Drabbles for Angel, B5 and DS9
Nov. 23rd, 2004 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakI'll have to think some more about the christmas meme making the rounds. Meanwhile, Santa Claus has been talking to me. Sort of. See, last year ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hobsonphile wished for a Christmas story, and I came up with this. This year, I really don't have the time for entire stories, so I tried my hand on drabbles. (Except again I didn't manage the content to one hundred words each.) A drabble/vignette/whatever you want to call it for the three main fandoms I'm active in. Loosely around a Christmas theme. Be warned, though; I'm in a somewhat twisted mood.
The request was met with silent disbelief by the Vedek Assembly when the liason to the Cardassian Prefect, looking even more unhappy and morose than he usually did, first voiced it. It took Winn Adami to break the silence in the iciest manner she had at her disposal.
"The blessings of the Prophets are not for whores or their Cardassian offspring."
Normally, Bareil, who saw the Prophets somewhat differently than she did, would have debated her. But not in this case. With Bajoran children starving, with their fathers and mothers being worked to death in the mines, the idea that a Vedek should attend the birth of the Prefect's half-Cardassian, half Bajoran child, presumably because his spoiled mistress had a half-hearted attack of conscience, was unacceptable.
The liason cleared his throat. "Dukat will not be pleased," he said. "Perhaps… as a gesture of charity towards mother and child…"
Winn rose. She had advocated the declaration of a Holy War against the Cardassians for a good while now, a declaration which would threaten damnation on everyone who did not fight them. While Bareil agreed with Kai Opaka that such a notion was too radical and suspected it was at least partly inspired by Winn's desire to see herself as the leader of such a Holy War, he had to admit there was something glowing about her. She had lost weight in recent months, and her red robes, handing loosely around her, made her resemble an ancient carving.
"That child will never walk with the Prophets," she said, and her voice, usually soft, was sharp and clear as a knife in sunlight. "Nor will her mother. Nor will any woman who gives herself to a Cardassian."
***
Justine has scars all over her body, but the one on her hand is the one she actually feels, now that it's getting colder. Holding her hand up in the faint, translucent light of a Boston morning, she half-way expects it to bleed. Stigmata, she thinks, absently.
If she had never met Daniel, she wouldn't have known what the word meant. Since then, she has acquired quite the Catholic vocabulary. It remains with her, even as something crucial, something about the reason why Daniel left, and why he returned, and why closed spaces and the smell of moth-balls still make her throw up, slips away and becomes the chilly East Coast air, forming clouds that leave her mouth and evaporate before she can get a hold on the images they create.
Quite why she left Los Angeles, she doesn't know, either. Something ended, or something begun, or she was looking for something. Maybe someone.
So she enters one of the magnificent Boston churches, to light a candle as she has seen Daniel do, and there it is. A painting of Mary and Joseph on their way to Egypt, with the child. There is Joseph, much older than Mary, of course, all cragged face and grey beard. Looking after a child not his. Suddenly, she wonders whether Joseph ever wanted to stay in Egypt and keep the boy with him, and to hell with the grand plan of redemption and that other father waiting. Mary probably would have agreed. If he had bothered to ask her. The colour of Mary's hair has faded. It might have been blond once, but from her perspective, it now looks more like a coppery red. For a woman in flight, her dress is artfully arranged, and covers every bit of flesh.
Of course Joseph never touched her, not really. How could he?
The child, on the other hand, shows quite a bit of flesh, the plumb arms, the hands grasping after Mary's veil, unmarked hands, and again, Justine feels her scar. It is the only one which refuses to fade. Even in the dim light of the church, she can trace its angry red against her skin.
It's only the face of the child that she can never, ever see.
***
He had always enjoyed presents. Both giving and receiving them was fun; Londo had not been able to resist accepting a gift in any form, even if it came from the lovely wife he had nicknamed Death, or in shackles, glaring at him. But Delenn, he thought, was so unlike him that she should have known better.
Despite his respect of Sheridan as a tactician, Londo had always assumed Delenn to be the more intelligent of the two. Besides, she had all the experience as a trained diplomat which Sheridan lacked, and information the Minbari had gathered in ages. It ought to have been her business to know all about Centauri customs, and to deduce he was lying. She did look troubled when he presented the urn for her child, but her mind was clearly elsewhere, and she accepted his explanation.
The Drakh Entire, connected to him through the Keeper, rejoiced, and added the taste of his disappointment to their gluttony.
***
Now I might expand on this with my other fandoms, depending on whether they've got muses volunteering. Honestly, though, if you were a muse, would you?
hobsonphile wished for a Christmas story, and I came up with this. This year, I really don't have the time for entire stories, so I tried my hand on drabbles. (Except again I didn't manage the content to one hundred words each.) A drabble/vignette/whatever you want to call it for the three main fandoms I'm active in. Loosely around a Christmas theme. Be warned, though; I'm in a somewhat twisted mood. The request was met with silent disbelief by the Vedek Assembly when the liason to the Cardassian Prefect, looking even more unhappy and morose than he usually did, first voiced it. It took Winn Adami to break the silence in the iciest manner she had at her disposal.
"The blessings of the Prophets are not for whores or their Cardassian offspring."
Normally, Bareil, who saw the Prophets somewhat differently than she did, would have debated her. But not in this case. With Bajoran children starving, with their fathers and mothers being worked to death in the mines, the idea that a Vedek should attend the birth of the Prefect's half-Cardassian, half Bajoran child, presumably because his spoiled mistress had a half-hearted attack of conscience, was unacceptable.
The liason cleared his throat. "Dukat will not be pleased," he said. "Perhaps… as a gesture of charity towards mother and child…"
Winn rose. She had advocated the declaration of a Holy War against the Cardassians for a good while now, a declaration which would threaten damnation on everyone who did not fight them. While Bareil agreed with Kai Opaka that such a notion was too radical and suspected it was at least partly inspired by Winn's desire to see herself as the leader of such a Holy War, he had to admit there was something glowing about her. She had lost weight in recent months, and her red robes, handing loosely around her, made her resemble an ancient carving.
"That child will never walk with the Prophets," she said, and her voice, usually soft, was sharp and clear as a knife in sunlight. "Nor will her mother. Nor will any woman who gives herself to a Cardassian."
***
Justine has scars all over her body, but the one on her hand is the one she actually feels, now that it's getting colder. Holding her hand up in the faint, translucent light of a Boston morning, she half-way expects it to bleed. Stigmata, she thinks, absently.
If she had never met Daniel, she wouldn't have known what the word meant. Since then, she has acquired quite the Catholic vocabulary. It remains with her, even as something crucial, something about the reason why Daniel left, and why he returned, and why closed spaces and the smell of moth-balls still make her throw up, slips away and becomes the chilly East Coast air, forming clouds that leave her mouth and evaporate before she can get a hold on the images they create.
Quite why she left Los Angeles, she doesn't know, either. Something ended, or something begun, or she was looking for something. Maybe someone.
So she enters one of the magnificent Boston churches, to light a candle as she has seen Daniel do, and there it is. A painting of Mary and Joseph on their way to Egypt, with the child. There is Joseph, much older than Mary, of course, all cragged face and grey beard. Looking after a child not his. Suddenly, she wonders whether Joseph ever wanted to stay in Egypt and keep the boy with him, and to hell with the grand plan of redemption and that other father waiting. Mary probably would have agreed. If he had bothered to ask her. The colour of Mary's hair has faded. It might have been blond once, but from her perspective, it now looks more like a coppery red. For a woman in flight, her dress is artfully arranged, and covers every bit of flesh.
Of course Joseph never touched her, not really. How could he?
The child, on the other hand, shows quite a bit of flesh, the plumb arms, the hands grasping after Mary's veil, unmarked hands, and again, Justine feels her scar. It is the only one which refuses to fade. Even in the dim light of the church, she can trace its angry red against her skin.
It's only the face of the child that she can never, ever see.
***
He had always enjoyed presents. Both giving and receiving them was fun; Londo had not been able to resist accepting a gift in any form, even if it came from the lovely wife he had nicknamed Death, or in shackles, glaring at him. But Delenn, he thought, was so unlike him that she should have known better.
Despite his respect of Sheridan as a tactician, Londo had always assumed Delenn to be the more intelligent of the two. Besides, she had all the experience as a trained diplomat which Sheridan lacked, and information the Minbari had gathered in ages. It ought to have been her business to know all about Centauri customs, and to deduce he was lying. She did look troubled when he presented the urn for her child, but her mind was clearly elsewhere, and she accepted his explanation.
The Drakh Entire, connected to him through the Keeper, rejoiced, and added the taste of his disappointment to their gluttony.
***
Now I might expand on this with my other fandoms, depending on whether they've got muses volunteering. Honestly, though, if you were a muse, would you?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:17 am (UTC)That smarts. I'd have hoped that Opaka'd been more.. charitable. Poor Ziyal. But I feel even more for her mother. The love was genuine, after all.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:18 am (UTC)Having read last B5 story, scratches her chin thoughtfully
By the way, I think about Drakhs... It is time to develop an ominous plotline in our RP...
The main thing that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sabine101 has ceased to play the fool in real life and left in a virtual reality...no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:24 am (UTC)a) In season 2, The Collaborator, we hear as (uncontested) backstory that the Vedek Assembly had their own liason to the Cardassian rulers, and was in ongoing sessions during the occupation.
b) In season 4, Rapture, Winn manages to stun Kira into silence for the first and last time by pointing out that she (Winn) was put in to a prison camp by the Cardassians for several years for "teaching the ways of the Prophets" which she says was illegal under Cardassian law. Which Kira doesn't refute. Now personally I suspect this was just the writers being careless with continuity, but it allows for some fun speculation, namely:
c) Teaching the ways of the Prophets, i.e. being a Vedek, wasn't illegal under the Cardassians. After all, the entire Vedek and Kai structure survived the Occupation just fine, as did their temples. Besides, opiate of the masses, etc. However, preaching jihad, i.e. declaring "the Prophets only love you if you kill Cardassians and that will get you into heaven!" of course was a big no-no. If Winn did that, and got imprisoned for it, it would also explain why she (not Bareil) was actually the candidate Kira was supporting at the start of In the Hands of the Prophets, and why she has so much support on Bajor in general. The resistance would have loved her, and in the eyes of the public, she would have been the uncompromising Vedek among a lot of semi-collaborating softies.
Which of course would have been a big incentive for her to preach jihad to begin with. Though she also might have thought it would work. Technogical help clearly wasn't coming, but fanaticism is a mighty weapon, etc. And note that the one thing Kira never accuses Winn of is having been a collaborator; after what Winn put her through with Bareil, don't you think she would have if there had been even the slightest possibility? Plus the way Winn reacts to the big "Anjohl is actually a) a Cardassian and b) Dukat" revelation.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:36 am (UTC)As for Naprem - I rather suspect (and used that idea in my Five things which never happened between Kira and Dukat, both in the Naprem and in the Meru section) that the women having affairs with Cardassians weren't just hated and despised during the occupation (for canon testimony, see Wrongs Deeper than Death or Night), but got a similar treatment to what whas happening in France with women who had affairs with Germans post WWII. No matter whether they had been in love, like Naprem, or done it for the security, like Meru.
I also - but this is strictly my speculation - think it's no coincidence Ziyal does not wear an earring. We know Kira visited the temple with her - once. And it's not because of Dukat or the Cardassian "religion is nonsense" attitude. In Indiscretion he's able to quote from Vedek Soandso's writing fluently (which interestingly indicates that his interest in Bajoran religion predates his madness), which I don't think is the Cardassian norm. So what I think is that Naprem was your avarage religious Bajoran but got the excommunication treatment because of her liason with Dukat, and that Ziyal picked up on this as a child, went to the temple only as a favour to Kira but in general was not a believer.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:42 am (UTC)We'll see whether Sab actually does write again, but be fair, she was busy trying to save the world from Bush which is noble and not foolish. Now of course she's jsut hobnobbing with hobbits.no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 04:55 am (UTC)I'm not sure how she'd have reacted had she been there. It still smarts, though.
As for Naprem - I rather suspect (and used that idea in my Five things which never happened between Kira and Dukat, both in the Naprem and in the Meru section) that the women having affairs with Cardassians weren't just hated and despised during the occupation (for canon testimony, see Wrongs Deeper than Death or Night), but got a similar treatment to what whas happening in France with women who had affairs with Germans post WWII. No matter whether they had been in love, like Naprem, or done it for the security, like Meru.
What happened to women who slept with Germans is horrifying. I really feel that their actions didn't warrant the treatment they got.
So what I think is that Naprem was your avarage religious Bajoran but got the excommunication treatment because of her liason with Dukat, and that Ziyal picked up on this as a child, went to the temple only as a favour to Kira but in general was not a believer.
Very well possible. I wonder how Ziyal felt about the Bajoran faith. Have you ever written about that (which means I missed it)?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:09 am (UTC)No, I haven't, I only touched the slightest bit on it here (http://www.livejournal.com/community/celestial_templ/3983.html). But I do have a very vague idea, which results from a discussion I had with
Still, look at the parallels between them: they're both the much loved children of the commander of DS9/Terok Nor. They're both artistically gifted. Both their fathers essentially get completely obsessed with Bajor and the Prophets/Pagh Wraiths, and end up joining them. There is actually a story in the Time and Change collection which is set in early season 6 and has them befriend each other, but that left me very unsatisfied, because it essentially just has Jake make Ziyal realize what a horrible man her father is. Whereas onscreen canon gave me the impression that Ziyal, while clearly recognizing (and acting on it) that Dukat was in the wrong, never stopped loving her father (she says as much).
Anyway, so what my vague idea would be about is a Ziyal pov, either during season 5 or in early season 6, describing the station and Bajor as she says it, possibly, but not necessarily, with a developing friendship with Jake as a red thread, and that would contain her feelings about the Bajoran faith, and a discussion of the Prophets.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:13 am (UTC)to save the world from Bush which is noble and not foolishKick my muse who grieves about her ambassador and give her in hands a baseball bat, send her to the Great Machine with the order to destroy Bush.
"It will help you to return your ambassador, Na'Toth!"
Muse dresses dark glasses and leaves to the past
"Sabine, I shall help you! Just keep!
Whispers
Generally, I always hated the end of a B5 serial, when G'Kar and Londo errr... perished. And in general, I do not want, that he suffered from damned Keeper.
But...Drakh yet there and they thirst for revenges...kick my poor muse again
"Go in the future and look after, that they have not died!"
Escapes from her, having recollected her recent kick at Ezri's party
huh, I see... but... huh... I hope...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:15 am (UTC)It would be very interesting to read/see/hear more about that.
Also - I wonder about what Keiko would say. In the first season she teaches about the Wormhole as a scientific phenomenon, and is unwilling to expand the link to the Prophets (at least when not discussing theology). I wonder if her point of view changed, and if so: how, after having housed a pagh wraith.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 05:53 am (UTC)And Londo... *sigh* oh, Londo... *hugs Londo then runs away before she can be cut up into teeny weeny pieces by the attendant guards*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 06:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 06:57 am (UTC)And Londo cannot be hugged enough.*g*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 06:58 am (UTC)Justine
Date: 2004-11-23 09:05 am (UTC)Also? When you meet a character named Justine, you just figure she's going to end up chained in SOMEBODY'S closet. It's just that when she first shows up, Wesley seems like the least likely candidate.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:24 am (UTC)Re: Justine
Date: 2004-11-23 09:39 am (UTC)I presume you've read
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 12:34 pm (UTC)375 words.
161 words.
Not a single drabble in the three.
A drabble == 100 words.
No more, no less.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 01:17 pm (UTC)what a stunning drabble-- gorgeous, deep, and very evocative.
This is just fabulous; I adore the religious analogy, the whole passage, this vivid image of the Holy Family and Justine with her not-so-holy kin-by-chance.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 03:24 pm (UTC)Winn's words are marvellously ironic considering, and would add extra weight to her reactions at the end of Season Seven. I suspect realising who she'd been keeping in her bed finally sealed her conviction that the Prophets would never take her back, even if she still wanted them.
As for Londo, I was sorely tempted to throw things at the screen during the relevent scene upon my recent rewatching, and my friends agreed that Sheridan's cluelessness is inexplicable. I wonder if I can come up with a fanwank for that ...
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:22 pm (UTC)It's one of my pet peeves. They're interesting little pieces, though.
"shows quite a bit of flesh, the plumb arms," -> plump?
And I'm regetting not paying more attention to Kai Winn when I was still a trekkie.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 09:26 pm (UTC)Yes. Which is of course Lucifer's presumption from Paradise Lost.
As for Londo, I was sorely tempted to throw things at the screen during the relevent scene upon my recent rewatching, and my friends agreed that Sheridan's cluelessness is inexplicable. I wonder if I can come up with a fanwank for that ...
Tell me if you do. I mean, Delenn has the excuse of only knowing what Sheridan told her, plus the Lennier distraction, kind of. But Sheridan really can plead only Z'ha'dum-induced amnesia.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 10:10 pm (UTC)"plumb" - well, babies are. Especially in Renaissance paintings. Or maybe it's the wrong word in English, and I'm thinking too German. You know, fleshy, but that does sound wrong for me.
Kai Winn: is a fabulous character with great development on the show, which would be good in any case, but since she's also a woman around 60 who is not anyone's mother, who isn't anyone's mother but a full-time player in the political and theological arena, it's even better.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 10:18 pm (UTC)These are the risks of writing in a second language, though naturally natives aren't exempt from their own mistakes.
You Winn-love is contagious. And Louise Fletcher rules. I was very happy when she guest-starred on Wonderfalls.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 10:32 pm (UTC)Louise Fletcher guest starred in Wonderfalls? Now I'm doubly frustrated that it hasn't been shown here yet.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-23 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-25 12:55 am (UTC)Hmmmm. Could someone - and someone would have to be Lorien or the left over bit of Kosh - have a reason for supressing this knowledge in Sheridan's mind on purpose? Being precognitive and generally inscrutable, Kosh might have decided fifteen years of torture for Londo and Centauri Prim were an acceptable sacrifice to a larger goal.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-25 04:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-25 04:16 pm (UTC)Kosh is my explanation for every strange thing about Sheridan *g*.
(Though he's gone since killing Kosh II, but he could have done the memory supression earlier.)
Indeed - he does seem to have enough ability to see the future to have realised that letting the Drahk settle on Centauri Prime might be a good thing for the universe in general, if not the Centauri themselves. It must have made them easier to find when the Drahk War finally happened. If they'd settled on some out of the way planet on the Rim or something, who knows how long it would have taken to get rid of them?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-27 08:40 am (UTC)Which is an interesting gamble on Dukat's part, IMO. He risks losing something that would (probably?) mean a great deal to Naprem, on the miniscule chance that the Vedeks would go along with it. What he subjects her to, in positioning her not only as his mistress but as his beloved mistress - in essence tearing her away from all of Bajor, as she becomes a villanous collaborator, rather than helpless victim - is what makes me wonder exactly how much he loved her in and of herself, rather than in her relation to everything else. Um, not sure that made sense. I mean, she's the mother of a child he adores, ergo, he loves her; she's attractive and they shag often, ergo, he loves that; she's a loyal companion, ergo he loves that; what I don't see is him loving her when it doesn't suit him. Even with Ziyal, the only one he sacrifices for, he is initially determined to kill her for his ambition.
But I'm waffling. *big smile* You haven't written any other DSN fic, have you?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-27 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-28 12:39 pm (UTC)Winn herself is a delight here. It makes sense to me that her hashness must have been exactly what Bajor needed during the occupation. I don't know if Opaka would have disagreed with Bareil, particularly not if this were after the death of her son.Opaka is presented as a very lovig person, but her compassion is for worlds rather than individuals.
She did look troubled when he presented the urn for her child, but her mind was clearly elsewhere, and she accepted his explanation.
Ouch. Ouch. What a perfect explaination - that Londo was only able to pull something over on Delenn because she was distraught over Lennier. It's so obvious, I can't believe it never occured to me.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-28 12:47 pm (UTC)I did it just for you, dear.*g*
What a perfect explaination - that Londo was only able to pull something over on Delenn because she was distraught over Lennier. It's so obvious, I can't believe it never occured to me.
I was inspired by the fact Delenn has an almost-Keeper-sensing moment just before Lennier calls. BTW, you can't see it because I linked you directly to this entry, but I subtitled the DS9 drabble "And there was no room at the inns", and the B5 one "Kings, bringing gifts". I thought that would appeal to your inner religion expert.*g*
no subject
Date: 2004-11-28 01:26 pm (UTC)Winn as Christ-denier, I think I like it...especially given your aversion to the whole Sisko-virgin birth thing (which I have yet to see).
"Kings, bringing gifts"
And that messes beautifully with David as the 'promised child'.