Pomegranates by Brighid (R)

[rowanfairchild.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm back from vacation, jet-lagged, and sunburned enough to make me think it's time for a twofer dealing with... someplace rather warm.

Fandom: OZ
Pairing:  Beecher/Keller
Author on LJ: brighidestone
Why this must be read:

Brighid is well known across fandom for her poetic turns of phrase and inventive use of fairy-tale themes. "Pomegranates" is a darkly rich example -- pulling Tobias Beecher through the Hell his life has become in verse-words both clever and blunt. There is a hallucinatory feel to this story that fits the mood of Beecher's storyline on the show, the sense of slide. There is no relief inside OZ -- every landing is only another trap door to fall through:

"The prince of hell is the one who walks through it, owning it but untouched by it,
is the one who touches him and suddenly he ain't so hollow anymore, and this is still hell but he ain't so alone anymore.
It's a dangerous, dangerous thing,
a forbidden fruit way, way older than apples,
but just as red, just as tempting.

And thus comes our dilemma,
because if he tastes the fruit, if he swallows it down, it'll take seed inside him, it'll become a part of him, and it'll own him,
and he will never, ever, get out of hell
even if he leaves."

Read Pomegranates