Ficlet: Young People Today

[vilakins]

The last of the three b7friday cross-posts. For those upset by the last fic, here's a more upbeat PGP. The TV Trope this time is Grumpy Old Man.

Young People Today

"Look, Mr Avon! You got a visitor!"

"I can see that. Go away."

"What, me?" Vila looked aggrieved.

"I meant her, but I really don't mind."

"Oooh, he's a cheeky one!" said the attendant to Vila. "Would you like me to bring your lunch now, Mr Avon?"

"Is cabbage one of its components?"

"We-erl... yeah."

"Then just pour it straight down the drain without making me the middle man."

"Tsk! Really. He doesn't mean it, you know," she said confidentially to Vila as she went out. He shook his head at how little she knew Avon.

"I thought she'd never leave."

"S'pose you're expecting me to as well. No such luck. Nice day, today. Want to go out in the garden?"

"Vila. It will take me several minutes to stand up, and quite a few more to get out there, and by that time I shall have to start back to be inside before nightfall."

"You’re in a gravchair. I'll push you."

"You most certainly will not! And besides," Avon added acerbically, "you're only offering so that you can lean on the thing."

Vila looked hurt. "I'm still very spry, so Soolin says." He executed a little jig.

"An adjective only applied to people of our age."

"Y'know, next thing you'll be going on about young people today."

"And why not? Look at that idiot attendant. Decent Alpha stock, but she puts on a Delta accent. Lower grade chic, they call it."

"Yeah, funny that. When they first abolished the system, people used to be ashamed of once being Gammas or Deltas, but now they're proud of it."

"No accounting for taste. And they all have it far too easy."

"Oh, Avon! That's what we fought for! You really want them to have it as tough as we did?"

Just then, the attendant came in with some sandwiches in which cabbage was conspicuous by its absence, and while Vila was picking through them for something tasty and vegetarian, Avon muttered savagely, "Yes."

Comments

[labingi.livejournal.com]

This is charming! Very funny and totally in character. And a happy ending too--well, sorta:)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Well, it's better than the alternative! :-)

Thank you!

[imhilien.livejournal.com]

LOL. I can imagine Avon being just like that in his 'advanced years'.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

A Grumpy Old Man personified!

[thetisonline.livejournal.com]

They haven't changed a bit! Wouldn't Avon be a grumpy old bloke.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And he'd enjoy it!

[bigdamnxenafan.livejournal.com]

Of course Avon would want them to have as tough as they did! Tougher even! And he'd be hell bent on making as many lives as miserable as possible. hehe

Liked this a lot! Nicely done.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Mind you, having a good grumble probably sets Avon up for the day. :-)

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

This is very nice:) I love the banter about gravchair.

people used to be ashamed of once being Gammas or Deltas, but now they're proud of it

I'm sure by this you meant to show that the revolution(and the revolutionaries) has come out fine, but it suddenly gives me a nastiest plot idea of PGP...*runs away in fear*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I did mean to show that, yes. I'm intrigued as to what your idea is. :-)

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

It's nothing new. I'm sure it has been written hundreds of times in fanfic. A situation when Revolution turns out to be nastier and the abolishment of old hierarchy has too strong a repercussion - Reign of Terror, Great Purge and especially Cultural Revolution, etc. In this situation Vila has the best chance of survival, being a Delta, but I'm not sure I want to do this to him. Though Blake's and Avon's recriminations against each other may be very entertaining, lol.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say hundreds of times, but I've certainly come across a few stories where Blake became a tyrant, or the crew didn't like how the revolution went and wanted to leave or start another.

I can't name any off-hand, but others may be able to. :-)

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

Oh, I never plan to make Blake a tyrant. *feels a little relieved* (Also never plan to give them a chance to get away or have another go at revolutions.) Anyway, I'm already working on this one. I just hope you'll forgive me for what I did to Vila. It's not physical, but still kind of...dark. However I really couldn't see him behaving very differently, in a situation like that. I hope I didn't make him look bad.

I can never find Vila's voice. *is very frustrated*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Vila and Avon both have very distinctive voices. Avon is quite formal in his grammar, and Vila is much more chatty, talking circuitously round a subject, and taking a lot more words to get his point across, often confusingly. They both have a few stock phrases, like Vila's "I mean," "Oh now look," "Oh, wonderful," etc.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if you use a basic concept others have used, as everyone's take and style is so different.

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your voice lesson! It's much needed. I've just managed to solve my Avon-POV problem by changing the fic(Blake/Avon gen) into second person, but my Vila-POV in the Great Purge fic is still a pain. Do you mind betaing, if you've got the time? It's only 1000 words, but it hasn't got any comfort in it, which is all I can say about it...

I've noticed "I mean" and "Oh wonderful":)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Of course! Send it to me (my LJ ID at gmail) in Word or rich text format, and I'll add my comments etc in bold. That's what I usually do for others. :-)

[myfavouriteplum.livejournal.com]

It's done and sent. Thank you so very much:-)