The Hennessys
Jun. 1st, 2012 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hennessysTitle: The Hennessys
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: The Hennessy family.
Warnings: classism, racism, minor sexism, depression, oblique mentions of suicidal ideation.
Notes: So, this is my Huge Scary New Story, which does not yet have a name. I'm going to ask you guys a favor. Huge Scary New Story is huge and scary because it deals mostly with classism and racism, and I am a pasty white upper middle class girl. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fuck some things up. If you see me doing that, please please please tell me so I can fix it. Thanks in advance!
And now, without further ado, the Hennessys.
1. Vintage port/brandy
Tom's father gives him a glass of port on his sixteenth birthday and tells him that now, he is a man; years later, Tom stares moodily into a glass of brandy, and wonders why anyone tells that same old lie.
8. Smoking jacket
Thomas Hennessy always wore a jacket, dinner, tails, or smoking; Christopher, the ignored second son, never does.
15. Leather sofa
He first sees her reclining on a leather sofa, legs long and naked, everyone around her calling her "Elizabeth;" he likes her better in t-shirt and jeans, her hair uncombed and curling, called Isobel.
14. Mink coat
Isobel is wary of Christopher's presents at first, but the mink coat presents possibilities she can't resist, like showing up at his house wearing it and nothing but.
3. Diamonds
The ring weighs down Isobel's finger: she almost asks for a simpler ring before remembering what a triumph it is, and how wonderful will be the looks on their faces when they see her in the Hennessy diamonds.
2. Champagne
Christopher's arm tightens around Isobel's waist as the champagne fizzes gently in the glasses and the frozen smiles of the onlookers turn softly to frowns.
24. This belongs in a museum
It's not that Isobel doesn't love him, it's just that she feels like such a stranger in his world of casual extravagence and museum-quality furniture.
20. The best money can buy.
Isobel proves to be so good at details and negotiation that Harvard Law falls all over themselves to accept her, regardless of her gender or skin, and Christopher is so proud of her that he thinks he might burst.
4. Cigars
"Thank goodness she looks white," his mother says, and Christopher has to put down his newborn daughter, lest his grip tighten too much and bruise her.
10. Velvet
Miranda's new little sister's skin feels like as velvet; darker than hers, but just as soft.
23. It's an old edition.
As Charlotte gets older, Christopher finds himself more and more glad that his father died before she was born-- he knows what the old man would have said about his precious daughter, and he doesn't really want to commit patricide.
17. Lead crystal
There are times when Isobel wants to kill her in-laws with their heavy Waterford crystal; she refrains only by imagining them buried all up to their necks in their own bullshit lies.
18. Maid/butler service
The one and only time Jackson complained about the maid service not cleaning his room, he got grounded for a month.
6. Glass case
If she could keep her children in a glass case, safe from a world that sneers at their heritage and Charlotte's Latina looks-- she should say she'd rather they be free, but the truth is that she would, in a heartbeat.
9. Silk
Charlotte smoothes a nervous hand over the silk of her dress, and tries not to see the stares, tries not to hear the whispers about the dark little girl standing between her much paler siblings.
11. Caviar
Dad fed them cavier once, just to make a point; after the spitting and the water-gargling was done, they all three vowed not to complain about peanut butter and jelly again.
13. Silver service
The Hennessy children have impressive table manners in public, and in private they behave like any other children, pushing, shoving, name-calling and elbows on the table-- it's a sign, Isobel thinks, of good parenting.
5. Swimming pool
Some days Jackson feels so useless and empty that his throat closes over, so he goes out to the pool and swims laps until his arms ache, and tries not to think about how much he's tempting himself.
12. Gilt
Charlotte traces the inlay in the whorls of the chair in their public sitting room, and feels her stomach cramp with guilt.
19. Platinum
If Alec Robinton genuinely expected her to sit down and put up with his bullshit, he's got another think coming-- she's Miranda Hennessy, platinum to his lead, and he take his stuck-up nastiness and stick it where the sun don't shine.
7. Four-poster bed
Jack's bed is huge, a vast expanse of sheets stretching out like a desert; he sometimes wonders if he picks up so many one-night-stands just so he won't feel so lonely.
16. Marble
Miranda loves being the heir to the Hennessy throne, loves the power and the strength and the awe that comes with it; it would be nice to be able to show emotion in public sometimes, but power requires sacrifice.
21. It's not just to look at.
"You can touch, you know," Jack says to the boy, grinning his fool head off.
25. You paid how much for that?
Miranda cannot understand why Charlotte lives the way she does, with her cheap apartment and cheaper belongings, but Charlie's happy, and it's not her place to question it.
22. It's custom made.
There are posed family photos, portraits, paintings, of the five of them dressed to the nines, spit and polish, the image of a rich family; Christopher's favorite is a poleroid from their Yellowstone vacation, all of them making silly faces and smiling at the camera.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: The Hennessy family.
Warnings: classism, racism, minor sexism, depression, oblique mentions of suicidal ideation.
Notes: So, this is my Huge Scary New Story, which does not yet have a name. I'm going to ask you guys a favor. Huge Scary New Story is huge and scary because it deals mostly with classism and racism, and I am a pasty white upper middle class girl. I'm pretty sure I'm going to fuck some things up. If you see me doing that, please please please tell me so I can fix it. Thanks in advance!
And now, without further ado, the Hennessys.
1. Vintage port/brandy
Tom's father gives him a glass of port on his sixteenth birthday and tells him that now, he is a man; years later, Tom stares moodily into a glass of brandy, and wonders why anyone tells that same old lie.
8. Smoking jacket
Thomas Hennessy always wore a jacket, dinner, tails, or smoking; Christopher, the ignored second son, never does.
15. Leather sofa
He first sees her reclining on a leather sofa, legs long and naked, everyone around her calling her "Elizabeth;" he likes her better in t-shirt and jeans, her hair uncombed and curling, called Isobel.
14. Mink coat
Isobel is wary of Christopher's presents at first, but the mink coat presents possibilities she can't resist, like showing up at his house wearing it and nothing but.
3. Diamonds
The ring weighs down Isobel's finger: she almost asks for a simpler ring before remembering what a triumph it is, and how wonderful will be the looks on their faces when they see her in the Hennessy diamonds.
2. Champagne
Christopher's arm tightens around Isobel's waist as the champagne fizzes gently in the glasses and the frozen smiles of the onlookers turn softly to frowns.
24. This belongs in a museum
It's not that Isobel doesn't love him, it's just that she feels like such a stranger in his world of casual extravagence and museum-quality furniture.
20. The best money can buy.
Isobel proves to be so good at details and negotiation that Harvard Law falls all over themselves to accept her, regardless of her gender or skin, and Christopher is so proud of her that he thinks he might burst.
4. Cigars
"Thank goodness she looks white," his mother says, and Christopher has to put down his newborn daughter, lest his grip tighten too much and bruise her.
10. Velvet
Miranda's new little sister's skin feels like as velvet; darker than hers, but just as soft.
23. It's an old edition.
As Charlotte gets older, Christopher finds himself more and more glad that his father died before she was born-- he knows what the old man would have said about his precious daughter, and he doesn't really want to commit patricide.
17. Lead crystal
There are times when Isobel wants to kill her in-laws with their heavy Waterford crystal; she refrains only by imagining them buried all up to their necks in their own bullshit lies.
18. Maid/butler service
The one and only time Jackson complained about the maid service not cleaning his room, he got grounded for a month.
6. Glass case
If she could keep her children in a glass case, safe from a world that sneers at their heritage and Charlotte's Latina looks-- she should say she'd rather they be free, but the truth is that she would, in a heartbeat.
9. Silk
Charlotte smoothes a nervous hand over the silk of her dress, and tries not to see the stares, tries not to hear the whispers about the dark little girl standing between her much paler siblings.
11. Caviar
Dad fed them cavier once, just to make a point; after the spitting and the water-gargling was done, they all three vowed not to complain about peanut butter and jelly again.
13. Silver service
The Hennessy children have impressive table manners in public, and in private they behave like any other children, pushing, shoving, name-calling and elbows on the table-- it's a sign, Isobel thinks, of good parenting.
5. Swimming pool
Some days Jackson feels so useless and empty that his throat closes over, so he goes out to the pool and swims laps until his arms ache, and tries not to think about how much he's tempting himself.
12. Gilt
Charlotte traces the inlay in the whorls of the chair in their public sitting room, and feels her stomach cramp with guilt.
19. Platinum
If Alec Robinton genuinely expected her to sit down and put up with his bullshit, he's got another think coming-- she's Miranda Hennessy, platinum to his lead, and he take his stuck-up nastiness and stick it where the sun don't shine.
7. Four-poster bed
Jack's bed is huge, a vast expanse of sheets stretching out like a desert; he sometimes wonders if he picks up so many one-night-stands just so he won't feel so lonely.
16. Marble
Miranda loves being the heir to the Hennessy throne, loves the power and the strength and the awe that comes with it; it would be nice to be able to show emotion in public sometimes, but power requires sacrifice.
21. It's not just to look at.
"You can touch, you know," Jack says to the boy, grinning his fool head off.
25. You paid how much for that?
Miranda cannot understand why Charlotte lives the way she does, with her cheap apartment and cheaper belongings, but Charlie's happy, and it's not her place to question it.
22. It's custom made.
There are posed family photos, portraits, paintings, of the five of them dressed to the nines, spit and polish, the image of a rich family; Christopher's favorite is a poleroid from their Yellowstone vacation, all of them making silly faces and smiling at the camera.
