sakura_no_miko

Rating: PG

Pairing: gen, with background Dorian/Iron Bull

Warnings: some violence, body horror, enslavement

Other notes: original character, world-building, kid fic

Length: 6k

Summary: Imekari sometimes was ashamed of her horns; the other imekaris teased her and called her ox because of their unusual shape. But deep down she wanted to be proud of them, because her bearer's were wider and mightier, and he was proud of them for it.

Hissrad, his name was. Yes, she would be proud of them, just like he was, and she would grow big and strong and powerful to better serve the Qun.

Just like him.

My thoughts:

So, yeah, this is an original character fic. And I straight-up love it.

She’s — she’s just brilliant. I love her. Brilliant and kind and — man, I do love all the fics where Iron Bull is absolutely tormented over his choice to leave the Qun, but it’s equally amazing to see this young girl find the inner strength to do the same thing.

A tool. But wasn’t everyone in the Qun much of the same, she wondered. Demanded to be devoid of personal feelings, of personal wishes. Anything that benefited the individual and not the collective was not only frowned upon, but strictly forbidden, like Kost’s collection of pebbles, like Ashkaari’s happiness. The only difference was that they weren’t in chains, weren’t beat and forced to submit like the Saarebas were – that is, until you were sent to the reeducators.
Slowly, slowly, it all dawned on Ashkaari, like pieces of a puzzle that were slowly placed together. Deep down, what was being done to Kost was being done to all of them, only in a more subtle way, under the pretext that the individual didn’t matter, only the whole did.

Sometimes you forget how smart children are. Kids are the ones who ask, but why? Why do we do things this way? Why is this right? And sometimes — sometimes adults will lose that sense. You get wrapped up in your problems, in your place, in your people, in whatever it is that you hold on to to make yourself happy or strong. Why do we do this? Because everyone else does it, and I don’t want to stick out. Because we’ve always done it, and I can’t think of a better way.

Or, for Iron Bull — because you’ve already done horrible things to keep the status quo, and if it turns out that was the wrong choice, what was the point of all the terrible things you did?

So it’s nice to see a good, wholesome story, where the lead realizes something is wrong and does something about it — simply, innocently, but fiercely and with all her heart. Her friend is in danger and she’s gonna save him. Because she loves him. Because the rules are wrong. Because she sees a better way.

So good.

Here are a couple of other fics I really enjoyed with original character PoVs: Like a Tear Cast in Stone (AO3 mirror) is about a Vulcan woman who can’t understand Kirk and Spock’s relationship, and Hebe, Who is of Hera takes one of the background characters from the Trek reboot movies and basically creates an entire world for her.

Oh, and there are some excellent OC Stormtrooper fics that came out after Force Awakens. I’m so bitter they dropped, like, Finn’s whole story arc of escaping the Stormtroopers. Like, really, we’re just going back to wholesale shooting them like NPCs? Ugh. But, The Story of Finn is amazing, and its, um, child fic, Tomorrow (there’ll be more of us), and its grandchild fic, have you heard. (No, really, it’s so cool just to see a string of ‘fic inspired by’ links all in a row.)

And then As Much Power As a Word also has some background original Qunari characters dealing with escaping their homeland. I haven’t re-read that one, but it was on my favorites list.

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Originally crossposted to tumblr and pillowfort on 11/27/18

(Looking for more fic recs?)