Hiiiii! So, a few days ago you were talking about the whole thing with Amy, Rory, and River. And when I saw those posts a thought arose in my head and I wish to share it with you.
Since River grew up with Amy and Rory as Mels. And Mels was Amy's best friend do you think that they ever talked about children? Since I know that it can come up when talking with friends, and like... do you think that Amy might've ever expressed whether or not she wanted children?
And if she didn't, that Mels would've had to listen to her mother say that she doesn't want children? The idea is so heartbreaking and sooo interesting.
What do you think about it?
no, no, see, you're so right and this drives me wild.
because, the way i see it, i don't think amy wanted children. she's somewhere on the 'hasn't thought about it' to 'vaguely negative feelings about it happening' range to me, which falls sharply into 'Not Happening Ever Again' post-s6. (specifically, in terms of having a kid herself, even if she could, i really don't think she would. i do love that she and rory end up adopting a kid later, because that does make sense, for amy pond who grew up alone in one universe with her family swallowed by cracks in time before the doctor helped her set it right again, for her to want to make sure another child won't be alone in the world like she was. getting off-track here.)
and that's so. because the first real memory river/mels has of amy is of amy shooting at her. and depending on how well the silence fucked up the rest of her memory, it might be one of the very first memories she has at all. that's how she met her mother, crying for help and getting a bullet instead. her mother tried to kill her, so of course, you have to think. she must have needed to hear that she was wanted, right? even if she was taken away, even if amy shot her, at some point, melody must have been wanted?
river is good at getting people to do what she wants, but she is very, very bad at subtlety. and mels is younger, has less practice, so when she wants to know this, she's just going to ask. blunt and quick, easy enough because amy's used to the way mels will open her mouth and you just have to be ready to roll with what comes out if you want to keep up. it's why they're such good friends (like mother, like daughter.)
they're nine, and mels asks if amy wants kids, and amy wrinkles up her nose and says she won't have time for children, obviously, once her raggedy doctor finally comes back. they're fifteen, and amy and rory dance will they-won't they in a way that makes mels twitchy to watch, and taunting amy about wanting to have rory's babies is a good way to get on her nerves. but amy calls her gross, tells her she's got more life planned than children would leave room for, and besides, imagine her, a mom? it'd be a disaster.
mels does. a lot. she looks at her mother and just sees her best friend instead. she's not even sure what she wishes was there, but. maybe amy's right. and besides. imagine her, a daughter, instead of the ticking time bomb she really is? it'd be a disaster.
they're sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, and on. mels stands on the outside of a love story that births a universe. and her. how do you compete with that? not that she would know, not yet, she hasn't been there. but it doesn't make her feel any less alienated when amy and rory talk in whispers about a half-remembered world that's bled through to this life, about roman soldiers and boxes and the big bang of belief.
all these memories, they never mention children. on amy's wedding day, she's different, not like someone remembering a dream but someone who lived it. rory stands straighter, won't leave her side, and they're both so much older than they were yesterday. maybe now, right? a wedding's as good a time as any to decide you want kids.
mels not being at amy & rory's wedding is such an obvious lazy way of them trying to explain why they totally didn't just throw this plot twist together at the last minute that i'm not even going to acknowledge it. of course she was at their wedding. she's their best friend. there's too many people around the doctor, and she wasn't ready today of all days, so despite this horrible burning need under her skin to strike, she stays her hand. doesn't let him dance with her because she might just tear his throat out if he gets too close. stays with amy and rory as the maid of honor should. she must have been there for the awkward questions that always gets asked, 'so, any plans for a baby?' 'when am i getting grandkids?' 'oh, you two are going to have gorgeous children together.' standing a few feet from amy in her wedding dress and watching her mother tense and grit her teeth and brush off the questions. watching her look nervously at rory but never ask if he means it when his mom asks him if he'd prefer a son or a daughter, and rory answers 'either one, some day, not anytime soon.'
god i'm just going on and on, aren't i. but really, what's it like to know that amy never changed her mind. the next time she sees them, she's already been born and stolen. i don't like let's kill hitler for. so many reasons. but there is something compelling about how recklessly river lashes out at the world, at the doctor. even her sacrifice at the end is almost suicidal, throwing all her regenerations into this man without knowing if that will even work or if it might kill her to do it. but it makes more sense in the context of someone who has reached the end of a long, long wait for some kind of indication, any kind, that her mother wanted to have her. and finally been told, no. she didn't choose melody.
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what are lemony and ernest doing right now?
lemony and baby bea are staying at the hotel ernest and frank are running post hotel denouement and lemony and ernest are pretending not to recognize each other but the tension is slowly and steadily building and any moment now, one of them is going to snap, and they’ll have a dinner date, because they are classy.
(this is not my best, but i tried!!)
GASP!! no no this is perfect. of COURSE they have a dinner date; both of them ARE so classy it is no less than pretentious and candlelit. babybea picks out lemony's tie. (it is green. lemony is too touched to tell her he's never been one for green. more pressing is, in fact, where did she find the tie?) (lemony, you think your niece leaves home without a bag prepared for any event?? she's probably got a broadsword in there somewhere. it's foldable. she made it herself and she's very proud of it. don't tell violet.)
but first, let's backtrack a little --
lemony and ernest have not spoken since lemony's research for the books, which was, oh that's always a hard timeline to pin down no matter what theory you roll with, but let's say a few years ago at minimum, and it was probably very slim communication anyway. neither of them were probably in a great place to say anything more? it was very formal, barely anything, mostly confirming details. and before THAT, it was many, many years previously, when beatrice and bertrand were still alive, and of course everything was very dicey for a whole host of reasons, nearly half of them schism related. and nothing, special ever happened between lemony and ernest. nothing really at all ever happened between them, nothing like a friendship and especially not a relationship. but they looked at each other and had an understanding, back then. there was a respect, for what they stood for, even if they were not necessarily standing in the same place. and that alone was enough to make even an idle look across a room complicated. and to see each other now is -- it's a lot of things.
neither of them have ever forgotten each other. not just because they're some of the few left of their generation of vfd. how do you forget someone like lemony, especially because, no matter what lemony has done or how he's tried to hide, he's also made it so that no one could ever forget him, or what he tried to do? how do you forget someone like ernest, suspicious and untrustworthy and forgettable to the wrong eyes, but to the right ones, to the people who looked, clever and aware and charming, someone also trying his hardest to do what he thought was best? they were both very dangerous people, once. to other people, to each other, to themselves. but now most of the people that danger mattered to are dead. things are so different, so many people they knew and loved are dead. and now they're -- just two men, older than they ever thought they'd get to be, enjoying a fragile freedom neither of them thought was possible either, pretending not to recognize each other, lemony because he doesn't know if he should say anything, even if the only thing stopping him now is his own eternal anxiety, ernest because he is waiting to see how long it will take lemony to stop overthinking. and both of them are very good at waiting.
frank: why do you keep bringing that lunch table bread baskets? don't they have enough bread by now?
ernest: i'm waiting for lemony snicket to stop being stupid
frank:
frank: wait, w h a t
ernest: what do you think? five dollars for another hour, at minimum? ten?
frank: w h a t ???????????????
ernest: don't tell me that's steep, you can afford it.
now, babybea poses a minor problem -- if she hasn't met the denouements at this point, this is terribly awkward, because she has not two but three total uncles engaging in a severe lack of eye contact over her head while she and one out of three uncles eat a nice hotel lunch, and eventually SOMEONE is going to go, hold the FUCK up there's a child there, but if she HAS met the denouements at this point, this is very frustrating for her, because she has three uncles engaging in a severe lack of eye contact over her head and she wants to know WHY.
babybea: uncle lemony, why does uncle ernest keep bringing us bread baskets?
lemony, thinking babybea is still too young to understand the intense psychological warfare between old, friends?, while picking up a breadstick: you should never pass up an opportunity for bread, beatrice.
babybea: why don't you just say hi to him?
lemony: oh, well -- he's much too far away. i would not want to bother him.
ernest, standing five feet away, casually leaning against a sideboard, going through the afternoon paper: hmm, might rain later.
babybea, who at this point has been given A Phone, texts sunny to tell her what's happening, and sunny sends back '🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖' which babybea interprets as 'please bring the bread home'
violet: sunny, what are you laughing at?
sunny: stupidity
klaus: i KNEW we should've gone with them.
lunch passes, with little else happening. babybea asks frank if he's finished any new ships in bottles, his current meticulous control-based hobby of choice. he has, and they spend a nice afternoon together talking about tiny craft hobbies and different types of ships. she shows him her foldable broadsword, and he is both impressed, and concerned.
frank, on the phone: violet do you know about the --
violet: oh yes, i know about the broadsword.
so that leaves us with lemony and ernest, now engaging in what could be called high stakes hide and seek, only without quite, hiding, or, seeking. at this point, they, or just lemony in particular, i guess, have passed the 'should i do something' point and now it's more a matter of pure principle, keeping up this not talking not looking game. and ernest will never pass up a good game. they while away the afternoon wandering about the hotel, spending time in the same rooms just not interacting with each other at all, individually reading more of the paper or commenting on the weather or the food or the books in the hotel library (because of course it has a library.) (i've been in a hotel twice in my whole life. i am not. entirely clear on what they could conceivably contain.) (but also, OF COURSE they'd put a library in the hotel, for lots of reasons), just waiting for the other to break first. it's so. goodness, these two.
(let's also assume it's a slow hotel week. i did have a joke in here about other guests watching this go down, but i think it's pushing it a little.)
of course, it does start to wear on them after a while. all the not-looking. it does get silly. they wind up looking at the other when the other one isn't, looking. eventually, they find themselves in the same hallway, looking at the same painting of a frog lamp.
lemony: it's very well done.
ernest: had enough, have you?
lemony: i do mean it. i am afraid i don't know a great deal about art, but i think the brush strokes are excellent.
ernest: ........thank you.
(i think ernest's own hobby of choice is painting. idk, i think he'd find it nice. calming.)
what is there to say? what other games are there to play, really? what do you gain by that? how do you exist as Just Two Guys At The End Of The World, When The World Is Still Going? there's a lot in here. there doesn't have to be. but there is. and it doesn't even matter to talk about it anymore, but it's still There, you know? some habits and old fears die very, very hard.
babybea, from down the hall: uncle lemony, uncle frank gave me one of his ship in a bottle kits!
but there is still so much else in the world, somehow! isn't it something.
ernest: dinner?
lemony: that would be nice, yes.
SO, THE DINNER DATE. yes, lemony's green tie. ernest actually thinks it's charming, but fully agrees, it's not lemony's color. but they both look stunning in well-cut suits. they don't eat at the hotel, but go to a restaurant. again, pretentious and candlelit. wine is involved. they share a dessert. it is very much a date and also not a date, because it's a little strange, to think of it as a date, when you've just started talking to someone again. ..........but it's a date. there is a great deal of eye contact. it's very thrilling for both of them to keep looking up and finding the other still sitting there. it's one of the most terrifyingly normal things lemony and ernest have ever done. they can do normal things, now! what a world. wow.
(sunny: update
babybea: they went to [restaurant name redacted]
sunny: ❗❗❗😡😡😡😡😡🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐🥐
frank, looking over babybea's shoulder, because now he has to babysit, and you KNOW frank eavesdrops on anything. can you eavesdrop on a text? you know what i mean: oh, that's unnecessary. (frank, do you even text. do you even know what an emoji is. frank.)
babybea: sunny likes bread.) (anyway, sunny wants the restaurant bread too. that's a fancy restaurant.)
oh, they do bring home the bread. it is reprehensible to not take any leftover bread from a restaurant. they do have a bit of a time trying to sneak it in their suit pockets, until their waitress just hands them a bag for it. sunny gets to eat a great deal of delicious bread, the next day.
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