1ºWarren Pace America has become smaller.
That in the eyes of much of the world, the United States’ light has dimmed.
The United States has become shorthand for democratic decline and disinformation, home to citizens who react to dissatisfaction by rejecting reality, and to institutions that are increasingly hollowed out.
The United States’ most famous exports used to be Coca-Cola, Levi’s and jazz — not to mention such ideals as freedom, civil rights and the rule of law. Now, it`s best known for rampant gun violence and gruesome school shootings.
The United States’ reputation has been deteriorating for at least two decades. During the Iraq War, as Bush-doctrine foreign policy was derided across the globe, the trope of American backpackers abroad pretending to be Canadian to avoid shame by association became something of a cliche.
America`s geopolitical rivals have always had ammunition, but the old embarrassments pale in comparison to the new.
The US is famously self-centered. It’s possible, or perhaps probable, that most Americans don’t care what people in Europe or the rest of the world think.
In 2022, that vision of a “post-American world” has gone from theory to truth.
The world is taking America`s decline seriously.
2ºThis story is the first part in a series of conversations between characters of Once Upon a Time which I wish we would have seen in canon, but didn’t. This one takes place between Emma and Mary Margaret after they return from Neverland and before Pan’s Curse rolls through town. There will eventually be at least two more parts in the series.
Special thanks to @hookedmom for betaing this while she was bored at work!
Emma entered the loft as quietly as possible, having just finished the late shift at the sheriff’s station. She spent most of it checking on the Lost Boys who returned from Neverland with them. Most were settling in well at the homes of people who very kindly had taken them in, but she knew she was going to have many run-ins with Felix in the future.
It was Regina’s night to have Henry, and Emma was hoping Mary Margaret and David (she still had trouble calling them Mom and Dad) were already in bed. Ever since hearing her mother’s confession in the Echo Cave, Emma found it awkward and difficult to talk to Mary Margaret without feeling bitter.
Our daughter is a beautiful, smart, amazing woman, whom I love very much, and of whom, I could not be more proud. But she’s all grown up, and as much as I want to pretend I’m okay with that, I’m not. We missed it, David. What we have with her is unique, but it’s not what I wanted. We were cheated out of everything - her first step, her first word, her first smile. We missed it all. When we get off this island and get back to Storybrooke, I want another go at it. I want to have another baby.