Ten Amnesty Drabbles
Title: Joyce
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #044-Marshmallows
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Spoilers for Memento Mori.
Spike didn’t get nostalgic often; now that he was human-Shanshu-a lot of his life as a demon was pretty horrible to look back on. He did his best not to think about it, much. Easier said than done; he didn’t fit in the human world much better now that he was one than he had while he’d been a demon.
He liked diners. People, but not many. Sol’s had good food, too. And the new waitress-Val-seemed nice enough.
“What can I get you, hon?”
Spike thought about human contact without expectations. “Hot chocolate. With little marshmallows.”
Title: No suit
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #046-Spells gone wrong
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
Gunn stared. He hadn’t been able to keep out of the nightlife. Gotham’s demon underworld was worse than L.A.’s; as an assistant DA things came to his attention. Particularly now that Dent was dead and the Joker’s rampage had taken the brakes off. Somebody had to deal with it. The slayer assigned to Gotham wasn’t.
He’d found the mage who’d been behind a series of weird crimes two minutes before Batman had shown up. The mage had been working magic. Batman hadn’t listened to Gunn’s warning. Had stepped into the circle.
He … wasn’t a man in a bat-suit anymore.
Title: What now?
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #049-Medical emergency
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
“Bruce, I have no idea what happened to you, much less how the hell to reverse it,” Fox said.
Gunn didn’t say “I told you so.” Instead, he glanced around at the white room that reminded him of W&H’s labs.
“There has to be something-” Batman’s voice squeeked, high pitched, like the bat he now was.
“Like what?” Fox turned to Gunn. “Unless you have any ideas.”
Gunn shrugged. “It’ll take a while to find a witch or wizard I trust who’d come, who would be powerful enough to reverse the spell.”
“No such thing as magic.”
“Wanna bet?”
Title: Help
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #051-the written word
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
They hadn’t helped Fred, but for Batman the Council sent a witch. Gunn’s jaw clenched, watching her pore over the mage’s spellbooks, fingers tracing out each word and diagram. If he’d known anyone else to call, he would have.
“Can you fix me?” Batman … chirped was the only way to put it. He hung over the witch’s head, upside down, studying the text as well. Not that it’d do him any good, Gunn thought; he didn’t think Batman knew Latin.
Gunn could read it, courtesy of W&H; he just didn’t have the magic to put his knowledge to use.
Title: What Gotham Needs
Author:beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #066-Crime wave
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
During the Joker’s reign, ordinary crime virtually stopped. Criminals were just as terrorized as law-abiding citizens. Demons weren’t. They grew bold. When the Joker was put away, crime started to pick up; demons went back to their old routines. When Batman disappeared from the streets, crime skyrocketed. Demons took advantage. Gunn spent nights out on the street, and came into the office to find mountains of work waiting, needing him to stay late.
As he stared at his overflowing inbox, Gunn hoped the Council’s witch figured out how to turn Batman back into a man, soon. Gotham needed its hero.
Title: Back to Normal
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #018-the elements
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
The witch chanted, invoking the Air. Gunn held the candle for Fire, across from her, giving his responses on cue. Fox had Water and Alfred Earth, across from each other; their responses were less sure. Batman crouched in the middle, wings folded to keep them inside. The witch’s voice rose, and the smell of incense and damp earth became almost overpowering. The candles flared up; wind ruffled Gunn’s clothing.
There was a clap of thunder, a burst of light, and it started to rain. Gunn blinked. The candles had gone out. Batman was, once again, a man in a bat-suit.
Title: Independence
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Challenge: #014-Independence
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
“Thanks for the help,” Batman said stiffly. It was weird to hear his voice low and gruff, after the high-pitched chirping he’d been stuck with as a bat.
“No problem,” Gunn said. “You’d have done the same.” He would have; Gunn had gotten to know Batman, enough to know he wasn’t a murderer like the police claimed, know he was one of the good guys. Whatever had gone down the night Dent died, the official story wasn’t it. “You ever have problems with magic or demons, call me.”
“I work best alone,” Batman said.
“Right,” Gunn said, thinking of Alfred and Fox and the Bat’s rumored partnership with Commissioner Gordon. “You don’t have to worry about me saying anything; I know some things should stay clear of the daylight. Even when they’re on the side of good. Sometimes fighting the good fight means doing things people on the outside don’t understand.” He shook his head, thinking of his time at Wolfram and Hart.
“I know,” Batman said. He shifted slightly, almost uncertainly, but didn’t say anything further.
Gunn waited. “I’ll see you around,” he said at last, and walked off. One brooding, emotionally distant hero was enough for a lifetime.
Title: Fiction
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #051-The Written Word
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Daniel was always happy when he could bring books back from offworld. They were expensive, given that the printing press was unknown. Handwritten, handcrafted, they were works of art apart from the wealth of information they contained. He saw that they were scanned, digitized, and categorized for easy reference, the originals stored safely away in a climate-controlled room awaiting the day the SGC went public and they could be displayed and appreciated.
This one was in Ancient. “To every generation is born a Slayer,” he translated. “She alone will stand against the demons and the darkness.” Hm. Fiction or mythology.
Title: Old Friends
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #057-Remembrance
Fandom: Torchwood
Angel still owns the Hyperion, when all is said and done. Angel stays away; as the only survivor of their last stand besides Lorne who won’t talk with him, he can’t stand to see it. He goes to Britain, wanders around for a few years. Not many demons to fight. Aliens are a bit of a change, one he welcomes.
In Cardiff he meets a man called Jack fighting aliens called Weevils. Once the Weevils have been killed or subdued, he and Jack go out to get drunk.
“To old friends we’ve outlived,” Jack says. “May they never be forgot.”
Title: What Happens Next
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #063-Death
Fandom: Discworld
Buffy looked down at the ground, and saw her own body staring up at her. It was dead, the eyes glassy. No medical treatment could save it. She turned to the cloaked figure with the scythe. “What happens next?”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN?
Buffy smiled. “Heaven.” She was sad to leave Dawn and her friends, and would have spared them the grief of losing her if she could, but couldn’t regret dying. Not when she knew what happened next.
THEN THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
“Let’s go,” she said, confident that this time, she would be allowed to stay.
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #044-Marshmallows
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Spoilers for Memento Mori.
Spike didn’t get nostalgic often; now that he was human-Shanshu-a lot of his life as a demon was pretty horrible to look back on. He did his best not to think about it, much. Easier said than done; he didn’t fit in the human world much better now that he was one than he had while he’d been a demon.
He liked diners. People, but not many. Sol’s had good food, too. And the new waitress-Val-seemed nice enough.
“What can I get you, hon?”
Spike thought about human contact without expectations. “Hot chocolate. With little marshmallows.”
Title: No suit
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #046-Spells gone wrong
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
Gunn stared. He hadn’t been able to keep out of the nightlife. Gotham’s demon underworld was worse than L.A.’s; as an assistant DA things came to his attention. Particularly now that Dent was dead and the Joker’s rampage had taken the brakes off. Somebody had to deal with it. The slayer assigned to Gotham wasn’t.
He’d found the mage who’d been behind a series of weird crimes two minutes before Batman had shown up. The mage had been working magic. Batman hadn’t listened to Gunn’s warning. Had stepped into the circle.
He … wasn’t a man in a bat-suit anymore.
Title: What now?
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #049-Medical emergency
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
“Bruce, I have no idea what happened to you, much less how the hell to reverse it,” Fox said.
Gunn didn’t say “I told you so.” Instead, he glanced around at the white room that reminded him of W&H’s labs.
“There has to be something-” Batman’s voice squeeked, high pitched, like the bat he now was.
“Like what?” Fox turned to Gunn. “Unless you have any ideas.”
Gunn shrugged. “It’ll take a while to find a witch or wizard I trust who’d come, who would be powerful enough to reverse the spell.”
“No such thing as magic.”
“Wanna bet?”
Title: Help
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #051-the written word
Fandom: Batman: the Dark Knight
They hadn’t helped Fred, but for Batman the Council sent a witch. Gunn’s jaw clenched, watching her pore over the mage’s spellbooks, fingers tracing out each word and diagram. If he’d known anyone else to call, he would have.
“Can you fix me?” Batman … chirped was the only way to put it. He hung over the witch’s head, upside down, studying the text as well. Not that it’d do him any good, Gunn thought; he didn’t think Batman knew Latin.
Gunn could read it, courtesy of W&H; he just didn’t have the magic to put his knowledge to use.
Title: What Gotham Needs
Author:beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #066-Crime wave
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
During the Joker’s reign, ordinary crime virtually stopped. Criminals were just as terrorized as law-abiding citizens. Demons weren’t. They grew bold. When the Joker was put away, crime started to pick up; demons went back to their old routines. When Batman disappeared from the streets, crime skyrocketed. Demons took advantage. Gunn spent nights out on the street, and came into the office to find mountains of work waiting, needing him to stay late.
As he stared at his overflowing inbox, Gunn hoped the Council’s witch figured out how to turn Batman back into a man, soon. Gotham needed its hero.
Title: Back to Normal
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #018-the elements
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
The witch chanted, invoking the Air. Gunn held the candle for Fire, across from her, giving his responses on cue. Fox had Water and Alfred Earth, across from each other; their responses were less sure. Batman crouched in the middle, wings folded to keep them inside. The witch’s voice rose, and the smell of incense and damp earth became almost overpowering. The candles flared up; wind ruffled Gunn’s clothing.
There was a clap of thunder, a burst of light, and it started to rain. Gunn blinked. The candles had gone out. Batman was, once again, a man in a bat-suit.
Title: Independence
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Challenge: #014-Independence
Fandom: Batman: The Dark Knight
“Thanks for the help,” Batman said stiffly. It was weird to hear his voice low and gruff, after the high-pitched chirping he’d been stuck with as a bat.
“No problem,” Gunn said. “You’d have done the same.” He would have; Gunn had gotten to know Batman, enough to know he wasn’t a murderer like the police claimed, know he was one of the good guys. Whatever had gone down the night Dent died, the official story wasn’t it. “You ever have problems with magic or demons, call me.”
“I work best alone,” Batman said.
“Right,” Gunn said, thinking of Alfred and Fox and the Bat’s rumored partnership with Commissioner Gordon. “You don’t have to worry about me saying anything; I know some things should stay clear of the daylight. Even when they’re on the side of good. Sometimes fighting the good fight means doing things people on the outside don’t understand.” He shook his head, thinking of his time at Wolfram and Hart.
“I know,” Batman said. He shifted slightly, almost uncertainly, but didn’t say anything further.
Gunn waited. “I’ll see you around,” he said at last, and walked off. One brooding, emotionally distant hero was enough for a lifetime.
Title: Fiction
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #051-The Written Word
Fandom: Stargate: SG-1
Daniel was always happy when he could bring books back from offworld. They were expensive, given that the printing press was unknown. Handwritten, handcrafted, they were works of art apart from the wealth of information they contained. He saw that they were scanned, digitized, and categorized for easy reference, the originals stored safely away in a climate-controlled room awaiting the day the SGC went public and they could be displayed and appreciated.
This one was in Ancient. “To every generation is born a Slayer,” he translated. “She alone will stand against the demons and the darkness.” Hm. Fiction or mythology.
Title: Old Friends
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #057-Remembrance
Fandom: Torchwood
Angel still owns the Hyperion, when all is said and done. Angel stays away; as the only survivor of their last stand besides Lorne who won’t talk with him, he can’t stand to see it. He goes to Britain, wanders around for a few years. Not many demons to fight. Aliens are a bit of a change, one he welcomes.
In Cardiff he meets a man called Jack fighting aliens called Weevils. Once the Weevils have been killed or subdued, he and Jack go out to get drunk.
“To old friends we’ve outlived,” Jack says. “May they never be forgot.”
Title: What Happens Next
Author: beatrice_otter
Rating: PG
Word Count: 100
Challenge: #063-Death
Fandom: Discworld
Buffy looked down at the ground, and saw her own body staring up at her. It was dead, the eyes glassy. No medical treatment could save it. She turned to the cloaked figure with the scythe. “What happens next?”
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN?
Buffy smiled. “Heaven.” She was sad to leave Dawn and her friends, and would have spared them the grief of losing her if she could, but couldn’t regret dying. Not when she knew what happened next.
THEN THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
“Let’s go,” she said, confident that this time, she would be allowed to stay.