His Beloved Pet

Star Trek TNG Fanfiction
Title:	His Beloved Pet
Author(s):	Ruth Gifford and Atara Stein
Date(s):	March 14, 1996
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Next Generation
External Links:	GiffStein Productions (archived link), ASC archive (defunct); alt.startrek.creative
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His Beloved Pet is a Star Trek: TNG story by Ruth Gifford and Atara Stein. It has the categories NC-17, m/m sex, heavy bdsm, violence.

Summary

"As the result of a dare from another member of the Q Contiuum, Q seduces Picard, with consequences neither could have foreseen."

Reactions and Reviews

This story is not for the squeamish or weak of heart. It is a complex and thorough exploration of the whole issue of bdsm, raising interesting questions about who is *really* in charge, the master, or the slave. There is a great deal of physical pain, as well as emotional anguish, but it is more than balanced by the depiction of mutual self-discovery, and the careful, serious and intelligent manner in which a touchy subject is handled. If you have any issues yourself regarding submission, strength and weakness, this may have a much deeper than expected effect on you.

I was blown away. I find the whole issue of bdsm is one of great fascination and attraction; I also think both P and Q are hot, hot, hot, but I just had no idea what was in store for me. Sometimes you run across a story that just changes something in you. This was such a one for me. It really *showed* me in a visceral way how much strength can be derived from submission, and how much strength it takes to do so voluntarily.

What I liked was how well I could "hear" and see, and *feel* this piece. I've found that that's a very difficult thing, to portray characters so that others can say "yeah, I can see that". In this case, I found "HBP" to be defining for how I see P/Q.

This Picard is a very strong man, who needs someone equally strong to allow him to be weak. Q is his normal arrogant self, carelessly dominating his little pet, but confronted with his own confusion and stubbornness when things don't go the way he expected. The exploration of the whole dynamic of who is really in charge, and the mutuality of the domination/submission relationship is something that isn't always explored.

In this story it's explored in spades, and each wrenching twist is lovingly detailed, from the struggle within Picard to submit in the first place, to his growing understanding and joy in his submission, to the complexity and change in Q's supposed motives and his own coming to terms with the change being wrought in him. I felt the confusion of both men, their growing self-awareness and mutual understanding, their pain and love. (And it's got really hot sex, to boot).

On a bet, Q seduces Picard. They both get more than they bargained for. This is hardcore BDSM with dom!Q/sub!Picard, which isn't to my taste, but the authors do a good job of explaining what someone might get out of such a relationship, and the meat of the story deals with love and betrayal anyway.

I [...] dived into a story someone leant me expecting a wonderfully relaxing and quite unreal read. I asked to read it out of friendship, re-establishing lines of communication with a friend I hadn't talked to in a while. I realised at first glance it was Picard/Q. I have no idea whether it's been published, but the copy I have is definitely not circuit quality. So I'm not going to mention the name or the authors, and I'll try not to describe the story too clearly.

But I loved it. Partly this was because, as Shoshanna inimitably pointed out to me, I'm a slave story fan. (What she actually said was, "You're not a Next Gen fan, you're a slave story fan. You know it and I know it. Admit it." I replied "If you know it and I know it, why do I have to admit it?") But mostly it was the way the writers dealt with Q.

[snipped]

Q provides a framework for the series, making the series as a whole the story of Picard (representing humanity) on trial for humanity's manifold sins. Whenever Q shows up, no matter how Q chooses to present Qself, Picard is, in one way or another, on trial. (Q's offer to Riker of Q powers was clearly a fairly subtle test - would Picard be able to talk Riker down from the rush of infinite power?) As presented, Q is an omnipotent, omniscient being, able to do anything, but choosing never to force anyone's free will. In other words, Q is God.

All the Q/Picard stories I have previously read took care to avoid the issue of Q as an omnipotent and omniscient being; Q was used as if Q were no more than a trickster with powers of illusion and timebending. I had wondered if it were ever possible to deal with the problem of writing about a character who is a god. A god can't have the same motivations as a mortal, or as any being with limited powers. A god in a relationship with a mortal - with one of the god's worshippers? It's very Greek and mythy, but could it work as a story, without making either the god, or the mortal, a cipher?

[snipped]

Picard has a secret. It's a fairly predictable secret, though Picard never thinks of it on those terms; he has domination/submission fantasies. He's never acted on them, because who could he find to master him? Being the Captain is an essential part of being Jean-Luc Picard, or so he sees it.

[snipped]

Picard explains to Q (who already knows all of it, having read Picard's mind, read Picard's library, and checked back through Picard's life) that sometimes he has fantasised being the dominant, being able to give orders without having to think and care about his subordinate, but usually he fantasises about being the submissive, not having to make decisions, just do what he's told and take orders.

And Q offers to realise every one of Picard's fantasies. "Whatever I can imagine, I can realise. And whatever you can imagine, I can also realise." Q's night by night seduction of Picard is wonderfully laid out; and it takes one particularly neat S/M point and reverses it.

It's a classic of S/M that the bottom is really the one in charge, the one whose desires have control. I think the only way to tell whether a story is written bottom or Top is not whose viewpoint the story is told from, but whether the writer acknowledges who controls the scene. It's not immediately obvious; but to quote one of Avon's better lines about Vila "I guess I've got him exactly where he wants me."

[snipped]

In "bottom" stories the bottom in the story has chosen to submit to the desires of their Top. In "Top" stories, the two involved are very aware that the Top is doing exactly what the bottom wants. There are more stories of the first kind than the second.

While Q seduced Picard into making love with him by making all of Picard's unrealised fantasies come true, Picard believed that he was submitting, by choice, to Q's desire to dominate him. He had faith that Q desired him; he submits with "infatuation, awe, and gratitude". And of course, the sex is perfect, every time, all the time. Of course.

But eventually, obviously, Picard has to find out that it was not Q's desires he was responding to, but Q's realisation of Picard's desires. And equally obviously, no matter how infatuated, or how submissive, Picard isn't going to submit to a disinterested God.

[snipped]

But this story isn't about divine love, though one of the things which very impressed me about it is that throughout it Q holds to the principle of free will, the divine Prime Directive: Q will meddle with everything around Picard but not Picard's will to consent or to refuse. And further, Q holds to what one might call the sanity principle: God cannot undo what God has done, therefore Q cannot simply go back through time and make the moment when Q abandoned Picard to reality not have happened.

What this story is about is a God discovering not divine, but mortal love, including the necessary Incarnation for resurrection. Mortals who love Gods get burned; a God who loves a mortal must be incarnate as a mortal, out of free will and out of love, and must suffer in that incarnation.

The final moments, when Picard offers himself and Q accepts, both splendidly in character, are exquisitely touching without being overtly sentimental. Picard's closing line is almost a punchline, it fits the story, caps it, and reverses it. It's impossible to feel sorry for Picard after this, and you know that's exactly the way Picard would want it to be. "Only a god could master me."

They get together, it's great, there's bdsm, etc. But the events behind why they get together, plus Q's insecurities (issues?), ends up tearing them apart. And it goes on from there. This is wonderful. Ups and downs, and I have to admit Picard's pain was good. Plus nifty song quotes at the beginning of each section! I love quotes! Ok, running out of time here, it's almost midnight where I live now too...