yes, i know, i owe my betas replies on water

[bedlamsbard]

OH GOSH. You know what I just figured out? One place that the Petaverse deviates from regular canon, way back in LWW -- Peta would have been sharing a tent with Susan, and Edmund and Lucy probably would have been together.

That means that Lucy would have dragged Edmund off after Aslan, and it would have been Lucy and Edmund who saw Aslan sacrificed on the Stone Table by the White Witch. And Lucy and Edmund who were with Aslan when he went to the White Witch's castle. Oh, man, the Tumnus and Edmund interaction must be...interesting.

It also means it was Susan who was with Peta at the battle, which means -- something. Maybe the battle was going considerably worse in the Petaverse because Edmund wasn't around to break the White Witch's wand? Maybe Peta did it. MAYBE SUSAN WAS TURNED INTO STONE. Or maybe it didn't happen until the cavalry showed up with Aslan. But it means worse casualties, and a harder Susan, because she was out there in the killing fields with Peta.

Comments

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

Okay, that makes my commentficmake more sense. And adds a lot of interesting characterization. Edmund and Lucy are probably closer, no?

Please, please let Susan have been turned into stone. I feel that it could be used metaphorically in Be Like Water, but I'm not sure where yet.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I think Edmund and Lucy are significantly closer than in canon (or in the Warsverse) and that Peta and Susan are much closer than in canon, even with my Peter/Susan. Different levels of it, anyway. (Also, oh my God, they must be so pretty together. All that lovely black and gold contrast...oh, man, there went my head. HOT.)

I really do rather like the idea of Susan being turned into stone -- rather than Edmund getting stabbed like we get in canon and Peter going after the White Witch for that, we get Susan the stone statue and Peta going crazy. I really, really want to write Peta/Susan now.

This should probably come up in Water somewhere. *considers*

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

if she's turning to stone it definitely needs to come up in Water. Between her diplomacy/spymasterness in Water, and her larger presence on the battlefield, I can totally see her being referred to as "Stoneface" at some point. And she would be on the verge of amused and offended, and then Edmund would smirk and Lucy would giggle.

Strangely, I don't see Peta/Susan at all. Granted, we didn't see a lot of Susan in Water, but still. Just doesn't ping.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I think I'm so out of it that everything seems like a good idea right now -- just, mmm, Peta/Susan, after LWW, with Peta holding onto Susan like a madwoman, because god, she'd thought she'd lost her, she'd thought --

And then on the other hand, my Peta like men just about as much as Peter does, so there's that.

*frowns* If it deviates from book/movie canon in content rather than just the girl!Peter thing, then it does have to come up in Water, I think, just toe emphasize how things change. Not sure how that's going to come up from Caspian's POV -- mmm, maybe something with Nikabrik and the White Witch? Because Peta and Susan are both going to have major issues there.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

How are you going to bring the White Witch in? Because Caspian has neither the shocked grief after the seige or the alienation from the Pevensies, and they need human blood to raise her. And it probably has to be a willing sacrifice or Nikabrik would have just stabbed Caspian. You've got enough of a world of your own going on that you don't have to cling to canon.

They can have issues all over the place at completely new things!

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Right now there's a period of several months in Water where not much happens -- rather than make the White Witch incident and Nikabrik going for it about the castle attack, I think it might work well as a sign of internal treachery, of how fragmented the Narnians are. Especially if the Pevensies haven't accomplished anything (or much) after being there for four months; I bet that the Narnians expected them to win the war in all of a week after they arrived, and if they haven't yet -- well, that's enough of a reason of anything. They're not getting anything done? Let's try something else.

And for that matter, there's no reason that Nikabrik has to use the same arguments he did in canon on Caspian. If he tells Caspian that it's to protect Peta, or if Caspian has more of a reaction to Peta announcing that hell if she's leaving than he does right now, that's a catalyst for Caspian being lured into it. Or maybe it might be possible to bring Professor Cornelius into it somehow.

It's just kind of a major part of canon that I don't want to drop entirely.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

Because Cornelius is half-human, isn't he? Oh I love that like burning. It's not treachery, it's for Caspian! And it really fits into both the schism between Telmarine and Narnian ideology (for the land/for the ruler) and helps destabilize Cornelius from being a friendly but ineffective Dumbledore type of person to a problem, which is how Peta presented him.

This is like my new favorite thing. It is now my canon that he was suggesting it to Nikabrik and the creepy twins during the actual film.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I don't quite understand why I really don't like Cornelius, but for some reason, well, there it is. And he does come in a bit suddenly at the end. I don't think his half-human blood will do the trick, but if he's the one to talk Caspian into at least showing up -- because Caspian still trusts him, at least.

On the other hand, I don't know how much that's going to destabilize Cornelius suggesting the single combat to Peta near the end. Huh. *prods* (And, well, Cornelius is half black dwarf, the traditional bad guys, although my instinct is to make a lot of the White Witch fans in Water "good" Narnians rather than descendants of the White Witch's followers.)

[starsimpulse.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THAT IDEA.

I always thought that it should have been Edmund who saw Aslan at the Stone Table. I think it would have been important for him to see the sacrifice Aslan made for thim first hand.

I also love Susan fighting in the battle and then the White Witch turning her into stone. But I also think it's extreamly important that Edmund breaks the White Witch's wand. It's incredibly signifigant and it says a lot about his character. Breaking her wand gives him not just redemtion but retubution and it sets the stage for when he stabs her in PC.

So yes, casualties are alot worse, Aslan and company arrive, more fighting ensues, Susan gets turned into stone, Peta and Edmund go after the White Witch, Edmund is closer and breaks her wand, she stabs hims, Peta freaks out some more and finally reaches her, and then, you know, Aslan jumps in and eats the Witch's face. It would be even more fantastic if Peta was so infuriated that she actaully killed the White Witch, but that might be deviating from canon too much. On the other hand, the Witch just 'killed' two of Peta's siblings, so I think Peta would definatly be capable at that point.

I also like the idea of Aslan naming Susan 'The Gentle' for the irony. It shows he has a sense of humor.

Like you said, I think both Peta and Susan and Edmund and Lucy respectively, would be alot closer but in differnt ways. And Peta/Susan is SO FREAKING HOT. I want Peta/Susan Golden Age fic so bad. Particularly during or after some kind of Ball and they're all dressed up, and like you said, the contrast, it would be breathtaking. Also Peta/Susan/Lucy. GUH. SO. HOT. CAN NOT HANDLE.

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

hooooly shit. Edmund.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I KNOW.

What's interesting here is that Edmund is much more of an "older brother" type personality than he is in canon. *thoughtful* Where, I mean, the role is primarily played by Peter, so there's not as much...need? Hmm.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

I think it does have to be Edmund that breaks the White Witch's wand, yeah. It just requires changing around some of the action of the battle, which I think would have had to have happened anyway. (Another interesting thing would be that because it's Peta and Susan at the battle instead of Peter and Edmund, you don't get Peter screaming at Ed to, "Get the girls and go HOME!", because it's not about the boys protecting the girls, it's about the older sibs protecting the younger sibs.)

Huh. *prods carefully* Battle, battle, Susan gets turned into stone, Peta freaks out and goes for her and possibly knocks the wand out of her hand? or not, they could just be fighting the way they are in canon, only with Peta trying frantically to avoid the White Witch's wand, and then she gets pinned down the way Peter does in canon, which is about when Edmund comes in and breaks her wand -- something like that, anyway.

Peta/Susan is just a lot of YES, I feel -- I mean, there's this scene in Water (http://bedlamsbard.livejournal.com/324301.html#cutid1), and then the catfight scene, but really, I firmly feel we need more of it.

[westingturtle.livejournal.com]

but if he's the one to talk Caspian into at least showing up hmmmmmm. That might work. But I just see this Caspian as too rooted in what is going on to actually fall for it. I don't think movieverse Caspian would have done it, except that he was so off-balance from the failed attack and really seeing people die for the first time. Although Caspian would probably get caught in it trying to get Cornelius out (Caspian already believes the Pevensies are the Kings and Queens of old, right? He doesn't need this as his confirmation), but Cornelius would still have the "I've been led astray, I didn't know what they were trying to do!" card, which Caspian would totally believe.

And as a way of furthering the emotional connection, Peta taking Caspian's word in trust on this would be a huge step, and would definately move him out of the ambiguous area he has in the command structure. (Although Lucy [I don't know why I think Lucy, but Edmund's not the same as he is in the warsverse] would be watching him like a hawk. Possibly using actual hawks).

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes. I think it depends on how much knowledge there is of who and what the White Witch is. (Speaking of which, I just checked the book because I was curious to see what went down in that scene there, and man, there are actually some excellent lines -- Nikabrik's sarcasm regarding Peter and Aslan, "A king who has just won a great battle can usually establish himself without the help of a performing lion," and the hag, "Sweet Master Doctor, learned Master Doctor, whoever heard of a witch who really died? You can always get them back." I...almost hate to admit this, but I sometimes forget that Lewis actually can write.)

Edmund is not Warsverse or canon Edmund -- this Edmund is, well, this Edmund is a hammer, like Lucy said in that scene. Lucy has a lot of the role that Edmund plays in the warsverse -- I go back and forth whether it's Susan or Lucy that's the spymistress, but Lucy's definitely the diplomat of the family, which is in sharp contrast to the Warsverse. And Edmund is -- well, to one extent, I suppose he's Peta's bully-boy, although not overwhelmingly so. And Susan is Peta's second-in-command.