Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
prodigalwatcher) wrote2008-04-01 10:54 am
prodigalwatcher) wrote2008-04-01 10:54 am
Entry tags:
QM 57 - Quiet dignity and grace
57 - "... accept our failures, as well as our successes, with quiet dignity and grace." - 'Young Frankenstein'
All I really wanted was to be left alone.
It's an ugly, painful word, "patricide", and no matter how many times in a young man's adolescence he might wish that his parental authority was undone, there is should be nothing in the world sufficient to make a son take his own father's life. There should be nothing.
Unfortunately, it seems that particular good intention is of the same nature as most other good intentions.
Six bullets, forty-five calibre, an entire magazine's worth of ammunition. No matter what platitudes or comforts might be offered, the honest truth of the situation is that I didn't know. I thought it was Roger Wyndam-Pryce. It looked and sounded like my father, and treated me precisely as my father always had. I hated the man as I always did, and I loved him. I loved him when I pulled the trigger to save Fred's life.
You do what you have to do to protect the people around you. To do what you know is right, regardless of the cost. You know, I never really understood that. You're the guy who makes all the hard decisions, even if you have to make 'em alone, said Angel. It was, in a very real way, his apology to me for everything that had happened the year before. It was my vindication and my absolution for what I had done and where I had gone.
Right now I feel like the guy who shot his own father.
If only had been able to really appreciate it at the time.
Well, like I said... don't beat yourself up. Oh... you know... I killed my actual dad. It was one of the first things I did when I became a vampire.
Angel should have stopped while he was ahead.
Heard what happened up top, offing your dad and all. Don't know if you know this, but, uh... I killed my mum. Actually, I'd already killed her, and then she tried to shag me, so I had to--
And that was even more very much not what I was interested in hearing, but I didn't ignore the fact they had tried. But all I wanted to do was be alone for a while.
Part of you knew. Even if you can't admit it to yourself, part of you knew it wasn't him.
No. I was sure it was him. You were there. I killed my father.
He was threatening your friends.
He was threatening you. He pointed a gun at you, Fred... so I shot him.
Was it success? I stopped our mysterious attackers from gaining the artifact they had so desperately wanted. I proved that whoever had broken into Wolfram & Hart had somehow accessed the old files and resources of the Watchers Council. I saved Fred's life.
Or was it a failure? I trusted and accepted the false Roger Wyndam-Pryce without thinking and without asking. A simple phone call to Mother would have ended the charade in minutes, and yet, the moment I heard his voice, I couldn't stand up to him. And then, when I was able to do just that, I emptied my pistol into him.
Quiet dignity and grace. That's how I dealt with the situation, success or failure, with quiet dignity and grace. Just as Father would want.
(364, not counting direct quotes)
OOC Note: This is a canon-based response, and does not necessarily reflect any muse version of these characters.
All I really wanted was to be left alone.
It's an ugly, painful word, "patricide", and no matter how many times in a young man's adolescence he might wish that his parental authority was undone, there is should be nothing in the world sufficient to make a son take his own father's life. There should be nothing.
Unfortunately, it seems that particular good intention is of the same nature as most other good intentions.
Six bullets, forty-five calibre, an entire magazine's worth of ammunition. No matter what platitudes or comforts might be offered, the honest truth of the situation is that I didn't know. I thought it was Roger Wyndam-Pryce. It looked and sounded like my father, and treated me precisely as my father always had. I hated the man as I always did, and I loved him. I loved him when I pulled the trigger to save Fred's life.
You do what you have to do to protect the people around you. To do what you know is right, regardless of the cost. You know, I never really understood that. You're the guy who makes all the hard decisions, even if you have to make 'em alone, said Angel. It was, in a very real way, his apology to me for everything that had happened the year before. It was my vindication and my absolution for what I had done and where I had gone.
Right now I feel like the guy who shot his own father.
If only had been able to really appreciate it at the time.
Well, like I said... don't beat yourself up. Oh... you know... I killed my actual dad. It was one of the first things I did when I became a vampire.
Angel should have stopped while he was ahead.
Heard what happened up top, offing your dad and all. Don't know if you know this, but, uh... I killed my mum. Actually, I'd already killed her, and then she tried to shag me, so I had to--
And that was even more very much not what I was interested in hearing, but I didn't ignore the fact they had tried. But all I wanted to do was be alone for a while.
Part of you knew. Even if you can't admit it to yourself, part of you knew it wasn't him.
No. I was sure it was him. You were there. I killed my father.
He was threatening your friends.
He was threatening you. He pointed a gun at you, Fred... so I shot him.
Was it success? I stopped our mysterious attackers from gaining the artifact they had so desperately wanted. I proved that whoever had broken into Wolfram & Hart had somehow accessed the old files and resources of the Watchers Council. I saved Fred's life.
Or was it a failure? I trusted and accepted the false Roger Wyndam-Pryce without thinking and without asking. A simple phone call to Mother would have ended the charade in minutes, and yet, the moment I heard his voice, I couldn't stand up to him. And then, when I was able to do just that, I emptied my pistol into him.
Quiet dignity and grace. That's how I dealt with the situation, success or failure, with quiet dignity and grace. Just as Father would want.
(364, not counting direct quotes)
OOC Note: This is a canon-based response, and does not necessarily reflect any muse version of these characters.