Recap / It Feels More Like A Memory Chapter 7 Talk Less Smile More

TL;DR: Aaron's alive again! As a baby who remembers the previous chapters, but he grows up, becoming Washington's right-hand man and friends with Alexander, Laurens, and Lafayette.

Canon equivalent: "Aaron Burr, Sir" to "Right Hand Man."

Summary: Aaron's alive again, as a baby who remembers the previous chapters. He's confirmed as a Seer after his grandmother dies exactly as he described it. His grandfather raises him until he dies, he goes to Princeton, and meets Alexander again. This time, he tells Alexander he sides with the Revolution but can't be public about it else the British will kill him before he can help the Revolution. Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette enter, Aaron telling Alexander he hopes to avoid a confrontation. This plays out with a confrontation just like the first lifetime, Aaron storming out and Alexander following. Alexander reveals he got confrontational on purpose so nobody associates the very-Revolutionary Alexander with Aaron-who-can't-be-open-about-it. Aaron realizes he has a growing crush on Alexander. Aaron signs up for the Continental Army, hiding his identity so he doesn't get sent to Quebec so he can get an audience with Washington earlier. He does, and Washington makes Aaron his right-hand man. Aaron runs into Laurens and Lafayette, who take more kindly to Aaron now that he's a revolutionary and Alexander's further smoothed over this meeting.

Longer summary

Summary: Aaron's alive again, starting from when he was born as a baby. His parents die before he can communicate. Once he can, he writes down everything he can remember from the previous chapters and tries to tell his grandparents of their deaths. He goes ignored until his grandmother dies exactly as he described it, prompting his grandfather to get him confirmed as a Seer. He makes sure to only tell of his death-seeing powers, leaving his remembrance of the past chapters secret. There's debate over whether he should be sent to England or not, but the question gets pushed off because everyone agrees he's too young to be taken from his family. His grandfather raises him, trying to instill that the worst thing a Seer can do is lie. Aaron asks if killing a man would be worse, but never gets an answer: instead his grandfather asks if he had a vision that brought on that question, and Aaron says no, unsure whether his secret knowledge of the past chapters is a vision or memories. He dies. Aaron's passed to different guardians and goes to Princeton.

He meets Alexander again. This time, he tells Alexander he sides with the Revolution but can't be public about it else the British will kill him before he can help the Revolution. Laurens, Mulligan, and Lafayette enter, Aaron telling Alexander he hopes to avoid a confrontation. This plays out with a confrontation just like the first lifetime, Aaron getting upset and storming out and Alexander following. Alexander reveals he got confrontational on purpose so nobody associates the very-Revolutionary Alexander with Aaron-who-can't-be-open-about-it. Aaron realizes he has a growing crush on Alexander. Alexander agitates for Revolution. Whether Aaron should be taken back to Britain or not is debated, and British officers increase their scrutiny on Aaron. This and news of the battles of Lexington and Concord prompt Aaron and Alexander to sign up for the Continental Army, Aaron hiding his identity so he doesn't get sent to Quebec so he can get an audience with Washington earlier.

Aaron and Alexander steal British cannons which gets Alexander requested to see Washington. Alexander has Aaron pretend to be him so Aaron can see Washington instead. Washington notes Aaron signed up under a different name, meaning he's probably not looking for glory or to be guaranteed safety, and asks Aaron what he knows about the war. Aaron has a lot to say about that, so Washington makes Aaron his right-hand man, and requests to see the actual Alexander. Both become aides-de-camp to Washington. Aaron runs into Laurens and Lafayette, who take more kindly to the clearly-enlisted-in-the-Revolutionary-army Aaron, with Alexander further explaining he's shy and sided with the Revolution since the beginning.

"talk less, smile more" contains examples of:

• Adaptational Context Change: In “We Know,” Aaron avoids promising Alexander he won’t use the Reynolds Affair against him, and advises him it might get talked about regardless of what Aaron does because “rumors only grow” and some people have already noticed Alexander paying lots of money to a James Reynolds. Alexander reveals the whole affair to get ahead of the rumors. In the fic, “rumors only grow” is now about someone noticing Aaron passing a Seer confirmation test and the news getting out despite his grandfather’s request to keep it quiet. If there’s somebody invested in keeping his Seer status quiet who chose to reveal it to get ahead of rumors, it’s not mentioned in the fic.
• all lowercase letters: Like every other chapter title of this fic, this chapter's title is in all lowercase letters.
• Cassandra Truth: Aaron is ignored when he tells his grandparents repeatedly how they’ll die. Although once his grandmother dies as he described, he's confirmed as a Seer and this trope goes away, with his grandfather listening to his death warning.
  He mostly speaks of the deaths of his grandmother and grandfather, tries to tell them again and again that they’re in danger. He describes in excruciating detail exactly how it happens. No one finds it strange that a two-year-old who just lost his father and mother would be terrified of his grandmother and grandfather dying, and his grandfather scolds him, tells him it is disquieting and rude and he should stop speaking of it. The degree of specificity with which he speaks is peculiar, sure, but young children have overactive imaginations.
• First-Episode Twist: The twist that this is a Peggy Sue fic where Aaron Burr starts a new lifetime after he dies, keeping his knowledge of the previous lifetime, occurs in this chapter, about 1/10 of the word count into what's been written so far.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Following the convention of naming every chapter title after a Hamilton lyric, this chapter takes its title from the lyric “Talk less, smile more” from "Aaron Burr, Sir" and possibly "The Room Where It Happens."^note "Aaron Burr, Sir" is where it originated, and its use in "The Room Where It Happens" is a reference to it being used in "Aaron Burr, Sir."
• Nom de Mom: “Edwards” is Aaron’s mother’s maiden name. He calls himself Aaron Edwards instead of Aaron Burr when signing up for the Continental Army in his second life, so he doesn’t get a repeat of his first life where he’s sent to Quebec to avoid risking the capture of the Seer, away from most of the fighting and from Washington.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause: The real Aaron’s grandfather was a strong supporter of variolation, the method of smallpox incoluation used back then since they hadn’t developed vaccines yet, and got variolated to encourage others to do the same. The fic version of Aaron’s grandfather gets inoculated against smallpox at least partially because Aaron told him he’d die of smallpox, which wasn’t a reason he got inoculated in real life.
• Real Name as an Alias: Aaron signs up for the Continental Army in his second life as Aaron Edwards (Edwards is his mother’s maiden name) instead of Aaron Burr, so people don’t recognize him as Aaron Burr, Seer, and send him to Quebec, away from most of the fighting and from Washington, like they did in his first life.
• The Reveal: The First-Episode Twist that this is a Peggy Sue fic where Aaron starts a new lifetime after dying.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Aaron tries to prevent his grandfather’s death to smallpox by telling him of it. He listens, getting vaccinated when smallpox starts to sweep through Princeton, but something goes wrong with his vaccination and he dies of some kind of pox. This comment thread has Word of God say the pox he dies of post-vaccination is smallpox.
• Stable Time Loop: When people come to confirm Aaron as a Seer, he tells them only about his ability to see how people die when he touches them (omitting his knowledge of the past chapters) "because that's what he saw himself telling them."
• Title Drop:
  • The fic title is titledropped when Aaron encounters Alexander:
    It’s the same, it’s so stupidly, terribly the same, that it feels more like a memory.
  • It's also nearly titledropped when Aaron's grandfather asks if he had a vision and Aaron isn't sure whether his knowledge of the previous chapters is a vision or a memory:
    It's not a vision... they honestly feel like memories more than anything else... it feels like he's done it all before, he's had one long vision that is his entire life...
• Trial Balloon Question: Aaron‘s grandfather tries to teach him lying is the worst thing he could do. Aaron, who hasn’t revealed that he remembers killing Alexander, asks his grandfather if killing someone would be worse than lying.