Date: 16 Dec 2009 22:29 Title: Interlude IX
Woah! Talk about playing on a father's fears. That must have been a truly awful moment for Riker to walk in and see his daughters about to be assimilated. However, I love the danger and risk the girls went to - it seems the very thing savvy Federation brats would get up to - especially the resourcing of the program.
Oh but what a foreboding omen - an interlude with mention of the Reman Thraiin with Cassidy's ability to lie to her father, Beth unable to read her, her mother's schism with her. I guess it is all a portent to what is coming down the line. Very good Teri! Again you continue to impress with the scope of this family drama.
I guess with the adage that doctors make the worst patients counsellors likewise make for the worst seekign help and guidance. Troi comes across as very belligerient about Cassidy's condition. It strikes me as maddening that Deanna should react so but it is the nature of mothers to want to fix things in their children not because they believe the children to be broken or at fault but because they feel they the parents are at fault and have failed the child in some way. It makes for a gripping read seeing Deanna struggle with this but as gripping as it is it is also very hard to read Cassidy's struggle with her mother and the discomfort it makes her feel. Then there are just two particular lines that strike:
Not even Beth's secret ability to hear everyone's thoughts through other Betazoids enabled her to hear or feel her sister. She was a flat as a piece of paper to her. No depth, no feeling, no structure.
It part sums up the difficult relationship that will come to frame their relationship as Beth is sideblinded by Cassidy's defection. That and her talent for lying already - even to her father - makes this quite sad and terrifying for some of the reprecussions it will entail.
Beth also thought Cassidy may have only been capable of three emotions…joy, sadness and anger. They were the only emotions she ever seemed to see from her. When Cassidy smiled or was happy, the whole universe seemed to be in alignment. Her joy was infectious and the family would feel whole, cohesive. But when Cassidy was angry or sad, the whole universe felt like it would fall apart and no one in the family was happy. It tore at the fabric that held them together…and that fabric always tore right at the seam between Cassidy and their mother.
The manner in which this paragraph speaks of familial ties and how up and down they can be depending on persons and circumstances is so true and so heartbreaking for that reality. More so in light of knowing how fractured Cassidy's act makes the family. Then there's the thought that Cass can only feel joy, sadness and anger. Although, Beth can't read that and so far as a reader we can't be sure otherwise, we know Beth is still very astute and perhaps her reading of her sister's mood and emotional state might well be well near to the mark. It also makes the character of Cass so much more enthralling as she is something of an enigma at present and a blank slate that is a mystery demanding explanation and exploration. Oh this is really beginning to make me itch for Cass! And so far you've painted her in good and bad colours so we empathise with the character and yet know the pain she has caused to Beth and her family. Beautiful work. Great construction. Terrific writing and characters. Lots of other praise Teri.
Author's Response: MF - I'm very glad you liked this scene. It really is the first time the reader gets to hear anything substantial about Cass. It's hard to think that Deanna would treat her child w/anything but love - and she NEVER does. So I'm glad you were able to see her as a mother who would do anything to give her child the treatment for a "birth defect." I am approaching this purely from a standpoint that Cassidy is known to be missing one of her "senses" which Deanna knows she's "supposed to have" because of the genetic marker. Add to it the fact that Deanna can't sense her own daughter and it's more than just disconcerting. If Cassidy were born deaf - Will would likely pursue treatment to correct that physical trait - just like parents in the now do by surgically altering their children with cochlear implants. Now - as for the holodeck thing? This scene was DIRECTLY caused by a conversation about the video game Call of Duty. The first-person shooter game in France and Berlin - well, it must be weird for a WWII vet to see a young child playing a game that was a horrific experience for him. Could you imagine if some game maker decided to make a "realistic" Vietnam game? All hell would break loose. Beth and Cassidy aren't doing anything but playing a game - Riker just happened to have lived through the real thing...