storypaint (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
storypaint) wrote2009-02-11 08:41 am
storypaint) wrote2009-02-11 08:41 am
Entry tags:
To Catch a Murderer (Dexter gen)
Title: To Catch a Murderer
Day/Theme:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
31_days_exchnge: 7. curious alchemy
Series: Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Character/Pairing: Dexter gen
Rating: PG for death
Excerpt: A civilization must have a social hierarchy-- however else could a creature like I slip by, unsuspected?
It is a curious alchemy, the building of a civilization. Of course, I learned the definition in school-- Deviously Definitive Dexter. I remember my history class, full of wars and senseless, wonderful bloodshed.
"A civilization is a society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in towns and cities. Civilizations are organized with division of labor and a social hierarchy," saith the old history teacher. You see Dexter's long memory.
But the definition is missing something. A civilization must have a social hierarchy-- however else could a creature like I slip by, unsuspected? In any primitive civilization I would have been cast out or burned on mere suspect, Doakes the priest/policeman doing the sentencing.
But a civilization must also have order, from government or police, spear-carriers or the guy with the biggest stick. (A reference, of course, to another famous man of history, a man whose philosophy I share up to a point. The point is not to carry the stick, but to know exactly when to hit people with it. He was pretty good at that, true, but it's hitting them quietly that is the difficult part.)
In a civilization such as ours, one small thing out of order-- one unsolved crime, one unpunished murder-- will not wreck the place. The curious alchemy, remember, will not be destroyed if we miss one grain of salt in the recipe.
But small things do add up, you see, and the citizens are scared to walk the streets at night, even without the Dark Passenger and I creeping along behind them. This (other) murderer must be caught. We cannot be caught in another version of the London panic, Whitechapel 1888. Jack the Ripper cannot stalk these streets.
Dexter Morgan can, and will. I will find this man or woman picking the friendly street-corner ladies off of their street corners, and I will take care of him or her. (Did you know that dear Jack the Ripper may have been a woman? It is quite the theory.)
Unacknowledged, I will maintain dear civilization for another day. After all, isn't it much easier for the wolf to catch the sheep when they are all penned together?
Day/Theme:
31_days_exchnge: 7. curious alchemySeries: Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
Character/Pairing: Dexter gen
Rating: PG for death
Excerpt: A civilization must have a social hierarchy-- however else could a creature like I slip by, unsuspected?
It is a curious alchemy, the building of a civilization. Of course, I learned the definition in school-- Deviously Definitive Dexter. I remember my history class, full of wars and senseless, wonderful bloodshed.
"A civilization is a society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in towns and cities. Civilizations are organized with division of labor and a social hierarchy," saith the old history teacher. You see Dexter's long memory.
But the definition is missing something. A civilization must have a social hierarchy-- however else could a creature like I slip by, unsuspected? In any primitive civilization I would have been cast out or burned on mere suspect, Doakes the priest/policeman doing the sentencing.
But a civilization must also have order, from government or police, spear-carriers or the guy with the biggest stick. (A reference, of course, to another famous man of history, a man whose philosophy I share up to a point. The point is not to carry the stick, but to know exactly when to hit people with it. He was pretty good at that, true, but it's hitting them quietly that is the difficult part.)
In a civilization such as ours, one small thing out of order-- one unsolved crime, one unpunished murder-- will not wreck the place. The curious alchemy, remember, will not be destroyed if we miss one grain of salt in the recipe.
But small things do add up, you see, and the citizens are scared to walk the streets at night, even without the Dark Passenger and I creeping along behind them. This (other) murderer must be caught. We cannot be caught in another version of the London panic, Whitechapel 1888. Jack the Ripper cannot stalk these streets.
Dexter Morgan can, and will. I will find this man or woman picking the friendly street-corner ladies off of their street corners, and I will take care of him or her. (Did you know that dear Jack the Ripper may have been a woman? It is quite the theory.)
Unacknowledged, I will maintain dear civilization for another day. After all, isn't it much easier for the wolf to catch the sheep when they are all penned together?