First Blossom, Then Bear Fruit
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | First Blossom, Then Bear Fruit |
| Author(s): | Corngold |
| Date(s): | 2014 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Blake's 7 |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | First Blossom, Then Bear Fruit |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
First Blossom, Then Bear Fruit is a Avon/Blake story by Corngold.
The story was published in 2014 for Blakefest, and then reprinted in September 2015 by Aralias in Pride and Prejudice, a Blake's 7 zine.
Reactions and Reviews
Soooo good. I love it! You know, it wasn't until you put in that note about Epictetus that I realized how much that really is what this fic is about. After everything Blake and Avon have done to and with each other, they're still really at the beginning of everything, relationship-wise. And not just at a blank slate kind of beginning--a really troubled beginning, given everything. But it's still such a hopeful, sexy, wonderful fic, with such an amazing Blake and Avon. You have such an affection for and understanding of these characters, which really comes through in your writing. Since I know Katy really loves this Avon, I'll focus on your Blake here. The way you "get" Blake always amazes me, because I find him so hard to wrap my mind around. When you write him, he's still exactly the Blake I know and love, the Blake I myself don't totally get, but it's clear you are able to get inside his head. And all of his mannerisms are so dead on, too. He's just so vividly there through the whole fic:[1]
yay! thank you not so secret santa <3 it is very much what i wanted. which is to say lovely dialogue and awkwardness, and bits where they get taken aback by honesty from the other and it is lovely. i am vv pleased that... well, i am not pleased because i was sorry to delay you - but! i am pleased that i suggested that you write the sex there because i think that part (and the whole now) is working really really well. seeing 'being drugged' from the inside is really effective, as is the bit where they're basically both not really able to do anything but they both really want to. that dialogue is working great :D i really really like. and it is definitely sexy, even as it is also feelings-heavy. also while we're talking about the sex still \o/ - i really like how sweet avon is about it. not unrealistically so, but you might think maybe he would taking advantage in a seedy way or refuse to do it because it was too weird, but instead (as blake points out) he is touchingly nice about it, kissing blake and holding him. i also love that they go to sleep together (not the same as sleeping together) and that blake holds him, even though he is drugged and isn't sure what is going on, so it is weird but it's just.... it's nice. it's really really nice.and then they have a lovely domestic (but still awkward!) conversation about blake's shirt. i like that too - and i think you were right to get rid of the cally/servalan (a ship nobody ever writes!) bits. it's better to just be about how avon has been dreamily enjoying blake in green for some time. also, i like that avon wears velvet now. and is polite to people - and i think i said already that i like the way he uses blake's full title in company. and of course how much FAITH he has in blake to reform the government and be essentially a good person, even as he's angry with him for other unrelated things.
i particularly like the bit where blake is like 'i am sorry i threw avon into the wall so hard' - it doens't slow the action and the awkward down that the reader knows blake is wrong, but it is amusing. and i like avon being short of breath (it must have been a surprise, even if he did stroke blake's arm for no reason and thus deserved it). iiiiii also like - deva! hooray. and the awkward awkward discussions about whether avon is jealous of him (and i'm glad he isn't. maybe they can be friends or something now).
also - i love that it is a president blake fic, and he's being all powerful and important BUT STILL WORRIED ABOUT HIS OWN POWER, and that people call him my lord and he's thinking about how it was only a few years since he was sleeping in a ditch or whatever and roasting rabbits. that he's uncomfortable, but still going along with it. and that when there is sex pollen, avon has to be like 'this will be really bad for blake's image!!!' even as he is really worried about blake as well.
oh - and another bit that i particularly like is the bit where blake anticipates that avon is going to say he's always behaving like a fool, and avon's response to that <3 [2]
Oh, I do love a good sex pollen fic - and this was so pleasing, capturing a wonderful sense of Blake being out of control and being really quite a bit gorgeous with it! And I love the build up and Blake and Avon having feelings that they are not expressing (or not expressing well) and fighting through a diplomatic meal. Great fic![3]
Ahh! This way the perfect way to greet the morning yesterday! I love how you introduce the smoking gun sex pollen with the Duchess of Yse being all, OMGOSH! YOU DIDN'T DRINK THE WINE?!?! and having it be a fake out and THEN having Blake eat the innocent looking cake (the description of which was super tasty and unusual and made me drool and want salty chocolate so badly). Blake reflecting on Avon being broken, and Vila saying the same was so sad. Avon working two jobs (of course, Blake is still giving him a massive workload and not at all pinging that this is probably not the best way of dealing with a guy who's a workaholic and uses it to bury his feelings). I like Jenna thinking of how much Vila would enjoy the party. I also really like Jenna making a distraction for Avon and Blake to continue their argument (and her learning about hovercrafts). I love how awkward Blake is about being in power and how he's all worried about it, and how Avon supports him even though he feels guilty, and how neither of them recognize that they're doing a very good job (Blake's I'm running it! and Avon's I'm a criminal remember). I love how they are both able to recognise the good in each other. what I love most of all though is that this isn't an instant fix. they're relationship is still rocky, but it's still a relationship and they're willing to work at it. It's very beautiful.[4]
(Sex? Yes) PGP Blake-is-President, he and Avon are estranged, and then one of them gets hit with sex pollen. Starts with interesting and believable political set-up with fun ensemble scenes, before moving into an exceptionally well-written drugged section. Nothing is easy or comfortable for our heroes, the sex pollen doesn't resolve anything, but it forces them to talk about their problems.[5]