Crumbs from my table
So I'm looking through my files (slow weekend, okay), and I've found a few ficscraps that are, possibly, worth sharing.
I'm not calling them WIPs, because that implies they might be finished someday. They're just longish scenes from stories I started and abandoned, that I feel are worth at least posting in here. Feel free to mock them, rip off the ideas, or (attentionwhore alert!) praise and pet me, as you see fit.
Up first, a Charmed snippet. The setting: 2026 (or so), atop the Golden Gate Bridge.
He had been braced for the visit for weeks, since he started researching the new project. Most of the time, Leo was oblivious to anything either of his sons did, and especially blind to whatever Chris did. But start making inquiries, even quiet ones in the underworld, about time travel, and it was just a matter of time before word made it to Elderville.
And here daddy came, right on schedule.
"Christopher," he said, green-blue eyes hard above his brown robes. "We need to talk."
"Go ahead," Chris said easily, patting the orange girder beneath him. "Have a seat. Talk."
Leo turned slightly, surveying the city and bay laid out beneath him. "Nice place for it," he said. "The city looks almost-"
"Peaceful from here. That's why I come here." He paused. "Why you did too, right?"
Leo sat, hands uneasy in the pockets of his robe. "You know why I'm here. One of your brother's assistants-"
"You mean goons-"
"Assistants, Chris. It was Aaron. Very nice guy. He projected up to the elder's library. Told me you had been slinking around the underworld, asking about time travel."
He considered denying it all, couldn't. "What if I have been? I wouldn't be the first to try it."
"Wouldn't be the first to jump off this bridge, either. That doesn't make it less stupid."
A sly smile, the rare one. "True. But if I do this right, it'll be a lot easier than jumping off a bridge."
Leo sighed uncertainly. "What I can't figure out is what you think you're going to do."
Chris chuckled, leaned back on his hands. "I'm going to save the world, Dad."
"How?"
Chris shook his head. "I can't answer that."
"Look, I know we've had our differences, son," Leo said, inadequate, awkward. "And I know you blame me, for whatever reasons, for what happened after your mother died-"
"You mean when you disappeared for three years and let Wyatt turn California into his personal playground," the young man said, flatly.
Leo grimaced. Low blow, he thought, noting his son's look of satisfaction at his wince. He had tried to be a good father even after he became an Elder, even after Piper, flatly, told him it was over, that a husband who was never on earth was worse than none at all. But the boys seemed to resent his visits, and Victor and Phoebe were closer to them than he could ever be.
Twice-weekly visits became weekly became monthly became birthdays and Christmas only, and then their mother was gone and Chris, small and frail for 14, kept looking at him with these needy wet eyes when he had so little to offer. He left immediately after the funeral, buried himself in work, lost track of earth-seasons until years had passed. When he saw his sons again, Wyatt governed half the city and was working on the other half, and Chris was just as lost.
And now, high above the city with his angrier son, he wished -- not for the first time -- that he had told the Powers where to shove their promotion.
"I understand you believe Wyatt misuses his power. I agree with you. But running into the past or the future … that won't solve the problem."
"Maybe not," Chris said, slowly. "But I can't make things worse." He stood. "Bye, Leo. Maybe next time I see you, things will be better."
Blue lights, and he was gone.
I'm not calling them WIPs, because that implies they might be finished someday. They're just longish scenes from stories I started and abandoned, that I feel are worth at least posting in here. Feel free to mock them, rip off the ideas, or (attentionwhore alert!) praise and pet me, as you see fit.
Up first, a Charmed snippet. The setting: 2026 (or so), atop the Golden Gate Bridge.
He had been braced for the visit for weeks, since he started researching the new project. Most of the time, Leo was oblivious to anything either of his sons did, and especially blind to whatever Chris did. But start making inquiries, even quiet ones in the underworld, about time travel, and it was just a matter of time before word made it to Elderville.
And here daddy came, right on schedule.
"Christopher," he said, green-blue eyes hard above his brown robes. "We need to talk."
"Go ahead," Chris said easily, patting the orange girder beneath him. "Have a seat. Talk."
Leo turned slightly, surveying the city and bay laid out beneath him. "Nice place for it," he said. "The city looks almost-"
"Peaceful from here. That's why I come here." He paused. "Why you did too, right?"
Leo sat, hands uneasy in the pockets of his robe. "You know why I'm here. One of your brother's assistants-"
"You mean goons-"
"Assistants, Chris. It was Aaron. Very nice guy. He projected up to the elder's library. Told me you had been slinking around the underworld, asking about time travel."
He considered denying it all, couldn't. "What if I have been? I wouldn't be the first to try it."
"Wouldn't be the first to jump off this bridge, either. That doesn't make it less stupid."
A sly smile, the rare one. "True. But if I do this right, it'll be a lot easier than jumping off a bridge."
Leo sighed uncertainly. "What I can't figure out is what you think you're going to do."
Chris chuckled, leaned back on his hands. "I'm going to save the world, Dad."
"How?"
Chris shook his head. "I can't answer that."
"Look, I know we've had our differences, son," Leo said, inadequate, awkward. "And I know you blame me, for whatever reasons, for what happened after your mother died-"
"You mean when you disappeared for three years and let Wyatt turn California into his personal playground," the young man said, flatly.
Leo grimaced. Low blow, he thought, noting his son's look of satisfaction at his wince. He had tried to be a good father even after he became an Elder, even after Piper, flatly, told him it was over, that a husband who was never on earth was worse than none at all. But the boys seemed to resent his visits, and Victor and Phoebe were closer to them than he could ever be.
Twice-weekly visits became weekly became monthly became birthdays and Christmas only, and then their mother was gone and Chris, small and frail for 14, kept looking at him with these needy wet eyes when he had so little to offer. He left immediately after the funeral, buried himself in work, lost track of earth-seasons until years had passed. When he saw his sons again, Wyatt governed half the city and was working on the other half, and Chris was just as lost.
And now, high above the city with his angrier son, he wished -- not for the first time -- that he had told the Powers where to shove their promotion.
"I understand you believe Wyatt misuses his power. I agree with you. But running into the past or the future … that won't solve the problem."
"Maybe not," Chris said, slowly. "But I can't make things worse." He stood. "Bye, Leo. Maybe next time I see you, things will be better."
Blue lights, and he was gone.