OKay, first a sort of pre-script: You know how we joked about this convo being studying for my final? Your io9 link about atheists exposing their children to religious traditions I actually did use :D
I find a lot of possibility for exploration in the fact that Aslan is such a directly-experienced God. Certainly within-Narnia there's room for characters to doubt Aslan, and especially to doubt his goodness or power, etc, but canonically, Aslan exists. That's part of why I love what you do with the application of Narnia to Earth, the 'it's all relevant' thing, because it's definitely a very different sort of application of faith. Faith in Aslan, in Narnia, is not necessarily a question of existence but one of dependence; transferring that back to England requires the Pevensies etc to do all you've been showing with finding Narnia in England, finding what Aslan wants them to do. And, as with Eustace, it's once back in England that the question can arise of, is Aslan there. Suddenly it has to be a faith without concrete experience, or at least only with the experience of the past, in Narnia. *shrug* I don't know how coherent that is, but I like pondering it.
As for Lucy, I guess I can see where someone might read your Lucy as OOC? She's certainly not quite the always merry, always-faith-in-Aslan child type of the books, but even as I typed that I was saying to myself- but she is. It's just that you write, you know, a more adult version of that, and to me that's an extension of character, not a new characterization or an out-of-character thing. Your Lucy has all the 'childish' aspects and also has that fierceness, the valiance, and she's got that connection to and firm faith in Aslan. Maybe it's just that I happen to love what you do with her, but I find your Lucy to make perfect sense.
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I find a lot of possibility for exploration in the fact that Aslan is such a directly-experienced God. Certainly within-Narnia there's room for characters to doubt Aslan, and especially to doubt his goodness or power, etc, but canonically, Aslan exists. That's part of why I love what you do with the application of Narnia to Earth, the 'it's all relevant' thing, because it's definitely a very different sort of application of faith. Faith in Aslan, in Narnia, is not necessarily a question of existence but one of dependence; transferring that back to England requires the Pevensies etc to do all you've been showing with finding Narnia in England, finding what Aslan wants them to do. And, as with Eustace, it's once back in England that the question can arise of, is Aslan there. Suddenly it has to be a faith without concrete experience, or at least only with the experience of the past, in Narnia. *shrug* I don't know how coherent that is, but I like pondering it.
As for Lucy, I guess I can see where someone might read your Lucy as OOC? She's certainly not quite the always merry, always-faith-in-Aslan child type of the books, but even as I typed that I was saying to myself- but she is. It's just that you write, you know, a more adult version of that, and to me that's an extension of character, not a new characterization or an out-of-character thing. Your Lucy has all the 'childish' aspects and also has that fierceness, the valiance, and she's got that connection to and firm faith in Aslan. Maybe it's just that I happen to love what you do with her, but I find your Lucy to make perfect sense.