The Moon and the Stars (One-shot) New 1/31/09 PG

[PNWgal]

I swear...you just get better and better every time you post something new.

I love this from Mick's POV - you fill in the blanks nicely and portray Mick's pain, both physical and emotional, very nicely. The whole thing was beautiful, but I LOVE the last piece:

I know my time as a mortal is limited. I know about pain. But I also know about love. Two people gave up their lives out of love for others. Maybe life isn’t just about pain and suffering, but about love and happiness as well. Maybe there’s more to life than just anticipating death. Maybe it’s time for me to find out.

Mick's figuring it out. It's not all bad and love can smooth out the rough spots.

Lovely...just lovely.

[darkstarrising]

I swear...you just get better and better every time you post something new.

I love this from Mick's POV - you fill in the blanks nicely and portray Mick's pain, both physical and emotional, very nicely. The whole thing was beautiful, but I LOVE the last piece:

I know my time as a mortal is limited. I know about pain. But I also know about love. Two people gave up their lives out of love for others. Maybe life isn’t just about pain and suffering, but about love and happiness as well. Maybe there’s more to life than just anticipating death. Maybe it’s time for me to find out.

Mick's figuring it out. It's not all bad and love can smooth out the rough spots.

Lovely...just lovely.

PNWgal,

thanks, but I still can't keep up with you!! What we saw at the end of Mortal Cure was two people coming from different places (literally and figuratively) meeting to mourn the passing of a good man. Beth is a little ahead of Mick in figuring it out, but not by much. Beth has a lot of emotional pain to sort through, but Mick's pain is both physical and emotional. Yet ultimately neither knows that sitting on the sidelines is what they were meant to do. Now is the time to stop grieving the past and start living the future.

[Moonlightsonata]

Thank you for the wonderful companion piece and for letting us see into Mick's thoughts. Great story.

[Fleur de Lisa]

What a perfect book-end to the other piece. The feelings of love and loss just leap from the page.
This is the perfect set-up to what follows, you show quite well the loosening up of Mick.
Another well done piece.

[redwinter101]

dsr, I loved this. As others have said it is the perfect companion piece. I can feel Mick's physical pain, but it is tempered by hope and by more than a little wonder at his new body.

He admired and respected Josh and that comes through loud and clear - that's the kind of guy Mick is (and one of the reasons why we love him so). The only line that jarred a little for me was that, for a moment, Mick was glad Josh was dead (when Beth tells him about the engagement). Because of the reaction we saw, and the Mick we know, I can't see him feeling that. I think he was more focused on Beth and how she was feeling at having lost Josh.

But it's a minor quibble - and I do know that I have a tendency to idolise...

Mick's lines in the cemetery about Coraline have *always* bugged me. She gave up her freedom, and maybe her life, for Mick and all he has to say it "It wasn't meant to be"? That's not my Mick!! But here, you give it a context and an explanation that makes sense. I love how you tie together Coraline and Josh's deaths - that's really, really wonderful. So much sacrifice, it would be a waste and a tragedy if Mick and Beth didn't take the good from that and find a way to be together.

The closing is just beautiful and fitting.

Marvellously done.

Red

[darkstarrising]

Thank you for the wonderful companion piece and for letting us see into Mick's thoughts. Great story.

Moonlightsonata,

thanks...Mick's got different emotions to deal with than Beth. With Josh's passing, he doesn't feel like he has to stand by on sidelines anymore. But he still has some qualms, but he's beginning to work those out.

[darkstarrising]

What a perfect book-end to the other piece. The feelings of love and loss just leap from the page.
This is the perfect set-up to what follows, you show quite well the loosening up of Mick.
Another well done piece.

Fleur de Lisa,

thanks so much! "bookends" describe these pieces well. Two people working their way toward each other, with obstacles to overcome along the way. I don't know if the writer / director did this on purpose, but at the gravesite, Beth is sitting on one side of the grave and Mick is standing on the other, with the casket and grave in between them. The symbolism of the grave separating them is powerful, but the remains of Josh is indicative of a barrier that had kept them apart. With his death, that barrier is removed.

[darkstarrising]

dsr, I loved this. As others have said it is the perfect companion piece. I can feel Mick's physical pain, but it is tempered by hope and by more than a little wonder at his new body.

He admired and respected Josh and that comes through loud and clear - that's the kind of guy Mick is (and one of the reasons why we love him so). The only line that jarred a little for me was that, for a moment, Mick was glad Josh was dead (when Beth tells him about the engagement). Because of the reaction we saw, and the Mick we know, I can't see him feeling that. I think he was more focused on Beth and how she was feeling at having lost Josh.

But it's a minor quibble - and I do know that I have a tendency to idolise...

Mick's lines in the cemetery about Coraline have *always* bugged me. She gave up her freedom, and maybe her life, for Mick and all he has to say it "It wasn't meant to be"? That's not my Mick!! But here, you give it a context and an explanation that makes sense. I love how you tie together Coraline and Josh's deaths - that's really, really wonderful. So much sacrifice, it would be a waste and a tragedy if Mick and Beth didn't take the good from that and find a way to be together.

The closing is just beautiful and fitting.

Marvellously done.

Red

Red,

thanks *hugs* Part of the reason that I have Mick reflecting on all his pain is that 1) he is in pain, something he hasn't had to deal with for a long time and 2) he's a guy and guys tend to avoid dealing with emotional pain. Here, Mick is dealing with emotional pain as well, but he keeps going back to his cuts and bruises. Those are tangible and he knows that eventually, they'll heal. He's not so sure how to go forward with Beth.

Quibble well taken...I almost took that line out...looks like I should have, but I tried to temper it with his feeling ashamed at the thought.

As for the statement about Coraline in the cemetery, I agree, it seemed almost dismissive of what she did for him. What I'd like to think is that he's just trying to give Beth the key pieces of information to make her feel better - her rival for his affections is now gone and he's human. It just wasn't the right time and place for him to explain it all. But the key thing is that he recognized her sacrifice as much as he recognized Josh's.

For what it's worth....in my current multi-fic, 'Til Death..., Mick has a dream about Coraline, but his reflections on that dream are telling

'I should have known all this wedding talk would have brought images of the past back to haunt me. But I don’t want them here, not now. Coraline is a part of my past. I loved her once with all my heart, then hated her with all my being. Now, I don’t know what I feel about her. She gave me the cure, she released me, she gave herself to save me from Lance. There must be some good left in Coraline. There has to be.'

I agree with Mick....

[Moonlighter]

"Bookends" -- Already mentioned twice, but never too much. These two stories fit perfectly together, just like Mick and Beth. I liked your take on Mick's POV - infused with quite a bit of humor, if you ask me. I'm glad they have come to realize the sacrifices made for each of them and glad to know they are going to make the most of them.

[darkstarrising]

"Bookends" -- Already mentioned twice, but never too much. These two stories fit perfectly together, just like Mick and Beth. I liked your take on Mick's POV - infused with quite a bit of humor, if you ask me. I'm glad they have come to realize the sacrifices made for each of them and glad to know they are going to make the most of them.

Moonlighter,

So often we see Mick as angst ridden , but the humor here is meant to reflect his nervousness about what he's about to do. He wants to pay his last respects, but he doesn't want to be a distraction either. He's also laughing at himself. Not that he's human (something he's wanted so long), he finds out there are a few downsides he'd forgotten about (slow healing, pain).

[Moonlighter]

"Bookends" -- Already mentioned twice, but never too much. These two stories fit perfectly together, just like Mick and Beth. I liked your take on Mick's POV - infused with quite a bit of humor, if you ask me. I'm glad they have come to realize the sacrifices made for each of them and glad to know they are going to make the most of them.

Moonlighter,

So often we see Mick as angst ridden , but the humor here is meant to reflect his nervousness about what he's about to do. He wants to pay his last respects, but he doesn't want to be a distraction either. He's also laughing at himself. Not that he's human (something he's wanted so long), he finds out there are a few downsides he'd forgotten about (slow healing, pain).

Yes, I could tell it was nervous humor, but humor nonetheless from Mick is welcome in my book. I love your little angst icon -- what is it exactly? I see angel wings and a halo, but is that the Zoloft egg?

[Luxe de Luxe]

I love that last paragraph Darkstar. So hopeful and life affirming.

[darkstarrising]

"Bookends" -- Already mentioned twice, but never too much. These two stories fit perfectly together, just like Mick and Beth. I liked your take on Mick's POV - infused with quite a bit of humor, if you ask me. I'm glad they have come to realize the sacrifices made for each of them and glad to know they are going to make the most of them.

Moonlighter,

So often we see Mick as angst ridden , but the humor here is meant to reflect his nervousness about what he's about to do. He wants to pay his last respects, but he doesn't want to be a distraction either. He's also laughing at himself. Not that he's human (something he's wanted so long), he finds out there are a few downsides he'd forgotten about (slow healing, pain).

Yes, I could tell it was nervous humor, but humor nonetheless from Mick is welcome in my book. I love your little angst icon -- what is it exactly? I see angel wings and a halo, but is that the Zoloft egg?

Moonlighter,

As for the angst icon, you have to thank Phoenix....she's come up with all of these. The angst icon is called Mickangel. I think it's cute and just so appropriate for Mick.

[darkstarrising]

I love that last paragraph Darkstar. So hopeful and life affirming.

Luxe,

It is, and for someone who hasn't had much hope or much to look forward to, it's a change in attitude as well.

[jen]

Karen

This was lovely (of course). Really didn't have any doubt about that ahead of time.

It was so hopeful and life affirming at this time of grief and sadness. Mick is coming out of the shadows into the sunshine, and not just because of the temporary cure.

In FTP, which comes right after the events here, he will take another step out of his self imposed shadows. He will willingly give up his humanity in order to save 'his Beth' and something will change forever in his hatred of the inner vampire.

Or that's the way I choose to see it.

Beautiful, beautiful fic.

Thank you.