Farscape Fic!
Feb. 16th, 2005 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieSo I was trying to write this Atlantis fic, see, and it wasn't going well. So for some strange reason, I ended up looking at this unfinished Farscape drabble-like thing I'd written back when the first season was in first-run. Only a bit of the original version remains, 'cause hey, I'm not fifteen anymore and I've theoretically learned how to write better in the intervening years. ;)
TITLE: "A Share of Winters"
AUTHOR: Icepixie
DISCLAIMER: Farscape ain't mine, and the dollar/pound exchange rate has eaten all my money, so please don't sue.
ARCHIVE: If you so desire. Please tell me where at author1[at]comcast[dot]net.
RATING: G
NOTES: Set after "I, E.T." but before "The Flax."
SUMMARY: "In their own ways, every 'rock' they visited reminded him of Earth."
"No man grows wise without he have
His share of winters." -- Anon., "The Wanderer," ca. 1000
The commerce planet they were leaving looked even bigger from the Terrace. John watched as it slowly, but inexorably, grew smaller the farther away they got from it. He sighed and sat down on the hard floor, bring one knee up and resting his chin on top of it.
He felt the familiar feeling of homesickness wash over him, as it always did whenever they left a planet behind. In their own ways, every "rock" they visited reminded him of Earth, and leaving each one was reminiscent of leaving his home.
He didn't hear her until she was nearly beside him. Strangely, instead of taking every advantage to loom over him, Aeryn sat down a couple feet away, her legs crossed in front of her and her back perfectly straight, staring out in the same direction he was. After a moment, she said, "This rock fascinates you, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. It does." He looked at her, finding her staring back at him. "The color of the oceans...it reminds me of Earth."
A silent moment passed. "They're just water," she finally said, looking away.
He mentally sighed, gazing at her profile. She didn't understand. If she had it her way, she'd never understand. She didn't want to.
"Aeryn, have you ever been planetside for more than a few hour--arns at a time?"
She glanced at him, confusion present on her features. "I underwent many training missions on several planets. The longest lasted for two months."
He sighed. "I mean for pleasure. Have you ever been on a vacation?"
She nearly responded with "of course I had rest periods," but realized that probably wasn't what John was after. "Not in the way you mean."
The exasperation left him in a rush, and his expression softened. "So I guess you've never been caught in a rainstorm...or played in the snow, or jumped into a leaf pile," he said, his voice softer. *If trees out here even lose their leaves,* he added to himself.
She shook her head. "No. I haven't," she said, almost in a whisper.
He smiled slightly, even though he felt pity--not that he would ever let her see it--and regret for all that Aeryn's Peacekeeper life had denied her. "That's it. When I find a way back, I'm definitely taking you to Earth with me, even if it's just for a visit."
Her lips curved upward a bit, catlike. "We'll see about that."
At least she wasn't rejecting the idea outright. That was something.
Aeryn stood up, the leather of her boots creaking just a little. "When you're done here, Zhaan would like to see you in the medical bay."
"Okay," John replied, still staring at the receding planet. "I'll be there in a minute." He heard her her boots striking the floor in an even rhythm as she walked away, and the grinding of the door as it slowly opened and closed around her exit. He was still staring, still staring, thinking that maybe that bit of land looked just the tiniest bit like the Florida penninsula, surrounded by an ocean as blue as the Atlantic on a sunny day.
Eventually, the planet was no more than a glittering marble like all the other points of light in the sky, and John stood up, stretching his sleepy muscles. He carefully packed away his thoughts of home, knowing he would take them out again in the nighttime darkness of his cell, just as he did every night.
One day he would get back. He hadn't been out here long enough to lose his faith in that. Perhaps in everything else, but never in that.
John added another item to his mental tally of certainties. He would convince Aeryn to come to Earth with him, and catch up on everything she had missed. He couldn't even imagine how Aeryn would react to an afternoon rainstorm--would she demand to go inside in that "I'm about to kick your ass" voice of hers, or sit and catch raindrops on her tongue, or do something entirely unexpected?
He would find out, one day. One day.
With closed eyes, he slipped through the Terrace door, leaving the stars to shine on in the empty room.
Finis
I realize the pretension of using a quote before a fic this short. And yet I totally stole the title, so some acknowledgement was needed... ;)
This has nothing to do with last semester. Noooothing at all.
TITLE: "A Share of Winters"
AUTHOR: Icepixie
DISCLAIMER: Farscape ain't mine, and the dollar/pound exchange rate has eaten all my money, so please don't sue.
ARCHIVE: If you so desire. Please tell me where at author1[at]comcast[dot]net.
RATING: G
NOTES: Set after "I, E.T." but before "The Flax."
SUMMARY: "In their own ways, every 'rock' they visited reminded him of Earth."
"No man grows wise without he have
His share of winters." -- Anon., "The Wanderer," ca. 1000
The commerce planet they were leaving looked even bigger from the Terrace. John watched as it slowly, but inexorably, grew smaller the farther away they got from it. He sighed and sat down on the hard floor, bring one knee up and resting his chin on top of it.
He felt the familiar feeling of homesickness wash over him, as it always did whenever they left a planet behind. In their own ways, every "rock" they visited reminded him of Earth, and leaving each one was reminiscent of leaving his home.
He didn't hear her until she was nearly beside him. Strangely, instead of taking every advantage to loom over him, Aeryn sat down a couple feet away, her legs crossed in front of her and her back perfectly straight, staring out in the same direction he was. After a moment, she said, "This rock fascinates you, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. It does." He looked at her, finding her staring back at him. "The color of the oceans...it reminds me of Earth."
A silent moment passed. "They're just water," she finally said, looking away.
He mentally sighed, gazing at her profile. She didn't understand. If she had it her way, she'd never understand. She didn't want to.
"Aeryn, have you ever been planetside for more than a few hour--arns at a time?"
She glanced at him, confusion present on her features. "I underwent many training missions on several planets. The longest lasted for two months."
He sighed. "I mean for pleasure. Have you ever been on a vacation?"
She nearly responded with "of course I had rest periods," but realized that probably wasn't what John was after. "Not in the way you mean."
The exasperation left him in a rush, and his expression softened. "So I guess you've never been caught in a rainstorm...or played in the snow, or jumped into a leaf pile," he said, his voice softer. *If trees out here even lose their leaves,* he added to himself.
She shook her head. "No. I haven't," she said, almost in a whisper.
He smiled slightly, even though he felt pity--not that he would ever let her see it--and regret for all that Aeryn's Peacekeeper life had denied her. "That's it. When I find a way back, I'm definitely taking you to Earth with me, even if it's just for a visit."
Her lips curved upward a bit, catlike. "We'll see about that."
At least she wasn't rejecting the idea outright. That was something.
Aeryn stood up, the leather of her boots creaking just a little. "When you're done here, Zhaan would like to see you in the medical bay."
"Okay," John replied, still staring at the receding planet. "I'll be there in a minute." He heard her her boots striking the floor in an even rhythm as she walked away, and the grinding of the door as it slowly opened and closed around her exit. He was still staring, still staring, thinking that maybe that bit of land looked just the tiniest bit like the Florida penninsula, surrounded by an ocean as blue as the Atlantic on a sunny day.
Eventually, the planet was no more than a glittering marble like all the other points of light in the sky, and John stood up, stretching his sleepy muscles. He carefully packed away his thoughts of home, knowing he would take them out again in the nighttime darkness of his cell, just as he did every night.
One day he would get back. He hadn't been out here long enough to lose his faith in that. Perhaps in everything else, but never in that.
John added another item to his mental tally of certainties. He would convince Aeryn to come to Earth with him, and catch up on everything she had missed. He couldn't even imagine how Aeryn would react to an afternoon rainstorm--would she demand to go inside in that "I'm about to kick your ass" voice of hers, or sit and catch raindrops on her tongue, or do something entirely unexpected?
He would find out, one day. One day.
With closed eyes, he slipped through the Terrace door, leaving the stars to shine on in the empty room.
I realize the pretension of using a quote before a fic this short. And yet I totally stole the title, so some acknowledgement was needed... ;)
This has nothing to do with last semester. Noooothing at all.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-16 11:13 pm (UTC)