Even Roses Have Thorns, Chapter Forty-One
Friday, March 2, 2007
Shorter than usual - but my muse is rebelling, so I decided to post this part as it is cohesive and does not need to be in sequence. NC17 (for implied squick).
CATEGORY: FICTION TIMES READ: 3287 RATING: 9.0 (NC17) SERIES: FIREFLY
Even Roses Have Thorns
Chapter Forty-One: Veluti in speculum (As in a mirror) Part II
A/N1: the tense change here is deliberate, a sort of attempt at an almost onomatopoeic mental quality. It is intended to be a little weird, dissociatiative and confusing.
A/N2:The quote on love is from Neil Gaimen's The Sandman, and the song is I don't like Mondays. I had the Tori Amos version in mind, but you can substitute the original if you're a fan.
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, , , , *** *** *** From practically the moment they captured her, they handled her roughly. She hadn’t been shocked; in fact she suspected that it was no longer even possible for her to be shocked. But she was disappointed. It had been unexpected, and she hadn’t made it necessary. She’d gone easily, without the hint or threat of struggle, without a word of protest. Sad disappointment would be followed by inevitable betrayal – just not immediately. First there would be the waiting – wary, wearying – for Blue Sun to send its agents in. She didn’t think that would take long. When she reached the end of the long corridor – mercifully devoid of other prisoners, though, no doubt, only at Blue Sun’s request – she stepped through the final door. Her guards – in their familiar, fondly remembered grey-and-purple – followed her. The two holding her threw her against the wall. Hands bound behind her back, she caught her herself with her right shoulder and breast, so that her face wouldn’t hit the wall; her battered left knee buckled under her weight, and her right cheek grazed across the cement. She closed her eyes a
Progress, while slow, is being made on the next chapter - and I will not leave this story hanging - I've had my heart broken by too many wips to do that to anyone else.
I can't imagine being forced to do your own "cavity search." I can only hope River comes to the recue and makes sure her lady is never treated that way agin
1. Zoe needs to have her babies!
2. Simon and Kaylee need to actually come to a resolution, hopefully for the better for both of them.
3. River needs her lady back, as well. No fair to leaver her first love for death.
So many threads to wrap up...you do realize I check back hourly for another episode, right? Don't cut me off now!
Damn. It's true what they say. All the good ones are married.
Keep it coming, this is great :D
It was harsh too, but we'll get to that.
I LOVED that this was a Ceres focussed chapter. Considering her situation and her scarcity in the story since her capture, it's so very nice to have her back.
>"The tense change here is deliberate, a sort of attempt at an almost onomatopoeic mental quality. It is intended to be a little weird, dissociatiative and confusing."<
It works. The use of the different tense, and the was you used a third person limited omniscient narrative form here (jeez, doesn't that make me sound like a pretentious smartass) was just perfect. It kinda helps you get inside her head, and 'get' her sense of unreality. The way she disconnects and disassociates herself from her environment by creating a new one with all the Yeats excercises her internal dialogue and the way she never panics, not once. Also, just how mundane her thoughts are about the whole situation- the cavity search in particular. There was no real sense of relief from her. Just the resignation.
This all helps the reader understand.
I think this chapter needed to be harsh. I said the same thing about Simon's torture; it's unfair to the character especially, but also to the author and reader, to try and cheapen the sacrifice of the character by glossing over the cold, hard, real facts of the situation. If that situation is ugly, there's no point trying to pretty it up if it takes away from the truth of it.
That said, whilst harsh, it was very artfully done, which kept it fom being grotseque of distasteful.
Like I said: Genius.
Really gotta hope River and the other BDHs show up soon to prove Ceres-channelling-Gaiman completely wrong. Would be interesting to see a counterpoint to this chapter by having the next one focus solely on River as she experiences everything Ceres just did...but without the mental exercises to focus her mind elsewhere. That and the related thoughts about what Ceres is thinking:)
BEB
>Would be interesting to see a counterpoint to this chapter by having the next one focus solely on River as she experiences everything Ceres just did
Alas, this *was* the counterpoint. This is Ceres' first day of capture - this is the counterpoint to River with Mal on the bridge in Chapter 38.
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