Otter's Rock

I had a lovely time with my Heart Attack fic this year. The challenge was that my recip really wanted a Nightingale fic, with Nightingale and Peter together as a secondary option, whereas for me, Peter is what I really wanted to write, with Peter and Nightingale a secondary option. Which meant I had to make sure both men really had a chance to shine, which meant coming up with a case that a) had connections both in the 1940s with Nightingale working on it, and b) in the current day, with Peter working on it ... but without Nightingale able to just say "well, this is what happened in the 1940s and it's obviously connected."

Obvious answer: put Nightingale in a coma in the present day, caused by the case in the 1940s. Once I had that bit, coming up with the case was fun.

The other thing they suggested was a crossover with a period-appropriate canon. Well! My favorite period-appropriate canon for the 1940s is currently the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, so obviously Lord Peter had to show up. Problem was, I realized halfway in that it meant I would need to pull in appropriate quotes ... and I do not have anywhere near the encyclopedic knowledge of classic English literature that would require, and also, with only two weeks to write, not much time to troll through poetry websites looking for the right options. But I think it worked out okay even so.

Title: Wachet Auf
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Rivers of London
Characters: Thomas Nightingale, Peter Grant
Written For: Quasar in Heart Attack Exchange 2024


At AO3. At Squidgeworld. Rebloggable on tumblr. Pillowfort.

2016.

I learned something was wrong when I got a call from the Folly, and there was silence on the other end.

"I'll be there quick as I can," I told the expectant stillness, and swigged the rest of my coffee in one gulp.

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