job fic the first
May. 29th, 2007 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseThe first of my requested "yay, job!" fics. The others, I hope, will follow relatively soon.
For:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aris_tgd, who requested something about Lennier and meditation. I apologize for the slight randomness. Thanks to miss_arel for helping me to get past some brain-blockage on this one!
Fandom: Babylon 5
Disclaimers: I don't own them, I don't make money off this, and I don't intend any infringement upon the rights of their rightful copyright-holders.
“I just don’t understand it. How can you be so calm?”
“About the negotiations?” Lennier took a sip of water, watching as Vir downed more than half of his alcoholic drink in one gulp.
“About everything! The war, the negotiations, the way everything on this station always seems like its on the edge of falling into the nearest cesspit and dragging all of with it... The whole station’s in a panic, but you and Delenn and the other Minbari just go around like everything’s normal, like it’s just another day in the temple! And it’s not just you all here - when I was on Minbar last year, it was the same way. So what’s your secret? You can’t even drink!”
“It is not a secret.” Lennier took another slow sip and regarded his friend with a steady, even expression. “Surely you must have seen Minbari engaged in meditation while you visited our planet?”
“Of course, but...” Vir looked around. “I just don’t get it, you know? I don’t understand how it does any good! Or how you do it, for that matter - I try just sitting down with my eyes closed for a while, and all that happens is everything I’m worrying about swirls around and around and around until I feel like it’s all going to choke me!”
Lennier laughed softly.
“Sure, it’s easy for you to laugh!”
“No, no - forgive me. But you misunderstand - meditation isn’t only sitting quietly. You must focus your mind on something - a single idea or image that you will allow to fill your mind entirely. A line of prayer, for instance.”
“Somehow, I doubt that would work very well with our prayers. Centauri religious ceremonies aren’t exactly... quiet things.”
“Hmm. Perhaps not.” Lennier thought for a moment. When he was first learning to meditate, as a child in the temple, his teachers had given him short excerpts from the sayings of Valen to memorize and reflect upon, but those were unlikely to be very helpful to Vir, and in any case Lennier was no longer certain of his feelings about Valen, knowing that the greatest teacher in Minbari history had not actually been a Minbari, but rather the former Captain Sinclair of this very station. As an older acolyte, he had learned to focus his attention on a garden, a single crystal or the flame of a candle...
“Is there any small object that you could use to represent peace for yourself? Something associated with your spiritual practices, perhaps? A statue of one of your gods, even?” he suggested, trying not to think of the disconcerting and disturbing nature of the only Centauri icon he himself had seen.
“Perhaps...”
“A deity who holds particular significance for you?”
“Akashla?” Vir suggested.
“Perhaps? I know nothing of that divinity,” Lennier admitted. “Our knowledge of Centauri religious practices is... vague, at best.”
“We like to keep it that way, with outsiders.” Vir shrugged.
“Understandable. There must always be secrets, where religion is concerned.”
“So... I just sit down in front of a statue of Akashla and... look at her? That doesn’t seem very... deep.”
“It will not be, in the beginning.” Lennier straightened his sleeves, thinking back on his early training. “For a long time, it may take great effort for you to restrain your mind and keep it on this single image. But continue working on it. Focus on the details of her image, on the lines of the figure, on the substance used to make the statue. You might even recite to yourself some of the stories or sayings associated with her. But try to keep words out of this for a time, if you can. Let your mind simply... open to the image, and see what comes of it. Let her peace become yours.”
Vir seemed to consider this for a long moment, then took another deep sip of his drink. “And that’ll work? I mean, it’ll make me feel more peaceful?”
“Perhaps not immediately, but I believe that in the long run it should help you,” Lennier agreed.
“Hmph.” The Centauri shook his head. “I guess anything’s worth a try, at this point. Thanks.”
“You are very welcome.”
For:
aris_tgd, who requested something about Lennier and meditation. I apologize for the slight randomness. Thanks to miss_arel for helping me to get past some brain-blockage on this one!Fandom: Babylon 5
Disclaimers: I don't own them, I don't make money off this, and I don't intend any infringement upon the rights of their rightful copyright-holders.
“I just don’t understand it. How can you be so calm?”
“About the negotiations?” Lennier took a sip of water, watching as Vir downed more than half of his alcoholic drink in one gulp.
“About everything! The war, the negotiations, the way everything on this station always seems like its on the edge of falling into the nearest cesspit and dragging all of with it... The whole station’s in a panic, but you and Delenn and the other Minbari just go around like everything’s normal, like it’s just another day in the temple! And it’s not just you all here - when I was on Minbar last year, it was the same way. So what’s your secret? You can’t even drink!”
“It is not a secret.” Lennier took another slow sip and regarded his friend with a steady, even expression. “Surely you must have seen Minbari engaged in meditation while you visited our planet?”
“Of course, but...” Vir looked around. “I just don’t get it, you know? I don’t understand how it does any good! Or how you do it, for that matter - I try just sitting down with my eyes closed for a while, and all that happens is everything I’m worrying about swirls around and around and around until I feel like it’s all going to choke me!”
Lennier laughed softly.
“Sure, it’s easy for you to laugh!”
“No, no - forgive me. But you misunderstand - meditation isn’t only sitting quietly. You must focus your mind on something - a single idea or image that you will allow to fill your mind entirely. A line of prayer, for instance.”
“Somehow, I doubt that would work very well with our prayers. Centauri religious ceremonies aren’t exactly... quiet things.”
“Hmm. Perhaps not.” Lennier thought for a moment. When he was first learning to meditate, as a child in the temple, his teachers had given him short excerpts from the sayings of Valen to memorize and reflect upon, but those were unlikely to be very helpful to Vir, and in any case Lennier was no longer certain of his feelings about Valen, knowing that the greatest teacher in Minbari history had not actually been a Minbari, but rather the former Captain Sinclair of this very station. As an older acolyte, he had learned to focus his attention on a garden, a single crystal or the flame of a candle...
“Is there any small object that you could use to represent peace for yourself? Something associated with your spiritual practices, perhaps? A statue of one of your gods, even?” he suggested, trying not to think of the disconcerting and disturbing nature of the only Centauri icon he himself had seen.
“Perhaps...”
“A deity who holds particular significance for you?”
“Akashla?” Vir suggested.
“Perhaps? I know nothing of that divinity,” Lennier admitted. “Our knowledge of Centauri religious practices is... vague, at best.”
“We like to keep it that way, with outsiders.” Vir shrugged.
“Understandable. There must always be secrets, where religion is concerned.”
“So... I just sit down in front of a statue of Akashla and... look at her? That doesn’t seem very... deep.”
“It will not be, in the beginning.” Lennier straightened his sleeves, thinking back on his early training. “For a long time, it may take great effort for you to restrain your mind and keep it on this single image. But continue working on it. Focus on the details of her image, on the lines of the figure, on the substance used to make the statue. You might even recite to yourself some of the stories or sayings associated with her. But try to keep words out of this for a time, if you can. Let your mind simply... open to the image, and see what comes of it. Let her peace become yours.”
Vir seemed to consider this for a long moment, then took another deep sip of his drink. “And that’ll work? I mean, it’ll make me feel more peaceful?”
“Perhaps not immediately, but I believe that in the long run it should help you,” Lennier agreed.
“Hmph.” The Centauri shook his head. “I guess anything’s worth a try, at this point. Thanks.”
“You are very welcome.”
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-30 09:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-03 05:48 pm (UTC)(People need to write more Vir & Lennier friendship fics. Seriously.)
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Date: 2007-06-06 09:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-03 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-06 09:23 pm (UTC)Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 09:18 pm (UTC)I have to say, your icon makes me giggle. That pose... so silly. So very, horrifically silly.