Jeremiah Narrates a New Beginning

 Jeremiah Danvers Narrates a New Beginning

Nikita and I were together, alone but together for more than a week. The alien would come, feed us, ask us a few rather simple questions and then leave. I was having trouble making heads or tales of him. “My guess is if he wanted us dead we'd be dead right now, so what's his story?”

“I don't know. He's a GREEN Martian.” She said definitively. “If he's lived his life as alone as I have he's lived it for at least 3 times as long. He's forgotten how to trust people, especially humans. Other aliens wouldn't be as hard.”

“That I can understand.” I said glumly.

Three days later the alien came to take me away. He grabbed me by the arm and started to literally drag me out of the room. “No leave him alone!” Nikita cried out.

“You want to die instead?” The man asked her in a threatening voice.

Nikita's voice was low but distinct. “Yes, I do.”

"I cannot believe you are actually going to kill him; I do not see this in you. 'Discerner of the motivations and intentions of the heart' is a name for my people. But if you were going to kill one of us, I'd rather it be me than him. If for no other reason than that would make sense!” She turned to look at me. “And obviously there is another reason. Listen I am quite familiar with how ignorant humans can be, especially when they're scared. But I'd think if you were angry at either of us it would be a freak of nature like me, not quite literally the best human I have ever known!”

By this time the alien had released me from his grip and was starring at Nikita with something stronger than curiosity. A sentiment I shared with him. But Nikita wasn't finished. “I seriously cannot understand why you hate him. Hate is reserved for Whites and for the worst of humans. Hank would fit in among White Martians. My word for him translates as 'ignorant, arrogant asshole'. But Whites are...something else. They are Crishnaka-Sareth. Or near enough.”

“You've lived under the Whites?” The alien said in a voice of which I could make nothing.

“I've lived under Hank Henshaw; for more than 15 years. He scared the hell out of me. And if I wasn't so busy being scared of him I'd have laughed in his face. You confuse the hell out of me. And if I wasn't so busy being confused by you, I'd weep for you.” Her voice took on an exasperated edge. “Is there literally any thing else that needs saying?!” Answering her own question, she sat down, tucked her feet behind her and looked away from us.

I looked over at the man, trying to judge if her outburst had hit home. It clearly had done: He was staring with wide, sad eyes. Staring at me. “I was wrong about you. And I'm sorry.”

That's when I finally realized. “You thought I was...her keeper?”

“I thought she was Enkaren and you were keeping her calm and under control.”

“Demios Pah, Tor-ek Nitch-a.”

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed. “Nikita, what the hell was that?”

“She says I've dishonored the name of my ancestor. And she's not wrong.”

“Stop it!” Nikita cried out. The alien stopped in his tracks. He turned to Nikita. “He's done nothing to deserve this. I would think if anything you'd be after me.”

“Are you saying you'd rather die instead?”

“...Yes.” Nikita answered her voice low but distinct. “I would rather be killed than let him die. I'd think if you'd be angry at either of us it would be a freak of nature like me. Not quite literally the best human I have ever known. So if nothing else that would make sense!”

The outburst must have hit home; the alien released me instantly. “There was no need for any of this Sajen. There never was, was there?”

“I...I misread the situation.” The alien said as if he were a schoolboy getting dressed down for misbehaving. A feeling that would only deepen as the conversation continued.

“And that's the worst thing about all of this. All you had to do was ask. I would have told you. Hell you're a Martian you could have read my mind. I would have permitted it! How quickly we become the things we hate and we don't even realize it.” Nikita walked to the far end of the room sat on the floor with her feet crossed in front of her and turned her head away from her host. Displaying a universally recognized 'I don't want to talk to you' attitude.

I looked over at the man, who glanced back at me, silently asking for an interpretation. “She's comparing you to Hank Henshaw. Someone who treated her like an enemy for no reason and literally tortured her in a blind attempt to get her to reveal the truth of her intentions. But there was no truth to be found, because she wasn't lying. She wasn't a danger to anyone. And if Hank had looked at her for 5 seconds and seen anything other than a human-looking alien, he would have seen her for the innocent person she was. It was there for all the world to see and he couldn't accept it. I served under Henshaw during this time. I couldn't understand why he saw her as the enemy. The last interrogation he performed on her proved he actually got off on hurting aliens...even helpless ones like her.”

“And you broke her free.” Realization blanketed the strangers face. Followed quickly by a look of unmitigated shame. “You broke her free from the D.E.O.”

“I couldn't stand by and let her get tortured for information she didn't actually have. For being a thing rather than a person. Most prisoners at the D.E.O absolutely deserve to be there. And some fo them, to our eyes would truly look like freaks of nature. There is no getting around that. But Nikita was no threat, and certainly no apparent monster. The night before, when I asked him why he was so convinced this prisoner was an enemy he promised me that 'tomorrow, that thing will reveal its true intentions'. I shut the machine down and took her out of it. Nikita put hank in the device, but kept it turned off. I expected her to run off into the night but she didn't move. She asked me if I wanted to come with her. She said she wanted me to come but wouldn't ask that of me unless I wanted to. We made our escape together. She is quite right. All you had to do was ask. Force, much less pain was useless.

She actually laughed at Hank for making the exact same assumption.”

Eternal Bond of love

The kind of love men can have for one another; a love without need. A familial bond without description or cost...except the cost of being interested in that person's happiness and well being far more than in your own.

The Various ways this has happened in my stories.

“It's quite alright Nasir. I'm going to miss you.”

The shock on the other man's face was considerable. “Where am I going?”

“Nasir, I...just please, take the horse and be about your business.”

“Forgive me but are you jesting with me?”

“No why would I...Why would anyone say that in a jest?”

“Why would you let me go?” Nassir responded instantly. And then slowly as if he were trying to work out in his own head what was going on. “Sir, this is your prize of battle. I was the servant of the man you killed in fair combat. I am your prisoner...your slave should you wish it.”

“Nassir, I understand the custom of position. At least I think I do. And I will have no part of it. Especially not if it's simply because of my rank. Which is why I ask, is it because I won, or simply because of a title I inherited from my father?

“Sir, by our very understanding of fate and destiny it is for you to say what happens now. We are taught that ALL is as God wills it and I truly believe that. My master challenged you, more for sport than on principle mis-prizing what he saw. If you take me with you, if you claim me, I will see it as God's justice. That being said I must ask: What do you intend to do with me?”

“I will ne-ver own another human being. And I refuse to make you pay the price for your master's choices. I was little better than a slave myself before Godfrey...before my father found me my life changed very much overnight. We left for the Holy Land together but he did not survive the journey that brought me here. Regardless of how this came to be, I will not have you following after me because of who my father happened to be. This new life was thrust on me; I've done nothing to earn or prove my rank as a knight. I have done nothing to deserve the admiration I see in your eyes right now. Except be a quick learner when Godfrey gave me a brief fighting lesson. I will find my fathers people and live my life. But I cannot and will not ask you to be a part of that. Go in peace.”

Sometime later after defending Kerak, Balian will say. "So that's why you were so eager for God's justice. It wasn't 'your masters' choices." Having realized rather inescapably that Nasir was the lord.

'You truly must be a stranger here' was the look on Nassir's face as he explained his fate was in his hands because of his victory. That it really was entirely in Balian's hands what happened to him, just from their understanding of fate and chance, the turning of fortune's wheel.. Balian had more than earned the right to decide his own fate. But that Nassir's willingness to become his 'prisoner or slave' was an understanding and allowance due to Balian because of his rank. “That being said I must ask: What do you intend to do with me?”

“I will ne-ver own another human being. And I refuse to make you pay the price for your master's choices. I was little better than a slave myself before Godfrey...before my father found me my life changed very much overnight. We left for the Holy land together but he did not survive the journey that brought me here. Regardless of how this came to be, I will not have you following after me because of who my father happened to be. This new life was thrust on me; I've done nothing to earn or prove my rank as a knight. I have done nothing to deserve the admiration I see in your eyes right now. Go in peace.”

“I cannot Milord.” Nassir said slowly but firmly. “All is as God wills it. I truly believe that. And if I didn't before I would now. I cannot see how the two of us could have come together at all, so soon after you even arrived unless Allah brought us together. At any rate, I am not permitted to leave your side. I refuse to leave a stranger to Jerusalem alone and friendless, lost in a sea of faces.” He smiled softly and continued. “Call me a servant or protector if you want, and if that helps you accept MY decision. It would not be far from the truth. No matter what ELSE my life is now, it is bound to yours, and it is by choice, not compulsion I assure you; inshallah.”

Batman V Superman was a freaking Masterpiece!

 I've been watching some detailed analysis of Batman V Superman. And then I went back to Everything Great about Man of Steel and I came to a conclusion.

This is not Superman yet. He is not only a newborn superhero but a lot of the things we know him as are still in his future. Most especially the final reason the film gets so much hate. When he ends Zod's life to save civilians Zod was about to incinerate with his heat vision. "Superman doesn't kill" being so firmly ingrained into our understanding of who Superman even is. Superman probably developed the 'no killing' rule he's known for BECAUSE of how heavily it weighed on him when he was forced to end Zod's life. Everyone complains that this is not the Superman we know. It's not supposed to be. This is how Clark Kent *becomes* the Superman we know and love. And it's a freaking masterpiece.

Saw something last night, that definitely belongs on my blog about missed treasures and maligned masterpieces of movies and TV Shows. There is something about Batman Versus Superman Dawn fo Justice that I don't think literally anyone has mentioned yet.

The movie does not present itself as Batman versus Superman so much as Bruce Wayne becoming obsessed about Superman and the journalist Clark Kent being concerned over the Bat Vigilante in Gotham. In other words, thier Human identities feelings and fears about the others costumed persona. If you look at it that way, or if people even bother to notice it instead of focusing on the Batman V Superman battle of ideologies this film is "supposed" to be -- the entire film makes a lot more sense.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | EPIC Fight Scene! | ClipZone

This is one of the deepest scenes the movie. In any movie. And it's one of my favorites.

That it was Superman's humanity which stopped Batman. Seeing this 'evil alien' care more for a human life than his own life and not the silly name coincidence seemed self-evident to me.

As well as why Bruce's flashback having nothing to do with his 'Martha' but with him now being the one holding the gun. But even I didn't consider that Clark not only accepted 'Save Martha' as his dying breath, but was giving his final wishes to his murderer. 'After you kill me, at least do this for me'. Anything Superman said would have been heard through Superman's lips, not Clark's because as with any other version of the story Superman's armor as far as his secret identity is that people don't expect an alien to have a human life. So why would this evil god like alien Bruce sees when he looks at Superman have a human mother?

"How many Good guys are left how many stayed that way" not only spells his motivations out perfectly but also explains why he didn't go through with killing Superman later. He finally realized that Superman was a good guy. And that he probably should have been asking that question about himself, not the strange visitor from another planet. Also Superman said 'Martha' not 'mom' because Batman had made it abundantly clear he didn't care about Superman's parents. And since he obviously wasn't *being Clark Kent at the time, Batman would have heard 'Save Jor-el's wife' not "Save a human woman who is in danger".

Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice

I don't understand how blind people are

 4 out of 4 users found this review helpful.

The only convoluted parts of this movie are Lex Luthor's plan and why the world suddenly hates Superman. As far as Why Bruce is so relentlessly pursuing Superman and why 'Save Martha' actually pulls him back, they could not have set it up more clearly. And I realize a lot of Batman fans were disgusted/surprised at this version of Batman but they do explain his character perfectly: this is world weary, Robinless Joker beaten Batman who has almost given up on hope for the world. He spells out his motivations to Alfred "He has the power to wipe out the entire human race and if we believe there is even a 1% chance that he is our enemy" He sees this alien as another freak in a costume. He even tells Superman while he's punching his face repeatedly "You were never a God, you were never even a man." Batman does not spare Superman because thier mother's share the same name. Batman didn't even know 'Martha' was Superman's mother's name at first. But Superman asking Batman to save someone else was enough to make him pause and consider that this evil alien cares about people, cares about someone more than his own life. And then Lois comes in and tells him "It's his mother's name." And he realizes Superman has a human family, has a life, IS a good man I/he almost murdered. He finally realizes that "How many good guys are left, how many stayed that way" is a question he should have been asking about himself all along. It's a line straight out of Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Setting up both his mission and his attitude for the next movie.

This is not "Batman" anymore. This is not Superman *yet*. I'm wondering why it's so hard for people to stop, look at the film and realize this. Superman is a new born superhero. People call it unrealistic or something that neither hero reacts how they would in thier prime. Neither hero IS in thier prime. Supposedly Batman hates Superman for clear obvious reasons but that Superman has no reason to hate Batman? Clark Kent has a pretty clear reason for hating or at least mistrusting a vigilante who tramples on the law and civil liberties. People see this movie fail thier own expectations and in so doing, completely fail to see this movie in the context of this universe. Where honestly their expectations do not and should not apply.

With potentially his last breath Superman asks his killer to save someone else. And people calling that sloppy writing and the biggest plot convenience ever, made zero sense. Various commentors ask why Superman asking Batman to save his mother would be surprising to Batman or would make any difference. 'what else would you do, any one would ask for thier mothers life that doesn't make him special'. When the entire point of the scene is that Batman does not see Superman as a person at all until that one humanizing moment. He never considered the evil alien had a human mother, let alone would be willing to die for her, or anyone else. Also it matters to Bruce. Saving Martha matters to Bruce.