Meetings, a snippet
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Meetings, a snippet |
| Author(s): | Laura Mason |
| Date(s): | 6 January 2007 |
| Length: | 1269 words |
| Genre: | backstory |
| Fandom: | Mary Renault |
| External Links: | archived on MRF |
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"Meetings, a snippet" is a short story by Laura Mason based on Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer. It is set a few months before Chapter Three, when Ralph is discharged from hospital after being injured at Dunkirk, and describes how he first met Bunny.
Synopsis
Leaving a bar, Ralph overhears two men having sex in the alley outside. When one starts to beat up the other, he intervenes. A month later he is sent for retraining on sonar equipment, and finds that his instructor is the man he had rescued.
Background
According to the author's notes, "Meetings, a snippet" was written in response to a comment by weavinghugo,[1] "Maybe it isn't how Bunny got so lucky with Lanyon. Maybe it's what did Lanyon see early on in Bunny that no one else has seen?" To which she responded, "My answer is that perhaps it wasn't something Ralph saw in Bunny, but something Bunny showed Ralph about himself."[2]
Comments
The story elicited a number of comments, including the following:
- "Ralph, the Eternal Hero to the rescue. *smile* I rather think that's a good scenario for how they might have met."—comment by weavinghugo
- "I always felt that there had to be something about Bunny that MR wasn't letting us see, because Ralph was never really blinded by anything or anyone except Laurie . . . I like this explanation!"—comment by brightest_blue
- "I love looking at Ralph out of the book's timeline, so this was quite an indulgence...I feel as if you've caught his emotional state perfectly - exactly where he'd have to have been to admit Bunny into his life...the hand/collar is heartbreaking - Ralph being vulnerable always is - and Bunny's reaction keeps him human...for a while, anyway...
its a potent mix you made for him - the good looks and worship coupled with Ralph's self-doubt - and clearly it takes Ralph a good while to see just what's he's capable of ..."—comment by my_cnnr
References
- ^ The original comment by weavinghugo was made in this thread, posted to maryrenaultfics 5 January 2007 (accessed 29 June 2011).
- ^ From lorie945's notes to "Meetings, a snippet", accessed 17 June 2011.