The Uneasy Dancers

Star Trek TOS Fanfiction
Title:	The Uneasy Dancers
Author(s):	Jungle Kitty
Date(s):	1999
Length:
Genre:
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	online here
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The Uneasy Dancers is an Kirk/OFC, Spock/OFC, K/S, K/S/OFC story by Jungle Kitty.

Awards

• 1999 Golden Orgasm--Best Multi-Part TOS Story
• 1999 Golden Orgasm--Best Multi-Part TOS Hetsmut
• 1999 Golden Orgasm--Best TOS Multiple
• 1999 Golden Orgasm--Best Kirk/female
• 1999 Golden Orgasm--Second Place, Spock/female
• 1998 ASC--Best Kirk/female

Reactions and Reviews

1999

Wow--what can I say about this that hasn't already been said? In my mind, this is undoubtedly Jungle Kitty's masterpiece, and the clear standout in this category. I know how lovingly Jungle Kitty crafted this, ensuring that every word, every phrase, every expression was perfect. The interplay of the characters is believable, and the tragedy unavoidable. With just the right amount of humor, this story has a great balance of action and character development. It moves forward with an undercurrent of inevitably that drags the characters (and the reader) forward, faster and faster until the stunning, heartwrenching end.

A great, wonderful story, not to mention saaad...

Very well written. Loved the character of Brandt and the wat JK keeps everyone in character is the sign of a good writer. Interesting plot and can't wait for the sequel.

The most I could say about this was "Wow!" And "Wow!" again. Brandt isn't the person I want to see Kirk with, but I just can't stop reading JK's stories about the Brat. And this one, is the best so far! I went through a box of tissues on this one, so if heartbreak and angst isn't your cup of tea, then stay away. But, if it is, brew up a hot pot and settle in for one of the best reads of the year. Personally, I can't wait to see how JK pulls this all together in her next piece -- I'm stockin' up on hankies.

Again, this is one of the most powerful stories of the year and my vote for the best Brandt yet. If you haven't read it, get out there and get it! A beautifully written and heartbreaking walk across the Vulcan sand.

I wrote privately to the Kitty about this story some days ago, but I'm quite happy to share if we're going to talk about my New Fave Trek Story. IMO, which bears echoes of Doc's summary, it's the best TrekSmut I've ever read. It doesn't just read like an episode, it reads like an ep *should* read if it were a really good ep and went where we wanted it to go.

Does that mean the story is perfect? Hah! I was the Science Officer for this work, and even so Jungle "Bat Scientist" Kitty managed to slip one past me, in the first sentence, no less. Oh damn. Never mind; I'm sure JK will agree that room for improvement is always a good thing...

There's one aspect of the plot that is problematic for me... which was the Vulcan love/human love thing, I believe. My feeling is that the plot thread that was attacked in this piece is not yet completed, and that an attempt to sew up (excuse mixed metaphors) that idea in this one story, already bursting with components, would have been a mistake. I'd like to see JK approach this again; I'd love to see how she would bring the whole Brandt saga full circle by adding more and more K/S -- I'm not saying I think she's going to, mind!

As for characterization, I generally agree with the Doc. I think that Brandt continued in good form, that Spock was woefully treated but admirably written in the context of the story, and that Kirk was easily the best JK has written him. There's something at Gol that comes closest to summarizing the JTK attitude as I feel I'm ever going to read. I did feel that we could have had more from the walk-on parts, Ludovic in particular, but there is clearly a fine line between long-windedness and over-succinctity that the author has trodden successfully.

On the bottom line, I don't think "Dancers" has either the lyricism or the structural strength of "Golden Boy,"

If alternative opinions are desired, I liked "Life that Lies Before" more than "Golden Boy" (personal preference only) and thought that, on balance, "Uneasy Dancers" surpassed both that and its alleged prequel, "Blood Claim", which also boasts structural integrity that even Scotty would be proud of.

This incredibly long-winded review contains unending spoilers for Jungle Kitty's "Uneasy Dancers". Don't say I didn't warn you.

"Uneasy Dancers" is the most important piece of TOS fanfiction posted in the last 6 months at least. It is long, complex, structured, not just well-written but crafted, and emotionally devastating. Read it with several boxes of tissues handy -- I ran out and ended up wandering around the house in the middle of the night, quietly sobbing and looking for more nose-wipes.

But tears or not, it is stories like "Dancers" that make ASC/EM worth being more than a passing fancy. It's a work of art, showcasing what can be done better in fan fiction than anywhere: exploration of character and emotion (see that, John Ordover? Hi John!). The fact that it involves an original, non-canonical character who might at one time have been accused of Mary Suehood just shows Jungle Kitty's great skill and talent.

Back in the summer JK and I were corresponding as she was starting work on "Dancers," and I said to her:

>I found myself starting to cry. Why? Because, I said to myself, she's going to break my darling's [that is, Spock's] heart. Or at least make him settle for being second best. Now if you have some massively clever plan that does not break my darling's heart, I will be leading the standing ovation when All Is Revealed. But as the stories are developing, that's what I see coming, logically. Not in the sense that you're deliberately setting things up that way (out of some deep-seated love of angst or exasperation with gloopy K/S), but that looks to me to be the scenario that is most truthful. And I will fly all the way out to California to kick your dog if you don't respect your own artistic integrity. I'm warning you, no T'Millie as a solution. Make me happy if you can, make me cry if you must, but don't make me go "Eeugh!"

The great triumph of "Dancers" is that JK *did* respect her own artistic integrity, and the integrity of the characters, and not just for fear I'd kick her dog. I must also give great credit to Wildcat, Judith, and Greywolf who really did "beta for blood," but it was JK's willingness to go through that process that made it work.

Does that mean the story is perfect? Hah! I was the Science Officer for this work, and even so Jungle "Bat Scientist" Kitty managed to slip one past me, in the first sentence, no less.

>The Enterprise is en route to the Beta Choreatricis system, located along the furthest arm of the galaxy.

"furthest arm" must mean at least 20,000 light years away, so presumably at least, oh, 40 years travel at c.2270 technology. Sigh. I'm going to make T'Pat teach Remedial Astronomy this semester, and attendance will be mandatory for anyone trying to write extra-canonical adventures. Even if they're Full Professors and have sexy Chairs and everything.

But you've gotta give JK credit, at least she's trying to mix an original plot into her Treksmut. I'm not entirely sure that it works for me, but I haven't thought about that aspect of the story enough yet. Certainly I would like to see her thinking more about the structure & politics of Starfleet and the Federation, and where Kirk and Brandt fit into it. This is an area that Sydvick and Judith are exploring but which could use more work from the rest of us.

There's one aspect of the plot that is problematic for me. Having Kirk & Brandt share something like a Vulcan bond and having them experience a Vulcan-style sexual meld smacks to me of cheating. That is, Kirk's choice between Spock & Brandt should also be between Vulcan & human types of love. To let him have Vulcan love with Brandt is to stack the deck; it's almost like stealing from Spock. If this Kirk rejects Spock, he should do so knowing that he is also rejecting the intimacy of a Vulcan bond, to settle for one that is -- merely human.

Now we come to the guts of the story: the characterizations. JK has said repeatedly that the characters, and especially my boy Spock, got away from her in this story, and started saying & doing what they wanted, not what she had planned. I don't know if there's a technical lit-crit term for this, but it is a sure sign that literature is taking place.

It's very difficult, but when I talk here about problems with the characters, I'm not (mostly) going to be saying that you, Jungle Kitty, should have written them differently. I think the characters, as people, have done some bad things, but they are not by that token badly written. I may want them to be different, but only in the sense that I may want someone to change: I think they actually are, for the most part, the way you have presented them.

"Uneasy Dancers" was very painful for me to read because I identify so strongly (perhaps too strongly) with Spock, and in this story he is hurt very badly. I gather that a number of readers felt that when Spock pinches Kirk & Brandt out and walks away he is being self-sacrificing, but I don't. I think that is the first thing Spock does for himself: exercise what a popular song of the day (one that fits this story exactly) calls "The Power of Goodbye."

JK has stated that she created Brandt because she was sick of Kirk never having a solid relationship with a woman. Brandt's Kirk, then, is solidly heterosexual, and Spock's love for Kirk is not sexually requited. It is very difficult to imagine that Spock would not feel sexually devalued in that situation, and we all know that it's difficult for Spock to accept and value his sexuality at the best of times. This Kirk (and Brandt), though, go further in rejecting Spock sexually. Because when Kirk thinks back to how he & Spock have related,

>For nearly five years, he had treated Spock--his closest friend--just as he would a lovesick ensign whom he would barely recognize in the corridor. As long as it wasn't a problem, he didn't say anything. And it wasn't a problem, not for James T. Kirk. In fact, it was an asset that he had selfishly manipulated. He had relied on Spock, pushing him past all endurance, knowing that the Vulcan would never abandon him, no matter what the cost.

If these characters are ever going to reach any sort of happy equilibrium, it's now necessary for both Kirk and Brandt to look in the Bitter Glass. This Kirk has abused Spock: he has used Spock's sexuality as a tool, a way to bind the Vulcan to him, without having enough respect for Spock to respond in turn.

I'm not saying that you can't respect someone you don't desire. But it is at minimum a lack of respect to flirt with someone who is seriously in love with you when you don't plan to reciprocate. And I don't believe for one second that Kirk doesn't know how Spock feels. Or if he doesn't know, it's willful ignorance of a sort he would despise in another commander, and rightly so.

I wonder, in fact, if Kirk won't become very angry with Spock. I mean, he was angry with Brandt at the end of Blood Claim because she took fifteen lashes for him. How is he going to feel when he really thinks about how Spock took emotional lashes for him for more than four years? And when he realizes that *he* was the one holding the whip?

As for Brandt: at the end of the story she is absolutely determined to eventually get Spock to come back. But we never see her thinking about what's in it for Spock:

>She thought of Jim commanding the Enterprise without the staunch presence of one who valued Jim's life above his own.

But she never thinks of Spock, of how he has been hurt and what either she or Kirk might do to ease it. In essence, she's thinking that Spock should come back to be Kirk's bodyguard, to die in Kirk's place. It's rather chilling when you consider the events of Wrath of Khan.

There's plenty of room for JK to investigate Brandt's character further. For instance, Kirk thinks of Spock & Brandt:

>The one thing they have in common is a deep sense of honor.

Frankly, I don't believe it. Brandt is in Special Ops, and unless human nature changes drastically in the next couple of centuries, deeply honorable people don't work for Special Ops. At least, not more than once. "It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it" is another way of saying: it's job that dirties you. We've never really seen what Brandt does, so we don't know exactly how she's been dirtied, but given that in our reality "Special Ops" is code for assassination, bribery, corruption, lying, drug-dealing, and creative accounting, the dirt is certainly there.

For both Kirk and Brandt, I think their moral problems are connected with Command. They are both commanders, leaders, or, as both JK and Sydvick say, warriors. And part of Command is not taking account of other people's feelings. You can't be decisive if you think things over too much; you can't be self- confident if you aren't also rather self-centered; you can't give orders if you think a lot about what the other person would rather be doing.

Looking ahead to ST:TMP, I can see three sets of scenarios for why & how Spock comes back from Vulcan:

(a) his sexuality is directed at someone other than Kirk and/or Brandt. This is the ever-risky (at least, risky to Jungle Kitty's dog) T'Millie solution. There's also the question: does Kirk really, truly want Spock not to be in love with him?

(b) Kirk and/or Brandt accept him sexually. I notice, for instance, that when Spock calls his feelings for Jim "inappropriate", Kirk does *not* do the generous thing and say, "love is not inappropriate, I'm just sorry I can't return all your feelings." JK and I have found that, as she says, we do not have the same prescription in our eyeglasses when we look at TOS episodes. So I see Kirk making lots of seductive moves & eye contact at Spock, and she sees little. But even JK admits there are some times when it looks as though a K/S liplock is imminent. I find it extremely difficult to imagine that Kirk doesn't have some sexy feelings toward Spock (well, *lots* actually), and I'd like to see JK exploring what the hell she thinks is going on there.

I'll also put in here that having what is rather coyly referred to as "the act that would break the link" -- i.e. sex between Spock & Kirk -- be anal penetration of Kirk seems rather narrow-minded for such sexually sophisticated people. They should at least consider a little of the old Non-Penetrative Nookie (hi Laura!), or NPN as I've started calling it. Dragging up memories of Kirk's rape by d'Lain strikes me as a bit, er, forced. But that's partly because I never really bought the central premise of "Blood Claim": I just don't believe James T. Kirk can be degraded by sex. The Kirk I know would have turned the tables on d'Lain, electroshock collar or no.

(c) Spock strangles his own sexuality. He finds some way around Pon Farr (even though he fails at achieving Kolinahr) and he remains celibate. Or he is at least celibate and to the best of his ability asexual, outside of PF. I don't want you-all to think that I think celibacy is a bad thing, necessarily. But it does have a history of being connected to a devaluation of sexuality, and I can certainly see Spock wanting to go that way. It would be very difficult for him to accept himself as a sexual person and yet be celibate. And I don't know if it would be possible for Spock to accept his sexuality if Jim does not accept it, too.

IMO option (c) is a terrible one for Spock, because it devalues part of him. I *hate* it when that happens. BUT I think it is the option that is easiest to support in canon, and it may be the one that follows most truthfully from the characters as they have been developed here.

There's a great deal more I could say about "Uneasy Dancers." The story has made me think a lot about topics such as marriage, work relationships, what it is we do in fanfic, and The Essential Rightness of K/S. <vbg and a big kiss at you, JK> I'll spare you all that for the moment.

On the bottom line, I don't think "Dancers" has either the lyricism or the structural strength of "Golden Boy," which is still IMO Jungle Kitty's best work to date. But it is nonetheless a shining example of what we can do here when we're willing to shed blood, sweat, and tears.

Unknown Date

In the author's handling of character and in her themes of longing, loss, and choice, the story is more than equivalent in its breadth and depth to a much longer work. "The Uneasy Dancers" is the most truly adult treatment of the K/S mythos that I've ever encountered. "Harrowing" doesn't seem too strong a word to describe its effect on the reader. The entire story is beautifully crafted, and deeply thought-provoking.