Acorn_Squash (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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trope_of_the_month2025-02-22 01:01 pm
acorn_squash) wrote in trope_of_the_month2025-02-22 01:01 pm
Entry tags:
Ten Sentences, Fic, Temeraire
Title: Ten Sentences
Creator: Acorn_Squash
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Characters/Pairings: Catherine Harcourt & Lily, Matthew Berkley & Maximus, Excidium & Rolands, William Laurence & Temeraire, Lung Tien Lien & Prince Yongxing, Iskierka & John Granby, Lethabo & Kefentse, Arthur Hammond & Churki, Lung Tien Ning
Rating: G
Word Count: 365
Prompt: None
Summary: Ten stories, one sentence each, about humans with dragon soulmates.
Warnings: Canon-typical references to chattel slavery, physical abuse, and discrimination against a character with albinism.
“I named her Lily after my mark; it’s traditional,” Captain Harcourt explains, “if you haven’t met your mate already — it’s supposed to bind you together.”
Berkeley’s parents had no choice but to send him to the Corps, with a mark like his, which he always took as a sign that he’d make captain one day; he was relieved, however, to be assigned to a Regal Copper, as custom obligated him to bestow the name upon any beast he received, and he didn't like the idea of a courier-weight dragon named Maximus.
When she looks at her daughter's wrist and sees how it perfectly matches her own, down to the hasty slash of the X and the sharp curve of the C, Roland knows Excidium will be in good hands.
It’s by accident that Laurence’s arm is bared, his sleeve falling away to reveal the characters he's never been able to read, but he assumes the reaction of the diplomats to be disproportionate — until Hammond gets a look and exclaims that the first two characters are “Lung Tien,” celestial dragon —
He didn't have to call her Lien, didn't have to entangle their fates by giving her the name on his arm, but he chose her, saw her unlucky pallor and tied her life to his own.
Granby is about to give the dragonet her name when she interrupts him and names herself; he rolls back his sleeve, shocked, and traces the letters he already knew were there: Iskierka.
Lethabo is marked all over by brands, whipping scars, burns, but the original mark remains, despite the abuse to the skin: Kefentse, her grandfather.
Lethabo wondered what it meant that her daughters were marked too, wondered why they were tied to the homeland she could barely remember, and then she went back and she wondered no longer.
At the first opportunity, Hammond offers up his wrist and lets the raised bumps and bright colors be examined; he doesn’t know what to think when the man reads, “Churki.”
The hatchling refused to choose a name for herself until she had opportunity to examine the marks of the most interesting prospective companions, and her parents laughed at her audacity.
Creator: Acorn_Squash
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Characters/Pairings: Catherine Harcourt & Lily, Matthew Berkley & Maximus, Excidium & Rolands, William Laurence & Temeraire, Lung Tien Lien & Prince Yongxing, Iskierka & John Granby, Lethabo & Kefentse, Arthur Hammond & Churki, Lung Tien Ning
Rating: G
Word Count: 365
Prompt: None
Summary: Ten stories, one sentence each, about humans with dragon soulmates.
Warnings: Canon-typical references to chattel slavery, physical abuse, and discrimination against a character with albinism.
“I named her Lily after my mark; it’s traditional,” Captain Harcourt explains, “if you haven’t met your mate already — it’s supposed to bind you together.”
Berkeley’s parents had no choice but to send him to the Corps, with a mark like his, which he always took as a sign that he’d make captain one day; he was relieved, however, to be assigned to a Regal Copper, as custom obligated him to bestow the name upon any beast he received, and he didn't like the idea of a courier-weight dragon named Maximus.
When she looks at her daughter's wrist and sees how it perfectly matches her own, down to the hasty slash of the X and the sharp curve of the C, Roland knows Excidium will be in good hands.
It’s by accident that Laurence’s arm is bared, his sleeve falling away to reveal the characters he's never been able to read, but he assumes the reaction of the diplomats to be disproportionate — until Hammond gets a look and exclaims that the first two characters are “Lung Tien,” celestial dragon —
He didn't have to call her Lien, didn't have to entangle their fates by giving her the name on his arm, but he chose her, saw her unlucky pallor and tied her life to his own.
Granby is about to give the dragonet her name when she interrupts him and names herself; he rolls back his sleeve, shocked, and traces the letters he already knew were there: Iskierka.
Lethabo is marked all over by brands, whipping scars, burns, but the original mark remains, despite the abuse to the skin: Kefentse, her grandfather.
Lethabo wondered what it meant that her daughters were marked too, wondered why they were tied to the homeland she could barely remember, and then she went back and she wondered no longer.
At the first opportunity, Hammond offers up his wrist and lets the raised bumps and bright colors be examined; he doesn’t know what to think when the man reads, “Churki.”
The hatchling refused to choose a name for herself until she had opportunity to examine the marks of the most interesting prospective companions, and her parents laughed at her audacity.
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Oh, I love these!
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