Rec: Survival

[tardis-stowaway.livejournal.com]

Story:  Survival
Author:  honorh
Rating:  Teen
Word Count:  2,275
Author's Summary:  We all do what we have to do to survive. Heroes crossover.
Characters/Pairings:  Rose Tyler/Claude Raines (Heroes)

Recced because:  This is honorh’s Heroes crossover, featuring a coworkers-with-benefits arrangement between a post-Doomsday (no S4) Rose and Claude Raines (if you’re not familiar with Heroes, he’s a man with the power of invisibility played by none other than Christopher Eccleston).  They’re both haunted by the past, although Rose has become totally badass as she copes with the present.  The sarcastic humor that characterized Claude even more than Nine is definitely there.  Honorh melds the fandoms smoothly and nails the characterization.  "Survival" is truthful, entertaining, smart, and rather bitter.  There’s a more hopeful sequel tucked away in one of honorh’s meme collections.  Some familiarity with S1 of Heroes will help when reading this.  If you, like me, pass the time until the Christmas special by watching each week’s Heroes and thinking, “that was OK, but it needed Claude,” check this out.

Comments

[nonelvis]

I love "Survival," so thanks for the link to the sequel, because I hadn't seen that before!

And yes, I am pretty much watching Heroes and thinking NEEDS MOAR CLAUDE.

[takethewords.livejournal.com]

!!!!! How did I not know about this? I've been wanting Claude/Rose for like, ages. Thank you!

[honorh.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reccing this! Rose/Claude intrigues me because he's so very different from the Doctor. The Doctor may occasionally disparage humans (Nine more than Ten, of course), but ultimately, he believes in them and likes them. Claude's just bitter. He got betrayed by someone he liked, someone who, according to Tim Kring, made him a part of his family. Now he can't believe anyone acts out of anything but self-interest. As for Rose here, she's lost her innocent belief that love can last forever. Acting out what she wishes she'd done with the Doctor with his lookalike--who's nothing like him past his face--is just one way of dealing with that. It keeps the demons at bay for one more day. Yet if anyone can crack Claude's shell, she can. And if she does, she might just rediscover part of herself that she's lost. Right now, the relationship isn't anywhere near functional, but . . . who knows?