A House in Order
Jan. 27th, 2011 02:01 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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twispiteficTitle: A House in Order
Author: Me, your murloc truly
Book: New Moon
Genre: Standard drama
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,085
Inspiration: A bit of real life, and the objections of others to Carlisle's behavior
Warnings: Mild swearing
Author’s Note: I've been thinking lately of just how useless Carlisle is, as a character. He doesn't really do anything other than patch up Bella and serve as kind of a walking hub for the others, so to speak. Now, I realize that not everyone has to be a major player in a drama, but if Carlisle's supposed to be the Perfect Patriarch, he needs to be more active. This takes place after Bella is brought home from Italy.
Esme sat on one side of Carlisle, her face pensive and somewhat worried. Edward was on the other side, his face a weird mix of relief and apprehension as it had been since Bella rescued him. It might be the endless round of "London Bridge" that was playing in Carlisle's head that was putting the boy off his balance.
The others came into the living room at their own pace, settling into their usual attitudes--Emmett and Rosalie leaned into each other with the vacant expression of someone wondering what's on TV, Alice flipping through another of those expensive mail-order catalogs, Jasper perched off to one side and looking rather "oceanic" (to borrow a term from Freud, which Carlisle didn't often care to do).
Sharply, abruptly, Carlisle stood up and clapped his hands. Everyone but Esme was startled as he moved to the front-center of the assembled. "It's time we had a little talk," he began.
"Wait," said Edward, "I thought this was a family meeting."
"It is."
"But...but you never call family meetings."
"I know," Carlisle said. "And that's probably part of the problem. You see, after the incident on Bella's birthday, I've been going over the events in my head, trying to figure out what went wrong, where it all went awry on us. And the more recent adventure in Europe has only confirmed to me that, in fact, I've only myself to blame."
Half a dozen voices immediately rose together, each saying something to contradict him--blame assumed, blame assigned, a few swear words here and there. Carlisle held up his hand, and the cacophony came to an abrupt halt. "I realize that, in our family meetings heretofore, we've let people interrupt each other in a limited amount, but what I have to say is not something I can LET you interrupt.
"Now, Esme and I have talked about this, and we eventually arrived at the same conclusion." Esme lowered her eyes and nodded, biting her lip. "I love your mother very much indeed. She helped me keep perspective in the discussion. I'm grateful for her.
"What we determined is that I have not been a good father to you. It's easy for me to forget that each one of you was young--an adolescent, maybe a bit older, but nonetheless not prepared to be an adult when you were turned. I wanted to think that you were all responsible and mature, so much so that sometimes I overlooked your failures of judgment. Too often, I daresay. And the only solution I can arrive at is to do my job better. I apologize to you for doing poorly so far."
"Oh, but you haven't!" Alice said, her eyes bigger than usual and her head tilting prettily--turning on all her sweetie-pie charm. Usually, it evoked an indulgent reaction from him, but Carlisle forced himself to see that it was probably just another attempt at little-girl manipulation.
Carlisle laughed dryly. "Alice, considering what we've just been through, I have to disagree. As such." He cleared his throat now, and he resettled his face into a stern expression he had never really worn toward them before. "There are going to be a few changes around here. You aren't going to like what you're about to hear, but I'm going to say it anyway."
The "children" all shifted uncomfortably, and Esme looked even more nervous. Edward kept glancing at her, which meant that she was thinking about what was coming.
"Edward," Carlisle said sharply, and the boy looked up at him. "You and I are going to have a chat later about what on EARTH possessed you to commit the sin of suicide, but in the meantime, I will remind you that your self-absorbed and irresponsible behavior not only threw this entire family into confusion, but also risked the lives of Bella, your sister, and perhaps everyone else here and in Forks. That is going to stop. I want to see an attitude of HOPE from you from now on."
Emmett was smirking, and then leaned forward to murmur into Rosalie's ear--which Carlisle picked up even at range: "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
"Speaking of which, Emmett," Carlisle said, "I want to discuss YOUR attitude. You may think that your brother is an idiot, a 'douche', or whatever profanity you'd like to attach to him. However, that does NOT justify your passive-aggressive 'pranking'. If you want him to stop throwing himself pity parties, stop catering them.
"Rosalie, while I'm looking at you," he went on, shifting his focus from the openly flummoxed Emmett, "don't think I don't realize why you told Edward that Bella was dead. You may tell anyone, including yourself, that you did it because you didn't want to prolong his suffering, but you know deep down that part of your reason for spouting off was because you share your husband's opinion on the self-pity and you hold Edward in contempt. Reflect on whether this is consistent with a Christian attitude, and we will discuss it later.
"Alice." The tiny girl dropped her catalog with a squeak--perhaps not even requiring a vision to see what Carlisle's now furious expression was promising. "How dare you do what you did. You told us Bella was in mortal danger; you volunteered to see whether the vision was true; and then you UTTERLY FORGOT to contact us and cancel the alert." He paused, taking a biologically-unnecessary breath to calm himself; the air was not useful, but the behavior was. "Everyone is responsible for his own behaviors in this...this disaster, but you were the one who created it to start. For someone with the gift of precognition, you show a remarkable lack of foresight."
He looked around now at Jasper. "And you--" Carlisle paused as Jasper tilted his head silently, a movement which always reminded him of how much the young man resembled Harpo Marx. "You should have called your wife when she didn't call you. I have no idea what you were doing, but it wasn't so important that you couldn't check up on her."
Jasper eyed him, then dipped his head as in acknowledgment of fault.
"Things are going to change," Carlisle said again. "If you want to be part of this family, then I'm going to act like your father. No more of this 'laid-back dad' business, though; I will fulfill my role as I should, holding you accountable and showing you how to become who you ought to be."
Author: Me, your murloc truly
Book: New Moon
Genre: Standard drama
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,085
Inspiration: A bit of real life, and the objections of others to Carlisle's behavior
Warnings: Mild swearing
Author’s Note: I've been thinking lately of just how useless Carlisle is, as a character. He doesn't really do anything other than patch up Bella and serve as kind of a walking hub for the others, so to speak. Now, I realize that not everyone has to be a major player in a drama, but if Carlisle's supposed to be the Perfect Patriarch, he needs to be more active. This takes place after Bella is brought home from Italy.
Esme sat on one side of Carlisle, her face pensive and somewhat worried. Edward was on the other side, his face a weird mix of relief and apprehension as it had been since Bella rescued him. It might be the endless round of "London Bridge" that was playing in Carlisle's head that was putting the boy off his balance.
The others came into the living room at their own pace, settling into their usual attitudes--Emmett and Rosalie leaned into each other with the vacant expression of someone wondering what's on TV, Alice flipping through another of those expensive mail-order catalogs, Jasper perched off to one side and looking rather "oceanic" (to borrow a term from Freud, which Carlisle didn't often care to do).
Sharply, abruptly, Carlisle stood up and clapped his hands. Everyone but Esme was startled as he moved to the front-center of the assembled. "It's time we had a little talk," he began.
"Wait," said Edward, "I thought this was a family meeting."
"It is."
"But...but you never call family meetings."
"I know," Carlisle said. "And that's probably part of the problem. You see, after the incident on Bella's birthday, I've been going over the events in my head, trying to figure out what went wrong, where it all went awry on us. And the more recent adventure in Europe has only confirmed to me that, in fact, I've only myself to blame."
Half a dozen voices immediately rose together, each saying something to contradict him--blame assumed, blame assigned, a few swear words here and there. Carlisle held up his hand, and the cacophony came to an abrupt halt. "I realize that, in our family meetings heretofore, we've let people interrupt each other in a limited amount, but what I have to say is not something I can LET you interrupt.
"Now, Esme and I have talked about this, and we eventually arrived at the same conclusion." Esme lowered her eyes and nodded, biting her lip. "I love your mother very much indeed. She helped me keep perspective in the discussion. I'm grateful for her.
"What we determined is that I have not been a good father to you. It's easy for me to forget that each one of you was young--an adolescent, maybe a bit older, but nonetheless not prepared to be an adult when you were turned. I wanted to think that you were all responsible and mature, so much so that sometimes I overlooked your failures of judgment. Too often, I daresay. And the only solution I can arrive at is to do my job better. I apologize to you for doing poorly so far."
"Oh, but you haven't!" Alice said, her eyes bigger than usual and her head tilting prettily--turning on all her sweetie-pie charm. Usually, it evoked an indulgent reaction from him, but Carlisle forced himself to see that it was probably just another attempt at little-girl manipulation.
Carlisle laughed dryly. "Alice, considering what we've just been through, I have to disagree. As such." He cleared his throat now, and he resettled his face into a stern expression he had never really worn toward them before. "There are going to be a few changes around here. You aren't going to like what you're about to hear, but I'm going to say it anyway."
The "children" all shifted uncomfortably, and Esme looked even more nervous. Edward kept glancing at her, which meant that she was thinking about what was coming.
"Edward," Carlisle said sharply, and the boy looked up at him. "You and I are going to have a chat later about what on EARTH possessed you to commit the sin of suicide, but in the meantime, I will remind you that your self-absorbed and irresponsible behavior not only threw this entire family into confusion, but also risked the lives of Bella, your sister, and perhaps everyone else here and in Forks. That is going to stop. I want to see an attitude of HOPE from you from now on."
Emmett was smirking, and then leaned forward to murmur into Rosalie's ear--which Carlisle picked up even at range: "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
"Speaking of which, Emmett," Carlisle said, "I want to discuss YOUR attitude. You may think that your brother is an idiot, a 'douche', or whatever profanity you'd like to attach to him. However, that does NOT justify your passive-aggressive 'pranking'. If you want him to stop throwing himself pity parties, stop catering them.
"Rosalie, while I'm looking at you," he went on, shifting his focus from the openly flummoxed Emmett, "don't think I don't realize why you told Edward that Bella was dead. You may tell anyone, including yourself, that you did it because you didn't want to prolong his suffering, but you know deep down that part of your reason for spouting off was because you share your husband's opinion on the self-pity and you hold Edward in contempt. Reflect on whether this is consistent with a Christian attitude, and we will discuss it later.
"Alice." The tiny girl dropped her catalog with a squeak--perhaps not even requiring a vision to see what Carlisle's now furious expression was promising. "How dare you do what you did. You told us Bella was in mortal danger; you volunteered to see whether the vision was true; and then you UTTERLY FORGOT to contact us and cancel the alert." He paused, taking a biologically-unnecessary breath to calm himself; the air was not useful, but the behavior was. "Everyone is responsible for his own behaviors in this...this disaster, but you were the one who created it to start. For someone with the gift of precognition, you show a remarkable lack of foresight."
He looked around now at Jasper. "And you--" Carlisle paused as Jasper tilted his head silently, a movement which always reminded him of how much the young man resembled Harpo Marx. "You should have called your wife when she didn't call you. I have no idea what you were doing, but it wasn't so important that you couldn't check up on her."
Jasper eyed him, then dipped his head as in acknowledgment of fault.
"Things are going to change," Carlisle said again. "If you want to be part of this family, then I'm going to act like your father. No more of this 'laid-back dad' business, though; I will fulfill my role as I should, holding you accountable and showing you how to become who you ought to be."
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no subject
Date: 2011-01-27 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-27 09:49 pm (UTC)On a different note--I do love that Carlisle was stern with everyone, even Emmett. :D If only he would do something like this...maybe they all wouldn't be such spoiled brats.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-27 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 12:13 am (UTC)I really like this fic ; it gives one a glimpse on how better things would be if the novels had given the Cullens a family dynamic.
And as a side note : HARPO !! *shakes fist*
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Date: 2011-01-28 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 12:18 am (UTC)