With Her Gone

[sl4irl.livejournal.com]

(Bas: Baked Beans, Fable 2, nightmare - from Sally)

Another can of Heinz and another morning after a night with her not around. With no food left in the fridge he'd been forced to start working through his nuclear war stockpile.

He'd tossed & turned with terrible visions of claws entering limbs, figures being flung across rooms like rag-dolls.

He'd work through all the Game of the Years until he hit 2009. Now he was on his 4th completion this week. He usually felt better, at times like these, by about half way through the 1st. But then, it had never been this bad before.

(Lost) Honesty, utility, toast (from lslaw)

[akonken.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, Neve hated cooking. Loathed it.

Her kitchen, which she adored, was sleek and roomy - and, in her mind, an appendage of the part of the house that got the most activity.

No, not that one. The living room.

The kitchen had just enough storage space for all of her assorted glasses and trays (for hors d'oeuvres), and the fridge could hold several champagne bottles. Its utility was something she approved of.

But cooking in it? Unfathomable.

Why, she didn't even make toast.

[Awakening] Weapon of Choice (Janos: gift, pain, chord from <user site="livejournal.com" user="mistr

[lslaw.livejournal.com]

It was a gift, really; the ability to look inside a good, decent person and strike the one chord that would make them a killer.

Pain blossomed across Janos's cheek as a shard of hot metal shot from the closing portal. Amber looked sick to her stomach and Perun fled the room, horrified at what he had done... at what Janos has asked him not to do.

To make a man kill by telling him not to. Now that was a gift which truly filled Janos with horror.

[Forsaken] To live for (Arthur: integrity, blood, child from <user site="livejournal.com" user="mist

[lslaw.livejournal.com]

Arthur wonders what he really has left to live for. There is blood on his hands, whatever they say; Jack's blood, and Oi's as well if she does something stupid because of what he told her.

Once, he dedicated himself to protecting others, but that's a joke now. What is there that they can't protect themselves from that would even notice him? When the world, even the rest of the force, turned against him, he comforted himself with duty, but now he's concealed three murders, maybe more.

Whose was the body that was down there when she came? What happened to Lancer? Is he down there in the dark, wrapped in Her embrace? What happened to the child? Is it...?

These are questions to be answered and that, he realises, is something to live for. With Jack gone and Samantha still... lost there is only him left. Jack's business is his business now, if not his methods.

They would probably approve of this and call it honour. He can only cling to the last shreds of his integrity and hope that it is enough.

[Changeling] Beat (Gehenna: rebellion, pulse, victim from <user site="livejournal.com" user="mistres

[lslaw.livejournal.com]

The traitor was dragged in chains between lines of Mardoll's soldiers. She was naked and bloodied, an object lesson for those who might plot rebellion.

She sits, tall and proud, angry in the face of her would-be keeper. She will not be a victim again.

Furious on her behalf, Gehenna snatches up the other man's glass and drinks.

Her light, the only thing anyone could see of her, pulsed steadily, driving itself into the eyes even of a poor, dumb beast. He saw her splendour and knew that he was a slave.

The glass cracks and slices into his palm as he declares his curse. His blood beats out with the rhythm of his pulse. His blood spills for her light.

[Changeling] The Plan (The Turk: panic, comfort, reliance from <user site="livejournal.com" user="mi

[lslaw.livejournal.com]

Phase 1: The fence. The Turk leads, scaling like a monkey and dropping the rope for the others. One camera, but Penny deals with that. The layout is familiar from Mon Plaisir's reconaissance.

Phase 2: Across the compound to the entrance. Lock and alarm; the Turk takes one, Cleanse takes the other. A moment of alarm as a torch beam comes close, but they do not panic; they trust to the plan.

Phase 3: The Radar. Cleanse and Penny go to work on the motors while the Turk returns to the perimeter.

Phase 4: Guiding the ships. Penny and Cleanse return and keep watch alongside Mon Plaisir while the Turk monitors the computers and issues instructions, calculating each shift of tide and each change of position in his head. It is a tense moment, but the plan is a comfort now, its precision easing their minds.

Phase 5: Withdraw. The job is done; Countess Red will be finished and the radar will be repaired in minutes. The Motley have completed their first job, not through magic or strength in the Wyrd, but through their own skills and reliance on the plan.

The Act Itself

[sl4irl.livejournal.com]

(Ellis: blood, sensation, music - from Allison)

Held in his hand, clutched tight, the burden, the hope as he headed past the front gate, Virgin Radio blasting unexpected from the open first floor window...

...Something deep inside...

Hammering on the door. The sound of footsteps, rustling. Not towards him, though...

Hanging on a wire, yeah...

Kicking down the gate to run down the side of the house...

...I'm waiting for the change.

Sound of hurtling parallel to him, the sight of the weed-ridden lawn, turning left sharply...

Dancing through the fire, just to get close to you...

Out of the back door, about thirty an hour felt like. Stopped abruptly with the collision, Ellis striking from the side...

...just close enough...

A dozen times. That's what it felt like, anyway...About a dozen...

Something deep inside...

Then another five.

...

Just for luck.