Author: Moyra J. Bligh
Email: moyra@interlog.com
Date: 1997/06/08
Forums: alt.fan.mira-furlan
Message-ID: <3399AE13.3D4E@interlog.com>
More Perfect Body Language
From "Ship of Tears" covering a scene between my two favorite characters
and two of the best thespians in cast.
The set up for the scene is Delenn's final line to John about telling
G'kar about them keeping silent about the Shadows and thereby allowing
the Centauri to destroy Narn. There's a slight shake of her head as
she says "Want to...no..." and a slight nod as she says "Have to.....",
and her eyes widen, "yes....." . The squareness of her shoulders reveals
the tension.
Delenn is in her quarters waiting for G'Kar, she's unsettled, moving
across the room, slowly, and then for one moment there's a slight
furrow of her brow as if she's reasoning out exactly what she'll say
when he arrives. The door chimes, she does not turn towards it, but
her eyes flick slightly in that direction. She does not wish to face
what is to come. You can see her steel herself to the ordeal at hand
before she says "Come". She lets out a breath and her eyes and chin
lift upward as if to ask for strength. G'Kar enters and she shuts
her eyes for a moment and then says "Hello, G'Kar". It is only when
she receives no response that she turns in the direction of the door,
she can avoid her responsibility no longer.
When the scene continues Delenn and G'Kar are seated facing one another.
Andreas' posture is open, his knees wide apart, G'Kar wants the information.
Mira's posture is closed, her knees together, conveying the illusion
that Delenn is protecting herself. Mira is bowed over, her head down
looking at her hands which are wrapped one around the other, and the
shame Delenn feels for her sin of omission is evident. She looks contrite.
It is a long moment before she gathers enough courage to look him
in the eyes. While she speaks her head comes up slowly, cautiously
and then drops again. As the conversation continues she gets progressively
more and more bold until, as she is telling him that ever if they
had spoken out "it would have changed nothing", she is looking him
straight in the eyes, convinced of the rightness of her actions and
needing him to understand her explanation.
He gets up and walks away from her and she swivels in the direction
he has moved. His back is to her, but still she looks at him, leans
towards him, willing him to understand. She does not begin to look
away until her line "we had to chose between the death of millions
and the death of billions" and her eyes widen as the horror washes
across her face at the thought of what could have been.
She's again looking up at him, her eyes beginning to fill with tears,
as G'Kar says "but that you knew and said nothing.....". Her eyes
drop away and she stares into space. He continues, "Had I learned
this while my world was being bombed by the Centauri, I would have
killed you instantly. You understand that do you not?" Her head and
eyes come up and she looks him full in the face. The nod is almost
imperceptible, as she begins to speak, but leaves no doubt that she
believes him without question. Believes enough to acknowledge the
possibility that he might have chosen to kill her at this moment.
Andreas smiles faintly at this point, which is rather unnerving,
but perfect in the context. He returns to sit opposite her and she
moves back to fully face him again.
Her tears begin to fall as he admits to her "You're right, nothing
would have been changed, except that my people would now be a dead
race." On this her face opens up light a ray of light has hit it and
conveys that she has realized just how much wiser the Narn Ambassador
has become, and she smiles, not with her mouth, but with her eyes.
As he finally gets up to leave she follows him with her face and
eyes, looking back towards the center of the room when he exits. She
draws a very deep breath and you can see all the tension go out of
her body, but the concern does not leave her face.
Moyra J. Bligh
moyra@interlog.com
newsgroups - alt.fan.mira-furlan
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"......never forget who I was, what I am and what I can do."
Delenn (Lines of Communication)
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