Two Tiny S&S ficlets (Synergy, and Separation)

[thisbluespirit]

These have been lurking in my notebook since June or July, and were literally my reactions to the ending of Assignment Three and the middle of Assignment Six. I'm never sure whether this sort of introspective thing should actually count as fic. (When it's me. Other people's do, obviously.)

I'd typed up the first, but I managed the second unexpectedly at the end of fic_rush, so here they both are. OT3ish, but in the invisible way that I am with these things. Possibly spoilers for Six, but hard to say, really.


Synergy
All ages, 133 words.
Silver, Sapphire, Steel; at the end of the assignment. (Assignment Three)

***

They were a living circle now: hands gripped tightly about each other’s wrists, escaping in a moment of light and darkness through space and time. To one side, Sapphire had Steel, his hold on her tight and strong. She rested on the sureness of his being, that which was always with her. On the other side, Silver shone in her thoughts: his admiration, the ways in which their thoughts met, and parted; the games they played. She knew, too, her own presence in them, reflected back to her, and theirs in each other – Silver and Steel, in unwilling fascination and shared purpose. It was a pattern uniquely theirs – a dance in eternity.

On the other side, they separated hands, but Sapphire could not so easily disentangle their thoughts, nor could she wish to.

***



Separation
All ages, 544 words.
Separate them, Steel had said. Sapphire, Silver, Steel; a moment in mid-Assignment Six (and therefore mild spoilers). Also apologies for a painfully obvious poetry quote.

***

Something is broken; she has broken something. She can feel an approaching threat, an inescapable fate closing in, and she is alone.

Separate them, Steel had said, but quietly it is they who have been separated. She can see that now, and it is a piece of knowledge that falls on her as a frost.

Silver is in sight, but her suspicion has put him out of her reach, and her doubts linger. Steel is her surety, but she cannot see him nor sense him. She is alone, separate, silent.

There are human words she has picked up once before that echo now in her mind:

Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side:
“The curse is come upon me…”

Sapphire only feels the coldness of space closing in around her.

*

They can’t get out without him, so he will wait, Silver thinks. So can they, until he is ready, now that they have closed their minds against him, and left him on the outside. What is it the humans say? They have such expressive phrases – out of the loop, left out in the cold, and talked about behind his back. All he has done is what he was made to do; he did not ask to be sent.

And there is something else here; a darkness, a gathering sense of danger. He knows it, and he is afraid; more than he cares to admit as he waits and watches, and pretends that he isn't. He isn’t an operative; he isn’t brave and calm and forceful in the face of threats. He must rely on them for that. And he cannot be sure, not from here, that the darkness isn’t in the other two. It has been known before. It will be again. He doesn’t believe it of Sapphire or Steel, but he can’t be certain. They are a mystery to each other. In that lies the fascination, and also the fear.

Silver ignores the humans (if humans they are; things are growing stranger here) and finds a teaspoon to occupy his mind – a teaspoon has the potential to become a myriad other, more interesting things in his hands.

He can wait. They can’t get out without him.

The flipside of the coin, that he won’t even let his mind glance at, is that he’s almost sure the reverse is true this time.

*

Steel walks outside in the gloom. There is something here – someone, or somebody; he can’t be sure. He follows the sounds, but sees nothing different anywhere.

He pauses, thinking of Silver and Sapphire, and what has been said. He has learned to be guided by her instincts, but he is slow to give his trust and does not take it back lightly. There is something else; he feels irritably aware of it, but can make out nothing more. He doesn’t have the same sensitivity to these things that Sapphire has – Silver, too, in his own way.

And now, when he tries to find the other two in his thoughts, they are no longer there. In this strange place, there is only the silence, and the night that has no time of its own.

Steel is not prone to fears and fancies. He takes the prosaic route – back inside to find them.

***


(I've just kind of worked out that they're like the prose version of the fanvid I'm currently working on. It's very odd.)

Comments

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Oh, beautiful! I love both of these. The first one is a perfect little gem (quite appropriate for Sapphire *g* -- well, I say that as a pun only, as I don't know the show well enough to know how in-character it is, but I feel I know the characters better now through these fanfics, if that makes any sense). And the second one is, well, I just said it, it does a great job of conveying three different characters' reactions to the same situation, and thereby telling us (me) more about the characters. Both fics are also very well written, with wonderful turns of phrase.

So you have now got me interested in trying out Sapphire & Steel again, but this time I want to watch an episode with Silver in it (he wasn't in the episodes I tried out). Do you have any recommendations?

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you so much! (And, :lol:, yes, i could have written them totally WRONG. But nicely, obviously, as I trust your judgement. :-D)

Heh, Silver is only in Assignments 3 and 6, so it would have to be one of those... and they are the weirdest two! With S&S it probably might even be quite cool to start at the end and work backwards, but logic suggests A3, really, because it's Silver's introduction, so 6 follows on from that, as far as anything ever does with S&S. (Although Silver is in it for 3 and a half episodes out of 6, so you have to wait a bit for him to turn up.) Although it's an odd one. And has the Evil Pillow.

(There is so little S&S anyway, really. Assignment 1 gives the most explanations we ever get, and has Lead; Assignment 2 is probably the best and the most chilling, and is v cool; 3 has Silver!, 4 you saw; 5 is random and almost like normal TV; and 6 makes no sense. In a cool way.)

[dbskyler.livejournal.com]

Ack, I just checked Netflix, and they are inexplicably no longer offering S&S! Except for Assignment 1, for some reason. Should I watch Assignment 1 under the assumption that having the additional explanations will contribute to my enjoyment of Assignment 3, assuming I ever get the chance to watch Assignment 3?

Netflix does have a way for you to tell it when you want to watch something that they don't offer, so I have clicked that button. Don't know if that'll convince them to bring the other episodes of S&S back, though. I have no idea what they did with the DVDs they used to have. I mean, I know they used to own them, because they used to offer them for rent. I even once had one in my house, and I will vouch for the fact that it existed. Surely it's not a huge expense for Netflix to just keep the DVDs around on the off-chance that someone will ask for them someday? Did they sell them off or something? Anyway, it's very annoying!

[thisbluespirit]

Heh, well, you could try Assignment 1 - starting at the beginning is always a good thing! And they do mention Silver, and there is Lead, who is also fun in his own way. Assignment 1 is quite interesting, because they started out with the idea of making a children's sf/fantasy show, but halfway through preparing to make ir they decided it should be an adult/family thing and made it much scarier - but you can still see the definite children's show start. It has quite a different feel to the others (you may find this hard to believe, but it's a bit slower as well...) & a lead child character.

(And if Netflix refuses to oblige, there are at least two people who have the entire series up on YouTube at the moment. Silver is out there.)

Not having ever been a part of Netflix, I wouldn't know for sure, but having loaned out books for a long time, I would say that the most likely explanation is that the other DVDs got lost, stolen or damaged and they didn't feel they were borrowed enough to replace them (or weren't available at that time). Or the others weren't going out enough and were therefore got rid of/sold off. (Everyone borrows A1, goes urgh! What is this? and sends it back? :lol:)

[thisbluespirit]

I realise that doesn't make A1 sound v good at all, but it is quite cool getting the strangeness of S&S introduced through the eyes of a young character, there are creepy nursery rhymes, ghostly roundheads, a house full of clocks, and David McCallum makes the children cry. And it does introduce us to Sapphire & Steel - their abilities, what they do, who and what are the other Elements (and they have a good gossip about them with Lead, which is where Silver gets a namecheck).

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Very nice. Very nice indeed. :) I like the insights into the character's relationships and especially the feeling of uncertainty and mistrust and looming danger in the second one. Good stuff.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you. :-)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I was thinking after I posted the above comment...what would the 80s UNIT team make of S&S showing up in one of their investigations? As long as nothing unpleasant and timey-wimey happened to any of Our Heroes, naturally. ;)

[thisbluespirit]

:lol: I kind of thought of that, too (you'll be shocked to learn) only with Nat and Tilly post-UNIT (aside from the missing adventure, I really am done with my 1980s UNIT team, go me). I couldn't imagine it going well, it has to be said. I don't think they'd approve of people not being in their right time at all.

You're evil, you know that? ;-)

(Oh, yes, you DO know that, I forgot.)

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

I am occasionally reminded of it, yes. ;)

Actually, though, I hadn't considered the full ramifications of that. You're quite right - if Sapphire and Steel were coming into 80s UNIT, they'd be coming for Tilly... Nooo! Nat had better play a blinder, possibly with help from Sarah Jane and "retired" Col Crichton, is all I'll say (in fact, you might have to get the Doctor in, just to be safe).

[thisbluespirit]

No more 1980s UNIT, apart from the missing story. It is done. :Lol: I actually mean that, for once. Although, if I get well enough, I'll write you a short story for your birthday in which Sergeant Kennedy gets killed by Cybermen, even if it messes up continuity.

:-p

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Well, it was worth a try... ;D

Can he actually come back as a Cyberman himself and then somehow break his programming like Yvonne Hartman managed to do in Doomsday, only instead of shooting and stuff he'd be making tea and getting in disagreements with Nat, and...

[thisbluespirit]

And if I ever write scary Nat-and-Tilly/S&S fic, I will blame you. ;-)

And, no, it's the 1980s; they'd be 1980s Cybermen and none of that sort of stuff would be allowed.

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

'Tis a fair cop, guv'nor. :)

No, 80s were of the pretty no-nonsense hand-crushing sort (witness Brian Glover et al dying horribly in Attack of the Cybermen), so...no. Ah well.

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I really like how the two pieces are opposite in nature. The first is how they should be - all linked, working together - and I think Sapphire finds that comforting. The second, all I can think is "divided we fall". I love their different takes on it too. Sapphire's solitude and the hint of fear; Silver's insecurity, and Steel thinking, "Right, get back in there and let's fix this." He's the one who'll pull them back together, the one who won't be distracted by his feelings.

Really nicely written. Thanks for sharing.

[thisbluespirit]

Thank you! That was exactly my initial reaction to them and to those two moments, and I'm so glad it came across - and that someone else sees them that way, too. :-) Steel is kind of the anchor in that trio, and I think you're right, I think Sapphire definitely likes having them both!

[belantana.livejournal.com]

Ooooh *shivers* I love these! Especially Silver in the second one - I was just thinking it was getting quite Spooks-like with danger and intrigue and endless nervous waiting, and then he distracts himself with a teaspoon, which is somehow amusing without cancelling out the danger and intrigue and etc. I am always in awe how you do this!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, thank you. And once again I am in awe at your patience and willingness to read almost anything I write!! :lol: (One day I will write something you actually know again. At some point. At least a drabble or something. Honest.)

And... I don't know, I think that's kind of what Silver does in the show - lightens the moment but remains also sinister/mysterious, or at risk. I couldn't say I did that on purpose - I have been told before that I capture characters well, and all I try to do is write something they would do. Maybe it's just that? But thank you! Compliments! :-) And, I love the growing sense of doom in Assignment 6, so, heh. Hurrah.