ursula4x

The season one finale

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:53:34 GMT

So much to like.

First of all, Neal sculpturing bare to the waist....that's ART! That was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. On a purely sexual level, Neal is so beautiful. The elegance of his moves and the focus he had in creating the statue were even more lovely.

It hurt that all of that and he destroyed the statue. There's something wrong with Neal's idea of himself as an artist. He sounded a bit sad to destroy it, but it was ultimately just a prop to him. If I could make such beauty, I would never be a thief. I would create until I fainted from exhaustion.

Secondly, Diana being back and being so loyal to Peter. She is such a bright character and has great delivery. I hope it's true that she will be a full member of the cast next season.

I also loved MY Jones refusing to take Peter's gun and badge. He stood up to Fowler.

What I didn't love was the idea that Neal would leave Moz. I don't like him leaving Peter, but Moz is like part of him. I suppose if it had went that way that Moz could rejoin Neal later, but that hurt.

The scene between Peter and Neal at the airport was perfect. I want to believe that Neal was going to change his mind when he said Peter's name.

I hope the Season One disc is out soon. I need something to tide me over until Season Two.

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Hard Sell with spoilers

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:06:03 GMT

I have no idea if you can do an LJ cut on Dreamwidth. If anyone reads this and knows tell me.

Kate Five years:

The more I watch Hard Sell and listen to Peter's words with Kate, the more I believe that Kate sold Neal out from the start.

Peter states that "When I arrested you the first time, five years ago" to Kate.

It's a throw away line possibly, but perhaps not.

I have turned over and over in my mind how Neal was caught and what allowed Peter to prove the case. The conclusion I have always made is that Neal bargained to save either Moz or Kate or both."

I went the Moz route in one story. Now, I think the canon explaination is that it was Kate, one way or the other.

Either Neal agreed to a plea bargain to get Kate off the hook or Kate turned on him.

Or both.

I think it is possible that Neal was set up on those bonds in the first place. Peter has not to date said how he caught Neal on the bonds. He has already shown that he can play one crook against the other.

He could have caught Kate away from Neal and offered her a deal to get Neal who he correctly saw as the mastermind of the Bonnie and Clyde of White Collar crimes. Kate could have removed some evidence and given it to Peter or told Peter where to find it.

It doesn't take away from Peter's abilities. It fits what we saw him do in 'Flip of the Coin'. He used the newscaster against the political figure to take the him down. It is also common practice to use informants.

I have a marked dislike for Kate so I may be wrong, but that remark would still have to be explained.

Kate may not be entirely bad although I have a lot of fun writing her as twisted and mostly evil, but I am reasonably sure she had something to do with Neal being captured in the first place. That means I owe her since her actions lead directly to Neal being partnered with Peter.

For the record, I accept Peter's version of the scene as correct. So far the series seems to be straight forward. It's not deep. It's pretty, charming, and plays to the heart rather than the head. I can live that just fine. What hooked me was the partnership in the first place and the lack of serious angst between Peter and Neal. A little pain is delightful, true betrayal...not so much. I'm in recovery from a multi year addiction to the X Files, Mulder and Krycek, Krycek and Skinner or all three. The canon was so dark that watching the series is depressing for the most part. I'm ready for something with joy and charm.

I'm ready for beautiful love between partners ala Starksy and Hutch, Illya and Napoleon, the love evident in canon if not slashy as it is in fandom. (Also Alias Smith and Jones, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hooker and Gondorff) All my heroes have been in love with their partner.

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My fannish love for White Collar (and fond memory of MFU)

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:19:33 GMT

I love my shiny, fluffy, silly, slashy (or threesome filled) show. I am not looking for logic. I want pretty, charming, and fic inspiring stuff. I love that Eastin is a fan pleaser especially after ego maniac Chris Carter and his crap. Eastin in his Twitter is so cute, so happy that we like his show. He is a shameless fan pleaser and I could just hug him for it.

I'm going to say that people looking for logical, dramatic story lines are not going to find it often in White Collar. I remember reading that the show was a bright and shiny fantasy before I even saw it. That's truth in advertising.

Oh, also have to add, I never had any doubt in Peter Burke. I also have no doubt about Moz. I think this is not going to be a very devious show. I think if someone looks creepy and evil like Fowler, they will be exactly like that. Personally, I love Fowler as the bad guy. He is over the top as a bad guy, with his sick little smile, his advantage taking looks at Neal and Peter. I LIKE that you can tell who wears the black hat.

We can still have Peter and Neal trying to top each other.

Happy thought that.

They still have secrets. Neal still loves a good scam and has sticky fingers.

Peter still gets impatient with Neal and wants to keep a tight leash on him. He wants to drag Neal kicking and screaming to the side of law and order. Except that little anarchist side of Peter that keeps smiling when Neal does something wild and wonderful. That smile and the times when Peter encourages Neal to use his talent for wrong to make a right is a key to Peter Burke. Peter Burke is not a by the book guy. He thinks he is, but he has enough moral flexibility to be able to have insight into Neal's head. However he is still the angel on Neal's shoulder as Moz, much as I love him, is the devil's advocate that doesn't whisper but shouts for Neal to go back to his wicked ways.

Even Moz though sometimes shows that he worries about Neal's impulse control. Moz loves Neal's talent for crime, but ultimately, he loves Neal more. He's shown a few times such as in the portrait, that Neal worries him. I think Moz sees Peter Burke as his rival, but also has a grudging respect for him. I'd lay a bet with anyone right now that Moz is exactly who he seems to be, Neal's fanboy, henchman, quasi mentor, and friend.

Going from that point, I'm going to say this: White Collar is not a serious crime drama. You know what it reminds me of?

Man From Uncle which was intended to be a farce from the first. There were dramatic moments, but it was mostly for fun and did it well in most episodes. It also unintentionally became a story about two beautiful men, Illya and Napoleon, who came to care about each other more than they cared about the job, the mission, or the woman of the week.

Man From Uncle was my first love. Yes, my first slash couple when I was fourteen years old. I wrote my first slash in my walk in closet, hiding my dirty little secret from my sisters and the world. My friends were talking about whether they wanted Illya or Napoleon. I was smiling and thinking that I wanted Napoleon to have Illya. It took me years to find out at science fiction conventions that I was far from alone. Yes, Ursula, there is such a thing as slash. Yay!

Wow, the Internet when I finally was able to get it was a playground of wonder. Instant connections with people who have the same interests. Some of those connections have become real friendships that have outlasted the X Files in some cases.

Now, I am head over heels in love with White Collar. It's a romp. It's Illya and Napoleon with Illya in bondage to Napoleon. Yes, there is a Slash Fairy and he sprinkled his magic on my TV to give me Neal and Peter. In my case, the fairy has a sense of humor and also slipped in a woman I like as a person so much that I just can't do her wrong.

I wish the best for this fandom. I hope that it can hold tolerance and not erupt in fan wars. I like to read almost everything and don't have a problem moving from one story which is gen to another story that is slash and segue to another one that is a threesome. I have a wondrous thing called suspension of disbelief. I am the willing 'child' sitting at the feet of the story teller, mouth open in wonder, eyes shining, happy to follow whatever the story teller has for me. I think that makes me a little different than some people but a lot of my favorite people are like that too. We just love stories.

I seriously FAN other writers. I mean, I adore them. Most of them are better writers than I am. Most of them are more logical, so incredibly smart and able to analyze the hell out of everything. It's very important for me to keep the peace with writers because I crave stories like Neal was craving oxygen in Hard Sell.

So that's my morning thoughts. Do I think I have the only correct point of view? Nope, just my point of view.

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Little Bird White Collar Peter and Neal UST PG

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:20:07 GMT

Title: Little Bird
Author: Ursula
Rating: rating: PG
Genre and/or Pairing: Peter/Neal UST
Notes: Came out of no where and demanded to be written.
Spoilers: None noted
Warnings: Schmoop Alert. Child Neal
Word Count: 1436

Summary: Neal has always been attracted to loving men and bad women.

1. Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Title: Little Bird

Cecilia was a beauty, her blue eyes to match his own in hue. She was so tiny with minute features, cupid bow lips, the lower so full and lush. Her hair was sable brown and her skin so fair. Sean Caffrey liked the way they looked together and his Francis O'Mallory, his friend, his partner, his lover was very amused at how taken Sean was.

Would he have married her if she did not place his hand on the gentle swelling on her thin abdomen? Most likely not. His Francis agreed with him and it was a good life they had together when the both of them were out of prison. Sean was an old fashioned sort, raised with old money and manners before he went so willing, wildly astray. He lifted the best wedding ring that he could get his thieving hands upon and went down on his knee to propose. Of course, she said yes. Sean found the pin pricks in the condoms after all.

Sean knew Cecelia was flighty. He missed the part about the heroin and a little of this and that or whatever she could score until the fourth month when she was arrested supplying her habit. Sean was off probation and he turned his charm on the social workers and the prosecutor with telling success. She agreed to the treatment program and Sean played it straight, finding a job as a janitor and asking his dear Francis to spend a little time on the west coast to avoid temptation of all sorts. He saw Cecelia every week, his head on her expanding belly as he sang to his growing son. "Too Ra Loo Ra Li"

The boy always kicked when Sean sang, "This little bird", a song Sean heard Roy Orbison sing and if it wasn't Irish, it ought to have been.

"There's a little bird that somebody sends
Down to the earth to live on the wind.
Born on the wind and he sleeps on the wind
This little bird that somebody sends.
He's light and fragile and feathered sky blue,
So thin and graceful the sun shines through.
This little bird who lives on the wind,
This little bird that somebody sends.

He flies so high up in the sky
Out of reach of human eye.
And the only time that he touches the ground
Is when that little bird
Is when that little bird
Is when that little bird dies"

Cecelia said that was a terrible song to sing to the baby, but Sean didn't agree. It was not that the bird died; it was that it had wings that kept it free. After so many times in prison, Sean did not take freedom for granted.

Their son was born clean, they said. At least, he did not have to be withdrawn with a tiny drip of heroin. Cecelia had not ridden the horse long. However, little Neal was tiny and frail. He had colic a lot and Cecelia could not endure the long nights, pacing the floor with the little stiff body, screaming and kicking. If Sean suspected it was not colic at all, the magical point turned at three months and from that point, Neal was all sunshine.

"Too Ra Loo Ra Li, my little bird," Sean sang, Neal warm against his bare chest. "Too Ra Loo Ra Li" as he waltzed the little one over the floor of the dingy room that was all he could afford.

The diapers and the formula cost so much. There was that program to help, but it was difficult for Sean to leave work to get to the appointments and Cecelia seemed always to forget. She sometimes forgot to change the diapers too so Sean asked his Francis to come back and keep an eye. Francis loved the little one as much as Sean and Neal grew strong, chubby legs and arms wrapped around his da and his Sis, all that the little boy could make of Francis to Sean's delight.

Ah, the work was weary and Sean was ready, he was, to pack it in and see if there was any way his angry parents would do for Neal if not for their errant son. They would do, they said. If Sean would have a blood test to prove his little bird was their own blood and bone. If Sean would sign Neal over and step away from his life.

"Too Ra Loo Ra Li", Sean walked his son to the park, feeding the swans, hand in Francis' hand as if they were his son's parents and Cecelia not much to him at all.

Come the day that Cecelia took all the money and there was no way to pay the rent, no way to feed his little bird, and at the first, "Da, I'm hungry," that Sean heard, it was back to the game.

But the luck was flown. His skill was broken and the both of them were thrown in the gaol, Sean and his Francis.

It was two years, no serious charge. Sean called until the phone was disconnected. He wrote until the letters came back. As soon as he was released, he went to the old neighborhood to the landlady that so patiently had waited for his rent.

"She moved in a few blocks away with that no good dealer. She was telling everyone that Neal was his son. The poor little one had a black eye and a bruise half the time. I fear it was not Jim Fair that did it. Your Cecelia was always in a bad temper."

"Where?" Sean said. Better rid of Cecelia, but not of his little bird.

"Jim Fair was killed in a gun fight and Cecelia died in their apartment of an overdose. Your little son was taken by the social services. I'm sorry."

OooOooO

No one would tell Sean what happened to Neal. Adopted they said. How were they to know that Cecelia lied about Jim Fair being his father?

His little bird. His Neal. All Sean could hope was that the family who adopted him loved him. That they sang him "Too Ra Loo Ra Li" and waltzed him around the room.

OooOooO

"I opened my adoption when I was eighteen. It just didn't work, Peter. They were older and I was so active. They tried so hard to love me, but I guess I wasn't very lovable." Neal said, holding the death certificate.

"You know that's not true," Peter said.

Neal shot luminous beams of blue at Peter, arrows to his heart. Peter shook his head. If Neal could win his pursuer's heart, how could his adoptive parents fail to love him?"

"I could hardly remember my mother except that she was so beautiful, but I remembered him, my father. He called me "Little Bird". He sang me a song; Bing Crosby sang it. Too Ra Loo Ra Li, an Irish Lullaby."

Neal put the death certificate on the table, smoothed it. "I took my birth name back as soon as I could. It took me years to track him down and then I found he was gone. Shot to death in a robbery, his body shielding the teenage clerk who was the real target. He had this friend, Francis who was..."

Now Neal smiled. "Francis was a scoundrel. He taught me everything I know. He was my father's partner, his lover, faithful to the end. He taught me that love comes in many forms and that true love is better than the biggest score. He always warned me to beware the pretty face."

"Your uncle, Francis, was a wise man," Peter said.

"He was," Neal said. "Peter, I didn't get to attend my father's funeral. Please take me to attend Francis'.

"I was just coming to tell you that Hughes approved the travel," Peter said. "El wants to go also. If you want."

"I want," Neal said.

Arms around him, wings trembling to fly. Peter won't let this little bird fall to the ground. Never.

The end

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New account

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:05:29 GMT

Since I am tired of having to prove I am human to read anything here.

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