A Study of Contrasts

A Visit to Gotham (IC - Written with laws_of_dawes permission)

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:46:50 GMT

I never really intended to meet Gotham's ADA the way I did, looking at her through the bars of the holding cell. Right behind her was Bill Yardley, the Chief Inspector in charge of the ACME Field Office located in Gotham.

"Stonham." Yardley says with a sardonic smile, "Just how did this happen?"

"Chief...let me explain..." I begin:

Let's see. Bags are packed. Ticket's confirmed. Arrangements made with my boss and contact info left at my California Air National Guard unit. I'm physically ready to leave for Gotham City. I get my cellphone out and tried the home phone number for the ADA. It's about noon in California so it's about three PM over there in Gotham. I only wound up getting the answering machine.

"Yes, this is Henry Stonham. My brother-in-law was Bryan Douglas and my sister said you might be able to help me collect some of Bryan's things that were taken out of his storage box as evidence? I'll be travelling to Gotham shortly and should be there around seven-thirty tonight. My cell number is 415-437-9367."

I left the message and took the flight to Gotham City. The last time I was here was when my sister got married. The flight was entirely too long and left me entirely too much time to contemplate things. My mind reflected years back:

February 14, 2005: I stood up at the head table for the wedding of Bryan Douglas to Danielle Stonham, my younger sister. I watched the blushing bride beside her husband, smiled and raised my glass, "When you serve in the military people come and go. I remember a Staff Sergeant Bryan Douglas when I was with the 45th Security Forces Squadron at Cape Canaveral, FL. He was getting out of the Air Force and I honestly thought I'd never see him again. Imagine my surprise four years later when my sister tells us she's bringing her boyfriend from Gotham City to visit us. I automatically went into overprotective older brother mode until she mentioned his name."

Danielle commented, "You never got out of the overprotective older brother mode."

"Will you let me finish my speech." I replied.

"When she mentioned Bryan Douglas I knew she was in good hands. I was frankly honored when Bryan approached me and asked me to be the best man for this occasion. To Danielle and Bryan I wish both of you many years of happiness and marital bliss. Danielle, I'm so happy that you've found true love. Bryan, I remember when you left the service and I thought that I lost a brother at arms, little did I realize I'd gain a brother in law. Welcome to the family. Ladies and gentlemen. A toast to Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Douglas!"

Many happy years indeed. Three years later Bryan was found hanging by his neck from a noose, dressed like the caped vigilante Batman hanging from the roof of Gotham City Hall.

Presently we landed in Gotham and I got a taxi to the hotel. Trying to walk to the front of the hotel two guys in clown masks came right for me. Having no idea of their intentions I clocked the first one in the mouth. The second got a hold of me and I headbutted him in the face. The second guy looked like he got a second wind before I grabbed hold of his lapel and threw him into a streetlight. It was about five seconds later that the hotel rent-a-cop followed by two Gotham Police Officers headed right for me...

"You know you got off lucky." Yardley had said.

"How so?" I replied.

"If those two had been henchmen of the Joker you probably wouldn't be here right now." the ADA spoke.

"Who were they?" I asked as the cell was unlocked and I was released into their care.

"A couple of small time copycats." Rachel replied.

"Of whom?" I asked.

Little did I know as the cell door opened and I was let out to be released with no charges because I'd fought in self defense that I was in for a lengthy explanation.

On Writing (OOC)

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:39:22 GMT

As an author who writes fanfiction and routinely uses Original Characters (or OCs) in my work I must make the arguement that OCs can be just as good for a fanfiction as a canon character. I've heard many an anti-OC rant on fanfiction forums such as fanfiction.net. The term Mary Sue and her brother Gary Stu are used with alarming regularity to describe original characters.

According to the wikipedia entry on the term a Mary Sue is:

"Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, is a pejorative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet"."

Some fanfiction purists are against original characters entirely and some will go so far as to label any original characters as Mary Sues. I argue that an original character can be just as compelling as any canon character provided that said character is well written and believable. Making sure the character is belivably human (or whatever race said original character happens to be) helps readers to empathize rather than dislike the character for being too perfect or too much of an anti-hero.

I have been known to take pains to cause my OCs to appear as human as they are heroic. For instance one original character in a work (it's a Dark Knight/Kingdom Hearts/Lilo and Stitch/Superman Returns Crossover) I'm writing right now is named Allenby. Allenby is a US Army EOD operative, the sort of man who disarms booby traps and unexploded bombs so other soldiers can advance. Allenby however has believably human traits. He deals with something called 'the shakes' meaning he's grappling with nerves that are on the verge of being shot (years of dealing with separatist bombs and booby traps will do that to a man). That is a real and human struggle he fights to deal with throughout the storyline.

Another character I'm writing about is Sacha Mohammed Asyatalov, a Chechen sniper in the same fanfic I work on. He has a tragic past, having witnessed the Russians and assaulting his hometown of Grozny. His grandparents were killed when a shell landed in the marketplace and he watched in horror from hiding as Russian soldiers broke into his family's apartment and shot his father and raped his mother. Sacha never forgot the horrors he witnessed as a lad and that proves to profoundly shape him as a character. With icy precision almost one hundred and fifty Russians have died in his sights with single rounds. I make sure Sacha has believably human traits as well. For instance when he's around people he doesn't know well he has a tendency to put his hands in his pockets and sort of stay on the periphery of the group.

I disagree with some fanfiction purists who think that only canon characters should be used in fanfiction. I argue that well researched, well written, and believable original characters can definitely be an asset to a fanfiction and I will continue writing original characters into my fanfics, for better or worse.

Four Months (IC)

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:27:49 GMT

Four months. Four months ago I received a near hysterical phone call from Gotham City. My sister, Danielle, was just torn apart inside. From what I could gather her husband Bryan was dead. Dead? What in God's name?

Thankfully I had no ANG obligations and I did have about thirty-six days of vacation on the books. I hopped on a red eye flight east as soon as I could. Mom and Dad were already there and we all heard the news. Some nutjob who wore make-up just killed my brother in law.

No that's not the half of it. Apparently Bryan had been moonlighting as some vigilante in a bat-costume or something like that. He was imitating this Batman character when this make-up wearing psychopath got a hold of him. And that wasn't the half of it! They showed him on TV, his last moments in a freezer of some kind. An interrogation that turned into an execution.

I asked Danielle if she knew anything about Bryan's activities, she shook her head. No. She didn't know that he was out doing this. If she had she would have put her foot down, would have told him to stop, would have made arrangements to get the hell out of Gotham.

And that's what she did. We helped her move out, back in with Mom and Dad until she got on her feet again. She actually moved over to San Francisco with me for the time being, taking my spare bedroom.

I still remember the first time I ever met Bryan. It was at my first unit: 45th Security Forces Squadron. At the time he was Staff Sergeant Bryan Douglas, and one of the better guys in the unit. Always hard working, honest and good natured - the guys respected him as a supervisor. He was getting out of the Air Force in 2001 and I remember signing the paperwork and wishing him the best. To watch that tape, to watch that clown humiliate and then kill him? It tore my sister apart and it made me angry. Angry at the bastard that killed Bryan, obviously, but angry at the media that showed his last moments to the public eye. We didn't need to see that!

Anyway, sis asked me if I could take some time off to go back to Gotham and get a few of Bryan's things that Major Crimes Unit still has a hold of. I told her I'll do what I can and that I'd call the number on that business card she gave me for the Gotham City DA's office. The card that she had when she used to be Harvey Dent's secretary. The card for the ADA which had an office and a cell number.

That Others May Live (IC)

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:57:10 GMT

"That Others May Live." - Motto USAF Pararescue

Four words. Four words that sum up something more than simply a slogan. It is a creed and a life style and a conscious decision. Only 350 pararescuemen and combat rescue officers serve in the US Air Force (Reserve and Active Components) and Air National Guard.

After spending two years as a Security Police officer at Patrick AFB in Florida I heard about this new officer career field. I had long been intrigued about Pararescuemen, also known as PJs, but until the year 2000 there was no officer field for it. I immediately set about getting into the best physical shape possible and put in the paperwork for my

Twenty-seven officers showed up for the two week CRO selection course. Of those men only a dozen of us made it through two weeks of sleep deprivation, rucksack marches, obstacle course runs, 1500 meter timed swims with fins and masks, and other tasks. We were unofficially nicknamed the Dirty Dozen.

But we weren't done yet. We still had to tackle the infamous Pipeline alongside the enlisted airmen we were to command in the field. The first hurdle was Indoc, a ten week session where we would undergo relentless physical training. Among the things we did:

Seventy-two souls classed up at Lackland AFB in late August 2001 thinking they wanted to be Pararescumen and CROs. By the time 9/11 happened twenty-one of us remained. On the Extended Training Day (10 September 2001) alone seventeen men quit, including one of the Dirty Dozen.

At 2200 (10 PM) on the 9th of September I went to bed. About eleven minutes later we were awakened by a cacaphony of sounds and told to muster outside. I don't quite remember much of that night or the rest of that next day. Just running around, carrying a ruck and other gear that weight up to about sixty pounds, running obstacle courses, getting 'smoked' (extra PT for various infractions ranging from unbloused boots to trailing mud across the walkway), a three and a half hour after lunch pool session where I quit counting the amount of meters I swam at 4,500 (this included several 25m underwater sprints with barely any rest to speak of, just treading water waiting for the next command from the instructors), and finally a two hour swim in the reservoir. It was just at around 0200 on 11 September 2001 that we staggered back into the barracks.

We had mustered for the next morning's training at six o'clock when suddenly there was a halt to all activity and the instructors all raced out of the classroom. Waiting in the old building we wondered what had happened. I had been thinking about IT, about pushing the button on that air horn the instructor's kept within an arm's distance. I figured I'd wait until the instructors came back and then the world changed forever. The second plane hit the tower and Flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field. And I knew then that I could not quit.

"There's a legend of a man who lives beneath the sea. He's a fisher of men. A last hope for all those who have been left behind. He is known as The Guardian." - AST3 (NAC/SAR) Jacob Fischer referring to ASTCS (NAC/SAR) Benjamin Randall, US Coast Guard.

transfer to the Combat Rescue Officer community. physiological training, obstacle courses, marches, diving physics, dive tables, metric manipulations, medical terminology, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, weapons qualifications, Pararescuemen history and leadership reaction course.

(OOC: Dedicated to Search and Rescue types around the world. Men and women who put their lives at stake for the sake of those they have never met. In real life I am hoping to enter the Search and Rescue field either as a civilian EMT or as a Pararescueman in the California Air National Guard.)

First Writing (OOC)

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 10:16:57 GMT

Well. This is my first time ever attempting blogging, so please be gentle.

This journal was created by me as I write for a fictional character named Henry Stonham for a fanfiction project I'm working on. He's a study in contrasts, a rescuer and an assassin, a scholar and a doer are among two of the dualities that writing and brainstorming about this character have already created in 48 hours.