#i think i should recast them again now that i finished ii | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

seblos · 5 years ago

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there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach - ch 2/10

chapter title: let’s stop swirling, and start twirling

word count: 3,351

read on ao3

Carlos now has a hall pass to miss the last 15 minutes of study hall so he can get to rehearsal early. He probably would have been allowed to leave without one, considering everyone in the cast had been excused half an hour early for costume fittings, but he has Mr. Mazzara to thank for the small yellow paper he clutched in his hand now.

Miss Jenn was already in the bomb shelter by the time he gets there, quickly typing away at her phone until she notices Carlos standing in front of her.

“Carlos, perfect, just in time!” Miss Jenn says as her phone made a fwoosh noise, confirming some order that Carlos couldn’t see. “I left the box of scripts in my office, so can you set up the desks and name cards for the read through? I’m thinking a circle for all the named roles, plus me, you, and our stage manager, and then the ensemble and the rest of tech can just be grouped together behind.”

He was about to ask why not just put everyone in a circle, but Miss Jenn had already made her way out the door towards her office. He shrugs, not caring enough to argue with her judgment. Miss Jenn knew what she wanted; he might as well follow her agenda.

Carlos arranges the desks the way she had asked, then quickly slides over the top of one as he begins putting down the name cards for everyone. He starts with his own choreography card (keeping a mental reminder to take a photo with it later) then director, stage manager, Chad, Troy, Gabriella, and Taylor.

The next card stops him though. Carlos reads over the neat printed “Sharpay” as the conversations he had with Seb from auditions washed over him, warming his heart.

He glances over at the desk he had left off on, almost directly across from where he was sitting. Instead of putting it there, though, he bit his lip and turns, dropping the card on the desk next to his instead.

With that, he kept going around the circle acting as if nothing happened. He makes sure to put the Ryan card next to Sharpay just in case anyone decides to ask why Seb was all the way on the other side of the circle from the other leads. Miss Jenn came back in a few minutes later with the box full of scripts.

“Oh that looks perfect!” she tells him, looking at the arrangement. Carlos sucks in a breath, expecting her to say something about the out of place Sharpay name card, but she doesn’t say anything about it.

The theatre kids begin filing through the door just as the bell rang for school to end as Carlos swipes through the few notifications on his phone as Miss Jenn calls for everyone to take their assigned seats. Nothing important, just a new post from Ashley Tisdale on Instagram, a few new twitter followers (he was surprised to see EJ Caswell was one of them) and-

Carlos groans, showing Miss Jenn the text he had gotten from Natalie.

“Who is Natalie Bagley and why do I care if her glands are swollen?” she asks.

“Our stage manager. Guess she’s not coming,” Carlos says, switching off his phone.

Miss Jenn immediately called out Ricky’s friend, Big Red, and asked him to read the stage directions. Part of Carlos is upset that she didn’t just ask him to do stage directions since it wasn’t like he had any lines to read, but it was fine. They needed more tech kids anyway, maybe this would convince him to join backstage.

Or so he thought, considering the next near-hour and half was spent painfully listening to Big Red read the stage directions. Carlos at one point had shot Miss Jenn a pointed look, who looked stressed out of her mind as she asked him to read the punctuation. Unfortunately, Big Red had taken that seriously, and no one had the heart (or the energy) to correct him after he started reading “Sharpay comma heads for class period.” This, plus Carlos’s ADHD made him feel like he needs to take a lap around the school. Maybe around all of Salt Lake City before he’s ready to come back to this.

Instead, he chooses to glance over at Seb to his left, who looks just as spaced out as everyone else did. An idea pops into Carlos’s brain, and he quickly scribbles down an SOS on the blank sheet of paper he had been using to take choreo notes (in which there were none, yet. He couldn’t focus like this anyway.) He then folds up the note and tries to make eye contact with Seb.

Unfortunately, the farm boy was still spaced out as ever, staring at the pages which he turned while everyone else did, although his eyes weren’t moving along the words.

The universe decides to apparently help him out, though as while Carlos was trying to get Seb’s attention, he doesn’t notice his pencil rolling off the table until it was too late. It clattered on the floor, not catching the attention of anyone except for the boy sitting next to him.

Seb breaks from his trance, reaching down to grab the pencil before handing it to Carlos with a grin, and Carlos uses it as his shot to quickly hand the boy the note as he takes his pen back.

He takes the piece of paper in surprise, cocking his head at Carlos for a moment as he unfolds the paper as quietly as possible. For a moment, Carlos wonders if it had been a bad idea.

Until, Seb reads the note and a smile grew on his face, grabbing a pen from his backpack nonchalantly so he wasn’t writing back in highlighter. Carlos noted that it was cow print and wrote in shimmery light blue ink, which, aw.

He passes it back a moment later, and Carlos grins as he reads the response. Underneath his SOS in round, loopy writing is Seb’s bubbly ikr? big red is the sweetest but this plus my adhd my brain is GONE.

Carlos grins when he reads it. He didn’t know Seb had ADHD too (it’s not exactly something he advertises either, to be fair) but it’s always nice to see someone who can relate. He quickly scribbles back same! im all for new tech kids but i think miss jenn should just let me read from here on out. and i hate reading out loud. (and i have adhd too, crazy lol)

He passes it back to Seb, who’s brow furrows he writes, passing it back a moment later. It now reads she really should. why didnt she? i mean, youre capable of anything, even reading out loud. (and that’s cool! i mean, not cool, but cool that you can relate :) )

Carlos smiles. It’s sweet that Seb thinks that about him. He writes not sure. perks of being the unpaid choreographer i guess.

When Seb gets it back this time, he smiles. well, someone should pay you then. btw have you done the chem hw yet? mr mazzara is killing me

They continue passing the paper back and forth, veering off topic from the show and just talking about school and their families. It’s never been this easy for him to make friends, but something just seems right when he’s talking to Seb, even if its through a piece of paper.

They end up covering the paper, only pausing when Seb has to read lines. They have to move onto the back at one point before Big Red finally reads the last sentence of Act I, and Miss Jenn calls for a break. Carlos is about to scootch his desk closer to Seb’s when Miss Jenn gestures for him to come talk to her. He shoots Seb an apologetic look, who just waves him off with a smile before adjusting his jacket and instead moves to talk to Ashlyn, who looks surprised when he drops down in the seat next to her.

As he follows Miss Jenn over to a corner of the bomb shelter, he worries for a second that she’s going to call him out for not only not paying attention to the script but distracting one of the leads in the process. Thankfully, it seems she didn’t notice and instead starts asking about Ricky and Nini. (As if Carlos has any idea what’s going on between them. Again, hetero drama that he doesn’t completely care about.)

“Should we think about recasting?” Carlos offers.

“Absolutely not, my instincts are impeccable.” Miss Jenn replies, then adds, “and I’m not scared of a challenge.”

“This one might be impossible. She won’t even look at him.”

“Don’t underestimate me. I come from strong stock. My mother bounced back from an autopsy.”

Okay, not the reply he was expecting, but Miss Jenn was already calling them back together, which meant another hour of listening to Big Red read Act II.

When he sits down, though, Seb smiles at him again, and Carlos pulls back out the paper.

—

Carlos was packing up his backpack after they ended early rehearsal that day. Ricky stormed off, and maybe it wasn’t necessarily Carlos’s fault that he was quitting the show, but he could feel his chest getting tighter the more he tried to ignore it. If he had just pushed Ricky a little less or cut all the dance talk and tried just a little harder to get him to stay, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Hey, do you need a ride home?” Carlos hears footsteps approaching. He hadn’t realized that anyone was still in the bomb shelter, but when he turned around Seb was standing there. They had talked before rehearsal and in classes, but during rehearsal, Carlos was barely able to spare a glance at the boy playing piano while he tried to teach choreography. Not that rehearsal was about interacting anyway.

“Don’t you live on a farm?” Carlos asks, even though he knows the answer. It’s more of a question of why are you offering a ride if you live so far away?

“Yeah, but don’t worry! Your house is on the way!”

Carlos squints at him, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly. “You don’t even know where I live.”

“No, but I’m sure it’s on the way,” Seb is grinning at him, and Carlos doesn’t want to say no. Besides, he told his mom they would be done at six, and it’s barely even 5 o’clock, so he nods.

“Yeah, if you don’t mind. That would be good,” Carlos returns the smile and Seb beams. He finishes zipping up his backpack, swings it around his shoulders as Seb finishes sending a message on his phone, and the two walk out the door of the bomb shelter together.

“By the way, I like your shoes,” Seb says without even looking down, and Carlos feels the slightest bit of heat rushing to his face. The shoes in question are cow print, and even though he bought them before his conversation with Seb at the read through, he did think of the boy this morning when he put them on.

“Thank you,” Carlos says. He’s quiet for a moment, before asking “how are you so happy all the time?”

Seb looks surprised. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re always so smiley and nice, even when everything is crazy stressful, like right now. I feel like I’m just snapping and brushing people off.”

“Well, first of all, you’re definitely more stressed than me,” Seb says, turning his head towards Carlos as he speaks. “I barely played today, considering how much everyone has been arguing with you about the moves. I mean, just because Miss Jenn isn’t there all the time doesn’t immediately give them the right not to listen to you.”

“I think it’s that, plus being an underclassman,” he sighs, pushing open the doors to the main entrance of the school. “I mean, Gina respects me but she isn’t exactly the friendliest with everyone right now either.”

“Well, it’s not fair of them,” Seb says, and Carlos bites his lip. He already knew deep down what Seb had said was true, but just hearing someone say it out loud made it so much more real.

When Carlos doesn’t say anything else, Seb continues. “Besides, it sort of seemed like you weren’t having the greatest time, so I was hoping if I was a little happier, you would be too. Is that stupid?” he asks.

“No, it’s not stupid. It helped. Thanks,” Carlos smiles, because it did genuinely help. Well, either that or the venting.

Seb smiles again, and Carlos feels his heart flutter just a little bit. Something about Seb’s smiles always made him feel warm. They never feel fake, and they’re always just as bright as the last.

They stop in front of a car, and Carlos opens the door to the back while Seb goes to the front seat. Behind the wheel is a girl a few years older than them who he presumes is Seb’s sister.

“Carlos, this is my sister, Georgie,” he introduces, and the girl turns to smile at Carlos. She has the same blonde hair and blue eyes as Seb.

“Nice to meet you, Carlos,” Georgie says. “Seb texted saying you need a ride, so where am I going?”

For the most part, the car ride is silent. There’s music playing, a mix of old 2010’s pop and musical theatre, and Carlos can’t tell who’s playlist it is as both Seb and Georgie sing along. It’s not uncomfortable though, and he smiles as he watches the two of them together. He only has step siblings, and he’s not nearly as close to any of them as Seb is.

“Do you have other siblings?” he asks out of nowhere, and both Seb and Georgie laugh.

“Too many to keep track of,” Seb shakes his head. “I’m a middle child of seven.”

Carlos’s eyes widen. “Seven? And they’re all fully blood related to you?”

“Yep. four sisters, two brothers. Josephine is the oldest, then our brother Cohyn, then Georgie, then me, then Sophia, Paisley, and Isaac. We’re all two years apart, starting at 21 with Josie, except for Isaac who’s 5 and was a bit of a surprise,” Seb explains, and Carlos feels his head spinning.

“How do you remember all that?” he asks, causing both the Matthew-Smith’s to laugh again.

“Years of practice. To be fair, I don’t know like, half of their birthdays,” Seb says, earning a punch in the arm from his sister.

“Do you have any siblings, Carlos?” she asks.

“Two stepsisters on my mom’s side, both older. Isabella and Victoria,” Carlos says. “Isa is in college and Vic is about to graduate, but she goes to West High. I have a lot of cousins though, which are basically my siblings.”

“Us too,” Seb smiles softly. Carlos is expecting the look that people give him when they realize his parents aren’t divorced, but there’s no change in his expression. It’s nice to not have people ask about it for once (not that he remembers a time before they were divorced anyway. He was three, it doesn’t really affect him anymore.)

Georgie pulls into the driveway of Carlos’s house, and Carlos opens the door.

“Thank you for the ride,” he says.

“Anytime, Los.” The nickname hits Carlos harder than he’s expecting it to, and he stops for a second, registering it into the mind as his heart swells. Only family members had ever used that nickname on him before, and hearing Seb use it felt… different. But good different.

“See you tomorrow,” he says, closing the door and waving goodbye to the two before running up the steps to his house. He can see them driving away as he closes the door.

“You’re home early,” his mother steps out from the kitchen, and Carlos turns.

“We ended early. Sort of a dramatic day.”

His mother laughs. “Always is in theatre,” and Carlos can’t help but laugh too. “How did you get home? You could have texted.”

“A… friend gave me a ride. Seb Matthew-Smith, he’s our accompanist and he’s playing Sharpay.”

He can see a twinkle in his mother’s eye as she nods. “Got it,” she says, stretching it out as she gives him a look.

“Not like that, mamá, just a friend,” he rolls his eyes with a smile.

“Well, I’m glad you’re making friends. Dinner will be ready in an hour, I’m going out to play bunco tonight, so make sure you and Victoria clean up,” she tells him, and Carlos nods, taking that as his cue to go upstairs.

As he reaches his bedroom, though, his phone dings with a text from Seb (they had swapped numbers at the end of the readthrough) about the chemistry homework. Carlos sets down his backpack, pulling out the homework in question, and sets it on his desk while he texts back.

His mother’s voice rings in his head. I’m glad you’re making friends. It’s the first time in a while that he’s had a close friend, and it fills his chest with warmth.

—

“Where do you sit during lunch?” Seb asks Carlos out of nowhere, plopping down on the seat next to him during study hall. He’s in the library, researching other school’s performances of High School Musical so he can try and get inspiration for their show. When Seb sits down, though, he pulls out an earbud.

“I mean, here, usually,” Carlos glances around the library. “Why do you ask?”

Seb shrugs. “Dunno, I’ve never seen you at lunch before and I was wondering who you sit with. I thought we might be in different periods, but we have gym and chem together sixth and seventh, and you mentioned to me yesterday that you have algebra fourth, so the only option left was fifth unless you take an extra class like some kinda psycho.”

Carlos blinks. “You kept track of all of that?” he asks.

Seb suddenly blushes slightly. “I mean, I don’t know the rest of your schedule, I was only really paying attention because like I said, I was wondering who you sit with. But I guess you sit with… no one…?” he trails off.

Now it’s Carlos’s turn to blush. “I mean, my mom plays bunco with the librarian so she always let me sit in here. The only other person I really talk to is Gina, but she has seventh period lunch. And I guess I could eat in Miss Jenn’s office, but sometimes she stresses me out and I can watch videos in here. Plus it’s a lot quieter than the cafeteria, although I did run into Ricky today-”

Seb cuts him off. “Would you want to sit with me and Natalie? It’s only us at our table.”

“I- uh. Yeah. Sure,” Carlos says.

Seb nods with a smile. “Okay, cool,” he says, then turns in his seat and logs into the computer next to Carlos.

“Why do you keep inviting me to things?” Carlos asks suddenly, gnawing on his lip.

Seb turns back to face Carlos again. “What do you mean?”

“You offered to drive me home, now you’re inviting me to sit with you at lunch.”

He cocks his head, smiling, although still clearly confused. “Because we’re friends, dummy,” he tells Carlos.

“Oh,” Carlos smiles. “Okay. Cool.”

Seb nods. “Cool.”

They both go back to doing their work silently until Seb turns around again.

“Did you say you saw Ricky in here?” he asks.

“Yes! You’ll never believe what he did.”

“What?” “He told me he’s joining the show again! And then, he started dancing. Like, in the middle of the walkway!” They both laugh.

As Carlos continues filling Seb in on all the details of his previous conversation with Ricky, he can feel his heart fluttering. He doesn’t know what is with the other boy in the long run, but hey, at least they’re friends.

#seblos #carlos rodriguez #seb matthew smith #hsmtmts #high school musical the musical the series #my writing #not a star

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gloriousgwendolinechristie · 7 years ago

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Recap: "Game of Thrones" - 7.02 'Stormborn'

Be a Dragon.

EW – Game of Thrones delivered on its promised faster pace of season 7 with an episode so crammed with major events, reunions, a riveting battle, deaths, and twists that it almost played like a season finale �� yet this is only episode 2! After last week’s foreboding and stately premiere, “Stormborn” floored the narrative pedal, with nearly every scene delivering some kind of major consequence for our characters, setting the stage for a cross-section of battles and major power-player meet-ups. We start with:

Dragonstone: It was, quite literally, a dark and stormy night. Daenerys unexpectedly grills Varys about his loyalty because, let’s face it, on paper, his resume admittedly doesn’t sound very reassuring. That he’s a far bigger fan of King Robert than he was of her father doesn’t help either. “Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty,” shoots back Varys, in what sounds like a rare bit of modern political commentary from GoT. “You wish to know where my true loyalties lie?” he continues. “The people.” Tough to argue with that, and Dany doesn’t — though also threatens to burn him alive if he ever betrays her.

Hey, speaking of burning people alive, here’s Melisandre! She was last seen banished by Jon Snow and told to head south for killing Shireen. She went south all right, straight back to her former home that she used to share with Stannis Baratheon. I wonder if she still has some clothes there she wants to pick up.

The Red Woman is brought before Dany. She fills her in on the prophecy of Azor Ahai — a messianic figure in her Lord of Light religion; lived thousands of years ago, forged a flaming sword which he used to defeat evil; he’s prophesied to be reborn as the Prince That Was Promised, etc. etc.

Or perhaps it’s Princess That Was Promised? Experienced translator Missandei corrects Melisandre’s prophecy description.

Melisandre explains she thought Stannis was The One. Then she thought it might be Jon Snow. Now she’s not ruling out Dany either. For being some powerful Lord of Light sorcerer, Melisandre’s less confident in her Azor Ahai theory than most Game of Thrones fan blogs. Not to mention, Stannis would be so pissed if he died because of a grammar mistake.

Matchmaker Melisandre successfully gets Dany’s curiosity up about Jon Snow. Tyrion notes that he’s a decent man. She has Tyrion pen a letter to the King in the North requesting to see him and ordering him to “bend the knee” (and the Jon-Dany shippers lean forward). As much as I’d love to see Dany and Jon Snow meet, anything that Melisandre suggests based on prophecy I’m inherently wary about.

Winterfell: But not as wary as Sansa! Jon gets Tyrion’s letter — yeah, just like that. I’m pretty sure Westeros is now using FedEx instead of birds. There’s a subset of fans who always pay very strict attention to how much time characters should realistically take to get from one place to another (they’re still annoyed about Varys getting from Dorne to Meereen so fast last year). But if you try to apply your own Waze travel time estimates to characters in Westeros you’re going to go nuts. It’s probably best to just roll with it and appreciate that we’re not seeing a lot of horse-riding and campfire scenes this season.

Jon talks to Sansa about whether he should go and see her. Sansa says he shouldn’t do it, because Sansa is wrong about everything now (I kid — if we didn’t know Dany, we’d be rather wary about meeting her too; after all the fatal Stark blunders in recent years, “pulling a Stark” is probably Westeros slang for getting yourself stupid-killed).

At first, Jon is talked out of going. But then he gets another r-mail, this from Samwell, informing him that tons of precious dragonglass can be found at Dragonstone (which sounds like one of those facts that you hear and immediately feel stupid for not knowing it already).

Given the chances of scoring loads of White Walker kryptonite, Jon tells the lords in the Great Hall his plan to meet Dany. Everybody hates this idea, especially Sansa, who channels Admiral Ackbar to trap-warn him. Even cute Lyanna Mormont, who everybody loves every time she speaks, yells at Jon for knowing nothing.

Jon won’t be swayed. Frankly, he probably wants to get the hell out of there and have some new adventures anyway. He’s been looking miserable moping around Winterfell making tough political decisions while Sansa explains how stupid he is.

He does leave Sansa in charge, though, which seems to please her. One suspects this decision disappoints all the lord-bros who hang around that hall drinking all day because you know she’s going to make some changes around there.

Before he goes, Jon pays a visit to the family crypt. In slinks Littlefinger, who starts purring sweet nothings in Jon’s ear, and you can see him getting increasingly annoyed. Don’t think for a second Jon hasn’t noticed the conniving twerp’s smirking and eye-rolling in the back of his class.

Then Littlefinger creepily goes, “I love Sansa as I loved her mother,” which triggers the protective big brother in Jon to slam Baelish up against the wall and warn him to never touch his sister. Now it’s the Jon-Sansa shippers who lean forward (you pervs).

Jon Snow mounts up and takes off. We’re not sure if he’s ever going to see Winterfell again. But we’re confident now that Jon will meet the Dragon Queen who is also — we are led to assume from last season’s Bran-guided flashbacks — his aunt. This seems pretty important. Can’t Bran send Jon a letter since everybody else is sending him letters?

The Citadel: Ser Jorah isn’t doing so well. His greyscale has spread and the maesters aren’t very helpful. Sam tries to convince the grumpy Arch-Maester to let him try some radical treatment, but he won’t approve anything without several phases of successful FDA trials and suggests Ser Jorah just go kill himself. He explains this along with a bunch of facts and logical reasoning but I’m really starting to hate this guy despite being played by congenial Jim Broadbent; he’s like the epitome of an Ivory Tower out-of-touch elite.

Sam tries to cure Ser Jorah anyway because he’s awesome and believes in actually trying to do things. What follows is one of the grossest scenes in Game of Thrones, which is saying quite a bit. Sam peels off the greyscale with a knife in a procedure that looks super painful and pus-squirting disgusting. (I wonder why Sam doesn’t give the man some Milk of the Poppy; surely they have some of that laying around?) Sam finishes, but it’s unclear if this experimental Dr. House M.D-evil operation was successful. Perhaps every episode this season will have Sam tacklin some new revolting task, like a Westeros edition of Dirty Jobs.

Riverlands: Arya stops by a tavern and runs into a character we never expected to see again — Hot Pie! He’s arguably the luckiest person on the show. Everybody else is scheming and plotting and fighting and dying, while Hot Pie just continues riding out the action and making his meat-filled pastries You would think this is the last dish Arya would crave after chopping up Freys and baking them into a pie herself, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat.

Hot Pie also has a side gig as a Game of Thrones recapper, and he fills Arya in on seasons 2 through 6 (he does a decent job, though I would have thrown in Tyrion’s trial and Oberyn Martell’s arc because those parts were really cool). Arya is unsurprised about Cersei’s season finale mass-murder plot, while Hot Pie marvels at Arya, who’s now all hardened and gulping wine. “You’re pretty,” he coos, and Arya looks slightly struck; she’s not used to getting compliments.

But it’s learning that Jon Snow is back at Winterfell that really throws Arya for a loop. You can see her brain-gears turning: Hmm, murder Cersei or return to my home and reunite with my family after being kept apart for years? … That’s a toughie.

Later, Arya is accosted by wolves, but not just any wolves. Is it…? It is. Nymeria! Her long-lost direwolf who bit Joffrey that she was forced to chase off in the first season. They regard each other. “I’m finally going home; come with me,” she pleads. But Nymeria just looks at her impassively like a dog at a human who doesn’t have any snacks. Nymeria and her pack turn away.

“That’s not you…” Arya says, which is such a great line. Because the direwolf is Nymeria (and Arya knows it) but it’s also very much not Nymeria, because so much time has passed and the direwolf has changed so much. So has Arya, as we just saw in the scene with Hot Pie. The scene not only answers a long-time fan question but, even better, is used as a metaphorical mirror for Arya. As the episode’s writer Bryan Cogman says in this week’s interview with Williams about this scene, “they’re both lone wolves” (interview links are at the end of the recap).

So Arya continues her journey home. You know if she actually makes it to Winterfell, she’s going to be super pissed if Jon is gone and she’s stuck with Sansa.

King’s Landing: Cersei summons her lords for something she’s not typically very good at: trying to win people over that she considers beneath her. It’s a bit like Hillary Clinton trying to hang out with local voters in a swing state diner; this isn’t really her thing. Present are Randyll and Dickon Tarly — Samwell’s jerk father and his sorta-okay brother — whom we first met last season (Dickon was recast, by the way: Freddie Stroma played him in season 6; Tom Hopper stepped in for season 7). I love that Jaime mistakes Dickon’s name for Rickon, as if even Jaime Lannister have a tough time keeping all these damn character names straight.

Cersei smartly brands Daenerys as the return of homicidal Targaryen crazy, just like ol’ Mad King Aerys II. Sure Dany’s got a huge army and three dragons, but she’s also nuts and will kill everybody if they don’t stand up to her. Cersei is basically doing a negative campaign ad: Vote Lannister or the Targaryen Will Burn You Alive. Of course, Dany hasn’t hurt anybody in Westeros (yet) while Cersei blew up a Sept full of church-goers and her daughter-in-law. If anybody has been playing the role of Mad Queen around these parts, it sure ain’t Dany.

Mad scientist Qyburn takes Cersei down into the dragon skull room. This gorgeous set is a terrific treat for readers of George R.R. Martin’s novels. This room is described in detail in the very first A Song of Ice and Fire book, A Game of Thrones. The show didn’t have the budget to portray this in the first season, but it does now.

Qyburn reveals they have a dragon-killing secret weapon, a large spear-firing crossbow-like device that, if aimed just right, can pierce through a dragon’s eye into its brain — sorta like how that guy in the disappointing Hobbit trilogy took out Smaug. Cersei just found a way to potentially even the playing field.

Dragonstone: Daenerys has a strategy meeting with her advisors, the Greyjoys, Olenna, and Ellaria Sand. Hot-headed Ellaria wants to wipe out Cersei in King’s Landing, but Tyrion has warned against that strategy. He’s thinking that sending dragons to nuke a city probably isn’t the wisest course of action to rally the great houses to their side, and Dany agrees.

Instead, this is the idea: Strike the Lannister stronghold of Casterly Rock with the Unsullied and Dothraki army, thereby seizing Cersei’s homeland while she’s holed up in the Southern capital. Also, send the Greyjoys and Ellaria to lay siege to King’s Landing to starve out Cersei into surrendering (thereby avoiding the apparently lousy PR optics of having “foreign” forces attack the capital).

This sounds like great plan! Too bad it all goes to hell in just a few minutes. But great!

Olenna and Dany share a nifty scene together where she warns the queen against putting too much faith in clever men like Tyrion. “Commoners won’t obey you unless they fear you,” she warns. “The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.” Olenna is an upper-crust blue-blood who believes you need to govern with strong-arm tactics and crush your enemies at any cost. Dany is trying to break the wheel as a reformist. But Sansa would totally retweet everything Olenna is saying.

As Tyrion said, Dany in “the great game” now. But the same could be said for nearly all our favorites. After six seasons of watching characters try to rule — and fail miserably — the core cast have gradually all stepped up into leadership roles to make the big decisions. We wonder if they’ve learned the right lessons.

Meanwhile, Missandei and Grey Worm might never see each other again. This leads to an extremely touching scene whereby stern Grey Worm finally opens up emotionally to Missandei about his feelings for her. “You are my weakness,” he says. Missandei appreciates that, but also wants more than nice words — she wants to get physical. The Unsullied commander is hesitant. This is like being asked to joust without a lance, so to speak. But he overcomes his shyness to lay with her. As Nathalie Emmanuel says in our interview, “amongst this chaos they’re like this beacon of something sweet and pure and beautiful.” We hope they are as satisfied as they can be given the limitations involved.

Greyjoy Ship at Sea: We get a moment with the Sand Snakes bragging about who they’re going to kill. This moment plays a lot better after you know what’s about to happen. Then it’s Ellaria and Yara flirting in a cabin. Theon tries to leave, but Ellaria wants to make him stand there and watch. Poor Theon, everybody always wants him to be an awkward voyeur for some reason.

Then… disaster. Euron has found them. What follows is a thrilling sequence from director Mark Mylod. One of my favorite things about GoT action scenes is they’re always unique from one another; this frantic fiery ship battle plays like nothing we’ve seen on the show before. The energy feels like a reflection of Euron, who gets one helluva entrance: His ship The Silence pierces the side of the Greyjoys’ vessel, then a manic screaming Euron rides its jaw-like walkway that clamps down on the ship, both preventing the ship from escaping and providing a way to board.

It’s apparent from the outset that the Greyjoys are being overrun. Euron is a bloody nightmare of psychotic rage-joy. Ellaria and her daughter Tyene are captured below decks, and Ellaria’s request for death is denied while Obara and Nymeria fight Euron (yes, the Sand Snake played by Jessica Henwick is named Nymeria… only Game of Thrones would have two characters with pivotal sequences in the same episode who are both named Nymeria).

Their fight is raw and brutal, with Euron turning their signature weapons against each other, piercing Obara with her spear while strangling Nymeria with her whip. Two of the three Sand Snakes are down, their bodies left to decorate the ship.

Euron also captures Yara despite her Glow-like flying pro-wrestling leap down on top of him. Theon spots them, and Euron tries to bait him into attacking. Euron has no fear. Theon is full of fear. Hot Pie and Nymeria the direwolf aren’t the only long-lost characters to return this week. Reek is back. And Reek does what Reek does — he flees, jumping over the side. Yara is heartbroken at the betrayal. But it was probably Theon’s wisest move given Euron’s fighting skills. Theon rushing at Euron would totally be pulling a Stark.

Recap: “Game of Thrones” – 7.02 ‘Stormborn’ was originally published on Glorious Gwendoline

#gwendoline christie #game of thrones #got cast #Brienne of Tarth #star wars #Captain Phasma #The Force Awakens #Mockingjay 2 #Commander Lyme #THG #The Hunger Game

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thebearwitchproject · 6 years ago

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Grandfather Tales; Wicked John and the Devil

NOTE: If you just want the story of Wicked John and the Devil scroll down past my set up of how I learned Richard Chase’s Grandfather Tales to next set of bold print. If you enjoy sappy memory stories about grandparents keep reading. If you really enjoyed the story and want to read some of my insights and a discussion on why I would probably end up just as “wicked” as Wicked John keep reading after the story. At the very least if you enjoy this folktale and would like to see others like it reblog, like, or comment on this post. I have a wide array of folklore texts in my personal library and enjoy sharing them with others. I would love to work my way through all 24 of the Grandfather Tales the way I have done with Wicked John and the Devil but I will only do so if there seems to be an audience for such work. Constructive criticism, friendly commentary and continued discussion is always welcomed and encouraged!

As far back as I can remember I have loved folklore, ghost stories, myths, and legendary tales. A lot of this probably stems from growing up for the most part in my grandmother’s house. I am the oldest grandchild on that side of the family by several years and both of my grandparents were in retirement but the time I came along. My grandparents house was my second home. I rode the same bus to school in the morning from my house as I did to my grandma’s house. They no longer live in that house as after my grandfather had a stroke (and is pushing 93 years old) they could no longer handle the upkeep, steep drive way or two sets of steps to their bedroom. But from the time I was 3 to 8th Grade I rode the bus after school to this house.

I am fortunate that I still have both grandparents on my Dad’s side and even more fortunate for the close relationship I have with my grandma. She taught me to read, write, tell stories, and to use my imagination. My grandma was a school teacher in rural North Carolina. She taught for over 50 years and then turned around and basically taught me for another 10. The thing that I loved most as a child and even today at 30 years of age are her stories. She grew up on a North Carolina tobacco farm during the Great Depression and there are so many stories just from her childhood that that I could write a book.

Being with her was a constant stream of folklore and stories. Sometimes the stories she told me just recast me in my favorite movie at the time (the plots of both Home Alone and Home Alone II: Lost in New York were definitely ripped off many times. Sorry John Hughes) and sometimes they were stories that she had memorized and told over and over again in her classroom. I loved her stories so much that they became a way to fight my picky eating habits. When I (as I often did) would leave the veggies on my plate during dinner or the weekly full family Sunday lunch she would entice me to eat them by telling me a story. She would tell the story to up to a point and say “Eat a bean” if I refused it was the end of the story. If i wanted to hear the rest of the story I had to eat my veggies (they were always green beans though, usually canned, and I have my own Green Bean Story that gets laughs when told).

The most memorable stories she told me all come from a book called Grandfather Tales collection by the great storyteller and folklorist Richard Chase. If you aren’t familiar with his work you then you should definitely check out either Grandfather Tales or his collection Jack Tales. And now I am finally at the point of this rather long-winded post. As I have been researching folklore from the Blue Ridge Mountains to help inform my practice I have found my way back to the stories of my childhood. Stories that I have often told to anyone who would listen long enough to hear my versions. What follows is the full text of one of those stories and one of my favorite from Grandfather Tales. After the text of the actual story at the end of this post will also be some commentary about the story both from my reading of the text and from the notes provided by Chase in the Appendix of Grandfather Tales. So with no further ado, I give you:

Wicked John and the Devil (as retold by Richard Chase in Grandfather Tales)

One time there was an old blacksmith that folks called Wicked John. They say he was right mean: never would join the church, never did go to meetin’. always laughed about folks gettin’ saved and being baptized and sech. One thing about him, though, mean as he was, he always did treat a stranger right. And one mornin’ a old beggar came along: Crippled up, walkin’ on two sticks, all bent over if rheumatism, look right hungry-like. Stood there in the door, and Wicked John fin’lly hollered at him says, “Come on in! Whyn’t ye come on in and sit down?” So the old beggar he heaved over the doorsill, sat down on it, and they talked a while. Wicked John he kept right on workin’, talkin’ big, and directly he throwed his hammer down and went to the house. Come back with a big plate of viddles: boiled sweet potato, big chuck of ham-meat, greens, beans, big slice of cake, and a glass of sweet milk. Says, “Here old man! You might make out with these rations- if there's anything here you can eat.”

The old beggar thanked him and started in eatin’, and old John he went on with his work. Well he was a-hammerin’ and around over there, sort of watchin’ the beggar man, and pretty soon he saw him lay that plate and the glass to one side and start to get up. He let them two sticks fall to the ground and commenced straightenin’ up, straightenin’ up, and all the kinks come out of him, till the next thing Wicked John knowed, a big stout-lookin’ man wa r’ared up there in the door: had a long white beard and white hair, white robe right down to his feet, and a big key in his hand. Old John had done dropped his hammer and was a-standin’ there with his mouth hangin’ open and his eyes popped out. So the old man says to him, says, “Well John, I'm Saint Peter. Yes that's who I am, and once every year to see can I find any decent folks left down here, and the first man treats me right I always give him three wishes. So you can just go ahead now and take your three wishes. Anything you’ve a mind to, you can just wish for it and hit’ll be that-a-way.”

Wicked John looked over there at Saint Peter sort of grinning like he didn't think it was really so, says, well, Peter, you better let me study on in a minute. Three wishes. Lord!”

Looked around, started wishin’ on the first thing popped into his head. He didn't care!

“Well now, I've got a fine old high-back rockin’ chair there by the door, and when I get my work done up I like to sit in my rocker, but, don't you know, every day nearly, blame if there ain't somebody done gone and got there ahead of me- One of these loafers hanging around in here of an evenin’. Makes me mad! And I just wish:- that anybody sits in my old rocker but have to stay there and rock right on so I let ‘em get up.”

“Aaa Lord- Lemme see now. Well, there's my old sledge hammer. It's them blame boys come in here and get to messin’ with it, take it out there across the road, see how big a rock they can bust, and con-found I don't have to go out there ever’ time I need it and hunt for it wear them feisty boys have done gone and dropped it down there in the grass somewhere. And I jest wish:- that anybody teches my sledge hammer would have to pound with it. And keep right on a-poundin’ till I let ‘em stop.”

Well, Saint Peter he looked kind of sorry like he thought old John was a-wastin’ his wishes pretty bad, but that old blacksmith he was mean, like I said, just didn't care about nothin’ or nobody. Looked around at Saint Peter right mischievious-like, grinned sort of devilish says “Well alright, Now-- I got a fine form Bush just outside the door there, fire book, it's full of red blooms real early in the spring of the year; and I like my old Firethorn, but confound everybody comes here to get their horses shoed, blame If they don't trample all over that bush, back there wagons into it, break it down; and Aaa Lord these highfalutin folks come over the mountain a-fox huntin’. Humph! Fox-huntin’ in red coats!- looks like they jest got to have ridin’ switches ever’ time they pass. And I jest wish: anyboyd teches my fire thorn, it ‘uld catch ‘em and hold ‘em right down in the middle of all them stickers till I let ‘em out.”

Well, Saint Peter he stepped over the door sill and he was gone from there and we could John couldn't tell which way he went in or nothin’.

So that old blacksmith he kept on blacksmithin’ in his blacksmith shop, and it wasn't long till John and his old woman they got to fussin’. Well, she was jawin’ at him and jawin’ at him and he jus jawed right back at her, till fin’lly she told him, says, “The Devil take you anyhow, old man! I jest wish he would!”

So that day the old man was a-workin’ in his shop, look up and there was a little devil a-standin’ in the door, says, “Daddy said he'd take ye now. Said for me to bring you right on back.”

“ All right, son. I'll be ready to go with ye in just a few more licks. Reckon you can let me finish this horseshoe. Come on in. I'll not be a minute or two.”

Well, the little devil he stepped over into the shop, hung around while, and then he went straight and sat down in that old high-backed rocker, but the more he tried to get up the worse that old chair rocked him, till that little devil’s head was just a-goin’ whammity- ban! Against the chairback. And fin’lly he got to beggin’ and hollerin’ for Wicked John to let him go.

“All right. I’ll let ye go if you go on out of here and not bother me no more.”

So the little devil said yes, he'd go, and when the chair quit rocking, he jumped out of it and a whippity cut out the door he flew.

Well, not long after that the old woman she lit into the old man again about somethin’ or other; and they was a-havin’ it! She was just a-fussin’, and he was just a-laughin’ at her, till fin’lly she stomped around, says “I’ll jest tell ye, old man! The Devil can have ye right now for all I care! He shore can! He can send for ye and take ye off from here, and the sooner the better. That’s all there are to it now!”

That day another little devil come to the door of the shop, little bigger’n the first ‘un, says ”Come on old man, Daddy sent me for ye. Said for me not to wait for nothing, bring ye right on back. So come on now, and we'll go.”

“All right son. Yes, indeed. I'm jest about ready. Come in, and I know you'll let me hit a few more licks on this wagon-tire. I'm bound to finish hit ‘fore we start.”

Well, that little devil he come on inside the shop, got to hangin’ around lookin’ at what old John was doing, seen he was havin’ it kind of awkward the way he had to hold on to the wagon-tire and beat it with one hand, says “ Here, old man, you hold it and let me beat it. We got to hurry or Daddy’ll get after me for staying so long.”- Picked up the old sledgehammer laying there on the ground, starting in poundin’.

so we could John he held the wagontire up and turned it where he wanted it fixed, and when it was done he pulled it out from under the hammer between lips, set it against the wall. And when the little devil try to let go of the hammer handle, he just stuck to it and hit a-poundin’ right on. Well, the way the old sledge swang that little devil around in there, a-jerkin’ him up and down with his legs a-flyin’ ever’ which-a-way- hit was a sight in this world! So he got to beggin’, “Please let me go! Please, sir! Make this thing turn loose of me!”

“All right. I'll let ye go if you get on out of here and don't never come back. Ye hear?”

The little devil said yes, he heard and no, he'd not be back never no more; and then he fell off the hammer-handle and out the door he streaked.

Well, a few days after that the old woman she started raisin’ another racket. They hadn't spoke many words for she r’ared back and stuck her hands on her hips, hollered at him, says, “Old man I just wish the puore- old- Devil himself would come and git ye! I shore do! Now you get on out of here ‘fore I knock you in the head with this stick of firewood!”

So old John he dodged The Stick of wood and laughed at the old lady, and went on out to his shop, and- sure enough, he hadn't any more’n gotten started workin’ ‘fore he looked up and there standin’ in the door with the Old Boy himself, with his horns and his tail and that old cow’s foot of his’n propped up on the sill, says, “COME ON NOW, OLD MAN! AND I AIN’T A-GOIN’ TO TAKE NO FOOLISHNESS OF YE NEITHER!”

“Yes, sir! No, Sir! I’m ready to go, mister, right now. I jest got to finish sharpenin’ this mattick. Promised a man I’d get it done first thing this mornin’. Come on in and sit down.

“NOW! I’LL NOT SIT IN NO CHAIR OF YOUR’N!’

“All right, sir. All right. We’ll be ready to go quicke’n you can turn around if you’d jest give this mattick blade a lick or two while I hold it here. There’s the sledge hammer leanin’ there on the doorsill.”

“NO! I AIN’T GOIN’ TO TECH NO SLEDGE HAMMER!” says the Old Devil. Says, “YOU DONE MADE ME MAD ENOUGH ALREADY, OLD MAN I DIDN’T LIKE A BIT THE WAY YOU DONE MY BOYS, AND I A-TAKIN’ YOU OFF FROM HERE RIGHT NOW. YOU HEARD ME!”

And the old Devil reached in and grabbed Wicked John by the back of his collar, started raggin’ him out. So old John he started in fightin’: punchin, knockin’, beatin’, poundin’, scratchin’ kickin’ bitin’. They had several rounds there just outside the door, made the old Devil awful mad, say, “CONFOUND YE, OLD MAN! I’M GOIN’ TO LICK THE HIDE OFF YOU RIGHT NOW. JEST SEE IF I DON’T-- WHERE’LL I GET ME A SWITCH?”

The old Devil looked around and reached for that bush, and time he touched it, hit grabbed him and wropped around him, jerked him headforemost right down into the middle of that bush where them thornes were the thickest. The old Devil he tried to get loose but the more he thrashed around in there, the worse he got scratched up till fin’lly he just stayed right still, with his legs a-stickin’ out the top of the bush.

“Mister”

“What ye want?”

“Please, sir, let me out of here.”

“All right. I’ll let ye go on one condition:- you, and none of your boys, don’t none ye never come up here a-botherin’ me no more. Ye hear? You promise me that and I might let ye go.”

“Heck yes, I’ll promise,” says the old Devil. “I’ll not come, and I’ll not send nobody neither- not never no more.”

So the bush turned him loose, and sech a kickin’ up dust you never did see. The Old Boy left there and he wasn’t moseyin’ neither.

Well, Wicked John he kept on blacksmithin’ and he wasn’t bothered by o more devils. And after a long time he died and he went on up to the pearly gates. When he got there he knocked, and Saint Peter opened up a little crack, looked out, says, “Ot, it’s you, is it? What ye want?

“Well,” old John told him,”I thought I might stand some little show of gettin’ in up here.”

“You? Why old man, don’t you know we got your record in yonder? I’ll tell ye right now; I was lookin’ at your accounts just the other day; and on the credit side-yes- you have a few entries ‘way up at the top of the page; but on the other side- why man! Hit’s fille up right down to the bottom line. There hain’t a chance in the world of your gettin’ in this place.” And Saint Peter started shuttin’ the gates to.

So old John turned around and down the stairsteps he went. Got down there on the road to hell, a-staggerin’ along with his hand ins his pockets a-whistlin’/ And when he come in sight of the gates of hell, one of them little devils happened to peak out.

“Daddy! O Daddy! Look a-yonder!”

The old Devil come runnin’ and when he saw who it was a-comin’ he hollered out, says, “Bar the door, boys! Bar the door!”

Them little devils grabbed the big gates and slammed ‘em to quick, tuned the key in the lock. So when Wicked John come on up and looked through the bars there stood the old Devil with his young ‘uns crowdin’ around behind him just a-tremblin’.

“Uh-unh!” the old Devil says. “Get on away from here now! No, indeed, you ain’t comin’ in! I’ll not have ye! Don’t ye come no closter! You just turn around right there now, and put off from here.”

Wicked John studied a minute, says, “Well con-found! I don’t know what’n the nation to do now. Saint Peter wouldn’t let me in up yonder, and here you’ve done locked me out. Why, I don’t know where to go!”

So the Devil he looked around, grabbed him up a set of tongs, reached in the furnance, and got holt on a hot coal. Handed it out the bars, says, “Here old man, you jest take this chunk of fire, and go on somewhere else, and start you a hell of your own.

Old John he took it; and they tell me that if you go down to the Great Dismal Swamps, you can kook out of a night and see a little bob of light a-movin’ along out there. And some folks call it the Jacky-my-latern and some call it the will-o’-the-whisp- but I reckon you know now who it is.

If you feel like reading some of how I engage with the text feel free to keep reading below. What started as a simple post morphed into an almost essay length discussion of the story that I would love to discuss with other readers. Also see the end of this post for some information about future plans to do more posts like this one in the future.

There are quite a few elements to this story that makes it such an entertaining tale and it’s no surprise that it’s one of the earlier story in Chase’s collection. Grandfather Tales its self is made up of 24 different stories and like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales or Boccaccio’s Decameron uses a framing narrative to tell the stories. The book is written as though a Grandfather is telling all of these stories to Chase (an outsider) and his grandchildren on an Appalachian Old Christmas Eve (or Twelfth Night Eve). There are no Scrooges, sugar plum fairies, or twelve little reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh in these tales. They are stories out of the Appalachian landscape, with an Appalachain voice. Which brings me to the first thing I love about this story ( and the others in the book) the dialect of how the stories are written.

As former actor and student of theatre dialect work is some of the most fun work to do and when I tell these stories I lay it on thick. It’s hard not to. It is engrained in the story. It’s what makes telling them so fun. I always joke with my husband (also a native North Carolinian and a far better actor than I ever was) that you can tell when we are talking to our grandmothers on the phone because the accent that we worked hard to neutralize for stage comes out as soon as we start talking with them. My grandma can pick out someone from her childhood county out of a crowd just by the way they talk. She calls it the Person County accent. (There is also a Person County Song that is fond of singing if prompted.) I love the way that Chase writes the dialect into the text. Some of my favorite words used in this story are fin’lly not finally, the use of jest for just, shore for sure. I also just adore the comic book level quality onomatopoeia phrases whimmyity-bang and wippity-cut describing just how fast the little devils run away from Wicked John’s tricks.

Getting into the story itself I am really taken of how this story handles the folkloric Devil as trickster trope present in a lot of Southern folktales. Though the Devil (or Old Boy) could fill in a trickster role in this tale Wicked John out-tricks the trickiest trickster of them all. There are plenty of other stories about the Devil being outwitted or bested by a mortal in Souther folklore, but for me this one is up there with Johnny and his fiddle. Its truly an epic reversal that the Devil gets tricked in such a way by someone living a pretty mundane life as a blacksmith.

Is Wicked John Really All That Wicked?

Now the text doesn't provide us with a lot of information about Wicked John and how he got that nickname. It does tell us that he: “never would join the church, never did go to meetin’. Always laughed about folks gettin’ saved and being baptized and sech.” Now if making fun of people who go to church, or who are “saved-again” Christians is a crime for which one can earn the nickname “Wicked” then I defenitley qualify for that title as well. But this does tell us a lot about the culture that is telling us this story. One steeped in religion and superstition. But whats even more curious is how even though he is a “Wicked” man in the public eye the text paints him as very hospitable. He opens his house to a stranger and feeds him without question and this seems to have been common practice for John. Full scale wars have been fought and epic poems have been written as a result of betrayals in hospitality (yes I am looking at you The Illiad and not the dumpster fire that is the film Troy but I digress) How is John “wicked” when he is known for his hospitable nature? I guess his wife would have some words to say about that, and as we see with his devilish visitors his hospitality only extends so far...

One could argue that the three wishes that are granted to him by Saint Peter (according to the notes his transforming visitor is sometimes Saint Patrick instead) are testaments to his wicked ways and even question just how hospitable John truly is but hear me out. John seems to be a rather hard working man. He’s a blacksmith, like I can’t think of a more backbreaking, labor intensive, or hotter premodern era job than being a blacksmith. He works all day swinging a heavy sledge hammer, getting things red hot and using all of his energy to do so. All of the thing he requests for wishes really go back to his work. They are pretty simple wishes in fact. He doesn’t wish for riches, immortality, a less naggy wife ( I know, I know, I am certainly not thrilled with the way that the story portrays John’s wife or their marriage either. But come on she's the one who throws a stick of firewood at him even if he did do something that deserved a tongue lashing from her.) He simply wishes to be able to enjoy things THAT ARE ALREADY HIS! At the end of a long day’s work in his workshop John just wants to sit in his antique rocking chair, but no. He has to wish for his chair to be bewitch because people come over and sit down in his favorite antique chair WITHOUT PERMISSION. Then they don’t offer him his own damn chair when he is done with work for the day. I certainly understand this gripe. I often want to sit on my sofa or armchair after a long day at work and I certainly don’t always feel like entertaning uninvited guests, especially when I have been working in a hot workshop all day! I would probably wish for the same thing if I was in John’s shoes.

Now I can totally understand if you think the rocking chair situation is a bit extreme. You might be saying “But what about John being so hospitable? How is not letting people sit in a rocking chair being a good host?” But I in no way blame John for his second wish. John wishes for his sledge hammer to be bewitched so the neighborhood kids will stop stealing it from the shop and throwing it outside or using it with out permission. I TOTALLY GET why he makes a wish for a magic sledge hammer.

Having worked in costume shops off and on for around 11 years I know I get infuriated when I step away from the sewing machine I am using at the moment for a quick break and come back to it being rethreaded in a completely different color. It’s a pretty quick fix for me, but still its a headache I rather not deal with. Now imagine if you will you’re a blacksmith, after a grueling day of labor you close up your shop for the day, put away your tools, get things set up for work the next morning. You go home, (more than likely in this case next door) and don’t want to think about work for a few hours. That’s completely understandable! What would you do if the neighborhood kids STEAL YOUR FUCKING TOOLS, TRY AND CRUSH ROCKS WITH THEM AND THEN LEAVE THEM OUTSIDE FOR YOU TO HAVE TO FIND ON YOUR OWN? You can't say you blame John for making this wish. I certainly don’t

Now John’s final wish for his fire thorn bush seems at first glance kind of a thrown away opportunity for improving his life in a more meaningful way but lets pick this a part. The reason John wishes for his bush to fight back is because people of a higher socio-economic bracket keep a) breaking off and stealing switches, aka branches off his property and b) his clients keep running over or trampling the bush. Again I find John completely justified in his wish.

When it’s all said and done all of John wishes relate back to work in a way and at the end of his long workday John simply wants to enjoy rocking in his chair, people not to fuck with his tools and get to enjoy his favorite shrubbery. Simple requests. If all of this makes John a “wicked” man, then maybe I am just as guilty of being “wicked” myself.

Before wrapping this post up I want to highlight a few more things that I find really interesting about this story. They aren’t super integral to the stories plot but they are common among folktales and I just want to point them out. The text’s use of three, the story’s myth like ending and a few of the notes about the text by Chase. It’s really easy to notice all the use of threes several times in this story. You have the three wishes, three enchanted tools, three visiting devils and by the end of the story the three other worldly realms ( heaven, hell and The Great Dismal Swamp) and as we all know the use of three is pretty common in these types of stories (The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Three Billy Goats Gruff, etc.) but its always useful to call attention to things. I am also taken by how the story ends. You don’t realize to the end of the tale that not only are you getting a trickster tale but at the end you are getting a explanatory myth/legend for unexplained phenomena in the Great Dismal Swamp. It’s a pretty clever explanation and rather unexpected.

Finally there are just a few notes from the book’s Appendix I want to bring attention to. This story like all the stories in this collection are retold by Chase after collecting them from storytellers through out the North Carolina and Virginia stretch of the Appalachian Mountains. This particular story was told to Chase by several different folks across the region. A mother and daughter from Charlottesville VA (my current hometown) and another person farther west in Bristol, VA. Chase also notes that in other tellings of the story John is referred to as Jack, he is sometimes characterized as a drunk and in some versions he is a shoemaker and not a blacksmith. Also according to the notes the fire thorn bush in question is a Japan Quince (Cydonia Japonica).

This post is certainly longer than I planned it to be but there is so much to pull out of this story, it’s why I chose it to write about. I would would love to hear your comments, interpretations and feelings about the story. All of the stories in Chase’s work were collected from the Scots-Irish/ English colonists and their descendants that settled this part of the Appalachians but I would be fascinated to hear other versions of this story that may approach it from a different cultural lens or landscape. I know have defentielty adapted it a few ways myself when I have told it to an audience.

I am thinking about working my way through all 24 stories in Grandfather Tales in a similar fashion as I have this one. If you found this post (essay really) useful in anyway please feel free to reblog it, like it, comment or send me an ask or PM. The more response I get to this post the more likely I will be to working my way through the whole book and there are some really great stories to share.

At the very least I am planning to share and analyze at least three more of my favorite stories from Grandfather Tales, the chilling jump-scare tale Chunk O’Meat, The Weekend at Bernie’s-esque Old Drye Frye and my absolutely favorite story to tell any time I can get a captive audience Gallymanders.

#appalachia #americanfolklore #virginia folklore #Blue Ridge Mountains #north carolina folklore #childhoodmemories #folklore #folklorefriday

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starringemiliaclarke · 7 years ago

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Recap: "Game of Thrones" - 7.02 'Stormborn'

Be a Dragon.

EW – Game of Thrones delivered on its promised faster pace of season 7 with an episode so crammed with major events, reunions, a riveting battle, deaths, and twists that it almost played like a season finale — yet this is only episode 2! After last week’s foreboding and stately premiere, “Stormborn” floored the narrative pedal, with nearly every scene delivering some kind of major consequence for our characters, setting the stage for a cross-section of battles and major power-player meet-ups. We start with:

Or perhaps it’s Princess That Was Promised? Experienced translator Missandei corrects Melisandre’s prophecy description.

So Arya continues her journey home. You know if she actually makes it to Winterfell, she’s going to be super pissed if Jon is gone and she’s stuck with Sansa.

This sounds like great plan! Too bad it all goes to hell in just a few minutes. But great!

Recap: “Game of Thrones” – 7.02 ‘Stormborn’ was originally published on Enchanting Emilia Clarke

#emilia clarke #game of thrones #game of thrones cast #GOT cast #daenerys targaryen #me before you #terminator

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