Comments | where_no_woman: How it begins: The new year drabblefest

anodyna in where_no_woman

How it begins: The new year drabblefest

Jan 04, 2010 08:40

Hi! For the first drabblefest of the new year, I chose the theme "how it begins." These prompts are the first lines of novels, poems, and essays. Some are famous, and some are obscure things I found and thought, ooh, prompty ( Read more... )

character: jocelyn, character: madeline, character: number one, character: winona, character: amanda, character: kasidy, character: chapel, canon: aos, character: hannity, challenge: drabblefest, character: ziyal, character: naara, character: t'pring, character: kira, character: gaila, character: ofc, canon: tos, character: uhura, character: the companion, character: rand, canon: ent

Comments 350

anonymous January 4 2010, 16:25:49 UTC

anonymous January 4 2010, 16:27:31 UTC

Re: 5. Tora Ziyal, Part 2 anodyna January 4 2010, 16:57:56 UTC

She would need it to make dinner tomorrow.

Oh, how chilling! I love stories that bring out a character's past and what they experienced before we knew them. What a great story to begin the drabblefest!

Re: 5. Tora Ziyal, Part 2 jncar January 5 2010, 04:42:57 UTC

Thanks--and thanks for the prompts. I've had this plot bunny in my head for months, but your prompt was what finally made it grow into a story. :)

Thread 10

22. It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back. (Amanda) merisunshine36 January 4 2010, 18:44:13 UTC

On the second day of the second month of her permanent relocation to Vulcan, Amanda tells her husband that the planet’s inherent hatred of her is an indisputable fact.

Sarek says she is being illogical.

Amanda tells him that in the absence of evidence to the contrary, he can go fuck himself.

She locks herself in the bathroom and sits on the floor of the shower, shock and loneliness trickling down her cheeks in a steady flow.

Evidence, in support of her claim:

The dry wind that makes her water-soft skin thin and crack;

The clouds of dust like glass in her eyes;

The constant slick of sweat between her thighs;

The oppressive gravity that grinds her bones to dust.

And as she feels the aged rock give way beneath her feet, she catches the fear

(yes, an emotion)

in Sarek’s eyes…

I told you so.

Re: 22. It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back. (Amanda) jdphoenix January 4 2010, 19:25:03 UTC

I don't think any fic has ever made me start to laugh, and then immediately catch me up in how horrible the situation is, choking the laugh before it starts. Absolutely brilliant story.

Re: 22. It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back. (Amanda) merisunshine36 January 5 2010, 01:27:19 UTC

i'm sorry it wasn't a happy fic, but thank you for reading!

Re: 22. It is the saddest night, for I am leaving and not coming back. (Amanda) jdphoenix January 5 2010, 03:56:52 UTC

Oh no, don't be sorry. I'm glad it wasn't happy. I was just trying to say that it made me feel two conflicting emotions at once, which is difficult for a story to do -- especially in so few words.

Thread 20

19. I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. (Winona) chaos_vaan January 4 2010, 21:22:32 UTC

Sometimes, Winona Lynn felt like she was battling an army all by her self. Like she was defending her own personal castle against an army of dragons and trolls, griffins and minotaurs, and she was the cavalry of one. And in all essence, she felt like she could brave them all, if only for one day, to prove that she could stand on her own, with no ones pity or guidance to stable her on. Because she could do it, she knows that she could.

But sometimes she feels helpless and hapless, like not a soul will help her. Because she's just some dumb, 'backwater hick' who hails from Des Moines, who obliviously can't be smart because she's from god damned Iowa, and because of that, she can't be helped. She's a lost cause, poor little Winona ( ... )

Re: 19. I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. (Winona) anodyna January 4 2010, 22:01:57 UTC

I really enjoyed this--it's a very gritty portrait of Winona but it feels very true to life. It's interesting to think how she might have found herself getting close to someone like George, after being so tough and defended.

Thanks for sharing this!

Re: 19. I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. (Winona) merisunshine36 January 4 2010, 22:31:51 UTC

As someone who went to college on the east coast and had to explain to people multiple times that growing up in Ohio did not automatically make me a farm-raised, gun toting teabagger, I salute you.

Re: 19. I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to. (Winona) chaos_vaan January 5 2010, 00:01:07 UTC

I share your pain. Growing up in Michigan, and then moving down to Florida, everybody there thought that I used to be a tree-loving Eskimo. I then had to explain to them, gently, that no, Michigan wasn't the frozen wasteland that it was played-up to be. :D

Thread 6

#7, Winona Kirk tosca1390 January 4 2010, 21:24:28 UTC

This turned epic, so I posted it to my journal, and then posted it to the community.

Not a Ghost Story

Re: #7, Winona Kirk anodyna January 5 2010, 15:27:04 UTC

I commented there, but I have to say it here, too--what a beautiful story! I love the way you traced Winona and Jim's relationship and how George fit in, and I was delighted to see Sam and McCoy appear, too. Thanks so much for writing that!

20. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? (Gaila) florahart January 4 2010, 21:42:35 UTC

She shrugs, unwilling to answer the question but also well aware that actually refusing to answer only makes people more curious. "She died young," she says. "When I was a baby, that I might live ( ... )

Re: 20. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? (Gaila) danahid January 4 2010, 21:56:13 UTC

Fascinating possible first meeting between Gaila and Jim. I especially like the rhythms of Gaila's thinking, details like this She arches a brow, supposing that it would explain why such an odd question was even asked. "Is that a convenient lie to establish a connection, or is it true?" and this: she glances at the identi-card again. It's not fake, as far as she can tell, and it's not like she's not familiar with a number of likely tricks. She grew up among traders, and the black market is full of altered manifests and manufactured identity and this "Is that a convenient lie to establish a connection, or is it true?"

Lovely, thought-provoking work!

Re: 20. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? (Gaila) florahart January 5 2010, 06:14:56 UTC

Thanks! :)

Re: 20. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? (Gaila) anodyna January 4 2010, 22:28:40 UTC

This was really lovely! I adore the back-and-forth bantering between Gaila and Jim, and how much more is going on in Gaila's mind than she lets on. You really get to how intelligent she is, how perceptive about others and their motives.

I especially liked this paragraph because I think it really captures the discrepancy between Kirk's perception and Gaila's:

"Yeah?" The cadet's eyes are socially-appropriate, but oddly interested, like she's said something that gives him access to her secrets. Which she hasn't; it's true that her mother died when she was a baby, but that much is, technically, public record. The story, in which her mother sent her with others to safety and stayed behind as a distraction (there's more to it than that; that's the summary), is not one she tells to near-strangers in bars because they're playing a game of questions which is, nominally, truth or dare, but which so far is entirely questions on both sides.

Thanks for sharing this--I really enjoyed reading it!

Thread 19