![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseHappy Halloween, and Blessed Samhain to everyone who celebrates!
I'm going to be heading off pretty quick to make dinner and to make sure I have a few candles laid in for lighting later on - it's my first holiday in quite a while that I actually intend to celebrate with something approaching a ritual (not much of one, mind, but this year Samhain seems like something I need to do for my own mental sanity, and... I've missed it), so I want to be sure I can find the few things I'll need. ...That being pretty much candles, matches, and a seasonally appropriate BPAL, so once I've tracked down my candle collection I guess I'm good. Maybe in the next house I'll put up an altar again, maybe not. Not sure. Either way, this'll do for now.
Oh, and here's one more fic. ;)
Fandom: B5
Characters: John and Delenn
Title: Trick or Treat
Summary: for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kungfuwaynewho, who wanted to see Delenn asking about all the little kids running around asking for candy. Just a short bit of silliness.
Rating: Totally G.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I'm not trying to make money off 'em, I'm just playing with 'em for a little bit.
It had been a long damned day. Four hours of council meetings, two hours of paperwork, and an agonizing hour mediating between the Gaim and the Pak’mara about... something. Everything, it seemed. John Sheridan rubbed his hands over his face. He wanted coffee, but it was too late in the evening - if he had coffee now he’d be buzzing all night. While that might give him time to do some more of the paperwork he had ahead of him, it would also mean he’d be even more tired tomorrow. Better to grab some dinner on the Zocalo, go back to his quarters, maybe watch a vid, and then...
“You look very tired, John.” Delenn’s voice, suddenly appearing at his elbow, made all thoughts of a quiet night in disappear. Or at least change significantly in character. Be good, Sheridan...
“Hey!” He bent and kissed her cheek. “I’m okay, it’s just been a hell of a day.”
“I understand. There have been many hells of days lately.”
He considered telling her that wasn’t precisely how the phrase worked, but something in sparkle of her eyes told him she already knew, and was using it wrong just to make him smile. It worked. “How was your day, then?”
“Full,” she said after a moment of thought. “After the council meeting I had a number of meetings... and I had the oddest experience on the Zocalo just now. I thought perhaps you could help me to understand it.”
“Of course. What happened?”
“There were a number of small Human children wearing clothes that looked... unusual, and they asked the shopkeepers for a trick or a treat.”
John laughed. All that paperwork he’d signed that day, and the date had completely slipped his mind. “It’s Halloween. A Human holiday. Kids go around and say “trick or treat” and people give them candy.”
Delenn tilted her head. “For what purpose?”
“Well, traditionally they got the candy - the ‘treat’ - as a bribe to keep them from playing a ‘trick.’ Throwing eggs or something. A harmless but annoying prank like that,” he added, seeing a quirk to Delenn’s lips that was entirely too familiar to him. It was the look she got in the council chamber when she recognized a flaw in someone’s argument.
“You encourage your children to engage in blackmail and bribery?” She folded her arms over her chest, smiling openly up at him. “Whenever I believe that I have learned the strangest thing about your people and their history, I discover something new.”
“It’s not...” John shook his head, laughing. There was no use arguing with her when she got like this - whatever he said, she’d just twist to her advantage. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s just an excuse for costumes and candy and a bit of fun.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes were still gleaming with mischief. “And is this ritual only for children, then, or do adults celebrate as well?”
“Well...” Aww, Hell, why not? “Adults usually celebrate by dressing up in costumes and having a party... or by watching scary vids and eating junk food.”
“You intentionally frighten yourselves?”
“Sure, it’s all part of the fun. Halloween is about indulging your fears in a safe and fun way. And it’s traditional,” he continued, because, as they saying went, he might as well be hanged for a goat as for a sheep, “for couples to watch the vids as an excuse to sit close together in the dark.”
Delenn appeared to think about this, and then nodded. Her smile was positively devilish as she held out her hand. “Well, then?”
“What?”
“I believe this is a Human ritual I should examine, don’t you think?”
John slipped his arm around her waist. "I think that would be a wonderful idea."
"But I believe you should know..." she glanced sideways up at him, and smirked. "I do not intend to be frightened."
He kissed her forehead as they began walking toward his quarters. "We'll see."
I'm going to be heading off pretty quick to make dinner and to make sure I have a few candles laid in for lighting later on - it's my first holiday in quite a while that I actually intend to celebrate with something approaching a ritual (not much of one, mind, but this year Samhain seems like something I need to do for my own mental sanity, and... I've missed it), so I want to be sure I can find the few things I'll need. ...That being pretty much candles, matches, and a seasonally appropriate BPAL, so once I've tracked down my candle collection I guess I'm good. Maybe in the next house I'll put up an altar again, maybe not. Not sure. Either way, this'll do for now.
Oh, and here's one more fic. ;)
Fandom: B5
Characters: John and Delenn
Title: Trick or Treat
Summary: for
kungfuwaynewho, who wanted to see Delenn asking about all the little kids running around asking for candy. Just a short bit of silliness.Rating: Totally G.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I'm not trying to make money off 'em, I'm just playing with 'em for a little bit.
It had been a long damned day. Four hours of council meetings, two hours of paperwork, and an agonizing hour mediating between the Gaim and the Pak’mara about... something. Everything, it seemed. John Sheridan rubbed his hands over his face. He wanted coffee, but it was too late in the evening - if he had coffee now he’d be buzzing all night. While that might give him time to do some more of the paperwork he had ahead of him, it would also mean he’d be even more tired tomorrow. Better to grab some dinner on the Zocalo, go back to his quarters, maybe watch a vid, and then...
“You look very tired, John.” Delenn’s voice, suddenly appearing at his elbow, made all thoughts of a quiet night in disappear. Or at least change significantly in character. Be good, Sheridan...
“Hey!” He bent and kissed her cheek. “I’m okay, it’s just been a hell of a day.”
“I understand. There have been many hells of days lately.”
He considered telling her that wasn’t precisely how the phrase worked, but something in sparkle of her eyes told him she already knew, and was using it wrong just to make him smile. It worked. “How was your day, then?”
“Full,” she said after a moment of thought. “After the council meeting I had a number of meetings... and I had the oddest experience on the Zocalo just now. I thought perhaps you could help me to understand it.”
“Of course. What happened?”
“There were a number of small Human children wearing clothes that looked... unusual, and they asked the shopkeepers for a trick or a treat.”
John laughed. All that paperwork he’d signed that day, and the date had completely slipped his mind. “It’s Halloween. A Human holiday. Kids go around and say “trick or treat” and people give them candy.”
Delenn tilted her head. “For what purpose?”
“Well, traditionally they got the candy - the ‘treat’ - as a bribe to keep them from playing a ‘trick.’ Throwing eggs or something. A harmless but annoying prank like that,” he added, seeing a quirk to Delenn’s lips that was entirely too familiar to him. It was the look she got in the council chamber when she recognized a flaw in someone’s argument.
“You encourage your children to engage in blackmail and bribery?” She folded her arms over her chest, smiling openly up at him. “Whenever I believe that I have learned the strangest thing about your people and their history, I discover something new.”
“It’s not...” John shook his head, laughing. There was no use arguing with her when she got like this - whatever he said, she’d just twist to her advantage. “It’s not like that anymore. It’s just an excuse for costumes and candy and a bit of fun.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes were still gleaming with mischief. “And is this ritual only for children, then, or do adults celebrate as well?”
“Well...” Aww, Hell, why not? “Adults usually celebrate by dressing up in costumes and having a party... or by watching scary vids and eating junk food.”
“You intentionally frighten yourselves?”
“Sure, it’s all part of the fun. Halloween is about indulging your fears in a safe and fun way. And it’s traditional,” he continued, because, as they saying went, he might as well be hanged for a goat as for a sheep, “for couples to watch the vids as an excuse to sit close together in the dark.”
Delenn appeared to think about this, and then nodded. Her smile was positively devilish as she held out her hand. “Well, then?”
“What?”
“I believe this is a Human ritual I should examine, don’t you think?”
John slipped his arm around her waist. "I think that would be a wonderful idea."
"But I believe you should know..." she glanced sideways up at him, and smirked. "I do not intend to be frightened."
He kissed her forehead as they began walking toward his quarters. "We'll see."
