FimFiction Link - Short ID: 487630/ich-steh-mit-einem-huf-im-grabe
Published: May '21
'Ich Steh' Mit Einem Huf Im Grabe' is a one thousand and three hundred-word shortfic about Octavia being terrified of doing a perfect performance, because she thinks once she has peaked, it'll be all downhill for her. I wonder, do people really think like this? While the story is remarkably dark with vivid prose detailing different ways of suicide, Octavia's parabola metaphor still feels a bit forced to me. I would rather assume most artists wouldn't even be satisfied with a "perfect" piece of art, because they'd feel like they could still improve it. But then again, I'm not a psychologist, so if this is the symptom of some sort of mental issue, I guess I can buy it. I must applaud the author for making the fact that Octavia decided to not kill herself still not feel like a happy ending.
Overall: 7/10 As mentioned above the prose is great, so while I ultimately find the conflict a bit hard to relate to, I still enjoyed and recommend the story.