These Things Shall Never Die

[elliotsmelliot]

Title: These Things Shall Never Die
Characters: Charlie, Desmond
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set during Live Together, Die Alone
Disclaimer: Lost isn’t mine. This is what it would look like if it were.
Summary: Since everyone else is preoccupied, Charlie takes it upon himself to interrogate the camp’s latest arrival.

A/N: This is a humble offering to falafel_musing

Comments

[babydazzle]

[elliotsmelliot]

Thanks so much. That you felt this was Charlie-like means a lot coming from you. I appreciate the feedback.

[evilmissbecky]

Oh, I love this. I like how Charlie forges ahead, even when he's unsure of himself. That's our unsung hero. And what a great way to start this relationship, this bond between two men just struggling to find their way in the world.

[elliotsmelliot]

Thanks! It was fun to imagine that they had a meeting beyond their brief interaction pre-failsafe key. And I hoped people would find it in character for Charlie to take charge as best he could. I'm glad you liked it.

[elliotsmelliot]

Thank you. I was nervous sharing this because there are so many wonderful authors like yourself who specialize not only in Charlie but Charlie and Desmond. I can't believe everyone took Desmond at his word, especially after the Henry situation, so I thought if anyone would be suspicious it would be Charlie. Finding the Dickens quote was pure luck - searching his work with the key word 'friend', and surprisingly the one I liked also used the term 'brother.' I'm glad you liked it. I've so enjoyed your stories.

[elliotsmelliot]

Then to add insult to injury, when the writers remember about Charlie in season 3, look what happened. It's like we had to choose between him being on the margins but alive or in the forefront and dead. Thanks again for your comments!

[falafel_fiction]

Thank you so much for writing this! You are fast becoming a master of the oneshot with all these little ficlets of perfection. I've enjoyed all your recent stories, but I think this might be the first one that had me laughing out loud in several places. Just the image of Charlie holding onto an axe for security while he talks to "obvious nutter" Desmond had me giggling. Your Charlie POV was excellent I must say - better than my own!

Even when he had nothing to hide, all Locke or Eko or even Claire had to do was look at him pointedly and his soul was stretched on a canvass for all to inspect. You can imagine what it felt like now, when the pockets of his conscience were weighted with rocks. If he were to step into a puddle, he would surely sink to the bottom of the ocean.

This was amazing in the way it NAILED Charlie's insecurities and threw up that iconic image of his S3 sacrifice. The Dickens quote was also very prophetic of the Chesmond bond that was to come. Wonderful! Thank you so much.

[elliotsmelliot]

I'm glad you liked it. I almost chickened out at the last minute because I was worried it didn't flow well (and was afraid to show my Charlie to you). I'm pleased parts made you giggle. In some ways it was a relief to write Charlie after more sombre POV's because I got to play with his sarcasm and unique sense of humour. Blessed with hindsight, I felt it was necessary to include things like the drowning imagery because what happens next was never far from my mind. It was a fluke the Dickens' quote worked so well because I'm not overly familiar with his work but I found this quickly.

"Your Charlie POV was excellent I must say - better than my own!"

Um, this has to be the biggest exaggeration ever. Even Charlie would know you're lying here!

Thanks for the kind words and inspiration.

[falafel_fiction]

The quirky sacastic humour in the POV was brilliant. You should try writing with some other funny POV characters (Hurley? Shannon?). And any time you want to write for Charlie again is just fine by me. You handle him so well. These were some more lines I sniggered at -

If you come back, Charlie added silently. If Desmond didn’t blow up the camp while you were gone or disappear on the helicopter he conveniently forgot to tell anyone about or die of alcohol poisoning.

“If you stuck around long enough, you’d know we’re the good guys.” As soon as he said it, Charlie realized that statement came with certain qualifiers.

He was impressed that the man was still alive after three years and only this insane. TBH when I wrote Chesmond I nearly always used Desmond POV. I don't know if that is because I found Des easier to write for or I just prefered to see Charlie through Desmond's eyes. I think I wrote Charlie better from the outside looking in rather than the inside looking out, if you understand me. I always felt my Charlie POV/

[elliotsmelliot]

I understand what you mean about the POV now. For example, I feel it is much easier to write Desmond from the outside looking in, both because he makes me shy and to be honest in most cases, I haven't quite figured out the layers of his thought process.

He was impressed that the man was still alive after three years and only this insane.

I'm glad you liked that one. I had cut it and moved it around and then finally found a home for it.

Thanks again for the lovely feedback.

[aboutbunnies]

I'm not usually a Charlie fan, but you have his voice down so perfectly that I can't help but like him here. I love that you've managed to make me laugh out loud in parts (Plus he probably had tons of answers like how often the food parcels dropped or did the vaccine have any side effects or who the hell was Geronimo Jackson.) and feel so sympathetic towards Charlie's mistrust and insecurities in others.

[elliotsmelliot]

I think it was hard for anyone to be a season 2 Charlie fan! He was written so inconsistently and generally came across as unlikeable. I'm glad you gave the story a chance and ended up being won over. Given his past insecurities, he seemed the best person to question everyone's automatic acceptance of Desmond. (In re-watching LTDA, I couldn't believe anyone would fall for Jack's "Just tell them Desmond's back" line.) Thanks so much for the feedback! I hope all is well with you.