WIP meme

[john_amend_all]

Memed from thisbluespirit:

Post excerpts of your fannish works in progress.

As usual, caveat lector — there's no guarantee that any given WIP will be completed. If anyone wants to try and work out what fic each snippet might be part of (or, in the case of the 500-prompts meme, which prompt it belongs to) feel free to guess.

1. "I agree," Zoë said. She wrenched her spade out of the earth, overbalanced, and staggered back against the side of the pit. Her free hand, flailing for balance, came into contact with the cold metal.

   There was a flare of yellow light.

   With a gasp, Zoë pulled her hand away, holding it as if something had burned her. For a moment, I could see her handprint on the metal surface, faintly glowing; then it faded.

2. "It's just you," Jamie said. "Have you got to the floor yet?"

   Samantha pushed her sweat-soaked hair out of her eyes.

   "Yeah," she said, and knelt down by the hole she'd just made. "Hang on, I think maybe I can reach it if I move this one."

3. "Mel?" Zoë did a double-take. "Is that supposed to be a Uma Thurman costume you're wearing? It isn't a very good one. I can't work out if you're supposed to be in Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill."

   There was an uncomfortable pause.

   "I'm supposed to be you," Mel said, in a small voice.

   "Nonsense!" Zoe looked her up and down. "I do not look like that!"

4. Hardly had the capsule glided away than a puzzled-looking fitter approached her, a small cylindrical parcel in his hand.

   "Do you know anything about this?" he said. "Came out of the delivery tube just now."

   Ace took the parcel. Its label read MISS ACE SEXYLEGS, TRAVCOM STATION PLATFORM 7B, 15:42PM.

   "Yeah, it's for me," she said. "Thanks."

5. They hurried through the dreary streets, but when they came in sight of the bus stop, the bus was already halfway down the road, and accelerating.

   "So much for that." Steel took shelter from the drizzle in the doorway of a nearby shop. "We'll have to walk to the station, and that's six miles if it's a step."

   Sapphire joined him. "It would make more sense to find somewhere to stay. I noticed a hotel on the way in that looked tolerable."

6. "How about a nice game of Monopoly?" Zoë suggested, trying to look artless.

   This idea was met with general groans.

   "You know perfectly well what happened the last time we tried that," Isobel said patiently. "I had to replace those curtains in the end. Anyway, we'd need a block and tackle, and we haven't got one."

   "Aye," Jamie added. "Besides, it's the wrong time of year for avocados."

   "I suppose we could always drop one or two of the house rules," Victoria said hesitantly. "Other people seem to manage without them."

   Samantha shook her head. "What fun would that be?"

7. "That means whatever guards this door does not make choices. Harmless or harmful, it slays all."

   "So what do you suggest we do? Give up and go home?"

   "Sevateem do not give up." Leela loosened her knife in its sheath. "But this place has a feel I do not care for. There is Tesh trickery at work. We may die without so much as a sight of our foe."

8. "Whatever you saw, I don't think 'banshees' can be the right word for them," was all she said. "Banshees come from Irish mythology. I think the Alban equivalent is a bean nighe."

   "A what?"

   "The literal Gaelic meaning is 'washer woman.'" I'd been sitting up to tell my tale; she pushed me down again, before I could ask her where she'd learned to speak Gaelic. "Go back to sleep, Lily."

9. "Lord Fear," Treguard said.

   "You were expecting Venger, maybe?" the figure sneered.

   Treguard's equanimity was unruffled. "And to what do I owe the dubious pleasure of this communication?"

10. As she caught sight of the envelope, Zoe's eyes widened. "Isobel, you said you'd posted that last month!"

    "I thought I had," Isobel said.

    "I wonder what it was you did post, you dizzy damsel." Zoe extracted a book of stamps from the desk. "I hope it wasn't anything from our private collection. That would be very hard to explain, and why aren't these stamps sticking?"

11. "Hang on a moment!" Milly protested. She could talk, it seemed, even if she couldn't move. "What have you done to me? What's all this in aid of, anyway?"

    "You've got certain characteristics — quite rare in this part of the world. They make you ideally suited for the position."

    "What position?"

    "Bait," the man said, and vanished like a Cheshire cat.

12. Vainly rocking the baby to and fro, Jane looked at her guest. As she had done ever since he had arrived the previous evening, seeking shelter from the snow and milk for the baby, she tried to place him. His white robes, covered by a dark cloak, had suggested that he might be an itinerant friar — though of no order she had previously seen. But there was no trace of a tonsure in his carefully-combed white hair. His clothes showed no signs of a long journey, so he must have come from somewhere close at hand. But where?

    And, of course, there was the question of the baby. She could imagine circumstances in which a friar might have a baby granddaughter, but not why he would be carrying her about with him.

13. "Might I at least see your face?"

    "Oh, at least." The woman removed her veil, revealing, as he'd expected, the proud, passionate face of the dancer who had so caught his attention earlier that evening. "You like what you see, huh?"

    Treguard gestured to the bed. "Lie down."

14. "Ah, then you need say no more." Charlotte had leaned eagerly towards her. "I see it all. Her mother married beneath her, against the wishes of her family. Miss Heriot was then brought up in straitened circumstances, with her parents unable to give her the education that she should have. But your guardians, Mr. and Mrs..."

    "Harris."

    "Just so. They have taken a less severe attitude, to the daughter at least, and have begun to remedy the deficiencies of her upbringing. But as yet, she is ill-suited to take her place in society."

    Victoria had nodded slowly. If the Lathams believed that they had uncovered an old family shame — well, so be it.

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

There are some really intriguing/amusing snippets here - can't wait to see what some of them turn out to be. ;-)

(Btw, your posts on LJ frequently don't have an icon - I find I have a sort of automatic tendency to ignore all icon-less LJ posts on my flist - they're generally crossposts from other sites and spam, I suppose. I find now that I frequently miss your posts - my brain isn't registering them because of lack of icon. I mention it, because a default icon isn't that hard - unless you have some sort of strong objection? - and I may not be the only one who does this. Or I may. I am odd.)

[john_amend_all]

I've procrastinated about sorting that out; it's purely the hassle of getting the right icon in the right slot (as far as I can see, I'd have to delete all my icons and set them up again in the right order). ETA: OK; should be sorted now.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, sorry - when I crosspost to LJ but don't have an icon that matches it always uses my default; I didn't realise it would be fiddly. :-)

[john_amend_all]

It wasn't as fiddly as I'd feared. Obviously it isn't in LJ's interest to make the process straightforward; what I suspect they want me to do is pay for more icon slots instead :-)