3-sentence fics
I'm going to use this post to post all of the 3-sentence fics I've done.
Anastasia, Anya/Dimitri, honour among thieves ( *)
It's a game they play, practicing their skills on each other. Anya steals Dmitri's watch and he finds it in his pillow case, Dmitri steals her hair ribbons and she finds them threaded through her boots, and so forth.
They trust each other to keep an accurate score of their own wins and losses, not worried about cheating at all.
Doctor Who, Jack/Rose, her name is on the list of the dead ( *)
He disposes of the body himself, not able to make himself force Ianto to go through that.
A few weeks later, when they are both staying late again, he says, "I had a friend at Canary Wharf; her name was Rose, it was on the list of the dead."
"You loved her," Ianto says, sharp as ever, and Jack nods as something in the air softens just a little.
Alice in Wonderland, Alice, years from now ( *)
Like all of your friends, you went to school, grew up respectable, married well, had children. Perhaps you have a tendency of exploring rabbit holes too deeply, but it's nothing people would notice.
One day your husband brings home a white rabbit for the children, and you sit by it's cage for a long time, willing it to talk, something in you wishing it would.
BSG, Helo, here at the end of all things ( *)
It's black.
Just black, scorched earth and rubble, the sea's incessant lapping a counterpoint to the muted sound of sobbing somewhere behind them.
It is the end of everything.
Narnia/Doctor Who, Susan, Martha, the Doctor ( *)
"They call her the Ice Queen," Martha tells the Doctor when he comes in at the end of her shift, nodding to the tall, beautiful woman organizing clothes at the other end of the racks. "She doesn't talk to anyone, and she always has a new guy she's dating."
The Doctor has his sonic screwdriver in his hand, and his mouth and eyes go round with surprise as it whirs at Susan Pevensie.
Narnia/His Dark Materials - Edmund/Lyra - all the worlds there ever were ( *)
She slips through to another world when she turns seventeen, just turns a corner and finds herself in a different London completely and thinks Will, her heart racing fast. There's a tall dark boy standing facing her, unblinking, and he's tightly wound in a way Will never was but he has the same eyes and his hands are shoved deep in his pockets.
"You picked one hell of a new world to travel to," he says, and she blinks as he takes his right hand out of his pocket and offers it to her, lips quirking upwards just a little.
Narnia/Doctor Who, the tenth doctor and Edmund, "what a clever boy!" ( *)
"What did you say your name was again?" the Doctor says, whipping off his glasses to stare at the boy who just planned an entire, almost perfect battle plan in less than two minutes against enemies he'd only met two hours ago.
"Edmund Pevensie," the boy says, still bending over the map they've acquired of the surrounding woods, his finger tracing paths across the paper.
"Hmm," the Doctor says, and thinks maybe having another companion wouldn't turn out that horribly after all.
Harry Potter/Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ginny/Oz, summer air ( *)
When he says "werewolf," he mostly expects her to run away screaming and leave him to himself, without the memories her red hair and wand brings back. What he doesn't expect her to say is, "Oh, yeah, my DaDA teacher second year was a werewolf - it's practically criminal the way you're treated, Hermione - Hermione Granger - and I are working in the Ministry for new laws on that."
"Really," is all he says, but she is watching him so intensely it makes him feel open to the world.
Merlin, Arthur & Uther & Morgana, the ties that bind ( *)
"He is my brother," Morgana says to the Druids, standing between them and Camelot, "and I would not suffer any harm to come to him."
+
"She is still my daughter," Uther says, sitting with Gaius by the fire, "and for both of our sake's, I hope she remains wherever she has gone."
+
"He is my father," Arthur says to Merlin, "and for all his faults, I cannot let him die if I can save him."
Narnia/Good Omens, Aziraphale & Crowley & Edmund, author's choice ( *)
"Angels," the tall slender boy says, his eyes amused, and Aziraphale is surprised at how completely still the boy (he picks the name Edmund out of the air) is standing, relaxed and casual.
Crowley shifts nervously, his tongue slipping out, and tries to look as angelic as he possibly can, because there is no way in hell - heaven - oh for Christ's - well shit - there's no way he's letting it get out again that he hangs around with Aziraphale. (1)
1 - He really doesn't think Aziraphale will be pleased if this boy spontaneously combusts or comes to some other mysterious harm like the last one.
Narnia/Merlin, Edmund and Merlin, hidden depths ( *)
"Fascinating that no one seems to have discovered your abilities," Edmund says casually, watching Merlin out of the corner of his eye, and Merlin jumps like a fish out of water.
"I'm sure I've no idea what you're talking about," he begins nervously, and Edmund laughs and leans over.
"We have dryads and gryphons living in peace in Narnia," he whispers in Merlin's ear, his lips grazing his skin, and Merlin goes completely still.
Narnia/Supernatural, Edmund and Sam, exasperated younger brothers ( *)
"Not to be rude, because this is fascinating work," Edmund says, knees deep in dirt and gesturing with the shovel in his hand, "Really fascinating, but the question is why we got stuck with it."
"Because torching the corpse is the uninteresting part, of course, and our brothers are jerks," Sam says from somewhere in his grave.
"And how come you can dig so much faster than me?" Edmund demands, glaring as Sam pops up and grins at him.
Narnia/Star Trek, Edmund/Young Jim, They're just two kids who don't have a clue what they're doing ( *)
"What are you doing to that car?" Jim demands, ready and boiling for a fight, but the dark-haired boy in front of him doesn't even acknowledge his presence for several seconds, finally looking up and smiling brightly.
"Hotwiring it, naturally," he says, and moves to the side. "What, you've never done it?"
Narnia/Pirates of the Caribbean, Edmund and Jack, "You're much more interesting than Caspian." ( *)
"And who would Caspian be?" Captain Jack says, spinning the wheel, but Edmund doesn't answer, just looks south to the open horizon. He has the look on him that Jack has seen on many a pirate's face - eyes half lidded and head tilted back, filled with the love of the sea.
"It has been such a long time," Edmund murmurs, and places a hand on Jack's over the wheel to steady it.
Anthropomorphic objects, ocean/rain, return ( *)
"You have traveled far," the ocean says, and the rain sighs wearily.
"Yes," she says, "and I have seen much."
"Tell your stories later," the ocean says, her eyes gentle as she holds out her arms, "just rest for now."
Avatar, Zuko/Azula, a poor imitation of valor ( *)
"You just think you're so brave, don't you?" Azula whispers, fingers digging in his skin, and he gasps. "You're a coward, and a sneak, and terrified of your own father."
-
Just before he opens the doors, he allows himself to smile and wonders what part of her plan Azula is busy with, which part he's messing up just by walking into the room.
Narnia, girl!Edmund/Peter/Edmund, riding bareback through the woods ( *)
Peter is somewhere in the middle, strung out between a boy and a girl with the same sharp eyes and cunning hands, his brother and sister. They know him in every way there is.
The woods ahead echo with Edlyn's sharp high laughter and behind him Edmund is urging his horse forward, dark head bent over it's neck.
History, the past/the eyes of the present, to the victors go the spoils ( *)
"You have become too cynical," Now says gently, her hands light on Then's shoulders, and he sighs.
"You are too young," he says, "you will see soon."
"Never," Now says, laughing, "the world is too beautiful, and I am the moment."
Captain Planet, Wheeler/Linka, how to save the world ( *)
Little pieces at a time. Don't worry about Gaia's death, it's just another piece in the scheme of things. What mattered was not the power she granted you, or Captain Planet - it was you, the five of you, and even if you only see Wheeler these days you can all still save the world.
Supernatural, Dean/Castiel, "let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand" ( *)
There's light burning through his closed eyes, and the sort of screaming Dean knows is caused by burning flesh, and then things go silent.
When he opens his eyes, Castiel is still standing in the middle of the room, and then he sways just a little bit before turning around.
"They have been taken care of," he says, voice gravelly, and Dean blinks twice and instinctively reaches his hand out as Castiel approaches.
Star Trek XI, Kirk/McCoy, Well, I thought it was funny ( *)
"Oh, I bet you thought it was freaking hilarious," Kirk snaps, stalking away, and Bones rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, counting off the seconds.
He's only hit ten when Kirk pokes his head back around the door.
"Seriously, are you secretly five?" he demands, and Bones laughs and offers his flask.
Chronicles of Narnia, girl!Edmund, in Calormen they call her the devil's whore ( *)
Ed has nimble fingers and a quick mind, a clever tongue and more than one way (it's more like a thousand) to make her points. In Calormene, where women are expected to be beautiful and silent, she stands out against the crowds.
She cuts her hair short and takes the whispers in stride.
Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy(/Ginny Weasley), money makes the world go around ( *)
"Does it?" Ginny murmurs, politely but under her breath, and Draco looks away from the conversation his friends are having to find her watching him steadily. Her fingers are pressed flat against her book's pages, her back ramrod straight and her mouth tilted up at the corners in a knowing smile.
He swallows and doesn't say anything.
Twilight, Alice/Jasper, faction ( *)
Alice falls in love because she sees herself falling in love, goes someplace because she sees herself going someplace. When she finds Jasper, she finds an anchor to the every day and the commonplace, to the now of things. They forge their own laws and their own alliances, and then face down the world.
Narnia, Edmund and Susan, rain and cigarettes ( *)
It's raining when she comes out to find him sitting on the fence with a cigarette in hand.
"It's cold," she says quietly, and holds out her hand, "You should come in."
He doesn't say anything, but he puts out the cigarette and follows her in.
Merlin/Twilight, Merlin/Alice, They're both haunted by the future ( *)
"It's easier with someone to keep you in the present," Alice says, touching his sleeve, but Merlin just looks through her. She waits, knowing what he will say already.
("I'm afraid I'll have to wait for that, but - rex quondam rexque futurus, you know.")
Narnia, Susan, Is a queen a queen if she has no kingdom to rule? ( *)
She knows: Once a king or queen of Narnia. Lucy used to say it like a personal promise, a basis for unreasoning faith and hope and trust.
Susan knows differently now - she knows that without a kingdom, a queen of Narnia is nothing more than another schoolgirl wearing lipstick and nylons, pretty but unimportant.
Supernatural, Sam/Dean, jealous of his brother ( *)
Dean would never say it out loud, but sometimes he is jealous of Sam. Jealous that he got to get out, to have a normal life for just a little bit, that he got to go to school, real school, and learn anything he wanted, that for four whole years he didn't have to worry about salt at the door and windows and protection carved in the wood and whether the hotel manager was going to evict you today or tomorrow.
He knows that he would never be able to do that or have that, but it still feels bitter on his tongue sometimes.
Doctor Who, Rose/Bad Wolf, If you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine ( *)
Sometimes she doesn't sleep well - on those nights, a sort of singing drifts through her dreams, and she stands across from herself, or someone who looks just like her but golden and strange.
I'm only as far away as you tell me to be, the woman whispers. Her mouth tastes like the summer sun.
Narnia, all-male!Pevensies, back home they're the Pevensie gang and they get into all kinds of trouble ( *)
"That's the Pevensie's cousin," somebody says quietly, and Eustace flinches a little.
It's not that he doesn't like his cousins - they are the only ones he can share Narnia with other than Jill, after all.
It's that they scare the shit out of him, and any other sane person who has the brains to know that the look in their eyes is not insanity but rather cold calculating knowledge.
Doctor Who, Nine/Rose, shenanigans ( *)
"Red wire or blue wire?" the Doctor says, thrusting the device at Rose, and she yelps.
"I've never seen a bomb before, how should I know?" she demands, and he just grins.
"Blue it is then!" he says cheerfully and snips the wire.
Narnia, Jill, first impression of Peter and Edmund ( *)
She meets Eustace's cousins at a Christmas party at his house that he wrangles her an invitation to her. She meets the girls first - Susan is cold and grown-up, unwilling to talk of Narnia beyond a bright artificial smile, and Lucy is all warmth and brightness, only wilting around Susan.
Peter shakes her hand abruptly, looks her up and down, and then turns away with pain in his eyes, but Edmund remains behind and just stares at her for a long moment, face unreadable, before saying "What was it like?", his voice hungry and desperate.
Merlin, Arthur/Gwen, share a bed ( *)
Gwen smiles her way through the days. At night, she dreads the coldness of her side of the bed, Arthur lying just an inch out of her reach. This is not what a marriage should be, but she knows that the blame lies with her as well as him.
Supernatural/Criminal Minds, author's choice, every cop's a criminal ( *)
"Every cop has just enough criminal in him," Dean says with a shrug, "it's why they make such good cops. You're a profiler, you know that - your job is to think like them."
Reid thinks of Elle, and Gideon, and Garcia, and himself, and has to admit that Dean's right.
Merlin/Narnia, ensemble, the world between worlds ( *)
Morgana stretches lazily, uncertain of why she feels an edge of strain but too peaceful to do anything about it: at her side there is Merlin, and Gwen, and Arthur, and this is right and how it should be.
Through the woods four young people come, slowly and without haste, and Morgana says "Hello," calmly, without fear.
"Hello," the dark-haired young girl says, and they stand facing each other, mirror images.
Anthropomorphized fandom, fanfic-writer/prompt, the wrong direction ( *)
"That's not the right way!" Prompt exclaims, dropping Writer's hand. "We're not supposed to be going to Porn's house, we're supposed to be going to Hurt and Comfort's house!"
"They don't live that far apart," Writer says, but reluctantly turns to follow Prompt anyways.
Star Trek, Winona, alone again ( *)
She used to stare up at the sky at night when her father was off on missions, waiting for him to come back, just her and her mother. Joining Starfleet was as much a way of making him wait as anything else at first.
Now she is waiting again, alone under a bright blue Iowa sky as her son travels the stars, and she wonders how much of him leaving is punishing her.
Star Trek, Kirk/Enterprise, beyond the rim of the starlight ( *)
Jim flirts with girl after girl, but always he comes back to his ship at night, leans against the wall in the corridors, listening to the hum beneath his feet.
"Think you can go just a bit further?" he whispers when he's in bed. The Enterprise listens.
Chronicles of Narnia, Susan, a curve of lip ( *)
Susan Pevensie knows men, always has. You show a little curve of neck and lip, keep your smile coy and your head up, smile with your eyes as well as your mouth, lean just a little bit in.
She could catch anyone, but here in England there is no one worth catching.
Chronicles of Narnia, Eustace, at Experiment House, the rumors about him have gotten...truly bizarre ( *)
"Someone he knows died during the Blitz!" a boy proposes.
"No, he almost got killed during the Blitz!" a girl interjects.
"Maybe he got captured by Germans over his summer break!" one girl says breathlessly, and the entire group turns and stares at her, bewildered.
Chronicles of Narnia, Edmund, graduation ( *)
"This pomp and ceremony wearies me," he says to Peter, who laughs and brushes off the back of his robes.
"Put up with it," he advises.
"Does it get easier in university?" Edmund says quietly, and Peter shrugs noncommittally but his eyes say no.
Narnia, Peter, girl!Edmund, boy!Susan, boy!Lucy, pick-pocket!AU, you can never go home ( *)
"That's not true," Lucas says indignantly, and Sam rolls his eyes.
"It's commonly accepted as a truth in philosophical circles - it's like the saying you can never go over the same river twice - either you or the river has changed in the moments between."
"This is not a theological debate," Edlyn drawls from her corner, tamping down her cigarette with slender fingers before flicking it into the waste basket and leaning over to put her head in Peter's lap.
Supernatural/Criminal Minds, author's choice, what's puzzling you is the nature of my game ( *)
"Dean, we should just leave," Jimmy Novak says, and Dean tilts his chair back and grins almost mockingly, not up at Hotch but at the glass behind him through which the rest of the BAU team is watching.
"He gets impatient when human follies keep him waiting," he explains, still grinning.
"What the hell sort of game does he think he's playing?" Morgan demands of no one in particular, and JJ shakes her head in dismay.
Chronicles of Narnia/Merlin, Susan&Morgana, material girl ( *)
They both like good clothes, impeccably pressed, material as good as they can get and in beautiful colors, nylons paper-thin and new, shoes shined and their lipstick applied just so. They both carry themselves with a style and grace that they've cultivated over long years, and their sense of fashion is practically perfect.
But Susan carries a knife on her at all times, even here in England, and Morgana carries her weapons with her in golden eyes and whispered words, and neither of them takes chances with the people around them or the situations they place themselves in.
Chronicles of Narnia/His Dark Materials, Edmund and Will, crossroads ( *)
"One way or the other," Edmund says, lighting his cigarette, "And it's never an easy choice."
"What did you choose?" Will asks, and Edmund smiles bitterly and drags deep on the cigarette, exhaling smoke.
"I got it made for me," he says, and his left hand twitches as it falls to his side, to a blade that Will knows Edmund remembers.
Anastasia, Anya/Dimitri, honour among thieves ( *)
It's a game they play, practicing their skills on each other. Anya steals Dmitri's watch and he finds it in his pillow case, Dmitri steals her hair ribbons and she finds them threaded through her boots, and so forth.
They trust each other to keep an accurate score of their own wins and losses, not worried about cheating at all.
Doctor Who, Jack/Rose, her name is on the list of the dead ( *)
He disposes of the body himself, not able to make himself force Ianto to go through that.
A few weeks later, when they are both staying late again, he says, "I had a friend at Canary Wharf; her name was Rose, it was on the list of the dead."
"You loved her," Ianto says, sharp as ever, and Jack nods as something in the air softens just a little.
Alice in Wonderland, Alice, years from now ( *)
Like all of your friends, you went to school, grew up respectable, married well, had children. Perhaps you have a tendency of exploring rabbit holes too deeply, but it's nothing people would notice.
One day your husband brings home a white rabbit for the children, and you sit by it's cage for a long time, willing it to talk, something in you wishing it would.
BSG, Helo, here at the end of all things ( *)
It's black.
Just black, scorched earth and rubble, the sea's incessant lapping a counterpoint to the muted sound of sobbing somewhere behind them.
It is the end of everything.
Narnia/Doctor Who, Susan, Martha, the Doctor ( *)
"They call her the Ice Queen," Martha tells the Doctor when he comes in at the end of her shift, nodding to the tall, beautiful woman organizing clothes at the other end of the racks. "She doesn't talk to anyone, and she always has a new guy she's dating."
The Doctor has his sonic screwdriver in his hand, and his mouth and eyes go round with surprise as it whirs at Susan Pevensie.
Narnia/His Dark Materials - Edmund/Lyra - all the worlds there ever were ( *)
She slips through to another world when she turns seventeen, just turns a corner and finds herself in a different London completely and thinks Will, her heart racing fast. There's a tall dark boy standing facing her, unblinking, and he's tightly wound in a way Will never was but he has the same eyes and his hands are shoved deep in his pockets.
"You picked one hell of a new world to travel to," he says, and she blinks as he takes his right hand out of his pocket and offers it to her, lips quirking upwards just a little.
Narnia/Doctor Who, the tenth doctor and Edmund, "what a clever boy!" ( *)
"What did you say your name was again?" the Doctor says, whipping off his glasses to stare at the boy who just planned an entire, almost perfect battle plan in less than two minutes against enemies he'd only met two hours ago.
"Edmund Pevensie," the boy says, still bending over the map they've acquired of the surrounding woods, his finger tracing paths across the paper.
"Hmm," the Doctor says, and thinks maybe having another companion wouldn't turn out that horribly after all.
Harry Potter/Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ginny/Oz, summer air ( *)
When he says "werewolf," he mostly expects her to run away screaming and leave him to himself, without the memories her red hair and wand brings back. What he doesn't expect her to say is, "Oh, yeah, my DaDA teacher second year was a werewolf - it's practically criminal the way you're treated, Hermione - Hermione Granger - and I are working in the Ministry for new laws on that."
"Really," is all he says, but she is watching him so intensely it makes him feel open to the world.
Merlin, Arthur & Uther & Morgana, the ties that bind ( *)
"He is my brother," Morgana says to the Druids, standing between them and Camelot, "and I would not suffer any harm to come to him."
+
"She is still my daughter," Uther says, sitting with Gaius by the fire, "and for both of our sake's, I hope she remains wherever she has gone."
+
"He is my father," Arthur says to Merlin, "and for all his faults, I cannot let him die if I can save him."
Narnia/Good Omens, Aziraphale & Crowley & Edmund, author's choice ( *)
"Angels," the tall slender boy says, his eyes amused, and Aziraphale is surprised at how completely still the boy (he picks the name Edmund out of the air) is standing, relaxed and casual.
Crowley shifts nervously, his tongue slipping out, and tries to look as angelic as he possibly can, because there is no way in hell - heaven - oh for Christ's - well shit - there's no way he's letting it get out again that he hangs around with Aziraphale. (1)
1 - He really doesn't think Aziraphale will be pleased if this boy spontaneously combusts or comes to some other mysterious harm like the last one.
Narnia/Merlin, Edmund and Merlin, hidden depths ( *)
"Fascinating that no one seems to have discovered your abilities," Edmund says casually, watching Merlin out of the corner of his eye, and Merlin jumps like a fish out of water.
"I'm sure I've no idea what you're talking about," he begins nervously, and Edmund laughs and leans over.
"We have dryads and gryphons living in peace in Narnia," he whispers in Merlin's ear, his lips grazing his skin, and Merlin goes completely still.
Narnia/Supernatural, Edmund and Sam, exasperated younger brothers ( *)
"Not to be rude, because this is fascinating work," Edmund says, knees deep in dirt and gesturing with the shovel in his hand, "Really fascinating, but the question is why we got stuck with it."
"Because torching the corpse is the uninteresting part, of course, and our brothers are jerks," Sam says from somewhere in his grave.
"And how come you can dig so much faster than me?" Edmund demands, glaring as Sam pops up and grins at him.
Narnia/Star Trek, Edmund/Young Jim, They're just two kids who don't have a clue what they're doing ( *)
"What are you doing to that car?" Jim demands, ready and boiling for a fight, but the dark-haired boy in front of him doesn't even acknowledge his presence for several seconds, finally looking up and smiling brightly.
"Hotwiring it, naturally," he says, and moves to the side. "What, you've never done it?"
Narnia/Pirates of the Caribbean, Edmund and Jack, "You're much more interesting than Caspian." ( *)
"And who would Caspian be?" Captain Jack says, spinning the wheel, but Edmund doesn't answer, just looks south to the open horizon. He has the look on him that Jack has seen on many a pirate's face - eyes half lidded and head tilted back, filled with the love of the sea.
"It has been such a long time," Edmund murmurs, and places a hand on Jack's over the wheel to steady it.
Anthropomorphic objects, ocean/rain, return ( *)
"You have traveled far," the ocean says, and the rain sighs wearily.
"Yes," she says, "and I have seen much."
"Tell your stories later," the ocean says, her eyes gentle as she holds out her arms, "just rest for now."
Avatar, Zuko/Azula, a poor imitation of valor ( *)
"You just think you're so brave, don't you?" Azula whispers, fingers digging in his skin, and he gasps. "You're a coward, and a sneak, and terrified of your own father."
-
Just before he opens the doors, he allows himself to smile and wonders what part of her plan Azula is busy with, which part he's messing up just by walking into the room.
Narnia, girl!Edmund/Peter/Edmund, riding bareback through the woods ( *)
Peter is somewhere in the middle, strung out between a boy and a girl with the same sharp eyes and cunning hands, his brother and sister. They know him in every way there is.
The woods ahead echo with Edlyn's sharp high laughter and behind him Edmund is urging his horse forward, dark head bent over it's neck.
History, the past/the eyes of the present, to the victors go the spoils ( *)
"You have become too cynical," Now says gently, her hands light on Then's shoulders, and he sighs.
"You are too young," he says, "you will see soon."
"Never," Now says, laughing, "the world is too beautiful, and I am the moment."
Captain Planet, Wheeler/Linka, how to save the world ( *)
Little pieces at a time. Don't worry about Gaia's death, it's just another piece in the scheme of things. What mattered was not the power she granted you, or Captain Planet - it was you, the five of you, and even if you only see Wheeler these days you can all still save the world.
Supernatural, Dean/Castiel, "let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand" ( *)
There's light burning through his closed eyes, and the sort of screaming Dean knows is caused by burning flesh, and then things go silent.
When he opens his eyes, Castiel is still standing in the middle of the room, and then he sways just a little bit before turning around.
"They have been taken care of," he says, voice gravelly, and Dean blinks twice and instinctively reaches his hand out as Castiel approaches.
Star Trek XI, Kirk/McCoy, Well, I thought it was funny ( *)
"Oh, I bet you thought it was freaking hilarious," Kirk snaps, stalking away, and Bones rolls his eyes and leans back in his chair, counting off the seconds.
He's only hit ten when Kirk pokes his head back around the door.
"Seriously, are you secretly five?" he demands, and Bones laughs and offers his flask.
Chronicles of Narnia, girl!Edmund, in Calormen they call her the devil's whore ( *)
Ed has nimble fingers and a quick mind, a clever tongue and more than one way (it's more like a thousand) to make her points. In Calormene, where women are expected to be beautiful and silent, she stands out against the crowds.
She cuts her hair short and takes the whispers in stride.
Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy(/Ginny Weasley), money makes the world go around ( *)
"Does it?" Ginny murmurs, politely but under her breath, and Draco looks away from the conversation his friends are having to find her watching him steadily. Her fingers are pressed flat against her book's pages, her back ramrod straight and her mouth tilted up at the corners in a knowing smile.
He swallows and doesn't say anything.
Twilight, Alice/Jasper, faction ( *)
Alice falls in love because she sees herself falling in love, goes someplace because she sees herself going someplace. When she finds Jasper, she finds an anchor to the every day and the commonplace, to the now of things. They forge their own laws and their own alliances, and then face down the world.
Narnia, Edmund and Susan, rain and cigarettes ( *)
It's raining when she comes out to find him sitting on the fence with a cigarette in hand.
"It's cold," she says quietly, and holds out her hand, "You should come in."
He doesn't say anything, but he puts out the cigarette and follows her in.
Merlin/Twilight, Merlin/Alice, They're both haunted by the future ( *)
"It's easier with someone to keep you in the present," Alice says, touching his sleeve, but Merlin just looks through her. She waits, knowing what he will say already.
("I'm afraid I'll have to wait for that, but - rex quondam rexque futurus, you know.")
Narnia, Susan, Is a queen a queen if she has no kingdom to rule? ( *)
She knows: Once a king or queen of Narnia. Lucy used to say it like a personal promise, a basis for unreasoning faith and hope and trust.
Susan knows differently now - she knows that without a kingdom, a queen of Narnia is nothing more than another schoolgirl wearing lipstick and nylons, pretty but unimportant.
Supernatural, Sam/Dean, jealous of his brother ( *)
Dean would never say it out loud, but sometimes he is jealous of Sam. Jealous that he got to get out, to have a normal life for just a little bit, that he got to go to school, real school, and learn anything he wanted, that for four whole years he didn't have to worry about salt at the door and windows and protection carved in the wood and whether the hotel manager was going to evict you today or tomorrow.
He knows that he would never be able to do that or have that, but it still feels bitter on his tongue sometimes.
Doctor Who, Rose/Bad Wolf, If you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine ( *)
Sometimes she doesn't sleep well - on those nights, a sort of singing drifts through her dreams, and she stands across from herself, or someone who looks just like her but golden and strange.
I'm only as far away as you tell me to be, the woman whispers. Her mouth tastes like the summer sun.
Narnia, all-male!Pevensies, back home they're the Pevensie gang and they get into all kinds of trouble ( *)
"That's the Pevensie's cousin," somebody says quietly, and Eustace flinches a little.
It's not that he doesn't like his cousins - they are the only ones he can share Narnia with other than Jill, after all.
It's that they scare the shit out of him, and any other sane person who has the brains to know that the look in their eyes is not insanity but rather cold calculating knowledge.
Doctor Who, Nine/Rose, shenanigans ( *)
"Red wire or blue wire?" the Doctor says, thrusting the device at Rose, and she yelps.
"I've never seen a bomb before, how should I know?" she demands, and he just grins.
"Blue it is then!" he says cheerfully and snips the wire.
Narnia, Jill, first impression of Peter and Edmund ( *)
She meets Eustace's cousins at a Christmas party at his house that he wrangles her an invitation to her. She meets the girls first - Susan is cold and grown-up, unwilling to talk of Narnia beyond a bright artificial smile, and Lucy is all warmth and brightness, only wilting around Susan.
Peter shakes her hand abruptly, looks her up and down, and then turns away with pain in his eyes, but Edmund remains behind and just stares at her for a long moment, face unreadable, before saying "What was it like?", his voice hungry and desperate.
Merlin, Arthur/Gwen, share a bed ( *)
Gwen smiles her way through the days. At night, she dreads the coldness of her side of the bed, Arthur lying just an inch out of her reach. This is not what a marriage should be, but she knows that the blame lies with her as well as him.
Supernatural/Criminal Minds, author's choice, every cop's a criminal ( *)
"Every cop has just enough criminal in him," Dean says with a shrug, "it's why they make such good cops. You're a profiler, you know that - your job is to think like them."
Reid thinks of Elle, and Gideon, and Garcia, and himself, and has to admit that Dean's right.
Merlin/Narnia, ensemble, the world between worlds ( *)
Morgana stretches lazily, uncertain of why she feels an edge of strain but too peaceful to do anything about it: at her side there is Merlin, and Gwen, and Arthur, and this is right and how it should be.
Through the woods four young people come, slowly and without haste, and Morgana says "Hello," calmly, without fear.
"Hello," the dark-haired young girl says, and they stand facing each other, mirror images.
Anthropomorphized fandom, fanfic-writer/prompt, the wrong direction ( *)
"That's not the right way!" Prompt exclaims, dropping Writer's hand. "We're not supposed to be going to Porn's house, we're supposed to be going to Hurt and Comfort's house!"
"They don't live that far apart," Writer says, but reluctantly turns to follow Prompt anyways.
Star Trek, Winona, alone again ( *)
She used to stare up at the sky at night when her father was off on missions, waiting for him to come back, just her and her mother. Joining Starfleet was as much a way of making him wait as anything else at first.
Now she is waiting again, alone under a bright blue Iowa sky as her son travels the stars, and she wonders how much of him leaving is punishing her.
Star Trek, Kirk/Enterprise, beyond the rim of the starlight ( *)
Jim flirts with girl after girl, but always he comes back to his ship at night, leans against the wall in the corridors, listening to the hum beneath his feet.
"Think you can go just a bit further?" he whispers when he's in bed. The Enterprise listens.
Chronicles of Narnia, Susan, a curve of lip ( *)
Susan Pevensie knows men, always has. You show a little curve of neck and lip, keep your smile coy and your head up, smile with your eyes as well as your mouth, lean just a little bit in.
She could catch anyone, but here in England there is no one worth catching.
Chronicles of Narnia, Eustace, at Experiment House, the rumors about him have gotten...truly bizarre ( *)
"Someone he knows died during the Blitz!" a boy proposes.
"No, he almost got killed during the Blitz!" a girl interjects.
"Maybe he got captured by Germans over his summer break!" one girl says breathlessly, and the entire group turns and stares at her, bewildered.
Chronicles of Narnia, Edmund, graduation ( *)
"This pomp and ceremony wearies me," he says to Peter, who laughs and brushes off the back of his robes.
"Put up with it," he advises.
"Does it get easier in university?" Edmund says quietly, and Peter shrugs noncommittally but his eyes say no.
Narnia, Peter, girl!Edmund, boy!Susan, boy!Lucy, pick-pocket!AU, you can never go home ( *)
"That's not true," Lucas says indignantly, and Sam rolls his eyes.
"It's commonly accepted as a truth in philosophical circles - it's like the saying you can never go over the same river twice - either you or the river has changed in the moments between."
"This is not a theological debate," Edlyn drawls from her corner, tamping down her cigarette with slender fingers before flicking it into the waste basket and leaning over to put her head in Peter's lap.
Supernatural/Criminal Minds, author's choice, what's puzzling you is the nature of my game ( *)
"Dean, we should just leave," Jimmy Novak says, and Dean tilts his chair back and grins almost mockingly, not up at Hotch but at the glass behind him through which the rest of the BAU team is watching.
"He gets impatient when human follies keep him waiting," he explains, still grinning.
"What the hell sort of game does he think he's playing?" Morgan demands of no one in particular, and JJ shakes her head in dismay.
Chronicles of Narnia/Merlin, Susan&Morgana, material girl ( *)
They both like good clothes, impeccably pressed, material as good as they can get and in beautiful colors, nylons paper-thin and new, shoes shined and their lipstick applied just so. They both carry themselves with a style and grace that they've cultivated over long years, and their sense of fashion is practically perfect.
But Susan carries a knife on her at all times, even here in England, and Morgana carries her weapons with her in golden eyes and whispered words, and neither of them takes chances with the people around them or the situations they place themselves in.
Chronicles of Narnia/His Dark Materials, Edmund and Will, crossroads ( *)
"One way or the other," Edmund says, lighting his cigarette, "And it's never an easy choice."
"What did you choose?" Will asks, and Edmund smiles bitterly and drags deep on the cigarette, exhaling smoke.
"I got it made for me," he says, and his left hand twitches as it falls to his side, to a blade that Will knows Edmund remembers.