Random Ficlets of... Randomness
So I randomly texted afrocurl for prompts. I think all this election energy is making me antsy. Once I finished hers, I still had some steam, so I added two more. So I've got Veronica Mars, Supernatural, Friday Night Lights, Battletar Galactica, and Doctor Who below the cut. They're all unbeta'd... and most likely, not coherent.
1. Pairing: Logan and Veronica
Prompt: "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" by Billy Joel
-
She'd spent the week packing slowly, but now she couldn't prolong it any longer. The apartment she'd lived in with her father was reduced to just a few boxes - even the furniture had already been shipped to Keith's new address - but Veronica wasn't quite ready to leave, so she sunk down at the base of the island and sifted through a shoebox full of photographs she'd found on the top shelf of her dad's closet.
Most of them had obviously belonged to her mother - there was a collection of wallet-sized yearbook photos of people with Farrah hair, looking at nothing in particular beyond the border of the picture, many of them signed on the reverse with silly acronyms like LYLAS and 2G2BF - but there were a lot of her as a child, too, sitting on her dad's knee, drooling and playing with her toes. Toward the bottom was a snapshot taken at her parent's wedding; Veronica smiled fondly at her father with a full head of hair and a mustache. She thought Alicia would appreciate some of the more incriminating shots, so she tried to set the lid back on, intending to hand-deliver it. When it wouldn't fit, she opened the box again. Stuck to the inside of the lid was a picture she was sure she'd never seen before. It was of her, Duncan, Lilly, and Logan - and none of them could have been older than thirteen. It was a candid, and they were all absorbed in their own interior lives, so no one was looking at the camera.
She and Lilly looked like they were playing with a length of string - trying to perfect Cat's Cradle, no doubt. Veronica's vague smile widened. They never could figure that game out. Just beyond them, Duncan and Logan were eating (of course - back then, they did nothing but). Ducan had his mouth open - talking, Veronica assumed, but Logan... Logan was looking right at her. He was so gangly back then, and God, she looked young (and just a bit awkward). But they were all so innocent, and when Veronica ran her fingertips lightly over Lilly's face, a lump formed in her throat. She realized then how long it had been since she'd been home, and on a whim, she pulled her cell phone from her bag.
Dialing, she knew, was a long shot. Ten years was a long time to keep the same number and...
"Hello?"
Veronica nearly gasped when the familiar voice came over the line. "Logan?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
"Veronica? Is something wrong?"
His concern - oh, but that wasn't new. Still, it made that lump in her throat grow. "Yeah. I mean, no. I'm just... home for a few days, and..." A thousand things suddenly occurred to her. What if he was dating someone? Married, even? Moved away from Neptune? God knew, she'd barely been home since transferring to Virginia Tech. But this wasn't about that - she just... "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to get coffee?"
"You're in town?" He sounded surprised. "Huh - me too. Funny."
She could almost see him run his hand through his hair, and she couldn't stop the reflexive grin. "Funny, yeah."
"I could do for coffee." She heard Logan smile. "Java the Hut still open?"
Veronica chuckled. "Your guess is as good as mine. Meet me in twenty?"
"Demanding, aren't we, Mars?" He waited a beat - trademark Echolls. "Some things never change." He laughed, and the sound warmed her.
"Just be there," she shot back, a grin softening her words.
After she hung up, she studied the photograph for a long moment, and the lump in her throat dropped into her stomach and broke into a swarm of butterflies. Some things never change, indeed.
-
2. Pairing: Matt and Julie
Prompt: "Wig Wam Bam" by Sweet
Matt couldn't deny it - Julie always got what she wanted in the end, but it wasn't always without considerable effort on her part, so he had to give her some credit. Matt also couldn't deny that when what Julie wanted was him, he always gave in too easily.
"It's just a favor," she told him, all faux-brightness and smiles.
"No such thing," he returned. And he believed that. His gram had taught him that no good deed goes unpunished.
"I just don't want to walk into that party alone. And you're going anyway." Matt thought a career in law would suit her. Criminal defence, for sure. "Please," she whined (he hated when she whined). "I'll owe you, like, so big."
He wondered why she bothered with the theatrics when she knew he'd give in eventually. "It's an away game, so it won't be until late. And I have stuff to do in the morning, so I want to be home early."
It wasn't a refusal, and Julie clearly didn't take it as one. She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Thanks, Matt! You're the best."
"Yeah, yeah. Spread that around, will you?" But he was talking to the air, because she was already halfway down the hall.
-
3. Pairing: Sam and Ruby (who I know next to nothing about - sorry, Roz!)
Prompt: "Sam's Town" by The Killers (apt, no?)
They're sitting side by side in the moonlight, and Sam thinks her hair looks as white as bone. It could be because they're sitting in a cemetery, but it's more likely because he's still mostly afraid of Ruby - even her beauty is off-putting. He likes his demon's covered in boils or trying to kill him with foot-long fingernails. When they sit beside him, looking fresh and warm and lovely, and just want to talk... well, Sam can't help but feel thrown off.
"When I was alive, I never really thought much about what I was doing." Her words carry a hint of confession, and Sam shifts uncomfortably. He really doesn't want to hear an apology for anything from this... thing. Person? He doesn't know; it's such a fine line anymore. She continues, not acknowledging his disquiet. "Women were so powerless then that any little bit we could grab was a victory."
He snorts laughter, surprised. "You're saying witchcraft was a choice to battle medieval gender politics? That's a new one."
She looks up at him. "New, is it?" Ruby arches an eyebrow, and Sam's fingers itch to trace the curve. "How often do you engage in philosophical conversation with demons?"
It sounds like a reproof, and he can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. "We just kill 'em," Sam answers gruffly. "Any other way usually ends up with me or my brother seriously maimed."
Ruby shrugs and returns her gaze to the moon. "Well, I'm not usual."
He agrees silently, but would never give voice to it. Instead, he looks up at the moon too - and he can't help but compare the shine to the look in her eyes, just a little bit.
-
4. Pairing: Logan and Veronica
Prompt: "Old Friends/Bookends" by Simon & Garfunkle
Java the Hut was still opened, as it turned out.
"Best man?" Veronica asked, arching an eyebrow.
Logan shook his head, smiling into his black coffee. "I got roped into it somehow. Probably because I have the biggest bank account with which to post bail."
"Or the most friends who take their clothes off for money." Veronica couldn't have stopped the words if she'd tried. Luckily, she doesn't have time to regret them, because Logan snickered.
"Good point." He sipped his coffee. "And you? FBI? CIA? Can't tell me or you'll have to kill me?"
It was Veronica's turn to snicker. "Lawyer, actually."
"Ouch." Logan grinned. "How'd that happen?"
She shrugged. "The same as yours, I would assume. I just... stopped being seventeen."
He pointed a finger at her. "Never accuse me of maturity, Mars. I'll have you know teaching is just another way to extend my adolesence."
Veronica smiled at him. It wasn't the polite smile she'd show most people from high school; it was the private one that said, "Our adolesence was over way before most people's, and you know it." And when she saw him fiddling with the cuff of his shirt, she knew she wasn't the only one thinking of Neptune High.
"Anyway," she pressed on, "San Fransisco's a great place to practice. I feel light years from here, but the drive doesn't kill me when Dad starts whining."
Logan grinned. "Well, I don't come home often except when someone lures me back here for some debauched weekend or another, but I'm sure as hell glad I didn't stay in LA after college. I'd probably be splashed all over the front page - and the ground - by now."
She doesn't react to the joke because she knows he's hoping she won't. It's a test she clearly passed because the next time she meets his eyes, he's smiling a genuine smile. "Thanks for calling me."
"Any time."
"I'm holding you to that."
She nods and the butterflies kick up again. It's only then when she realizes neither of them has brought up family or significant others. Veronica relaxes back into her chair and decides she's not going to be the one to bring it up.
-
5. Pairing: Sam and Kara
Prompt: "But Honestly" by Foo Fighters
The way he's not looking at her is probably supposed to say, "I'm not doing this anymore, so don't call me again." She knows otherwise - he'll come whether or not she calls. It's why he's in no hurry to pull his boots on after all, why he's hesitating, practically radiating the hope she'll ask him to spend the night. But she won't. And anyway, she was the second person to know he applied for Flight, so she's not sure who he thinks he's fooling.
Half of her thrills at the thought of having Sam under her command - and the rest of her dreads it. She wants to tell him to pull his app, to run, to make a place on a civilian ship. She would never leave Galactica - not in anything less than a bodybag, that is. But other people still have options - Sam still has other options. And that was probably her biggest reason for marrying him.
He stands, dressed at long last. She sees his wedding band catch the light and she half wishes he'd ask where hers was.
"Kara," he says, only halfway turning toward her. "I filed for a divorce."
Before she can answer, he's gone, and the hatch is closing behind him.
-
6. Pairing: Ten and Martha
Prompt: "Everbody Knows You Cried Last Night" by The Fratellis
Martha was half out of her mind when she got to the door. The skin below her jaw felt pleasantly tender, and she had chills all over. She could hardly wait to get into her bed, and she hoped the Doctor would already be asleep. The last thing she needed was another strained chat about how cramped the flat was or how she couldn't afford to buy proper jam or, oh no, they were still trapped in 1969. Well, none of that was her fault. And the fact blokes seemed to fall at her feet in the 60s? Well, that wasn't her fault either. She just happened to look damn good in a short, polyester dress.
But naturally, luck was not on her side. He was awake and tinkering, already having a conversation with her by the time she secured the third deadbolt. Her buzz was killed immediately and she dropped into a chair, crossing her legs and arms, and folding up into herself. She listened to him with half an ear, murmuring in agreement every few minutes. After her tenth "mm-hmm," she noticed he'd stopped talking.
Martha looked up at him, and he was watching her peculiarly. "Can I help you with something?"
"You have a bruise on your neck," he told her. Nothing he'd ever said to her before had sounded like such an accusation.
Her fingers went to the tender spot, and she flushed self-conciously, her mind going to seven different lame excuses at once. Still - he wasn't her dad or her boyfriend... or her anything really. Why should she answer to him? "So I do."
His lips thinned and he went resolutely back to work, not saying another word on it. Martha slinked to her bed a few moments later, thinking an argument would have been so much better than the Doctor's silent recrimination.
-
You'd all better be voting tomorrow! I'll know if you don't. *is omniscient*
1. Pairing: Logan and Veronica
Prompt: "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" by Billy Joel
-
She'd spent the week packing slowly, but now she couldn't prolong it any longer. The apartment she'd lived in with her father was reduced to just a few boxes - even the furniture had already been shipped to Keith's new address - but Veronica wasn't quite ready to leave, so she sunk down at the base of the island and sifted through a shoebox full of photographs she'd found on the top shelf of her dad's closet.
Most of them had obviously belonged to her mother - there was a collection of wallet-sized yearbook photos of people with Farrah hair, looking at nothing in particular beyond the border of the picture, many of them signed on the reverse with silly acronyms like LYLAS and 2G2BF - but there were a lot of her as a child, too, sitting on her dad's knee, drooling and playing with her toes. Toward the bottom was a snapshot taken at her parent's wedding; Veronica smiled fondly at her father with a full head of hair and a mustache. She thought Alicia would appreciate some of the more incriminating shots, so she tried to set the lid back on, intending to hand-deliver it. When it wouldn't fit, she opened the box again. Stuck to the inside of the lid was a picture she was sure she'd never seen before. It was of her, Duncan, Lilly, and Logan - and none of them could have been older than thirteen. It was a candid, and they were all absorbed in their own interior lives, so no one was looking at the camera.
She and Lilly looked like they were playing with a length of string - trying to perfect Cat's Cradle, no doubt. Veronica's vague smile widened. They never could figure that game out. Just beyond them, Duncan and Logan were eating (of course - back then, they did nothing but). Ducan had his mouth open - talking, Veronica assumed, but Logan... Logan was looking right at her. He was so gangly back then, and God, she looked young (and just a bit awkward). But they were all so innocent, and when Veronica ran her fingertips lightly over Lilly's face, a lump formed in her throat. She realized then how long it had been since she'd been home, and on a whim, she pulled her cell phone from her bag.
Dialing, she knew, was a long shot. Ten years was a long time to keep the same number and...
"Hello?"
Veronica nearly gasped when the familiar voice came over the line. "Logan?" she asked, even though she knew the answer.
"Veronica? Is something wrong?"
His concern - oh, but that wasn't new. Still, it made that lump in her throat grow. "Yeah. I mean, no. I'm just... home for a few days, and..." A thousand things suddenly occurred to her. What if he was dating someone? Married, even? Moved away from Neptune? God knew, she'd barely been home since transferring to Virginia Tech. But this wasn't about that - she just... "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to get coffee?"
"You're in town?" He sounded surprised. "Huh - me too. Funny."
She could almost see him run his hand through his hair, and she couldn't stop the reflexive grin. "Funny, yeah."
"I could do for coffee." She heard Logan smile. "Java the Hut still open?"
Veronica chuckled. "Your guess is as good as mine. Meet me in twenty?"
"Demanding, aren't we, Mars?" He waited a beat - trademark Echolls. "Some things never change." He laughed, and the sound warmed her.
"Just be there," she shot back, a grin softening her words.
After she hung up, she studied the photograph for a long moment, and the lump in her throat dropped into her stomach and broke into a swarm of butterflies. Some things never change, indeed.
-
2. Pairing: Matt and Julie
Prompt: "Wig Wam Bam" by Sweet
Matt couldn't deny it - Julie always got what she wanted in the end, but it wasn't always without considerable effort on her part, so he had to give her some credit. Matt also couldn't deny that when what Julie wanted was him, he always gave in too easily.
"It's just a favor," she told him, all faux-brightness and smiles.
"No such thing," he returned. And he believed that. His gram had taught him that no good deed goes unpunished.
"I just don't want to walk into that party alone. And you're going anyway." Matt thought a career in law would suit her. Criminal defence, for sure. "Please," she whined (he hated when she whined). "I'll owe you, like, so big."
He wondered why she bothered with the theatrics when she knew he'd give in eventually. "It's an away game, so it won't be until late. And I have stuff to do in the morning, so I want to be home early."
It wasn't a refusal, and Julie clearly didn't take it as one. She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Thanks, Matt! You're the best."
"Yeah, yeah. Spread that around, will you?" But he was talking to the air, because she was already halfway down the hall.
-
3. Pairing: Sam and Ruby (who I know next to nothing about - sorry, Roz!)
Prompt: "Sam's Town" by The Killers (apt, no?)
They're sitting side by side in the moonlight, and Sam thinks her hair looks as white as bone. It could be because they're sitting in a cemetery, but it's more likely because he's still mostly afraid of Ruby - even her beauty is off-putting. He likes his demon's covered in boils or trying to kill him with foot-long fingernails. When they sit beside him, looking fresh and warm and lovely, and just want to talk... well, Sam can't help but feel thrown off.
"When I was alive, I never really thought much about what I was doing." Her words carry a hint of confession, and Sam shifts uncomfortably. He really doesn't want to hear an apology for anything from this... thing. Person? He doesn't know; it's such a fine line anymore. She continues, not acknowledging his disquiet. "Women were so powerless then that any little bit we could grab was a victory."
He snorts laughter, surprised. "You're saying witchcraft was a choice to battle medieval gender politics? That's a new one."
She looks up at him. "New, is it?" Ruby arches an eyebrow, and Sam's fingers itch to trace the curve. "How often do you engage in philosophical conversation with demons?"
It sounds like a reproof, and he can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. "We just kill 'em," Sam answers gruffly. "Any other way usually ends up with me or my brother seriously maimed."
Ruby shrugs and returns her gaze to the moon. "Well, I'm not usual."
He agrees silently, but would never give voice to it. Instead, he looks up at the moon too - and he can't help but compare the shine to the look in her eyes, just a little bit.
-
4. Pairing: Logan and Veronica
Prompt: "Old Friends/Bookends" by Simon & Garfunkle
Java the Hut was still opened, as it turned out.
"Best man?" Veronica asked, arching an eyebrow.
Logan shook his head, smiling into his black coffee. "I got roped into it somehow. Probably because I have the biggest bank account with which to post bail."
"Or the most friends who take their clothes off for money." Veronica couldn't have stopped the words if she'd tried. Luckily, she doesn't have time to regret them, because Logan snickered.
"Good point." He sipped his coffee. "And you? FBI? CIA? Can't tell me or you'll have to kill me?"
It was Veronica's turn to snicker. "Lawyer, actually."
"Ouch." Logan grinned. "How'd that happen?"
She shrugged. "The same as yours, I would assume. I just... stopped being seventeen."
He pointed a finger at her. "Never accuse me of maturity, Mars. I'll have you know teaching is just another way to extend my adolesence."
Veronica smiled at him. It wasn't the polite smile she'd show most people from high school; it was the private one that said, "Our adolesence was over way before most people's, and you know it." And when she saw him fiddling with the cuff of his shirt, she knew she wasn't the only one thinking of Neptune High.
"Anyway," she pressed on, "San Fransisco's a great place to practice. I feel light years from here, but the drive doesn't kill me when Dad starts whining."
Logan grinned. "Well, I don't come home often except when someone lures me back here for some debauched weekend or another, but I'm sure as hell glad I didn't stay in LA after college. I'd probably be splashed all over the front page - and the ground - by now."
She doesn't react to the joke because she knows he's hoping she won't. It's a test she clearly passed because the next time she meets his eyes, he's smiling a genuine smile. "Thanks for calling me."
"Any time."
"I'm holding you to that."
She nods and the butterflies kick up again. It's only then when she realizes neither of them has brought up family or significant others. Veronica relaxes back into her chair and decides she's not going to be the one to bring it up.
-
5. Pairing: Sam and Kara
Prompt: "But Honestly" by Foo Fighters
The way he's not looking at her is probably supposed to say, "I'm not doing this anymore, so don't call me again." She knows otherwise - he'll come whether or not she calls. It's why he's in no hurry to pull his boots on after all, why he's hesitating, practically radiating the hope she'll ask him to spend the night. But she won't. And anyway, she was the second person to know he applied for Flight, so she's not sure who he thinks he's fooling.
Half of her thrills at the thought of having Sam under her command - and the rest of her dreads it. She wants to tell him to pull his app, to run, to make a place on a civilian ship. She would never leave Galactica - not in anything less than a bodybag, that is. But other people still have options - Sam still has other options. And that was probably her biggest reason for marrying him.
He stands, dressed at long last. She sees his wedding band catch the light and she half wishes he'd ask where hers was.
"Kara," he says, only halfway turning toward her. "I filed for a divorce."
Before she can answer, he's gone, and the hatch is closing behind him.
-
6. Pairing: Ten and Martha
Prompt: "Everbody Knows You Cried Last Night" by The Fratellis
Martha was half out of her mind when she got to the door. The skin below her jaw felt pleasantly tender, and she had chills all over. She could hardly wait to get into her bed, and she hoped the Doctor would already be asleep. The last thing she needed was another strained chat about how cramped the flat was or how she couldn't afford to buy proper jam or, oh no, they were still trapped in 1969. Well, none of that was her fault. And the fact blokes seemed to fall at her feet in the 60s? Well, that wasn't her fault either. She just happened to look damn good in a short, polyester dress.
But naturally, luck was not on her side. He was awake and tinkering, already having a conversation with her by the time she secured the third deadbolt. Her buzz was killed immediately and she dropped into a chair, crossing her legs and arms, and folding up into herself. She listened to him with half an ear, murmuring in agreement every few minutes. After her tenth "mm-hmm," she noticed he'd stopped talking.
Martha looked up at him, and he was watching her peculiarly. "Can I help you with something?"
"You have a bruise on your neck," he told her. Nothing he'd ever said to her before had sounded like such an accusation.
Her fingers went to the tender spot, and she flushed self-conciously, her mind going to seven different lame excuses at once. Still - he wasn't her dad or her boyfriend... or her anything really. Why should she answer to him? "So I do."
His lips thinned and he went resolutely back to work, not saying another word on it. Martha slinked to her bed a few moments later, thinking an argument would have been so much better than the Doctor's silent recrimination.
-
You'd all better be voting tomorrow! I'll know if you don't. *is omniscient*