"Later On, When the Night's Not so Tender..."

[psalm_onethirtyone]

I was looking at paintings from the Uffizi gallery to-day, and I just kept thinking, they all look so young, the martyrs. And I know that's part of it, of course, that the sacrifice is tragic not least because they have so much life to life, but still. Saint Sebastian especially; so young, such young faces. I want to hide them somewhere safe.

Also: A poem about dragons, largely for skaryma and tiamatschild. Is not utterly beautiful and tender?

Dragon
Karla Kuskin

Let me tell you about me.
Children love me,
You're a child.
All my heads are green and handsome.
All my eyes are red and wild.
All my toes have claws upon them.
All the claws have hooks.
I blow smoke through all my noses.
It is hotter than it looks.
All my tails have points upon them.
All my teeth are sharp and blue.
I won't bite you very badly.
I am fond of you.
All my scales are shaped like arrows.
They will hurt you if you touch.
So, although I know you love me,
Do not pet me very much.

Comments

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've always loved that one. I used to read it to my brother when he was a baby, over and over and over. It is terribly gentle, so kind.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

It makes me curl inside with love.

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

It always made me ache a little, just a little, with the unfairness of loving children and children loving but petting being out of bounds because of such a thing as scales.

But I was always a peculiar child.

(At this precise moment it is, weirdly, making me think of Jik, which doesn't make much sense.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Yes. That's sad.

♥

(...Not to me. XD)

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

(I have no clue. Maybe because it's the sort of thing he'd tease Pyanfar about. Of course, he teases Pyanfar about everything.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

(*giggles* He sounds awful, you know. In a wonderful way.)

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

(Oh, he is. He is a horrible, horrible man who likes getting Pyanfar bristle at him.

His partner may be even worse.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

(...you never mentioned a partner!)

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

(Oh! Well, Jik works with a very charming and very annoying fellow mahe named Goldtooth. Unfortunately, we never get to see them interact without Pyanfar there, but they're clearly fond of each other. And Goldtooth's hilarious - he's just absolutely awful a lot of the time, in some ways I think he's more ruthless than Jik is, and very much better at avoiding Pyanfar tongue lashings.

One of the funniest scenes in all the books is the start of the second book, where Pyanfar runs into Goldtooth on a dock at Meetpoint Station and they proceed to have this giant argument which mostly consists of him being relentlessly good humored at her and her cursing him out.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

(...I want. ^____^)

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

:D :D :D Pyanfar and her relationships with the two mahendo’sat captains are great fun.

The encounter of old friends was common enough on Meetpoint Station, where half a dozen species came to trade; and one such old friend came walking Pyanfar Chanur’s way when she had no more than put The Pride in dock… … …She spied a dark furred, all but naked shape: mahendo’sat – ordinary encounter anywhere on Meetpoint. But this one flung wide his arms. His eyes lit up, his broad mahen face broke into a charming grin that showed blunt primate fangs all capped in gold.

“Pyanfar!” he cried.

“You!” Pyanfar stopped dead in her tracks. “You!” She slapped aside the offered embrace and stalked past at a good clip, to make the mahendo’sat exert himself.

“Ha, hani captain,” the mahe called after her. “You want deal?”

She turned about again, planted hands on hips and let the mahe overtake her against all better judgement. A heavy hand descended on her shoulder and the mahe resumed his gilt-edged grin.

“Long time,” Goldtooth said.

“Gods rot you, don’t grin at me. You want a smile from me, you mahen bastard? How’d you get in port?”

Aaaand that’s pretty much the first page. It goes on like that. :D

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

...massive, helpless GLEE.

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

They are SO cute! Goldtooth cracks me up. And so does Jik. And Pyanfar. And, well, all of them. Pyanfar's got fantastic relationships with her crew, too - like her oldest friend and second in command, Haral, who she used to get into massive trouble with on the docks back when they were both junior crew. Now they're totally comfortable with each other, they know each other all through. It's wonderful. There's one scene where Pyanfar's totally strung out and exhausted and so's Haral and they're leaning on each other and Pyanfar says, "I'm too old for this," and Haral just says, "Aye," and <3.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh. They all just sound wonderful. NANNI I DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ MORE BOOKS.

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

I am a horrible person myself!

And Tully! Tully who everyone on the Pride is totally weak to - and who messes with their conceptions of gender, and who hugs Pyanfar despite the fact that this generally has her going "What the hell? Off! Off! Cease your heathen hugging ways!"

Pyanfar is always very glad when Tully decides not to argue, because she frequently ends up giving in when he does.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

YES YOU ARE. *fallsdown*

Bweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Omg I want.

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

Although I will never reach Jik's level of horribleness. :D

:D :D :D :D (And Chur and Geran, the Anify sisters - Anify's a clan closely related to Chanur, from the mountains - who are the tiniest, prettiest, deadliest members of the crew. Most of the crew's actually fairly tall, as hani women go, which means they're short as far as the rest of the world is concerned, but still, but Geran and Chur are short and more lightly built and incredibly gorgeous by hani standards. Geran's quieter, always at Chur's back, always backing her up, though she'll make jokes too, and tease, and Chur is bright and laughing and teasing. But Pyanfar notes a few times that there deep, dark wells in both of them, particularly in Chur, for all Geran's the one who's likely to show threat outwardly.

Chur sort of adopts Tully. He'd do anything for her.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Oh, suuuuuuuuuure.

Oh, guh, squee. Tell me about Tully!

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

No, seriously! Jik is mahendo'sat! He has a whole species worth of teasing the people you like for fun and profit behind him!

Tully is tall, from a hani perspective, and blond, and insanely, incredibly brave. He spends pretty much the entire series with a language barrier, although he does manage to communicate it's never perfect and he has difficulty getting a lot of things across. He keeps insisting on working, on being crew - which occasionally drives Pyanfar crazy, because yes, she respects his need to be useful, but WHY does everyone on her ship seem incapable of understanding that when you're beat up you should rest? Tully has his reasons, of course - one of the things that you can figure out if you've read the rest of the books in this universe is that Tully is probably from a family merchant ship, like Fletcher Neihart, and has probably recently lost his relatives to the kif. He works so hard at communicating, although he still ends up spending a lot of the time silently going "what? what?" because of course while he's trying to pick up the language it's not easy.

Pyanfar is pretty sure he understands a lot more than he talks, which would make sense. At one point in the second book he tells Pyanfar that he tried to explain to his government about the knnn and the kif, but they wouldn't listen - no one listens to him. Which is kind of funny because he's been trying to talk to Pyanfar for at least a day by that time and she's been too busy rushing around.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Stiiiiiiiiiill. <3333

Oh, wibble. Aww. Man, these books clearly have the best characters evar.

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

Cherryh does awesome characters in general - I mean, Grant and Ari and Justin and Catlin and Florian and Jane and Yanni are all from the same novel by her - but the Chanur ones are particularly adorable.

Khym is awesome and wonderful too. Total romantic, crazy in love with Pyanfar, has been for forty years, and just. Kind and funny and generous and steady. He and Tully like each other, to the general surprise of most people. :) Hani men are socialized to not get on with other men.

(Most of the crew crushes on Khym, and the sole exception, Hilfy, Pyanfar's niece, adores him and fusses over him like he was her father - Hilfy's her father's favorite daughter, loves him dearly, and misses him horribly, so this isn't surprising.)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

*bibbles happily*

[mhari.livejournal.com]

(It's the bit about blowing smoke, innit? XD)

[tiamatschild.livejournal.com]

(Ahahahaha. :D

Actually, now that I've slept on it, I think it might actually be a quality of the diction and the "I won't bite you very badly // I am fond of you". Ha! says Pyanfar, and starts grumbling about double dealing mahe.)

[theatre-angel.livejournal.com]

I'm always upset by people who die young. In some sense, I know I shouldn't be, but it doesn't make it any less awful.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

It seems so wrong.

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

Cuuuute.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

XD

*glomps*

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

I'm never sure how I feel about poetry (or martyrs, for that matter), but I like that one. :D

Also, you should come onliiiiine *whine whine whine*

*and love, of course*

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

I hate most poetry, because I am heathen, but I do find ones I love. ^_^ (martyrs most certainly die too young.)

Oh, heck with you. XD

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

I like the rhyming ones..! *hides* (that's from a song..!)

Whaaaat. XD

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Me too! (you win at life. <333)

I don't waaaaaaant to get ooooonliiiine.

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

:D (don't I just?)

But you just can't resist me..! Plus, no one else is on. I have no one to talk to and it's the oooone night of the week I can stay up laaaate...

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

(you really, really do.)

I know, I can't. XD It's awful. So here I am, to rescue you from boredom.

[snowyofthenight.livejournal.com]

(:D)

My hero..!

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

♥!

[tomecatti.livejournal.com]

When you're young is also when you're idealistic and willing to martyr yourself.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I think you can be old and willing to give yourself for something you believe in, too.

[tomecatti.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, of course you can ^^;;; It's just more common in youth. It's next most common in really old people (I'd guess), and least common in the middle-aged. (most common in the middle ages?)

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Those darn middle-aged people! Can't go and martyr themselves like decent folk, nooooooo, they have to go off and have affairs and buy Feraris!

[tomecatti.livejournal.com]

Do you know that I love you? <333

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

How curious! I love you!

[nowgoesquickly.livejournal.com]

That was too adorable.

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Isn't it wonderful? ^_^

[talissarocsham.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful one. I thought I found all the sweetest dragon poems when I did a set of them at school, but keep finding more! Quite beautiful. ♥

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

Really? What all did you find when you did that? ^___^

[tinyammmy]

Aw. *melts*

[rainbowjehan.livejournal.com]

^____^!