Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:48 Title: Prompt #40: Artistry
Again, you impress with the world building and evocative aspects of the environment and culture of the Cardassians.
Author's Response:
Thanks...I'm glad you liked it! :-)
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:46 Title: Prompt #39: You Make Me Want to Scream
A very brave piece of story telling Nerys. Well done for having the courage to write it. I know it must have pained you to do so.
Author's Response:
Thank you...and yes, even though I have no analogous experience to draw on, it was a very hard thing to write. But I hope that people will see this and take assaults like this seriously regardless of who the victim is.
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:44 Title: Prompt #30: A Happy Ending
Aw! A sweet ending here for Dukat and he rarely gets many of them. Of course, I love the beginning with the gurellia warfare hunters trekking across the landscape. That image really drew me in. Good rendering and a nice surprise to the ending.
Author's Response:
I really wanted to give him a better moment because you're right...he has a lot of pain in his short life. A lot. Glad you liked it!
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:39 Title: Prompt #32: Gifted
Ugh horrible! A really horrid depiction of the horrors of occupations and invasions, when children are targeted and can be seen as viable targets for the military for whatever purposes it is truly horrible and cold.
Author's Response:
Given their motivations, the AU Bajorans want the children in order to brainwash them. :-(
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:33 Title: Prompt #18: Performance Review
Damar ruined the book! By spilling fish juice! My oh my, Dukat is a very forgiving man! That's the ultimate sin. LOL!
Interesting to see Dukat and Damar sharing a mentor/student like relationship in this AU just as they shared such in the canon universe. Only here of course, Dukat is a much more tempering and positive influence on Damar. I suppose, part of canon Dukat's early defiance of the Klingon invasion of Cardassia was a more positive influence to Damar's last act of loyalty to Cardassia but that's a sidestep to this succinct piece.
Author's Response:
Dukat was definitely upset (I know I would've been too!), but I don't think he's into guilt-tripping people to beat them into submission the way Gul Dukat would've done.
I've always thought the relationship in the canon universe was dysfunctional and not good for Damar. I don't think Gul Dukat liked to build people up, but make them dependent on him. AU Dukat likes seeing people really demonstrate their potential. I think he actually cares.
I'm glad you like it!
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:22 Title: Prompt #14: Milestones
Skrain shows such fatherly love to Ziyal. Given the horrid situation in which they are trying to survive as a family, Skrain really does his best to be a kind and even positive for Ziyal's sake (and I dare say his too). That said, it must be very difficult as a father to a daughter with no mother figure to discuss any 'women problems' which can be incredibly troubling or embarrassing for the teenagers going through puberty. But for Skrain the thrust is to make sure that Ziyal feels assured and loved. Aw.
Author's Response:
His love for Ziyal literally saved his life back on Bajor, and he still loves her. :-)
One fortunate thing for Ziyal, I think, is that her father is not one of the stoic kinds of men who thinks feelings are irrelevant and "girly" stuff is stupid. He's more sensitive than that. But I'm sure he does wish his wife were alive in moments like that. At least Akellen's wife is there.
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:13 Title: Prompt #6: Nightmares
A true horror and nightmare for Skrain to see a 'vision' of our canon Dukat. No wonder he woke in a sweat. Short but punches through to the reader the fear that stabs Skrain's heart.
Author's Response:
I'm not exactly sure if it was a direct vision, or just a fear that because of his personality he has. But for a man like him, yeah, it was terrifying. Thanks for reading!
Date: 16 Sep 2011 20:11 Title: Prompt #1: "She Never Saw It Coming" (Hebitia)
A momentous moment for Cardassia and for this proud engineer. It kinda evokes what it must have been like for the first astronauts and those that went to the moon. It was also a sweet take on the prompt too, a romantic take on things.
Author's Response:
At the time I wrote this, I was going through a depressing time, so I wanted to write something happy. :-) I have always imagined that for the Hebitians, knowing that they had another habitable world in their system would be one heck of a motivator to exploration. I had also thought it would be neat to show how different it might be to be a deaf person in Hebitian society. The barriers that are often still encountered on 21st-century Earth were never as severe and by this time, really insignificant on Hebitia. :-)