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joiedecombatI need to actually watch more of Destiny before I start writing fics within its continuity, but they do so little with Neo/Murrue that this probably isn't overstepping canon appreciably.
Still kind of planning to try to Fix Neo In Fanfic - or at least Explain Neo In Fanfic, which is not the same thing exactly - but this is not really part of that effort so much as something that just wandered into my head between what scenes Destiny actually gives the two characters.
I will have to check canon before I actually post it anywhere else, but in the meantime, here it is, because why not.
"Is there anything that you need?" she asked him, and Neo left off fussing with the cord tethering his wrists to give her a hard, suspicious look, searching her face for smugness or mockery.
She looked patiently back at him with mild brown eyes, her brows raised slightly in inquiry. She meant it, he realized. What kind of ship's captain bothered herself with the wants of a prisoner?
The temptation to ask for something unreasonable, to find out just how accomodating she was willing to be, proved too great. Neo lifted his bound wrists to display the cord that restrained him, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk. "Getting this taken off would be good."
She smiled, with visible regret that baffled him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm afraid I can't do that for you. You might be dangerous if I let you loose." There was something glimmering in the way she looked at him that made the mocking grin fall away from his face. "Is there something else that you need?"
Her subtle emphasis on the "else" made him think she knew exactly why he'd asked. He tried to decide if she was remarkably perceptive, or foolishly naive.
In any case, she was watching him for an answer again, and there was no sense in wasting an opportunity so generously handed to him. When he stopped to think it over seriously, though, Neo found that - aside from his freedom and a fully powered mobile suit - he couldn't think of much of anything he really needed that hadn't already been provided.
Except--
"My mask," he said.
Her brows drew together in confusion. "What?"
"My mask," he repeated impatiently, reaching up to describe its shape in the air with his hands only to have them pulled up short by the tether. "I was wearing it in the Windam."
"...Oh," she said quietly. "I - thought that was a helmet. I'm sorry, but we didn't bring it on board. We were more concerned with..." She hesitated. "...your injuries."
Of course. He'd begun to settle back, looking away from her with a disgusted sigh, before the full significance of her words occurred to him and he sat up straight again, ignoring the protests of abused muscle and bone.
I thought that was a helmet, she'd said; we didn't bring it on board. The captain went down personally to retrieve a wounded enemy from the battlefield?
What kind of a ship is this?
Her voice intruded gently onto his thoughts. "Why do you need a mask?"
The question brought his eyes sharply back to her, but still there was nothing but mild curiosity on her face - curiosity and that baffling trace of concern. Are you blind? he wanted to snap at her; couldn't she see the scars?
Why do you care? he wanted to demand.
But she just looked at him, her eyes meeting his without evasion, without any effort to avoid looking at the scar tissue. He was the one who looked away.
"At least it would keep the people here from calling me by someone else's name and rank," he grumbled.
"...I'll speak to them about that," she said after a moment of hesitation. "But I can't promise that everyone will listen. Mwu was - Commander la Fllaga was--" her voice dropped away to almost nothing "--very well thought of."
"They won't listen to you?" he wondered sardonically. "Aren't you the captain?"
She smiled again, but it only made her look sad. "It's not that kind of ship."
Unexpectedly, Neo felt faintly ashamed for saying anything.
"If you really want a mask," she said, sounding just slightly uncertain, "I'm sure that we can probably arrange for something...?"
"It's fine," he said curtly, looking down at his bound hands.
"In that case, please excuse me. I have to be getting back to work." She didn't wait for him to answer - not that he meant to - but simply inclined her nead with almost formal politeness, and strode out of the infirmary a little too briskly.
Left alone again, Neo ducked his head so that he could rub his fingers over the ridges of scarring that cross his face.
What's with this ship?
Still kind of planning to try to Fix Neo In Fanfic - or at least Explain Neo In Fanfic, which is not the same thing exactly - but this is not really part of that effort so much as something that just wandered into my head between what scenes Destiny actually gives the two characters.
I will have to check canon before I actually post it anywhere else, but in the meantime, here it is, because why not.
"Is there anything that you need?" she asked him, and Neo left off fussing with the cord tethering his wrists to give her a hard, suspicious look, searching her face for smugness or mockery.
She looked patiently back at him with mild brown eyes, her brows raised slightly in inquiry. She meant it, he realized. What kind of ship's captain bothered herself with the wants of a prisoner?
The temptation to ask for something unreasonable, to find out just how accomodating she was willing to be, proved too great. Neo lifted his bound wrists to display the cord that restrained him, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk. "Getting this taken off would be good."
She smiled, with visible regret that baffled him. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm afraid I can't do that for you. You might be dangerous if I let you loose." There was something glimmering in the way she looked at him that made the mocking grin fall away from his face. "Is there something else that you need?"
Her subtle emphasis on the "else" made him think she knew exactly why he'd asked. He tried to decide if she was remarkably perceptive, or foolishly naive.
In any case, she was watching him for an answer again, and there was no sense in wasting an opportunity so generously handed to him. When he stopped to think it over seriously, though, Neo found that - aside from his freedom and a fully powered mobile suit - he couldn't think of much of anything he really needed that hadn't already been provided.
Except--
"My mask," he said.
Her brows drew together in confusion. "What?"
"My mask," he repeated impatiently, reaching up to describe its shape in the air with his hands only to have them pulled up short by the tether. "I was wearing it in the Windam."
"...Oh," she said quietly. "I - thought that was a helmet. I'm sorry, but we didn't bring it on board. We were more concerned with..." She hesitated. "...your injuries."
Of course. He'd begun to settle back, looking away from her with a disgusted sigh, before the full significance of her words occurred to him and he sat up straight again, ignoring the protests of abused muscle and bone.
I thought that was a helmet, she'd said; we didn't bring it on board. The captain went down personally to retrieve a wounded enemy from the battlefield?
What kind of a ship is this?
Her voice intruded gently onto his thoughts. "Why do you need a mask?"
The question brought his eyes sharply back to her, but still there was nothing but mild curiosity on her face - curiosity and that baffling trace of concern. Are you blind? he wanted to snap at her; couldn't she see the scars?
Why do you care? he wanted to demand.
But she just looked at him, her eyes meeting his without evasion, without any effort to avoid looking at the scar tissue. He was the one who looked away.
"At least it would keep the people here from calling me by someone else's name and rank," he grumbled.
"...I'll speak to them about that," she said after a moment of hesitation. "But I can't promise that everyone will listen. Mwu was - Commander la Fllaga was--" her voice dropped away to almost nothing "--very well thought of."
"They won't listen to you?" he wondered sardonically. "Aren't you the captain?"
She smiled again, but it only made her look sad. "It's not that kind of ship."
Unexpectedly, Neo felt faintly ashamed for saying anything.
"If you really want a mask," she said, sounding just slightly uncertain, "I'm sure that we can probably arrange for something...?"
"It's fine," he said curtly, looking down at his bound hands.
"In that case, please excuse me. I have to be getting back to work." She didn't wait for him to answer - not that he meant to - but simply inclined her nead with almost formal politeness, and strode out of the infirmary a little too briskly.
Left alone again, Neo ducked his head so that he could rub his fingers over the ridges of scarring that cross his face.
What's with this ship?
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 06:26 pm (UTC)I do need to watch Destiny eventually so that I can attempt my own Fixing of Neo, someday. It's just...augh. About the one thing I agree with that I've heard of about Neo is the way he "remembered" Murrue--which makes sense, since in Mwu's mind Murrue is so firmly linked to the sense of home he'd found on the Archangel.
It's not that I think Mwu is too nice to ever wind up as one of the bad guys--one of the reasons I love him is that he does have an inner conflict between being a good soldier and being a good human being. His instinct is to be a good soldier first, but he's always done his best to align that with being a good human being, and as the series progresses, more and more when the two come into conflict, he consciously chooses to be a good human being instead of a good soldier. The concept of, essentially, dark!Mwu is a rich one, but it needs work instead of being handled so cavalierly. Making him into a bad guy can be done, but it would require rewinding all his character development in SEED and then pushing him hard the other way. "They brainwashed him" is a good (if cliched) starting place, but there needs to be more detail, and I get the feeling Destiny didn't provide that. Plus, his death at the end of SEED meant something blah blah you know the drill.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 07:17 pm (UTC)So it doesn't really work.
Thus, Explaining Neo In Fanfic. Which I will of course want your opinion on, given that you have a better grasp of Mwu's characterization than I do, but at the moment it's still in draft form and lacking one more scene because I need to get a better sense of how Djibril acts and Neo's general place in the EAF. Dammit.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-27 11:42 pm (UTC)So, the idea of the mask to conceal his face. I like the idea that you have of him wearing it to hide his scars.
My two cents....
Date: 2006-05-27 11:51 pm (UTC)They /needed/ him. He knew this and felt responsible for them, for taking care of them as much as he possibly could. I always liked the comment of one of the scientists to Neo, in...uh....episode 22, I believe. His warning to Neo about having feelings for the trio always struck a cord with me, because he /cares/. I really can't decide if he's a big brother or a father figure to them, but the protective instinct is there either way.
Of course, you've heard this rambling before. (Waaatch Destiny. o/~)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-28 12:22 am (UTC)In any case, my actual notion is only that he believes that he wears the mask to hide the scars, and that it really has at least as much to do with not being able to look himself in the eye.
But that's a subject for another fic.