Prompt: American Gods, Shadow Moon/Harry Dresden/+ Any, A wizard, A Demi-God and a ______ walk into Mac's.
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/693535.html?thread=91303967#t91303967
I didn't know what to think when Shadow brought a third wheel to our date. She was cute, skinny, done up like a goth kid, all pale skin and black clothes, heavy eyeliner with a curious swirl beneath her right eye. She had fluffy black hair - it looked genuinely black, for once - and the big silver ankh bouncing on her chest made me a little nervous. The guy who slept with Excalibur under his mattress was nervous about a necklace.
I'm a wizard. I see things, sense things other people don't.
And something about that girl was hinky.
She wasn't flirting with Shadow, which was an embarrassing relief (and something I worried about more than I cared to admit, because he'd been married once). She wasn't afraid of him, either, which was a surprise, because I was a big guy, and Shadow made me look like a scarecrow. And he didn't even need a giant leather duster to do it.
But she was very cheerful, for a goth girl, smiling at people as they passed. Except for that moment when a boy walked by, and she looked inexplicably sad.
"Hey Chad," she said.
He blinked at her.
She winked. "See you later."
"How do you know my name?" The boy wanted to ask more, but his friends chivvied him along.
Yes, she was seriously hinky.
"Hello, Harry Dresden," she said when she saw me. Judging by the glint in her eyes, she knew my full name. My skin crawled.
"Harry," Shadow murmured. He dipped his chin at me. He wasn't ashamed of us, but he wasn't about to get all PDA-happy on the sidewalk with me either.
"Shadow says the food here's really good," the girl said.
"Some of the best," I promised. She was so damn cheerful and nice. It was freaking me out.
Mac's was pretty empty, because it was a Tuesday night. There were a couple of young guys in the corner wolfing down food and talking in low voices. Mac was behind the bar, playing chess against himself.
I stepped up first, reached into my pocket for my wallet so he'd know I was good for the meal.
"Hey Mac," I began. I never expected a response, because he was Mac.
He didn't answer me.
He looked at the girl and said, "You."
"Me," she agreed.
"Is it time?"
"Not quite. But soon. You have time to get your affairs in order," she said. "In the meantime, I hear your food is awesome." And she grinned.
Mac turned an accusing glare at Shadow, who sighed and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, which wasn't all that reassuring from a guy his size.
"She followed me here," he said.
"It's not like I wouldn't have come if I hadn't run into my old cousin," the girl said.
"Cousin?" I arched an eyebrow at Shadow. "You never mentioned any extended family besides –" I made a vague motion that encapsulated the entirety of Norse mythology.
Shadow sighed. "Harry, this is Death. Death, you already know him, because you always already know everybody."
And that hinky feeling slammed into me a hundred fold.
Death plunked herself down at the bar and placed her order like she had the menu memorized.
Mac nodded - he never wrote anything down - and fired up the grill. Shadow sat down beside her and didn't say anything.
I'd like to say I was a brave little soldier and sat down too, but I didn't. I froze. Because...Death.
But then Shadow curled his fingers through mine, tugged me down beside him so I could feel the comforting warmth of his bulk, and I smiled at Mac for quite possibly the last time, and asked for my usual.
Showing posts with label endless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label endless. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2016
Thursday, February 4, 2016
No. 83
Prompt: Author’s choice, author’s choice, Tell Me Your Dreams
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/692020.html?thread=91095860#t91095860
Desire didn't deal in dreams. He dealt in desires. But desires were similar to dreams. In the waking world, the cute girl at the bookstore who always seemed to linger a little too long in the graphic novel section became, in dreams, the vinyl-clad superheroine who was in love with the nerdy boy who was always picked last in PE. Sometimes Desire lingered on the edges of someone's mind while they slept and glimpsed what they saw while in her brother's realm, and she pondered. Should she ignite the spark of desire reciprocated in the girl? Or should he stoke the nerdy boy's desire from torch to forest fire? So one day, at the bookstore, where the boy was hiding behind a copy of Batman and sneaking looks at the girl of his dreams over the rim of a cup of coffee, Desire sat down opposite him and gazed into his eyes, searched his heart.
Tell me your dreams.
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/692020.html?thread=91095860#t91095860
Desire didn't deal in dreams. He dealt in desires. But desires were similar to dreams. In the waking world, the cute girl at the bookstore who always seemed to linger a little too long in the graphic novel section became, in dreams, the vinyl-clad superheroine who was in love with the nerdy boy who was always picked last in PE. Sometimes Desire lingered on the edges of someone's mind while they slept and glimpsed what they saw while in her brother's realm, and she pondered. Should she ignite the spark of desire reciprocated in the girl? Or should he stoke the nerdy boy's desire from torch to forest fire? So one day, at the bookstore, where the boy was hiding behind a copy of Batman and sneaking looks at the girl of his dreams over the rim of a cup of coffee, Desire sat down opposite him and gazed into his eyes, searched his heart.
Tell me your dreams.
Monday, February 1, 2016
No. 77
Prompt: any. any. joy - Sandman
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/691366.html?thread=90941606#t90941606
Despair cannot fathom why she has been given a birthday cake with "joy" written on it in looping pink frosting, but then her sister is Delirium.
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/691366.html?thread=90941606#t90941606
Despair cannot fathom why she has been given a birthday cake with "joy" written on it in looping pink frosting, but then her sister is Delirium.
No. 76
Prompt: any. any. death in the family
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/691366.html?thread=90931110#t90931110
Delirium always worried whenever Morpheus brought someone home, because not even the prettiest or brightest of mortals - stars, galaxies - could handle Death at the dinner table, even if she was nice and always served their guest first.
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/691366.html?thread=90931110#t90931110
Delirium always worried whenever Morpheus brought someone home, because not even the prettiest or brightest of mortals - stars, galaxies - could handle Death at the dinner table, even if she was nice and always served their guest first.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
No. 69
Prompt: The Sandman (comics), Delirium of the Endless, Look into my butterflies
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/690343.html?thread=90762663#t90762663
Destruction knew his sister was having a bad day when she hung around prisons, torturing inmates people felt quite free to call monsters. She was hovering in a man's cell, and he was gazing at her, dazed. He'd entered her realm when he'd started down a path of psychedelic drugs that began with free love and good intentions and ended in one of the most heinous string of murders known to Hollywood.
Delirium sat beside him on his bunk, swinging her legs and singing.
"Look into my butterflies."
"I don't think that's how the song goes," Destruction said gently.
But then multicolored butterflies were fluttering in the air, and the man was gazing at them, enchanted.
Relief flooded through Destruction. When Delirium got into one of her moods, she bordered on his realm. Now that he was doing his own thing, too many things bordered on his realm.
The man said, "There are rainbow butterflies with faces on their wings, and the faces are screaming." And he shrieked.
The other inmates in his block began shouting and cursing for him to shut up.
The man buried his face in his hands and began rocking back and forth.
Prison guards thundered down the corridor to his cell.
"It's time to go," Destruction said.
Delirium smiled at the guards, reached through the bars toward one. "They can't see us."
"I know," Destruction said, "but still, it's time to go."
They left. Prison guards and an orderly poured into the cell. While they worked to get the man subdued, one guard searched the cell for any source or trigger. And he saw, lying in the corner, a dead butterfly with rainbow wings. On each wing was a face, and the face was screaming...
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/690343.html?thread=90762663#t90762663
Destruction knew his sister was having a bad day when she hung around prisons, torturing inmates people felt quite free to call monsters. She was hovering in a man's cell, and he was gazing at her, dazed. He'd entered her realm when he'd started down a path of psychedelic drugs that began with free love and good intentions and ended in one of the most heinous string of murders known to Hollywood.
Delirium sat beside him on his bunk, swinging her legs and singing.
"Look into my butterflies."
"I don't think that's how the song goes," Destruction said gently.
But then multicolored butterflies were fluttering in the air, and the man was gazing at them, enchanted.
Relief flooded through Destruction. When Delirium got into one of her moods, she bordered on his realm. Now that he was doing his own thing, too many things bordered on his realm.
The man said, "There are rainbow butterflies with faces on their wings, and the faces are screaming." And he shrieked.
The other inmates in his block began shouting and cursing for him to shut up.
The man buried his face in his hands and began rocking back and forth.
Prison guards thundered down the corridor to his cell.
"It's time to go," Destruction said.
Delirium smiled at the guards, reached through the bars toward one. "They can't see us."
"I know," Destruction said, "but still, it's time to go."
They left. Prison guards and an orderly poured into the cell. While they worked to get the man subdued, one guard searched the cell for any source or trigger. And he saw, lying in the corner, a dead butterfly with rainbow wings. On each wing was a face, and the face was screaming...
No. 68
Prompt: American Gods -- Neil Gaimn, Shadow Moon +/ any, I'm the god of Velveeta, honey
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/690343.html?thread=90762151#t90762151
Falling asleep on public transport was typically a poor choice, but Shadow had chosen one of the cars at the very end of the train, and in Hong Kong he stood out like a sore thumb, tall and massive and black, and no one would mess with him. He was exhausted, and he needed sleep, and maybe he was hoping to see his wife in his dreams.
He saw not his wife but a girl instead. She had wildly-colored hair that was shaved on one side of her head, mis-matched eyes, and wore black fishnet and vinyl everything, like a punk from the eighties. Only she was holding a leash, on the end of which was a goldfish, which looked like it was swimming in the air, and she was perched on the cold metal train bench beside him.
"Who are you?" He'd seen enough gods and deities and other things to know to be cautious but polite.
Her smile was dazzling, and for a moment behind her eyes she was a beautiful girl, a different kind of beautiful, the golden and pink and sparkling kind that every fairy tale princess wished she could be.
"I'm the god of Velveeta, honey."
And then the goldfish was swimming away, trailing the leash after it, and there was a crock pot full of Velveeta nacho cheese dip between them on the bench, and Shadow was holding a bag of tortilla chips.
The girl tore into her bag of chips with her teeth and set about dipping with gusto.
Shadow had heard the legends, knew the rules about eating food in another god's realm. "Who are you, really?"
"I'm bored," she said, "and none of my brothers and sisters will talk to me. But things are about to get kinda crazy, which is my department and all, but I think it will end with Morpheus dying, and maybe I don't want that to happen. So. I wanted hired help, just in case."
"And if I eat this food?"
"It'll taste really good." She made exaggerated noises of appreciation and rubbed her belly for emphasis.
"So you want hired help. What will you pay me? Or is the food payment?"
"The food is because you fell asleep hungry, and no one should fall asleep hungry," she said. "I'll pay you a one-time escort to out of my realm when you need it."
"Your realm?"
"Delirium."
"Meaning?"
"If you go crazy one time, I'll let you leave un-crazy. But only if you want." She beamed at him. She had a smear of cheese on the tip of her nose. "Most people who come to my realm want to stay, because who wouldn't want to walk a goldfish? Or a seahorse. I could get you a seahorse on a leash!"
And then a seahorse was hovering beside Shadow, kitted out with a little pink harness and leash, like a purse dog.
"So you'll do this one thing for me if I help you...save your brother?"
"I might not ask you to help me save him," she said. "But just in case I decide I want to save him, I want you to be ready, willing, and able to help me." She beamed, pleased with herself for remembering such precise and nonsensical legal terms.
"Do you love your brother?"
"What does that have to do with me saving him, or you working for me?" She pinned him with a gaze that would have been textbook puppy-dog pleading but for the madness he saw in her mismatched eyes. "Aren't you going to try the nachos? I used real Velveeta."
Shadow opened the bag of tortilla chips. "Sure, I'll try the Velveeta."
"Awesome!" She pumped a fist in the air and did a little dance, scattering nachos everywhere. "So, how's Loki these days?"
Shadow took a bite of nachos - the sauce really was delicious - and tried to think of a diplomatic answer. He settled for, "Really popular in his newest movie."
The girl's eyes lit up. "He's in a movie? Show me?"
And the dream changed, and Shadow was dancing with his wife in Valhalla, hall of the gods, while Tom Hiddleston-as-Loki sat on a throne and oversaw the proceedings. The girl, wearing a black ball gown with fishnet sleeves and ribbons that matched all the colors in her hair, danced past him in Thor's arms.
"This movie is awesome!"
When Shadow woke, he was no longer hungry, and he wondered if the newest Thor movie was still playing in theaters.
http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/690343.html?thread=90762151#t90762151
Falling asleep on public transport was typically a poor choice, but Shadow had chosen one of the cars at the very end of the train, and in Hong Kong he stood out like a sore thumb, tall and massive and black, and no one would mess with him. He was exhausted, and he needed sleep, and maybe he was hoping to see his wife in his dreams.
He saw not his wife but a girl instead. She had wildly-colored hair that was shaved on one side of her head, mis-matched eyes, and wore black fishnet and vinyl everything, like a punk from the eighties. Only she was holding a leash, on the end of which was a goldfish, which looked like it was swimming in the air, and she was perched on the cold metal train bench beside him.
"Who are you?" He'd seen enough gods and deities and other things to know to be cautious but polite.
Her smile was dazzling, and for a moment behind her eyes she was a beautiful girl, a different kind of beautiful, the golden and pink and sparkling kind that every fairy tale princess wished she could be.
"I'm the god of Velveeta, honey."
And then the goldfish was swimming away, trailing the leash after it, and there was a crock pot full of Velveeta nacho cheese dip between them on the bench, and Shadow was holding a bag of tortilla chips.
The girl tore into her bag of chips with her teeth and set about dipping with gusto.
Shadow had heard the legends, knew the rules about eating food in another god's realm. "Who are you, really?"
"I'm bored," she said, "and none of my brothers and sisters will talk to me. But things are about to get kinda crazy, which is my department and all, but I think it will end with Morpheus dying, and maybe I don't want that to happen. So. I wanted hired help, just in case."
"And if I eat this food?"
"It'll taste really good." She made exaggerated noises of appreciation and rubbed her belly for emphasis.
"So you want hired help. What will you pay me? Or is the food payment?"
"The food is because you fell asleep hungry, and no one should fall asleep hungry," she said. "I'll pay you a one-time escort to out of my realm when you need it."
"Your realm?"
"Delirium."
"Meaning?"
"If you go crazy one time, I'll let you leave un-crazy. But only if you want." She beamed at him. She had a smear of cheese on the tip of her nose. "Most people who come to my realm want to stay, because who wouldn't want to walk a goldfish? Or a seahorse. I could get you a seahorse on a leash!"
And then a seahorse was hovering beside Shadow, kitted out with a little pink harness and leash, like a purse dog.
"So you'll do this one thing for me if I help you...save your brother?"
"I might not ask you to help me save him," she said. "But just in case I decide I want to save him, I want you to be ready, willing, and able to help me." She beamed, pleased with herself for remembering such precise and nonsensical legal terms.
"Do you love your brother?"
"What does that have to do with me saving him, or you working for me?" She pinned him with a gaze that would have been textbook puppy-dog pleading but for the madness he saw in her mismatched eyes. "Aren't you going to try the nachos? I used real Velveeta."
Shadow opened the bag of tortilla chips. "Sure, I'll try the Velveeta."
"Awesome!" She pumped a fist in the air and did a little dance, scattering nachos everywhere. "So, how's Loki these days?"
Shadow took a bite of nachos - the sauce really was delicious - and tried to think of a diplomatic answer. He settled for, "Really popular in his newest movie."
The girl's eyes lit up. "He's in a movie? Show me?"
And the dream changed, and Shadow was dancing with his wife in Valhalla, hall of the gods, while Tom Hiddleston-as-Loki sat on a throne and oversaw the proceedings. The girl, wearing a black ball gown with fishnet sleeves and ribbons that matched all the colors in her hair, danced past him in Thor's arms.
"This movie is awesome!"
When Shadow woke, he was no longer hungry, and he wondered if the newest Thor movie was still playing in theaters.