Fic: Delicate

[starrika]

(Twilight has eaten my brain).

Title: Delicate
Rating: PG
Summary: Things between Quil and Claire had always been delicate.


We might kiss when we are alone
When nobody's watching
We might take it home
We might make out when nobody's there
It's not that we're scared
It's just that it's delicate

~*~

She was still too young. She was freshly sixteen, but in the dim glow of the dying bonfire, Quil could pretend she was eighteen. He lightly trailed his hand down her bare arm and couldn’t help the fizzle of pleasure as she shivered. They had done this dance before – inching closer and closer, only for life to force them two steps back.

She was still too young. She was not easily swayed, but they’d managed to delay telling her about imprinting until now. It was as if telling her had released a pressure valve. Quil could hardly keep himself from touching her. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, You’re mine. This time, instead of shivering, Claire sighed as if she had just fallen into bed.

She was still too young. She was incredibly sly, brushing her hand over his jeans to remove an imaginary speck of dirt, letting her hand rest for just a second too long on his thigh. Quil barely noticed the last of their party leaving. He slid his arm around her, feeling bold. The look on her face was delicate – hesitant, and far more innocent than her previous actions suggested. It restrained him, even as their lips met.

She was still too young. She was everything he’d dreamed, and Quil forgot all about ages when her arms went around his neck. Claire’s body pressed flush against him, going limp, and when she exhaled into his mouth, it felt like she was melting into him. He wasn’t scared of what Sam would do to him tomorrow. For him, it had always been Claire.

Comments

[minisinoo.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. The whole Quil/Claire imprinting thing has struck me as at once subtly disturbing, but also intrinsically interesting. because yes -- when DO you tell her?

[starrika.livejournal.com]

I agree - really interesting and it's also more than a little disturbing. I mean, Quil can be anything she needs - a protector, a brother, whatever, as Jacob puts it. Which makes me wonder why Sam couldn't love Leah and be a protector/brother to Emily, but that's another story. However, if the romantic feelings are hardwired, when do they turn on? Does Quil sit at home at night when she's fifteen both wanting her and feeling absolutely disgusted with himself? When is a good age to tell her all of it - even just bits of it? How do her parents react (if they even tell them)? How does she react?

It's a really interesting situation to explore, but at the same time, more than a little squicky. So far, a lot of people like to explain it away by saying he phases a lot, so he's still physically as young as she is once she reaches about 25. But he's still mentally older - how much can biology make up for such a large difference in life experience? This is why I wish Smeyer just wrote lots and lots about the pack and forgot all about Bella.

[starrika.livejournal.com]

AND, if the imprinting is only one-sided, there's no guarantee that Claire will want Quil. Which makes Emily look a little back-stabby, since she and Leah were supposed to be close like sisters.

If there is a compulsion on both sides, well, that leads to some really squicky situations with a young teenage Claire.

[minisinoo.livejournal.com]

Exactly ... and I like Emily, but I also like Leah.

But the imprinting, like the vampire soul-mates, is a concept that I just don't buy. I don't believe in that sort of mumbo-jumbo about romance. (is stubborn iconocalst)

[starrika.livejournal.com]

*agrees* I also think SMeyer is a little inconsistent with it, too. Either it's an overwhelming compulsion to love someone romantically, or it's a compulsion to protect (and be whatever they want). It can't be both, in my mind.

The compulsion to protect would actually make more sense to me than the whole concept of soul-mates - some ingrained function of biology where you feel the need to protect certain members of the pack more than others (ones with the werewolf bloodlines, perhaps). Now that would be interesting, and to see people struggle with the ethics of it.

And I like Emily, too. I just think the whole situation between her, Sam, and Leah is a bit fishy and this imprinting thing is very convenient to create drama. (Or the idea of vampire soul-mates). I think it'd be much more interesting to read if people weren't compelled to love each other. It takes a lot of the tension out of things, I think.

[artemischan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd say it has, dear. Goodness, I loved this piece between Quil and Claire. The pure emotion, the caution, the need emphasized here just kinda makes my heart go out to them. Well done!

[starrika.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[ballsandbullets.livejournal.com]

Man, I think I'm starting to get redundant, but you are an amazing thinker, which is even more rare than being an amazing writer, which you are.

I have always HATED imprinting in the Twilight universe, pretty much because S.M. uses it as a "Happily Ever After" type situation (at least with Quil and Jacob). And it's NOT. It's incredibly creepy.

Also, because it's anti-free-will, and I think these monster-boys have had enough choices ripped away from them, thank you very much. Being at the beck and call of a toddler? It's like being hazed by fate. Also, the way it's described in the book? Yeah, you might "get" to love someone you wouldn't have noticed, but then why not just get that person's name, and a "hey, you're pretty compatible, go decide for yourself if this is who you want to end up with." You know, like a karmic match.com? Because immediate, force-fed love is a HORRIBLE, CHILLING idea.

Plus the vague pedophilia connotation. Ugh.

You pick the most interesting subjects. I wish you were in my circle of Twilight friends. We're still stuck on Edward vs. Jacob.

[starrika.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

I do hate imprinting, overall. I like to write about it, but it seems like such a lazy author's tool, rather than something that was thought out and has a greater purpose. I wasn't happy with Quil's situation, but thought it could be examined in an interesting way. When SM used it to explain Jacob and have him imprint on an effing egg in an ovary, it made me furious. Twilight has such great ideas, but they're completely wasted with an author who is more interested in writing herself as a Mary Sue in some sort of fanfiction for a dream she had. It doesn't help that editing appears to be completely absent in the publication process as well.

Imprinting could be interesting, if it was some sort of biological component to being a wolf/preserving the tribe. Even though I hate the lack of choice, it could be a very interesting concept - but it's completely ruined the way she goes about it.