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tigriswolfTitle: thou be once there, thou mayst never more come here
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU during the film
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 330
Point of view: third
Prompt: The Avengers, Loki & team, What if, when Thor asked Loki on the top of Stark Tower to 'stop the nonsense', he tried to halt the Chitauri invasion?
He looks at his brother, at well-meaning, ever-baffled, beloved and golden Thor, the son destined to one day be king.
No matter what Thor does, he will always find himself worthy again. He will always be able to return.
Loki fell and was lost, and has been abandoned, fit only for punishment anymore. It matters not if Thanos arrives and Midgard burns; it matters not if Thor's little band of would-be heroes succeeds or fails. Loki has nothing and no one -
... except, perhaps, Thor. Thor who has never once looked at Loki and truly seen him, Loki who has been written off as the lesser, the supplanter, the liar and betrayer.
With Thanos' gift, Loki has control of each soldier, and he looks his brother in the eye as he kills them all.
With the Tesseract, Loki can destroy the gift and be truly free.
Let Thor keep Midgard and the mortals, Asgard and the people who never accepted Loki, even when he was one of them.
Loki has been cast out, all taken from him as he fell, as he was left to whatever fate the void gave him.
"As you wish, brother," Loki murmurs, and then he takes Thor's moment of confusion to throw Thor from the building. He must get to the tesseract and be gone from this realm.
He does not look back at the destruction, at Thanos' dead army, at Thor's newest band all converging towards him.
He does not look at Thor.
Loki holds the tesseract in his hand and feels a thousand new paths open for him. He smiles at the power coursing through him, opens his eyes, and takes a step.
Title: a beautiful face without a name
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AUish
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 280
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, "truth" is in how and what you choose to present
Neal Caffrey is a gentleman thief who despises violence and the common criminal. Neal Caffrey is eloquent and elegant. Neal Caffrey can walk into a room and own it and everything in it. Neal Caffrey is charming and kind and doesn't actually hurt people.
Neal Caffrey, despite a few forays to the other side of the law, is a good guy. Most of the White Collar Unit in New York will swear to it.
Neal Caffrey wakes up every morning and just laughs.
.
Neal Caffrey is the best liar you'll ever meet, and you'll never know.
Everything about Neal Caffrey is a lie, and he's the only one who knows.
Neal Caffrey is not a kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose father was a bad man. He's not a kid who couldn't think of any other way out of a bad situation. He's not a kid who tricked his way to New York without ever graduating high-school and only attending college as someone else.
What Neal Caffrey is... well, that's up to you. What do you think he is?
Better question - who do you think he is?
Whoever your answer is, it's wrong.
.
The truth about Neal Caffrey is this: there is no truth. He's a mask. He's a mirror. He reflects back what you expect to see, so he can escape at any moment, go somewhere else, and become someone new.
Neal Caffrey is a not a gentleman thief.
... Neal Caffrey may be, but he wasn't always Neal Caffrey, was he?
.
Neal Caffrey is a mask for Peter Burke.
And when the mirror is tired of reflecting, it will walk away and find someone else.
Title: legends
Fandom: Highlander/mythology
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: none
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 150
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, a brief history of time
The sun rises in the morning as a tiny little planet spins 'round, and the sun sets as the planet turns away.
Once, there were terrible lizards ruling the world. When they died, furry little things grew into great beasts and took their place at the top.
Eventually, humanity will falter, as all those who have gone before faltered, and something new will rise.
A yellow star burns in the cosmos.
Far in the future, or maybe tomorrow, that star will burn out.
The sun rises. The sun sets. Earth spins 'round.
Methos drinks a beer and never tells the truth about his age because it is unbelievable.
(Dinosaur bones did not inspire the legends of dragons. Rhinos and sheep and antelope aren't the reasons for unicorn sightings. There is something asleep on the floor of Loch Ness, and deep in the ocean, a kraken slumbers.
The sun rises. The sun sets.)
Title: untitled
Fandom: Original
Warnings: shifters&vampires; territoriality
Pairings: het and slash
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1030
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any canon with supernatural critters (except TrueBlood), any,
You can't hide from your demons
Feel 'em all lurkin' around
You're running scared 'cause y'know they're out there
They're waitin' for the sun to go down. "Bones", Little Big Town
Note: So, this is in a fantasy world with shifters&vampires&humans all living together, and humans sorta know about the others, but they never really talk about it, and the shifters&vampires police each other so there's no war with humanity. *hands* I don't even know, honestly. It just... happened.
"So, hey, what's the story on the new kid?" Dev asks at lunch, nodding towards the corner where the new kid (brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin, taller than Mark but not as tall as Ethan, nose stuck in a book, worn jeans, black shirt, faded jacket) sits alone.
Margaret shrugs, but Mark says, "I heard he burned down his old school."
Ethan scoffs, "This isn't Buffy."
Mark ignores him to continue with, "And his dad's in the mafia, but his mom is a missing princess."
Dev sighs. "Mark, this is why people think you're a pathological liar."
Margaret chuckles, scooting her chair over so Yvonne can fit beside her. "Talking about the new kid?" Yvonne asks softly. "Poor guy. His sister is in Yvette's class, and she told Yvette some... disturbing things."
Instead of adding anything else, Yvonne starts eating her lunch.
"What- you can't stop there!" Mark says. "Dude, so uncool."
"The girl shouldn't have told Yvette," Yvonne says after swallowing. "And Yvette should most certainly not have told me. It's not idle gossip." She meets Dev’s eyes for just a second, and he nods in understanding.
Ethan says, “You’re right. C’mon, guys, let’s talk about something else.”
Mark pouts for the rest of the lunch, but doesn’t protest.
.
The new kid is in Dev’s history class. His name is Benjamin Wesson, and he offends Mr. Ellis just by existing, somehow, and Mr. Ellis tells Dev to escort him to the office.
Benjamin is silent the whole way.
.
Benjamin doesn’t get in any fights, or bother anyone except Mr. Ellis, and whatever Yvonne knows, she doesn’t tell anyone else.
Three weeks after Benjamin’s arrival, he quits going to school. Dev notices during first period, but Mark’s the one who comes up with fifteen different reasons, mostly involving the mafia.
According to Ethan, whose little brother is in the same grade as Yvette, Benjamin’s little sister is also gone.
That same week, three kids from a different school go missing.
.
Benjamin is at school on Monday. He offends Mr. Ellis again. Dev escorts him to the office again.
This time, Dev says, “I’m glad you’re alright.”
Benjamin smiles at him and says, “Well, us freaks can’t let the normals get snacked on, right?”
Dev smiles, chuckling.
.
Dev’s brother is home that afternoon, checking in with the Old Man. “Why do you smell like a dog?” he asks the moment Dev walks in.
Dev rolls his eyes. “Chill, Tyrone,” he mutters, brushing past him to the stairs. “There’s a new shifter at school. He’s the one who helped Uncle Darius deal with the rogue.”
Tyrone harrumphs, but he doesn’t follow Dev up the stairs.
.
Benjamin and Dev don’t associate at school, or out of it, but Dev does miss him when he and his pack move on.
Dev has wondered what it’d be like to be a roving band instead of maintaining one territory, but he’s still too young to leave the clan. He’ll need at least a century under his belt before Mom will even let him consider it, unless he really impresses the Old Man.
So he has to go to school, socialize with normals, be boring. He’s barely seventeen and he’s got eighty more years to go before he’s out of adolescence, and everything in him is screaming to follow the shifters. His blood is singing it.
And then Benjamin is outside his house. Dev catches his scent and hurries downstairs, where he meets his dad in the hall.
“Devon,” his dad says calmly, “why is there a wolf in our frontyard?”
“I don’t know,” Dev says, trying to mimic his dad’s calm, but his heart is racing and every clan member within a mile can hear it.
“Find out and let me know,” Dad says. “I’d hate for there to be an incident.”
Dev nods frantically and barrels through the door.
.
“Hey,” Benjamin says, ignoring every clan member watching them from the shadows.
Dev is still a youngling. There’s no way no one is watching. Benjamin is the only shifter within sensing distance, so if something happens, he’s completely helpless.
“I thought y’all moved on?” Dev asks, getting within reach.
“The pack did,” Benjamin says. “I tried to go with them. I even left Kat with my Aunt Carolyn because I couldn’t – I reached the mountains and couldn’t take another step.” He shrugs. “Kat understood.”
“Kat?” Dev asks.
“My little sister,” Benjamin explains. “She turns into a puma cub right now, but one day she’ll be magnificent. I’m just a boring old timber wolf.”
“I’m sure that’s not boring,” Dev says quickly. “Uncle Darius had only good things to say about you.”
One by one, Dev can feel the clan fade away until only his parents remain within striking distance.
“You came back for a reason,” Dev says hesitantly. “What… what was it?”
Benjamin looks down. “I couldn’t… after that first time, I was needling Ellis on purpose, just so he’d tell you to walk me to the office. I wasn’t supposed to do anything to draw attention, so I couldn’t try to be your friend. But those couple times a week – I looked forward to it. I’ve never…” He inhaled sharply, raising his head to meet Dev’s eyes. “My parents weren’t bonded. I don’t know how to be a bondmate. But I hear packsong every time I’m near you, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else.”
Dev’s heart stops beating, just for a moment, and Benjamin reaches for him, hand stopping just shy of touching Dev’s shoulder.
Dev asks, “Would you like to come inside? I need to sit down.”
Benjamin nods, and Dad has the door open by the time they reach it. Benjamin pauses on the porch, spine straight and chin tilted up. “Sir,” he says.
“Well-met and welcome,” Dad says. “After your discussion with my son, we, too, have things to discuss.”
“Sir,” Benjamin repeats, and Dad steps aside so that Benjamin can follow Dev to the kitchen.
.
On Monday, Benjamin is back at school, and he sits with Dev at lunch, and Dev’s friends all bug him for an explanation that he never gives.
Dev’s blood is singing, and it sounds like wolves.
Title: pragmatism
Fandom: Highlander
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: discussion of cold-blooded murder
Pairings: implied Methos/Duncan
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 220
Point of view: third
Prompt: Highlander, Methos/Duncan, provoked
Methos does not have friends. He has students, acquaintances, companions; once, he had brothers. But friends... no. There is no one he trusts, no matter what lies he tells.
Duncan is a good man. Perhaps, one of the best men Methos has ever known.
There is much Methos would do to ensure Duncan's survival. He would kill. He would suffer.
… he would not die. No. There is no one, in any life, that Methos would die for. And if the choice ever comes to Duncan or life…
Well.
Methos watches Duncan, laughs with him, offers sarcastic advice, and plans his death.
Methos does not have friends. At any moment, anyone could turn on him – or he might decide it is more prudent to cut his losses and run rather than leave at his back a single solitary soul who might know his weaknesses.
There is much Methos would do for Duncan. He dearly cares for the boy. He has dearly cared for thousands over the long span of his life.
Many of them, time or war killed. But many…
Methos survives, no matter the cost. That is the secret of his longevity. There is no price too high when it comes to his life. There is no one he cannot or will not kill.
He watches Duncan and plans.
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AU during the film
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 330
Point of view: third
Prompt: The Avengers, Loki & team, What if, when Thor asked Loki on the top of Stark Tower to 'stop the nonsense', he tried to halt the Chitauri invasion?
He looks at his brother, at well-meaning, ever-baffled, beloved and golden Thor, the son destined to one day be king.
No matter what Thor does, he will always find himself worthy again. He will always be able to return.
Loki fell and was lost, and has been abandoned, fit only for punishment anymore. It matters not if Thanos arrives and Midgard burns; it matters not if Thor's little band of would-be heroes succeeds or fails. Loki has nothing and no one -
... except, perhaps, Thor. Thor who has never once looked at Loki and truly seen him, Loki who has been written off as the lesser, the supplanter, the liar and betrayer.
With Thanos' gift, Loki has control of each soldier, and he looks his brother in the eye as he kills them all.
With the Tesseract, Loki can destroy the gift and be truly free.
Let Thor keep Midgard and the mortals, Asgard and the people who never accepted Loki, even when he was one of them.
Loki has been cast out, all taken from him as he fell, as he was left to whatever fate the void gave him.
"As you wish, brother," Loki murmurs, and then he takes Thor's moment of confusion to throw Thor from the building. He must get to the tesseract and be gone from this realm.
He does not look back at the destruction, at Thanos' dead army, at Thor's newest band all converging towards him.
He does not look at Thor.
Loki holds the tesseract in his hand and feels a thousand new paths open for him. He smiles at the power coursing through him, opens his eyes, and takes a step.
Title: a beautiful face without a name
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: AUish
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 280
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, "truth" is in how and what you choose to present
Neal Caffrey is a gentleman thief who despises violence and the common criminal. Neal Caffrey is eloquent and elegant. Neal Caffrey can walk into a room and own it and everything in it. Neal Caffrey is charming and kind and doesn't actually hurt people.
Neal Caffrey, despite a few forays to the other side of the law, is a good guy. Most of the White Collar Unit in New York will swear to it.
Neal Caffrey wakes up every morning and just laughs.
.
Neal Caffrey is the best liar you'll ever meet, and you'll never know.
Everything about Neal Caffrey is a lie, and he's the only one who knows.
Neal Caffrey is not a kid from the wrong side of the tracks whose father was a bad man. He's not a kid who couldn't think of any other way out of a bad situation. He's not a kid who tricked his way to New York without ever graduating high-school and only attending college as someone else.
What Neal Caffrey is... well, that's up to you. What do you think he is?
Better question - who do you think he is?
Whoever your answer is, it's wrong.
.
The truth about Neal Caffrey is this: there is no truth. He's a mask. He's a mirror. He reflects back what you expect to see, so he can escape at any moment, go somewhere else, and become someone new.
Neal Caffrey is a not a gentleman thief.
... Neal Caffrey may be, but he wasn't always Neal Caffrey, was he?
.
Neal Caffrey is a mask for Peter Burke.
And when the mirror is tired of reflecting, it will walk away and find someone else.
Title: legends
Fandom: Highlander/mythology
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: none
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 150
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, a brief history of time
The sun rises in the morning as a tiny little planet spins 'round, and the sun sets as the planet turns away.
Once, there were terrible lizards ruling the world. When they died, furry little things grew into great beasts and took their place at the top.
Eventually, humanity will falter, as all those who have gone before faltered, and something new will rise.
A yellow star burns in the cosmos.
Far in the future, or maybe tomorrow, that star will burn out.
The sun rises. The sun sets. Earth spins 'round.
Methos drinks a beer and never tells the truth about his age because it is unbelievable.
(Dinosaur bones did not inspire the legends of dragons. Rhinos and sheep and antelope aren't the reasons for unicorn sightings. There is something asleep on the floor of Loch Ness, and deep in the ocean, a kraken slumbers.
The sun rises. The sun sets.)
Title: untitled
Fandom: Original
Warnings: shifters&vampires; territoriality
Pairings: het and slash
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 1030
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any canon with supernatural critters (except TrueBlood), any,
You can't hide from your demons
Feel 'em all lurkin' around
You're running scared 'cause y'know they're out there
They're waitin' for the sun to go down. "Bones", Little Big Town
Note: So, this is in a fantasy world with shifters&vampires&humans all living together, and humans sorta know about the others, but they never really talk about it, and the shifters&vampires police each other so there's no war with humanity. *hands* I don't even know, honestly. It just... happened.
"So, hey, what's the story on the new kid?" Dev asks at lunch, nodding towards the corner where the new kid (brown hair, green eyes, tanned skin, taller than Mark but not as tall as Ethan, nose stuck in a book, worn jeans, black shirt, faded jacket) sits alone.
Margaret shrugs, but Mark says, "I heard he burned down his old school."
Ethan scoffs, "This isn't Buffy."
Mark ignores him to continue with, "And his dad's in the mafia, but his mom is a missing princess."
Dev sighs. "Mark, this is why people think you're a pathological liar."
Margaret chuckles, scooting her chair over so Yvonne can fit beside her. "Talking about the new kid?" Yvonne asks softly. "Poor guy. His sister is in Yvette's class, and she told Yvette some... disturbing things."
Instead of adding anything else, Yvonne starts eating her lunch.
"What- you can't stop there!" Mark says. "Dude, so uncool."
"The girl shouldn't have told Yvette," Yvonne says after swallowing. "And Yvette should most certainly not have told me. It's not idle gossip." She meets Dev’s eyes for just a second, and he nods in understanding.
Ethan says, “You’re right. C’mon, guys, let’s talk about something else.”
Mark pouts for the rest of the lunch, but doesn’t protest.
.
The new kid is in Dev’s history class. His name is Benjamin Wesson, and he offends Mr. Ellis just by existing, somehow, and Mr. Ellis tells Dev to escort him to the office.
Benjamin is silent the whole way.
.
Benjamin doesn’t get in any fights, or bother anyone except Mr. Ellis, and whatever Yvonne knows, she doesn’t tell anyone else.
Three weeks after Benjamin’s arrival, he quits going to school. Dev notices during first period, but Mark’s the one who comes up with fifteen different reasons, mostly involving the mafia.
According to Ethan, whose little brother is in the same grade as Yvette, Benjamin’s little sister is also gone.
That same week, three kids from a different school go missing.
.
Benjamin is at school on Monday. He offends Mr. Ellis again. Dev escorts him to the office again.
This time, Dev says, “I’m glad you’re alright.”
Benjamin smiles at him and says, “Well, us freaks can’t let the normals get snacked on, right?”
Dev smiles, chuckling.
.
Dev’s brother is home that afternoon, checking in with the Old Man. “Why do you smell like a dog?” he asks the moment Dev walks in.
Dev rolls his eyes. “Chill, Tyrone,” he mutters, brushing past him to the stairs. “There’s a new shifter at school. He’s the one who helped Uncle Darius deal with the rogue.”
Tyrone harrumphs, but he doesn’t follow Dev up the stairs.
.
Benjamin and Dev don’t associate at school, or out of it, but Dev does miss him when he and his pack move on.
Dev has wondered what it’d be like to be a roving band instead of maintaining one territory, but he’s still too young to leave the clan. He’ll need at least a century under his belt before Mom will even let him consider it, unless he really impresses the Old Man.
So he has to go to school, socialize with normals, be boring. He’s barely seventeen and he’s got eighty more years to go before he’s out of adolescence, and everything in him is screaming to follow the shifters. His blood is singing it.
And then Benjamin is outside his house. Dev catches his scent and hurries downstairs, where he meets his dad in the hall.
“Devon,” his dad says calmly, “why is there a wolf in our frontyard?”
“I don’t know,” Dev says, trying to mimic his dad’s calm, but his heart is racing and every clan member within a mile can hear it.
“Find out and let me know,” Dad says. “I’d hate for there to be an incident.”
Dev nods frantically and barrels through the door.
.
“Hey,” Benjamin says, ignoring every clan member watching them from the shadows.
Dev is still a youngling. There’s no way no one is watching. Benjamin is the only shifter within sensing distance, so if something happens, he’s completely helpless.
“I thought y’all moved on?” Dev asks, getting within reach.
“The pack did,” Benjamin says. “I tried to go with them. I even left Kat with my Aunt Carolyn because I couldn’t – I reached the mountains and couldn’t take another step.” He shrugs. “Kat understood.”
“Kat?” Dev asks.
“My little sister,” Benjamin explains. “She turns into a puma cub right now, but one day she’ll be magnificent. I’m just a boring old timber wolf.”
“I’m sure that’s not boring,” Dev says quickly. “Uncle Darius had only good things to say about you.”
One by one, Dev can feel the clan fade away until only his parents remain within striking distance.
“You came back for a reason,” Dev says hesitantly. “What… what was it?”
Benjamin looks down. “I couldn’t… after that first time, I was needling Ellis on purpose, just so he’d tell you to walk me to the office. I wasn’t supposed to do anything to draw attention, so I couldn’t try to be your friend. But those couple times a week – I looked forward to it. I’ve never…” He inhaled sharply, raising his head to meet Dev’s eyes. “My parents weren’t bonded. I don’t know how to be a bondmate. But I hear packsong every time I’m near you, and I’ve never heard it anywhere else.”
Dev’s heart stops beating, just for a moment, and Benjamin reaches for him, hand stopping just shy of touching Dev’s shoulder.
Dev asks, “Would you like to come inside? I need to sit down.”
Benjamin nods, and Dad has the door open by the time they reach it. Benjamin pauses on the porch, spine straight and chin tilted up. “Sir,” he says.
“Well-met and welcome,” Dad says. “After your discussion with my son, we, too, have things to discuss.”
“Sir,” Benjamin repeats, and Dad steps aside so that Benjamin can follow Dev to the kitchen.
.
On Monday, Benjamin is back at school, and he sits with Dev at lunch, and Dev’s friends all bug him for an explanation that he never gives.
Dev’s blood is singing, and it sounds like wolves.
Title: pragmatism
Fandom: Highlander
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: discussion of cold-blooded murder
Pairings: implied Methos/Duncan
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 220
Point of view: third
Prompt: Highlander, Methos/Duncan, provoked
Methos does not have friends. He has students, acquaintances, companions; once, he had brothers. But friends... no. There is no one he trusts, no matter what lies he tells.
Duncan is a good man. Perhaps, one of the best men Methos has ever known.
There is much Methos would do to ensure Duncan's survival. He would kill. He would suffer.
… he would not die. No. There is no one, in any life, that Methos would die for. And if the choice ever comes to Duncan or life…
Well.
Methos watches Duncan, laughs with him, offers sarcastic advice, and plans his death.
Methos does not have friends. At any moment, anyone could turn on him – or he might decide it is more prudent to cut his losses and run rather than leave at his back a single solitary soul who might know his weaknesses.
There is much Methos would do for Duncan. He dearly cares for the boy. He has dearly cared for thousands over the long span of his life.
Many of them, time or war killed. But many…
Methos survives, no matter the cost. That is the secret of his longevity. There is no price too high when it comes to his life. There is no one he cannot or will not kill.
He watches Duncan and plans.