FIREFLY/RENT: Landscape
Title: Landscape
Characters/Pairing: River/April
Word Count: 400
Rating: PG-13
Summary: ...so River decides she's going to show her the way.
Notes: Written for femslash100 challenges #52, 53, 54 and 55. Post-Serenity.
Disclaimer: Firefly and River belong to Joss Whedon, RENT and April to Jonathan Larson.
i. stars and the black
River's the younger of the two of them, but she feels ancient, and to her April feels so much younger. River's deep and old as time, a canyon gouged by millennia of water wearing down rock - April's sharp mountains thrusting up from the planet's crust, steep and unpolished and perilous, valleys and peaks, valleys and peaks. River's younger in years, but she's found her way in the verse, and she doesn't waver, doesn't falter. April's lost, lonely and a little scared, keeps reaching for the stars but getting lost in the black, so River decides she'll show her the way.
ii. protection
It's a new feeling, being needed, when she's never really been before.
But the first time River kissed her, April tensed, started to pull away - and then stopped as River reached for her wrist, gentle but firm enough to keep her from stepping back. And when she broke the kiss, April looked at River wide-eyed and asked, "River, what-"
River stopped her before the words could even get out, solemn and quiet as she says, "You need me. I'm going to protect you."
Funny how April didn't question it, or ask what she was being protected against.
iii. ins and outs
April doesn't know she's living on borrowed time. River knows, and is glad of every second. She's learning the ins and outs of April's mind, the bright shining places and the shadowed areas. The cracked, shattered places no one's ever fixed.
She's going to fix her, because who better than the girl who's been broken every way possible?
At the same time, she's learning the ins and outs of April's body, the gentle curves and the scars on her arms and the beautiful way she'll gasp and shudder and cling to River if she touches her just right.
iv. rivers
River hadn't counted on how hard it would be to fix April, how everything else came so naturally to her but this she failed at. One miscalculation, and she didn't get a second chance.
She could only stare at the red, everywhere, and it wasn't like she hadn't seen blood before, even blood of people she loved, but this was different.
"Forgot what color she was inside," she murmured under her breath. "Had to see..."
And then she's looking at her own wrists and veins, the colors - April's brilliant bloody red, but all Rivers are blue, of course.
Characters/Pairing: River/April
Word Count: 400
Rating: PG-13
Summary: ...so River decides she's going to show her the way.
Notes: Written for femslash100 challenges #52, 53, 54 and 55. Post-Serenity.
Disclaimer: Firefly and River belong to Joss Whedon, RENT and April to Jonathan Larson.
i. stars and the black
River's the younger of the two of them, but she feels ancient, and to her April feels so much younger. River's deep and old as time, a canyon gouged by millennia of water wearing down rock - April's sharp mountains thrusting up from the planet's crust, steep and unpolished and perilous, valleys and peaks, valleys and peaks. River's younger in years, but she's found her way in the verse, and she doesn't waver, doesn't falter. April's lost, lonely and a little scared, keeps reaching for the stars but getting lost in the black, so River decides she'll show her the way.
ii. protection
It's a new feeling, being needed, when she's never really been before.
But the first time River kissed her, April tensed, started to pull away - and then stopped as River reached for her wrist, gentle but firm enough to keep her from stepping back. And when she broke the kiss, April looked at River wide-eyed and asked, "River, what-"
River stopped her before the words could even get out, solemn and quiet as she says, "You need me. I'm going to protect you."
Funny how April didn't question it, or ask what she was being protected against.
iii. ins and outs
April doesn't know she's living on borrowed time. River knows, and is glad of every second. She's learning the ins and outs of April's mind, the bright shining places and the shadowed areas. The cracked, shattered places no one's ever fixed.
She's going to fix her, because who better than the girl who's been broken every way possible?
At the same time, she's learning the ins and outs of April's body, the gentle curves and the scars on her arms and the beautiful way she'll gasp and shudder and cling to River if she touches her just right.
iv. rivers
River hadn't counted on how hard it would be to fix April, how everything else came so naturally to her but this she failed at. One miscalculation, and she didn't get a second chance.
She could only stare at the red, everywhere, and it wasn't like she hadn't seen blood before, even blood of people she loved, but this was different.
"Forgot what color she was inside," she murmured under her breath. "Had to see..."
And then she's looking at her own wrists and veins, the colors - April's brilliant bloody red, but all Rivers are blue, of course.