Challenge 004: Through the Years
Unbetaed, apologies.
REMEMBERING D’ARGO
I’ve been sitting here for nearly an arn, just watching little D sleeping. Aeryn went to bed awhile ago, but post Wormhole-Device-Coma, I feel like I’ve slept enough for awhile. Watching D’argo - so strange to call him that, still - when he’s out like this is, I dunno, soothing. The sleep of the innocent. The sleep of someone who’s never lost anyone.
It’s a big name for a little guy. “A name that means courage and strength” Aeryn said. Couldn’t have said it better. When I first met D’argo, he was so… fierce. And pissed off. I really don’t think the tongue thing was necessary that first day. I get that there was a lot goin’ on, but c’mon D’ - really? Just like that? I guess after having been a prisoner so long, he had a lot of rage saved up, and he dealt with annoyances with force. With force and a frelling tongue lashing.
Took me awhile to realize that that wasn’t all D’argo had going on. He wasn’t just the guy with the qualta blade. He was the guy with the shilquen. Right after D’s death, Pilot told me about how D’argo used to play for him. Ever since our run in with Namtar, Pilot said, every so often D would go and just play for him. Maybe that whole clusterfuck was part of what changed him - taught him to be a little more measured with his actions. A little less angry, a little more thoughtful. I dunno.
And D’argo - man, he was funny. He was so frelling funny. I didn’t see that at first. He was such a straight man… A “YOU ARE MY ALLY I’M A TOUGH ASS MOFO GRRAAAAH” kinda guy. But the longer I knew him, the funnier he got. He made me laugh at some of the worst moments of my life - on the Royal Planet, when I’m about to turn into a statue - and what does he tell me? That he and Chiana are having amazing sex. I couldn’t help it, even in a situation as grim as that, I had to laugh out loud. What an ass. No one I’d rather wake up with in a window in thigh high stockings.
And… he got wiser, too. He really did. I know the stuff with Chiana and Jothee really wrecked him at first, but just look how he was able to put it behind him - to keep the things that mattered, the things that were good, and to throw away the rest. When Little D is older, maybe I’ll play him that documentary from our time back on Earth, and maybe he’ll see how namesake looked so fierce, but could speak so gently.
Just five cycles I knew him - hard to believe. Seemed like more. Seemed like lifetimes. That angry forceful Luxan warrior so far in the past… The wise and kind and funny friend such a fresh loss. He was my closest friend. And I meant what I told him - I couldn’t have done better, nowhere in the universe.
REMEMBERING D’ARGO
I’ve been sitting here for nearly an arn, just watching little D sleeping. Aeryn went to bed awhile ago, but post Wormhole-Device-Coma, I feel like I’ve slept enough for awhile. Watching D’argo - so strange to call him that, still - when he’s out like this is, I dunno, soothing. The sleep of the innocent. The sleep of someone who’s never lost anyone.
It’s a big name for a little guy. “A name that means courage and strength” Aeryn said. Couldn’t have said it better. When I first met D’argo, he was so… fierce. And pissed off. I really don’t think the tongue thing was necessary that first day. I get that there was a lot goin’ on, but c’mon D’ - really? Just like that? I guess after having been a prisoner so long, he had a lot of rage saved up, and he dealt with annoyances with force. With force and a frelling tongue lashing.
Took me awhile to realize that that wasn’t all D’argo had going on. He wasn’t just the guy with the qualta blade. He was the guy with the shilquen. Right after D’s death, Pilot told me about how D’argo used to play for him. Ever since our run in with Namtar, Pilot said, every so often D would go and just play for him. Maybe that whole clusterfuck was part of what changed him - taught him to be a little more measured with his actions. A little less angry, a little more thoughtful. I dunno.
And D’argo - man, he was funny. He was so frelling funny. I didn’t see that at first. He was such a straight man… A “YOU ARE MY ALLY I’M A TOUGH ASS MOFO GRRAAAAH” kinda guy. But the longer I knew him, the funnier he got. He made me laugh at some of the worst moments of my life - on the Royal Planet, when I’m about to turn into a statue - and what does he tell me? That he and Chiana are having amazing sex. I couldn’t help it, even in a situation as grim as that, I had to laugh out loud. What an ass. No one I’d rather wake up with in a window in thigh high stockings.
And… he got wiser, too. He really did. I know the stuff with Chiana and Jothee really wrecked him at first, but just look how he was able to put it behind him - to keep the things that mattered, the things that were good, and to throw away the rest. When Little D is older, maybe I’ll play him that documentary from our time back on Earth, and maybe he’ll see how namesake looked so fierce, but could speak so gently.
Just five cycles I knew him - hard to believe. Seemed like more. Seemed like lifetimes. That angry forceful Luxan warrior so far in the past… The wise and kind and funny friend such a fresh loss. He was my closest friend. And I meant what I told him - I couldn’t have done better, nowhere in the universe.