and so, it begins

[rivendellrose]

I can't beat IO9's headline for this story: The Folks Who Made The Robot 'Big Dog' Are Building a Real Cylon.

...Is it too early to say that I, for one, welcome our new Toaster overlords? ♥

Also, snagged from deborah_judge:

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, I'm inviting trick-or-treaters to my 'door'.

Comment "trick-or-treat" to this post and I'll give you a treat. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I'm glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.). The more "houses" to visit the more fun it'll be, so go ahead, open your journal and help spread the fun!

Can't promise I'll be prompt (y'all know usually happens when I do, after all... and I am actually at work, alas), but I'll try to get everybody!

Comments

[gaslightgallows]

...Trick or treat! :D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

This got... a little out of control. XD

----

All right, you asked for it. ;)

---

John had made a great deal of progress in his first four months on Minbar. He spoke Adronato well enough to get by on his own in the city, now, and could purchase necessities without her at his side. He hardly ever insulted people accidentally anymore. And most of the time he even remembered to bow correctly.

But Delenn remembered the lonely months of her change, alone on the station after all of her people but Lennier turned their backs on her, and she recognized the wistful sadness that sometimes crept into her husband's expression. Tuzanor was not yet home to him - she suspected it would not be until the birth of their child - and he missed Earth, or at least a posting where he was mostly surrounded by other Humans, rather than alien strangers. Delenn sympathized. And she thought she knew what might help.

When John got home that night, Delenn had darkened the living room, and lit a number of her candles around. She sat on the floor, wearing a dark set of robes, and something in her expression reminded John of the first time he'd seen her. It took him a moment to realize that it was her 'serious and inscrutable' expression, which she hardly ever pulled out for him anymore.

"Delenn? Did I forget one of your holy days?" The 'again' went unspoken.

"No, John. Come here, sit with me. I wanted to tell you a story."

Once he'd sat, she began to speak in a low, careful voice. "Long ago, before he met my mother, my father served out his novitiate at a little temple far away from here, on the northeastern coast. The village was small, mostly Workers of the local fishing industry, and my father was very lonely. He took to walking late at night, after he had helped the head priest to close the temple. One winter afternoon, when only the last glimmers of light clung to the horizon, my father was walking along an old stone road down by the shore, and he saw a light. It was pale and yellow, bobbing gently above the rocks, and he thought it must be a crew of fishermen, delayed by the winds or the tide and disoriented by the weather, trying to pull their little boat ashore before night fell completely. He knew nothing of boats or the sea, but he could not think of leaving those people to face the cold and the water and the rocks alone, so he climbed over the little fence that guarded the side of the path, and clambered down the stones. He shouted to the people, but heard nothing, and he thought perhaps they were too far away still for him to be heard over the wind. So he kept climbing, down toward the water and the little yellow light that burned in the darkness.”

She paused to see how her story was being accepted. John looked perplexed, but fascinated. “Go on, Delenn. What happened?”

“Well, just as my father was nearing the level of the water, he heard a shout from above him. It was one of the fishers from the village - a man he had seen many times in temple, a hard worker and a... how do you say it? A pillar of the community?”

John nodded.

part 2!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

“Just so. This man waved and shouted to my father, yelling at him to get back up the rocks to the safety of the road. My father could not understand - surely this Worker saw the boat, too, and would not want to leave the others alone! He yelled up at the man that while he was only a priest, and knew nothing of the water, he was still young and had strong arms and a good back - he thought he could be of help. But the man shouted back to him not to go any further, and clambered down to catch my father’s arms in his rough old hands, and hauled him back up to the road.” Delenn smiled a little. “My father was never a man overly concerned with his personal dignity, but he I believe he was most insulted that night. But it was a good thing that he was only a novice priest who would not dare openly argue with an elder, even of another caste. The light below, the fisher explained once they were safely on the road again, was no boat, no crew of stranded fisherman - it was an ard’sha, a death light, waiting for just such an opportunity to lure some unwary creature down to the shoreline with its light, and grab on with all its many arms, and pull that poor creature into the mouth that waited beneath the surface. If that fisherman had not come by when he did and seen my father down on the rocks, he would surely have died.”

John stared blankly at her. “Delenn... why are you telling me this? That’s horrible, but... why...”

“I looked at your Human calendar. Is it not the holiday you call Halloween? The computer said it was traditionally celebrated with costumes and the telling of fortunes, and of frightening stories.”

“Ghost stories, yeah, but...” John’s brow furrowed, then relaxed, and he laughed a little. “Then that story was just made up! Something you came up with to scare me.”

Delenn tilted her head. “No, it happened to my father, just as I told you. Why, is the story not supposed to be a true one?”

“No, but... that thing, the, the death light. You made it up, right? There’s no such thing as... big scary fish-things with lights that wait on the beach for people.”

“Of course they do not wait on the beach, John. They wait under the water, and hold their lights up above the surface to be seen. But they are very real, very much so. You must always be very careful walking near water here, John, and never go toward any such light that you might see. People try to keep them away from settlements, but it does not always work.”

John Sheridan thought of all the pleasant night walks on beaches that he’d taken on Earth, and immediately banished any vague thoughts of doing the same on Minbar, with his lovely wife. “Delenn, sweetheart... Is everything on your planet really trying to kill people?”

“Mostly, why?”

He shook his head. “Just thinking that I’d better stick to the city. No nature walks for me. At least not unless you’re along. And possibly an honor guard of six Rangers, just to make sure.”

“That might be wise.”

“You’re not even joking about that, are you?”

I actually don't have a John/Delenn icon. Sadness.

[gaslightgallows]

EEEEEEEE!!!!! Oh, this makes me so happy, you have *no* idea! I'm suffering from a vice grip of a sinus cold thing, so I don't have the oxygen to respond properly, but I will when I get better and you should absolutely post this as a little standalone piece. <3<3<3

Thank you! *hugs you* *falls over*

Re: I do! XD

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yay!!! I'm glad you liked it. And I really will respond to your actual email sometime this morning, but it has been a MORNING, let me tell you. A MORNING. *flails*