Homesick
Title: Macaroni and Bananas
Author: eponine254
Fandom/Character(s)/Pairing(s): Original
Genre: General
Rating: G
Words: 191
Challenge/Prompt: fictionland #28: Homesick
Warnings: None
Notes: This is how I remember Prague. Except that it was clearer that the mushroom cloud was actually garlic.
Summary: There's nothing like grocery shopping in a strange country to make you homesick.
Macaroni and Bananas
I stood in the dingy supermarket at the Metro station, scanning the label of the can in my hand in the hope that the unfamiliar Czech would suddenly start to make sense. My feet hurt, my backpack seemed to have grown heavier over the course of the day, and all I wanted was to lie down and sleep. But my basket was still empty. I’d have to find something. By this stage, I wouldn’t have cared if the can contained grass and bits of twig, as long as it was vegan grass and bits of twig.
I decided to play it safe, throwing into my basket the cheapest macaroni I could find (reasoning that the two ingredients listed on the back were unlikely to be “duck” and “hamster”), and a tin of what I guessed from the picture on the front to be crushed tomatoes with added mushroom cloud. I was past caring.
On a whim, I grabbed a bunch of bananas on my way to the checkout. Funny - I’d never liked bananas at home.
I ate watery tomato macaroni and bananas for the next three days. They tasted like homesickness.
***
Title: Poison Apple Dreams
Author: eponine254
Fandom/Character(s)/Pairing(s): Snow White
Genre: General/fairy tale
Rating: G
Words: 292
Challenge/Prompt: fictionland #28: Homesick
Warnings: None
Summary: After the happy ending, Snow White finds that the prince is making her miss the glass coffin.
Poison Apple Dreams
“My fairest love! Did you sleep the sleep of a thousand tiny angels?”
Snow White glared at the prince, who beamed unfalteringly back at her from the far side of the breakfast table.
“Please stop calling me that,” she said. Before she could stop him, Charming had leapt up and pulled out her chair for her.
“I’ve told you, you don’t have to do that,” she said, without sitting down.
“But, most beautiful princess!” the prince began, a look of consternation on his perfectly chiselled features.
“I’m not a vase,” she said. “I won’t break.”
“But I must serve and protect - ”
“No, you really must not,” the princess interrupted, taking a deep breath. “Look, I know you mean well. And if the castle ever gets attacked by ninjas, I promise you can help me fight them off. But until that happy day, you can treat me like a competent adult. Because right now, you’re making me feel homesick. For a glass box.”
The prince gaped at her, perhaps shocked to have heard her speak so many words at once. Snow White wasn’t sure he’d ever expected her to do more than thank him for saving her and then smile prettily for the rest of their lives.
And to think she’d really believed in True Love’s First Kiss. It wasn’t until later that she’d come to understand that a man who had won her like a prize in a game could hardly be expected to treat her like a person afterwards.
She sighed at the look of confusion on his face, and sat down, pointedly tucking in her own chair.
She toyed with an apple, turning it so that it caught the light. She dreamt of apples more and more these days.
Author: eponine254
Fandom/Character(s)/Pairing(s): Original
Genre: General
Rating: G
Words: 191
Challenge/Prompt: fictionland #28: Homesick
Warnings: None
Notes: This is how I remember Prague. Except that it was clearer that the mushroom cloud was actually garlic.
Summary: There's nothing like grocery shopping in a strange country to make you homesick.
Macaroni and Bananas
I stood in the dingy supermarket at the Metro station, scanning the label of the can in my hand in the hope that the unfamiliar Czech would suddenly start to make sense. My feet hurt, my backpack seemed to have grown heavier over the course of the day, and all I wanted was to lie down and sleep. But my basket was still empty. I’d have to find something. By this stage, I wouldn’t have cared if the can contained grass and bits of twig, as long as it was vegan grass and bits of twig.
I decided to play it safe, throwing into my basket the cheapest macaroni I could find (reasoning that the two ingredients listed on the back were unlikely to be “duck” and “hamster”), and a tin of what I guessed from the picture on the front to be crushed tomatoes with added mushroom cloud. I was past caring.
On a whim, I grabbed a bunch of bananas on my way to the checkout. Funny - I’d never liked bananas at home.
I ate watery tomato macaroni and bananas for the next three days. They tasted like homesickness.
***
Title: Poison Apple Dreams
Author: eponine254
Fandom/Character(s)/Pairing(s): Snow White
Genre: General/fairy tale
Rating: G
Words: 292
Challenge/Prompt: fictionland #28: Homesick
Warnings: None
Summary: After the happy ending, Snow White finds that the prince is making her miss the glass coffin.
Poison Apple Dreams
“My fairest love! Did you sleep the sleep of a thousand tiny angels?”
Snow White glared at the prince, who beamed unfalteringly back at her from the far side of the breakfast table.
“Please stop calling me that,” she said. Before she could stop him, Charming had leapt up and pulled out her chair for her.
“I’ve told you, you don’t have to do that,” she said, without sitting down.
“But, most beautiful princess!” the prince began, a look of consternation on his perfectly chiselled features.
“I’m not a vase,” she said. “I won’t break.”
“But I must serve and protect - ”
“No, you really must not,” the princess interrupted, taking a deep breath. “Look, I know you mean well. And if the castle ever gets attacked by ninjas, I promise you can help me fight them off. But until that happy day, you can treat me like a competent adult. Because right now, you’re making me feel homesick. For a glass box.”
The prince gaped at her, perhaps shocked to have heard her speak so many words at once. Snow White wasn’t sure he’d ever expected her to do more than thank him for saving her and then smile prettily for the rest of their lives.
And to think she’d really believed in True Love’s First Kiss. It wasn’t until later that she’d come to understand that a man who had won her like a prize in a game could hardly be expected to treat her like a person afterwards.
She sighed at the look of confusion on his face, and sat down, pointedly tucking in her own chair.
She toyed with an apple, turning it so that it caught the light. She dreamt of apples more and more these days.