Cat Got Nine Lives by kleenexwoman (PG-13)

[elmey.livejournal.com]

Fandom: MAN FROM UNCLE
Pairing: Napoleon Solo/Illya Kuryakin
Length: ~7,300
Author on LJ: kleenexwoman
Author Website: none (unfortunately)
Why this must be read:


I don't really know how to describe this story except to tell you it's crazily inventive and freakin' brilliant and kleenexwoman can write! You have to read it. It's about quantum physics and parallel universes and a Thrush Quantum Decoupler that Illya is assigned to investigate.

Illya touches it, and suddenly, we're following his consciousness as it jumps from universe to universe: Polly Solo here, dirigibles there; from a radiation bombed New York to a world of gentle sea creatures where Illya's best friend is an octopus--and more--all beautifully realized. And weaving through all of them, the funny, constantly mutating refrain of "Cat Got Nine Lives", the song that starts the story, and then carries us from world to world. Cat Got Nine Lives is an indescribable and wonderful tour de force and really, please, just go read :)

Napoleon laughs, and says he prefers dogs. "They're loyal, smart, they come when they're called...Cats are too sneaky."

"Loyal! Dogs will bite you for no reason. Cats, now, cats are easy to read," Illya counters, "they have two moods--unhappy, and fed."

Napoleon reminisces about a beagle he had as a child, which leads Illya to recall an eyeless goldfish he kept in university. "Its name was Fsh," he says, and the hour is so late and the paperwork has been so dull that Napoleon laughs.

These small, stupid moments are what Illya will regret losing, every time he dies.

Cat Got Nine Lives

Comments

[saki101.livejournal.com]

Fantastic rec! As you say, very hard to describe, (but you did a brilliant job), simply has to be read.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

This is such an amazing story--I want to bribe people with virtual cupcakes to go read :)

[utopiantrunks.livejournal.com]

Good recommendation--that fic is fantastic.

[elmey.livejournal.com]

It is isn't it? Unusual and so well done!