Random things I've been writing
Mostly three sentence fics, cause I swear, the three sentence ficathon is the biggest timesuck since the month or two I lost to tvtropes. I'm pretty sure that at this point, I might be incapable of writing anything longer than three sentences.
Yuletide fic? What Yuletide fic? *sobs quietly, with the disclaimer that I in fact love my Yuletide fandom and prompt, I just panic at writing a new fandom, every time*
So, first up, erasureathon. For those who don't know, this is where you take someone else's work and make a poem out of it by erasing bits and pieces and putting together what's left.
I did Evidence of Things Not Seen, an erasure of flyakate's Firefly fic Posse Comitatus, in which I managed to turn a gen caper!fic into a dark piece where Mal and River kill each other. Maybe. I'm not quite sure, really.
sophinisba did low Sky, using my fic On Shores Below a Crumbling Sky. It's lovely and very River-esque.
And now, three sentence fics. So many of them.
Chronicles of Narnia
Prompt: Narnia/Downton Abbey, Digory and Polly visit Downton.
Out of Memory
Digory likes Polly's young friend Lady Sybil very much indeed, and Lord and Lady Grantham are really very kind people; even Lady Edith isn't so bad, though Polly is determined to make a project out of her (“There's an intelligent girl trapped in there, I can just tell,” she says, speculative).
No, it's the oldest sister, Lady Mary, who terrifies him. Her smile might be soft, but she's too regal, too cold, and too beautiful for him to ever be at ease here; the weight of the great house presses down on him every time her dark eyes turn his way, her sharp gaze cutting him like frost.
***
Prompt: Narnia, Susan, woman is not a word, woman is a sentence.
Hardly Meant and Barely Shown
Peter and Lucy sometimes think her frivolous, she knows, with her splendid gowns and artfully painted face, her charming laugh and easy tears.
They don't realize how glamor can seduce, how charm can be an invitation to confidences, how disarming the outward appearance of a soft heart can be.
Secrets are easy to obtain, when you know the tricks; diplomacy, she tells Edmund, is simply a fancy word for manipulation, just as Queen is for woman.
***
Prompt:Narnia, Caspian/Pevensies (and yes I mean all of them), they have a habit of adopting strays
Beg From Your Own (aka crackfic Narnian orgy)
“Could someone explain again exactly how this happened?” Caspian asks, Peter's weight sprawled across his back as he shifts, reaching for the shirt Susan has dangling off one of her feet.
He hears Edmund laugh from Susan's other side. “What is there to explain - Lucy never could bear to see anyone alone, and we've always done everything together; why should you be any different?”
***
Prompt: Narnia, Edmund, smoking
Breathe Your Air
“You don't mind, do you?” he asks, a rhetorical question as he's already inhaling, feeling his throat sear, stirring up memories of battlefields and blood.
“No,” Susan says, drowsily, her eyes closed as the sharp smell drifts around them. “Then at least I know you're still here.”
***
Prompt: Narnia, Edmund & Susan, it was something that only they could understand.
Not Too Tired of This Life
The others don't understand why she's bitter, why she doesn't want to remember and worship the ideals of hope, but Edmund does.
“You dared to ask him to work against the Deep Magic for me. I've never forgotten that,” he tells her, and squeezes her hand in passing; some things are concrete, and more important than faith.
***
Prompt: Narnia, Peter/Edmund, AU: Thor!Fusion (as in, Peter is Thor and Edmund is Loki)[with added Susan as Sif] This one also features a humorous sequel, written by grim_lupine, featuring Lucy as Darcy.
Down to My Bones
“Well, that would explain her choice of me,” Edmund says softly, studying his skin, turned icy blue in patches, every place the frost giant queen had laid her hands on him.
Peter's grip on his hammer tightens as he kneels beside his brother, Susan standing firm and tall at his back, keeping watch for them all. “You know this makes no difference to us. You are ours, and we love you still, as we always have,” he says, folding Edmund's hand in his own, blue and white entwined.
***
Firefly
Prompt: Firefly, Wash, the first time he flew
So Worthwhile
He's seen the sky in vids, and spent enough time in the simulators that he's worn a permanent ass-groove in his chosen seat.
But it doesn't compare to the first time he breaks atmo, when there's nothing in front of him but the stars, and the freedom to go where the wind takes him.
Now that he's up here, he's gonna soar.
***
Prompt: Firefly, any, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
Tell Me You're Crazy (Maybe then I'll Understand)
“Shoulda thrown your gorram moonbrained ass off the ship, last planet we were on,” Jayne grumbles, when he finds River sitting in the midst of every disassembled gun he owns.
“You live in a structure made of glass,” she tells him, cleaning and slotting pieces into place.
“Serenity ain't made of glass,” he says, already having forgotten the name of the last planet they'd docked on was Ariel.
***
Prompt: Hamlet/Firefly, Ophelia and River, Laertes and Simon, "You're a jerk!" "You're a pansy" "Holy shit, where did our sisters go?"
Studying Orchid Blooms
Simon almost laughs at the irony when Laertes threatens him with a sword (out of all weapons in the 'verse, he picks the one Simon's been trained to use properly?), before he notices the girls are gone, and it's quite possible this is the only thing in all the worlds that could have gotten them to abandon their petty argument and work together.
They find them on the banks of the stream, sitting in an oasis of color, River plaiting endless chains of flowers into Ophelia's hair.
“He isn't the boy for you; he talks to the dead and expects a response,” River says, laughing a bit; Simon sees the dull longing for oblivion in Ophelia's eyes, and for once, his own sister seems a spark of light in comparison.
***
Prompt: Firefly, River and Wash, she gets a hold of his dinosaurs
A Battle Not Easily Won
“Tyrannosaurus Rex couldn't possibly attack a Stegosaurus,” she tells him, holding his two favorite figures in her little fists, far apart. “They lived in vastly different eras.”
“Well, yes, if you want to look at it all scientifically, but-” he says helplessly, knowing this is the wrong approach just from looking at the way her face is set firm - rather like Zoe's when he's just asked for a footrub he is absolutely not going to get - and then, as luck would have it, inspiration strikes, and he finishes triumphantly, “-but these are special space dinosaurs; clearly T-Rex would have a time machine,” and this seems to satisfy her, at least enough for her to continue on with their game, now modified slightly into, 'Giant Lizards Take Over Space and Time.'
***
Prompt: Firefly, Malcolm Reynolds, He's never gonna give you up, he's never gonna let you down, because you're part of his crew
Start to Believe in Something Else
Family ain't a word that means much to Malcolm Reynolds these days; hasn't really for years now, not since Shadow stopped supporting life under an onslaught of Alliance-issue bombs, his mama being one of those who hadn't made it off in time.
So it ain't any notion of family that's got his blood boiling as he peers over a ridge to where some fool idiot with more guns than brains has Wash and Simon and the girls all tied up and held hostage, thinking there's not gonna be a thing he can do about it, cut off from the rest of his people, all on his lonesome.
Bad idea, he thinks, sliding down the hill, darting from cover of one rock to another, seeing red behind his eyes as he notices the blood on Kaylee's face, on River's dress and Simon's split lip; he breathes, pulls back the safety on his gun, and rises up like some storm of vengeance in a leather coat, cause that's his crew, gorramit, and ain't nothing in the 'verse more important than them.
***
Prompt: Firefly, Simon/Kaylee, Simon being Simon in front of things is a common theme while Kaylee is Kaylee. And River can be River in the background.
Your Words, from the Start
“Really, so 'xactly what did you mean then?” Kaylee says, tapping her foot, the wrench in her hand swinging almost-but-not-quite idly.
Simon finds his mouth opening and closing several times before he can manage to come up with, “Just that it's...you know, good that you're such a great mechanic, because Serenity breaks down so often - not that it breaks down because of you, just-”
“Yeah, kay, go away now,” she says, turning her back on him and applying that wrench with a bit more force than he thinks is strictly necessary to some mysterious part of the engine; he sighs and turns to walk away, defeated by his own mouth once more, brushing past his sister's head hanging down from the ceiling as she says, probably not for the last time, “Such a boob.”
***
Prompt: Firefly, River, River's feet
Imperfect Symmetry
River wiggles her toes over open air, standing at the edge of Serenity's ramp. Under her heels, the metal of the ship, cool and smooth and holding the lives of her crew safe, guarded by a glowing tail; an inch beneath her toes, the grit and dust of a foreign planet, an unknown quantity, alive and made of potential.
She lifts one delicate foot, its arch hanging in space, hesitating, reluctant at the last to test the danger in this soil - and then there is a dull thump beside her, her boots deposited in the dirt, and Mal winking at her as he passes, saying, “Didn't buy those for you just so's you could look at 'em, little one - they'll keep your pretty feet safe.”
***
The Silmarillion
Prompt: The Silmarillion, Daeron, My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration.
Call Me Back to You
He does not sing of the beauty of her countenance; the brightness of her eyes or the glory of her hair, for these things are plain fact, not fit for song.
He laments her life, instead, the doom that led her to the highest of fates, and brought her beyond the reach of the Eldar.
He alone now remembers her as she truly was, without adornment or the wrappings of legend; he remembers the woman, and of her he sings.
***
Trixie Belden
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie/Jim, the one case she could not solve
How I Like You
“Why me?” Trixie asks, because she isn't like other girls in so many ways (as, for example, her complete lack of subtlety).
Jim just laughs quietly, the freckles at the corners of his eyes standing out even in the moonlight. “How is it that you, of all people, can't figure that out?” he asks, and kisses her goodnight.
***
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie & Honey, the trouble with brothers
Everybody Else's Girl
By the time Trixie finishes her lengthy tale of woe, ending in spectacular fashion with Mart kissing an invisible woman and Brian giving his best imposing-big-brother look before escorting a red-faced Jim from the house, her voice is practically a wail in Honey's ear. “Honestly, they act like they've never kissed a girl before!”
It doesn't take a detective to see through this case, and Honey laughs helplessly as she tells Trixie, “But I think that's just it, Trixie - Jim caught Brian and I just last week and did the same thing!”
***
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie & Mart, almost twins
Limitations
“But Mart, Moms will kill me if I ruin another skirt!” Trixie said, desperate, hopping up in an effort to see over the solid wood fence in front of them.
“No way. I don't care if we do wear the same size, I am not lending you my pants, and that's final.”
***
Mad Men
Prompt: Mad Men, Joan/Roger, maybe this time.
Made to Be Broken
She learned years ago to never believe a promise made by a man, and Roger is trickier than most.
Still, when he looks at her with that glint in his eye and says, “Come on, Red, it'll be different this time, I promise,” she might roll her eyes, but she follows his lead anyhow.
He's lying and she knows it, but she'll buy what he's selling, when it's the only thing that makes her truly feel alive.
***
Prompt: Mad Men, Pete/Peggy, time past
Used to Be So Sweet
She stares at him (and his hand, lingering where it shouldn't be) in disbelief, long enough that it makes him feel like a fool, and he'd almost forgotten how she can do that, and how much he utterly despises it.
“That was a long time ago, Pete,” she says, and her voice is gentle, just the way he remembers it sounding when she was breathing hot against his ear.
Somehow, that only makes it worse.
***
Cherry Ames
Prompt: Cherry Ames, modern day!Cherry Ames, I always wanted to do this
Can't Admit it Yet
Lex was walking across the room in search of his discarded coat and tie when he came to an abrupt halt in front of Cherry and her glowing laptop screen. “Did you just google me?”
“Well, if you insist on being so mysterious about your background, I don't see how I'm supposed to find out any other way,” she said, tucking a curl behind her ear and giving him an unrepentant smile.
***
Prompt: Cherry Ames, modern day!Midge Fortune, Twilight
At Arm's Length
“But Cherry, it's so romantic,” Midge exclaims, hands clasped to her chest and eyes big as saucers. “Just like you and your love triangles!”
“Midge Fortune,” Cherry says crisply, eying her young friend across the hospital bed they're meant to be making up, “if you're comparing me to Bella Swan, I'm going to have to beat you with this pillow.”
***
Love Actually
Prompt: Love Actually, Mark/Peter/Juliet, he's pining for both of them, really; they put an end to it
Find Solace and then Take Me There
One kiss, from just her at that, isn't even close to enough; he should have known it never would be, and after he turns down the third dinner invitation in a row, Peter and Juliet show up unannounced at his door.
“We know it's unforgivably rude,” Juliet says, sliding in, pulling Peter along with her, “but we got tired of waiting for you to come round.”
“Honestly, all you had to do was ask,” Peter says, and kisses him full on, and suddenly Mark's world is a lot more complete than he ever thought it could be.
***
Historical RPF (ancient Rome)
Prompt: Historical RPF, Octavian/Agrippa, campaigns are tiring
Tell the World
“I could never manage without you, you know,” Octavian says, and his tone is serious because it's always serious, even when he thinks he's joking, but Agrippa's learned to read him well enough to know that this time he's being honest, which is different.
They share a look across the tent, across what may as well be acres of dust and maps and creaking leather, and Agrippa knows what people say, that he's won the world for Octavian, given it over like a gift.
They don't understand that none of it is a gift; it's a tribute.
***
The X-Files
Prompt: The X-Files, Mulder/+Scully, Dolphin-free tuna
He Knows Better
“Really?” she says, hands on her hips like the exasperated mother of a three year old. “Really, this is what we're focusing on today - dolphin-free tuna fish?”
“Come on, Scully, do you really believe that our government cares that much for the existence of the noble dolphin, that there isn't some deeper conspiracy at work here?” Mulder says, the empty can of tuna he'd fed to a stray cat that morning sitting in front of him, its mermaid-printed label taunting him with secrets and codes and visions of aliens in the water.
***
Greek Mythology
Prompt: Greek mythology, Hades/Persephone/Apollo, I watch you as you go about your life with him
Summer on the Wind
“The sun never shines in the Underworld,” she says, looking up to the sky, her pale skin soaking up the light she's been denied for months, “so how could you possibly know?”
“I know,” Apollo says softly, running his hand up her thigh, brushing aside the fabric of her dress to bring more of her into the living world. “I watch, and I see how he loves you, how the Underworld makes of you a dark queen,” he murmurs, his lips against her neck, “but here you are free, and belong only to the light.”
***
Anthropomorphic
Prompt: anthropomorphic, spellcheck/grammarcheck, Christmas
Ho Ho Ho
“Hey baby, looks at what I found,” Spellcheck says lasciviously, a suggestive red line drawn under 'missletoe'.
Grammarcheck looks away in disgust, underlining his no doubt purposefully ungrammatical typo heavily in green despite herself. “I hate this time of year.”
***
Sherlock Holmes (Hark! A Vagrant version)
Prompt: Sherlock, Watson, JAM
I'd Facepalm, but My Fingers Are Sticky
“Oh lord, look at this, he's left sticky fingerprints all over my medical textbooks, Holmes!” Watson (original flavor) said, holding out a rather battered book, now slightly pink around the edges.
“Now now, it keeps him very happy, and what is more important, very occupied,” Holmes said, not bothering to look up from his paper until a shout of, “By Jove, a clue, a clue in my jam!” went up from across the room.
Original Watson pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice without tone as he told Watson (jam flavor), “No, you dolt, that is your finger.”
Yuletide fic? What Yuletide fic? *sobs quietly, with the disclaimer that I in fact love my Yuletide fandom and prompt, I just panic at writing a new fandom, every time*
So, first up, erasureathon. For those who don't know, this is where you take someone else's work and make a poem out of it by erasing bits and pieces and putting together what's left.
I did Evidence of Things Not Seen, an erasure of flyakate's Firefly fic Posse Comitatus, in which I managed to turn a gen caper!fic into a dark piece where Mal and River kill each other. Maybe. I'm not quite sure, really.
sophinisba did low Sky, using my fic On Shores Below a Crumbling Sky. It's lovely and very River-esque.
And now, three sentence fics. So many of them.
Chronicles of Narnia
Prompt: Narnia/Downton Abbey, Digory and Polly visit Downton.
Out of Memory
Digory likes Polly's young friend Lady Sybil very much indeed, and Lord and Lady Grantham are really very kind people; even Lady Edith isn't so bad, though Polly is determined to make a project out of her (“There's an intelligent girl trapped in there, I can just tell,” she says, speculative).
No, it's the oldest sister, Lady Mary, who terrifies him. Her smile might be soft, but she's too regal, too cold, and too beautiful for him to ever be at ease here; the weight of the great house presses down on him every time her dark eyes turn his way, her sharp gaze cutting him like frost.
***
Prompt: Narnia, Susan, woman is not a word, woman is a sentence.
Hardly Meant and Barely Shown
Peter and Lucy sometimes think her frivolous, she knows, with her splendid gowns and artfully painted face, her charming laugh and easy tears.
They don't realize how glamor can seduce, how charm can be an invitation to confidences, how disarming the outward appearance of a soft heart can be.
Secrets are easy to obtain, when you know the tricks; diplomacy, she tells Edmund, is simply a fancy word for manipulation, just as Queen is for woman.
***
Prompt:Narnia, Caspian/Pevensies (and yes I mean all of them), they have a habit of adopting strays
Beg From Your Own (aka crackfic Narnian orgy)
“Could someone explain again exactly how this happened?” Caspian asks, Peter's weight sprawled across his back as he shifts, reaching for the shirt Susan has dangling off one of her feet.
He hears Edmund laugh from Susan's other side. “What is there to explain - Lucy never could bear to see anyone alone, and we've always done everything together; why should you be any different?”
***
Prompt: Narnia, Edmund, smoking
Breathe Your Air
“You don't mind, do you?” he asks, a rhetorical question as he's already inhaling, feeling his throat sear, stirring up memories of battlefields and blood.
“No,” Susan says, drowsily, her eyes closed as the sharp smell drifts around them. “Then at least I know you're still here.”
***
Prompt: Narnia, Edmund & Susan, it was something that only they could understand.
Not Too Tired of This Life
The others don't understand why she's bitter, why she doesn't want to remember and worship the ideals of hope, but Edmund does.
“You dared to ask him to work against the Deep Magic for me. I've never forgotten that,” he tells her, and squeezes her hand in passing; some things are concrete, and more important than faith.
***
Prompt: Narnia, Peter/Edmund, AU: Thor!Fusion (as in, Peter is Thor and Edmund is Loki)[with added Susan as Sif] This one also features a humorous sequel, written by grim_lupine, featuring Lucy as Darcy.
Down to My Bones
“Well, that would explain her choice of me,” Edmund says softly, studying his skin, turned icy blue in patches, every place the frost giant queen had laid her hands on him.
Peter's grip on his hammer tightens as he kneels beside his brother, Susan standing firm and tall at his back, keeping watch for them all. “You know this makes no difference to us. You are ours, and we love you still, as we always have,” he says, folding Edmund's hand in his own, blue and white entwined.
***
Firefly
Prompt: Firefly, Wash, the first time he flew
So Worthwhile
He's seen the sky in vids, and spent enough time in the simulators that he's worn a permanent ass-groove in his chosen seat.
But it doesn't compare to the first time he breaks atmo, when there's nothing in front of him but the stars, and the freedom to go where the wind takes him.
Now that he's up here, he's gonna soar.
***
Prompt: Firefly, any, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones
Tell Me You're Crazy (Maybe then I'll Understand)
“Shoulda thrown your gorram moonbrained ass off the ship, last planet we were on,” Jayne grumbles, when he finds River sitting in the midst of every disassembled gun he owns.
“You live in a structure made of glass,” she tells him, cleaning and slotting pieces into place.
“Serenity ain't made of glass,” he says, already having forgotten the name of the last planet they'd docked on was Ariel.
***
Prompt: Hamlet/Firefly, Ophelia and River, Laertes and Simon, "You're a jerk!" "You're a pansy" "Holy shit, where did our sisters go?"
Studying Orchid Blooms
Simon almost laughs at the irony when Laertes threatens him with a sword (out of all weapons in the 'verse, he picks the one Simon's been trained to use properly?), before he notices the girls are gone, and it's quite possible this is the only thing in all the worlds that could have gotten them to abandon their petty argument and work together.
They find them on the banks of the stream, sitting in an oasis of color, River plaiting endless chains of flowers into Ophelia's hair.
“He isn't the boy for you; he talks to the dead and expects a response,” River says, laughing a bit; Simon sees the dull longing for oblivion in Ophelia's eyes, and for once, his own sister seems a spark of light in comparison.
***
Prompt: Firefly, River and Wash, she gets a hold of his dinosaurs
A Battle Not Easily Won
“Tyrannosaurus Rex couldn't possibly attack a Stegosaurus,” she tells him, holding his two favorite figures in her little fists, far apart. “They lived in vastly different eras.”
“Well, yes, if you want to look at it all scientifically, but-” he says helplessly, knowing this is the wrong approach just from looking at the way her face is set firm - rather like Zoe's when he's just asked for a footrub he is absolutely not going to get - and then, as luck would have it, inspiration strikes, and he finishes triumphantly, “-but these are special space dinosaurs; clearly T-Rex would have a time machine,” and this seems to satisfy her, at least enough for her to continue on with their game, now modified slightly into, 'Giant Lizards Take Over Space and Time.'
***
Prompt: Firefly, Malcolm Reynolds, He's never gonna give you up, he's never gonna let you down, because you're part of his crew
Start to Believe in Something Else
Family ain't a word that means much to Malcolm Reynolds these days; hasn't really for years now, not since Shadow stopped supporting life under an onslaught of Alliance-issue bombs, his mama being one of those who hadn't made it off in time.
So it ain't any notion of family that's got his blood boiling as he peers over a ridge to where some fool idiot with more guns than brains has Wash and Simon and the girls all tied up and held hostage, thinking there's not gonna be a thing he can do about it, cut off from the rest of his people, all on his lonesome.
Bad idea, he thinks, sliding down the hill, darting from cover of one rock to another, seeing red behind his eyes as he notices the blood on Kaylee's face, on River's dress and Simon's split lip; he breathes, pulls back the safety on his gun, and rises up like some storm of vengeance in a leather coat, cause that's his crew, gorramit, and ain't nothing in the 'verse more important than them.
***
Prompt: Firefly, Simon/Kaylee, Simon being Simon in front of things is a common theme while Kaylee is Kaylee. And River can be River in the background.
Your Words, from the Start
“Really, so 'xactly what did you mean then?” Kaylee says, tapping her foot, the wrench in her hand swinging almost-but-not-quite idly.
Simon finds his mouth opening and closing several times before he can manage to come up with, “Just that it's...you know, good that you're such a great mechanic, because Serenity breaks down so often - not that it breaks down because of you, just-”
“Yeah, kay, go away now,” she says, turning her back on him and applying that wrench with a bit more force than he thinks is strictly necessary to some mysterious part of the engine; he sighs and turns to walk away, defeated by his own mouth once more, brushing past his sister's head hanging down from the ceiling as she says, probably not for the last time, “Such a boob.”
***
Prompt: Firefly, River, River's feet
Imperfect Symmetry
River wiggles her toes over open air, standing at the edge of Serenity's ramp. Under her heels, the metal of the ship, cool and smooth and holding the lives of her crew safe, guarded by a glowing tail; an inch beneath her toes, the grit and dust of a foreign planet, an unknown quantity, alive and made of potential.
She lifts one delicate foot, its arch hanging in space, hesitating, reluctant at the last to test the danger in this soil - and then there is a dull thump beside her, her boots deposited in the dirt, and Mal winking at her as he passes, saying, “Didn't buy those for you just so's you could look at 'em, little one - they'll keep your pretty feet safe.”
***
The Silmarillion
Prompt: The Silmarillion, Daeron, My song has put off her adornments. She has no pride of dress and decoration.
Call Me Back to You
He does not sing of the beauty of her countenance; the brightness of her eyes or the glory of her hair, for these things are plain fact, not fit for song.
He laments her life, instead, the doom that led her to the highest of fates, and brought her beyond the reach of the Eldar.
He alone now remembers her as she truly was, without adornment or the wrappings of legend; he remembers the woman, and of her he sings.
***
Trixie Belden
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie/Jim, the one case she could not solve
How I Like You
“Why me?” Trixie asks, because she isn't like other girls in so many ways (as, for example, her complete lack of subtlety).
Jim just laughs quietly, the freckles at the corners of his eyes standing out even in the moonlight. “How is it that you, of all people, can't figure that out?” he asks, and kisses her goodnight.
***
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie & Honey, the trouble with brothers
Everybody Else's Girl
By the time Trixie finishes her lengthy tale of woe, ending in spectacular fashion with Mart kissing an invisible woman and Brian giving his best imposing-big-brother look before escorting a red-faced Jim from the house, her voice is practically a wail in Honey's ear. “Honestly, they act like they've never kissed a girl before!”
It doesn't take a detective to see through this case, and Honey laughs helplessly as she tells Trixie, “But I think that's just it, Trixie - Jim caught Brian and I just last week and did the same thing!”
***
Prompt: Trixie Belden, Trixie & Mart, almost twins
Limitations
“But Mart, Moms will kill me if I ruin another skirt!” Trixie said, desperate, hopping up in an effort to see over the solid wood fence in front of them.
“No way. I don't care if we do wear the same size, I am not lending you my pants, and that's final.”
***
Mad Men
Prompt: Mad Men, Joan/Roger, maybe this time.
Made to Be Broken
She learned years ago to never believe a promise made by a man, and Roger is trickier than most.
Still, when he looks at her with that glint in his eye and says, “Come on, Red, it'll be different this time, I promise,” she might roll her eyes, but she follows his lead anyhow.
He's lying and she knows it, but she'll buy what he's selling, when it's the only thing that makes her truly feel alive.
***
Prompt: Mad Men, Pete/Peggy, time past
Used to Be So Sweet
She stares at him (and his hand, lingering where it shouldn't be) in disbelief, long enough that it makes him feel like a fool, and he'd almost forgotten how she can do that, and how much he utterly despises it.
“That was a long time ago, Pete,” she says, and her voice is gentle, just the way he remembers it sounding when she was breathing hot against his ear.
Somehow, that only makes it worse.
***
Cherry Ames
Prompt: Cherry Ames, modern day!Cherry Ames, I always wanted to do this
Can't Admit it Yet
Lex was walking across the room in search of his discarded coat and tie when he came to an abrupt halt in front of Cherry and her glowing laptop screen. “Did you just google me?”
“Well, if you insist on being so mysterious about your background, I don't see how I'm supposed to find out any other way,” she said, tucking a curl behind her ear and giving him an unrepentant smile.
***
Prompt: Cherry Ames, modern day!Midge Fortune, Twilight
At Arm's Length
“But Cherry, it's so romantic,” Midge exclaims, hands clasped to her chest and eyes big as saucers. “Just like you and your love triangles!”
“Midge Fortune,” Cherry says crisply, eying her young friend across the hospital bed they're meant to be making up, “if you're comparing me to Bella Swan, I'm going to have to beat you with this pillow.”
***
Love Actually
Prompt: Love Actually, Mark/Peter/Juliet, he's pining for both of them, really; they put an end to it
Find Solace and then Take Me There
One kiss, from just her at that, isn't even close to enough; he should have known it never would be, and after he turns down the third dinner invitation in a row, Peter and Juliet show up unannounced at his door.
“We know it's unforgivably rude,” Juliet says, sliding in, pulling Peter along with her, “but we got tired of waiting for you to come round.”
“Honestly, all you had to do was ask,” Peter says, and kisses him full on, and suddenly Mark's world is a lot more complete than he ever thought it could be.
***
Historical RPF (ancient Rome)
Prompt: Historical RPF, Octavian/Agrippa, campaigns are tiring
Tell the World
“I could never manage without you, you know,” Octavian says, and his tone is serious because it's always serious, even when he thinks he's joking, but Agrippa's learned to read him well enough to know that this time he's being honest, which is different.
They share a look across the tent, across what may as well be acres of dust and maps and creaking leather, and Agrippa knows what people say, that he's won the world for Octavian, given it over like a gift.
They don't understand that none of it is a gift; it's a tribute.
***
The X-Files
Prompt: The X-Files, Mulder/+Scully, Dolphin-free tuna
He Knows Better
“Really?” she says, hands on her hips like the exasperated mother of a three year old. “Really, this is what we're focusing on today - dolphin-free tuna fish?”
“Come on, Scully, do you really believe that our government cares that much for the existence of the noble dolphin, that there isn't some deeper conspiracy at work here?” Mulder says, the empty can of tuna he'd fed to a stray cat that morning sitting in front of him, its mermaid-printed label taunting him with secrets and codes and visions of aliens in the water.
***
Greek Mythology
Prompt: Greek mythology, Hades/Persephone/Apollo, I watch you as you go about your life with him
Summer on the Wind
“The sun never shines in the Underworld,” she says, looking up to the sky, her pale skin soaking up the light she's been denied for months, “so how could you possibly know?”
“I know,” Apollo says softly, running his hand up her thigh, brushing aside the fabric of her dress to bring more of her into the living world. “I watch, and I see how he loves you, how the Underworld makes of you a dark queen,” he murmurs, his lips against her neck, “but here you are free, and belong only to the light.”
***
Anthropomorphic
Prompt: anthropomorphic, spellcheck/grammarcheck, Christmas
Ho Ho Ho
“Hey baby, looks at what I found,” Spellcheck says lasciviously, a suggestive red line drawn under 'missletoe'.
Grammarcheck looks away in disgust, underlining his no doubt purposefully ungrammatical typo heavily in green despite herself. “I hate this time of year.”
***
Sherlock Holmes (Hark! A Vagrant version)
Prompt: Sherlock, Watson, JAM
I'd Facepalm, but My Fingers Are Sticky
“Oh lord, look at this, he's left sticky fingerprints all over my medical textbooks, Holmes!” Watson (original flavor) said, holding out a rather battered book, now slightly pink around the edges.
“Now now, it keeps him very happy, and what is more important, very occupied,” Holmes said, not bothering to look up from his paper until a shout of, “By Jove, a clue, a clue in my jam!” went up from across the room.
Original Watson pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice without tone as he told Watson (jam flavor), “No, you dolt, that is your finger.”