Yultide Fic 1: District 9 -Enough
Apologies in advance to everybody I'll be friends page spamming.
Title: Enough
Fandom: District 9
Pairing: Talia van der Merwe/ Wikus van der Merwe
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 1500+
Disclaimer: This fic was written for entertainment purposes, no copyright infringement was intended.
Betaed by: Kangieko
Written for: Gamerfic
Summary: Talia made a vow for Wikus' sake and that would have to be enough
Ao3 |
Wikus still thought of himself as human, even though his body had long since changed. It wasn't a reluctance to admit what he now was, not really. It was just - he’d never been very good at adjusting to any change, really. It was something that Tiana had long teased the human Wikus over. Still. There wasn't really a way to live in denial of this change.
He was a prawn.
He couldn't eat human food or leave District 10, or do almost anything he had been able to do as a human. There really was no getting around his current form, no matter how good he was at denial. Tiana would have found it amusing.
Wikus did not, particularly when he had been forced to move to District 10. He hadn't been impressed by the shanty-town setup of District 9, but the new district was much worse. The sterile white long-houses - perfectly suitable to human Wikus - were cold and unappealing to prawn Wikus. There was no heating, and the prawns had quickly used up anything that would burn. The grassland winds bit straight through the flimsy houses in the night hours and Wikus could feel himself growing weaker and sleepier by the night.
Had MNU known the prawns needed heat to thrive?
Maybe they just didn’t care. Without the mother-ship the prawns were just refugees; burden enough.
It is a testament to the human rights advocates, Wikus thought, that they hadn't all been slaughtered. The MNU had confiscated all of their weapons before moving them into District 10; they were defenseless. Wikus supposed they could be being kept alive to work with the weapons, but he'd been in charge of the prawn census before he was made into a caseworker, and as far as he could tell there had been no prawns taken from the camp in the three months since it was opened.
***
Tania opened the Center for Improved Relations with Alien Life-forms on a crisp South-African winter’s day. It was a testament to her connections in the MNU that she had managed it at all. The guards that patrolled the fence around District 10 glared at her with obvious displeasure but they didn't dare say anything, not to the MNU President's daughter.
Tiana had chosen to base it in one of the long-houses, in the middle of District 10. It was now outfitted with three space heaters, a set of waiting room chairs, a handsome wooden desk, a bulky used computer that she'd managed to 'sneak' past the guards, and the best coffee maker she'd been able to buy. She always used to tease Wikus about being uncivilized for drinking coffee instead of tea, but now she found herself drinking more and more of it. It reminded her of Wikus in a way the black tea just couldn't.
***
It was the talk of the guard's nests. The prawn activists had won a major battle and actually managed to get a foothold within District 10. It seemed impossible given all the trouble MNU had gone to keep do-gooders out of District 9, but if the rumors were true then Wikus might finally be able to get some information about why the prawns were being left alone.
He'd tried speaking with the other prawns but none of them seemed interested. Even with his ability to understand them more clearly - a gift of his altered form - he still found most of them to be completely alien to his understanding.
He honestly didn't know how Christopher had managed to get anything done. But then he supposed that Christopher had been born prawn and would understand the prawn mindset.
***
Tiana did her best to ignore her nervousness, arranging and rearranging the box of paperclips and cup of pencils on top of her desk. She wanted everything to look her best, though she didn't know why she bothered since she had no idea what it meant to look presentable to a prawn.
Wikus used to tell her about the strange way they decorated their homes with bits and pieces of waste, and broken mechanical devices. She wasn't willing to go that far, and even if she had been willing she had seen no signs of those sorts of decorations in District 10. Everything here was either bland white or grey. Even the ground was little more than grayish-brown dirt, swept clean when the District had been built.
She didn't get any visitors until just before it was time for her to leave the district. She'd paced the perimeter of the long-house five times, glared up at the guard's nests twice, drunk three cups of coffee, and played twenty-five games of computer solitaire. Her hair, which she'd styled specially for her first day at work, had fallen into sweaty clumps around her face and she'd managed to spill coffee over her best red suit.
Still, she wanted to look her most professional, so she sat behind her desk, her hands folded politely on the desk-top, her ankles crossed demurely, and smiled.
The prawn froze only a few steps into the long-house, staring at her. She gave the best prawnese greeting. Three months of language lessons allowed her to manage at least that much.
The prawn clicked a hesitant 'hello' in reply. She took his stillness as an invitation to study him further. He was smaller than the average prawn, perhaps a juvenile? It would explain his willingness to risk coming into the Center when the rest of the prawns would not.
***
It was Tiana! This, Wikus had not expected. He found himself crouching and swaying for some unknown reason.
He had not seen Tiana since he had been turned into this creature, but for a panicked second he almost thought that she had come here for him. But that was impossible, he told himself firmly. Except for his unfortunately small stature, he looked no different than any other prawn.
His right secondary claw instinctively moved to the pouch he used to store the cat-food can flowers he made for Tiana. He had the urge to give them all to her, present them to her as a gift, but logic kicked in and kept him from doing something so foolish. Tiana's father was still looking for him and he couldn't put her at risk by letting her know where he was.
***
The prawn crouched down into a submissive half-bow. His tapered body, swayed slowly back and forth on his back legs, an appeasing motion according to her language teacher.
He'd claimed that it was usually used by young prawns when they came into contact with females. It was widely considered proof of the assumption that prawns were like ants, matriarchal and subservient to their queen.
Tiana wasn’t so sure of that, since she hadn’t heard of any female prawns being seen, despite the fact that the male prawns were capable of laying eggs. Even if her teacher's assumption was true, she wasn't willing to take on the role of queen. She wanted the prawns to see her as an equal, not as a dictator like the MNU, or a threat like the guards. She pushed herself away from the desk and walked over to the prawn, who was still swaying back and forth silently, though his mandibles and tentacles had started clicking agitatedly.
She brushed her fingers over his cheek-ridge to get his attention, doing her best not to shudder at the feel of glassy, obsidian-like skin. The prawn didn't try to contain his flinch as he moved away from her fingers. He didn't cower, but he hunched even further into himself and when she stepped towards him again he ran. By the time she'd made her way to the long-house door, he was out of sight.
Tiana bit back a sigh. She shouldn’t have touched him, maybe, but it was too late for recriminations now. It was a setback, but she wasn't going to let it stop her from doing what she'd come here to do. She'd help the prawns, help Wikus, even if it took her months to gain their trust. That had been the vow she'd made to herself when she'd first learned of Wikus' transformation and one unsuccessful meeting with a skittish juvenile wasn't going to make her give up. No matter how much she wanted to right now.
***
Wikus pressed his back against the wall of a long-house some distance away. His mind was still back in that other long-house, with the desk and pencils and coffee maker, the trappings of humanity. Back with Tiana.
He'd been stupid, panicked seeing her there, all thoughts of finding out what was happening had left his head. Not only had he not found out what was going on, but had to have hurt Tiana badly with that stunt; she'd always been extremely sensitive to rejection. He'd have to do something to make it up to her, but what?
***
The second day Tiana wearily opened the Center for Improved Relations with Alien Life-forms she found something amazing.
A cat food can flower sat on top of her coffee maker. It was just like the one Wikus had left on their back porch three months before. It was beautiful, not necessarily in the literal sense, but in what it represented.
It was a sign of Wikus's support. Proof that her work had reached him, that just by being there she'd done what she'd set out to do, at least in some small way.
It was enough.
Title: Enough
Fandom: District 9
Pairing: Talia van der Merwe/ Wikus van der Merwe
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 1500+
Disclaimer: This fic was written for entertainment purposes, no copyright infringement was intended.
Betaed by: Kangieko
Written for: Gamerfic
Summary: Talia made a vow for Wikus' sake and that would have to be enough
Ao3 |
Wikus still thought of himself as human, even though his body had long since changed. It wasn't a reluctance to admit what he now was, not really. It was just - he’d never been very good at adjusting to any change, really. It was something that Tiana had long teased the human Wikus over. Still. There wasn't really a way to live in denial of this change.
He was a prawn.
He couldn't eat human food or leave District 10, or do almost anything he had been able to do as a human. There really was no getting around his current form, no matter how good he was at denial. Tiana would have found it amusing.
Wikus did not, particularly when he had been forced to move to District 10. He hadn't been impressed by the shanty-town setup of District 9, but the new district was much worse. The sterile white long-houses - perfectly suitable to human Wikus - were cold and unappealing to prawn Wikus. There was no heating, and the prawns had quickly used up anything that would burn. The grassland winds bit straight through the flimsy houses in the night hours and Wikus could feel himself growing weaker and sleepier by the night.
Had MNU known the prawns needed heat to thrive?
Maybe they just didn’t care. Without the mother-ship the prawns were just refugees; burden enough.
It is a testament to the human rights advocates, Wikus thought, that they hadn't all been slaughtered. The MNU had confiscated all of their weapons before moving them into District 10; they were defenseless. Wikus supposed they could be being kept alive to work with the weapons, but he'd been in charge of the prawn census before he was made into a caseworker, and as far as he could tell there had been no prawns taken from the camp in the three months since it was opened.
***
Tania opened the Center for Improved Relations with Alien Life-forms on a crisp South-African winter’s day. It was a testament to her connections in the MNU that she had managed it at all. The guards that patrolled the fence around District 10 glared at her with obvious displeasure but they didn't dare say anything, not to the MNU President's daughter.
Tiana had chosen to base it in one of the long-houses, in the middle of District 10. It was now outfitted with three space heaters, a set of waiting room chairs, a handsome wooden desk, a bulky used computer that she'd managed to 'sneak' past the guards, and the best coffee maker she'd been able to buy. She always used to tease Wikus about being uncivilized for drinking coffee instead of tea, but now she found herself drinking more and more of it. It reminded her of Wikus in a way the black tea just couldn't.
***
It was the talk of the guard's nests. The prawn activists had won a major battle and actually managed to get a foothold within District 10. It seemed impossible given all the trouble MNU had gone to keep do-gooders out of District 9, but if the rumors were true then Wikus might finally be able to get some information about why the prawns were being left alone.
He'd tried speaking with the other prawns but none of them seemed interested. Even with his ability to understand them more clearly - a gift of his altered form - he still found most of them to be completely alien to his understanding.
He honestly didn't know how Christopher had managed to get anything done. But then he supposed that Christopher had been born prawn and would understand the prawn mindset.
***
Tiana did her best to ignore her nervousness, arranging and rearranging the box of paperclips and cup of pencils on top of her desk. She wanted everything to look her best, though she didn't know why she bothered since she had no idea what it meant to look presentable to a prawn.
Wikus used to tell her about the strange way they decorated their homes with bits and pieces of waste, and broken mechanical devices. She wasn't willing to go that far, and even if she had been willing she had seen no signs of those sorts of decorations in District 10. Everything here was either bland white or grey. Even the ground was little more than grayish-brown dirt, swept clean when the District had been built.
She didn't get any visitors until just before it was time for her to leave the district. She'd paced the perimeter of the long-house five times, glared up at the guard's nests twice, drunk three cups of coffee, and played twenty-five games of computer solitaire. Her hair, which she'd styled specially for her first day at work, had fallen into sweaty clumps around her face and she'd managed to spill coffee over her best red suit.
Still, she wanted to look her most professional, so she sat behind her desk, her hands folded politely on the desk-top, her ankles crossed demurely, and smiled.
The prawn froze only a few steps into the long-house, staring at her. She gave the best prawnese greeting. Three months of language lessons allowed her to manage at least that much.
The prawn clicked a hesitant 'hello' in reply. She took his stillness as an invitation to study him further. He was smaller than the average prawn, perhaps a juvenile? It would explain his willingness to risk coming into the Center when the rest of the prawns would not.
***
It was Tiana! This, Wikus had not expected. He found himself crouching and swaying for some unknown reason.
He had not seen Tiana since he had been turned into this creature, but for a panicked second he almost thought that she had come here for him. But that was impossible, he told himself firmly. Except for his unfortunately small stature, he looked no different than any other prawn.
His right secondary claw instinctively moved to the pouch he used to store the cat-food can flowers he made for Tiana. He had the urge to give them all to her, present them to her as a gift, but logic kicked in and kept him from doing something so foolish. Tiana's father was still looking for him and he couldn't put her at risk by letting her know where he was.
***
The prawn crouched down into a submissive half-bow. His tapered body, swayed slowly back and forth on his back legs, an appeasing motion according to her language teacher.
He'd claimed that it was usually used by young prawns when they came into contact with females. It was widely considered proof of the assumption that prawns were like ants, matriarchal and subservient to their queen.
Tiana wasn’t so sure of that, since she hadn’t heard of any female prawns being seen, despite the fact that the male prawns were capable of laying eggs. Even if her teacher's assumption was true, she wasn't willing to take on the role of queen. She wanted the prawns to see her as an equal, not as a dictator like the MNU, or a threat like the guards. She pushed herself away from the desk and walked over to the prawn, who was still swaying back and forth silently, though his mandibles and tentacles had started clicking agitatedly.
She brushed her fingers over his cheek-ridge to get his attention, doing her best not to shudder at the feel of glassy, obsidian-like skin. The prawn didn't try to contain his flinch as he moved away from her fingers. He didn't cower, but he hunched even further into himself and when she stepped towards him again he ran. By the time she'd made her way to the long-house door, he was out of sight.
Tiana bit back a sigh. She shouldn’t have touched him, maybe, but it was too late for recriminations now. It was a setback, but she wasn't going to let it stop her from doing what she'd come here to do. She'd help the prawns, help Wikus, even if it took her months to gain their trust. That had been the vow she'd made to herself when she'd first learned of Wikus' transformation and one unsuccessful meeting with a skittish juvenile wasn't going to make her give up. No matter how much she wanted to right now.
***
Wikus pressed his back against the wall of a long-house some distance away. His mind was still back in that other long-house, with the desk and pencils and coffee maker, the trappings of humanity. Back with Tiana.
He'd been stupid, panicked seeing her there, all thoughts of finding out what was happening had left his head. Not only had he not found out what was going on, but had to have hurt Tiana badly with that stunt; she'd always been extremely sensitive to rejection. He'd have to do something to make it up to her, but what?
***
The second day Tiana wearily opened the Center for Improved Relations with Alien Life-forms she found something amazing.
A cat food can flower sat on top of her coffee maker. It was just like the one Wikus had left on their back porch three months before. It was beautiful, not necessarily in the literal sense, but in what it represented.
It was a sign of Wikus's support. Proof that her work had reached him, that just by being there she'd done what she'd set out to do, at least in some small way.
It was enough.