first, thank you so much for your in-depth comment! what a treat. *g* second, I've copied your J/B partnership analysis into my "future story notes" file - I may shamelessly borrow from your interpretation, so if you see similarities in a future story, this is fair warning. heehee :-)
"The problem of this situation was, that it came unexpected and ambushed them somewhat out of the left field"
Exactly! The challenge "it takes balls" made me think about courage, and a stand-off seemed an obvious crucible for forcing J and B to make some hard, immediate decisions, w/ no time to discuss anything. Certain aspects of their characters would come to the fore - B wasn't being suicidal or anything - he truly believed he could talk the kid down. And I think J's immediate reaction - to "save" B and end the stand-off begs the question that perhaps B WOULD have been able to defuse the situation.
"They *have* to work out their personal battle-plan for this kind of situations in order to be able to trust each other. Very difficult. Jim has to accept Blair's tendency to take risks for himself for the sake of a "peaceful" solution, Blair has to accept that some of this tries will fail and Jim will be burdened with the use of force *because* of Blair's try. "
And both approaches are, in their own ways, courageous. So the courage comes in many forms - the two main ones are to take the shot at the whacko, and to NOT take the shot at the whacko. the minor forms are to confront those decisions and confront each other about them. then there's courage sub-themes ranging from changing a relationship from friendship to something more intimate all the way down to the "liquid courage" in the form of a shot of alcohol. yeah, I had a lot of fun with this, obviously. *bg*
you know what I love about fan fiction? it's such a fun way to learn to write. you can play around with viewpoint and technique and characterization with other people who share interest - no pressure, no consequences... it's like a workshop. *g*
Anyway, thanks again - I love hearing what you think. :)
Re: Thoughts on "The Shot" - Part 2
""
Exactly! The challenge "it takes balls" made me think about courage, and a stand-off seemed an obvious crucible for forcing J and B to make some hard, immediate decisions, w/ no time to discuss anything. Certain aspects of their characters would come to the fore - B wasn't being suicidal or anything - he truly believed he could talk the kid down. And I think J's immediate reaction - to "save" B and end the stand-off begs the question that perhaps B WOULD have been able to defuse the situation.
""
And both approaches are, in their own ways, courageous. So the courage comes in many forms - the two main ones are to take the shot at the whacko, and to NOT take the shot at the whacko. the minor forms are to confront those decisions and confront each other about them. then there's courage sub-themes ranging from changing a relationship from friendship to something more intimate all the way down to the "liquid courage" in the form of a shot of alcohol. yeah, I had a lot of fun with this, obviously. *bg*
you know what I love about fan fiction? it's such a fun way to learn to write. you can play around with viewpoint and technique and characterization with other people who share interest - no pressure, no consequences... it's like a workshop. *g*
Anyway, thanks again - I love hearing what you think. :)