Lavender (vignette, M/C, PG-13)

[redwinter101]

cassysj, I agree - Mick couldn't understand this. Partly because it's so outside his experience but also because I can't see Coraline letting him witness that part of her.

Red

Although, you know, it might have been better for their relationship if she'd been able to let him into things like that....painful, but purifying.

Lucky

*nods so vigorously my head might just fall off*

Oh yes, yes, yes. Right from the outset, Coraline didn't know how to communicate with Mick - otherwise she would have realised that he would never get over her turning him without his consent. I think there was a good chance that if she'd told him, he would have been tempted - very tempted indeed. So, for me it makes sense that from then on, she didn't really get any better at telling him the truth. What was weakness to her, would have been strength to Mick.

Red

[allegrita]

Red, this story grabbed me the first time I read it on another board, and I'm happy to revisit it thanks to the Coffee House.

Fragrance is such an evocative thing, and for a vampire I'm sure it's magnified tenfold. Some memories are tied to scent in a very basic, gut-level way, and you've portrayed that in this story really powerfully. This story made me sympathize with Coraline by helping me experience the horrors she endured, and the use of fragrance made the experiences cling to me as the perfume clung to her skin.

Without being graphic, you made your readers know exactly what happened in that bathroom, and made us pity Coraline for her desperation. And then you and she snapped that curtain back down, and Coraline reappeared, beautiful and seemingly unruffled. And completely unwilling to share her pain with Mick.

Brava--this little scene speaks volumes about the kind of person Coraline is, and the kind of relationship she has with her husband.

I can picture this scene from Mick's point of view, too. It starts with such promise; Coraline loves his touch, and he's happy, thinking he's brought her the perfect gift. I can just see him running a beautiful glass perfume bottle stopper down her spine--how amazingly erotic that image is. But her reaction to the perfume must shock and baffle him. Her first response is just as he'd hoped, but then she freezes, holding perfectly still as her eyes shutter themselves and she retreats into her memories. And then she rushes away from him and locks him outside. He can hear her retching, surely smell her blood, so he must know that she's doing something to injure herself, but she gives no sign of what is going through her head, and she never lets him see her anguish. And then she just shuts the whole thing off.

Poor Mick. Poor Coraline. No wonder their marriage was a disaster!

[redwinter101]

Thanks, alle. Whenever I think about Coraline, more than any of the characters in ML, even Josef, I see the front she presents to the world. She has had to develop it to survive, but she is unable to let it down when she really needs to - with Mick. She thinks she is maintaining her control (and her power) but every misstep just increases the distance between them.

Poor Mick. Poor Coraline. No wonder their marriage was a disaster!

God, how true.

Red

[darkstarrising]

Red,

I had read this before on the other board, but the re-read for the Coffee House is still just as powerful and moving. In a few brief minutes, a subtle scent causes Coraline to travel back centuries in time, reliving memories best left forgotten.

She closed her eyes, letting the thoughts of innocence flow.

But too soon the delicate sweetness of youth was replaced, overcome by the cloying, scented powder, the perfumed preparations to make her ready for them. Her beauty was her curse; a cherished bounty, a party favour to be traded and used. The violation of the first time, her virginity a prize beyond price, the old, wealthy hands pressing over her, inside her, possessing her, changing her.

But the change is more than she even knows....the memories are so raw and painful that she can't even let the man she loves help her. She is truly alone.

[Liana]

I liked this story and how beautifully you write, as always! But each time I bump into a story about "victim", eternally misunderstood poor Coraline - I have to ask one question - why the author sees her this way?! She was raised in aristocratic, powerful family, she was a cousin of King Louis the XVI, not some peasant beauty! She knew her best weapon and used it in her advantage against men - her sexuality, she was a courtesan as we know. Why doesn't anyone try to write her from this side?! These are facts about her past, that we know from the show.

She is a tragic character, but honestly, can she love without manipulation?! I guess it's the only way she knows how to make a man be obsessed with her - use her sexuality... be open and seductive one minute, then act like nothing happened... isn't it how she played with Mick and got him, and the poor bastard thought he won her, his male pride couldn't have been more flattered?! She was a dame at the court far too long, soaked in gossip and seduction games... it's the only life she knew and the only way to get what she wanted, at any cost...

There's another side of Coraline... she didn't see any of her deeds as monstrous, she acted on her whim - married a man even without telling him what she was, then turned him without his consent... she basically trapped him and changed him into what she wanted to have - eternal partner... (I know making parallels between real life and tv show characters is silly, but still, how would you feel about a woman with AIDS for example, marrying a man without even telling him that she puts his health and his life in danger by getting involved with him?! He has a right to know the truth, doesn't he?)... Then she kidnapped a child to turn the girl and make one happy family... for goodness sake, it's not manipulative anymore, it's insane! I could never find exuses for what Coraline did and see her as a victim of traumatized past!! We don't know about her past, only what was on the show, and that's what counts!

She never learned how to trust, even the man who married her... and I like how you nailed it in the story! Even when she was back as Morgan and then revealed herself, she never said the whole truth... Telling the whole truth and trusting anyone, even her husband would have made her vulnerable, she couldn't allow to have a weak point!

[redwinter101]

dsr, thanks so much for the re-read and comment.

Liana, I think we must be reading stories in very different fandoms. I have lost count, literally lost count of the stories that have Coraline as privileged, evil, a caricature. And I can count on the fingers of one hand the writers who explore her character in more than those simplistic terms. Women of nobility at her time were not the fortunate creatures you seem to think. They were goods to be bought and sold to secure allegiances and power - the average age for a noble girl to be married was 14. Noble children were often betrothed as young as 5 or 6 to ensure a successful union and then the actual marriage would take place when she was of age. Men held all the power - women were of consequence only in terms of dowry, power and the ability to bear heirs.

And remember, we also saw that for all of Coraline's nobility, she ended up shackled to a stake and branded as a whore.

As for why no-one writes her as manipulative, turning Mick, lying to him and manipulating him - well, I have. A whole 60,000 word series (Anniversary) - solely about their marriage. Although I would never agree that she married him on a whim. She loved him, she wanted him, she wanted eternity with him - that's no whim. And it was losing him, when he finally had the strength to break away from her, that led her to insanity (which by the way I have also written).

As for your comment that

We don't know about her past, only what was on the show, and that's what counts!

- well, if you're not interested in reading about possible explanations for how she became the woman we saw, but only want a re-telling of the show, then historical fiction really isn't for you. The whole point of it is to explore a possible past and flesh out the background of the characters.

I completely agree that Coraline's inability to trust meant that she and Mick could never be happy. Her ongoing need to keep secrets from him, believing it made her powerful, was always going to be their downfall.

Red

[Liana]

Liana, I think we must be reading stories in very different fandoms. I have lost count, literally lost count of the stories that have Coraline as privileged, evil, a caricature. And I can count on the fingers of one hand the writers who explore her character in more than those simplistic terms.

I really like how writers explore characters, including Coraline! And each coin has two sides, just lately more and more writers show her as some kind of eternal victim, misunderstood in her love. We have a man who despite what he became against his will, changed his life and devoted it to helping others. And also we have unchangeable Coraline, Josef knew her a century longer than Mick, yet he sees her as dangerous as before. It means Coraline is very comfortable with herself the way she is.

Women of nobility at her time were not the fortunate creatures you seem to think.

I DON'T think they were fortunate creatures! I read history books too. Even now, there are places in this modern world where women are being traded for livestock, or given away at 14 or even younger!! There is no excuse for this reality!

And remember, we also saw that for all of Coraline's nobility, she ended up shackled to a stake and branded as a whore.

Well, maybe she deserved that, hell knows what else she did in her centuries long life?! Actually, her brand with fleur de lis reminds me of Dumas and his Milady, AND Jeanne de la Motte, her history is very interesting and Dumas used it for his "The Queen's Necklace"... And it's also very interesting that Coraline lived at the same time. Maybe ML writers used this parallels not by chance, who knows?! See, I'm fishing here, just like fanfic writers mostly do, when writing her past... We just can't really know, only guess. That's why it's called fan fiction, it goes beyond cannon.

As for why no-one writes her as manipulative, turning Mick, lying to him and manipulating him - well, I have. A whole 60,000 word series (Anniversary) - solely about their marriage. Although I would never agree that she married him on a whim. She loved him, she wanted him, she wanted eternity with him - that's no whim. And it was losing him, when he finally had the strength to break away from her, that led her to insanity (which by the way I have also written).

And I've read almost all chapters of the series! I don't question her love for Mick, but she manipulated him, I guess she can't love without it! She was acting on a whim when she didn't tell him what she was, first of all... then just selfishly turned him. Really, she trapped him. Why didn't she tell him the truth about herself, maybe Mick would have chosen to be turned?! Yet she didn't want to risk being rejected, she just took what she wanted... believing they would have forever to deal with consequences...

As for your comment that

We don't know about her past, only what was on the show, and that's what counts!

- well, if you're not interested in reading about possible explanations for how she became the woman we saw, but only want a re-telling of the show, then historical fiction really isn't for you. The whole point of it is to explore a possible past and flesh out the background of the characters.

Really, re-telling of the show would become veeerryyy boring pretty soon! And I'm all for exploration of the characters! But I like variety. Like I said before, lately I've read few Cora-centric stories (which is overload for me ), and I got an impression, that it's either she's written as pure evil, or poor misunderstood woman desperately in love... which leads her to do evil things anyway... She's multi-faceted character, and I believe there's a lot in her to explore. Actually, I really liked how you portrayed her and their relationship in Anniversary series! Even though I'm a die-hard MickBether, as you probably noticed.
I'm sorry if my previous post seemed rude and harsh, it had many things unrelated to the content of this particular story. I guess I'd really like to read a story about Coraline that doesn't show her as a victim of some abusive past (which might or might not be true, we don't know)... I'd really like to read her as dame at the court, enjoying her status and everything that entails... I haven't read this Coraline before. And it doesn't mean she has to be evil, maybe manipulative as always, as a adventuress, dangerous but not necessarily evil... Just variety wouldn't hurt...
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[redwinter101]

Thanks for the response, Liana. I think we're pretty much saying the same thing. Coraline is an interesting character and anything that portrays her simply as a victim or simply as a monster doesn't do justice to her complexity.

Red

[mitzie]

This story gave me the chills!! I could feel Coraline's pain from innocence to being brutally abused. There is so much more to Coraline than what the show gave us and you do a breathtaking job of showing us that!!!!


mitzie

[redwinter101]

Thanks so much, mitzie. I don't make excuses for Coraline - but I refuse to see her as a simple villain (Mick would never have fallen for her and stayed with her for so long if there weren't a complexity and a depth to her).

It made my day to see this getting a re-read.

Red