Hey Mothlights!

Told you I'd get to the story eventually! Only two months after it was published, but it's been open in a tab all this time until I had the time for it. Silly busy weeks of beta reading.

I enjoyed reading about how Carlisle and Isabella met each other at the Volturi! And gah, the way they feed is so icky. I'm happy they met each other, must be strange to be the odd one out. I too can't believe Carlisle stayed that long with the Volturi. There was nothing to learn from them, they were barbaric.

How's BRONZE's next chapter coming along? Looking forward to it!

See ya soon. Got to - you guessed it - beta read again.

Spikey

Author's Response:

It never matters when the review comes. It's just nice that you took the time to comment. I'm with you; the Volturi as they were written in canon didn't have a lot to teach Carlisle, not enough to make him stick around for decades, but it was fun trying to come up with a reason.

I'm 3/4 of the way through the first draft of ch 20 and am hoping to finish it today, because work will be crazy all week. I was just writing on it. (ExB are underwater at the moment.) I have time off for the holidays, and I'm determined to finish by New Year's. There will be a teaser on the fictionators blog on Monday (unless the ch is up by then).

Have fun with the beta reads.

This is good, i like it...

Author's Response:

Thanks!

very good

Author's Response:

Thanks!

Beautifully done. I love the insight into Bella and Carlisle's early relationship.

Author's Response:

Thank you!!

Oh I know I've been telling you how eager I am to read this and look, it's DAYS after you posted it and I'm just getting to it. Packing has been CRAZY! Anyways,

This truly answers all my questions as to how Bella and Carlisle even know eachother. I've been wondering how they were able to become close since Bella is so closed off towards people. This chapter really let us see that it's not that she wants to be that way she just does it to not make others uncomfortable.

I love all the Volturi writing you have been doing lately, they really aren't as ominous as SM tried to make them and I like that you portray that. Bella just brushes off Alec and Aro, she sees them as a monsters hiding behind a fascade and has no problem opposing them. Personally, I would feel as Alec is my biggest threat and despite his demeanour I would most definitely fear him.

This path of Carlisle leaving the Volturi makes so much more sense than anything SM provided for us. It was as though she added in Carlisle staying with them as an afterthought. Not only did Bella give him the courage to leave and not be so complacent in his surroundings but she also gave him the drive to do something more. She believed in him. After only dealing with uncivilized vampires and then the Volturi who thinks his diet is amusing and a waste, her belief in him in an incredible gift.

 

 

Author's Response:

Wow, you are never going to get packed when you're kind enough to write reviews like this! ;)

This meeting between Carlisle and Bella was one of the first things I had in my head when I knew Bella would be much older than he was. I didn't want to do a prologue, so the plan was to work this backstory in to a later chapter, but then LJ gave it as her fic prompt, and I got to explore it a lot more.

The thing with Bella dismissing the Volturi just seemed right, I couldn't see her thinking about them in the same way someone would if they were young enough to have never known any rulers before the Volturi. Plus, I don't like super powerful, totally evil villains. I like to try to make it more complicated.

I've never gotten why SM had Carlisle hanging out in Volterra for decades. He'd only been around a little more than a century so 30+ years is no small thing. She makes the Volturi seem awful, but then has Carlisle of all people wanting to stay? It bugged me. I made up a reason so it wouldn't bug me any more. ;) And it was a way to set up Bella as someone Carlisle trusted and someone that he knew could handle a violent newborn.

Thanks for this great review! Good luck on the move.

I really loved that! You put a very plausible reason for Carlisle to have languished there in the first place, and a very convincing reason of why he left and became who he was. Nicely done, and well tied into your story of how Carlisle thinks so well of her!

Author's Response:

I'm not sure anything is plausible enough to explain Carlisle hanging out in Volterra for 30 plus years, but that was S.M.'s choice, and I certainly tried to rationalize it. It gave me a nice excuse to have Bella be helpful to him.

Thanks as always for reviewing! 

This is stunning.  Despite your very much AU Bella, you've kept Carlisle's personality perfectly cannon.  I love their discussion on life and death and how they both view it.  Thank you so much for sharing this. 

Author's Response:

Thanks! I did want canon Carlisle, despite the whole rearranged timeline, and it was a bit odd to make him canon while he was young and unsure. I'm so used to him being the unruffled father figure, but he had to start somewhere. The life and death discussion was mainly interesting to me because you have someone immortal who wants to help mortals by treating them even though he's only putting off the inevitable. I imagined the perspective Bella would have on that, seeing them die every few decades while she lived thousands of years. 

Thanks for reviewing.

This look into Carlisle's and Bella's first meeting was perfect.  I love Bronzed and I loved this, too.

I loved how Bella described the Volturi as "Beasts in robes."  

So very, very well done.

Thanks for sharing

Nic

Author's Response:

Thanks for that. This might sound a little odd, but when I thought of the line about beasts in robes, I was reminded of the Skeksis in Dark Crystal - the way they were so ugly and vicious but they preened and wore makeup. (There's a blast from the past. I can't believe that film was made 28 years ago...)

Anyway, thanks for reviewing and rating.