Literary workout

Posted on Fri Apr 28th, 2017 @ 4:44pm by Lieutenant Hel Samedi & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Location: Gymnasium
Timeline: Slight backpost, before arrival at Presidium

The gym was quiet as Ziyal moved through the forms of the Coup de vitesse. It was an excellent striking form. It combined a cool sort of go for broke ferocity that she found useful. However, it was also a big person's form, one in which longer legs and arms were huge advantages. She practiced it because it covered a weakness she saw in Parkara Urbitsu. While it did have offense techniques, the focus of the form was breaking contact and evading a confrontation. It was weak against forms that managed to somehow pin you down. The forms were also easier and required less equipment and space. Something that was often at a premium on a ship.

The gym was about to become a little bit less quiet, as a pale human with near-white skin, black lips and eyes and a simple black outfit of sweat-pants and a tank top wandered int the exercise area. She was whistling a tune, almost dancing in step with the melody. Though when she saw the other woman in the gym she paused and smiled, simply leaning back against a wall and folding her arms over eachother, watching.

Ziyal moved through the form, finishing it turned away from Hel. Then she sprung backwards, landing on her hands and then twisting in the air to land once again facing Hel. "I hope you enjoyed the show." She said with a smile.

"I did." Hel smiled, pushing off the wall and giving a soft applause. "There's just something enchanting about a well-shaped humanoid body going through a set of exercises like that. I'm afraid I'm too ignorant in the ways of martial arts to recognise the form, but it certainly was something to behold." A hand offered in greet to the smaller woman. "Hel Samedi, assistant chief engineer."

Ziyal took the hand, shaking it firmly, "Ziyal Tajor, Chief of Strategic Operations. I was practicing the Coup, but the last bit was a bit of Parkara Urbitsu. What brings you down here? Besides watching me practice martial arts?" Ziyal said with a small smile.

"My daily exercise routine. It's nothing impressive just a warm up, a few laps, a set of push ups and finishing off with some jump rope." hel mused. "I have other ways to work off steam." she added with a smirk.

Ziyal smirked back. "Other ways? What sort of other ways?" She asked anything but innocently. "Like holodeck rock climbing, or free running?"

"Rock climbing, spelunking, parasailing, base jumping, bungee jumping, sailing rapids, things like that." Hel replied, starting her warm-up routine. "Or playing the guitar or singing, when the mood strikes. Or writing."

Ziyal joined her, following Hel's exercises. That is why Ziyal was in the Gym. "You sound like a versatile person, I've never been bungee jumping, tying yourself up and throwing yourself off a building never struck me as a good idea. Then again, I did enjoy base jumping, but in that, you have at least some control. What sort of writing do you enjoy?" She asked.

"I write psychological horror." Hel readily replied. "Had a few books published already. Working on my fifth novel now, tentatively called 'the desolation of Anise'." she offered. "I take it you're not a fan of being tied up then?"

Ziyal thought for a moment, "Not as the one being tied up, no, not my thing. Although I know my share of knots. What drew you to psycological horror? I'm not sure I read any books of it myself I must confess."

"I'm from a human colony where the concept of death is an accepted and integral part of every day life. It's very common on Asphodel to name children after old deities, personifications and harbingers of death. My sister and I are both named after ancient earth deities of death, for example." Hel explained, finishing her warm-up routine and started on her few laps of the facility. As she saw Ziyal keeping up and following her she continued.

"So that's the environment I grew up in. As I grew older and started watching more holovids and reading more books I got into horror in general and psychological horror in particular. The old works of Lovecraft, Poe and Tm'org, don't know if you've heard of them." her words were measured with her breath, which in turn followed the cadence of her jog. "I find the chance to explore the darkness in the humanoid psyche fascinating. We're all capable of horrible things, but we hide it behind a veneer of society and propriety. My stories are about what happens when this veneer gets chipped, starts giving way."

Ziyal shook her head, processing for a moment in silence as they worked out together. "Interesting, I don't know anything about Lovecraft or Tm'org. I do know a bit of Poe, but that's honestly limited to The Raven. Which I don't really know if it fits into that genre. To me, it seemed to be a meditation on the loss of a family member, Lenore. That one would nevermore see their loved one. I remember it as being flawed because there is no mention of his or her family, of how his loss fits into the larger picture of their loss."

"The loss is the catalyst of the desolation of the psyche, and the horror implied. Poe inspires me, but I don't pattern myself on him." Hel countered. "Profound loss is a very powerful emotional event. I often play with the idea that said loss is inadvertently caused by the survivor, the protagonist of my stories. This places a heavy guilt on top of a overwhelming loss, which in turn fuels the narrative."

Ziyal considered that for a moment as they worked out. "What sort of narrative might that be? I'm having a hard time imagining it. To me it seems the internal turmoil is only as relevant as it impacts their duty to their family or society. What one feels in isolation is kinda irrelevant." Ziyal said, thinking out loud.

Hel chuckled. "That's the Cardassian in you speaking. Duty to family and society is paramount in your society, but it's different for humans. For us, inner balance, real or perceived, is one of our main driving forces. That inner balance gives us the foundation on which everything else is built, including our capability to carry out our duties to family, society or ship." she mused, measuring her words with her breaths and her paces in one fluid harmony.

"Tell you a secret. For many humans, that inner balance is built on lies they tell themselves. My brand of psychological horror plays into that, what happens to someone who depends on inner balance to function when that inner balance gets upset and their lies and vulnerability exposed? The whole house of cards that is their carefully contructed identity comes crashing down." the pale engineer smiled. "This is probably why my books don't sell well on Cardassia, yet relatively well on Bajor."

Ziyal wasn't sure what she meant by that. She considered it as she pushed herself for a long moment. "Why is that, do you think that Bajorans are as likely to lie to themselves as humans?" She asked.

Hel paused a moment. "I didn't mean to imply that Bajorans lie to themselves the way Humans often do. Just that their spiritual nature makes them more relatable to Humans. Bajorans achieve inner balance through faith, humans through the pursuit of self, our own identity. I don't know how to explain it better, I'm just an engineer and an amateur writer, not a psychologist." She slowed down the pace as she spoke, eventually coming to a halt, panting slightly.

Ziyal slowed down and stopped to join Hel, panting slightly and sweating. She smiled at Hel, "I think if you are published and people all over the federation are reading your books, you are hardly an amateur. Me? I'm an amateur, the only thing I've tried to write is a cultural translation of something my grandfather wrote."

"I sold some books, but I'm hardly a professional. My day job is still engineering." Hel sat down, finding the conversation infinitely more interesting than her exercises. "What did he write?"

Ziyal sat down next to Hel, and considered for a moment how to summarize the novel before she began to explain. "He wrote a repetitive epic, the highest genre of Cardassian fiction. It's not a small or simple work by any standard. It covers seven generations living in the time when the Cardassian and Hebitian cultures were clashing. Two brothers founded two families, one embracing Cardassian values and one embracing Hebitian values. Through the generations, the cultures fight and so with one foot in each side, the family fights it's self. They constantly question and argue about which side of the family has the better values. Each side serves loyally their ideals. However, the ideals of the Hebitians ultimately destroys them and are welcomed into the Cardassian side of the family."

Ziyal paused, looking at Hel and trying to gauge her reaction. "Ok, that's perhaps not the best summary. It also has lots of subtle plots, secrets, action, and surprising twists. What you have to realize is that my Grandfather published it during a time when the people of my colony had a choice. We could either join the Federation or leave and remain with the Union. In the novel, the 'Cardassian' side actually represents the Federation. The 'Hebitian' side actually represents the Union. While everyone in my colony read it and understood it and it is a truly great work of fiction. It was deemed as seditious by the Union and no one in the Federation really wants to read a repetitive epic."

Hel was missing a contept or two, though she found the ideas described intruiging. "What's a 'repetitive epic'? It sounds very long. But if the intruige and narrative are interesting enough, even very long epics can be fascinating to read." she mused.

Ziyal nodded, "Always long, and almost always covering more than one generation. It's not really good one until it's covered at least three generations. They are typically historical, given the time frames involved. One could easily cover roughly the entire history of the Federation. So the overall plot might go something like Archer becomes a starship captain, faithfully serves the federation for his entire life and then dies. His son, also Captain Archer, becomes a starship captain, faithfully serves the Federation and dies. His grandson. does the exact same thing, all the way down to the present where the latest captain Archer is still serving as captain. While I've found them fascinating, most humans find them boring."

"Well, I'm not most humans." Hel smirked, before turning more serious. "I wouldn't mind giving one a try some time. Won't promise I'll finish it, just that I'll start it and give it an honest try." the pale woman offered, turning over and lying down, starting on her set of push-ups. "Tell you what - one - I give you one of my best - two - selling novels, you give - three - me one of the best regarded Cardassian - four - repetitive epics. How's - five - that sound? Six." Her form was adequate at best - she was an engineer, exercising to keep in shape, but still far from a gym bunny.

Ziyal turned over with Hel, taking up position beside Hel. Pushing up and down in time with her. "Seven - sounds like - eight - a good - nine - idea to me - ten. - "