Bunny and Raffles blathering
Oct. 19th, 2009 08:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyI apparently need a Bunny and Raffles tag XD
So what do I do after a weekend of running around looking at beautiful yarn and wool and sweaters and kangaroos (no, really, there were kangaroos there) in the cold? I write six pages of babbling about Victoriandetectives burglars!
So far, I've read "The Amateur Cracksman" and "The Black Mask". This takes us through the main timeline, from Bunny's first heist through Raffles's "death" and ending with Raffles's actual death (boo, hiss). The first half, between Bunny's introduction into the world of crime to Raffles's disappearance and Bunny's imprisonment following the discovery of their identities, is what I'll call the "double life" phase, in which they're both maintaining the personas of wealthy men-about-town. Well, sort of wealthy, anyway. Bunny works as a journalist, I think, and Raffles is a star cricketer. After Raffles reappears, they don't bother to uphold that public face because they're trying to keep anyone from knowing Raffles is alive, and they steal things to make a living instead of just for fun and occasional need. This is usually called the "underground" phase, I think. Or something. The former is my favorite, although my two favorite stories so far comes from the latter phase.
There is another collections of stories and a novel, and from what I've skimmed so far they look like they come from the "double life" phase, which suits me just fine. Maybe there are more like three phases, because when they're working underground, for some time after Raffles's reappearance he pretends to be an invalid and Bunny masquerades as his nurse. Raffles fakes his own death (that is, the death of the invalid man he's pretending to be... I believe he's up to three times on that count, by the end of the second collection) and he and Bunny go off and live together by the Thames and break into houses by night, traveling on bicycles. The stories that take place during that time are pretty good, too (er, I think there might only be one of them that I've read so far, but it's my favorite).
I have a feeling that I'm going to take a lot of liberties with this canon, though, because there's so much in it that I would rather ignore. The idiocy with Raffles being in love with Faustina and happily prepared never to return to Bunny while he was "dead" and Bunny in prison is foremost, but a close runner up is the whole Boer War thing, the discovery of Raffles's identity and his subsequent death. I can see why Hornung did it that way - it was very redeeming and patriotic and all - but I rankle a little bit at the idea that Raffles needed to be redeemed. I don't think fictional characters necessarily have to atone for their badness in order (presumably) for the public to know that the badness they do shouldn't be condoned. That's an entirely separate argument, though.
I said before, I remember, that Bunny and Raffles don't break my heart the way Holmes and Watson do, and while that's still true, these stories still have the ability to feel intensely tragic. I think it's a matter of catharsis (and this may be part of Holmes and Watson's tragicness too) - there's all this working up of emotion and no release. For example, when Raffles fakes his own death after his shammed sickness, he plans for Bunny never to know about it and to just show up where they planned to live and go off happily into the sunset. This predictably goes awry when Bunny, worried off his gourd (as is his normal state of existence) because he hasn't heard from Raffles, goes to the house where they used to live and finds himself just in time for Raffles's funeral. His distress is especially horrible because you know Raffles isn't dead, and Bunny is such a brave little thing. When Raffles-in-disguise takes him off under the pretense of arresting him, Bunny is tremendously relieved, because, as he says, it's like having a limb chopped off and then being slapped viciously in the face - the shock distracts you at least momentarily from the worse pain. But the problem is that there's all this awfulness and overwrought repressed despair and then Raffles reveals himself and Bunny goes "Oh, I should have known," and that's that. Nothing else. No catharsis, no release, and you're left with this awful feeling on Bunny's behalf. I can't decide whether Raffles's actual death is even more horrendous, because he's shot and there's one sentence after it, and that's the end of the story and the collection. I have been pointedly not thinking about what takes place directly after that last sentence, because it's too horrible to contemplate. The fact that it happened so fast, though, might make it less awful than Bunny attending Raffles's funeral.
Enough about that. Dwelling on the angst is for H/W, not for Baffles! The angst in H/W is integral to Holmes and Watson's relationship, whereas sometimes it just feels like Baffles angst gets in the way. There are random girls strewn about - Faustina being one, a nameless woman Bunny was supposedly engaged to (pfft) being another - and while the latter's story does contain some incredibly wonderful slashiness, I still resent them in a way I don't think I'll ever resent Mary Watson. Most likely because Watson never says outright that he loved Mary more than Holmes, and nobody would be able to convince me of that. And the fact that Mary has, you know, development and personality to some extent. The problem with a series of short stories written over the years is that the author is tempted to retconn things, for lack of a better word, and insert complicating background information where there wasn't any the first time around. I think the third collection does this a few different times, but I've only skimmed a tiny bit of it so far.
There's far too little squee in this post! What's the matter with me? Sheesh! Henceforth there shall be squee!
My favorite story so far is "The Wrong House," which is a bicycle-heist era story. It's the Baffles equivalent of HOUN in terms of Bunny showing his mettle and Raffles making it clear that he needs and appreciates him. Actually, all my favorite stories are ones that involve Raffles appreciating Bunny, or just generally being sweet to him, which happens much more often than you'd think. Another undercover-era story, when Raffles was pretending to be an invalid, was called "To Catch a Thief" and involved them stealing jewels from another high-class cracksman. That one was just full of Bunny doing brave things and Raffles fretting about his welfare and the two of them being generally adorable. That's also the one where we get to learn a little bit about what Bunny looks like - he's obviously small enough that it's quicker for Raffles to bodily pick him up and carry him than to chivvy him into another room when they're about to be discovered.
Speaking of how they look! Here's what I know. During the "double life" phase, Raffles has curly black hair and blue eyes. He's all athletic and broad-shouldered, etc., as befitting a cricketer. We really have no idea what Bunny looks like at this time. When they're underground after Raffles's return, Raffles's hair has gone white or grey, depending on the story. Bunny also calls his eyes grey at this time. Raffles dies his hair reddish when they go off to the Boer War. I think it's during the time when Bunny lived away from Raffles, while Raffles was planning to fake his death to get out of the sham-invalid situation, when Bunny mentions looking at himself in a mirror. Here's the passage:
Really I was not an ill-looking youth, if one may call one's self such at the age of thirty. I could lay no claim either to the striking cast of countenance or to the peculiar charm of expression which made the face of Raffles like no other in the world. [...] I had sustained no external hallmark by my term of imprisonment, and I am vain enough to believe that the evil which I did had not a separate existence in my face. This afternoon, indeed, I was struck by the purity of my fresh complexion, and rather depressed by the general innocence of the visage which peered into mine from the little mirror. My straw-colored moustache, grown in the flat after a protracted holiday, again preserved the most disappointing dimensions, and was still invisible in certain lights without wax. So far from discerning the desperate criminal who has "done time" once, and deserved it over and over again, the superior but superficial observer might have imagined that he detected a certain element of folly in my face.
If his moustache is that light, he must be very blond ("straw-colored," even) and "in the flat" means, I think, when he was living with Raffles as his "nurse." I'm not sure what he means by the protracted holiday, though. Maybe that he didn't have a moustache for a while? I don't remember any mention of one in the early stories. He mentions the moustache later, too, in "The Wrong House," because there are a bunch of schoolboys who figure into it and one of them has a better moustache XD Poor Bunny, all envious. We hear what Raffles looks like all the time in terms of his expressions and his handsomeness, but it's not until this point, pretty far into the second collection, that we get to see what Bunny looks like.
Quote time! There are far too many slashtastic bits in these stories to paste all of them here, but I've gathered a couple of the ones that really caught my eye. These are all from the second collection, because that's the one I read most recently and can remember more easily, but the first one is just as full of wonderfulness.
This is the one I mentioned above, from "To Catch a Thief," when they've broken into the thief's rooms and are stealing his stolen booty.
"Out with the passage light, Bunny, while I open--"
His words died away in a whisper. A key was fumbling at the lock outside.
"Out with it--out with it!" whispered Raffles in an agony; and as I obeyed he picked me off my feet and swung me bodily but silently into the bedroom, just as the outer door opened, and a masterful step strode in.
XD Raffles apparently finds it easier (or more pleasant, anyway) to pick Bunny up than to just shove him into the other room. This caught me by surprise the way that Holmes taking Watson's hand in CHAS did, and caused similar delight (although my Baffles squee will probably never reach the sublime level of my H/W squee).
In the next room, Raffles further demonstrates his lack of personal boundaries. Bunny's freaking out a bit, but:
But I had Raffles with me, and his hand was as steady and as cool as the hand of a trained nurse. That I know because he turned up the collar of my overcoat for me, for some reason, and buttoned it at the throat.
I'm amused that Bunny has to explain how he knows that Raffles's hands are cool and steady. Raffles's idea is to masquerade as Scotland Yard inspectors, and the thief, Lord Ernest Belville, asks to pack some clothes before they haul him off. Raffles goes to "call a cab" and leaves Bunny with Lord Ernest.
"Then come into my room. I'll lead the way. Think you can hit me if I misbehave?"
*cough* This is Lord Ernest to Bunny, which I'm only including to show you how ridiculously full of innuendo these stories are, even when Raffles isn't in the room.
"Help!" I called feebly.
"Help, forsooth! I begin to believe YOU ARE from the Yard," he said--and his upper-cut came with the "Yard."
^^;; *pats Lestrade, not to mention her own Yarder characters who no doubt would all bristle at such an insinuation*
And when Bunny wakes up:
"Is he gone?" was my first faint question.
"Thank God you're not, anyway!" replied Raffles, with what struck me then as mere flippancy.
This is the kind of thing these stories are FULL of - Bunny's "what struck me then" seems to mean he realized otherwise later, but he never elaborates or comes back to this. It's just rife with places you're meant to assume something (and that something is, to the slashy brain, always readily apparent).
Raffles is quick to show his concern:
"My poor, dear Bunny, I thought you'd take a bribe! But it's really more convincing as it is, and just as well for Lord Ernest to be convinced for the time being."
Oh, Bunny, so noble! Of course he wouldn’t take a bribe, and of course Raffles would expect him to. Raffles really has very few morals when it comes to matters of honor. But he really does feel awful about letting Bunny get clobbered.
"I'm only sorry you let him knock you out. I was waiting outside the door all the time, and it made me sick to hear it. But I once broke my own head, Bunny, if you remember, and not in half such an excellent cause!" [...]
"What a brute I've been, Bunny!" he whispered then, "but you take half the swag, old boy, and right well you've earned it."
It's lines like this that make me go all melty. The whispering makes me think their heads are close together, and as mean as Raffles can be, he's a great one for apologizing and insisting Bunny get a fair share. He treats him quite wonderfully in this story, too:
"The flat will be like an oven," I grumbled, at the head of our own staircase.
"Then we won't go down," said Raffles, promptly; "we'll slack it up here for a bit instead. No, Bunny, you stay where you are! I'll fetch you a drink and a deck-chair, and you shan't come down till you feel more fit."
And I let him have his way, I will not say as usual, for I had even less than my normal power of resistance that night.
Bunny often talks about his inability to resist Raffles. I tell you, there is no subtext in these stories. It's all text. They're up on the roof, you see, so as not to wake the neighbors since Raffles isn't supposed to be able to leave his bed anyway, and Lord Ernest shows up to threaten poor Bunny all alone.
And what did happen was worse than my worst foreboding, for first a light came flickering into the sort of companion-hatch at the head of the stairs, and finally Raffles--in his shirt-sleeves! He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and unarmed.
Waistcoat off too, huh? We can only surmise what Raffles had been expecting to get up to on the roof. This collection was published in 1901, so still firmly in the Victorian era though at the end of it, and I can't imagine most just-friends types would casually go about in what was essentially their underwear.
Brief segue for timeline fun: the Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902, according to Wikipedia. The second Raffles collection was published in 1901 and in the last story, in which Raffles and Bunny fight in the war, Bunny says they first started discussing the war "the winter before last," which would have been 1899. There are a massive lack of dates in these stories, and I can't remember seeing any mention of how many years or months Raffles was presumed dead, but I can estimate that their career together was in the last half of the 1890s.
But returning to the cuteness, the climax of this story is really awesome, with thunder and lightning and drama, and it belies Hornung's earlier work in its quality. There's plenty of slashiness in it even aside from all the things I mentioned, such as Raffles taking care of Bunny after his ordeal and the necessity of their being huddled together at one point with Bunny most likely practically in Raffles's lap. But I'll leave those bits for you to discover, because I find that half the fun is being surprised with these lovely little things :3
And because I'm not prepared to shut up about this yet, I have to give you a couple of lines from "The Wrong House," my favorite story so far. The lead-up to this is that Raffles has cut a hole through the door to get at the lock, but a bunch of schoolboys up late carousing grab his hand.
And Raffles caught my arm with his one free hand. "They've got me tight," he whispered. "I'm done."
"Blaze through the door," I urged, and might have done it had I been armed. But I never was. It was Raffles who monopolized that risk.
"I can't--it's the boys--the wrong house!" he whispered. "Curse the fog--it's done me. But you get out, Bunn, while you can; never mind me; it's my turn, old chap."
His one hand tightened in affectionate farewell. I put the electric torch in it before I went, trembling in every inch, but without a word.
This is wonderful first of all because Raffles is so quick to put Bunny's welfare before his own ("Bunn"! *squeal*). Bunny of course comes right back in once he has a plan, but he retreats for the moment. Also, though, we find out that Raffles never lets Bunny carry a gun. At first glance this may seem like Raffles doesn't trust Bunny, but Raffles is only too aware that Bunny's conscience is much stronger than his own, and they've had numerous arguments about the necessity of shooting and hurting people. Raffles might be taking the burden on himself by not allowing Bunny to go armed, and it sounds like Bunny understands - monopolized that risk both acknowledges Raffles's masterfulness and the danger he takes responsibility for.
Bunny is at his absolute best in this scene, but I'll let you read that for yourselves. After quite a while of letting Bunny take the lead, Raffles steps up:
...his dear, cool voice fell like a delicious draught upon my ears.
Um. How many men do you know who would describe their platonic best friend's voice as "delicious"? Right. I thought so.
Next up, an exciting bicycle chase!
Even I could mount before they could reopen the gate, which Raffles held against them for half an instant with unnecessary gallantry. But he would see me in front of him, and so it fell to me to lead the way.
Raffles's gallantry was unnecessary, perhaps, but it redeems a multitude of sins. This whole passage deserves a great big "awwwwww" in my estimation.
And I didn't want to flood you with a ton of text, but good lord, this is worth it.
"But I think it's an occasion for Sullivans," said Raffles, who now kept them for such. "By all my gods, Bunny, it's been the most sporting night we ever had in our lives! And do you know which was the most sporting part of it?"
"That up-hill ride?"
"I wasn't thinking of it."
"Turning your torch into a truncheon?"
"My dear Bunny! A gallant lad--I hated hitting him."
"I know," I said. "The way you got us out of the house!"
"No, Bunny," said Raffles, blowing rings. "It came before that, you sinner, and you know it!"
"You don't mean anything I did?" said I, self-consciously, for I began to see that this was what he did mean. And now at latest it will also be seen why this story has been told with undue and inexcusable gusto; there is none other like it for me to tell; it is my one ewe-lamb in all these annals. But Raffles had a ruder name for it.
"It was the Apotheosis of the Bunny," said he, but in a tone I never shall forget.
"I hardly knew what I was doing or saying," I said. "The whole thing was a fluke."
"Then," said Raffles, "it was the kind of fluke I always trusted you to make when runs were wanted."
And he held out his dear old hand.
Aieeeeeeee! *squealing fangirl moment* "Off to bed" is what I imagine that hand signifies XD
So what do I do after a weekend of running around looking at beautiful yarn and wool and sweaters and kangaroos (no, really, there were kangaroos there) in the cold? I write six pages of babbling about Victorian
So far, I've read "The Amateur Cracksman" and "The Black Mask". This takes us through the main timeline, from Bunny's first heist through Raffles's "death" and ending with Raffles's actual death (boo, hiss). The first half, between Bunny's introduction into the world of crime to Raffles's disappearance and Bunny's imprisonment following the discovery of their identities, is what I'll call the "double life" phase, in which they're both maintaining the personas of wealthy men-about-town. Well, sort of wealthy, anyway. Bunny works as a journalist, I think, and Raffles is a star cricketer. After Raffles reappears, they don't bother to uphold that public face because they're trying to keep anyone from knowing Raffles is alive, and they steal things to make a living instead of just for fun and occasional need. This is usually called the "underground" phase, I think. Or something. The former is my favorite, although my two favorite stories so far comes from the latter phase.
There is another collections of stories and a novel, and from what I've skimmed so far they look like they come from the "double life" phase, which suits me just fine. Maybe there are more like three phases, because when they're working underground, for some time after Raffles's reappearance he pretends to be an invalid and Bunny masquerades as his nurse. Raffles fakes his own death (that is, the death of the invalid man he's pretending to be... I believe he's up to three times on that count, by the end of the second collection) and he and Bunny go off and live together by the Thames and break into houses by night, traveling on bicycles. The stories that take place during that time are pretty good, too (er, I think there might only be one of them that I've read so far, but it's my favorite).
I have a feeling that I'm going to take a lot of liberties with this canon, though, because there's so much in it that I would rather ignore. The idiocy with Raffles being in love with Faustina and happily prepared never to return to Bunny while he was "dead" and Bunny in prison is foremost, but a close runner up is the whole Boer War thing, the discovery of Raffles's identity and his subsequent death. I can see why Hornung did it that way - it was very redeeming and patriotic and all - but I rankle a little bit at the idea that Raffles needed to be redeemed. I don't think fictional characters necessarily have to atone for their badness in order (presumably) for the public to know that the badness they do shouldn't be condoned. That's an entirely separate argument, though.
I said before, I remember, that Bunny and Raffles don't break my heart the way Holmes and Watson do, and while that's still true, these stories still have the ability to feel intensely tragic. I think it's a matter of catharsis (and this may be part of Holmes and Watson's tragicness too) - there's all this working up of emotion and no release. For example, when Raffles fakes his own death after his shammed sickness, he plans for Bunny never to know about it and to just show up where they planned to live and go off happily into the sunset. This predictably goes awry when Bunny, worried off his gourd (as is his normal state of existence) because he hasn't heard from Raffles, goes to the house where they used to live and finds himself just in time for Raffles's funeral. His distress is especially horrible because you know Raffles isn't dead, and Bunny is such a brave little thing. When Raffles-in-disguise takes him off under the pretense of arresting him, Bunny is tremendously relieved, because, as he says, it's like having a limb chopped off and then being slapped viciously in the face - the shock distracts you at least momentarily from the worse pain. But the problem is that there's all this awfulness and overwrought repressed despair and then Raffles reveals himself and Bunny goes "Oh, I should have known," and that's that. Nothing else. No catharsis, no release, and you're left with this awful feeling on Bunny's behalf. I can't decide whether Raffles's actual death is even more horrendous, because he's shot and there's one sentence after it, and that's the end of the story and the collection. I have been pointedly not thinking about what takes place directly after that last sentence, because it's too horrible to contemplate. The fact that it happened so fast, though, might make it less awful than Bunny attending Raffles's funeral.
Enough about that. Dwelling on the angst is for H/W, not for Baffles! The angst in H/W is integral to Holmes and Watson's relationship, whereas sometimes it just feels like Baffles angst gets in the way. There are random girls strewn about - Faustina being one, a nameless woman Bunny was supposedly engaged to (pfft) being another - and while the latter's story does contain some incredibly wonderful slashiness, I still resent them in a way I don't think I'll ever resent Mary Watson. Most likely because Watson never says outright that he loved Mary more than Holmes, and nobody would be able to convince me of that. And the fact that Mary has, you know, development and personality to some extent. The problem with a series of short stories written over the years is that the author is tempted to retconn things, for lack of a better word, and insert complicating background information where there wasn't any the first time around. I think the third collection does this a few different times, but I've only skimmed a tiny bit of it so far.
There's far too little squee in this post! What's the matter with me? Sheesh! Henceforth there shall be squee!
My favorite story so far is "The Wrong House," which is a bicycle-heist era story. It's the Baffles equivalent of HOUN in terms of Bunny showing his mettle and Raffles making it clear that he needs and appreciates him. Actually, all my favorite stories are ones that involve Raffles appreciating Bunny, or just generally being sweet to him, which happens much more often than you'd think. Another undercover-era story, when Raffles was pretending to be an invalid, was called "To Catch a Thief" and involved them stealing jewels from another high-class cracksman. That one was just full of Bunny doing brave things and Raffles fretting about his welfare and the two of them being generally adorable. That's also the one where we get to learn a little bit about what Bunny looks like - he's obviously small enough that it's quicker for Raffles to bodily pick him up and carry him than to chivvy him into another room when they're about to be discovered.
Speaking of how they look! Here's what I know. During the "double life" phase, Raffles has curly black hair and blue eyes. He's all athletic and broad-shouldered, etc., as befitting a cricketer. We really have no idea what Bunny looks like at this time. When they're underground after Raffles's return, Raffles's hair has gone white or grey, depending on the story. Bunny also calls his eyes grey at this time. Raffles dies his hair reddish when they go off to the Boer War. I think it's during the time when Bunny lived away from Raffles, while Raffles was planning to fake his death to get out of the sham-invalid situation, when Bunny mentions looking at himself in a mirror. Here's the passage:
Really I was not an ill-looking youth, if one may call one's self such at the age of thirty. I could lay no claim either to the striking cast of countenance or to the peculiar charm of expression which made the face of Raffles like no other in the world. [...] I had sustained no external hallmark by my term of imprisonment, and I am vain enough to believe that the evil which I did had not a separate existence in my face. This afternoon, indeed, I was struck by the purity of my fresh complexion, and rather depressed by the general innocence of the visage which peered into mine from the little mirror. My straw-colored moustache, grown in the flat after a protracted holiday, again preserved the most disappointing dimensions, and was still invisible in certain lights without wax. So far from discerning the desperate criminal who has "done time" once, and deserved it over and over again, the superior but superficial observer might have imagined that he detected a certain element of folly in my face.
If his moustache is that light, he must be very blond ("straw-colored," even) and "in the flat" means, I think, when he was living with Raffles as his "nurse." I'm not sure what he means by the protracted holiday, though. Maybe that he didn't have a moustache for a while? I don't remember any mention of one in the early stories. He mentions the moustache later, too, in "The Wrong House," because there are a bunch of schoolboys who figure into it and one of them has a better moustache XD Poor Bunny, all envious. We hear what Raffles looks like all the time in terms of his expressions and his handsomeness, but it's not until this point, pretty far into the second collection, that we get to see what Bunny looks like.
Quote time! There are far too many slashtastic bits in these stories to paste all of them here, but I've gathered a couple of the ones that really caught my eye. These are all from the second collection, because that's the one I read most recently and can remember more easily, but the first one is just as full of wonderfulness.
This is the one I mentioned above, from "To Catch a Thief," when they've broken into the thief's rooms and are stealing his stolen booty.
"Out with the passage light, Bunny, while I open--"
His words died away in a whisper. A key was fumbling at the lock outside.
"Out with it--out with it!" whispered Raffles in an agony; and as I obeyed he picked me off my feet and swung me bodily but silently into the bedroom, just as the outer door opened, and a masterful step strode in.
XD Raffles apparently finds it easier (or more pleasant, anyway) to pick Bunny up than to just shove him into the other room. This caught me by surprise the way that Holmes taking Watson's hand in CHAS did, and caused similar delight (although my Baffles squee will probably never reach the sublime level of my H/W squee).
In the next room, Raffles further demonstrates his lack of personal boundaries. Bunny's freaking out a bit, but:
But I had Raffles with me, and his hand was as steady and as cool as the hand of a trained nurse. That I know because he turned up the collar of my overcoat for me, for some reason, and buttoned it at the throat.
I'm amused that Bunny has to explain how he knows that Raffles's hands are cool and steady. Raffles's idea is to masquerade as Scotland Yard inspectors, and the thief, Lord Ernest Belville, asks to pack some clothes before they haul him off. Raffles goes to "call a cab" and leaves Bunny with Lord Ernest.
"Then come into my room. I'll lead the way. Think you can hit me if I misbehave?"
*cough* This is Lord Ernest to Bunny, which I'm only including to show you how ridiculously full of innuendo these stories are, even when Raffles isn't in the room.
"Help!" I called feebly.
"Help, forsooth! I begin to believe YOU ARE from the Yard," he said--and his upper-cut came with the "Yard."
^^;; *pats Lestrade, not to mention her own Yarder characters who no doubt would all bristle at such an insinuation*
And when Bunny wakes up:
"Is he gone?" was my first faint question.
"Thank God you're not, anyway!" replied Raffles, with what struck me then as mere flippancy.
This is the kind of thing these stories are FULL of - Bunny's "what struck me then" seems to mean he realized otherwise later, but he never elaborates or comes back to this. It's just rife with places you're meant to assume something (and that something is, to the slashy brain, always readily apparent).
Raffles is quick to show his concern:
"My poor, dear Bunny, I thought you'd take a bribe! But it's really more convincing as it is, and just as well for Lord Ernest to be convinced for the time being."
Oh, Bunny, so noble! Of course he wouldn’t take a bribe, and of course Raffles would expect him to. Raffles really has very few morals when it comes to matters of honor. But he really does feel awful about letting Bunny get clobbered.
"I'm only sorry you let him knock you out. I was waiting outside the door all the time, and it made me sick to hear it. But I once broke my own head, Bunny, if you remember, and not in half such an excellent cause!" [...]
"What a brute I've been, Bunny!" he whispered then, "but you take half the swag, old boy, and right well you've earned it."
It's lines like this that make me go all melty. The whispering makes me think their heads are close together, and as mean as Raffles can be, he's a great one for apologizing and insisting Bunny get a fair share. He treats him quite wonderfully in this story, too:
"The flat will be like an oven," I grumbled, at the head of our own staircase.
"Then we won't go down," said Raffles, promptly; "we'll slack it up here for a bit instead. No, Bunny, you stay where you are! I'll fetch you a drink and a deck-chair, and you shan't come down till you feel more fit."
And I let him have his way, I will not say as usual, for I had even less than my normal power of resistance that night.
Bunny often talks about his inability to resist Raffles. I tell you, there is no subtext in these stories. It's all text. They're up on the roof, you see, so as not to wake the neighbors since Raffles isn't supposed to be able to leave his bed anyway, and Lord Ernest shows up to threaten poor Bunny all alone.
And what did happen was worse than my worst foreboding, for first a light came flickering into the sort of companion-hatch at the head of the stairs, and finally Raffles--in his shirt-sleeves! He was not only carrying a candle to put the finishing touch to him as a target; he had dispensed with coat and waistcoat downstairs, and was at once full-handed and unarmed.
Waistcoat off too, huh? We can only surmise what Raffles had been expecting to get up to on the roof. This collection was published in 1901, so still firmly in the Victorian era though at the end of it, and I can't imagine most just-friends types would casually go about in what was essentially their underwear.
Brief segue for timeline fun: the Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902, according to Wikipedia. The second Raffles collection was published in 1901 and in the last story, in which Raffles and Bunny fight in the war, Bunny says they first started discussing the war "the winter before last," which would have been 1899. There are a massive lack of dates in these stories, and I can't remember seeing any mention of how many years or months Raffles was presumed dead, but I can estimate that their career together was in the last half of the 1890s.
But returning to the cuteness, the climax of this story is really awesome, with thunder and lightning and drama, and it belies Hornung's earlier work in its quality. There's plenty of slashiness in it even aside from all the things I mentioned, such as Raffles taking care of Bunny after his ordeal and the necessity of their being huddled together at one point with Bunny most likely practically in Raffles's lap. But I'll leave those bits for you to discover, because I find that half the fun is being surprised with these lovely little things :3
And because I'm not prepared to shut up about this yet, I have to give you a couple of lines from "The Wrong House," my favorite story so far. The lead-up to this is that Raffles has cut a hole through the door to get at the lock, but a bunch of schoolboys up late carousing grab his hand.
And Raffles caught my arm with his one free hand. "They've got me tight," he whispered. "I'm done."
"Blaze through the door," I urged, and might have done it had I been armed. But I never was. It was Raffles who monopolized that risk.
"I can't--it's the boys--the wrong house!" he whispered. "Curse the fog--it's done me. But you get out, Bunn, while you can; never mind me; it's my turn, old chap."
His one hand tightened in affectionate farewell. I put the electric torch in it before I went, trembling in every inch, but without a word.
This is wonderful first of all because Raffles is so quick to put Bunny's welfare before his own ("Bunn"! *squeal*). Bunny of course comes right back in once he has a plan, but he retreats for the moment. Also, though, we find out that Raffles never lets Bunny carry a gun. At first glance this may seem like Raffles doesn't trust Bunny, but Raffles is only too aware that Bunny's conscience is much stronger than his own, and they've had numerous arguments about the necessity of shooting and hurting people. Raffles might be taking the burden on himself by not allowing Bunny to go armed, and it sounds like Bunny understands - monopolized that risk both acknowledges Raffles's masterfulness and the danger he takes responsibility for.
Bunny is at his absolute best in this scene, but I'll let you read that for yourselves. After quite a while of letting Bunny take the lead, Raffles steps up:
...his dear, cool voice fell like a delicious draught upon my ears.
Um. How many men do you know who would describe their platonic best friend's voice as "delicious"? Right. I thought so.
Next up, an exciting bicycle chase!
Even I could mount before they could reopen the gate, which Raffles held against them for half an instant with unnecessary gallantry. But he would see me in front of him, and so it fell to me to lead the way.
Raffles's gallantry was unnecessary, perhaps, but it redeems a multitude of sins. This whole passage deserves a great big "awwwwww" in my estimation.
And I didn't want to flood you with a ton of text, but good lord, this is worth it.
"But I think it's an occasion for Sullivans," said Raffles, who now kept them for such. "By all my gods, Bunny, it's been the most sporting night we ever had in our lives! And do you know which was the most sporting part of it?"
"That up-hill ride?"
"I wasn't thinking of it."
"Turning your torch into a truncheon?"
"My dear Bunny! A gallant lad--I hated hitting him."
"I know," I said. "The way you got us out of the house!"
"No, Bunny," said Raffles, blowing rings. "It came before that, you sinner, and you know it!"
"You don't mean anything I did?" said I, self-consciously, for I began to see that this was what he did mean. And now at latest it will also be seen why this story has been told with undue and inexcusable gusto; there is none other like it for me to tell; it is my one ewe-lamb in all these annals. But Raffles had a ruder name for it.
"It was the Apotheosis of the Bunny," said he, but in a tone I never shall forget.
"I hardly knew what I was doing or saying," I said. "The whole thing was a fluke."
"Then," said Raffles, "it was the kind of fluke I always trusted you to make when runs were wanted."
And he held out his dear old hand.
Aieeeeeeee! *squealing fangirl moment* "Off to bed" is what I imagine that hand signifies XD
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-10-20 12:47 am (UTC)On the point of the gun, um, I don't wanna seem silly, but it could also have smth to do with Bunny's attempted suicide?
*cough* Am watching the series now. Apparently Raffles carries a flask of oil with him. >.> XD
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Date: 2009-10-20 01:38 am (UTC)*facepalm* Of course it does! And isn't silly! I just entirely forgot about that vital fact! Thank you XD
Apparently Raffles carries a flask of oil with him.
*cough* What could that be for, I wonder?
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Date: 2009-10-20 01:44 am (UTC)Btw, I thought the stories were slashtastic (if I may borrow ur word ), but the series... Gah, I actually have to pause and breathe! XD I mean the very first episode, they actually do the scene of Bunny losing the money at cards (protective!Raffles saying "He was my fag at school!" XD ) and then comes the suicide scene and the revelations, and Bunny bloody well grabs Raffles's hand and kneels! O_O *dies of cute* And much more along these lines. XD *totally considers doing a commentary* XD
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Date: 2009-10-20 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-10-20 03:20 am (UTC)Hmm, guess I will have to read the entire run before I start writing. Have to mix things up a bit. *raspberry* Unless I just do the last set as the Continuing Adventures Of.
I have no idea anymore! *throws hands in the air*
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Date: 2009-10-20 11:05 pm (UTC)But I never thought of the lack of payoff in the buildup. I promise to fix that right quick.
*happydance* I cannot WAIT.
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Date: 2009-10-21 12:26 am (UTC)And natch, anyone is free to make icons of them. ^_~
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Date: 2009-10-20 08:42 pm (UTC)Bwee, so much love! I'm still only through The Amateur Cracksman (and half-a-story of The Black Mask), but I read this through anyway because me? Resist Elabysquee? Puh-leaze ;P
On the chronology, I've found one site where it's all worked out, here: http://www.geocities.com/amateur_cracksman/early. As it's a geocities page, it's due to fall off the face of the earth any day now, but I've got saved copies because come ficwriting time, the thing will be totally invaluable. It divides thing more or less as you do: into two "matches," with Raffles' years abroad between and a fourth page--well, the first, actually--on stuff that went on before they met. That was a nonsensical explanation, but follow the link and you'll see. It's good stuff.
I rankle a little bit at the idea that Raffles needed to be redeemed.
That's such a good point! We love him for the villain he is; changing that just lessens him. I love your brainworkings *cuddles them and you*
But the problem is that there's all this awfulness and overwrought repressed despair and then Raffles reveals himself and Bunny goes "Oh, I should have known," and that's that
That does sound awful! Poor brave little rabbit! *wibbles* I think you're totally right about lack of catharsis being a H/W problem, too, but at least there's more of an impression that Watson won't necessarily just let these things go. DYIN, for example. As I recall, Watson doesn't forgive Holmes at the end of it. He's suspiciously silent, in fact, and we at least can surmise that it took a good deal of Holmesian groveling to get things back right again. Whereas Bunny refuses to stand up for himself, which is sorta noble, but also very frustrating.
a nameless woman Bunny was supposedly engaged to (pfft)
*GLOMP* I love that this is a fandom where that is a totally natural reaction. And I love that you are a person for whom it is a totally natural reaction. That is all.
I'm not sure what he means by the protracted holiday, though. Maybe that he didn't have a moustache for a while?
I read this post last night, and as I was falling asleep my brain provided me with a very clear image of the aforementioned holiday and why the moustache needed to go. Said image involved Bunny and Raffles, off at some seaside resort. Or, more accurately, Bunnrietta, in his pretty pink dress, and Raffles, off at holiday on some seaside resort. Just think, they could hold hands on the beach, and not get themselves 'rrested. D'awwww. Yep, my almost-asleep mind is even weirder and slashier than my conscious one.
as I obeyed he picked me off my feet and swung me bodily but silently into the bedroom
*weeps with joy* Raffles.carrying.Bunny.over.the.threshold. Into the bedroom. Sweet mother mercy, what more beautiful gift has ever been given to the Victorian slash fangirl than THAT? Well, apart from "If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive," anyway. It makes me seriously verkelmpt.
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Date: 2009-10-20 11:18 pm (UTC)That chronology page! You win the internets! Thank you so much for finding it! *goes about saving it too*
I love your brainworkings *cuddles them and you*
*glows* And relief! Because I was kind of worried that might be an unpopular opinion. I like Raffles unrepentantly criminal, kthnx.
Poor brave little rabbit! *wibbles*
He IS, oh lord, and he's just about to cry the whole time, and then Raffles appears and there is no reaction. *rattles the story*
He's suspiciously silent, in fact, and we at least can surmise that it took a good deal of Holmesian groveling to get things back right again.
YES. This is the kind of thing that makes H/W so much deeper and more complicated. Watson is far more mature, so far more it's hard to compare them.
And I love that you are a person for whom it is a totally natural reaction.
n______n *joy* Seriously, Bunny + Girl = Yeah Right. It was so one of those weird things where Hornung obviously went "Wait, I need some romance and engagement and mooning! I forgot all of that while writing about how Bunny only ever thinks of Raffles and how Raffles carries him over thresholds!"
Or, more accurately, Bunnrietta, in his pretty pink dress, and Raffles, off at holiday on some seaside resort. Just think, they could hold hands on the beach, and not get themselves 'rrested.
*SQUEAL* If I could actually draw whole scenes instead of people floating in space, I would so want to draw this. I made an attempt at Bunny and Raffles at the hotel this weekend, but it's not done yet and I may have to redo Raffles's hair in light of new evidence.
Sweet mother mercy, what more beautiful gift has ever been given to the Victorian slash fangirl than THAT?
I KNOW, OMG. And it happens again later! More carrying! And, okay, get this - I was utterly flabbergasted reading it today, but, but but - Bunny. Dress. Curling tongs. No joke.
Verklempt! *adores you*
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Date: 2009-10-22 01:33 am (UTC)Ditto ditto ditto. It's just who he IS.
I made an attempt at Bunny and Raffles at the hotel this weekend
Squee!! I can't wait to see your versions of them!!!
Bunny. Dress. Curling tongs. No joke.
*eyes like saucers* If there are any benevolent deities reading this comment, would you please send chocolate and roses to E.W. Hornung in the Great Beyond. I.LOVE.THESE.STORIES!
(just finished "The Last Laugh," btw. Poor tortured Raffles! Poor worried Bunny! *huggles them both*)
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Date: 2009-10-22 10:54 pm (UTC)*sporfle* WIN XD Seriously! I'm adding my hopes to this request too!
And I know, oh, poor Raffles and Bunny in that story! They needed more hugging therapy afterward *nods*
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Date: 2009-10-21 12:29 am (UTC)Probably to the song "So Close". *le sigh*
...yes, I will draw Bunny in a pink dress. *sigh*
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Date: 2009-10-21 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-20 08:45 pm (UTC)"Then come into my room. I'll lead the way. Think you can hit me if I misbehave?"
*COUGHCHOKESPLUTTER* You win the prize, dahling. This time, you had the dirtier mind. My brain didn't go there the first time reading through, and then I went Holy #^$*. And you know very well that outsmutting my mind is not an easily accomplished feat. But OH.MY.GOD is I think the only appropriate response to that one O_O Not that...just, I mean to say...THAT made it into print?!??!
"What a brute I've been, Bunny!" he whispered then, "but you take half the swag, old boy, and right well you've earned it."
It's lines like this that make me go all melty.
Awwwwww, me too! *gives a very convincing imitation of a puddle of goo*
Bunny often talks about his inability to resist Raffles. I tell you, there is no subtext in these stories. It's all text.
There is nothing to say here but YES!
I can't remember seeing any mention of how many years or months Raffles was presumed dead
For some reason, I want to say that Bunny spent two years in prison. But I may be wrong, and I have no idea how long he was out again before Raffles showed up.
But you get out, Bunn, while you can
Bunn!!!!! Eeeeeeeeeee!!! *dedofCUTE* Not to mention that it's Bunn in a moment of crisis, the last words mebbe they'll ever say to each other, and Squeeeeeeeeeeee!
Next up, an exciting bicycle chase!
'Tis the season for more hugs. Many of them. Jillions!
And that last bit!!!! Just....awwwwwwwww! I think I've done nothing but squee this whole comment, but that's just inevitable with these two because awwwwwww! Thank you for all the squee, acushla ^_^ I love your fandomposts so much!
(P.S. The spellcheck is very, very, VERY unhappy with this pair of comments. The poor English language suffers mighty manglings in our bouts of squee, poor lamb XD)
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Date: 2009-10-20 11:22 pm (UTC)You win the prize, dahling. This time, you had the dirtier mind.
*feels very special indeed!* I don't know if I can guarantee it'll happen again XD
Not to mention that it's Bunn in a moment of crisis, the last words mebbe they'll ever say to each other, and Squeeeeeeeeeeee!
Yes, a thousand times yes. They are ridiculously adorable together, and Raffles-in-panic is so charmingly selfless. He does that, it seems.
*squeezyhugs* Up with fansquee!
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Date: 2009-10-21 06:59 am (UTC)Ahh. "The Wrong House." It was the Apotheosis...of...(wait for it)...the Bunny! Oh, by Jove, but I absolutely lost it on that one! Really, there is only one way to read that line out loud, with a deep and gravelly voice that comes from smoking incessantly. Oh, yes. I love that line.
You know, I think there's more in "To Catch a Thief" than just that wonderful slash set-up: "I only remember shivering till morning in a pitch-dark flat, whose invalid occupier was for once the nurse, and I his patient." Although that is a marvelous lead-in to some hawt slashiness fanfic, oh, yes, it is.
Oh, and you mention the no waistcoat in the end when Raffles comes back up with drinks and such to find his poor Bunny held hostage. But what about Raffles cavorting way back in "Le Premier Pas," sitting round in his jimjams and turning out the light after telling his tale? (And what's this about "the day after I lost my innocence"?!?! ;) I mean, didn't anybody catch that? These two blokes are sitting round the chimney piece in pyjamas until the sun starts to rise again, and without further ado (nor ushering his companion to the door), Raffles just turns out the light...and presumably goes to bed! With Bunny! Right there! In a Victorian story! Published in 1899! In the Victorian era! And there's not enough ! to go around to explain how this story got published not only in Britain but America as well! Without being edited!
And don't worry about Faustina. Remember Bunny pointed out, "his tale was going to pieces in the telling, and the tragic end of poor Faustina was no ending for me." We all know how much dear A.J. loves to spin a tale as well as his cricket ball. The only truth in his tale was that he made a member of the Camorra very, very angry; very much so that he was quite afraid of his own life and kept a vile of poison with him in case he needed to commit suicide! (And in "Mr. Justice Raffles," we learn that Raffles thinks quite lowly of suicide, so he'd have to sink pretty low to consider such a thing by the time he plays invalid.)
Oh, so much to say about such few stories. Truly, in the Twenty-first Century can people truly appreciate the genius that is Raffles and Bunny.
I've read all but about half of the novel. I put off reading the novel until now because of nasty reviews, but, oh! How precious to read something new after a long wait! No matter how not-as-good-as-the-short-stories it may be, those moments of Baffle lovin' are sooo worth it!
Oh, yeah. Hi. *waves*
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Date: 2009-10-22 12:29 am (UTC)Really, there is only one way to read that line out loud, with a deep and gravelly voice that comes from smoking incessantly.
*fans self* That is the best idea ever! And "The Wrong House" is totally my favorite story so far.
But what about Raffles cavorting way back in "Le Premier Pas," sitting round in his jimjams and turning out the light after telling his tale?
Yes! Seriously! Bwah! They are the most adorable thing. And at one point, I can't remember which story, he's wandering around without any socks on. Very intimate. I'm SO glad I found out about these XD
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Date: 2009-10-22 08:17 am (UTC)Randomly, I quote, "It was the Apotheosis of the Bunny!" and laugh uncontrollably when I'm alone in the house.
Oh, grrr. Now I'm going to have to look everywhere to figure out where the barefoot scene is and highlight it in my book and imagine it before I lay me down at night!
Gods, I can't wait for more fan fictions to come churning out soon! I do hope plot Bunnies have been nipping at people's doors. *wink wink, nudge nudge*
I've put together a little website that I hope will expand and grow--and spread the Baffles love to the rest of the world while it's at it! http://raffles.springnote.com/
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Date: 2009-10-22 10:58 pm (UTC)I can say that I have indeed been wanting to write fic. Not sure when it'll happen, what with Holmes fic that's been a long time coming and NaNoWriMo next month, but I still want to!
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Date: 2009-10-23 04:59 am (UTC)Oh, I know how you feel about wanting to do something but never having the time to do it. November is a very bad month for doing any writing or fannish stuff for me. That's when my job gears up for the holiday season, and it doesn't let up until Christmas day.
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Date: 2009-10-23 11:14 pm (UTC)