#father son and grandkid ouch

[comp3titions]

Pole 4

[einsteinsugly]

Forman father/son relationships, by generation (Red and Eric will be a separate one)

Gen 1: Patrick (1848-1878)/John (1876-1968). There's not much of a father/son relationship, because Patrick died in a workplace accident when John was really young. He fiercely loved and protected his son when he was around, though.

Gen 2: John (1876-1968)/Albert (1898-1963). Ouch, but it's mostly Albert's fault. John's a loving father, but he's not too good at expressing his emotions, and sometimes comes off as a bit cold.

John is a more analytical, bookish version of Eric, more or less. He's an awkward bookish type who owns a bookstore and has some progressive (and well, frankly, socialist) views, whereas Albert is far more nationalistic and traditional. And as a result, they butt heads. Hard.

So when John bad mouths the merits of WWI, Albert literally turns him in (look up the Sedition Act of 1918 for more details). And John rots in jail for a little while, which basically estranges them (obviously). John is still in Albert's life, mostly for the sake of the grandkids, but it's insanely awkward, to say the least.

John and Albert get into some intense verbal altercations, ones Red distinctly remembers. As he desperately hopes to avoid the same fate with Eric (but with opposite political views bestowed on father [traditional] and son [more liberal]). Honestly, if Eric was a decade older, I think Red and Eric would have more of a hostile relationship, since Eric would conscientiously object to Vietnam and create a considerable wedge between them.

Anyway, back to John and Albert. At some point, Albert attempts some half-assed olive branch and names his first son John after him (Jerry), but that doesn't accomplish much of anything. They can't stand each other, and that's that.

PS: John outlives Albert by a few years, enough to influence Eric in a way that kind of pisses Red off (because John's loudly against the Vietnam War, too).

Gen 3: Albert (1898-1963)/Red (1927-?). Another ouch, but it's not quite as hardcore as John and Albert. Albert's a hard-handed, domineering father. What he says goes, and as a kid, Albert more or less makes decisions for Red. Like shipping him off to the navy, or getting Red a factory job after the war instead of letting Red use the GI Bill to his advantage, so Red could go to college and become an engineer (which Red heavily preferred), or go to trade school to become a mechanic (his second preference).

Red fears his father, and fears disappointing him, or else there'll be hell to pay. Meanwhile, Albert thinks he's doing the best he can for his son, because shipping him off to the navy is better than shipping him off to the army. Which Albert proudly enlisted in as a young man, and rotted in the trenches in WWI). This results in some pretty hardcore PTSD (then called shellshock) on Albert's side of the equation, and that makes him a bit more hostile.

Such hostility and forcefulness makes Red resent his father, as Albert thinks he has to make major life decisions for him, or else he'll end up in the gutter. He doesn't like Lydia, Eloise, or Kitty. He and Bernice try to set him up with another woman, Lynn Taylor, who is seemingly "respectable" because her mother's a Morgan. But in fact, Lynn's anything but. He tries to like Lynn, and takes her on a movie date while he and Kitty are dating, which greatly upsets Kitty (quite understandably). But he breaks it off, because he loves Kitty. Not promiscuous Lynn.

At this point, Red basically flips his father off and tells him to go fuck himself. He marries Kitty, leaving a sour taste in Albert's mouth. Red married into a family of farmers*, a family of pushovers (according to Albert), and to Albert? Unlike Jerry, he's a great disappointment. Who can never be good enough, according to Albert.

*This is massively hypocritical, because Patrick came to America as a child with his destitute family of potato farmers (during the potato famine), and became a general laborer as an adult. Working in the grimy, dangerous factories in New York City. Then, John was a servant boy and chimney sweeper at an all-girls' school, moving to Point Place (with a girl he met at the all-girls' school, btw) for better opportunities the dirty city failed to provide. While converting to Protestantism for...well, calculated, non-religious reasons (he's already Irish; why maintain Catholicism when it only provides him with distinct and obvious disadvantages?).

[askintothevoids]

The Epilogue:

Roman and Virgil:

They never did get married, because they didn’t want to. Virgil believes it to be a british social construct to control women and the lower class, and Roman believes marriage to be bad luck.

They did get into that huge funky war that we were talking about, and had to put Babe with Protection. After weeks of convincing, Valentine, Mac-Kenzie, and Junius fought by Virgil and Roman’s side, and they won after 5 years of fighting.

Virgil fulfilled his lifelong dream of making Bonner regret his words, and plunged his mother’s dagger into his chest. Something about Bonner that Virgil never mentioned was the fact that the man often shared the same words as his former husband, so perhaps that fueled his anger. After a lot of crying, Virgil came to the conclusion that maybe he’d leave the fighting to Angie, and hire a royal therapist.

There was more to Virgil’s story than that though, he did raise Babe with his beloved partner, Roman, after the war. He made an excellent father. Anne even came back and apologized, earning her role back into Virgil’s and his son’s life. He even got to see his nephews more often.

Seeing that his son is now only 12 years away from being a full fledged adult (to him that isn’t very long), Virgil now has to see that Babe is very different from other children. Honestly, he never thought his own very very dead mother would be assisting in the parenting of his child, but hey, Virgil has to remember that he isn’t always right, even if he can see the future.

Meanwhile Roman pursued his love for music and theatre, he even opened a music program for Oteriphanne, showing the lovely folks the beauty of music that isn’t just only about killing the French and Brits in order to stop deculturalization of their land (though that’s not a bad topic, Roman literally just wanted 14th century vampires to enjoy Spice Girls and it worked).

He obviously, but admittedly very awkwardly, learned how to parent a child. Roman wasn’t as picture perfect as he would’ve liked to be, he did after all accidentally make his son cry many times. Like Virgil, he now sees that their kid is different. His son’s ears are full of words that he can’t understand, but hopes to try his best to ease Babe’s worries and hardships in life.

Through five years of virgous studying, Roman became a quarter fluent in Pterannan. With even more studying and training, he finally became a fully trained Knight and earned his spot next to Virgil with his forementioned music program (turns out teaching a population several new skills, means he bettered the population which is a requirement to become a king when you're not blood related to royalty).

Still there’s somethings that Roman still regrets, he never did come to an understanding with his stepfather, who was his namesake. Nor does he see Remus and his husband as often as he wishes he did. And he kinda wants to buy a cow.

Even after being together for almost 10 years, they still love each other, and yes, Virgil still calls a phone, a magic box because some things never change.

Patton:

After he and Logan adopted the children from the Dragonwitch au that they accidently orphaned, Patton certainly was trying his best to keep going, and he did a pretty alright job.

Patton single handedly traveled across the country from Florida to Indiana with four small children whose identities he had to hide along his.

Once he had made it to the David-Dase residence, he explained what had happened and asked for help, and here’s what happened.

Nicholas and James owned property in rural Saskatchewan, which they had inherited from Jane Phoebe David (James’ deceased mother) and never really knew what to do with it. So in order to keep their son’s husband and their new grandchildren safe, James and Nicholas let Patton and their grandchildren live there. It was a good spot for them, it kept the reporters away from Patton and kept people away from Daniel, Jane, Harper and Buddy.

After receiving help from James and Nicholas, Patton had to figure out how to explain his disappearance to the police so that he could gain some form of normality, and a good enough job to support his growing family.

Stuff didn’t exactly go well at first. Still grieving over his separation from Logan, he did often find it hard to smile for his children, nor did he find it easy to explain to them that they couldn’t out in public without being hidden from the world’s view. It didn’t help when his O’Pa (Janus Van Den Bosch-Brzozowski) passed away from a deteriorating body, it was for the best, but it hurt to lose another parent.

He kept going though. His brother, Patton Reyes-Baker, moved in with him and got a job helping a local beekeeper. It wasn’t so bad, grief can strengthen some bonds. His step father, Remus, visited every so often, it was clear that he probably wouldn’t be around much longer either.

He’s doing a pretty good job raising those kids. Still it doesn’t help that Patton wishes he did it with his beloved. There have been many long nights of waiting and crying. There’s a good chance that Patton won’t move on until old age, which could be a good thing for a certain someone. Overall, if he were to describe it, it’s like the worst nightmare and the best dream ever at the same time.

Patton did get to open that diner, he did get to take his puppies home with him, and he did teach his kids how to ride bikes (except Buddy), but it still wasn’t the same. For all he cares, he’s still a married man.

Hymnthian:

Being one of the oldest motherfuckers ever, Hymnthian is still kicking it. Under Virgil and Roman’s rule, he’s pretty happy. He does find some common ground with his great (times a couple hundreds) grandchild though. Babe’s remarkable ability to hear the dead often comes in handy for a grieving widower. In return for hearing what his dead wife has to say, he teaches Babe how to play To-Ouch, an Oterian instrument.

Janus and Remus:

As you might've heard earlier, Janus passed away. It’s important to remember that death is an important part of life. In Janus’ case, they were fine with it. After an aspiring career as a ballerina and potter, not being able to use your hands or foot can often be depressing. When their body finally gave out, Janus figured it best if their sister took their place. Janus died comfortably and happily. What else can I say that will convince you? Death isn’t always a bad thing.

Remus O’Malley-Gator was a different story. After the death of Janus, he found himself once again lost. He visited Patton, Patton, and his step-grandkids every so often. Remus spent most of time adventuring, looking for some kind of fulfillment. I suppose that sounds bad, but I always write a bittersweet ending.

Camila and Lotte:

After spending most of her adult life in the void, Camila was beginning to feel hopeless. Her sons were already grown and had found their soulmates, while she had still had nothing. Camila wandered for a while, universe after universe, she turned up with nothing once again.

With Janus having passed, their replacement would soon have to come in. And well, she was certainly surprised. Camila had no idea Janus had a younger sister! Lotte had been frozen for over 200 years, and arrived fresh from the fridge at the ripe old age of 48.

Camila had her fair share of trying to tell this beautiful, intelligent, strong woman that she was from a soulmate universe and that Lotte was her long awaited soulmate. Let’s just say, it took her a couple years.

Lotte had her share of pining as well. I mean, Camila is an equally beautiful, intelligent, strong woman who was tall (every short lesbian’s weakness).

She found her footing as her sibling’s replacement eventually, while she didn’t wield a shepherd's crook but having arms of pure steel sure did come handy when dealing with the dangers of the void.

Eventually, you know that their had to be an equally cute lesbian void wedding, where Patton and Roman became cousins, so that’s cool.

Logan:

As the only void dweller that actually only lives in the void, his life, honestly, sucks.

As the years go by, Logan’s hair only gets grayer and his yearning only grows stronger. He builds his tough exterior up once more, with some dull hope still intact. Logan knows the probability of never seeing his husband and kids again, and lets the gnawing feeling eat away at him.

But you know what? He did get to be cool Uncle Logan (his Ultra Secret Oterian Code Name was Protection) for about five years. He loved the shit out of Babe, even taught that boy some french and how to clear his mind even when people’s thoughts are louder than all shit.

Then he had to give Babe back to Virgil and Roman, knowing he should take the offer to live in Oteriphanne, he did.

Nothing became of it, he’s just a guy in a country full of vampires. There’s nothing there for him after all. Logan knows Babe isn’t his to parent, and chooses to keep his distance so he doesn’t crowd Roman and Virgil. Maybe in a few years, he’ll risk his life. For now, he’ll just become a grizzled middle aged man.