Challenge 11 Wood Between Worlds Fill - Drabble Chain

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Susan Pevensie is 46 years old, the matron of a prestigious boarding school, and has just found her seventh white hair when her hand alights on the applewood box on her vanity table. It is cold, and dusty, but warms and hums beneath even the gentlest touch of her fingers, and lost in a memory as pale as dreaming she opens the box, slips a ring upon her finger, and rises through a wave of sweet water and light. The wood is ancient and new at once, a country all her own. She sighs, settles against quiet bark, and sleeps.

Comments

[heliopausa.livejournal.com]

Exquisite! (and a dauntingly good beginning for our drabble-chain!) Thank you for this beautiful picture of Susan in the Wood. ("a wave of sweet water and light" -- lovely!)

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

<3333 oh man don't be daunted, I cannot wait for everyone else's!

(sometimes I have to sit around and mope at the common fandom assumption that Susan would absolutely refuse to talk about Narnia - because *surely* she and Lucy - and the boys - spent ages post-DT talking about the trip and the edge of the world and everything)

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

And then???? what happens next!!!!??? Lovely as always. You've done the Wood before in your Dr. Who cross, right? Does Susan sleep forever? Or does she go through a pool somewhere else?

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my xover exchange was Polly and the Doctor meet Morgana in the Wood :D I am completely obsessed with it as a place.

I can't decide if this is actually coming from a place of Susan using the rings quite often, or if it was a totally accidental thing, or if she's maybe sort of dying here (without actually dying, I really don't see her in Aslan's Country) or if she's becoming a hermitess...

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

YES. I always thought that Susan would find the rings sooner or later and that she would fall soundly asleep in the Wood. This is beautiful.

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Thank you! As I was saying above to Rth, I thiiiiink my headcanon for this is leaning towards Susan having been holding on to the rings ever since the crash - she of course knows what they are - and maybe even using them from time to time.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhhh. I love this idea, that the Wood is Susan's secret place and she goes there—perhaps only once or twice a year, but she goes there when she needs refreshment.

[autumnia]

Lovely! I love the imagery of the box and how it even feels magical under her touch. And the Wood is now a little secret place for her to rest where nothing can bother her.

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

a little secret place for her to rest where nothing can bother her

Yessssss she is as alone as ever now but at least this is a place that is always lonely, and a place that she has chosen.

[lady_songsmith]

Woo! Starting us out right for our challenge! The imagery here is brilliant and I love the line about it being a 'country all her own.' This is a fantastic end(?) for Susan's (long) life.

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

<3333 I like your parentheses bc I had to leave it all open-ended like that, since I can't really decide if this is a one-off trip or the start of an adventure or a sort of death or a habit or what.

SUSAN.

[lady_songsmith]

Could someone post the order? I think I'm 3rd, but I don't recall the list.

[starbrowsings.livejournal.com]

Ooo! And now I want to know how the box got there. Has she had it all along, since the others died and she got the belongings, and it's been sitting on her vanity for years and years and she's had to resist its siren call? Or did someone send it to her and she finds it that day in her room? Oh the possibilities! Beautifully done.

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

I've been saying above that I *think* she's had it all along and has not even necessarily been resisting it but maybe has been making these trips for some time.

THE POSSIBILITIES yes that is how I feel about Susan and about the Wood.

[snitchnipped.livejournal.com]

Ooh, great start, Meto! I love how you got us (and Susan) into the wood...beautiful and melancholy.

Here's the order: meto, snitch, song, star, helio

My mind is spinning with ideas...stay tuned for #2...

[metonomia.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (and, perfectly, just as I'm finally looking at and responding to these comments, I see that you've just posted yours! *goes to read*)

[snacky]

The wood, I feel, is an excellent place to start. And how much do I love Susan counting her white hairs? Fab.