The Phoenix [1a/1]
anonymous
November 1 2010, 05:13:56 UTC
His parents were young - too young - when their families started disappearing around them. He's never known his grandparents but he knows what happened to them - one grandfather died in a riot with a gold star on his sleeve, his wife was taken away and never seen again, their young son sent away, sent away, smuggled out to England before the real hammer fell; the other grandfather was shot down on the streets of Warsaw while the city smoldered and burned, his wife shipped off to Auschwitz and Feliks never wanted to know what happened to her but he does anyway; she was gassed to death with ninety-nine other Jewish women and thrown in a mass grave, never to be identified. It was luck alone that her young daughter - Feliks's mother - was away visiting relatives when Warsaw fell.
Both his parents lived through the war, but they were almost the only ones who did. Both lost parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins and siblings, all of Feliks's family history gone in one clean sweep. They both moved to America and that's where
( ... )
The Phoenix [1b/1]
anonymous
November 1 2010, 05:14:28 UTC
And Tony, dearest Tony, he's Italian by birth but becomes Lithuania, because Feliks needs him, needs him like his father needs antidepressants, but he can't, he can't admit it openly because he's afraid it would kill his mother. And Tony, God bless him, understands, and so every two weeks they ride the train down from the university together, not quite touching, though Feliks twitches and fidgets and the moment they get through the door he latches onto Tony's arm and Tony lets him, because weren't Poland and Lithuania married for hundreds of years?
It's not just that Feliks is in the closet (though he is) and the meetings set him free. It's more. In the meetings, as Poland, he feels like for once he has control over the history that has shaped his entire life through his parents. As Poland, he can fight back against the war, the bigotry, the nations, the stupidity that keeps his parents bound, that threatens to strangle Feliks too.
The Phoenix will always rise again and kick some ass.
For two hours every two weeks, Feliks lets himself
( ... )
Re: The Phoenix [1b/1]
anonymous
November 2 2010, 02:39:21 UTC
You know, I like this. Even though I guess the prompt calls for OCs, in a way, I really like how you've tied everything together. It's very neat and clear, I don't know how to put this, it's very satisfying to read. Like after you just folded origami and sit back and look at it and think "ah~", it's that kind of a fanfic. That doesn't make any sense. orz
I do think that the "openly gay as Poland" would have been too cliche, and honestly, I love the "scar of history" theme a lot more. I think that part seems far more influential to the character of Feliks.
P.S. Um.... sorry, but unless Anya is some derivative of a Jewish name, there's no way a Polish man could have been named that. "Ania" is a girls' name, and considering the time period, it's highly unlikely that a Polish family would have been okay with using a "drag queen nickname" for a man. Er, I don't mean this in a discriminatory way, it's a cultural thing of the time. (Anon is Polish ^^;)
Author!anon
anonymous
November 2 2010, 02:57:20 UTC
Ahh, thank you so much for commenting. Author!anon is not Polish, so I always get a bit nervous when I post fics like this. I'm very glad you liked it. Actually, I understand your origami metaphor perfectly~
Ahaha, absolutely zero research went into that name. OTL I just pulled one that 'sounded' like it might fit. Thanks for pointing out the error though, it means I need to do my research next time.
Both his parents lived through the war, but they were almost the only ones who did. Both lost parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins and siblings, all of Feliks's family history gone in one clean sweep. They both moved to America and that's where ( ... )
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And Tony, dearest Tony, he's Italian by birth but becomes Lithuania, because Feliks needs him, needs him like his father needs antidepressants, but he can't, he can't admit it openly because he's afraid it would kill his mother. And Tony, God bless him, understands, and so every two weeks they ride the train down from the university together, not quite touching, though Feliks twitches and fidgets and the moment they get through the door he latches onto Tony's arm and Tony lets him, because weren't Poland and Lithuania married for hundreds of years?
It's not just that Feliks is in the closet (though he is) and the meetings set him free. It's more. In the meetings, as Poland, he feels like for once he has control over the history that has shaped his entire life through his parents. As Poland, he can fight back against the war, the bigotry, the nations, the stupidity that keeps his parents bound, that threatens to strangle Feliks too.
The Phoenix will always rise again and kick some ass.
For two hours every two weeks, Feliks lets himself ( ... )
Reply
Reply
I do think that the "openly gay as Poland" would have been too cliche, and honestly, I love the "scar of history" theme a lot more. I think that part seems far more influential to the character of Feliks.
P.S. Um.... sorry, but unless Anya is some derivative of a Jewish name, there's no way a Polish man could have been named that. "Ania" is a girls' name, and considering the time period, it's highly unlikely that a Polish family would have been okay with using a "drag queen nickname" for a man. Er, I don't mean this in a discriminatory way, it's a cultural thing of the time. (Anon is Polish ^^;)
Reply
Ahaha, absolutely zero research went into that name. OTL I just pulled one that 'sounded' like it might fit. Thanks for pointing out the error though, it means I need to do my research next time.
Reply
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