100 Drabbles of 2012 #51-60
51) staycation
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: The sequel to "84) Author's Choice: escape," which is about Doc and Marty's reason for coming to Secundus. I came up with this after realizing it fit my interpretation of the prompt -- "it was supposed to be a vacation, they ended up staying" -- better than the drabble that became "escape" did.
“Remember when we first thought about coming here, Doc?”
Doc looked up from his newspaper. “Yes, I do,” he said with a smile. “It was supposed to be just a few months’ vacation.”
“Yeah,” Marty nodded. “Kick around the city for a while, see the sights, learn some science, come back home. Never thought I’d end up moving here for good.”
“Me either,” Doc agreed. He frowned a little. “Do you ever regret it? Leaving Hill Valley?”
“Doc, you’re asking if I regret coming to stay with some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”
Doc grinned again. “Good point.”
52) season
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: A sequel of sorts to "93) Author's choice: twins" (about the birth of Marty's children), in that I wanted to show the moment Marty learned one of his best friends was having twins too. And yes, there is a case of overlapping pregnancies here -- Douglas & Marlene, Vincent & Lorina, and Verne are all born in the same year, within a few months of a each other. So Jennifer, Alice, and Clara are all pregnant together in the spring. That must have been an interesting experience. . .
“Hey, Victor – whoa. Why the stunned look?”
Victor turned to his friend. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Why not? What’s going on?”
“Alice and I just got back from the doctor.”
Marty felt a sudden chill. “Something’s not wrong with your baby, is there?”
Victor shook his head. “No, it’s just – we thought – and now it’s confirmed –”
“Victor, you’re killing me with all these pauses!”
Victor swallowed, then smiled. “Twins. We’re having twins. Just like you.”
“. . .Okay, I know it’s the season for all our wives to be pregnant, but I swear, if Clara ends up with twins too. . . .”
53) sun
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: This one was inspired by a prompt at charloft about providing pictures of your greatest fear. One of Victor's big ones is a fear of total, blinding darkness (picture's broken, but the text should make things clear enough). After writing that reply, I felt the need to expand on it in fic form. You might consider it a companion of sorts to last year's "87) Author's choice: nightmare."
It was black, it was all black, there was nothing to see absolutely nothing he couldn’t even see his own body it was like he didn’t even exist but he knew he existed, knew it from the crushing pressure of the dark on his chest even as the world stretched out to infinite terrifying black around him –
“Victor!”
His eyes snapped open to see his wife leaning over him. “The dream again?” she whispered.
Victor nodded, and took a deep breath as she pulled him into a hug. Seeing the sun after that was nice –
But seeing her was better.
54) turtle
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Alice's childhood
Notes: I just HAD to write something about the Mock Turtle for this one. That fact Lewis gives about turtles is something I learned from my Annotated Alice -- it might have been part of the real Lewis Carroll's inspiration for Mock. Mock wailing about a duchess coveting his shell refers to a fetch quest in AMA, where you have to retrieve Mock's shell from the Duchess (your first boss fight).
“Mister Mock Turtle? Why do you cry so much?”
The Mock Turtle wiped his eye with a flipper. “Many reasons! People want to make me into soup! A duchess coveted my shell! I’m not a real turtle!”
“Also, it’s the only way he can properly get rid of excess salt in his body,” Lewis commented. “Turtle livers can’t process salt properly, so it comes up through special glands in your eyes to be discharged.”
The Mock Turtle wailed. “And now I’ll die if I don’t cry! The world is horrible!”
Alice shook her head. “He’s silly.”
“You have no idea.”
55) wave
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-"Secundus 2"
Notes: Happy anniversary, BTTF! This is one of two drabbles I wrote for July 3rd, 2012, the 27th anniversary of BTTF's release in theaters (the second being, of course "88) Author's Choice: author"). I chose the prompt because of its relevance to the dates in the movie (1955), and it surprisingly didn't take me long to think up something. Happy reunions are always nice to write about.
Jennifer Parker had not expected to see a flying train pass over her family ranch at any point during her lifetime. She gaped up at it for a moment – then her face lit up with a brilliant smile. She knew there was only two people in Hill Valley who would end up with a flying train. “Hey! Down here!” she cried, waving her arms like a windmill.
The train obligingly paused, lowering itself to the ground. Then the door flew open, revealing one Marty McFly. “Jennifer!” They ran into each other’s arms, lips meeting in a warm kiss. “We’re home!”
56) picnic basket in a field of yellow dandelions, dandelion chain, blue sky
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-"Secundus 2"
Notes: This is based off of the book Alice considering making a daisy chain at the beginning of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and the Disney Alice actually doing so. Why can't this Alice enjoy it as well? (Even though, thanks to the prompt, she has to use a different flower.)
“Where did you learn to weave chains of flowers like that?”
Alice gave her husband only the briefest of glances as she knotted a little hole in the stem of another dandelion. “From my mother,” she said, slipping another flower’s stem through it, then repeating the process. “She and I spent lots of time together making little bracelets and necklaces from flowers.” She tied the ends of her chain together, forming a circlet. “Maybe one day – I can teach our daughter.”
“Would you m-mind teaching your husband in the meantime?”
Alice smiled at him. “Not at all. It’s pretty simple. . . .”
57) driftwood coming out of the sand on a beach
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: This was something of a request by a friend of mine, Gigs -- she wanted to see a sequel to 2012's Winter Bingo fic aunt. So here it is! Nice to know that not all of Victor's relatives are snobs, right? (Its relation to the prompt is in Victor "uncovering" a branch of his family tree.)
“So? How’d it go?”
“Shockingly well,” Victor said, sitting on the bed. “She wanted to know all about my life – even the parts I was sure she would find horrifying or distasteful. And I learned so much about hers in return. . . .” He suddenly laughed. “I have cousins! Three of them! Aunt Elaine’s going to give me their addresses so I can write.”
Alice smiled and pulled him close. “I’m glad. I was rather worried when you said you were meeting up with your mother’s sister.”
“Don’t be – apparently, the hidden branch of my family tree is the most sensible one.”
58) a deck chair in a field of lavender flowers
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2," children getting married era
Notes: Now here's a new one -- a drabble about Allison Laidlaw, Chester's future wife! I wanted to focus on the kid's relationships for a bit, and looking over the prompts, I realized I could use this one to develop Allison a bit. She's a sweet girly girl, to be sure. And, like Victor, she really likes a lot of the weirdness in Secundus.
Allison had always dreamed of getting married outside. She knew that, traditionally, weddings were church affairs, but she thought that a wedding in a field of flowers was terribly romantic. Her parents had been iffy on the idea, but had told her that as long as her groom agreed to it, they’d help make it happen.
As it turned out, not only did Chester agree to it, his father knew the perfect place for it. So Allison was married in Wonderland Park, surrounded by the flowers she loved so much.
Granted, she’d never pictured them cheering when she said her vows. . . .
59) a lighthouse on craggy rocks
Time Period: Anytime in-"Secundus"
Notes: This is one of two drabbles inspired by "Bioshock." I was searching for prompts to do, saw this one, and remembered the lighthouse from the first game. Bam, drabble. As you can see, I don't have high hopes for the Secundus-verse version of Rapture. I mean, place went to hell with just relatively NORMAL people there. With TOUCHED added to the mix. . .
“Rapture? That’s an odd name for a lighthouse.”
“Oh, that’s not the lighthouse,” Lewis said. “That’s the name of the city beneath the lighthouse.”
Victor looked up from the atlas, curious. “An underwater city?”
“Yes – it was intended to be something like Secundus. A safe haven for ‘the best and the brightest.’ I don’t think it succeeded, though.”
Victor frowned. “Why not?”
“Well, Ryan was fond of saying that the city would advance science without that pesky ‘morality’ getting in the way. . . .”
Understanding dawned. “There’s nothing but rubble down there now, is there?”
“No one’s returned to tell us differently.”
60) hands holding mixed berries
Time Period: Summer pre-"Secundus"
Notes: It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to realize this one should be all about everyone's favorite made-up fruit, squimberries. I took the name from Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland -- it's just such a fun one.
Lewis beamed as he looked at the bushes. The branches seemed almost overloaded with bright red berries, each one looking about ready to burst with goodness. He hurried over to the field of burrows. “March!” he called down the leftmost one. “The squimberries are ripe!”
“Fantastic!” March appeared moments later, carrying a large basket. “Let us go get them!”
“Let’s!” It wasn’t long before the pair were busily stripping the bushes of their fruit. Alice joined them after a while, and between them, March’s basket quickly filled to overflowing.
Which naturally meant they had to eat the overflow, didn’t it?
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: The sequel to "84) Author's Choice: escape," which is about Doc and Marty's reason for coming to Secundus. I came up with this after realizing it fit my interpretation of the prompt -- "it was supposed to be a vacation, they ended up staying" -- better than the drabble that became "escape" did.
“Remember when we first thought about coming here, Doc?”
Doc looked up from his newspaper. “Yes, I do,” he said with a smile. “It was supposed to be just a few months’ vacation.”
“Yeah,” Marty nodded. “Kick around the city for a while, see the sights, learn some science, come back home. Never thought I’d end up moving here for good.”
“Me either,” Doc agreed. He frowned a little. “Do you ever regret it? Leaving Hill Valley?”
“Doc, you’re asking if I regret coming to stay with some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”
Doc grinned again. “Good point.”
52) season
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: A sequel of sorts to "93) Author's choice: twins" (about the birth of Marty's children), in that I wanted to show the moment Marty learned one of his best friends was having twins too. And yes, there is a case of overlapping pregnancies here -- Douglas & Marlene, Vincent & Lorina, and Verne are all born in the same year, within a few months of a each other. So Jennifer, Alice, and Clara are all pregnant together in the spring. That must have been an interesting experience. . .
“Hey, Victor – whoa. Why the stunned look?”
Victor turned to his friend. “You’re not going to believe this.”
“Why not? What’s going on?”
“Alice and I just got back from the doctor.”
Marty felt a sudden chill. “Something’s not wrong with your baby, is there?”
Victor shook his head. “No, it’s just – we thought – and now it’s confirmed –”
“Victor, you’re killing me with all these pauses!”
Victor swallowed, then smiled. “Twins. We’re having twins. Just like you.”
“. . .Okay, I know it’s the season for all our wives to be pregnant, but I swear, if Clara ends up with twins too. . . .”
53) sun
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: This one was inspired by a prompt at charloft about providing pictures of your greatest fear. One of Victor's big ones is a fear of total, blinding darkness (picture's broken, but the text should make things clear enough). After writing that reply, I felt the need to expand on it in fic form. You might consider it a companion of sorts to last year's "87) Author's choice: nightmare."
It was black, it was all black, there was nothing to see absolutely nothing he couldn’t even see his own body it was like he didn’t even exist but he knew he existed, knew it from the crushing pressure of the dark on his chest even as the world stretched out to infinite terrifying black around him –
“Victor!”
His eyes snapped open to see his wife leaning over him. “The dream again?” she whispered.
Victor nodded, and took a deep breath as she pulled him into a hug. Seeing the sun after that was nice –
But seeing her was better.
54) turtle
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Alice's childhood
Notes: I just HAD to write something about the Mock Turtle for this one. That fact Lewis gives about turtles is something I learned from my Annotated Alice -- it might have been part of the real Lewis Carroll's inspiration for Mock. Mock wailing about a duchess coveting his shell refers to a fetch quest in AMA, where you have to retrieve Mock's shell from the Duchess (your first boss fight).
“Mister Mock Turtle? Why do you cry so much?”
The Mock Turtle wiped his eye with a flipper. “Many reasons! People want to make me into soup! A duchess coveted my shell! I’m not a real turtle!”
“Also, it’s the only way he can properly get rid of excess salt in his body,” Lewis commented. “Turtle livers can’t process salt properly, so it comes up through special glands in your eyes to be discharged.”
The Mock Turtle wailed. “And now I’ll die if I don’t cry! The world is horrible!”
Alice shook her head. “He’s silly.”
“You have no idea.”
55) wave
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-"Secundus 2"
Notes: Happy anniversary, BTTF! This is one of two drabbles I wrote for July 3rd, 2012, the 27th anniversary of BTTF's release in theaters (the second being, of course "88) Author's Choice: author"). I chose the prompt because of its relevance to the dates in the movie (1955), and it surprisingly didn't take me long to think up something. Happy reunions are always nice to write about.
Jennifer Parker had not expected to see a flying train pass over her family ranch at any point during her lifetime. She gaped up at it for a moment – then her face lit up with a brilliant smile. She knew there was only two people in Hill Valley who would end up with a flying train. “Hey! Down here!” she cried, waving her arms like a windmill.
The train obligingly paused, lowering itself to the ground. Then the door flew open, revealing one Marty McFly. “Jennifer!” They ran into each other’s arms, lips meeting in a warm kiss. “We’re home!”
56) picnic basket in a field of yellow dandelions, dandelion chain, blue sky
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-"Secundus 2"
Notes: This is based off of the book Alice considering making a daisy chain at the beginning of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and the Disney Alice actually doing so. Why can't this Alice enjoy it as well? (Even though, thanks to the prompt, she has to use a different flower.)
“Where did you learn to weave chains of flowers like that?”
Alice gave her husband only the briefest of glances as she knotted a little hole in the stem of another dandelion. “From my mother,” she said, slipping another flower’s stem through it, then repeating the process. “She and I spent lots of time together making little bracelets and necklaces from flowers.” She tied the ends of her chain together, forming a circlet. “Maybe one day – I can teach our daughter.”
“Would you m-mind teaching your husband in the meantime?”
Alice smiled at him. “Not at all. It’s pretty simple. . . .”
57) driftwood coming out of the sand on a beach
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: This was something of a request by a friend of mine, Gigs -- she wanted to see a sequel to 2012's Winter Bingo fic aunt. So here it is! Nice to know that not all of Victor's relatives are snobs, right? (Its relation to the prompt is in Victor "uncovering" a branch of his family tree.)
“So? How’d it go?”
“Shockingly well,” Victor said, sitting on the bed. “She wanted to know all about my life – even the parts I was sure she would find horrifying or distasteful. And I learned so much about hers in return. . . .” He suddenly laughed. “I have cousins! Three of them! Aunt Elaine’s going to give me their addresses so I can write.”
Alice smiled and pulled him close. “I’m glad. I was rather worried when you said you were meeting up with your mother’s sister.”
“Don’t be – apparently, the hidden branch of my family tree is the most sensible one.”
58) a deck chair in a field of lavender flowers
Time Period: Post-"Secundus 2," children getting married era
Notes: Now here's a new one -- a drabble about Allison Laidlaw, Chester's future wife! I wanted to focus on the kid's relationships for a bit, and looking over the prompts, I realized I could use this one to develop Allison a bit. She's a sweet girly girl, to be sure. And, like Victor, she really likes a lot of the weirdness in Secundus.
Allison had always dreamed of getting married outside. She knew that, traditionally, weddings were church affairs, but she thought that a wedding in a field of flowers was terribly romantic. Her parents had been iffy on the idea, but had told her that as long as her groom agreed to it, they’d help make it happen.
As it turned out, not only did Chester agree to it, his father knew the perfect place for it. So Allison was married in Wonderland Park, surrounded by the flowers she loved so much.
Granted, she’d never pictured them cheering when she said her vows. . . .
59) a lighthouse on craggy rocks
Time Period: Anytime in-"Secundus"
Notes: This is one of two drabbles inspired by "Bioshock." I was searching for prompts to do, saw this one, and remembered the lighthouse from the first game. Bam, drabble. As you can see, I don't have high hopes for the Secundus-verse version of Rapture. I mean, place went to hell with just relatively NORMAL people there. With TOUCHED added to the mix. . .
“Rapture? That’s an odd name for a lighthouse.”
“Oh, that’s not the lighthouse,” Lewis said. “That’s the name of the city beneath the lighthouse.”
Victor looked up from the atlas, curious. “An underwater city?”
“Yes – it was intended to be something like Secundus. A safe haven for ‘the best and the brightest.’ I don’t think it succeeded, though.”
Victor frowned. “Why not?”
“Well, Ryan was fond of saying that the city would advance science without that pesky ‘morality’ getting in the way. . . .”
Understanding dawned. “There’s nothing but rubble down there now, is there?”
“No one’s returned to tell us differently.”
60) hands holding mixed berries
Time Period: Summer pre-"Secundus"
Notes: It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did to realize this one should be all about everyone's favorite made-up fruit, squimberries. I took the name from Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland -- it's just such a fun one.
Lewis beamed as he looked at the bushes. The branches seemed almost overloaded with bright red berries, each one looking about ready to burst with goodness. He hurried over to the field of burrows. “March!” he called down the leftmost one. “The squimberries are ripe!”
“Fantastic!” March appeared moments later, carrying a large basket. “Let us go get them!”
“Let’s!” It wasn’t long before the pair were busily stripping the bushes of their fruit. Alice joined them after a while, and between them, March’s basket quickly filled to overflowing.
Which naturally meant they had to eat the overflow, didn’t it?