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branchandroot) wrote2012-08-14 11:47 pm
branchandroot) wrote2012-08-14 11:47 pm
Entry tags:
DVD Commentary Meme
Oh, what the heck. I need to be distracted from pre-term nerves.
Pick any passage of 500 words or less from any story I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you the equivalent of a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you’d expect to find on a DVD commentary track.
Pick any passage of 500 words or less from any story I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you the equivalent of a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you’d expect to find on a DVD commentary track.
no subject
Belial had retired to the window with the best view, feeling satisfied, when black feathered wings swept around hir, blocking any view at all.
Four black wings.
Belial turned, trying not to shiver at the whispering touch of feathers and magic, and looked up at hir lord, barely a breath away. His wings surrounded hir in his power, a feather’s edge from destruction or… what? Lucifer’s face was unreadable.
“I would say to entertain yourself as you like, if pain and humiliation truly amuse you,” he said. “But your deception has gotten thin.”
Belial raised hir brows. “You are the only one who was never deceived, lord,” se pointed out. “One cannot see that this has changed.”
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, and Belial stiffened a little. Had one of the other demons turned their lord’s opinion against hir? Well, se had to amend, turned him against hir in more than the usual way. Was that the reason for the cage of his wings?
“A pose of self-honesty makes a brittle mask.” His voice was cold, colder than it had been since he returned to them, as cold as it had been the very first time they spoke. The tone made Belial relax, even as se puzzled at the words. Hir effort wasn’t much use, as Lucifer’s fingers, brushing back hir disheveled hair, brushed away all hir thoughts. Belial was starting to wonder whether Lucifer was simply amusing himself by toying with hir. He hadn’t used to indulge much in that sort of thing, but…
Grasping for the thread of this strange conversation, Belial murmured, “At the risk of repeating the obvious, one is a demon. Whether we delight in the pain and humiliation of others or are merely indifferent to it, we all bring it.”
“I didn’t speak of others’ pain,” Lucifer told hir, and cupped Belial’s cheek, brushing his thumb over the teardrop under hir eye.
A thin sound of denial forced its way out of Belial’s throat, even as se leaned into the touch, parting hir lips. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. Please, no, not this one. Belial believed in the efficacy of prayer even less than se had before the third war, but se was desperate enough to entreat the memory of their progenitor, dead as Adam Kadmon was, not to let Lucifer desire hir. It would be glorious. It would be the end of Belial’s existence, the end of the only truth se had ever found.
Lucifer sighed, looking faintly exasperated. “A complete and utter fool,” he stated. “I seem to be cursed with them.”
The hold of his wings tightened for a moment before unfolding from around hir. Belial tried to decide, as se watched Lucifer walk away, and felt the many eyes on hir, whether se was comforted or terrified by hir lord’s parting words.
no subject
Belial had retired to the window with the best view, feeling satisfied, when black feathered wings swept around hir, blocking any view at all.
Four black wings.
Belial turned, trying not to shiver at the whispering touch of feathers and magic, and looked up at hir lord, barely a breath away. His wings surrounded hir in his power, a feather’s edge from destruction or… what? Lucifer’s face was unreadable.
So, first of all, we have pure wing-kink. In this case, it overlaps pretty completely with Belial's kink for Lucifer's power, because Belial really, really gets off on destruction. Not for its own sake, exactly, but because se's convinced that the world is corrupt, and se really, truly loves to see hypocrisy and corruption destroyed. In a way, Belial loves purity, and the only purity se believes exists is the aftermath of destruction.
“I would say to entertain yourself as you like, if pain and humiliation truly amuse you,” he said. “But your deception has gotten thin.”
Belial raised hir brows. “You are the only one who was never deceived, lord,” se pointed out. “One cannot see that this has changed.”
This entire section is one long dialogue at cross-purposes. Lucifer has changed, after canon; he has a much broader range of emotion (not difficult since it used to be pretty much limited to rage and betrayal). Belial doesn't understand how much he's changed, though, and keeps trying to play by their old rules. Here, Lucifer is starting to get annoyed by how Belial keeps embittering hirself, while Belial thinks this is just another round of Lucifer's accustomed cynicism.
Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, and Belial stiffened a little. Had one of the other demons turned their lord’s opinion against hir? Well, se had to amend, turned him against hir in more than the usual way. Was that the reason for the cage of his wings?
And when Belial does think it's something different, hir first thought is simply that Lucifer, the one who feels almost nothing but rage, is finally going to turn that rage towards hir.
“A pose of self-honesty makes a brittle mask.” His voice was cold, colder than it had been since he returned to them, as cold as it had been the very first time they spoke. The tone made Belial relax, even as se puzzled at the words. Hir effort wasn’t much use, as Lucifer’s fingers, brushing back hir disheveled hair, brushed away all hir thoughts. Belial was starting to wonder whether Lucifer was simply amusing himself by toying with hir. He hadn’t used to indulge much in that sort of thing, but…
Lucifer is annoyed all right. He's pissed off that Belial is being so dense. He's trying, in his own way, to lead hir in a different direction between the protection of his wings and the little gestures of care, but Belial has no previous frame for those at all and hasn't the tiniest clue how to interpret them. So se's still interpreting them as the gestures of someone completely distanced from care or warmth or trust, someone just like hir who doesn't place any faith in those things and thinks they're only ever masks.
Grasping for the thread of this strange conversation, Belial murmured, “At the risk of repeating the obvious, one is a demon. Whether we delight in the pain and humiliation of others or are merely indifferent to it, we all bring it.”
“I didn’t speak of others’ pain,” Lucifer told hir, and cupped Belial’s cheek, brushing his thumb over the teardrop under hir eye.
A thin sound of denial forced its way out of Belial’s throat, even as se leaned into the touch, parting hir lips. He couldn’t. He couldn’t. Please, no, not this one. Belial believed in the efficacy of prayer even less than se had before the third war, but se was desperate enough to entreat the memory of their progenitor, dead as Adam Kadmon was, not to let Lucifer desire hir. It would be glorious. It would be the end of Belial’s existence, the end of the only truth se had ever found.
And the thing is, Lucifer /knows/ Belial won't trust words alone. He's trying to show hir a different way of thinking with action. But it keeps running right into Belial's past experience and assumptions, which all involve Belial seducing people who proceed to display every imaginable sort of hypocrisy. Se's /terrified/ by the idea of Lucifer going down that road.
Lucifer sighed, looking faintly exasperated. “A complete and utter fool,” he stated. “I seem to be cursed with them.”
Which Lucifer does get.
The hold of his wings tightened for a moment before unfolding from around hir. Belial tried to decide, as se watched Lucifer walk away, and felt the many eyes on hir, whether se was comforted or terrified by hir lord’s parting words.
After this, Lucifer finally does make himself a bit clearer in words, but it takes Belial the whole second half of the story to bring hirself to really understand. "Unyielding" is indeed hir nature.