Fluff, Relationships, and Traditions
Sep. 22nd, 2013 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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:
- character(s) and/or canon/fandom
- 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.
Kingdoms and Thorn Fic: A Time to Die [4/?]
Date: 2013-10-29 04:11 pm (UTC)Shift's preferred form was blonde, fair, girl-next-door but with that incredibly noticeable sparkle in her eyes—the playful grin with her innocent pencil skirts, the sober-faced ponytail with working clothes, blonde hair loose over jeans and white shirts with the icy threat in her voice as her fingers snapped and the team formed rank behind her.
Justus started at the back and to the right, then slowly moved up and inward as he became one of them. He had trained with Shift for three months; now, he trained with the team for an equal period before Shfit finally told him he was ready for active assignments.
“So you’re the new fourth.” Justus looked up to see Sear leaning on the rail above him, her black eyes snapping with interest. “Hear tell, Protector doesn’t even mind.”
His hand paused on the gun he’d been cleaning after practice, but then he opted to continue, finish, pull out a knife to clean that too.
Sear wasn’t someone Justus had really gotten to know yet. Three months back when Shift briefly introduced him to the rest of the team, he had noticed Sear only as a black-haired, olive-skinned female with the ability to sear with a look, metaphorically or literally. She covered exits from hostile territory with sniper fire and worse and frequently bloodied her hands in defense of her team. This was the first she had ever spoken to him.
He answered carefully but not slowly—showing uncertainty here was exposing blood: “Protector said he preferred his old rank.” Rank was something else Justus hadn’t really gotten to know yet.
Black eyes narrowed slightly and Justus stared back stoically under the fierce sensation of having all his layers peeled up under her scrutiny.
"First rank," Sear demanded abruptly. "What do you think it does?"
He raised his eyebrows over the knife. "Take care of the team."
"Wrong." She flipped over the railing to land in a crouch beside him. "The leader leads. They serve as a buffer between the team and the admin. The leader punishes us, keeps us in line, enforces the rules both ways."
"And Shift wouldn't do any blessed, cursed, or crazy thing for any of you?" Justus answered back, incredulous.
Sear shrugged. "She used to be a third."
He stared at her. Sear was ranked third, Kilter second, Justus... fourth. "Why are you here?" he asked finally, wearily.
"I used to be fourth." Sear's gaze flickered over him briefly. "Different teams divide duties between second and third by temperament, but as a rule, third is a loose cannon. Third takes care of the team. Third bloodies her hands and sacrifices and is reckless and doesn't care what it costs. Third ticks off the admin for distractions and takes the heat off the rest of the team. Thirds would bloody the whole Department if that's what it took to save someone."
Outwardly, he didn't react, just held that knife in his grasp as he studied Sear and subtracted from her all the qualities she exhibited now that fit that bill.
"Fourth rank," she said, flicking a brow in question.
"Fourth watches the team's back and does the dirty work that needs to be done," he answered. "Fourth sacrifices and counts the cost so it doesn't go too high." It was a terrible sort of balance, the weapon against their own administration in third and the weapon against those outside it in fourth. He followed that through mentally and finished, "Fifth plays coverage." The ultimate in defense.
Respect flickered in Sear's eyes. "Exactly."