Fic: At the Front

[embolalia]

Title: At the Front
Pairing: Kara/Lee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,166
A/N: Written for rachelindeed for a DPP prize, for the prompt of Kara and Lee somewhere in history! (bonus points to sci_fi_shipper for the civil war prompt!)

Comments

[embolalia]

Thank you! It's always tricky trying to establish an AU in something so short, and I've never really played with history much, but I'm glad the premise was clear!

[rachelindeed]

Thank you so much for this lovely story! I really enjoy the thought of Lee and Kara at war together, facing a different kind of secrecy than they had to deal with in Galactica, coming from such a stratified society, and also reflecting on the visceral, immediate tragedies of a battlefield that comes with mud and blood and gunshots. You really painted that emotion powerfully in so few words! I was imagining them in something like the Crimean War of the 1850s.

Half a league, half a league,
  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns' he said:
Into the valley of Death
  Rode the six hundred.

("Charge of the Light Brigade", Alfred Lord Tennyson)

Kara might wind up being treated by Florence Nightingale, who I'm sure would be both proud and discreet; an interesting historical encounter to imagine!

Thanks so much for this! I love playing around with historical might-have-beens, and this was so well done. Lovely! <3 <3 <3

[embolalia]

You're very welcome! I've never played with historical AUs, but this was fun, I'm so glad you liked it! :)

[rachelindeed]

That's lovely, K, I'm so happy you told me that story! Hearing something read or recited aloud, especially from childhood, can be such a powerful experience. I still vividly remember my cousin reading one of the opening chapters of A Tale of Two Cities to me, curled up on the couch in her room and imagining going into an abandoned old prison to find a broken man compulsively making shoes while his daughter tried to make him understand that they had finally found each other.

There is actually a really wonderful project run through the Library of Congress that invites people from all walks of life to recite their favorite poem and say something about what it has meant to them. I always enjoy watching the little vignettes on their website. Favorite Poem Project.

<3 <3

[mserrada]

Ha! I thought at first that you had gender-swapped Kara to a guy and was wondering how you were going to proceed ;) Liked the Mulan-twist and how you wove canon into the piece.

Really, really enjoy your writing style *envious* :)

[embolalia]

Well, I tried to play the pronoun game as long as I could ;) Thank you so much!

[callmeonetrack]

Aw so beautiful and bittersweet. Love how much backstory You packed into such a shortish story! I'm so glad you still have so much piloty inspiration!!

[embolalia]

Thanks! The backstory fought its way in there, so it's good to hear it wasn't too much :) And this isn't even my pentathalon Kara/Lee piece, which will be eight or nine chapters if I have time to write it!

[kdbleu]

This is just gorgeous. I love the retalling of Kara's guilt over Zak's death, combined with teh white tents and passion of New Caprica. Well done!

[embolalia]

Thank you! I didn't even have New Caprica in mind, so I'm extra glad that fit with canon ;) Glad you liked it!

[kdbleu]

The tent city of New Caprica is one of my favorite visuals of the show, and has always reminded me of civil war camps. Maybe I've just watch the PBS Civil War mini-series too many times. hee.