Bran Davies (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
theravenboy) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ways_back_room2004-10-15 12:25 am
theravenboy) wrote in ways_back_room2004-10-15 12:25 am
Summary: Of Robert Graves and Sulky Pendragons
Sitting in English class in Wales, Bran reads a poem. This would be unremarkable, except that the last stanza of the poem is the verse that goes with Bran's long-lost magical sword, and it returns his lost memory of being the son of Arthur Pendragon and fighting for the Light alongside Will Stanton. Dazed, Bran stumbles into Milliways, where Will and Snow White find him. (Snow leaves fairly soon, having been ignored by the extremely stressed Bran and Will. Sorry, Snow -- we'll RP another time.) Bran accuses Will Stanton (fairly) of keeping the memories from him. Will protests that Bran is mortal and therefore shouldn't remember being otherwise. Bran asks Will if he knows what it's like to long for missing knowledge. Will does. Why isn't Bran happy to get his memories back? Because what Bran remembers is a loss, not a gain. Bran whines about his losses. There is debate over whether memories are worth keeping. It's your turn to decide whether to keep them, Will says. So kind of you to offer this time, Bran replies, before screaming at Will, stalking away, and reminding a number of muns of Milliways's other sulky Pendragon.
Will finds a cup of tea and a dark corner in which to brood. Peter Pettigrew follows him there to serve as a sympathetic outlet for venting. Peter had promised Merriman to support Will; the revelation provokes an awwwwww of admiration for the sweetness from Bran-mun. Will explains the fight with Bran to Peter and to Svava. Peter probes. Will actually admits he might have been wrong. Peter very politely agrees, in an answer that is classic for its Peterish (Pettigrevian?) thoughtfulness and subtlety of argument. Will remembers what happens when a mortal man is piled with unbearable burdens. Peter agrees that keeping the memories would have seriously damaged Bran, but he still has reservations. Svava keeps quiet; what little she knows of memory removal is bad.
Meanwhile, Bran finds Jane, who's surprised and worried about his furious body language. He curses interfering bastards from the Light. Realizing what has happened, Jane tries to convince Bran that the memory erasure was for the best. Whose best? Bran calms slightly. Cordelia Vorkosigan comes over to hear Jane and Bran discussing the way secrets seem to come out at Milliways. Bran wasn't at Milliways when he remembered. Another suppressed memory case? asks Cordelia, before she is even introduced to Bran. Cordelia doesn't approve of repressed memories, and has been yelling at Will about it. Bran suddenly realizes that Jane must have recovered her memories too, and is belatedly concerned on her account. Jane doesn't want to talk about it, but eventually admits that she was having nightmares until Will restored her memories. Bran is coldly angry. So is Cordelia.
At this point, Mordred Pendragon joins the little group, to find Bran staring at him in incoherent surprise. Mordred is snarky. Mordred, you're my brother, aren't you? Yes. Bran wants to know what Arthur was like. Mordred explains that Arthur was a mass murderer. Bran is broken; he calls Mordred a liar as his mun gleefully references a Welsh Triad.
Somewhere in here, fatherless Meg, who has been listening, along with Peter, Svava, Moiraine and Dream, considers the nature of fatherhood. Jane and Cordelia, upset by the rising brotherly tension, duck out quietly.
Will, who has been watching Bran and Mordred, hurries over to explain that Mordred's father is and is not Bran's father. Bran is not comforted; how many not-fathers does he have? Will says that both Owen Davies and the tDiRverse Arthur were actually Bran's fathers.
Meanwhile, Mordred, infuriated by the accusation that he lied, rages that any leader of the Light would want to kill a child of his own incest, foretold to destroy his kingdom. Bran begins to believe it, and blames his own abandonment in the twentieth century on Arthur's fury at Guinevere's faithlessness. No, says Will, Arthur didn't send Guinevere away; she went of her own desire, to repent of her breaking trust. Will and Mordred exchange glares. Bran and Will discuss memory some more; the tension between them drops.
Bran turns to Mordred. You knew him, and you say he killed you. I didn't know him, except that he smiled at me, three times, or four. A fine pair of brothers we are. Mordred offers Bran an olive branch and a handclasp. They discuss the Chunnel and differences in time. Mordred has a question, but he'll save it for later. Bran ap Arthur is going back to English class. Why didn't you go with him? Mordred whispers to the closed front door, neatly breaking the exhausted Bran-mun.
The assembled observers wander back to their regularly scheduled kitten admiration or head to sleep.
Three days later, Bran-mun collapses in summary!shock.
Will finds a cup of tea and a dark corner in which to brood. Peter Pettigrew follows him there to serve as a sympathetic outlet for venting. Peter had promised Merriman to support Will; the revelation provokes an awwwwww of admiration for the sweetness from Bran-mun. Will explains the fight with Bran to Peter and to Svava. Peter probes. Will actually admits he might have been wrong. Peter very politely agrees, in an answer that is classic for its Peterish (Pettigrevian?) thoughtfulness and subtlety of argument. Will remembers what happens when a mortal man is piled with unbearable burdens. Peter agrees that keeping the memories would have seriously damaged Bran, but he still has reservations. Svava keeps quiet; what little she knows of memory removal is bad.
Meanwhile, Bran finds Jane, who's surprised and worried about his furious body language. He curses interfering bastards from the Light. Realizing what has happened, Jane tries to convince Bran that the memory erasure was for the best. Whose best? Bran calms slightly. Cordelia Vorkosigan comes over to hear Jane and Bran discussing the way secrets seem to come out at Milliways. Bran wasn't at Milliways when he remembered. Another suppressed memory case? asks Cordelia, before she is even introduced to Bran. Cordelia doesn't approve of repressed memories, and has been yelling at Will about it. Bran suddenly realizes that Jane must have recovered her memories too, and is belatedly concerned on her account. Jane doesn't want to talk about it, but eventually admits that she was having nightmares until Will restored her memories. Bran is coldly angry. So is Cordelia.
At this point, Mordred Pendragon joins the little group, to find Bran staring at him in incoherent surprise. Mordred is snarky. Mordred, you're my brother, aren't you? Yes. Bran wants to know what Arthur was like. Mordred explains that Arthur was a mass murderer. Bran is broken; he calls Mordred a liar as his mun gleefully references a Welsh Triad.
Somewhere in here, fatherless Meg, who has been listening, along with Peter, Svava, Moiraine and Dream, considers the nature of fatherhood. Jane and Cordelia, upset by the rising brotherly tension, duck out quietly.
Will, who has been watching Bran and Mordred, hurries over to explain that Mordred's father is and is not Bran's father. Bran is not comforted; how many not-fathers does he have? Will says that both Owen Davies and the tDiRverse Arthur were actually Bran's fathers.
Meanwhile, Mordred, infuriated by the accusation that he lied, rages that any leader of the Light would want to kill a child of his own incest, foretold to destroy his kingdom. Bran begins to believe it, and blames his own abandonment in the twentieth century on Arthur's fury at Guinevere's faithlessness. No, says Will, Arthur didn't send Guinevere away; she went of her own desire, to repent of her breaking trust. Will and Mordred exchange glares. Bran and Will discuss memory some more; the tension between them drops.
Bran turns to Mordred. You knew him, and you say he killed you. I didn't know him, except that he smiled at me, three times, or four. A fine pair of brothers we are. Mordred offers Bran an olive branch and a handclasp. They discuss the Chunnel and differences in time. Mordred has a question, but he'll save it for later. Bran ap Arthur is going back to English class. Why didn't you go with him? Mordred whispers to the closed front door, neatly breaking the exhausted Bran-mun.
The assembled observers wander back to their regularly scheduled kitten admiration or head to sleep.
Three days later, Bran-mun collapses in summary!shock.
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neatly breaking the exhausted Bran-mun
I'm sorry!
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*blinks*
This is going to turn into a breakage war, I can feel it.
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You should definitely read tDiR. The books were among the great joys of my childhood, until the ending, which we at Milliways have neatly changed over the last weeks!
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Over the summer, when I actually had access to decent bookstores, I thought I grabbed it. When I got it home, I realized "The Dark is Rising" was only one book in the series. Since I'm the type who prefers to read things in order yet wishes to get into this, I'll ask -- can it be read out of sequence without headaches?
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The five books, in order, are (1) Over Sea, Under Stone, (2) The Dark is Rising, (3) Greenwitch, (4) The Grey King, and (5) Silver on the Tree
I would recommend starting either with OSUS or tDiR; since you have tDiR you can and should definitely start with it. You don't need OSUS to understand tDiR.
You should read OSUS before Greenwitch. You should read tDiR before GK. You should read the other four before SotT.
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Second, very well done with the summary. So much brilliant RP, and I really enjoyed reading the recap.
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Glad you had fun with our crazy sulky Pendragons :).
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Eventually, Moiraine will want to talk to Bran, especially now that Jane's told her a bit about how Bran reacted to the memory modification. Eventually. ;)
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By the way, mun would like to snuggle Gavroche.
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So sorry for not being able to help with the summary! Wonderful job. (And, oh, I love the icon.)
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