Homebody

[lurkythespork.livejournal.com]

Title: Homebody
Author: Me, your murloc truly
Book: Twilight
Genre: Standard drama
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,560
Inspiration: A House in Order
Warnings:  A little sociopolitical rambling, but Esme’s entitled to her opinions.  Also, one slur quoted from another character and rebuked with comic violence.
Author’s Note: Having mentioned that Esme doesn’t get enough “screen-time” in the books and movies, I began to feel the itch to work with her.  She grew some rather startling traits as I was writing this from her perspective, and if realized, they would have altered everything.  (This is getting a bit out of hand.  I may eventually have to try—vainly—to follow in Mrs. Hyde’s footsteps and rewrite Twilight with actually credible characters.  What a different story that would be...)

This is in no way meant to overshadow Gehayi's amazing Esme from the previous post.

 

 

 

Some people* don’t understand Esme Platt Cullen.  Decades of life have taught me, though, that many of those choose not to.  I think it’s to do with self-imposed limitations; it takes an open mind to understand that not everyone will enjoy what you enjoy, or that some people have reasons to believe something you don’t.

It’s gotten harder since television, really.  Newton Minow was right; it could be used to educate, inform, and spread the truth (capital-T or otherwise)—and it is, sometimes—but most people prefer to live vicariously through it.  I think that was the downfall of the housewife: soap operas, glamorizing things that we used to despise, like backbiting and gossip, even violence and revenge and adultery!  Seeing these things portrayed in a positive light can make a woman (or a man) restless if her heart is unguarded.

Some people chalk up the cultural decay to some political conspiracy, but I think it was just a matter of time acting on human nature anyway.  Things are never really better or worse, because people don’t change, as a whole.  They’ll always find someone that it’s okay to hate, or someone to put upon, and they’re always only too happy to feel sorry for themselves to justify it.

But I didn’t mean to start with sociology or politics.  I meant to say that I like to stay home. 

I don’t have a college degree, but I did try.  Several times.  But the professors went too slowly; they were spoonfeeding the class and I just couldn’t sit still anymore.  Did you know that they get very upset if you even do something as mindless as a chain-stitch while they’re lecturing?  They expect you to sit still and do nothing but listen to them repeat themselves and take notes, even if you can recite their lecture back to them letter-perfect.  I’m sorry, but I did my hitch in our old one-room schoolhouse; I think I’ve earned the right to do something useful with any or all of my time.

I’d get so frustrated with college that I’d just up and quit.  Then, every time I went back, it was like going backwards.  The material got more remedial each time.  After a few repeats of this, I decided it wasn’t worth it.  I get more mileage from my library card, and it’s cheaper and doesn’t require extensive forgeries.  The Internet’s a wonderful thing, too, except for the garbage—but now we’re back to human nature and that’s a different talk.

I don’t like wasting time.  I’m always on the move if I can manage it, because there’s so much to do and so much to try.  People think that being a housewife is intellectually stagnating, but any job can be stagnating.  It’s what you make of it that makes the difference.

For instance, since marrying Carlisle, I’ve learned how to tile a floor, rebuild a wall, upholster furniture with cloth or leather, make leather, fix plumbing, wire a house, frame a house, and I can fix a car—I just let Rosalie do it because she enjoys it.  I can make reasonably good imitations of famous art, weave tapestries, hook rugs, cross-stitch, crochet, knit, macramé, embroider, play the piano and harp, dye cloth, and a lot of other things.  I also speak fifteen languages.  If I had a paying job, I’d never have time to learn all these things.

I’m currently taking a cake-decorating class, by the way.  Bella could eat my “practice” work, and she needs to gain some weight before someone goes and turns her.  Alice is a sweet girl, pretty in her own way, but the poor thing wasn’t fed right in the hospital and she looks like a twig.

Alice coming into the family gave me something else to do.  She goes through her fancy catalogs and finds clothes, and I whip up quality imitations.  Not to sell, of course—that would be stealing—but for the family to wear.  People think we splurge all our money on designer clothes, but the truth is, I make most of them.  The way the kids spend money on everything else, I kind of need to, if for no other reason than to make sure someone around here is being frugal.

It’s always funny to watch Alice try to make Emmett wear “fancy duds”, as he puts it.  She says, “Wear this!”  He says, “Nothin’ doin’.”  They bicker a bit, but then she turns on her pixie charm and he gives in.  I think she cheats, though; she would know whether he was going to wear something eventually or not.  I think he knows it, too, and just puts up a fight for the fun of it.

He’s very easy-going, is my Emmett.  He’s my rough son—but not rough in the way of being cruel, just a little careless sometimes and not as polished as the others.  He didn’t have a mother’s influence while he was growing up, so he’s going to have some bark still on him.  It’s hard to tell with him when he’s joking or not, though; he doesn’t have a serious face, just always a big silly grin unless he’s very frustrated.

He’s a manly-man type, which is nice to have around.  The others can be a little too genteel sometimes.  Emmett is like a crouton in a salad: loud, crunchy, and just different enough to add a nice touch of flavor.  (Is that analogy right?  It’s been a long time since I’ve had a salad.)

Rosalie’s a little rough, too.  I think she still has issues with being pretty.  She feels that it led to something very unpleasant for her.  She loves her cars, and I think she knows more about them than the boys do.  They’ll buy a car and she’ll laugh at them for it.  “Gaymobile” is a term she uses when she thinks I’m out of earshot and shoe-throwing range.  (That’s another skill that’s worth picking up, by the way: shoe-throwing.)

It always annoys Edward, at least.  He feels like she’s questioning his masculinity.  Emmett tries to deflect it by being funny—tells him to “man up” about it—but it’s still not very nice.  He’s always been the single one in the family, until Bella at least, so he may have had times when he wondered if he wasn’t “man enough”.  It must be hard on him to have to hear the thoughts of everyone around him all the time, hearing how happy we are.

He can be more than a little controlling toward Bella, but I think he’s trying to be manly and is making the usual amateur mistakes.  He’s got a different personality from the others—he’s very withdrawn because he has so little actual privacy—but he’s a go-getter.  He’s inclined to revert to “sour grapes” when he can’t get something.  He’s protective, too.  He just doesn’t really have anywhere to direct all these impulses.  Over time, I’m sure that will change.  Bella’s got potential, and if she keeps a good attitude, when the shiny newness wears off of the marriage they’ll settle into a comfortable routine and become very good friends as well as lovers.

That’s the key, really.  Carlisle and I have that relationship.  People might think that he bosses me, but we just usually agree on things and there’s not a lot of reason to argue either way.  I’m free to oppose him if I think he’s wrong, but I don’t usually think he is.  It helps that he listens.  Maybe that’s where Edward is having problems; he’s seeing the result of our cooperation, and thinking that it should come naturally.

Edward might also be confused by Alice and Jasper.  Their relationship came pretty much pre-made; she just walked up to him and pronounced him “late”, and then it was settled.  I wonder if Jasper picked up on her absolute certainty, or if her love for him influences him to reciprocate, or if he finds her fascinating because she’s a “manic pixie dream girl,” as they’re putting it these days.  She really loves intensely, and she has issues with boundaries sometimes because she forgets what events have happened yet.

Jasper, on the other hand, is my quiet boy.  He likes to sit in the sewing room on sunny days and just “bask”, as he puts it.  He says I radiate contentment when I work.  It’s why he and Alice stay with us: because around Carlisle and me, he has peace and quiet.  His picture in the yearbook last year looked a bit pained, though; I don’t know how he puts up with all the angst and self-pity and foolishness in high school, but he does.  Maybe he does it for Alice.  He’d do just about anything for Alice.

So that’s me and my family for you.  We’re strange and more than a little crazy, but we’re getting along as best we can.  There’s a lot of high emotion and conflict, but there’s also a lot of love.  And in the end, that’s what keeps us together: we choose to love each other and be a family.  I hope we all keep choosing to be a family.


* That’s a jab at SMeyer.  I think she conceived of Esme but doesn’t fully understand the kind of person Esme could be, and therefore makes her as shallow as any stereotypical Stepford Wife.

 

Comments

[miyuko-matsuda.livejournal.com]

that was Wonderful :)

[aubreyfrog.livejournal.com]

This is a great insight... they feel a lot more like real people.

[lurkythespork.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :-) Esme would be the kind to want to talk about her family, and...

...Dang it, now I want to write one for Jasper.

[aubreyfrog.livejournal.com]

Do that! I'd read it! Jasper's another character that doesn't get much in the way of character development.

[pastiche-cain.livejournal.com]

I know! I always had a different version of Jasper in my head than the one in canon - iron hard from the war, a vampire who isn't flawless in looks and when he was with Maria in the vampire war, I always thought of him as a real vampire, killing whoever she tells him to, drinking a whole lot of human blood, then having sex with her and others.

That was really my vision of him. Since Meyer doesn't really give us much to work with, that's what I thought of him as. (Then she went and ruined it with that Prom Outtake where he, the scarred-from-war, badass-in-my-head vampire, blow-waves Bella's hair. *grumbles*)

I love your Jasper Esme way, WAY more than canon.

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. :-) Now she is making more sense, staying home at all times. And you gave her a power to. Having an amazing memory. I do approve of this version of Esme. A housewife, yes... but what a housewife!

[pastiche-cain.livejournal.com]

Your's and Gehayi's Emse's are absolutely wonderful! This was just so well done, I don't really have anything to say except it was awesome, lol.

[aplenacalle.livejournal.com]

she has issues with boundaries sometimes because she forgets what events have happened yet.

This is so my new favorite Twispite idea because of COURSE that would happen if you constantly saw the future.

I love this.

[melissatreglia]

LJ ate my original response. *sadface*

I love your take on Esme, especially that she's so incredibly intelligent and capable. Opening with social/political commentary, having the know-how to build a house from scratch, being able to make flawless copies of designer clothes...

Like kseenaa said: she's a housewife, yeah, but what a housewife she is! *hugs Esme*