two new Trek ficlets

[timepiececlock]

Drabble requests for Star Trek are still open! In the mean time, here's the responses so far.



((You'll have to provide the accent, I can't type that out well at all. Also, I'm not sure of their ranks at the end of the movie.))



Une Année sans Lumières (Homesickness)


She settles into the chair across from the ensign, and smiles as she reaches for the pepper.

"Oh. 'Ello, Lieutenant Uh--Uhura," Chekhov mumbles over his vegetables. He smiles at her in return, and nods. Then he follows the nod with a hand wave to welcome her to the table, and more nodding. It's almost as if he wants to condense every type of possible greeting into a single instance; in case he accidentally misses one, the others should compensate. Uhura finds him adorable.

She leans forward over her own Cardassian vegetables and not-quite-bean soup, and whispers in a dramatic stage hush: "You may call me Nyota, when it's just you and me." The young man boggles a little, then nods more.

"Yes, thank you. Nyota. It is a very nice name."

"Well," she grins as she leans back, "Don't tell the captain. It's one of the few ways I can still torment him now that he's our commanding officer."

"Yes, that makes sense." The boy's eyes skitter to the side. "I understand."

Part of Lieutenant Uhura's xenolinguistic training includes the study of body language and nonverbal communication. Understanding and intuiting unspoken signals is important--even essential--to translation. She tries for her friendliest voice.

"Pavel, right? What's on your mind, with that pensive look?"

Ensign Chekhov's mouth twists to the right, and he drags his fork twice across his plate. Uhura can't fathom that he's across from her, in the mess hall of a starship, at his age.

"The Captain," he begins, then hesitates. His eyes meet her wide and compassionate ones, and he continues with more strength, "The Captain is a good leader. Yet, he bothers you. I had a cousin that did this, too."

"Oh, you are kind." She touche his hand across the table. He blushes and pulls away while she's in the middle of saying, "But you don't need to worry. The captain and I have an understanding, now."

"No, that is not it," Chekhov says. His flustering is obvious, and he rubs his hand where she touched him. "I know that, I see that."

Uhura tilts her head, in a way that she doesn't even realize she has picked up from one particular man in her life. "Oh? What is it, then?"

He clears his throat, and with his fork still erratically grazing the dinner plate, says: "I miss him. I miss them all. Even the ones I do not like very much."

"That," Nyota tells him in perfect Russian, "I understand very well, my friend."





And Prosper


"Do you know who I am?"

Uhura's breath came slow and shallow as her eyes traced the shape of the man before her. His shoulders were straight but his face wore the lines of a thousand battles, and more lives than she would ever see.

"Yes, I know you." The response was almost inaudible, traveling between them with such delicacy that anyone else might have missed it entirely.

The man, the stranger who wasn't strange at all, smiled at the emotions thundering across Uhura's face and asked, "May I sit?"

He took the liberty without waiting to hear her answer, one of a hundred details that made him so different from the man she knew. "This atrium is lovely; it is not poor place to spend some of my last minutes on Earth."

Being told of an impossibility and accepting it at face value was one thing, but being confronted the next day with the task of literally facing that impossibility was another challenge entirely, and Uhura found herself for once incapable of finding words to express her reaction. He was here, on a homely little bench beside her, admiring the architecture of the Academy with his arms tucked into his sleeves and his head tilted just so.

Her Spock--and again Uhura's thoughts stumbled, because the possessive adjective was not something she'd ever given to him before, even in her mind--her Spock had never looked so Vulcan as this man did. Nor had he ever smiled as widely and gently as he did now.

"Nyota Uhura, utterly silent? I have fallen into an alternate reality, it seems."

Ah, there he was; there was her Spock. The comment was delivered with perfect dry politeness, as calm as a breeze over water, but she could hear the goading underneath. She shut her hanging mouth, straightened her posture, and crossed her legs.

"You've fallen very far, Spock. Forgive my manners, it's just that to see you this way is...odd. I feel..."

Uhura's voiced trailed, and she met his eyes. She loved those eyes, but she didn't know this face, or the soul behind it. She said her next words in Spock's native tongue, so that no matter what the woman he'd known had done or been, Spock would know, without illusion, who she was. What she was to him here, in this life.

Relying on bravery to get her through, she reached up to graze his cheek with the back of her fingers. "I feel as though I'm the time traveler, and I've moved a hundred years just to sit beside you."

With his gaze black and steady, he raised one wrinkled hand to wrap around her soft, youthful one, tugging it gently from his cheek. There was no change in expression on his face, no surprise, and Uhura wondered if her Spock had already told him. Or if he'd heard in passing on the Enterprise, or if--perhaps--they'd walked the same path in his time line as well.

"Our worlds are very different, Uhura. The changes are as deep in my younger self as any I have observed, and I see those changes reflected in you." Her palms felt unusually sensitive beneath his, and his voice curled around her as he said, "Despite its brevity, this has been one of the most fascinating conversations of my long life. Thank you...Nyota."

Uhura allowed herself a trembling smile as she accepted the meaning of his own words to her, and squeezed his hand as he stood. The Vulcan robes pulled at his narrow frame, making him appear older and smaller within their folds. His hand was still in hers, strong despite its age, so he did not give her the gesture for his parting words.

"Live long," he said.

She smiled, feeling a wetness in her eyes.

Comments

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

I've told you before your prose has a nice lyrical feel to it, yes? Because that's out in full force for the Uhura/Spock-Prime drabble, and I love it to pieces. Just...all the little lines, like "the stranger who wasn't strange at all" or "she loved those eyes, but she didn't know this face"...they all work so nicely, fit so well. The dialogue is also spot-on, and I can totally see this happening in the actual film.

tldr; Bravo. :)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I've told you before your prose has a nice lyrical feel to it, yes?

You have, but it's a wonderful compliment to hear again. *smile* I like those lines you picked out, too.

The dialogue is also spot-on, and I can totally see this happening in the actual film.

Cool. I was really unsure about the drabble, and if it would work as a whole conversation, so I'm glad people are receiving it well.

[gojira007.livejournal.com]

You have, but it's a wonderful compliment to hear again. *smile*
Heh...I'll keep that in mind for the future. ^_^

[padmekenobi27.livejournal.com]

Powerful moment, right there! Beautifully written, and I can imagine how Nyota's feels, almost as if she is the one who has moved forward in time. Very nice job. :)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Lovely comment, thank you. I wanted to express that line about time travel yet make it fit into the context of the scene. I kind of adore movies about time travel, and how it's all based on your perspective.

[seki-raku.livejournal.com]

Absolutely lovely prose! Thank you for sharing it with us.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback. :-D

[recumbentgoat.livejournal.com]

oh these are both really great. and thanks for the Spock Prime one--i don't get enough of him often in this new re-booted world we live in.

[mhgood.livejournal.com]

Wow, intense emotion right here!  You protray both these characters so well.  And your prose!  Amazing word choices!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's a lovely compliment about word choice.

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this, particularly the second one. So much emotion, so simply and beautifully put.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I recognize your name from the drabble challenge. *G*

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

THESE ARE AWESOME! I love love love your characterization of Uhura, and the first one with Checkov is painfully, genuinely sweet.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

=D I'm glad you liked the first one! I really have no idea what to make of Chekov's character, since I don't even know if I've seen him in anything but the movies. I tried to wing it based on what any young soldier might feel.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Also, I think I'm trying to write Uhura since the thought of writing Spock terrifies me. I don't even understand the conflicting canon about emotions/no-emotions.

[the-spin.livejournal.com]

Oh man, Spock POV seems like it would be impossibly hard. Just thinking about it hurts my brain.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I was trying to think about it today, and I realized I have *no idea* what the hell is going on with the Vulcan thing on emotions. Because Spock in the movies was always more of a reserved guy, governed by reason, but I never thought he was purged of emotion! I mean, he had a best friend. No one who has a best friend (especially Kirk) can be emotionless. And then this movie! What about Sarek? Sarek is the full Vulcan, yet clearly he loved his wife. So is this whole non-emotion thing just a line? How can they purge themselves of emotion, but still like blue pillowcases more than green pillowcases? They're not friggin' Data! And then in this movie, we've got Spock, who is far from emotionless, just very very repressed. Which can't be peaceful or serene like the Vulcans intended through their religion.

I was thinking making a post asking someone to just lay it out for me. What exactly is covered under the "no emotions" thing, and what isn't. I can't possibly write his character until I understand that.

[inanna1130.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Just lovely, the both of them. I especially like the interaction between Uhura+Spock Prime.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[renisanz.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. This is just so...perfect. I love this unique moment between Uhura and Spock Prime, with them being able to share such an intimate moment, to say so much with so little. Such a great insight into their characters. Thanks for sharing this story. :)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thank you, for the feedback. =D I wanted to convey a sort of intimacy even while they're distanced by time and history. Sort of the idea that since Uhura knows her Spock well, she knows ANY Spock well.

[kh-mattie.livejournal.com]

Oh. These are both just perfect in every way. The first one with Checkov and Uhura just broke my heart and the second one... wow. Wonderful job.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm really glad you liked them both!

[forever-dawn78.livejournal.com]

Great ficlets! Your character's voices are very natural.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[sarisia.livejournal.com]

These stories are lovely and I especially loved the second one because anything that has to do with Spock Prime and his evaluation of the differences between the people he knows and how they are now? AWESOME.

Also, "Do you know who I am?"
"Do you know who I am?"
"This is not a game of who the fuck are you?"

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I just googled that quote, and listened to the whole skit on youtube, and I laughed so hard I was crying.

Now I have to go find the whole album...

[sarisia.livejournal.com]

:D I wasn't sure if you knew Izzard or not, but now I'm glad that I've introduced you to something new (and amazing)!