Anya and Xander drabbles
Here are three drabbles starring Anya, and two starring Xander.
Alternate Realities Are Neat
There is a theory.
That every time you make a choice, you also make the other choice - and the universe splits in two.
She ponders this as she sets the table for dinner.
Perhaps, in another world, she had not married.
Maybe she never had children.
Or had six more.
Maybe her husband had been killed in the troll attack five years ago.
Perhaps there are even worlds where Olaf had not loved her quite so dearly - where he hadn’t always been faithful.
Perhaps he even-
But he’s back, so Aud stops her musing, and goes to welcome him home.
Memorial
It was one single point, in the Bronze. Three steps from the second pool table, opposite the side door.
Xander would go to get drinks, or to the bathroom, or whatever - and every time he reached that spot, his steps would slow, his breath would hitch, and for an instant his memory would be full of his best friend in the world.
You know - the one he’d killed.
There was no plaque. No wreaths. No mound slowly sinking into the earth around it.
Just that one spot.
He’d never really got the point of gravestones. But now they sounded essential.
Brave New World
It’s an artform more than a science - if you’re any good at it.
And she’s very good.
It’s a matter of looking into someone’s soul, drawing out the nightmares inside them, placing the wish at the perfect point, and then you twist…
The world folds around itself as the old gets stripped away - killing hundreds and plunging the others into fear.
Suddenly there are bars on windows, curfews, vampires living in the centre of town, and a resistance movement in the school library trying desperately to push back the darkness.
Anyanka watches, impressed, and whispers, “I thought I was hard-core.”
Stuck In Place
People think she's shallow.
And she's not. She has a lot of very serious concerns.
The recent altar-dumping.
The bullet that killed a dear friend.
The vengeful witch who stormed in here, froze her in place, sucked the books dry, got a change in hairstyle, and is now probably off hunting geeks.
The pile of sucked books, which are now completely worthless and unsellable.
The likelihood that things are going to get much, much worse.
The fear.
She really isn't shallow.
But right now, shallow or not, there's only one thought in her head:
Wow. I really have to pee.
Best Laid Plans
It was in the bag she’d packed. The just-in-case-we-have-to-leave bag of Things That Mattered.
He pulled it out - just a crumpled old bit of paper - and unfolded it.
“Things To Do.
1-get apartment
2-get puppy
3-get boat…”
He knew she’d had a list. He hadn’t known she’d kept it.
He was already moving on to the rest of the bag when he noticed a second page, right behind the first.
“Addendum To Item Number Five”, it said. Then there were twelve names - six for boys, six for girls.
He sat there staring at it, but the tears wouldn’t come anymore.
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comments so far)
Alternate Realities Are Neat
There is a theory.
That every time you make a choice, you also make the other choice - and the universe splits in two.
She ponders this as she sets the table for dinner.
Perhaps, in another world, she had not married.
Maybe she never had children.
Or had six more.
Maybe her husband had been killed in the troll attack five years ago.
Perhaps there are even worlds where Olaf had not loved her quite so dearly - where he hadn’t always been faithful.
Perhaps he even-
But he’s back, so Aud stops her musing, and goes to welcome him home.
Memorial
It was one single point, in the Bronze. Three steps from the second pool table, opposite the side door.
Xander would go to get drinks, or to the bathroom, or whatever - and every time he reached that spot, his steps would slow, his breath would hitch, and for an instant his memory would be full of his best friend in the world.
You know - the one he’d killed.
There was no plaque. No wreaths. No mound slowly sinking into the earth around it.
Just that one spot.
He’d never really got the point of gravestones. But now they sounded essential.
Brave New World
It’s an artform more than a science - if you’re any good at it.
And she’s very good.
It’s a matter of looking into someone’s soul, drawing out the nightmares inside them, placing the wish at the perfect point, and then you twist…
The world folds around itself as the old gets stripped away - killing hundreds and plunging the others into fear.
Suddenly there are bars on windows, curfews, vampires living in the centre of town, and a resistance movement in the school library trying desperately to push back the darkness.
Anyanka watches, impressed, and whispers, “I thought I was hard-core.”
Stuck In Place
People think she's shallow.
And she's not. She has a lot of very serious concerns.
The recent altar-dumping.
The bullet that killed a dear friend.
The vengeful witch who stormed in here, froze her in place, sucked the books dry, got a change in hairstyle, and is now probably off hunting geeks.
The pile of sucked books, which are now completely worthless and unsellable.
The likelihood that things are going to get much, much worse.
The fear.
She really isn't shallow.
But right now, shallow or not, there's only one thought in her head:
Wow. I really have to pee.
Best Laid Plans
It was in the bag she’d packed. The just-in-case-we-have-to-leave bag of Things That Mattered.
He pulled it out - just a crumpled old bit of paper - and unfolded it.
“Things To Do.
1-get apartment
2-get puppy
3-get boat…”
He knew she’d had a list. He hadn’t known she’d kept it.
He was already moving on to the rest of the bag when he noticed a second page, right behind the first.
“Addendum To Item Number Five”, it said. Then there were twelve names - six for boys, six for girls.
He sat there staring at it, but the tears wouldn’t come anymore.
The conversation's happening over at Dreamwidth. Feel free to comment there using OpenID. (
comments so far)