#frankenstan

frankenstan one shot!!!!

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not much to say about this one, i just love this au and wanted to write a little smtn for it!! go take a read if you want!!!! leave me some comments :)

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FRANKENSTAN AU.

the font i got from thisisnotawebsitedotcom, is basically just said "frankenstan" here.

I miss that one! can you share anything about it? some thoughts or if you plan more fics or just anything? pretty please?

Hello and good time of day/night to you as well! Thanks for your kind words and apologies for the late reply. Admittedly, It’s been a while since I thought about the Frankenstan AU. With the other wips still going I ended up putting this one aside for a bit...

Many of my plans were still mostly in the concept stage where I tried to figure out how much I could rely on the actual book. Personally, I do think that most Frankenstan AU’s struggle to actually follow a Frankenstein-Narrative. The focus being far more the concept of bringing someone back to life than anything else; And my version of Frankenstan suffers something similar. Not that this is bad per se, it’s just something that I still find myself constantly reconsidering:

Do I want Stanley to meet some version of the DeLacey’s? Do I want Stan’s nightmares (induced by Bill) to cause some form of major event that could be compared to some of the deaths that happened in the book? Do I need this to cover the themes that the original explores? And how does that work with a more unhinged Ford, who doesn’t quite function as a mirror of Victor, as there are only a few similarities between the two. (Victor, in my personal opinion is simply unable to act. He’s overthinking and blaming himself and has the highest levels of self-pity and self-importance going; All the while Ford is a person that might be drowning in guilt, but he’s actually trying to make something happen.) One day I might actually workshop a Frankenstan narrative that better mirrors Frankenstein, but in that case I’d say Emma-May might make a better Victor… but that’s for another day. Really, most Frankenstan stories don’t really lean heavily on Mary Shelley’s work, it’s mostly used on an intertextual level – Ford referencing it even! And that’s completely fine, and a fun whump story.^^ Though, it’s still a fun challenge to think about the ways you could reference the additional source material a bit more. So maybe I’ll manage to sneak something else in one day?

But enough rambles, now onto something more specific about the AU itself: The aftermath & disagreements regarding the healing process and care of Stan's (empty) eye sockets... I think Stanley and Stanford will have a discussion at some point – and an argument – about the way they should treat Stan’s injury. The main issue being that Stanley, in his visually impaired state, still has ‘empty’ eye sockets that need to heal & he has to look after. It’s frustrating work and Stanley dislikes it. He dislikes the bandages, he dislikes the way that this part of his body is now another weakness. Something else he can’t easily deal with on his own, another burden as he’s healing. Moreover, there is a constant conversation about the future. What will he do now? Stanford would enforce quite the strict ruling to ensure that there would be as little scaring as possible, and that the eyes wouldn’t sink in. So at least the injury would heal nicely.

Stanley hates it. He endures it, but he’s frustrated. At some point, maybe through talking about it with a third party during one of his few outings to the town, Stanley could learn about the potential skin graft. To simply seal the eye sockets and be done with it. It sounds nice. Less of a hassle for sure! Naturally, Stanford would be against that. It would ruin all attempts at fixing the problem. So I can only imagine this leading to more discussions and arguments. Which in turn can cause some rather frustrating questions.

This is still Stanley’s body. Stanley’s body already endured and experienced a lot against his will. (And depending on the Bill plot, Stan might be aware of it somewhat). But not only was his body scared (and fixed) by multiple parties, but Ford had also done additional surgery while Stanley had been dead. This would have been the metal plate, to keep Bill from possessing Stan) – so for Stanley not to be able to make a decision about his own body, about the way he wants to heal. It’s frustrating. It adds to the experiment tally, if he’s completely honest. What is Ford trying to do with all those rapid questions about Stanley’s wish for his new vision? To see in the dark? To have laser eyes? (that one must have been a joke), the colour?

...Stanley had considered saying yellow to mess with his brother, but he couldn’t. (And he feared that Stanford might actually act without asking, so better not give the wrong answers anyway)

Neither of them actually talks about the underlying issue. The reasons for any of this and why Ford is so adamant to try and fix, while Stanley just wants to bury the issue. It’s dealt with. They have to move on, if he healed – if he ensured this was done, then they could finally just get on with it.

I'm so sorry for taking so long to answer. I didn't forget, just... life.

The frankenstan fic is a small thing, just a scene inspired by this post from @artisiumstudios.

Of course, Ford'll do anything to bring his brother back, but there are some... problems to solve.

a concept that i think is very interesting but isn’t as often explored in frankenstan aus is one where stan doesn’t immediately bounce back from being revived. because it’s one thing to rebind one’s soul to their corpse, but it’s another for them to be able to fully re-integrate their sensory and motor functioning after having been incorporeal for an indeterminable amount of time.

so ford plays god--plucks his brother’s soul from the great beyond and replants it into his body, which ford has carefully preserved and spruced up through magical and probably unethicaal means.

and stan, fresh from the grave and newly re-acquainted with the land of the living, is overloaded by the sheer influx of sensory information: cold room, cold table, the scent of rot and so much formaldehyde, ford’s frantic voice reverberating through the lab, the incessant beeping and flashing of monitors, so many things touching him—it’s a lot. add on top of that the realization that his limbs ,and body, and even his voice don’t respond or operate the way he knows they should, with delayed or jerky movements, stiff from disuse and rigor mortis.

it’s tough, it’s difficult, it’s frustrating. but ford’s there to help him every shaky step of the way. (all the while, stan makes an egregious amount of ill-timed “dead man walking” jokes. ford, of course, has none of it.)

YES YES YES YES. ABSOLUTELY YES. FRANKENSTEIN HORROR ASPECT MY BELOVED.

Now have no fear I'm not doing this for AME, but I have always loved the idea of bringing someone back to life and it. Won't stick.

Organ transplant is a difficult operation. Not just because it takes skill to actually do, but also because it's incredible stress on the body. Stitches HURT even after they are done. If you drown or suffocate and are revived, your entire diaphragm ACHES because your lungs have been trying desperately to breath. If you've been in darkness for too long, your eyes adjust differently and light will burn and blind.

The human body is a thing in constant motion. If it stops, completely and totally in every way, getting it back into motion is one of the most difficult and taxing things.

A frankenstan who is brought back to life, who breathes again for the first time in weeks, and then chokes. Wheezes and spasms on the table. Every sense comes back at once, but more than that every FEELING comes back at once. Even if Stan had been lingering nearby as a ghost, the shock to the system is too much.

Stan's eyes roll, wide and unseeing. His heart, new in his chest, thumps away like its boiling. Neurons race across Stan's brain for the first time in days, weeks, months. But when Ford looks at his brother's face, all he can see is pain and fear.

Stan dies. Again, on the operating table.

And Ford tries again.

He'll get it eventually. Eventually he'll discover the right ratio of shock and chemical preservatives and if he bottles adrenaline, and injects it at the correct moment it may be enough to keep Stan's heart going to pass the shock of it all and he'll get it. He'll figure it out. Eventually. It's fine, it'll be fine.

And he does get it. Eventually. But by that point the knowledge of what it feels like to die, to live again and die, has been carved so deeply into every receptor of Stan's body (is it still his? It doesn't feel that way) that he'll never be the same.

And Ford does help, with the walking and the eating and the talking, then higher motor functions come back. (Ford likens it to thawing, a frozen body coming back, but Stan would disagree if he could move the combination of his tongue and vocal cords correctly. It isn't like thawing. It's like being built again.)

Day 8 is up!

Self-Inflicted Wound