doyle: tardis (bigmoments by lauranobaka)
doyle ([personal profile] doyle) wrote2004-01-03 01:28 am

Fairytale Drabbles

My first four responses to [livejournal.com profile] vanilla_tiger's Brothers Grimm title challenge:


Death's Messengers

She had this speech down. Ancient mystical line of warriors, strength to fight the vampires and the forces of darkness (Giles's contribution), with great power comes great responsibility (Andrew's).

Buffy could give the Talk in her sleep. Some days, after another round of jetlag and airline food, she felt like she was.

The hundred and thirty-second girl she visited kept her head bowed, and when she finally looked up she had tears in her eyes.

"Am I going to die?" she whispered, her English lilting, accented, and Buffy suddenly had no words left.



Eve's Various Children

She nearly, almost, tells Lindsey about screwing Angel at Halloween. She likes imagining anger and jealousy flashing across his face, his grip digging into her arms as she spills the details. The solid bulk of him pressed against her; the skin that was cool, but not the icy cold she'd expected; the rug burns that stopped her from wearing a skirt for days, and that Lindsey never noticed.

She's nowhere near naïve enough to think that it'd be her he'd be jealous over. Eve's nothing if not pragmatic, and it seems to her like it'd be a lot simpler if Lindsey would admit he wants to fuck Angel, not fight him. The same thing goes for the little pissing contest between Angel and Spike.

Men. They're such children.



The Two Brothers

Kid's angry that his dad sent him away. Spike gets that. He sweet-talks bits and pieces of the story out of Harm and ends up with the grapevine's version of events. He's surprised, for about five seconds, that Angel'd take that all on his own shoulders, leave himself the only one remembering, but then he realizes that of course he would. This is Angel. It's just not fun as brooding if there are other people joining in.

So this is his - what, his uncle? Great-uncle? Baby brother? God only knows with their family tree. He smirks, raking amused eyes over the skinny scrap of a boy. His mother's eyes and his father's glower, and when he glances up to catch Spike looking, a danger in his expression that he could have inherited from anyone in their line.

Life might just be about to get a bit more interesting around the office.



The Glass Coffin

The cuts on her hands are healed, the fingernails grown back. Giles is here and she has talked to Angel and everyone thinks they saved her from hell.

She walks. She shops. She smiles on the outside. She works out ways to pay the bills.

She's still in the coffin, only now it's made of glass that she marks with bloody fingerprints, and her friends can see her but they can't hear her screaming.

[identity profile] willshenilshe.livejournal.com 2004-01-02 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, you've been busy today! And everything so delicious... this, here, is a veritable buffet.

The first, heartwrenching... the second, wry and dry and IMHO, very true... the third, intriguing... the fourth, giving me shivers.

Wonderful, all of them!

[identity profile] kita0610.livejournal.com 2004-01-02 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh these are just lovely.

[identity profile] girlflesh.livejournal.com 2004-01-02 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Dear god. Do you know how much I love you? You're trying to get me to start an elite drabbles site, aren't you? *eyes*

[identity profile] paratti.livejournal.com 2004-01-03 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
Great range.

[identity profile] knotted-rose.livejournal.com 2004-01-03 08:58 am (UTC)(link)
These are marvelous. I particularly like The Glass Coffin. Chilling imagery of the bloody fingerprints. Well done!

[identity profile] maybedarkpink.livejournal.com 2004-01-03 02:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmmm, where to start with the comments? I adore the first one, the end is absolutely heartbreaking, and I think you really captured the futility of s7 Buffy and her endless speeches. The second one is clever and absolutely true, and just something I can hear Eve thinking. If I could hear thoughts, which of course I can't... The third is nice, I love Spike's take on Connor, and the fourth is quite possibly my fave, the glass coffin is a perfect reference for Buffy and the bloody fingerprints really seal the image. I love me a drabble that's based on a good metaphor...

Oh.

[identity profile] selenak.livejournal.com 2004-01-04 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
Loved, loved, loved the two Buffy ones. Also the Spike and Connor one. But for some reason, today I was looking for Buffy (the character) fanfic, and this just hit all my buttons.

[identity profile] hermionesviolin.livejournal.com 2005-09-07 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, the coffin one is very good.

I also like the "Am I gonna die?" one.