Dollhouse Fic: That Time Of Year
Title: That Time Of Year
Author:
trialbymagic
Rating: PG
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Topher, Sierra, Adele, Actives
Spoilers: You should see episode 10 (Haunted) before you read this fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dollhouse, I just live in it's world.
Word Count: 1194
Author's Note: Written for wandersfound for the whedonland fic fest challenge. Just wanted to add that I've never written a fic before in my life, so I hope these aren't too shocking. <-- Standard on every one, but this is actually the first one I've ever written!!
It was that time of year again. It was only five minutes past midnight, yet Sierra would be awakening sometime soon. He only gets this privilege once a year, so he decided he was going to make full use of the 24 hours. Topher admired himself yet again; he imprinted Sierra the night before, but with an extra parameter that she was extremely tired, and when she felt a certain amount of fatigue, the brain would release a chemical that would counteract with the body and cause her to fall unconscious for a few hours. Brilliance. That’s not abusing the system, is it? Topher was sure that Boyd would find some sort of technicality to incriminate him, but he today he wasn’t threatened, as he quickly prepared different justifications to Boyd’s most probable types of attacks. It was his birthday, this was his time!
Like a school boy, his pace quickened as he advanced to his office, expecting to see Sierra lying down in the chair. His eyes deceived him; or rather the part of his brain that processed imagery deceived him, as Sierra was nowhere to be seen. Topher quickly ran to the chair, aiming to check for the primary imprint. Suddenly, a lean foot came out of nowhere, causing Topher to tumble to the floor, “Dude…!” yelled Sierra, as she leant her hand to Topher, and gave him a disapproving glare.
“Seriously dude, how could you fall for that one? It’s the oldest trick in the book” quipped Sierra, as she mocked him with her pouting eyes. Though he fell for that, it was his birthday so she could forgive and forget, just this once. Instinctively, they both rose their hands, high fived and then went down low. Now the fun could start. “I’m hungry, where’s the pizza?” Sierra asked. “On its way, of course,” Topher replied.
Pizza boxes, juice boxes, lollies, chips surrounded them, yet Sierra’s mind wandered towards the sleepies. “Can we play with the sleepies? Please! It would make for a very fun game of laser tag!!” Sensing the disapprovement in Topher’s eyes, she told a white lie. “Are you holding back because of that boss-lady of yours? Because I overheard her saying that she was going to headquarters with Boyd, and the house is in lockdown for a few hours, for security… meaning you can hack the security systems, put them on a loop, they’ll never know, and we’ll have our fun, everybody wins!” Topher stared intently into blank space, and surprisingly a glare became evident on his face, and she knew she had convinced him. Sierra decided that she had to give Topher more credit; he was more of a rebel than he seemed.
Sierra watched Topher remotely open the pods. He configured the code, changed parameters, reworded stuff, added crazy numbers, too complicated even for her gifted mind. Sierra leaned over his shoulder, and randomly ran her fingers across the keyboard, completely catching him off guard. “What are you doing?!?! I’m pretty sure you just released their stored methane back into their pod!” screamed Topher. “Oh!! Sorry, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even the worst actors in some of my most hated sci-fi movies!” said Sierra, apologetically. Topher couldn’t stay mad at her for long, she did after all forgive him for his slip-up earlier that morning, so he let her go on this one. He quickly reworked the code, applying double the usual amount of oxygen to be pumped into the affected actives pods. Since they were already starting to wake, he figured he’d get them to play in the laser tag game. “Ok you, are you ready to get the sleepies?” Topher asked. Almost automatically, Sierra loudly replied, “Yeah! Off to visit the sleepies we go!”.
After the pod mishap, Topher and Sierra went and helped a few of methane affected sleepies to the chair for a treatment. Sierra continually heard military codes, like “November, Echo, Mike, Tango, Victor and Bravo”, but decided not to press Topher on it, she had caused enough trouble for this evening.
Within minutes, the sleepies were all different people. Sierra was amazed at the process; Topher really was a sci-fi god, nice! Though the process was amazing, Sierra swore that if she ever heard, “Did I fall asleep?” again, she may commit a previously uncharted act of violence. Never mind though, this game of laser tag was sure to make up for it.
After the actives had been changed into their battle gear, Sierra, Topher & the actives stood in the centre of the Dollhouse. Guns in hand, the teams had been divided. Team Sierra & Team Topher stood in straight lines, staring each other down. The competition was tough, but both Sierra and Topher were determined to win. At the flick of the switch, the Dollhouse became immersed in darkness, just like it had been programmed to do. In exactly 60 seconds, the lights would come back on, and the game would begin. Sierra and Topher ran different ways, getting down low and trying to remain hidden. Sierra was shocked at how the actives really were real people. She assumed that they were extremely good actors, with the ‘imprinting’ just telling them how to do the job, but no - they actually became that person. Which sucked. It was going to be much harder to win than she thought, but she would prevail.
Topher glanced behind his back. Though he was against the actives as well, it only felt like he was playing Sierra. Which was ironical. Considering that she Sierra WAS an active. Yet, she was special, one day a year she was his best friend, and that’s what counted. Topher was now crawling across the floor - commando style. There was Echo, she was advancing on someone on Team Sierra, while covering him, which allowed Topher to slide down past the couch and run to under the stairs. Hopefully no one was there, but in tag games, no one thought of under the stairs... did they?
After knocking out two of the players on Team Topher, Sierra was pumped. Rising her head about the plant’s edge, she saw a Nike shoe curling around the corner. She would know who that Nike shoe belonged to any day, she did get it for him last year. Sierra briefly thought about letting Topher win, but what was the point, the fun of the game was leading up to the kill, not the actual kill itself, so what difference did it make. Creeping slowly along the floor, Sierra passed the couch, and started to advance to the stairs, crouching up slowly, then in standing position, she started to sprint towards the stairs. Just as she got there, out came a foot encased in a Nike shoe. Sierra had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, and now she was dead, out of the game.
“Brilliantly planned by yours truly!” said Topher, with a grin that was almost too big for his skull. Just as the gloating was about to begin, a slightly annoying British voice yelled out “Toppppppppher!”. Topher and Sierra both knew that the game was over.
Author:
trialbymagic
Rating: PG
Fandom: Dollhouse
Characters: Topher, Sierra, Adele, Actives
Spoilers: You should see episode 10 (Haunted) before you read this fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dollhouse, I just live in it's world.
Word Count: 1194
Author's Note: Written for wandersfound for the whedonland fic fest challenge. Just wanted to add that I've never written a fic before in my life, so I hope these aren't too shocking. <-- Standard on every one, but this is actually the first one I've ever written!!
It was that time of year again. It was only five minutes past midnight, yet Sierra would be awakening sometime soon. He only gets this privilege once a year, so he decided he was going to make full use of the 24 hours. Topher admired himself yet again; he imprinted Sierra the night before, but with an extra parameter that she was extremely tired, and when she felt a certain amount of fatigue, the brain would release a chemical that would counteract with the body and cause her to fall unconscious for a few hours. Brilliance. That’s not abusing the system, is it? Topher was sure that Boyd would find some sort of technicality to incriminate him, but he today he wasn’t threatened, as he quickly prepared different justifications to Boyd’s most probable types of attacks. It was his birthday, this was his time!
Like a school boy, his pace quickened as he advanced to his office, expecting to see Sierra lying down in the chair. His eyes deceived him; or rather the part of his brain that processed imagery deceived him, as Sierra was nowhere to be seen. Topher quickly ran to the chair, aiming to check for the primary imprint. Suddenly, a lean foot came out of nowhere, causing Topher to tumble to the floor, “Dude…!” yelled Sierra, as she leant her hand to Topher, and gave him a disapproving glare.
“Seriously dude, how could you fall for that one? It’s the oldest trick in the book” quipped Sierra, as she mocked him with her pouting eyes. Though he fell for that, it was his birthday so she could forgive and forget, just this once. Instinctively, they both rose their hands, high fived and then went down low. Now the fun could start. “I’m hungry, where’s the pizza?” Sierra asked. “On its way, of course,” Topher replied.
Pizza boxes, juice boxes, lollies, chips surrounded them, yet Sierra’s mind wandered towards the sleepies. “Can we play with the sleepies? Please! It would make for a very fun game of laser tag!!” Sensing the disapprovement in Topher’s eyes, she told a white lie. “Are you holding back because of that boss-lady of yours? Because I overheard her saying that she was going to headquarters with Boyd, and the house is in lockdown for a few hours, for security… meaning you can hack the security systems, put them on a loop, they’ll never know, and we’ll have our fun, everybody wins!” Topher stared intently into blank space, and surprisingly a glare became evident on his face, and she knew she had convinced him. Sierra decided that she had to give Topher more credit; he was more of a rebel than he seemed.
Sierra watched Topher remotely open the pods. He configured the code, changed parameters, reworded stuff, added crazy numbers, too complicated even for her gifted mind. Sierra leaned over his shoulder, and randomly ran her fingers across the keyboard, completely catching him off guard. “What are you doing?!?! I’m pretty sure you just released their stored methane back into their pod!” screamed Topher. “Oh!! Sorry, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even the worst actors in some of my most hated sci-fi movies!” said Sierra, apologetically. Topher couldn’t stay mad at her for long, she did after all forgive him for his slip-up earlier that morning, so he let her go on this one. He quickly reworked the code, applying double the usual amount of oxygen to be pumped into the affected actives pods. Since they were already starting to wake, he figured he’d get them to play in the laser tag game. “Ok you, are you ready to get the sleepies?” Topher asked. Almost automatically, Sierra loudly replied, “Yeah! Off to visit the sleepies we go!”.
After the pod mishap, Topher and Sierra went and helped a few of methane affected sleepies to the chair for a treatment. Sierra continually heard military codes, like “November, Echo, Mike, Tango, Victor and Bravo”, but decided not to press Topher on it, she had caused enough trouble for this evening.
Within minutes, the sleepies were all different people. Sierra was amazed at the process; Topher really was a sci-fi god, nice! Though the process was amazing, Sierra swore that if she ever heard, “Did I fall asleep?” again, she may commit a previously uncharted act of violence. Never mind though, this game of laser tag was sure to make up for it.
After the actives had been changed into their battle gear, Sierra, Topher & the actives stood in the centre of the Dollhouse. Guns in hand, the teams had been divided. Team Sierra & Team Topher stood in straight lines, staring each other down. The competition was tough, but both Sierra and Topher were determined to win. At the flick of the switch, the Dollhouse became immersed in darkness, just like it had been programmed to do. In exactly 60 seconds, the lights would come back on, and the game would begin. Sierra and Topher ran different ways, getting down low and trying to remain hidden. Sierra was shocked at how the actives really were real people. She assumed that they were extremely good actors, with the ‘imprinting’ just telling them how to do the job, but no - they actually became that person. Which sucked. It was going to be much harder to win than she thought, but she would prevail.
Topher glanced behind his back. Though he was against the actives as well, it only felt like he was playing Sierra. Which was ironical. Considering that she Sierra WAS an active. Yet, she was special, one day a year she was his best friend, and that’s what counted. Topher was now crawling across the floor - commando style. There was Echo, she was advancing on someone on Team Sierra, while covering him, which allowed Topher to slide down past the couch and run to under the stairs. Hopefully no one was there, but in tag games, no one thought of under the stairs... did they?
After knocking out two of the players on Team Topher, Sierra was pumped. Rising her head about the plant’s edge, she saw a Nike shoe curling around the corner. She would know who that Nike shoe belonged to any day, she did get it for him last year. Sierra briefly thought about letting Topher win, but what was the point, the fun of the game was leading up to the kill, not the actual kill itself, so what difference did it make. Creeping slowly along the floor, Sierra passed the couch, and started to advance to the stairs, crouching up slowly, then in standing position, she started to sprint towards the stairs. Just as she got there, out came a foot encased in a Nike shoe. Sierra had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, and now she was dead, out of the game.
“Brilliantly planned by yours truly!” said Topher, with a grin that was almost too big for his skull. Just as the gloating was about to begin, a slightly annoying British voice yelled out “Toppppppppher!”. Topher and Sierra both knew that the game was over.