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So sometimes when you set out to do an Earth A/U of something you think oh ha it’ll just be a little change, and then you get sucked in and think about how, huh, the original setting didn’t have the constraints that Earth would, and honestly the story doesn’t work if you handwave those constraints away, so you have to kind of… reconsider the dynamic of the characters, and think about, well, gosh, if it’s set in a particular time, then there are going to be societal expectations etc., and… huh.
Shara let the silence hang for a long moment. “I’m not doubting you,” she said. “I don’t want to offend you or any of that. But a lot of people think they know how they’ll feel about something, and they– don’t.”
She heard Kes take a deep breath, and there was a moment, and then he said, “I don’t want you like a trophy, Shara, or a thing to have– a decoration, or an accessory, or– not even as a thing to complete myself. I don’t want to show you off or control you or put you on a shelf. I just want– you. I want to be near you, I want to watch you, I want to see what you can do. I want to support you.”
“Kes,” she said. He probably even believed it, too.
“All this time,” he said, “when I’ve said I was your number one fan– I meant that, Shara, I wasn’t just kidding.”
“Everyone loves the idea of an accomplished woman,” Shara said. “Well, not everybody. But people do, they think, wouldn’t that be great, I’d love to see that, it’d be so great. But then it comes straight down to it, and they get up close and they see the shit you have to do to accomplish those things– they see the compromises and sacrifices you have to make– and they decide that, on a woman, ambition is ugly, it’s selfish, it’s not actually what they want. The hardest part of my job, Kes, is not doing the job, it’s convincing the people with the power to let me succeed that I want it badly enough– but not too much.”
“I want to be on your team,” he said. “I see what you’re up against and I want to be on your side.”
It hurt, a lot, because she wanted him to mean it too. God, what a difference it would make– to have someone to come home to, and all the sweet things that went along with that. But– “I know you believe that,” she said. “I know you well enough to get that you really do think that way. But in three years when your friends’ wives all have dinner on the table for them every night and are giving them sweet rosy-cheeked little babies, and I’m working late again, and I’m putting in for a posting somewhere awful and far away, and your friends are making fun of you for doing my ironing–”
She stopped, and he waited a moment. It was– he wasn’t interrupting her. She’d expected him to interrupt.
(Your picture was not posted)
So sometimes when you set out to do an Earth A/U of something you think oh ha it’ll just be a little change, and then you get sucked in and think about how, huh, the original setting didn’t have the constraints that Earth would, and honestly the story doesn’t work if you handwave those constraints away, so you have to kind of… reconsider the dynamic of the characters, and think about, well, gosh, if it’s set in a particular time, then there are going to be societal expectations etc., and… huh.
Shara let the silence hang for a long moment. “I’m not doubting you,” she said. “I don’t want to offend you or any of that. But a lot of people think they know how they’ll feel about something, and they– don’t.”
She heard Kes take a deep breath, and there was a moment, and then he said, “I don’t want you like a trophy, Shara, or a thing to have– a decoration, or an accessory, or– not even as a thing to complete myself. I don’t want to show you off or control you or put you on a shelf. I just want– you. I want to be near you, I want to watch you, I want to see what you can do. I want to support you.”
“Kes,” she said. He probably even believed it, too.
“All this time,” he said, “when I’ve said I was your number one fan– I meant that, Shara, I wasn’t just kidding.”
“Everyone loves the idea of an accomplished woman,” Shara said. “Well, not everybody. But people do, they think, wouldn’t that be great, I’d love to see that, it’d be so great. But then it comes straight down to it, and they get up close and they see the shit you have to do to accomplish those things– they see the compromises and sacrifices you have to make– and they decide that, on a woman, ambition is ugly, it’s selfish, it’s not actually what they want. The hardest part of my job, Kes, is not doing the job, it’s convincing the people with the power to let me succeed that I want it badly enough– but not too much.”
“I want to be on your team,” he said. “I see what you’re up against and I want to be on your side.”
It hurt, a lot, because she wanted him to mean it too. God, what a difference it would make– to have someone to come home to, and all the sweet things that went along with that. But– “I know you believe that,” she said. “I know you well enough to get that you really do think that way. But in three years when your friends’ wives all have dinner on the table for them every night and are giving them sweet rosy-cheeked little babies, and I’m working late again, and I’m putting in for a posting somewhere awful and far away, and your friends are making fun of you for doing my ironing–”
She stopped, and he waited a moment. It was– he wasn’t interrupting her. She’d expected him to interrupt.
(Your picture was not posted)
