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cuatropelos-blog · 5 years ago

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That Was the Year That Was – 1916

Monarch – George V

Prime Minister – H. H. Asquith (Coalition) (until 5 December), David Lloyd George (Coalition) (starting 6 December)

The Battle of the Somme: 141 days of horror

Battle of the Somme: More than one million soldiers die; with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army’s bloodiest day; the Accrington Pals battalion is effectively wiped out in the first few minutes. The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.

The Battle of the Somme, fought in northern France, was one of the bloodiest of World War One. For five months the British and French armies fought the Germans in a brutal battle of attrition on a 15-mile front.

The aims of the battle were to relieve the French Army fighting at Verdun and to weaken the German Army. However, the Allies were unable to break through German lines. In total, there were over one million dead and wounded on all sides.

The Allies bombarded German trenches for seven days and then sent 100,000 men over the top to attack the German lines.

The day was a disaster for the British. The Germans weathered the artillery fire in deep trenches and came up fighting. As the British soldiers advanced, they were mown down by machine gun and rifle fire. In total, 19,240 British soldiers lost their lives. It was the bloodiest day in the history of the British army. However, the French had more success and inflicted big losses on German troops. In spite of heavy British losses, Douglas Haig, the British general, agreed to continue the attack.

The home towns which provided the volunteers for General Kitchener’s “Pal’s battalions” were hit hardest. The 11th East Lancashire battalion was known as the Accrington Pals. Of the 720 men who went into action on 1 July, 584 became casualties. Although they were still behind the war effort, people at home wore black arm bands to commemorate those who had lost their lives.

UK Conscription: the First World War

Your Country Needs You

Within a year of Great Britain declaring war on Germany in August 1914, it had become obvious that it was not possible to continue fighting by relying on voluntary recruits.

Lord Kitchener’s campaign – promoted by his famous "Your Country Needs You" poster – had encouraged over one million men to enlist by January 1915. But this was not enough to keep pace with mounting casualties.

Conscription introduced

The government saw no alternative but to increase numbers by conscription – compulsory active service. Parliament was deeply divided but recognised that because of the imminent collapse of the morale of the French army, immediate action was essential.

In January 1916 the Military Service Act was passed. This imposed conscription on all single men aged between 18 and 41, but exempted the medically unfit, clergymen, teachers and certain classes of industrial worker.

Conscientious objectors – men who objected to fighting on moral grounds– were also exempted, and were in most cases given civilian jobs or non-fighting roles at the front.

A second Act passed in May 1916 extended conscription to married men.

Conscription was not applied to Ireland because of the 1916 Easter Rising, although in fact many Irishmen volunteered to fight.

Effects of conscription

Conscription was not popular and in April 1916 over 200,000 demonstrated against it in Trafalgar Square. Although many men failed to respond to the call-up, in the first year 1.1 million enlisted.

In 1918 during the last months of the war, the Military Service (No. 2) Act raised the age limit to 51.

Conscription was extended until 1920 to enable the army to deal with continuing trouble spots in the Empire and parts of Europe.

During the whole of the war conscription had raised some 2.5 million men.

munitions factory explosion at Uplees near Faversham, Kent, kills 108 men

That morning, Major Aston Cooper-Key, His Majesty’s Inspector of Explosives, travelled to Kent to make an inspection of the privately owned factory at Uplees, which was then working flat-out in the wake of the shell crisis of 1915. The complex, so the inspector noted, was in “a very congested state”, the Ministry of Munitions having sent supplies “much in excess of the requirements of the works”. Of special concern were the quantities of TNT and ammonium nitrate – these were combined at the plant to produce amatol, for use in shells and bombs – packed into magazines or, when the buildings were full, left out in the open and protected with tarpaulins of green canvas. Still, such congestion was to be expected, and at least the Explosives Loading Company, which ran the plant, was not shirking out here on the marshes. Cooper-Key declared himself satisfied with the general condition of the factory, and left to file his report.

It seems the major had not noticed, in the course of his inspection, the pile of empty TNT bags tucked against the north wall of building no 833: a brick-and-timber structure filled with 150 tonnes of high explosive. In the early hours of Sunday 2 April, soldiers and civilian guards made their usual rounds of darkened sheds and silent machinery, and came across an incipient fire between the TNT store and a nearby boiler house. It had been caused by sparks from a chimney fitted with an inadequate arrester. The fire was put out, and around seven o’clock the working day began. We must assume the unseen arc and fall of another spark occurred late in the morning, in bright sunshine, and this time it reached the pile of bags, impregnated with TNT dust. It was shortly after noon when the foreman of a local contractor, having spotted the first flames, put his head in at the door of the canteen and said: “You are sitting here enjoying yourselves, but if you don’t look out you will have one of your buildings alight.”

The manager George Evetts had left the factory at noon for his home in Uplees, and was sitting down to his midday meal when the news reached him. He started back at once along the lane to the main gate, and called for the fire brigade to be sent. At building 833, 30 or 40 men were engaged with buckets and chemical extinguishers. Their efforts were having little or no effect. At half past 12 a fire engine arrived, but the nearest hydrant was 700 yards away; the firemen would have to wait for an additional hose.

In the meantime the most urgent task was to remove as much explosive as possible from 833 and surrounding buildings, and to drench with buckets what could not be moved. Sparks had begun to fall on another storehouse; a soldier, Private Wiltshire, clambered on to the roof to extinguish them, flinging himself flat to avoid heat and smoke from 833. A young firefighter, Steve Epps, recalled: “The stuff inside the shed was already alight … One old chap – he could see I was a bit nervy – he said: ‘That won’t go off unless it’s detonated, old chap.’ I said: ‘Right, I feel safe enough.’” Some of the workers present later reported they had noticed now some change in the nature and appearance of the fire; Evetts, standing 40 yards away, thought he saw a puff of dense black smoke as he turned in the direction of 833. Epps was closer to the heart of things: “We’d just got the water on it, and up she went.”

The explosion at Uplees, which killed 108 people and injured many more, was not the first nor the last such disaster at a munitions factory during the war. Nor was it even a unique occurrence that year on the outskirts of Faversham, though it was certainly the most deadly. (In the autumn of 1916, four women were killed at an adjacent factory. Only men had been present on 2 April – the “canary girls” had Sundays off.) Accounts of the day’s events, and the aftermath, survive in Cooper-Key’s report to the Home Office, and in oral histories recorded decades later. In writing about the explosion and its radiance or ramification in the land and in memory, I have tried to stay close to this minute-by-minute testimony. But I have had to reckon also with the half-mythic and evanescent nature of such an event; at times the story has seemed as porous as the landscape in which it happened.

The description of explosions is really a matter of before and after, it proving so difficult to inhabit the appalling moment itself, though there are notable exceptions, such as Hemingway and Ford Madox Ford. There exists, for example, a minor literature regarding gunpowder and munitions factories, with accounts of such places appearing in Victorian magazines such as Dickens’s Household Words. During the first world war, Arthur Conan Doyle and Rebecca West were invited to report on the Ministry of Munitions factory (unnamed in their articles) at Gretna. West, who is keen to note the diligence, grace and bravery of the women workers, also remarks that such a secret place, devoted to nothing but death, “has the disordered and fantastic quality of a dream”. In the case of Kent, the most resonant treatment of the county’s centuries-long romance with the chemistry of death came later, and in fiction. In Russell Hoban’s 1980 novel Riddley Walker, with its demotic Joycean dialect, post-apocalyptic Kent is in thrall to the ghost of an awful energy once loosed upon the land: “that cleverness what made us crookit”.

In the aftermath of 2 April 1916, men plunged into drainage dykes to retrieve the dying and the dead; they threw timbers from ruined buildings across the sea of mud surrounding the crater, and pulled their comrades, or what was left of them, from the ooze. Some stood up within the circle of destruction to find they were naked and almost unharmed, but the men beside them blown to pieces. Others had died 100 yards away, victims of flying debris or the blast wave’s capriciousness.

Epps, blown into a dyke and half-buried under shattered timbers, was the only survivor of his group of seven firemen. Evetts also lived; deafened and with most of his clothes blown off, he climbed with another manager on to the roof of a burning magazine building, and soldiers passed them up buckets till the fire was out. In his report, Cooper-Key notes with absurd sobriety: “Their gallantry is much to be commended.” The number of dead was first put at 106. Most were buried in a mass grave at Faversham cemetery, the Archbishop of Canterbury presiding. A week later, another body was discovered in a ditch. An ambulance driver who had helped gather the dead returned home to the village of Doddington, lay awake all night, then rose on Monday morning and hanged himself.

The explosion had been heard on the French coast. Dinner tables shook on the outskirts of London, and plate-glass windows shattered on the seafronts of Essex. The cross was said to have fallen from the altar at St Peter’s church, Shoebury. From the seed of a small agitation of the air, here at the darkened edge of England, destruction and the news of destruction hurried over the flat land. If you walk this summer through the nature reserve surrounding the place where building 833 stood – nothing there but a shallow declivity of the ground – you will find the dykes are filled with weed, so they look almost solid. And if you crouch towards the water, clouds of pond skaters teem on the surface, which remains unmoved till you stand and cast a shadow on the ditch, causing the insects to panic, sending countless ripples through the water, speeding across the flat green plain.

English civilian ferry captain Charles Fryatt is executed at Bruges

Charles Fryatt: The man executed for ramming a U-Boat?

The name Charles Fryatt is memorialised from New Zealand to Canada. Yet he was tried, convicted and executed as a "terrorist". A century on, Captain Fryatt’s case is still debated by legal experts. But why would a merchant ship’s commander ever try ramming a U-boat?

"I don’t think he set out to be a hero," says Louise Gill. "I think he set out to look after his crew, his men and women, and trying to avoid capture."

Gill is the great-granddaughter of Fryatt who, in March 1915, attempted to ram a prowling German U-boat with his 1902-built passenger ferry, the Great Eastern Railway-owned SS Brussels.

Ordered to stop by submarine U-33 near the Maas lightvessel off the Dutch coast, Fryatt – born in Southampton and raised in Harwich – saw the German U-boat surface.

It was his third such encounter with a U-boat that month.

Believing it was being readied to torpedo his ship, Fryatt ordered full steam ahead and tried to ram the U-boat head on, forcing it to crash-dive. The SS Brussels managed to escape and Fryatt was awarded a gold watch by the Admiralty.

But 15 months later his ship was cornered by five German destroyers shortly after setting sail from the Hook of Holland. Fryatt, his crew and passengers were taken to an internment camp near Berlin.

Fryatt was then taken away to Bruges to stand trial on charges of being franc-tireur – a civilian engaged in hostile military activity.

His gold watch from the Admiralty was used as evidence against him and he was accused of sinking the German submarine – despite U-33 still being in active service.

The hearing, sentence and execution by firing squad all took place on the same day, 27 July.

Fryatt had earlier told his captors he had done his duty to protect his crew but, according to press reports at the time, was not allowed to speak at his trial.

His death was to have propaganda value for both sides, says Mark Baker, a Fryatt memorabilia collector who is organising an exhibition commemorating the centenary of his execution.

For the Germans, the execution of Fryatt was a case of justice served.

For the British, says Baker, Fryatt’s execution was both an outrage and a useful springboard for recruitment and swaying international opinion against Germany.

"In 1916," he says, "people were starting to become a bit war weary and recruitment had become conscription.

"His death came at the right time for the government which used the case of Fryatt to show how ghastly the ‘Hun’ were."

The name "Fryatt" was also written on shells fired at the Germans.

The Fryatt case was also seized upon by Irish nationalists who accused the British government of hypocrisy.

If the British government was outraged at the execution of a civilian committing an act of war, the nationalists argued, how could they condone such executions in Ireland?

Mr Baker, whose exhibition takes place at the Masonic Hall in Harwich (where Fryatt himself was once a member), said: "I find the story itself fascinating,

"Though sometimes the way it is told on websites is as if he was the only person who had ever rammed a U-boat.

"U-boat ramming was actually common practice following an instruction from the Admiralty that crews should attempt to ram U-boats.

"The objective, however, wasn’t to actually hit the U-boats," says Baker, "because merchant ships were usually fairly fragile.

"The actual objective was to make the submarines dive."

"It is still very, very controversial," said Baker. "It’s a case that has exercised legal minds ever since.

"Merchant mariners’ rights to defend themselves in open water is still very much a grey area."

World War One: Hereford theatre fire killed eight at fundraiser

During World War One there were thousands of appeals and fundraising events to support soldiers serving at the front. One such event at a theatre in Hereford ended in "a ghastly tragedy" when eight children died after their cotton wool costumes caught fire. It led to accusations a smoker had caused their deaths.

Like many English cities Hereford has close ties to its local regiment and the soldiers serving in it.

By 1916, the vast army of Kitchener volunteers were in France preparing for the Battle of The Somme, and most families knew someone serving at the front.

The two concerts at the Garrick Theatre in Hereford, in April 1916, were advertised in the Hereford Times as "a grand variety entertainment – for the benefit of the Herefords and Shropshires".

More than 40 children were involved in the amateur show. But, just as the first performance was coming to an end, fire broke out.

As the newspaper reported, "in the space of three minutes what had been a highly successful performance was transformed into a ghastly tragedy".

Thirteen children had just left the stage after performing what the reporter described as "an exceedingly pretty dance and snow scene", complete with paper snow.

Their white costumes, which so caught the reporter’s eye, were made of highly-flammable cotton wool.

"By some means yet unexplained, the cotton wool garments of one of them had become ignited and in an instant a dozen children were literally in flames," the paper reported.

"The little mites’ clothes blazed up in pillars of fire, defying control before they had been terribly burnt.

"Bright happy little youngsters, only a few minutes before in snow white costumes, were now charred and blacked, some beyond recognition."

In the auditorium, "the large audience rose en masse" and there was "an immediate rush for exits with anguished cries", their correspondent reported.

Parents who were backstage, including "Mrs Lilly Roden… in the garb of Britannia", tried to beat out the flames "with the utmost heroism".

A man from the audience jumped the orchestra pit to help and "without fear, fought the flames with his hands", the reporter observed.

Six of the 13 children died that night from their burns – another two later died in hospital.

An inquest was held against the backdrop of rumours in the city the fire had been caused by a smoker.

Faith Mailes, who organised the concert and was mother to one of those who died, had no doubt a smoker was to blame.

She told the inquest jury Ivy Illman, sister of one of the victims, told her "she had seen a man smoking who threw his match down".

"I should like to find the one who dropped the match," Mrs Mailes testified.

Theatre staff and other people backstage strenuously denied this.

Reginald Maddox, theatre manager, told the jury there were notices in the dressing rooms and on stage banning smoking.

Staff working backstage and an agent who was there on the night all denied smoking.

Mr Maddox also told the inquest he had no idea the children would be wearing cotton wool costumes – its use was banned in theatres because of the fire risk. Mrs Mailes confirmed she had not told Mr Maddox cotton wool was used, "not thinking it was necessary".

The inquest ruled the deaths of the children were accidental and there was no evidence of what started the fire.

The city came to a halt when the funeral service for five of the victims were held at Hereford Cathedral.

People lined Broad Street ten deep in places as one by one the funeral corteges, each with an escort of soldiers to act as pall bearers, passed.

The letters page of the paper was filled with calls for a lasting memorial to the children who died.

In September, a meeting at the town hall decided to raise "£500 with which to endow a cot in the Children’s Ward of Herefordshire General Hospital as a suitable memorial of the sad incident".

The appeal beat its target, raising just over £540 and the cot and a memorial plaque were unveiled at the general hospital in April 1917.

That hospital building and the Garrick are long gone, but the terrible fire that claimed the lives of eight girls is commemorated by a plaque on the wall of the car park that stands where the theatre once did.

daylight saving time introduced

The Daylight Saving Act of 1917 was enacted by the Dominion of Newfoundland to adopt daylight saving time (DST), thus making it one of the first jurisdictions in North America to do so, only a year after the United Kingdom on May 21, 1916. DST was not instituted in the United States until March 31, 1918.

While living in Paris in 1784, Benjamin Franklin wrote a satirical essay, in which he suggested that Parisians get up earlier in the morning. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Vernon Hudson in 1895. William Willett, a London building contractor, independently invented DST and pitched it to the British Parliament in 1907. In that same year Willett spoke with John Anderson, who was on a business trip in Britain, and explained to him the benefits of adopting DST and its economic benefits. Germany and its allies were the first European countries to adopt DST in 1916, followed quickly by the United Kingdom and many other western European countries, all in an effort to save fuel during the First World War.

Upon his return to Newfoundland, Anderson became a strong proponent of daylight saving time and three times introduced a bill to the Legislative Council for its adoption. The first two attempts, in 1909 and 1910, failed. In 1917, spurred on perhaps by the recent adoptions of DST in Europe, Anderson introduced a third bill which passed on June 17, 1917. The new law stated that at nine o’clock in the evening of the second Sunday in June clocks would be put ahead to ten o’clock and would not be turned back until the last Sunday in September. It is not clear exactly when clocks were put ahead in 1917, as the bill became law one week after DST was scheduled to take effect. In St. John’s DST was first applied on April 8, 1917, by virtue of a local ordinance. DST in Newfoundland came to be known as "Anderson’s Time", at least in the years immediately following its adoption.

Daylight-saving time remained a provincial jurisdiction in Newfoundland since 1949. In 1952, the timing was changed such that it began just after midnight of the last Sunday in April and ended at midnight of the last Sunday in September. In 1970, it was extended to the midnight of the last Sunday in October.

1916 UK news events

The British Admiralty invites bids for aircraft catapults for the first time, asking for electric, hydraulic, and compressed air catapults. It does not pursue electric or hydraulic types, but two compressed-air types are produced.

Spring – British officials order one million rounds of .303-caliber (7.7-mm) explosive and incendiary ammunition for use by aircraft against German airships. The ammunition will be issued to Royal Flying Corps home air defense squadrons during the summer.

On a single evening, 10 of the 16 Royal Flying Corps aircraft which take off to defend England against German air attack crash, killing three pilots. By May, RFC night flying skills will have improved to the point that 10 aircraft that take off on a single evening all land safely.

1 January – the Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion using blood that has been stored and cooled.

9 January – World War I: Battle of Gallipoli: last British troops evacuated from Gallipoli, as the Ottoman Empire prevails over a joint British and French operation to capture Istanbul.

27 January – conscription introduced by the Military Service Act; applies to unmarried men aged 18–41 from 2 March and to married men in the same age bracket from April/May; it does not extend to Ireland.

1 February – night-long German Zeppelin raid on the West Midlands of England, claiming at least 35 lives; Tipton suffers the heaviest losses, with 14 fatalities.

1 March – transfer of the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth into its purpose-built premises is completed.

4 March – third war budget raises income tax to five shillings in the pound.

10 March – Sir Hubert Parry writes the choral setting of William Blake’s poem "And did those feet in ancient time", which becomes known as "Jerusalem" (first performed 28 March at the Queen’s Hall, London).

22 March – marriage of J. R. R. Tolkien and Edith Bratt at St. Mary Immaculate Roman Catholic Church, Warwick. They will serve as the inspiration for the fictional characters Beren and Lúthien.

25 March – Military Medal instituted as a military decoration for personnel of the British Army and other services below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land.

1/2–5/6 April – nightly German Navy airship raids on England.

2 April – munitions factory explosion at Uplees near Faversham, Kent, kills 108 men.

7 April – Garrick Theatre fire, Hereford: 8 young girls appearing in an amateur benefit evening performance for soldiers are killed when their costumes catch fire.

9 April – The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans; Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection . 24–30 April – Easter Rising in Ireland: Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin before surrendering to the British Army.

24 April–19 May – Voyage of the James Caird, an open boat journey from Elephant Island in the South Shetland Islands to South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean (800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi)) undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions to obtain rescue for the main body of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (left under command of Frank Wild) following the loss of its ship Endurance.

25 April – German battlecruisers and Zeppelins bombard Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

27 April – Gas attack at Hulluch in France: 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, decimated in one of the most heavily concentrated gas attacks of the war.

29 April – Siege of Kut ends with the surrender of British forces to the Ottoman Empire at Kut-al-Amara on the Tigris in Basra Vilayet during the Mesopotamian campaign.

2 May – eight German Zeppelins raid the east coast of England.

16 May – the UK and France conclude the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement, which is to divide Arab areas of the Ottoman Empire, following the conclusion of the war, into French and British spheres of influence.

21 May – daylight saving time introduced.

31 May–1 June – Battle of Jutland between the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet in the North Sea, World War I’s only large-scale clash of battleships. The result is tactically inconclusive but British dominance of the North Sea is maintained. Prince Albert is present as an officer.

5 June – HMS Hampshire sinks having hit a mine off Orkney with Lord Kitchener aboard. 737 lives, including Kitchener, were lost.

12 June – Whit Monday bank holiday abandoned.

First day on the Somme opens

1 July–18 November – Battle of the Somme: More than one million soldiers die; with 57,470 British Empire casualties on the first day, 19,240 of them killed, the British Army’s bloodiest day; the Accrington Pals battalion is effectively wiped out in the first few minutes. The immediate result is tactically inconclusive.

25 July – North of Scotland Special Military Area declared, restricting access by non-residents to everywhere north of the Great Glen. Other areas so designated this year are the Isle of Sheppey (7 September), Newhaven (22 September), Harwich (27 September), Dover (6 October) and Spurn.

27 July – English civilian ferry captain Charles Fryatt is executed at Bruges after a German court-martial condemns him for attempting to ram a U-boat in 1915.

3 August – the musical comedy Chu Chin Chow, written, produced, directed and starring Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, premières at His Majesty’s Theatre in London. It will run for five years and a total of 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), a record that will stand for nearly forty years.

7 August – August bank holiday abandoned.

10 August – the official documentary propaganda film The Battle of the Somme is premièred in London. In the first six weeks of general release (from 20 August) 20 million people view it.

21–24 August – Low Moor Explosion: A series of explosions at a munitions factory in Bradford kills 40 people and injures over 100.

2 September – William Leefe-Robinson becomes the first pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain.

15–22 September – Battle of Flers–Courcelette in France: British advance. The battle is significant for the first use of the tank in warfare. The Prime Minister’s son, Raymond Asquith, is killed in action.

24 September – following a bombing raid on east London, German Zeppelin LZ76 carrying military number L 33 makes a forced landing at Little Wigborough in Essex; its crew are the only armed enemy personnel to set foot in England during the War.

6 October – a British Army Order removes the requirement for soldiers to wear moustaches.

27 October – life-boat William and Emma from Salcombe Lifeboat Station capsizes on service off the south Devon coast with the loss of all 13 crew.

21 November – hospital ship HMHS Britannic, designed as the third Olympic-class ocean liner for White Star Line, sinks in the Kea Channel of the Aegean Sea after hitting a mine. 30 lives are lost and, at 48,158 gross register tons, she is the largest ship lost during the War.

28 November – first bombing of central London by a fixed-wing aircraft when a German LVG C.II biplane drops 6 bombs near Victoria station.

5 December – Asquith resigns; on 6 December Lloyd George is invited to succeed him as Prime Minister, which he does on 7 December.

11 December – Lloyd George establishes a War Cabinet; Lord Derby succeeds him as War Minister; Ministry of Labour formed.

22 December – the Sopwith Camel biplane fighter aircraft makes its maiden flight at Brooklands.

31 December – Douglas Haig promoted to Field marshal.

The Kent village of Hampton-on-Sea is abandoned due to coastal erosion. Hampton-on-Sea was a drowned and abandoned village in what is now the Hampton area of Herne Bay, Kent. It grew from a tiny fishing hamlet in 1864 at the hands of an oyster fishery company, was developed from 1879 by land agents, abandoned in 1916 and finally drowned due to coastal erosion by 1921.

Mary Hare School is founded as Dene Hollow School for the Deaf, originally in Burgess Hill.

Gustav Holst completes composition of his orchestral suite The Planets, Opus 32.

White-tailed sea eagle last breeds in the UK, on Skye (prior to reintroduction).

The 1915–16 season was the first season of special wartime football in England during the First World War.

Britain proclaims Gilbert & Ellice Islands as a colony in Pacific.

Posted by brizzle born and bred on 2019-03-16 12:39:31

Tagged: , That Was the Year That Was – 1916 , 1916 UK news headlines , British , UK , Britain , United Kingdom

The post That Was the Year That Was – 1916 appeared first on Good Info.

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welllpthisishappening · 6 years ago

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Idk if you're taking prompts, but if you ever feel compelled: the Blue Line cast reacting to Gritty.

Ok, ok, so you are either a genius or a mind-reader or possibly both because several months ago when Gritty was introduced to the world, I texted @optomisticgirl and I was like...I’m going to write about Gritty. And because she is lovely, she encouraged said writing. Only I am woefully bad at posting things in a timely fashion, so it’s just kind of languished in my docs. Until now!

So here is approximately 6K worth of very tired new-mom Emma, supportive friends, a road trip in Philadelphia and this very specific goal. Also, if you guys have not encountered Gritty yet, let me introduce you:

LOOK AT HIS EYES! WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE. Also on Ao3 if that’s your jam.

“Ok, so, according to your list, we’ve only got the jerseys and the sticks left. Are they all game-worn though? That’s not...that’s not on the list.”Emma made a noise, not sure if it was an agreement or a disagreement or just the general sound of complete and utter exhaustion. She was having a difficult time keeping her head up. And her eyes open. Her eyes actually felt like they were falling down her face.

She was, at least, seventy-seven percent positive that wasn’t supposed to happen.

And, really, in the grand scheme of parenthood and the actual action of parenting in the middle of a season and a second-straight Cup defense, Emma knew a distinct lack of sleep was, more or less, part of the deal.

She also didn’t care.

Because her eyes seemed to have a distinct weight to them and Matt kept crying at regular twenty-minute intervals that appeared to be getting worse the longer they were stuck in Emma’s office. They were still stuck in Emma’s office.

“Em,” Mary Margaret muttered, voice quiet and cautious and that was probably because Emma hadn’t ever stopped making that noise.

She was just kind of grunting at this point.

She had no idea what to do to get her kid to stop crying. It had gotten worse since the game started.

“Are we losing?” Emma asked suddenly, and Mary Margaret’s eyes widened slightly. That was probably because they weren’t weighed down. Metaphorically, or whatever. Emma was far too tired to worry about the metaphors of it.

“No, no, I mean...not winning either, but I don’t think Arthur’s broken that many white boards. So, you know, grand scheme.”Emma made a different noise. She hoped it sounded more like a laugh than it felt. It kind of hurt, like it was lingering in the back of her throat or trying to scratch its way out and none of these things seemed particularly healthy.

“Grand scheme,” she echoed, eyes flitting towards the TV screen in the corner of her office.

They’d done road trips throughout the season – and none of them were particularly easy, but Emma was fairly certain she was still holding on to the majority of her sanity. She was at least confident her eyes weren’t actively trying to fall out of her face.

And she had help, a small army of people and in-laws who were more than happy to pick Matt up or bring Matt somewhere and Emma was fairly sure Merida was still reporting on her eating habits to Killian. It wasn’t easy, but it was ok, and Matt’s eyes seemed to actually light up every single time Killian came home which, in turn, did something incredibly specific to Emma’s entire soul.

This road trip, however, seemed intent on slowly, but surely killing her.

There were teething issues and sleeping issues and the kid seemed determined to to pull himself everywhere – knocking over everything in sight like some kind of six-month-old masquerading as Godzilla. He was still working on sitting up, but Emma had to admit even the attempt was impressive and Killian was convinced their son’s diction meant he was some kind of inevitable genius.

That genius kept him up and babbling for hours at a time.

Emma had no idea if the pile of jerseys behind her was game worn.

“If I fall asleep right here, right now, in front of you, is that going to super weird you out?” Emma asked, gaze flashing towards Mary Margaret. She shook her head.

“I’ve definitely seen you sleep in weirder places.”“Ah, yeah, that’s probably true.”

“That one time, senior year, when David had four finals in one day and you had that ridiculous...what was it...French?”Emma nodded. “French II. Because I needed a language requirement and they wouldn’t take my sports management electives instead.” “God, your dean was the worst.” “That’s an incredibly scathing insult, Reese’s.” “There are children present.” Emma’s laugh was weak at best and drifting dangerously close to depressing, eyelashes fluttering despite the sounds coming from her kid and the hockey game. “I think we’re starting to deal with some object permanence actually. He’s like...aware that I’m not going to disappear if I move away.” “He’s a genius, obviously.” “You and Killian should start some kind of campaign.” “Don’t actually suggest that around him,” Mary Margaret grinned, and she was already starting a new list. “He’d go on the record or shout it from center ice or something.” Emma hummed, not quite able to make any other noise when her heart was so busy doing whatever in her chest, but Mary Margaret was absolutely right and Killian would probably call Dorothy and get some kind of special edition of Sports Illustrated printed. And, honestly, she didn’t mean for the sigh to just fall out of her the way it did, but she’d apparently lost complete control of everything and she needed to find Kristoff.

He had to know about the jerseys.

“Hey, hey,” Mary Margaret said quickly, reaching out and tugging the pen Emma forgot she was holding out of her hand. “What’s going on with you? You know you look kind of pale.”“That’s not really the best way to start this.” “How much sleep would you say you’ve gotten on average in the last week?” “I don’t want to tell you that.” “Why?” Emma lifted her head, slowly and a little repentantly, which didn’t really make any sense because Mary Margaret was not her mother. She was the mother and she was, approximately, eighty-two percent positive she was messing it up.

Matt wouldn’t stop babbling and crying and Emma’s arms felt like they were going to fall off. It was because she kept having to pick him up. So he didn’t knock over merch for whatever Garden of Dreams event they were planning for.

She genuinely could not remember the name of the event.

“You could come back home with us,” Mary Margaret suggested. She’d never let go of Emma’s hand. “We’ve got that pop-up thing and--”“--David’s got to work tomorrow, Reese’s. You’ve got to work tomorrow. The kid wakes up, like, several times a night to scream at the moon or something.” “Did you just suggest your own kid was a werewolf?” “At this point I really don’t know.”

Mary Margaret scoffed and her smile felt a little placating, but Emma was so tired and so sure she was ruining everything that she almost didn’t care. She wanted to be placated. She wanted this road trip to be over.

She desperately wanted to find a children’s medicine that made sure her kid didn’t suffer in agony so he could, eventually, eat solid foods.

“You also have to work tomorrow,” Mary Margaret pointed out. “Just, you know...if we’re covering all our bases.”“You’re mixing up sports references.” “Playing a good shift? Does that even make sense?” Emma shrugged. “That question is way too in-depth for the amount of consistent sleep I’ve been getting. How important do you think it is to get to REM?”

“Incredibly.”“Yeah?” “Yeah,” Mary Margaret nodded. “So, uh, I’m going to say something, ok? And I want you to bite your actual tongue if you have to so you don’t interrupt me because I know you’re going to try and interrupt me.” “That’s actually kind of scathing, Reese’s.” “That’s an interruption.”

Emma mimed zipping her mouth shut, staring at Mary Margaret with something she hoped was as much sarcasm as one expression could contain, but she figured she kind of missed her mark when she had to lean back and move Matt in the swing they’d put him in once the game started.

He would have tried to walk into the TV otherwise, Emma was certain. Object permanence or something. And possibly how much he wanted to see his dad.

She absolutely hated road trips now.

“Alright,” Mary Margaret starts, nodding again like she’s psyching herself up for this particular brand of hope speech. “I know you were off after Matt was born and that was good and, you know, medically necessary, but have you considered...maybe using some of your personal days for stuff like this?”The silence in the room wasn’t really silent – Matt was still babbling and Emma could make out the dim sounds of the puck hitting the boards in Philadelphia and the commentary in the background. She blinked, licking her lips and she wasn’t exactly comfortable, one of her hands still twisted with Mary Margaret’s, while the other tried to move Matt in some kind of consistent rhythm. The babbling was quickly turning to something that sounded like the tell-tale sounds of a complete and utter meltdown.

Emma briefly considered joining him.

“Thoughts?” Mary Margaret asked.

Emma tilted her head. “That doesn’t count as an interruption?”“I actually expected the sarcasm completely, so I’m not even turned off by that at all.” “What are you then?” “Worried about you and your distinct lack of REM sleep. And whatever horrible, no good, very bad things your mind is making you think because of that lack of REM.” Eventually, Emma was sure, Mary Margaret would stop being so impossibly good at reading her or knowing her or, possibly, just sharing a few of the same brain wavelengths. She hoped not.

Because those wavelengths made sure Mary Margaret stayed in the office that night – not bothering to ask, just sitting on the ground and tugging Emma’s list out of her hand with a practiced familiarity that defied decades.

“You should take this show on the road,” Emma muttered, working a quiet laugh and knowing smile out of Mary Margaret. “I bet you could make millions.”“Who would you get to babysit all the time, then?” “You don’t have to do that.” Mary Margaret squeezed her hand. “I want to. A whole line of people want to. Several professional hockey players are beating down metaphorical doors to want to.” “I’m not sure that last sentence made much sense,” Emma laughed, and it was still a little shaky and questionably watery, vision swimming a bit in front of her, but she took a deep breath and that felt like a step in the right direction.

“And I’m not sure you’re qualified to discuss sentence structure.” Emma rolled her eyes. “Honestly though,” Mary Margaret continued. “You don’t have to be some kind of superhero. I know you could be and usually are because, well--”“--You going to get sappy on me, Reese’s?” “Yes, don’t interrupt. I know you were worried about all of this and it happened suddenly and without much planning, and that’s not really your game, but…” She took a deep breath, shoulders heaving with the force of it and Emma didn’t think she imagined the slightly glossy look to her eyes. “You are doing an incredible job, Emma,” Mary Margaret said, no hint of anything except absolute and complete honesty in her voice. “I don’t know how you’re doing it.” “Was that last part a compliment?” “Of the highest order. Because you’re doing it all. That’s kind of where I'm going with this. I know you’re worried. But the crying is normal and the lack of sleep is normal and you could probably call the pediatrician about the teething thing if it’s freaking you out.” Emma let out a breath she didn’t realize she was hoarding, only slightly stunned by the mind reading going on in her office. Matt threw something. The game on TV got louder.

“I just…” Emma muttered, twisting her lips when the words got caught in the back of her throat. With the emotion. There was too much emotion. She was a mess.

“I know you do,” Mary Margaret promised. At some point she’d laced her fingers through Emma’s, thumb tapping just above the relatively-new laces sitting on her left wrist again. “Everyone does. And you are. The crying jags aside, that is the happiest and most loved kid in the entire National Hockey League.”“That’s definitely the marker we were going for.” Mary Margaret scoffed, shifting closer to Emma so she could wipe away a tear she hadn’t noticed either. “Don’t lie to my face like that, it’s not cool.”

Emma nodded, tugging her lips behind her teeth and trying to remember what any semblance of confidence looked like. Matt quieted for a moment, the sounds turning a bit closer to whimpers and that was, somehow, even worse. It made Emma’s body tense and her spine seemed to audibly snap back into place when she jerked around, eyebrows pulled low as her lungs desperately tried to get oxygen back to her brain.

“I know we’re not really doing that whole pronunciation thing yet, kid,” Emma said, pulling out of Mary Margaret’s and tugging Matt against her chest before she could remember all the reasons the websites told her she shouldn't. “But it’d be really great if we could fine tune what, exactly, has got you freaking out so much. Dad’s going to be home tonight.”

It didn’t work.

The sounds were still there – sinking into Emma’s skin and that same soul that never quite knew what to do with the idea that this was her life. She bobbed on her feet, rocking back and forth and trying to find a comfortable way to hold Matt and work her phone out of her back pocket at the same time.

That didn’t work either.

She was going to scream.

Or cry.

Or fall on the floor and sleep for several days.

Matt squirmed against her, tiny hands gripping her shirt and for a kid who seemed particularly interested with the National Hockey League he had a pretty good right kick, a move he appeared intent on perfecting by landing it in Emma’s liver.

“What if we just walked to Philadelphia?” she asked, directing the question more to Mary Margaret than Matt.

Mary Margaret smiled. “I don’t know if that entirely efficient. They’re already at the second intermission anyway and--”She didn’t finish the sentence, footsteps coming down the hall and a noise that might have been genuine laughter and not just exhaustion-induced insanity and Matt nearly flew out of Emma’s arms as soon as Ruby rounded the corner of the open doorway.

She was holding takeout bags. So was Henry. She’d brought Henry with her.

“Hey mini-Jones,” Ruby said, hardly breaking stride as she walked towards him. “You causing problems up here? We could hear you as soon as we got off the elevator.”“Not as soon as we got off the elevator,” Henry objected. “It took us at least a few steps before we heard him. Impressive lungs though.” Emma groaned. “You guys are all throwing out really horrible compliments.” “Aw, c’mon,” Mary Margaret sighed. She hadn’t gotten off the ground. “My compliment was good! And genuine!”

“Also,” Ruby added, moving some of the bags so she had a free hand to tug on the back of Matt’s onesie. “She managed to surreptitiously text me when it was becoming more and more obvious you guys were never getting out of here, so not only do I come with a plethora of promises that you’re the best mom this side of the Mississippi, but I’ve also got just a questionable amount of fried food to back up those claims.”“Do those go hand in hand?” Henry asked. He had to move a few piles of paper on Emma’s desk to find any open space, but there really was a ton of food and he kept smiling and maybe the Rangers would score in the third period.

That was almost optimistic.

Ruby shrugged. “I don’t know and I don't care. Emma’s too tired to be worried about my sentence structure anyway.”

“These are not the compliments I was promised,” Emma said, but she was tired and practically overflowing with sentimental thoughts and deep-rooted parental desires and maybe she’d take tomorrow off.

Merida probably knew what the event was called anyway.

“The compliment is that you’re some kind of super mom who’s really worried about totally normal teething schedules. Also you and Cap need to coordinate your worry a little better because Scarlet said--”“I’m sorry, are you gossiping about mine and Killian’s parenting with Scarlet?” Ruby didn’t quite glare, but it was almost like a scowl and Henry did try to turn his laugh into some other kind of noise. Mary Margaret was never going to get off the floor. “Give me a little credit, Em,” Ruby sighed. “Did you see the way Cap skated in Carolina?” “I watch the games, Ruby.” “Exactly. So we all know that no one in the Jones household is sleeping and you’re both absurd parents--”

“--In a way that is actually a compliment,” Henry added, flashing a smile when Emma’s eyes darted his direction.

“Again, exactly,” Ruby muttered. “But Cap could barely stay on the ice for more than thirty seconds and then they had the off day and now Arthur's breaking whiteboards in Philly and you have no idea what your event is called.”Emma blinked. “How do you know that?” “About the shifts or...because that’s kind of just basic math.” “That’s not really Emma’s strong suit either,” Mary Margaret muttered, shrugging when Emma gaped at her. “French II and that intro to stats we took sophomore year. Your academic downfall.”

“I passed both of those classes,” Emma said, and Henry wasn’t even trying to mask his laugh anymore.

“Ehh…”Emma rolled her eyes, but she didn’t really have a leg to stand on and she needed both of them if she was going to make sure the kid her in arms stayed there. “Is Scarlet worried about Killian’s sleeping habits? Is that what’s happening?” “Robin too,” Henry said, answering a question that wasn’t entirely directed at him. “He said Killian’s trying to murder mattresses.” “That’s impressive,” Ruby muttered. Emma didn’t object when she pulled Matt out of her hands, thankful for the lack of weight on her forearms and the no-longer present threat to a variety of internal organs. “The road trips are going to be garbage from here on out, Em,” she continued. “But we’re all still here and Cap’s destroying hotel furniture because he wants to be home that much and you’re way more organized than you honestly have any right to be and Mer said the jerseys were game-worn. Obviously.” “She didn’t say that second part,” Henry added.

Ruby waved a dismissive hand through the air. “That’s neither here nor there. So, we’ve brought the food, the third period’s about to start. Direct us, o fearless community relations leader. What has to be organized?”They weren’t quite a well-oiled machine – Matt was far too loud and squirmy for that and Emma’s legs didn’t entirely appreciate when she leapt up with five minutes left in the game, but she had some kind of sixth sense, or so Ruby proclaimed, and she might have actually fist pumped when Killian pulled his stick back.

It wasn’t the best shot in the world. It wasn’t even the best shot he’d taken all season. But it was a shot and there was a bit of power on it and her soul did something absurd again.

Mary Margaret’s breath caught. Loudly.

The Philadelphia defense hadn’t stood a chance, not really, and Killian hadn’t been sleeping much either, even when he was home, not really, but he still moved up the ice with a speed that was as ridiculous as attractive and Emma had clearly lost her mind. She wasn’t supposed to be attracted to an attribute of her husband’s game.

Her mind, however, did not care.

Her mind was moving as quickly as he was, a streak of blue up the ice and it was actually some kind of miracle the Philadelphia defender didn’t trip over his own skates. Robin’s pass slide between a pair of orange jerseys and around a stick that wasn’t entirely on the ice, the puck landing in front of Killian and he didn’t slow down when he pulled back. His hips barely moved, like he wasn’t even trying, and Henry mumbled something that sounded a hell of a lot like did that even go in behind Emma.

She nodded.

And the light went off.

She wasn’t sure what noise she made, but Killian spun around, back colliding with the nearest board in the Wells Fargo Center as his arm wrapped around Robin’s shoulders. They did something stupid, a shake of their heads and smiles obvious as the camera zoomed in and--

“Oh, they planned that,” Emma muttered, Ruby’s quiet hum of confusion barely audible when Matt started to make noise again. “They planned that,” she repeated. “The whole play. Did you see that? Robin didn’t even look up. He knew Killian was going to be there.”Emma turned back towards Henry, the smile on his face turning a little smug and a little knowing. “What do you know?” “That Robin was annoyed Killian was trying to pummel hotel mattresses into submission and demanded they discuss some kind of breakout on the power play if they were both going to get negative amounts of sleep.” “That last one verbatim?” He nodded. “It wasn’t a power play though.” “Guess Killian’s just that fast.” “Maybe he could walk back here,” Mary Margaret mumbled, and Matt was logging some pretty good mileage as he moved from person to person in an office filled with now-organized merch.

“I wouldn’t put it past him, actually.”Emma hummed or laughed or dissolved into those emotions that had been tugging at the back of her mind for the majority of the night, and she was almost confident they’d be able to get out of the Garden without anymore issues or concerns regarding her ability to parent, but that lasted less than a full second and the scream that came a few feet away echoed in between her ears.

That wasn’t biologically possible either.

“Oh my God,” she sighed, visibly deflating at Mary Margaret’s wide eyes and Ruby’s not-so-quiet gasp. Emma was going to comp the car she called. She was going to call out the next day. “What is happening here?”

She reached forward, pulling Matt back and wincing at several well-placed kicks. “What are we doing, kid? Did you not just see Dad score? That was a good goal! We’re probably going to win now. Aren’t we cool with winning?”“Ma ma ma ma ma maaaaaaaaa.”

The word got less and less pronounced the more Matt kept repeating it, twisting and turning and yanking on the ends of Emma’s hair and the front of her shirt. His legs flailed and his head dropped back and she was absolutely going to have the most impressive forearm muscles of anyone on the entire island of Manhattan.

“You know, I thought we were almost drifting close to actually falling asleep,” Ruby mused, trying without much success to rest her hand on Matt’s back. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”“Welcome to my world,” Emma mumbled. She shifted her weight between her feet, trying to work back towards the swing and the teething ring that was probably just lukewarm plastic at this point and they’d been doing so well. The road trip was going to end on a high note and she was going to be some kind of mother of the year with a husband whose speed on ice should probably get studied at some point.

That was such a weird sentence.

She was so goddamn tired.

And she didn’t know what to do next.

Emma muttered a string of increasingly absurd nonsense, trying to smile and not burst into tears, but that was proving more and more difficult and she was dimly aware of laughter coming from the TV.

“Oh shit,” Henry whispered, clicking his teeth when Mary Margaret made some kind of reproachful noise. “No, no, no, just...ok, don’t tell Gina I said that, but, listen, Emma, turn around. Don’t let Mattie look at the TV.”That was not the string of words she expected. At all.

“What?”“Where’s your remote?” “What?” Henry growled, his whole head rolling in frustration, and that wasn’t right either. There were takeout containers everywhere. One of them crunched under his feet when he moved, darting towards the TV with his hand already out and Emma was worried he was going to punch through the actual screen.

And that was when she saw it.

“What the hell is that thing?” Emma demanded, gesturing wildly towards the ice in Philadelphia and the furry, orange monstrosity shooting t-shirts out of an air-powered gun. “Oh my God, why are his eyes moving like that?”She expected Ruby to laugh even less than she expected Henry to swear. Maybe she’d just walk home. Screw the car. “Gritty?” Ruby asked, and Emma could not come up with a single word to respond to that.

The stupid thing was trying to dance on the ice. Matt cried louder.

“What is a Gritty?” Emma shouted, Henry still making ridiculous noises because her TV was state of the art or something and there were no buttons on the actual thing. “Ok, ok, Mattie, Mattie, we’ve got to breathe kid, the absolutely terrifying monster is not going to come out of the TV and attack us.”

“Should we be referring to him as a monster?” Mary Margaret asked. She grabbed the jersey on top of the closest pile, throwing it over the TV screen and it didn’t really cover everything, but it was at least a start and Emma was kind of terrified of Gritty.

Whatever that actually was.

“He’s a mascot,” Ruby reasoned. “I mean...we’ve all seen mascots before, right?”Emma shook her head, disbelief in her gaze. “We don’t have a mascot. Oh my God, Reese’s, do you think he was crying about this asshole the whole game?”

“I think that seems entirely possible,” Mary Margaret said, a hint of a smile tugging at her mouth.

“This is not funny!”

“I mean…”“It’s not!”

“It’s a little funny,” Henry admitted. He was still trying to find the remote, but the game was almost over and Emma figured even terrifying, demon mascots had to get off the ice when there was a faceoff to take. “How have you never seen Gritty before, he was like...a cultural phenomenon.”“Can we please stop referring to him by his name? That is a man in a suit. An absolutely terrifying, shouldn’t exist suit.” “He’s been around for months, Em,” Ruby said. “All season. Oh.” “Oh. Oh, what?” “And you were worried you weren’t super Mom.” Emma didn’t respond immediately, but she tilted her head and tried not to covet that title too much. She wondered how quickly the entire New York Rangers could get out of Philadelphia. “Where are you going with this?” “They announced the mascot right before the start of the regular season,” Ruby grinned. “Henry’s right. He was all over the news and late night and social media because, you know--” “--He’s terrifying?”

“It’s the eyes, I think. If he didn’t have googly eyes, it wouldn’t be an issue.”“What does this have to do with my parenting skills?” “More like you becoming a parent,” Mary Margaret corrected. “I think you were a little preoccupied with, you know, giving birth to be worried about Philadelphia mascots that never should have existed.” “Wow, that’s harsh, M’s,” Henry muttered, still kind of laughing and he grinned when Emma’s head snapped his direction. “But also true.” “See,” Ruby crowed. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Em. If anything, you’re saving mini-Jones’ mental stability from the get because you made sure he wasn’t aware of a world where Gritty existed. And you totally went into complete Mom mode as soon as Henry said.” Emma wasn’t sure she was actually capable of blushing at this point – her capillaries or whatever were probably too exhausted, but she had never been very good at science either and Matt had finally stopped crying.

Mary Margaret’s eyes were distinctly glossy again.

“It’s ok,” Emma whispered, tightening her hold on Matt slightly and he didn’t squirm at all. He might have burrowed further into her chest. “You’re ok, I promise.”

And she didn’t walk back uptown, both Mary Margaret and Ruby scandalized at even the notion. She sat in the back of a town car instead, a sleeping baby next to her, a quiet that, somehow, made it easier to breathe. Mary Margaret helped her carry everything upstairs.

Emma didn’t plan on falling asleep, but her eyes had other ideas and she didn’t hear the lock click back in place, startling on the couch when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

He grinned at her.

“Hey,” Killian muttered, crouching in front of her and brushing the hair away from her eyes. “You can’t possibly be comfortable.”“I don’t know that I could actually move, honestly.” “I’m not sure that’s much better.” “Nice shot.” “It was an experiment.” “Yeah, I figured,” Emma said, and she appreciated whatever his eyebrows did at that. “Please, Locksley didn’t even lift his head up. Did you have to come up with some kind of signal, or how did it work, exactly?” “Do the years of experience not count?” Emma made a contrary noise, twisting despite the protests from several dozen muscles and Killian, tugging lightly on the loose tie still around his neck. His grin got bigger. “We counted. Scarlet was supposed to pass out of the zone and I had six seconds to get up the ice. Locksley had four to get to the other faceoff circle.” “I wasn’t aware Scarlet was part of the plan.”

Killian hummed, a quick brush of lips over her forehead and it was an impressive exercise in balance. “We had some time to kill.”“So I heard.” “Henry?” “Maybe you’re the genius.” “Ah, that just means it’s genetic,” Killian said. His fingers clearly had minds of their own, drifting over Emma’s neck and her shoulder and the bit of skin where her shirt had twisted underneath her. “You didn’t have to try and wait up for me, love.” “Try being the operative word.” “I appreciate the effort.” “You’ve got to sleep more on the road.”

“You’ve got to sleep more all the time.”She clicked her tongue, scrunching her nose and Killian’s capillaries clearly weren’t too exhausted to blush – particularly on the tips of his ears. “Ruby or Reese’s?” “Both. And David. They’re worried about you.”

“It was just a shitty road trip,” Emma whispered, not trusting herself to do anymore. Plus the sleeping kid a few feet away. Especially the sleeping kid a few feet away. “Did you hear about the mascot incident?”Killian blinked. And blinked again. “What?” “There is apparently some kind of actual monster masquerading as a mascot in Philadelphia and our kid is fundamentally terrified. Screamed every single time they showed him on the broadcast. Apparently.” “Apparently?” “I didn’t realize until the third period.” Emma’s nose was going to get stuck that way. Her sigh sounded impossibly pathetic when it fell out of her, throat tightening against the wad of everything stuck in the back of it and Killian really could not have been comfortable. He didn’t move. “We can’t fix everything, Swan,” he said softly, fingers still tracing absent minded patterns on any bit of skin he could find. “I don’t think there’s a clause for mascots anywhere.” “And you’ve read enough websites. You’d totally have found it.” “So would you, love.” “I’m so tired.” It wasn’t an admission, not really. Everyone knew. Strangers on the street knew. Gritty probably knew. God, she hoped Gritty didn’t know. But it kind of felt like one anyway, and she really could not cope with the realization that it only took Killian six seconds to get up an entire NHL-size hockey rink.

And she hadn’t really considered the fact that he hadn’t kissed her yet, but the move still caught Emma by surprise, quick and somewhere dangerously close to bruising and they were both slightly codependant disasters who just wanted to give their kid the world – particularly one without horrifying and badly named mascots.

“So we should probably get you off the couch,” Killian said, standing back up and Emma didn’t take his hand so much as she threw her palm against his. He laughed under his breath. “Move the kid? Don’t move the kid?”“Move the kid,” she groaned. “He’s bound to wake up soon anyway, I think he’s preprogrammed to know when you get home.” Killian’s ears got redder. And that was worse than recorded speed on the ice.

He brushed his lips over her cheek, moving across the living room and Matt didn’t wake up immediately, but he twisted and made a few pointed noises, Killian only wincing slightly when he bobbed on his feet to try and quiet him. “The workout after the workout,” Emma muttered, a hand on his shoulder and body against his back, and she swore she heard him smile.

“Ah, this is better.”“A line.” “A first line, actually. That’s got a very impressive plus-minus rating in the last few games.” “Are we acknowledging that stat?” “When it benefits me.” Emma laughed, pressing her face into the fabric underneath her cheek and if she was going to keep making sweeping assumptions regarding Killian, then she was positive she felt some of his muscles loosen underneath her. “Parents of the year,” she mumbled.

“I bet we could organize some charity event to practice slapshots at Gritty’s face.”“That’s violent.” “In defense of a kid, Swan.”

“Yeah, that’s true,” Emma agreed, and there were feeding schedules and equipment to move, but sleep was almost there and it was always easier when she and Killian were in the same bed. “C’mon, if we don’t move, I’m going to fall on top of you.” “Not the worst thing in the world.” “That was another line.” “Yeah, it was,” Killian said, an easy nod and smile and they both slept through their alarms the next morning.

And Gritty never really went away, a lesson Emma wasn’t entirely sure she appreciated, but was sure the world thought was important – something about confronting fears and our own childhood worries and the ability to overcome both. The mascot was still there, orange with far too much fur and those goddamn googly eyes, terrifying Matthew Jones for the majority of his childhood and road trips he and his, eventual, younger sister got to go on.

The mascot was still there, shooting t-shirts into a screaming crowd at Wells Fargo, nearly two decades later and Emma hadn’t considered the implications of that when she put on a different jersey with the same name and number as it always was. At least she hadn’t until Henry chuckled lightly next to her, elbowing something that might have been her spleen to get her attention.

“Did you tell Rol?” she asked, glancing towards the grown man with his own kids who was doing a pretty good job of being super dad too. “Mattie’ll be mad if Rol’s got something else to trash talk tonight.” Henry shook his head. “Who do you think I am, Emma?” “Someone who knows about a professional hockey player’s deep-rooted mascot fears.” “You’re making assumptions. And, no, I never told Rol. It’s Matt’s first game in Philadelphia. I’m excited for him. I’m not a jerk.” “But?” “How do you know there was a but?”

Emma pulled her eyes away from the ice, nerves churning and pulse beating loudly in her veins and she’d been far too concerned about Matt playing in Philadelphia for the first time and playing against Roland, but Henry just smiled at her. The kid standing at his feet tugged on his jersey. A Locksley jersey. Always now.

“But,” Henry echoed. “We did discuss some quick exit options out of the arena if he’s suddenly attacked by Gritty.”

Her laugh jumped out of her, entirely impossible and far too loud to be acceptable and Emma didn’t think before flinging her arms around Henry and hugging him as tightly as she could. He hugged her back.

“I doubt the mascot will attack,” Henry muttered. “But now, at least, we’re prepared.”“Exactly.” The mascot didn’t come back onto the ice in the first period, but Matthew Jones, making his Philadelphia debut against the guy who helped him practice the wristshot he was quickly becoming known for, made it up the ice in seven seconds flat, the puck on his stick and the light going off almost as soon as he pulled back to shoot.

Emma jumped and Henry jumped and Killian might have hit the window of the suite, pride practically radiating off him. “We’ll get that time down, Swan,” he promised. “Five by the end of the regular season.”

“Parents of the year,” Mary Margaret said, a twenty painted on both of her cheeks that were quickly getting smuged by the tears in her eyes. “With some headlines to prove it.”

Emma didn’t answer – absolutely could not answer while her kid was still celebrating – but she nodded and Killian tugged her against his side, a kiss to her temple and the belief that they’d done something good.

#cs ff #captain swan #captain swan ff #captain swan fic #cs fic #blue line one shots #please look up gritty's packing list for the all-star game #it's gold #justanotherwannabeclassic #laura rambles

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everlastingcaptainswan · 6 years ago

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Loyalty Comes At a Price (1/4)

Enchanted Forest No Curse AU

Summary: The King and Queen are dead and the kingdom has fallen to the Evil Queen. Emma and her brother, Leo barely made it out alive and now Emma has to turn to mercenaries to regain her throne and quickly learns everything has a price.

Note: Hi guys sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but real life got in the way. I just graduated nursing school, so hopefully I'll have some time again to write. My inspiration has come to a halt on my other stories, but hopefully this one will spark that inspiration. This was supposed to be a one shot, but I kinda just ran with it. Please let me know what you guys think. I hope you like it!

FF Ao3

Chapter One: The King and Queen Are Dead

They had feared this day would come, the day the Evil Queen would break free from the curse Snow and David had put on her all those years ago. The kingdom had enjoyed twenty-four years of blissful peace. Emma had assumed that her parents had put precautions in place for the Evil Queen breaking free. As it turns out they didn't, why they didn't Emma will never know. Her parents paid for that mistake with their lives.

Emma bursts into their chambers with a blood covered sword in hand to find Lancelot kneeling next to her father and mother, both of them dead. Emma can see a gaping hole in her mother's chest right over where her heart should be. Emma has the suspicion that the Evil Queen crushed her heart. Lancelot turns to her, tears in his eyes.

"We need to get you and Leo out of here," he told her. Emma tears her eyes away from her parents’ bodies.

"What?" Emma asks confused.

"I already sent Grumpy to get your brother. The Evil Queen has us surrounded the castle and has taken over the throne room. She will not hesitate to kill you as well. We'll be lucky to make it out alive," Lancelot says and Emma just stares blankly at him, in shock. He sighs in frustration and grabs her mother's traveling cloak throwing it over Emma's shoulders. He grabs her by the arm and drags her out of her parent's chambers. Emma eyes stay on her parent's bodies for as long as possible. They're dead. They're gone. Emma is still trying to wrap her head around it.

Lancelot leads her down an old servant corridor and down a staircase they no longer use anymore. So far, they hadn't spotted any of the Black Knights. However, they hear clamoring of footsteps coming from the bottom of the staircase.

Without a word of warning Lancelot punches in a brick in the staircase wall, which opens revealing a hidden passageway Emma didn't know about it. The fact seems impossible since she thought she had looked over every possible map of the castle. Once inside the corridor Lancelot pushes the door shut behind them.

"There that should keep us safe for a while. Are you prepared to use your sword?" Lance asks her to pull her down the corridor.

Emma finds her voice again, "Yes, I had to kill three Black Knights who came into my chambers."

"Good, you might have to do that again. Remember what your father and I taught you," Lance nods, leading the way down the dusty corridor which lead to another hidden staircase. The ground was disgusting, covered in mud and what can only be assumed to be rat droppings and Emma really wished she had put on more sturdy shoes besides her slippers. Lance kept up their grueling pace, barely giving Emma a chance to catch her breath.

When she mentions this fact Lance snaps at her, "You can breathe when we get you out of the reach of the Evil Queen." Emma doesn't say anything to this, knowing he's right. When they finally get to the bottom of the staircase they almost have to swim out. They nearby river seems to have flooded the exit to the corridor, probably the reason it's not used anymore. When they make it out a good portion of the council is waiting for them, along with Leo. Emma moves toward him relief flooding through her. Lance stops her and places her on top of a horse.

"You can reunite when you're safe. I'm going to save anyone I can. Red is taking you to a hideout. Listen to her, she knows the plan," Lance says to her without another word. The small group of them take off. Red's cloak over Emma. Red is in her wolf form leading them away from the castle. A few times the wolf looks back at her. Emma glowers back at her. This plan had been in place for many years now. Her parents knew this was a possibility and made a plan for this. No one had ever bothered to tell Emma, or it seems her brother, who looked just as confused as she did. He pulls his horse up to hers.

"What the fuck is going on? Grumpy pulled me from my bed, barely let me put on boots. No one will tell me anything," he pleads with her. Her heart breaks, they left her to tell her brother their parents had been murdered. When she notices he has no cloak and is shivering, she throws Red's cloak over his shoulders.

"Leo, they're dead," she says simply, not sure she can get out much more without throwing up.

"Who?" he says, his eyes searching her face.

"Mom and Dad. The Evil Queen killed them," she manages to choke out.

"No, Emma. That can't be true," he voice raises. Red growls at them in warning, Leo looks shocked by his aunt's action.

"Leo, it's true I saw their bodies. She's right, if we want to make it out you need to be quiet," Emma says harshly, lowering her voice.

"How can you say that?" he snaps, keeping his voice low. Emma rolls her eyes, while she loved her brother, he was always more idealistic than she was.

"They had this plan in place to keep us alive, it would be a shame to let their hard work go to waste," Emma hisses back. Leo just scowls at her. He can scowl all he wants; she wants to keep them alive they're all the kingdom has now. With the Evil Queen on the throne they'll have to fight hard to regain it from her.

The group trudge deeper and deeper into the forest surrounding the castle. After traveling all night with dawn on the horizon they come through the forest to only be faced with the beautiful mountains that serve as the border between Misthaven and Camelot. They pause at the ravine at the base of the mountain to collect some water before beginning their ascent. Red is still in wolf form and Emma leads her horse to the ravine.

"Where the hell are we going? It's certainly not Camelot, Mom could never trust King Arthur as far as she could throw him," Emma muses, looking to her aunt for answers. The wolf just releases what Emma can assume is a chuckle. Grumpy comes up to them.

"From here we'll be on foot. I'd leave the horse here if I were you sister. The trial is too narrow," Grumpy tells her. Emma's jaw drops and she looks down at her slipper clad feet.

"How far?" she asks bewildered.

"A couple miles, where we are going is well hidden in the mountain side," he tells her before running off. Well that certainly confirmed her theory of them not going to Camelot, but it left her with more questions. Emma grabs the supplies off her horse and wraps the cloak around her tightly. The wind was picking up and she was only wearing a nightgown beneath it. She looked out on the group and Red trotted next to her. There weren't many of them, they would need more than this to regain the throne. There were four of the seven dwarfs, Red, Leo and herself. Emma prays Lancelot comes back with more reinforcements. Red nudges Emma's shin with her head, signaling they should move out.

Emma rallies the small group and they trudge up the mountain side. Each step killing Emma's feet, though she tries to not let it show. Eventually she gets used to it. It doesn't take them more than a couple hours to reach a large plateau hidden from the mountain face by a grove of large pine trees. Behind this grove lies a cabin. Well perhaps a cabin is an understatement. There are estate houses smaller than this. The house isn't more than one level to remain hidden behind the trees Emma suspects, but the house looks to be large enough to accommodate their group comfortably. The weather is taking a turn for the worse, so they all hurry inside with their few supplies. The door firmly shuts behind them and Grumpy locks the several bolts on the door. There is a small room with a kitchen, another with a dining room, a formal sitting room, and what look to be many rooms beyond that. They all stand in the sitting room.

Leo drapes Red's cloak over her, a minute later she transforms back into herself. At her full height she turns to face Emma.

"I'm sure you have many questions," she starts, but before she can continue Emma cuts her off.

"You're fucking right I have questions. What the fuck was this plan? How come Leo and I didn't know about it? What is this place? How long has everyone been planning for this?" Emma practically shouts at Red her rage finally boiling over.

"Oh, so we can yell now?" Leo asks annoyed and Emma shuts him up with a look.

"You two have every right to be mad. I was only told about the plan after the fact. You know, I was never that active on the council. All I know is this plan was put in place when your mother became pregnant with you, Emma and was revised when Leo was conceived," Red tells them calmly.

"This has been in place our whole lives and none of you thought to tell us!?" Emma yells.

"Yes, it has. Your parents decided to keep it from you. That was their choice. Look Lance was there when the plan was made. You should save your questions for him. He should be here in a few days," Ruby says pointedly, signaling the end of the conversation.

"What do we do now?" Leo asks, looking around the room.

"Prepare to fight to take back what is rightfully ours and kill the bitch on our parent's throne," Emma says with venom in her voice.

"Long live Queen Emma!" Leo shouts and the rest join in, their chants filling the house and Emma stands there in shock.

True to Red's word three days after their arrival Lancelot arrives with Granny and a few knights, including August, her childhood friend. She immediately pulls him into her arms.

"I'm so glad you made it," she tells him pulling back to see his face.

"I am too, but Papa didn't," August says with a shake of his head. Geppetto was the master woodworker in the castle and was close with her family. He was always kind and sweet to the children in the castle.

"Oh August, I'm so sorry," she tells him.

"Me too. Emma, your parents were well loved. I'll do anything to avenge them," he promises her.

"We might have to do just that," she says solemnly. She notices Lance coming their way and she leaves August to meet Lance halfway.

"Is this all we have?" Emma asks gesturing at the people filling the kitchen.

"I am afraid so. Our army wasn't large to begin with especially during peacetime, but the Evil Queen killed most of them first so there wouldn't be anyone to sound the alarm, she lit their barracks ablaze. Those who I couldn't save are now in the dungeons if not dead already," Lancelot explains.

"Why the hell was this even able to happen? How did she break free? I thought she would die before the curse broke," Emma hisses at Lance.

"I have no clue how she broke free of that. It should've stayed in place until she died," he shakes his head.

"Now, how come my parents didn't tell us about this plan?" Emma ask and she sees Leo slide in next to her out of the corner of her eye.

"They didn't want to worry the two of you. That was the plan if anyone tried to take the castle, not just the Evil Queen. It was very unlikely, but there was always the potential this could happen. I thought they should've told you, but they didn't," he tells them, and Emma crosses her arms.

"Lance, four knights plus you and the rest of us won't be enough to take back the throne. Please, please tell me you have a plan," Emma pleads.

"I have an idea, but you won't like it," he says with a mischievous smile. Emma groans whenever he had this look on his face it meant trouble.

"What is it?" she asks, placing her hands on her hips.

"Mercenaries." He states and her jaw drops.

"Over my dead body!" She shouts at him and the kitchen falls silent. Leo just shakes his head, "Maybe you should hear him out, Emma." He shrugs when she sets her death glare on him.

"Fine, hope you like this house then because unless you can rally an army in a hurry no one will help us," Lance points out.

"They are for hire; they have no loyalty. The first chance they have to screw us over they will. Father always said they were no better than pirates," Emma fires back at Lance.

"You have to incentivize them is all. Some men that means honor and glory, to these men its money. Emma, as your advisor I beg you, consider this for the Kingdom," he pleads with her. Emma runs a hand through her hair.

"We'll talk more about this in the morning," Emma says before storming out to her room. Leo runs out after her. Lance turns to Red.

"How is she doing with all of this?" Lance asks her.

"About as well as can be expected," Red shrugs, standing next to Granny.

"That girl has been through her worst nightmare in past couple of days and you brought up something she is morally opposed to, give her a minute Lancelot," Granny snaps at the advisor. When they were all younger, he was a knight and fought the Evil Queen the last time. As they aged, he took place on the council when his last injury prevented him from being on the battlefield once more.

"Fine, but we don't have much time before Regina starts torturing villagers and soldiers in attempt to find them," Lancelot huffs, that cold truth hits everyone in the room with sickening reality. Misthaven could very well crumble under the rule of the Evil Queen.

The next morning after Emma has calmed down, they are able to talk through the situation at hand. Leo taking charge, knowing Lance may just piss her off.

"Emma, there are only thirteen of us. It would take too long to rally people from the countryside to join an army, even longer to train them. As much as all of us detest the idea we need an army fast and our allies will not leave themselves unprotected with the Evil Queen on the throne. Mercenaries are our best option," Leo says quickly. As much as Emma loathes to admit it, he's right and so is Lance.

"Fine. Since you suggested this Lance, I'm sure you have someone in mind," she suggests with a raised eyebrow.

"I do. There is a group led by a man, who is largely successful. He has helped many of the royals we know, and they like him so much that when his initial task is over, they try to hire him on permanently, but he always refuses," Lance tells her.

"Why does he refuse?" she asks curious. Lancelot smirks, knowing she's warming up to the plan.

"I don't know that you'll have to ask him yourself," Lance says with a knowing smile. Emma glares at him, crossing her arms.

"Fine, do you know where to find this man and his army?" she asks annoyed.

"Yes, last I heard he's about three days ride from here," Lance nods.

"Who needs to go with you?" she asks sharply.

"Myself, two knights, and Leo," Lance fires off. Emma blinks a few times looking from her brother to Lancelot.

"Why do you need me?" Leo asks, just as shocked.

"He needs to know we're serious contenders, but bringing Emma would be showing our hand too soon. Bringing you will pique his interest," Lance shrugs.

"Will you go?" Emma asks her brother.

"Of course, I will," Leo says, surprised she'd even feel the need to ask him.

"I'd never assume you'd go just because I order you too," she snaps, knowing what he is thinking.

"Even if I weren't your brother and I didn't want us to succeed, your Queen now. I'd have little choice in the matter. No one in this room will disobey an order you make. Don't worry about bossing people around, you're good at it," he teases her. Emma fights the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

"He's right. Well if that's settled, we should leave now," Lance says and Emma nods.

"Have a safe journey," Emma dismisses them. Lance chooses two of the knights. They all get ready for departure. Lance pulls Emma aside before they leave, however.

"Your brother will pique his interest, but he won't make a deal until he meets you. He'll know you're in charge of us all. You have to be careful what you offer him when we return," Lance says keeping his voice low.

"What can I offer him?"

"The treasury has been less full than your parents would like, but they managed to keep that secret under wraps. I would promise him and his top men gold and jewels and then whatever gold is required to pay his men," Lance tells her.

"Will that be enough? Do we even have enough for that?" she asks him, uneasy.

"It will be more than enough to entice him, and we may not, but that doesn't matter Regina will pool her resources in the treasury. Despite having little now, in the end we will have enough to pay him. Lying isn't always your strong suit work on what you'll say when we come back," Lance says with apologetic look and she blushes. Emma was never the best at lying, when she did her parents would see right through her and she got in trouble more often than not.

"I will. Don't let any harm come to Leo; I've lost enough family this week," she orders him.

"I'll protect him with my life," he tells her before leaving to gather supplies. She looks after her advisor, hoping beyond hope that it won't come to that.

Emma frankly hates standing still and the week Lance and her brother are gone she is a mess. She helps Granny in the kitchen, cleans the house and its numerous rooms, and collects firewood and kindling. Granny draws the line when she offers to hunt down their dinner.

"You're the queen and frankly Red has a better nose than you and can do it in half the time," The ancient woman tells her. Granny then proceeds to make her tea and sit down for longer than a meal. With staying still for so long she falls asleep. When someone asks if they should move her Granny glares at them.

"That girl hasn't slept all week if you move her now, she might wake up," She tells them. When Red comes back with her kill and sees Emma, she ignores Granny's threats and moves Emma to her bed. Emma doesn't wake and successfully sleeps through the night for the first time since her parents’ deaths.

Early the next morning Emma is woken by Red.

"Rise and shine, your mercenaries are almost here. Get ready then we have to trudge down the mountain to meet them," Red tells her before leaving. Emma groans, but makes her way out of bed. She pulls on a simple dress and the boots the climb will require. Emma runs a brush through her hair and clips it back. Emma has found everything she could possibly need in this house. It is surprisingly well stocked. Emma emerges from her room and walks to the kitchen. Granny, Red, and August are waiting for her.

Granny hands her a bowl of porridge, "Eat up girl." Emma accepts the bowl without compliant and eats it quickly. Once finished the trio begin their descent down the mountain side. It doesn't take them longer than an hour to get down, the descent being easier than the ascent. By the ravine Emma spots her brother, Lance, two knights, and three men she doesn't recognize sitting around a fire enjoying breakfast. As the trio approaches the group of men at the ravine stand upon her arrival.

"She doesn't look like any queen I've ever seen," one of them mumbles.

"Seen a lot of queens have you, Scarlet?" the one with sandy blonde hair asks the mumbler. All three are dressed in fighting leathers with weapons strapped to them. One man with jet black hair, stands taller than the rest and has eyes for only her. His piercing blue eyes assessing her. She holds his stare not backing down. Emma had seen her mother do the same thing countless times and her mother always got what she wanted.

"Pardon them, fine warriors they are, but no manners between them," they both protest at this, but fall silent with a single glare, "I'm Commander Killian Jones. This is Captain Robin Locksley and Will Scarlet." The one with blue eyes introduces them.

"A pleasure to meet you all. I'm Emma, this is Lady Red and Knight Booth," she nods toward the two on either side of her. Lance gives her a look and she's sure to get a lecture later. One she'll ignore.

"I've never met a queen who goes by her given name," Commander Jones comments.

"The throne in Misthaven is mine by birthright, but there has been no coronation, and another currently sits on what is mine. I cannot claim the title of queen without the ceremony," she says with all the grace she can muster. Lance makes a noise to disagree, but she silences him with a look.

"To business then what exactly do you require from my men and I?" Jones asks her. They all eagerly await her response.

"The Evil Queen killed my parents and now sits on my throne. I want her dead and my throne back," she states simply. Scarlet releases a whistle.

"That's quite a large request," the commander is surprised. Emma gives him a bemused look.

"If it's out of your depth I'll send my men to bring me someone suited to the task," she challenges him with an eyebrow raised.

"You won't find anyone better than us. A request of that size will require an equal reward," he says challenging her.

"Once the royal treasury is in hand you and your captains here can have all the jewels and gold that will fit in a small chest, one for each of you," she says hoping this will peak their greed, "and of course whatever is required to pay your men."

"You must be more desperate than we originally thought if that's your offer," Jones whistles.

"I'm merely offering you what would've been rewarded to our army if the Evil Queen hadn't killed them all," Emma says, seeing how easily scared off they are. To see if they're ready for this.

Commander Jones smirks, "We'll need a moment to deliberate."

"Of course, but just one last question, Commander. Lancelot said here many of your clients have tried to hire you on after your mission was completed, but you've never accepted. Why is that?" Emma asks with her head held high.

"Let's just say we've never found a cause worthy enough of our permanent services," he states before turning away. His answer satisfies her curiosity on that score. Emma can respect a man who hasn't found a leader good enough in his eyes, no faith is better than blind faith. She doesn't quite like his smugness, but that can be tolerated. The three men take a few steps away from the rest of them, heads huddled together. Lance and Leo approach her. Emma hugs Leo.

"Oh, stop it I'm fine," he says moving out of her arms.

"Emma, you're playing a dangerous game," Lance warns her.

"Are you kidding me? She's playing them like a fiddle. She has that look mom did when she was trying to get something the council didn't want to give her. And…" Leo trails off.

"She always got what she wanted," Red finishes his sentence, "Lance, she's doing fine you old worry wort." Lance doesn't have time to look offended because the mercenaries are ready. Emma's group turns to face the three men.

"Well Commander what will it be?" Emma says with a tone like she's bored of him and his games.

"We agree to your terms," Killian holds his hand out.

"Excellent." Emma closes the few feet between them. She grabs his hand firmly, giving it a strong shake, which seems to have taken the commander by surprise. He hides the surprise with smirk before bringing her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across the back of her

"Now, we've been in the open for far too long I'm sure there's somewhere private we can discuss strategy," Captain Locksley points out.

"Quite right. Lead the way," Jones motions to the path up the mountain. Leo and Emma walk side by side up the mountain with the group trailing behind them.

"What do you think of them?" Emma whispers to her brother.

"Well they didn't kill us on sight or take us to Regina, so could've gone worse," Leo shrugs.

"Do you trust them?" Emma asks, still uneasy about using mercenaries.

"You're asking this now? After you've agreed to work with them?" he gives her an incredulous look.

"Oh, shut up. It's fair question to ask and frankly Lance is right we don't have time to be snobs, we'll need all the help we can get," she sighs.

"Fair enough, but be cautious until proven otherwise," Leo warns her. Emma nods.

The Commander catches up with Emma, "I'm afraid I don't know what to call you," he admits.

"I told you Emma is just fine, Commander," she tells him and Leo chuckles.

"Well see you're royalty. I cannot go around calling you by your given name it wouldn't be right. My poor mother would be rolling over in her grave if she knew I wasn't addressing royalty properly," Commander Jones rambles on and Emma raises her eyebrow.

"Since I technically have my old title still, you can call me Your Highness or Princess if it bothers you so much, Commander," she says with a smirk.

"Yes, Princess," he smirks, and he has this glimmer in his eyes that tells Emma he will be nothing but trouble. He falls back in line with his men and Leo gives Emma a knowing look.

"Oh, this just got more interesting," he chuckles. Emma gives him a questioning look.

"Why do you say that?" Leo squints at her. Did she really not understand what that interaction with the Commander was? Did she not notice when a man when flirting with her? His sister could be very dense when she wanted to be.

"If you can't see it then it won't do me any good to tell you," he tells her, and Emma just shakes her head. Leo always got like this when he knew something she didn't. Frankly she has too many other things to worry about other than why her brother is being a smug ass.

It doesn't take them much longer to reach the house. Granny has muffins waiting for them claiming they must be hungry after their journey. The mercenaries look surprised by this kindness, but don't refuse Granny somehow already knowing she isn't to be denied.

They all gather around the wooden kitchen table; the mercenaries gather at one end and Emma takes head of the table. Lancelot leans in to whisper to Emma, "we need to talk after." Emma nods acknowledging him.

"Do you have maps of the castle? We need to get a layout of what kind of fight this will be," Jones starts them off. Lancelot turns to Granny who is already retrieving several scrolls of parchment from the kitchen pantry. Jones looks to Emma blinking in surprise. Emma just shrugs, not entirely surprised that the maps have been entrusted to Granny, no one would dare cross her. Leo looks to the old woman in surprise.

"Lancelot was saving men in the castle that night and I had to retrieve some key items to make sure the Evil Queen never got them," Granny says laying the scrolls on the table.

"Are these all the maps of the castle? Widow Lucas, I could kiss you right now," Killian says in awe. Emma swears she can see a slight blush in Granny's cheeks.

"Yes, boy. I didn't leave any map behind," Granny says returning to the kitchen to mind something in a pot on the stove. The group unrolls the scrolls and tells the mercenaries about each map. They work throughout day discussing strategy, weapons, and potential battle situations. The group rarely breaks for more than the occasional cup of tea. With the sun disappearing beneath the horizon Granny finally stops them when she announces dinner will be ready soon and the table better be cleared for it. With the smell of stew in the air the men spring into action clearing the table quickly leaving Emma and Red to set the table. The group eats quickly and quietly. After their long day many of them are sleepy and Leo actually falls asleep at the table. Emma stands placing her hand on Leo's shoulder shaking him gently. He jolts awake rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's time to call it a night. We've made good progress today, but I think we'll all be better with fresh, well rested eyes in the morning," Emma tells the room. Those who are awake enough nod their heads in agreement. Granny approaches Emma.

"I'm afraid we only have two beds for the mercenaries," Granny says quietly.

"Oh okay. We'll figure something out. Give me a minute," Emma tells her, searching for Commander Jones. Him and his men are huddled in a corner talking amongst themselves. When Emma approaches, they stop talking immediately.

"I'm afraid there are only two open beds for you and your captains," Emma tells them apologetically.

"No matter, we will make do. Won't be the first time Scarlet here has slept on floor." Jones chuckles at Scarlet's protests.

"You won't want to hear him complain in the morning; do you have some spare blankets for him?" Captain Locksley asks.

"Granny knows more about this house than I do I'm afraid. I'm sure she can wrestle up something for Captain Scarlet here," she smiles before running off to find Granny.

"Killian, this could still be a terrible idea," Locksley mutters to Jones.

"Oh, come now Robin, we have certainly taken worse jobs with this. The last one there was an actual sea monster," Jones reassures him. Emma walks back with Granny catching the end of his sentence.

"No creatures of the deep here, but that's not to say we might not have our own creatures running about," Emma tells them with a faint smile and Granny glares at her before turning to the mercenaries.

"Which one of you needs blankets?" she asks gruffly. Will raises his hand she leads him down the hallway in search of some bedding for him. Not long after Emma sees Lance searching for her and she wants to avoid another lecture from him, so she bids goodnight to the mercenaries and vanishes to her room before Lance can catch her.

The next morning Lancelot is waiting for Emma outside her room. She sighs upon seeing him.

"Hoping I'd forget?" Lancelot asks her with a knowing smile.

"No, I knew that would be impossible. I was hoping you'd wait until after I'd ate at least," she scoffs, and he just shakes his head.

"You should be addressed as Queen or Your Majesty, not Princess or Your Highness. You are the rightful sovereign of Misthaven you cannot be addressed as Princess. You are the Queen and you need to start acting like it," Lance lectures her.

"When we have the throne and a crown is placed upon my head, I'll be queen until then you need to cut it with the bullshit. If I was truly queen, we would not be in this situation. By order of succession and my royal blood, yes, I should on the throne, but I'm not," she says getting angrier and angrier with each word.

"Do you feel better?" Lance asks her with a raised eyebrow and Emma shakes her head, "We're going to spar you need to work this out, go change." Emma nods and turns back into her room. A few minutes later Emma emerges in black leather pants, a white tunic and a blue vest with her sword strapped to her waist. Lance is waiting for her in the small grassy area in front of the house. Emma ties her hair back.

"Are you ready?" he asks sword in hand. Emma smiles before unsheathing her own sword, "Now, I am," she says with that competitive gleam in her eye. They charge at each other and the clang of their swords filling the small enclosure. Fighting they fall into a familiar dance. Lance and her father taught her how to defend herself and wield a sword. At first it was to prepare Emma for a potential attack, but then they found out she actually liked sword fighting and moved on to more advanced techniques. Since then she has had at minimum weekly sparring sessions with either Lance or father. With the raising morning sun, they both work up a sweat their moves becoming more aggressive.

"Feeling better, now?" Lance asks her, as they take a step back, assessing each other trying to determine each other's next move.

"No. If my parents wanted a babysitter, they wouldn't have picked you," she snaps, moving forward their swords clashing once again.

"You need guidance more than you can imagine," he snaps back, both of them breathing hard; faces inches from each other.

"Guidance would be fine. You're supposed to be my advisor not my father," she says managing to maneuver his sword out of his hand and onto the grassy ground. Emma can see the hurt look in his eyes, but he was out of line this morning and he needs to know it. She has a lot of important decisions to make and she cannot be worried about whether or not her advisor is coddling her and worrying about trivial things such as titles in war time.

The front door bursts open revealing a shocked Commander Jones, "what the bloody hell is going on here?" Scarlet's head peeking out behind him from the doorway. The commander in his black tight, fighting leathers. Emma can't help, but to run her eyes over him and his evident physique underneath all that leather.

Emma turns to face him with a smile and triumph in her face, "Come now Commander, you've never seen a woman fight?"

"Certainly not a queen, who can disarm a former knight," he says with a cocky grin, moving closer to them. Lancelot clears his throat and Emma glares at him.

"Lancelot, if you truly believe I'm a queen without a throne then you should follow my orders when I tell you to drop the issue," she practically snarls at him. Lance nods and silently picks up his sword.

"Whatever battle plan are made, Commander. I insist on being included," Emma tells him.

"I have to assess the skills of anyone who intends on being part of my army," he says, his eyes not so subtly racking down her body.

"By all means pick up a sword, Commander," she challenges him and Killian shrugs. Lancelot shakes his head, backing up in order to give them some space.

"Oh, I was hoping you'd say that," he comments before unsheathing his sword. They move slowly in circle, clearly both assessing each other and their movements. Moving closer and closer until Killian makes the first move, Emma deflecting him with a simple flick of her wrist then makes a move of her own. It takes a little effort on Killian's part to ward off her advances. He had definitely underestimated her, and she smirks.

"You're going to have to try hard than that," she scoffs, and he frowns. The clash of their swords begin to fill the grove and a small crowd gathers to watch.

"Looks like we have an audience," Killian says with a jerk of his head and she just smiles.

"They're in for a treat then soon they'll see me defeat you," she teases the competitive edge in her voice

"Oh, is that true, Your Majesty?" he asks before advancing once again. She frowns at what he calls her, but wards off his advances once again.

A bead of sweat trickles down the side of his face. Liam always warned him against not judging a book by their cover and he was right. Even though she was royalty she could fight better than some, if not most of his men. But he had finally spied his opening, her footwork was getting a little sloppy under this unrelenting sun, sweat glistening on her forehead.

He surges ahead quicker than he had in a while causing her to trip over her own feet falling backward, some in the crowd gasping. Emma holds her own against him even flat on her back.

"You know there are much more enjoyable things I prefer to do with a woman on her back," Killian winks at her, keeping his voice low so the crowd doesn't hear him. He's able to flick the sword out of her hand. Killian stands over her, one leg on either side of her.

"I'm sure you do Commander," she purrs, eyeing the sword now pointed at her chest before making eye contact with him.

"Do you surrender?" he asks triumphant. There is a malicious tint in her eyes that he certainly doesn't like.

"Never," she snarls before bringing her legs up forcefully. Killian groans before falling to the ground. Emma snatches his sword that he dropped on his fall and points it at him.

"Surrender?" she asks sweetly.

"Oh, you fight dirty. That was bad form, Your Majesty," he groans, his eyes squeezed shut.

"Commander, I was taught to do whatever it takes to survive, not good form," she smirks.

"Aye, I surrender and anyone who has bested me gets to call me Killian," he says making eye contact with him. Emma stabs his sword into the grass near his head.

"Alright, Killian. You have to call me Emma then," she orders, hands on hips. He props himself on his elbows.

"Not a chance. There have been a lot of changes for your life that may be difficult I'll grant you that and accepting your parents have gone is a terrible burden, but you have the grace and command of a Queen. Title or not, crown or not, so it will be Your Majesty," Emma rolls her eyes at this, "I'll include you in the battle plans it'd be a waste not to use you."

"What a waste indeed," she nods then walks off, leaving Killian on the ground. There are a few claps from the crowd, and she smiles at this, shaking her head. Will gives her a hearty clap on the back, commenting that it had been a while since their commander has been knocked on his ass. Leo catches her gaze and shakes his head.

"What?" she asks when she approaches him.

"Oh nothing, just watching this unfold," he smirks, and she squints at him. Leo just retreats into the house before she can ask another question. Lance finds her, "Even the mercenary agrees with me." Emma is uneasy with the fact that he could see through her so easily, could see that she was avoiding the title because it meant her parents were gone. They barely knew each other, but he could tell all of that.

"Fine, you win," she grumbles before moving into the house. Granny is waiting with refreshments and food for them. Red and Leo share a look when Killian returns Emma's sword to her and she mutters a quick thank you. She glares at them, but before she can say anything, they return to planning their attack on the castle.

"We have a few questions to start," Killian says once they have all settled. Emma nods signaling for him to continue, "Do you know how Regina will have organized her forces?" Killian asks and Emma turns to Lance.

"It was utter chaos at first, but as we were slipping out, she was organizing men on every entrance she knew about. I have no idea about guard changes or just how many men she has," Lance shrugs, wishing they knew more. Killian looks to Will, who knowing what he has to do.

"Captain Scarlet will be leaving today then. He knows many people that can help us get more information on her forces," Killian tells them.

"Your Majesty, you said you want her off the throne. How do you want to do that, imprisonment or perhaps…" Robin trails off, leaving the implication hanging in the air. Emma feels all the eyes in the room on her.

"I'll make this exceptionally clear; I want the Evil Queen dead. I wouldn't mind killing her myself. I'm not that picky though anyone can do it," she says calmly. The room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Leo's first to speak, "Emma, you can't mean that."

"Of course, I do! Leo, the whole reason we are in this mess is because our mother and father couldn't kill her the first time around. I won't let her threaten this family anymore," Emma snaps. Leo was sweet, caring, but above all idealistic. Just like their mother. God he even looked like her with his dark, almost black hair. His softer disposition and charm always came from her. He got their father's eyes and jawline, however.

"Mother and Father would've never done this. They wouldn't want you to do even entertain this thought. We should imprison her again," Leo says shocked.

"It's exactly why they're dead. They cursed her instead of killing her. She terrorized them for years. You didn't see their bodies; you didn't see the gaping hole in our mother's chest because that bitch ripped her heart out. I won't go through all of this just to be afraid she might attack again. I won't live with that kind of fear," she says the anger rolling off her in waves. Leo looks like he was slapped in the face. He clenches his jaw and Emma can tell he's trying not to cry. He's young, too young to have to deal with this. He's only nineteen years of age.

"They wouldn't want you to be murderer," he says in almost a whisper.

"It's too late for that. Three black knights entered my chambers that night and I killed each of them. If they didn't want me to be that than they should've done something about her," Emma says cool rage in voice. She loved her parents and as much as she wanted to mourn them, right now she couldn't. She was angry, so angry that they left her in this situation. Leo opens his mouth to say something else, but then shuts it again. Without saying another word, he storms out of the house. Red head snaps to Emma.

"That was a low blow and you know it. He loved your mother," she says sharply.

"And I didn't? He needed to hear that, and you know it. I won't make the same mistakes they did," she says just as harshly. Red shakes her head before running out after Leo. The door shuts and the room falls quiet again. Granny just places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze.

"Anyone else have a problem with it?" Emma asks looking around the table.

"We have no qualms about killing her. You're paying for our services after all, you should get what you want," Killian says, understanding in his eyes like he knows her. It's unnerving given the short time they've known each other.

"Good, any more questions?" she asks.

"Oh, many more, Your Majesty. Get comfortable we'll be here for a while," Killian tells her. They sit at that table for hours. Will is sent away around midday to get more information. He makes his goodbyes quick. Leo and Red rejoin them after a while. Both of them still angry with Emma. She can deal with their anger.

After dinner that night Leo runs off to his room without a word to anyone, Emma sighs. She should talk to him, to explain herself better. They don't have time for internal conflict. They need to be a united front, but that is problem that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Emma walks out into the grove for some fresh air and to escape all the people in the house. No moon in the sky tonight she walks over to the edge of the mountain cliff, looking out over the kingdom. Small spots of light could be seen far away, and she hoped Regina hasn't truly hurt her people yet.

A twig snaps and her head swivels around, her hand on her sword strapped to her waist to spot none other than Killian who is a holding a flask. She takes her hand off when she realizes who it is.

"I mean no harm I just figured you'd want a drink after today," he says holding out the flask. She smiles, gladly taking it from him.

"I do, you just startled me," she says before taking a swig from the flask. She recognized the liquor as rum as it burned her throat on the way down. They both look over the view and Emma takes another swig before handing the flask back to him. He takes a hearty gulp.

"Regretting taking this job yet?" she asks him.

"No, not at all. In fact, the more I learn the more intrigued I become. There are a lot of factors at play here," he tells her.

"Even though I injured you today," a blush raising in her cheeks.

"Well as unpleasant as that was, I realized you are quite willing and able to fight for your people even if that means fighting dirty. Most royalty pays me to do their dirty work, you're different," he shrugs.

"I've never been one to delegate efficiently. I enjoy the hard work, unlike most royals I'm not content letting people do my work," she says standing straighter.

"You'll make a great queen for that fact alone," he tells her, looking into her jade green eyes. Emma shakes her head.

"Maybe so. Although the people will have to accept a murderer on the throne," she sighs.

"Ah well. You won't be the first or the last. Many have killed their way toward the throne by killing their own family, you haven't done that. Most importantly you were defending yourself. Your brother may have moral objections to our plan, but it's the smartest plan for your family's future. He'll come around," Killian tells her.

"Do you often give such sage advice to all your clients, Commander?" Emma asks before taking a swig from the flask once again.

"No, just the beautiful queens," he smirks, "I thought I told you to call me Killian." He takes another swig from the flask as well.

"Well you won't call me Emma, so really it's only fair," she says holding her head high and he chuckles.

"It would be improper to, you're the queen," he mutters, and Emma can see a slight blush in his cheeks.

"How about I make you a deal? You call me Emma in private and Your Majesty or whatever in front of the others and I will do the same," she offers, hopefully.

"Only if you tell me why this is important to you," he says, looking directly into her eyes.

"It's just that we were always informal in court, much to Lancelot's dismay and the title makes me feel more important than I am, which is ridiculous. Everyone is important in some way or another," she shakes her head.

"Ah I see. You're wrong, you rule your people you do have more value than they do because you will make the hard decisions. It's not a bad thing," he shrugs. The commander has surprised Emma again. It's certainly not what she wants to hear, but the truth. Far more than most royals hear.

"Thank you for your honesty. So, you take the deal?" she asks.

"Certainly not, Your Majesty," a look of shock crosses her face, "I told you about my poor mother rolling in her grave if I would address you improperly. I can't have that now," he smirks, and she rolls her eyes.

"I guess not, Commander," she says with a mischievous smile on her face, one Killian is sure will get him in trouble. There is a moment where she swears, he leans in slightly and he might just kiss her. Emma wouldn't stop him if he did. He's a handsome, strong man who has a set of values despite his less than reputable line of work. Something stops him from kissing her however Killian bids her goodnight before heading inside. Emma spends a few more minutes looking at the view and what might have been before heading inside as well.

The next morning Emma looks for Leo before their strategy meeting. Emma needs to apologize to him. What she said last night was harsh and as his sister she should apologize. She finds him outside with a bow and a sheath of arrows aiming at one of the trees.

"Leo," she greets him, and he ignores her, "I deserve that after yesterday, but just listen." Leo knocks another arrow on his bow and continues practicing.

"I shouldn't have said any of that last night. It was wrong of me and I am sorry," she exhales. Leo fires his arrow and it finds its spot in the middle of the tree across the grove. He turns to look at her, hurt in his eyes.

"It was all true and you're not going to change your plans," he states.

"No, I'm not, but I shouldn't have said it like that. I won't make the same mistakes as our parents. I'm sure I'll make brand new mistakes, but not this one. I won't have it be the reason for my death or leave my future children in this situation," she says calmly.

"They wouldn't like it," he shakes his head.

"No, they wouldn't, but they also aren't here. I understand this is hard for you, but I need you with me," she says, and Leo looks bewildered.

"Emma, I'm your brother, I am always with you. I just think there is a better way to do this. I forgive you by the way, none of this is easy for anyone us," he tells her before dropping the bow and bringing her into a hug.

"I'm so damn angry," she mutters, and he rubs her back.

"I know you are," he tells her. They pull apart and Leo gives her that particular look she hates more than anything else, his all-knowing look.

"Okay what? You need to spit it out," she sighs.

"Was that future children comment in reference with a certain dashing, charming commander?" Leo asks with a teasing look.

"What? No, why would you say that?" Emma says, blinking several times in confusion.

"Oh please. Emma, you cannot be that blind. You have to see the way he looks at you," Leo says exacerbated.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she brushes off the comment. It's a lie, however. Last night in the grove she thought that they were going to kiss, but they didn't. It was the rum; she blames it on the rum.

"Sure, you don't," Leo says, knowing better than to push his sister on this issue.

Later on, they gather at the dining room table to strategize for most of the day and into the night.

"There are many legends and myths of her powers, do you know the true extent of them?" Killian asks the candlelit table.

"There are many, many things she can do," Red tackles the question, "She can summon fireballs and throw them at you. She can be in one place then transport herself in a purple cloud to another. She is a master of spells, a varied range of them really, but she is famous for the sleeping curse that she used on Snow. She is dangerous and lethal." The room fell silent during her explanation.

"What about her fighting abilities? Will she fight on the battlefield?" Robin asks her.

"She relies solely on her magic, but her fireballs could prove to be an issue if she comes to the battlefield, but that's highly unlikely," Red tells them.

"What makes you say that?" Lance asks her, curious.

"She's not as strong as she used to be, so I don't think she'll be where the fighting is the worst," Red shrugs, before making eye contact with Emma, who is frowning at her. With that look Emma understands all too well how Red knows this.

"How?" Killian asks looking from Red to Emma, understanding there is nonverbal communication going on between the two women.

"You haven't told them?" Red asks, looking at Lance and Emma then Leo, who shrugs.

"That is your story to tell," Emma states. Killian and Robin are waiting for a response.

"I could tell them," Red says with a wolfish grin and Emma laughs.

"Yeah, but you like showing off," Emma grins back at her.

"Ladies, we're waiting," Killian says, slightly strained. Red grins, moving into the kitchen more and nods to Leo, who stands and removes Red's cloak. Red transforms and stands in the kitchen as a wolf with Granny shaking her head, mumbling about how her kitchen was not the place for that. Robin's jaw is on the floor and Killian looks to Emma.

"Didn't think you should have mentioned this before, Your Majesty?" Killian asks her and she smirks.

"As I said before, not my story to tell," she shrugs. Red nods again and Leo covers her with the cloak once more. Red becomes a woman once again the group looks away while she adjusts her clothes.

"As I was saying, she isn't as strong as she once was at the height of her power. With my unusual abilities I can smell things the human nose cannot. Everyone has their own scent and when someone has magic there is a particular smell to it. I don't think she has as much magic as she used to. She smelled different during the night of the siege. That curse must have weakened her," Red explains.

"I trust your nose, Lady Red. I think this will be enough information to actually start moving," Killian says looking to Robin who nods.

"What do you mean, Commander?" Emma asks, unsure.

"I'm saying as soon as tomorrow we can be marching our way back to my forces," Killian says with a smile. Emma nods, but becomes solemn quickly after realizing she could lose some of the people in this room and that thought alone makes her uneasy.

"Then I believe we can adjourn for the night," she commands, and everyone nods before going to their rooms for the night. Emma and Killian walk side by side to their rooms.

"What were you thinking before we adjourned?" Killian asks her. Emma stops walking to look at him and he stops as well.

"That many of us will die and I don't know if I can handle losing anyone else," she says quietly. His gaze feels like something she's never felt before, like he's peeking into her soul.

"That may happen, and it may not. I would be prepared for the worst," he tells her softly. She nods and he walks her to her door before bidding her goodnight. Killian takes her hand in his and brings it to his lips. After dropping her hand, he nods and walks away. It takes Emma a minute or two to gather her thoughts before going into her room. Commander Jones is testing her resolve in more ways than one.

#captian swan #captain swan ff #cs ff #cs au #cs #cs ff au #enchanted forest #no curse #mercenary!killian #Queen!Emma #emma swan #killian jones

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jedimaesteryoda · 6 years ago

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Black Panther vs Aquaman

I am going to be discussing the talked about comparison of MCU’s Black Panther to DCEU’s Aquaman. I admit when one looks at them, there are similar elements in the stories as well as clear contrasts, I’m not just talking about the generally positive reviews of Black Panther (97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes) compared to the more positive to mixed reviews of Aquaman (64% rating). They are superhero films that deal with missing heirs, parents’ legacies and royal disputes.

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

Plot

Black Panther has the Black Panther, T’Challa, become crowned king, and chase down a villain, Ulysses Klaue, only later to have to face a new villain, Erik Killmonger. Killmonger is his cousin from America who comes to challenge him for the throne, and create a “Wakandan empire.” Aquaman follows Aquaman Arthur Curry, the son of lighthouse keeper in Maine and the Queen of Atlantis, as he comes to Atlantis to claim the throne from his half-brother, Orm, who intends to wage war on the surface world. Arthur then goes on a quest to find Atlan’s trident to prove his worth as king and stop Orm.

The plots of both superhero films have a hidden heir from America coming to their royal parent’s country of origin to claim the throne, as well as the hero stopping a tyrant from basically declaring war on the rest of the world. The loss of the royal parent at the hands of the king contributed to the American heir’s antipathy towards their country of origin. Finally, there is a duel between heirs where the hero loses, only for a rematch in the end where he wins. The villains are motivated by injustices against their peoples as well as the loss of a parent. Killmonger is motivated by centuries of racial injustice by the Western world, and the death of his father. Orm is motivated by the pollution of the oceans by the civilized world, and the death of his mother, since it was her son by a man on the dryland that resulted in his father sacrificing her in the Trench.

However, in Black Panther the rightful heir is the one born and raised in the fabled country already sitting the throne while the villain is the missing heir from America, and in Aquaman, it is the opposite. The worst parts of Killmonger were American while the best parts of Aquaman were American, and the worst parts of Orm were Atlantean while the best parts of T’Challa were Wakandan. Arthur’s journey resembles that of the mythical king he is named for: claiming his throne by retrieving a mystical weapon, in this case Atlan’s trident. T’Challa’s journey was more about challenging the traditions of his kingdom, and changing its isolationist stance. We also got to see Arthur’s past while we never saw a glimpse of T’Challa’s life growing up.

Aquaman does have some good scenes, the scene where he grabs Atlan’s trident was epic, and the undersea battle was good, but Aquaman’s plot is very generic and run-of-the-mill while Black Panther’s is more original, thoughtful and intelligent.

Characters

Hero

T’Challa/Black Panther easily fits the mold of royalty as he was raised as the Crown Prince to assume the throne when T’Chaka died. He is shown to have a sophisticated, calm and intelligent demeanor, and is commanding when he needs to be. He is also merciful like he showed with M’Baku, and compassionate with the way he feels towards the cousin who tries to kill and overthrow him. He is also a skilled hand-to-hand and melee combatant. We see him grow as a character when he challenges his father and his predecessors over Wakanda’s isolationism, a position he himself once held. He abandons that position, seeing the costs of Wakanda isolation, and have Wakanda use its wealth and technology to help the world.

Arthur Curry/Aquaman stands in contrast to T’Challa. He is more the kind of superhero you would want to have a beer with, more of a Thor than a Black Panther (including retrieving a mystical weapon to prove his worthiness). He wasn’t raised royalty, but as an everyman as he doesn’t seem out of place in the blue-collar, coastal Maine town he lives in. He can be lighthearted, fun-loving and a bit of a goof-off, which helps to make for an entertaining character. Arthur can also be impulsive, often acting without thinking as he demonstrated when he challenged Orm to a duel, completely forgetting about Vulko’s plan to retrieve Atlan’s trident, and not thinking about how it syncs with his long-term goals. However, he isn’t unintelligent and shows to be resourceful such as going into the whale’s mouth to hide from Orm’s men, and figuring out that to find the location of the trident, he had to put the looking glass into the hand of the statue of the likeness of a king and which statue it was. He also shows to be compassionate such as when he saved the submarine crew, and sparing Orm, despite. However, he can also be vulnerable such as when he is alone with Mera on a fishing boat, he expresses his regret for not saving Jesse Kane and making an enemy of his son, David, as well as his own personal doubts.

While T’Challa pursued the call, Arthur initially rejected it. T’Challa is more active as a protagonist following his own direction whereas Arthur is more passive in his role, following the directions of Vulko and Mera.

Major Villain

Erik Killmonger as a villain is very memorable. His plan was to kill his cousin, and take the Wakandan throne, and use it to distribute advanced Wakandan weapons to people of African descent to stage uprisings and form a Wakandan empire. He served in the US Special Forces, worked as a mercenary, and proves himself to be a formidable opponent. He is shown to be intelligent, such as when he infiltrated Klaue’s gang to take him down and use his body to win allies in Wakanda to back his bid for the throne. He is also violent as he demonstrated when he choked a priestess for questioning his order to burn the sacred herb, and ruthless, going so far as to shoot his girlfriend to kill Klaue. Erik is also angry and vengeful over his father’s death, going to Wakanda to kill his cousin as vengeance for his uncle killing his father .

Orm Marius/Ocean Master is the King of Atlantis at the beginning of the film. His plan was to unite the remaining underwater kingdoms of Atlantis under his rule as Ocean Master, and start a war against the surface world. He trained to become a skilled warrior, and proves to be a formidable duelist underwater. He is also shown to be cunning and manipulative such as when he had a pirate hijack a submarine to stage a false flag attack to convince Nereus to join his cause. He is also ruthless, as demonstrated when he kills the Fisherman King. In a way, he resembles T’Challa, in having been raised to be king, and having a more calm, controlled demeanor. The supposed death of his mother is a significant part of his motivation against the surface given he blames his half-brother for her death, and by extension, the surface world.

We see the villains’ ideology was influenced by their fathers in both films. In Black Panther, we get three scenes of N’Jobu. N’Jobu is portrayed as a more sympathetic character as the reasons he lays out for his animosity towards the white Western world are completely justified. In Aquaman, we never really got to see Orm’s father, Orvax, and all we have is what other people tell us about him. Orvax is just portrayed as some tyrant who fed his wife to fish monsters out of jealousy, and taught his son to hate the surface world. Both villains blamed the hero for the loss of their respective parents, and it contributed to their hatred of Wakanda and the surface world respectively.

Killmonger’s motivations for his actions are more compelling, and make for one of his most memorable features as they help to make him a more sympathetic character. Like another Marvel villain who was motivated by the murder of a parent and injustices against his people, Magneto, he manages to be one of those villains who can almost convince because he’s half-right. You clearly see where he’s coming from, and he’s right pointing out the problem, but wrong about the solution. Orm, on the other hand, doesn’t have as much depth to his character. He cites the surface world polluting the oceans, and he wants to wage war on the surface to stop the damage, feeling it is best for his people. However, that is only brought up once briefly, and doesn’t really go into detail when the story would have really benefited from diving deeper (pardon the pun) into that. The film would have done better to actually show rather than tell, like Orm viewing sea animals and Atlanteans affected by pollution, and allowing the audience to see where he’s coming from. In Killmonger’s case, the movie didn’t need to show since it is a subject already familiar to most audiences, especially in the age of Black Lives Matter.

Minor Villain

Minor villains are the first villains introduced in the films, and are used as pawns by the major villains to further their goals.

Ulysses Klaue is a smuggler, thief and mercenary who is the most wanted man in Wakanda, having stolen a large hoard of vibranium and killing a few Wakandans on his way out. He is also shown to be prejudiced if not outright racist towards Wakandans. As a character, he is entertaining and funny such as singing “What is Love” during his interrogation, talking about making a mixtape during a sale of vibranium, demanding his men play music while they’re being car chased and when he blew up a stash of cash said “I made it rain.” He is killed by Erik to be used to win support from W’Kabi’s tribe.

David Kane/Black Manta is a pirate and mercenary who is hired by Orm to hijack a submarine and have it programmed to attack Orm and Nereus during their meeting. He later creates a suit from Atlantean technology given by Orm to hunt down Aquaman. I’d be willing to say David’s a more interesting character than the main villain, Orm. While with Orm, his motivations aren’t really shown well, with David, there doesn’t seem to be that problem. The motivations for his vendetta against Aquaman are clearly shown when Aquaman refuses to save his father, and one can see David’s anguish in the scene of his father’s death, and how it affected him. You actually believe him when he refuses the offer of gold doubloons from Orm, stating he only wants to kill Aquaman.

Female Supporting Characters and Love Interests

Black Panther has no shortage of female supporting characters with at least four while Aquaman has two. We have Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje and Wakandan army, a no-nonsense, formidable elite warrior who takes her duty seriously, even when it hurts, such as serving Killmonger as king. We have Nakia, T’Challa’s ex (later former ex), who is a Wakandan agent who challenges Wakanda’s isolationism, thinking Wakanda should be helping the world. She retrieves the sacred herb that is used to revive T’Challa. Then there is Shuri, T’Challa’s sister who is a genius tech prodigy that created the Black Panther suit and gadgets T’Challa uses. Shuri also provides plenty of the funny moments with her mother reprimanding her such as telling everyone at the royal ceremony wrap it up, and flipping the bird to her brother.

Ramonda, T’Challa’s mother, is the Queen of Wakanda. She did everything that was expected of her: be a loyal wife to the king, provide heirs, give him and later their son council and honor the traditions. She is representative of tradition as opposed to her more tech-savvy daughter, Shuri. It is her knowledge of herbs that saves her son in the end. She also shows to be courageous in choosing to stay in Wakanda despite the danger posed by Killmonger as king.

Atalanta, Arthur’s mother, couldn’t be more different from Ramonda. She resembles the character from Greek mythology she was named for in terms being a royal heiress who bucked tradition in being a ferocious, courageous fighter and wanting a say in her choice of mate. She is Queen of Atlantis, but by birth rather than by marriage, and in place of a traditionalist, she is more of a rebel. She eschewed tradition by running away from her arranged marriage, and taking up and fathering a son with a man on the surface world. She only follows through on tradition and goes along with her arranged marriage to protect her family. She later suffers for her actions by being sacrificed to the Trench. She was also a mentor to the other female supporting character, Mera.

Mera is the daughter of King Nereus of Xebel, betrothed to Orm and let’s be honest, Arthur’s future wife. She plays the straight man to the more comedic Arthur throughout the film. She is thankfully not without agency as opposed to Lois Lane in the DCEU, and I’d be willing to say she is a more active character than Arthur. Mera proves to be intelligent, resourceful and a capable fighter. She goes to retrieve Arthur and bring him back to Atlantis, guides him through his journey, fights off elite Atlantean soldiers and she saves Arthur’s life when he battles Orm and sees to his wounds after his fight with Black Manta. Arthur wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without her.

Setting: Wakanda vs Atlantis

Wakanda is beautiful, and the design of its capital is unique with rhinos as mounts alongside hovercraft, looking simple and futuristic at the same time, a perfect representation of Wakandan society. Atlantis looks stunning, being bright, colorful and sleek, with sea animals as mounts and beasts of burden, making the kingdom look almost otherworldly. Aquaman as a film is a feast for the eyes.

Wakanda and Atlantis are both highly technologically advanced kingdoms, the most advanced civilizations on Earth, hidden from the rest of the world. Wakanda is a landlocked country hidden by a hologram and presenting an international image of a third-world country while Atlantis is hidden beneath the ocean. Their societies were significantly influenced by a cataclysmic event. The falling of a vibranium meteor to Earth provided the material that allowed the Wakandans, through their ingenuity, to develop their advanced society. The sinking of Atlantis into the ocean resulted in the Atlanteans’ aquatic evolution. Wakandans ride rhinos to war while Atlanteans ride sharks, giant seahorses and in Orm’s case, tylosaurs. Wakanda has five tribes with the Jabari in the mountains being isolated from the other tribes out of choice, but come to aid T’Challa in the end. Likewise, Atlantis has five remaining kingdoms with the inhabitants of the Trench being pretty much isolated from the other kingdoms (for the understandable reason of the inhabitants being man-eating fish monsters), but come to aid Arthur in the end. Wakandans, while being unique on their own, are still basically human while the Atlanteans have evolved into four different species being able to breathe underwater, control water and have superhuman strength and resilience to survive in the ocean depths. Wakanda also provides universal healthcare whereas we don’t hear much in the way of social services in Atlantis.

Both states’ governments are monarchies, and appear to have a tradition of being able to settle disputes between squabbling heirs over who sits the throne by dueling. However, the similarities end there. Monarchies, like many political systems, can come in different flavors. You can tell just by looking at monarchies in our modern world. On one end, in Norway we have a constitutional monarchy where the monarch is head of state, but not head of government. The king is more of a symbolic figurehead with little power over government apart from being able to issue pardons, veto bills and dismiss Prime Ministers and other Councils of State, etc while a Prime Minister is the actual head of government who, along with parliament, makes the government’s decisions. On the other hand, we have Saudi Arabia, which is an absolute monarchy where the king is not just head of state but head of government, and has absolute authority over government with no legislative body other than a token advisory council whose decisions aren’t binding. And don’t get me started on the countries’ human rights records which are practically on opposite ends of the scale. Before you say anything, Europe has known its share of absolute monarchies as well as Asia, just ask Russia and the Vatican, so it’s not something solely unique to the region with regards to Saudi Arabia.

Wakanda is a bit of a constitutional monarchy with a council of elders each representing the four tribes to aid in making decisions. Atlantis, by contrast, is an absolute monarchy. The Wakandan monarchy is portrayed as more benevolent, while the Atlantean monarchy fits with the saying “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and it comes to no surprise that it is portrayed as a tyranny. I mean come on, in how many societies can a king sacrifice his queen to a bunch of fish monsters? I think if I had to choose, I’d much rather live in Wakanda. Wakanda’s society is generally portrayed as more utopian while Atlantis’s society is portrayed as more barbaric and cruel.

Cultural Significance/Impact

The one thing that truly distinguishes the two films is the cultural impact. Wakanda had an impact that Atlantis never had. In Wakanda’s case, throughout African history, the continent suffered at the hands of Westerner countries. It began with the Atlantic slave trade which depopulated and weakened Africa, especially since the majority taken as slaves were strong, full grown men. This was followed by the Age of Imperialism where Africa was carved up by European powers, and it was done by Europe for Europe, with much of the wealth of the continent being sent back to Europe with the native people hardly seeing any benefits. After the Age of Imperialism, Western countries continued to interfere in African politics to the present-day for access to its resources. It ranges from overthrowing the first democratically elected President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Patrice Lumumba, and replacing him with the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko to apartheid in South Africa and overthrowing Gadhafi in Libya, turning what was once the wealthiest country in Africa in GDP per capita into a failed state with an economy in shambles.

Wakanda is portrayed as an African nation that managed to avoid the scourge of the slave trade and European colonialism, and remain independent. It managed to avoid Western interference, maintain control over its own resources, and develop on its own. It maintained its traditions and culture without any European imposition while becoming the most advanced civilization on Earth whose very existence challenges Eurocentrism, the notion of Europe’s preeminence.

Atlantis, on the other hand, while an advanced civilization, doesn’t really have the same impact and inspiration that Wakanda does. It is beautiful to look at and interesting, but there is really no cultural impact the civilization has off-screen.

Final Thoughts

Comparing the two films, I think Black Panther’s strength lies in its plot and story while Aquaman’s lies in its visuals. Black Panther has a stronger main villain while Aquaman has a stronger minor villain. Comparing the titular leads, I think Arthur is more entertaining as a character (Sorry, Black Panther fans), but T’Challa is more active as a character, and Black Panther has a stronger supporting character roster. The jokes in Black Panther also landed while plenty of the jokes in Aquaman fell flat. Black Panther has a cultural significance that Aquaman could never hope to match, and is more memorable as a film.

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lilacmoon83 · 6 years ago

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All I Want For Christmas is You

@charmingfamilyholidays

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 5: The Christmas I Almost Lost You, Pt 1

It started off as a normal day; a normal Christmas Eve. David was up early and had another stakeout with Rogers that day, though he promised they'd be home that evening in time for Christmas Eve. Snow and Emma were up early with him, as their toddler was always the early riser as well. Being fourteen months old now, Emma was starting to get the gist of Christmas. Her eyes had been bright with joy, as they decorated their little family tree they had in the loft earlier in the month. She was absolutely enthralled by all the decorations around the city and was so excited when they had taken a drive last Sunday through the neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights. And of course, their little one was bursting at the seams with excitement with all the wrapped packages under the tree and Santa's pending arrival that evening. And while David went to work, Snow and Emma would be spending the day baking cookies for that evening's festivities.

"Mmmm...I wish you were staying home with me and Emma," Snow cooed, as he kissed her neck sensually.

"Me too," he replied in a husky tone. It may have been Christmas, but it was also their anniversary.

"But if you stay...I doubt we'll get anything done," she said. He chuckled.

"Yeah...remember last year when we, ah made the cookie dough together and then ended up getting busy in other ways on the sofa?" he replied, as he put his arms around her waist. She giggled. Oh she remembered that day fondly. Roni had taken Emma out for some last minute Christmas shopping that afternoon, leaving them to their own devices. They had been quite the sight when she returned a few hours later.

"You mean how Roni walked in on us, curled up together, eating the bowl of dough with only a blanket hiding the fact we had no clothes on?" she recalled. He chuckled.

"The look on her face was priceless...and annoyed," he joked. She hummed again, as he kissed her deeply.

"Okay...you better go or this is going to get indecent again," she said, as she prodded him toward the door.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," he mused.

"Oh, not bad at all, just on pause...until tonight," she cooed, as she kissed him again and he finally made his way out. He couldn't wait for the day to be over already so he could come home to his beautiful wife and their precious baby girl.

The day progressed as normal, meaning that he and Rogers spent most of it in their car. There hadn't been a lot of progress in their investigation in past couple years, but there had recently been a lot of activity down at the docks and they thought there could be a possible arrest soon.

"There is he…" David said, as their target walked out of the Blanchard Industries Cannery.

"Arthur King...right on time. You sure he's one of Blanchard's top men?" Rogers questioned.

"That's what the Intel says...and I trust my source. Lance wouldn't lead me wrong...he's been friends with Snow for a long time," David answered. They watched Arthur hand off a case to another contact, whom David vaguely recognized as a gopher in Spencer's network. The gopher then handed off a case to Arthur. The dark haired man checked it and they leaned to see what was inside. Rogers took his camera and zoomed in, eyeing what appeared to be bags of white powder.

"We've got him…" David said.

"Easy mate...not quite," Rogers advised, as he snapped the pictures.

"I know Arthur is the head of this drug ring...he's behind the spike, I can feel it. Lance says he's overseeing the manufacturing of this new brand secretly in the cannery. He said Arthur is calling it Avalon Mist. It's twice as potent as cocaine and overdoses have doubled on this stuff. The hallucinogen properties in this stuff is also off the charts," David explained.

"And I believe your source...but I want to see where he goes next," Rogers said.

"Me too...but following him is risky. I have a feeling though he'll lead us to bigger fish," David agreed.

"As do I...it is risky, but I'm in if you are," Rogers said. David nodded.

"Follow him," he agreed, as they did so, with Rogers using all the tricks he knew to make it seem like they weren't following. Arthur was leading them right into the richest neighborhood in Seattle and David's nerves were on edge. He couldn't believe that it might actually happen. They might not only arrest Arthur King...but Leopold Blanchard as well.

"I don't bloody believe it...King must be losing his touch. He drove right to the Blanchard mansion," Rogers said, as he parked a few houses down.

"Maybe he's been dipping into his own mist," David quipped, until there was a knocking on his window and they saw that they were surrounded by Blanchard's thugs, who were armed with guns. Rogers sighed.

"Or perhaps this whole thing was a trap for us," he muttered, as they got out of the car, putting their hands up, as they were led into the Blanchard mansion.

Snow hummed a Christmas tune, as she rolled out the sugar cookie dough and prepared it use their cookie cutters on. Emma sat next to her in her highchair, watching her mother with avid interest.

~*~

"Okay sweetheart...it's time to use the cookie cutters," she cooed, as she lifted her into her arms and then picked the Christmas tree shaped cutter.

"Twee?" Emma asked.

"Yeah...that's right sweetie," Snow replied, as she put the cutter down on the dough and then took Emma's hand. And with her mother's help, they pushed down on the dough and cut the shape.

"There...you did it!" Snow praised, as Emma clapped her hands.

"Well...I see I'm just in time," Roni said, as she entered the loft with a sack. She was in charge of the frosting and decorations for the cookies.

"Ni?" Emma called, as she tried to say Roni, but it always came out as Ni.

"Yeah...Ni is here, sweetheart," Roni cooed, as she took her from Snow and cuddled.

"You are getting so big," she said fondly and Snow smiled.

"I know...I wish she'd stay this size forever," Snow said.

"Well, you know...as much as I don't want to know the details, you and David could always get busy on number two. God knows you two practice enough," Roni teased, enjoying how her sister's cheeks colored.

"We haven't really talked about number two yet," Snow mused.

"You didn't talk about Emma and here she is, despite birth control," Roni said bluntly.

"Okay...new subject and let's get back to the cookies," Snow replied, as her phone rang and she answered it.

"Hello?" she answered and Roni became concerned when she dropped the phone in shock.

"What's wrong?" Roni asked.

"Turn on the laptop…" Snow uttered, as she did so and the horrible face of Leopold Blanchard filled the screen.

"Hello daughter…" he greeted.

"What have you done…" Snow hissed.

"It is your foolish husband that has been harassing my operation and he has finally gone too far," Leopold responded, as he stepped aside and let them see that he had both David and Rogers tied to chairs. Rogers had a black and bruises on his face. And David had a split lip and bruises as well.

"David…" she uttered.

"Killian…" Roni said fearfully.

"I am at the end of my rope with your defiance, my dear Mary...and your husband is going to pay the price," he threatened, as she saw Arthur put a gun to David's head.

"No...no please! I'll do whatever you want...please don't kill him," Snow begged, as her knees nearly buckled.

"Snow...I love you. I love you and Emma so much…" he said tearfully and she sobbed almost uncontrollably.

"You will come home then, Mary...and take your place by my side. Or your husband dies…" he threatened, as the screen went dark. Snow nearly collapsed to her knees, but Roni caught her.

"I have to go...you have to stay with Emma," she sobbed.

"Like hell...I'm going with you. Rogers is in there too. We'll leave Emma with Lacey," she said, as they gathered her up and took her downstairs.

"Lacey...where is your husband? He's not answering his phone," Roni asked urgently.

"He said he had a big interrogation today...it's probably off," Lacey replied.

"Dammit...David and Rogers are in trouble. Can you stay with Emma?" she asked.

"Of course," Lacey replied, alarmed by the fact that Snow was a hysterical mess. She took the baby and watched the two women rush out of the bar, before dialing her husband. But it went straight to voicemail.

"You need to turn on your phone...the boys are in trouble…" she said, leaving the voicemail and hoped he would get it in time...

#Snowing #SnowxCharming #12 days of Charming family Christmas #charming family holidays #HookedQueen #Rumbelle #romance #family #xmas fic #Hyperion Heights AU

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englishlitnotes · 3 years ago

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English 344: September 15

Malory’s creative process

he draws from a bunch of different sources and sews them together; switches between genres

most of these sources are from the French Vulgate cycle

huge set of King Arthur stories in French

Roman wars goes from French to English source

French source was massive; had to make significant creative decisions

begins with the story of Arthur’s conception

French source on the other hand begins with Merlin

Merlin was supposed to be a sort of antichrist

demon sleeps with holy virgin, is so god she thwarts the plan to make Merlin the anti-Christ

Merlin is a little tricky because his father was a demon but overall is good

is prophetic, magical

Merlin ‘basically Loki’

religious framing of Merlin

instead of beginning the story with Merlin, Malory begins with Arthur because that’s where his interests lie

Arthur’s conception

kind of nonconsensual

lots of people die from a war because the duke’s wife wouldn’t sleep with Uther, he becomes lovesick

lovesick=wounded heart, so all your blood in your body goes to repair your heart

paleness, sweatiness, fainting

mentions love second and anger first

So Uther, who didn’t get what he wanted, goes to war because he couldn’t have had a man’s wife

parallel to King David and Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite

David spies her bathing, has her brought to him, sleeps with her and decides he doesn’t want to give her back

David sends Uriah into battle where he is killed; he marries pregnant Bathsheba, baby dies, but they go on to raise Solomon

Merlin: sets up plan to disguise Uther as the duke

duke is killed before seeing Igraine; Uther has sex with her three hours after the duke actually dies

what Malory does

careful to create space between duke dying and Uther having sex with Igraine

this was to be careful to not make him a bastard

Merlin gets to insist Arthur is not a bastard; even though it is a moral and ethical problem, it is no longer a legal problem of who becomes heir to the throne

remember, Igraine wants to leave because Uther is after her

first thing we hear about Igraine is that she is a good and wise woman who wants to not cheat on her husband

so Arthur’s conception is pretty messed up

Malory and Arthur’s upbringing

Merlin=I want the baby

tradeoff?

Merlin was the one who allowed Uther to sleep with Igraine in the first place by disguising him

Malory focuses on the trouble caused

Ector—Arthur realizes he is not his father

this saddened Arthur tremendously

time spent on the disruption of Arthur’s family

very young Arthur all of a sudden has his family treating him as social superior

Concerns about child kings after Edward the 6th

stories much older than this but of topical interest when Malory was writing

in War of Roses, Edward 5 was killed; his infant son becomes king

prophetic Merlin probably knew Uther would die before Arthur was older; Arthur would be kept safe until he was old enough to be the king

takes away from court because people may have tried to kill or influence the infant king

War of Roses largely caused by situation of infant king

The Sword and the Stone

Kay, newly knighted, forgot his sword

good l’il Arthur went after a sword for him, no intention of being king

everybody else pretty much actually actively wanted to be the king

God-ordained faith/fate of Arthur

raised in contact with commoners

in The Sword and the Stone incident, the commoners want him as king; he pulls sword out repeatedly at different intervals until the people say enough already, we accept this guy as the king already

emphasis is more secular; emphasis on civil war is pragmatic

Arthur’s foster family had not known of his royal birthright and prowess

lot of work goes into establishing warrior set up later in setting up prowess

More about Igraine

Malory seems to try to make Igraine out in the best way possible

actually did not know what had happened to her baby

actually had thought Uther had been her husband when she slept with him

while Uther was irregular, Igraine certainly wasn’t in Malory’s telling

Then Arthur has sex with his sister

he was married

he did exactly what his father did (sleeps with ally’s wife)

accidentally begets Mordred, who, Merlin says, is going to destroy everything

‘there are things we can’t get away from… but we can frame them in different ways’

dilemma around fate

very medieval in that it gets at the problem offer will

having the babies killed—King Herod had all killed to prevent Moses from happening

all babies drowned, only Mordred lived

blame is put more on Merlin than on Arthur

#engl344

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League: DC Comics and DCEU Easter Eggs Guide

https://ift.tt/30U8leH

This article contains Zack Snyder’s Justice League spoilers. We have a (relatively) spoiler free review here.

Well, they finally released the Snyder Cut! Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now out in the world (and streaming on HBO Max) and it’s four hours of the director’s undiluted, controversial take on the DC Universe. It’s even more packed with DC history than the “official” theatrical release, if you can believe that, and it builds out the world of the DCEU in some new and unexpected ways.

There’s no shortage of DC Comics Easter eggs in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and even nods to DC movies of the past. It’s a six course meal of a movie that DC superhero fans should savor, because we’re unlikely to ever see anything like this again.

We’ve tried to find all the DC references and lore in the film. Here’s what we’ve got so far.

The Story

While the Justice League have been around since 1960 (they first appeared in Brave and the Bold #28) the broad strokes of this movie are based on 2011’s Justice League: Origin (which was adapted as the animated movie, Justice League: War), the comic book story that revamped the team’s initial team-up for a new generation. The villain of the comic was Darkseid not Steppenwolf, but the Parademon hordes, the Mother Boxes, and the tying of Cyborg’s origin to Fourth World technology all come straight out of this story.

Steppenwolf DID show up in a contemporary story as well, though. A visually-similar version of the character appeared in DC’s Earth-2, which indicated that Darkseid’s attack on Earth was one that spanned the multiverse, and his lieutenant Steppenwolf ravaged a different Earth, killing its greatest heroes in the process. So that’s two big comics influences out of the way here.

Throughout this movie, Steppenwolf keeps on trying to bring about “the unity” with the three Mother Boxes, but as far as I know, that has no correlation to anything in the comics. If anything, Steppenwolf’s quest and the movie’s backstory has more in common with the Lord of the Rings saga than anything Jack Kirby did, with magical tech being distributed across the different races of the world to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

Aquaman

Of all the characters in this film, Aquaman seems to bear the most of Zack Snyder’s stamp. It’s incredibly visible just in his eyes, which were “humanized” considerably by the time he appeared in his solo movie.

Snyder’s original vision for Aquaman was clearly something a little grittier than the gleaming underwater fantasy that James Wan brought us. The eerie “hymn” that the women of the village sing to mark Arthur’s departure is a haunting reminder of how these characters are seen in this world.

As Aquaman returns to Atlantis, we see a familiar octopus. Could this be Topo, comic book octopus sidekick to Arthur and famed for his drum solo skills in the Aquaman movie? I’d like to think it is.

Willem Dafoe’s Vulko is here, looking a little different and perhaps a bit less kindly than he did in Wan’s film. Interestingly, he refers to Arthur as “the king who would be man,” an inversion on “the man who would be king,” and a shot at Arthur for not taking his rightful place as heir to the throne of Atlantis. For his part, Arthur’s refusal on the grounds that the Atlanteans are a “brutal, petty, superstitious people” also hints at broader visions Snyder had for the character.

Comics

Aquaman: Complete DC Comics Easter Eggs and DCEU Reference Guide

By Mike Cecchini

Movies

Aquaman 2: James Wan Promises More Serious Tone, New Worlds

By David Crow

It’s interesting to note that Mera and other Atlanteans speak with English accents here, where they didn’t in the Aquaman movie. It’s a proud tradition of making alien races speak with an English accent, one perhaps most famous in superhero movies thanks to virtually the entire population of Krypton in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie.

Similarly, Atlanteans don’t speak underwater here as they do in the James Wan film, instead creating bubbles of air in which to communicate like land-dwellers. It’s pretty cool.

The song that plays when Arthur vanishes into the waves is Nick Cave’s “There is a Kingdom,” and its lyrics are pretty much as on-the-nose as you might expect.

Aquaman spearing two Parademons with his trident reminds me of this moment from Justice League: Origin, as well…

Is Aquaman the first person to call Bruce “Batman” in the DCEU? In Batman v Superman it was all “the Bat” this and “the Gotham Bat” that.

Speaking of Batman…

Batman

When we first see Bruce Wayne searching for the mysterious Arthur Curry, he’s riding a jet black horse, which is very similar to the steed he rode in some famous pages of Frank Miller, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley’s classic and influential The Dark Knight Returns, a work which has considerable influence on how Batman was portrayed here and in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

If you look closely you can see a 201 area code on Bruce Wayne’s business card, which further confirms that Gotham City is on the New Jersey side of the river that separates it from Metropolis.

This movie, like Batman v Superman before it, reminds us that we’re dealing with a Batman who has been active for 20 years. It’s yet another reminder of the influence of The Dark Knight Returns on the DCEU vision for Batman, depicting him as a much older, more experienced crimefighter.

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how good Jeremy Irons is as Alfred Pennyworth. His line about “someone who broods in a cave” is classic Alfred shade (as is the moment later on when he is totally micromanaging how Diana makes tea). See also: Bruce’s joke about how he works for Alfred.

Bruce tells Alfred that he “made a promise to him [Superman] on his grave.” As we well know with Bruce and his parents, when he swears on someone’s grave, it’s a promise he takes very seriously.

Comics

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Complete DC Comics Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

By Mike Cecchini

The Batman Animated Series You Never Saw

By Mike Cecchini

We meet Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as Crispus Allen very briefly in Gotham PD HQ talking to JK Simmons’ excellent Jim Gordon. Detective Crispus Allen was a Batman supporting character who played a significant role in the excellent Gotham Central series. While we don’t get any hint of his future here, Allen went on to become the human host of the Spectre after he was murdered by a corrupt colleague.

Barry asks Bruce incredulously, “you have a satellite?” to which Bruce calmly responds, “I have six.” It feels very much like something Grant Morrison’s Batman would say (he even owns a flying saucer), but it ALSO hints at the fact that for many years, the Justice League operated out of a satellite HQ. Perhaps Bruce would consider moving the team up there in future installments.

During the big battle at the end, there’s a terrific shot of Batman that mirrors his first appearance in Detective Comics #27.

There’s a pretty clear shot of the Bat-tank that is a very direct nod to a panel from Dark Knight Returns.

Cyborg

It seems like all the flashbacks to Vic Stone’s pre-Cyborg college days take place in 2015, so it’s after the events of Man of Steel, but he has only been “Cyborg” for a relatively brief period here.

Thanks to the backstory in this version of the film, we learn that Vic is already a genius level intellect. Although in the comics it was because Drs Silas and Elinore Stone were already experimenting on their son long before the accident that forced them to turn him into Cyborg.

Interestingly, the origin story here is neither the classic comics origin nor the New 52 version (surprising, since so much of this film feels inspired by the New 52 Justice League: Origin story). There, it was either an accident with interdimensional energy or the opening of a Mother Box/Boom Tube which virtually destroyed Victor’s body and caused the creation of Cyborg.

What is the Dean of GCU’s name? It looks like it might be “Dean Stanton” which would be a lovely tribute to actor Harry Dean Stanton (but there’s no DC Comics connection here in that case).

You may note that the scoreboard for Gotham City University was built by Wayne Enterprises.

It’s probably a coincidence, but Cyborg financially helps out a “Linda S. Reed.” In the comics Linda Reed was a short-lived Green Arrow character who (along with her twin sister Ramona) went by the uninspiring name of “Girl Archer.”

Since Vic Stone has traditionally been a Teen Titans character, and he and Barry are by far the youngest members of the League, it makes sense that they would bond. Especially since this version of Barry Allen has more in common with the comic book version of Wally West than anything else, and Wally was a member of the Titans with Vic.

The Flash

When we first meet Barry Allen he is late to a job interview. This isn’t just a play on “oh, the fastest man alive is actually really slow” or something, Barry’s habitual lateness was baked into the character in his very first appearance back in Showcase #4. Similarly, even his predecessor, Jay Garrick was known for this not terribly charming trait, too.

Interestingly, Barry’s persona in the DCEU feels much more in common with the Wally West of the DC Animated Universe. He’s the less experienced hero, a kind of point-of-view character, and generally younger and funnier than his teammates. But the more specific Wally reference is his need to consume tremendous quantities of calories to keep going (his “snack hole” crack), something that was unique to Wally among Flashes (but which was also utilized when John Wesley Shipp played Barry on the 1990 The Flash TV series).

That’s Billy Crudup as Henry Allen in jail (who sadly won’t be reprising his role in Andy Muschietti’s The Flash movie) The whole “hands on the glass” thing was done quite a bit between the TV versions of these characters, played by Grant Gustin and the great John Wesley Shipp. Henry’s line to Barry that he should “make your own future” would seem to foreshadow the events of Flashpoint, as well.

But there’s one other similarity to the TV show worth pointing out…

Henry is rocking the Jay Garrick look with the grey hair at the temples thing. With certain developments on The Flash TV series, this could also be an indicator of how things will be handled in the DCEU. I wrote lots more about Jay Garrick, one of my favorite characters, right here.

Barry notes to Bruce that he is fluent in “gorilla sign language,” which could come in handy down the road should he encounter a race of superintelligent gorillas who have started their own civilization or something like that.

Is Barry wearing a “Black Freighter” t-shirt? As in the pirate story that is woven through the Watchmen comics? You don’t need me to remind you that Zack Snyder also directed a Watchmen movie, right?

If you look at Barry’s desk, there’s a photo of Nikola Tesla there, which makes sense given Flash’s whole aesthetic.

One fun thing about Barry’s personal HQ: If you look carefully on one of the TVs, you can spot that he’s a Rick and Morty fan, and a particular season two episode, which involves a chemically-enhanced Summer and Rick beating the crap out of unsavory types like Nazis, is playing in the background.

It’s interesting to note that Barry is only now just on the path to becoming a police scientist, rather than already having been driven to do so. It’s almost like his time with the Justice League inspires him to do more with his professional life, as well.

The Flash TV Episode We Almost Saw

By Mike Cecchini

Stargirl Season 2 Will Put The Flash in the JSA Where He Belongs

By Mike Cecchini

It’s interesting that the Barry Allen of the DCEU is Jewish, if only because we’ve never had any hint of Flash’s faith (or lack thereof) in the comics or on the TV show. The closest Barry Allen has to any kind of religious or ethnic identity has always been “midwestern.” Brian Cronin at CBR thinks this could be a reference to a throwaway line from a late ’80s DC story, but I don’t necessarily think that’s considered canon. I’m open to corrections, though!

Iris West

We see the first meeting between Barry Allen and Iris West here. I don’t know the exact make and model of the vintage convertible that Iris is driving (if anyone does, please give us a shout in the comments or on Twitter), but it feels like it COULD be from the year 1956, when Showcase #4 was published. Similarly, the excellent and underrated The Flash TV series from the 1990s used to populate the streets of its version of Central City with vintage cars to give it a “timeless” feel.

Speaking of Showcase #4, the fact that hot dogs are among the things kind of hovering in midair thanks to Barry moving at super speed is another nod to the character’s first appearance, when one of Barry’s first super speed acts was to catch a spilled tray of food in a diner in mid-air before the waitress knew what had happened.

What’s the brand of fast food the truck driver is eating? I can’t quite make it out. It would be cool if it was a Big Belly Burger with a Soder Cola, but I think it might just be something lame like “Burger Shop.” Help me out, folks!

The truck that nearly kills Iris is for a company called Gard’ner Fox, a reference to classic Flash writer/co-creator Gardener Fox.

You can see a newspaper box for The Central City Tribune, which hints at the fact that Iris West is a journalist in the comics.

Superman

Martha’s dog’s name is Rusty, which I THINK is a reference to a briefly glimpsed pooch in Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie. But I can’t fully confirm that as of this writing.

Lois Lane’s depression and loneliness is soundtracked, appropriately enough, to “Distant Sky” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Mr. Snyder seems to love the work of Nick Cave), which features lyrics like “They told us our gods would outlive us,” but there’s lots here that mirrors the journey of these heroes in the film.

The Daily Planet’s slogan in the DCEU is “reporting on the planet, daily” which seems a little on-the-nose to me, but whatever. It’s had several in the comics, but in Richard Donner’s Superman it was “Metropolis’ Greatest Newspaper.”

When the Motherbox generates the image of Superman flying, it’s a classic Superman pose this is. This is a really cool shot, and looks like a Curt Swan/Murphy Anderson drawing of the Man of Steel come to life.

During the return to the Kryptonian ship that served as the de facto Fortress of Solitude in Man of Steel (and which gives Supes his black costume here), we can spot the open pod that launched so many fan theories in 2013. A possibly no-longer-canon Man of Steel prequel comic that was nonetheless written by David Goyer implied that it was Kara Zor-El who was in that pod, and who has roamed the DCEU undiscovered thus far.

You can hear moments of Hans Zimmer’s truly excellent Man of Steel score at key Superman moments throughout the film, too.

Clark Kent was buried in a conservative dark blue business suit, with a red tie, and black shoes. That is the exact outfit that the comic book version of Clark Kent wore in virtually every single comic book appearance from roughly 1938 until 1986. Henry Cavill’s Clark was a little more fashionable in life, but not in death.

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When Superman wakes up, well, it’s not pretty. This scene serves two purposes, though. For one thing, it demonstrates how he is more powerful than the entire team combined, lest anyone think that Superman is lame. But his disorientation and raw fury are a slight nod to how in the comics and cartoons, at several points, Superman has been manipulated by Darkseid. While that doesn’t quite happen here, the role of Fourth World technology in his resurrection feels like it’s not a coincidence.

Clark “returning” to himself in the field in front of his Smallville home and being greeted by Martha Kent feels like an inversion of Clark leaving home in Superman: The Movie and bidding his mother farewell. He’s wearing a similar flannel shirt in both scenes, too.

As Clark completes his journey and “returns” to being Superman, complete with the cool new costume (more on that in a second), we hear the voices of BOTH his fathers, both Jor-El and Jonathan Kent. It’s yet another nod to Richard Donner’s Superman, when Kal-El was guided by the voice and spirit of his Kryptonian father when he first wore the suit. And, of course, his takeoff here mirrors his first flight in Man of Steel, completing his “rebirth.”

The black and silver Superman suit was a fixture of Reign of the Supermen, the story that brought the recently deceased Man of Steel back to life. In the comics, it was a kind of regeneration suit, meant to help harness solar radiation for Superman’s cells. It’s not clear if it is meant to serve that purpose here, since (as we see when he kicks the entire League’s ass) he was already at full physical (if not mental) power upon his resurrection. It’s been done several times in live action too, but it has never looked as good as it does here.

Amusing detail about the Kent Farm being foreclosed on…there’s already some awful suburban McMansion built right across the road.

Marc McClure who played Jimmy Olsen in the Donner Superman films played an Iron Heights prison guard in the theatrical cut of the film, but here he is the cop guarding the Superman memorial in Metropolis.

And the final true shot we see of Superman in the film, with Clark Kent becoming aware of trouble and doing the classic “shirt rip” is another iconic moment from throughout the character’s history, although it’s never better than it is in Superman: The Movie right before the big helicopter rescue. It’s worth noting that in the theatrical cut, Supes was back in the red and blue, while here he has chosen to stay in the black and silver.

Wonder Woman

One of the big takeaways from Wonder Woman’s intro sequence is that even mundane villains in the DCEU are cool, stylish, dangerous, and they don’t think small. These guys are the face of a mysterious organization who want to “turn back the clock” but I have yet to find a suitable DC Comics parallel to them.

Of course, the statue we see Wonder Woman standing on is Justice herself.

Diana’s white dress while she’s working on restoring the statue feels vaguely reminiscent of her “mod years” in the late 1960s, where she briefly ditched her primary colored costume to fight in something a little more practical.

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Wonder Woman wearing an appropriately stylish black getup when visiting Bruce in the cave kind of reminds me of Wonder Girl Donna Troy’s star-spangled black outfit that she wore for a little while…but that’s probably just a coincidence.

Diana tells Bruce that she “once knew a man who would have loved to fly it” regarding Bruce’s flying troop transport for the League. She is, of course, referring to Steve Trevor, but this line takes on a little bit of extra weight after we see Steve flying more modern aircraft in Wonder Woman 1984.

At one point in the film, Diana hints that Atlantis and Themyscira had been at war at one point in the past. This has been teased in the comics several times and came to a head in the Flashpoint comics.

There’s a cool moment when Steppenwolf tells Wonder Woman that she has “the blood of the old gods” in her veins. When Jack Kirby created the New Gods and the Fourth World, he was still working for Marvel. The original plan was for the Asgard of Marvel’s Thor comics to undergo a Ragnarok, everyone would die, and in its place would be these New Gods. Obviously that didn’t happen, and the concepts ended up at DC. But that one line, tying Diana’s Greek mythology roots directly to the cosmic New Gods of the DCEU, is surprisingly in keeping with Kirby’s original intention.

Ryan Choi

We get another hero snuck into the mix in this movie, in the form of STAR Labs’ Ryan Choi (played by Zheng Kai). While he doesn’t suit up in this film, Choi was the inheritor of Ray Palmer’s mantle as the shrinking superhero, the Atom.

By the end of the film, Choi is given the title of head of nanotechnology for STAR Labs, further setting up his future as a hero.

Green Lantern

While no Green Lantern remains alive for long in this film, there are plenty of references to the Green Lantern Corps throughout…

Steppenwolf promises that there are “no protectors, no Lanterns, no Kryptonian” guarding Earth this time, which is pretty self-explanatory.

This member of the Green Lantern Corps we see fall in battle during the flashback sequence is Yalan Gur, a character who has only made a handful of appearances in the comics. Gur was indeed the Green Lantern of space sector 2814 (that includes Earth) around the time this battle would have taken place. In the comics, Gur was corrupted by his own power and turned on the humans of Earth, but he clearly didn’t get that chance in the movie, as he was killed by Darkseid in the flashback.

During the vision of the future where Darkseid has gained control of the Anti-Life Equation, another dead Green Lantern can be spotted amongst the rubble of a ruined city. That would be of Green Lantern Corps drill sergeant and fan favorite, Kilowog. This is Kilowog’s second live action appearance, if you count 2011’s not great Green Lantern movie with Ryan Reynolds.

Darkseid

Steppenwolf tells the Amazons that he “has come to enlighten you to The Great Darkness.” The Great Darkness is more than just a reference to Darkseid himself and his entire philosophy, but is also a reference to what is perhaps the ultimate Legion of Super-Heroes story, The Great Darkness Saga, by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen, which saw a long dormant Darkseid return to life to terrorize the galaxy a thousand years from now.

When Darkseid strikes the surface of the Earth with his axe, it creates the kind of hellish firepits that his homeworld of Apokalips is famous for.

Darkseid taking on the literal “old gods” of Earth including Zeus, Ares, Apollo, and Poseidon is a fun contrast with the fact that he is part of DC’s “New Gods” mythology.

Darkseid is searching for the Anti-Life Equation, which we wrote more about here.

During Darkseid’s “vision” of the universe once he has obtained the Anti-Life Equation, we can see Superman holding a charred corpse, which is presumably the body of Lois Lane. This apparently sets him up for corruption by Darkseid, and helps bring about the “Knightmare” vision from Batman v Superman, which is once again glimpsed at the end of this film.

The third figure we see on Apokalips with Darkseid and Desaad appears to be Granny Goodness, the chief of the armies of Apokalips (and the one who trained/traumatized DC heroes Mister Miracle and Big Barda).

Parademons

The weird insectoid drones making everyone’s lives miserable are Parademons, the foot soldiers of the planet Apokolips, a hellish world which lives in opposition to New Genesis, the home of the New Gods and Forever People. All of this great stuff was created by the brilliant Jack Kirby, by the way. Steppenwolf (more on him in a minute) and the Parademons are trying to collect three Mother Boxes left on Earth.

What is a Mother Box?

The Mother Box is the unifying piece of technology of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World epic. Think of a Mother Box as an alien smartphone that can do anything from heal the injured to teleport you across time and space. It’s pretty cool hearing their trademark “ping. ping. ping.” sound for real.

Mother Boxes are often used to call down Boom Tubes, the preferred method of transport of the New Gods and their friends and foes. We see them deployed quite a bit throughout this movie, obviously. Super Powers fans of the 1980s may remember that on Super Friends: Galactic Guardians, boom tubes were referred to as star gates.

It’s POSSIBLE that the knights burying the Mother Box are meant to be King Arthur and his crew, while the one with the horns could be Sir Bors. They relatively recently appeared in Demon Knights, but they were best in Seven Soldiers of Victory, where the Knights of the Round Table fought an invasion from evil Faeries and lost, only to have Sir Ystina, the Shining Knight, help save the world in the present day. Honestly, that sounds like it would be pretty up Zack Snyder’s alley too, now that we think about it.

Mother Box is cataloged as “unknown object 61982” after it has been discovered in the modern world. So far, I haven’t been able to find any DC Comics or DCEU significance to that number.

DeSaad

DeSaad is Darkseid’s chief advisor and torturer-in-chief (hence the name). Like all the other cool Fourth World stuff in this movie, he was created solely by the legendary Jack Kirby. He first appeared in Forever People #2 in 1971.

It’s kind of cool that the nameless “Motherbox priestesses” kind of look like DeSaad, too.

Steppenwolf

Steppenwolf is the first Jack Kirby creation to show up in a DC superhero movie (for comparison, nearly the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe owes its entire existence to Jack Kirby). They don’t really give us much to go on with Steppenwolf in this flick, but to be fair, he wasn’t one of Kirby’s most inspired creations and it’s not like he has the longest comic book history. In the comics, Steppenwolf was Darkseid’s uncle, and responsible for the war between Apokolips and New Genesis, but here he appears to be his nephew instead.

In a lot of ways, particularly his appearance, this version of Steppenwolf seems to owe more to his appearance in DC’s New 52 version of the Earth-2 comics than he does any of Kirby’s vision.

The weird little spider-y device that Steppenwolf uses to get information on people looks a lot like Starro, the first villain that the Justice League ever fought in the comics, right down to the way it attaches to people’s faces.

Martian Manhunter

We get our first long-promised revelation of Martian Manhunter in the film, who, as it turns out, had been masquerading as Harry Lennix’s General Swanwick the entire time.

Martian Manhunter finally revealing himself to Bruce at the end kind of completes Bruce’s journey from vaguely fascist xenophobe in Batman v Superman to someone far more heroic.

Martian Manhunter says he has “gone by many names” but doesn’t mention any of them. It doesn’t make sense why he wouldn’t have introduced himself as J’onn J’onnz (his Martian name). Other names he has gone by include Detective John Jones (not in the movies), and as we’ve seen in this very film, General Swanwick.

While we don’t get to see Martian Manhunter officially join the Justice League here, his presence in the film kind of completes the “unite the seven” tease that dates back to Batman v Superman. Martian Manhunter has always been depicted as a founding member of the team, both in comics and in the excellent Justice League animated series.

Deathstroke

We get a LITTLE more of Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson in this movie than we did in the theatrical cut…

In the theatrical version, Lex had summoned Deathstroke in order to start assembling a Legion of Doom-esque team of supervillains. But here it’s to give him Batman’s true identity. Apparently this would have helped set Deathstroke up as the villain of the Ben Affleck-led Batman solo movie, which would have featured Deathstroke dismantling Bruce Wayne’s life, Daredevil: Born Again style.

We see Deathstroke again during the epilogue where Slade (who is more of an antihero in the comics) has joined Batman’s ragtag group of freedom fighters against Darkseid and the forces of Apokalips.

Speaking of that epilogue…

Joker

No, your eyes do not deceive you, that is indeed Jared Leto returning as the Joker, marking his first appearance in the role since his controversial turn as the character in the Suicide Squad movie.

So…it appears that the “Knightmare” sequence in Batman v Superman wasn’t a vision of this movie after all, but rather for the Justice League 2 we’ll never see. And it’s up to Jared Leto’s Joker of all characters to explain this to us once and for all.

It seems that in a not-too-distant future, Darkseid’s armies have indeed come to Earth, and he is either in search of or has claimed the Anti-Life Equation, having murdered Lois Lane, turned Superman to evil (god, why does Zack Snyder love this idea so much), leaving a ragtag group of heroes and villains to try and set things right.

The death of Lois Lane at the hands of a villain turning Superman into a maniac feels quite a bit like the storyline of the Injustice video game.

Joker makes several allusions to having murdered Robin, which in the comics would be Jason Todd, although Snyder has hinted before that the dead Robin in question was actually Dick Grayson (hence, no Nightwing in the DCEU).

The notion of Batman and Joker teaming up in any capacity isn’t one with a whole lot of weight in the comics, but them coming together in a post-apocalyptic landscape with Joker acting as a kind of truth-teller for Batman is faintly reminiscent of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s Batman: Last Knight on Earth.

Joker’s hints that Batman needs to die in order to set things right are reminiscent of Grant Morrison’s superb Final Crisis.

Lex Luthor

Lex Luthor’s escape from Arkham Asylum (side note, it has always rubbed me the wrong way that they keep Lex at Arkham…that isn’t where you put Lex Luthor) with a fakeout vaguely reminds me of how he escaped from prison in Superman II, which involved using a hologram to fake out the guard. The guard’s response to “Lex” not doing what he’s supposed to here is similar, too.

When we finally see Lex for real, it’s on the yacht, and his loud outfit is more than a little bit reminiscent of how Gene Hackman’s Luthor dressed as Lex in the Superman movies of the 1970s and 1980s.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Bruce returns to the ruins of Wayne Manor which he intends to convert into a headquarters for the newly formed Justice League. But placing a roundtable in a mansion has a little bit more of a Justice Society of America vibe to it…but that’s just a coincidence. However, we’ll be meeting the Justice Society in the upcoming Black Adam movie.

There’s a headline in The Daily Planet that says “Security Bank of Manhattan Sets New Architect.” No, this isn’t a John Stewart Green Lantern reference. Instead, it’s a nod from Snyder to the character of Howard Roark, the protagonist of Ayn Rand��s The Fountainhead, a favorite of the director’s and a project he once hoped to adapt into film. In that book, Roark is an architect who is commissioned to work on the “Security Bank of Manhattan.” Draw your own conclusions about Snyder’s love for this book and Rand’s work, however.

That isn’t the only Ayn Rand reference in the film, either. The fishing boat that Aquaman rescues is called the Cortlandt, a reference to a housing development in The Fountainhead.

The place where Lois gets her coffee is “Fred and Ginger Coffee” as in Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Also, if you look really closely in the window of the coffee shop as she leaves, there’s a man at a table wearing a vest. I’m not 100% sure, but I THINK this is Zack Snyder giving himself a Hitchcock-esque cameo in the film.

The STAR Labs janitor who goes missing/gets eaten by Parademons is apparently named Howie Jensen. Whenever there’s a janitor in a top secret area working with alien tech in the DC Universe, my mind immediately goes to Superman villain, the Parasite. The most famous version of the Parasite was Rudy Jones, a STAR Labs janitor who ended up wallowing in some toxic waste (perhaps coincidentally because Darkseid manipulated him into it). Anyway, this isn’t Rudy Jones, so it can’t be the Parasite right? Well…mostly. There was a previous Parasite names Raymond Jensen…which seems to be our poor, doomed, pal Howie’s name in this.

When Bruce leaves Barry’s lair to drive to the Central City Airport, there’s an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention billboard that says “You are not alone,” a nod to the work Snyder has done to help raise awareness for their cause. You can learn more about them here.

During Darkseid’s vision of the future he wants, there’s a ruined Hall of Justice, the Justice League headquarters first made famous on the Super Friends cartoon and which, in more recent years, has become a fixture of the comics.

The pregnancy test in Lois’ nightstand is named, we kid you not, Force Majeure.

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Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

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oohlook-thevoid · 5 years ago

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My dream Batman trilogy coz The Batman trailer got me thinking.

Also putting everything under the cut because a) it’s probably gonna be kinda long and b) it’s overwhelmingly self-indulgent introduction of batkids with a side of plot

Movie 1

The world has progressed past the need for another origin movie so we're jumping in with an Under the Red Hood adaptation

As well as obviously including Bruce and Jason, Dick is there as Nightwing, Babs is Oracle and Tim is Robin

Usual Red Hood I'd on the scene taking over the criminal underground and gangs stuff

We're going with the Talia yeeted Jason into the pit storyline here and at some point Bruce visits Talia after the whole initial suspicions of Red Hood being Jason thing and as well as getting info there's definitely strong references to them last meeting 10yrs ago

And obviously Jason didn't die 10yrs ago, they parted ways and Talia tried to help as a means of bridging the gap between them again (which obviously didn't work)

Whilst Bruce is away current batkids deal with Jason 'I've been fucking replaced' drama as Red Hood goes after Robin

Bruce comes back afterwards we get into the final Batman-Joker-Red Hood showdown

Then idk something happens - I don't think Jason or Bruce should actually kill Joker in this but I do want that pasty bitch to die because I don't want to fucking deal with him in a later movie

So anyways idk something happens, the GCPD shows up post a (sort of) resolution being met between Bruce and Jason then Joker tries to pull some shit and idk man maybe like Commissioner Gordon just fucking shoots him because man is tired and it's what Joker deserves

Also speaking of Gordon I'm 99% sure I've consumed DC content with Jim knowing the batfam identities and I support that dynamic so that's also a thing here

Anyway end of the movie, Jason is back not actively trying to kill his family members, Joker is dead as he deserves

Then POST CREDIT SCENE! We're back with Talia and oh look a child. Yes, of course it's Damian and Talia has decided it's finally time for him to meet his father whoo!

Movie 2

Okay this is a little while later - only change is Damian is now Robin and Tim is Red Robin

So Joker is dead and Red Hood is no longer a crime lord controlling all the gangs as per the last movie - there's now a massive power vacuum in the criminal circles of Gotham and, as such, there's a big old power struggle going on

Anyway there are factions and someone is orchestrating a grab for power using various others

Within such others are Cluemaster/Arthur Brown and David Cain... Yes you know where this is going

A new cape is on scene going by the name Spoiler, she's leaving clues to plans and schemes which lead to Cluemaster's arrest and generally disrupt the main plan of whoever is orchestrating it in the background

That batfam catch up with Spoiler and end up working with her

Searching for more information of the grand plan (because who actually trusts Cluemaster with everything? Steph only has bits and pieces of the big stuff) they come across a girl. And yes it is Cass.

Anyway fight scene showing off how awesome Cass but it ends quick as she sees they’re defending themselves more than trying to hurt her

Congrats Bruce, it’s a girl!

So anyway detective stuff, detective stuff then WHAM there’s the big plan it’s coming to fruition and they’ve all gotta stop it.

Obviously they go, there’s a cool fight with them all working together and they win.

I don’t actually know who’s orchestrating this all - part of me wants to say it’s Riddler because I love Eddie and, I mean, in the animated Hush adaptation we have seen his ability to manipulate others to carry out his own plan plus considering the War of Jokes and Riddles happened the idea of Eddie kinda taking Joker’s place as ‘top rogue’ after the pasty bitch goes to hell seems quite satisfying to me

Regardless, everything seems good, the batfam has won and grown and everything seems good

Then (possibly as a post-credit?) everything goes dark. There’s the sound of fighting but the audience sees nothing. Light returns. There’s a couple restrained Talons now visible. But there’s also someone not visible. Batman is gone.

Movie 3

We start with a montage - Gotham is once more in chaos, this time though its because of the lack of a Bat

The batkids are grieving, they're struggling to cope with both the chaos of Gotham criminals generally and the emergence of the Court of Owls

There's also more internal conflict with Time being adamant that Bruce is alive and the others being more realistic which leads to Tim bailing on them a la Red Robin (2009)

Anyway, Alfred sees his grandkids going through shit and is determined to not let them meet the same fate as his son so he starts the We Are Robin inititative - people who are fighting back against the crime and corruption of Gotham and, in turn, thereby helping assist the batfam so they can focus on the Court

This stuff is more expository than being the actual plot of the movie and is ran through fairly quickly, probably montage style, so we can catch up with the main whatever of the movie.

So, two individuals who joined We Are Robin go like above and beyond I suppose, gaining the batfam’s attention and becoming vigilantes themselves - these are Duke Thomas (of course) and Harper Row (because I want to include her)

Since Gotham always need a Batman but also they need to focus efforts of the Court of Owls, the kids devise a rota. They rotate between Dick as Batman w/ Damian as Robin (because duh), Jason as Batman w/ Steph as Robin (because I think that would be neat) and then Cass as Batman w/ Harper and Duke as her Robins (because a) I love her dynamice with each of them individually and b) she deserves to be Batman)

On days they aren’t Batman and Robin-ing they work, led by Oracle, to trace down the HQ of the Court of Owls - any field work being carried out in their usual aliases

Meanwhile Tim, all on his lonesome because boy has issues, is also working against the Court and trying them (the diff being his motivation is more get Bruce, prove he’s alive whilst the others are more influenced by the stop evil owl bitches sentiment)

Anyway Tim finds the Court and good news: Bruce is alive, just captured but bad news: Tim is also captured because whilst he’s good he’s not beat a ton of Talons alone good and the idiot should have got backup

Shortly after this the others get a breakthrough and find the Court - they also discover that Tim has been caught by them. So them we cue final fight - they come up with a great plan and then they sneak in and take down the Court, Tim and Bruce and back

The End. They all finally get a well-deserved holiday.

#the overall coherency of these as full plots is debatable but uhhh at least it's not another Bruce is lonely dipstick and Alfred is having #to deal with his bullshit alone movie - instead it's a there's a horde of batidiots but they're never all idiots silmultaneously so Alfred #isn't deal with them alone and also he can be all oh wonder what that's like /s when Bruce is being like my kids are idiots #bruce wayne #dick grayson #tim drake #barbara gordon #jason todd #damian wayne #stephanie brown #alfred pennyworth #duke thomas #harper row #cass cain

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miss-m-calling · 6 years ago

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Fandom 5k letter

Requests:

Adult Wednesday Addams -- Wednesday Addams

American Gods (TV) -- Laura Moon/Mad Sweeney

Cabin Pressure -- Carolyn & Arthur & Martin & Douglas

Moonlighting (TV) -- David Addison/Maddie Hayes

Dear writer,

Hello and thank you for writing for me. I’m very excited to read whatever you come up with.

I do give more or more detailed prompts for some of these canons than for others – that’s not because I want some more than others, but only because for some I get lots of ideas, for others I’m more “waves arms all over the place give me more of XYZ I love in canon!!” I hope whatever I put down sparks your creativity, and feel free to reach out through the mods if you have any questions! My likes and DNWs are all the way on the bottom of the letter.

Without further ado…

Requests:

Adult Wednesday Addams

Wednesday Addams

Genres: Action/adventure, Canon-style plot, Humor, Slice of life, Worldbuilding

I belatedly discovered this webseries, and it resurrected (see what I did there?) my love for Wednesday and how the Addams Family canon runs on the endless possibilities of this loving, happily eccentric family being 100% true to themselves and the world just having to deal with it. The show was everything I never knew I wanted till I watched it, the perfect blend of Addams-macabre and cozy slice of life with bonus Wednesday navigating the world alone, without always knowing her family will back her up, and it made me crave more of adult Wednesday’s mini adventures in LA. For this canon, I’m good with gen or, if you want to write that, more of Wednesday’s adventures in dating guys who really aren’t up to the challenge, and you can absolutely have Wednesday interact with OCs I haven’t listed as part of a pairing. I’m keeping the prompts pretty short, just to (hopefully) pique your creativity, as I expect I will love any way you make these or any similar scenarios play out:

-Wednesday goes to IKEA

-More of Wednesday’s interactions with the nice interns at her receptionist job. Maybe they invite her out to happy hour, or to the beach or a club. Or maybe we get to eavesdrop while they shoot the breeze on their lunch break, possibly over barbecue-chicken pizza from CPK.

-More of Wednesday’s gigs. She already babysits and walks other people’s dogs, what else might she do for extra cash that would be both really common and seemingly ill-suited to Wednesday, except she totally makes it work for her? Cat sitting (especially if the cat belongs to someone incredibly rich whose house is full of secrets – and expensive things for the cat to knock over), driving an Uber/Lyft, becoming an AirBnB host, catering/server, working the late shift in a New Age/occult supply store where none of the woo is real…?

-Or, alternately, Wednesday finds a career that is perfect for her, in which she can have success and respect. What ever could that be and still fit into the non-Addams world?

-Wednesday tries speed dating

-Or, she runs into Brian a.k.a. chains guy (I cackle with glee every time I rewatch the bit when he tries to kiss her at the pet store) a third time – how does it not go quite as he wanted or expected this time?

-Wednesday’s family comes out to sunny, plastic, image-conscious LA to visit her and make sure she’s doing alright. She gives them a tour of the city, and LA will never be the same again.

-Wednesday takes an evening class, or goes back to school part time, or enrolls in an online degree program

-Wednesday takes a road trip, alone or with her apartment mates/colleagues/Brian/strangers she met for carpooling purposes. Bonus points if you work in real roadside attractions, or tourist traps, or famous sites/landscapes.

-It’s Dia de Muertos, and Wednesday goes out to celebrate and soak up the atmosphere. It may or may not live up to her expectations.

-If you wanted to get a bit meta and/or enjoy playing around with different formatting, what does Wednesday’s Tumblr/Twitter/Facebook/Tindr look like? Or, Wednesday gets tasked with updating company social media at her receptionist job, and she does it with her own special flair.

American Gods (TV)

Laura Moon/Mad Sweeney

Genres: Action/adventure, AU - canon divergence, Canon-style plot, Character development, Getting together, Smut, Worldbuilding

Let me preface this by saying how much I appreciate that you are willing to write for an ongoing canon! I love this pairing, and while most of my prompts are basically the same ones I’ve used in exchanges before S2 (which I am watching) started airing, let me assure you that I am 1000% fine with your fic getting jossed, or including a divergence from what we already know or how things happen in canon. You can work with the canon -- or as much of it as we have by the time you’re done writing -- or diverge in a way that works for your story. Really truly honestly it’s all fine since you are writing for an active canon, and I really truly honestly appreciate you wanting to tackle this! Canon divergences and canon-flavored-if-not-entirely-compliant stories are my jam, so please don’t feel anxious as the canon keeps unfolding, nor pressed to keep up with S2 if you can’t or don’t want to watch it right now. (I tried to keep S2 spoilers to a minimum in my prompts, but there are some spoilers.)

So *clears throat*

I ship it. Yes I do. They had me at “gimme-my-coin-dead-wife”-flicks-him-into-wall. The snarky road trip was the best thing I never knew I wanted until it happened, and I adored every second of it. They’re both such assholes and so fascinating, even if they start to mellow toward each other a bit toward the end of S1, and all the gods/magic/resurrection stuff swirling around them begs to be explored further. Also I love love love how their dynamic is about equal parts spikiness, pathos, and humor (they’re funny! and the canon doesn’t shy away from putting them in ludicrous situations), and it weaves seamlessly between those three. Plus she’s half his size yet can and does beat him up with literally one finger, and then there’s the angst of he having killed her, feeling really guilty about it, and then bringing her back.

Please give me either missing scenes from the road trip (if you can work in a divergence, that’s great - for example, I like Salim, but if you want to have him boot Sweeney and Laura to the curb and go off on his own, or Sweeney to boost his taxi before Salim catches them, or whatever else to have those two alone, go for it!), or a S1 divergence (instead of going to Ostara, they go where? to see whom? about getting Laura resurrected) or something about these two post-S1/during-S2:

-Laura discovers (how? you decide!) that Sweeney gave her back the coin after their accident – whatever happens next, some punching may be involved.

-Wednesday’s big war finally comes, and “don’t you dare die on me, you asshole” is a line either Sweeney or Laura (or both) might say to each other.

-Laura asked “What does Wednesday have to lose?” and the answer is…? (Yes, give me that sweet poetic justice. One possibility, though not remotely the only one, but as of S2E3 Laura is technically a god-killer...)

-On a similar note, Wednesday told that luckless cop that Sweeney had been against the big gods’ war from the start, and while Wednesday lies, Sweeney definitely seems to be participating out of a sense of obligation and lingering guilt over the war he ran from long ago, rather than lust for a good fight or even a dominant death wish. What if he decided to hell with Grimnir and his war and his having Sweeney kill random people? I’m guessing Sweeney too drank three glasses of mead so he can’t back out without dire consequence - but he does have a fierce, dead woman in his corner.

-They go to some as-yet-unnamed old god (feel free to bring in whatever mythology you want) in order to bring Laura back to life. Between Sweeney’s mouth and temper, and Laura’s mouth and temper, it doesn’t go well. Now one or both of them are in big magical trouble with a pissed-off deity and have to get themselves/each other out of it.

-Things happen and Laura finds herself in the position to throw Sweeney under the bus but also help/save him, and while he knows it’s only karma, he can still be pissed about it - how do they navigate this?

-Laura gets fully alive again, but traces of her (un)dead state remain – what are they, how does she cope, what price did she/he/they have to pay for her resurrection, and how does their relationship change? I’d especially be curious how it would work if they’re already a sorta-maybe-item and *then* she’s alive again and it’s weird in a new way.

-For reasons I’ll leave up to you, Sweeney and Laura have to stay put in a single place for a while and end up essentially cohabiting, regardless of what their relationship is at that point. Take “cohabiting” as literally or as creatively as you want -- in any case, I’m sure it will be marvelously disastrous and amazing.

-Slight or major AU from the opening of “The Ways of the Dead”: Laura has hitchhiked with Sweeney instead of going off in a huff with Wednesday, or she otherwise gets to New Orleans sooner, and she and Sweeney tear up the town together. Gimme bar fights, carnival shenanigans, backstage craziness with the Christian rock band (Sweeney seems to have a backstage pass on a lanyard around his neck when Laura finds him)… Maybe they even cross the paths of some loa and it doesn’t get all angsty (for what it’s worth, I think the reason the sex magic didn’t bring Laura back to life was because she couldn’t accept the truth(s) revealed during the astral-plain sex – see how she defaults straight to “this is all Wednesday’s evil plan” the morning after – not because the loa fucked them over as Sweeney said). They were actually getting along nicely in those first couple of scenes, only ribbing each other a little while still being their grouchy selves, before they got to Le Coq Noir. I wouldn’t have minded seeing some more of that.

-All the old gods hide their true appearance to an extent. A situation arises in which Laura sees Sweeney’s true, or at least old, self (I’m thinking of his surprise!poignant monologue about when he used to be a king, and the glimpse of him in full Celtic warrior mode in the S2 teaser). Or Wednesday’s war ends in victory, meaning the old gods again get belief, worship, and sacrifices. How does Laura, the ultimate skeptic even when she’s on the other side of the mirror, react? How does this new knowledge and new reality change her opinion of/attitude to Sweeney? Or to flip that around, if Sweeney were again relevant and believed-in, would that actually change his bad attitude and fix his issues (my guess is it would be complicated)?

-The power of names: for all his “dead wifeing,” there comes a time when Sweeney (has to) call her by her actual name, and that’s a tricky moment for them to navigate. Or, Mad Sweeney is almost certainly not his actual name, since true names have great magical power and so must be kept secret; Laura discovers or learns his name, from someone else or from himself; what does she do with that knowledge? Or, Sweeney gets to say “cunt” in a situation (sexual or otherwise) where, not only does Laura not peel his lips from his gums, but she finds that she can’t object, even though she knows that he knows that he’s getting away with it.

-So far in canon, it’s pretty clear that Sweeney has a lot of complicated but sincere feelings for Laura. But Laura is still pretty focused on Shadow (or rather her idealized vision of Shadow and what their relationship might yet be), whom she seems to equate with her own lost-maybe-to-be-regained life, although she’s starting to soften toward Sweeney as she realizes he’s doing things for her that are not all about getting his coin back (and her sparring match with Wednesday in “Muninn” may finally force her to accept that her relationship with Shadow died alongside her and Robbie on that road in Indiana). Tell me the story of how Laura stumbles her way to starting to feel more complex, maybe kinder or softer, really annoying for her blunt-force-trauma-personality things about Sweeney and about the notion that her dynamic with him is different from the way she tended to use men for her convenience without really letting them in in the past. Also I’m pretty sure that even if they felt the same – or sorta in the same ballpark – about each other, their relationship would still run on a lot of conflict, and I would so be here for it.

-On that note: in “Munnin” it also becomes clear that Laura has, without realizing it herself, started to rely on Sweeney. The “I trusted you” line made me think, whoa she’s too mad to catch herself doing it but this is huge for Laura, and the fact that she goes off with Wednesday (!) basically because she’s mad at Sweeney because she thinks he’s prioritizing his debt to Wednesday over her… Yeah, I would like to see that explored some more and/or to see Laura and Sweeney get to a point where they trust each other and rely on each other, and know it and accept it, however difficult the getting there and being there may be for them.

-And since I’m on the subject of Laura, you know how she’s not actually an abrasive bitch all the time to everyone? And when she is, the people on the receiving end of it sometimes richly deserve it, and anyway it’s refreshing to see a female character who doesn’t bother flirting and accommodating others for the sake of social harmony? As much as I enjoy watching her rip into people (ahem, Sweeney), I also love it when she acts differently, like her genuine interest in getting to know Salim and her joy in seeing him again in S2, or her running passive-aggressive battle of wills with Wednesday, or even her general disaffection and numbness in “Git Gone.” Her beginning to feel sympathy for Sweeney and her anger and disappointment when she feels let down by him are a part of that, and I’d love to see all that explored more. Nuance! Give me all the nuance and seeming contradictions in both Laura and Sweeney’s characters!

-My perfect AG spinoff would basically be Sweeney and Laura tooling around America, looking to get her resurrected (whether they succeed or not is up to you), stealing ever more ridiculous vehicles, arguing/fighting and having those pesky moments where vulnerability and genuineness creep in – and fucking. So yessiree I’d be down for porn, including “it’s technically necrophilia/zombiesex” porn.

-All the petty, ridiculous ways in which Sweeney’s bad luck manifests itself make me laugh (can’t help it, won’t even try), and I’m down for more variations on that theme.

-If you wanted to throw in some worldbuilding, maybe something exploring living death. Magical bargains. What kind of favor did Sweeney do for Ostara that would be worth her bringing someone back to life as repayment? What other powers might Sweeney have (he doesn’t seem on a par with someone like Wednesday and Ostara, nor is he really a god, more a mythological being/kinda-deified former-mortal)? How long can a dead wife keep going before she’s “soup”? What other superhuman abilities might dead!Laura have? Can the dead do magic? What even are the rules governing and the limits of different beings’ magical abilities?

If it helps your inspiration, you can find some of my meta and lots of tag-burbling about these two here. I have read the book though I remember it only in bits and pieces, and while I prefer the show characters and the fact that they get thrown together, you can use or riff on book material if you want. With reference to one of my DNWs, for this canon, describing Laura’s physical decay is totally fine. Also, Shadow/Laura don’t interest me except as a part of Laura’s backstory (so if your story wants to include Laura figuring out or having already figured out that pinning all her hopes on Shadow to make everything right is unrealistic, unfair, and not how it works – by all means, go for it!), and Shadow/Sweeney interest me not at all.

My one canon-specific, really strong DNW for this pairing is this: I’m not into Laura being Essie’s reincarnation/descendant or – as fanon suggests and canon hints she may be – some sort of reincarnation of Sweeney’s wife from back when he was a king in old Ireland. Reincarnation/“new love looks like old love”/“lost love found again” plots bore me, and I don’t enjoy ships that hinge on characters being somehow destined to be together. Characters having agency is my jam as much as canon divergences are. Or if your fic really needs to go there, please please please don’t dwell on the Laura-Essie-Sweeney’s-wife-of-old thing, a brief mention would be more than enough. I’m certain Laura would have neither time nor patience for the notion that Destiny Fate and All That Jazz threw her together with ginger minge, and even if it were technically true, she’d still want this relationship to work on her terms – and Sweeney obviously has a problem with Laura’s cheating, her relationship with Shadow, her personality (though he also recognizes they’re alike in many ways), and all that maps onto his anger and sadness over becoming irrelevant over time, so it’s not just about Laura. So yeah, let them be their own (grumpy, spiky, dysfunctional) people, and let Laura’s dynamic with Sweeney not be shaped solely by his past and his issues.

Cabin Pressure

Carolyn Knapp-Shappey & Arthur Shappey & Martin Crieff & Douglas Richardson

Genres: Action/adventure, Canon-style plot, Humor, Slice of life

I just want more canon-y stories with their loopy humor and their weird yet loving family dynamics among the crew. Shenanigans in mid-flight or in the tedium which precedes and the tiredness which follows them. Someone smuggles (knowingly or not) an exotic animal on-board, legal, security, medical and/or slapstick chaos ensues. A mechanical, passenger- or smuggled-goods-caused problem arises and is solved during a journey. More games played on board GERTI. Playing around with a specific destination, like in many episodes, would be a plus. If it helps inspire you, my favorite episodes in terms of tone and content are: Douz, Gdansk, Johannesburg, Limerick, Ottery St. Mary, Uskerty, and Xinzhou.

For this canon, I prefer gen with maybe, if you want to go there, some Douglas/Carolyn on the side. That’s a ship I always thought had potential – they understand each other very well and trust each other... some of the time, but they’re both also snark-masters, tend to look down on anyone not as smart or quick-witted as they (Arthur being the sole – occasional – exception), and are really good about keeping their defenses up against other people. But I requested the gen group, and I definitely want the gen group – please don’t feel pressed to write the ship, that’s just a wild suggestion I threw out there.

Moonlighting (TV)

David Addison/Maddie Hayes

Genres: Action/adventure, AU - canon divergence, Canon-style plot, Established relationship, Getting together, Humor, Mystery/procedural, Slice of life

I osmosed tons about this show over the years but didn’t get around to watching it myself till recently. And then I loved it much more than I thought I would! Yeah, sure, some of it’s dated, and some of it’s ropey in terms of how the characters interact ( all the casual sexism and battle of the sexes stuff are very 80s indeed), but the chemistry! the banter! the funny! the shiptease! Gimme!

I tried to come up with lots of prompts, but ended up with a list of stuff I love about the show – and would love to see in fic – with some prompts mixed in. Hope it helps! Basically, give me as much of the show’s “flavor” as you can, and I’ll be happy.

My two DNW requests for this canon would be: please ignore everything that happens post-S3 (so if you want to write Maddie/David in the aftermath of their resolving their UST, please go ahead with the canon divergence of your dreams, I bet it’ll be a million times better than canon), and please don’t have secondary characters (Agnes and Herbert, or Maddie and David’s relatives and exes) hijack the story. They can be in it, but I really do want a David/Maddie story, despite the canon sometimes sidelining them due to behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

Prompts/likes:

-all the banter, wordplay, innuendo, puns, comic repetition

-arguments – those long, explosive, funny, overlapping, always hilarious fights they have

-breaking the fourth wall – yes, please. In canon, they often seem to know they’re fictional characters but ones that exist in the real world, with studio lots and such. Do they now know they’re characters in a fanfic of fictional characters that also exist in the real world, or something even more mind-screwy?

-David calling Maddie “blondie blond” – it just makes me laugh – and Maddie calling him “Addison” when angry but “David” when worried or when shit hits the fan

-random cultural nods – off the top of my head, canon referenced Spanish poetry, objectivism, American realist drama, Dr. Seuss, Shakespeare, of course all the Hollywood tropes and genres; go high or low culture, go famous or obscure, even if I don’t know the reference, I want it! Ditto if you decide on a plot that parodies and pays homage to a cultural landmark story (The Silence of the Lambs? Much Ado about Nothing? A Hitchcock movie? Something else?), I’d love it!

-speaking of: I love the pun-tastic episode titles referencing everything under the sun

-all the canon-era detail which both takes me back and jars me with how much things have changed: people smoking in public buildings, seeing someone off at the boarding gate, dial and push-button telephones, VHS rentals, no cellphones/internet, all the 80s fashion and permed hair… Throw it in just for kicks or weave it into the plot (e.g., they’re following someone and only have a paper map and their own faulty sense of direction to help them)

-casefic – I love the silly plots (and chases! All the chases!), which often combine really gruesome outcomes or real violence with slapstick. I’d be especially tickled if you wrote a plot that starts out silly and seemingly innocent (e.g., they get “hired” by a kid who lost their homework) but ends up deadly serious, or vice versa

-I also love the flashes of really dark humor, usually provided by David snarking about plot developments, though my favorite example remains the intro to S3E1, with David assuring his sick mother that they’ll sweep the Emmys, and then they lost big time and we see a title card saying that the mom died on Emmy night. What can I say but: ROFL

-Maddie and David are really pretty terrible detectives, but they always manage to solve the mystery – or a solution falls into their laps – and I’m here for it

-Blue Moon almost never seems to take on actual paying clients – what else might David and Maddie do for much-needed cash? Bodyguards, extras on a movie, professional consultants on a movie (probably a really shlocky, C-grade production being filmed in the middle of nowhere), dance marathon, talent contest…

-all the shippiness before the UST becomes RST – in canon they slow-danced in a bar, they slept side by side on a plane, he’s snuck into her house multiple times when he was in trouble, etc. etc. etc. The sky’s the limit!

-maybe they get together in a different way than in canon and/or they have a relationship that departs from canon? Or how about if they resolve the UST as they do in canon, but then find a way to be both partners and lovers, without getting so wrapped up in what they each think the other one should be that they spoil everything? Basically, could they be mature enough to have a relationship that works for them both, or be friends with benefits, or hell even break up but remain each other’s most important person (and maybe still have sex occasionally)?

-tropes – the canon plays with so many tropes, you could too! Some suggestions: there’s only one bed, undercover as lovers/married/client and bodyguard, waking up married, any variation on Lady and the Tramp you can think of (including David having to pretend he’s a class act while Maddie has to play the slob, for a case or because of a situation with their families or…), they get zapped by a mad scientist they’re surveilling and swap bodies, etc.

-road trip! Oh the possibilities...

-playing Twenty Questions or another game during a boring stakeout, and personal revelations come spilling out

-Maddie’s experience as a model proves key to cracking a case, whether you want to make the whole story a riff on the world of fashion (The Devil Wears Prada parody, anyone?) or use that as a surprise plot point

-they get tangled up (again) in international espionage and go on a globe-trotting adventure, either chasing a MacGuffin or being chased – basically, get them out of Los Angeles and their relative comfort zone, and send them Indiana Jones-ing all over the world

-the show often makes 80s-typical mean jokes about Russia and the Cold War – what if a case took Maddie and David to the Soviet Union in its last years? Give me all the culture clashes, David being obnoxious and Maddie trying to be diplomatic, all the vodka, chases down frozen streets and over the frozen Neva River, dodging the KGB, sneaking around behind the scenes at the Bolshoi or Kirov Ballet and winding up on stage…

-when they visit a “rough” dive bar in S1, there’s a whole scene of David teasing Maddie to show tough-girl attitude, and she quips that she can’t wait till he has to accompany her to a high-society event. Um, yes please!

-they attempt to date like a regular couple, and stuff keeps getting in the way – whether they go to the opera/ballet and a fancy restaurant, or a basketball game and out for beers, or they try a quiet dinner and a movie at home (or all of the above!), canon-like complications keep interrupting. But then again, the ridiculous way they work is what brought them together in the first place. Bonus points if the fish-out-of-water partner ends up getting into the other one’s date-activity of choice, while snarking all the way.

-David has been to Maddie’s house multiple times – including to sleep over, both platonically and not – and they’ve both crashed at the office, but what little we see of David’s place, it seems to be a bachelor pad/hovel with a large yet mysteriously unfurnished living room. Maddie visits David/comes to spend the night/hides out with him from villains, and shenanigans ensue.

-canon often resolves the clash between David’s opportunism, happy-go-luckiness, and cockiness, and Maddie’s gentle idealism, worrywartness, and romanticism, by having David “win.” That can be funny, but what if the plot gave Maddie the right a bit more?

-I’m honestly not that into smut for this pairing - a fade to black, something implied, something referenced, innuendo, maybe brief flashes (heh) of what the characters think about/imagine/remember work much better with the canon’s overall tone, I think.

Likes:

I love pre-canon, canon, post-canon, canon-divergent, and missing-scene stories. I love character-driven and plot-driven stories equally, and I love fics which mix humor and angst/serious business when appropriate for the canon.

I love stories about characters at work and play, group dynamics, family dynamics (including constructed families), professional partnerships, friendships, alliances, rivalries, intimate couples (new lovers/first times as well as long-term/established couples), UST-ridden couples who are not just UST-ridden but connected in other ways too, etc.

I love irony, snark, humor as well as angst arising from the characters rather than the plot crowbaring it in, linear, non-linear, and 5+1 stories, hopeful endings, happy endings, bittersweet endings, worldbuilding, spiky characters who keep their jagged edges and spikiness in adversity as well as when their lives are going well, square-peg-in-round-hole characters, characters who are their own worst enemies as well as those who can get over themselves when the occasion calls for it, characters with conflicting values which may or may not be reconciled/resolved, characters who treat each other with respect and as equals even if they hate/annoy/can’t stand/love to dislike each other.

I especially love workplace stories (this can mean anything from an actual workplace/casefic/procedural setting to anything that revolves around the canon world in which the characters live) in which the characters are competent and dedicated to the job, and while they may not be exactly friends and they may well irritate one another, they still manage to rub along to get the job done and maybe even grow to care about one another (much to their surprise and sometimes reluctance/discomfort). Or, if they can’t get along, show me why not and what’s preventing them from finding common ground.

In terms of ship dynamics, I love (where it fits the characters) banter, competitiveness or antagonism shading into attraction (this tension need not be resolved), oh-god-why-did-it-have-to-be-you-what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this, bickering yet loving couples, faithfulness, characters who are serious about their romantic interests, characters who think they are much better at flirtation than they actually are, characters forced to work together only to prove much more compatible than they initially assumed, fics which mix an exploration of characters’ professional and everyday lives with shipping. A dynamic I cannot resist is shipping a couple who are incompatible in some important way (they are ideological enemies, cop and criminal, spies from opposite sides, one betrayed the other or they betrayed each other), and while they love and want each other they’re also not willing to change sides or surrender/compromise their identity for the other’s benefit, and how they might (or not) make their relationship work anyway.

I don’t have any very specific likes for smut, other than smut fitting the characters – show me how their canon dynamics spill over into the bedroom (or other place of congress). I also like sexual scenarios that subvert expectations a little and surprise the characters themselves (e.g., the person who’s usually quiet or more passive taking charge, the more aggressive person goes with it possibly snarking or commenting on it as long as they can). And I like sexual scenarios that contain an element of competition, antagonism, oh-god-this-is-a-bad-idea-but-we’re-going-for-it-hammer-and-tongs, not wanting to admit feelings or show vulnerability except oops it happens anyway, whether the characters acknowledge it or not, or just people getting way more into it or being more affected by it than they thought they would. When it fits the characters and their canon dynamic, you also can’t go wrong with we-both-wanted-this-for-forever-and-now-we-both-know-it-so-here-we-go-diving-in-headfirst. For het and/or slash, oral, vaginal, anal incl. pegging, manual (ifyouknowwhatImean) – it’s all good. You can go as veiled or as explicit as you like, but please avoid excessive medical jargon – I don’t find a lot of mention of “penis” or “clit” sexy.

DNWs:

MPREG, A/B/O, knotting, D/s, kinks, incest, underage, genderswap/genderbent characters, xeno, non-/dub-con, torture and abuse (this and non-/dub-con can be mentioned if the story needs it, but please don’t dwell on it in loving detail or subject any of my requested characters to it), dwelling on bodily fluids (mentions of gore/blood and come are fine), toilet humor, character bashing, issuefic, gender/sexuality/race/ethnicity/religion/ability/identity headcanons, unrequested ships, soulmates and soul marks, major character death (unless it’s canon), serious illness or injury, pregnancy and children, holiday or wedding setting/theme, secondary characters shipping the main pair like it’s their job, reference to RL current events, 1st/2nd person POV, AUs which have nothing to do with canonf

#dear author letter #fandom 5k fic exchange

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xfilesnews · 8 years ago

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FanWorks Wednesdays - Vickie Moseley

Gather round kids, we’re going to tell you a story from the X-Files Fandom days of old. For the “old timers” like me, join in and smile at the remembrances of EMXC, Gossamer, and the old alt.tv newsgroups. This week’s author was there for all of it. Vickie Moseley and her stories were a staple in the fandom for years. Her fantastic body of work will keep you occupied for ages, with 252 credits to her name on Gossamer alone. Vickie also contributed to the “Virtual Seasons” project that spun off to continue the stories of Mulder and Scully in a different direction when Season 8 took to the TV airwaves. If you’ve never explored their seasons, bookmark that page for when you’ve finished reading this interview and then dive in.

If you like family fic, “Flight Into Egypt” is a long series I revisit frequently when I need to forget that Mulder and Scully didn’t get to raise their son. It soothes that pain quite nicely. Another favorite series is “By Her Side” which is told through Billy Scully Jr.’s eyes. Vickie does a wonderful job looking at Big Brother Bill as something other than a jerk and fandom’s favorite punching bag. In “Joy and Sorrow,” Maggie Scully guides us through the moments of Mulder’s rebirth in “Dead Alive.” It’s touching and sweet and will have you wishing they would have given us more screen time with Mom Scully in Season 8.

I could go on and on with recs but I’ll cut to the chase and get to the interview. We talked with Vickie about writing, inspiration, fandom, and of course The X-Files.

How long have you been a Phile?

I stumbled onto the fandom in March 1995. I'd been a fan of the show since it first aired (actually, I was a fan once I read the TV Guide Fall Preview issue for Fall 1993 and saw the small blurb about the 'new science fiction show about aliens'). When my husband 'gave' me the internet for my birthday I immediately typed 'X-Files' into the yahoo search engine and after some sites dedicated to the actors and character bios, the old Rutgers Fan Fiction site came up. From there, I was hooked.

What was your first episode?

The Pilot. I saw every episode as it aired up to Season 8. I watched “Within” and couldn't stand the changes so I resorted to reading about the episodes on Haven until David Duchovny reappeared. I am very much a Mulderist. I have only watched “Trust No 1” and “The Truth” from Season 9.

How long have you been writing fic?

September 1995 was my first posting -- “Aftermath.” You can read it, warts and all. I was attempting to write a fill in the blank for the summer after the season 2 finale “Anasazi.” Within a week of posting the story became 'alt.universe' because Chris Carter went in a totally different direction than I had taken.

What inspired you to start writing?

Guilt. Back then we were a small community. People were always begging for more stories (myself included) and since there weren't that many writers, everyone was encouraged to 'give back' by writing stories of their own. I got a lot of encouragement from the early writers and the brave souls who had fan fic sites. Later, with the Ohio State archives (this archive was the birth of what became Gossamer, check here for more information ) and the .alt.x-files.fanfiction newsgroup and EMXC (E-Mail X Creative) it was almost a requirement that if you wanted more stories, you better write some of them.

Who is your favorite XF character to write?

My favorite character to write is Scully. I can get in her head. I can hear her voice as clear as a bell as I'm writing her. She's not my favorite character, however. I think I see too much of myself. All the flaws and dark places that I would like to change in myself, I transpose onto Scully. Sometimes I just want to shake her!

Are there any XF characters you dislike or find too difficult to write?

Krycek was always a problem to write, even in the Virtual Seasons. And I can't write Doggett. I've tried but my annoyance with the character always shines through. Same is true of Diana Fowley. I once vowed to kill her off in a story and damned if she didn't slip the noose and come out alive. I was very happy Carter did the deed for me.

Is there a story you're most proud of or that's a favorite?

“Out of the Cold” is probably my favorite of the stories that I wrote solo. But the most fun was writing with a partner. I've had such wonderful partners and group writing exercises. I am also very proud of the work we did on the Virtual Season.

With so many archives to choose from these days, where is the best place to find your work?

Gossamer has almost all of my stuff and my own website has it too. Many thanks to Mimic for giving me a home: http://vickiemoseley.mimicsmusings.com/

You've been well known in the fandom for a long time, do you still write for XF or have your skills been focused elsewhere?

Lately, I've been involved in politics to the exclusion of other activities. I worked on a local race last fall and I've been advocating for healthcare since January. I'm also doing work on a grant project and I keep an eye on our legislature so all of that keeps me away from fan fiction.

If you do still write XF fic, where does your inspiration come from after many years? If you're not, is there anything in particular that caused you to stop writing XF fic?

I haven't written much in the past few years. I could chalk it up to writer's block but it feels like more than that. I still love the fandom and I reread a lot of my favorites. I guess I was hoping for a real revival. I was excited by the prospect of a Season 10 with the original cast, but once it aired I found I really only liked two of the episodes and the way the relationship was presented between Mulder and Scully just left so very little room to play. It didn't mimic real life, it was sadder than real life. There seemed no way to 'rescue' them and that's the type of story I prefer to write. I'm not big on 'angst for angst sake' and it almost seemed on overdrive in S10, especially the season opener and finale. So I haven't been able to come up with anything by myself. I did help a little with the last Virtual Season story “Aveum” that was posted recently. Not to spoil too much, the story contains an infant and at the time it was being written I was helping my daughter and her new baby so it was almost too easy to write.

Have you written your own original characters outside of fandom?

Only as far as drawing up a few characters. One day I'll do something with them . . . maybe.

Anything you’d like to share about your writing process?

I tend to write the stories that play out in my mind. Most of the time I just start typing and 'the characters' take over and write the story. There have been times I read what I've written and think “wow, where did that come from?” But I write as therapy. I used to joke that fan fiction is much cheaper than Zoloft or a therapist. It was a way to escape after a particularly painful episode in my life and after it got me over the hump, I just kept going.

What do you find most difficult about writing?

Making it happen when it's not there. When it's there ('it' being the spark, the life force, whatever you want to call it -- the Muse), when the story is inside me sometimes I can't get to the computer fast enough, I can't type it fast enough (as my beta readers will attest). But when I sit and stare at a blank screen, even when I have an idea floating around in my head and it just won't happen -- then it just hurts.

Do you have a favorite author? (fanfic or published!)

My favorite authors published are Ray Bradbury, Issac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke (hardcore sci-fi -- no dragons, no elves).

My favorite fan fic writers are too numerous to mention (go to the Authors Index at Gossamer and start with A). I love reading Dawn's “Blood Ties” series -- I read it every year at least once. I read Susan Proto's “Life Cycles” over and over again. I've read all of MalibuSunet's stories a dozen times. Same is true of Suzanne Bickerstaff's “The Magician” (the ONLY fantasy I'll admit to reading). Dee_Ayy's stories are my Mulder fix, especially “Short of Breath.” I'm right now rereading Kronos' “The Abyss Looks Back.” All of her stories just draw me in and won't let go. I'm still mourning that she never finished “Ascent into Hell.”

Is there any advice you'd give to aspiring writers?

They say “write every day” and I would imagine that's good advice, but I would say simply “write.” Write even if you don't know where the story is going, or if you just have an idea for a character or just the setting or even just an outline of a plot. My youngest son is going to college for game design but all his life he's had ideas for games and stories. He tells me his stories in the car and I try to get him to write them down. My second to the youngest son actually has written a few stories -- now I just want him to finish them and get them published.

Anything else you'd like to share that I missed?

I have met so many dear friends in this fandom, particularly through fan fiction, writers and those who read. I love them all. I would like to thank everyone I partnered with: Susan Proto, Donna Honeycutt, Sally Bahnsen, Summer, Michelle, Starfleetofficer1, Martin, Theresa Jahn, Suzanne Bickerstaff, dtg, all the VS producers -- if I forget anyone chalk it up to my advanced years. Writing with someone is by far the most fun anyone could have. I used to joke that it was like playing 'Barbie and Ken' in the backyard with my cousins.

Also, I would like to thank all the people over the years who have read my stories and sent me feedback. You have no idea how much those emails brightened my day! It is such a rush to know that someone somewhere (some pretty far away, even) read something I wrote and liked it enough to send me a note. The nearly instant gratification that comes with feedback is one of the reasons I wrote so much. I just loved hearing from people.

I've had other shows I loved, Star Trek (original and Next Gen), Battlestar Gallactica, Probe (if anyone remembers that one) but X-Files was the first time I got so engaged I wanted to be part of it. From that perspective, fanfiction kept the series alive for me and brought me into a wonderful community. Oh, there have been some all out wars (shipper v. noromos, Mulder v. Doggett, original pairings v. next gen, etc) but overall in fan fiction there really is room for everyone. If you like slash stories, or stories that center around Skinner or even stories around Kim, his assistant, fan fiction is the place. When Melissa Scully was killed off in the series, she lived on in fan fiction. When baby William was given up for adoption, he was reunited with his biological parents many times over in fan fiction. Some of the stories are so well done that you will swear you saw the episode (what season did Mulder's brother Grey show up? <wink>) If you have never picked up a fanfic and read it, I encourage you to do so now. If you haven't read anything for a while, go to Gossamer and find something. It will be like the series never ended.

#XFN #fanfiction #fanfic #XFiles #The X-Files

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