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A Jericho Fan Fiction Archive
I really think you got Emily right in this chapter. Everything she said and what she had become was very much in character. There's no doubt that Emily is a survivor. Reading this part it seems like the only way she is able to survive is by completely distancing herself from others and by justifying her actions so she doesn't feel for guilty for what has happened.
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He looked at her closely, scrutinizing her windblown hair, her stiff posture, her toughened expression. He'd seen glimpses of this before, moments hinting at this person she could become. After Chris's death, when Jonah let her down, and after New Bern sent the first mortars. He never imagined this person could ever be fully realized and standing in front of him. Somehow, she'd always kept this part of herself at bay.
I thought physical description of Emily was a very good representation of how she changed as a person. I like how you included that Jake, in the past, saw glimpses of the person Emily would become and how he never imagined it would happen and then recognizing that she had become this person.
Another great chapter to your story! Thanks!
Thanks!
I wanted to present an Emily who is in character, and who, I think at least, is as tragic as all of the other characters in this universe. This Emily tries to tell herself she's better off than the others who let their weaknesses show, but she's given up something extremely important, cutting herself off from the rest of humanity, as you described. She has survived, but at a great cost.
I think Jake views her very sadly, since he did see the potential for this person to come out in her in the past, and hoped she would never go this far. (And I'm sure he never imagined she would) I think this is as horrifying to him as any of the tragedies he sees the others coping with in this world.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
I had been curious about exactly what had happened to Emily, so it was good to see what she's been up to. I can't say that I'm entirely surprised that she fell in with Jonah again, though I would love to have been a fly on the wall when all of that came about. I'm guessing that Jonah insinuated himself back into her life after she was shot.
One of the constants about Emily is that she is a survivor.
The conversation between Jake and Emily was interesting to read. Obviously, she doesn't know the man that Jake has become and views him through the goggles of the past. What she said to Jake about Gail trying to help lost causes was quite true. Emily doesn't consider herself lost quite yet, but I can't help but feel that she has lost some of her humanity--as have many of the characters.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when Jake encounters Hawkins. :)
Thanks Sandra!
You're right in your guessing about Emily's return to Jonah. She felt very alone as she recovered from her injuries, and her friends were all otherwise occupied with their own tragic circumstances. Jonah offered a way to survive, and as you so aptly put it, she is always a survivor.
You're also very right, she has absolutely lost a part of her humanity, just as everyone else has lost a part of themselves too. Emily definitely doesn't consider herself lost because she's also lost the perspective to see herself clearly. And she's worked very hard to distance and separate herself from Gail's 'lost causes', in order to build up her own solitary survivor persona.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Penny,
Another intriguing installment, as always! I was hooked from the beginning...
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'Well, do I try to get away?' He was looking around quickly. Flat land surrounded him. Nowhere he could go on foot that they couldn't get to faster on the bikes.
I don't know. You were worried about the girl with the bat and the stray dogs.
This really struck me because Freddie likely is seeing a new side of Jake. I assume that his Iraq persona might have just been a smidge more Ravenwood-like, and it's not as if there were that many people in Iraq (maybe just Freddie) that he cared about. The Jake of those old days probably wouldn't have tried to reason with a woman wielding a bat, and I don't really want to know what he might have done to a snarling dog...
So.... Emily! My, my, my. She's certainly turned out ever so charming, didn't she? Admittedly I'm not a fan, so that means I think you've captured her quite well. Just a few of the excerpts that I think tell the story:
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She laughed out loud. “Things changed. Where have you been?” For once it wasn't a real question. He didn't have to tell the Vegas story. “I take it you've been to town already. Why'd you come out here?”
Ah, yes. Our Emily. Considers Jake her soulmate and yet really doesn't want to know anything about him. Yes, he left town and this Emily doesn't know how he's changed and grown, but this Jake does know that a version of 5 years later Emily - at one point at least - was quite happy to take him back. I do so hope that Jake remembers this little encounter if he ever escapes this universe.
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She scoffed. “I helped him. I protected him from Jonah. If we really wanted anything from him, do you think dogs would've stopped us?”
And ...
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She glared at him. “I told her she could come with me. She wouldn't. Only so much I can do. I'm sure she's fine now. If they caught me, I probably wouldn't be here talking to you.”
It's just so Emily to only think of herself, isn't it? I rather doubt Stanley and Heather consider what she did for them "helpful". I was glad that she seemed to suffer a momentary twinge of guilt over Bonnie's death, but she just doesn't seem to get it. I can't believe that after using Heather's place to hide out (and getting her into at least some trouble), Emily can dismiss all her responsibility because she offered to take Heather with her. To Jonah's compound! As I read this part I was grinding my teeth and trying to come up with painful ways to punish Emily for treating Heather, especially, so shabbily.
And then there are so many interesting things you told us in this part. I actually cheered at the idea that Gracie Leigh was thrown in jail by Gray. It's nice to know that someone had a spine, even if all she used it for was to go into business with Jonah. I mourn poor Dale. I'd been wondering where he was, but I wasn't ready yet to assume he was dead. I was kind of hoping he was the mystery graffiti artist. Oh well, I have another suspect in mind. ;-) I was also sorry to hear about Roger's demise. What a way to go! I don't know that Emily was worth missing, getting drunk, and falling off the roof. Any possibility that there was another reason for this behavior?
As always.... thanks for sharing!
Thanks Marzee!
You're right, Freddie is definitely having an interesting journey himself, seeing this side of Jake. I think he's quite fascinated, watching how Jake behaves around people he cares about.
Emily...well, this Emily definitely does not consider Jake her soulmate. By the time he shows up here, Emily's resigned herself to a solo existence, because not feeling for anyone is far less painful. Bonnie's death really was a terrible blow and the beginning of this spiral for her. She did still attempt to 'help' people, though as you said, they did not appreciate her brand of help. I don't think understanding other people's experiences is really her strength so she really didn't see why Heather wouldn't want to go with her, she really thought it was Heather turning her back on her. That was the last straw, and she is now only really able to offer help by the way of 'protecting' Jake from her colleagues.
I'm glad you cheered for Gracie and mourned Dale. Life for them in this Jericho ended rather tragically, but it definitely caused a change in at least one citizen we'll soon be seeing again.
As for Roger, his behaviour was influenced in part by the fact that his fiance, the woman he crossed the wilderness on foot just to see again, had vanished into a life of crime, but also because he had led a group of survivors through said wilderness in hopes that they would reach a promised land. It was devastating to him when they reached a hell hole instead and most of them were turned away. After all those places they could have stopped along the way. But he had kept forcing them on, to reach the homey little town and the woman he just had to return to. So this is what he was thinking as he sat on the roof that fateful night.
Thanks so much for taking time to read and review!