Firefly Double Drabble: "Road to Emmaus"

[alixtii]

Title: Road to Emmaus
Fandom: Firefly/Serenity
Word Count: 200
Author's Note: For the first 20weeks challenge, "Anticipation." We were supposed to produce a work of art on that theme using one of the ten Serenity characters. I chose Shepherd Book. Unbetaed . . . I'm still in the market for volunteers!

Road to Emmaus

Jesus Christ was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered death and was buried; on the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. In the meantime, the apostles waited.

They didn’t know what it was they were waiting for, even though He had told them repeatedly what was going to happen. Still they waited, knowing in their hearts that something was going to happen. They were waiting for the Truth, and it was going to set them free.

Book harbors no illusions that when the truth comes out the consequences will be particularly liberatory. On the contrary, he predicts that the opposite is much more likely: all those who now believe they are his friends will in the end turn against him, angered by the sting of betrayal.

Of course, not everyone was able to wait in Jerusalem for the Lord to rise. There were the two disciples with urgent business in Emmaus, rushing off soon after their teacher’s death. Life goes on, the ministry must continue; tonight, Book has kitchen duty. Serenity has another job on Persephone.

But like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, Book knows that, eventually, the truth will catch up with him.

Comments

[gvambat.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like this a lot. :)

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[fleshlycherry.livejournal.com]

Mmmm...Bookish mystery angst. Good work.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Mystery angst seemed to lend itself well to the theme of "anticipation," and Book was the natural character for mystery angst. That provided the Emmaus parallel, and suddenly I had a ficlet.

[cottonwoolfairy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I really like the parallels you've drawn. Books echoing each other :)

[dien.livejournal.com]

Mm lovely. I likes!!! Book's always been one of my favorite characters; this is nice and foreboding.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

One of the nice things about this challenge community is that it invites us to work with characters we would ordinarily skip right over. I have to confess that I never really "got" Book, nor became emotionally invested in him the way I did with most of the other characters. One of the reasons I chose to do Book first, I have to admit, was that I wanted to get him out of the way. (Another major reason was that Book's mysterious background lent itself to the theme of anticipation.)

That said, I am proud of this ficlet and the parallels I'm able to draw between Book's life and the Christ story. Book's most obvious characteristic is of course his Christianity, and I chose to work with that. Understandably, his religion and his ministry provide him with the perspective through with he sees the world, and so it seemed fitting that his angst would manifest in this fashion. I do feel I understand Book at least a little bit more after writing this.

Thank you for your gracious feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed my humble ficlet.

[anotherusedpage.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's very clever! I really like that. Beautifully and simply written. :)

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Why, thank you!

[calijirl5150.livejournal.com]

Beautiful, just beautiful. Full of mystery, would love to see you flesh this story out more. You wrote Book very well.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Thank you!