Intercomm Fic: The Desert Rose

[ravenya03]

Word Count: 2, 666
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Djaq; narration by an OC
Genre: Drama; introspection
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Some minor violence and tiny innuendo
Disclaimer: The character of Djaq belongs to Tiger Aspect/the BBC. No infringement is intended, no money is being made.
Author's Notes:This fic sort of fits in with my Djaq-centric

Comments

[roh_wyn]

This is lovely. I like the potrayal of Djaq as a child with great scientific curiosity (what with wanting to figure out how shadows work and all), but also a woman with a mysterious (and maybe too-grand for Fatima to contemplate) future ahead of her.

Well done.

(Btw, please post this to rh_intercomm, so it will count towards our word total here. Thanks!)

[ravenya03]

Thanks - I was just about to PM you and ask whether I had everything right in regards to tags, etc.

(Hopefully I'll be able to do this correctly on intercomm as well - the computer hates me today!)

[roh_wyn]

I appreciate any attempt to tag, and yours were fine, lol.

(Just FYI, if the tags are wrong, the mods can go back in and correct them. But we can't fix anything in the actual post, so as long as you get that right, you're all set).

[ravenya03]

Great!

In that case, I have absolutely no idea why the last bit of the forth paragraph is in a darker font, but there's no changing it. LJ likes to annoy me...

[hippie_girl_31]

This is incredible. Really.

I remember you mentioning this backstory for Djaq's mother when you wrote Stranger and I'm so happy that you've written it. Especially that you've turned it into something for Intercomm.

I love the image of Safiyah trying to grab at the shadow puppets on the wall. And also of her keeping her face like a mask without sign of "interest, nerves, or embarrassment" when being instructed on how to please a husband. Ha! I can totally see her either smirking or scowling inside during such a lesson, but keeping her face completely neutral.

Such a child probably would seem like an oddity to a woman who'd undoubtedly planned on living vicariously through her daughter, only to find that her daughter had a mind and will all her own.

The fact that she had no idea who dragged Djaq/Safiyah out of the house and assumed it was one of their own people kind of made me chuckle knowingly (seeing as readers of Stranger know that it wasn't

[ravenya03]

I remember you mentioning this backstory for Djaq's mother when you wrote Stranger and I'm so happy that you've written it.

I know! Fatima's story has been swilling around in my head for over a year, so it was almost a relief to finally get a very good reason to type it all out.

I can totally see her either smirking or scowling inside during such a lesson, but keeping her face completely neutral.

This passage was the very first paragraph I wrote, and perhaps the very reason (apart from giving Fatima a voice) why I wrote the entire fic in the first place! I probably shouldn't give Djaq's thoughts away considering the whole point is that no one knows what she's thinking; but I imagine she'd treat the whole lesson as a rather odd scientific experiment - one that she's only vaguely interested in trying out for herself.

The fact that she had no idea who dragged Djaq/Safiyah out of the house and assumed it was one of their own people kind of made me chuckle knowingly (seeing as readers of Stranger know that it wasn't).Exactly; though

[wastingyourgum]

Wow - what wonderful detail - so evocative - although I had to correct my head several times throughout to remember that Djaq was Djaq and not Safiya posing as Djaq!

Is "Stranger from the East" available on LiveJournal anywhere? I couldn't find it in the Fic Index so I'm assuming it's only on FF.net?

[roh_wyn]

It's on FFN for sure, and on the "mother ship" (RH2006 forum) too.

I don't think Rav was using LJ when she wrote that.

[ravenya03]

Yeah, I think on my first draft I had some trouble with the Djaq/Safiyah switch too. "Stranger from the East" is here on FF.Net:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4393094/1/A_Stranger_from_the_East

(Like rohwyn says, I didn't have an LJ at that point).

[jagnikjen]

This was a really great look at Djaq's past.

[ravenya03]

Thanks!

[robinfanatic]

A wonderful backstory, beautifully written and detailed. I have no problem imagining this Djaq child turning into the woman we see in s1 and s2. I also relate to her mother in her observations of her children. Well done!

[ravenya03]

Thanks! Glad it worked for you.