Archive | January 29, 2014

Older Witches, a continuation of Aunt Family for the Dec. Bingo Card

Jan29

For [personal profile] kelkyag‘s prompt to my December Bingo Card – it fills the Free Square.

Aunt Family has a landing page here on DW and here on LJ

Evangaline modern-era. After Unexpected Guest, Followed Me Home (LJ), In the Cards (LJ),
Big Bad Witch (LJ), and Frog Pancakes (LJ)

“I could feel it, you know? In my toes. I was just waiting for you to decide to tell me.”

Eva studied the boy in front of her for a few minutes.

“You’ll be eighteen in June.”

“That’s what being a witch tells you?” Having it out in the open seemed to relax Robbie. He was smiling, at least.

“No, that’s what having an extended family of snoops, busy-bodies, and gossips tells me.”

That, on the other hand, made him flush, frown, and turn away. “Chalce is your niece, isn’t she?”

“So is Beryl. And Stone is my nephew.” She could guess, from Chalcedony’s message, what Robbie thought she’d learned from her family. “Among others.”

His shoulders didn’t release any tension. “So you know I’m a punk. Mrs. Cunningham, she’s one of your cousins, isn’t she?”

“She is. But I grew up with Eliza, Robbie, which means I know when she’s full of shit, too.”

He peeked up at her through a fringe of hair. “So…?”

“So.” She folded her hands. “So, you’ll be eighteen in about six months.”

“At which point, what, you’ll turn me into a frog?” He found his smile again. “Yeah, I’ll be legal, then. Is that what has you worried?”

She tilted her head. “Well, I’ll admit it does complicate things. Single woman, single older woman…”

“You really don’t count as older.”

“And you’re sweet to say that.”

“No, I mean it. You’re, what, twenty-two?” He leaned forward. “Besides, nobody cares about that.” Just as quickly as he’d leaned forward, he pulled back, staring at her. “Wait. Wait, are you seriously considering…”?

Eva found herself smiling. “Well, were you?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, you’re hot, you’re single, and you’re a witch. How cool is that?”

“Flattering.” She sounded, she knew, like her Aunt Rosaria. She thought Robbie might deserve it.

His face fell. “Well, and you were nice to me. Shit, you weren’t, were you?”

Eva licked her lips. “I was. I am. However…”

He sank even further back into his chair. “You can’t send me back. You can’t. I was going to run, you know. I am going to run. Just needed a place to sleep for the night.”

“In June…” She knew it wouldn’t work, but it was the first solution.

“I won’t make it till June. And if I did, what does a calendar date mean?”

“It means me not getting arrested. All right.” Eva leaned forward. “This is what we’re going to do.”

After all, if she couldn’t use her power, what good was it being a witch?

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/647129.html. You can comment here or there.

The Collar Job, Part II

Jan29

Part I (and on LJ)

This is … what happens when you let me watch an entire season of Leverage in a week and a half. *cough* Tír na Cali/Leverage fanfiction crossover.

It’s written in an experimental style for me, and, well, it’s fanfic, so pls. be kind.

Fade in from commercial: an expensive chair, the back of a woman wearing very expensive high heels and a sleek business suit, Eliot’s back.

“I did say behave.”

Eliot clenches his jaw. From behind him, we can see how his fists, too, are clenched. Lash marks mar his back, some fresh, some already beginning to heal.

“Now kneel.” The woman’s voice is like knives, sharp and cold.

“Fu-” The electric sound fills the air again. Eliot’s hands twitch and once again clench into fists.

“Kneel.”

And he kneels.

Location: Their Newest Office.
Time: The evening Eliot was taken

“I’m telling you, this is where the tracker went dead.” Hardison jabs his finger at his state-of-the-art screen, at a glowing point on the map that indicates Eliot’s last-known: the red box noting the mark’s watering hole of choice suggests he’d moved a couple miles north of the Last Call Bar.

“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Nate is frowning; that’s fair, they are all frowning. But he’s frowning at the data. “I mean, the plan was for Eliot to bring the mark out to his car, and then take him back to the warehouse.” He gestures broadly at the map. “The car is gone…”

“Tracker disabled, car missing, not in any junkyard we’ve been able to find.” Hardison’s voice goes from short to snapppish. Nobody notices. “And what’s more? King’s car is missing, too. And so’s King.”

“Eliot was supposed to make Brendan King vanish.” Sophie purses her lips. “That was the con. Get him to spill everything in front of a witness…”

“And then buckle him up tight.” Hardison nods. “Yes, exactly. The thing is, they were supposed to vanish from everyone but us. This… this is not everyone but us.”

Parker twists in her chair, looking between the other three members of the team. When she speaks, her voice is very quiet. “You don’t think he’s ditched us, do you?”

Deep in Tir Na Cali
As the team is discussing his disappearance

Eliot throws a punch, knocking a man to the ground. Surrounding him are the bodies of five others, all wearing the same uniform: black on black, with black hats. The room in concrete block with narrow metal beds; a chain link gate swings open behind him.

Eliot is wearing a plastic collar, bright orange, and half a pair of handcuffs.

Behind him, a black-haired woman aims a rifle.

Cut to Commercial.

Part III (LJ)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/646705.html. You can comment here or there.