Fluff, Relationships, and Traditions

[scribblemyname]

This entry is part 52 of 52 in the series 365 Challenge

So characters have habits, ways they interact with certain people and situations, things they do and like to do, stories and histories together. I've known a lot of my characters' for a long time but getting them all into fic is interesting, particularly for the ones I don't know that for.

I've got about five novelettes I want to turn out plus a short story, created out of the 5 Things Meme and then the whole Pieter/Ashen dynamic that originally played in my head before I even wrote that first Ashen drabble (and it is awesome to me, but got sidelined drastically with a deluge of other prompts), but, but, but...

I'm on day 265 of my challenge and story count 157 and I'm still plying angles and there's all those little things above that I'm itching to nibble at. Want to help a girl out?

Particularly of interest to me are things like where does Wesley work (not sure actually), and then relationship things that I haven't gotten to like how Justus always recognizes Shift regardless of her current form or demeanor, friendships, sibling relationships, Ilsa and her husband, etc.

Calling for prompts, as promised:

1. character(s) and/or canon/fandom
2. random word, quote, or other prompt

Oh, and I'll try to keep it short and fluffy or sweet. Try is the operative word. :grins:

Prompts

• Meld, couples, prank war
• Justus + Special Unit
• From thecatisacritic's fluff-fest
• Justus' family + Shift, Rachelle
• dancing, quotes, and not without you
• who is Justus when he's Rachelle's?
• undercover Justus
• more quotes
• From Daily Scribble post 1 AND from previous promptfest
• Ilsa prevents
• the work they do
• finding Justus, about that memory

Ficlets

Seven Days

• Wesley/Lena: Shall We Dance?
• Wesley/Lena: Stubborn
• Wesley/Lena: You are My Photograph
• Wesley/Lena + Angelita: Learning to Tango
• Wesley + Connor: Just Saying
• Wesley + Connor: On Practical Uses for Journals
• Wesley + Connor: A Spaghetti-Flavored Aftermath
• Wesley + Connor: Maybe Next Week
• Wesley + Connor: The Apple Don't Fall Far
• Wesley + Mom: The Joys of Motherhood
• Connor + Ashelynn + dogs: On the Acquisition of Dogs
• Connor + Ashelynn + dogs: Girls

Kingdoms and Thorn

• Shift + Team ensemble: That'll Work
• Shift + Meld: Soon
• Sear + Meld: Bone-Weary Need
• Rachelle + Meld: Between
• Rachelle + Meld: The Leash
• Rachelle + Special Unit: Anywhere But Here
• Rachelle + Heather + Shadow: An Absurdly Dangerous Shadow
• Rachelle + Joseph: What the Emptiness Fills
• Justus + Joseph: Cracking the Ice
• Justus + Team Ensemble: In the Business
• Justus + Larique: The Unsuspecting Suspect
• Shift + Justus: Self-Preservation
• Sear + Justus: Gratitude in an Off Note
• Rachelle/Justus + Heather: Backfire
• Rachelle/Justus + Sophocles: Comfort Objects
• Rachelle/Justus + Sophocles: On the Care and Feeding of Cats
• Rachelle/Justus + Sophocles: The Taste of Coffee
• Rachelle/Justus: Living with Hope
• Rachelle/Justus: Tiny Significant Pieces
• Rachelle/Justus: Side Effects
• Rachelle/Justus: Remind You to Dance
• Rachelle/Justus: Family
• Rachelle/Justus + Red Wolf and Whisper's kids: Cure to All That Ails
• Storm + Red Wolf + Anya: We Can't Have That
• Red Wolf and Whisper's kids: Don’t Forget the Ice Cream
• Red Wolf/Whisper: The Fox and the Wolf
• Red Wolf/Whisper: Taste of Regret
• Red Wolf/Whisper: Business as Usual
• Red Wolf/Whisper + Ashen: A Gift Well-Chosen
• Red Wolf: Rearranging Assets
• Storm + Minder: The Five W’s of Declaring War
• Storm + Minder: Tell Me in the Morning
• Storm + Minder: Moral Support
• Storm + Mirage + Surge: Waiting for Blood
• Hasheni/Ilsa Killinger: Homework
• Hasheni/Ilsa Killinger: Catalyst
• Ilsa Killinger: Linger
• Ilsa Killinger | Special Unit: Reality Check
• Keeper/Brushfire: When Memory Burns
• Anna/Lightsculpt: Dinnertime Distractions
• Anna/Lightsculpt: Needing a Break
• Anna/Lightsculpt: Worth Something
• Anna/Lightsculpt: Working Up the Nerve
• Anna/Lightsculpt: Would That It Were
• Sketch + Team ensemble: Something Other Than Smoke
• Shift/Kilter + Watcher: Wedding Gift
• Shift/Kilter + Elisabeth: You're My Heart
• Shift/Kilter + Elisabeth: The Answer to All Problems
• Shift + Elisabeth: Little Girl Reminders
• Surge + Maker: Embrace of Freedom
• Watcher + Team Ensemble: An Ounce of Protection

Originally published at Liana Mir. You can comment here or there.

Comments

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Dinnertime Distractions

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

:)

I'm glad it was fun. They are sweet, and dancing is good.

I almost prompted more dancing after looking back at Luna/Tynan, but... I think you have plenty of prompts already, and I don't want to be overwhelming...

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Dinnertime Distractions

[scribblemyname]

:makes grabby hands: More prompts! Later prompts help me get older prompts that are being reticent. The more, the merrier always. It keeps my inspiration from stagnating.

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Dinnertime Distractions

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Well, then... dancing should be one.

Plus the "not-without-you" idea.

And a couple from another favorite movie:

"I knew you were crazy from the beginning, but now I think you're both mad."

2. "Men are such babies."

3. "She certainly has a mind of her own."
"Yeah. I hate that in a woman."

4. "If we live through this, remind me to thank you."

5. "It's a perfect ending."
"No. It's a perfect beginning."

Seven Days Ficlet: Shall We Dance?

[scribblemyname]

A/N: Lena still doesn’t know at this point.

---

“You don’t know how to dance?” Lena sat up straight, completely surprised.

Wesley looked thoughtful, then shrugged.

It was that same expression on his face she was beginning to recognize that meant he felt uncertain of the answer. The oddest things could trigger it.

“Mozart? Bach?” Lena hummed thoughtfully to herself as she went to turn on soft music, then came back holding her hands out to him. “Everyone should know how to waltz.”

He was definitely uncertain now, but he stood and took her right hand and slid his other gently to her waist.

She told him how to count out the steps and they only stumbled once, laughing, then suddenly, they weren’t learning anymore. They were dancing and Lena was startled at how comfortable she felt with him taking the lead, head bent close to hers.

The song slowly faded to silence.

Wesley smiled, almost shyly, and Lena found herself wishing she had put on a collection.

“You know how to dance,” she said.

Wesley looked thoughtful, then shrugged, smile reappearing in lopsided easygoing maybe. With Wesley, answers were the hardest thing to pin down.

#

Re: Seven Days Ficlet: Shall We Dance?

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's so cute. :)

She will remember to put on a collection next time.

She does need the answers, but the thing that makes the two of them work is that she is willing to accept not having them right away.

Re: Seven Days Ficlet: Shall We Dance?

[scribblemyname]

Lena and Wesley are a very good fit. She's more patient than she gives herself credit for.

I like the image of them dancing.

Seven Days Ficlet: Stubborn

[scribblemyname]

“It’s a family reunion,” Wesley said quietly from where he was sitting on the bed. “You need to go,” he reminded her.

Lena tied off her braid and eyed herself critically in the mirror, where she could see herself and her husband in a single image. “Not without you I’m not.” She turned around and started rummaging for her purse. Angelita was due off at the store in twenty minutes, which meant Lena was late.

But Wesley’s sense of time varied and just now it wasn’t particularly strong in the regard she wanted it to be. He caught her wrist and drew her closer. “You need to go,” he repeated. “Family matters.”

He was so earnest, looking at her with those hopeful, clear eyes that seemed to see so much because he had to keep them open when it was the only way to understand. But it wasn’t just hard for him and she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight for a long moment. She never told him that if he were to wake on a Tuesday morning without his reminders and without her, she would lose him—forever.

“I love you, Wesley.”

“You need to go,” he said gently but stubbornly.

Lena laughed softly and pulled away. The man had always been stubborn. “I need to go to the store and relieve Angelita. We can talk about it later, maybe see if your boss will give you the day off.”

Then she hurried out the door before he could protest.

Lena was also stubborn.

#

Re: Seven Days Ficlet: Stubborn

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's right. She can't go without him.

That would be a terrible fear, to know that going away might mean he'd forget her forever.

Still, she'd find a way to remind him and get him back. She's that kind of stubborn, too. :)

Re: Seven Days Ficlet: Stubborn

[scribblemyname]

Yes, and I've even thought about writing that story. Maybe. Maybe not. Big maybe not.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Tiny Significant Pieces

[scribblemyname]

A/N: So um… Not sure where this came from, except half a dozen prompts and her love/hate relationship with dance. Hope you don’t hate it. :twiddles thumbs:

---

He loves me. He loves me not.

Children plucked the petals from the roses, scratching fingers on the thorns. Team operatives stared with worry into another’s eyes and asked with their own, Have you lost your mind?

Loving wasn’t practical. The Database was practical.

Justus could dance. Whoever had taught him—the images she’d retrieved from Meld showed family: mother, father, sisters—had done a good job at ballroom and modest swing. Shift had done a good job at the nonmodest varieties of dance he would need to know and at teaching him how to fake it. Attraction, that is.

The Database was teaching him how to be real.

He loves me. He loves me not. There was trouble brewing in his eyes if he wasn’t faking it and the thought bothered her, and she’d never been the type to take the easy way out, so she ordered him harshly, barely biting back a curse to go with it because he didn’t like the swearing, “Justus. Stop acting.”

Surprise flickered in his eyes, but then he swung her out the way he had once with a sister, someone he loved once, laughed with freely and she went with it, danced with him with an honesty she usually reserved for Meld until for one brief moment, the haunted look left his eyes and she breathed out her tension with relief.

After, he glanced at her sidelong and asked, “You like dancing?”

“No.” She leaned up and kissed him, startling him good, then backed away to study his eyes. Safe for now. “But it’s something I can have free.”

Justus considered that. He heard her. Free. There were little tiny, but never insignificant pieces of themselves they kept beyond all of this. He leaned down, trailed one hand through her hair—he loved her hair—and whispered in her ear, “I like dancing.”

She smiled sincerely. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Tiny Significant Pieces

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

I kind of like that she taught him to be real.

Maybe they need to do the dancing thing again when they really are free.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: A Gift Well-Chosen

[scribblemyname]

Red Wolf caught his breath and stared at Ashen's gift lying open in his hands. He traced over the swirl of handcarved wood and wondered just how much of her Department payout she had used to commission this.

"Crazy girl," he said softly and looked up.

Ashen's eyebrows knit in confusion. "You like music?"

Gently, he removed the violin and fitted it to his chin. A perfect fit. He set it back down and looked into Ashen's curious gaze. "Yes," he said softly. "I love music and I love this."

Her tension relaxed and she nodded at the rest of the unopened housewarming gifts on the table. Whisper leaned forward to pluck one out and upon seeing who it was from, Maker, went ahead and shook it.

"Hey!" Maker protested. "That could be fragile!"

"Is it?" Heather asked him pointedly. She had already stated a preference for her birth name over her handle Surge.

"No." Maker subsided, still grousing.

Whisper laughed softly and untied the bow. Red Wolf glanced back at the violin before returning to the moment and their family.

---

After the last gift had been opened, the last food eaten, the last guest departed, and finally the last dish washed, Red Wolf returned to the living room and slid the violin out of its box. Whisper leaned one hip against the wall and watched him remember how to play.

There were no moments he could remember, nothing solid to grip, just music flowing through some part of his mind and in his hands where memory didn't seem to matter. It was a slow slide into music and that melody that still danced through his dreams when he least expected it, tuning the instrument as he went along.

When he was done, there was a hollow ache inside, an emptiness he didn't know how to fill. For a moment, he looked into his wife's eyes and neither of them spoke. At last, she pushed off the wall and stepped toward him, sliding into his arms as easily as he had slid into that melody and they danced to the tune he could still hear.

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: A Gift Well-Chosen

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Aw. She did give him the perfect gift.

At least he can have his music even if he can't remember anything else. Not that I'm sure he wants to, but he does love music, so at least he has this.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Catalyst

[scribblemyname]

A/N: Set well before the timeline you're familiar with. This bit of backstory occurs when the teams were still young children.

---

Ilsa returned from the inspection with her heart still beating rapidly and her gut still burning. She looked into the mirror of her and Hasheni's small apartment bathroom and wondered why she couldn't see the change that horror had etched into her being.

How could the world stay the same when children were living through such things? How could she remain the same?

She washed her hands, her face, and tied her hair back off her neck and shoulders in a pinup of thick black curls and looked in the mirror again. She wasn't the same, but she didn't know what to do.

Ilsa walked out into the living area and saw Hasheni carefully cleaning his sidearm. Her husband had been a police officer from the time he finished his schooling. She had been a rookie agent with Internal Investigations for Thorn Republic law enforcement, government branches, and military. At three years in, she was no longer a rookie, but she had been nowhere near ready for this inspection of the Projects.

"I'm leaving," she said abruptly.

Hasheni's motion arrested. He looked up at her, breath seemingly stopped and pure panic in his eyes. "What?"

"Not you." She shook her head, apologetic gesture for giving him the wrong idea, and waited for his breathing to even before she tried again. "Investigations. I can't—" She fell to silent. Couldn't stay and ensure the required changes were implemented? She took a breath more haggard than his had been. "I can't do this."

He set aside his gun and came to her. He cupped her face with one hand so he could read her and she let him because she needed him to understand that the girl who had walked into that military facility had walked out somehow completely different.

"I'm leaving," she said again, this time certain in her decision. Both of them could hear the difference in her voice when she said it.

He stood back, unsure of what prompted this change but as certain as she. "Not without me."

She paused to take that in. "The police aren't the same, Hasheni."

He answered regardless, unyielding, "I won't do this without you."

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Catalyst

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Ah. He was a cop, too. That makes sense. Fits him. Them.

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Dinnertime Distractions

[scribblemyname]

Can I get characters perhaps for the quotes on this one too?

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Dinnertime Distractions

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

1. Um... I don't believe I'm saying this, but Pieter when he meets Ashen's family?

2. Rachelle. Or maybe Shift.

3. Um... Storm?

4. I was going to say some operative pair, not even necessarily romantic, but their operative days weren't about thanking each other so... Connor and Angelita when Wesley and Lena get mad about their interference?

5. Um... Angelita about Wesley/Lena?

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: That'll Work

[scribblemyname]

Shift shook her head in disgust and lifted the remote to turn off the news on the viewer. "Regular men are such babies," she commented heatedly, clearly indicating the prevaricating politicians they'd been watching.

Justus raised his eyebrows, but she shook her head. "You don't count. You're one of us."

"You should meet Jarod," Rachelle interjected. She drank the last swig of her coffee and got up to toss the cup in Justus' trash can. The team had gathered informally at his place as it often did. His was a way house, a place where they could crash and safely be themselves. "Member of the Kishet Special Unit," Rachelle clarified as she settled back in her favorite chair.

Shift's interest sharpened. "Special?"

"Cyberpath," Rachelle confirmed. "He thinks cold is having to wear long sleeves."

Several team members raised eyebrows or shook their heads at that description. They had seen cold. They had felt a foreign winter frostbite limb and shaken frost from their skin and clothes.

"Civilian men are such babies," Shift corrected.

Justus chuckled. "That'll work."

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: That'll Work

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

First, I love that it ended up being "that'll work" because that's in the movie, too.

And it was a nice funny team moment. :)

Justus' reaction to being called a baby? Priceless.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: We Can't Have That

[scribblemyname]

"Stubborn little thing, isn't she?" Rett commented wryly as baby Anya refused her bottle for the tenth time despite her wails clearly indicating hunger.

Red Wolf rubbed the side of his face and hair and simply nodded, too weary to do anything else. Whisper certainly had the patience for this, but she'd taken the last week and was now taking a well-earned rest.

Rett had been surprised when he called earlier and offered to babysit for a night. Wolf's acceptance was about what he expected from a drowning man, not a new father.

"Clearly you never had a new baby," Wolf found the energy to say.

Rett gave him a look. It was downright annoying when he seemed to read your mind and everybody knew he didn't have a mindreading capability. "Because you totally hate strong willed women," Rett teased dryly. He coaxed Anya to just please take the bottle.

Wolf shook his head. "Whisper's got a strong will, but Anya's willful."

Anya's face screwed up in preparation for another wail.

"There's a difference?" Rett craned his neck to see Wolf better. The man needed to go to bed.

Wolf just gestured in the direction of his screaming offspring. "That is the difference."

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: We Can't Have That

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Anya's a little terror, isn't she?

:)

Nice moment with the two guys.

Storm as a babysitter is an interesting idea. There should be more of that.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Gratitude in an Off Note

[scribblemyname]

Sear eyed the hallway jam-packed with counter-insurgents from the other side. Defender had his automatic ready. Neither of them saw their own teammates coming down the exit route they were perched on either side of.

If there was another way to reroute, they'd take it, but Protector had already blown their entrypoints sky-high.

"If we live through this," Sear said dryly, "remind me to thank you." She settled in with her own weapon.

Defender chuckled darkly and flipped off the safety. For a lapsed fundamental, he certainly had a fittingly military sense of humor.

Shift flowed down the corridor, a mere blur of molecules, and caught the attention of a hostile. First shot fire.

Sear and Defender covered their own.

Later that night, coup counted, reports written up and turned in, and most of the operatives hitting their quarters or showers for the evening, Sear came and sat next to Justus where he was cleaning his gun. He was always Defender on the mission and Justus off.

"You didn't thank me," he commented casually.

She slugged his shoulder.

He looked up, almost smiled.

"Thanks." She stood up and walked away.

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Gratitude in an Off Note

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

:)

Nice little moment there, despite the circumstances around it.

Sometimes humor is dark, but it helps get people through even the worst of times.

Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Working Up the Nerve

[scribblemyname]

Anna read over his shoulder when Lightsculpt finally opened the latest envelope. It was different from the others, a softer, smoother paper and a different size. He read it, then read it again.

"They've invited you to lunch." Anna prodded him gently in the back. It was quite obvious what the words said. "You should go."

He took a deep breath, folded the card, and tossed it and envelope onto the living room table.

"You know you want to," she prodded, this time verbally.

He looked at her sketches on the mantelpiece, the sand they'd tracked in through the back door, the potted white flowers only Anna knew the name of—anywhere but the invitation.

Hesitation. She snuggled against his shoulder and tucked her hand into his. "You really should go," she said softly, not making light of this.

He let out a sigh he hadn't known he was holding and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Not without you."

#

Re: Kingdoms and Thorn Ficlet: Working Up the Nerve

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Of course he needs her to go with him.

I don't think she would have let him go without her, though. :)