Fic: AU Meme - Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton

[thisbluespirit]

I finally wrote the AU Meme for Catherine Winslow & Sir Robert Morton from The Winslow Boy! I was going to say I have no explanation for why it took me so long, but that's not true: I blame the moment when I realised the perfect fusion fandom was Star Wars (Prequel Era) for breaking my brain into tiny little pieces. (It also took me absolutely ages to come up with the obligatory Romance Novel one, until it finally dawned on me that the 1999 pair had canonically done a thing that would totally be a Scandalous Trope requiring instant marriage in the Romancelandia Regency.)

I should apologise for the SW, the crossover, and probably more, but what are daft AU Memes for if not doing these things?

(The question now is, is it TWB that's the problem or am I just getting terrible at encapsulating an AU into as few words as possible?)

AU Meme: Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton (3933 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999), An Ideal Husband (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Lady Gertrude Chiltern, Mabel Chiltern
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Crossover, 1910s, Alternate Universe - Medical, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, mentions of John Watherstone/Catherine Winslow, Edwardian Period, Alternate Universe - Regency
Summary: Ten AU scenarios for Catherine Winslow & Sir Robert Morton for an old meme.

Comments

[sovay]

(idk why the 70s, it was the first section I thought of. It might have been the Equal Pay Act and all the smoking or something. I think I thought Catherine would enjoy being feminist in the 70s, and there were maybe still more old school Tories like Sir Robert around.)

You may have a natural media gravitation toward the '70's. Fortunately, you can still make a really good photoset for everyone in the '90's, when it was still possible to smoke like a chimney in government offices.

Apocalypse was what made me do the thing, because I realised that their period was when it became a thing in English Lit, so I consulted wikipedia on the late Victorian/Edwardian apocalyptic lit and the majority had some sort of natural disaster as the cause, so that's what it was here.

Oh, nice. I did not know the details of the history of post-apocalyptic fiction, but it worked very well as a vague, terrible, non-cozy catastrophe. The unrecognizable ruins of the heart of power was a nice and classically sfnal touch.

an Urban Fantasy one that remained a rough scribble in my notebook, because they were too similar (where Sir Robert is THE person to go to for tricky fairy law advice)

That sounds about right. I can see him and Catherine thriving in JS&MN, too. (Is Ronnie entangled in a fairy bargain?)

As I said, I was struggling for fusion and IN SPACE and then Star Wars happened as a result, because I suddenly realised which one of my main fandoms had a lot of political debates, principled people on opposite sides, a tragic conflict looming over them and also the opportunity to wear fancy headgear. I had too much fun with this and I had to cut it down. I am clearly missing SW fic writing a lot.

I am not willing to bet against it drawing a readership if you wrote it at full length. I like the additional points of worldbuilding you describe.

And then I watched An Ideal Husband two and a half times in a row and I will make an exception for my "I don't do the Same Actor thing" for a joke in a meme and because it totally is the same corridor and the same set.

It's hilarious and I hadn't actually clocked An Ideal Husband in the tags when I clicked through, so the corridor dropped when I saw Lady Chiltern.

<-- This was the one where I wanted to include an explanatory note and I would have done if I hadn't thought my main readership would be two people who would probably know this already anyway.

It made me think of Mary Renault's Return to Night (1947) about a generation earlier, so the vibe was definitely on.

8. Thought of this when recovering from my blood test last week after two months of blanking on Romance Novel, which ought to have been easiest but, like I said, canonical state of undress that would rock Regency Romance Land, if nowhere else ever.

It is fortunate that its denizens are so easily scandalized.

I still really love the Supernatural one. As soon as you suggested it, I couldn't understand why no one ever had cast Jeremy Northam as an occultist/parapsychologist of doubtful reputation. He'd knock it out of the park.

[thisbluespirit]

You may have a natural media gravitation toward the '70's. Fortunately, you can still make a really good photoset for everyone in the '90's, when it was still possible to smoke like a chimney in government offices.

Ha, I did spend the best part of decade watching way too much 70s TV, it is true. And, lol, am I making a photoset now? (Actually, I don't think contemporary late 90s Jeremy Northam ever wears a suitable suit, not in anything I have, at any rate. Contemporary JN is very casual, or removes his clothes altogether. The Tribe would probably have a suit, but not the right kind, if he keeps it on for long enough, but idk about that because the dvd of that BBC TV Poliakoff thing is only available in Region 1, my favourite reason not to be able to obtain a dvd of an obscure British thing. *cough* Plus, do I have other Rebecca Pidgeon screencaps? I did watch something else and I think I did take some, but i can't remember for sure. If not, then nope. lol.)

Oh, nice. I did not know the details of the history of post-apocalyptic fiction, but it worked very well as a vague, terrible, non-cozy catastrophe. The unrecognizable ruins of the heart of power was a nice and classically sfnal touch.

<3 I was trying to remember how that was a thing I knew - and it was because I read pretty much ever wiki page going on apocalypses when I set up my apocabingo comm! Anyway, yep. The first one was After London in the 1880s, although that was not really the actual focus of the novel - but it clearly started something.

I can see him and Catherine thriving in JS&MN, too. (Is Ronnie entangled in a fairy bargain?)

It must be something like that! And yes, they felt so much like they would fit in that particular world. I think I might try a crossover next time I re-read JS&MN - depending of course on whenever that is, and what I'm feeling like by then, of course, heh.

I still really love the Supernatural one. As soon as you suggested it, I couldn't understand why no one ever had cast Jeremy Northam as an occultist/parapsychologist of doubtful reputation. He'd knock it out of the park.

Oh, I was thinking of it purely in TWB AU terms, and therefore as Sir Robert, but you are so right! That would have been great. Someone should have asked him to do that! (I mean, they could have done, I suppose, but there are a couple of interviews I've seen that suggest that he likes SF/horror/ghost stories and does not get the chance to do them often.)