![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Participation is open to all. If this is your own prompt, you're free to write to it (please do!). Post your list as a comment to this post, adding additional comments if you exceed the character limit. It's OK to post as Anonymous, then come out later or not as you choose. Responses will be screened until May 23 to see what people come up with independently. You can still respond to the prompt after the May 23 unveiling.
General info and a place to ask questions: the comm 'welcome' post.
Technical-support questions: tech help.
Suggestions: the suggestion box.
To supply a new prompt: the open call for prompts.
Subject-line spoiler warnings for SGU, thanks!
May 23 is the official due date. If you're posting a response after the unveiling announcement on May 23 please copy the link to your comment, click on the 'set 123' tag, and reply to the post 'Set 123 Responses Unscreened' with the link to your new comment-response. That helps people find and read and comment on responses that weren't there when they cruised through right after the reveal. Pimp the link in your journal, too, if you want to let your flist know you've posted something new.
Participation is open to all. If this is your own prompt, you're free to write to it (please do!). Post your list as a comment to this post, adding additional comments if you exceed the character limit. It's OK to post as Anonymous, then come out later or not as you choose. Responses will be screened until May 23 to see what people come up with independently. You can still respond to the prompt after the May 23 unveiling.
General info and a place to ask questions: the comm 'welcome' post.
Technical-support questions: tech help.
Suggestions: the suggestion box.
To supply a new prompt: the open call for prompts.
Subject-line spoiler warnings for SGU, thanks!
May 23 is the official due date. If you're posting a response after the unveiling announcement on May 23 please copy the link to your comment, click on the 'set 123' tag, and reply to the post 'Set 123 Responses Unscreened' with the link to your new comment-response. That helps people find and read and comment on responses that weren't there when they cruised through right after the reveal. Pimp the link in your journal, too, if you want to let your flist know you've posted something new.
Tags:
From:
Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Rules (Are Made to be Broken)
1. The Mark is The Mark is The Mark
It’s the first, second and last rule of the con; the mark is the mark is the mark.
Vala reminds herself of the rule as she smoothes a hand down her tight black leather outfit and checks her image in the mirror.
Don’t think about the mark as a person, as someone with feelings and emotions that will be hurt or humiliated by your actions. Don’t think of their history or their future.
Don’t think about their kind blue eyes.
She snaps shut the case with the tablet and bracelets. Daniel Jackson is just another mark.
2. Don’t Get Caught
The problem is that she’s not good at being good when she knows the rules never mind when she doesn’t. In hindsight, her attempt to pretend to be Sallis was doomed from the start.
She can see Daniel struggling, begging for her to be released. She’s fighting to get free but she can’t. She finds herself shackled to a bench in the middle of an elaborate structure with liquid fire racing toward her.
Vala’s done many, many things but she believes with all her heart that she doesn’t deserve a fiery death. She hears Daniel cry out as the fire takes her.
And then she’s alive again.
But as the Prior leads her and Daniel away from the village, she can’t help but think that they haven’t truly escaped.
3. Don’t Give Away Your Secrets
Vala misses sex.
That’s all it is.
That’s the only reason why she finds herself in Daniel’s bed. Daniel is a man and conveniently attractive. She is a healthy, attractive woman. They can have some fun.
His dispassionate dissection of her psyche cuts her too close to the bone. She’s hurt and talking before she thinks, letting slip all the horrifying truth of her past. She stumbles to a halt and is appalled at herself.
Daniel starts to sympathise. She really doesn’t think she can take that and, as if he knows, he suddenly changes tack and accuses her of lying.
The relief is almost overwhelming and she lets him think the worst. It’s better than him truly knowing who she is.
4. Never Tell The Truth
The truth is a fluid thing. Vala believes that wholeheartedly. People will believe what they want to believe; hear what they want to hear. There is no value in telling the truth.
None.
Daniel thinks otherwise which doesn’t explain why Vala gives in to his plea to do the right thing and tells the inhabitants of P8X412 that she’s not a God.
Truth is the path to enlightenment. Ha! Truth is the path to prison.
And if the trial wasn’t enough to convince her that telling the truth is a Bad Idea, the Prior showing up is.
5. Only Look Out for Number One
The answer to the problem of the Supergate is obvious but they’re not listening. But then why would they? Sure, they play ball games with her but she’s still just a backing singer.
What she should do is ring over to the Jaffa ship, commandeer it and get the hell out of there. But there’s a memory of fire licking across her skin; another of the people she had protected as a God forced to prostrate to the Ori; Daniel and his insane attachment for the truth.
So she’s saving the galaxy and risking her life and cursing Daniel under her breath because this is All His Fault. She heads to the rings with the vague hope that it isn’t too late to save herself too, but then…
She wakes up in a bed. A man is watching her; Tomin. He tells her that he found her, that she’s been sent to him by the Ori.
Vala’s heart sinks but she shoves thoughts of Daniel and Earth and home out of her head. She smiles at Tomin and remembers the first rule of the con: the mark is the mark is the mark.
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
So she’s saving the galaxy and risking her life and cursing Daniel under her breath because this is All His Fault.
I enjoyed the way you sketched a woman who was broken and mending and changing and evolving and not wanting to at all. Wanting to lock herself up tight, but slowly being taken apart piece by piece. And it was all Daniel's fault. Yeah, I really enjoyed that.
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
no subject
2. Survival means means leaving no enemies behind. That doesn't mean Vala's much in favor of killing; killing tends to create more enemies. No, avoiding killing (when possible), doing favors, making deals, turning on the charm, mustering a show of strength, wielding diplomacy, deflecting the blame, even seducing—those are Vala's means of creating a network of people who will be more inclined to help her than not, when she's in need.
3. Survival means flight. When she is faced with an enemy she can't bargain with, charm, or befuddle, she's made damn sure she can drive, sail, or fly just about every type of vehicle found in the Milky Way, and keep it going long enough to disappear.
4. Survival means fighting. If she can't flee, well, she also knows how to use just about every kind of weapon found in the Milky Way, as well as any random item that comes to hand, or her own feet and fists.
5. Survival means keeping your thieving skills sharp. She could say "survival" includes not expiring from sheer boredom, but really it's all in the name of staying in practice.
Vala's well aware that the Tauri sometimes look down on her, believing they work from higher principles. But her team has learned that her determination to survive, her allies, her flight skills, her fighting, and her thievery all have their place in the survival of Earth ... of the galaxy. She's never apologized for being herself, and in the end they appreciate her just as she is.
From:
no subject
Survival means means leaving no enemies behind. That doesn't mean Vala's much in favor of killing; killing tends to create more enemies. No, avoiding killing (when possible), doing favors, making deals, turning on the charm, mustering a show of strength, wielding diplomacy, deflecting the blame, even seducing—those are Vala's means of creating a network of people who will be more inclined to help her than not, when she's in need.
So true. And I liked the idea that her team has come to appreciate that about her. Really nicely done.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Thank you!
From:
no subject
From:
Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
2. Never rob someone who can’t afford to be robbed. Not being able to see into the future, Vala could never be certain that she’d succeeded in abiding by this one. Someone who appears ripe for the plucking today could fall on hard times tomorrow. Hard times that she wasn’t responsible for, that is. She’s always refused to worry herself over it. (It’s all in the past now, anyway. She appears to have found a new life for herself, not to mention a new reason for living.)
3. Protect women. Vala’s been inordinately lucky, in light of the hard-scrabble life she’s lived. If she has from time to time had unpleasant sex with a revolting partner, it’s been entirely her own choice. She can fight off or talk her way out of most problematic situations. Sometimes a drug that she can slip into some brute’s ale is her best friend. But she’ll put her personal safety and even her hopes of a sizeable score aside to get another woman out of a bad situation, whether said situation involves violent assault or marriage to a pig who only wants to control the woman’s money. Or the woman herself. (Nowadays Vala feels more in danger of getting shot than anything else. She will definitely disembowel anyone who lays so much as a finger on Sam, however. Not that Sam can’t take care of herself. Vala’s got her eyes open just in case, though.)
4. Hold on to your self-respect. It hasn’t been particularly easy and some times have been harder than others, but Vala believes herself to be a valuable and worthy person who’s been though some very bad times and made a few mistakes along the way. She personally loves nothing better than tossing her dignity to the winds, but the person who tries to trample it into the dust will fail every time. (Sam in her dress uniform is the epitome of dignity and class. Not to mention strikingly hot. Vala doesn’t kid herself that she’ll ever rate the respect that Sam does, but surprisingly Sam sometimes needs bolstering. Vala is right there, happy to be needed and useful.)
5. Do unto others. This is a new one for Vala, but it’s definitely worth a try. She wouldn’t want to be suckered – as if – so she’s giving the suckers of the universe a free pass. She doesn’t rob people anymore, unless you count Daniel. And he can certainly afford to buy her a few trinkets now and again. She understands that he’s paid very well. And the faces of outrage he makes are such great fun.
There’s not much call to protect women under Cheyenne Mountain where Vala spends so much of her time, but she did help that nice airman when she dropped her tray in the mess hall, and that was before she’d even noticed that the rest of SG-1 were there to witness her good deed.
Mostly, Vala flirts with Sam in the hopes that Sam will start flirting back. (And it works. It works!)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Never give a sucker an even break. She’s been following that one most of her life, having been well-trained by her father at a young age. Chumps deserve to be taken.
Hilarious at first pass, and then a little sad when thinking about it. And then the idea that this piece of her that has been with her through childhood--instilled in her by her father, even--slowly fades away without her even realizing it... that Sam is replacing the broken bit of her... I enjoyed that idea.
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
I'm so glad that idea worked for you. :-)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Bonus Sam/Vala! *G*
You're welcome!
From:
no subject
2. Laws are more like vague suggestions. This one came straight from her dad. Helped her through the whole pretending-to-be-a-god-to-keep-the-miners-working thing so she could get back on her feet. And, oh the treasure it helped her liberate. Life would be dull without this principal.
3. More knowledge is always better. She was never a believer in that curiosity—cat-killing theory. It's why she never tries to forget the bad stuff, just doesn’t talk about it: being burned alive, being a host, giving birth to a daughter who turned out to be a megalomaniac. Remembering helps her make it through the next stuff, and the stuff after that. It reminds her that she’s been through worse.
4. Run. She used to be better at this one. She ran from authorities and rules and anything that tried to keep her in one place. Since coming to Earth, she’s started to run the other way: toward the people yelling for help. Cam says that it shows character. Vala secretly thinks it shows a lack of common sense, but since everyone else here seems to be at least mildly out of their minds, it makes her seem like she fits in a bit more, too. And since this place has become a home when she least expected it, if she needs to run toward squishing sounds to make sure it’s not Daniel being killed, she’s okay with that.
5. Never let them know you care. Them, of course, being anyone. Everyone. This one’s been harder, too, since coming to Earth where people like Sam will crawl into bed to watch a movie with you after your dad abandoned you; and Daniel will hug you after you’ve been killed by fire and brought back to life by a false god; and Muscles will tell you what you did was difficult and brave after you had to walk away from a daughter that was never really yours; and General Landry, whom you’re seventy percent sure hates you, will give you team badges when you thought they were going to make you leave. So this one’s been replaced with: hug them all as much as possible, especially if it makes them squirm.
From:
no subject
i like that line.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Except the creepy ones. Give those to Daniel.
Laws are more like vague suggestions.
hug them all as much as possible, especially if it makes them squirm
And her squishy-sweet center is awfully sweet, too. :-)
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
1. Always liberate treasure from the non-deserving
And there’s no one more deserving than her. She’s had a hard life, okay? Her father was a con-man who was never around, she was taken as host by a cruel and greedy goa’uld, and when she was finally free her own people turned on her. A girl deserves a break, you know? Of course no one is going to give you that break, so you just have to make it yourself.
2. Never stick around
Sticking around means getting caught, and that brings about a world of hurt, so really, the best solution is to always put as many light years between yourself and your last mark as possible.
3. You can never con a honest man
No really, you can’t. Dishonesty is what makes a mark a mark. Luckily for her there are very few honest people in this galaxy (and any other, she suspects). And usually, they’re not the rich ones.
4. Don’t kill
This one brought her a lot trouble over the years, but if there’s one thing she’s learned while being host to Qetesh is that life is precious. Getting first row tickets to the murder of hundreds of people will put you off killing forever. Of course, that means that she has quite a few enemies out there that are jumping at the chance of getting her back, but there hasn’t been a sticky situation she hasn’t been able to get herself out of. Yet. And it usually has something to do with rule #3.
5.Don’t worry about the rules
Because survival is all about adapting. When you really get down to it, you have to do what you have to do to survive, including throwing away all of your rules. Survival is ruthless and it is neither “good” nor “evil” and principles only get in the way. And then you met Daniel Jackson and all of the rules went out the window anyway.
From:
no subject
i bet.
From:
no subject
A girl deserves a break, you know? Of course no one is going to give you that break, so you just have to make it yourself.
And I really liked that, the sense of independence and self-reliance.
And then this was just funny:
You can never con a honest man
No really, you can’t. Dishonesty is what makes a mark a mark.
As was the idea that it leads to all sorts of problems. :)
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Both halves of this principle are things Vala picked up from her mother. Her mother tended to rely more on the flirting side of things. Vala likes to keep a good balance between the two.
2. It's better to let people underestimate you.
Vala learned this one from her mother too. There was a period in her life when she despised her mother for acting helpless so that other people would take care of her, but as she got older, she began to appreciate the advantages of the approach. Especially when dealing with men who were blinded by her manner and clothing that they never saw the con or the gun coming.
Even when she's bragging about her skill as a thief or a student of human nature, she's careful to keep things so over-the-top as not to be taken completely seriously. And if it means that sometimes people don't give her as much credit as she deserves or listen to her when she has a good plan, well, it's worth the security of knowing that she's better than they think.
Most of the time.
3. Always have an escape route planned.
Vala treats this rule as both literal and metaphorical: always make a point of knowing where the back door is and never go into a situation without knowing how you're going to get out. Which is why one of the scariest parts of being at the SGC is how locked in she is there. Vala has faith that she can make it out of the building if she needs to, but she knows she'll never make it through the Stargate if they don't want her to go, and there aren't a lot of other ways off the planet. It's a frightening thought, not having a way out.
She's still working on a plan.
4. Always eat dessert first.
This was one of the first rules Vala came up with for herself, following a particularly disappointing experience in a restaurant in Belí during which the sudden appearance of a former mark forced her to flee the restaurant halfway through her meal and before she even got to touch the absolutely scrumptious cake that she'd planned on ordering after her meal.
5. Trust is for suckers.
This was the first lesson Vala learned from her father, one that was reinforced not only through words but through actions. It's a rule that's served her well over the years, saving her from all sorts of unpleasant situations that would have felled a less suspicious person.
She just hopes she can continue to remember it now that she's in a situation where not only do people trust her, but she actually wants to be worthy of their trust.
It's harder than she thought it would be.
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
I love it!
From:
Re: Five principles Vala follows (or thinks she does)
Thanks!