally finds out about the Folly/magic and Malcolm is so so pissed off, and Nightingale isn't exactly pleased because good lord, the last thing they need is a politician running about the place, except when you get her away from Westminster and the press, Nicola is shockingly competent and full of ideas about community policing and better organization of resources and just what exactly is the Folly's budget anyway? How is it managed? Have they ever been audited?
Basically I want a world where Nicola works for the Folly rather than becoming Leader.
Goddammit. Now I want the AU where Nicola finds out about the Folly, and maybe she got her A-level in Latin? (I know this is shameful but I still don't get how British education works) Whatever the point is that Nicola's eyes light up when she accidentally finds out about the Folly/magic and Malcolm is so so pissed off, and Nightingale isn't exactly pleased because good lord, the last thing they need is a politician running about the place, except when you get her away from Westminster and the press, Nicola is shockingly competent and full of ideas about community policing and better organization of resources and just what exactly is the Folly's budget anyway? How is it managed? Have they ever been audited?
Basically I want a world where Nicola works for the Folly rather than becoming Leader. AND MALCOLM IS SO SO PRESSED ABOUT IT.
She could have an A level in Latin without too much difficulty-- my school didn't offer it, but hers might have (or her sixth-form college), or she could have done it outside of that.
(And then she would have been slightly embarrassed about it after, maybe, because really, an A Level in Latin? What's the point of that?) But that magic exists is so satisfying to know, and it's the one thing, the one thing, where she actually has some control, because it's not subject to public approval, she doesn't have to constantly prove she's party-loyal, pass it on because the PM needs some good PR, and what she says actually goes.)
Also, for fwiw? Good place to dip into if you want a feel for UK student (GCSE through to uni) academics is Student Rooms - various forums, including lots of subject-specific ones. You know, just if you were every inclined to, say, write something Abigail-focussed and wanted to know what she'd be doing in Latin GCSE, or English Lit or whatever.
I NEED DISCOURAGEMENT ABBY
THEN YOU'VE COME TO THE WRONG PLACE
BAH.
also what if melissa was an alien
oooh, tell me more
basically what I want is a world where Melissa is J'onn from Supergirl aka the last of her kind and she's always avoided the humans who keep landing on her home planet with their ridiculous, clunky spaceships but then they LEAVE ONE BEHIND and now Melissa's RESPONSIBLE for keeping him ALIVE.
omg omg omg like stranger in a strange land only not weird and 60s
I've never read that but YES (also omg, is this what that weird sci-fi teen romance is based on?)
I just basically want Melissa to be so so cranky about having to look after this helpless human except that Mark slowly starts to charm her and bring her around, but the big ticking time bomb is when Mark regains contact with NASA, because there's stuff he can't explain without saying, um, actually, I have help?
IDK BUT PROBABLY it's where a LOT of people got the idea for polyamory and also i think it's the one he invented the waterbed? plus there are snakes and grass carpets
yesssss :D :D :D i want thissssss
So eventually Mark has to talk to NASA, right? and Mark tells Melissa that if she wants him to hide her, he will, he'll do it. (he'll feel like a traitor the whole time, but he owes her EVERYTHING, he can't just throw her to the wolves.)
But Melissa tells him it's okay. Show them. And he does.
Of course, that doesn't mean Melissa particularly LIKES talking to NASA.
oohhhhhhh man i bet she doesn't :D
Like, she's there FOR MARK. her job, as she sees it, is to keep Mark alive until NASA can get to him. not to share her history, her culture, with a bunch of curious humans that can't keep from killing each other. (not that melissa has room to talk.)
NASA, meanwhile, is losing its shit. Not only is Mark alive, he's discovered proof of actual, SENTIENT life on Mars? They're grilling Mark for every detail they can.
And meanwhile, Mark is right in the middle.
in the middle... oF HER LEGS???? :DDDDD
I MEAN HE WANTS TO BE. VERY MUCH SO.
but also Mark feels very very guilty because Melissa is the last of her kind, and there was some kind of horrible war (she's not very forthcoming with the details) and now her quiet life doing...whatever she was doing has now been completely upended because she didn't want to let him die.
OH MARK <3
he's so concerned and guilty! and also alarmed because Melissa is causing QUITE the stir back home on earth, to put it mildly. and then Melissa asks to speak to Mark's parents and Mark is immediately a combination of ???? and !!!!!!! But Melissa is very sweet with them and tells them she'll do everything she can to bring their kid home and Mark's mom is already thinking to herself how she can get the nice alien lady as a daughter in law.
eeeeeeeeeeee