Exit Reality, part 2. PG-13.

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Link to part I in the fic. Crit welcome.

"Drunk an' disorderly ain't enough for yeh, is it?"

Comments

[eviltigerlily.livejournal.com]

Someone thinking beeing Rimmer was actually a good idea? What an alien thought.

State-only-knew

Oh, that is just too perfect.

"I'm ten minutes younger!" Sebastian bellowed.

"It was the right ten minutes," Billy grumbled.

Aww, cuteness. So Rimmer too.

The whole um, inceident between the brothers was delicious and beatifully sad. And the ending was jsut sweet. Oh, and:

Those teeth should be sold to a land developer for fencing

Yes!

[eviltigerlily.livejournal.com]

Just had another thought. Assuming this is reality, what would happen when they leave the game?

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! Glad you - well, liked. :)

Well, what would happen is, I guess, what happened when they did. Except that maybe, if they weren't really the Dwarfers inside, they might not be so quick to check out. Maybe they'd join that covey of book lovers in Farenheit 451. :p

[noirenails.livejournal.com]

Wow. This fic has such a dark and impossibly reality-like touch in it. Makes me really think that maybe, just maybe, the, er, Doyle reality is the real reality. And perhaps the characters are aware of it, at least first, but have developed into what we now consider to be the Red Dwarf reality and. o_o it's impossible to talk of this in a coherent way. At least for me.

But the main point is: this was very interesting and I enjoyed it very much.

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

That reality really struck me as real, which is why that ep was such a good mind-f. ;) I've thought of the idea of that reality being the real one and the Dwarfers continuing to hallucinate - or maybe being put back into the Game for their own mental health, until Sebastian's savings run out. But it all makes my brain hurt.

Aw, thank ye!

[(Anonymous)]

I really enjoyed this. It reminds me a little of a few of my favourite series from you (Listerworld and Return)- there's a sort of bittersweet melancholy about it that I love. Sebastian's contempt mixed with undenaible attraction towards Billy that's so reminescent of Lister, Billy's Rimmer-like inability to take responsibility for his life, Cat's loser-persona, etc. Just a very believable take on how the 4 of them might have gone into the RD reality game. I really wonder how they might have coped once they came back.... ^_^

[iris-summers.livejournal.com]

Oops. That was me. =)

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Heh! Thanks for the comments. Ja, the whole BTR-reality seemed to have such possibility - and they came out of it with such relief that they didn't have to explore the possibilites!

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

Nicely done ma'am! All in all, I'm glad I didn't write Sebastian for this, because the whole Sebastian/William thing would have taken a turn at Wrong junction and headed straight into Going-To-Hellsville. *wipes brow*

Some minor concrit first:
The fact that the maid and butler are never referred to by name, even by Sebastian who is "good with people" seemed a little off to me. Perhaps domestic servants are not referred to by name in this society, but if so, that could perhaps have been elaborated on?

If Sebastian and William are brothers with the same background and upbringing, why are their accents different? There could be many prefectly logical reasons for this of course, but I would have enjoyed to see one written out, just to satisfy my curiosity. Perhaps, for example, William resents his mother, and by extention her accent?

We use military time in Norway; or rather 24 hour time. It's fun to see that in other universes. :)

William's character is as interesting as Sebastian. I'd like to think there is something about this society that makes a Rimmer-alternate just sort of give up. Perhaps it is that he has nothing to aspire to, given that everyone is supposed to be equal? But then again, Rimmer's ambitions were imposed on him by his parents; he was never allowed to develop any of his own. I've always liked how the books hinted at talents and interests that never got beyond the potential stage for him; such as his love of making charts and coloring in maps - he might make a good designer or artist, but who will ever know? It might be that he simply cannot do what this society expects of him in order to succeed; it isn't in him. So he becomes a failiure, but a different kind of failiure. At any rate, interesting stuff.

"I'm ten minutes younger!" Sebastian bellowed.
Oh, splendid. Here I had this wonderful rational laid out that would plausibly and unforcedly explain that they were not blood-relations, but there that goes. For your world, at least. ;)

"It was the right ten minutes," Billy grumbled.
Hello Arn.

I like the subtle ways you show that Sebastian really does care for Billy. It really is a bit like Listerworld, as was suggested above. The desperate caring; loving, mixed with exasperation that he just can't get anywhere with the stubborn man! Man, that was a powerful story to write... Those scenes stuck in my head. This is a little reminiscent of Lister's near breakdown. (I seriously thought he was going to go nuts, for a moment.)

"I can pay, you know... I do it all the time, really..."
Again, so much said in so few words. :(

something had left him with an erection, and it stared at him stubbornly, refusing to subside.
This made me giggle, despite the circumstances. Guiltily hawt scene too!

Great Dibbley and Bullet - "Sub-section co-sub-leader second-in-command Bullet speaking." - Bullet love. Dibbley love. :D

"I need someone to look after me."
It's all coming together...

Sebastian's dream... The poor boy. He's being forced to be something he isn't, and it breaks my heart. That, and the last line... *shudders* Not smiling?

May I borrow this universe if I can find a use for it?

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

Holy Lengthy Reply, Batman! I guess I kinda went into academic story-deconstruction-mode there...

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, it's yours!

Ja, I didn't give them names because I had the idea of Sebastian being not a people-person in this universe - because he's subconsciously conflicted/guilty about what he does, but in any case, he wouldn't talk much to his butler and maid and wouldn't refer to them by name. Billy wouldn't care. But this does give me an angle on the followup... (Hm.) Maybe I'll hit the accents, too.

Yeah, Billy pulled that one out on me. But Sebastian wasn't in the place for that kind of hell. After being in Red Dwarf-land, however...

Yes, I loved those hints in the book, too - and this entire society seemed as disinclined to anything he showed hints of being good at as his parents were in the RD universe. I figured it was a combination of that and a sense that, as Sebastian advanced, he could never live up to Sebastian's example (which would be similar to the pressure he has in RD-verse - why can't you be as good as your brothers?).

Thank ye!

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I kinda thought of Billy's "good with people" as being a militaristic/manipulative "good at getting people to do what you want."

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I picked up on that. I figured his latent guilt might make him want to care for them, but it is probably just as likely to make him want to push them away or pretend they aren't there; aren't really people.

[kahvi.livejournal.com]

*nods* That makes a lot of sense. He doesn't want to get close to people, because that would mean facing some truths he is only barely aware of at the edge of his conciousness.

The funny thing is, Rimmer has amazing potential. Some of that is visible in Ace, but Ace is too busy... being Ace, really. Rimmer, just being himself, could become something really special.

[tawg.livejournal.com]

But even at five, there seemed to be a desperation to Billy's fun, a sense that the universe was running on ahead and leaving him behind.

I think that's a perfect description for Billy, and for Rimmer too (esp. in the Backwards novel).

Mmm, twin-cest. Takes me back to the Harry Potter fandom, that does.

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I really felt for Rimmer in Backwards. And Ace, too, which I didn't expect to. (I still don't like him, though.)

I bet! It's evil, but this is RD, and the slash is right there.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Most excellent. *applause!* The creepyness of Sebastian's job and his utmost conviction that he's doing the right thing... *shudder*

[roadstergal.livejournal.com]

*blush* Thank you!

kahvi and I are working on a bit of a followup thing that we'll be posting in the next few days.