I love good guys

The story written for my own prompt slate in this year's fkficfest/fkficfest released today! It's "By Light of Day" (PG13, ~4K words) by skieswideopen. I had requested "a promising cure that does not fulfill its promise," and she supplied a scenario starring Nick, Feliks, Natalie, Schanke and Janette that diverges from canon sometime between the first and second seasons, and runs through hope, happiness, fear and frustration to renewed determination. Mmmmm, renewed determination! ;-)

I enjoyed it very much! Like many of the stories this year, it innovates cleverly, positing a scenario not quite like any other explored in all FK's years (as far as I know), and it does so with spot-on character voices and concerns. And Feliks Twist!

I'll come back soon with a list of reasons to read all the fanworks in this year's game; they all truly deserve attention! But for now, I recommend the one written specifically for me. Take a look!

I have typed "Nanette" (Natalie/Janette or Natalie&Janette affiliation, you know) three times this morning. This may be the first time in years I've used the word, and suddenly it's everywhere. :-)

I have a few little questions that have cropped up recently, but I've been too busy to catch up and take them home to forkni-l, where I'm sure the answers are known, so:

• Do you remember whether anyone ever seriously named an Aristotle affiliation?  dj_clawson wondered.  I thought one had been named, but I could so easily be confused -- of course the fancy that Susan's unforgettable Dorian has a faction called the "Archivists" could help confuse me on that (as if the confusion needs assistance).
  
  
• You remember the "Center Stage Challenge," yes?  The '95ish fkfic-l challenge in which stories were written from the perspectives of the minor characters, such as Elisabeth's Feliks and Miklos stories?  Well, I would like to track down the Grace story, but I can't remember either the author or title.  I seem to remember it making Grace a fully-rounded character, with a complete set of connections and obligations beyond Natalie and the morgue, including a date and community involvement.  Can you place it?
  
  
• And while we're on the "Center Stage Challenge," what other minor characters were written specifically for it?  I was a newbie on the lists then, and I remember only Elisabeth's stories and the Grace one.
  
  
• Finally, does anyone remember the collective term for Nick, Schanke and Natalie that is the equal and opposite of "Fang Gang" for Nick, Lacroix and Janette?

Thanks!

Someday, I may write a sequel to this novella, and it may be called "Under a Long Shadow."  Someday.  If I figure out the theme.  I know what happens next, you see, but I'm not sure it matters, because "In the Light of Day" fulfills its whole original purpose.  To write, I must have purpose.

"In the Light of Day" is a parallel-reality tale.  The break with canon comes after "Fever," and the story then progresses through "Dead of Night," "The Games Vampires Play" and "The Human Factor," reworking each episode given Nick's new mortality, until things are so different that the parallel snaps, and the alternate reality floats free.

One tidbit of which I'm fond here is Natalie's on-the-fly psychoanalysis of Lacroix, in which she concludes that no one will ever love another person as much as he has, over eight centuries, convinced himself he loved Fleur.  I also like the garden I built for Feliks Twist (but I really owe him a nice story of his own for his fate here).  And the flashbacks!  I did more research for them than any before or since (so far).  For this story, I became queen of a certain slice of Trivial Pursuit questions.  :-)

	•	Title:	"In the Light of Day"
	•	Length:	~53,000 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in October 2003
	•	Rating:	PG-13 (m/f)
	•	Summary:	Nick regains his humanity, but he's not the only one.  And no one is prepared for all the consequences.
	•	Setting:	After "Fever," with flashbacks 1226-1228
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, Norma, Stonetree, Urs, Tracy, Reese, Vachon, Feliks Twist, Lacroix, Myra Schanke, Janette, Others
	•	Quotation:	"Nick strolled back to his loft in the crisp morning light, feeling everything was right with his world. Granted, his arm was in a sling, his shoulder throbbed like thunder, he remained on enforced medical leave, his partner might never again pass a police physical, and the Enforcers could well be coming to get him and the woman he loved..."

Fluff.  Utter, unremitting fluff.  My first fiction response to "Last Knight" was apparently thoroughgoing denial wrapped in sappiness and sprinkled with humor.  Eeep!  A few years on, this would have been satire, but at the time, I meant it just as it is.

	•	Title:	"Happiness Is"
	•	Length:	~1,700 words
	•	Date:	Posted to FKFic-L in June 1996
	•	Rating:	G (m/f)
	•	Summary:	Natalie and Nick chat about friends and family, happily ever after.
	•	Setting:	"Nobody Dies; Nobody Ever Dies"
	•	Characters:	Natalie, Nick, references to everyone else (that's right: everyone!)
	•	Quotation:	"How about you, Natalie Lambert Knight, love of my eight hundred and four years?  Are you happy?"