Persiflage, of course, beat me to it, but it still needs to be said: Poor Nat! And poor Tilly! ;)
Seriously, though, those two continue to be as likeable and well-characterised as they've always been throughout this series (and I had to laugh at their joint scepticism at this truly being the end of anything...). I think one of the really strong aspects of these stories is that although they are always very tastefully done (more tastefully than, say, I would probably do them - there'd be more blood and shooters on show probably) they never shy away from the grim and often violent reality of what working for UNIT would actually be like were alien invasions and so forth things that happened in real life. And Nat and Tilly react to that reality in a very human and believable way - they're brave and even dare I say heroic in their own way, but they're both firmly of the opinion (by now, certainly) that you'd have to be mad to *want* to do that stuff for a living. And you can't really argue with that. ;)
Which brings us to Ancelyn, who of course *loves* that stuff, in all likelihood. I liked the way that you had him unwittingly rubbing Tilly up the wrong way, not only with the way he reminded her of being from another time and place, and what it was like to be a curiosity and guinea pig for the likes of the unpleasant Mr Belfort, but also (one suspects) with his attitude to the violent parts of the job, and most of all of course with the whole master-servant thing. Because that's really the none-too-nice flipside of the whole knightly chivalry thing - and the idea that Tilly, as one of history's "ordinary" people herself, knew all too well about the realities of that sort of social setup and could "just tell" Ancelyn was the sort to have grown up with servants and so on, was a very telling and insightful bit of detail and characterisation.
All this and Bambera too! I remember reading the other side of this little scene - the chance meeting between her and Bambera and her confusion about the two Dr Webbers. And she even said "Shame".
So this was a really good read, and I'm glad you wrote it and thanks very much for "giving" it to me. It's always good to get back to Tilly and Nat, and they always feel so familiar as I say; always lovely to read about them. Can it be a late and an early birthday fic at the same time, in the spirit of timey-wimeyness?
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Seriously, though, those two continue to be as likeable and well-characterised as they've always been throughout this series (and I had to laugh at their joint scepticism at this truly being the end of anything...). I think one of the really strong aspects of these stories is that although they are always very tastefully done (more tastefully than, say, I would probably do them - there'd be more blood and shooters on show probably) they never shy away from the grim and often violent reality of what working for UNIT would actually be like were alien invasions and so forth things that happened in real life. And Nat and Tilly react to that reality in a very human and believable way - they're brave and even dare I say heroic in their own way, but they're both firmly of the opinion (by now, certainly) that you'd have to be mad to *want* to do that stuff for a living. And you can't really argue with that. ;)
Which brings us to Ancelyn, who of course *loves* that stuff, in all likelihood. I liked the way that you had him unwittingly rubbing Tilly up the wrong way, not only with the way he reminded her of being from another time and place, and what it was like to be a curiosity and guinea pig for the likes of the unpleasant Mr Belfort, but also (one suspects) with his attitude to the violent parts of the job, and most of all of course with the whole master-servant thing. Because that's really the none-too-nice flipside of the whole knightly chivalry thing - and the idea that Tilly, as one of history's "ordinary" people herself, knew all too well about the realities of that sort of social setup and could "just tell" Ancelyn was the sort to have grown up with servants and so on, was a very telling and insightful bit of detail and characterisation.
All this and Bambera too! I remember reading the other side of this little scene - the chance meeting between her and Bambera and her confusion about the two Dr Webbers. And she even said "Shame".
So this was a really good read, and I'm glad you wrote it and thanks very much for "giving" it to me. It's always good to get back to Tilly and Nat, and they always feel so familiar as I say; always lovely to read about them. Can it be a late and an early birthday fic at the same time, in the spirit of timey-wimeyness?