#Honoria Winchester

[mash4077confessions]

[sholiofic]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: MASH (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Words: 3,246 Characters: Charles Emerson Winchester III, Honoria Winchester, Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan, "Trapper" John McIntyre Additional Tags: New Year's Eve, New Years, Friendship, Post-Canon, gen but also kind of not in that hawkeye sort of way Summary: On New Year's Eve in Boston, the winter after the armistice, Charles gets invaded.

My annual New Year’s fic is up!

[cuddleswinchester]

falling into my baby Winchesters feelings

Charles was eight years old, sitting in the stuffy drawing room with his sister, Honoria.  They were sharing tea on a set of china worth more money than everyone in the North End had in their bank accounts, combined.  He was sent home from his boarding school, prior to the end of term, because the whole establishment was being shuttered until further notice.  The train was crammed full to capacity, but Charles still felt alone for the duration of his journey through the city, with the other passengers stumbling over each other and groaning like branded cattle while he tried to read his book.  Some of the boys in his class had said they needed to go home and help their parents, and Charles did not understand what they meant, even when they mentioned jobs in factories or at street-corner newsstands.  All Charles needed to do, to be useful to his parents, was keep his sister company, so the nursemaid could be let go.  It wasn’t a problem; he enjoyed spending time with Honoria.  

She was four, perpetually sniffly, and shy.  She sat on the tufted chair across the table from Charles, kicking out her legs, paying no mind to the doll Mother had placed in her lap.  It was an exquisitely pretty little thing, in Charles’ opinion, not that he would admit to gazing at it.  Her porcelain face managed to convey softness, with blushing cheeks and dewy eyelashes.  She was dressed in a white christening gown, with a lace bonnet and bow granting femininity to her precious bald head.  It was only that morning Mother had taken her out of the box, a new plaything to keep Honoria occupied, with all that commotion going on downtown and Father pacing in his study with the radio at full volume and half the household staff being sent out.  The trouble was, Honoria was not interested in the toy.  Mother had set it down without instilling any imagination in it, whatsoever.  

Once Mother left the room, Charles quietly offered the doll a cup of cream from their tea-setting, and Honoria gave him a smile, albeit a puzzled one. 

“Let me hold her,” Charles said.

He offered his arms forward, accepting care of the doll before Honoria’s restless fidgeting could send her plummeting to the hardwood floor, where she might shatter.  Her clothing was delicate, her porcelain limbs were cold to the touch, but her face was friendly, when Charles tucked her into the crook of his arm and rocked her, gently.  Honoria watched with wide eyes.

“I’ll show you how to, ah…” Charles did not think she seemed like a toy to be played with; she seemed like a lovely baby girl, completely dependent on him.  He touched the doll’s rouged cheek, more gently than the sponge that had painted it.  “I’ll show you how to take good care of her.”

[grinchwrapsupreme]

Charles' love for his sister is so much more powerful when you know about how they lost their brother and the fear and pain it caused them like there was so much love between those siblings in what was ostensibly such a cold and formal family and one of them died so young, so now there's only two siblings left and they just have to keep loving each other all the more because each other is all they have

[caddyxjellyby]

In-universe it's within the realm of possibility that MASH Honoria is named after Bleak House Honoria

[countesspetofi]

(I headcanon that Woodard, Julia, and Hawkeye Pierce all went to medical school together. Hawkeye has no respect for Eric Lang as a surgeon, and makes fun of his harpoon collection behind his back.

And if Dark Shadows and M*A*S*H take place in the same cinematic universe, the Aunt Katharine the Collinses are always visiting in Boston must move in the same social circles as the Winchesters. Roger probably danced with Honoria Winchester at her debutante ball.)

It's a good thing they recast Dr. Woodard before they killed him off. I wouldn't have wanted to see Robert Gerringer's shapely behind get the old syringe o' poison.

[emthought]

Imagining Charles Emerson Winchester III, so small he hasn't even started growing into that name yet, walking past his younger brother's empty bedroom, wanting to put a name to the fear he feels but not having the words for it. Picturing him noticing the differences between three and two. Never talking about it but never forgetting either, telling himself that Honoria was too young to remember the way he does. Wondering if when he applies to medical school years later, he remembers the fear and hopes he'll finally have the words for it.

[marley-manson]

Doctor Winchester Mr Hyde is genuinely a pretty great episode.

Loved Hawkeye telling Winchester he's been there and it sucks, love him showing concern for Charles multiple times and being particularly joke-free about it in the ending tag, love Charles asking him to proofread a paper lol. Loooove Hawkeye's fear of mice and especially love him basically showing off that fear when he asks to pet Daisy for luck in front of the marines and makes a show of cringing. And BJ automatically doing the thing certain people do when they find out you're scared of something and shove it in your face to make you freak out lmao, that's exactly correct for him.

Charles demanding Radar go fetch his opera glasses when he's about to dose the mouse, and then in the next scene he actually is watching the race through binoculars was an amazing detail lol.

Also I overall liked the way Charles taking speed was handled - the ending was a little DARE-esque ofc, but generally it was a pretty light and funny touch. Klinger directly asking for them (with 0 narrative condemnation) only for Charles to condescend and then take them himself was great, as was this exchange between them: "Do you want extreme depression, chronic fatigue?" "I already got those!" a+

The drugs actually helping Charles for a while was solid and there was little in the way of overtly impared behaviour which I like - more sold by little details, like Hawkeye mentioning that Charles' 27 page paper seems to be all one sentence.

First mention of Honoria is her marrying 2 dudes in succession and getting ostracized from the family which doesn't seem to fit later mentions unless she divorced second dude and was welcomed back, which tbf isn't implausible lol. Though I don't really remember, so maybe it's possible that Honoria is the family black sheep and only Charles remains in touch with her, which would be interesting.

Last time I watched I had the minor complaint that Hawkeye and co admit to the marines that their mouse was on speed and I considered that annoying when My Hawkeye(TM) happily cheats to win competitions against random army guys ie Requiem for a Lightweight - buuut to be fair to the episode he did say they should "give the marines their money back while we're still alive" suggesting he thinks they might find out they were cheated? I don't see how lol, and it's still a little too moralistic cheating is wrong-esque for me, but I'll accept it as an explanation that keeps Hawkeye ic for me.

Anyway yeah, solidly written, good dialogue, good character moments, little oasis in this chunk of season 6.

[majorbaby]

i think when considering Margaret and her much lauded 'character development' it's less about her developing from a bad person to a good person, but from a narrative device, as she was in MASH 1970, to a three-dimensional character. the former isn't inherently poor writing.

this happened deliberately as the show shifted from satirical plotlines that emphasized the moral bankruptcy of the systems that prop up the war machine to a show about how being in the war wore on the characters individually and changed them as people.

season 4 and onward focus more on individual character drama, highlighting the flaws and virtues of each character, their interiority, their changing relationships with one another and brings in their relationships with offscreen characters - most infamously, Peg and Erin Hunnicutt but also Dr. Pierce Senior, Radar's mother and uncle who eventually passes and Honoria Winchester. Even minor characters get at least one episode that focuses on some offscreen relationship, Mulcahy's sister Kathy and Klinger wife/ex-wife Laverne.

maybe with the (blessed) exception of Frank Burns, I think the function of all the characters changes from 1-3 to 4-11 as the show made this shift.

Trapper is a lancer. we get some glimpses into there being more to him, in Kim and Check-Up - but most of what we see is him performing a specific function, propping up Hawkeye, who in turn props up the messaging of the show. I would have loved to see Trapper's interiority explored more in the later years but I'm not mad about it missing in 1-3 - it's not about him getting "more", he got plenty in terms of what he was created to do. him having 'conflict' with Hawkeye isn't something that would've ever occurred to the writers at that time and you would never hear trapper say something like 'i can't divide myself emotionally' he doesn't have enough of an emotional self to divide.

when it comes to Hawkeye, in 1-3 i think the details of his life beyond what we see of him on screen are extraneous. hence the inconsistencies with his backstory, his sister, his mother, him being form vermont - this stuff just didn't matter back then. focusing on it now can be fun if you're trying to explore the character in fanwork, but the reason Hawkeye's sister (who i've affectioned named 'benjamina pierce') disappears is because they weren't really thinking too hard about her in the first place, you're not supposed to remember her and so the show assumes you won't.

Hawkeye writes home to his father but we don't learn a whole lot about Daniel Pierce at the time, he's only there for Hawkeye to narrate to, that doesn't mean Hawkeye doesn't love him, it's just that the writers don't intend for you to focus on their relationship until at least The Late Captain Pierce.

Other major developments wrt to Daniel happen much later on: he is retconned into being a doctor in the later years when the show wants to care about developing those details of Hawkeye's life and in season 10 we get Sons and Bowlers.

Hawkeye gets a little more character stuff than the rest of the cast because he's the protagonist but there's still a marked shift between 3 and 4, starting with his emotionally charged personal drama re: Trapper - before that, he does have moments where he emotes but it's always to fulfill the show's anti-establishment messaging: Yankee Doodle Doctor, Carry on Hawkeye and yes, even Dr. Pierce and Mr. Hyde. again, that doesn't mean we can't diagnose him with a laundry list of issues based on that episode when constructing headcanons but his mental state alone can't be divorced from the messaging at this point. "why does he do these things?" asks Henry at the end of Pierce/Hyde, and Trapper replies not that Hawkeye is damaged or hurting or broken (even though he may be all these things) but with the show's central thesis "he took this oath never to stand by and watch people die" - his breakdown directly ties back to the show's criticism of state violence. compare to Bless You Hawkeye, which might've taken place anywhere whenever Hawkeye smelled mouldy pond water.

so if even Hawkeye is more of a device than a character in the early years, what can we say for Margaret?

the Margaret character does her job. the hypocrisy of "fighting for peace" is paralleled perfectly in her relationship with Frank. these are two people who claim to be god-fearing, well-to-do, conservative Americans, but they engage in the same vices as Trapper and Hawkeye: drinking, promiscuity and scheming and worse, Frank and Margaret look down on others for it.

i get why people want something 'more' (really, something 'else) from Margaret and I'm glad we did eventually get that because it was sorely needed, but tbh i adore early Margaret and i think it's a little silly to call her a 'bad person' or 'underdeveloped' - she's just a villain clocking in.

similarly i don't think we're meant to reflect on Hawkeye/Trapper/Henry's philandering as assessments of their character so much as they are clear statements on traditionalism and sexual liberty. you can personally dislike whatever you want in a character but i think the context of the show airing in 1972 when attitudes towards sex, particularly female pleasure, were starting to finally loosen, is relevant.

some people want character drama from MASH and that's their preference, but character drama isn't inherently 'deeper' or 'more complex' than satire. on the contrary some of the writing is so technically strong in the early years, the jokes on-the-ball, the witty criticisms of American foreign policy and the traditional values that uphold it buried within objectively hilarious episodes like Tuttle (where they create 'the perfect American man' except that he's not real and make fools out of ranking officers while they're at it)... I'd argue that that's highly complex.

i don't see the point in getting hung up on the morals of a character who clearly intended to be a villain when judging whether or not they're a 'good' character or not. calling her 'flat' when they're all somewhat 'flat' because the show is not trying to get you overly invested in their personal lives seems unfair to me. same can be said for comparisons of Frank and Charles which are critical of Frank. or my most beloathed criticism: of Henry for being an 'incompetent CO' - that is a feature, not a bug.

criticisms of 'flat' characters in general are definitely valid, but imo only when those characters exist alongside nuanced characters who have rich interiority. since Margaret exists alongside Trapper and Frank, I don't think that critique is valid here. she actually gets a few solid moments where we get the sense that there may be more to her, in Aid Station and Carry On Hawkeye. compare that to episodes that frame her as being entirely sympathetic when she's been a terror to people she holds structural power over: The Nurses or the Birthday Girls - both good episodes in general, but it's another kind of flatness to present a character as being wholly sympathetic when they've turned around and done the very same thing that was done to them to others. just something to consider about how making Margaret 'more nuanced' actually glossed over some of her interesting complexities.

[traumatizedbyeggsandwich]

Charles Emerson Winchester III does not like Irish people yet his sister is named Honoria which is an anglicized version of Onóra which is Irish-Gaelic hello is this thing on

[cuddleswinchester]

Hi, hello, here is my latest self-indulgent research project, involving the gay+lesbian scene in 1950s Boston, and making sure Margaret has access to T to Margaret Boy Winter can continue apace.

[movietonight]

19 . favorite character that’s talked about but never onscreen ?

Daniel Pierce and Honoria Winchester

[singlecrow]

roll on, roll on, roll on (and keep breathing) [MASH]

roll on, roll on, roll on (and keep breathing) (28282 words) by raven Fandom: MASH (TV) Relationships: Margaret Houlihan & Hawkeye Pierce Characters: Margaret Houlihan, Hawkeye Pierce, Charles Emerson Winchester III, Honoria Winchester, Kellye (MASH), B. J. Hunnicutt Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roller Derby, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, hawk girl summer, Friends With Benefits, Friendship, friends with benefits is the reason for the pairing tags, Roller Derby, Queerplatonic Relationships

Hawkeye is sweet, fast and clever, and she skates like a demon. The only problem is, Margaret can't stand her. A roller derby AU.

[onekisstotakewithme]

💥

👻

🎁

💥 What is one canon thing that you wish you could change?

For M*A*S*H? Deleting the episode Hanky Panky and also making War Co-respondent a better episode. Okay, honestly, I like most of MASH's canon, so I don't REALLY think there's anything I'd change.

For the west wing, similar to my bestie @claudiajcregg I would make the leak storyline better and resolve some of the stupid red herrings. I also have the pipe dream of more Danny, but that is. a fantasy. oh! Actually, [redacted] between CJ and Hoynes would have never happened. Basically everything with Hoynes post-s4 would not have happened that way.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

Louise McIntyre actually was part of the upper crust in Boston before she met Trapper, and was childhood friends with Honoria Winchester.

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

I figure the least I can do is continue posting snippets from "into a gold and crimson graciousness"! But anyway, the 'getting caught by your love interest in nothing but a towel' trope will always be near and dear to my heart for ratcheting up sexual tension! I said what i said!

Donna freezes, her hand still on the doorknob of the bathroom, dripping water onto the wooden floor with a soft plink. She can mark, without looking at him, the exact second he sees her, because his whistle turns from South Pacific – ‘There’s Nothing Like a Dame’, she thinks – to something low pitched, before dropping off entirely. Donna doesn’t meet his gaze, her ears burning with embarrassment, the bottom of the terrycloth only reaching the middle of her thigh. “Well, well, well,” Hawkeye says, putting on his best English bobby accent. “What’s all this then?” “Hawkeye if you don’t know, then I pity every one of your many conquests,” she shoots back, lifting her eyes to his face. She stops short, seeing that his eyes are dark with attraction, arousal, a grin on his face. He holds her gaze for a second, Donna’s heart pounding fit to burst.

if anyone else wants to send these, the list is here.