vaznetti | Alias feedback challenge (Reply)

I don't know whether Amy did this on purpose, but I was very happy to be assigned an author who writes characters and pairings that I don't usually read. I had a wonderful time reading through the stories on Lara's (

larasdice) web page, and I couldn't have asked for a better writer to re-introduce me to the Syd/Vaughn pairing.

I'll start with Borrowed Time. This is Vaughn after the S2 finale, wrecked with hope:

For the second time in his life, there was a corpse and a set of dental records. The first time, there'd been a careful, truthful (despite his age, because that was always her way) explanation from his mother as to just what that meant. The first time, he'd hoped they were wrong. That somehow the proof was wrong.

I like the way Lara ties the two losses together, because it explains so much about why Vaughn acts the way he does. I can really believe in this Vaughn, the man who never quite believed that his relationship with Sydney was real, who believed that he was always living on borrowed time. Lara does a wonderful job showing his hopelessness, and his inability to stop hoping. He's constantly second-guessing his choices here, both consciously (the passage about the various "movie endings" he imagines while on the plane is wonderful) and in his dreams--and of course as a reader, you know that he's going to have to betray someone. I love how insecure he is in Sydney's love: even at the end he's left wondering what she really feels for him. And this story made me feel for Vaughn, which is no mean thing.

I also enjoyed Equilibrium, a story set immediately after the S1 finale. Lara does a wonderful job skirting the non-con issue here: I don't ordinarily see a great deal of potential violence in the Syd/Vaughn relationship, but here it seemed completely right. And of course Sydney is such a physical person that it makes sense that her body would do the responding for her. Again what's amazing here is that Lara doesn't need to tell the reader anything--she does such a marvelous job of showing Sydney's reaction to the side of Vaughn she saw in Taipei:

As hypersensitive as she has become to his hand, she thinks she can feel his thumb want to move before it actually does. "Sydney, I'm sorry." And then it is rolling back and forth, the motion startlingly familiar.
It's just Vaughn. He's just trying to comfort you. But when she racks her brain, she can't recall a time when he's gone about it like this. You don't know me at all. She tries to remember the location of the closest table. Contingency plans now. If you had to, reach up. Flip him over your head. Vaughn, sprawled all over the floor. Over in a second. Sprawled all over the — damn it, Syd.
Of course, she does not. Of course, she does not need to. He removes his hand, walks back to his chair. She stops having to focus on each breath, no longer feels like she might explode.

And from Sydney's point of view, her response--to turn the aggressor--makes perfect sense. I don't think I'm over-reading to say that Lara is aware of the gray areas here, especially in the sex scene, where it appears that Vaughn is paying for something he has no memory of. His innocence (and his protests) are almost overdone, but only for the sake of the story. And the final reveal, when it comes, is a real kicker--the reader feels the blow almost as strongly as Sydney does, and feels the same uncertainty.

It seems almost trite to point out the technical qualities of Lara's writing, but as one can't take grammar and phrasing for granted, I'll add that her prose is perfectly lucid, without a single awkward or ungrammatical phrase. her rhythms are wonderful. Here's an example from the opening of Communique:

Berlin, this week, and they'll meet up eventually in the club. It will be hot, crowded, smoke over the lights. Smoke in her nose, sweat, and sex. His voice in her ear, worse than sight or scent.
She'll complete the mission. Crack, steal, run, fight, whatever it takes. She'll hand him their quarry in the car, take a deep breath and wipe at the sweat on her forehead. He'll tell her good work, at least. Maybe she'll be amazing this time, if the mission proves difficult and he's got that bold look in his eyes.
This is their protocol.

I just love that.

So thank you, Amy, for organizing the Alias Feedback Challenge, and thank you Lara for writing such excellent stories. This has been a real pleasure.