#getting back to earth was always anne's end goal and she was always shown to miss a lot more about it than just her family

[twigstarpikachutroll22]

it seems like some people in the owl house fandom still need to hear this

Guys.

The Owl House is not going to end with Luz leaving the Boiling Isles behind and living in the human realm.

Luz has established so much of an actual whole life in the Boiling Isles, none of which can be easily left behind.

Take her relationship with Amity. Remember what Luz said to Amity when first asking to date her? She said "I don't know what my future's going to look like, but it would be so cool if you were in it." Does that seem like it would remotely make sense, after that, for it to just...end? With the two possibly never seeing each other again?

Her learning to be a witch too. It's such a big part of the show, the amount of time that’s been dedicating to her wanting to learn magic, to her finding the glyphs and teaching herself how to use them, developing and honing her skills with them, and that she’s fully enrolled in a school for magic too. It honestly feels very much like a whole life-ambitions thing. It would make no sense for her to just go back to a world where none of the skills she's spent so much time and effort learning can be used and just. Stay there.

The Owl House never felt like it was trying to send any anti-escapism message or anything like that. Luz hasn't treated the Isles like they're just a way to live out her fantasies and escape reality for a long, long time. Arguably since the beginning, even. She said in the first episode that it wasn't the PG fantasy world she'd always dreamed of. And the fact that her life on the Boiling Isles isn't some escapist fantasy has only gotten more and more clear over time, it's been pointed out by plenty of folks in this fandom before.

Honestly, everything Luz has gone through on the Boiling Isles and everything she's been doing there feels like putting down roots and charting out a whole life course there. And The Owl House overall has always been very much about making one's own decisions, deciding one's own future. There've been long text post essays on that. That's what Luz has been doing this whole time, and she's been doing it within the context of the Boiling Isles. It includes her mom, but it also includes everycreature she's come to know and love in the demon realm and everything she's been learning to do there, none of which would be applicable back on Earth.

Not to mention her mom is literally the ONLY thing she’s ever expressed wanting to go back to in the human realm, and we’ve known for a long time she was bullied and ostracized there, and in Thanks To Them Camilla’s nightmare flashbacks and some of Luz’s video diary entries only drove it in even further just how out of place she always was in the human realm. She’s more accepted on the Boiling Isles by now than she EVER was in the human realm. On her mom’s doorstep after the events of King’s Tide, she said “I’m back.” She didn’t say “I’m home.” When she did say “Yeah. I’m home.” after Camilla said she was glad Luz was home, I don’t think it could’ve been much clearer in her voice or her face (which the screen took a moment to fully focus on) that those words didn’t feel true to her.

When Luz DID decide in Thanks To Them that the best course of action for her would be to stay in the human realm, this was framed as being entirely wrong. Partly because it was out of a false belief that she would be of no help and only made people’s lives worse, and partly because it was very much established how she did not belong in the human realm. Camilla clearly knew Luz staying in the human realm wouldn’t be right as soon as she heard Luz say this. Her immediate and wholehearted response was “No, no way in heck am I letting you do that, don’t you even say that. You’re going back there, and now that I’ve seen what you’re up against, you’re taking me WITH you.”

Nothing about The Owl House feels like it’s leading into Luz saying goodbye to the demon realm and going back to living the rest of her life in the human realm. It would make no sense for the show to end like that, and everything about the show feels deliberately built up in a direction that goes completely against ending like that.

So yeah. Anycreature who’s been worrying about this, you can relax.

[mangora]

Wait here’s my TMA/TD fear-assignment master post (gen 1-3 only sorry I couldn’t think of any strong ones for gen 4):

Gen 1:

Gwen: Buried (her fear of being buried alive, yes, but also I think it’d be fun bc you know she looks like a corpse)

Courtney: Eye (I love archivist Courtney. Also the fact she needs knowledge and access to knowledge through things like the cheating incident and her PDA, but it destroys her...mwah, Jon shit)

Duncan: Desolation (he destroys everything he touches for his own satisfaction. His relationships, private property, exc.)

Cody: Lonely (no matter how many people he talks to or matches together he’s always single and alone, and his social awkwardness wards people off)

Owen: Vast, maybe Web (his fear of flying and also being voted out quickly and his vying for attention are Vast 100% but also the fact Chris used him as a spy in TDA speaks to web)

Noah: Web (his unwillingness to be manipulated by Alejandro or forced to participate by other players is very webby)

Heather: Web or Hunt (she’s manipulative and almost always gets what she wants, but also her preying on others and being adamant about her goals is Hunt shit so idk)

Lindsay: Flesh (her fear of being not beautiful? Flesh 100%)

Beth: Lonely (she’s always trying to be nice or be like others but never gets the attention she wants from it)

Trent: Stranger (his fear of mines, the way everyone finds his number nine compulsion so uncanny, the way he’s put off when Gwen starts acting different in TDA? Yea that’s the stranger. I could definitely see a statement where he talks about always seeing mimes mimicking him and he begins to mimic others and can’t stop)

Katie and Sadie: Stranger (the parallels with Breekon and Hope kill me. They act and look so uncannily alike. Could be interesting if one of them started mimicking the other too and the other is disturbed)

Izzy: Spiral (shes fucking wild)

Eva: Slaughter (full of rage)

Bridgette: Hunt (her fear of being in the woods and her connection with animals is all Huntcore)

Geoff: Web or Lonely (seeing as he’s such a party dude, I could see him being terrified of what it’s like to not be surrounded with people, but also the way he becomes more manipulative in TDA is kinda web-ish)

Leshawna: I honestly dunno. I wanna say Slaughter because of her attitude towards Heather, but also her realist view reminds me of a Spiral victim like Helen, and her actions in TDA are reminiscent of a Web avatar. I’m gonna say Slaughter is the strongest.

Harold: Dark (fear of being sneaked up on by ninjas first off, but also considering how much he knows about everything, I think being in the dark would terrify him)

DJ: Hunt (his animal curse in WT but it manifests to be like way worse)

Ezekiel: Corruption or Hunt (him going feral and becoming a monster is classic corruption but his determination to win through any means necessary is very Hunt)

Tyler: Lonely (his need to impress everyone with his sports stunts and his constant attempts to get Lindsay to remember him? Yea lonely)

Justin: Flesh (his fear of being ugly and the importance he puts in his looks are classic Flesh behavior)

Alejandro: Flesh (he’s manipulative like a Web avatar, but also a lot of his charm comes from his looks, and his fear of putting gross food in his body is very Fleshy)

Sierra: Eye (she knows everything about everyone dude)

Gen 2:

Zoey: Lonely (she grew up ostracized in a small town and has a hard time making the friends she longs for, she’s definitely tied to the Lonely)

Cameron: Eye (once again, knows everything, and wants to experience everything. I could see him as Courtney’s runner-up or assistant, and marked by the buried because I can imagine his bubble would make him scared of being trapped again)

Mike: Web (he’s afraid of doing bad things against his will)

Mal: Slaughter (he just wants to fuck shit up and hurt people)

Vito: Flesh (also puts a lot of importance in his looks)

Manitoba: Hunt (explorer man)

Svetlana: Flesh (since she puts so much time and love into gymnastics, I think an incident involving injury would freak her tf out)

Chester: End (he’s old and wants to make the most of that)

Brick: Dark (he’s afraid of being lost without direction, as well as the literal dark)

Jo: Hunt (shes focused on winning almost exclusively)

Dawn: Extinction (she’s afraid of the earth and creatures on it withering away)

Anne Maria: Lonely (she puts so much emphasis on being seen and loved and gets volatile when people challenge that)

Scott: Web (he’s a master of scheming, what more should I say)

B: Eye (he’s afraid of others knowing about him and can’t give things up easily, but will use his knowledge to help when needed)

Staci: Stranger (she makes up so many lies for no gain besides attention and upsetting people. She’s like a car wreck you can’t look away from)

Dakota: Corruption (marked by the lonely because she needs attention to function, but I think her becoming dakotazoid and the terror she had getting there points to corruption. Also allegory of Hollywood destroying her blah blah blah)

Sam: Desolation (his self worth is put into material objects like video games and the destruction of them is shown to ruin him)

Lightning: Hunt (I know his body image leans into Flesh but his determination to win and arrogance are like that of a natural predator)

Gen 3:

Shawn: Extinction (I think he’s marked by corruption too because of his fear of zombies corrupting him, but the mass tragedy angle and doomsday prepping is very extinction-like)

Jasmine: Buried (claustrophobia, yea, but also her fear of being trapped by her feelings for Shawn point to buried. This ones kinda loose though, I could see her connected to the web or hunt too)

Sky: Flesh (similar to Svetlana, I think an injury as a gymnast would destroy her, also a big part of flesh is pride, and losing her pride and winning streak freaks Sky out)

Dave: Corruption (his germaphobia as well as his insistence on being with or ‘infecting’ Sky...yea that’s the corruption)

Scarlett: Eye (she knows a lot and uses it to watch and manipulate others)

Max: Web (he’s very methodical, if not smart, in his scheming, and him being outwitted by Scarlett freaked him tf out)

Ella: Lonely (I mainly say this for her fear of being hated by Sugar. I could also see Buried bc shes upset about Chris trapping her by revoking her ability to sing)

Leonard: Spiral (could also lean into Stranger, but his ability to convince so many people to believe in something that doesn’t exist purely with his own belief in magic is very Spirally, plus his frustration with Dave is much like Micheal’s with Jon when he could see through his bullshit, and him losing his ability to cast physical magic is very much like a Spiral victim’s descent back into humanity)

Beardo: Dark (put simply, we don’t know much about him, and he disguises any recognizable trait with sounds. Could also be Stranger)

Sugar: Hunt (fear of losing, exc. also the way she preys on others weaknesses for her own game, pun intended? Yea)

Sammy (I will not call her Samey in this house): Lonely (Amy traps her in a world where no one will talk to her or validate her ideas, it’s pretty sad. Could also see her touched by the Eye during her time impersonating Amy)

Amy: Web (she’s great at manipulating others into liking her)

Topher: Stranger (him trying to replace Chris and disillusion others to it is a pretty not-them move)

Rodney: Lonely (the fact that he’s constantly misunderstood and can’t connect with others because of it. Sad)

Feel free to add your own input! I’m not 100% sure on quite a few of these and some of the traits of the fears overlap (Stranger and Web, Hunt and Slaughter, exc.) so uh beans

[hihoneyimdead]

a dissection of anime nathaniel hawthorne in relation to the scarlet letter

In Which I’m Bored and Want to Talk About Anime Nathaniel Hawthorne and Why He’s More Interesting Than the Fandom Wants to Admit, and Also About Arthur Dimmesdale And Shit

This is going to be long. Fuck. 

(spoilers through the manga, which i have not read all the way through, so take everything i say with a grain of salt. same goes for the scarlet letter, which i haven’t read in nearly four years. ripperoni bro)

Above is the topic of today’s procrastination, Anime Nathaniel Hawthorne from Bungo Stray Dogs. He is a member of an American organization called the Guild, he’s a preacher, and he has a superpower/ability called The Scarlet Letter that allows him to manipulate his own blood into scripture that can either harm or defend via spears and shit and then shields and shit. 

He’s also a simp for Anime Margaret Mitchell, but I’ll be getting into that in a moment. 

Anyway, here’s a better picture of our lovely reverend, this time with his ability:

Funny, right? But that’s what I’m gonna talk about today simply because I’m bored and I should be writing but I’m currently not and I really have a soft spot for this bitch of a preacher. Hawthorne here has a lot more to his character than a lot of people give him credit for, which makes sense because he is a relatively-minor character and all he’s been doing recently is getting cucked by Anime Fyodor Dostoevsky, and while he may currently be Comrade Assassin, he’s still a complex character if you look past what our favorite Russian pimp has been up to. 

So a bit more about Hawthorne before I crack open my copy of his most famous book:

He is a preacher, not a priest, as shown by his choice in clothing. Priests don’t wear that, take it from a former Catholic. His clothes resemble the robes worn by classic Puritan preachers (such as the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, but we’ll get to him in a minute.) Whether that was on purpose or not I don’t know, but I’m aiming for a yes because Margaret Mitchell, his partner, wears a Southern belle-style outfit that Scarlett O’Hara (the main character of Mitchell’s most famous work, Gone With the Wind) wears, and John Steinbeck wears clothes reminiscent of Tom Joad (the main character of Steinbeck’s most famous work, The Grapes of Wrath.) It’s kind of a thing with the Guild. Edgar Allan Poe wears clothes that a goth around the time of Poe’s life would’ve worn. Same goes for Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, and H. P. Lovecraft. Meanwhile characters such as Lucy Maud Montgomery, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Herman Melville wear clothes that their characters (Anne from Anne of Green Gables, Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, and whoever the fuck was in Moby Dick, respectively.) Hawthorne fits in with that last set of characters, which is funny considering the real life Hawthorne’s works.

In reality, Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American author in the early-to-mid-1800s who wrote many short stories, novels, and poems and shit, usually Romantic in nature. He started off, though, as a big member of the Transcendentalist movement. Transcendentalism, if you don’t know, is kind of like the 1800s equivalent of hippies. They were pretty anti-government and anti-religion, usually specifically anti-Christianity. These institutions corrupted the basis of mankind. Hawthorne himself helped form a utopian commune up in New England (it didn’t last long, don’t worry.) As he grew older, he grew out of that kind of writing and lifestyle and into the works we know him for today, such as his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. It, like many of his other works, contains allusions to religion and exists as a sort of criticism on it. 

The Scarlet Letter is set in the middle of the 1600s in Puritan New England. The Puritans were known for being Super Christian. They did not pass the vibe check. The main character is Hester Prynne, a young woman convicted of adultery with an unknown father. After being “released” from prison after the birth of her daughter, Pearl, Hester is allowed to move around outside of prison. But to signify her “evilness”, she must have a red letter ‘A’ on the front of her dress at all times (the eponymous and extremely metaphoric scarlet letter.) Besides Hester and Peal, main characters include Roger Chillingsworth, a doctor and Hester’s ex-husband from England who has vowed to track down the father and have him punished as well, and the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, who is sick All of the Time For No Apparent reason. By the end of the novel it’s revealed that Dimmesdale’s illness is actually a manifestation of his guilt because he was Pearl’s father despite him being a reverend and all and Hester being an unmarried woman. He ends up dying in the end after professing his guilt and showing the town the red letter ‘A’ that God supposedly engraved upon the skin on his chest. 

So let’s start here with a brief summary of Dimmesdale’s actions in the book as recalled by someone who hasn’t read it in four years but who is looking at the Wikipedia article right now. 

We first meet him when he and another minister, John Wilson, question Hester as to who the father of her child was. She doesn’t answer. The next time we see him in person is when Hester goes to the governor to ask if she can keep Pearl. She pleads with Dimmesdale and Wilson (who is there too for some reason), and he manages to persuade the governor to let her keep her child. At some point soon after, his health really begins to decline, and Chillingsworth moves in as a physician. Chillingsworth discovers a weird symbol of guilt on Dimmesdale’s chest while the poor guy sleeps after suspecting that the preacher’s illness is a manifestation of an unknown guilt. Dimmesdale, filled with guilt, goes to the town square in the middle of the night one day and screams his guilt to the heavens, but he can’t make himself do it during the day. Hester, shocked by the poor guy’s whole deal, decides to break her vow of silence. She calls Dimmesdale outside of town and tells him that they’re going to move to Europe together and start a new life with Pearl. He agrees and seems reinvigorated. They go back to town, and all’s fine until he gives a really good sermon on Election Day. After that, he professes his guilt and dies in Hester’s arms. People there claim to see a “stigma” in the shape of a letter ‘A’ on his chest, though others say there’s nothing there. 

Dimmesdale is a man consumed by his guilt. He physically and mentally declines because of his guilt and his unwillingness to expose himself for the sinner he really is, though, through it all, he supports Hester and Pearl as best he can considering his station as the town minister. He’s supposed to be the beacon of mortality, the person everyone should look up to and respect and learn from. And here he is, an adulterer, and a liar. And when he finally grows past his guilt and decides to let it out in favor of leaving and starting life anew, he dies, consumed, supposedly, by the wrath of God. He “falls” as a sinner, struck down by the very flames of Hell themselves. Or, more likely, a regular heart attack. He died of shock, poor guy. 

Compare that to Anime Nathaniel Hawthorne. He starts out as a member of a secret association who, according to its leader, Fitzgerald, doesn’t do good, but does what needs to be done. That’s probably why Hawthorne joined it in the first place. While his main goal has always been eradicating sinners from the face of the Earth, he probably started out as a regular old minister. Eradicating doesn’t always mean killing, and this is shown as he only attacks those who threaten his work, his partner (wink), and himself. This changes after the woman he loves throws herself in the way of an attack and nearly gets herself killed saving him. In canon, she’s still in a coma. In canon, he gave himself completely into sin because of his guilt and love for her. And that’s where the similarities between Hawthorne and Dimmesdale really start.

Let’s start with the obvious guilt complex. This goes along with what I believe Dostoevsky’s ability, Crime and Punishment, does. I believe it feeds off of an individual’s guilt, manipulating it and their mind in the process. We see this with Karma, a young man Dostoevsky kills. Karma, in his last moments, goes through all he went wrong with in his life (you know, or as much as a manga page or two can have) and dies knowing that he’ll never achieve his dream. That’s a more extreme example, I think, and not one I should really be using as evidence for anything considering it’s the only example of this really happening. Every other person that Dostoevsky kills with his ability just drops dead without the audience seeing into their thoughts. He’s got an insta-kill ability, but my theory builds off the idea that he can control living or dying. Hawthorne came to Dostoevsky to work for Dostoevsky’s organization, the Rats in the House of the Dead, in exchange for Mitchell getting “revived”. He might look cool on the outside, but he left the Guild, his friends, because Mitchell got hurt. He loves her, and he says as much in the manga (the anime didn’t say so, but left it unsaid and obvious to those looking.) The next time we see Hawthorne, he’s a mindless assassin who really only remembers Mitchell from his past, and the assassin who nearly killed her. His guilt twisted him into someone completely different from how he was before, even looking physically leaner and as different a brief appearance in a manga and anime can make someone look. He’s even lost his glasses, and any normal look in his eye. It’s kinda like the main character of Crime and Punishment from what I can tell, but I also haven’t read that book so take what I say on that with a gain of salt.) He’s consumed by his guilt (thanks, Fyodor.) Guilt is a big part of his character (as much of a character as he has currently, anyway.) The same can be said for Dimmesdale, who, as I’ve said before was consumed by his own guilt and sin until his death. 

I hope that Hawthorne doesn’t end up as dead as Dimmesdale did when he reunites with his supposed love interest (love interests aren’t really a thing in this series, which makes Hawthorne and Mitchell even more interesting to me.) I hope he gets a happy ending, but... that probably won’t happen unless Dostoevsky dies, which seems like an end-game thing to me. He’s a bad dude with slight plot armor. 

Anyway, past the guilt, their relationship with the respective women in their lives is another important and interesting parallel. Dimmesdale, even through Hester’s punishment, more or less treats her as he would’ve before Pearl. I believe that he did truly love her in his own pitiful way, though not as much as he loved his relationship with God, as seen by his continued guilt and shit. But it’s important to note that he seemed to admit his own love for Hester by agreeing to run away to Europe with her, and he did so in little ways throughout the story by helping her keep Pearl and by really just giving her a lighter sentence than a lot of women would’ve gotten. Puritan ministers were up there with government officials in the law (look at the witch trials, for example), so he would’ve definitely had input on her punishment. Most women would’ve been stoned or banished from the town or colony. Hester, notably, was let off relatively easy with just the emblem and the vague banishment to living in a house outside of town alone with her daughter. Hawthorne’s partner was Margaret Mitchell, and from the very beginning until the assassin skewered them, the two of them argued. Honestly, they bickered a lot like an old married couple. It was kinda cute in a weird way. Neither of them would obviously admit their feelings for each other. Both are proud people, Mitchell coming from a disgraced rich family and Hawthorne being a man of God. But his concern for her becomes evident the moment she gets stabbed clean through and impaled a dozen feet above the ground. That’s when he really gets on the offensive, and when she’s destroyed (image below), he calls her by her first name for the first, and only, time, looking completely destroyed (image also below.) He nearly manages to kill the assassin. And when he wakes up and sees that she isn’t going to wake up, he leaves those he cares about to fix his mistake of letting her get this hurt.

When we see Hawthorne next, he is willing to do anything to redeem himself for his mistake. When we meet him as an assassin for the first time, in the manga he says something along the lines of “I, for the revival of the one I love, will fulfill the contract of death”. Which is... not normal, I’ll admit. Poor guy. In the anime, he says something different that I don’t remember, but that was similar if not slightly different (again, the anime isn’t as explicit with their relationship as the manga.) Meanwhile she’s in a coma and is likely not to be revived by those Hawthorne pledged his allegiance to, but those he left behind. 

The two ministers here follow generally the same path of sin. They start out as the badass ministers they really are, men of God. Then, one way or another, they fall deeper and deeper into sin as they go. For Dimmesdale, that was boning Hester Prynne and hiding it from the town and corrupting himself with his guilt. For Hawthorne, that was ‘allowing’ his partner to ‘die’ and surrendering himself to a higher power to try and get her back, losing himself in the process. In the end, both men are shells of their former selves. Dimmesdale dies sick. Hawthorne is a brainwashed assassin. Dimmesdale’s higher power, God, is ultimately what killed him, and his devotion is what really did him in. Hawthorne is probably gonna die or get otherwise written out, I have a feeling (several villains in this show have, just look at Pushkin and Mark Twain and even Mitchell herself.) If he is, it’ll be Dostoevsky or one of his weird Russian friends doing him in or taking him out of the picture. He’ll likely never see Mitchell again and he will die due to his newfound devotion to a “god” who is willing to punish him for going to far. 

And guys, Hawthorne’s ability is literally the titular scarlet letter. What else can I say?

Honestly, I’m not sure what this post was, only that I killed a good three hours writing it and that it gave me yet again a newfound appreciation for something I used to hate. It was Anime Hawthorne, but before that it was IRL Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter. Thank you American public school system. 

[thisiswhatwereupagainst]

Little Known Brotherhood Members- FABIAN CORTEZ!

This Brotherhood spotlight series includes the Acolytes, the group of mutants who followed Magneto after the Brotherhood, and there’s no better Acolyte to start with than their founder, Fabian Cortez.

For all that I’ve posted about him on this blog so many times, I realized I don’t have a default bio/info post about just who he is and what he’s done. Or if I did, it was a long time ago. I tried to make this as short as possible but there’s like ten years of comic history between Magneto and Fabian Cortez to condense.

Little is known about the origins of Fabian Cortez, but his surname indicates a Spanish heritage, and he claims to be royalty by birth. Based on this, I headcanon him as coming from an aristocratic family in Spain.  He possessed the ability to charge the powers of other mutants. This could help them to a point, but he could do more, pushing their powers painfully past their bodies ability to handle, harming or even killing them.

He, his sister Anne Marie, and two other mutants (Chrome and Delgado) banded together to reach Magneto on Asteroid M and join his cause. However, Magneto himself had abandoned it at this point, having retired altogether from fighting for the mutant cause due to his hopelessness and despair.

Nevertheless, these four mutants stole a space shuttle from SHIELD, and as a result were pursued by SHIELD agents. They ended up in a firefight on the ‘doorstep’ of Asteroid M, alerting Magneto to their presence. He was going to send them back to Earth, but upon hearing Anne Marie’s pleas and pledge of loyalty, brought the Acolytes inside. Unfortunately he brought SHIELD in as well, and one of their agents opened fire on Anne Marie in cold blood, seemingly killing her. Fabian used this opportunity to immediately begin manipulating Magneto into violent action like his old days, teaching him the now-common anti-human term “flatscan” which he had invented.

While Magneto slept, Fabian led his team in an assault against Genoshan Magistrates at a hospital. The X-Men appeared to stop them, and Wolverine stated he knew Fabian’s scent from somewhere, though where has never been revealed. Just when the four followers seemed defeated, Magneto appeared to save them, deeming them the Acolytes (the first time this term was used for them) and stating he would not abandon them. Given that their targets were people who had enslaved mutants, Magneto felt they had done nothing wrong, and took them back to Asteroid M along with several captive X-Men. Here, Fabian treated Magneto’s wounds from Wolverine with his healing powers, and fostered Magneto’s trust in him further. Fabian also discovered via his genetic scanning ability that Moira MacTaggert had altered Magneto’s biology in order to treat his mental illness, news that Magneto did not take well given the history of experimentation on prisoners during the Holocaust. This gave Fabian further fuel to convince Magneto that everyone was against him, even those he had once considered friends, all while literally driving him insane with his powers

.Fabian manipulated Magneto into committing acts that frightened the governments of both the USA and the USSR, prompting them to take action against him. Eventually, this culminated, as Fabian had planned, with the Russians planning to fire a plasma cannon at Asteroid M while Magneto, the X-Men, and the other Acolytes were aboard. Fabian used this, triggering the cannon via remote technology as he escaped at the most opportune moment. The X-Men also escaped, but Fabian’s teammates—and sister—died with Magneto.

Fabian went on to use Magneto’s status as a martyr to build a cult in the mutant community, also called the Acolytes, who committed bloodthirsty acts in Magneto’s name believing that it was what he wanted. Fabian enjoyed great power as their leader, since he’d told them Magneto chose him with his dying breath. He also began bedeviling Quicksilver, trying to recruit him into the Acolytes to be a figurehead since he was Magneto’s son, even going so far as to infiltrate the government and reveal its secret “Project Wideawake” Sentinel Project” to Pietro in hopes of showing him how wicked humans were and get him to turn to the Acolytes side. At the same time, Fabian was also secretly a member of the Upstarts, a group of rich and bored young mutants who competed for an unknown-but-lofty prize by killing more powerful, prominent mutants for “points”—and killing Magneto had put Fabian in the lead.

Fabian lost it all, however–his power, his position, his people, his points—lost it all when Magneto returned from the grave, having been saved at the last minute by Chrome of the original Acolytes. Magneto brought with him a powerful new follower named Exodus, who used his teleporting powers to, at Magneto’s command, send Fabian far away (Exodus wished to kill him, but according to him, Magneto had ordered him to be merciful) Exodus and Magneto then took over leading the Acolytes.

Fabian would resurface during the conflict known as “Blood Ties”, in which he kidnapped Luna Maximoff, Pietro’s daughter, and brought her to Genosha for the dual purpose of using her as a symbol of resistance to stir the ex-slave mutants into civil war against the humans…and to use as a bargaining chip to make her family protect him from the wrath of Exodus and Magneto (who he did not know was in a braindead coma at this time) Alas, neither this nor the Genoshan followers he amassed could save him, and Exodus slaughtered him in the Genoshan sewers.

But even the grave couldn’t hold him. Like many Marvel characters, Fabian returned to life later with little explanation, and attempted to gain his Acolytes back from Exodus by using what seemed to be an amnesiac, de-aged Magneto (actually Magneto’s clone, Joseph) Claiming to be a changed man to Exodus and the Acolytes, Fabian lied to Joseph as he had to Magneto, gaining his trust, and tried to pit him and Exodus against one another so that they would kill each other, allowing him to take over once they were both gone. When this didn’t work out, Fabian fled, but returned at some point and was inexplicably allowed back into the ranks by Exodus. In Exodus’s service, he bedeviled Quicksilver even further, such as teaming up with Maximus the Mad to destroy the Inhumans and ruin Pietro’s life…and all the while, scheming to betray Exodus at every turn.

After Exodus was sealed away in a crypt by Black Knight, the Acolytes split into two groups, each searching for Magneto. Fabian led one group, but  upon realising how he has been using them for his own purposes, they abandoned him during a battle with the X-Men and Fabian fled. While wandering alone, he was approached by Magneto, who had tracked him down. Magneto was the newly-appointed ruler of Genosha now, but his powers had been depleted. He ordered Fabian, on pain of death if he refused, to come with him to Genosha and serve as his living battery. Not having a choice, Fabian agreed.

Knowing that Magneto would kill him as soon as he no longer needed his periodic hypercharges, Fabian began plotting treachery against his “master” once more. Despite Magneto being aware of this, he not only continued to employ Fabian, but gave him a political position on the Genoshan Cabinet. More covertly, Fabian also assisted in a rebellion against Magneto, but just as he had secured an escape from Genosha, Magneto regained his powers by use of a machine. And the first thing he did with them was execute Fabian Cortez by levitating him 50 miles above the aptly-named Carrion Cove and then slamming him back down into the ground in less than 20 seconds—head first.

He still came back one more time, however. During the event known as Necrosha, the mutant sorceress Selene temporarily resurrected millions of dead mutants. Under her control, they attacked the X-Men’s base on Utopia. Fabian was among them, and given orders to bring Magneto to her. For reasons unknown, Fabian was the only one able to resist Selene’s control and disobey her orders. Rather than take Magneto prisoner like she wanted, his goal was to find him and kill him. A goal he alas never reached, since Deadpool killed him once again by throwing Loa, a young mutant with disintegration powers, into him, ending Fabian’s life for the third and, thus far in canon, final time.

Part of the “Little Known Brotherhood Members” series on this blog! See previous and pending entries listed HERE!

ALSO, SOME BONUS STUFF:

- In addition to being leader of the Acolytes, Fabian was also a member of the Upstarts. The Upstarts were essentially a supervillain contest, most of its competitors rich-but-bored young mutants, who competed by killing powerful, prominent mutants for points in exchange for some unknown prize (they all believed it was something different). This was Fabian’s other motive for killing Magneto, and his (temporary) success put him in first place for a time.

- According to Fabian, he is royalty by birth. The particulars of this have never been revealed, however. Also, he screamed about it at someone while he (Fabian) was completely naked, so there’s that.

- He’s incredibly sexist and incredibly thirsty. He has plans for a harem and attempts to force a woman to agree to being in it. He force-kisses Psylocke. He’s just...look at this, man.

- He may even be too sexist for mind-control. When Selene resurrected him alongside many other mutants during Necrosha, he was the only one shown as able to disobey her. It was never explained why/how, so this is my best (crack) guess.

- He lied to a bird. Yes, really.

- Fabian is almost always wearing a cape. In fact, he even once had it wrapped around himself during a stealth mission, because I guess god forbid this drama queen take it off. I’ve also noticed he wraps it around himself when he’s scared or in trouble; perhaps it is a security blanket of sorts? Oh, and a series of art errors in the second series of X-Men ‘92 suggests that he carries spares

- Fabian normally speaks in a very grandiose, elaborate way, much like Magneto. However, while Magneto does this naturally all the time, with Fabian it seems to be a deliberate thing, as evident by how when the shit hits the fan, he exclaims: - Fabian Cortez carried a firearm to fights with the X-Men and other enemies, unusually for a super-powered person (but a smart move) He also proves so adept at martial arts as to defeat Psylocke in seconds. I like this; he’s a physically human guy, he’s going into battle with people with seriously dangerous powers, it makes sense he would build up his mundane fighting skills as much as possible. Why aren’t more bad guys this smart? - I also like how he turned a seemingly benign power into an offensive weapon, that’s a lot more interesting to me than if he’d just gotten an overtly aggressive power like energy blasts or something - He invented the anti-human term “flatscan” - He has a son (mother unknown) in the Marvel Zombies universe named Malcolm Cortez - In the 1990s animated series, he serves Apocalypse after betraying Magneto - Honestly there is so much shit I know about Fabian Cortez, guys I can’t begin to tell you, read his tag. Also, this picture: 

[junker-town]

Why ‘The Oklahoma City Dolls’ is the best sports film of all time

A huddle in Oklahoma City Dolls (1981). | Oklahoma City Dolls/Sony Pictures Television

Clichés get new weight when they’re about equality.

The best sports film of all time is a 1981 made-for-TV movie called The Oklahoma City Dolls.

This is not an assertion made lightly. Sports have inspired countless memorable films, and I, for one, certainly can’t profess to have seen them all. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine that any of the others tell as smart — and as progressive — a story as the mostly-forgotten Dolls, which you can only currently watch via YouTube bootlegs.

Name another movie that articulates class struggle via a group of blue-collar women fighting to form their own football team, complete with thoughtful, but not forced, discussions of gender politics and labor rights. In that light, Waylon Jennings’ on-screen debut as the befuddled love interest is just the icing on the cake.

Photo by Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

“It held up better than we would have thought,” says Susan Blakely, 71, who starred as Sally Jo Purkey — a disgruntled factory worker turned quarterback. She and her 76-year-old husband Steve Jaffe, who was among the film’s producers, watched the movie for the first time in almost 40 years before speaking with me. The couple had done Dolls as part of a three-picture deal Blakely had signed with ABC after the success of miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (for which Blakely won a Golden Globe). “They gave us a bunch of scripts, and I thought this one was just terrific,” she adds.

The movie, which was written by Ann Beckett, is loosely based on a real team. The Oklahoma City Dolls were a semi-pro team that played for three years in the late 1970s, as part of a larger vogue for women’s football during that period. Though the Hollywood version, produced in part by an all-women company called Godmother Productions, is heavily fictionalized, the liberties taken make the Dolls’ story more — not less — controversial. The team’s battle to get on the field serves as both a broad metaphor for equality and an allusion to a specific, timely fight.

“I was very political,” Blakely says. “That was what attracted me to the script.” She’s been outspoken since her days as a model in the early ‘70s, when she organized the “Models for McGovern” group — “Ford [Models] was furious,” she says, laughing — and had a particular interest in women’s rights. “I was definitely a feminist,” she adds, in case you couldn’t tell as much from the picture of her onstage alongside Gloria Steinem.

A 1978 clip from the Ithaca Journal.

Blakely had spent much of the late 1970s pushing for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment — a period that coincided with her greatest visibility thanks to Rich Man, Poor Man. When Cosmo asked her, “What’s your worst fear?” in 1980, she quipped, “That the Equal Rights Amendment will pass and we’ll elect our first woman president and vice president: Phyllis Schalafly and Anita Bryant.” Oklahoma City Dolls was filmed that same year, when the bill’s passage before the revised 1982 deadline was looking less and less possible.

An ad that appeared in TV Guide for the movie.

The movie begins with Purkey, a single mother working the line at a valve factory (they filmed in a real factory) for $40 a week, goofing around with her female coworkers. Where are the men? Well, they’re out playing for the company football team — which they get time off to do, while the women have to “pick up the slack” back at the factory with no extra pay. “You know what I’ve always said about you?” the middle manager tells Purkey when she has the audacity to have a conversation with a colleague. “You’ve got no company loyalty.”

As it turns out, her lack of loyalty should be the least of his concerns. Purkey files a complaint about the unequal conditions with the EEOC, and because the company is a potential government contractor, the agency takes it seriously. An official shows up and tells the boss they’ll have to give the women equal time off.

The boss, Mr. Hines, thinks he’s got it all figured out when he tells the women on the factory line that the only way they can get time off is if they play football, too. The trouble starts (for him, at least) when they take him up on that offer.

It’s not an easy road for the women, but you can probably guess where it ends. The strength of the dialogue, though, turns what might have easily been trite into a piece that’s quite powerful. After their first attempt at a practice, for example, the women are discouraged: it’s hard, and they’re already facing resistance from the men in their lives. “I’m afraid Ray’s going to kill me if he finds out,” the most promising wide receiver says quietly.

But Purkey’s response to the general dismay isn’t just a pep talk — it’s practically a consciousness-raising.

“The problem ain’t in our muscles, it’s in our heads!” she shouts, clutching her own in her hands. “There’s no reason on this Earth that a bunch of women can’t learn to run a ball back and forth between four goal posts just as easily as a bunch of men! Heck, I used to play football when I was a kid and I was pretty good too! Baseball, basketball, kickball — you name it! I loved all that stuff, until one day some adult told me it wasn’t feminine. That a woman has to act like a lady, flouncing around.

“Seems to me now that giving birth to babies ain’t particularly ladylike,” she continues, to chuckles around the room. “And making love ain’t necessarily ladylike,” Purkey adds as the women whoop.

“So what’s wrong with a little football, eh?”

Oklahoma City Dolls/Sony Pictures Television

Sally Jo (Susan Blakely) tells it like it is in Oklahoma City Dolls.

That scene was one Blakely says she tweaked to better reflect her own experience. When they were just a week or so into filming, the Screen Actors Guild went on strike — so she had six weeks to work on both her football prowess with the assistance of Jaffe, who had played in high school, and to revise some of her scenes.

“That was a scene that I worked on the most of any of them,” she recalls of the “ladylike” monologue. “I played a lot of sports as a kid — I was a gymnast, a runner, a swimmer, a tennis player, a golfer. I did try and play a little football with my older brother, but he was like, 6’10 when he was 13, and he would only play tackle. Anytime I’d get the ball, my brother would come right at me.

“But my father would always say, ‘You don’t have to win all the time when you’re playing against the guys. I would be like, ��Well, then why are you even telling me to get better at it at all?’”

Blakely translated that feeling — the acute sense of unfairness women and girls face in sports, and beyond — into the scene, and most of the movie. Even though she says regrets coming off “a little too angry,” she’s just as frustrated now by the fact the injustices shown in the film haven’t been resolved. “We’re still dealing with women getting less money for the same jobs,” she points out. The Equal Rights Amendment still hasn’t been passed.

During the six-week strike, Blakely found herself mirroring Sally Jo: The women who had been cast as football players were crammed in hotels near the Columbia backlot where they were filming, seemingly six to a room as Blakely recalls it, with no cars. “I wouldn’t go on shooting until they got them two to a room, and cars,” she says. “I became like my character. Persona non grata at Columbia but …”

Oklahoma City Dolls/Sony Pictures Television

Sally Jo (Blakely) steps back to pass in Oklahoma City Dolls.

She and the other actors had to learn football, although a male stunt double handled Purkey’s play in the game scenes. The stunt coordinator, Allan Graf, was himself a retired football player — he started on USC’s undefeated 1972 team, and briefly signed with the Rams. He would go on to manage stunts for just about every memorable football movie, including Any Given Sunday, The Waterboy, The Replacements, Jerry Maguire and Friday Night Lights.

Jaffe himself had toyed with the idea of doubling Blakely on the field just to get a chance to play again, but ultimately decided against it. Like Blakely, though, he has fond memories of his time on set. “The idea that I would watch two full-fledged women’s teams playing against each other was phenomenal,” he says now — offering nearly the opposite perspective to Jennings’ character in the movie, whose skepticism compels Purkey to direct one of her signature barbs his way: “If you can’t hack being a quarterback’s boyfriend,” she tells him on a date, “I suggest you go find some frilly little thing who stands around in the kitchen all day and doesn’t embarrass you. I hope she bores you to death.”

“Having my wife be the quarterback was really wonderful to watch,” Jaffe adds. “To see her blossom as a real quarterback … We would throw the ball around in the backyard, and she got better and better at pinpointing her shots.

“One time she actually ran me right out of the backyard and into our Jacuzzi,” he recalls, and they both dissolve into laughter.

The warmth with which they remember Dolls’ filming is echoed on screen, populated almost exclusively by women who find enormous camaraderie in solidarity — and sports. It’s a story about plucky underdogs triumphing on the field, yes, but with bold and very nearly intersectional takes on all the unfairness happening off it. By the end of the film, a neighbor woman has named her newborn baby Sally Jo, and frankly, it’s easy to understand why.

[ethelindawrites]

TV Review: BBC Sherlock, Season 4

Heads up, this one is long and chock full of spoilers below the cut. TL;DR – As a long-time BBC Sherlock fan, I am disappointed with Season 4.

I will say upfront that I was able to largely enjoy each episode of Season 4 as I was watching it. The acting was still excellent, and there were certainly scenes and parts of episodes that were fantastic. But once I had seen them all and had a chance to step back and look at the season as a whole, I had more and more problems with it. Ultimately, I am disappointed in the writers for not really living up to their own standards, which they set quite high during the first three seasons.

To be honest, I was worried about this season from the moment that Moffat and Gatiss started making public comments that season 4 was going to be especially “dark.” My worries were not unfounded. Let me see if I can articulate what I mean.

Some stories (whether books, movies, or TV shows) are dark stories. By this, I would generally mean a story where the plot or overall context of the world the story is set in necessitate that bad things are going to happen to many of the characters: some of them may die or be killed; many will suffer violence, possibly very brutal violence, either physical or mental; they may have to make choices or do things that go against their beliefs; a happy ending is not guaranteed.

Season 4 of Sherlock certainly fits this definition. The problem is that, at least for me, the previous three seasons do not set this up. There is nothing in the first nine episodes of the series which necessitates the events of the last three, which is very problematic for the story as a whole.

I would contrast this with a story that is and is meant to be a dark story. I may not have a lot of really good examples here, since I do not myself prefer dark stories and don’t tend to watch/read many of them. From what I know of it, Game of Thrones probably falls into this category. I would categorize much of Anne Bishop’s writing (the Black Jewels series, the Ephemera trilogy) as darker stories, albeit set up so that any happy endings which do occur are earned and make sense in the context of the story. For both of those series, the characters are fighting civilization- or world-destroying levels of evil, and so the fact that a great deal of suffering occurs is expected and makes sense in the context of the story. In the realm of movies, V for Vendetta comes to mind. The characters are fighting a brutal dictatorship, and must become brutal themselves in many ways, in order to survive and accomplish their goals. Here again, the darkness of the story is expected, and fitting.

The Sherlock Holmes stories do not fall into this category.

There are dark moments, and dark things that sometimes happen, in any incarnation of the Sherlock Holmes stories – obviously, since they are detective stories often centered around trying to solve murders. But as a whole, the Sherlock Holmes universe is not a brutally dark universe, and that is not the tone that the stories take.

BBC Sherlock has been, from the beginning, probably a bit darker take on the series than the original stories were (although not by much, from my memory of reading them some years back). It is more realistic, in a way, being set in modern times, and there were certainly dark parts in the first three seasons (again, murders, plus a crazy criminal mastermind). None of that was a problem, because they still felt like Sherlock Holmes stories.

For whatever reason, Moffat and Gatiss decided that that was no longer good enough, and that season 4 needed to be “darker.” I strongly believe that this was a mistake, and indeed will always be a mistake for any story that is not already set up in a darker world or universe.

In order to achieve their goal of “darker,” the writers seem to have decided that the plot of season 4 should be “make John and Sherlock suffer as much as possible, in every way, conceivable or not.” This goal then trumped all other considerations, including (in my opinion): plot, characterization in general, meaningful character interaction in many cases, and proper closure of various storylines. (Here come the spoilers.)

As best I can tell, Mary Watson is killed (in this manner and at this point in the story) for the sole purpose of making John suffer, so that Sherlock has to suffer in order to get John back. John is (in a manner that struck me as extremely out of character) “unfaithful” to Mary by text-flirting with a random lady on the bus (which turns out to be a setup, of course, but that doesn’t change John’s choices). This out-of-character-ness seems to have been done mainly so that John can feel guiltier when Mary dies so that he can be angrier at Sherlock. John has to be angry at Sherlock so that Sherlock is forced to “go to hell” in order to convince John that he needs John’s help and John should come back to save him.

The character of Eurus, similarly, is introduced solely for the purpose of putting Sherlock, John, and Mycroft through hell in the last episode. She has no other presence in the story prior to this season (that I can recall, someone feel free to correct me if I missed something in the earlier seasons, which is possible), and no other purpose in the story at all.

(I should say that I don’t fundamentally have a problem with the introduction of a third Holmes sibling; the original stories do include a brief mention of a third brother, Sherrinford. Since we don’t actually know anything about Sherrinford, obviously the writers have some leeway in making up this third sibling character, and the gender-switch doesn’t particularly matter. ETA: Apparently, I am incorrect about Sherrinford being canon! My mistake. I'm now trying to remember why I did think it was canon.)

But to make her be a complete psychopath that Sherlock has utterly forgotten about? Whom Mycroft is idiotic enough to keep alive for years after it becomes clear that she is a danger to everyone around her? Who was somehow able to set up this twisted game for them to play, resulting in the deaths of yet more people, which Sherlock and Mycroft between them are not smart enough to get out of?

I’m sorry, but my suspension of disbelief only goes so high.

The first two episodes mostly make sense, inasmuch as they are predicated on what I consider to be the unnecessary event of Mary’s death. There are some continuity issues, specifically from the end of the first episode: Molly gives Sherlock a letter that John wrote him, and Sherlock goes to see John’s old therapist. Presumably these events have some kind of importance, but they are never mentioned again, and do not appear to have impacted the story at all. What was the point of those scenes? Still, the immediate plots of each episode can be followed, and the main mysteries are explained.

For me, at least (and I know I am not alone in this), the last episode does not make any sense.

The whole point of the Sherlock Holmes stories is that we are meant to get an explanation at the end; the mystery is meant to be solved. The Final Problem does none of that. How has Sherlock recovered from his addiction so quickly? How do he and Mycroft and John get out of the explosion at Baker Street without any serious injuries? Why does Sherlock (also rather out of character, in my opinion) ignore John’s “Vatican Cameos” warning? If the airplane is a metaphor/fantasy in Eurus’ head, then who is the little girl that Sherlock is actually talking to throughout her “game”? (Obviously there could be an explanation for this, but that explanation is not given to us, the viewers.) When Victor Trevor went missing, why on earth was a proper search not conducted for him, and why did no adult think to check the well? (Sherlock obviously knows where the well is when he goes to rescue John, so it doesn’t seem to have been a secret.) Why the hell is Eurus still being kept alive after all of this?

None of these things are explained, and we are simply meant to accept at the end that Sherlock starts spending time with his sister in spite of all the evil things she has done, and that everything between Sherlock and John is back to business as usual, with no discussion of what has happened between them, or apologies, or anything. We can, perhaps, assume that they had those conversations, but we are not shown them.

Personally, I liked that Sherlock was more emotional during this season (and to a certain extent in season 3). He is older, wiser, and more understanding that emotion is not the handicap that he once believed it was. Since I’m a firm believer that the rationality-emotion dichotomy is a false one, it was gratifying to see a character learn and grow and move away from that. But given that growth in Sherlock’s character, and after everything they have been through both separately and together, I believe we deserved to see an honest conversation between John and Sherlock about how much they care about each other, and what they wanted from life together going forward. We did not get that conversation, and that is deeply disappointing to me.

Overall, I think it is always a mistake to try and make a story “dark” just for the sake of making it dark. When you do that with a story that doesn’t need it, then you are likely to fall back on making your characters suffer just for the hell of it, and in order to make that happen, the rest of your story will necessarily suffer too. Unfortunately, Season 4 of Sherlock turned out to be a clear example of this.

Okay, I will stop there. I’ve been obsessing about this in my head for several weeks now, so I thought it was probably better to get it written down. Some will undoubtedly disagree with me about much of this, and that’s fine, but I needed to get my own thoughts out. I am still a fan of the series, and would certainly recommend the first three seasons and the Christmas special. I will probably watch season 4 again, just to make sure that I wasn’t missing things that would help to explain some of these issues, but after that, I don’t know how much I will be rewatching season 4.

~Ethelinda

[persuadedproject-blog]

Chapter 9

     Further opportunities for observing the tangled mess of feelings were all too frequent. Anne had seen enough of the situation to have an assessment of her own within the next couple of days, but she was too smart to let on at home. She knew it would probably be unsatisfactory to both Charles and Mary, because (as best she could tell) Wentworth favored Louise, but was not actually in love with either of the girls. It was a crush, which for some might (or must) end in a more solid love. 

Chuck was obviously less than happy with Hazel’s disinterest, but Hazel did sometimes seemed to be torn between them. She did not appear to be blithely jumping from Chuck to Wentworth without at least a small moral quandary. It was all like a messy romantic comedy, except it was not set in new York, there was no catchy soundtrack, and the chaos was not endearing. Everything was uncomfortably in flux, so it could not be tied up in a bow as a finished product that could be enjoyed and laughed at. Anne wished she could knock all of their heads together, to show them how stupid their actions were, the potential heartache they exposed themselves to with this odd dance of almost-relationships, having many of the benefits but none of the definition. One relief was finding no malicious intent on Cap’s part - he was being an idiot, but he wasn’t being cruel. He had no clue the trouble he was causing, or could cause. As far as he knew, Chuck was a family friend in town for a visit. It never crossed his mind that he was hovering around the Musgroves for Hazel’s sake. He was only at fault for accepting (even welcoming) the attentions of two girls at once - and two sisters at that.

    After a brief struggle, Chuck seemed to drop his end of the line. He turned down an invitation to a chili party at the musgroves to spend the weekend with his uncle, and to brush up on his knowledge of goats digestive tracks. After spying the enormous stack of books strewn across the backseat of his car (accompanied by fast food wrappers, laundry, and half-drunk water bottles), Mrs. Musgrove was concerned. With a grave face, she asked her husband if it was possible for a young man to study himself to actual death? Mary’s dearest hope was that his departure signaled a breakup, but Charles was constantly talking about when he would be back. There was now a reason for a vested interest in the Musgrave girls’s love life: Charles and Mary had made a bet. If Wentworth ended up with Hazel, Mary would get her spa trip to Palm Springs. If he chose Louise, and Hazel and Chuck could work things out, the family would go to Disney World (Charle’s top choice for any vacation). Anne couldn’t help but think Chuck was smart to stay away, for a while at least.

    One Saturday, when Wentworth and Charles were off at a pickup soccer game, the Musgrove sisters stopped by. Anne and Mary were enjoying a quiet Saturday morning, since the boys had been sent to summer camp that morning. The Musgroves had swung by to see if Mary had any sunscreen (she had five different options, all aluminum-free, most scented like some essential oil). The girls announced that they were going for a hike on a trail about an hour away, and that it was a long hike so they assumed Mary would not want to go when they made their plans. Mary instantly sat up.

    “I would love to go! Why does everyone assume I can’t handle a walk?”

    “It’s in the hill country,” Hazel warned.

    “They’re really almost foothills,” Louise added. “The trail is south west of us, so we’ll be near some of those old battlefields.” It was clear to Anne that Mary’s company was the opposite of what they wanted, but Mary persisted.

    “All the better! I love a good long walk this time of year. A good sweat helps let the toxins out.” Anne noted the family’s habit of sharing (and oversharing) everything, including experiences. If there was any event, trip, or good meal, it had to be done together - no matter the almost hilarious inconvenience it caused, or how being together was not always actually desirable or fun. In trying to subtly talk Mary out of going, Anne might as well have been talking to the granite countertops. With Mary being determined to go, Anne thought it to be the best strategy to accept the girl’s more sincere invitation to join them. That way, it wouldn’t be just her when Charles and Wentworth got back - and she might be able to distract Mary enough to keep her somewhat out of the girl’s business. Whatever their long-range plans, Anne had a feeling that exercise was not the main goal. The girls had never shown any interest in physical exertion, since their metabolism would support all the pizza their hearts could desire. Keeping Mary off their backs would take some effort, though - why is it that the people we want to keep at arm’s length always have the sharpest ears? And why is it the people we want to guess our troubles often cannot hear us?

    “I can’t imagine why they would think I wouldn’t enjoy a hike,” Mary puffed, as she and Anne made her way up the stairs to change. “Everyone thinks I am some sort of weakling, but they would have actually been disappointed if we had turned them down. They obviously came to see if we would come along. After cutting off the tags, Mary changed into the Fabletics ensemble that Liz had sent her (sponsorship perks). Anne had brought nothing appropriate for working out, so she ended up in jeans, an oversized theater camp t-shirt, and ballet flats.

    Just when they were getting ready to hop in the car, Charles and Wentworth pulled into the street. One of their teammates had pulled his hamstring, leaving them with one less player than they needed for a game. They still had plenty of energy, and a desire to spend it. After a driveway shuffle, the Suburban was pulled out, and they all piled in. If Anne had somehow been warned about this turn of events, she would have stayed home. She kept with the group partly out of a (mildly sick) curiosity, and partly because she thought it would have been awkward for her to leave - it was too late now. Once they got to the trail entrance, Anne’s one goal was to stay out of everyone’s way. This was not too difficult; it was a quiet day, and they were one of two groups of walkers at the bottom of the trail. Every now and again they would all skitter to the site to make way for some heavy-duty golf carts (available for rent in the parking lot, for those who wanted to take in the views without the effort). Anne stuck with the back of the group, behind Charles and Mary. Her enjoyment of the situation replied of the situation relied on looking around, and soaking in the small gems nature had left along the trail. Wildflowers, sun shining through the leaves like stained glass, weeds nodding lazily in the breeze. Anne was glad that some of her favorite poets had used summerish terminology in their language. Granted, it was generally to describe young, robust love, but nothing makes an English major happier than a well-crafted metaphor. So Anne used them to occupy her mind in a happyish melancholy way. This distraction was not up to the task when Wentworth was in earshot, however. She could not not strain to catch snatches of his conversations with either Hazel or Louise. Not that anything she heard was earth-shattering, it was all comfortable small talk. He was definitely more interested in what Louise had to say, but then she said more for him to notice than Hazel. It is fascinating how many interests and opinions suddenly spring to life when there is a new romantic object to encourage them. For instance, after everyone had agreed about a dozen times that it was a perfect day for a hike, Wentworth commented that it was a nice day for Sophie and the Admiral to be out and about.

    “They mentioned coming this way, and renting a golf cart. I’m sure they are zooming around the hills somewhere, terrorizing all people and vehicles in their path.” The Admiral’s driving skills (or lack thereof) had become notorious. It was an accomplishment for him to get to the end of the week without a new dent in his bumper or hood. Or door. “I don’t know how, but my sister still likes driving with him. She’s probably being tossed into some ditch right now, totally unphased by it.”

    “You are exaggerating!” Louise laughed, a little breathless from the hill. “But even if that were exactly true, I would do the same thing in her place.”

    “You would not!” Wentworth said teasingly.

    “I would! If I loved someone like she loves the Admiral, I would want to always be with him. Nothing would pull us apart - and I would rather be in a ditch with him than safely on the road with someone like them.” Her voice rang through the trees with enthusiasm, and his rose to match it.”

    “Really?” Then a little quieter, “I respect you for it.”

    After these bursts of admiration, they both got quiet for a while. The group, guided by Hazel and Louise, took a little side-path until they got to the end with a small but nice overlook. To the left, an even bigger hill with a small waterfall running down the side, glinting in the sun. Straight ahead, an open plain (as open as Virginia gets, anyways), and to the right, a small but neat collection of mobile homes. The Musgrove girls and Mary whipped out their phones to redistribute the view as much as the limited 3G coverage would let them, because nothing says #liveauthentic like a hike and a waterfall.

    “Isn’t that the Winthrop Trailer Park?” Charles asked. “Where Chuck’s uncle lives?”

    “I think we should go back now,” Mary said suddenly. “I am super tired, it must’ve been those pancakes this morning. Anne had carefully made them without gluten, dairy, processed sugar, or joy - she was certain the pancakes were not the cause of Mary’s sudden fatigue. Hazel, self-conscious and embarrassed at the whole situation (welcome to the club, Hazel), was ready to go back with Mary. Charles turned to Hazel.

    “You just posted that photo with a location, didn’t you?” Suddenly realizing what she had done, Hazel nodded regretfully.

     “Chuck is going to see we were this close, and didn’t stop. He’ll think we are really rude, and he’d be right. We have to go down and at least say hello. You might could rest in the AC for a while, Mary.” Mary doubled down, displaying the full might of a passive-aggressive person who has been put in a corner.

    “Getting back up that hill will do me much more harm than any air conditioning will help me.” After a little more pushing, she outright declared her refusal. A series of mini-debates between almost every combination in the group, led to the decision that Hazel and Charles would walk down to Winthrop, while the rest enjoyed the view. Once Hazel and Charles were safely down the hill, Mary turned to Wentworth and said,

    “It’s not very nice having these connections. I’ve never visited Winthrop once.” She did not get a response, except for a fake smile. As he turned away, he gave her a contemptuous glance, which Anne understood perfectly.

    There was a short stone wall at the crest of the hill, dividing the nature walk from the field and private property. Mary claimed a comfortable enough perch on it, and was content to be there as long as she was surrounded by people. When Louise and Wentworth went off to find the brook they could hear somewhere nearby, Mary started to shift around. Once they were all the way out of sight, the seat became unbearable. She was sure Louise had found a better one, probably in the shade. Anne hopped over the wall, and tried to show Mary the dry seat there. It even had back support thanks to the stones, but Mary would not be deterred from going to find Louise, and rob her of her seat. Anne, who was actually tired and developing blisters courtesy of her ballet flats, let her go. She settled in and exhaled, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall. Shortly after Mary disappeared, she heard Wentworth and Louise’s voices slowly making their way back. The first thing she heard was Louise in the middle of an explanation.

    “So I talked her into going. I couldn’t stand the thought of her being scared off from visiting Winthrop because some people are snobby about trailer parks, or rural people for that matter. I would never let someone else's opinion keep me from doing something I set out to do. When I’ve made up my mind, I’ve made up my mind. And Hazel seemed like she wanted to wander this way this morning to see Chuck - but she was going to just give up because it was the path of least resistance.”

    “She never would’ve gone down the hill, if you hadn’t convinced her?”

    “I’m afraid so,” Louise affirmed his suspicions with a saddened sigh.

    “Well, it was a good thing for her you were here. I guessed that more was going on this afternoon than a visit to a college friend. But what will happen to Hazel when there is a more serious issue, and she meets with conflict? Your sister is a nice girl, but you are more determined, and driven. You need to infuse her with as much of your own strength as you can - you will not always be around to help her fight for her own best interest. But I’m sure you two just being around each other will help it rub off. It is the worst characteristic of a person to be too impressionable, too indecisive. You can’t count on a person like that, because their choices are only as sure as the people that surround them. If you, Louise Andrea Musgrove, would still be beautiful and happy in your later years, you should prize the strength of your mind.” He was finished, and Louise did not reply for a while. It would have surprised Anne if Louise could respond at a moment’s notice to a speech like that, grand sweeping words spoken so earnestly. She could vividly imagine the rush Louise was feeling. Without realizing it, Anne had curled herself up, making herself small as possible. Now she was quiet, scared to even breath for fear of giving herself away. They moved on, still talking. The discussion took a turn for the less impassioned, but still significant: family gossip.

    “Mary is nice enough, but she just gets under my skin sometimes. Someone gave her an extra dose of the Elliot Pride, which can be so irritating!. We all wish Charles had ended up with Anne instead.” There was a thunderous pause.

    “Anne and Charles dated?” Wentworth asked with a tinge of disbelief in his voice.

    “Oh, yeah! They only went out for a month or so, thought.”

    “I’m not sure - Hazel and I were younger at the time, but I think it happened a year or two before he and Mary started dating. I just wish it had worked out. We all would have liked to have Anne in the family much more! Mom and Dad both think it was Mrs. Russell’s fault that it didn’t happen. Charles was not studious enough for her, so she talked Anne into calling it off.” They moved away, while Anne’s emotions kept her frozen. She wished the ground would swallow her up. She could see how he would think of her now - but there had also been just enough curiosity in his voice when asking about her that caused a renewal of the unrest in her mind. As soon as she could convince her limbs to move, she went and found Mary, who Louise and Wentworth had shrewdly skirted.

    Soon enough the whole group was back together again, and Anne could relax into the solitude and anonymity of getting lost in the shuffle. Charles and Hazel came back with Chuck in tow. Anne could not tell exactly what had happened, but it appeared that there had been enough give and take for them to work things out. Although a little sheepish, they were definitely happy to be together. Being energized by more than a downhill walk, they walked in step well ahead of their friends. All signs now pointed to Louise and Wentworth. It looked like Charles was going to win his trip to Disney World, after all. When the pod of people had to thin out to let someone pass, they still stuck together - even when the other side of the path was not required, they were paired up. After a while, everyone was walking in couplets. Chuck and Hazel, chattering in reconciled bliss. Wentworth and Louise, seemingly oblivious to whatever else was going on. Mary and Charles trying to freeze each other out, and Anne stumbling along with her own thoughts. Once they got back to the main trail, there a wide creek dividing them from a paved path for the more direct course to hillside views. After a cheery clatter and booming,

    “Oops! Sorry, Sophie!” the Crofts appeared on the other side of the creek. Recognizing their friends, they all stopped and called across the water. Hearing the miles they had already walked and knowing there was another mile and a half to go, they offered the seat on the back to any of the girls who wanted to cut the walk short.

    “We are headed straight to Uppercross after this, we could drive any of you home.” The offer was general, and was generally declined. The Musgrove girls were not tired (certainly not enough to abandon a potential date). Mary was offended, either because she was not asked before all the others, or because yet another person had assumed she was a bad hiker, or because she couldn’t be left out of a party. Probably a mix of all of them. They were all starting to walk again, and the Admiral to careen off. Stepping quickly across a couple of stones, Wentworth crossed the creek in a couple of leaps. He caught up to the golf cart, and said something inaudible to his sister. The cart backed up, and Sophie cupped her hands to her mouth to make a megaphone.

    “Anne, I’m sure you’re tired after a busy week! Come over and join us! Please?” Anne was still solidly on the trail, and although she instinctively wanted to turn them down, her protests were cut short by the Admiral adding his kind insistence. Without a word, Wentworth crossed to the middle of the creek, and held out his hand to help her across. When their eyes met for a split second, she thought, ‘Oh, my poor heart’. It wasn’t a tears-rushing, Niagara Falls kind of moment, but one of an old wound being split apart, the pain familiar and manageable but somehow deeper. He steadied her as she teetered across, only letting go when she was safely on the other bank. Despite the Croft’s words and waves, she knew that it was him putting her on the back of the cart. She could only explain it as him seeing her getting worn down in her city shoes, and trying to give her rest. She couldn’t shake the view of his thoughts toward her that his small act provided. This brief moment was the interpretive key to all of their interactions since he came back. She understood him now. He could not find it in himself to forgive her, but this did not mean he was numb to her. Even though he condemned her for her past actions, even though he still held an unfair level of resentment, even though he was on the brink of another relationship, even though he did not let the thought of her impact his daily plans, he still could not see her in pain without wanting to give her relief. From the instant he held out his hand, in a way that was equally unexplainable and sure, she just knew. Two people do not spend a year learning to understand each other without having some instincts and intuition left over, just like you don’t forget the story of your favorite character when you have lost the tattered copy of your favorite book. Similarly, you don’t spend so long caring about a person without having some fragments of it embedded in your soul, even years later. His actions were the last remains of the old feelings, an impulse of pure (but unacknowledged) friendship. It was proof of his warm and ultimately kind heart, which she could not think of without a pounding simultaneous feeling of pleasure and pride in him, and pain for herself. She wasn’t sure which emotion outweighed the other.

    She answered her new companions automatically, at first. They were five minutes down the road before anything they said started to sink in. Once she awoke from her reverie, she found they were talking of “Frederick”.  Amused as she was by the awful name, she was uneasy with the subject.

    “He certainly intends to settle with one of those two girls, Sophie,” the Admiral said over the hum of the engine. “But there is no telling which one. Honestly, I can’t tell them apart. But he wouldn’t be making a hovercraft out of himself if he wasn’t interested in one of them. If there was a war going on, he would’ve made up his mind already. Nothing like being faced with your own mortality to help with big life decisions. How quickly did you and I meet and get married, Sophie? I know it was months, not this years-long process that is so popular now.”

    “I think we’d better not disclose that,” Sophie laughed. “Anne would not believe we are actually happy together. She’ll think this was a shotgun wedding!” The Admiral grinned and patted his wife’s knee affectionately. He should not have taken a hand off the steering wheel. They were in danger of running into the creek when Sophie leaned over and coolly gave the steering wheel a gentle tug. Once they were back on course, the Admiral said,

    “I just wish Frederick would make up his mind, and bring one of them back to Kellynch to visit us, once we’re back. They’re sweet, they’re funny -  they would make excellent company!”

    “They’re both very nice,” was Sophie’s less enthusiastic endorsement, which made Anne venture a guess that her more keen eye had seen enough to think neither girl was quite good enough for her brother. “And the family is sweet as well. He could do much worse - oooh, Stephen, look out for that post!” Another quick correction on Sophie’s part, and the post got to live another day. Anne watched and even laughed a little at this collaborative style of driving. She thought this was probably how they managed life together, with Sophie’s judicious adjustments keeping them out of the metaphorical ditch. Being around the Crofts without her family or Wentworth made her realize how much she genuinely got along with them. She found she could be herself easily around both of them. With Sophie’s broad travels and cultural studies, they did not run out of things to talk about. As they drove home, Anne bathed in the warmth of having someone to talk to with common interests and opinions. She had gone so long in her current state, she had forgotten that she was lonely. Having someone want to hear what she had to say, and even hold an intelligent, enjoyable discussion made her remember a missing piece. As she watched the rows of pine trees fly by the car window, she thought that she and Sophie would have been friends regardless of any relationship to Wentworth - and she wondered if the friendship would have grown more if she had never met him.

I thought about alternately titling this installment ‘something mildly pleasant finally happens to Anne’. I have many feelings about this chapter, and this book in general. 

Chapter 10: http://bit.ly/2uB6Mo4