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Promptfic from Tumblr 2: Babylon 5 edition
The other prompt fill I wrote today ended up being full-story-length (~1100 wds) for Babylon 5, posted on AO3 as Exercises in Linguistics.
The prompt was: G'Kar and Londo (slash or gen, up to you!) and Language. Set in early season 5, probably between about 5x02 & 5x06.
G'Kar was more than used to Londo Mollari reading over his shoulder as he worked at his end of the conference table -- as well as complaining, criticizing, and sometimes actually reaching over to try to correct his spelling. G'Kar cheerfully returned the favor whenever he could, though usually Londo's paperwork was lethally boring, often some Centauri report or form that he was idly working on while Alliance business took place. G'Kar could read written Centauri, but it was entertaining to pretend he couldn't, and make up meanings while Londo tried to stab him with a pen.
However, having Londo hide something from him when G'Kar tried to peek at it was a new one.
"What is that?" he asked, reaching over to attempt to slide the sheet from under the pile of forms where Londo had thrust it.
"Absolutely nothing of interest. Terribly boring. You would fall off your chair." Londo was actually blushing a little as he slid the stack of papers out of G'Kar's reach, which made G'Kar doubly determined to reach it. All of this came close to spilling the glass of water at Delenn's place. She idly reached over and rescued it without pausing in the conversation she was having with Sheridan while sitting on the edge of the table.
"What is it? A list of your girlfriends? Are you writing pornography?" No, neither of those things made sense. Not only would Londo have made no attempt to cover it up, but they would all have heard about it.
"It is personal," Londo retorted, attempting to move the paper even farther out of reach.
G'Kar managed to retrieve it by virtue of being stronger and having longer arms. At first glance he had no idea why Londo would have been trying to hide this from him. It was simply a list of words. Then G'Kar -- who freely switched back and forth between English and Narn in his own notes, as well as being fluent in multiple dialects of Centauri -- realized the significance of what he was looking at: a list of words written in Narn and glossed in Centauri. And that was Londo's handwriting.
"Mollari," he said in dawning amazement, "are you learning Narn?"
"No!" Londo snapped, snatching it back so vehemently that he nearly knocked Delenn off the table. She quietly and gracefully slid to her feet and moved a few steps away, taking Sheridan by the elbow, to continue their conversation.
"You spelled 'tagrath' wrong. There are two 'a's in it. Extended 'a', not short 'nga' with the diacritic."
"It does not matter." Londo, pink to the ears, flipped the page over and placed several Centauri pages on top. "It is for a -- a dare, that is all."
"Mm'hm." His curiosity satisfied and then some, G'Kar pulled his own work in front of him and picked up his pen.
But he was unable to take his attention off Londo. In curious glances, G'Kar saw that Londo had lifted up the stack of papers with one hand and was quietly annotating with G'Kar's extra pen (all of Londo's own pens having, as usual, vanished), writing at an awkward angle to avoid having to expose any more of the paper than he had to.
"You know," G'Kar said casually, and Londo squawked a little, dropping the pen and the stack of pages. "As much as I commend you on your newfound interest in interspecies cultural exchange, the definition you have written there, for tagrath, is really not quite accurate. I suppose 'beauty' is not wrong, but there are heavy overtones of caution, especially in its noun form. 'The beautiful appeal of dangerous things,' perhaps. There is no direct Centauri equivalent that I know of."
"Yes, thank you for the linguistics lesson that I did not ask for," Londo said testily. He scrubbed with the edge of his sleeve at the ink he had spilled. "A little brivari will take this right out," he said to Delenn, who gave him a bright smile and moved with Sheridan all the way to the first row of seats.
G'Kar laid down his pen and leaned back in his seat. He turned to Londo, who promptly pushed the stack of pages halfway across the table. "I didn't intend to make you self-conscious," he said quietly. Londo gave him a look that was curious more than upset. It was still a little strange, learning when to push and parry, and when to be softer with him. Strange for both of them, he suspected.
"To be honest, it is an experiment more than anything else," Londo admitted, the sardonic front collapsing enough to show an oddly charming hint of uncertainty behind it. "If I am ever to read any of your scribblings, I suppose that one must begin with 'Dick and Jane run', yes?"
"You want to read my book?" G'Kar had no idea how he felt about that, the feelings were complex ones, but he was glad that Narn weren't visible blushers.
"No! I am curious, that is all."
"Hmm, well, it's more expedient to learn a language if you have someone to talk to, isn't it? I can't imagine you will have an easy time finding native Narn speakers to converse with."
Londo grinned, a quick flash of fangs. "You are volunteering to be my tutor?"
"Absolutely not," G'Kar said with horror that was only partly feigned. "But if you would care to bring that with you --" he nodded to the sheet, "and join me for a drink in the Zocalo after we are finished here, I can make some much-needed annotations to avoid any disastrous linguistic blunders. We do not need a new war starting now over your inadequate translations."
"I do not need your help --"
"At not starting wars? You very clearly do." While Londo stared at him open-mouthed, G'Kar added, "Of course you must reciprocate. My Centauri cursing is not all it could be."
"You --" Londo sputtered. "You think it will help with interstellar peace if I teach you new ways to insult my people?"
"I can teach you a few words you might hear in a Narn military barracks, but not in any book."
Londo sprang to his feet and stuck G'Kar's pen absentmindedly in his coat pocket. So that was where they kept going. "Delenn, Mr. President, I believe we are done here," he said, squaring his pages and slipping that particular one and a few more out of the stack. "As there is no new business, G'Kar and I are going to moisten our dry throats in the Zocalo."
"Yes, that's fine, goodbye," Sheridan said absently. He was sitting with Delenn now in the first row of vacated seats.
G'Kar reached back to grab a few blank pages and his own pen as well. There would surely be a need.
The prompt was: G'Kar and Londo (slash or gen, up to you!) and Language. Set in early season 5, probably between about 5x02 & 5x06.
G'Kar was more than used to Londo Mollari reading over his shoulder as he worked at his end of the conference table -- as well as complaining, criticizing, and sometimes actually reaching over to try to correct his spelling. G'Kar cheerfully returned the favor whenever he could, though usually Londo's paperwork was lethally boring, often some Centauri report or form that he was idly working on while Alliance business took place. G'Kar could read written Centauri, but it was entertaining to pretend he couldn't, and make up meanings while Londo tried to stab him with a pen.
However, having Londo hide something from him when G'Kar tried to peek at it was a new one.
"What is that?" he asked, reaching over to attempt to slide the sheet from under the pile of forms where Londo had thrust it.
"Absolutely nothing of interest. Terribly boring. You would fall off your chair." Londo was actually blushing a little as he slid the stack of papers out of G'Kar's reach, which made G'Kar doubly determined to reach it. All of this came close to spilling the glass of water at Delenn's place. She idly reached over and rescued it without pausing in the conversation she was having with Sheridan while sitting on the edge of the table.
"What is it? A list of your girlfriends? Are you writing pornography?" No, neither of those things made sense. Not only would Londo have made no attempt to cover it up, but they would all have heard about it.
"It is personal," Londo retorted, attempting to move the paper even farther out of reach.
G'Kar managed to retrieve it by virtue of being stronger and having longer arms. At first glance he had no idea why Londo would have been trying to hide this from him. It was simply a list of words. Then G'Kar -- who freely switched back and forth between English and Narn in his own notes, as well as being fluent in multiple dialects of Centauri -- realized the significance of what he was looking at: a list of words written in Narn and glossed in Centauri. And that was Londo's handwriting.
"Mollari," he said in dawning amazement, "are you learning Narn?"
"No!" Londo snapped, snatching it back so vehemently that he nearly knocked Delenn off the table. She quietly and gracefully slid to her feet and moved a few steps away, taking Sheridan by the elbow, to continue their conversation.
"You spelled 'tagrath' wrong. There are two 'a's in it. Extended 'a', not short 'nga' with the diacritic."
"It does not matter." Londo, pink to the ears, flipped the page over and placed several Centauri pages on top. "It is for a -- a dare, that is all."
"Mm'hm." His curiosity satisfied and then some, G'Kar pulled his own work in front of him and picked up his pen.
But he was unable to take his attention off Londo. In curious glances, G'Kar saw that Londo had lifted up the stack of papers with one hand and was quietly annotating with G'Kar's extra pen (all of Londo's own pens having, as usual, vanished), writing at an awkward angle to avoid having to expose any more of the paper than he had to.
"You know," G'Kar said casually, and Londo squawked a little, dropping the pen and the stack of pages. "As much as I commend you on your newfound interest in interspecies cultural exchange, the definition you have written there, for tagrath, is really not quite accurate. I suppose 'beauty' is not wrong, but there are heavy overtones of caution, especially in its noun form. 'The beautiful appeal of dangerous things,' perhaps. There is no direct Centauri equivalent that I know of."
"Yes, thank you for the linguistics lesson that I did not ask for," Londo said testily. He scrubbed with the edge of his sleeve at the ink he had spilled. "A little brivari will take this right out," he said to Delenn, who gave him a bright smile and moved with Sheridan all the way to the first row of seats.
G'Kar laid down his pen and leaned back in his seat. He turned to Londo, who promptly pushed the stack of pages halfway across the table. "I didn't intend to make you self-conscious," he said quietly. Londo gave him a look that was curious more than upset. It was still a little strange, learning when to push and parry, and when to be softer with him. Strange for both of them, he suspected.
"To be honest, it is an experiment more than anything else," Londo admitted, the sardonic front collapsing enough to show an oddly charming hint of uncertainty behind it. "If I am ever to read any of your scribblings, I suppose that one must begin with 'Dick and Jane run', yes?"
"You want to read my book?" G'Kar had no idea how he felt about that, the feelings were complex ones, but he was glad that Narn weren't visible blushers.
"No! I am curious, that is all."
"Hmm, well, it's more expedient to learn a language if you have someone to talk to, isn't it? I can't imagine you will have an easy time finding native Narn speakers to converse with."
Londo grinned, a quick flash of fangs. "You are volunteering to be my tutor?"
"Absolutely not," G'Kar said with horror that was only partly feigned. "But if you would care to bring that with you --" he nodded to the sheet, "and join me for a drink in the Zocalo after we are finished here, I can make some much-needed annotations to avoid any disastrous linguistic blunders. We do not need a new war starting now over your inadequate translations."
"I do not need your help --"
"At not starting wars? You very clearly do." While Londo stared at him open-mouthed, G'Kar added, "Of course you must reciprocate. My Centauri cursing is not all it could be."
"You --" Londo sputtered. "You think it will help with interstellar peace if I teach you new ways to insult my people?"
"I can teach you a few words you might hear in a Narn military barracks, but not in any book."
Londo sprang to his feet and stuck G'Kar's pen absentmindedly in his coat pocket. So that was where they kept going. "Delenn, Mr. President, I believe we are done here," he said, squaring his pages and slipping that particular one and a few more out of the stack. "As there is no new business, G'Kar and I are going to moisten our dry throats in the Zocalo."
"Yes, that's fine, goodbye," Sheridan said absently. He was sitting with Delenn now in the first row of vacated seats.
G'Kar reached back to grab a few blank pages and his own pen as well. There would surely be a need.