Okay, so I'm going to try to be coherent here, but I'm not sure if I'll succeed because I am so incredibly impressed by this story. I actually had to step away after I finished because there was no way I was even going to be remotely coherent immediately after.
I really love the way the flashbacks and the current time mirrored one another and how you never once gave us too much information or too little, but managed to find that balance by giving us exactly what we needed to know at that exact moment. I also really love the way that, in the flashbacks, he thinks of himself as Leonard, but in the present, all those years later, he thinks of himself as McCoy. It's nice subtle piece of characterization. The relationships that McCoy had with the Andorians and how we slowly learn about them was just fascinating and not something I could have ever imagined, but worked perfectly here. Zora was such an awesome character and I absolutely love the relationship that developed between her and McCoy and how they really do become siblings even before they fill out the paperwork and McCoy gets adopted by her family group.
I loved that you managed to keep the suspense when you were writing about Tarsus. Even though we know that McCoy survives, I was still on the edge of my seat with worry for him. And I absolutely love that it's Winona who finds him and Winona who becomes somewhat of an anchor for him among the Starfleet crew. I almost wish that we had seen Jim's reaction to learning that it was his mother who saved McCoy, but it wasn't necessary to the story you were telling.
I love that you genderswapped Boyce. I loved how sassy and no-nonsense she was and how she took McCoy under her wing. I think what I loved most was that she and McCoy didn't have a romantic/sexual relationship because they didn't need to be in one. They were friends and colleagues and that was enough. And I was seriously upset when McCoy learned about her death because I had come to like and respect her, too.
Anyway, in case you couldn't tell by my flailing all over in this comment, I really, really, really loved this story and it's one that's going to be bookmarked and reread often.
Oh, thank you so much, I'm so glad you liked it. I'm glad the flashbacks and the OCs worked for you--I admittedly loved writing Phil, and I wanted to write something different than the typical male mentor/male protege, which is part of why I genderswapped Phil Boyce in the first place. (And yeah, it kind of broke my heart to write about McCoy finding out about her death.) I wish I could have written more of Winona, but there really just was no way to work that in.
Again, I'm so glad you enjoyed the story, and thank you for the feedback.
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tocourtdisaster Wed 10 Nov 2010 06:04AM UTC
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mardia Wed 17 Nov 2010 11:34PM UTC
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