Fanfiction: flirting with 40 fandoms
Mar. 3rd, 2013 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tallulahgsI'm totally not even trying to do ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
40fandoms this year (mainly because The Original Story may actually be nearing completion and giving myself a Lenten fanfic challenge would be procrastination as I think I can actually (maybe?) pull this off), BUT in a moment of down time (currently pondering the ramifications of fictional explosions), I wrote some ficlets in three different fandoms, thus:
[Title] Photograph
[Fandom] Ashes to Ashes
[Rating] PG for vague mention of death.
[Notes/Summary] Alex doesn't remember much about the incident that ended her childhood.
Alex has very few memories of the actual event. Similarly to the car itself, only a few burnt scraps have survived. Her mother opening up the boot and smiling down at her. The balloon. A man's hand in hers. The explosion itself, she doesn't think she remembers. She has a picture of it in her head, but she's pretty sure that's from stock footage, or action films. She can, however, remember heat on her face and hands.
Then, nothing. A good few months are gone entirely. Eventually, life comes back, like pins and needles, round about October 1981, because Evan carved a pumpkin for her. Bonfire Night, crying because of the smell of smoke in the air. Christmas, thank god, is gone.
And then it is 1982, and she's already the girl who had that happen to her, not the girl to whom this is happening. The child who ran after the balloon is someone she's looking back on. As she gets older, she doesn't need to tell most people. Sometimes, of course, she does - she explains to close friends, a couple of boyfriends - but always wondering why she is bothering, and why they are talking to her as if it's only just happened, because if she hadn't told them, they never would have known. Whatever trauma she sustained is left in those lost months and sometimes she tries to see back into them, wonders what did you think? How did you feel? The little girl in the red school uniform doesn't have any answers and really, she isn't there at all, it's as if Alex is talking to a photograph.
A typical reaction to severe trauma, of course, but Alex is fascinated by it anyway. That, she thinks, is how she got into her line of work. If she can't figure out the mysteries of her own psyche, perhaps she can do better with other people's.
[Title] Flowers in the Window
[Fandom] Enid Blyton's Malory Towers
[Rating] G
[Pairng] Sally/Darrell
[Notes/Summary] Sally is glad to be alone with her feelings.
Sally has never been so grateful that it is her turn to put fresh flowers in the classroom. It lets her run off to an empty, quiet room and try to focus on a simple task and wait until she stops blushing.
Only it doesn't quite work like that because she stands in the space between the desks, holding a vase, and her mouth curls into a silly smile (and doesn't it feel so different now that someone has kissed it? Doesn't it feel like she never really noticed it before?) and it's the sort of smile that's so big that it threatens to overbalance and turn into crumpled tears. Oh. Darrell kissed her. Darrell liked her enough to kiss her. And it was silly and funny and wonderful and of course, now, she is terrified in case Darrell never wants to do it again. She has been swept up in the waves and she and all her selves are tangled up and she is more than a little frightened of how much this means, of what it might do, of how much she could be broken open if it all goes wrong. Not that she is sorry, though, or wishes it not to have happened. Not that, not ever.
[Title] Memo To All Employees
[Fandom] Portal
[Rating] G
[Notes/Summary] Aperture Science would like to take this opportunity to reiterate key points concerning large-scale office relocations. May or may not be inspired by my own experiences ^^
From: facilities@aperturescience.com
To: mailing-list: All Employees
Subject: Large-scale desk move - this week
This message was sent with High Importance
As we approach the set date for the relocation of the Marketing, R&D, and PR departments, Aperture Science Laboratories would like to take this opportunity to remind all affected employees of the following key points:
1) The contents of your desk, including personal effects, files, stationery, computer, etc, must be placed in the Weighted Storage Crates provided for this purpose.
2) Please do not place any of the following in the provided Weighted Storage Crates:
a) Rubbish (please place this in an Aperture Science-provided Waste Redemption Container)
b) Your desk chair (this will be transported separately)
c) Sentry turrets (functioning)
d) Sentry turrets (malfunctioning)
e) Devices showing any signs of artificial intelligence
f) Aperture Science Handheld Portal Devices
g) High Energy Pellets
h) Anything you are not sure of the function of and/or which might, when moved, be damaged, detonate, generate toxic rays, emit poisonous gas, or transport objects in the vicinity to the future and/or past.
3) Aperture Science does not expect you to attempt to move any of the Weighted Storage Crates yourself.
4) If your line manager, Head of Department, or supervising Artificial Intelligence System do request that you attempt to move any of the Weighted Storage Crates yourself, please be aware that Aperture Science takes no responsibility for any back injury, arm injury, other injury, stress, paranoia, psychosis, death or vaporisation that may occur.
5) Please ensure that your desk has been emptied and your Weighted Storage Crate packed, sealed, and labeled by 5 p.m. on 20 March. Any personal effects remaining outside the Weighted Storage Crate after this time will be vaporised.
6) Please DO NOT use the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to assist you in the relocation. Remember: Aperture Science Laboratories has pledged to cut Weighted Storage Crate-related fatalities by 30% this fiscal year.
7) All general department filespaces must be emptied and the contents placed in the Generic Weighted Storage Crates provided. BE AWARE: take care when opening cupboards or drawers with unfamiliar contents! They may be precariously balanced, excessively dusty, toxic, radioactive, or programmed to detonate and/or attack if movement is detected.
8) If a filespace contains content that is no longer used by the department, is out-of-date, or may require disposal/assessment/alphabetising/neutralising/immolation, ensure that you prioritise this task appropriately in conjunction with your daily workload. Remember: Aperture Science interns are a valuable source of assistance, and we aim to offer them a range of tasks to allow them to develop a full skills set. Neutralisation of sentry turrets, assessment of unusual substances, dexterity with an Aperture Science Combustion Transportation Device, and alphabetisation are all key skills vital for the graduate of today.
9) If, following the relocation, you have concerns about your new workstation (for example, excessive sunlight, noise levels, desk height, proximity to neurotoxin emitters, lack of floor, presence of radioactivity, etc) please complete an Aperture Science Workstation Assessment Request Form, which can be found at
Aperture Science wishes you the very best of luck as you complete your relocation, and hopes you enjoy the increased efficiency and opportunities for inter-departmental networking that the new orientation will provide. Remember: with your help, we can make the number of Serious Incident Reports Completed the lowest yet!
And as a bonus (I guess) a fic I wrote for 2010's40fandoms and never posted.
[Title] Methods of Pest Control
[Fandom] Watchmen/Death Note
[Rating] PG-13
[Notes/Summary] Rorschach writes his journal and muses on an acquaintance.
Corpse brought out from under floorboards today. Three doors down. String still round neck. Man led after. Lived two months with smell. I should have taken action sooner. Been too busy. The gutters are so full that I don't notice the refuse on my own doorstep.
Mikami here again. Saw corpse leaving. Talked about God. Always talks about God as if he believes it. Can't work it out. Suspect possible religious delusion. Would investigate further, but his mania lets him see the city for what it is. Need to work out what else he sees. Why does he always come to me to tell me when someone's been acquitted who shouldn't have been? Simply found like-minded soul? No delusion present in other areas of life. No reason to believe he has not noticed pattern. Keeps coming back, twitching and trying not to touch filthy surfaces. They upset him. Thus must have strong motive for constant visits.
To test, I said murderer is punished now. Will go to jail. Keeping corpse under floor for two months, not good. But young, Mikami said. Plea of insanity. Lenience. True, lawyer would know that. I said, life in jail is still punishment. He said, no, all vermin must be eliminated. But then moved back to God.
Could be plant. Test. Has never seen my real face. Enemies come from all sides, I know this. If he asks, I will know. If he admits there is no God and the justice and the killing were both adminstered by men. Does not want me as his god. Wants God to be clean. Does not want to think that for world to be cleansed, men must take on responsibilities of God. And will never be able to save all. Mikami is too afraid to see truth. Has seen city's face.
40fandoms this year (mainly because The Original Story may actually be nearing completion and giving myself a Lenten fanfic challenge would be procrastination as I think I can actually (maybe?) pull this off), BUT in a moment of down time (currently pondering the ramifications of fictional explosions), I wrote some ficlets in three different fandoms, thus:[Title] Photograph
[Fandom] Ashes to Ashes
[Rating] PG for vague mention of death.
[Notes/Summary] Alex doesn't remember much about the incident that ended her childhood.
Alex has very few memories of the actual event. Similarly to the car itself, only a few burnt scraps have survived. Her mother opening up the boot and smiling down at her. The balloon. A man's hand in hers. The explosion itself, she doesn't think she remembers. She has a picture of it in her head, but she's pretty sure that's from stock footage, or action films. She can, however, remember heat on her face and hands.
Then, nothing. A good few months are gone entirely. Eventually, life comes back, like pins and needles, round about October 1981, because Evan carved a pumpkin for her. Bonfire Night, crying because of the smell of smoke in the air. Christmas, thank god, is gone.
And then it is 1982, and she's already the girl who had that happen to her, not the girl to whom this is happening. The child who ran after the balloon is someone she's looking back on. As she gets older, she doesn't need to tell most people. Sometimes, of course, she does - she explains to close friends, a couple of boyfriends - but always wondering why she is bothering, and why they are talking to her as if it's only just happened, because if she hadn't told them, they never would have known. Whatever trauma she sustained is left in those lost months and sometimes she tries to see back into them, wonders what did you think? How did you feel? The little girl in the red school uniform doesn't have any answers and really, she isn't there at all, it's as if Alex is talking to a photograph.
A typical reaction to severe trauma, of course, but Alex is fascinated by it anyway. That, she thinks, is how she got into her line of work. If she can't figure out the mysteries of her own psyche, perhaps she can do better with other people's.
[Title] Flowers in the Window
[Fandom] Enid Blyton's Malory Towers
[Rating] G
[Pairng] Sally/Darrell
[Notes/Summary] Sally is glad to be alone with her feelings.
Sally has never been so grateful that it is her turn to put fresh flowers in the classroom. It lets her run off to an empty, quiet room and try to focus on a simple task and wait until she stops blushing.
Only it doesn't quite work like that because she stands in the space between the desks, holding a vase, and her mouth curls into a silly smile (and doesn't it feel so different now that someone has kissed it? Doesn't it feel like she never really noticed it before?) and it's the sort of smile that's so big that it threatens to overbalance and turn into crumpled tears. Oh. Darrell kissed her. Darrell liked her enough to kiss her. And it was silly and funny and wonderful and of course, now, she is terrified in case Darrell never wants to do it again. She has been swept up in the waves and she and all her selves are tangled up and she is more than a little frightened of how much this means, of what it might do, of how much she could be broken open if it all goes wrong. Not that she is sorry, though, or wishes it not to have happened. Not that, not ever.
[Title] Memo To All Employees
[Fandom] Portal
[Rating] G
[Notes/Summary] Aperture Science would like to take this opportunity to reiterate key points concerning large-scale office relocations. May or may not be inspired by my own experiences ^^
From: facilities@aperturescience.com
To: mailing-list: All Employees
Subject: Large-scale desk move - this week
This message was sent with High Importance
As we approach the set date for the relocation of the Marketing, R&D, and PR departments, Aperture Science Laboratories would like to take this opportunity to remind all affected employees of the following key points:
1) The contents of your desk, including personal effects, files, stationery, computer, etc, must be placed in the Weighted Storage Crates provided for this purpose.
2) Please do not place any of the following in the provided Weighted Storage Crates:
a) Rubbish (please place this in an Aperture Science-provided Waste Redemption Container)
b) Your desk chair (this will be transported separately)
c) Sentry turrets (functioning)
d) Sentry turrets (malfunctioning)
e) Devices showing any signs of artificial intelligence
f) Aperture Science Handheld Portal Devices
g) High Energy Pellets
h) Anything you are not sure of the function of and/or which might, when moved, be damaged, detonate, generate toxic rays, emit poisonous gas, or transport objects in the vicinity to the future and/or past.
3) Aperture Science does not expect you to attempt to move any of the Weighted Storage Crates yourself.
4) If your line manager, Head of Department, or supervising Artificial Intelligence System do request that you attempt to move any of the Weighted Storage Crates yourself, please be aware that Aperture Science takes no responsibility for any back injury, arm injury, other injury, stress, paranoia, psychosis, death or vaporisation that may occur.
5) Please ensure that your desk has been emptied and your Weighted Storage Crate packed, sealed, and labeled by 5 p.m. on 20 March. Any personal effects remaining outside the Weighted Storage Crate after this time will be vaporised.
6) Please DO NOT use the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device to assist you in the relocation. Remember: Aperture Science Laboratories has pledged to cut Weighted Storage Crate-related fatalities by 30% this fiscal year.
7) All general department filespaces must be emptied and the contents placed in the Generic Weighted Storage Crates provided. BE AWARE: take care when opening cupboards or drawers with unfamiliar contents! They may be precariously balanced, excessively dusty, toxic, radioactive, or programmed to detonate and/or attack if movement is detected.
8) If a filespace contains content that is no longer used by the department, is out-of-date, or may require disposal/assessment/alphabetising/neutralising/immolation, ensure that you prioritise this task appropriately in conjunction with your daily workload. Remember: Aperture Science interns are a valuable source of assistance, and we aim to offer them a range of tasks to allow them to develop a full skills set. Neutralisation of sentry turrets, assessment of unusual substances, dexterity with an Aperture Science Combustion Transportation Device, and alphabetisation are all key skills vital for the graduate of today.
9) If, following the relocation, you have concerns about your new workstation (for example, excessive sunlight, noise levels, desk height, proximity to neurotoxin emitters, lack of floor, presence of radioactivity, etc) please complete an Aperture Science Workstation Assessment Request Form, which can be found at
Aperture Science wishes you the very best of luck as you complete your relocation, and hopes you enjoy the increased efficiency and opportunities for inter-departmental networking that the new orientation will provide. Remember: with your help, we can make the number of Serious Incident Reports Completed the lowest yet!
And as a bonus (I guess) a fic I wrote for 2010's
40fandoms and never posted.[Title] Methods of Pest Control
[Fandom] Watchmen/Death Note
[Rating] PG-13
[Notes/Summary] Rorschach writes his journal and muses on an acquaintance.
Corpse brought out from under floorboards today. Three doors down. String still round neck. Man led after. Lived two months with smell. I should have taken action sooner. Been too busy. The gutters are so full that I don't notice the refuse on my own doorstep.
Mikami here again. Saw corpse leaving. Talked about God. Always talks about God as if he believes it. Can't work it out. Suspect possible religious delusion. Would investigate further, but his mania lets him see the city for what it is. Need to work out what else he sees. Why does he always come to me to tell me when someone's been acquitted who shouldn't have been? Simply found like-minded soul? No delusion present in other areas of life. No reason to believe he has not noticed pattern. Keeps coming back, twitching and trying not to touch filthy surfaces. They upset him. Thus must have strong motive for constant visits.
To test, I said murderer is punished now. Will go to jail. Keeping corpse under floor for two months, not good. But young, Mikami said. Plea of insanity. Lenience. True, lawyer would know that. I said, life in jail is still punishment. He said, no, all vermin must be eliminated. But then moved back to God.
Could be plant. Test. Has never seen my real face. Enemies come from all sides, I know this. If he asks, I will know. If he admits there is no God and the justice and the killing were both adminstered by men. Does not want me as his god. Wants God to be clean. Does not want to think that for world to be cleansed, men must take on responsibilities of God. And will never be able to save all. Mikami is too afraid to see truth. Has seen city's face.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-03-09 12:26 am (UTC)The Watchmen/Death Note one really has a nice flow, to, and, yeah, he really picks up a lot about Mikami.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-09 09:11 am (UTC)Thank you! I found it really hard to write at the time, but I think Rorschach is a lot more self-aware than Mikami is and probably a lot more atuned to objective reality... in his own, erm, special way.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-05 08:16 pm (UTC)I'd kiss her too :) *happy*
no subject
Date: 2013-09-06 05:35 pm (UTC)(Sorry if you got this more than once - LJ was sulking for me earlier.)