Tuesday: Travel

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Hello, everyone. I’m brumeier and this week we’ll be taking a leisurely stroll through the book stacks of whichever bookstore or library you’d prefer. All our themes will be book categories, and prompts can be anything related to that category – book titles, lyrics, one-word prompts…you get the idea! Today’s theme is Travel!

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and fandom's full name for ease adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get the ball rolling...

+ Any Canadian fandom, Any, So You Want to be Canadian, by Kerry Colburn & Rob Sorensen

+ Our Flag Means Death, Any +/ Any, Uncharted Territory (Army Wives)

+ Any, Any, picking up a hitchhiker on a road trip

We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2022 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? Check out the just created Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet. For more recent prompts to write, you can also use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community.

While the Lonely Prompts Spreadsheet and LJ's advanced search options are available, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching for in the future.

tag=travel

Comments

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Any Canadian fandom, Any, So You Want to be Canadian, by Kerry Colburn & Rob Sorensen

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Our Flag Means Death, Any +/ Any, Uncharted Territory (Army Wives)

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Any, Any, picking up a hitchhiker on a road trip

Fill 1/2: It's Okay to Not Be Okay/Sound of Magic, Kangtae + Moonyoung + Sangtae + Ildeung

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Kangtae smiled to himself, watching the countryside roll by, as he guided their camper van along a winding road toward a small town. They could stop for fuel and restock their food supplies, and wherever they went next - that would be up to the whims of fate (or likely Moonyoung and Sangtae arguing over the road map like a pair of kindergarteners fighting over a toy).

Moonyoung suddenly leaned out the window and pounded the side of the van. “Stop, stop!”

Kangtae obeyed, alarmed. She’d cooked supper last night. Had her own cooking made her sick? Kangtae felt fine. Was she about to throw up?

But then Moonyoung was beaming and waving. “You there. You want a ride?”

Kangtae swore under his breath. “Yah! Moonyoung-ah! What are you doing? We can’t pick up a hitchhiker!”

Only a boy - tall, slender, with a classic schoolboy haircut, bespectacled - was approaching the van tentatively. He had a backpack and a duffel bag. His clothes, Kangtae noted, were good quality, but also worn and dusty. The watch on his wrist was expensive, too.

The boy bowed respectfully to Moonyoung. “I would like a ride, please.”

Kangtae had to get ahead of this. “Where are you going?” It would be easy to say they weren’t going that way - and it wouldn’t even really be a lie, which might trigger one of Sangtae’s episodes.

“Anywhere but here,” the boy said, his gaze dropping for a moment.

And Kangtae recognized the slump of his shoulders, the shadows around his eyes.

Sangtae rolled down his window and poked his head out. “How old are you?”

“I’m eighteen, hyungnim.” The boy bowed respectfully.

Moonyoung, damn her, looked delighted, like the boy was some kind of puppy. Or a fox-cub. There was something fine and delicate and almost vulpine to the boy’s features. He was very pretty.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

At that, the boy blushed. “My name is Na Ildeung.”

Moonyoung blinked. “Your name is I’m First Place? What, were you always first place in races or at school or something?”

Ildeung ducked his head again, and Kangtae saw, just beneath the edge of his collar, hints of a rash.

A stress rash.

The unkindly-named Na Ildeung probably had always been first place in school, and at a great cost.

“I don’t have a lot of money,” Ildeung said, lifting his head. “But I can contribute to gas a bit, and I can pay my way in other ways.”

Kangtae was immediately alarmed. Had this boy been selling his body to make his journey? He had to know he was fair of face.

“How?” Sangtae demanded.

Ildeung raised one hand, made a flourish - and was suddenly holding a paper flower.

Sangtae looked delighted.

Oh no. The boy was an amateur magician. Surely Moonyoung wouldn’t be impressed.

Ildeung made another flourish with his hand, and the paper flower burst into flame, and then he was holding a real live carnation instead.

Moonyoung looked delighted too.

Ildeung presented it to her with a sweeping, dramatic bow.

“What about me?” Sangtae demanded.

Ildeung smiled, sly and secretive, and leaned in. “Do you believe in magic?”

Sangtae nodded vigorously.

Ildeung fanned a deck of cards. Where had he even been holding the cards? They looked old and worn around the edges.

“Pick a card, any card,” he said to Sangtae.

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Any Book Fandom, Any, Tea in the Sahara (The Police)

Fill 1/2: Forbidden Games, Summer + Julian

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

When Summer Parker-Pearson stepped out of her last class of the day, she didn’t expect to almost run into a tall, beautiful boy with frost-white hair and electric blue eyes.

He was leaning against the wall just outside the door, and he looked like he’d stepped straight out of a cyberpunk novel, a snake earring dangling from one ear, wearing black vinyl and leather and some kind of lacy undershirt that was probably in violation of the school’s dress code.

He was Julian, the Shadow Man.

Summer froze.


Her binder tumbled from her hands.

Julian lunged, quick as a snake striking, and caught it.

“What are you doing here?” Summer darted a glance around her. She wanted to call for help - from Jenny or Tom or Dee or Audrey or Zach but -

But they were all gone. Had graduated without her. She had to repeat this grade, on account of having been missing for months, trapped in a shadow realm.

“I came,” Julian said, “to speak to you.”

Summer cast about for help or assurance that she wasn’t insane. And she must not have been, because several of her classmates cast Julian appreciative looks as they passed. One of them even flashed Summer a thumbs-up.

They could see Julian. He was real to them.

Julian extended a hand, the gesture oddly formal, like a Pride and Prejudice gentleman asking a woman for a dance. “Miss Summer Parker-Pearson, would you care to have tea with me?”

“Tea?” Summer echoed.

“Tea, and a chat,” Julian said.

“Why tea?”

“I was given to understand that you like tea parties,” he said.

“Um.” Summer knew a nice little cafe downtown that served pretty good tea, and had cute pastries to boot. “Sure. Tea.”

After a moment, she held her hand out.

Julian took her hand in his, and she was startled by the coolness of his skin. He turned and guided her down the hallway as if he were guiding her onto the dancefloor of a grand ballroom. Only instead of heading for the doors, he turned down a very narrow hallway, one that was unlit.

He spoke a few unintelligible syllables, sketching symbols - runes - in the air, and then a portal opened.

Beyond the portal was a rainbow road.

“Ladies first,” Julian said, gesturing to the rainbow.

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Astro, ensemble, travel delays

Fill 1/2: ensemble, gen, mildly cracked

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Sanha didn’t have to speak good English to know what the announcement over the airport PA system meant, because everyone else who’d been standing in line to board groaned, and plenty of people flopped back into their chairs.

Minhyuk leaned over to Dongmin. “What’s going on, hyung?”

“Our flight has been delayed.”

Minhyuk’s eyes went wide. “By how long?”

“They say four hours,” Dongmin said, his expression blank as he listened and translated.

Jinwoo also understood English pretty well. He turned to Manager. “Hyungnim, what should we do?”

“Luckily, none of you have schedules back home for a couple of days after we land,” Manager said. “So, we just wait.”

Bin considered. “Can we go get some snacks and drinks and things? To tide us over.”

Manager nodded. “Don’t go alone.”

“Of course.” Bin grabbed Jinwoo’s arm. “Come on.” To the rest of them, he said, “Text us what you want.”

The stylists must have had a similar idea, because Hyesoon and Nari were also headed toward one of the little snack shops they’d passed on their way to the gate.

“Let’s set up a charging station,” Dongmin said.

Sanha nodded and fished in his pack for his charge cords and plugs. Once his phone was plugged in, he posted his snack and drink requests in the group chat, with a promise to send money to Jinwoo later. The others piped in with their requests, and they settled in. They were old hands at bunking down on a floor and waiting around and eating or sleeping or studying or rehearsing or doing whatever they had to do while backstage at a broadcast show. They were still rookies and so didn’t merit their own dressing room, so having to make themselves comfortable while surrounded by strangers wasn’t so odd either.

Minhyuk found a pillar with several outlets on it, and they spread their packs around it in a circle, set their devices to charging, and settled in.

Dongmin, ever sensitive to the cold, had his jacket spread across his knees. Even though LA had been hot and humid, just like home, the air conditioning in the airport was no joke, and it felt like autumn.

“What are we going to do for four hours?” Sanha asked.

“Same as we were going to do on the plane when we weren’t sleeping, I suppose,” Dongmin said.

“No,” Myungjun said firmly. “Then what will we do on the plane? We’ll be out of movies and books and TV shows.”

The flight back to Korea was over twelve hours long.

Sanha shook his head. As long as his phone had battery, he could play video games for forever. So could Myungjun. So could Jinwoo. And Dongmin had plenty of books downloaded on his phone, and Bin had webtoons downloaded on his phone, and Minhyuk - well, Minhyuk would sleep.

He never slept well in new places, and he wasn’t very good at eating foreign food, and he was probably the most exhausted out of all of them.

“What do you want to do, then?” Dongmin asked.

Minhyuk had his phone charging. “Don’t say karaoke.”

Myungjun did have a karaoke function on his phone, because he was Myungjun.

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Stargate Atlantis, any, Holiday (Green Day)

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter, any Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)

Fill: Draco/Harry, Honeymoon Jitters

[fairyniamh]

"This isn't natural," Harry listened to his husband grumble. Honestly, Draco had been spending too much time with Severus.

"Who decided on where to spend our honeymoon?" he asked bluntly.

"Arthur Weasley," he tried to pawn the blame off.

"No, you wanted to go to Hawaii. You were excited to go there. Going on and on about the waters, volcanoes and how you might even learn to surf," the famed wizard chuckled.

"I changed my mind. What do you think of going to Switzerland? It's closer. We can use the floo or even our brooms to get there," was the falsely happy response.

"Draco, it's a jet plane, not a bloody dragon. Hundreds of muggles travel this way. Very few die," he tried to calm the man down.

"Die?" he hit a brand new high note with the inquiry.

"Usually, unexpected natural deaths. When there is a crash it's relatively large news. Come on., Severus warned you that there was a broom embargo at Hawaii," he tried to calm the man.

"The floo..."he began.

"Never installed there. The weather there is not exactly fireplace material," he laughed.

"Cooking..." he tried.

"Is done like muggles with an oven or outdoors in a barbecue," he explained.

"Why can't we take a port key?" he tried a different approach.

"Next you'll suggest that we blind apparate. Here, have a drink of chamomile tea," he offered.

Draco grabbed the drink and downed it, never noticing that it was spiked with a calming draught.

The blond was kept loopy and semi-sedated for the entirety of the plane ride as he hummed (badly) 'Leaving on a Jet Plane.' It was a bumpy start to their marriage, but it was one hell of a ride.

~Fin

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

The Untamed, Lan Wangji +/ Wei Wuxian, you take the high road and I'll take the low road

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

BBC Robin Hood, any, 500 Miles (Peter Paul and Mary)

Fill: Guy & Much (Drabble)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

“I’m leaving, Much,” Guy said. “I have to get as far away as possible. When the Sheriff finds out what I’ve done my life won’t be worth anything.”

“I’m coming with you,” Much replied.

Guy shook his head. “No. I’m going to work for Otto of Brunswick, which means a journey of more than 500 miles.”

“I can do that.”

“Much, you have no idea how far 500 miles is, have you?”

Much shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we’re together. I’m not letting you go by yourself. When do we leave?”

“Daybreak.”

“No problem.”

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

Any, any, unknown roads lead away from home (Prayer of the Children)

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Stargate Atlantis, Any, Pegasus version of a roadside cafe

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

Spooks|MI5, any, doing a bit of sightseeing after wrapping a case abroad

Fill: Adam & Lucas

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

“We’ve a message from Jo. She can’t get us onto a flight until Thursday morning so we need take the train to Rome and fly from there,” Adam said.

“Why bother?” Lucas asked. “We’ve ended up in Florence having trailed all over northern Italy. Why can’t we stay here for a couple of days and then fly back? I fancy a bit of sightseeing.”

“Okay. So where are we going?”

“I suggest the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. And after that we can wander round and visit whatever catches our interest. Oh, and I’ve spotted a restaurant which I rather fancy.”

“The latter doesn’t surprise me in the least. What are we going to tell Harry though, he’s going to expect us back on the Grid tomorrow?”

“Just tell him he’s got the unexpected pleasure of two more days without me, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll phone Ros and get her to give him the good news!”

[squidgiepdx]

Stargate Atlantis, Any/Any, "Into Thin Air" (Jon Krakauer)

[squidgiepdx]

Stargate Atlantis, Any/Any, "Epic Runs of the World" (Lonely Planet)

[squidgiepdx]

Check, Please!, Any/Any, "Gods of the Upper Air" (Charles King)

[squidgiepdx]

The Losers, Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez/Jake Jensen, "Rough Magic" (Lara Prior Palmer)

Mini-fill: Mistborn Era 2 AU

[nagi-schwarz.livejournal.com]

The magic of the Roughs was that people weren’t so nosy.

One would have thought that it would be the opposite, that in a small town like Weathering everyone would be up in each other’s business, but really it was in Elendel, with the judgmental nobles and bitter workers and endlessly gossipy broadsheets where everyone was gossiping about everyone all the time.

Here, on the dusty streets of a small Roughs town, no one cared that Jensen and Cougar strolled along hand-in-hand, same as any sweethearts (not that Clay and Aisha would really care to be called sweethearts). Granted, part of people leaving Jensen and Cougar alone probably had to do with the fact that Cougar was a notorious Coinshot, could kill a man with a well-placed bullet or with a thought and a coin.

No one knew what Jensen was, other than that he could find out just about anything he wanted, and he always knew, well, what the broadsheets in Elendel printed, but always a couple of days ahead.

Clay and his team of not-quite-lawmen (and women) had finally wrapped up business in Elendel, and they’d departed. Rolled out of the city in a carriage drawn by swift strong horses, eschewing the newfangled motorcars that were big piles of metal just waiting to be overturned by a Lurcher or Coinshot. Spent days on the road ignoring the dust and racing the sun.

And now they were home.

Cougar pushed through the swinging doors of the saloon, and Jensen followed him. Cougar ducked his chin at the bartender, who took in the swirling tassels of Cougar’s mist coat and immediately began pouring a couple of drinks.

Jensen picked a spot in the corner, one that gave him a view of the entire saloon, though he saved the corner seat for Cougar so he could have his back to the wall.

“Welcome back,” the bar girl said, smiling hopefully at Jensen as she brought their drinks.

He winked at her over the rim of his red-shaded spectacles and thanked her.

Cougar just stared at her, and she lowered her gaze and hurried away.

“Don’t be like that,” Jensen said. “She was just glad to see us. And you know I’m not like that, not really.”

Cougar knocked back the shot and leaned back, slinging his arm across Jensen’s shoulders, staking his claim.

A few people looked away, uncomfortable at the display, but most didn’t care, and then Pooch burst into the saloon, shouting about how his wife had delivered a healthy child, and drinks were on him for the rest of the night, and when Rocque started in on the piano, Cougar didn’t protest when Jensen pulled him to his feet, and with everyone else, they danced.

[squidgiepdx]

Sherlock (BBC), Sherlock Holmes /or+ John Watson, "Into The Wild" (Jon Krakauer)

[templefugate.livejournal.com]

Any, any, "Going to California" (Led Zeppelin)

[templefugate.livejournal.com]

Any, any, aerophobia

[templefugate.livejournal.com]

DC, Diana Prince, her first visit back to Themyscira after leaving for man's world

[templefugate.livejournal.com]

The Hobbit, ensemble, AU where Erebor is a luxury resort

[templefugate.livejournal.com]

The X-Files, Dana Scully & Fox Mulder, visiting an allegedly supernatural roadside attraction

Fill: OC outsider POV

[brumeier.livejournal.com]

The dark blue rental car pulls up on the shoulder, parking right next to the shed. A man and a woman get out, both dressed in suits and trench coats – his black, hers a tannish pink. The man stretches, a sign he’s been driving for a while. He’s taller than the woman, and cute in a kind of goofy way.

“Hello, there,” the man calls out when he catches sight of her.

“Hello,” Lily says back.

She stubs out her cigarette under her sneaker. “Welcome to the Phantom of Route 10 information center.”

The man looks interested, open curiosity on his face. His driving partner looks like she’s humoring him.

The information center is the shed. It’s small, just big enough for one person to walk around inside, and during business hours the double doors are kept open. Inside is a narrow table holding pamphlets, postcards, road maps, and the donation box. The walls, painted a dark gray, are covered in photographs and newspaper articles and eyewitness accounts that have been typed up on the computer and printed out.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Lily asks the woman while the man carefully studies the walls. “I’ve got bottled water and generic cola.”

There’s a cooler under the table, though at this time of day most of the ice is probably melted.

“No, thank you,” the woman says politely. “Do you get many visitors here?”

“Mostly in the summer. Rest of the time it’s usually locals passing by, and they all know about the ghost.”

“You should read some of these, Scully,” the man says from inside the shed. “There are accounts going back twenty years.”

Lily tucks her hair behind her ear. “He’s a true believer, huh?”

The woman, Scully – hopefully her last name, because that would make a terrible first name – nods, her lips quirking up in a grin. “You have no idea.”

A tractor goes rumbling past, wheels taller than Lily, with a line of cars following behind at a snail’s pace.

“That’s what passes for traffic around here,” Lily says. She thinks about lighting up another ciggie, but that probably wouldn’t be good manners. Besides which, Scully seems like the type to disapprove of teenagers smoking.

“Have you ever seen the phantom?” Scully asks her, looking honestly curious and not like she’s just making small talk.

“Never been that lucky, ma’am. The guy who owns the shed has, though. He’s laid up with Lyme’s right now, or you’d be able to talk to him.”

“Lyme Disease?” Scully glances down at her legs.

“You don’t have to worry about ticks here. We keep the grass trimmed and treated. Sal got it hiking in the woods. He got treatment right away, but he’s still feeling low.”

“How much are these postcards?” the man asks, popping his head out.

“Dollar each.”

“Mulder,” Scully says, but doesn’t follow it up with anything.

“It’s for a good cause,” the man replies. He tucks ten dollars into the donation box, but only takes one postcard.

It’s a little weird, how they call each other by their last names. Maybe they’re cops. That’s how they do it on TV.

“When’s the best time to catch a glimpse of the phantom?” Mulder asks.

“She runs on her own schedule.”

Scully looks at her watch. “Speaking of schedules…”

Mulder and Scully bid her farewell and get back in their car and drive on up Route 10 until they’re out of sight of the shed. Lily pulls out a cigarette and lights it. She feels like she owes them something, or maybe just Mulder, the true believer and generous tipper.

When they pass by again three days later, this time just after dark, Lily is waiting by the side of the road in her white summer dress, hair loose around her shoulders. She steps out onto the road, giving Mulder just enough time to see her, but not enough time to stop the car.

He hits the brakes, the tires squeal, and Lily drops a wink before the car moves right through her. It’s always a weird feeling, like she’s being tugged in two different directions, but then the car is stopped and she’s standing behind it.

When Mulder gets out, face pale, Lily gives him a little wave before going fully incorporeal.

“Did you see her?” Mulder asks.

“See who?” Scully replies sleepily.

Lily grins and heads on up Route 10, feet never touching the asphalt.

[darkmoore.livejournal.com]

Stargate: Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay (+team?), The wrong direction (Passenger)

[darkmoore.livejournal.com]

Spooks|MI5, any, Walking in Memphis (Marc Cohn)

[darkmoore.livejournal.com]

Dr Who, The Doctor (If possible, one of the "new" ones; 9 to 13) + any, "Griechischer Wein" (Greek wine) - Udo Jürgens