[ SECRET POST #5287 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5287 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 25 secrets from Secret Submission Post #756.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Possibly a slightly off-topic rant, but I used to really REALLY hate this way back in the M7 fandom. Particularly when it came to Nathan Jackson in Ezra-centric fic. Chris used to get it pretty bad too, occasionally everybody in a really woobie!Ezra fic, but Nathan just felt like he got hit with it the absolute worst. He’s just a caricature suspicious shrew of a man who lambasts Ezra and falsely accuses him at every possible turn.

And I do get that they have a troubled relationship in canon. It’s a western, Ezra is a southern gambler and conman, and Nathan is an ex-slave honest healer who deeply disapproves of cheating people. They are quite often on opposite sides of an issue. And Nathan, a couple of times, when badly triggered by current events (prostitutes potentially being sold in a mail-order bride scam that Ezra suggested, finding a Chinese woman in Ezra’s bedroom after she was literally sold to Ezra by her uncle earlier and Ezra turned the deal down), has slung some accusations around. It’s usually under pretty understandable circumstances, though.

But Nathan was also the guy who fixed Ezra’s shoulder not too long after Ezra refused to ride with him because he was black, and Ezra was firmly resisting treatment for apparently the same reason. Everyone talks about the episode where Ezra was trying to justify taking a LOT of money they found on an assassin for himself, talking about Nathan berating him, but Nathan mostly just reminds him that the money isn’t his. Josiah, struggling with his own demons, was the one who completely flew off the handle at Ezra and accused him there.

I did get the feeling, in a lot of the fanfic, that there was a bit of an impetus to make Nathan an unpleasant, holier-than-thou, occasionally treacherous person in fic to kind of … excuse the fact that Ezra was blatantly racist towards him in canon that one time. Not for long, despite his upbringing Ezra does wise up quick, but it’s definitely there. A lot of fic went out of its way to paint Ezra as an unjustly accused gentle soul, and that’s a bit harder to do when you have Nathan right there in canon gently or not-so-gently pointing out that he is, actually, a thief and a swindler who has some nasty hang-overs from a southern upbringing about him. And also a pretty soft-hearted man who loves children, gets shot helping people, and went back to help the team despite knowing he might get shot for first abandoning them. But you know. A guy can have layers.

It just used to really bug me a lot how bad Nathan got it in fic. Chris too, but I’m less protective of Chris, because he’s a bit of a dick and can handle his own self just fine. Nathan just got so much shit he didn’t deserve.

[(Anonymous)]

Poor Nathan. He was usually relegated to being awful to Ezra or bitching to people about their food choices. *sigh*

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah. He and Josiah tended to get shit on and/or ignored the worst, I think. Vin, Chris and Buck had the whole loyalty, old-friend-versus-new-soulmate thing going, Ezra's the cool gambler-with-a-heart-of-gold with the tragic backstory that periodically shows back up in the form of his mother, and JD at least gets his relationship with Buck to pull a few people in. But Nathan and Josiah are just treated like spare parts a lot of the time. Despite the fact that Nathan's an ex-slave and his relationship with Ezra was actually fascinating, and there was so much more that could have been done with Josiah and his sister, and possibly Josiah and Chris given that they have quite a few similar issues and coping mechanisms.

But, yeah. *sigh*